SE included of course.
In no particular order.
1 - The combat. For the first time, I got to see what proper stylish combat actually means. This game gave a massive contribution to the franchise in that sense. The stylishness is not only given by how cool the animations are, but also by the way you chain the moves together. Taunts are an awesome icing on the cake, especially Vergil's. Also, the depth it offers with buffering, crazy combos, DTE, jump cancel, gun cancel, switch cancel, Style actions, Artemis' multilock and God knows what else that I forgot or still don't know, is still today only surpassed by DMC4.
2 - Story and cast. Story itself was a step above the other games and generally considered the best in the franchise, on which I agree. Very well paced and structured from the beginning to the very thematic ending, with nice subplots that tie into the main story. The cast was also spot on, the actors made an awesome job at portraying their characters, and became the icons of those characters for how well they did.
3 - Cutscenes and presentation. The cutscenes in this game are beautifully shot. Cinematography was top notch, Shimomura (choreographer and director of the cutscenes) and Itsuno did a great job.
4 - Level design. The game retains the gothic atmosphere of the first title in the form of Temen Ni Gru. I also liked the feeling of interconnession between the various areas, it made me feel I was actually going through a coherent path.
5 - Divine Comedy references. There are A TON in this game, some easy to find, others harder, and others subtle, and I won't list them all, I would stay here forever, but I think at least the most obvious one, Temen Ni Gru itself, is worthy to be mentioned.
In no particular order.
1 - The combat. For the first time, I got to see what proper stylish combat actually means. This game gave a massive contribution to the franchise in that sense. The stylishness is not only given by how cool the animations are, but also by the way you chain the moves together. Taunts are an awesome icing on the cake, especially Vergil's. Also, the depth it offers with buffering, crazy combos, DTE, jump cancel, gun cancel, switch cancel, Style actions, Artemis' multilock and God knows what else that I forgot or still don't know, is still today only surpassed by DMC4.
2 - Story and cast. Story itself was a step above the other games and generally considered the best in the franchise, on which I agree. Very well paced and structured from the beginning to the very thematic ending, with nice subplots that tie into the main story. The cast was also spot on, the actors made an awesome job at portraying their characters, and became the icons of those characters for how well they did.
3 - Cutscenes and presentation. The cutscenes in this game are beautifully shot. Cinematography was top notch, Shimomura (choreographer and director of the cutscenes) and Itsuno did a great job.
4 - Level design. The game retains the gothic atmosphere of the first title in the form of Temen Ni Gru. I also liked the feeling of interconnession between the various areas, it made me feel I was actually going through a coherent path.
5 - Divine Comedy references. There are A TON in this game, some easy to find, others harder, and others subtle, and I won't list them all, I would stay here forever, but I think at least the most obvious one, Temen Ni Gru itself, is worthy to be mentioned.