It's mechanically the best in the entire series and regardless of which version of this franchise comes next then they should work again with the great foundation of DmC. The game really gave the series some much needed natural evolution of the control scheme and it was still fast, furious, and fluid as ever in its own right.
There was a time when I would've disagreed with you; when I would've said that it was only second to DMC3.
However, after talking to both TwoXAcross and SamD on the matter, I agree with their (and your) assessment that control and gameplay-wise, it really is best in the series.
From a purely objective standpoint (yes really), it's probably one of the best action games out there, period.
I'm not going to get into P* here, I've played their games, and I didn't like them at all. To me, DMC3 and Darksiders II were a better by a significant margin.
You could accuse me of bias for that, but I'm not saying this out of my hatred (and utter disgust) for P*; no, I'm saying this because I simply didn't enjoy playing any of their games when compared to my previous experiences on extreme action.
Even Angry Joe said you could take on MGR
"just by pushing forward every second and the melee attack button at the same time" in his review. His words, not mine.
How MGR ever got his "Badass Seal of Approval" I'll never know -- nor would I want to.
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So yes, even if I hated DmC (which I kind of did for not having lock-on), I realized that it really is the best out of the series. You can't even spin the camera in previous entries. That right there is the new "jump-cancel" (as I've said before) in my honest opinion.
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Fine. I won't say it's the best. It's just the best one suited to my tastes.
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As for the lock-on issue, let me explain why I don't mind it anymore.
SamD has given me advice on a few tricks here and there on how to keep track of my enemies (use the "Caliber" attack as a homing charge while fighting in midair, use Ophion's Angel Life/Demon pull to orient yourself, etc.) and I think it works really well within the context of the game.
Also, the auto-lock isn't nearly as bad as people try to make it out to be (and fail at it, regardless). It gets the job done whenever I play it, and that's all that counts.
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Now for the second reason as to why I don't mind:
I want to be able to have at least four styles on the controller at the same time without having to switch styles like a derp.
You can do this if you put the devil and firearms switch functions on the d-pad instead of the shoulder buttons. You'll even have room left over for the last two style functions (change gunslinger to swordmaster or trickster to royalguard, and so forth).
But what about new functions? If we're trying to become more like a fighting game, why not a crouch function (this is just an example, you can have other functions, such as "throw" etc.) to make things even more complex for other action games?
"But what about lock-on?" you ask. Well, that's where DmC comes in.
You remove it. You don't need it. Auto-lock works just fine when you're trying to move from enemy-to-enemy on the fly in midair.
Not saying that this should be done for DMC5 ('cause the fanboys would end up burning down Capcom Headquarters for that one), but for other action games that would use "styles" like DMC3.
Anyway, like I was saying, that alone would free up a sorely needed shoulder button.
So yeah, if you wanted to keep the hold function, you would have no choice but to assign it on a shoulder button, and that could go to other, more needed functions (like "Distortion"), for example.
Yes, I think we should bring Distortion back, just not so overpowered this time.
It was like an offensive version of Royalguard... and this time, it would be incorporated in such a way that it would be separate from DT, and you could use it with any weapon, not just Gilgamesh (they had to slow down the Red Queen's movements just so that they could implement EX-ACT into that weapon -- or so I heard, anyway).
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