Just finished the DmC demo and...

[Kuomon]

Wow, I have no idea where to start. I can't decide if the writing is bad enough to laugh at its expense or if it's just bad. Like most of the game, the dialogue has abandoned the witty one liners and B-movie flair of the old Devil May Cry games in favor of a...shall we say... punk aesthetic, which really means F*bombs get thrown around nonchalantly in conversation for the sake of edginess.
Visually the game looks pretty good... until you enter Limbo and the gameplay begins, whereupon the bloom goes BOOM and the colors go crazy. This is probably the first (and I hope last time) that I've ever felt the need to complain about TOO MUCH color. It makes me want to puke. It's one thing to have a colorful game, and another to have a game that is gushing out color from every orifice it has.
The gameplay itself is pretty solid, though I personally wish the angel and demon modes were set to the bumpers instead of the triggers. I assume the FPS generation will find itself more at home with the default button mapping than I did. Thankfully, the buttons can be remapped, although the method is very unintuitive. Nonetheless, I'm pretty happy with what I played. The game still has a decent amount of old-school challenge, and it takes practice to learn the right combos, though it probably won't be as taxing as previous entries. Plus the level design is pretty cool (it better be since they sacrificed the frame rate to make it interactive and malleable), and rewards exploration nicely.
The only boss fight in the demo had a very imaginative use of the battle stage that reminded me of the more cinematic moments in God of War, which is not a bad thing. The boss though was slightly unintuitive in its design though, and I found myself learning more through trial and error than pattern recognition.
As a final note before this gets any longer, a noticed in one of the loading screens (which doesn't let you practice your combos. WHY?!) that the game will automatically give you a SSS ranking for the mission if you find all the collectibles and beat all the side missions, which doesn't smell good to me and might irk some of the more passionate fans of this series.
All in all, DmC is not bad if this demo is anything to go by, but it's not exactly looking good either. I might pick it up come launch day, but for now this is looking like a buy after the price goes down kind of deal, if I manage to get over the horrendous art direction of course.

Anybody else have thoughts on the demo cause this was a pretty long rant and I'd like to hear other people's opinions.

 

[cgentero]

I agree with you on several points actually here are my impressions.

I played on the PS3 and for people hoping for a solid 30fps you're going to be disappointed, cutscenes especially feel like they reach 15fps at times.

Soundtrack was actually pretty good, voice acting was alright but nothing impressive, and sound effects feel like they still need work.

The dialogue is cringe worthy, trying way too hard to be edgy, say what you want about past DMCs, this games dialogue is a whole new level of bad. Dante's character is fucking annoying here, in the past he was a douche, here he is just a prick.

The Environments look good, but after the a while the over saturation can be quite nauseating.

Enemy design is really quite bland, all ground enemies look pretty much the same and all aerial enemies look pretty much the same.

I really dislike angel\demon specific enemies, it really breaks the flow of combat, also shield carrying enemies are a nice idea, too bad they respawn their shield too fast.

Default controls feel kinda clunky, I eventually changed it to something more manageable, but it still dislike holding down the shoulders all the time, also two evade button feel like a waste.

Even on Son of Sparda this game is pretty easy, enemies don't do much damage, dodge gives too much invincibility frames, the list goes on.

The Angel\Demon system is kinda fun actually, its nice to mix up, the Angel\Demon Dodge are cool if a bit overpowered, especially Demon Dodge.

Arbiter(Axe) does too much damage, raises the style gauge too much, and can easily have any recover time cancelled by a roll. Osiris(Scythe) can infinitely keep enemies stunlocked in the air, where they are helpless until dead. Oh and Rebellion\Osiris have way too much hit radius, crowd control is a cinch.

The lack of hard lock on really makes for some awkward moments, not to mention the double tap forward moves are sometimes hard to trigger, aerial enemies especially can be hard to target sometimes.

The camera needs some work, its fine in open areas but can be a bit wonky in close areas, there was a bit of screen tearing too but not much.

Things weren't as responsive as I would like, for example you can't just press angle form and launcher together to do Shredder, you have to hold down angel form first, albeit like for just a second, its still annoying.

The Style gauge is broken, one you get an S, you can spam the same moves over and over and it wont deplete.

Guns are useless, rainstorm is even more useless, this completely changes the dynamic of alternating melee and ranged, now everything is melee\whip\melee.

Platforming is nothing impressive and the the escape sequences look nice but really aren't that fun to play.

They nerfed Devil Trigger from what its originally overpowered state, honestly feels kinda useless now.

BOTTOM LINE: Its fun but definitely flawed, its not going to be the best DMC ever, so far better than DMC2 and after playing the final game I might say it would be on par with DMC4.

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

I was about to make a thread about this : )

Yeah it is better than DMC2 I suppose, but I found it way too easy and the battle system too simple. It is fun though, and Ninja Theory did do better from a gameplay perspective than I was giving them credit for. But as for Dante's design, the script, and the art direction? The worst kind of Meet the Spartans style parody of what Devil May Cry actually is. I can't imagine paying $60 for it, and if I do pick it up cheaper I imagine it would be by ignoring the story and other non-gameplay elements.

 

[mysecondlife]

"My name is Dante. but you can call me Dante the demon killer. Has a nice ring to it doesn't it?"

After that, I knew what was coming.

 

[The Wykydtron]

I really liked the demo. It's really quite cool and I like the lack of a lock on button (shocking) since I am more the sort who likes to flail around the place bouncing from person to person and fucking yes there is more than one attack button. Good. There's basically 3 attack buttons if you count the two weapon switches and the launcher, guns don't count.

I really like the aesthetic of the game. Let's use all the colours! I'm not holding my breath over the story but the idea behind it is pretty cool.

I never liked the combat in the other DMCs, I have no idea why. The one attack button and one attack button only was annoying.

Ohhhhh I think some people are going to get pissed over Sparda and Vergil... And Dante. Fucking hell where's Daystar's opinion on this, i'm interested to know. Because it's fucking Daystar

I don't freaking care about the writing and Dante is decent looking as a character. I think they've done a good job balancing the cinematic-ness with good gameplay. I never felt like the game was going "HEY LOOK AT THIS AWESOMENESS" and disrupting my game. Some people overreact to any addition of sparkly lights or slow-mo for no good reason.

Wonder why you have an air dash when you have a super air dash that is actually good?

 

[Kuomon]

Gameplay is solid huh? Alright, I will pick this up! If the writing is bad, laughing at it is half the fun!

That's the thing though. It's not DMC4 bad where you can still laugh at it. It's just bad in a "what am I watching" kind of way. It does seem like a worthwhile purchase though, although I really hope they fix the controller mapping and other issues before the game's release in January

 

[lithiumvocals]

"My name is Dante. but you can call me Dante the demon killer. Has a nice ring to it doesn't it?"

After that, I knew what was coming.

Thing is, that line isn't all that bad, but the voice actor makes it bad. It's excessively juvenile, but in the wrong way entirely.


So, this is the first time I've ever played a Devil May Cry game(I know, sue me). To its credit, I had a good time playing it, even if it gave me a bad grade. The aesthetic is really vibrant, though some of the enemy models are a bit bland. Being a newcomer, I don't dislike the new Dante's look. His voice acting, on the other hand, is really bad. He sounds like he's trying a bit too hard to be edgy. Of course, the writing isn't really helping. Apart from the above line, most of the writing is pretty grating.

I don't think I'm going to buy it, but I can't say that it's bad. Mediocre at the very worst, but I feel like even that's stretching it.

 

[Tdoodle]

in the past he was a douche, here he is just a prick.

Yeah! Well... said?

Will have a go on this tomorrow to see what it's like, from what I've seen I don't think it'll be on par with Bayonetta but might be good for a laugh over a weekend.

 

[lithiumvocals]

play the other ones, then you will feel the dissapointment

unless you just play dmc 2
in which case this game will feel like god because dmc 2 was pre sonic 06 , sonic 06

I find it hard to believe that it's that fundamentally awful in every way. Few games are as bad as that *thing*.

I do have a friend who is a big fan of DMC, so I might try to borrow them from him.

 

[lithiumvocals]

play the other ones, then you will feel the dissapointment

unless you just play dmc 2
in which case this game will feel like god because dmc 2 was pre sonic 06 , sonic 06

I find it hard to believe that it's that fundamentally awful in every way. Few games are as bad as that *thing*.

I do have a friend who is a big fan of DMC, so I might try to borrow them from him.

are you talking about the new one
or dmc2
to put in perspective if you plan to play it i advise you to play either dmc 1 3 or 4 before and after you go though that game

You compared DMC2 to Sonic 2006. I'm calling that into question.

 

[Nomanslander]

B-movie flair of the old Devil May Cry games

That's was a positive thing?

I always hating how brain-desolvingly stupid the old games were, but then again can't tell you if hard and edgy 5 second F-bombs are any better. But the game has been made by the same guys that did Enslaved and Heavily Sword, and if anything could have been taken for those games (other than being "Meh" in every other catagory), it was the story and characters was pretty damn good. So not sure of your argument there.

=/

 

[LtFerret]

You compared DMC2 to Sonic 2006. I'm calling that into question.

It was just "meh". The problem was that it was a squeal to one of the best hack-n-slashs ever so being meh is a huge downgrade.

 

[WindKnight]

The thing that made me facepalm was Dante and the boss flinging 'f*** you' back and forth, as well as the general crudity of its combat taunts (especially referring to dante's mother as a whore... charming).

It introduces itself as being 12,000 years old... all I could think was it sounds more like a 12 year old who'd found a dictionary of rude words.

Gameplay was solid, and interesting... but much like with Warrior Within after sands of time, the handling of the characters could really kill this for me.

 

[Arslan Aladeen]

You compared DMC2 to Sonic 2006. I'm calling that into question.

It was just "meh". The problem was that it was a squeal to one of the best hack-n-slashs ever so being meh is a huge downgrade.

Having played 2 all the way through somewhat recently, I'd say it's more than just meh. It's a hack and slash, but the weapons all feel terrible. Uou can just stand in a corner and kill just about everything with yuor guns including bosses. The levels are large, empty, boring and kinda ugly. The story wasn't good in the first one, but it had it's charm, whereas 2's story just feels lifeless. And then there's all the little things, like them reusing a boss fight from the first DMC needlessly.

 

[crono738]

Just finished it. Better than DMC2 by a long shot, nowhere near as good as 3 or 4. Also noticed quite a fe framerate hitches on the PS3.

 

[Tohuvabohu]

Just played the demo for myself. Chiming in with my thoughts now.

Having played the old games like crazy and coming into this with extreme optimism....

I liked it. I thought it was pretty good.

It did seem like Ninja Theory brought an interesting mix into the existing DMC gameplay format. If there's anything they did an undeniably fantastic job with, it's the aerial combat. There definitely is a large emphasis on it, and it feels great to combo one enemy up into the air, and drag all of his friends up into the air with you Scorpion style. Conversely, while the game does run at 30fps and it does... have an 'impact' on that old feel of the game. It certainly is by no means slow. To me, it feels like Dante can fly around the fight much more smoothly.

Although it seemed like enemy placement was a bit awkward at times. Some of the fighting zones seemed too big for the amount of enemies you were fighting at the time, and the enemies felt too spread out. It made some fights feel a tad lifeless, but thankfully the fights don't drag on very long if you know how to maneuver Dante.
This seemed like a Non-issue in Son of Sparda mode. More enemies, more powerful enemies, more attacking at the same time, including Angel/Demon mode enemies. Some of the fights did get pretty intense.

Switching between his devil and angel arms is hard to get used to, but I see what they're going for. The switching method seams in very well with the pace of combat, and once you get accustomed to the scheme, it feels great to mix in all 3 of Dante's melee weapons together in one massive combo that has him flying all over the place and dragging enemies over large distances to him.
Sure, you could do similar things in the old DMC games with the old control scheme, switching between weapons and have Dante string together crazy combos. But it's not the same. It's different. And it feels pretty good.

The Son of Sparda mode was unexpected kick in the ass. They throw a lot more crap at you, and those Angel/Demon mode enemies are pretty nasty.

Before this demo, I had almost written DmC off entirely in favor of Revengeance. But now I'm considering getting both (Maybe DmC after a price drop.)

I still need to play it more and see how Dante really feels in comparison to old Dante. I've spent so much time with old Dante, I know all of his combos and strings like the back of my hand. Going to this new Dante, the difference between them is huge, and I need more experience to really know he handles. I might see some cracks in the game the more I spend time with it, but my initial impression of it is quite positive.

It still feels quite shitty they capped the framerate at 30 on consoles, and claim the PC version will run at 60. This alone reeks of technical incompetence on NT's behalf, knowing consoles are getting the short end of the stick in this regard is huge for a game like DmC.

EDIT: Oh, and I did like the music too. At least the brawling music.
The boss music however, sucked.