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"And then I PENETRATE.... and everyone goes home satisfied!"
Oh my god, DMC4. Beat it yesterday on normal. I should go back for son of sparda, but...I'm so not stylish XD;;; I'm probably going to fail big time.
Overall, the game was really excellent. It's been a long time since I've seen anything DMC related (the games, the manga, the anime) that was able to capture the original charm Dante had in game 1, but this time I think 4 really pulled it off. He was hilarious! And pure sex. Of course, Nero was also fantastic. Trish looked greater than ever and I loved her new voice. Graphics were great and so was the fighting. Lovely ending. I liked using Nero's Devil Bringer so much it threw me off when switching to Dante, but all in all they were a great team and it was worth it to switch between them.
The story was great. DMC games are usually not all that big on complicated story and such, but I do love a straight action bonanza. I think the only thing that was really missing was some exposition. By reading up on the characters in the library you learn that Neo was orphaned, Kyrie's family took him in, they were having a festival the day Dante showed up, etc, but none of that is presented directly in the game. They never even get around to explaining how or even when Nero got his arm (or when it changed?). The opening did a good job of showing how cute Nero and Kyrie are together, except that going into the game I had thought she was more like a sister, but that was immediately proved not to be the case from their first interaction. Kyrie didn't get to do much other than get kidnapped but I did like her, and her with Nero. Not every woman who appears in DMC can be a kick ass demon hunter, after all.
Might mean I've lost any inclination I might have had to slash Nero. I went into the game expecting to head straight for Dante/Nero, and though I think they have a great dynamic and go well together, at the moment I'm not interested at all in shipping them. There are plenty of other people (and demons) Dante can go screw (<3) and believe it or not I always feel bad about breaking up canon couples.
Gloria turning out to be Trish was something that I guessed just about one or two missions before it was revealed. I'd gone back to rewatch the cutscenes, and when they mentioned that Gloria had given them Sparda I was like, "Wait...Trish had that. OH SHIT, COULDN'T BE." But then it was. I'm a little miffed because as much as I love Trish (and I do, really) I really liked Gloria's design, and I would have liked for her to be a full character. I'm going to pretend that Trish based her Gloria persona after a real person so she can still exist in my head.
I loved Agnus. His scene with Dante near the end especially was hilarious. Credo filled a pretty predictable role but his demon form was realllly realllly pretty, so I like him a lot if only for that. Sanctus was a typical villain but it was kind of cool that he was out to destroy Hell as much as he was conquer the human world, as opposed to just being a demon bent on destruction. And The Savior was really pretty, too. There were a lot of really cool looking characters and designs in 4, which helped me forget a few of the game's shortcomings.
Which, of course, there were a few. All up through Nero's first half of the game everything was fast paced, interesting, and an absolute joy to play. With the exception of the story glossing over details I wanted to hear, I was on the edge of my seat through most of it. Berial, Bael, and Echnida were awesome looking and creative enough that it didn't matter they had very little character between them. Fighting Sanctus the first time was a blast.
I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR BULL SHIT. *POW!!!!!*
And fighting Dante was damn awesome.
But then, as anxious as I was to switch to Dante at last, when I did it was...kind of a let down. Dante himself was fabulous (lol ice nymphs). It was a little hard at first since he didn't have the Devil Bringer - it was harder to close with the enemy quickly when he couldn't just yank them over like Nero, but the challenge was good. The weapons he got were...kind of so-so. Gilgamesh seemed to have the same moveset Ifrit and Beowulf had, both of which I only ever used sparingly in their games. And though Lucifer was hilarious, it came in kind of late to the game, so I haven't had the chance to get really comfortable using it. Pandora takes too long to switch between forms, so I only ever used the bazooka against Gladuis.
And in a way, they didn't feel as personal as weapons Dante gained in the past: especially in 3 when every weapon you got was based and named after the demon you defeated to get it. Now in 4 there's a reason for that, but it didn't really mean much to get Gilgamesh when you never saw the demon it came from. It would have been cool to get a fire sword from Berial or something.
But that's a small complaint, since in most DMC games I stick to the sword anyway B:
The other tough part about Dante's portion of the game was that it was all backtracking, except for his last two levels. You go through the same areas and fight the same bosses with the same strategies (more or less). And since by that point the only story to be had was "get Dante to the other side of the island in time" some of the urgency of Nero's story wore off. In a way, it was like... filler. Ass kicking awesome hilarious filler, but still it felt kind of like Capcom was padding the game a little. Not that DMC games haven't used that formula before, but the original had around 30 missions, while DMC4 has 20, and almost half of them are "Do the same thing you did with Nero, but this time use Dante."
And...ughghhghghhgh goddamn mission 19 was a pain and a half. It's so Capcom for the last mission to be "fight every boss you've already fought (twice) yet again! I mean, I like fighting Berial, but three is a bit much, espeically when it starts to feel like a chore.
They did it in Okami, too, but in that case you had to fight the damn spider as many as 5 times. Game padding!!!
The game also seemed easier overall. Of course, that'll change when I get to Dante Must Die mode, but I didn't die nearly as many times as I did in DMC3. Which is maybe a good thing because people complained that 3 was too hard, but I love a challenge. It makes me feel like I'm getting better. But when I got to the final boss it was 1am, I couldn't concentrate, and he kicked my ass. When I woke up the next morning and fought him again, I beat him with barely a scratch. Fighting Sanctus is fun but it wasn't a terribly impressive final boss, especially compared to the 20 million forms of Mundus from the first game. When's the last time you fought a last boss that only had one form?
Anyway, that looks like a lot of complaints, but they're not really. I loved Nero, and the controls were great, and Dante was fucking awesome. I just wish they could have pushed that extra inch to add some more originality to Dante's section. And also cleared up a few things, the most important of which being
IS NERO RELATED TO VERGIL OR NOT!?!?!?
The villains talked often about Nero having "Sparda's blood" and "inherited Sparda's power" etc. It was his arm that raised Yamato, and... for god's sake, his name is "Nero." Nero Angelo. Now by DMC4 time, Vergil is already dead, having died in DMC1. I'm glad he didn't make a "personal" appearance but it seems obvious that Nero has taken over what remains of his power. Which leaves some possibilities. I haven't looked around the fandom yet to see what everyone is saying, but this is what I've come up with:
Nero is Vergil's son. Nero made it sound like something traumatic happened, and his arm, which had at one point been "normal" changed by itself into the Devil Bringer it is now. That would imply that he was born with it, but didn't realize until recently...? And if he was born with the blood of Sparda, he would have to be another son of Sparda (not likely, since everyone else seems to think he's human: he can't be that old), or a son to Dante or Vergil. But since I think Dante would catch on if he'd knocked someone up, that leaves Vergil. Which then begs the question, if Vergil actually slept with a woman, was it a human or a demon? Is Nero full demon? By the end of the game he seems to think he's going to become one, so he could actually be 100%, unlike Dante. And it's hard to imagine Vergil putting his dick in an inferior human~~~ (Unless you're one of the Vergil/Lady fans, I guess).
But then, Lady doesn't look like she's aged all that much (not more than 5 or 10 years since DMC3, maybe) so unless Nero's age is especially in question, he would have been born before DMC3, when Dante and Vergil were still teen(ish). We still don't know how old Dante and Vergil are. Since Sparda lived thousands of years ago, either his kids are that old, too, or Sparda actually lived for much longer than people think, and Dante and Vergil aren't all that much older than they look.
Do we even know when and how Sparda died? I can't seem to remember...
ANYWAY
The other possibility for Nero is that he's not a direct relative of Sparda, but maybe is possessed by the remnants of Vergil's power for some reason or another. How or why that would happen I can't really speculate on because they haven't given us enough information. I like that idea better than him being Vergil's son (mostly because I don't like Vergil) but I really ought to play DMC3 again to refresh myself. Maybe there are clues...
There were also hints long before DMC4 came out that Kyrie is actually the old woman who appears in DMC2 (or else, her ancestor) which then begs the question, where is Nero? They still have not retconned 2, and I hoe htye just decide to remake it completely, because I think there was enough in it worth salvaging. And now that the series is taking on a slightly more story-based approach, it'd be good to see them iron out the kinks and inconsistencies into some more cohesive.
Fat chance, I know. But I remain hopeful.
Lastly, Kryie has quite a booty on her. I can see why Nero likes her.
By the way, anyone know what the fandom is up to? I told myself I wouldn't peek, because DMC fandom has always been kind of a squabble of fanpoodles that I don't really want to get into... But I am always curious as to the trends going on. At the moment all I can predict is that "after Kyrie's death" is going to appear in quite a few fic smmaries from now on...
A woman who can't fight in an action game with a flock of slash-happy fangirls. Poor thing doesn't stand a chance.
Overall, the game was really excellent. It's been a long time since I've seen anything DMC related (the games, the manga, the anime) that was able to capture the original charm Dante had in game 1, but this time I think 4 really pulled it off. He was hilarious! And pure sex. Of course, Nero was also fantastic. Trish looked greater than ever and I loved her new voice. Graphics were great and so was the fighting. Lovely ending. I liked using Nero's Devil Bringer so much it threw me off when switching to Dante, but all in all they were a great team and it was worth it to switch between them.
The story was great. DMC games are usually not all that big on complicated story and such, but I do love a straight action bonanza. I think the only thing that was really missing was some exposition. By reading up on the characters in the library you learn that Neo was orphaned, Kyrie's family took him in, they were having a festival the day Dante showed up, etc, but none of that is presented directly in the game. They never even get around to explaining how or even when Nero got his arm (or when it changed?). The opening did a good job of showing how cute Nero and Kyrie are together, except that going into the game I had thought she was more like a sister, but that was immediately proved not to be the case from their first interaction. Kyrie didn't get to do much other than get kidnapped but I did like her, and her with Nero. Not every woman who appears in DMC can be a kick ass demon hunter, after all.
Might mean I've lost any inclination I might have had to slash Nero. I went into the game expecting to head straight for Dante/Nero, and though I think they have a great dynamic and go well together, at the moment I'm not interested at all in shipping them. There are plenty of other people (and demons) Dante can go screw (<3) and believe it or not I always feel bad about breaking up canon couples.
Gloria turning out to be Trish was something that I guessed just about one or two missions before it was revealed. I'd gone back to rewatch the cutscenes, and when they mentioned that Gloria had given them Sparda I was like, "Wait...Trish had that. OH SHIT, COULDN'T BE." But then it was. I'm a little miffed because as much as I love Trish (and I do, really) I really liked Gloria's design, and I would have liked for her to be a full character. I'm going to pretend that Trish based her Gloria persona after a real person so she can still exist in my head.
I loved Agnus. His scene with Dante near the end especially was hilarious. Credo filled a pretty predictable role but his demon form was realllly realllly pretty, so I like him a lot if only for that. Sanctus was a typical villain but it was kind of cool that he was out to destroy Hell as much as he was conquer the human world, as opposed to just being a demon bent on destruction. And The Savior was really pretty, too. There were a lot of really cool looking characters and designs in 4, which helped me forget a few of the game's shortcomings.
Which, of course, there were a few. All up through Nero's first half of the game everything was fast paced, interesting, and an absolute joy to play. With the exception of the story glossing over details I wanted to hear, I was on the edge of my seat through most of it. Berial, Bael, and Echnida were awesome looking and creative enough that it didn't matter they had very little character between them. Fighting Sanctus the first time was a blast.
I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR BULL SHIT. *POW!!!!!*
And fighting Dante was damn awesome.
But then, as anxious as I was to switch to Dante at last, when I did it was...kind of a let down. Dante himself was fabulous (lol ice nymphs). It was a little hard at first since he didn't have the Devil Bringer - it was harder to close with the enemy quickly when he couldn't just yank them over like Nero, but the challenge was good. The weapons he got were...kind of so-so. Gilgamesh seemed to have the same moveset Ifrit and Beowulf had, both of which I only ever used sparingly in their games. And though Lucifer was hilarious, it came in kind of late to the game, so I haven't had the chance to get really comfortable using it. Pandora takes too long to switch between forms, so I only ever used the bazooka against Gladuis.
And in a way, they didn't feel as personal as weapons Dante gained in the past: especially in 3 when every weapon you got was based and named after the demon you defeated to get it. Now in 4 there's a reason for that, but it didn't really mean much to get Gilgamesh when you never saw the demon it came from. It would have been cool to get a fire sword from Berial or something.
But that's a small complaint, since in most DMC games I stick to the sword anyway B:
The other tough part about Dante's portion of the game was that it was all backtracking, except for his last two levels. You go through the same areas and fight the same bosses with the same strategies (more or less). And since by that point the only story to be had was "get Dante to the other side of the island in time" some of the urgency of Nero's story wore off. In a way, it was like... filler. Ass kicking awesome hilarious filler, but still it felt kind of like Capcom was padding the game a little. Not that DMC games haven't used that formula before, but the original had around 30 missions, while DMC4 has 20, and almost half of them are "Do the same thing you did with Nero, but this time use Dante."
And...ughghhghghhgh goddamn mission 19 was a pain and a half. It's so Capcom for the last mission to be "fight every boss you've already fought (twice) yet again! I mean, I like fighting Berial, but three is a bit much, espeically when it starts to feel like a chore.
They did it in Okami, too, but in that case you had to fight the damn spider as many as 5 times. Game padding!!!
The game also seemed easier overall. Of course, that'll change when I get to Dante Must Die mode, but I didn't die nearly as many times as I did in DMC3. Which is maybe a good thing because people complained that 3 was too hard, but I love a challenge. It makes me feel like I'm getting better. But when I got to the final boss it was 1am, I couldn't concentrate, and he kicked my ass. When I woke up the next morning and fought him again, I beat him with barely a scratch. Fighting Sanctus is fun but it wasn't a terribly impressive final boss, especially compared to the 20 million forms of Mundus from the first game. When's the last time you fought a last boss that only had one form?
Anyway, that looks like a lot of complaints, but they're not really. I loved Nero, and the controls were great, and Dante was fucking awesome. I just wish they could have pushed that extra inch to add some more originality to Dante's section. And also cleared up a few things, the most important of which being
IS NERO RELATED TO VERGIL OR NOT!?!?!?
The villains talked often about Nero having "Sparda's blood" and "inherited Sparda's power" etc. It was his arm that raised Yamato, and... for god's sake, his name is "Nero." Nero Angelo. Now by DMC4 time, Vergil is already dead, having died in DMC1. I'm glad he didn't make a "personal" appearance but it seems obvious that Nero has taken over what remains of his power. Which leaves some possibilities. I haven't looked around the fandom yet to see what everyone is saying, but this is what I've come up with:
Nero is Vergil's son. Nero made it sound like something traumatic happened, and his arm, which had at one point been "normal" changed by itself into the Devil Bringer it is now. That would imply that he was born with it, but didn't realize until recently...? And if he was born with the blood of Sparda, he would have to be another son of Sparda (not likely, since everyone else seems to think he's human: he can't be that old), or a son to Dante or Vergil. But since I think Dante would catch on if he'd knocked someone up, that leaves Vergil. Which then begs the question, if Vergil actually slept with a woman, was it a human or a demon? Is Nero full demon? By the end of the game he seems to think he's going to become one, so he could actually be 100%, unlike Dante. And it's hard to imagine Vergil putting his dick in an inferior human~~~ (Unless you're one of the Vergil/Lady fans, I guess).
But then, Lady doesn't look like she's aged all that much (not more than 5 or 10 years since DMC3, maybe) so unless Nero's age is especially in question, he would have been born before DMC3, when Dante and Vergil were still teen(ish). We still don't know how old Dante and Vergil are. Since Sparda lived thousands of years ago, either his kids are that old, too, or Sparda actually lived for much longer than people think, and Dante and Vergil aren't all that much older than they look.
Do we even know when and how Sparda died? I can't seem to remember...
ANYWAY
The other possibility for Nero is that he's not a direct relative of Sparda, but maybe is possessed by the remnants of Vergil's power for some reason or another. How or why that would happen I can't really speculate on because they haven't given us enough information. I like that idea better than him being Vergil's son (mostly because I don't like Vergil) but I really ought to play DMC3 again to refresh myself. Maybe there are clues...
There were also hints long before DMC4 came out that Kyrie is actually the old woman who appears in DMC2 (or else, her ancestor) which then begs the question, where is Nero? They still have not retconned 2, and I hoe htye just decide to remake it completely, because I think there was enough in it worth salvaging. And now that the series is taking on a slightly more story-based approach, it'd be good to see them iron out the kinks and inconsistencies into some more cohesive.
Fat chance, I know. But I remain hopeful.
Lastly, Kryie has quite a booty on her. I can see why Nero likes her.
By the way, anyone know what the fandom is up to? I told myself I wouldn't peek, because DMC fandom has always been kind of a squabble of fanpoodles that I don't really want to get into... But I am always curious as to the trends going on. At the moment all I can predict is that "after Kyrie's death" is going to appear in quite a few fic smmaries from now on...
A woman who can't fight in an action game with a flock of slash-happy fangirls. Poor thing doesn't stand a chance.