So I'm basically doing a replay of all Devil May Cry (sans 2... because fuck 2) to see where I want to see the franchise explore.
I'm actively laughing at the story execution in Vergil's Downfall. Not only is a whole bunch of character motivation that was never hinted at popping up, it paints Vergil in a kind of pathetic light. Right off the bat, I'm just going to say that I assume this takes place in his head. So much of this is obviously metaphorical and would make even less sense if it were to be actually happening in hell.
Because of Vergil's Downfall, I find it impossible to see Vergil as a tragic character like Vergil in the OG series.
He's apparently in love with Kat, but basically refers to her as a lesser being that was "useful" at the end of the game and easily leaves her for dead. He's apparently deeply insecure about Dante, but this never once comes up during the game and he never once talks with Dante about it. They end up fighting at the end of the game because he made the conscious decision to deceive both Dante and Kat about his true intentions (that, he he was that oblivious about the other's motivations) and just kind of springs it on them at the last second. Then, instead of trying to talk to the other two about his intentions, he goes right to fighting Dante to the death.
So Vergil decides to kill mental versions of Kat and Dante with both Kat and Dante sounding demonic and Dante looking like this:
All while conversing with his dark subconscious in front of the holes in his heart
And the vision of Kat actually brings up DAMN GOOD POINTS! He used Dante and Kat, says just as much, and then wants to rule the world referring to humans "subjects".
He then leaves his own mother behind because "She always loved Dante more" or some shit and he sees it as a way to make himself less "weak". All done with dialogue including:
Eva: "Where's your heart?"
Vergil: "I no longer have one, mother."
And just before this, he's talking in a funny voice which was poorly delivered by the VA saying things like "Almost there....". I mean, what the fuck am I supposed to do with this?
And it's all done with poorly animated, hard to parse animation which looks like this:
Finally, he stabs his own heart (again, I'm assuming this is metaphorical) and ends up looking like:
Which actually looks more like this in game:
Again, it's really hard to see him as a tragic character like DMC 3's Vergil
because he is actively doing this to himself for little reason. And all I can think is "We gave up Uncle Dante for this shit?"
