DmC Review Thread (Release Date - 1/15/13) Embargo is over!
- Thread starter Dahbomb
- Start date
Heard it's meh. Edge gave it a 6. Have you played it?
hey_it's_that_dog
benevolent sexism
While I'm sure many people will treat DmC reviews that way, it's too soon too call it. It's always a good idea to treat the earliest, highest reviews as suspect. Not in the sense that they are paid for or written by PR, but in the sense that they are selected and non-representative.
Well, probably because the fanbase isn't as large (ergo rabid) for DMC, and I'd be hard-pressed to think of any element of the controls that is particularly iconic. Much of "general" DMC fandom isn't about the actual gameplay, but about Dante himself - it seemed for a long time that people were more concerned about emo teenage Dante in this game than anything else.
In short, most people don't care if the controls change in a reboot of a not massively popular franchise.
You said it needed lock-on, not that it would improve the game. If it needed something as basic as that, then it means the game is broken. When I first played the demo I was really headfucked by the lack of lock-on, but I've more than learned to play without it after a small adjustment period.
When it comes to having two buttons for evade, the logic is quite easy to grasp. Constantly holding/pressing both shoulder buttons on one side is not comfortable at all. I play DMC4 with Blue Rose set to R2 for a constant L3 charge and that's just a fucking pain, I can say that much. The way the control is set up right now allows for a pain-free way of evading whether you are holding L2 for angel weapons or R2 for demon ones. Personally, with the way the game is designed, lock-on really wouldn't bring much to the equation.
DmC is simply its own thing, and it's something that needs to be learned. Even just changing between weapon sets was weird for me at first. Now it's second nature. I agree that it feels off at first when you come in expecting something and you get another thing.
Right, it's my "attitude" that is annoying, not all the people that keep coming to DmC threads spewing bullshit hate. I'm not saying you are one of those btw.
rockman zx
Member
I'm really curious about the japanese sales, even more than the reviews. I wonder if japanese players care at all that it's developed by NT, Re:ORC did very well there and it was developed by a second class western developer.
Game's auto lock on is pretty bad though. I have played quite a few action games with good auto lock ons like Bayo and NG2... this is definitely a downgrade in that department. Precision is lacking... good thing that moves have extremely disjointed hit boxes to make sure you don't mess up.
Really? I think it works surprisingly well all things considered. BTW thanks for pointing out perfect charge Overdrive in the other thread, now I'm pulling off SSS ranking at the end of demo consistently.
Not sure if Dante is just too OP in the demo or if it's just that easy. I did use a lot of gold orbs when I first started playing SoS, so uh I dunno. But now with pretty much complete knowledge of the available moveset it's really cake.AwakenedCloud
Member
Glad to see reviewers like it thus far. Of course many are going to cry money hats, and it may even be true, but almost everything highlighted in the OP is true.
The demo stage was amazing and the environment effects they have going on are ridiculous. Everything fits and it's like watching graffiti being painted in front of you. The only addition I don't care for is the cutscenes mixed into the levels. These break the flow of things and get annoying after the 2nd or 3rd time you've been through a stage.
Basing my impression off of the demo, this is the most fun I've had with an action game since DMC3 and Bayonetta. They have modernized the combat, and while that may have rubbed some of the DMC vets the wrong way there's still an immense well of depth to it. We also have to remember that we'll have more weapons at our disposal once the full game comes around, so the truly advanced tech has yet to be seen.
Sadly, Vets will probably have to play through on Son of Sparda difficulty to get full mileage out of their initial playthrough. I wish that the normal difficulties were beefed up a bit to match vanilla DMC3, but I understand why that will never happen again. In my eyes, the transition from DMC3 to here is akin to MvC2 to MvC3. It may not be the same formula, but in my eyes they certainly didn't do anything egregious as others here have implied.
The demo stage was amazing and the environment effects they have going on are ridiculous. Everything fits and it's like watching graffiti being painted in front of you. The only addition I don't care for is the cutscenes mixed into the levels. These break the flow of things and get annoying after the 2nd or 3rd time you've been through a stage.
Basing my impression off of the demo, this is the most fun I've had with an action game since DMC3 and Bayonetta. They have modernized the combat, and while that may have rubbed some of the DMC vets the wrong way there's still an immense well of depth to it. We also have to remember that we'll have more weapons at our disposal once the full game comes around, so the truly advanced tech has yet to be seen.
Sadly, Vets will probably have to play through on Son of Sparda difficulty to get full mileage out of their initial playthrough. I wish that the normal difficulties were beefed up a bit to match vanilla DMC3, but I understand why that will never happen again. In my eyes, the transition from DMC3 to here is akin to MvC2 to MvC3. It may not be the same formula, but in my eyes they certainly didn't do anything egregious as others here have implied.
I don't get this modernized the combat stuff. DMC was always setting the standard in that area so it what way could it be considered archaic?
I've always brought this up in every DMC3 vs. 4 discussion. 3 puts in more effort to disguise it's backtracking but it's not like turning the tower was any more fun than that god forsaken jungle.
LeMaximilian
Alligator F*ck House
Speaking of the DMC series, I just went through DMC3 in one sitting since playing the original when the game came out.
Love the challenge of the game especially, but how the hell did I not remember that half the game is padding from the first half of the game? Despite the amazing combat system/replayability, once Dante falls out of the tower and revisits...the game almost does what DMC4 did and repeats a ton of the same areas for a really long time.
First 5-6 hours is so fantastic, I fell severely bummed how boring the game gets past the midway point then gets into a fantastic fight with Vergil in the end.
And for DahBomb and some DMC3 experts, what was Vergil's motivation? He wants to open the gates of the demon world, but why? Did he despise the blood of Sparta? Revenge of his dead mother? Is Vergil a hidden asshole?
Love the challenge of the game especially, but how the hell did I not remember that half the game is padding from the first half of the game? Despite the amazing combat system/replayability, once Dante falls out of the tower and revisits...the game almost does what DMC4 did and repeats a ton of the same areas for a really long time.
First 5-6 hours is so fantastic, I fell severely bummed how boring the game gets past the midway point then gets into a fantastic fight with Vergil in the end.
And for DahBomb and some DMC3 experts, what was Vergil's motivation? He wants to open the gates of the demon world, but why? Did he despise the blood of Sparta? Revenge of his dead mother? Is Vergil a hidden asshole?
hey_it's_that_dog
benevolent sexism
"Modernized" equals "they made it easier." Now a wider array of people will be able to experience playing in a way that looks skillful (and is more fun), at the expense of the elite class of players who will have less to differentiate themselves from less skilled players.
This is intended as a neutral statement; I'm not maligning either noobs or pros.
ViewtifulJC
Banned
I NEED MORE POWER/MIGHT CONTROLS EVERYTHING/
Weren't you the one lamenting no lock on in the other thread?Really? I think it works surprisingly well all things considered. BTW thanks for pointing out perfect charge Overdrive in the other thread, now I'm pulling off SSS ranking at the end of demo consistently.
The auto lock on is finicky, it's very easy for the lock on to spaz out on you and target an unintended opponent. This becomes evident when trying to do intermediate combos among group of enemies or pulling a specific enemy from a far. This is especially a problem among colored enemies.
Of course so many of Dante's moves have ridiculous hit boxes which means that it doesn't matter who you are locking on to, if you go into a group and go ham you will hit most enemies in the vicinity especially with Osiris. A lot of the way combat operates looks like a Musou game in action.
When I first played the demo yeah, but I've gotten used to it.
T.M. MacReady
NO ONE DENIES MEMBER
I COULD HAVE BEEN THE ONE TO FILL YOUR DARK SOUL WITH LIIIIIIIGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHTTTTTTTTTTTT
He actually embraces the blood of Sparda and wants the power of Sparda (the entire plot of DMC3), moreso than Dante who initially rejected his demon half. At the end he has two components of that power (Force Edge and one half of the amulet). Vergil is clearly affected by his mother's death and that's why he says his "without strength you can't protect anything". Certainly the death of his mother was motivation for him to acquire more power just like Dante was motivated to become a demon hunter. Along the path it seems Vergil lost his way in his endeavor and he got obsessed with getting that power. Vergil is not interested in opening gates of hell or becoming a demon king.
Vergil is similar to Vegeta if you want a DBZ analogy. Vegeta feels entitled to his right to power and the death of his race was his motivation to acquire more power.
LeMaximilian
Alligator F*ck House
Makes sense hearing it. Through the cutscenes, unless you really look into what he's saying it can be a little difficult to decipher why he's doing what he's doing. For some reason, I remembered Vergil having some element of good back during my first playthrough,...and he's totally not and is a power hungry mongrel. Funny how Dante just kills him in DMC1 and that's his fate after becoming Neo Angelo.
http://youtu.be/tKylh3RZBAs?t=11m38s
AwakenedCloud
Member
Exactly, that's probably what impressed me the most about the game to be honest. I wrote the game off when they said no hard-lock, but after the demo it's apparent that it's not much of an issue. Similar games in the genre which don't have a hard-lock mechanic make attacks intentionally wide and imprecise, but DmC manages to keep a solid level of precision throughout. I've whiffed a targeted the wrong enemy a couple times, but for the most part the game is dead on in weeding out the enemy I want.
Vergil shows signs of goodness in him at the end when he falls off the cliff. Although we will never really know if he had changed him mind at that point...
Capcom_plz_put_Vergil_in_DMC5
Dyni Crippler
Member
Playing the demo right now, and I totally agree with this. It's imprecise, it's somewhat lacking in combos and the style makes my eyes hurt. Not liking it at all.
Are you serious man? Someone recommend me a gif making software so I can show some of the retarded hit boxes in the game. The moves ARE wide and imprecise. Just check out the horizontal hit box of Rake, it's hilarious.
InfiniteNine
Rolling Girl
But I want the Vergil with the cool voice. >:
Glass Rebel
Member
That's almost a given, considering the Vergil DLC. I'm actually amazed that they spoiled it but I guess they had to market it somehow.
The only part of the DMC3 narrative that I don't quite get is that...Vergil is SO hellbent on acquiring this power, that he's apparently willing to KILL Dante (y'know, the only other bit of family he's got left!) in order to get it.
What did he hope to be able to "protect" if he ended up killing his own flesh and blood afterward...?
Vergil could've "killed" Dante on top of Temen-Ni-Gru if he wanted to or if he even could.
If I had just played DMC3 I would not have an answer to the 2nd question but because of the events in DMC4 he might be motivated to protect his "family" if we are to believe Nero is his son. But obviously that part of the story was not even made up until way after DMC3 so the real answer is who knows.
If I had just played DMC3 I would not have an answer to the 2nd question but because of the events in DMC4 he might be motivated to protect his "family" if we are to believe Nero is his son. But obviously that part of the story was not even made up until way after DMC3 so the real answer is who knows.
LeMaximilian
Alligator F*ck House
It technically makes DMC4, a 'bad game' as a result, despite the amazing graphics/great combat. However, after just completing DMC3 I was shocked by how much the game did a similar thing as DMC4. After Dante falls out of the tower and re-enters, the majority of the 2nd half of the game is re-used areas from the first half, a finger crunching boss rush zone and a couple final bosses. It gets super tedious in certain areas like the spider room, where you're forced to clear so many damn spiders multiple times. The padding becomes obvious, then I found out the same director/team that made DMC4 made DMC3...and everything made more sense.
They're not exactly Pulitzer material, yes. But for an action game that was born out of BioHazard, DMC had an interesting scenario, which is why I loved Shin-Ya Goikeda's novels a lot.
Far as I'm concerned, "Gilver" > Vergil.
BeautifulMemory
Member
My impression is Vergil never really kills Dante, just like Dante never kills Vergil at the end. You can see in the later portions of the game how Vergil is almost pleading Dante to see his side of things, especially they have similar motivations. And since Dante does not share the same sentiment, then Vergil seems forced to "convince" Dante through another fight, basically making Dante surrender
The Vegeta analogy is spot on.
LeMaximilian
Alligator F*ck House
Yea, voyaging back through the 'dark' castle doesn't last long but it does put a damper on the whole thing. I think I can forgive DMC1 more than DMC3 because it was hours on top of hours in DMC3 of revisiting the tower rooms with harder enemies and forced encounters. While DMC1 sailed through it fairly quick.
I just beat it and the whole experience is fresh since my first playthru back in 05, but DMC3 is long...really long. Like 10+ hours and only needed to be 6.
AwakenedCloud
Member
The scythe has a wide hit box, but intentionally so. Rebellion's hit boxes seem fair and Arbiter has a good range for its the wide swings that you take with it.
BIONIC-ARRRMMM!!
Member
Yeah, the latter half of DMC3 kinda soured me on the whole package. But honestly all Japanese action games have this weird tendency to pad their games toward the end before you get to their epic finale. They probably should just end the whole thing honestly if they don't have enough content.
The Atticus
Member
Will get this, demo had enough for me to be interested.
LeMaximilian
Alligator F*ck House
Totally agree. There's only a couple games to break this tradition, being Resident Evil 4 and Bayonetta that I've personally played.
This being a DMC thread, is it generally unanimous that Bayonetta is the pinnacle of the action gaming for future game comparisons? Or is that unfair because the game is so damn good?
Bayonetta is a better DMC game than DMC4 as far as I'm concerned.
Barack Lesnar
Banned
Is the PC version also 1/15/13?
the week after.
AwakenedCloud
Member
1/25/2012
Yea Bayonetta is the best action game of the current gen. DMC4 has best combat but Bayo is the complete, tight package.
I feel like DMC3 is split into 4 acts. 1st act from mission 1 to mission 7 when you first fight Vergil. It's the best segment of the entire game because you are getting new stuff after pretty much every mission. It climaxes with the Vergil fight and sets things in motion.
2nd act would be mission 8 to mission 13. Mission 8 is the worst mission in the game but this act keeps getting better and better as you move on (Beowulf, Nevan, Geryon fights included). Ends with another spectacular Vergil fight and ends with one of the best cutscenes plot wise in the game.
3rd act is mission 14 until mission 17. It's only 4 missions but it's the weakest part of the game because it treads through familiar territory and has you fighting mediocre bosses like Doppelganger and adds mediocre enemies like chess pieces. This acts ends with Dante going to hell.
Last act is all Dante in hell with some of the best visuals in the game environment wise. You have the ingenious boss gauntlet which is like a "choose your own fight" type thing. There is also the Chess board fight which is also pretty cool. The Arkham battle was gimmicky but fun because Vergil helps you. And of course the end with the best boss fight.
Overall I felt like DMC3 could've trimmed down the 3rd act substantially and removed the 8th level from the game. Otherwise it's an excellent action game.
I feel like DMC3 is split into 4 acts. 1st act from mission 1 to mission 7 when you first fight Vergil. It's the best segment of the entire game because you are getting new stuff after pretty much every mission. It climaxes with the Vergil fight and sets things in motion.
2nd act would be mission 8 to mission 13. Mission 8 is the worst mission in the game but this act keeps getting better and better as you move on (Beowulf, Nevan, Geryon fights included). Ends with another spectacular Vergil fight and ends with one of the best cutscenes plot wise in the game.
3rd act is mission 14 until mission 17. It's only 4 missions but it's the weakest part of the game because it treads through familiar territory and has you fighting mediocre bosses like Doppelganger and adds mediocre enemies like chess pieces. This acts ends with Dante going to hell.
Last act is all Dante in hell with some of the best visuals in the game environment wise. You have the ingenious boss gauntlet which is like a "choose your own fight" type thing. There is also the Chess board fight which is also pretty cool. The Arkham battle was gimmicky but fun because Vergil helps you. And of course the end with the best boss fight.
Overall I felt like DMC3 could've trimmed down the 3rd act substantially and removed the 8th level from the game. Otherwise it's an excellent action game.
At the end of DMC3, Vergil got humbled when he got defeated by Dante in their last fight, he accepted his loss and I think Dante's words got to him where he might start re-evaluating how he would go on, I think he would still seek to become stronger but through his own strength rather than trying to get power from other means(like residual power from his Father)
Course Mundus ruins that(even if Vergil unlocked the sword of Sparda like Dante did to get that extra boost in dmc1, he still would have wanted more)
Course Mundus ruins that(even if Vergil unlocked the sword of Sparda like Dante did to get that extra boost in dmc1, he still would have wanted more)
"God's Beard!"
Member
Bayonetta's characters and story are more offensive to me than DmC. God I hated that game. Except the secret boss, that was fun. Ninja Gaiden 2 is a better game, though.
I can't believe that anyone would think Bayonetta is a complete or tight anything other than DMC simulator.
NoirVisage
Banned
Keza MacDonald is in charge of IGN's games team in the UK and still has a shameful crush on New Dante. You can follow her on IGN and Twitter.
They've reached their market.
ha ha, watt? you're either a savant or full of rich and thick feces.
They've reached their market.
honestly, you've always had horrible taste, no surprise there.
ha ha, watt? you're either a savant or full of rich and thick feces.
SapientWolf
Trucker Sexologist
The Bayo vs DMC debate could derail the whole thread.
I feel like that DmC will get some leniency because it's not in-house and it's not a mainline sequel. If this was DMC5 from Capcpom the reviews would have made NG3 look like GOTY in comparison.