Retro Let's Play: "Devil May Cry" (2001)

Retro Let's Play for early August 2018: Devil May Cry

Developed in collaboration between Ninja Theory and Capcom, the title was first published for the Sony Playstation 2 in 2001, and has had subsequent re-releases on PS3, PS4, XBox360, XBoxOne, and Microsoft Windows.

Long time Capcom employee Hideki Kamiya had worked on both "Resident Evil" (titled "Biohazard" in Japan) 1 and 2. Now senior within the company, Capcom asked him to direct what was intended to be "Resident Evil 4". The design of the game was to feature the RE's super powered villain Wesker, complete with his fast speed, acrobatics, and pistols. After some time, it was clear that the title was moving well beyond the slow-paced survival horror feel of RE, and Capcom management decided that the title should keep going, but under its own new IP.

Kamiya redesigned the main character completely. Inspired heavily by the manga character Cobra (anime lovers will remember him from the full length animation "Space Adventure Cobra", Kamiya came up with what he called a "cool and stylish man", named Dante. The name is a tribute to the Italian poet Dante Alighieri, and his famous poem "Divine Comedy", which captures Dante's travels through purgatory and the circles of hell.

Dante is a demon hunter, himself half human, half demon. He possess powers and skills well beyond that of a mere mortal, and uses them to hunt the demons that are responsible for the death of his own mother and brother.

Kamiya himself is an avid retro gamer, sharing a similar story to many kids of his own age growing up in a city with limited funds, being obsessed with new console and arcade video games of the 80s and 90s. He collects many older console and arcade systems for his own personal use in his home.



"Devil May Cry" invigorated the stale scrolling fighting / brawler game mechanic which was popularised in previous generations by titles like Final Fight. Initial attempts to bring this genre to 3D were quite poor, but DMC changed that dramatically. Kimiya was a huge fan of "The Legend of Zelda" series, and especially cites "Ocarina of Time" as a favourite. Inspired by its transition from 2D to 3D, and the fighting mechanics within, DMC would borrow swordplay elements from that, but include fast, dramatic combos both on the ground and in the air (inspired by recent Capcom arcade fighting games) as well as use of guns in the combos. Combos in-game are rated on their "cool" factor, mostly about how many hits are used and the variety of attacks within each combo. Enemies would vary from human sized to enormous, and add to the dramatic and demonic feel of the title.

Kamiya would go on to work for the Capcom dream-team, Clover Studio, designing titles like Viewtiful Joe and the amazing Okami. Upon Capcom's (very stupid) decision to close Clover Studio, Kamiya would be part of the team that founded PlatinumGames, producing the heavily DMC-inspired title Bayonetta.

In the West, many would be inspired by DMC. "God of War" would appear 4 years later with mechanics borrowed from DMC. "Dante's Inferno" 9 years later, borrowing not only the mechanics of the title, but also the main character's inspiration. "Darksiders" too borrowed both the mechanics, as well as the themes of demons and battling through purgatory and hell.

Plenty of sequels would follow. 2, 3 and 4 in the main series, a modern reboot with stylised title "DmC", and a fifth due in 2019.

Dante would make appearances in other titles, such as Viewtiful Joe and Marvel vs Capcom 3. A Dante skin also features in Street Fighter V.

More information:

* Wikipedia, original game: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil_May_Cry_(video_game)
* Wikipedia - series: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil_May_Cry
* HG101 Top47K games podcast episode 30 - http://media.blubrry.com/hardcore_g...k.net/gameclub199x/podcasts/030_Top_Games.mp3

Playing the game:

The title has seen many re-releases over the years, and can be easily picked up on modern platforms. A HD collection was released containing the first three titles in the series, which is available digitally on many paltforms:

* Steam / PC / Windows - https://store.steampowered.com/app/631510/Devil_May_Cry_HD_Collection/
* PS4 - https://store.playstation.com/en-au/product/EP0102-CUSA09263_00-DMCHDC0000000000
* PS3 - https://store.playstation.com/en-au/product/EP0102-NPEB01188_00-DMCCHDDIGITAL000
* XBoxOne - https://www.microsoft.com/en-au/p/devil-may-cry-hd-collection/bvnrff9xj6km
* XBox360 - https://marketplace.xbox.com/en-au/Product/DMC-HD-Collection/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d8024343081e

Original PS2 box art:



Long Play (HD collection footage):

 

Loved this one, the story I heard was that there was a bug in RE that made the zombies glitch and jump up into the air, then if you shot them they would stay up there, which inspired the gameplay mechanic of what was to become DMC.

I think DMC4 was the first one I played on XBOX360, then got the HD collection and went through the first two (played 2 very briefly in the PSX days) the detail in the level design is incredible.

the new DMC was ok, the anime series is good even though Dante is basically a completely different character.

might blow the dust off this one

 

If anyone attempts this on a PS2 emulator, please let us know how it handles.

 

Needed to update my old OpenPS2Loader install to get this working over SMB on my PS2. Updated from 0.8 to 0.9.3, and all is well.

Didn't have time to actually play the damned thing (always the way with retro gaming - you spend more time setting up than playing). Scheduling some time in early next week when I get a minute to myself.

 

Had a quick go of this, HD collection edition on PS3 on a CRT, first time i've plugged anything but a HDMI cable into it, vaguely recall the PS3 was of the generation where not everyone had a "good" TV. (Thinking of which I'm pretty sure my XBOX360 won't output over HDMI....)

Kinda remember the way it went last time now, quite boring at the start, can't remember if it got much more interesting very quickly. Won't be sinking much more time into it.

If there is a current voting thread I can't find it, but I want to nominate Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem for next month, as I'm on my 3rd consecutive play-through on it so I can see the special extra short video clip that i've already seen on youtube, and because I think the game is great.

 

I haven't had a chance to get near it yet due to working 13x7 at the moment, but I've got some time scheduled for it later this week.

Word is it starts slow (again, that "Resident Evil" legacy), but gets pretty hectic once you get a few moves under your belt, and the combos start flowing.

Worth watching some expert level videos on it to see what a little bit of practice gets you. This game is heavy on technique, and it pays to practice. That means a slightly higher barrier to entry than other games, but it gets rated highly for fun factor from people who got there.

 

DMC HD Collection was a free game with Twitch Prime a few months back, definitely worth playing.

 

I remember playing DMC4 on PS3, didn't care for it, was 1 or 2 worth playing? Also was DMC 4 different from the first 3?

 

I started 4, but can't remember much from it. I told myself at the time I should play at least 1 before diving into 4, so I was waiting for it to come up in the "Let's Play".

 

They are all pretty similar, if you didn't like 4 at all I'd suggest not bothering with any of them.

DMC 5 has been announced, could be OK but looks a bit cringe at the same time. Based on the trailer/teaser Nero is the main character.

 

Finally back home after being interstate for work for a while, and got 45 minutes to play this tonight.

First up, as a busy human/dad, I wish game developers would let me save anywhere I want. Yes, I know people ruin games by save scumming, but that's their problem. I can't wait 20+ minutes between save points, because sometimes I get less than that per day to play games. Anyways rant over, moving on.

The pacing of this is very interesting. I played a little bit of DMC4 on PS3 ages back when I picked it up from a bargain bin sale. DMC1 is much slower paced, but the combo system feels more deliberate. A few minutes of play and I'm already picking up better combos than I did in much more DMC4 play.

The "Resident Evil" lineage is very obvious, with the flxed camera positions. At first it annoyed me, but as I go through the game (finished mission 1 and 2 so far), I'm getting used to it.

One gripe was I missed something in mission 2 - I saw two possible paths, chose one at random, and it led me to mission clear. But there was an object I didn't interact with, and now can only get to by replaying the level. I saved my game in a different slot, but I feel this is going to be one of those games I need to play a couple of times to see everything, which I find particularly annoying as someone with not a lot of free time (ask me why I don't play JRPGs nor Resident Evil games).

I'm getting used to the slower pace of the game compared to modern titles like "God of War", "Darksiders" and "Bayonetta". But again, I'm keen to see where this combo system goes.

Still willing to drop a few more hours into this yet to see where it goes.

 

I spoke too soon. The Spider boss reminded me why I hated early 2000s Japanese games.

Not sure if I have the patience for this sort of shit any more.

 

OK spider boss beat, but only because I watched a guide. Indeed, I am too impatient for this sort of shit. Let's see how much more I can tolerate.

 

From memory the only boss that gave me the shits was the blobby one with dots or portals or something all over it, that took a while to beat. I never really got the combos in any DMCs, guess I'm not the player for this kind of game.

 

Word has it that watching Kamiya play this game shows how it's "supposed to be" played.

I can't get the combos either, but I haven't upgraded very far. Nothing more that 1-2-upper-gun-sword type stuff. I think I need a few sword upgrades before more spectacular stuff can happen.

 

OK, I'm done. I'm finding this entirely tedious and frustrating.

I'm sure there are folks who like the challenge of this sort of game. Everything about it is deliberate and designed on purpose, and you're forced to play this game the way it wants to be played, and with no "free style" of any description. But I just feel like that puts me in a box, and makes everything feel like a grind. There are plenty of old school games out there that I'm happy to conform to and play them the way they're meant to be played, but something about this just doesn't sit right with me (very much like Resident Evil too).

Not for me.

 

Currently on special for XBox 360 owners as part of Capcom's publisher sale:
https://marketplace.xbox.com/en-AU/Product/DMC-HD-Collection/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d8024343081e

Also on XBOne, but the price is much higher, unfortunately.