Devil May Cry 5

[Matador]

Hey guys reviews are in and here is one you can fill your bingo card with:

"Lady and Trish return, and watching these two women, who have been typically portrayed as just as capable and powerful as the men of these games, relegated to damsels in distress with zero agency of their own or chances to shine is more than disappointing, it feels disrespectful. This is especially apparent when, around the midpoint of the game, DMC5 sexualizes both characters in consensually problematic ways."

-cgmagonline

 

[sullynathan]

I could understand not liking the game but comparing bayonetta which has almost the exact same design as a more favorable advancement of the genre is retarded


Even worse for automata and god of war where the latter completely ditched the genre and the former has worse mechanics.

 

[PrettyDeadman]

 

[DJOGamer PT]

Seeing the reviews with more attention, most of the complaints from the "harshest" reviews (and even most reviews in general) are:
-Ninja Theory's reboot take on the combat was refreshing
-Fan-service
-Nero and Dante aren't all that funny, and their cheesy cool vibe is most of the times obnoxious
-the game's main focus is combat, so it gets tiring after a while
-it does little to improve the action genre compared to it's contemporaneous
-uninteresting story

 

[Morgoth]

Review: Devil May Cry 5
2019-03-06 10:00:00by Chris Carter

Back to demonic roots


I'll never forget a conversation one of our readers had with someone who was down on Devil May Cry 5 after the reveal. Their response to another community member who felt burned by DmC: "Mate, there's a giant monster eating cars with his chest in the trailer, the game is going to be fine."

How right they were.

Devil May Cry 5 (PC, PS4, Xbox One [reviewed])
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Released: March 8, 2019
MSRP: $59.99

Devil May Cry 3 is still the gold standard for action games and I’ll take a moment to tell you why.

Coming off the ill-fated Devil May Cry 2 and saddled with directorial duties after the original seat was jettisoned, Hideaki Itsuno had something to prove. He went all-out for the third entry, packing in so many different concepts that it was almost overwhelming yet ultimately satisfying once you figured them all out. The pacing was succinct, the prequel conceit allowed the team to play around with previously conceived notions of the series, and at launch, it was one of the most challenging action games ever released (it was later revealed that originally in the West, the default difficulty setting of "normal" was actually Japan's "hard"). It was the perfect storm for an action entry that in my mind, has only been approached by the Bayonetta series.

DMC3 was seemingly the apex of action and Itsuno couldn't top it with his next effort. Although Devil May Cry 4 was on point mechanically, knocking it out of the park with two different characters, it suffered from an uneven campaign with tons of backtracking. Devil May Cry 5 feels like a genuine response to those complaints alongside a sprinkling of the secret sauce that made the third entry so great, topped with a hearty helping of original work. Even the menu sounds at the very start (like the "boom...Devil May Cry" voiceover) help set the tone.

A tone, mind, that's familiar, but welcome: a demonic force is terrorizing the world and a group of demon hunters needs to stop it. It's straightforward and basically serves as a device to thrust the entire gang (Dante, Nero, Trish, Lady, plus newcomers Nico and V) into the spotlight to take down a big bad. With trademark comedic elements and absurd style baked-in it feels authentic, like you're along for the ride. Devil May Cry 5 is just as over-the-top as the series has always been without taking itself too seriously: it's the most obvious virtue that's been put by the wayside in the past. New players shouldn't feel lost, either. Not only are the four preceding core stories relatively easy to explain, but there's also a text-crawl "history of the series" movie to watch from the main menu. Let me be clear though: if you're expecting anything mind-blowing or genre-defining, you might not need to get on this train. This is an old school-minded Bayonetta-esque action romp that doesn't pretend to be anything more.

Your chief tritagonist is Nero from Devil May Cry 4 with some newly minted gimmicks. In lieu of his now-missing arm he can utilize "Devil Breakers," clever transitory junker items that are so fragile, they'll break on a moment's notice. They're so cheaply made that they'll disintegrate if you use their ultimate power, use them to break away from an enemy combo or grab, or get hit once while wielding their power (Punch Line, a rocket fist that kind of flies around and does its own thing, is my favorite). To make up for the fact that you'll be arm-free after they've all been ground into dust, Nero also sports a pulley system for grabbing smaller enemies or propelling himself closer to big ones.

All of these abilities do a better job of keeping players in the fight than his Devil May Cry 4 kit. Nero really came into his own after I slammed an enemy into a wall then quickly grappled them back and drilled them into the ground. Where I started to click with Nero is when I realized that his Devil Breakers are completely expendable. There's no point in holding onto them once you've mastered dodging: just keep the sparks flying. Nero's enhanced focus feels more justified this time around.

Then there's the Adam Driver-ass V. He might look like a total dullard, but his wisecracking talking bird rules and so does his whole combat vibe. His whole thing is that his minions (a ranged bird, a melee panther, and a giant behemoth governed by his super meter) beat up enemies for him then he finishes them off with his magical cane. I dig it! You can control your creatures while doing other actions with V, like initiating a more pronounced shadow dodge or reading poetry (seriously) to recharge his super (Devil Trigger) gauge.

That same gauge can power-up minions in an "EX" fashion if a certain strategy is favorable, which allows you to manually adapt as you survey the battleground as a commander of sorts. His summons have combos and multi-directional abilities, so you aren't just spamming them or letting them fight. There's nothing like surfing a dark nimbus cloud to get around while you're independently operating your minion bird to shoot projectiles.

As for Dante, all four of his styles (the speed-oriented Trickster, melee-centric Swordsman, ranged Gunslinger, and defense-minded Royal Guard) return and are hot-swappable, but this time with new weapons in tow. Cavaliere, the motorbike found in nearly all of the trailers, is actually a set of twin chainsaw blades: combined with the Swordsman style, he can ride it into the fray and grind up enemies. Another, a cowboy-themed power which I won't spoil here, is one of the most unique in the Devil May Cry universe. From a series that once conceptualized Pandora's Box as a briefcase full of endless weapons, the weaponry is right on the money.

Dante's styles really are the focus though because once again the swap technique works flawlessly. One moment you might be twirling around shotguns to keep away a mob, then swap to swordsman to isolate a big threat, then in half a second throttle to Royal Guard to perfectly parry an attack, throw back the force of the blow, then use Trickster to dart away and flow back into combat with a teleport.

V and Dante (which have their own skill trees) were game-changers for me in the sense that they took Devil May Cry 5 to the next level, marrying new and old-school trains of thought respectively. All of this is present while trying to master Devil May Cry's combo system (which goes all the way up to SSS-Stylish, unlocking more intense music as you go), a kind of minigame on top of mere survival. This is a series that boasts a taunt button simply for boosting your score: not something you see often. The stylish focus is partly why Devil May Cry is still relevant.

Enemy variety quickly gets spicy. At first you'll do battle with some nasty bugs, then duel with grim reapers with thorny crowns then hooded dual-cleaver berserkers. Bosses are memorable and formidable, and several are seared in my memory with the best of them. Devil May Cry 5's environments are equally impressive and the RE Engine serves the series well. In some cases floors can fall out, leading to new zones, and there's some really expansive areas where you can see battles going on in the background. It's the kind of game that makes a commanding use of its photo mode.

Backtracking from DMC4 is eschewed in favor of different perspectives for several levels, which are thankfully optional for completion (read: stages where you can choose a character only need to be beaten once, which is rad). Load times are relatively short and pacing is on point from minute one. There isn't a lot of boring exposition and pretty much everyone gets their ass kicked by the main villain right away (who doesn't even bother to get off his throne), without an overwhelming sense of "having to power up" for ages to take him on again; more like a general drive and purpose propelling the narrative.

My complaints are few and far between, and one of them is complicated. There's a very brief (like, several minutes if you know what you're doing) "boss rush" type level with three encounters. At first I was flabbergasted at its customary inclusion, but after figuring it out I made short work of it and accepted how it slots into the big picture. Then there's the Red Orbs (which you use to buy everything, from items to abilities to revives, on top of the traditional "extra life" Gold Orbs). Remember when it was announced that Capcom was monetizing the game's currency? This is that discussion.

In short, you can buy Red Orbs in bulk, even at the time of death to revive. It's weird, in an "Xbox One launch" type of way back when it was considered new and didn't even fly then. Now if you hate the mere thought of them even being included, you can skip out, I won't be offended. But for the rest of you who are wondering if they impact natural advancement, I'd say "no." Not once did I feel like I wasn't earning enough orbs to buy what I wanted and progression felt roughly on par with the rest of the series. If you want absolutely every ability (including some of the endgame ones) you'll need to go through the campaign at least twice across two different difficulty settings: that hasn't changed.

After the campaign is done you get to keep all your skills across all three characters, plus one extra endgame power that completely changes the way one of them plays. I started working my way through Son of Sparda (hard) as soon as the curtains fell without any sort of fatigue (those optional character levels are suited for replays). There's also plenty of secrets to locate (including inventive ones with tricks like blowing up walls with V's Devil Trigger minion) and extra difficulties. Dual-audio is being patched in at launch and the classic Bloody Palace mode (challenge rooms) arrives next month. It feels complete.

I'm going to be playing Devil May Cry 5 weeks from now in the short term and years from now long term. This is the sort of fine-tuned wacky action game the genre deserves.

Well, shit. Looks like a D1P.

 

[Belegarsson]

God of War, Bayonetta 2, and Nier: Automata all stand out as stellar, modern examples of what the action genre is capable of, where Devil May Cry 5 feels like a relic of a time when it was nearly uncontested in that space.

 

[J_C]

Seeing the reviews with more attention, most of the complaints from the "harshest" reviews (and even most reviews in general) are:
-Ninja Theory's reboot take on the combat was refreshing

Says one the 5 fans of that reboot.

-Fan-service

Which is bad why exactly?

-Nero and Dante aren't all that funny, and their cheesy cool vibe is most of the times obnoxious

Shrugs, to each of his own, this is subjective.

-the game's main focus is combat, so it gets tiring after a while

So a game which is about assblasting nonstop stylish combat puts the combat into focus? Tell me more wise journalist!

-it does little to improve the action genre compared to it's contemporaneous

The DMC series is at the peak of the action genre, so it is hard to improve it even further. But its contemporaries didn't improve the action genre, that's for sure.

-uninteresting story

Subjective again.

 

[sullynathan]

The same ones complaining about lady and trish being naked and Nico bending over as fanservice are pointing out bayonetta and automata as more favorable. The former where you can also become naked in and the latter where you play as androids in schoolgirl outfits.

 

[Ivan]

loving that it's getting MOSTLY glowing reviews

 

[DJOGamer PT]

An objective non-spoilary review.

 

[aweigh]

lul check out the "live action" cutscenes in the unlockables

 

[Dedicated_Dark]

Source: https://variety.com/2019/gaming/rev...-devil-may-cry-5-1203155843/#article-comments

 

[DJOGamer PT]

Source: https://variety.com/2019/gaming/rev...-devil-may-cry-5-1203155843/#article-comments

Like past Devils May Cry, “Devil May Cry 5” focuses intensely on combat and, thus, trends towards monotony. ... Most notably, it seems sinful in a post “Dark Souls” world to make a precision action game without a dedicated dodge button. ... And that’s “Devil May Cry 5” in a nutshell. It’s fun, in the ways that the old games are fun, ... Devil May Cry 5” manages to shake off the rust and remind us why we liked these games before, but you have to work to ignore the fact that some of its moves are just a little bit out of date.

Kek.


This is kind of sad though:

If you use Gold Orbs you'll be fully revived the moment you die (even in bosses).
And apparently Red Orbs can be also used for reviving.



Guess I'll have to make a No Gold Orbs playtrough.
Also the Normal difficulty his time around seems a bit more forgiving than last entries. So for series veterans it's recommended to outright start the game in at least Hard mode.
Hopefully the higher difficulties don't have the red orb revival mechanic, because while I can avoid gold ones, having the possibility to use red orbs is very tempting.

 

[Suicidal]

Reviving with Gold Orbs mid-fight is in 3 & 4 as well. The only game without that mechanic is 1 (not sure about 2 because I never died during my entire playthrough ).

 

[Ivan]

it's a bit sad they didn't give the option for yellow orbs, but it's understandable (I didn't play the "greatest hits" version of DMC 3 so I didn't know what gold orbs did until DMC 4)

 

[DJOGamer PT]

Reviving with Gold Orbs mid-fight is in 3 & 4 as well. The only game without that mechanic is 1 (not sure about 2 because I never died during my entire playthrough ).

Never used gold orbs in 3 or 4 so didn't know about that.
Still, now allowing to use red orbs is a bit too much no?

 

[Suicidal]

Reviving with Gold Orbs mid-fight is in 3 & 4 as well. The only game without that mechanic is 1 (not sure about 2 because I never died during my entire playthrough ).

Never used gold orbs in 3 or 4 so didn't know about that.
Still, now allowing to use red orbs is a bit too much no?

Apparently 5 is not going to have consumables like the other games, so they probably added this to compensate. Still, you can choose not to use them, judging from the screenshots.

 

[sullynathan]

This may seem like a technical nitpick, but the resulting awkwardness flies in the face of “Devil May Cry 5’s” true goal: to make you feel like Nero in that title sequence, like a master in control. There’s nothing more frustrating than feeling as if a game’s controls or camera are working against you, so it’s painful whenever an enemy attacks you from behind and you know it’s coming, but you’re too slow off the “lock on” button to get out of the way. It’s not an insurmountable problem with time and training, but it’s a problem many other games have solved.

Holy shit, this is what happens when someone who is great at Nero plays like Nero from the cutscenes




These guys don't even try.

Still, now allowing to use red orbs is a bit too much no?

Yeah, the red orbs thing is very clear to me as a microtransaction thing. It gives an extra option to revive even though that's the whole point of gold orbs.

DMCV doesn't have vital or devil stars, but it still has health orbs drops. They didn't need to implement two revival systems outside of adding the whole MT stuff.

it's a bit sad they didn't give the option for yellow orbs, but it's understandable (I didn't play the "greatest hits" version of DMC 3 so I didn't know what gold orbs did until DMC 4)

yellow orbs and gold orbs are the same thing.

 

[DJOGamer PT]

According to PCGamer:

Devil May Cry 5 seems to be well optimised for PC, running at a comfortable 60 fps for the duration. There is a dedicated and comprehensive PC options menu that lets you tweak anti aliasing, lens flare, motion blur, subsurface scattering, shadow quality, shadow cache, refresh rate, and much more. You can rebind keyboard and mouse controls, though a control pad is hugely recommended.

Reviewed on GTX 970, i7-8700, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD

Could've stated what where the graphical settings, but still it's good news.

 

[Lyre Mors]

Jesus Christ. Just when you thought these fucking "journalists" couldn't become bigger parodies of themselves, DMC5 comes out. Some of these complaints are so insanely hypocritical and un-applicable to a game like this that I can tell they're complete bullshit without even playing it.

On another note, I am a little disappointed to hear there aren't any vital or devil stars in the game. I tried to very rarely use them in previous games, but I liked having the option and the flexibility they would introduce into certain situations was welcome. I wonder why they decided not to use them at all this time?

 

[PrettyDeadman]

 

[DJOGamer PT]

On another note, I am a little disappointed to hear there aren't any vital or devil stars in the game. I tried to very rarely use them in previous games, but I liked having the option and the flexibility they would introduce into certain situations was welcome. I wonder why they decided not to use them at all this time?

Purple Orbs (devil trigger stars) were probably replaced by menu upgrades. I think this changes very little, since there was very few of them throughout the game's levels.
Now for the Green Orbs (vitality stars), now that I know they were removed (from the shops because they could still be found in the levels) I guess the reason for that was the implementation of the Red Orb revival system. And really, looking back at the demo now I did felt like the enemies dropped more green orbs than usual.

 

[Matador]

Jesus Christ. Just when you thought these fucking "journalists" couldn't become bigger parodies of themselves, DMC5 comes out. Some of these complaints are so insanely hypocritical and un-applicable to a game like this that I can tell they're complete bullshit without even playing it.

It's insane they have this job. I'm not even a good Devil May Cry player, I respect a lot the depth the combat has for hardcore skilled player, and I think these games are very enjoyable for one or 2 walkthroughs without mastering all the systems. Just getting competent, overcoming the challenge the great bosses offer and play a bit with the weaker enemies with the responsive and entertaining action, and completing the game, is a joy for me.

But the people that should make an effort to give an accurate and honest information to other gamers, just think about lame politics and laboral networking. They don't love videogames and have no honor.

 

[Morgoth]

They are neither gamers, nor journalists.

What are they then?

Spoiler

Probably Demons

 

[PrettyDeadman]

Game journalists job is about producing content, not playing videogames.