I love how he’s not afraid to goof off and make a fool of himself (silly Bruce lee impressions, Michael Jackson dance) and even get up on a pole and work it. That’s a sign of someone who’s confident in his masculinity
I like that Nero is both red and blue, it shows that he takes after both Dante and Vergil. But blue and red together is purple, showing that Nero takes after Sparda the most, even more than Dante and Vergil. Dante and Vergil both initially disregard part of their blood while Nero accepts both, seeing his demon side as necessary power to protect his human side - his family. By the end of 5 no one remembers the disaster the Qliphoth is causing except Nero, he's fighting his own kin to protect humanity, just like ol' grandad.
I feel there is something to be said about how Nico charges you for Devil Breakers, whenever you'll visit her shop, yet she'll also just so happen to drop bunch of them around the levels on Nero's route for him to pick up free of charge. Seems to me she'll project an image of maintaining outwardly business oriented relationship and lets Nero use her fruits of labour and engineering under the notion she's too proud of her work to just give them out to you for free, but actually she's willing to just discard those "works of art" on the side of the road for the simple prospect of it potentially helping out a friend in need; a form of help that stands to become all the more prominent, if Nero/the player cannot afford to buy her services.
V is also carrying Devil Breakers during the Malphas fight, so either he is finding them lying around or Nico is giving them to V because he’ll be on the field with Nero.
well in harder difficulties she's like "fuck you lmao" and doesn't do it. i think it would have been cool if they did it the other way round where they give you more in harder difficulties (but not of powerful ones like ragtime or buster) to encourage more breakages and stylish experimentation
@@dankerbell Yeah well, the harder difficulties are locked behind the initial playthrough, meaning Nero would by default have unlocked his Devil Trigger for those and thus isn't as heavily reliant on Devil Breakers as with the first go around. They're still really useful ofcourse, but not an essential crux Nero would need inorder to make up for what he had lost and so Nico wouldn't need to worry about Nero ending up dead on the field for not having any. With game completed also comes easier access to full Devil Breaker magazines and prehand knowledge of whats on each level, making it way easier to plan your loadout effectively. Ofcourse with the Special Edition and DLC out, now you can technically cheat the system by completing the game on Vergil campaign, ulocking the higher difficulties and jumping straight into Dante Must Die for your first story playthrough, but it's not exactly recommended.
Actually Vergil has some sort of a "Ranking" Mechannic as well, that some people don't know about. When Vergil does a taunt in the air, instead of taunting he does an attack with his summoned swords that can launch enemys... HOWEVER if you use that taunt while having at least an "S-Rank" or higher in your Style meter, than he does His DMC3 variation of "Aerial Rave", the original Yamato air attack! That is awesome for combos and it is a nice reward for achieving an S-Rank... yes, not SSS-Rank, but it still is something!
One thing I noticed in DMCV. Vergil's 3 million orb taunt is his doppelganger dancing. And while this may be just for laughs, his doppelganger is actually a projection of his own soul. So if his doppel is dancing and he's not, then his doppel is how he really is. And his actual personality is just a mask
Everyone already knows Dante as the wacky woohoo pizza uncle, but nobody ever bothered to ask his brother Vergil, if he in fact, wanted to be ‘wacky woohoo’ too.
And then there’s also the fact that he has Doppelganger in the first place. Most other Devil Trigger abilities are some form of enhancement or transformation, but Vergil has a summon. This could be because Vergil’s pretty tactically-minded and he’d make good use out of having more pieces on the board, which could be supported by how Doppelganger needs some cleverness and spatial awareness to make full use out of. But it could also be that Vergil doesn’t want to admit he needs help, so he uses demon power to make his own help.
It just adds to Dante and Vergil’s duality. Dante puts on a goofy mask but he’s actually depressed and Vergil puts on a cold emotionless mask but he’s actually goofy on the inside.
@@bubbajoe117 If i recall, there's also implication that Dante's cheery attitude is a mask, too. I've only played 5, but I've been told that in other media there's hints that when not on the job, Dante basically hangs around at home basically being a sad loser. At the least, he's incapable of taking care of himself financially or domestically (that couch lets out a fat plume of dust when Morrison sits on it, the utilities are getting cut off, etc). The Sparda brothers are just as similar as they are different, huh
about Nero and Breaker move. i think it is less of a "he is a tryhard and willing to pay everything to achieve his power/coolness", but more of a "he is a tryhard that will go above and beyond because he know a very trust worthy person has his back". Nero and Nico relation feels like a real sibling despite not growing up together and what a good sibling do? they shit talk and butted head each other, but they still respect each other enough to tolerate bullshit their sibling cause.
This also feeds into the fact you can find breakers all over the place. No matter where he is, Nico’s never far behind, and always ready to give everything she can to the cause. The only time there aren’t any breakers in a level is mission 20, where Nero is wrapping up his family’s conflict. Things have gotten too personal to involve Nico.
@@goroakechi6126 There's also the whole plotpoint of Nero regrowing his arm back in that mission, which means he couldn't even use Devil Breakers on his first go around of that mission and the credit-fight cutscene establishes how Nico had to rework their design so Nero could wear them like a mechanical glove, inorder for their use in proceeding playthroughs to make sense.
@@dankerbell Not a literal glove, but for purposes of how Nero uses them from there on, they're more like gloves than prosthetics to him and Nico did have to remodel them for that.
Just to add to Nero "overcompensating". Nero modified his Red Queen. Knights of the order of the sword use Exceed as well but not to the same extent as Nero that it flings then across a room. Nero modified his own sword to be so overpowering. He's something of a "lone knight". He's not well-accepted among his peers because of his tendencies and his modifications to the Order's equipment.
And his use of a gun since the order tries to emulate sparda they have only swore on using swords and whatnot also Nero is said to be a atheist so yeah he's a full on lone wolf and the only people he'll be comfortable to be with are credo and kyrie
@@cooperchance7720 well when he helped the and ruled over he probably mainly used his swordsmanship skills and magic and so the order probably only saw that and thought he only used those
Sin Devil Trigger and especially Quadruple S are the greatest addition to Devil May Cry 5 in my opinion. While it makes Dante special - it's a shame other characters don't get rewards for getting higher style ranks [like my boy Nero]
I get what you mean, but at the same time, I think is great design when characters in a game interact with the systems and mechanics of it differently otuside a common skeleton design. It creates variety.
Well, the rocket devil breaker which the name i don't remember right now allows you to ride it for longer on higher rankings lol, i get that it's not nearly as cool or proeminent as Quad S but hey
Something I love pointing out to my friends is that the activation condition for Quadruple S is tied purely to how cool Dante thinks he is in the moment (SSS), which implies that as long as he is feeling cool and stylish, he can tap infinitely in and out of a power that usually leaves him weak after its use without any drawbacks. Vergil also gets stronger the cooler and more "in the zone" he feels thanks to the Concentration gauge, as long as you're playing in a way that Vergil thinks is cool. All in all, a lot of the mechanics imply that their emotional state is essential to how they function as combatants and work together to outline their personality in their respective playstyles. If you play them in-character, you're rewarded with more player expression and attack variety, which is something that I think is often overlooked in other action games.
Another note about vergil in DMC 5, is how he gains DT. By taking. His. Time. You HAVE to plan in extra time after a combo finisher, so you can get DT. furthermore, he can enter SDT for a short time without draining it. He has immeasurable resources, but always considers WHEN to spend it, keeping even more control. On the exact opposite end is Nero. With him, his DT is just yet another thing he WILL throw at his enemies. Nero is endless aggression in so many forms, and they add to an orchestra. You can view him as a try hard. However I would argue that this is contradicted by the game. The game makes it seem like he is a try hard... Right until he slaps the hell out of his father and just ... Disrespects his uncle, in much the same way said uncle disrespected him. In effect calling both of them stupid for caring so much about flexing instead of doing what actually needed doing.
Your analysis of Nero works in synch with Itsuno's description of him as a "Sink or Swim Character", what became the reason why most of his moves are called after Casino/Gambling Terms. Also... 24:13 FUCK YEEES!!! Bring my favorite Boss back and make him PLAYABLE, Itsuno!
9:20 this explains sooo much about the character. I mean, in 5 he literally lost an arm to a guy that's so powerful to beat Dante, then gets offered to get payback, what does he do? He goes fighting one armed to THAT SAME GUY cause he remembered himself being "good fighting with just an arm". However, I would also say that that shows how optimistic and looking-the-glass-half-full sort of guy he is. Like, how willing he is to look at things that way.
Personally, there is one last major element that I'd consider to be a "resource" of sorts that you touched on somewhat, particularly during the DMC4 analysis, but never quite got to. This would be each character's weapon selection. Sure, this is more of a resource in-universe than in the gameplay aside from your first run as Dante where you build up your resource over the course of the run, but I think the weapon selection says a lot about each character. Granted, I've only beaten 3 and 4 at this point, so I can't really give a comprehensive overview, but I've definitely noticed some notable trends here. Nero needing to prepare himself ahead of time, building himself up and ensuring that he is ready to compensate for his lack of experience, this is all supported by the fact that he only has one sword and one gun. He isn't great at on-the-fly changes, he knows these specific weapons intimately and isn't going to drop all of the practice he's got with them to pick up something new. Any other weapon he gets along the way, whether it is Yamato in 4 or the Breakers in 5, are transient. He needs DT or extra resources to use them, he can't use them as reliably. He is barely hanging on to what little control he has with the stuff he already knows, throwing in something new completely puts him off balance. There is also probably something to be said for how Nero also relies upon technology in comparison to the Sons of Sparda using magic-infused weaponry. In 4, Nero's demonic heritage was something he was afraid and uncertain of, something he felt would be ostracizing. As such, he uses almost exclusively machines of human origin. Then, when the primary symbol OF that heritage is taken from him in 5, he further relies upon his 3/4 human nature by replacing his arm with even more machinery. Granted, I think there may be SOME demonic power involved with his weapons? (I get the impression that his home city's technology probably used some demonic influence to achieve their successes, and I'd be surprised if the DEVIL Breakers didn't have ANY demonic power.) Even so, his tools of the trade are definitely more of human origin. This contrasts nicely with Vergil. He ALSO uses a pretty consistent weapon set, though in this case it seems to stem from his desire for perfection. It also has questionable relevance for in-universe narrative since he probably shouldn't have 2/3 of his arsenal like half the time. He also contrasts Nero's reliance on human technology, with all of his weaponry instead having definitively demonic origin instead. Once again, Vergil downplays his human half to minmax demon power. Then finally we have Dante, the one character that we see build up an arsenal of weaponry as an actual resource from game to game. He's seen it all and can play things by ear. He has his classics, his sword, pistols, and shotgun, but he is perfectly fine picking up whatever else he happens to come across with both the experience and demeanor to play things by ear and try whatever wacky thing might come to mind. Most of his guns are human weapons, and as far as I'm aware all of his melee weapons are demonic in nature, representing how he is the character who is most in balance between his demon and human sides among the playable roster. Of course, at first Dante couldn't use EVERYTHING at once, restricted to one style and a pair of guns and melees each. However, by the time of 4 he can switch up his style, both literal and metaphorical, in any way he wants at any time showing just how much he has come since the days he started up shop. I think it speaks to a certain openness to experimentation that comes with certainty of one's self. He knows who he is and what he is about, being confronted with something new isn't going to be some earth shaking revelation to him. He has the mental fortitude and plasticity to adapt to whatever comes his way. Oh also, maybe the DT gauge in 5 is purple because it is increased via purple orbs? Purple = Magic in the DMC world, it would seem. Might serve as a way to indicate just how powerful Sparda was if his associated color was purple, just absolutely radiating magic power all over the place. Unless DMC5 doesn't have purple orbs I guess, I dunno I haven't quite looked at progression THAT in-depth yet, but I'd be very surprised if they were gone.
Devil Breakers indeed have demonic powers in them. The first one that Nico made (Overture) was build with the core of a Blitz demon as base, and all other ones are similarily made from materials leftover by the enemies Nero defeats. Gerbera has Artemis' core, Punchline has Goliath's, Rawhide's bladed chain is made out of Gilgamesh' carapace and so on. In a way, in 5 Nero is like Dante in terms of using his enemies as weapons, but instead of taking the literal way of doing that like Dante he instead relies on his Nico's tech skills to channel that demonic magical power through the human technology he is used to
I love the music comparison I've seen someone make somewhere in the internet, where each of the three protagonists' gameplay styles and animations are associated with music genres. Dante being the most free-form of all three, effortlessly attacking, defending and switching styles and weapons on the fly; can be compared to a jazz band, with a large variety of instruments (weapons) performing their own flavour of sound, with both the freedom and the encouragement to indulge in improvisation and virtuosity on the way. I would describe Nero more as "emotionally intense" character than a "tryhard". His arsenal is more limited than Dante's and his animations show a much sloppier style of combat (he overextends moves, multiple sword attacks look more like he's bashing the blade on the enemy, rather than deliberately cutting them, etc.). In a way, he's like punk music, simple, but passionate and intense in every moment, like a hardcore punk band performing at an improvised venue for an audience of passionate youngsters. Vergil's deliberate fighting style is harder to associate a music genre to, but I think it can be compared to something like a post-rock band, or maybe even prog. Both share a common ethos of control, where style is constructed through deliberate structuring and composition, rather than the free-form aspect of Dante's gameplay.
One general mechanic I would like to bring up is weapon swapping, specifically in DMCV. Dante can’t go from one weapon to another without organization beforehand. It’s impossible to go from Devil Sword Dante to Balrog OR Cerberus. It’s one or the other. This displays Dante’s Uber-confidence. No matter what’s in his hands, he can use it to be as stylish and deadly as ever. Meanwhile, Vergil only has three weapons; his birthright, the Yamato, a mirage of his father’s power, and a monument to his victory over Dante’s defeat. And unlike his brother, Vergil has access to all three at all times. He will use exactly what he needs to end a fight as fast and as efficiently as he can, and thus, he has all options open at all times.
Am I the only rare few dante players who feels very anxious and uncomfortable without 6 devil arms and 4 guns slotted in? Like I love a toolkit the size of a warehouse I would always feel at home with having so many tools to use I would often think of Rebellion and Devil Sword Sparda in my kit as like the Phillips and Flat screwdrivers, then DSD as the power screwdriver in a way
@@legendarydigitize2523 I mean I guess that's fair but it's kinda pointless to be carrying both Sparda and Rebellion. I think Sparda has slightly bigger hitboxes like DMC 1 but other than that they're identical.
i don't get what this comment means, why isn't it possible to swap from dsd to balrog or cerberus? of course it's one or the other, you can only use one melee weapon at a time in dmc unless mirage edge. and how does that of all things prove dante's confidence? surely the fact that he has multiple weapons and can use them all masterfully with no prior training is more of a reason to believe that than "he can't swap weapons" (even though he can). unless you mean the ability to swap weapon placement in your loadout but that doesn't make any sense either. what does it mean
and also baldandknuckles is right, you can either press the button multiple times to swap or just use the button the scrolls the weapon wheel the other way. literally all high-end players do this. and i'm pretty sure vergil having beowulf in 5 isn't canon, he lost it to dante in 3 and then dante sold all his weapons from previous games. so why they went to the effort of making him have mirage edge instead of just reusing force edge even if it doesn't exist anymore is beyond me, he doesn't use anything except yamato in his fight while dante uses every weapon he has, meaning they're all canon
This is one of the things I love best about Devil May Cry. How it characterizes it's characters through gameplay. I legitimately think Hideaki Itsuno is up there with Hideo Kojima as a visionary in gaming in many ways I think he is better. No joke I was playing DMC and my girlfriend came up and saw me playing as Nero and she said "he seems angry". Which yeh Nero is pretty Angry. She ahs never played Devil May Cry and doesn't know anything about these games other then me playing them. Shows you how good Nero is characterized through gameplay alone. A game that does this badly is the recent Bayonetta 3. In Bayo 3 a major part of the game is summoning big demons to fight for you. Bayonetta in this game and all the previous ones was characterized as this FEMDOM MOMMY DOM GODDESS. Yet in Bayo 3 she sits on the side and dances for these demons like a Cheerleader. Yes she did summon demons in the previous games but it was connected to her and she was in control.
Knowing all about a character just by looking at him is really important from a design standpoint, and many people don't really value the effort they put in them, I mean, if you look at sonic and Dante, they're obviously very different characters, but you'd still be able to feel the same energy coming from them, Dante looks like the type of guy that doesn't take their enemies seriously, he's having fun in this adventure, and sonic is similar in the way that he looks like an energetic character that also looks like he's in more for the fun of it than anything else
If you buy into the theory of Bayonetta 3's lead being the adult little Cereza from Bayo 1, then it actually does cause changes in the character's gameplay and demeanor (as well as some plotpoints feeling very undercooked in third game) make some sense, even though every game potentially being different variations of the same characters does feel like quite a bit of a cop-out answer to things seeming inconsistent from game to game.
One thing I noticed playing DMC5 after watching this video is Nero's and Dante's titles. In DMC5, in character select, every character has a title along with their names. V is "The Mysterious One", Vergil is "The Alpha and the Omega", and Nero is "The Devil Hunter". But Dante? He's "The Legendary Devil Hunter".
To add to the meter colors (of all things in your vid, I know), since you didn’t mention them, but Exceed and Charge Shots colors represent the weapon they’re attached to, reddish flames for Red Queen and blue bullets for Blue Rose. I know it’s been months, I don’t know if you’ve already knew this, so yeah.
There's something you could've brought up with vergil, and that's he never uses guns. Except for the dmc3 jackpot scene. I believe this is just him expressing himself more and his personality. He doesn't need to rely on guns to help him in combat, but rather magic shooting swords that are badass.
Funny enough, all the guns of Dante with maybe the exception of Kalina Ann use demonic energy as the source of ammo. So lorrewise they aren't really different from making swords, I presume that it maybe ties in to Vergil not wanting to rely on others, but only himself, and using tools to channel demonic energy made by others doesn't sit well with him.
@@andreadebernardis4390 It's a bit more than just having infinite ammo If that's all it was those pistols would've went to shit a long time ago with how fast and nonstop Dante fires those things
@@KappaJones Yes, there absolutely is more going on there, as evinced by the fact that you can enhance the ammo of any gun by using Gunslinger mode or popping DT - even the Kalina Ann's missiles, which is a lot of fun. Also, a touch I very much appreciate: Dante's guns, as most players will know, are called Ebony and Ivory. In nature, ebony is black, ivory is white, and the guns have a similar contrast in that Ebony fires slower, booming shots whereas Ivory fires rapid smaller shots. Dante's SDT has two ranged attacks that mirror this: The Ombra and The Luce, or The Dark and The Light - and yes, just like Dante's pistols The Ombra fires slower but bigger projectiles whereas The Luce *swarms* the enemy with smaller ones. Normally, Dante can use Devil Energy to fire projectiles and even charge his shots, but he still needs a weapon to channel that energy through. In SDT form, he becomes so ridiculously powerful that he just WILLS projectiles into being.
I always saw Vergil’s lack of desire to use a gun stemming from the fact that they’re manmade weapons and require aim and focus to use properly, whereas his swords are multi-purpose , never miss a locked on target and he can use them while doing anything else. Sorta playing into that vibe of Vergil wanting to maintain control and also not relying on the tools of the humans he holds in lower regard than demons
Just to add some info, the dance in kick mode of balrog is capoeira, it's a brazilian martial art focused in kicks, the dance can actually be called ginga (/ji/nga) the rhythmic movement Dante does in kick mode. The point of ginga is to be unpredictable which fits Dante personality.
37:00 i think the rage makes sense. Dante doesnt like doing it so everytime he does this, he gets angrier because hes not doing the other type of fighting.
little addition, Dante in 3 actually somewhat was using style meter as a resource, so when he does million stabs on below S rank, he does like in half or so less stabs, same goes to each weapon, and also in 5 Nero has similar thing, although i noticed only on punchline, when he does surf on it, higher rank means longer surfing time
Ok so, in regards to your little outro segment, some connections I've made with Nero's two resources. Charging the gun requires continuous _concentration._ Charging exceed requires skilled _control_ and execution of your inputs. Charging the gun is a continuous neutral action, you can do it while standing still. Getting exceed at a reasonable pace during a fight can only be done by playing well, and your reward is your most stylish attacks. Blue and red, Vergil and Dante, the playstyles of Nero's two weapons are literally pulling him in the directions of both of his father figures. Hell, the gun charge could even be Nero's version of Vergil's sword beams, both have them continuously and effortless pour out their demonic energy into a projectile, it's just that Nero's is charged into a burst attack, whereas Vergil can fire an indefinite stream of swords. Exceed is tied to a sword, it and the mechanic styled after a _motorcycle,_ and releases plumes of red fire when used. All things that you can tie back to Dante.
23:45 *YES! OMG YES!* too many times we see reboots and even sequels that act as if they HATE the original material and it's fanbase, and when the product they make has an absolute terrible reception they literally don't know why
Another comment I would like to bring up about Vergil's character that's shown through gameplay is that he doesn't use non demonic abilities. Nero and Dante have guns that are modified to kill demons yes but are still weapons of the human world and Nero's blade isn't of demonic origin either. While as Vergil straight up refuses to use any of these weapons except for once just to humor Dante. It's representative of his desire to shun his humanity.
Hopefully if they make a dmc6 game he'd learn to use more of humanitys craftsmanship like him turning V's cane into a fencing sword that relies on stabs and light slashes and using trick abilities to basically move forward back left right in sacrifice of going up and since it is said that it had demonic material in it even if it's only so little I'd love to see the Bowser squad basically be in it like being able to shoot griffon's lighting shadows thrust ability or slices and nightmares laser I'd say that would be a cool addition
Speaking of Nero's gameplay and style being about taking risks and betting odds, it's really nice that all his Red Queen moves are named after gambling. That philosophy was expanded upon in 5 and the many people that groan about how breakers can't be switched just don't get the essence of Nero as a character.
About the ending, Sparda's color is indeed purple. If you beat Dante Must Die mode in 1, the costume is unlocked, Legendary Dark Knight Sparda and he wears a purple cloak, this was also later reused as a bonus costume in DMC3 for Dante in the Special Edition only I think. Also, kickass video, this is such a niche topic yet the views are trending pretty well, means that RUclips is recognizing the quality of the videos. Great job my dude keep it up.
I know this is ten months late but I was thinking about this today and I was thinking about why Dante's moveset is so vastly different in Sin Devil Trigger in comparison to Vergil's. Mechanics-wise, it could be argued that it's for balancing (which would explain why Dante doesn't regain Health in SDT). Lore wise, maybe it's because SDT is the brand new super form and Dante may or may not have a full grasp of its capabilities yet in spite of how much power the form itself has. One could also argue that due to how powerful Dante's SDT moves are, he's using these moves as a testament to his power. Or a sign that he's reminding his foes that he's not to be taken lightly, even if he himself is taking his foes lightly. Going back to the "lack of full control" angle I said, it could also explain why Vergil's attacks don't change from his normal moveset when he enters SDT. (Yes I know he gains extra moves in SDT but overall his moveset itself doesn't change much.) Mechanics-wise, this doesn't really say much but lore wise, one could argue that Vergil has much more control over SDT over Dante. Urizen gained the power of the Qliphoth fruit and, after V merged with him, Vergil retained that level of power, but why did his moveset in SDT barely change? Because he's found a firm center or foundation once his demon and human sides have merged again. Before, Vergil valued his demonhood more than his humanity, which resulted in the level of power between Urizen and V being so vast. But now that both sides are unified again and Vergil has grown in both strength and as a person, this unity means that he's gained greater control of the incredible might that Urizen had that the latter may not have had due to being so narrow minded in focusing only on power and nothing else. SDT became Vergil's default demon mode after this, otherwise he'd have a normal DT with a SDT form to switch to like Dante does. But instead of DT, Vergil has his clone, further proving my point of SDT now being Vergil's default Demon form. (I could just be rambling but I hope I made sense with my theory.)
On basic level their Sin Devil Triggers also reflect their approach to having a toolkit; Dante's SDT acts as a separate super powerful component from rest of his arsenal, whereas to Vergil it provides a massive boost to what tools he is already using. Though interestingly their normal Devil Triggers also work the other way around now, Dante's still being a boost to arsenal he already has, while Vergil's has become more of its own separate power move. Suppose it could be another way to highlight differences in how two of them have grown, yet how one's knowledge of other's strengths and their shared connection has also informed the process for both, and ultimately they've come to form their personalized versions of the same conclusion and self-acceptance. A proper Yin-Yang dynamic; they're the same, yet the opposite.
Great Video. Good scripting, jokes land, editing is top notch, and the topic you're presenting is very well researched. Keep this up and you'll grow your channel in no time, espeically with the youtube algorithm favoring smaller creators as of late
I've described DMC as being the most video game before. Games tell their story through design, audio, story and mechanics, but it is rare for all of them to be in agreeance throughout. DMC as a franchise balances them beautifully and ends up with goofy and fun Shakespearean gothic dramedy that asks what it means to be human.
You can't convince me Trish doesn't like to throw things, the only time we see her use Sparda in 5 is when she throws it to Dante, even Cavaliere Angelo throws a bike at Dante just like she did in 1.
Vergil's concentration was actually in dmc3. Kinda. When you do Yamato taunt and stand still next to an enemy his DT bar fills up. Which makes me wonder if he does that just to gain more power or he bloats his confidence which gives him power
That is a separate mechanic which still exists in DMC5 alongside Concentration: any time you do an attack or taunt in which Vergil draws Yamato, allowing him to sheathe it again grants you a bar of DT. This *doesn't* happen if you somehow cancel the sheathing animation, or if you choose to Judgement Cut off that sheathe. I think the DT bonus is there to incentivise not JCing, since any player who can perfectly chain JCs can obliterate any enemy - even bosses - with JCs alone: if you choose NOT to JC you instead get a bit of DT that you can then use to do other stuff, most notably his Mirage Blade spells. Plus it's a nice consolation prize if you don't yet know how to do perfect JCs. In terms of characterisation, I think it makes perfect sense: Vergil likes to give off the impression that everything he does is deliberate and according to plan. Having the time to slowly sheathe Yamato gives that air of unhurried ease that is so much part of Vergil's facade. It fills him with MOTIVATION.
Did I miss you talking about Color Up? While many may forget about it once Nero gets his DT, giving him a storeable resource makes gun a more consistent option without needing to expend as much effort to utilize.
Probably should have mentioned it. You could definitely interpret it as a character thing, Nero being more in control of his power and whatnot, but it's so mechanical that it didn't really occur to me. I mostly see Colour Up as: Blue Rose is a double barrel revolver, it can shoot 3 times from a full cylinder, you load it, and shoot.
Vergils concentration is more about staying in the “flow state” than pressure to perform. Like kobe if he was always scoring 81 points. He was calm and just doing what he knows and the game slows down
13:55 I feel your pain. I know people say to remap the shoot button, but at this point, I'm too used to the default controls, so it's too late. Claw is engrained into me. Claw is my one-way ticket to an S-rank with this character. It was straining at first, but manageable, and I didn't have much of an issue by the time DMC5 came out (even after playing the hell out of it on three different platforms). But Lady was a whole other story. She really wrecked my hand. Trying to get those last trophies on Special Edition (e.g. beat Bloody Palace with every characters) was torture at first, thanks to Lady's lack of a Super form, and every one of her weapons requiring Square be held down at all times. And since I died on Bloody Palace a lot, and had to restart the entire process and figure out how to tackle each boss with her eccentricities in mind, it meant putting my poor right hand through the ringer. And that was before I got to Trish and had to figure out HER gimicks. So yeah, the pain is real. It's amazing that a game can make me play Twister with my fingers and still be the most fun action game franchise of all time.
After rewatching this Masterpiece of an analysis, I'v noticed more statements, that outright aligne with design notes from the developers, so yeah great observation from your side. 👌 Now, I've wanna say a few things about the ressources of Lady and Trish. They may seem shallow on the surface, but given how the girls are less fleshed out, than the boys, they got at least ressources reflective of their characters. Trish is a full Demon and mainly uses Devil Arms/Demon Weapons, her DT works like the rest, but she can spend it to use her more powerful gun, Pandora. The red meter tells the player how long Sparda can remain in Round Trip, what alows her to plan how to use her additional moves. Trish has been portrayed as cunning, ressourceful and thoughtful of her moves and weapons she uses. She isn't as powerful as the boys, but she uses the most of what she has, be it her strenght, agility, electric powers, the weapons she wields and even her beautiful looks to her advantage. Lady on the other hand is a full human and HAS to rely on guns. She compensates her lack of strength by firing her guns with more POTENT ammunition, so strong, it makes her handguns explode and her Shotgun would blast her backwards from the recoil. Even how her Khalina Ann is constructed to be additionally used in melee, traversal, movement and grappling, reflects her necesity for this extra utility. In her gameplay, she needs to keep enemies at distance and do the most damage from her safe space and her melee attacks are slow, but strong to even the fields and regain distance, in case they player fails to maintain it. Her ressources are first, the amount of charge meter, she has built up, that dictates the number of powerful shots, she got left. And second, her DT is a devastating screenwide AoE move, that gets more potent with a full(er) meter. It can be either a Get-Out-Of-Jail-Card, if the player got too overwhelmed, or it can be a rewarding finishing blow, to spectacularly end the fight with a "BOOOOOM!". Side note) In contrast to Lady, a full Human who mainly uses guns and Trish, a full Demon who mainly uses Demon Weapons, the other two playable characters, are the total opposite in this regard: Lucia is a full Demon, who mainly uses HUMAN tools and V is a full Human, who commands DEMONS and wields a cane partially made from DEMONIC materials. It's an unintentionaly awesome way, of how these characters mirror each other.
There's one more thing for Nero's kit that you forgot to mention: color up. A new ability within the series to power up three shots with zero recoil. Like the charge shot, you have to hold down the button and releasing always shoots one while holding two in the magazine. Mechanically, the games like "There's no downside to holding it down so keep it held moron" especially when it's the first playthrough. However upon unlocking charge shot, everything changes as you have to choose between color up or charge shot in a pretty short time limit. On paper, yeah just keep holding it as it does more damage, but in practice the recoil and end lag on charge shots could put you in a sticky situation rather than the three weaker shots that don't sacrifice movement. This at first represents how Nero has gained more control and experience with his skills on his 1 month (10 year) break training. Post game however, this could represent two things, his on the fly thinking in every single battle he does, or how he's falling back on his old habits compensating his lack of skills and control power, just shooting the big shot and breaking works of art like he's a bull in a China shop.
One of the best videos on Devil May cry as a whole. I tell people all the time that DMC has a good story or at least lore and characters and this video unpacks so many layers and dimensions that I can’t look at the series the same in a good way. Great work
What a great deep dive! Usually I just find an attack I like in hack 'n' slashers and just spam that, but seeing how much consideration was put into the series, Imma be more mindful. Top-notch shit, dude
Fantastic video. Loved the Dante section, never reflected as much as you did with Dantes mechanics tied narratively to the style meter and the red orbs.
Maybe the Faust meteor attack points to Dante’s growing age. Maybe there’s a little tiredness creeping into Dante. Or maybe he doesn’t feel the need to ALWAYS prove himself, sometimes he’s got places to be and is content with snapping his fingers and making the enemy disappear. Dante saying “I’m getting to old for this” may have just been a throw away line, but I’m interested to see how an aging, or just plain old, legendary devil hunter will act, fight, and play.
32:14 to 35:49 hits different at 4am man. Haven't even finished Visions of V and I'm tearing up at the mechanical incentive of literal *humanity* as character growth. Maybe I'm just used to fan circles where a character's "effortless, lethal, inhumanly badass" power-fantasy image (Vergil, Vader) can overtake how they're usually WAY more struggling, traumatized, pathetic, disempowered, and/or massive dorks than we appreciate. (Is it the armour? Also every other overlap in that particular Venn diagram lol) Between DMC and Drakengard I've definitely found ur vids insightful, hilarious, and very well-presented ^_^b
The video's already pretty long so I can understand not including this, but I think it would've been nice to mention how you can spend DT gauge on things other than DT, like Vergil's Mirage Blade spells and Dante's DSD swords. They're both Summon Swords, but I like the contrast between how the brothers use them: Vergil knows how to channel DT power into spells right from the start instead of using guns, suggesting he has a natural affinity for finer control of magic, whereas Dante starts by channelling that power through his guns until he absorbs his daddy (I didn't realise how weird that would look until I'd typed it). Although Dante gains that power it's still tied to the DSD or his S/DT, meaning that he still requires a great deal of power to pull it off, whereas Vergil can do it in human form and with any weapon. There's also to be considered the fact that Dante's magic swords naturally synchronise to his movement, unless told to do otherwise: Dante views his magic mainly as an extension of his physical attacks, whereas Vergil uses his magic like it's a whole other weapon in his arsenal, possibly to the extent that he doesn't see the *need* to carry ranged weapons. Again, this makes a lot of sense: Wacky Woohoo Dancing Dante has always been the more physically expressive of the pair, whereas Vergil is exactly the type who'd say things like 'I can kill you with nothing more than a thought'.
I think another interesting take away is their shape. Dante's are very basic sword or mini versions of Dante itself. Nero's are more like throwing knives. Vergil's are specifically copies of force edge and while using one as his weapon in 5 he gets a miniture version of Dantes moves just like Dante did when he used Yamato.
Wow im super impressed, feels like you were making these for years and i've been listening for this long too. This is an insanely good and fun video, thanks a lot!
This was a perfect interpretation of the character’s mechanics! You nailed every single detail perfectly with their gameplay as personality. You are probably a hidden genius! I am glad that RUclips recommended this video! I want to be here when you become even greater! Quadruple S for you bro! 👊🏼👊🏼👊🏼👊🏼
The way you described Nero kinda reminds me of tails, specifically tails from Sonic adventure and sonic and knuckles. You can only get tails' super form if you collect all the seven chaos emeralds AND super chaos emeralds, whilst Sonic and knuckles are actually in their hyper form, tails works harder than they both because he's still younger and weaker so he tried to compensate his lack of experience doing 110%, this is even more clear in Sonic adventure since you actually see tails finally finding a way to compensate his lack of physical power, since tails' gameplay is piloting the tornado, using that robot to destroy armies of robots, and I really like this concept of a character because it doesn't undermine the character's accomplishments, and neither it does to the ones that already have their own accomplishments
I see what you mean, but when considering SA2, it feels less like Tails is trying to live up to Sonic and more like he’s cultivating his own unique talents. While Sonic (obviously) has a speed-focused playstyle, Tails’ clunky mech is the antithesis of that. Tails has embraced his role as the tech support, building things like artificial emeralds for other people to wield, while Sonic is the headstrong, quick-witted force. Tails being Eggman’s rival in SA2 implies he’s more competing with his intellect than Sonic’s power, while Nero is in more direct competition with his fellow sword-wielding devil hunters.
I always try to end every boss as Vergil in DMC5 with World of V. It just seems like letting it all go and relying on Vergil's humanity to finish the job is the most dramatic finale i can think of
I have an idea for Dante’s hypothetical son. In terms of gameplay (and I guess how characterization influences it) what does Dante not have I. Common with either Vergil or Nero? 1.) gunkata 2.) he does not follow the “less is more” approach 3.) because of no. 2 he also doesn’t make enhanced dps that much of a priority. So I came up with this: fisticuff style, Gunslinger, a charge up based style, and the return of Quicksilver since technically it fused with Dante’s body so there’s no way you’re telling me he sold it to a younger more ambitious devil hunter
Btw with your video Now I am realizing they all make sense after all those hours playing the games It made me love dmc even more I did however notice control really is the name of the game, figuratively speaking Rather than all those over compensating strobe light esque try hard MAD combo videos and streams I see The former is what gives you the actual score, not the latter As soon as I mastered Quadruple S I fully integrated such and Sin Inferno to control the encounter, helping me reach high scores on dmd difficulty, which I would never otherwise reach before mastering Quadruple S Even the likes of mission 10, 12 and even 13 to some extent (18 i still cannot for the life of me rank s it without the no damage dr faust cheese)
I think 3’s whole point was that dante is discovering who he is as a person, letting him choose his style and wepons feels limiting and forces you to push each weapon to the limit of what you can do to play well. The player and dante essentially find their groove with the different setups and playstyles and grow in skill as dante grows and matures in the story. Vergil as a boss also forces/encourages the player to rise to a new skill level “you’re not worthy as my opponent” and when you’re finally gaining a mastery of the game your rival says “dont get so cocky” and immediately doubles the lethality of his attacks on DMD. ADDITIONALLY The style meter in dmc3 IS A RESOURCE. Any multi hit crazy combos get their length doubled and/or TRIPLED when you have SSS rank. Million stab, dance macabre, jam session, agni and rudra’s multihit combo, beowulf’s punch barrage. And so on, the better the gameplay is the crazier the combos get, which makes sens as 3 is young and reckless dante, its the wildest he’s ever been so his gameplay matches him
Another thing one can analyze is, along side the mechanics, each characters theme and the different battle music that plays at each section of the games (the section thing is mostly just in dmc3). You can also look at the move names. Nero's whole movelist is betting.
A year late to the party but DMC V Dante isn’t the only iteration of the character to have style exclusive mechanics though it’s synergy with SDT definitely makes it the most powerful iteration, in DMC 3 the style rank had subtle effects on your attacks and enemy behavior, elongating the amount of time you could mash out your crazy combos, the properties of your styles, the amount of damage your attacks do, and enemies will actively start cowering in fear of you as you reach triple S.
about the critcisim at 26:52 i believe that when playing as vergil, having concentration be a resource that incentivied to hold on to and not something you spend like DT, but "spending" concentration making vergil more efficient in combat, is a design choice and perfectly reflects him. vergil has always been obsessed with power and control, as he is traumatized from the loss of his mother and him nearly dying when he was a child, back when he lacked both, making him believe the lack of them caused that unfortunate event. the simple thought process that "more concentration = more power = more better" is a representation of how vergil thinks, and how its affected his fights with dante over the years. spending concentration as vergil to take the risk of losing control of the fight and the additional power concentration brings with it to gain efficiency like dante is specifically incentivised against, because thats just not what vergil is like. same with dmc5 for example, vergil was willing to split his human side from his demon side and eat the qliphot apple to gain more power, just to still lose against dante, because dante is not out for power or control (despite having plenty), hes out for efficiency and damn good at it too. vergil however is too blinded by his trauma to realize this, which is why he loses as both urizen and vergil against dante and nero. in my opinion, when playing as vergil, the act of spending concentration in a fight is basically fighting against his own compulsion and need for power and control in exchange for efficiency, which would make sense why spending concentration nets better results as opposed to hording it. spending concentration is basically vergil "healing" from his trauma, and subsequently becoming a better fighter. vergil is powerful, but because hes always after more power to gain control, hes at the mercy of his "lack" of power, taking control away from him, making him powerful, but not efficient. vergils efficieny as a fighter is held back by his fear of giving up his quest for more power. he believes he doesnt have to face his fears to get better, in his mind its "just a little more power then i can beat dante". this is how i interpret vergil as a character and i believe the concentration meter represents him as a character perfectly. despite the age of this video and the very lenghty comment i would love to hear your opinion on my interpretation. other than that, great video! havent watched such an amusing video in a while
To make sure I understand, it seems like what you're getting at is that a full bar of concentration is like an unrealistic ideal Vergil holds himself to. If he actually wants to succeed, and be efficient, he has to compromise that ideal here and there. As much as he'd like to be, he isn't perfect (unless the player is which is unlikely). Is that the gist of it? If so I completely agree and I say as much in the video when we get to DMC5. I think the issue is that I didn't consider losing concentration in DMC4 as spending it, whereas I did consider using World of V or auto-parry to be spending it. I still believe the distinction I drew makes sense, because, unlike in 4, you do actually need to have a certain amount of concentration to afford those moves, but you raise a good point; it may not actually be a consequential distinction. Given this actually was the point you were trying to make...yeah you convinced me on this one. It's just more clear what "giving up concentration" means in 5, but you can derive the same thing from 4. Thanks for the comment.
@nerothesky thats pretty much the gist of it, yeah glad i was able to change your mind on this, even if just a bit and thank you for taking the time to not just read but also reply. have a great day 💙
¡Excellent video!. I wish to add something however, if i remember correctly in DMC3 when playing as Dante the higher your Style meter is, the easier it becomes to perform those finishing moves that requires you to smash a button, like you need less inputs to trigger them.
Not only do I vibe immensely with this style of analysis, I always try to see how mechanics affect and or tell narratives as well, but also knowing kh Days is the shit is based as hell. I feel morally obligated to sub, end of discussion
Just got to Dante's rage part. I think the Rage meter is more up for interpretation as now-a-days some people use the word "rage" as a substitute for hype. The more rage (hype) he gets, the more into the fight he gets and the higher damage he outputs.
Don't know how the franchise will continue without Dante, he is DMC itself made into a character, Nero is cool and my fav chat, but not having the Style switching mechanics from Dante would feel weird, maybe improving Devil breakers to get the same complexity as Styles could do the trick
you know i personally think it be cool if dante was the dlc charecter off the next special edition and just have vergil be the replacement for dante cause i feel like vergil is still a really comlex charecter and for the love off god I WOULD DO ANYTHING TO ABLE TO PLAY as dante for every mission off dmc6 like seriously dont get me wrong i love nero a ton but sometimes i just wanna play as the pizza man
I think Nero design felt a bit lacking than Dante is intentional, he is a new devil hunter he still has room to grow, remember DMC 3 Dante have the same problem 1 style and 2 weapons at a time and then come 4 he has access to everything, we might see the same incarnation of Nero with his Breaker or even new mechanic with him being more powerful and more experienced
@@darkerrex1442 i mean i still think dante has to be atleast somewhat involved dont get me wrong i love nero i wouldnt mind a whole game for him but even if he design becomes less "lacking" i doubt it be good for marketing cause lets be honestl the pizza man is the soul off devil may cry
wow you should have 100 times more subscribers for this video quality, glad I stumbled upon your channel. But one thing I would like to add, you mentioned that style rank affecting gameplay wasn't a thing before dmc 5, but actually back in dmc 3 many of Dante's moves were dependent on the style meter, I guess DT explosion wasn't the only thing game was hiding from players... You can check "how sss rank changes your combos in dmc3" here on youtube.
I've never thought so deeply about Nero's moveset before. However, now that it's been pointed out to me. It seems to me that the developers are very well aware of the high risk high reward gambling, nature of Nero's moveset. Because they named most of his moves at off of casino. Terms and games roulette,high roller, shuffle, etc. pretty nice touch Capcom.
I should probably add that there's one other way where style is used by a character(that I can think of). When riding punchline with Nero, the amount of riding time you get scales with your style rank.
I love the contrast between the two "Do good so you can do even better" mechanics of Vergil and Dante From Vergil calmness where is it a failure to not be calmed at every moment, where your perfect execution is to be expected and failing to do so is recieved with a punishment. While Dante doesn't need need to go into SSS rank, you probably don't need any help if you already combo'ed, danced and obliterated your way trough it and you are already being really extra... But then the game gift you the power to summon a screen cleaner for a few seconds and at that point you are already destroying wathever is in front of you but Dante doesn't conforms on being extra, IF HE CAN SUMMON HIS SUPER DEMON FORM AFTER PUTTING A HAT IN A ENEMY AND PRECEEDED TO DANCE INMEDIATLY AFTER... Hell yeah he'll do it.
![BLACK BAG - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters March 14](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Du0Xp8WX_7I/mqdefault.jpg)
Dante falls so perfectly into that place of a character who so completely knows who and what he is and unabashedly is himself.
Raw sigma male energy
He's a pizza
@@negativitronprime wacky woohoo pizza man*
@@UltimatelyProficient His true power comes from pizza and ROYAL GUARD!
I love how he’s not afraid to goof off and make a fool of himself (silly Bruce lee impressions, Michael Jackson dance) and even get up on a pole and work it. That’s a sign of someone who’s confident in his masculinity
I like that Nero is both red and blue, it shows that he takes after both Dante and Vergil. But blue and red together is purple, showing that Nero takes after Sparda the most, even more than Dante and Vergil. Dante and Vergil both initially disregard part of their blood while Nero accepts both, seeing his demon side as necessary power to protect his human side - his family. By the end of 5 no one remembers the disaster the Qliphoth is causing except Nero, he's fighting his own kin to protect humanity, just like ol' grandad.
I feel there is something to be said about how Nico charges you for Devil Breakers, whenever you'll visit her shop, yet she'll also just so happen to drop bunch of them around the levels on Nero's route for him to pick up free of charge. Seems to me she'll project an image of maintaining outwardly business oriented relationship and lets Nero use her fruits of labour and engineering under the notion she's too proud of her work to just give them out to you for free, but actually she's willing to just discard those "works of art" on the side of the road for the simple prospect of it potentially helping out a friend in need; a form of help that stands to become all the more prominent, if Nero/the player cannot afford to buy her services.
That's a great observation. I hadn't considered that.
V is also carrying Devil Breakers during the Malphas fight, so either he is finding them lying around or Nico is giving them to V because he’ll be on the field with Nero.
well in harder difficulties she's like "fuck you lmao" and doesn't do it. i think it would have been cool if they did it the other way round where they give you more in harder difficulties (but not of powerful ones like ragtime or buster) to encourage more breakages and stylish experimentation
@@dankerbell Yeah well, the harder difficulties are locked behind the initial playthrough, meaning Nero would by default have unlocked his Devil Trigger for those and thus isn't as heavily reliant on Devil Breakers as with the first go around. They're still really useful ofcourse, but not an essential crux Nero would need inorder to make up for what he had lost and so Nico wouldn't need to worry about Nero ending up dead on the field for not having any. With game completed also comes easier access to full Devil Breaker magazines and prehand knowledge of whats on each level, making it way easier to plan your loadout effectively.
Ofcourse with the Special Edition and DLC out, now you can technically cheat the system by completing the game on Vergil campaign, ulocking the higher difficulties and jumping straight into Dante Must Die for your first story playthrough, but it's not exactly recommended.
@@jondoe7036 yeah ng+ Nero, and basically having the basic Buster Arm at all times is hilarious, especially since it's the most expensive of the bunch
9:16 I love how this idea is reinforced by almost all of Nero's moves being named after gambling terms, like High Roller or Maximum Bet
In demonic voice: PLACE YOUR BETS
@@amaterasumaster8781 AAAAALL IN!
Actually Vergil has some sort of a "Ranking" Mechannic as well, that some people don't know about.
When Vergil does a taunt in the air, instead of taunting he does an attack with his summoned swords that can launch enemys... HOWEVER if you use that taunt while having at least an "S-Rank" or higher in your Style meter, than he does His DMC3 variation of "Aerial Rave", the original Yamato air attack! That is awesome for combos and it is a nice reward for achieving an S-Rank... yes, not SSS-Rank, but it still is something!
One thing I noticed in DMCV. Vergil's 3 million orb taunt is his doppelganger dancing. And while this may be just for laughs, his doppelganger is actually a projection of his own soul. So if his doppel is dancing and he's not, then his doppel is how he really is. And his actual personality is just a mask
Everyone already knows Dante as the wacky woohoo pizza uncle, but nobody ever bothered to ask his brother Vergil, if he in fact, wanted to be ‘wacky woohoo’ too.
And then there’s also the fact that he has Doppelganger in the first place. Most other Devil Trigger abilities are some form of enhancement or transformation, but Vergil has a summon. This could be because Vergil’s pretty tactically-minded and he’d make good use out of having more pieces on the board, which could be supported by how Doppelganger needs some cleverness and spatial awareness to make full use out of. But it could also be that Vergil doesn’t want to admit he needs help, so he uses demon power to make his own help.
@bubbajoe117 everybody was too busy with dantes smoking sexy style that nobody paid attention to Virgil's weird wacky woohoo
It just adds to Dante and Vergil’s duality. Dante puts on a goofy mask but he’s actually depressed and Vergil puts on a cold emotionless mask but he’s actually goofy on the inside.
@@bubbajoe117 If i recall, there's also implication that Dante's cheery attitude is a mask, too.
I've only played 5, but I've been told that in other media there's hints that when not on the job, Dante basically hangs around at home basically being a sad loser. At the least, he's incapable of taking care of himself financially or domestically (that couch lets out a fat plume of dust when Morrison sits on it, the utilities are getting cut off, etc).
The Sparda brothers are just as similar as they are different, huh
about Nero and Breaker move. i think it is less of a "he is a tryhard and willing to pay everything to achieve his power/coolness", but more of a "he is a tryhard that will go above and beyond because he know a very trust worthy person has his back". Nero and Nico relation feels like a real sibling despite not growing up together and what a good sibling do? they shit talk and butted head each other, but they still respect each other enough to tolerate bullshit their sibling cause.
This also feeds into the fact you can find breakers all over the place. No matter where he is, Nico’s never far behind, and always ready to give everything she can to the cause.
The only time there aren’t any breakers in a level is mission 20, where Nero is wrapping up his family’s conflict. Things have gotten too personal to involve Nico.
@@goroakechi6126 There's also the whole plotpoint of Nero regrowing his arm back in that mission, which means he couldn't even use Devil Breakers on his first go around of that mission and the credit-fight cutscene establishes how Nico had to rework their design so Nero could wear them like a mechanical glove, inorder for their use in proceeding playthroughs to make sense.
@@jondoe7036 they're not gloves though, he has to turn his arm back into nothingness to put on the devil breakers
@@dankerbell Not a literal glove, but for purposes of how Nero uses them from there on, they're more like gloves than prosthetics to him and Nico did have to remodel them for that.
Just to add to Nero "overcompensating".
Nero modified his Red Queen. Knights of the order of the sword use Exceed as well but not to the same extent as Nero that it flings then across a room. Nero modified his own sword to be so overpowering.
He's something of a "lone knight". He's not well-accepted among his peers because of his tendencies and his modifications to the Order's equipment.
And his use of a gun since the order tries to emulate sparda they have only swore on using swords and whatnot also Nero is said to be a atheist so yeah he's a full on lone wolf and the only people he'll be comfortable to be with are credo and kyrie
he’s not overcompensating, it’s perfect for him. it complements his demonic strength really well
@@ru_gamerandotaku2431 Funny because Sparda used guns lmao
@@cooperchance7720 well when he helped the and ruled over he probably mainly used his swordsmanship skills and magic and so the order probably only saw that and thought he only used those
@@ru_gamerandotaku2431 Didn't Sparda use Luce and Ombra?
Edit:Just saw the reply above me
Sin Devil Trigger and especially Quadruple S are the greatest addition to Devil May Cry 5 in my opinion.
While it makes Dante special - it's a shame other characters don't get rewards for getting higher style ranks [like my boy Nero]
I get what you mean, but at the same time, I think is great design when characters in a game interact with the systems and mechanics of it differently otuside a common skeleton design.
It creates variety.
Well, the rocket devil breaker which the name i don't remember right now allows you to ride it for longer on higher rankings lol, i get that it's not nearly as cool or proeminent as Quad S but hey
@@caveirainvocada9438 The rocket arm Devil Breaker is called Punchline, to save everyone the trouble of looking it up.
Man, this video's thirst for Dante and Vergil is unreal and I am here for it.
it starts off with an in-depth analysis of lady smacking her ass
the devs were just really horny when making 4 if lady and trish's physics and lady and gloria's designs didn't make that obvious
Something I love pointing out to my friends is that the activation condition for Quadruple S is tied purely to how cool Dante thinks he is in the moment (SSS), which implies that as long as he is feeling cool and stylish, he can tap infinitely in and out of a power that usually leaves him weak after its use without any drawbacks. Vergil also gets stronger the cooler and more "in the zone" he feels thanks to the Concentration gauge, as long as you're playing in a way that Vergil thinks is cool. All in all, a lot of the mechanics imply that their emotional state is essential to how they function as combatants and work together to outline their personality in their respective playstyles. If you play them in-character, you're rewarded with more player expression and attack variety, which is something that I think is often overlooked in other action games.
Another note about vergil in DMC 5, is how he gains DT. By taking. His. Time.
You HAVE to plan in extra time after a combo finisher, so you can get DT.
furthermore, he can enter SDT for a short time without draining it.
He has immeasurable resources, but always considers WHEN to spend it, keeping even more control.
On the exact opposite end is Nero.
With him, his DT is just yet another thing he WILL throw at his enemies. Nero is endless aggression in so many forms, and they add to an orchestra.
You can view him as a try hard. However I would argue that this is contradicted by the game.
The game makes it seem like he is a try hard... Right until he slaps the hell out of his father and just ... Disrespects his uncle, in much the same way said uncle disrespected him. In effect calling both of them stupid for caring so much about flexing instead of doing what actually needed doing.
Your analysis of Nero works in synch with Itsuno's description of him as a "Sink or Swim Character", what became the reason why most of his moves are called after Casino/Gambling Terms.
Also...
24:13 FUCK YEEES!!! Bring my favorite Boss back and make him PLAYABLE, Itsuno!
9:20 this explains sooo much about the character. I mean, in 5 he literally lost an arm to a guy that's so powerful to beat Dante, then gets offered to get payback, what does he do? He goes fighting one armed to THAT SAME GUY cause he remembered himself being "good fighting with just an arm".
However, I would also say that that shows how optimistic and looking-the-glass-half-full sort of guy he is. Like, how willing he is to look at things that way.
Personally, there is one last major element that I'd consider to be a "resource" of sorts that you touched on somewhat, particularly during the DMC4 analysis, but never quite got to. This would be each character's weapon selection. Sure, this is more of a resource in-universe than in the gameplay aside from your first run as Dante where you build up your resource over the course of the run, but I think the weapon selection says a lot about each character. Granted, I've only beaten 3 and 4 at this point, so I can't really give a comprehensive overview, but I've definitely noticed some notable trends here.
Nero needing to prepare himself ahead of time, building himself up and ensuring that he is ready to compensate for his lack of experience, this is all supported by the fact that he only has one sword and one gun. He isn't great at on-the-fly changes, he knows these specific weapons intimately and isn't going to drop all of the practice he's got with them to pick up something new. Any other weapon he gets along the way, whether it is Yamato in 4 or the Breakers in 5, are transient. He needs DT or extra resources to use them, he can't use them as reliably. He is barely hanging on to what little control he has with the stuff he already knows, throwing in something new completely puts him off balance. There is also probably something to be said for how Nero also relies upon technology in comparison to the Sons of Sparda using magic-infused weaponry. In 4, Nero's demonic heritage was something he was afraid and uncertain of, something he felt would be ostracizing. As such, he uses almost exclusively machines of human origin. Then, when the primary symbol OF that heritage is taken from him in 5, he further relies upon his 3/4 human nature by replacing his arm with even more machinery. Granted, I think there may be SOME demonic power involved with his weapons? (I get the impression that his home city's technology probably used some demonic influence to achieve their successes, and I'd be surprised if the DEVIL Breakers didn't have ANY demonic power.) Even so, his tools of the trade are definitely more of human origin.
This contrasts nicely with Vergil. He ALSO uses a pretty consistent weapon set, though in this case it seems to stem from his desire for perfection. It also has questionable relevance for in-universe narrative since he probably shouldn't have 2/3 of his arsenal like half the time. He also contrasts Nero's reliance on human technology, with all of his weaponry instead having definitively demonic origin instead. Once again, Vergil downplays his human half to minmax demon power.
Then finally we have Dante, the one character that we see build up an arsenal of weaponry as an actual resource from game to game. He's seen it all and can play things by ear. He has his classics, his sword, pistols, and shotgun, but he is perfectly fine picking up whatever else he happens to come across with both the experience and demeanor to play things by ear and try whatever wacky thing might come to mind. Most of his guns are human weapons, and as far as I'm aware all of his melee weapons are demonic in nature, representing how he is the character who is most in balance between his demon and human sides among the playable roster. Of course, at first Dante couldn't use EVERYTHING at once, restricted to one style and a pair of guns and melees each. However, by the time of 4 he can switch up his style, both literal and metaphorical, in any way he wants at any time showing just how much he has come since the days he started up shop. I think it speaks to a certain openness to experimentation that comes with certainty of one's self. He knows who he is and what he is about, being confronted with something new isn't going to be some earth shaking revelation to him. He has the mental fortitude and plasticity to adapt to whatever comes his way.
Oh also, maybe the DT gauge in 5 is purple because it is increased via purple orbs? Purple = Magic in the DMC world, it would seem. Might serve as a way to indicate just how powerful Sparda was if his associated color was purple, just absolutely radiating magic power all over the place. Unless DMC5 doesn't have purple orbs I guess, I dunno I haven't quite looked at progression THAT in-depth yet, but I'd be very surprised if they were gone.
Devil Breakers indeed have demonic powers in them. The first one that Nico made (Overture) was build with the core of a Blitz demon as base, and all other ones are similarily made from materials leftover by the enemies Nero defeats. Gerbera has Artemis' core, Punchline has Goliath's, Rawhide's bladed chain is made out of Gilgamesh' carapace and so on.
In a way, in 5 Nero is like Dante in terms of using his enemies as weapons, but instead of taking the literal way of doing that like Dante he instead relies on his Nico's tech skills to channel that demonic magical power through the human technology he is used to
I love the music comparison I've seen someone make somewhere in the internet, where each of the three protagonists' gameplay styles and animations are associated with music genres.
Dante being the most free-form of all three, effortlessly attacking, defending and switching styles and weapons on the fly; can be compared to a jazz band, with a large variety of instruments (weapons) performing their own flavour of sound, with both the freedom and the encouragement to indulge in improvisation and virtuosity on the way.
I would describe Nero more as "emotionally intense" character than a "tryhard". His arsenal is more limited than Dante's and his animations show a much sloppier style of combat (he overextends moves, multiple sword attacks look more like he's bashing the blade on the enemy, rather than deliberately cutting them, etc.). In a way, he's like punk music, simple, but passionate and intense in every moment, like a hardcore punk band performing at an improvised venue for an audience of passionate youngsters.
Vergil's deliberate fighting style is harder to associate a music genre to, but I think it can be compared to something like a post-rock band, or maybe even prog. Both share a common ethos of control, where style is constructed through deliberate structuring and composition, rather than the free-form aspect of Dante's gameplay.
Vergil is pretty clearly classical if V's Paganini Concerto taunt is any indication
Dude… dante with jazz fits way TOO well
One general mechanic I would like to bring up is weapon swapping, specifically in DMCV.
Dante can’t go from one weapon to another without organization beforehand. It’s impossible to go from Devil Sword Dante to Balrog OR Cerberus. It’s one or the other. This displays Dante’s Uber-confidence. No matter what’s in his hands, he can use it to be as stylish and deadly as ever.
Meanwhile, Vergil only has three weapons; his birthright, the Yamato, a mirage of his father’s power, and a monument to his victory over Dante’s defeat. And unlike his brother, Vergil has access to all three at all times. He will use exactly what he needs to end a fight as fast and as efficiently as he can, and thus, he has all options open at all times.
ever heard of pressing the button multiple times
Am I the only rare few dante players who feels very anxious and uncomfortable without 6 devil arms and 4 guns slotted in?
Like I love a toolkit the size of a warehouse I would always feel at home with having so many tools to use
I would often think of Rebellion and Devil Sword Sparda in my kit as like the Phillips and Flat screwdrivers, then DSD as the power screwdriver in a way
@@legendarydigitize2523 I mean I guess that's fair but it's kinda pointless to be carrying both Sparda and Rebellion. I think Sparda has slightly bigger hitboxes like DMC 1 but other than that they're identical.
i don't get what this comment means, why isn't it possible to swap from dsd to balrog or cerberus? of course it's one or the other, you can only use one melee weapon at a time in dmc unless mirage edge. and how does that of all things prove dante's confidence? surely the fact that he has multiple weapons and can use them all masterfully with no prior training is more of a reason to believe that than "he can't swap weapons" (even though he can). unless you mean the ability to swap weapon placement in your loadout but that doesn't make any sense either. what does it mean
and also baldandknuckles is right, you can either press the button multiple times to swap or just use the button the scrolls the weapon wheel the other way. literally all high-end players do this. and i'm pretty sure vergil having beowulf in 5 isn't canon, he lost it to dante in 3 and then dante sold all his weapons from previous games. so why they went to the effort of making him have mirage edge instead of just reusing force edge even if it doesn't exist anymore is beyond me, he doesn't use anything except yamato in his fight while dante uses every weapon he has, meaning they're all canon
This is one of the things I love best about Devil May Cry. How it characterizes it's characters through gameplay. I legitimately think Hideaki Itsuno is up there with Hideo Kojima as a visionary in gaming in many ways I think he is better. No joke I was playing DMC and my girlfriend came up and saw me playing as Nero and she said "he seems angry". Which yeh Nero is pretty Angry. She ahs never played Devil May Cry and doesn't know anything about these games other then me playing them. Shows you how good Nero is characterized through gameplay alone. A game that does this badly is the recent Bayonetta 3. In Bayo 3 a major part of the game is summoning big demons to fight for you. Bayonetta in this game and all the previous ones was characterized as this FEMDOM MOMMY DOM GODDESS. Yet in Bayo 3 she sits on the side and dances for these demons like a Cheerleader. Yes she did summon demons in the previous games but it was connected to her and she was in control.
Knowing all about a character just by looking at him is really important from a design standpoint, and many people don't really value the effort they put in them, I mean, if you look at sonic and Dante, they're obviously very different characters, but you'd still be able to feel the same energy coming from them, Dante looks like the type of guy that doesn't take their enemies seriously, he's having fun in this adventure, and sonic is similar in the way that he looks like an energetic character that also looks like he's in more for the fun of it than anything else
If you buy into the theory of Bayonetta 3's lead being the adult little Cereza from Bayo 1, then it actually does cause changes in the character's gameplay and demeanor (as well as some plotpoints feeling very undercooked in third game) make some sense, even though every game potentially being different variations of the same characters does feel like quite a bit of a cop-out answer to things seeming inconsistent from game to game.
i love the rage in nero's animations
One thing I noticed playing DMC5 after watching this video is Nero's and Dante's titles. In DMC5, in character select, every character has a title along with their names. V is "The Mysterious One", Vergil is "The Alpha and the Omega", and Nero is "The Devil Hunter". But Dante? He's "The Legendary Devil Hunter".
To add to the meter colors (of all things in your vid, I know), since you didn’t mention them, but Exceed and Charge Shots colors represent the weapon they’re attached to, reddish flames for Red Queen and blue bullets for Blue Rose.
I know it’s been months, I don’t know if you’ve already knew this, so yeah.
There's something you could've brought up with vergil, and that's he never uses guns. Except for the dmc3 jackpot scene. I believe this is just him expressing himself more and his personality. He doesn't need to rely on guns to help him in combat, but rather magic shooting swords that are badass.
Funny enough, all the guns of Dante with maybe the exception of Kalina Ann use demonic energy as the source of ammo.
So lorrewise they aren't really different from making swords, I presume that it maybe ties in to Vergil not wanting to rely on others, but only himself, and using tools to channel demonic energy made by others doesn't sit well with him.
@@Hecatom no they're not, they're just enchanted to have infinite ammo
@@andreadebernardis4390 It's a bit more than just having infinite ammo
If that's all it was those pistols would've went to shit a long time ago with how fast and nonstop Dante fires those things
@@KappaJones Yes, there absolutely is more going on there, as evinced by the fact that you can enhance the ammo of any gun by using Gunslinger mode or popping DT - even the Kalina Ann's missiles, which is a lot of fun.
Also, a touch I very much appreciate: Dante's guns, as most players will know, are called Ebony and Ivory. In nature, ebony is black, ivory is white, and the guns have a similar contrast in that Ebony fires slower, booming shots whereas Ivory fires rapid smaller shots.
Dante's SDT has two ranged attacks that mirror this: The Ombra and The Luce, or The Dark and The Light - and yes, just like Dante's pistols The Ombra fires slower but bigger projectiles whereas The Luce *swarms* the enemy with smaller ones.
Normally, Dante can use Devil Energy to fire projectiles and even charge his shots, but he still needs a weapon to channel that energy through. In SDT form, he becomes so ridiculously powerful that he just WILLS projectiles into being.
I always saw Vergil’s lack of desire to use a gun stemming from the fact that they’re manmade weapons and require aim and focus to use properly, whereas his swords are multi-purpose , never miss a locked on target and he can use them while doing anything else.
Sorta playing into that vibe of Vergil wanting to maintain control and also not relying on the tools of the humans he holds in lower regard than demons
Just to add some info, the dance in kick mode of balrog is capoeira, it's a brazilian martial art focused in kicks, the dance can actually be called ginga (/ji/nga) the rhythmic movement Dante does in kick mode. The point of ginga is to be unpredictable which fits Dante personality.
37:00 i think the rage makes sense. Dante doesnt like doing it so everytime he does this, he gets angrier because hes not doing the other type of fighting.
yeah that makes sense :D
This is a work of art. Depth, breadth, articulation, analysis...art.
Bravo.
I didn't know people could send money through comments. Thank you :) I really appreciate it.
little addition, Dante in 3 actually somewhat was using style meter as a resource, so when he does million stabs on below S rank, he does like in half or so less stabs, same goes to each weapon, and also in 5 Nero has similar thing, although i noticed only on punchline, when he does surf on it, higher rank means longer surfing time
Ok so, in regards to your little outro segment, some connections I've made with Nero's two resources.
Charging the gun requires continuous _concentration._
Charging exceed requires skilled _control_ and execution of your inputs.
Charging the gun is a continuous neutral action, you can do it while standing still.
Getting exceed at a reasonable pace during a fight can only be done by playing well, and your reward is your most stylish attacks.
Blue and red, Vergil and Dante, the playstyles of Nero's two weapons are literally pulling him in the directions of both of his father figures.
Hell, the gun charge could even be Nero's version of Vergil's sword beams, both have them continuously and effortless pour out their demonic energy into a projectile, it's just that Nero's is charged into a burst attack, whereas Vergil can fire an indefinite stream of swords.
Exceed is tied to a sword, it and the mechanic styled after a _motorcycle,_ and releases plumes of red fire when used. All things that you can tie back to Dante.
23:45 *YES! OMG YES!* too many times we see reboots and even sequels that act as if they HATE the original material and it's fanbase, and when the product they make has an absolute terrible reception they literally don't know why
Another comment I would like to bring up about Vergil's character that's shown through gameplay is that he doesn't use non demonic abilities.
Nero and Dante have guns that are modified to kill demons yes but are still weapons of the human world and Nero's blade isn't of demonic origin either.
While as Vergil straight up refuses to use any of these weapons except for once just to humor Dante.
It's representative of his desire to shun his humanity.
Hopefully if they make a dmc6 game he'd learn to use more of humanitys craftsmanship like him turning V's cane into a fencing sword that relies on stabs and light slashes and using trick abilities to basically move forward back left right in sacrifice of going up and since it is said that it had demonic material in it even if it's only so little I'd love to see the Bowser squad basically be in it like being able to shoot griffon's lighting shadows thrust ability or slices and nightmares laser I'd say that would be a cool addition
Speaking of Nero's gameplay and style being about taking risks and betting odds, it's really nice that all his Red Queen moves are named after gambling.
That philosophy was expanded upon in 5 and the many people that groan about how breakers can't be switched just don't get the essence of Nero as a character.
I’ve had this on loop for a concerning amount of time
Ironically, renaming Rage to Apathy would suit DMC3 Dante's flippant attitude at the start.
The "wake me up inside" meter
About the ending, Sparda's color is indeed purple. If you beat Dante Must Die mode in 1, the costume is unlocked, Legendary Dark Knight Sparda and he wears a purple cloak, this was also later reused as a bonus costume in DMC3 for Dante in the Special Edition only I think. Also, kickass video, this is such a niche topic yet the views are trending pretty well, means that RUclips is recognizing the quality of the videos. Great job my dude keep it up.
I know this is ten months late but I was thinking about this today and I was thinking about why Dante's moveset is so vastly different in Sin Devil Trigger in comparison to Vergil's. Mechanics-wise, it could be argued that it's for balancing (which would explain why Dante doesn't regain Health in SDT). Lore wise, maybe it's because SDT is the brand new super form and Dante may or may not have a full grasp of its capabilities yet in spite of how much power the form itself has.
One could also argue that due to how powerful Dante's SDT moves are, he's using these moves as a testament to his power. Or a sign that he's reminding his foes that he's not to be taken lightly, even if he himself is taking his foes lightly.
Going back to the "lack of full control" angle I said, it could also explain why Vergil's attacks don't change from his normal moveset when he enters SDT.
(Yes I know he gains extra moves in SDT but overall his moveset itself doesn't change much.)
Mechanics-wise, this doesn't really say much but lore wise, one could argue that Vergil has much more control over SDT over Dante. Urizen gained the power of the Qliphoth fruit and, after V merged with him, Vergil retained that level of power, but why did his moveset in SDT barely change?
Because he's found a firm center or foundation once his demon and human sides have merged again. Before, Vergil valued his demonhood more than his humanity, which resulted in the level of power between Urizen and V being so vast. But now that both sides are unified again and Vergil has grown in both strength and as a person, this unity means that he's gained greater control of the incredible might that Urizen had that the latter may not have had due to being so narrow minded in focusing only on power and nothing else.
SDT became Vergil's default demon mode after this, otherwise he'd have a normal DT with a SDT form to switch to like Dante does. But instead of DT, Vergil has his clone, further proving my point of SDT now being Vergil's default Demon form.
(I could just be rambling but I hope I made sense with my theory.)
On basic level their Sin Devil Triggers also reflect their approach to having a toolkit; Dante's SDT acts as a separate super powerful component from rest of his arsenal, whereas to Vergil it provides a massive boost to what tools he is already using. Though interestingly their normal Devil Triggers also work the other way around now, Dante's still being a boost to arsenal he already has, while Vergil's has become more of its own separate power move.
Suppose it could be another way to highlight differences in how two of them have grown, yet how one's knowledge of other's strengths and their shared connection has also informed the process for both, and ultimately they've come to form their personalized versions of the same conclusion and self-acceptance. A proper Yin-Yang dynamic; they're the same, yet the opposite.
Great Video.
Good scripting, jokes land, editing is top notch, and the topic you're presenting is very well researched. Keep this up and you'll grow your channel in no time, espeically with the youtube algorithm favoring smaller creators as of late
"Red orbs are red." - Nero the Sky
I've described DMC as being the most video game before. Games tell their story through design, audio, story and mechanics, but it is rare for all of them to be in agreeance throughout. DMC as a franchise balances them beautifully and ends up with goofy and fun Shakespearean gothic dramedy that asks what it means to be human.
You can't convince me Trish doesn't like to throw things, the only time we see her use Sparda in 5 is when she throws it to Dante, even Cavaliere Angelo throws a bike at Dante just like she did in 1.
Vergil's concentration was actually in dmc3. Kinda. When you do Yamato taunt and stand still next to an enemy his DT bar fills up. Which makes me wonder if he does that just to gain more power or he bloats his confidence which gives him power
That is a separate mechanic which still exists in DMC5 alongside Concentration: any time you do an attack or taunt in which Vergil draws Yamato, allowing him to sheathe it again grants you a bar of DT.
This *doesn't* happen if you somehow cancel the sheathing animation, or if you choose to Judgement Cut off that sheathe. I think the DT bonus is there to incentivise not JCing, since any player who can perfectly chain JCs can obliterate any enemy - even bosses - with JCs alone: if you choose NOT to JC you instead get a bit of DT that you can then use to do other stuff, most notably his Mirage Blade spells. Plus it's a nice consolation prize if you don't yet know how to do perfect JCs.
In terms of characterisation, I think it makes perfect sense: Vergil likes to give off the impression that everything he does is deliberate and according to plan. Having the time to slowly sheathe Yamato gives that air of unhurried ease that is so much part of Vergil's facade. It fills him with MOTIVATION.
asking for playable Credo? This man KNOWS DMC
Did I miss you talking about Color Up? While many may forget about it once Nero gets his DT, giving him a storeable resource makes gun a more consistent option without needing to expend as much effort to utilize.
Probably should have mentioned it. You could definitely interpret it as a character thing, Nero being more in control of his power and whatnot, but it's so mechanical that it didn't really occur to me. I mostly see Colour Up as: Blue Rose is a double barrel revolver, it can shoot 3 times from a full cylinder, you load it, and shoot.
Vergils concentration is more about staying in the “flow state” than pressure to perform. Like kobe if he was always scoring 81 points. He was calm and just doing what he knows and the game slows down
Favourite moment for me 46:21 xD
13:55 I feel your pain. I know people say to remap the shoot button, but at this point, I'm too used to the default controls, so it's too late. Claw is engrained into me. Claw is my one-way ticket to an S-rank with this character.
It was straining at first, but manageable, and I didn't have much of an issue by the time DMC5 came out (even after playing the hell out of it on three different platforms). But Lady was a whole other story. She really wrecked my hand. Trying to get those last trophies on Special Edition (e.g. beat Bloody Palace with every characters) was torture at first, thanks to Lady's lack of a Super form, and every one of her weapons requiring Square be held down at all times. And since I died on Bloody Palace a lot, and had to restart the entire process and figure out how to tackle each boss with her eccentricities in mind, it meant putting my poor right hand through the ringer. And that was before I got to Trish and had to figure out HER gimicks.
So yeah, the pain is real. It's amazing that a game can make me play Twister with my fingers and still be the most fun action game franchise of all time.
After rewatching this Masterpiece of an analysis, I'v noticed more statements, that outright aligne with design notes from the developers, so yeah great observation from your side. 👌
Now, I've wanna say a few things about the ressources of Lady and Trish. They may seem shallow on the surface, but given how the girls are less fleshed out, than the boys, they got at least ressources reflective of their characters.
Trish is a full Demon and mainly uses Devil Arms/Demon Weapons, her DT works like the rest, but she can spend it to use her more powerful gun, Pandora. The red meter tells the player how long Sparda can remain in Round Trip, what alows her to plan how to use her additional moves. Trish has been portrayed as cunning, ressourceful and thoughtful of her moves and weapons she uses. She isn't as powerful as the boys, but she uses the most of what she has, be it her strenght, agility, electric powers, the weapons she wields and even her beautiful looks to her advantage.
Lady on the other hand is a full human and HAS to rely on guns. She compensates her lack of strength by firing her guns with more POTENT ammunition, so strong, it makes her handguns explode and her Shotgun would blast her backwards from the recoil. Even how her Khalina Ann is constructed to be additionally used in melee, traversal, movement and grappling, reflects her necesity for this extra utility. In her gameplay, she needs to keep enemies at distance and do the most damage from her safe space and her melee attacks are slow, but strong to even the fields and regain distance, in case they player fails to maintain it. Her ressources are first, the amount of charge meter, she has built up, that dictates the number of powerful shots, she got left. And second, her DT is a devastating screenwide AoE move, that gets more potent with a full(er) meter. It can be either a Get-Out-Of-Jail-Card, if the player got too overwhelmed, or it can be a rewarding finishing blow, to spectacularly end the fight with a "BOOOOOM!".
Side note)
In contrast to Lady, a full Human who mainly uses guns and Trish, a full Demon who mainly uses Demon Weapons, the other two playable characters, are the total opposite in this regard:
Lucia is a full Demon, who mainly uses HUMAN tools and V is a full Human, who commands DEMONS and wields a cane partially made from DEMONIC materials.
It's an unintentionaly awesome way, of how these characters mirror each other.
There's one more thing for Nero's kit that you forgot to mention: color up. A new ability within the series to power up three shots with zero recoil. Like the charge shot, you have to hold down the button and releasing always shoots one while holding two in the magazine. Mechanically, the games like "There's no downside to holding it down so keep it held moron" especially when it's the first playthrough. However upon unlocking charge shot, everything changes as you have to choose between color up or charge shot in a pretty short time limit. On paper, yeah just keep holding it as it does more damage, but in practice the recoil and end lag on charge shots could put you in a sticky situation rather than the three weaker shots that don't sacrifice movement. This at first represents how Nero has gained more control and experience with his skills on his 1 month (10 year) break training. Post game however, this could represent two things, his on the fly thinking in every single battle he does, or how he's falling back on his old habits compensating his lack of skills and control power, just shooting the big shot and breaking works of art like he's a bull in a China shop.
One of the best videos on Devil May cry as a whole. I tell people all the time that DMC has a good story or at least lore and characters and this video unpacks so many layers and dimensions that I can’t look at the series the same in a good way. Great work
this is such a banger video why is it so low view is injustice to me
What a great deep dive! Usually I just find an attack I like in hack 'n' slashers and just spam that, but seeing how much consideration was put into the series, Imma be more mindful. Top-notch shit, dude
Fantastic video. Loved the Dante section, never reflected as much as you did with Dantes mechanics tied narratively to the style meter and the red orbs.
Maybe the Faust meteor attack points to Dante’s growing age. Maybe there’s a little tiredness creeping into Dante. Or maybe he doesn’t feel the need to ALWAYS prove himself, sometimes he’s got places to be and is content with snapping his fingers and making the enemy disappear. Dante saying “I’m getting to old for this” may have just been a throw away line, but I’m interested to see how an aging, or just plain old, legendary devil hunter will act, fight, and play.
32:14 to 35:49 hits different at 4am man. Haven't even finished Visions of V and I'm tearing up at the mechanical incentive of literal *humanity* as character growth.
Maybe I'm just used to fan circles where a character's "effortless, lethal, inhumanly badass" power-fantasy image (Vergil, Vader) can overtake how they're usually WAY more struggling, traumatized, pathetic, disempowered, and/or massive dorks than we appreciate.
(Is it the armour? Also every other overlap in that particular Venn diagram lol)
Between DMC and Drakengard I've definitely found ur vids insightful, hilarious, and very well-presented ^_^b
I literally never got why Nero's moves were gambling themed until watching this lol
The video's already pretty long so I can understand not including this, but I think it would've been nice to mention how you can spend DT gauge on things other than DT, like Vergil's Mirage Blade spells and Dante's DSD swords.
They're both Summon Swords, but I like the contrast between how the brothers use them: Vergil knows how to channel DT power into spells right from the start instead of using guns, suggesting he has a natural affinity for finer control of magic, whereas Dante starts by channelling that power through his guns until he absorbs his daddy (I didn't realise how weird that would look until I'd typed it). Although Dante gains that power it's still tied to the DSD or his S/DT, meaning that he still requires a great deal of power to pull it off, whereas Vergil can do it in human form and with any weapon.
There's also to be considered the fact that Dante's magic swords naturally synchronise to his movement, unless told to do otherwise: Dante views his magic mainly as an extension of his physical attacks, whereas Vergil uses his magic like it's a whole other weapon in his arsenal, possibly to the extent that he doesn't see the *need* to carry ranged weapons. Again, this makes a lot of sense: Wacky Woohoo Dancing Dante has always been the more physically expressive of the pair, whereas Vergil is exactly the type who'd say things like 'I can kill you with nothing more than a thought'.
I think another interesting take away is their shape. Dante's are very basic sword or mini versions of Dante itself. Nero's are more like throwing knives.
Vergil's are specifically copies of force edge and while using one as his weapon in 5 he gets a miniture version of Dantes moves just like Dante did when he used Yamato.
Wow im super impressed, feels like you were making these for years and i've been listening for this long too. This is an insanely good and fun video, thanks a lot!
This was a perfect interpretation of the character’s mechanics! You nailed every single detail perfectly with their gameplay as personality. You are probably a hidden genius! I am glad that RUclips recommended this video! I want to be here when you become even greater! Quadruple S for you bro! 👊🏼👊🏼👊🏼👊🏼
Upon a second look at this video, I'm amazed that it doesn't have that many views, this deserves allot more
The way you described Nero kinda reminds me of tails, specifically tails from Sonic adventure and sonic and knuckles. You can only get tails' super form if you collect all the seven chaos emeralds AND super chaos emeralds, whilst Sonic and knuckles are actually in their hyper form, tails works harder than they both because he's still younger and weaker so he tried to compensate his lack of experience doing 110%, this is even more clear in Sonic adventure since you actually see tails finally finding a way to compensate his lack of physical power, since tails' gameplay is piloting the tornado, using that robot to destroy armies of robots, and I really like this concept of a character because it doesn't undermine the character's accomplishments, and neither it does to the ones that already have their own accomplishments
I see what you mean, but when considering SA2, it feels less like Tails is trying to live up to Sonic and more like he’s cultivating his own unique talents. While Sonic (obviously) has a speed-focused playstyle, Tails’ clunky mech is the antithesis of that. Tails has embraced his role as the tech support, building things like artificial emeralds for other people to wield, while Sonic is the headstrong, quick-witted force. Tails being Eggman’s rival in SA2 implies he’s more competing with his intellect than Sonic’s power, while Nero is in more direct competition with his fellow sword-wielding devil hunters.
This is one of my favorite videos to rewatch fr
I always try to end every boss as Vergil in DMC5 with World of V. It just seems like letting it all go and relying on Vergil's humanity to finish the job is the most dramatic finale i can think of
43:02 I dunno if anyone pointed this out but remember Dmc 3 dante also used style for attacks.
Uh...I don't remember that, when has Dante used the style meter in game for extra combat opportunities
@@Norrabal certain attacks last longer depending on style
Edit:as one guide puts it
Crazy combos are tied directly to style Meter
Was enjoying the end bit about colors my guy.
I can't stand how good this video is. It's just freakin great. Thanks for putting this all together
This was a hilarious half serious half joking video. Thanks for more insight into DMC
Goddamn, great analysis here.
Spending a full minute on lady’s ass spank taught to prove a point was a baller move.
criminally underrated
What if Dante’s rage meter is him storing the rage of his opponents because he keeps blocking there attempts to attack him.
I have an idea for Dante’s hypothetical son. In terms of gameplay (and I guess how characterization influences it) what does Dante not have I. Common with either Vergil or Nero? 1.) gunkata 2.) he does not follow the “less is more” approach 3.) because of no. 2 he also doesn’t make enhanced dps that much of a priority. So I came up with this: fisticuff style, Gunslinger, a charge up based style, and the return of Quicksilver since technically it fused with Dante’s body so there’s no way you’re telling me he sold it to a younger more ambitious devil hunter
Btw with your video
Now I am realizing they all make sense after all those hours playing the games
It made me love dmc even more
I did however notice control really is the name of the game, figuratively speaking
Rather than all those over compensating strobe light esque try hard MAD combo videos and streams I see
The former is what gives you the actual score, not the latter
As soon as I mastered Quadruple S I fully integrated such and Sin Inferno to control the encounter, helping me reach high scores on dmd difficulty, which I would never otherwise reach before mastering Quadruple S
Even the likes of mission 10, 12 and even 13 to some extent
(18 i still cannot for the life of me rank s it without the no damage dr faust cheese)
I think 3’s whole point was that dante is discovering who he is as a person, letting him choose his style and wepons feels limiting and forces you to push each weapon to the limit of what you can do to play well. The player and dante essentially find their groove with the different setups and playstyles and grow in skill as dante grows and matures in the story.
Vergil as a boss also forces/encourages the player to rise to a new skill level “you’re not worthy as my opponent” and when you’re finally gaining a mastery of the game your rival says “dont get so cocky” and immediately doubles the lethality of his attacks on DMD.
ADDITIONALLY
The style meter in dmc3 IS A RESOURCE. Any multi hit crazy combos get their length doubled and/or TRIPLED when you have SSS rank. Million stab, dance macabre, jam session, agni and rudra’s multihit combo, beowulf’s punch barrage. And so on, the better the gameplay is the crazier the combos get, which makes sens as 3 is young and reckless dante, its the wildest he’s ever been so his gameplay matches him
What an amazing video!
18:06 to be fair if my friend asked for 99 replacement arms i’d charge his ass too
Another thing one can analyze is, along side the mechanics, each characters theme and the different battle music that plays at each section of the games (the section thing is mostly just in dmc3). You can also look at the move names. Nero's whole movelist is betting.
A new channel about games with well made analysis? Interesting.
19:35 did anyone else know you could do this?
why does it feel like you recorded this outro smoking while looking at the ceiling laying down on the chair
I probably rewatch this once very three months
13:56
Absolutely vile
Good video though
A year late to the party but DMC V Dante isn’t the only iteration of the character to have style exclusive mechanics though it’s synergy with SDT definitely makes it the most powerful iteration, in DMC 3 the style rank had subtle effects on your attacks and enemy behavior, elongating the amount of time you could mash out your crazy combos, the properties of your styles, the amount of damage your attacks do, and enemies will actively start cowering in fear of you as you reach triple S.
about the critcisim at 26:52
i believe that when playing as vergil, having concentration be a resource that incentivied to hold on to and not something you spend like DT, but "spending" concentration making vergil more efficient in combat, is a design choice and perfectly reflects him.
vergil has always been obsessed with power and control, as he is traumatized from the loss of his mother and him nearly dying when he was a child, back when he lacked both, making him believe the lack of them caused that unfortunate event. the simple thought process that "more concentration = more power = more better" is a representation of how vergil thinks, and how its affected his fights with dante over the years.
spending concentration as vergil to take the risk of losing control of the fight and the additional power concentration brings with it to gain efficiency like dante is specifically incentivised against, because thats just not what vergil is like.
same with dmc5 for example, vergil was willing to split his human side from his demon side and eat the qliphot apple to gain more power, just to still lose against dante, because dante is not out for power or control (despite having plenty), hes out for efficiency and damn good at it too.
vergil however is too blinded by his trauma to realize this, which is why he loses as both urizen and vergil against dante and nero. in my opinion, when playing as vergil, the act of spending concentration in a fight is basically fighting against his own compulsion and need for power and control in exchange for efficiency, which would make sense why spending concentration nets better results as opposed to hording it.
spending concentration is basically vergil "healing" from his trauma, and subsequently becoming a better fighter. vergil is powerful, but because hes always after more power to gain control, hes at the mercy of his "lack" of power, taking control away from him, making him powerful, but not efficient.
vergils efficieny as a fighter is held back by his fear of giving up his quest for more power. he believes he doesnt have to face his fears to get better, in his mind its "just a little more power then i can beat dante".
this is how i interpret vergil as a character and i believe the concentration meter represents him as a character perfectly. despite the age of this video and the very lenghty comment i would love to hear your opinion on my interpretation.
other than that, great video! havent watched such an amusing video in a while
To make sure I understand, it seems like what you're getting at is that a full bar of concentration is like an unrealistic ideal Vergil holds himself to. If he actually wants to succeed, and be efficient, he has to compromise that ideal here and there. As much as he'd like to be, he isn't perfect (unless the player is which is unlikely). Is that the gist of it? If so I completely agree and I say as much in the video when we get to DMC5.
I think the issue is that I didn't consider losing concentration in DMC4 as spending it, whereas I did consider using World of V or auto-parry to be spending it. I still believe the distinction I drew makes sense, because, unlike in 4, you do actually need to have a certain amount of concentration to afford those moves, but you raise a good point; it may not actually be a consequential distinction. Given this actually was the point you were trying to make...yeah you convinced me on this one. It's just more clear what "giving up concentration" means in 5, but you can derive the same thing from 4. Thanks for the comment.
@nerothesky thats pretty much the gist of it, yeah
glad i was able to change your mind on this, even if just a bit and thank you for taking the time to not just read but also reply. have a great day 💙
this video is so fucking underrated! wtf!?! good work G
we need credo as a playable character. Somebody modded him for Vergil in DMC4 , so I guess that's the closest we'll get.
credits were very enjoyable. as much as the entire video . thank you
¡Excellent video!. I wish to add something however, if i remember correctly in DMC3 when playing as Dante the higher your Style meter is, the easier it becomes to perform those finishing moves that requires you to smash a button, like you need less inputs to trigger them.
I really like for you to review the vision of V manga. Also I feel Vergil's SDT should've had some of Urizen's moveset put into it.
Not only do I vibe immensely with this style of analysis, I always try to see how mechanics affect and or tell narratives as well, but also knowing kh Days is the shit is based as hell. I feel morally obligated to sub, end of discussion
Just got to Dante's rage part. I think the Rage meter is more up for interpretation as now-a-days some people use the word "rage" as a substitute for hype. The more rage (hype) he gets, the more into the fight he gets and the higher damage he outputs.
Don't know how the franchise will continue without Dante, he is DMC itself made into a character, Nero is cool and my fav chat, but not having the Style switching mechanics from Dante would feel weird, maybe improving Devil breakers to get the same complexity as Styles could do the trick
Or Dante and Vergil become playable on some missions like how it is with former, Nero and V in the base dmc5 game
you know i personally think it be cool if dante was the dlc charecter off the next special edition and just have vergil be the replacement for dante cause i feel like vergil is still a really comlex charecter and for the love off god I WOULD DO ANYTHING TO ABLE TO PLAY as dante for every mission off dmc6 like seriously dont get me wrong i love nero a ton but sometimes i just wanna play as the pizza man
I think Nero design felt a bit lacking than Dante is intentional, he is a new devil hunter he still has room to grow, remember DMC 3 Dante have the same problem 1 style and 2 weapons at a time and then come 4 he has access to everything, we might see the same incarnation of Nero with his Breaker or even new mechanic with him being more powerful and more experienced
@@darkerrex1442 i mean i still think dante has to be atleast somewhat involved dont get me wrong i love nero i wouldnt mind a whole game for him but even if he design becomes less "lacking" i doubt it be good for marketing cause lets be honestl the pizza man is the soul off devil may cry
I feel like I’ve been playing Nero wrong this whole time. Now I feel like I can have more fun role playing.
Great analysis, no complaints.
Great video! When is the next one please!
“I think it’s cus she likes to throw stuff”
Love this video on so many levels
Underrated this man
wow you should have 100 times more subscribers for this video quality, glad I stumbled upon your channel. But one thing I would like to add, you mentioned that style rank affecting gameplay wasn't a thing before dmc 5, but actually back in dmc 3 many of Dante's moves were dependent on the style meter, I guess DT explosion wasn't the only thing game was hiding from players... You can check "how sss rank changes your combos in dmc3" here on youtube.
I've never thought so deeply about Nero's moveset before. However, now that it's been pointed out to me. It seems to me that the developers are very well aware of the high risk high reward gambling, nature of Nero's moveset. Because they named most of his moves at off of casino. Terms and games roulette,high roller, shuffle, etc. pretty nice touch Capcom.
I should probably add that there's one other way where style is used by a character(that I can think of). When riding punchline with Nero, the amount of riding time you get scales with your style rank.
Vs entire character is a resource to be used by Vergil lol
I love the contrast between the two "Do good so you can do even better" mechanics of Vergil and Dante
From Vergil calmness where is it a failure to not be calmed at every moment, where your perfect execution is to be expected and failing to do so is recieved with a punishment.
While Dante doesn't need need to go into SSS rank, you probably don't need any help if you already combo'ed, danced and obliterated your way trough it and you are already being really extra... But then the game gift you the power to summon a screen cleaner for a few seconds and at that point you are already destroying wathever is in front of you but Dante doesn't conforms on being extra, IF HE CAN SUMMON HIS SUPER DEMON FORM AFTER PUTTING A HAT IN A ENEMY AND PRECEEDED TO DANCE INMEDIATLY AFTER... Hell yeah he'll do it.
I think Nero can only rev the sword when there's the weight of a demon pushing against Red Queen, gives that point of leverage