Why Devil May Cry 3 and 1 are still the Gold Standards of the DMC franchise
So I finally actually learned about DMC 4. I played a little bit years ago and couldn’t get past one boss fight and never picked it up again. Up until that point it felt like DMC 3 with a little more energy.
Recently, I watched bits of the DMC 5 and didn’t like it very much and I’ve talked about how DMC 3 is one of my favorite stories because I think it gets all the details right. So, I watched DMC 4 to see what happened after the little bit that I played because it didn’t seem that different from DMC 3.
Here’s my problem with this game…or rather this story…and it’s exactly around what I said about having “more energy.” What makes DMC 3 and also DMC 1 still gold standards of the franchise, to me, is how the bright, epic moments are set against a really grim, cold reality. DMC 4 makes the mistakes where 1. it’s trying to throw gas on the fire as much as possible and 2. it breaks the cardinal sins of “show don’t tell” too much. This is the game in the franchise — leading into DMC 5 — where characters say exactly the thing they are feeling. It’s bad when its a villain saying why they are mad and it’s worse when a cheesy line is said and there’s nothing to undercut it so there’s a “palette cleanser.”
At the end of DMC 3 when Dante and Vergil are fighting there’s a moment where Dante says “My soul is saying it wants to stop you!” which gets as close to a cringy moment as the game gets, but right afterwards Vergil cuts it by saying “unfortunately our souls are at odds brother” which is also said right on cue with the music.
DMC 3 got those moments perfect, because Dante is supposed to be a little more loose of a character and not take everything serious, but the DMC 3 tone was always cutting against it so that when he said cheesy things the tone always said “there’s something more serious at stake here,” which is critical because it helps us to understand Dante DOES understand this too and it’s not all just a game to him. The whole story begins with him not giving a shit, but by the end we get to sense that he has matured…even though the game takes place in the span of 1 day.
The end of DMC 4 has the same sort of emotional pay off and that moment where everyone learns what is important in the end. But to me the way DMC 3 & 1 kept a colder tone the whole way through is what allowed their endings to stick so well. When DMC 3 rises at the end and throw the last punch it fucking lands. And what I think makes that story unique is how even after the last fight Dante is proud of what happened, but he’s still very much thinking about it, It’s what leads him to become “the devil who may cry.” It’s the whole point of the story!
DMC 1 had a very upbeat finish, but the final battle in the castle basement and Dante says the line “I’m not going anywhere. Besides, there’s no place to go — look around! This is where This will be your burial ground as well!” is one of the greatest lines every spoken. Then the place gets destroyed and you fly out saving the girl in an rickety ass airplane. That right there is an EARNED epic moment.
In the end I feel like DMC 4 is written in a way where it’s trying to echo a lot of what DMC 3 did. It’s a similar story and its similarly organized. It does have a payoff at the end that is good. I feel from DMC 3 and DMC 1 these games do better when it’s a way more cold, serious tone so that the bigger moments can truly stand out. Vergil’s personality is the way the game should feel, Dante’s personality should feel challenged to rise up and defeat it.
