The Shinji Mikami / Hideki Kamiya / Hideaki Itsuno Review Megathread - by froghawk
TannisRoot on 10/10/2018 at 00:45
Thanks for guinea pigging EW2 for me Froghawk! I'm definitely going to try it when I finally get some free time. I'm glad it was an improvement on the first. I also need to check out DMC...I own it, but once never played more than a few chapters!
icemann on 10/10/2018 at 09:05
My personal favorites of the DMC games is the first and 4th. The 4th I spent the most time on, since it had more RPG style XP grinding. First has the best music + overall mood to it all.
Sulphur on 10/10/2018 at 17:24
Quote Posted by froghawk
Rating: 3/10 evil goats - I'm starting to think Capcom are the masters of crapping out awful sequels. I'll be surprised if this isn't the worst DMC title by a long shot.
Are you actually playing these as you post, or are these more of a retrospective look at things?
As far as DMC2 is concerned, I've never played it, but it's long been regarded as one of the worst entries in the series, with DMC3 being the most celebrated title by a long shot, despite (or maybe because of) its steep difficulty curve. I knew DMC3 was for me when Dante hooked a motorcycle with his chainblades in mid-air, vaulted onto it, rode up a vertical cliff-face and somersaulted off a crumbling tower wall, then swung the bike around with one hand while in the middle of free-fall to club a swarm of enemies with it, and landed on the entrance to the next level. And that's not even the most ridiculous thing that happens in the game.
Anyway, the gameplay's tighter, the combat styles are great, there's some stonking boss battles, and it never takes itself seriously. Just remembering all that makes me want to pull the trigger on that remastered HD release for PC.
froghawk on 10/10/2018 at 23:22
Sounds awesome - can't wait to play it!
Quote Posted by Sulphur
Are you actually playing these as you post, or are these more of a retrospective look at things?
I can't get through games THAT fast, haha! It's an ongoing project. I started this in May 2017 on a different board, so I've played all of this over about a year and a half. Most of the reviews are reposts, but since beginning this thread, I've played both DMC games, Survivor, Operation Raccoon City, the last 3rd of RE6, Umbrella Corps, and some of the RE7 DLC. Can you tell I was putting off the lowest rated RE games? So yeah, this wasn't exactly done in order, even though I've mostly presented it that way. As such, I think the relative ratings might be a little skewed and I'll have to do a proper ranking later.
icemann on 11/10/2018 at 11:38
I'll admit to not reading these posts in full. Far too much text for me :p. Skimming through for bits of interest.
froghawk on 12/10/2018 at 15:53
Well, you'll have plenty of time to catch up, as I'll be updating this very slowly from here on out.
Sulphur on 12/10/2018 at 16:16
Well, I've had fun reading your retrospective reviews. While we may not share the same points of view on some of the finer details, I'm by and large in agreement with your breakdown of the general structure and gameplay of the titles. I've not seen the movies, but that's because I've generally never bought into the RE universe being a setting that's capable of telling a decent, coherent story.
TannisRoot on 12/10/2018 at 16:53
Okami is a game I wanted so badly to love. I got it on release in the PS2 era as a big fan of Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time. Wanting to play Zelda without a Nintendo console, it seemed like the perfect choice and the reviews were excellent.
It oozes style and it's absolutely gorgeous to look at and run around in. But the dungeons, puzzles, and clunky combat are really sub par and lack challenge. The game is basically on a permanent, untoggalable tourist difficulty where the hand-holding tutorial never lets up. Every puzzle is spoiled for you before you get the chance to use your brain. The brush stroke gimmick is a novel idea, but is limited compared to traditional zelda dungeon items and would better suit touch screens than the clunky implementation the PlayStation controls got. Combat is a pause the game, move the cursor, draw the shape, and pray the game recognizes it sort of deal. Over and over. It's also a very long game with lots of dialogue.
For the kind of gamer who wants a certain experience, I can see why it is rated highly, but personally I'd never recommend it.
froghawk on 12/10/2018 at 17:36
I've heard those criticisms and am curious how I'll feel about it. I don't mind playing a stupidly easy game for the story and art one bit, but I do mind when the gameplay becomes a tedious timewaster.
Quote Posted by Sulphur
I've generally never bought into the RE universe being a setting that's capable of telling a decent, coherent story.
You're absolutely right about that, especially with how many cooks it's had at this point. It's fanfiction on fanfiction now.
Thanks for reading - glad you've enjoyed it!
froghawk on 17/10/2018 at 02:57
DEVIL MAY CRY 3: DANTE'S AWAKENING (2005)
Inline Image:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/76/Devil_May_Cry_3_boxshot.jpgProducer: Tsuyoshi Tanaka
Director: Hideaki Itsuno
Writers: Bingo Morihashi, Takayasu Yanagihara
Hideaki Itsuno did a good enough job salvaging DMC2 that Capcom kept him on board for the third game (which performed so well that he became the official director of the entire series). The series regained focus with this title, as Itsuno studied what made the first title great and returned to many of its design principles. DMC2's reduced difficulty was an attempt to make it more appealing to Japanese audiences, but this backfired in the international markets, so Capcom made a compromise with the third title, releasing an easier version of the game for the Japanese market. However, they overestimated the level of difficulty the North American market could handle, leading them to re-release a rebalanced 'Special Edition' version of the game here with reduced difficulty in order to hit the market's sweet spot. And, of course, that got a PC release with broken controls (reversed analog sticks), then an HD remaster, then a PC port of the HD remaster with proper controls. This means I'm reviewing something like version #5 of the game, where they finally got everything right in the North American PC version.
DMC3 takes everything great about the first game and the few mechanics that were appealing from the second and dials them all up to 11. Thankfully, they returned to the RE-style level design - it takes places in an enormous tower, which is a lot like the first game's castle, only much bigger and more labyrinthine (on that note, there is definitely some influence from the film 'Labyrinth' on display here.) It also ends in Hell, so the basic structure of the game feels almost identical to the original, only with the castle grounds replaced by... the inside of a flying whale demon? Why not! Buying and upgrading weapon moves is back, though the gun upgrade system from DMC2 is still present and the basic sword (Rebellion) is the one from that game. The better features from DMC2 are retained here, like running up walls and enemy juggling, but they're able to used in meaningful ways and only available with certain 'styles'. 'Styles' allow the player to pick a trade (dodging, swords, guns, etc.) and collect RPG style experience in order to unlock additional moves in that trade. Only one style can be selected per mission, and there's only time to fully upgrade one or two styles per playthrough, so choose wisely! Some rather wacky styles get unlocked later into the game, allowing the player to slow time or spawn a doppleganger.
Everyone wanted Dante to have more attitude than he did in the second game, so Capcom decided to make a prequel with a young and especially snotty Dante. While I'm not much on this third voice actor change or his new look, everything else about this is a HUGE improvement. They went full-on with the action b-movie ridiculousness, to the point that pretty much every cutscene is comically over the top in a truly wonderful way. Dante can't go 2 seconds without riding a missile or driving a motorcycle up a wall, all while jumping off every available surface and doing wild tricks and sword spins. While it's true that it loses just a little bit of the first game's atmosphere by adopting this approach, the tradeoff is worth it. The environments still look suitably moody and the ambient music enhances them, so just enough atmosphere is still present to make the game a lot more enjoyable to be in than its predecessor. The battle music doesn't fare so well - Capcom decided to add vocals to the industrial rock of the previous titles, which makes the music feel more generic. 2005 was a bit late to fully jump on the nu-industrial trend, and the corny lyrics can detract from the proceedings when they're audible. This series doesn't seem interested in reprising monster designs, so there is once again a whole new cast of demons which retain the randomness of the designs in the first titles, from animated chess pieces to spooky jailers.
While the storytelling is still rather poor, it's undeniably a major step up for the series. The story is a lot more involved this time around, with much more frequent cutscenes, way more exposition, and some fun ambiguity about the identity of the real villain. The plot is based around a retcon in order to make Dante's brother Vergil a major part of the story (in short, Dante will not enter DMC1 believing that his brother Vergil was killed by Mundus). I'd normally find this severe inconsistency frustrating, but I think it was a wise choice, as the writers recognized that the family angle was the strongest aspect of the storytelling in the first game. The new secondary character, Lady, is also given a familial motivation, and acts as a foil and motivator for Dante in this regard.
This game kicks your ass HARD from the start - even with the toned down difficulty in this version, and even after having completed the first game, I found myself dying repeatedly in just the second room. You absolutely can't get away with button mashing here (you just barely could in the first game) - memorizing the combos is essential. DMC2's enemy health bars are gone, replaced by an improved combat rating system which makes it easier to figure out how to take advantage of all the mechanics the game has to offer. The game is a bit more transparent this time, as the combat ratings include a meter, actively showing you what moves are increasing your rating and showing you how long each rating will last. There are statues in the game called 'Combat Adjudicators' which make you reach a 'Stylish!' combat rating in order to get the reward inside, allowing you test what combos increase your score the fastest. These statues really drive home how wickedly difficult this game is - it often took me quite a while to reach the top rating.
The mission rating screen is also much more transparent this time, giving you individual ratings in different categories. Interestingly enough, deaths aren't directly factored into the rating, but time is, and dying increases your time. The mission system is otherwise the same as in the previous titles, but the missions here are much longer than in those games. This means that if there's a big boss at the end of a mission (which there usually is), you'd BETTER be ready to beat it in that sitting or you'll be doing the whole thing over again. Thankfully, the game lets you pick between the old 'yellow' continue system (which requires you to do the whole mission over if you don't have a yellow orb) and a new 'gold' continue system (added in the special edition), which lets you restart from a checkpoint as many times as you want in a single sitting as long as you don't quit the mission. In 'gold' mode, gold orbs promptly respawn you where you left off instead of at a checkpoint. There's really no reason to pick yellow mode unless you're married to tradition or feel like arbitrarily making the game even harder than it already is. I can't even imagine how difficult some of the later levels would be in yellow mode - for instance, there's a level in the late game where you have to re-fight many of the bosses from earlier in the game in succession. Good luck making it through that on one or two lives - no wonder people initially thought this game was too hard!
The items and item types are pretty much the same from previous titles, though there are a few small alterations (for instance, holy water now damages every enemy in a room instead of eliminating them). The game follows DMC2's model for item limits. You're not limited to one health item, but buying an item makes the next one you buy much more expensive, forcing you to pick between items and upgrades. There is a vital star or devil star hidden in every level, but they're often very well hidden, so finding them in the environment generally isn't going to happen. You're also penalized for using items in the mission rating, which further discourages using them.
While the camera system is pretty much the same as it was before, one small modification is introduced which makes things a bit smoother. You can now move the camera around the x-axis in certain large areas. As with the first game, I didn't encounter any real issues with enemies attacking from offscreen, so the better implementation made the movable camera largely unnecessary. I rarely found myself utilizing it, but it was undeniably helpful in the platforming bits, which are still quite a pain here. I feel the game could have done a better job of communicating when the camera could be moved - I think a large part of the reason I ignored the mechanic is that it was unclear when it was available - but I'm glad they implemented it.
This is a long game - longer than the previous two combined (my clear time was 20hrs). It's arguably a hair padded, but it manages to stay fun for almost the entire duration - quite a feat! It's also more replayable than either of the previous titles. As in DMC2, beating the game unlocks 'Bloody Palace' mode, which is better implemented this time and has now become the equivalent of Mercenaries for this series. It's still basically a grind for money that ends with you having to defeat the game's final boss in one go after surviving countless monsters (again, good luck with that), but thankfully you get to keep the orbs even if you die. It's got the same the same difficulty mode unlock system from the first two games, allowing the player to progress NG+ style through reconfigured Hard and Dante Must Die modes, which work the same way as before. However, there are way more skills to learn in this game than the original, so there's more incentive to play through the harder difficulties this time around. Beating the game also unlocks Vergil as a playable character in the campaign, who comes with his own intro cinematic and moveset. I'd almost prefer they hadn't set up his campaign with an intro cinematic, as it sets you up to expect a new campaign with its own story and levels even though it's a retread of Dante's campaign. Vergil is still lots of fun to play. He's much faster and more powerful than Dante, but also has a lot less life, which changes how the game plays.
RATING: 8.8/10 damned chessmen - This may turn out to be the series' best offering!
Inline Image:
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/devilmaycry/images/5/55/DamnedPawn.gif/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/229?cb=20080305084903