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A fantastic set of games that likely need no introduction. As much as I would love to use very colorful language to paint all of these games in the best light I can, that'd be way too wordy. For the sake of conciseness, I have turned my thoughts into bullet points to get across the important bits:
Devil May Cry:
- God tier sound-track, so many memorable tracks to choose from
- Decent difficulty, can decimate lower skill players but feels fun to master
- Bosses are a little repetitive but I enjoy the recurring threats
- Story is kind of a weird element. It has some good foundations, but it seems very absent a lot of the time
- Location was memorable, I can identify most locations of the Castle and surrounding area with ease
- Gameplay feels tight as fuck, unique claustrophobic feeling to it (maybe due to it originally being an RE game)
- Dash feels a little janky, as there is no dedicated button in order to evade attacks. They could have bound it to one of the buttons instead of having two dedicated buttons to shoot
- Fixed camera works to its benefit, makes every fight feel tense (especially with the midbosses)
- Enemies have plenty of variety and all have a unique purpose within the gameplay
- Underwater levels are an odd inclusion, it completely breaks the pace of the game for the small portion of the game they exist in
- Combo potential is a bit lower than in future installments, yet is still very fun and engaging to try and go for Stylish combos
- Weapon options are unique and have practical purpose, even though the Alastor and Sparda are just upgraded versions of Force Edge
- Besides the needlegun (as that only works underwater), all the guns have different purposes and tech behind them. Each one stands out and feels amazing to use
- An amazing start to a revolutionary series of hack and slashes
Devil May Cry 2 - Dante Disc:
- Music is fantastic, one of the greater parts of the DMC2 experience
- Streamlined dodging and starting with some classic moves is also a nice boon
- Amulet is a cool idea, allowing you to spec out your Devil Trigger in a bunch of cool different ways
- Instant switching ranged weapons was a good lead-up to systems in later games
- The atmosphere and setting is a stand-out addition to DMC2. The feeling of isolation, being the only person left in a once-populated cityscape is eerie and really cool
- I can respect the work Itsuno did, considering he had been stuck on the project with so little time
- Story is very nonsensical, I get the general idea but things really do just happen sometimes. Makes more sense with context from the Lucia disc yet the gameplay loop probably turns people away from that
- Dante's personality is lame, he barely talks and he just seems depressed
- Gameplay itself is quite easy, most generic enemies don't pose any threat as they die in two-three hits. Only exceptions that I personally had was Argosax (and that can be easily cheesed with guns or Majin)
- Some bosses are horribly designed and unfun to fight despite the braindead difficulty (Infested Chopper and Noctpteran)
- Abysmal camera system that seems to shove Dante into the corner, artificially makes fights harder
- Upgrade system feels pointless. Wish it was more like DMC1 where you get to buy the moves for the weapon you were using
- Weapon variety (for the swords) are quite lacking. Rather than having the different practical options of DMC1, you just have a trade-off of range and damage. Rebellion is the middle ground, Vendetta is low range high damage, and Merciless is the opposite. Guns also have this problem, but I think the missile launcher is a tad more standout than that
- The combo potential is higher, and I've been able to hit S-rank combos without too much trouble, but enemies die too fast for me to do any flashy attacks or tricks. It just incentivizes spamming guns and ignoring the combo system
- The levels in the second game are kinda forgettable (despite the amazing apocalyptic atmosphere), and it seems like the secret levels are randomly shoehorned into spots
- Most doors automatically let you walk through them, but in some randomly chosen spots it will require an interaction from the player
- Even smaller things like the general UX is worse. Menus kill all background music, which kills any tension from fights, and are worse to navigate with unnecessary sub menus
- Not the worst experience I've had, the game is short enough that I believe it is worth trying if you want to learn everything about DMC
Devil May Cry 2 - Lucia Disc:
- Randomly throwing in a mechanic from the original DMC (paying red orbs to unseal a door) was definitely a choice. It never occurs again and was never present in the Dante Disc. Plus, the door gives no indication you have to pay
- Having Lucia's story actually happen concurrently alongside Dante is a very cool idea in theory, since she has some unique bosses that Dante would never see (although they end up sharing bosses like Noctpteran)
- Combos feel infinitely more satisfying on Lucia, as her lower damage starting weapons prevent the enemies from dying in seconds. Air juggles and dashing from enemy to enemy feels cooler
- Music is still absolutely banging
- The underwater segments were already a bit of a flow-breaking inclusion in DMC1, so making them AGAIN with A BOSSFIGHT is wild
- Story makes a little more sense with the Lucia Disc context, yet its very jarring to just jump over scenes because they were present in the Dante Disc
- Plenty of jank still hurts the overall gameplay, like the shitty camera and the low health of the demons
- Despite lacking the charm of Dante, the overall quality of DMC1, or the complexities of the later entries in the series, the Lucia Disc is still quite an enjoyable time and easily the superior of the two Devil May Cry 2 experiences
Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening - Special Edition:
- Orgasmic levels of combo potential. Despite that, its not easy to maintain SSS combos
- The introduction of hotswapping between two melee and ranged weapons of your choice feels divine. Feels like they finally perfected melee switching from DMC1 and gun switching from DMC2
- The four base styles, plus the extra styles picked up alongside the Devil Arms, all have such unique purposes and benefits to them and add an extra layer of complexity to an already great game
- Replacing the DMC2 sword upgrades with the DMC1 system of buying new moves was the right choice, alongside the gun upgrades (that actually explain what they do) makes upgrades more worthwhile
- Variety of weapons is leagues better than DMC2 and even DMC1, where Ifrit was the outlier. Now we have the default Rebellion sword kit, Beowulf as the Ifrit clone, and Cerberus, Agni+Rudra, and Nevan as well
- Easily the best version of Dante, his cheese and cockiness has been cranked up to 11
- Difficulty is leagues harder, fights are hard and engaging while still being fair (sometimes)
- Music is absolutely god-tier, just like DMC1 (maybe even better)
- Temen-Ni-Gru is a lot more confusing in terms of layout due to its MANY floors and gimmicks when compared to the castle of Mallet Island
- The story and characters is easily the best and highest quality in the entire series, the introduction of Lady and Vergil as both equals and foils to Dante's character make the story feel intriguing and rewarding
- Camera can still be janky at times, especially during sections that require platforming, but the ability to manipulate it partially is nice to help alleviate the problem slightly
- Some weapons, particularly in the melee category, feel a little weaker than others due to their gimmicky usage (at least from what I tried) (Nevan)
- Getting lost is extremely easy in DMC3, probably my biggest complaint
- My personal favourite of the DMC HD Collection, which I doubt isn't that uncommon of an opinion