I was reading an interesting feature article on the website Gamasutra.com earlier today where a game designer was analyzing various elements of encounter and AI design in 3D brawler videogames. I was rather disappointed that he didn't analyze any entries in the Devil May Cry series; in fact, I am considering trying out his method of analysis on the game later. In the mean time though, one aspect of his article caught my eye: the concept of gating. While the concept behind gating is something that I was already familiar with, it is nice to finally have an accepted word for it.
In essence, gating is where the game developers put in obstacles to prevent the player from running away from or circumventing a battle. It is a valuable tool of the game developer, since it is pretty pointless to make a brawler-style game where the player can just walk right past every fight. There are a couple different ways of implementing gating: one way is to explicitly lock a player into a room until every enemy is dead, and the other is to design the enemies' attacks and AI to punish the player for trying to run away. While Devil May Cry 4 uses both methods of gating, it leans heavily towards the former in every mission, to the point where I think it begins to be detrimental to the game.
As is traditional in the Devil May Cry series, DMC 4's most common form of gating is where the game blocks off all of the doors and escape routes out of a room with red or white walls of energy. The games even use a specific color of wall to differentiate them from walls that can only be removed by solving puzzles or advancing the plot. Now then, there is nothing wrong with this strategy in of itself; plenty of videogames, including most incarnations of the Legend of Zelda series, lock the player in a room until the player defeats every enemy present. I think doing this is a great way to mark major battles. However, I think the technique is severely over-used in Devil May Cry 4. The typical mission structure of DMC 4 can be safely summed up as a string of three to five rooms where the player has to defeat every enemy in the group in order to proceed. While optional enemies sometimes appear, they are in the minority. After the first few missions set up like this, I actually began to forget that I could avoid some battles.
The problem is compounded by the fact that the majority of the battles that don't have explicit gating often are designed to take advantage of "soft" gating. For example, one of the few areas of the game where the player can run away from battles is in the long corridor sections of Fortuna castle. However, these long corridors are typically populated by either Frosts or Basilisks, both of which possess a mix of both high pursuit abilities and dangerous long-range attacks. So while the player can try to run from these enemies, he will probably take a few bad hits from enemy attacks. Furthermore, these groups of enemies are usually comparable in numbers and fighting strength to enemy groups that the player is locked in with. So even they still count as part of the linear chain of major fights.
Honestly, I think the developers went overboard with the gating in Devil May Cry 4. Gating is particularly useful for differentiating big, important fights from small, inconsequential fights. However, the developers decided to make just about every fight in Devil May Cry 4 a big fight, and cut out all of the little fights, and then they used strict gating to lock the player into that structure. However, that uniformity gets tiresome after a while. While Devil May Cry 4 has plenty of variety in enemies, it doesn't have enough variety in the kinds of encounters that the player faces. The consistent use of gating also denies the chance for the player to use running away, even of the temporary tactical withdrawal variety, as a viable strategy.
Showing posts with label Devil May Cry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Devil May Cry. Show all posts
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Devil May Cry 4: Returning to Old Areas
One area where Devil May Cry 4 really suffers in comparison to the older entries in the series is in how they handled Dante's section of the game. When Dante becomes the controllable character in mission 12, he begins a trek back through all of the areas that Nero has passed through earlier. As such, the second half of the game is a reprise of the first. Now then, earlier entries in the series used this same trick, and it is a perfectly legitimate way to proceed through a game if done well. However, the Dante section of Devil MAy Cry 4 ended up feeling tacked on because the developers did not change the old areas nearly enough to make the experience of reprising them feel new or interesting.
Returning to old areas is actually a classic element of the Devil May Cry series. In missions 16 through 19 of the first Devil May Cry, Dante goes back through the areas he first went through in missions 1 through 8 (as well as a few others). In Devil May Cry 3, Dante first climbs up to the top of the tower of Temin-ni-Gru, then descends down into its basement, and finally climbs all the way back up to its roof. However, the difference between these two games and Devil May Cry 4 lies in how they handled reprising old areas.
In the original Devil May Cry, it is daytime when Dante first arrives in the old castle. While the castle is completely loaded with demons, it otherwise seems to be a fairly ordinary castle. However, as Dante moves onwards and completes missions, day gives way to night, and by the time Dante returns to the keep that he explored in the first few missions, it is completely dark out. While the change in lighting is enough to make exploring the castle more difficult, the castle itself seems to become possessed by evil after nightfall. Walls lined with suits of armor take the place of doors, the internal structure of the castle seems to have rearranged itself, and certain parts of the castle, such as the cathedral, take on a twisted, biological appearance. The transformation of the castle works very well because it successfully twists what was once familiar and known into something unknown and much more frightening. The game also shakes things up by adding new rooms, new ways of getting around, new enemies, and a brand new, really difficult boss to this section of the game. It is impossible to say anything bad about this execution of the idea of returning to old ground.
In Devil May Cry 3, Dante does most of his backtracking through familiar territory in missions 14 through 17, where he climbs back up to the roof of the tower from its deepest basement. However, the game throws a twist at the player. At the end of mission 13, the entire tower transforms: the tower's height increases significantly, rooms that used to be connected are now on separate floors, some old rooms have collapsed, and new doors and passageways have appeared. As such, climbing back up the tower is not as simple as going though familiar areas backwards; it involves trailblazing completely new paths and getting used to new ways of exploring the tower. While this section of the game plays off of the familiarity of the old areas, it is in practice an entirely new set of areas to explore. To top it all off, the player fights two brand new bosses during this section of the game.
In contrast to what was done in the previous games though, the player does just play through familiar areas backwards after Dante takes over in Devil May Cry 4. While the game does try to mix things up a bit by adding a couple of new elements to the areas, the changes are superficial at best. For example, Fortuna castle has the exact same layout as in Nero's go-through, except that ice walls have appeared to shepherd Dante down a specific, roundabout route. Th only change of note is that a door that had been previously blocked off (but still on the map) is now mysteriously open, revealing a single stairwell. Other areas were not so fortunate. Dante travels through the underground lab in the exact same direction Nero did, fighting more or less the same enemies (in the same rooms), with the single change that he has to deal with a cloud of poisonous gas that is more annoying than interesting. The only area to get a real change in mood is the forest, which is filled with rain and a creepy fog that has rearranged the connections between rooms. However, the forest reverts to its sunny, familiar self as soon as Dante slays the area boss. Heck, even the "lost woods" puzzle is completely unchanged in Dante's go-through, with the exact same clue and solution. The entire thing is compounded by the fact that Dante fights the exact same set of bosses that Nero fought (minus the most interesting ones) in the exact rooms that Nero fought them, with only a single exception. All told, Dante's side of the game completely lacks any interesting twists to keep things novel or interesting.
Devil May Cry 4 might have been a lot better off if it had used some of the same tricks that the previous installments used to make familiar material fresh and interesting. At the very least, it would have been a good idea to have made Nero pass through the areas during the daytime and Dante at nighttime, or vice versa.
Returning to old areas is actually a classic element of the Devil May Cry series. In missions 16 through 19 of the first Devil May Cry, Dante goes back through the areas he first went through in missions 1 through 8 (as well as a few others). In Devil May Cry 3, Dante first climbs up to the top of the tower of Temin-ni-Gru, then descends down into its basement, and finally climbs all the way back up to its roof. However, the difference between these two games and Devil May Cry 4 lies in how they handled reprising old areas.
In the original Devil May Cry, it is daytime when Dante first arrives in the old castle. While the castle is completely loaded with demons, it otherwise seems to be a fairly ordinary castle. However, as Dante moves onwards and completes missions, day gives way to night, and by the time Dante returns to the keep that he explored in the first few missions, it is completely dark out. While the change in lighting is enough to make exploring the castle more difficult, the castle itself seems to become possessed by evil after nightfall. Walls lined with suits of armor take the place of doors, the internal structure of the castle seems to have rearranged itself, and certain parts of the castle, such as the cathedral, take on a twisted, biological appearance. The transformation of the castle works very well because it successfully twists what was once familiar and known into something unknown and much more frightening. The game also shakes things up by adding new rooms, new ways of getting around, new enemies, and a brand new, really difficult boss to this section of the game. It is impossible to say anything bad about this execution of the idea of returning to old ground.
In Devil May Cry 3, Dante does most of his backtracking through familiar territory in missions 14 through 17, where he climbs back up to the roof of the tower from its deepest basement. However, the game throws a twist at the player. At the end of mission 13, the entire tower transforms: the tower's height increases significantly, rooms that used to be connected are now on separate floors, some old rooms have collapsed, and new doors and passageways have appeared. As such, climbing back up the tower is not as simple as going though familiar areas backwards; it involves trailblazing completely new paths and getting used to new ways of exploring the tower. While this section of the game plays off of the familiarity of the old areas, it is in practice an entirely new set of areas to explore. To top it all off, the player fights two brand new bosses during this section of the game.
In contrast to what was done in the previous games though, the player does just play through familiar areas backwards after Dante takes over in Devil May Cry 4. While the game does try to mix things up a bit by adding a couple of new elements to the areas, the changes are superficial at best. For example, Fortuna castle has the exact same layout as in Nero's go-through, except that ice walls have appeared to shepherd Dante down a specific, roundabout route. Th only change of note is that a door that had been previously blocked off (but still on the map) is now mysteriously open, revealing a single stairwell. Other areas were not so fortunate. Dante travels through the underground lab in the exact same direction Nero did, fighting more or less the same enemies (in the same rooms), with the single change that he has to deal with a cloud of poisonous gas that is more annoying than interesting. The only area to get a real change in mood is the forest, which is filled with rain and a creepy fog that has rearranged the connections between rooms. However, the forest reverts to its sunny, familiar self as soon as Dante slays the area boss. Heck, even the "lost woods" puzzle is completely unchanged in Dante's go-through, with the exact same clue and solution. The entire thing is compounded by the fact that Dante fights the exact same set of bosses that Nero fought (minus the most interesting ones) in the exact rooms that Nero fought them, with only a single exception. All told, Dante's side of the game completely lacks any interesting twists to keep things novel or interesting.
Devil May Cry 4 might have been a lot better off if it had used some of the same tricks that the previous installments used to make familiar material fresh and interesting. At the very least, it would have been a good idea to have made Nero pass through the areas during the daytime and Dante at nighttime, or vice versa.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Devil May Cry 3: The 7 Hells
In my last post on enemies in Devil May Cry 4, I compared the new demons from DMC4 to a particular group of demons from Devil May Cry 3: the Hell reapers. In my opinion, the Hell reapers of DMC 3 are an exceptionally good group of regular enemies because they combined a solid theme shared among all of them while also being good at requiring the player to adapt his strategy depending on the composition of the enemy group.
First off, all of the 7 Hells type enemies share several features in common appearance wise: they all where hooded cloaks, they have a gaunt, skeletal appearance, and almost all of them use scythes. In essence, they are all look vaguely like the cliche Grim Reaper. At the same time, each individual type of Hell reaper has a very distinctive look, particularly in terms of coloration and posture. So, a large group of 7 Hells looks like a mob of similar, but distinct individuals. I think it works quite well.
More important to the success of 7 Hells as enemies is in how each individual type of Hell reaper has its own focus:
Hell Pride: The most basic kind of Hell reaper, these guys are only capable of short range melee attacks.
Hell Sloth: These Hell reapers are capable of teleporting, making them good at surprise attacks.
Hell Gluttony: These ones are capable of performing a rather dangerous mid-range sand blast attack.
Hell Lust: These Hells are extremely fast and suddenly dash in from long range to attack.
Hell Wrath: These guys don't use scythes, but instead act as walking bombs.
Hell Greed: This type of 7 Hell carries around a coffin which it uses to periodically summon other Hell reapers.
Hell Envy: This is a version of the Hell Pride that is unique to a specific area of the game.
As seen in the list above, each Hell reaper has its own particular special skill, which requires different tricks to beat it. For example, while a Hell Pride can be quickly defeated with focused ground combos, a Hell Lust's vicious attacks force the player to keep moving and stay airborne. These wildly varying fighting styles also mean that it is possible to create a variety of unique combat encounters by combining different types of 7 Hell. For example, fighting Hell Prides and Hell Greeds at the same time is a fairly straightforward affair; one must simply take down the Hell Greeds quickly by attacking them during their periods of vulnerability, while occasionally clearing out some Hell Prides if they get too numerous or too close. On the other hand, in a similar fight against Hell Greeds and Hell Lusts, it isn't so easy to ignore the Hell Lusts. In that situation, one must instead turn to more hit-and-run style tactics.
The strength of the 7 Hells is that each kind of Hell reaper is designed to be a building block for an encounter, instead of a monster that can do anything on its own. As such, even though Devil May Cry 3 is full of encounters against the 7 Hells, no two are exactly the same. At the same time, these encounters feel thematically appropriate, because the 7 Hells are share a common design paradigm.
I can confidently say that the 7 Hells are the best set of enemies from the entire Devil MAy Cry series.
First off, all of the 7 Hells type enemies share several features in common appearance wise: they all where hooded cloaks, they have a gaunt, skeletal appearance, and almost all of them use scythes. In essence, they are all look vaguely like the cliche Grim Reaper. At the same time, each individual type of Hell reaper has a very distinctive look, particularly in terms of coloration and posture. So, a large group of 7 Hells looks like a mob of similar, but distinct individuals. I think it works quite well.
More important to the success of 7 Hells as enemies is in how each individual type of Hell reaper has its own focus:
Hell Pride: The most basic kind of Hell reaper, these guys are only capable of short range melee attacks.
Hell Sloth: These Hell reapers are capable of teleporting, making them good at surprise attacks.
Hell Gluttony: These ones are capable of performing a rather dangerous mid-range sand blast attack.
Hell Lust: These Hells are extremely fast and suddenly dash in from long range to attack.
Hell Wrath: These guys don't use scythes, but instead act as walking bombs.
Hell Greed: This type of 7 Hell carries around a coffin which it uses to periodically summon other Hell reapers.
Hell Envy: This is a version of the Hell Pride that is unique to a specific area of the game.
As seen in the list above, each Hell reaper has its own particular special skill, which requires different tricks to beat it. For example, while a Hell Pride can be quickly defeated with focused ground combos, a Hell Lust's vicious attacks force the player to keep moving and stay airborne. These wildly varying fighting styles also mean that it is possible to create a variety of unique combat encounters by combining different types of 7 Hell. For example, fighting Hell Prides and Hell Greeds at the same time is a fairly straightforward affair; one must simply take down the Hell Greeds quickly by attacking them during their periods of vulnerability, while occasionally clearing out some Hell Prides if they get too numerous or too close. On the other hand, in a similar fight against Hell Greeds and Hell Lusts, it isn't so easy to ignore the Hell Lusts. In that situation, one must instead turn to more hit-and-run style tactics.
The strength of the 7 Hells is that each kind of Hell reaper is designed to be a building block for an encounter, instead of a monster that can do anything on its own. As such, even though Devil May Cry 3 is full of encounters against the 7 Hells, no two are exactly the same. At the same time, these encounters feel thematically appropriate, because the 7 Hells are share a common design paradigm.
I can confidently say that the 7 Hells are the best set of enemies from the entire Devil MAy Cry series.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Devil May Cry 4: Enemies
There is a pretty good variety of enemies in Devil May Cry 4, ranging from the weak Scarecrows to the insanely powerful Blitz demons. However, I don't think that the list of enemies, nor how the enemies in the game are used are perfect. It is a little hard to pin down exactly, so I will tackle the various enemies in Devil May Cry 4 one at a time.
Scarecrows:
These are the successors to the Puppets of Devil May Cry 1 and the Hell reapers of Devil May Cry 3; they are weak enemies designed to be fought in large numbers throughout the game. Unfortunately, the Scarecrows just don't seem to do the job as well as their precursors. First of all, the Scarecrows only come in two main varieties, an Arm type and a Leg type, which are difficult to distinguish from each other since they both fight in more or less the same manner. In comparison, the Puppets of DMC1 came in blade-wielding, dart-throwing, and gun-toting varieties, as well as in the slightly stronger Bloody Mary variety. In DMC3, there were seven kinds of Hell reaper, each of which was both visually unique and had distinct powers. This lack of variety really hurts the Scarecrows, since most Scarecrow battles end up feeling the same.
The other problem with the Scarecrows in DMC4 is that they don't appear very frequently in the game. It is actually a lot of fun to tear through large hordes of weak enemies using your large array of flashy attacks in a Devil May Cry game. That is more or less the reason for the existence of the Scarecrows and their ilk. Yet, Scarecrows don't actually appear all that frequently in Devil May Cry 4. While they appear in just about every major section of the game, with the exception of the first few missions they only appear in a room or two per mission, if that. In comparison, just about every corridor and transition room in DMC1 or DMC3 is stuffed with fights against similar enemies. Part of this is due to DMC4's tendency to build stages around 3 or 4 major fights against stronger enemies with little in the way of optional fights in transitional areas.
Assaults and Frosts:
With DMC4's emphasis of having a few major battles per mission, the lizard-like Assaults end up being one of the most prominent enemies in the game, particularly in Son of Sparda mode, where they al but replace the Scarecrow. They are designed to fulfill the role of an enemy that is a bigger challenge than the Scarecrow, but still weak enough to be fought in groups of three or four. In that sense, they are somewhat comparable to the stronger varieties of Hell reaper from DMC3. However, while the stronger Hell reapers came in a wide variety of specialist forms, the Assaults come in only one form that tries to do everything at once. They throw long-ranged attacks, perform a variety of mid to long range dashing attacks, have decent melee capability, can perform a screaming attack at short range to stun Dante/Nero, and can block both gunfire and melee attacks. This all-in-one nature of the Assaults doesn't really help them as monsters. Since they can fight using a variety of moves, there isn't really any kind of strategy for fighting them, so they end up being more annoying than anything. At the same time, they always fight the same way and rarely come alongside anything else, so fighting them gets old after a while.
The Frosts are really just elemental versions of the Assaults with a greater emphasis on power and defense over speed, so a lot of my comments above apply to them as well. Oddly enough, they are introduced much earlier in the game than the Assaults.
Chimera Seeds and Chimeras:
I actually like these things. The Chimera Seeds are almost unique among DMC4 monsters in the thematic nature. The Chimera Seeds only appear in the forest area, and are directly linked to the boss of the forest, which successfully ties together the enemies in the area, the area itself, and the boss of the area together in a way no other area of the game is. The Chimera Seeds themselves do something unique: they attach themselves to other enemies and make those enemies stronger. However, I much prefer it when the Chimera Seeds start out unattached, so I have the chance to try and prevent some of them from attaching to other the enemies. For too often, enemies come with Chimera Seeds pre-attached.
Basilisks:
I really have no idea why the designers of DMC4 used Basilisks the way they did. Basilisks fulfill a pretty basic and necessary niche of monster: they are relatively fragile enemies that specialize in ranged attacks. As such, they should have been a major enemy that appears alongside Scarecrows and Assaults for most of the game. Yet, the Basilisks are introduced only near the very end of Devil Hunter Mode, appear in only a few places even in Son of Sparda mode, and generally only appear in packs consisting of only Basilisks. I really have no explanation for it.
Gladius:
Once again, this is a monster that only appears in very few encounters. Yet, they are a pretty interesting enemy, since they can picked up by Nero and thrown at other monsters for a pretty powerful attack. At the same time, their presence can make a tough fight much harder, since they are distracting and can do a fair bit of damage. They really deserved a bigger presence in the game.
Cutlass:
As far as I can remember, these guys only show up in a pack of three in one encounter in the entire game. Their presence is so limited that I don't even know what to say about them. Like the Gladius and Basilisk, these guys seem to have been designed primarily for their role as weapons used by Agnus Angelo. Outside of that role, they don't seem to have much point in DMC4.
Bianco Angelo and Alto Angelo:
I can't deny that the Angelo-type enemies are some of the coolest enemies in DMC4. The Bianco Angelos work well as a mid-tier enemy designed to be tough until you get used to their quirks. The Alto Angelos work well as elite opponents on their own, and can transform a group of Bianco Angelos into what is practically a mid-boss fight. Yet, I can't shake the idea that there should have been a third kind of Angelo, such as an Angelo similar in strength to the Bianco that was designed for ranged combat. That would have given some more variety to the early/mid game Angelo fights, and would have opened up a greater variety of Alto Angelo squads. Alternatively, it would have been nice if the Angelos appeared alongside the weapon type enemies (Gladius, Cutlass, and Basilisk) more regularly, and even better if they could have synergized with them more. For example, maybe an Alto Angelo could pick up a Cutlass and use it as a weapon, similar to how Agnus does.
Mephistos and Fausts:
Honestly, at this point I just plain hate these things. There is only one strategy that works on them: shoot them until their cloak falls off (which can take a frustrating amount of time), then slash them while they are vulnerable until they die. At the same time, they are too powerful to casually group with other enemies. The one time I fought Mephistos and Frosts at the same time, I discovered that it was almost as tough as a boss fight. As such, you only fight Mephistos in groups of two or three Mephistos, with a Faust occasionally thrown in for a particularly tough fight. This makes fights against Mephistos tedious, annoying, and boring. I much preferred enemies like the Bloodgoyles of DMC3, which were similar, but weak enough to be paired up with other enemies.
Blitz:
This enemy has so far only appeared by itself as a really difficult solo fight. I have died or nearly died every time I have fought it. While there is only one real effective strategy, the enemy is rare enough and strong enough that I can't really complain. The third time I fought a Blitz, I got to use a Gyro Blade to fight it, so I can't fault the designers for not trying to spice up battles against the thing.
After writing this much, I think the recurring issues of enemy and encounter design have come out into the open. In short, while the game has a wide variety of interesting enemies, the enemies don't complement each other very well. You fight most enemies in groups consisting of just that enemy type, with occasional exception. Most of the enemy-types in the game are fairly resilient enemies with a wide range of both long and short range moves, which means that they don't have glaring weaknesses that the player can exploit or that other enemies could cover for in a mixed group. A such, there is little strategy to be found in determining what order to kill the enemies in. The lack of variety also means that fighting these enemies gets a lot less interesting after a while.
Scarecrows:
These are the successors to the Puppets of Devil May Cry 1 and the Hell reapers of Devil May Cry 3; they are weak enemies designed to be fought in large numbers throughout the game. Unfortunately, the Scarecrows just don't seem to do the job as well as their precursors. First of all, the Scarecrows only come in two main varieties, an Arm type and a Leg type, which are difficult to distinguish from each other since they both fight in more or less the same manner. In comparison, the Puppets of DMC1 came in blade-wielding, dart-throwing, and gun-toting varieties, as well as in the slightly stronger Bloody Mary variety. In DMC3, there were seven kinds of Hell reaper, each of which was both visually unique and had distinct powers. This lack of variety really hurts the Scarecrows, since most Scarecrow battles end up feeling the same.
The other problem with the Scarecrows in DMC4 is that they don't appear very frequently in the game. It is actually a lot of fun to tear through large hordes of weak enemies using your large array of flashy attacks in a Devil May Cry game. That is more or less the reason for the existence of the Scarecrows and their ilk. Yet, Scarecrows don't actually appear all that frequently in Devil May Cry 4. While they appear in just about every major section of the game, with the exception of the first few missions they only appear in a room or two per mission, if that. In comparison, just about every corridor and transition room in DMC1 or DMC3 is stuffed with fights against similar enemies. Part of this is due to DMC4's tendency to build stages around 3 or 4 major fights against stronger enemies with little in the way of optional fights in transitional areas.
Assaults and Frosts:
With DMC4's emphasis of having a few major battles per mission, the lizard-like Assaults end up being one of the most prominent enemies in the game, particularly in Son of Sparda mode, where they al but replace the Scarecrow. They are designed to fulfill the role of an enemy that is a bigger challenge than the Scarecrow, but still weak enough to be fought in groups of three or four. In that sense, they are somewhat comparable to the stronger varieties of Hell reaper from DMC3. However, while the stronger Hell reapers came in a wide variety of specialist forms, the Assaults come in only one form that tries to do everything at once. They throw long-ranged attacks, perform a variety of mid to long range dashing attacks, have decent melee capability, can perform a screaming attack at short range to stun Dante/Nero, and can block both gunfire and melee attacks. This all-in-one nature of the Assaults doesn't really help them as monsters. Since they can fight using a variety of moves, there isn't really any kind of strategy for fighting them, so they end up being more annoying than anything. At the same time, they always fight the same way and rarely come alongside anything else, so fighting them gets old after a while.
The Frosts are really just elemental versions of the Assaults with a greater emphasis on power and defense over speed, so a lot of my comments above apply to them as well. Oddly enough, they are introduced much earlier in the game than the Assaults.
Chimera Seeds and Chimeras:
I actually like these things. The Chimera Seeds are almost unique among DMC4 monsters in the thematic nature. The Chimera Seeds only appear in the forest area, and are directly linked to the boss of the forest, which successfully ties together the enemies in the area, the area itself, and the boss of the area together in a way no other area of the game is. The Chimera Seeds themselves do something unique: they attach themselves to other enemies and make those enemies stronger. However, I much prefer it when the Chimera Seeds start out unattached, so I have the chance to try and prevent some of them from attaching to other the enemies. For too often, enemies come with Chimera Seeds pre-attached.
Basilisks:
I really have no idea why the designers of DMC4 used Basilisks the way they did. Basilisks fulfill a pretty basic and necessary niche of monster: they are relatively fragile enemies that specialize in ranged attacks. As such, they should have been a major enemy that appears alongside Scarecrows and Assaults for most of the game. Yet, the Basilisks are introduced only near the very end of Devil Hunter Mode, appear in only a few places even in Son of Sparda mode, and generally only appear in packs consisting of only Basilisks. I really have no explanation for it.
Gladius:
Once again, this is a monster that only appears in very few encounters. Yet, they are a pretty interesting enemy, since they can picked up by Nero and thrown at other monsters for a pretty powerful attack. At the same time, their presence can make a tough fight much harder, since they are distracting and can do a fair bit of damage. They really deserved a bigger presence in the game.
Cutlass:
As far as I can remember, these guys only show up in a pack of three in one encounter in the entire game. Their presence is so limited that I don't even know what to say about them. Like the Gladius and Basilisk, these guys seem to have been designed primarily for their role as weapons used by Agnus Angelo. Outside of that role, they don't seem to have much point in DMC4.
Bianco Angelo and Alto Angelo:
I can't deny that the Angelo-type enemies are some of the coolest enemies in DMC4. The Bianco Angelos work well as a mid-tier enemy designed to be tough until you get used to their quirks. The Alto Angelos work well as elite opponents on their own, and can transform a group of Bianco Angelos into what is practically a mid-boss fight. Yet, I can't shake the idea that there should have been a third kind of Angelo, such as an Angelo similar in strength to the Bianco that was designed for ranged combat. That would have given some more variety to the early/mid game Angelo fights, and would have opened up a greater variety of Alto Angelo squads. Alternatively, it would have been nice if the Angelos appeared alongside the weapon type enemies (Gladius, Cutlass, and Basilisk) more regularly, and even better if they could have synergized with them more. For example, maybe an Alto Angelo could pick up a Cutlass and use it as a weapon, similar to how Agnus does.
Mephistos and Fausts:
Honestly, at this point I just plain hate these things. There is only one strategy that works on them: shoot them until their cloak falls off (which can take a frustrating amount of time), then slash them while they are vulnerable until they die. At the same time, they are too powerful to casually group with other enemies. The one time I fought Mephistos and Frosts at the same time, I discovered that it was almost as tough as a boss fight. As such, you only fight Mephistos in groups of two or three Mephistos, with a Faust occasionally thrown in for a particularly tough fight. This makes fights against Mephistos tedious, annoying, and boring. I much preferred enemies like the Bloodgoyles of DMC3, which were similar, but weak enough to be paired up with other enemies.
Blitz:
This enemy has so far only appeared by itself as a really difficult solo fight. I have died or nearly died every time I have fought it. While there is only one real effective strategy, the enemy is rare enough and strong enough that I can't really complain. The third time I fought a Blitz, I got to use a Gyro Blade to fight it, so I can't fault the designers for not trying to spice up battles against the thing.
After writing this much, I think the recurring issues of enemy and encounter design have come out into the open. In short, while the game has a wide variety of interesting enemies, the enemies don't complement each other very well. You fight most enemies in groups consisting of just that enemy type, with occasional exception. Most of the enemy-types in the game are fairly resilient enemies with a wide range of both long and short range moves, which means that they don't have glaring weaknesses that the player can exploit or that other enemies could cover for in a mixed group. A such, there is little strategy to be found in determining what order to kill the enemies in. The lack of variety also means that fighting these enemies gets a lot less interesting after a while.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Devil May Cry 4: Boss Handicaps
Today I had to suffer the shame of killing a boss while it was handicapped for the second time in my time playing Devil May Cry 4. What really bugs me though is that I am not convinced that I needed the handicap. I am pretty sure that I could have won that fight at its full difficulty if I had been given the chance. Unfortunately, the game made the choice for me. This particular incident makes for a good example of why I don't like auto-adjusting difficulty that doesn't ask for the player's consent.
Mission 9 of Devil May Cry 4 is one of my least favorite stages in the game, mostly due to its introduction of the Alto Angelos, and it is much worse on Son of Sparda difficulty than I expected. I am ashamed to say that I needed to use a few items to live through the second battle, where an Alto Angelo unit was reinforced by a whole flock of Gladiuses. I subsequently had to continue after dying to a laser beam trap on the climb up towards the boss. After all of that trouble, I was pretty determined to beat the boss, even if I had to continue a bunch of times, since I did not want to have to climb my way up that stage again.
Unfortunately, I died to the boss, Agnus Angelo, three times before I finally beat him. However, I noticed something strange on my third attempt: Agnus summoned a group of three Gladiuses to fight me instead of the two Basilisks he had summoned during my first two attempts. When Angus summoned the Gladiuses again on my fourth and final attempt, I became certain that the Enemy Handicap had kicked in. I received confirmation of that fact when I beat the stage and was hit with the associated score penalty. While part of me was just relieved that the stage was behind, I was also honestly frustrated. I felt like the game had denied me the chance of having a fair shot at beating Agnus at his full power.
Since this is currently my second time through the game, I have fought Agnus Angelo several times already, albeit on a lower difficulty mode. The main reason I was dying was because I was being reckless and taking too many hits while I was on the offensive, and I still needed to get used to identifying his moments of vulnerability again. I am pretty sure that I could have beaten him at his full power with enough practice fighting against him at that level. If I was given the choice, I would have kept on fighting him at that power level until I beat him. But the game didn't give me a choice in the matter.
I don't think the idea of giving the payer an advantage if he keeps losing is a bad idea in of itself, but I don't think it is fair to the player if the game adjusts the difficulty without the player's consent. I would have preferred it if the game gave me a pop-up window that had explicitly asked my if I was willing to take a penalty to my score in exchange for weakening the boss. That way, I could have kept trying against the boss at full power as long as I liked, and still have the option of an easier fight when I finally reached the point where my patience runs out. Since different people have different tolerances for frustration, there is no way a single fixed number of deaths before the handicap kicks in will please everyone.
Mission 9 of Devil May Cry 4 is one of my least favorite stages in the game, mostly due to its introduction of the Alto Angelos, and it is much worse on Son of Sparda difficulty than I expected. I am ashamed to say that I needed to use a few items to live through the second battle, where an Alto Angelo unit was reinforced by a whole flock of Gladiuses. I subsequently had to continue after dying to a laser beam trap on the climb up towards the boss. After all of that trouble, I was pretty determined to beat the boss, even if I had to continue a bunch of times, since I did not want to have to climb my way up that stage again.
Unfortunately, I died to the boss, Agnus Angelo, three times before I finally beat him. However, I noticed something strange on my third attempt: Agnus summoned a group of three Gladiuses to fight me instead of the two Basilisks he had summoned during my first two attempts. When Angus summoned the Gladiuses again on my fourth and final attempt, I became certain that the Enemy Handicap had kicked in. I received confirmation of that fact when I beat the stage and was hit with the associated score penalty. While part of me was just relieved that the stage was behind, I was also honestly frustrated. I felt like the game had denied me the chance of having a fair shot at beating Agnus at his full power.
Since this is currently my second time through the game, I have fought Agnus Angelo several times already, albeit on a lower difficulty mode. The main reason I was dying was because I was being reckless and taking too many hits while I was on the offensive, and I still needed to get used to identifying his moments of vulnerability again. I am pretty sure that I could have beaten him at his full power with enough practice fighting against him at that level. If I was given the choice, I would have kept on fighting him at that power level until I beat him. But the game didn't give me a choice in the matter.
I don't think the idea of giving the payer an advantage if he keeps losing is a bad idea in of itself, but I don't think it is fair to the player if the game adjusts the difficulty without the player's consent. I would have preferred it if the game gave me a pop-up window that had explicitly asked my if I was willing to take a penalty to my score in exchange for weakening the boss. That way, I could have kept trying against the boss at full power as long as I liked, and still have the option of an easier fight when I finally reached the point where my patience runs out. Since different people have different tolerances for frustration, there is no way a single fixed number of deaths before the handicap kicks in will please everyone.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Devil May Cry 4: Son of Sparda difficulty
A couple days ago, I started the Son of Sparda difficulty mode in Devil May Cry 4. I haven't played it for very long, but it has already surprised me. Relatively early in Mission 2, I encountered a group of Assaults, a fairly vicious enemy that was only introduced in Mission 8 on Devil Hunter (Normal) mode. In Mission 3, I encountered a pack of Basilisks, which was the very last regular enemy to be introduced in Devil Hunter mode. As a result, the early missions have felt very different than they did on my first go through of the game. I think this is a great idea, since it has given me fresh and new challenges that I haven't seen before in the game. It is a much better method of differentiating difficulty levels than just tweaking the enemies' AI or stats.
The original Devil May Cry did something similar. If you go through the game on Easy Automatic mode (like I first did), several of the strongest types of regular enemy, including Frosts and Fetishes, do not appear at all. Since I didn't encounter them on my first go-through of Devil May Cry, I was pretty surprised to encounter brand new enemies on Normal mode. I think it was a pretty interesting idea. It gave someone who already beat the game once something to look forward to on a second go-through. In a series like Devil May Cry, where the player is expected to defeat lower difficulty modes before moving on to the higher ones, keeping the experience new is important. Otherwise, the game can get frustrating and dull when moving on to higher difficulty modes.
Goldeneye for the N64 did something kinda similar: it added new mission objectives on higher difficulty settings. For example, on the lowest difficulty setting, the player can clear a certain mission just by fighting his way through to an exit point. On a higher difficulty setting, the player is required to steal some files and destroy some alarms before making his way to the exit point. It made missions play out in a completely different manner, and put the player through more demanding situations.
I vastly prefer this kind of approach to creating different difficulty settings. Not only does it make playing the same game feel different depending on what difficulty the game is set to, it works as a very obvious indicator that the player has moved on to a genuinely more difficult challenge. If anything, I would have liked to have seen the game developers for Devil May Cry 4 hold some enemies or bosses in reserve until Son of Sparda mode.
As a side note, I like the naming scheme for the Devil May Cry 4 difficulty modes. They are just fun.
The original Devil May Cry did something similar. If you go through the game on Easy Automatic mode (like I first did), several of the strongest types of regular enemy, including Frosts and Fetishes, do not appear at all. Since I didn't encounter them on my first go-through of Devil May Cry, I was pretty surprised to encounter brand new enemies on Normal mode. I think it was a pretty interesting idea. It gave someone who already beat the game once something to look forward to on a second go-through. In a series like Devil May Cry, where the player is expected to defeat lower difficulty modes before moving on to the higher ones, keeping the experience new is important. Otherwise, the game can get frustrating and dull when moving on to higher difficulty modes.
Goldeneye for the N64 did something kinda similar: it added new mission objectives on higher difficulty settings. For example, on the lowest difficulty setting, the player can clear a certain mission just by fighting his way through to an exit point. On a higher difficulty setting, the player is required to steal some files and destroy some alarms before making his way to the exit point. It made missions play out in a completely different manner, and put the player through more demanding situations.
I vastly prefer this kind of approach to creating different difficulty settings. Not only does it make playing the same game feel different depending on what difficulty the game is set to, it works as a very obvious indicator that the player has moved on to a genuinely more difficult challenge. If anything, I would have liked to have seen the game developers for Devil May Cry 4 hold some enemies or bosses in reserve until Son of Sparda mode.
As a side note, I like the naming scheme for the Devil May Cry 4 difficulty modes. They are just fun.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Devil May Cry 4: Guns and Devil Arms
One of the best parts of the Devil May Cry series is that you get to kill enemies using a wide variety of cool weapons, each of which has it's own quirks. While Devil May Cry 4 doesn't quite have the same number of weapons as Devil May Cry 3, it does have a few really distinct and fun ones. So, here are my thoughts on the various weapons in DMC4:
Red Queen:
Nero's basic sword is a fun weapon to play around with. The developers did a good job of differentiating it from Dante's Rebellion, even though it still has a lot of the same basic functionality. Most notably, Red Queen probably has the largest and most elaborate list of upgrades in the entire game, with several new combos, four special moves (several of which with upgrades), and upgrades to the Exceed ability for the player to buy. However, while the basic combos of Red Queen are fun to use, it's exceed function just doesn't seem to do enough to warrant using it. While it is pretty difficult to build up the Exceed gauge mid-battle, it is pretty easy to waste it, since it takes only a single mistimed press of the Y button to waste one gauge. Furthermore, no enemy in the game seems to have any particular weakness to Exceed attacks. So while the EX special attacks are pretty cool and fun to occasionally play around with, there is little motivation for the player to use them. Adding some enemies with a weakness to Exceed attacks and making it possible to get more attacks out of the Exceed gauge would have helped the system a lot.
Blue Rose:
While Red Queen feels like a fun variant on Dante's sword, Blue Rose just feels like a weaker version of Ebony and Ivory with none of the cool special tricks. Even more aggravating is the complete lack of upgrades for Blue Rose; the only abilities to buy for it are it's three levels of Charge Shot. Now then, the concept behind Blue Rose's charge shot is pretty cool and distinct, since each level of charge adds a new special quality to the bullet: the first level adds a knock-back effect, the second sets the target on fire, and the third adds a time-delayed explosion. Unfortunately, charging the gun takes forever. By the time the gun reaches even it's second level of charge, I could have hit an enemy with several melee combo chains. While it is possible to charge the gun while fighting normally, doing so requires holding the X button down while still trying to press the Y, B, and A buttons with precise timing. My hand just can't do that. Blue Rose really needs more special tricks, and more ways of being differentiated from Dante's gun. The developers could increase the guns knockback and stunning capabilities more, or perhaps give Nero the ability to load and fire various kinds of special round.
Devil Bringer:
As I said in an earlier post, Devil Bringer needs a lot more functions, seeing as how it is Nero's distinguishing ability. The fact that the only purchasable upgrades for it are moderate increases to Snatch's range is pretty disappointing. The developers might want to look at how Grab and Throw was improved between Zone of the Enders and Zone of the Enders: The Second Runner for some inspiration. Still, it is surprising fun to use despite how simple it is.
Yamato (Nero):
Having a weapon available only while Devil Triggered is a really interesting concept, and I think it is pretty well executed. Some more special attacks would be a little nice, and I think it would be cool to somehow be able to expend some of the magic gauge to draw the sword and execute a big attack (such as the attack Dante uses) while in normal form.
Rebellion:
What is there to say? It's Dante's main sword, and handles exactly like expected for the most part. I do think the newly added red glow is a nice touch, since it makes the sword look more like a powerful magical weapon. It might actually be a match in terms of coolness for Alastor now. The fact that the Stinger attack transforms into a very different attack while Dante is Devil Triggered is really cool. I am a little disappointed that his other attacks don't seem to receive any similar upgrade. However, Rebellion's chargable special moves (Round Trip and Drive), suffer from some of the same criticisms I leveled at Blue Rose: the charging takes too long and is impossible to do while actually fighting.
Ebony & Ivory:
Just as good as they have always been. They still have a lot of tricks, though mostly thanks to Gunslinger style. Suffers the problem that almost every other gun in the game does: the only upgrades are increasing how long you can charge the gun.
Coyote-A:
It's nice to see that a gun that has been in Dante's arsenal since DMC1 finally get a name. See Ebony and Ivory for most of my comments for this gun. It fills a useful niche, but could use more special tricks.
Gilgamesh:
It is a pretty nice varient on the tried and true Dante hand-to-hand weapon. However, it is missing a lot of the tricks that Beowulf had, particularly in the realm of ranged attacks. Like so many other weapons in the game, it suffers from few decent upgrades as well. The ability to charge every ground attack is pretty cool, but since it takes so long it is only situationally useful,and even then I can only justify charging to the first level. Still, not bad. However, I think the mask is a little much for the look of the weapon.
Pandora:
Pandora is quite easily the best concept to come out of Devil May Cry 4, and is certainly a weapon that I am hoping to see come back in later iterations of the series. If expanded upon, the transforming gun Pandora could easily serve as a character's only firearm. In fact, the weapon almost seems like a better fit for Nero than Dante, since using it correctly involves building up a special gauge to bring out more powerful attacks. This is one weapon where I would have really liked to see more upgrades for, since it is really disappointing that there is only one chain of transformations available for the gun. I would have liked to see several different branching chains of transformations. Easily my favorite gun in the entire Devil May Cry series.
Lucifer:
Lucifer is a very interesting weapon. The fact that it can chain infinitely by default, with several different finishers is a cool touch. Impaling an enemy with explosive harpoons is a pretty fun effect too, though I wish the developers had mapped a different button input to trigger the detonation. Away plus Y while locked on to an enemy can be surprising awkward if Dante is surrounded by enemies. I think the developers could also have done more with the wing-like look of the weapon, and given it an attack where Dante actually throws a blade into an enemy.
Yamato (Dante):
While I am a big fan of the Slash Dimension attack, Yamato feels way too much like a one-trick pony. Since Yamato cannot be used with any Style (since it's its own Style), nor can it be upgraded in any way, it feels very limited in use. Still, the idea of a style where Dante uses a second weapon in addition to his main equipped one is a solid one.
I may come back and give my updated thoughts on these weapons when I finally get around to going through Devil May Cry 4 again.
Red Queen:
Nero's basic sword is a fun weapon to play around with. The developers did a good job of differentiating it from Dante's Rebellion, even though it still has a lot of the same basic functionality. Most notably, Red Queen probably has the largest and most elaborate list of upgrades in the entire game, with several new combos, four special moves (several of which with upgrades), and upgrades to the Exceed ability for the player to buy. However, while the basic combos of Red Queen are fun to use, it's exceed function just doesn't seem to do enough to warrant using it. While it is pretty difficult to build up the Exceed gauge mid-battle, it is pretty easy to waste it, since it takes only a single mistimed press of the Y button to waste one gauge. Furthermore, no enemy in the game seems to have any particular weakness to Exceed attacks. So while the EX special attacks are pretty cool and fun to occasionally play around with, there is little motivation for the player to use them. Adding some enemies with a weakness to Exceed attacks and making it possible to get more attacks out of the Exceed gauge would have helped the system a lot.
Blue Rose:
While Red Queen feels like a fun variant on Dante's sword, Blue Rose just feels like a weaker version of Ebony and Ivory with none of the cool special tricks. Even more aggravating is the complete lack of upgrades for Blue Rose; the only abilities to buy for it are it's three levels of Charge Shot. Now then, the concept behind Blue Rose's charge shot is pretty cool and distinct, since each level of charge adds a new special quality to the bullet: the first level adds a knock-back effect, the second sets the target on fire, and the third adds a time-delayed explosion. Unfortunately, charging the gun takes forever. By the time the gun reaches even it's second level of charge, I could have hit an enemy with several melee combo chains. While it is possible to charge the gun while fighting normally, doing so requires holding the X button down while still trying to press the Y, B, and A buttons with precise timing. My hand just can't do that. Blue Rose really needs more special tricks, and more ways of being differentiated from Dante's gun. The developers could increase the guns knockback and stunning capabilities more, or perhaps give Nero the ability to load and fire various kinds of special round.
Devil Bringer:
As I said in an earlier post, Devil Bringer needs a lot more functions, seeing as how it is Nero's distinguishing ability. The fact that the only purchasable upgrades for it are moderate increases to Snatch's range is pretty disappointing. The developers might want to look at how Grab and Throw was improved between Zone of the Enders and Zone of the Enders: The Second Runner for some inspiration. Still, it is surprising fun to use despite how simple it is.
Yamato (Nero):
Having a weapon available only while Devil Triggered is a really interesting concept, and I think it is pretty well executed. Some more special attacks would be a little nice, and I think it would be cool to somehow be able to expend some of the magic gauge to draw the sword and execute a big attack (such as the attack Dante uses) while in normal form.
Rebellion:
What is there to say? It's Dante's main sword, and handles exactly like expected for the most part. I do think the newly added red glow is a nice touch, since it makes the sword look more like a powerful magical weapon. It might actually be a match in terms of coolness for Alastor now. The fact that the Stinger attack transforms into a very different attack while Dante is Devil Triggered is really cool. I am a little disappointed that his other attacks don't seem to receive any similar upgrade. However, Rebellion's chargable special moves (Round Trip and Drive), suffer from some of the same criticisms I leveled at Blue Rose: the charging takes too long and is impossible to do while actually fighting.
Ebony & Ivory:
Just as good as they have always been. They still have a lot of tricks, though mostly thanks to Gunslinger style. Suffers the problem that almost every other gun in the game does: the only upgrades are increasing how long you can charge the gun.
Coyote-A:
It's nice to see that a gun that has been in Dante's arsenal since DMC1 finally get a name. See Ebony and Ivory for most of my comments for this gun. It fills a useful niche, but could use more special tricks.
Gilgamesh:
It is a pretty nice varient on the tried and true Dante hand-to-hand weapon. However, it is missing a lot of the tricks that Beowulf had, particularly in the realm of ranged attacks. Like so many other weapons in the game, it suffers from few decent upgrades as well. The ability to charge every ground attack is pretty cool, but since it takes so long it is only situationally useful,and even then I can only justify charging to the first level. Still, not bad. However, I think the mask is a little much for the look of the weapon.
Pandora:
Pandora is quite easily the best concept to come out of Devil May Cry 4, and is certainly a weapon that I am hoping to see come back in later iterations of the series. If expanded upon, the transforming gun Pandora could easily serve as a character's only firearm. In fact, the weapon almost seems like a better fit for Nero than Dante, since using it correctly involves building up a special gauge to bring out more powerful attacks. This is one weapon where I would have really liked to see more upgrades for, since it is really disappointing that there is only one chain of transformations available for the gun. I would have liked to see several different branching chains of transformations. Easily my favorite gun in the entire Devil May Cry series.
Lucifer:
Lucifer is a very interesting weapon. The fact that it can chain infinitely by default, with several different finishers is a cool touch. Impaling an enemy with explosive harpoons is a pretty fun effect too, though I wish the developers had mapped a different button input to trigger the detonation. Away plus Y while locked on to an enemy can be surprising awkward if Dante is surrounded by enemies. I think the developers could also have done more with the wing-like look of the weapon, and given it an attack where Dante actually throws a blade into an enemy.
Yamato (Dante):
While I am a big fan of the Slash Dimension attack, Yamato feels way too much like a one-trick pony. Since Yamato cannot be used with any Style (since it's its own Style), nor can it be upgraded in any way, it feels very limited in use. Still, the idea of a style where Dante uses a second weapon in addition to his main equipped one is a solid one.
I may come back and give my updated thoughts on these weapons when I finally get around to going through Devil May Cry 4 again.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Devil May Cry 4: Nero
Introducing a new main character into an established and popular franchise is very tough. The poor fan reception of Raiden from Metal Gear Solid 2 is proof of that. However, I think Capcom did a very good job of bringing in Nero and selling him as a cool character. I think that this is in large part due to how the developers went out of their way to emphasize that Nero is a very different character than Dante, as opposed to being a clone or a replacement.
From the beginning, it is obvious to any long-time fan of the Devil May Cry series that Nero plays very differently from Dante. While he still uses both a rapid-fire gun and multi-hit sword combos, Nero's specific combos and special moves work very differently than Dante's. Furthermore, instead of copying Dante's styles or ability to weapon change, Nero uses the Exceed system and the very powerful Devil Bringer. The Devil Bringer in particular differentiates Nero and Dante, since it forms the core of Nero's fighting style, especially against bosses. In fact, even though Nero and Dante will both fight the same bosses, it is noticeable that very different tactics are needed. While Dante can count on superior mobility and long-range firepower, most of Nero's strategy focuses on finding opportunities to hit enemies with his Devil Bringer's Breaker attack. The two character's Devil Trigger abilities and appearance are even significantly different.
The Devil Bringer is certainly a fun weapon, particularly since there are custom animations when Nero uses it against bosses or various normal enemies. Nero's Exceed ability, which let's him charge up his sword to get more powerful sword attacks, allows for some pretty spectacular combos as well. Unfortunately, it is pretty obvious that these powers are new additions to the series, and thus need some more refinement. Despite being the power that distinguishes Nero the most, there is surprising little to do with Devil Bringer. The player can pretty much just use Snatch to close the distance with the enemy and Breaker to unleash a punishing throw. While Nero later on gains the ability to hold an enemy as a shield, that rarely seems to work like it is supposed to and ends up feeling like a minor side-note. I would have liked to see a lot more functions and upgrades for the Devil Bringer, such as the ability to throw an enemy away from Nero, choke an enemy, or something else like that. Exceed can also use a little more work, since I ended up forgetting about it more than half the time. While it is possible to easily build up a single level of the Exceed gauge by using Exact, that isn't enough to allow use of the more powerful Exceed 2 or Exceed 3 abilities. And while Exceed attacks look cool, no enemy seems to have a particular weakness to them, so there often isn't a whole lot of point to building up the Exceed gauge. Still, Nero's abilities were well-executed enough that I actually missed having them when time came to switch to Dante.
The game developers also did a pretty good job of differentiating Nero and Dante's personalities, even though they are both generally cut from the same mold. Even though both characters fought many of the same bosses, their banter with the bosses and general behavior is very distinct. While they are both cocky and confident, Nero tends to be short-tempered, straight to the point, and serious, while Dante tends to be relaxed, joking, and generally more of a show-off.
Finally, I think the story of Devil May Cry 4 did a good job in making Nero feel like an interesting and important character. Metal Gear Solid 2's big mistake was in hyping Solid Snake as the main character in most of the promotional material for the game, making him the starting playable character, and then doing the surprise character swap to Raiden a quarter of the way into the game. That process made Raiden into an unexpected and unwanted replacement for Solid Snake. In Devil May Cry 4 though, Nero was very much at the forefront of the trailers and demos for the game, so players went into the game expecting that there would be a new playable character. Making Nero the starting character also gave him a chance to establish himself and his role in the story early. The end result is that even someone like me, who is a big fan of Dante after playing the previous games in the series, ended up liking Nero a lot.
From the beginning, it is obvious to any long-time fan of the Devil May Cry series that Nero plays very differently from Dante. While he still uses both a rapid-fire gun and multi-hit sword combos, Nero's specific combos and special moves work very differently than Dante's. Furthermore, instead of copying Dante's styles or ability to weapon change, Nero uses the Exceed system and the very powerful Devil Bringer. The Devil Bringer in particular differentiates Nero and Dante, since it forms the core of Nero's fighting style, especially against bosses. In fact, even though Nero and Dante will both fight the same bosses, it is noticeable that very different tactics are needed. While Dante can count on superior mobility and long-range firepower, most of Nero's strategy focuses on finding opportunities to hit enemies with his Devil Bringer's Breaker attack. The two character's Devil Trigger abilities and appearance are even significantly different.
The Devil Bringer is certainly a fun weapon, particularly since there are custom animations when Nero uses it against bosses or various normal enemies. Nero's Exceed ability, which let's him charge up his sword to get more powerful sword attacks, allows for some pretty spectacular combos as well. Unfortunately, it is pretty obvious that these powers are new additions to the series, and thus need some more refinement. Despite being the power that distinguishes Nero the most, there is surprising little to do with Devil Bringer. The player can pretty much just use Snatch to close the distance with the enemy and Breaker to unleash a punishing throw. While Nero later on gains the ability to hold an enemy as a shield, that rarely seems to work like it is supposed to and ends up feeling like a minor side-note. I would have liked to see a lot more functions and upgrades for the Devil Bringer, such as the ability to throw an enemy away from Nero, choke an enemy, or something else like that. Exceed can also use a little more work, since I ended up forgetting about it more than half the time. While it is possible to easily build up a single level of the Exceed gauge by using Exact, that isn't enough to allow use of the more powerful Exceed 2 or Exceed 3 abilities. And while Exceed attacks look cool, no enemy seems to have a particular weakness to them, so there often isn't a whole lot of point to building up the Exceed gauge. Still, Nero's abilities were well-executed enough that I actually missed having them when time came to switch to Dante.
The game developers also did a pretty good job of differentiating Nero and Dante's personalities, even though they are both generally cut from the same mold. Even though both characters fought many of the same bosses, their banter with the bosses and general behavior is very distinct. While they are both cocky and confident, Nero tends to be short-tempered, straight to the point, and serious, while Dante tends to be relaxed, joking, and generally more of a show-off.
Finally, I think the story of Devil May Cry 4 did a good job in making Nero feel like an interesting and important character. Metal Gear Solid 2's big mistake was in hyping Solid Snake as the main character in most of the promotional material for the game, making him the starting playable character, and then doing the surprise character swap to Raiden a quarter of the way into the game. That process made Raiden into an unexpected and unwanted replacement for Solid Snake. In Devil May Cry 4 though, Nero was very much at the forefront of the trailers and demos for the game, so players went into the game expecting that there would be a new playable character. Making Nero the starting character also gave him a chance to establish himself and his role in the story early. The end result is that even someone like me, who is a big fan of Dante after playing the previous games in the series, ended up liking Nero a lot.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Devil May Cry 4: Continues and Gold Orbs
I got Devil May Cry 4 for Christmas, and I have already cleared through the end of Chapter 9 already. Despite some early worries about the game's difficulty, Devil May Cry 4 has proven itself just as exciting and intense as it's predecessors. In fact, the designers at Capcom have made some noticeable improvements to the game that make the game's difficulty not nearly as big of a pain as in Devil May Cry 3, by bringing back an improvement made in Devil May Cry 3's Special Edition.
In the original version of Devil May Cry 3, as well as in the first Devil May Cry, the player needed to use up rare and expensive items called Yellow Orbs in order to continue from a checkpoint. This was always the thing that frustrated the most in Devil May Cry 3. The bosses in Devil May Cry 3 were almost always located at the end of long and difficult stages. At the same time, every major boss in DMC3 was very dangerous and difficult in its own right. For example, I originally died to Virgil four or five times, which means that I had to trudge through his stage five or six times in a row. Now then, I am someone who enjoys difficulty, but having to replay the same stage all of the way through multiple times is more annoying than fun. I have always felt that tough challenges are always more fun if you have the chance to try it again immediately after you fail.
The Gold Orb system, which was added as an option in Devil May Cry 3 Special Edition and returned in Devil May Cry 4, gives the player the ability to continue from a checkpoint as many times as he likes. It really came in handy for me when I challenged Bael, the boss of Chapter 4 in DMC4. I probably fought Bael around seven times before I finally managed to crush him for good. If that fight was in DMC3, I would have had to trudge through the entire stage over again after dying. Instead, I got to fight him seven or so times in a row without interruption. Not only did it take less time with less frustration, but it let me focus on experimenting and fine-tuning my strategy. In Devil May Cry 3, I usually just gave up after a point and ended up using items to help me beat a boss and just avoid the frustration; but in Devil May Cry 4, I was free to enjoy the challenge of the fight itself more.
At the same time though, Devil May Cry 4 still rewards those players who get through a stage without dying. After my seven consecutive fights against Bael, my score for Chapter 4 was absolutely terrible: I only got a D rank. Compared to my typical A and B ranks, that D is a blight on my record. So to improve my overall score, I will probably go back and challange Bael again, this time armed with knowledge gained from my earlier hard-fought victory. So, the challenge of beating a stage without dying still exists in Devil May Cry 4, but it is no longer a requirement for progressing through the game. I think that this is how it should be.
In the original version of Devil May Cry 3, as well as in the first Devil May Cry, the player needed to use up rare and expensive items called Yellow Orbs in order to continue from a checkpoint. This was always the thing that frustrated the most in Devil May Cry 3. The bosses in Devil May Cry 3 were almost always located at the end of long and difficult stages. At the same time, every major boss in DMC3 was very dangerous and difficult in its own right. For example, I originally died to Virgil four or five times, which means that I had to trudge through his stage five or six times in a row. Now then, I am someone who enjoys difficulty, but having to replay the same stage all of the way through multiple times is more annoying than fun. I have always felt that tough challenges are always more fun if you have the chance to try it again immediately after you fail.
The Gold Orb system, which was added as an option in Devil May Cry 3 Special Edition and returned in Devil May Cry 4, gives the player the ability to continue from a checkpoint as many times as he likes. It really came in handy for me when I challenged Bael, the boss of Chapter 4 in DMC4. I probably fought Bael around seven times before I finally managed to crush him for good. If that fight was in DMC3, I would have had to trudge through the entire stage over again after dying. Instead, I got to fight him seven or so times in a row without interruption. Not only did it take less time with less frustration, but it let me focus on experimenting and fine-tuning my strategy. In Devil May Cry 3, I usually just gave up after a point and ended up using items to help me beat a boss and just avoid the frustration; but in Devil May Cry 4, I was free to enjoy the challenge of the fight itself more.
At the same time though, Devil May Cry 4 still rewards those players who get through a stage without dying. After my seven consecutive fights against Bael, my score for Chapter 4 was absolutely terrible: I only got a D rank. Compared to my typical A and B ranks, that D is a blight on my record. So to improve my overall score, I will probably go back and challange Bael again, this time armed with knowledge gained from my earlier hard-fought victory. So, the challenge of beating a stage without dying still exists in Devil May Cry 4, but it is no longer a requirement for progressing through the game. I think that this is how it should be.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Devil May Cry trailer impressions
Over the last couple of weeks, I have been following some of the trailers for the soon to be released Devil May Cry 4. There is one thing I really have to say: Nero looks way too much like Dante. Same white hair, both wear long coats and lots of red, and both carry swords on their backs. While Nero has been wearing more black in more recent trailers, it is still hard to distinguish him from Dante in the quick cuts of a trailer. Surprisingly, Nero looks more like Dante than Virgil does, despite the fact that Virgil is Dante's twin brother.
It should be possible to immediately distinguish any two characters in the same game, double so if they are main characters. Dante and Virgil were easily distinguished in DMC3 by the different colors of their coats, their different hair, their different weapons, and also by their vastly different body language. A relatively simple change to Nero's character design could similarly eliminate any confusion between him and Dante. For example, changing his hair color by a little bit, or by completely removing the red in his outfit.
Anyways, I do like what I am seeing so far in the trailers gameplay wise. The ability to change styles mid-battle resolves a major annoyance from DMC3. Also, I am impressed than Nero does fight very differently from Dante, thanks to the special powers of his right arm. It defeats the point of having multiple characters if they fight too much like each other. That was a major problem in Megaman X7 with Axel and X. I am also hoping for a lot of unlockable secret characters. It was a real disappointment that Virgil was not unlockable in the original version of DMC3. Unlockable characters are a king of bonus feature that never grows old.
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