The Shinji Mikami / Hideki Kamiya / Hideaki Itsuno Review Megathread - by froghawk
Malf on 17/10/2018 at 15:41
Ooo, you're doing Dragon's Dogma?
I hope you've played it already, as to get the most out of the game (and its expansion, Dark Arisen), takes significantly more time than the other titles you've been playing for this thread.
froghawk on 17/10/2018 at 17:15
I did end up putting 50hrs into RE7 with all the DLC. But yeah, I know I'm looking at about 40hrs for Okami and 50-60+ for Dragon's Dogma, and I haven't started either yet. I do at least own Dragon's Dogma already, and plan to get a head start on it soon. I don't think this thread will reach completion for at least another year...
froghawk on 18/10/2018 at 06:36
DEVIL MAY CRY: THE ANIMATED SERIES (2007)
Inline Image:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e4/Devil_May_Cry_vol_1.jpgStudio: Madhouse
Director: Shin Itagaki
Writer: Toshiki Inoue, Bingo Morihashi
The PS2 DMC trilogy didn't exactly manage to tell a coherent story between the 3 games - the first game had minimal story, the second's plot was pointless, and the third provided all the lore for the series but directly contradicted the first game in the process. Nonetheless, Capcom tried to flesh out the story of the series with manga, graphic novels, and finally n anime series created by MADHOUSE. They produced a single season of 12 25min episodes. The episodes are mostly self-contained stories, though a plot arc does take over in the last 3 episodes. There are some cute callbacks to the games in the way things are named - the episodes are referred to as 'missions', and the last two missions, 'Showtime!' and 'Stylish!', are named after the game's combat ratings. The story bridges story gap between the first game and DMC4 (in case I've lost you, the series chronology is DMC3 - DMC - DMC4 - DMC2 - DMC5 - they kept it simple). Due to the strange chronology of the series, filling in these gaps can be a bit dangerous - a graphic novel was already produced to bridge the gap between the first two games, and now this anime and DMC4 have to fit in there as well. It really doesn't all fit together, but that doesn't mean this anime isn't enjoyable of its own accord.
There doesn't appear to be an English dub - this one is subtitles only. This means, once again, Dante's voice actor is different, and he sounds radically different from the others, with a much deeper voice. I'm still not managing to get a sense of who Dante actually is as a character out of all of this - he's much more soft spoken and laid back in this series, with his signature confrontational snarkiness coming across as much more dry. He eats nothing but pizza (no olives!) and has a new affinity for strawberry sundaes. We never see him in demon form. Because he had so few lines in the games (too few to draw a show character from), almost all of his characterization is new. The overall tone of the show is entirely different from the games, as well - it's much slower moving and less focused on over the top action (though there is a missile riding scene in the final episode as a cute tribute). The action scenes are quick moving, vague, and far less centered around crazy stunts. While the visuals are nice and quite moody, they're often a bit too dark and can excessively obscure. The style of the animation is pretty standard for Madhouse, but it's well executed.
It's actually quite nice to see Dante going about the day-to-day of his demon hunting business, which we never actually see in the games - the details of his business were left quite vague. The monster-of-the-week format fits this series very well. Trish and Lady are finally developed further, though Lady's personality and focus are vastly different than they were in DMC3. Two new major characters are introduced - Morrison, Dante's agent, and Patty Lowell, Dante's temporary adoptive daughter. It's nice to see Dante's relationships with these character develop. The plots sometimes take illogical turns that I couldn't quite follow, but it's hard to know if it's a translation problem or the actual writing. Nonetheless, the writing here is much better than in the games, and the plots are more enjoyable, aside from one issue which pervades the first half of the show - sexism.
While there were certainly some sexists quips in the games, I found the portrayal of women to be a bit more pervasively questionable here. Dante's immediate response to meeting Patty (who is somewhere around 10-12 years old) is to dismiss her by saying he'll date her in 10 years. There are plenty of sexist stereotypes in this show, which really drag it down - for instance, Patty promptly decorates his place and then asks for expensive clothes. Trish and Lady are, as always, excessively sexily dressed side characters that just so happen to be super powerful badasses, but Lady drains Dante of his money (he's severely indebted to her from gambling), Trish is always fighting with him and 'trying to be his mom', and the two women get into a catfight just for fun. A female rock singer is, of course, possessed by a demon, and it's implied that she goes and lives a nice domestic life once freed of it. In another episode, a man starts stalking Dante in order to learn to be more like him to impress a waitress. The waitress still considers going out with this man after he spies on Dante, follows him into a woman's restroom, and breaks into his house, all in a desperate attempt to hook up with her.
Thankfully, those issues are far less present in the second half of the season, which features less poor comic relief and gains a bit more focus. The story that takes over for the last few episodes is a bit reminiscent of the third game, with another plot about a demon who is trying to become the most powerful demon in existence. The effects of this spill over into the human world more than in DMC, and yet the resolution seems a bit more quick and painless, despite Dante enduring a bit more of an ordeal. As is probably clear at this point, I don't think this anime has much to add to the genre, nor do I think it will end up playing into the future games in any substantial way. It's hard to imagine the development of the relationships of these characters mattering in the games, as the familiar characters feel like different people here and the new characters never appear in the games. Nonetheless, it was an entertaining, if brief, diversion, and I don't regret watching it.
Rating: 6.5/10 snarky masks
Inline Image:
https://cdn-static.sidereel.com/episodes/128373/webtv_featured/330232.jpg
icemann on 18/10/2018 at 10:29
There is an English dub of that. It has the same voice actor for Dante, as the video games. Watched that a few years ago. Excellent anime overall.
Sulphur on 8/11/2018 at 17:47
Hmm. RE: Bayonetta, while I don't disagree with your opinion on the uncomfortable sexism/protag tarted-up for the male gaze and muted graphical appeal (the environments are low-detail yet too busy, somehow), I have to say that dodging is the single most important mechanic in it, so if you were unable to get on with that, your enjoyment of the game would tank considerably. The thing is, the perfect dodge that slips everything into Witch Time is one of the most effective dopamine hits in gaming, because it initiates this electric frisson where you unload on these poor, frozen sods and end up with a huge dose of crunchy combos that makes things explode out of them, then time gets back to normal and you get to try it all over again. It's a beautiful, addictive loop.
Also, playing half of the game with performance-related slowdown is... yeah, I'd have stopped, or lowered the resolution. Bayo is best experienced at 60 FPS+ or nothing; anything lower just compromises the silky fluidity it thrives on.
Starker on 9/11/2018 at 04:41
What is it with spectacle fighters and the Divine Comedy? That's like three games / game series already that explicitly lean on it.
TannisRoot on 22/11/2018 at 14:41
Well I beat REmake. It's my first classic Resident Evil. Enjoyed it a lot on normal difficulty (the highest difficulty available from the start) with Jill.
The tank controls took a couple hours to get used to but by the end I was comfortable and fluent with them. I was surprised how much headroom the game has. The game has a reputation for difficulty, but by the end I had hundreds of bullets, 5 ink ribbons, and about 10 full heals unused. As long as you conserve items, you will have no trouble and then some.
I took copious notes in what was probably a gaming first for me: item placement, hints, tricks. That saved a lot of time.
Overall I'd rate it highly and I think it will be even more enjoyable to go through it again now that I know what to do.
froghawk on 2/4/2019 at 22:38
DEVIL MAY CRY 4 (2008)
Inline Image:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bb/DMC4COVER.jpgProducer: Hiroyuki Kobayashi
Director: Hideaki Itsuno
Writer: Bingo Morihashi
The first next-gen (PS3) Devil May Cry game didn't deviate much from the series formula - Devil May Cry 4 is most certainly a DMC game. Capcom decided to make just one major change - they introduced a new protagonist as an attempt to reach a new audience and as an excuse to slightly change up the formula and try new gameplay mechanics. However, they didn't want alienate their core fanbase by not including Dante, so he's also given 7 missions (out of 20) in the back half of the game, which also includes a fanservice appearance to a couple more old characters in a nod to the anime. The new primary protagonist is another half-demon named Nero who is basically a slightly more serious copy of young Dante. Nero's new abilities include the excess gauge (sword charging) and a demon arm with grabbing abilities, which also allows Nero to grab enemies and latch onto special lights to swing through the environment in certain spots. These two things along with the fact that he doesn't use Styles make him play quite differently from Dante. His part of the game also lacks the goofy humor and over-the-top action of Dante's portion.
Despite these attempts at switching things up, there's a bit of an air of staleness about this game. The music is the same tired industrial metal and overdramatic orchestral nonsense from DMC3. The level design is alright and not entirely linear (much better than DMC2, at least, though it often feels like an improved version of the setting from that game), but the lack of an overarching megastructure like the castle from 1 or tower from 3 bring it down a peg. The atmosphere is less palpable and enticing, not to mention less consistent - much of the game is a bit too sunny, and the jungle sequences feel especially out of place for the series. Something about the tone feels overly serious despite its cheesiness, which is partially because the goofy action is relegated to 3-4 scenes during Dante's chunk. The challenge also feels dialed down a notch, as the bosses are considerably easier and less imaginative bosses than those of 1 and 3.
Even the story feels less compelling than that of DMC3, as the plot follows the standard princess in the castle trope. The game is based around a cult called The Order which seeks to re-open the hell gate which Sparda sealed for their own personal gain. Nero sets out to rescue his love interest from them while Dante closes the gate. I'm sure you can imagine how the rest of this pedestrian affair plays out. I guess you can't have a DMC game without someone trying to open a gate to hell, just like you can't have a RE game without someone testing out a bioweapon virus, but it would be nice if the writers at least tried to make the plot somewhat exciting, especially since the environments don't provide much excitement.
As in DMC2, RE2, Code: Veronica, RE6, and pretty much every other game in either franchise that features two protagonists, Dante's part of the game recycles the same levels from the first half (only he progresses through them backwards). Even the bosses are the same. There's even a level towards the end of the game where many of the bosses are reprised for a third time. This sort of level may have worked in DMC3, but reprising the same boss battles three times in a single playthough in a game that's meant to be played over and over again makes the whole affair feel a bit rushed and lazy, as if they padded the game to be as long as DMC3 at the last second when they realized they wouldn't have enough content.
As such, there are rumors that this game is very unfinished - that only about 40% of the planned content was finished in time for release, and that Dante was going to have a longer campaign with new levels in Hell. This is somewhat confirmed by the release of Bingo Morihashi's two-volume graphic novel 'Devil May Cry 4: Deadly Fortune' the following year, which rehash's the game's plot with a number of scenes that were always meant to be part of the story but didn't get finished in time. Morihashi actually quit Capcom partway through making this game because he felt like the writing team's communication was lacking, but Itsuno convinced him to come back and finish it. That turmoil shows in the finished product. The strange part about all of this is that this game actually had a longer development cycle than DMC3 but somehow ended up with half as much content despite following the same formula.
As with DMC3, they created a Special Edition (released in a pizza box?!) to rectify some of these issues and add a few cut story bits back in - however, the SE didn't come until 7 years later. It added campaigns for Lady/Trish and Vergil, allowing you to play through the main campaign with different opening and closing cinematics. While it's briefly fun to experience the way these characters play, it feels quite excessive to have to play through the same set of levels six times - and that's without even considering the usual inclusion of loads of difficulty levels, including a new Legendary Dark Knight mode that includes giant hordes of enemies (and is the most enjoyable way to experience the game IMO). In short, the game wants you to play the same brief set of only moderately inspired levels over and over again, and while the gameplay mechanics are worth returning for, the settings become rather old quite quickly. I think all the recycling would have worked just fine if the level design had stuck closer to the RE mansion design instead of being mostly linear. The combat is quite fun, but I need a bit more than that to revisit a game on a near-infinite loop.
The upgrade system has been slightly changed - now red orbs are used exclusively for purchasing items, while proud souls (gained from style points) are used to purchase upgrades. This separation allows for more of both, and it's nice to not have to pick between an upgrade and item when both are needed. The experience system from the previous game is gone - instead, new upgrades become more expensive every time you buy one. Nonetheless, it's a lot quicker to fully upgrade a character than it was in DMC3. Blue, green, and gold orbs work the same as ever. The DLC for this game was also quite controversial, as it introduced pay-to-win (also present in DMC5). You can purchase red orbs, blue orbs, or proud souls for real money (you can get 5 extra health bars for $2.99!), or you can pay to unlock all modes or extra powerful versions of the main characters. Capcom's reasoning was - if someone wants to pay us to cheat, why shouldn't we let them? And, well, fair enough, I guess, but it's a bummer looking at the decked out edition on Steam only to realize all the extra content is just paid cheating. I suppose I wouldn't mind as much if every extra piece of content released for this game didn't just provide a new way to experience already highly recycled levels, but that's what this game is all about. Only the now-requisite Bloody Palace mode provides a slightly different environment.
The PC port doesn't work at all for a lot of people thanks to some DX11 bugs, and there's no solution for that. It didn't work for me at all when I first tried it - it crashed every time it reached a loading screen, so I was unable to even start the game. If you do manage to get it to work, it works just as well as the HD Collection. I'm rather surprised they didn't just make this game part of that collection with a fixed PC port, but I suppose they felt the need to continue giving this title the shaft.
It's clear that the few novel elements of this game's design were a big influence on Bayonetta and DmC reboot. Most of the demons have a new look here, and their design is suspiciously similar to the angel designs in Bayonetta. The look of the environments also feels suspiciously similar in both games (Kamiya did play this game as research for Bayonetta, after all). Nero's outfit looks quite a lot like the design of Dante in DmC, and his new demon arm movement mechanics likely served as inspiration for the more complicated traversal mechanics in the reboot. The Order is the name of Vergil's group in DmC, and the cult proceedings feel rather similar to the witches coven in Bayonetta.
6/10 insect reapers - This middling entry pales in comparison to both its predecessor and the reboot which followed.
Inline Image:
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/devilmaycry/images/a/ac/Mephisto.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20080215225707
Malf on 3/4/2019 at 14:27
I didn't comment on your Bayonetta piece at the time, but I recently played through it again on the Switch, as well as the sequel.
And the gameplay really didn't properly click with me until Bayonetta 2.
I would say that even more important than Witch Time is the idea that you should be extending every last button press of every combo, following through every kick and punch with shots from her weapons.
Once I twigged that, I was also able to get to grips with the game's true advanced technique, the "Dodge Offset". The idea is that if you're mid-way through a combo and have to dodge, you should be able to continue the combo where you left off. Extending button presses helps with this enormously, but is difficult to master, yet incredibly rewarding when you pull it off. Effectively, you can activate Witch Time halfway through a combo with a well timed dodge.
The over-sexualisation is a difficult one for me, as while I can see that it is problematic, I can also see that (intentionally or not), it is epically camp.
Weirdly, I found it more distasteful in the second game, where the character model's proportions had been modified to make her appear more human and less freakishly "other". I say weirdly, because it's a Nintendo exclusive, and the Big N see themselves as being family friendly. Yet here Bayo was being slotted into more traditionally sexist tropes.
But then this is the company that somehow still thinks it's okay to push the idea of the Gerudo in Zelda.
Whatever, for pace, graphics, balance and difficulty curve, Bayonetta 2 is by far and away the more polished game. But now I know the tricks of combat, I suspect I would appreciate the original game more now.
Finally, while I agree that the vehicle sections outstayed their welcomes, I got a MASSIVE nostalgia kick out of the Space Harrier section :D
Malf on 3/4/2019 at 16:22
Thanks to caching, I'll pop it to you over PM.