Without Itsuno

 

When legendary developers fade from our studios it is often usually the end of a run we're not going to see again for quite a while. When Hideo Kojima left Konami that was pretty much the end of thier relevancy as a game developer- they've not even managed to scratch the AAA world since despite recent attempts- but hey, I guess they're happy serving slop up to their audience of awaiting guppy fish. When Shinji Makami left Tangoworks, he did so under the force belief that if they just kept making award winning games then someone would want to keep them around- obviously they ended up being shut down in the next year and had to be bailed out in a temporary resurrection we can only hope sticks. (Bailed out of a shutdown? Huh, I guess that means someone found the award winning studio worthwhile. How bizarre.) And now that Hideaki Itsuno has left Capcom- what does that mean for the franchises he left behind?

Itsuno's legend began a little bit into his career when the man was brought on as a 'reorganiser' to a failing project that was spiralling down a pit. The horrifically disastrous Devil May Cry 2 was being helmed by a figure purposefully hidden to history because the mess they were making of the project was that bad all have stricken their name from the books. Devil May Cry 2 was apparently on a nose dive and with the hard work of Itsuno in refocusing the project the team managed to squeeze out something that could actually be released in the public- but if you've ever actually sat down and played the thing you'll know that's small praise. A largely gutted charm and wit, distinctly missing stylistic flair of the original, thoughtless level design, unambitious combat improvement, (or, more appropriately, regressions) laughably ill-conceived bosses- yet also the only actually worthwhile secondary campaign in the franchise. It wasn't something worth resting your cap on. And Itsuno agreed.

What happened next could only have been the result of someone with a fire lit under them, because the absolute heel turn from Devil May Cry 2 to 3 is a mind-blowing achievement. When I did my playthrough of the franchise recently, even all this years removed from the original environment and release dates, I could feel that Devil May Cry 3 was something special without any context. Combat wasn't just revived, it was rewritten- they created the style-based combat the franchise has been known for ever since. Dante and his brother Neo-Angelo/Vergil got their souls this game. The supporting cast stood out proud with great moments and designs so good we're still comparing modern Lady redesigns to her original. The game was challenging, the bosses were impressive and memorable, the title was a powerhouse- plain and simple. And Itsuno established himself as a director with a mark to leave.

He may not have birthed the series himself but Itsuno would go on to help define Devil May Cry over the years with the honestly under-appreciated Devil May Cry 4- which refined a lot of what 3 was doing into an actual half-decent evolving narrative, the heavily critiqued DMC, which is the only game I haven't had the pleasure of in the franchise so far, and my favourite of the franchise- Devil May Cry 5- the absolute pinnacle of this genre of games, a master in every facet. All with Itsuno either in the director's chair or on as a supervisor. If the man was so eager to rewrite history so he wouldn't go down as the cause of Devil May Cry 2- he ended up going above and beyond in his role. But what if I told you the reason I lauded the man's work had nothing to do with any of that?

You see, a while ago there a little Fantasy title that dropped off the face of the earth for being released at the same time as Skyrim- the single biggest fantasy game of that console generation. This title was not as big as Skyrim, nor as immersive, nor as pretty. But do you know what Dragon's Dogma of that age did well? God it was charming. And unique. Dragon's Dogma was an action adventure hack-n-slash brimming with identity and purpose in the robust grapple and climb mechanic to the cleverly designed and dynamic boss enemies- I could go on about my love for Dragon's Dogma until the cows come how- and how severely underappreciated it was by the public! 

Itsuno similarly agreed that the game never got it's flowers from the public and spent a decade trying to give it another go around. In that time we'd forever hear allusions to a potential sequel, got a middling Anime to tide us over and had to endure China bragging about their country only MMO version of the game. Only now, in the year of our lord 2024, was Dragon's Dogma 2 finally given the greenlight to release and it finally introduced the world to a game unlike what they expected. A creativity machines begging it's audience to play around, just like the modern combat for the Devil May Cry franchise. And whilst I have my issues with it, I would love to see more content come to DD2 to push it ever further beyond! But now, I'm not sure that's ever going to happen.

Like a spirit hanging around past it's due it would seem that Itsuno was just hanging around Capcom in the hopes of getting Dragon's Dogma out the door and now that's done- so is he. Itsuno has left the company behind and in doing so robbed Capcom of their strongest talent- in the shaky hope that those left behind will be capable in his absence. But so far? All I know of non-Itusno products is the absolute mess that was made out of the non-chinese release of the Devil May Cry Mobile game- a once exciting little product in it's own right. And Dragon's Dogma? I'm afraid to see that delicately balanced little swansong dragged off a cliff by weak directors manhandled under dumb executives.

Capcom aren't going to drown, they'll always have Sonic. But my reasons for still keeping up what the blue studio was up to? Yeah that was pretty much exclusively caught up in the many machinations of this one creative powerhouse. Truly the company isn't going to be the same and the legacy he leaves could be in shaky hands. Dragon's Dogma 2 pleads for more content but do I really want a DLC that Itsuno didn't work on? Do I want more Devil May Cry games that he didn't work on? We kind of starting from scratch in the trust department and that's always the sad part of departures like this. I just hope the man is proud of himself.

Jackpot!!!

 Can't believe I said it...

Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening Review

 I can't stand someone with a bigger mouth than mine!

Now at the tail end of the HD Devil May Cry Collection I have finally landed on the game best referred to as 'the moment that Devil May Cry came to life'! Devil May Cry 3 is, for many, the quintessential franchise experience that gave birth to many of the core fundamentals that subsequent games have been beholden to. That style system which encourages diversity in action and switching movesets, the immortal conflict between Dante's unending wit and Vergil's ceaseless edge, and a boss-rush finale which, I'm terrified to read, might become something of a franchise staple as the games go on. (I always have trouble with Boss rushes in games...) Seeing as how I've somewhat enjoyed by time with Devil May Cry up until now, DMC 2 even birthed some unforgettable moments for how bizarre that game was, how did the feeling of a true DMC feel to my sensibilities?

Devil May Cry 3 was the product of Hideaki Itsuno, the guy who rolled up to the mess of a product that was Devil May Cry 2 and salvaged it into something... playable. (Honestly, it's not so different from the story behind Dark Souls 2 when you look into it.) Itsuno did take the final uneven product to heart, however, and decided to dedicate himself to making a proper Devil May Cry game that would be a true successor to what Kamiya originally created. That resulted in a Devil May Cry that is largely lauded as the heart of the franchise, and after giving myself a full playthrough, and skipping the Vergil playthrough when I realised that was literally just a redistribution of the same levels with a character swap, I can definitely see the appeal. I liked Devil May Cry 1, and Devil May Cry 2 had it's own warped charm atop a pit of personal nostalgia, but Devil May Cry 3 is the first time I really came to understood why this franchise is still considered one of the heavy hitters even to this day.

The Gameplay of DMC 3 is the best the franchise has ever felt, fast, responsive and tactical- you feel totally in control with how you dodge, launch, dash, juggle and switch neatly between your two equipped melee weapons and guns. I cannot overstate how incredible the switching feels when you swap between your broadsword and backup twin blades instantaneously mid combo to seamlessly continue the chain, it totally opens up the combo system into a freeform murderfest of your own design. You can easily just mash moves and end up looking like a whirlwind of blades and magical effects, but when you get to instinctually understand each individual weapon that understanding empowers your every encounter and makes the act of beating up trash mobs simply fun. More than than it's been for any previous DMC I've played.

The way this effects the weapons of the game is worth talking about too. Every DMC grants you with new weapons as you progress through the game, and typically you'll find they're either direct improvements to swap out what you had or so situational that you probably won't take the time to switch to them anyway. Giving us the ability to pair-up weapons encourages experimentation and allowed the developers to create more unique weapons designed for chaining rather than maintaining. Such as the electric firing guitar best used for summoning CC projectiles after they've been launched out of your range, or the Icy nunchucks that do dangerous single target line-damage that will just fix your target in place and stun them to oblivion. I would go so far as to call this one feature a total revolution upon what Devil May Cry was working with before.

But that isn't all this new game adds. Devil May Cry 3's styles are like 'battle stances' that you select at any save point in the game, so they can't be freely switched too, and they provide unique playstyle tweaks by way of a dedicated 'style' button. Trickster enables a neat strafing dodge perfect for slipping aside for a counter combo, Swordmaster gives some special main weapon moves that open up Aerial chains and gives each weapon some unique ground abilities, and Gunslinger brings back DMC 2's gunfoo but in a much more viable way and somehow much more jazzy flair too. Pirouetting through the air like a spinning top firing twin pistols feels every bit as cool as it sounds to pepper the battlefield with. There are a few more styles to discover as you play through the game, but the four starters (I never played around with Royalgaurd) come with their own levelling bar that ticks up as you beat enemies meaning your styles open up even more as they game progresses on!

The way that DMC 3 handles player progression and opening up your toolset as you go along is perfectly pitched to present one of the most combat diverse action adventure titles I think I've played. Even taking modern slashers to account! And you'll really need to be familiar with all the new gifts that DMC 3 gives you because this game is easily the hardest in the first three games so far. Especially if you happen to be totally stumped when the game presents you with Yellow Mode and Golden Mode without telling you which is which. Let me do what they couldn't. The 'modes' refer to the orbs from previous games and how in those games Orbs represented limited respawn tokens you could use to rise again. DMC 3, in their definitive edition, introduced a more tradtional system where if you die you simply restart the area. But if you choose to select 'Yellow Orb', then dying either means spending a rare orb (which doesn't even resurrect you like it did in previous titles, but merely resets the entire room and all the enemies in it.) or starting the entire level from scratch. Guess what I accidentally selected!

Honestly though, I think Yellow Mode actually better suits the style of Devil May Cry 3's level layout which are presented as challenging gauntlets mixed with exploration typically topped off with a boss encounter at the end. Some of these are a real challenge to survive through on your first go around, especially since there's no reliable way to heal yourself mid-game because DMC deprives you of Devil Trigger for almost half of the game! (And even when you do get it, Devil Trigger's passive heal is nerfed to oblivion.) There are easily more bosses in Devil May Cry 3 than in the first two games combined, and unlike the infamous Helicopter Duel from DMC 2: they're all pretty burly to take down. But rewarding in that way that the best challenging games always seem to nail.

None of the boss encounters are really straightforward fights except for perhaps Vergil himself, but even then that fight is only really 'straightforward' in concept, actually duelling your evil twin is nailbaitingly rapid. A lot of the bosses have some decent mechanical thought put behind them to encourage players to think a little bit outside the box, not enough to really stump you but enough to make these fights stand out as more than just 'ordinary dude with a bigger health bar'. I know that should seem like the bare standard minimum for any action game boss fight, but remember I'd just finished DMC 2 when I started this; everything felt new again! Some fights really do give you the work around, which can be particularly frustrating as 'end of level challenges' when you're playing Yellow Orb mode and are saving your 'resurrection tokens' for a theoretical emergency that will never arrive. It's like going up against an Elden Ring Demigod but the nearest Site of Grace is just outside the entrance to the entire Legacy Dungeon. Losing can be a soul puncher. (Gold Orb players probably don't realise how good they've got it!)

The actual world space you traverse actually surprised me somewhat too, in that just like the original game the Tartarus-esque 'Devil Tower' around which this game is based is like one big connected dungeon that you'll find yourself coming very acquainted with from mission to mission as you're sent around every corner of it at least twice. Some of the later levels actually become confusing for the way they send you down a backtracking path down some room you remember clearing six levels back, only for that to turn out to be the way forward bizarrely. These mission layouts could have perhaps done with being a little more clear, because whereas you can usually rely on whatever door the mission places you in front of as being the way forward, sometimes there will be new pathways opened up you might miss, leaving you stumbling back to the beginning of the entire game wondering when the next-level cutscene will trigger. (That might have been me a few times.)

But when you do hit those cutscenes you'll find yourself in for a treat because with the advent of DMC 3: I've finally found the cheeky charm this franchise is known for- as well as a sudden appreciation for the simply insanely impressive stunt action set pieces this game boasts- wow! Dante has found both his personality and his voice this time around, and it's the snarky, irreverent, too-cool-to-care, bad boy persona that only he can get away with without coming across as cringe. Honestly even from a modern lens there's an effortless coolness to his act that just feels natural and not put on like you'll find in the thousands of pretenders that end up feeling dated almost immediately. Reuben Langdon defined a well designed but personally average character with his performance (and an alright script) and in doing so made Devil May Cry feel authentic for the first time ever. 

Until now I've sort of cringed and accepted the lightly infantile way that the franchise has tried to be cool and edgy, with Dante's dry quips back against Triss in the first game, (Stiffly juggling a bike with gunshots was kind of cool) or the 'I'm too wiped to even be part of this game' attitude he brought to DMC 2. The childish way the game's world and lore borrowed historical mythology with blind abandon, throwing things together simply because they 'sounded cool' with no more effort put in than that, it wasn't awful, but it wasn't really special either. Now it feels like it's approaching that direction, simply because I care about the characters who populate this world now. I do think the actual visual designs of the various monsters and bosses was slightly underwhelming in some areas and only alright in others, (the 'penultimate monster/ secondary antagonist' design is genuinely Terrible. I can't believe that made it to ship.) but I care about this world now. Also, I need to distinguish that my opinion on 'average' design does not touch on my feelings about the character designs. I think the main cast are simply iconic in their visuals. Dante could do with buttoning up his jacket, but him and Vergil cut brilliant images with their design and Lady has just enough interesting detail to be interesting without being overly cluttered. A+ on the character designs!

Oh and the cutscenes? They're brilliant. Simply fantastic. I challenge you to find any other franchise in game or film that presents action moments as stunningly well storyboarded as these, they're visual treats to behold! Utterly ludicrous, mind you, but cool beyond all else. Dante's acrobatics, Lady's explosive flairs and even Vergil's katana magic- all of it dazzles and delight's every time they're on screen. I enjoy these scenes so much I didn't even notice that time the game slipped into one of my least favourite clichés of having you do a boss fight, win that fight, and then lose in the cutscene. (I'm considering writing a whole blog on how insanely moronic and insulting that cliché is.) The actual cutscene of my turn-around loss was so good I didn't even complain, I just loved to see myself fall. You've got to be working some voodoo to get me that turned around!

And now that I care about the world and cutscenes all that more, I actually cared about the story of Devil May Cry this time around as well! It's still pretty average. (although with the track record the franchise has had until now I suppose that's a step forward.) Core character motivations are either laughably thin or generic, actual events are random enough that I'm fairly certain this original script layout was literally written with 'And then, and then, and then' all the way with no punctuation, and once again the game tortures it's dialogue to force out the words "Devil's may cry" in what felt like the most clunky way the franchise has done yet! (I'm pretty sure that's actually just in comparison to the rest of the game which has good dialogue. DMC 1's clunkiness just fit everything around it.) But I liked the cast, so I liked their plights, and I cared about what happened to them and enjoyed it when they succeeded. There's actually hints of a surprisingly competent narrative buried here. The three way perspective shifts between the main characters had the potential of telling a real building intrigue if they were written with a bit of deftness. I can see the story team trying a bit harder with this game, and that effort means something with me because in a franchise that clearly never valued narrative, an effort to improve is above and beyond the call of duty. Points for effort!

Summary

I think Devil May Cry 3 might be the first clear classic that I've played in the franchise. DMC 1 is still a solid game for it's time, but DMC 3 even stands up by modern standards in many of the ways it handles gameplay complexity, challenge and blossoming progression avenues. The style, substance and cool of Devil May Cry was born with this entry, and those who wonder why Dante and his team are considered video game royalty will get a solid idea after experiencing them in their prime glory here. However there's still room to grow for the games. The missions sometimes dragged in the early game, (especially in Yellow Orb mode) the late game backtracking isn't especially competently presented, the actual substance of the narrative is still dumb, (In a manner that is starting to feel like a disservice now that this franchise has a personality) and the music tracks are really bland and dated. But I wouldn't call any of these roadbump issues: 'experience killers'. Action adventure fans need to treat themselves to this game, which is another way of saying I recommend this, by the by. And as for my arbitrary review rating, I'm thinking B+ is an apt reward for the new step in quality that the Devil May Cry franchise has been treated to. After this I can't wait for what 4 has in store for me...