Devil May Cry
May. 16th, 2009 08:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
farlaSo I finally sat down to finish Devil May Cry. Although there were really frustrating sections (that FUCKING SPIDER) it ended up doing exactly what videogames are supposed to do, which is to burn a series of arbitrary responses into neurons that you could be devoting to something useful. When, halfway through the game, I realized that suddenly I could make Dante land perfectly on the back of a giant spider, pivot, hack, and then dodge the second spider's attack, all without even thinking about it, I was ecstatic. Somewhere along the line Dante's sluggish reactions and terrible handling had stopped mattering, and I was able to do such previously impossible things as aiming a jump. What had been a matter of grueling concentration as I struggled to remember which button(s) I should hit in which order, or more accurately a matter of holding down the three I thought I had a handle on and hoping that worked, had transformed into something reflexive. And in the process my brother and I had many fun discussions on the subject of Dante, his brain damage, and how much worse I was making it by my periodic pauses to make him kickkjump his stupid head into the ceiling. (DAMMIT DANTE I SAID JUMP TO THE NEXT PLATFORM NOT HOP TO THE FLOOR WHY IS THAT EVEN AN OPTION WHEN WOULD I EVER WANT TO DO THAT) This was aided by the fact his dialogue got steadily dumber as time went on. Clearly, not even the sort of demonic healing power that lets you shove a sword all the way through your chest could fix all the concussions.
The point is, after a lot of frustration I ended DMC on a high note, especially given that I only died a couple times to the final boss despite it involving a new battle system that I had to get used to.
So naturally, Devil May Cry 2 has switched all the controls. X no longer is attack, it's now jump. The triangle button at the top of the controller, pointing up, is now attack. I feel justified in my bitter claims that this is stupid because the "interact with your environment" is now the same button as the "roll twenty feet" button. Not that I'm not impressed by Dante's ability to run up a wall, but I just wanted to know if I could open the door. Incidentally, what sort of a sadistic bastard of a designer makes such a change at the same time as he decides all the levels should now take place in strangely empty towns full of doors that are just part of the scenery?
The only plus is that the enemies are pretty easy, which means that the fact I spend 60+% of my time flailing about in the air is more an inconvenience and less a prelude to terrible maiming. There's also still secret missions, only they're just a room where you fight whatever the newest enemy is, which serves to just ruin their introduction a few moments later. Two giant demon statues transforming into enemies would be a lot scarier if I didn't fight five last screen. I'm actually considering if I should just skip the secret rooms. In the last game, missing any health was a severe disadvantage for me and more could bring things to the point it was virtually impossible to continue at all, but such obsessiveness doesn't seem necessary in this game. I'm a couple missions and one boss fight in, and haven't died once, despite not really trying.
The point is, after a lot of frustration I ended DMC on a high note, especially given that I only died a couple times to the final boss despite it involving a new battle system that I had to get used to.
So naturally, Devil May Cry 2 has switched all the controls. X no longer is attack, it's now jump. The triangle button at the top of the controller, pointing up, is now attack. I feel justified in my bitter claims that this is stupid because the "interact with your environment" is now the same button as the "roll twenty feet" button. Not that I'm not impressed by Dante's ability to run up a wall, but I just wanted to know if I could open the door. Incidentally, what sort of a sadistic bastard of a designer makes such a change at the same time as he decides all the levels should now take place in strangely empty towns full of doors that are just part of the scenery?
The only plus is that the enemies are pretty easy, which means that the fact I spend 60+% of my time flailing about in the air is more an inconvenience and less a prelude to terrible maiming. There's also still secret missions, only they're just a room where you fight whatever the newest enemy is, which serves to just ruin their introduction a few moments later. Two giant demon statues transforming into enemies would be a lot scarier if I didn't fight five last screen. I'm actually considering if I should just skip the secret rooms. In the last game, missing any health was a severe disadvantage for me and more could bring things to the point it was virtually impossible to continue at all, but such obsessiveness doesn't seem necessary in this game. I'm a couple missions and one boss fight in, and haven't died once, despite not really trying.
