My turbulent gateway to the DMC games.

In the next few days this week, Devil May Cry 5 will be released, 11 years after the original release of 4, and 6 years after the alternative continuity title simply known as DmC. While most people here will no doubt be glad that the next entry in the original continuity is finally here, and cheerfully mocking about DmC's existence for years to come, I for one understand its numerous flaws, but forever be grateful towards it for not only its release, but for properly introducing me the fun and excitement of the character action genre on the PC itself.

Seriously.

My first loose introduction towards the DMC franchise was funnily enough, from the Ubisoft PC port of DMC3 owned by one of my cousins more than a decade ago. Me and my family was visiting hers at their brand new house, and then when she get me and my little brother up to her room for some computer games, she then introduced me to the game that has some white-haired dude in it, and she's playing it on a keyboard instead of a controller (if I remember correctly).

The game then quickly caught my attention when in an instance, that character flinging his swords and dual-welding pistols at demons around him while effortlessly running and jumping around the room. Who the heck is he? How did he managed to awesomely dispatch his enemies with such finsese? Why was he fighting against another white-haired man on a boss fight? I was then told the title of the game and the character itself. It was so cool, that when I came home, I quickly started up the WarCraft III map editor and try and recreate the first level and cutscene, for reasons I couldn't remember anymore. Other than that, I never actively seek for a copy of it after I look up reviews stating how terrible the port is.

After a few years, I remembered myself being a bit hyped about seeing another entry of a franchise I haven't even played before, on next-gen consoles. DMC4 was one of the games I considered justifying asking my parents for a PS3, but after awhile I lose interest about it, and therefore not even bothered about the whole "getting a PS3" thing. It was only after getting myself a brand new laptop with graphics card in it, that I quickly snatched myself a PC port of DMC4.

The incoming bane towards amateur PC gamers who doesn't like the idea of playing it on the controller back then.

I was so excited as I install this bad boy into my machine, and as I run the game for a while, my excitement quickly drop to a flatline, as a myriad of issues came down crashing towards my face. Why did the game slowed down to a crawl after a few minutes? (I was running it on a dual-core laptop) Why won't the game speed up after I reduced both the graphical options AND the resolution down to a minimal? Why was the game terrible to play on keyboard? It's safe to say that I never even went past the first stage, I felt a bit of a regret getting this game, and my interest towards it were lost again. (And I have no idea where did the disc ended up now)

Even after my deflated experiences towards the franchise in general, I was then quickly hyped about DmC when its first reveal trailer came out, but only just as I kept my hype in check. I don't know why I wasn't too puzzled about Dante looking completely different, why he has black hair, and why was the world muddier than before. All I know, is that it will be another game that I'll just get hyped on the trailers alone, and that I probably won't be playing on the PC, and on the keyboard only again.

But then! Word of the streets came out that the game actually was not only playable on keyboard and mouse, but the control scheme was just as good as playing it on the controller, and I was then quickly excited about getting my hands on it. But it would take a few years until I got the bloody game on a Humble Capcom Bundle purchase.

Pictured: Me having fun with an unexpectedly fully-supported control scheme.

As I started the game proper, the game was just a blissful of joy for me from the start. Sure, I sucked a lot at it due to me often spamming the left mouse button on slicing and dicing, and the general writing of the game was quite questionable in comparison to the ham and cheese of the original games (along with some more questionable gameplay mechanics), but whatever man, it's my first proper experience of Devil May Cry! And it feels great on keyboard and mouse! And the newer camera system wasn't as awkward as the static cameras on the past games! A keyboard & mouse character action game done right!

Thanks to my delightful keyboard and mouse experience on DmC, I actually pre-order the Devil May Cry HD Collection on PC, and fully prepared with a PS3 controller for the journey, along with the original DMC4 disc borrowed from a friend. And whaddaya know? It was a worthwhile journey, for the most part. So here's my verdict so far:

- Devil May Cry 1, despite its old age and some outdated mechanics, was still as fun to play today (Be proud of yourself, Hideki Kamiya. Your first effort on the genre still managed to knock it out of the park after all these years).

- DMC2 just flat out sucked, and I'm 100% it just for the unlockables (With the help of trainers to significantly reduce the tedium). I do liked his suit, though.

- DMC3 is awesome and generally credited for resurrected the series proper, and deservedly, currently ranked the top of my DMC list.

- DMC4 was just kind of 'eh' to me. While its combat was undoubtably the best in the series, and the cheesy story and cutscenes were just as fun, the second half was such a slog to play through, that it actually hurts the experience, along with a lot of frustrating moments. You have to play the whole game backwards and fights the same bosses as Dante. The fixed camera's annoyance was upped to eleven here, as it makes platforming and certain combat moments incredibly frustrating. Some of the environments was kinda generic and too big to traverse for its own good (though not as bad as DMC2). The big statue boss fight blows. And the dice rooms. Goddamn it, the fucking dice rooms. Maybe a second playthrough won't be as harsh, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

It's been a long time coming.

As for DMC5, I won't be getting it anytime soon, as I have yet to get a powerful enough rig to run it. But fret not, as I'm still looking forward to it. For now, all I have to say is I would like to thank most importantly, QLOC for their amazing porting and keyboard & mouse implementation for DmC on the PC. They're the real unsung heroes whose efforts got me into being properly invested in the DMC series (Along with a great second attempt on porting RE4 to the PC with proper keyboard and mouse support). I would also thank Ninja Theory for such an awesome game (Except Tameem, his PR blunders almost killed the series for a lot of people), and Capcom should give itself a pat on the back for not giving up on the franchise after 2.

Anyway, to all the fans of DMC here. Have a lot of fun with 5! And I'll try and make some real-life efforts to keep up soon.

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