It took me a replay of DMC3 and a fully completing DMC5 100% for me to finally have the strength to revisit DMC4 for the special edition. Needless to say, I don't really think I missed out on much. After my original DMC4 playthrough, I started a playthrough with Lady in SE. I got to mission 7 and I wanted to die. I then dropped the game and did the two previously mentioned playthroughs.
DMC4SE adds three new characters: Lady, Trish, and Vergil. Lady and Trish are both playable newcomers, with Vergil returning from DMC3. Lady and Trish both take up one playthrough, with Lady going through Nero's levels and Trish going through Dante's levels. Vergil is special, so he gets to play through the entire game forwards and backwards by himself. If you are to play this game, I HIGHLY recommend you turn on the new turbo mode. It increases your character's movement and move speed by 20%. Trying to play vanilla DMC4 after experiencing turbo mode is maybe the worst feeling in the entire world. Turbo mode is the only way I was able to power through Lady's levels after returning to the game.
Lady is the worst playable DMC character disregarding DMC2 (obviously worst by default). She's a gun specialist, so she has a vast array of ranged weapons. She's got a pair of pistols, a shotgun, and her Kalina Ann rocket launcher. Kalina Ann also functions as her melee attacks with the bayonet on the end. These are the worst feeling moves in the entire series. Her normals are slow and sluggish, with decent power behind them mind you, but that doesn't make up for how terrible they feel to use. She has a few grounded combos, but her options are so limited up close that you're better off backing off and using Kalina Ann's charge shot for whatever you need to get done.
Many of Lady's moves are taken from Dante and his various abilities in Gunslinger style. She can stand in place and shoot two different enemies with her pistols, she's got all of Dante's attacks utilizing her Kalina Ann from DMC3, and her shotgun is just as strong as the wacky pizza man. The problem is that she is a ranged specialist in a series where you're meant to pull off cool looking and strong combos. You can't do that with only ranged weapons. The best designed DMC characters are typically ones who can utilize melee attacks just as well as ranged attacks. However, there are some characters who utilize mainly melee attacks, for example, Trish, which we will get into later. Having a loaded melee moveset still allows you to perform killer combos and just have fun. Having someone who's only strong suit is her ranged weapons is a recipe for disaster. Over reliance on guns is why DMC2 sucks, and while it would be a grave insult to claim this is just as bad, it's down there. Lady at least has the benefit of her ranged weapons having a decent amount of options. You can't really combo with any of them, but they're options nonetheless. They also ruined how she looks. How did they do her this dirty with that fit? I hope to never play Lady again.
Trish is awesome. She only has one melee and one ranged weapon, but she makes the most of what she has. Equipped with the Devil Sword Sparda, she shares a lot of Dante’s attacks, but puts her own twist on them. Her whole kit is centered around the Sparda and throwing it out. By using Round Trip or any other move where Trish throws the Sparda out, she gains entirely new moves due to the sword not being in her hand. Many of these moves are taken from Dante’s Gilgamesh, acting as gauntlet attacks without the actual gauntlets. They can be charged for more damage, and some moves even leave behind trails of lightning that linger and deal damage.
Trish excels at close range, so they gave her some of the most abusable and broken attacks in the game. Many of her chargeable gauntlet attacks boast great damage and range. But, what sells it is that Round Trip will keep enemies in place for you to actually get these attacks up. I love all of the DMC gauntlet weapons, but my biggest problem with them is that it’s typically way too hard and impractical to land the charge attacks, especially against bosses. This problem is alleviated completely with Trish, because like I said, Round Trip holds enemies in place, so not only do you have time to do a short combo, but you have enough time to get a charged gauntlet attack in there to top it off. It looks brutal, it feels empowering, and it is 100% stylish.
Trish does lack some good ranged options. She has Pandora, but not the whole weapon. Her handguns turn into two different Pandora forms when the proper input is done. It’s just a rocket launcher and a big laser. The big laser is cool because you can use Round Trip to combo into it like with her melee attacks. Her limited ranged options are somewhat null and void because she has another attack where she throws Sparda out, but he functions like a boomerang and brings an enemy right to you. It can be followed up with her charged gauntlet attacks or extended into a Round Trip combo. Playing Trish was the best experience I had with this game, I hate how she’s limited to Dante’s levels. She and Lady deserve to swap.
Last but not least, there’s Vergil. My boy, Vergil, is uh… weird. He got quite the upgrade since DMC3. His moveset is fully fleshed out, unlike DMC3 where they took as many reused assets as they could. He was still fun in that game, but his glow up here is insane. The thing is, I have more complaints than I have compliments for him.
First of all, I hate the moves that require two button inputs. One of those buttons is his Trick action and if you input it just a frame earlier than the other button then you’ll teleport and cancel whatever momentum you had going. This applies to Judgement Cut End, his huge super attack as well. I sometimes just canceled it immediately because I was mashing the inputs, only for Vergil to teleport after winding up. This is a huge commitment attack, I shouldn’t be able to teleport after committing to it.
Vergil gets some new attack extensions in DT. These are a mixed bag for me, because some of them are thrown in the most random places and don’t feel right at all. Why does he do Rising Sun after Lunar Phase? Your guess is as good as mine. He has a bunch of unique moves he can perform in DMC5 involving his summoned swords. These all consume DT gauge, so they’re very hard to use practically. Vergil typically feels broken, and in DMC5, his Sin Devil Trigger can be used normally while you also use summoned swords moves by expending the normal DT gauge. DMC4 Vergil has it all in one resource, so it’s hard to pick and choose what to actually use it on in any given situation.
The worst part about Vergil is perfect Judgement Cut. On paper, this is an amazing mechanic. Charge and let go of JC with the right timing to do a PJC, which comes out instantly and has virtually no end lag. The problem is that PJC is already strong, but when paired with other attacks, it becomes a whole new level of broken. Rapid Slash is of particular note here; a fast, long reaching move with multiple hits that moves Vergil two miles forward. Here’s my complete DMC4 Vergil guide: Rapid Slash, PJC, repeat. That’s it. Rapid Slash and PJC both have high damage and can stagger opponents very easily when combined together.
This combination of moves was what I did my entire playthrough with Vergil. It tears through every enemy in the game. It tears through every boss in the game. Literally nothing you can do is more effective than this. The fact that they frontloaded PJC so much made Vergil uninteresting from the start. I was never motivated to try any actual combos with him unless I got bored doing the same two moves the whole time. DMC4 Vergil isn’t a bad character, and I still had a decent amount of fun playing him, but he ultimately feels like a broken prototype of DMC5 Vergil, who is better in every single regard. He’s still a fundamentally sound character, there's a lot of cool stuff you can do with him, but this one broken technique removed any strategy I would've had with him otherwise.
Objectively, this is better than DMC4. Three new characters to mess with, turbo mode to make gameplay faster and big rooms less tedious to walk through, some decent new lore thanks to Vergil's cutscenes. However, most of the main problems I have with the original game are still here. The enemy design sucks, level design is repetitive and tedious, and half the characters are hard to vibe with, ESPECIALLY after experiencing DMC5. This reeks of laziness; they didn't even change the battle themes despite composing an entirely new battle theme for Vergil. I may revisit this game, for Dante, Trish, and maybe Vergil if I can convince myself to not to use the same two broken moves over and over again, but after DMC5, everything good about this game is essentially made redundant now. It's got a higher score than vanilla DMC4, but I'll give it the same rating. This is NOT epic.
DMC4SE adds three new characters: Lady, Trish, and Vergil. Lady and Trish are both playable newcomers, with Vergil returning from DMC3. Lady and Trish both take up one playthrough, with Lady going through Nero's levels and Trish going through Dante's levels. Vergil is special, so he gets to play through the entire game forwards and backwards by himself. If you are to play this game, I HIGHLY recommend you turn on the new turbo mode. It increases your character's movement and move speed by 20%. Trying to play vanilla DMC4 after experiencing turbo mode is maybe the worst feeling in the entire world. Turbo mode is the only way I was able to power through Lady's levels after returning to the game.
Lady is the worst playable DMC character disregarding DMC2 (obviously worst by default). She's a gun specialist, so she has a vast array of ranged weapons. She's got a pair of pistols, a shotgun, and her Kalina Ann rocket launcher. Kalina Ann also functions as her melee attacks with the bayonet on the end. These are the worst feeling moves in the entire series. Her normals are slow and sluggish, with decent power behind them mind you, but that doesn't make up for how terrible they feel to use. She has a few grounded combos, but her options are so limited up close that you're better off backing off and using Kalina Ann's charge shot for whatever you need to get done.
Many of Lady's moves are taken from Dante and his various abilities in Gunslinger style. She can stand in place and shoot two different enemies with her pistols, she's got all of Dante's attacks utilizing her Kalina Ann from DMC3, and her shotgun is just as strong as the wacky pizza man. The problem is that she is a ranged specialist in a series where you're meant to pull off cool looking and strong combos. You can't do that with only ranged weapons. The best designed DMC characters are typically ones who can utilize melee attacks just as well as ranged attacks. However, there are some characters who utilize mainly melee attacks, for example, Trish, which we will get into later. Having a loaded melee moveset still allows you to perform killer combos and just have fun. Having someone who's only strong suit is her ranged weapons is a recipe for disaster. Over reliance on guns is why DMC2 sucks, and while it would be a grave insult to claim this is just as bad, it's down there. Lady at least has the benefit of her ranged weapons having a decent amount of options. You can't really combo with any of them, but they're options nonetheless. They also ruined how she looks. How did they do her this dirty with that fit? I hope to never play Lady again.
Trish is awesome. She only has one melee and one ranged weapon, but she makes the most of what she has. Equipped with the Devil Sword Sparda, she shares a lot of Dante’s attacks, but puts her own twist on them. Her whole kit is centered around the Sparda and throwing it out. By using Round Trip or any other move where Trish throws the Sparda out, she gains entirely new moves due to the sword not being in her hand. Many of these moves are taken from Dante’s Gilgamesh, acting as gauntlet attacks without the actual gauntlets. They can be charged for more damage, and some moves even leave behind trails of lightning that linger and deal damage.
Trish excels at close range, so they gave her some of the most abusable and broken attacks in the game. Many of her chargeable gauntlet attacks boast great damage and range. But, what sells it is that Round Trip will keep enemies in place for you to actually get these attacks up. I love all of the DMC gauntlet weapons, but my biggest problem with them is that it’s typically way too hard and impractical to land the charge attacks, especially against bosses. This problem is alleviated completely with Trish, because like I said, Round Trip holds enemies in place, so not only do you have time to do a short combo, but you have enough time to get a charged gauntlet attack in there to top it off. It looks brutal, it feels empowering, and it is 100% stylish.
Trish does lack some good ranged options. She has Pandora, but not the whole weapon. Her handguns turn into two different Pandora forms when the proper input is done. It’s just a rocket launcher and a big laser. The big laser is cool because you can use Round Trip to combo into it like with her melee attacks. Her limited ranged options are somewhat null and void because she has another attack where she throws Sparda out, but he functions like a boomerang and brings an enemy right to you. It can be followed up with her charged gauntlet attacks or extended into a Round Trip combo. Playing Trish was the best experience I had with this game, I hate how she’s limited to Dante’s levels. She and Lady deserve to swap.
Last but not least, there’s Vergil. My boy, Vergil, is uh… weird. He got quite the upgrade since DMC3. His moveset is fully fleshed out, unlike DMC3 where they took as many reused assets as they could. He was still fun in that game, but his glow up here is insane. The thing is, I have more complaints than I have compliments for him.
First of all, I hate the moves that require two button inputs. One of those buttons is his Trick action and if you input it just a frame earlier than the other button then you’ll teleport and cancel whatever momentum you had going. This applies to Judgement Cut End, his huge super attack as well. I sometimes just canceled it immediately because I was mashing the inputs, only for Vergil to teleport after winding up. This is a huge commitment attack, I shouldn’t be able to teleport after committing to it.
Vergil gets some new attack extensions in DT. These are a mixed bag for me, because some of them are thrown in the most random places and don’t feel right at all. Why does he do Rising Sun after Lunar Phase? Your guess is as good as mine. He has a bunch of unique moves he can perform in DMC5 involving his summoned swords. These all consume DT gauge, so they’re very hard to use practically. Vergil typically feels broken, and in DMC5, his Sin Devil Trigger can be used normally while you also use summoned swords moves by expending the normal DT gauge. DMC4 Vergil has it all in one resource, so it’s hard to pick and choose what to actually use it on in any given situation.
The worst part about Vergil is perfect Judgement Cut. On paper, this is an amazing mechanic. Charge and let go of JC with the right timing to do a PJC, which comes out instantly and has virtually no end lag. The problem is that PJC is already strong, but when paired with other attacks, it becomes a whole new level of broken. Rapid Slash is of particular note here; a fast, long reaching move with multiple hits that moves Vergil two miles forward. Here’s my complete DMC4 Vergil guide: Rapid Slash, PJC, repeat. That’s it. Rapid Slash and PJC both have high damage and can stagger opponents very easily when combined together.
This combination of moves was what I did my entire playthrough with Vergil. It tears through every enemy in the game. It tears through every boss in the game. Literally nothing you can do is more effective than this. The fact that they frontloaded PJC so much made Vergil uninteresting from the start. I was never motivated to try any actual combos with him unless I got bored doing the same two moves the whole time. DMC4 Vergil isn’t a bad character, and I still had a decent amount of fun playing him, but he ultimately feels like a broken prototype of DMC5 Vergil, who is better in every single regard. He’s still a fundamentally sound character, there's a lot of cool stuff you can do with him, but this one broken technique removed any strategy I would've had with him otherwise.
Objectively, this is better than DMC4. Three new characters to mess with, turbo mode to make gameplay faster and big rooms less tedious to walk through, some decent new lore thanks to Vergil's cutscenes. However, most of the main problems I have with the original game are still here. The enemy design sucks, level design is repetitive and tedious, and half the characters are hard to vibe with, ESPECIALLY after experiencing DMC5. This reeks of laziness; they didn't even change the battle themes despite composing an entirely new battle theme for Vergil. I may revisit this game, for Dante, Trish, and maybe Vergil if I can convince myself to not to use the same two broken moves over and over again, but after DMC5, everything good about this game is essentially made redundant now. It's got a higher score than vanilla DMC4, but I'll give it the same rating. This is NOT epic.