My jaw is a little slack at this, lol.
DMC1 is unrivaled. It’s clunky and cute. It’s goofiness is tame. It’s story lies in the realm of unreality and unspecification that so many great budget-narratives are. But I thought all of that would prepare me for what came after it.
Absolutely NOT, somehow. DMC3 is the Game That Never Stops. Every scene is either total goofball antics, wacky demon mystery, or a tonal whiplash-inducing cacophony of asshole humor and Real As Fuck moments. I think the most interesting advancement we can recognize by observing DMC3 is how the technical advancements and higher story ambitions add all sorts of new aesthetic flavor to this gameplay format. DMC1’s comedy was mostly contained to Dante being wacky. There weren’t as many characters actively ‘there’ in that damn castle, so we weren’t exposed to so many varied reactions to this. DMC3 has so many more humorous flavors to it because of the new situation.
To name an example or four: Dante being pissed off at that freak, The Jester, brings me so much glee. If there’s one thing you’ll recognize from talking to me about any stories at all, you’ll know I inherently love to see protagonists annoyed, pissed off, or uncomfortable. This is not an inherent distaste for the point of view we see the story through, but rather an intense enjoyment of seeing someone who’s emotionally incapable of dealing with minor annoyances be subject to them. Bonus points if this annoyance is necessary for their larger quest.
That’s just the most important one, for me. This hilarity informs so many other aspects. For example- when Lady, someone more capable and fit to be the protagonist of this story by virtue of their olacement, reveals her tragic backstory to Dante, he keeps acting like a total fucking dick throughout it. Dante she just said her mom is dead! Not cool! And then, after this dispute, it all escalates in Dante no questions asked agreeing to help her. It’s so characterizin! It’s so weird! It’s so playful!
Hey- let’s stop talking about funny haha jokes for a moment. DMCheads hear me out. Doesn’t Lady as Dante’s rival kind of make more sense to you? I feel like everything about the plot is pushing me to see Virgil as Dante’s opposite. Ah! They’re as similar as they are different, though! AND they were BROTHERS! Of course they’r be rivals, right!?
That idea is not as compelling to me, though, as Lady being the rival is. The two wildly different personalities clashing despite their situation necessitating their allyship- not to mention their disagreements being entirely gut reactions to the other’s surface-level personality. I think there’s something to that.
DMC1 is unrivaled. It’s clunky and cute. It’s goofiness is tame. It’s story lies in the realm of unreality and unspecification that so many great budget-narratives are. But I thought all of that would prepare me for what came after it.
Absolutely NOT, somehow. DMC3 is the Game That Never Stops. Every scene is either total goofball antics, wacky demon mystery, or a tonal whiplash-inducing cacophony of asshole humor and Real As Fuck moments. I think the most interesting advancement we can recognize by observing DMC3 is how the technical advancements and higher story ambitions add all sorts of new aesthetic flavor to this gameplay format. DMC1’s comedy was mostly contained to Dante being wacky. There weren’t as many characters actively ‘there’ in that damn castle, so we weren’t exposed to so many varied reactions to this. DMC3 has so many more humorous flavors to it because of the new situation.
To name an example or four: Dante being pissed off at that freak, The Jester, brings me so much glee. If there’s one thing you’ll recognize from talking to me about any stories at all, you’ll know I inherently love to see protagonists annoyed, pissed off, or uncomfortable. This is not an inherent distaste for the point of view we see the story through, but rather an intense enjoyment of seeing someone who’s emotionally incapable of dealing with minor annoyances be subject to them. Bonus points if this annoyance is necessary for their larger quest.
That’s just the most important one, for me. This hilarity informs so many other aspects. For example- when Lady, someone more capable and fit to be the protagonist of this story by virtue of their olacement, reveals her tragic backstory to Dante, he keeps acting like a total fucking dick throughout it. Dante she just said her mom is dead! Not cool! And then, after this dispute, it all escalates in Dante no questions asked agreeing to help her. It’s so characterizin! It’s so weird! It’s so playful!
Hey- let’s stop talking about funny haha jokes for a moment. DMCheads hear me out. Doesn’t Lady as Dante’s rival kind of make more sense to you? I feel like everything about the plot is pushing me to see Virgil as Dante’s opposite. Ah! They’re as similar as they are different, though! AND they were BROTHERS! Of course they’r be rivals, right!?
That idea is not as compelling to me, though, as Lady being the rival is. The two wildly different personalities clashing despite their situation necessitating their allyship- not to mention their disagreements being entirely gut reactions to the other’s surface-level personality. I think there’s something to that.