Devil May Cry Series

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

So, after giving it a good deal of thought here are my rankings for the series as a whole so far (assume the most up to date special edition for any games which it applies to):

6. Devil May Cry 2
5. DmC: Devil May Cry
4. Devil May Cry 4
3. Devil May Cry
2. Devil May Cry 5
1. Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening

Despite being a huge DMC fan, I'd say that 3 and 5 are the only ones that hold up as genuinely great games despite my bias for the genre. I still like the original and 4, but the former does show it's age in a number of ways that really date it, while the latter forces me to put up with a lot of bull-shit to actually enjoy it. And for what it is, DmC is an alright action game in terms of just mechanics, but while I don't tend to care toi much about bad stories, DmC's is a level of atrocious that makes me not enjoy playing as any of those characters.

As for 3 and 5, it's kind of odd. I actually think that 5 is a better designed game, overall, but 3 is just more satisfying to me. That's not to say that I don't love 5 for what it is, nor that 3 is flawless by any means, but the things that 3 does well gives it a bit of an edge over what 5 does really well, at least for what personally matters to me. For example, I think that 5 (and even 4, for that matter), generally has better enemy design (in terms of AI and patterns) than 3 does, but the shitty enemy types in 3 aren't forced down your throat too much, and it still has plenty of memorable ones. That said, the boss fights in DMC3 absolutely trounce most of the ones from 5, which are kind of a disappointment for a DMC game. I also like the color-palette and aesthetic character and environment designs of 3 much better than 5, and this is perhaps the only DMC game where I actually find the story to be engaging on any level.

Obviously I find a lot to like about both games regardless, but I think at least for now 3 will remain my all time favorite of the series.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Daniel Southworth fuses his franchises together.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Itsuno is officially leaving Capcom: https://www.gamesradar.com/games/devil-may-cry/devil-may-cry-and-dragons-dogma-director-hideaki-itsuno-is-leaving-capcom-after-30-years-to-make-a-new-game-in-a-new-environment/

Definitely a loss for Capcom after all these years. Still love his pre-DMC fighting games like CVS2, and DMC 3-5 will always be a highlight of his career (I guess we can now refer to it as the Itsuno trilogy). Dragon's Dogma 2 I liked (still haven't played the first one), but admittedly I'm not as big of a fan of ARPGs in general.

I look forward to seeing where he goes and what he does next.

[Mustang]

Yeah, I was sitting on my thoughts on this one a bit. I didn't see it coming, but I definitely think he deserves to do whatever he wants at this point.

Of the games that he was directly involved with that I've played, for me, his only miss was DMC5, and I wouldn't really call it a miss (it's more like good and disappointing at the same time. I think there's a word for that but that's the best way I can describe how I feel about it)

Maximilian Dood brought up something that makes a lot of sense. Maybe he just want to make something entirely new. Capcom is definitely in a position where they can take more risks at this point with Kunitsu-gami (sp?): Path of the Goddess, but considering the games that Capcom's put out has been sequels and or remakes. I can definitely see why he'd want to make a new game. Anyway, definitely looking forward to whatever he's making (as long as it's not survival horror)

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I wouldn't really call DMC5 a miss in any particular regard. I can understand perfectly fine if it wasn't for you, but it's objectively the best selling and best reviewed DMC game, and it's considered a fan favorite among the community (only really being rivaled by DMC3 which also has nostalgia on it's side). By that notion, it's still a hit and a testament to Itsuno's skill as a director. To put it in another perspective, even though I found little of value myself in the new God of War games, I couldn't say that they weren't absolutely successful in executing what they wanted to and reaching a large audience of devoted fans.

But, yeah, I'm with you on him deserving to be able to work on new projects. Hopefully he can do something that he's passionate about and see as much success as possible there.