Devil May Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening: With Devil May Cry 5 fresh in my mind, I decided to play the third game in the series. After starting and beating the game this week, I understand why Devil May Cry 3 is considered one of the best games in the series. Unlike the other games I’ve played, Devil May Cry 3 probably has the most comprehensive plot in the series. Vergil wants Sparda’s power and plans to do that by breaking the seal Sparda put up that separated the human world and demon world and Dante goes to stop his brother’s plan.
Just like the first game, most of the missions are non-linear and allows the player to explore the area. This is great, since it usually rewards the player finding secret missions and hidden blue orb fragments. Dante plays similar to how he played in DMC 5, introducing the different style mechanics and being able combo more easily than the first game. However, the camera sometimes changes on its own in the middle of my combos, which also changes the controls, throwing off my style rank. Although there is a functional camera in this game, certain areas have different fixed camera angles which is something I had a problem with the first two games.
The enemies and the bosses are the hardest to take down in the series. For example, in mission 9, you have to take out the horde of bats that protect the boss before you can damage her. It was hard when I just tried to attack her directly, but once I used the Ebony & Ivory and the Aerial Cross technique with Agni & Rudra, I was able to defeat her. The final Vergil fight in this game is one of the best boss fights ever. He is very tough and there isn’t a lot of room for error. Figuring out the timing to dodge his hard-hitting attacks, finding an opening to get a decent combo in, and finding a way to avoid his demon form attacks made the fight very intense. This fight reminded me of fighting members of Organization XIII in Kingdom Hearts 2.
From what I remember of the first two games, DMC 3 is the first time in the series where the game is the over the top silliness that the franchise is well known for. The first two games, while the action was over the top, were more serious than ridiculous. The weapons in DMC 3 are over the top, with ice nunchucks and an electric guitar that shoots electricity.
Even though I really enjoyed the boss fights in the game, I was surprised of the sudden change in difficulty near the end of the game. Before the final fights against Arkham and Vergil, the bosses got surprisingly easier. I was able to take down Lady quicker than I imagined and Shadow Dante didn’t put up much of a fight after lighting up the room you fight him.
Although I really enjoyed the game, I can’t say for sure if DMC 3 is a better game than DMC 5. Maybe after I play through DMC 4 in the next week or two I will be able to rank the games in series (DMC: Devil May Cry doesn’t count, since it’s a crappy reboot).
Final Fantasy X: Unfortunately, I really didn’t progress that much in the game this week and I probably hit a brick wall in my playthrough. Yunalesca is a very tough boss and after trying numerous times, I just couldn’t beat her. The first phase of the boss was simple to get through, but the second phase is what got me. She always inflicts Zombie on my whole party and I can’t recover everyone without getting re-inflicted or Yunalesca cast healing spells on me. Every day, I tried to beat the boss 1 to 3 times each day this week, but never got the chance to face her third form. From what I have read, I should be grinding AP to at least have Yuna learn Holy since Yunalesca is weak to it. Maybe I will spend little chunks of time grinding to be able to learn Holy in the coming weeks.
Since I feel like I won’t be writing about my current playthrough of Final Fantasy X in the coming weeks, I might slip in a post about my initial impressions of the game on a quiet week.
Dead Cells: I haven’t played Dead Cells in a while, but I found an excuse for me to come back to it with the release of the Rise of Giant DLC. Although I didn’t get to play the content from the new DLC, I was finally able get past the section I wasn’t able to get through when I last played. I remember the Concierge had an easy attack pattern yet I still wasn’t able to beat him. In the run where I beat him, I was able to unlock the Broadsword while having the Spartan Sandals and that setup was perfect to beat him.
Since I haven’t written about Dead Cells on this blog yet, I feel now is the best time for me to do so. I played Dead Cells a lot last year, since it is the perfect pick-up-and-play game. I don’t typically like rogue-like games since it feels like after I die and have to restart my run, it feels like I gained nothing, with my pickups and weapons gone while the layout of the stage is different the next time around. Although Dead Cells is a rogue-like game, some upgrades stay with you permanently and you are able to have the chance to find weapons you unlock in your next run. If you have a Switch, this game is a must buy especially if you are looking for games you can enjoy when you can only play in short bursts.
Hyper Light Drifter – Special Edition: Here’s a fun little story: last year at PAX West, I went to try out the game at the Nintendo booth and ended up having a conversation with one of the developers of Hyper Light Drifter. I left the booth very excited to play the game once it came out, but I only played the game for a little while, since a barrage of games came out around the same time (more specifically, Spider-Man for the PS4).
This week, I had an urge to pick it back up after looking at my Switch library a couple of times. Unfortunately, my previous save file was gone (maybe because I updated the game?). Besides that, I remember why I was excited to play Hyper Light Drifter. It plays like a 2D Zelda game; having a world that is open ended and has a lot of hidden secrets to find to upgrade yourself. Visually and control-wise, the game reminded me of Kamiko with quick action. I didn’t like the music, since it was more atmospheric and depressing, but I really liked how the story is told. Instead of having text and dialogue, the game uses pictures and visuals that you can piece together what’s going on and your objective.
I really wanted to have a long play session with this game, but I ended up feeling nauseous after playing an hour of it. Just like Dead Cells, this game is probably best played in short sessions. Unless I ever get around to being close to beating it, don’t expect me to write about the game in the coming weeks.
J Chang Gaming 