#Theme: DMC Power Teams

[icycoldninja]

Hello! Can you do a dmc boys + v with a erza scarlet (from fairy tail) reader like s/o? She is a great magic swordswoman and weapons master, she is often strict and serous when it comes to serious situations but deep down inside she is very caring and warm towards the people she loves and loves sweets and cute girly things.

OH MY GOD YESSSS! I LOVE FAIRY TAIL! THAT'S SO COOL YOU WATCH IT TOO! YEEEEEEEEE! DMC X FAIRY TAIL, SOME OF MY FAVORITE THINGS ALL IN ONE!👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆

Sparda boys + V x Erza-like!Reader headcannons

¤ Dante ¤

-Oh, Dante loves a girl who can both kick his ass and be willing to give him forehead kisses and cuddles whenever he wants them.

-Will definitely want to spar with you, not only to test your skills and hone his, but to help you improve.

-Loves to watch your magic at work; the fact that you can Requip into different outfits not limited to armor alone is incredible and makes him wish he had that power. He'd never have to physically change clothes again!

-Always lets you take charge during missions. You keep a cool head under pressure, always know what to do, and can easily come up with a plan, or part of one, at least.

-Dante knows that deep down inside you're still a girly girl, and of course, will treat you like the princess you know you are, from taking you places to just covering you in kisses and giving you a relaxing massage.

-Will buy you strawberry cake whenever you want it, usually including a few scoops of strawberry ice cream to go with it.

■ Vergil ■

-As a powerful and MOTIVATED swordswoman, you have gained Vergil's respect.

-He sees your commanding nature and level-headedness as a great asset, as well as something he can relate to.

-He appreciates your ability to think on your feet and analyze the enemy. In battle, you're basically a female version of him with magic.

-Vergil appreciates your sweet, feminine side too. Sometimes there are dark days where he feels less motivated than usual, which is when he could use a reassuring pep talk or maybe just a lap to lie in.

-Shares your (and Dante's) passion for strawberry themed desserts.

-Is also very curious about your magic and likes to watch you Requip into different clothes, wondering how many outfits you have at your disposal.

□ Nero □

-Thinks it's really cool that you can change your clothes magically, always surprised with your arsenal of armor.

-Wants to train with you all the time because you two make a badass team.

-Your seriousness is a welcome counteraction to his rash decision making, as you can stop him (forcibly so, if necessary) from doing something stupid.

-Nero likes that under all that toughness, you have a delicate heart, and does his best to take care of you in that regard.

-Will 100% buy you dresses, skirts, cute tops, and whatever else you might want.

-Also buys you any desserts you might crave--including strawberry cake.

● V ●

-V was afraid of you at first. Your headstrong, strict, and serious nature made him think you would hurt him, which wouldn't be hard thanks to his poor health.

-Thinks you're amazing when you fight. He could write epics and poetic songs detailing your feats.

-Once he got to see your magic, he was so inspired, he wrote poems for 8 hours straight and wore out his wrist.

-He never expected you to have a caring, girly side, but after seeing just how sweet you really are, realized that this was your true personality.

-This is great, because sometimes he gets violent nightmares and needs comfort.

-Wants to learn how to make strawberry cake for you.

[crimescrimson]

Welcome to my gifset blog! Here is my one and only rule from my previous post:

First and final warning guys! Don't tag my stuff with any type of Cleon tags please! Someone just did and the ship makes me very uncomfortable! I don't like blocking people because of this kind of thing but I have and will do so if you refuse to listen to me. It's the one and only boundary I have for now when it comes to my gifs, please respect that!

Gifset Masterlist Tag: #Red's Gifset Masterlists

Below is my tag masterlist! Happy viewing!

|| = RE || = TEW || = DMC

|| = SR || = TWAU

Basic Tags:

Crimson's Gifs: Resident Evil

Crimson's Gifs: Devil May Cry

Crimson's Gifs: The Evil Within

Crimson's Gifs: The Wolf Among Us

Crimson's Gifs: Saints Row

Relationship Tags:

Pairing: Encantado - Romantic Pairing of Ashley Graham & Luis Serra

Pairing: Keeping Score - Romantic Pairing of Leon S. Kennedy & Ada Wong

Pairing: Billy Coen Is Dead - Romantic Pairing of Rebecca Chambers & Billy Coen

Pairing: I've Got You Super Cop - Romantic Pairing of Jill Valentine & Carlos Oliveira

Pairing: Come On Supergirl - Romantic Pairing of Jake Muller & Sherry Birkin

Pairing: See You Around... Wolf - Romantic Pairing of Bigby Wolf & Faith

Pairing: Is This What You Want? - Romantic Pairing of Nero and Kyrie

Pairing: From My Gunsmithin' Days - Romantic Pairing of Lady and Nico

Pairing: I Need My Partner Here - Romantic Pairing Of Joseph Oda and Sebastian Castellanos

Partnership: Fill Your Soul With Light! - The Dynamic Duo that is Trish & Dante

BroTP: Ashley and Leon - Platonic/Siblingly Pairing of Ashley Graham & Leon S. Kennedy

BroTP: Claire and Sherry - Platonic/Siblingly Pairing of Claire Redfield & Sherry Birkin

BroTP: Devil May|Never Cry - Platonic Pairing of Lady, Trish & Dante

BroTP: I Had A Hunch Myself - Platonic/Familial Pairing of Nero and Trish

♡♡♡

Relationship Type Tags:

Theme: DMC Ships - Red's Preferred Devil May Cry Pairings

Theme: Red's RE Ships - Red's Preferred Resident Evil Pairings

Theme: Minor Pairings - Any pairing between secondary characters in a game

Theme: Pairings With History - Pairings that obviously have had previous history off-screen

Theme: Sparks In Dystopia - Romantic Relationships that grew further in apocalyptic settings

Theme: The One That Got Away - Romantic Pairings that end up losing one another or one party assumingly passes away

Theme: LGBT Pairings - All sets with LGBT relationships

Theme: Pride 2023 - All sets related or made for Pride Month 2023

Theme: Like Father Like Daughter - Father-Daughter relationships or Parallels in sets

Theme: Soulmates - Platonic or Romantic Pairings that have so much dynamic chemistry that they cannot be separated and come as a set

Theme: Saviour And The Saved - Sets featuring somebody saving someone else and the dynamic of that!

Theme: Power Pairings - Platonic or Romantic Duos that kick ass together

Theme: Iconic Duos - Famous character Duos in sets!

Theme: DMC Power Duos - Powerful two-person team-ups in DMC

Theme: DMC Power Teams - Powerful team-ups in DMC

Theme: DMC Interesting Dynamics - Sets studying dynamics between characters in DMC

Theme: DMC Mentor/Student - Sets studying the relationship between a person setting an example for someone else in Devil May Cry

Theme: DMC Platonic Relationships - Sets exploring platonic or familial relationships in Devil May Cry

♡♡♡

Misc Tags:

Theme: Dedicated To Friends - Sets I've made for my friends

Theme: PTSD - Sets exploring canon depictions of PTSD in games

Theme: Grief - Sets exploring canon depictions of grief in games

Theme: Insanity - Sets exploring imagery or games where the characters lose their minds

Theme: Introductions Aside - Sets that introduce characters

Theme: RE Parallels - Sets that compare Resident Evil scenes

Theme: RE Set Pieces - Sets featuring Resident Evil Scenery

Theme: Classic RE - Sets featuring Resident Evil 1, 2, 3, CVX, RE0 or RE1R

Theme: RE Romantic Parallels - Resident Evil Romantic Parallels between multiple couples

Theme: Jill Valentine's Fashion Sense - Sets involving Jill Valentine's Outfits

Theme: Umbrella's Legacy - Sets depicting Resident Evil Characters affiliated with the Umbrella Corporation

Theme: RE Dream Cast - Red's Preferred cast for a new Resident Evil game

Theme: Pieces On The Board - Resident Evil Sets depicting each faction or Affiliation within the games

Theme: Hidden Gems - Relatively unknown or unpopular games I've made sets of

Theme: Character Death - Sets featuring the death of characters

Theme: Faked Character Death - Sets featuring the false death of characters

Theme: The Heroes - Sets featuring main characters or heroic characters

Theme: Supporting Cast - Sets featuring NPCs or side characters

Theme: City Of Ruin - Raccoon City Tag

Theme: Blood and Gore - Game typical Gore tag, can range from horror game typical to mortal kombat typical

Theme: Infection Spreading - Sets that involve zombie/zombie-adjacent behaviour or infection

Theme: Morally Grey - sets that feature Morally Grey characters

Theme: Morally Sound - sets that feature Morally Sound characters

Theme: Take My Breath Away - Scenes that are very attractive or aesthetically pleasing

Theme: Women Of My Dreams - Red's Favourite Female Characters Of All Time general tag

Theme: Favourite Female Characters Of All Time - dedicated tag to this set series

Theme: Feminine Power - female empowerment! Typically found on female-only sets or sets that display women at their best!

Theme: Masculine Strength - male empowerment! Typically found on male-only sets or sets that display women at their best!

Theme: Character Development: found on character sets displaying a change in behaviour or a comparison to the past and present!

Theme: Red and Redder - Characters affiliated with the colour red for my namesake

Theme: Colour Palette Blues - Sets with Blue tones

Theme: Colour Palettes - Rainbow - Sets with multicoloured tones

Theme: Resident's Fashion - Resident Evil outfits tag

Theme: Game Interface - Depicting game title screens, menus etc.

Theme: Dream Cast - Red's Dream Casts for any game

Theme: Truth and Lies - Depicting paralleled scenes where a lie is told and a truth is revealed

Theme: SR Parallels - Saints Row Parallel Sets where scenes are compared

Theme: TWAU Pairings - Pairings I prefer from Telltales: The Wolf Among Us

Theme: TWAU Set Pieces - Scenery from TWAU

Theme: Dream Dream Dream - Sets that feature dream, nightmare or hallucination sequences

Theme: Red's Favourite DMC girls - Devil May Cry Women I adore in gifs

Theme: DMC Alternative Costumes - Ex Colors and Alternative Costumes in Devil May Cry

Theme: DMC Parallels - Scenes in Devil May Cry compared

Theme: DMC Iconic Moments - Famous Moments in Devil May Cry

Theme: DMC Hilarious Moments - Funny Moments in Devil May Cry

Theme: Domesticity of DMC - Domestic Bliss in Devil May Cry

Theme: Favourite Male Characters Of All Time - Favourite Male Characters Tag!

Theme: Favourite Characters Of All Time - My Favourite Game Characters

Theme: Best DLC Of All Time - My personal favourite DLCs in games that are the best of the best

Theme: Aesthetically Pleasing - Gifs based around the beauty of what's featured in the set

Theme: TEW Set Pieces - Set Pieces from The Evil Within

Theme: Gothic Horror - Gothic Horror in video games

Theme: Goth - Gothic elements in video games

Theme: Demons and Devils - Demonic related content in video games

♡♡♡

Personal Tags:

Theme: Red's Personal Preference - Anything to do with my own interests, basically a get to know me tag!

Sorry for the wall of text. Thanks for reading!

[dxrknessembr8ced]

Meanwhile, Russia...

Sergei sitting within his laboratory have just discovered something equally as big as the A-Type 4 outbreak this time starting in the both regions close together both north and south korea specifically. What's even more interesting is that this is not a las erebus sighting. It's something peaked his interest he played the recording feed of both news stations of both south and north korea in those monitors showing panicking civilians screaming, being torn apart by not only the undead but also gigantic insects and then humanoid insect abominations running all rampage as they tell a virus plaguing on both korean soils believing to be T-Erebus that hit the united states however this is far from the truth and Sergei knows this for the insect monsters, the zombies and then he notice the fog that blocks out one of the news team before being ripped apart by same undead. However the undead much more different. They seem to also have a few insect characteristics and eggs just sticking out of their bodies.

" Interesting. . . . "

Turning around towards the other side of the table Sergei reads through the files that was once belong to a man that was apart of the secret organisation known as the family Derek Simmons. As he reads he come to learn about the virus that started it in edonia than into china all those years ago called the chrysalid virus. The same virus he used to create a virus combining the C-virus, The T-Erebus virus and the DNA of TALOS and nemesis to create a new breed of J'avo that would mutate upon though either physical trauma or upon death despite that they're sex related mutations. Nonetheless if the C-virus caused all of this than that means the virus had mutated into another powerful strain through T-Erebus however what had cause the outbreak and why the new evolve strain of C-virus have accelerated insectoid mutations is unknown.

" So both north and south Korea has the C-virus. Hmm, this is problematic yet a glorious day for research no? "

" I will send my men, the best scientists and soldiers in my personal army to South korea to find out more of the new strain. "

" I have am awful feeling that a third outbreak will occur along with this current second outbreak how troublesome. I need to know more about the C-virus in it's new strain... "

[our-reb00t-boi]

For years I've "agreed" to the critics regarding the DmC reboot when it came to 2nd Vergil

I really didn't like what they did but never did quite put what exactly made me not like him. But just in recent years, probably after DMC5 came out, a few us friends talked about it and compared.

To me personally, it came down to two things:

I don't see any resemblance, ANY from the previous Vergil incarnation (well ok apart from being adapted from the first installments, but that’s a given). Vergil's Downfall may have been NT's adaptation from what they had gathered of 1st Vergil's past, especially from the manga, and that's the closest I can think of that are thematically similar. They saw mental turmoil about being a surviving offspring of an infamous figure and makes the character question their own place in the world. And this continued to 1st Vergil in DMC 5 which expands on his views, who has survivor's guilt and a deprecating view of himself, explaining his grindset to gain more power.

But that was the inverse for reb00t/2nd Vergil, at least by order of scenarios. He is already a powerful being, not by strength, but by position, wealth and knowledge. He is the exact opposite of his twin, who lived in squalor and hardship. He's a loaded guy soooo full of himself and thought himself highly, and in turn thought of the Nephilim race to be as such (I think he believes the unique conception of Nephalem made them a special race and should be the ones to rule, etc.) plus with the amount of research he probably had on what remains of the history of the Nephilim, and their opposition.

When he fell from grace is where some similarities are made with the 1st Vergil. So the scenarios are just inverted.

Now, after comparing him to the 1st Vergil, because 2nd Vergil had to match the theme of social commentary in the reboot title, they went for that "Rich Kid" trope for him. He feels like this oily, shrewd character, that I sorta compare with Prince Hans from Frozen and Ardyn Izunia of FFXV.

It's just me but I don't personally think NT were going for the action cool ambiguous aligned samurai anymore. To me it's still up there what they really wanted versus final production, and this reflects from (what I’ve seen) from their concept art book. There’s barely any info about the themes or experimentation before they finally settled onto something that was gradually close to how he’s presented in the game. It's no secret that NT and the Capcom team sent by Capcom more of did a "play it safe" thing because of backlash perpetuated by both NT and the audience.

So from what was presented, all I have is this wealthy young "self-made" millionaire who thinks so highly of himself and his morals, using this sophisticated veneer of smart vintage-looking fashion but ironically is spelling out just how so full of himself is. He thinks he knows more and holds that power over the Order, and in turn to Kat and to his own twin. He’s fashioned himself as some kind of beacon of hope, an angelic presence in a demon-infested and deluded world...

He's insidious. He's shrewd. He sounds soft-spoken, charismatic and well-mannered.... and it's all for show!

And now I know why I hate him. Well, no I don’t hate him the way the reboot haters do. I hate him because there are people like him in real life. He’s manipulative and cunning. He lures many who are in the Order in comfortable belief that they’re in the correct path/side. While fighting for what’s right is a very lofty thing to do that’s not a joke, reboot Vergil knows this deeply for his ends alone.

At the end of Vergil’s Downfall, he’s no longer putting up a veneer of being a holier-than-thou individual. Ultimately he’s accepted himself, though he’s accepted what he believes was holding him back. Well, good for him, now we can see what a selfish and narcissistic individual he really is. He’s actually back to doing what, I think, he does best: luring anyone through a false sense of hope that what he intends to do is equal to those who follow him. Under his leadership, he’s no longer holding anything back. He’s likely going to mold what’s left of the world after Mundus’ defeat.

Although I did mention “false sense of hope”, I think this time, with the scattered demons whose instincts range from being their own shrewdness to utter destruction, Vergil just sees those are going to be more genuine. He’s just like the rest of them now and it makes no difference, unless he says so.

The last two are speculations, but it doesn’t change what 2nd Vergil is and what makes him different from the 1st Vergil.

reboot Vergil is a tyrannical Cult Leader

[derekscorner]

Did you like the DMC reboot?

It's a mixed bag these days.

Initially I am sad to say I was part of the foolish discourse between fandom and the devs at the time. That said, I did play it to try it and it had aspects I did find interesting such as lore and world.

A few years ago I played the Definitive Edition to see if it was better and, gameplay wise, it was. Given an option between classic and reboot I'd take classic but now that I've gotten a damn good resolution with DMC5 I would not mind them looking into the reboot yet again.

After the definitive edition my only real gameplay complaint was the color coded enemies. Sure, you can hurt them with any weapon now but they still only stun or react to their set color. If only they'd remove that one aspect....

My biggest problem with the reboot to this day is the characterization.

Dante; I could list some things but, aside from bad dialogue where he curses like a 12yr old that learnt he could, there's room to grow if a sequel happened so I can forgive it at this point.

Mundus; he confused me more than anything. Given his vast power and immortality he didn't need to rule the world with capitalism. It was just there because they wanted a "fight the man" pitch which isn't offensive to me so much as it's just dull. His death opened up possibilities though now that Limbo is gone and demons revealed.

Vergil; his character was easily the most offensive to an extent that I do not know a sequel could salvage my interest in him. The hostage scene shooting was one thing but what bothered me most was the battle at the end.

It felt like they added a Vergil fight last minute because the old series when I was way more invested in the twins being allies in this universe. If you want to be different (which Capcom pushed hard for) then that would've been a great angle to choose.

A universe where the twins didn't drift apart but kept together as allies with different strengths to them.

Kat; I didn't like her weak love interest angle but I didn't hate her. I feel like she could've done a better job of humanizing Dante as intended if the had focused on that.

That said, I feel like she should've died in the police raid. Due to her powers and Limbo I would've had her act as a spiritual guide for the last part of the game with her true end being with Limbos collapse as her soul could pass on content that she stopped the demons.

The biggest draw to me was the world and lore this world offered. Dante doesn't need to be half human to me when the Sparda of Classic DMC had a found humanity.

That kind of theme can be applied to this reboot Dante which is a roundabout way of me saying I'd be interested in seeing more of this new angel and nephilim mythology.

I do find it very hard to believe that Mundus wiped out the old nephilim race when they're supposedly so potentially powerful or when they have the power to travel planes freely but that's a minor gripe at best.

I'd love to see how humanity deals with learning demons exist, the twins looking into the nephilim of eons past, or figuring out where the angels were during the first game.

The angels themselves can't be entirely inoperable in the modern era given that Eva was round until the twins were 7.

All in all, the reboot world has potential but was sadly undercut by immaturity in fandom, dev teams, writing, and misunderstanding. Shit was said by all that shouldn't have but it is a fact that Capcom pushed so hard for the distance between each series.

To the point that the reboots concept art just shows you what could've been despite the classic series not needing a reboot at the time...or even now but eh.

[darksaiyangoku]

My dream RWBY videogames

Since asking everyone else about their dream RWBY games, I figured I'd have a go at it. With my dream games, barring one, I'd like for them to be standalone. Each game or game series would take place in its own universe but still retain common elements that make it RWBY, such as:

Huntsmen/Huntresses

Dust

Kingdoms/Academies

Aura/Semblances

Grimm

Teams

Though before carrying on with my dream games, there's a subgenre which I don't think would fit with RWBY and that is the SoulsBorne subgenre. Difficulty aside, the SoulsBorne games are all about slow and methodical gameplay and that doesn'f sit well with RWBY's faster, high energy combat style.

With that out of the way, let's get to it!!!

1. Bandai Namco

Series influence: Tales

Gameplay: Linear Motion Battle System

Story: Standalone AU

Bandai Namco's Tales series are pretty much just like playing a fantasy anime and the beautiful cutscenes by Ufotable enhance that experience even more. Imagine that? RWBY animated by UFOTABLE? That would be rad as hell!

In terms of gameplay, the Linear Motion Battle System is a signature to the Tales series and Berseria has my favourite version called the Liberation Variation. This means that the player is able to roam freely within the battlefield and each button can be assigned for a specific attack. The fast pace of battles fits right at home with RWBY and can make for some pretty fun combat.

2. Shift/Bandai Namco

Series influence: God Eater

Gameplay: God Eater System

Story: Standalone AU

God Eater's world could easily fit within Remnant. A group of young heroes battling monsters with crazy weapons and powers? Textbook RWBY! And once again, animations by Ufotable. Man, I love that studio!

The battle system has a feature where you can swap between melee, ranged and shield mode, which can be pretty handy and allows for a variety of different combos that you can use to defeat your enemies! The variety in Aragami can be an influence for the Grimm and the missions can be placed all over the various kingdoms, adding variety and exploration to the world of Remnant. You can't go wrong with God Eater, folks!

3. Square Enix

Series influence: Final Fantasy

Gameplay: Active Cross Battle System

Story: Standalone AU

I mean, RWBY was influenced by Final Fantasy and what better studio to tackle a JRPG-infuenced anime series than Square Enix themselves.

I LOVE Final Fantasy; the different worlds, the fun characters, the epic storylines and the variety in gameplay! It's just so awesome and Square Enix would have no trouble of making RWBY into an epic game. The gameplay style that I chose to go for was FFXV's Active Cross System, which focuses on real time combat, dodging, parrying and using the environment to your advantage. With some fine tuning and switch ups, such as swapping out weapon fighting styles instead of new weapons altogether, this could fit well with the cast of RWBY. Plus, the open world allows for tons of exploration, more so than God Eater, where you can take missions, go on hunts, search for upgrades, etc. The possibilities are pretty much endless.

4. Capcom

Series influence: Devil May Cry

Gameplay: DMC 5 style

Story: Canon STRQ prequel

A hack n' slash RWBY sounds like a no-brainer. Slicing up Grimm with style and savagery? Sign me up!!!

While more linear compared to the open worlds of both Final Fantasy and Tales of Berseria, the adrenaline pumping gameplay more than makes up for it. The style system ensures that players are able to keep on the offesensive, experiment with various weapon types (both melee and ranged) and increase their score ranks each time they encounter enemies. Compared to my previous dream games, this one would be more in line with the anime canon and would follow STRQ in the prime. Focusing on a group of adult Huntsmen can allow the writers to experiment with darker themes that wouldn't fit in the anime.

And those are some of my dream RWBY games. I'll be sure to make another list in the future and focus on how each story would be different from canon. Let me know what you think of my list and if you want to contribute with your own list, you're more than welcome to!

[miss-wanna-write]

so ive posted a couple of fanfics already about this, but let me introduce you to my miraculous ladybug x persona au!

first things first, what ive already covered! so when they’re 7, Marinette, Nino, and Kim break away from the field-trip group and end up in Paris’s version of Mementos, and a shadow attack leads to Kim awakening Ardent, his persona.

after this, and numerous groundings, scoldings, and lectures from various parties, the trio then proves they learned NOTHING and continues to go exploring in the secret catacombs using the mysterious and kinda spooky app that appeared on their phones. this is how Marinette and Nino got Odette and Orpheus accordingly.

they don’t actually do much with these powers? it’s mainly just a cool make believe thing, with the occasional encounter with ‘living ghosts’ (the human shadows) that they talk to and help out. or have their persona’s (”we’re not calling them Stands, Kim!”) beat up if they get aggressive.

fast forward like 6 years to canon and the trio is freaking out. or, Nino is freaking out because Kim’s being targetted by a giant rock golem who used to be Ivan, Marinette’s not picking up, and the app they normally use to enter the Catacombs is updating.

the gist of this au, is that having a persona is a double edged sword. it allows normal people to fight akuma’s within the metaverse, and weaken the butterfly’s hold on the person, but also, if you have a persona your akuma is far more difficult to fight.

there’s a lot of stuff i haven’t really figured out, and some i haven’t concretely set up, but i do have all the initial persona’s for the crew! note, all persona’s were chosen from random sources, their only ‘theme’ being how they relate to the characters (even if it only makes sense to me)

Marinette Dupain-Cheng & Odette

Skills are focused on Ice & Healing. She’ll later gain Bless once her Ultimate is unlocked.

Odette is the protagonist of the ballet Swan Lake, and I felt the stories could line up. The curse of akumatization by the evil sorcerer Hawkmoth, Prince Adrien who the Black Swan Lila tries to steal away.

okay so this one may heavily depend on my persona headcanon that Lila seems to boast a lot of things that have been done by Marinette or are related to Marinette (knowingly or unknowingly) in canon.

Don’t worry about how Swan Lake so commonly ends in tragedy, I swear that’s not relevant.

Another skill Odette has is that she can be used to create a rudimentary shadow radar in a still patch of water. Yes Marinette’s clumsiness makes this difficult.

Nino Lahiffe & Orpheus

Orpheus has the element of Zio, plus some useful buff/status causing moves. He’s specifically built for long fights, with high defence, health, stall moves, and Dia. i do not remember why.

As for why Orpheus was chosen, I feel it an accurate representation about the lengths Nino would go for love, and lose because of it.

Okay so maybe it was partially inspired by the ultimatums I see in salt fics between him and Alya.

Kim Chiến Lê & Ardent

The Physical Force of the team. As in he uses both Physical attacks and Force/Wind attacks. That was a bad pun, sorry.

So Ardent is actually the Beast’s name from the 1947 version of Beauty and the Beast, which is probably well known to most of you. The fairy tale, not like, the 1947 version.

But, uhh, I mean the Beast was cursed by an enchantress due to his bad actions, and acts like a huge jerk, and, well, we’ve seen Kim and how he acts. Even in this AU, while I think he’d be less overtly mean, he’s still insensitive and makes wrong decisions that hurt people.

Alya Cesaire & Virgil

Fire and ailments are Virgil’s bread and butter. Yes that ailment is brainwash, gotta show she has the power of the press after all.

No this is not Virgil DMC (could you imagine), this is Virgil from Dante’s Inferno. tbh I kinda chose this based off reading the wikipedia page and lining up character roles and it’s really shakey and could probably be better, but I don’t know what else to use for her.

Alya joins after accidentally getting awakened during Lady Wifi by Nino and Kim defeating her shadow form. Funnily enough, I have a super solid idea of what Alya does in the story, how she’s introduced, and how she reacts to certain scenarios, yet absolutely 0 solid idea’s for her personas.

Virgil also has the ability to catalogue shadow weaknesses/profiles in his book, which takes the place of the notebook Mari, Nino, and Kim were using before.

Max Kante & Menvra

Max is the teams navigator and their guy in the chair, except he is also in the catacombs along them.

Obviosuly he wouldn’t be like Fuuka, inside an orb at the entrance of the dungeon, but I don’t think he’d be quite Futaba floating around in his persona. Somewhere inbetween, Rise and Futaba, I think.

Menvra is a Etruscan goddess, representing war, art, wisdom, and medicine/health. This is one of the more classic persona figures (they say, like Orpheus isn’t Nino’s) and yes, I am very shakey on this much like Alya’s. The difference is, Max is not a hugely developed character so I have limited traits to choose from as opposed to Alya where I have conflicting traits to choose from. I am, however, 100% sure of his Ultimate Persona.

I’m honestly debating whether Max joins up during Startrain, where the limited space causes him to accidentally get dragged into the Metaverse and subsequently awakened, or Robustus because the Metaverse app won’t run.

Kagami Tsurugi & Kaguya

I am, first and foremost, weak to girls with swords. And have once again (once again, they say, not having written the previous thing they are referencing) made Kagami just a. Powerhouse.

She’s got the Almighty skills, alongside Nuclear, and is a one woman army.

I really associated the themes of Kaguya attracting suitors, what with Kagami’s purpose basically just being a faux-love interest, and the punishment of material attachments. Listen, I will be the first to admit that a lot of these persona’s are just, I feel the vibes and they match. There is no rational or explainable reasoning for these, it just fits.

Also fun fact, the feather cloak Kaguya wears is burnt when she’s first summoned. Like, pre-burnt. This is story relevant.

Kagami herself joins the group after Ikari Gozen. Ladybug gives her an piece of paper in exchange for the Dragon Miraculous. Said paper has the meet up location and time fo the next Catacombs excursion.

[dlamp-dictator]

Allen Rambles About Oneechanbara Origin

Continuing my goals of finishing up all my opinion piece drafts we have Oneechanbara Origin. I finished this game about three-ish months a year ago and I still can’t stop thinking about it. From what I’ve seen of the reception there seems to be a real mixed bag of opinions. For what it’s worth I found the game fun and engaging, but... I can see why there’s a lot of dissonance among fans and new players. 

But first, a synopsis.

Oneechanbara Origin is a remake of the original Oneechanbara game and its sequel. The story itself focuses on Aya, resident zombie slayer and next head of the Baneful Bloodline, a line of powerful yet unstable warriors noted for their great strength and ability to transform into monstrous, blood-starved fighters. The story begins with Aya searching for her missing sister Saki and father Oboro, coming up short for the last two years even with the help of the informant Rei. But it seems her sister is finally coming out of hiding, giving Aya an ominous message asking her to die for their mother’s sake. With that small thread Aya begins her quest to find her sister in earnest, slaying zombies and any other monster that gets in her way as she learns the cryptic and ghastly meaning behind her sister’s cold message.

That’s the basic idea, but the story actually plays this pretty straight and rather seriously, much to its detriment as I’ll explain later. You tour several locations, hunting down and slicing up zombies, getting some funny and zany dialogue along with some oddly serious moments as well.

And while I’m on that note...

The Story

Honestly, that synopsis is a pretty good summary of the storyline’s first half, but I think its worth talking about in depth just a little. Like I said, this story plays it shockingly straight and serious. Aya quips and snarks from time to time, but she’s overall pretty serious about finding her sister and saving her. And while this makes sense in the story, the gameplay has us playing as a bikini-clad samurai girl swinging swords around to dice up hordes of zombies in DMC-esque style action. There’s... dissonance in all that. And while things get a little lighter once Saki joins the team and the banter plays off three characters the tone is still a little too serious given how zany the action and gameplay are. The story wants to go a little too deep and gets all anime-philosophical in discussing family, life and death, blood ties, and the like. It gets a little too bogged in its own thinly made melodrama and you start to really feel that around the climax of the first half of the story.

Without spoiling things, I’d say the theme of Oneechanbara Origin focuses on family, legacy, and bonds. Aya’s forming and building her bond with Saki, Rei’s trying to sever her bond with her own family to be with Aya, the villains manipulation of several peoples’ relationships with others to their own ends, things like that. It works, but unlike when Senran Kagura gets serious it doesn’t really stick. They can get real melodramatic with those themes and with the overall wacky action of the game clashes too much with the dialogue for those more serious moments. It feels like they come out of nowhere, breaking the tone a little in either direction depending on what you were focusing on. It’s hard to go from quipping about nurse zombies to suddenly discussing the nature of bonds and how fragile the line between family ties are.

Again, Senran Kagura made this work due to that game’s world more serious aspects mentioned more frequently along with having proper buildup to the serious moments, but in Origin those serious moments tend to just... happen. There’s no visual novel moment where the game actually takes a break to discuss what the characters are doing and feeling. That sort of dialogue happens in game along with the quipping and the lack of a break to give these characters a moment to stop quipping and be more than just hot action girls in scantily clad outfits just isn’t there. It just feels like the more serious moments are there to try stacking on stakes and pretending these quipping, kick-butt action gals are deeper than they actually are.

And honestly, the only reason I actually like a lot of this story and I’m willing to deal with some of that dissonance is due to the strength of the voice actors. All in all, this is still a game about bikini zombie slayers, and to try and take that seriously is the same issue I had with School Girl Zombie Hunter... other than that game being garbage to play.

But speaking of that voice acting...

The Localization

I've gotta’ admit, I’m pleasantly shocked by how good the voice acting in this game is. For a niche title, this game has some of the better acting I’ve heard since probably River City Girls. Suzie Yeung and Cristina Valenzuela just nail it as Aya and Saki respectively. As much as I don’t care for the more serious  tone Miss Yeung honestly makes it work, at least as best as she can with how she delivers Aya’s lines. Aya’s general quipping yet serious attitude actually works when Miss Yeung switches between the two, especially as she bounces of the sly and snarky Rei, but her big sister instincts tend to keep her pretty focused on the task at hand.

Saki is... basically a delinquent school girl. She’s not so much serious as she is moody. She takes herself seriously, but everything else aside from Aya she doesn’t care for and she will snap at it. I wouldn’t say Saki so much quips as she insults, especially when Rei is involved.

And Rei herself is a joy too, the wily informant who teases and plays around with her clients while she on the comms feeding the group information. It was these three that really helps bring the story to life. 

That said... while I can praise the voice acting, the actual localization, translation, and even some of the scripting and direction can feel off. But I think I’ll keep the nitpicks and negatives in list form to not take away too much from general positivity.

I’ve been calling her Rei since that’s what Aya and Saki call her, but the game’s script has her as Lei for some reason and this really bugs me.

None of the in-game lips flaps match the actual animations of the characters, and even the voice lines, as well as they’re delivered, don’t match up with the cutscenes and there’s an awkward pause and silence as the characters anime. At least in the English dub. Someone on the staff apparently didn’t want Miss Yeung and Miss Valenzuela to see the in-game cutscenes so they could action have their lines work with the animations and it hurts the game for it.

That said, the few moments they do try to link the voice direction and the cutscenes feels stilted, rushed and bad in the delivery, so I can honestly see the director just canning the idea of matching flaps for the sake of good voice delivery... but it still sucks and is still jarring at times.

But now that we got that out of the way...

The Gameplay

The gameplay of Oneechanbara Origin is about what you’d expect from a niche hack-and-slash and is the best part of the game. Light and heavy attacks, timed button presses increase damage and extends combos, you can dodge and parry attacks with good timing, everything’s here and functional. That said, I’ve got some nitpicks:

Similar to Senran Kagura and Bayonetta, enemies will emit a unique sound cue right before an attack comes out. This is so you can parry/dodge attacks when swarmed by enemies and unable to read some of the animation telegraphs. However, either this isn’t the case for all enemies or sometimes the sound effect doesn’t play properly, and the lack of sound can be a death sentence with certain enemies and attacks. 

Enemies that are out of view of the camera can still attack you. This isn’t too much of an issue until you have several ranged enemies that can do heavy damage from their shots. A lot of games tend to have some indicator when being attacked from behind or when the camera isn’t in the view, so the lack of that really can get annoying at times on the harder difficulties.

Red enemies. Red enemies have armor that grants them immunity to flinching and being stunned back hits. They can essentially armor through most attacks and this is... irritating when there’s a group of them, especially the ranged ones who’s shots do extra damage, at least on the harder difficulties.

Honestly, I wish I had more to say about the gameplay, but... it’s pretty standard. Even as I went back to it to finish this opinion piece I honestly have no real criticisms aside from the above points. If you like hack-and-slash gameplay and want a unique edge to it with the Cool Combination mechanic then I highly recommend this game for that alone. The story can honestly be ignored (and should) while you put on a podcast and hack away at some zombies.

Other Points of Note

I’m just gonna’ list off all my other thoughts in list form since the gameplay and story were the big points of contention I had. So, in no particular order.

I honestly love the redesigns and new artstyle of the game. I only have Z2 Chaos and this game under my belt in terms of Onechanbara exposure, but this new style is an honest-to-God glow-up, especially with Saki. Hot take from Allen, but Saki’s goth girl outfit is the worse thing about her character and I’m glad it was DLC/optional to stick her in it. The delinquent schoolgirl outfit fit her character much better anyway.

The bonus DLC missions are not good and frankly a waste of money. There’s very little story content that actually shines light character arcs or lore, the battles are rather boring, and I’d rather just have some kind of epilogue chapter of sorts than... that.

Okay, this one’s really petty, but I feel like some of the item shop can be a bit too expensive with some of the ring power-ups. I understand they’re more or less the most effective equipment in the game and shouldn’t be easy to purchase right off the bat, but... it feels pretty cheap to have some of these items be so expensive.

And... that’s really it as far my general points are concerned. This game is pretty straightforward about what it wants to be and how it goes about being it, so all that’s really left is...

For the Future

As I often say in these I find trying to “fix” or change a product that’s already made is a pointless endeavor that’s better saved for armchair discussions and fanfiction, but debating and discussing things to be done in a possible sequel, remastering, or remake are pretty fair game. With that said:

For the love of the Lord above, please keep the tone of the next game somewhat light and easy-going. From my understanding the next game is probably going to focus on the Vampiric Clan girls Kagura and Saaya who are much more quippy if Z2 Chaos is anything to go off of. I pray the writers keep that thing simple and not try to be a pseudo-philosophical action anime like they did in this game.

Please keep Saki’s school uniform as the default attire for her and leave the gothic lolita stuff as a bonus/DLC option. Saki is a rough-and-tumble brawler with a bad attitude and short temper toward everyone that isn’t Aya and that outfit makes no sense being on a character like her, even if the canon reason of her wearing is Aya suggesting it and Saki (in her lack of fashion sense) blindly accepting anything Aya gives her.

I’d like the level-up system to do more than just give stat increases. Ideally more combos and weapon options, but I know Onechanbara having a two-weapon system is the standard for the series, so I won’t be picky on that end, especially since the next game might give us four characters in total with eight weapon styles to play with.

In terms of the enemies, I’d say do something about the red enemies. On harder difficulties they’re a nuisance and a nightmare due to their higher damage output. Either make them really weak to parries like the Mudmen or have their red armor be something you can break after a few hits.

Also, while we’re speaking on enemies, either have some indicator of offscreen attacks, or have the enemy AI not do anything with off screen. In a hack-and-slash game like this where you can face 50 enemies at once any breathing room is welcomed if it means you don’t get killed by an offscreen attack.

A bit of a fanfic idea, but a DLC side story of Saki and Saaya crossing over with the School Girl Zombie Hunters crew sounds like a fun idea. Saki working to defend the school with the five girls giving supporting fire from off screen, maybe a small rivalry with the other brawler/martial artist in that group or something like that. It’s a fun idea.

Conclusion

All in all, this is a surprisingly fun, if very short game. Something worth around 20 bucks, but I’d hold on getting this unless it’s on sell or you’re a hardcore of niche games like I am. I really want to see this get a sequel, but I also don’t want to see another attempt at making a game about a bikini zombie hunter an existential commentary on the human condition. Here’s hoping that we get something fun and light the next time this game’s name floats around.

[elegant-agent]

how devil may cry 5 disappoints with its depiction of race, transgenders, and women, and why DmC Devil May Cry does it better

the hottest action game of 2019, devil may cry 5, is a big disappointment for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to: racist depictions of african americans, outing a trans person, and sexualizing women to the point where i mistook them as strippers

in devil may cry, dante and his twin brother vergil are half-demons, their father the dark knight sparda and their mother eva. however, this falls flat on its face when you realize the subtle meaning behind this: dante and vergil are half black. this means that not only did devil may cry pull a “black father abandons their kids” trope, as sparda turns into the sword sparda (i had to look this up!?!?), abandoning his kids, but it also means that dante is suffering guilt over being black. this becomes much more apparent in devil may cry 5, where dante’s theme “subhuman” is obviously dante feeling as if he were a subhuman for having african-american blood in him. worse yet, spoiler warning! vergil is revealed to have used his japanese katana yamato to split his body into 2: v and urizen. v represents the white parts of vergil, the sophistication, the guilt of being black, while urizen is the black half of vergil, more tall and powerful than the rest of the cast. even more appalling, this is implying that black people are demons! this game might as well have had dante wear the confederate outfit on his trenchcoat (also a dogwhistle of white supremacy groups and implying that dante wants to be a school shooter)!

to further strip devil may cry 5 of its undeserved praise, there’s a midgame boss that dante fights known as cavaliere angelo, a “male” knight. however, when dante beats angelo, “trish” is revealed to have been inside of “him”. this is not only outing cavaliere angelo, who is in actuality a female and the game never reveals (or more likely refuses to use) her pronouns, it is an act of violence against transwomen, as dante violently rips angelo apart so that he can simply zoom away on his new bike he stole from her. wacky wahoo pizza man indeed.

speaking of women, devil may cry has terrible representation with its women: nico, lady, and trish are all sexualized! nico wears jorts and a croptop, but she’s a mechanic! she might as well put her welding torch right on her skin! lady (devil may cry 5 did not even give her a real name!?) is naked when we first see her, and the next scene uses her nudity as a punchline to a joke in the next scene! to top it all off, trish is wearing leather that reveals her boobs! and she’s a devil hunter? plus i’m very certain she uses the same model as some random lady in a cutscene. talk about lazy! none of these women use practical clothing to fight devils, unlike nero, dante, or v. it’s insulting how the devil may cry 5 team puts these women in like they’re some decorations for the male-dominated series. they might as well be wearing collars or something demeaning like that.

unlike devil may cry 5, DmC Devil May Cry, the 2013 reboot, has powerful women to progress the story and influences dante in a way that the original could never hope to imagine. kat helps dante throughout the story, and when she’s kidnapped, it drives dante to finally reach out and help out. lilith is also the main driving force behind mundus (yes she gets killed but it’s a powerful motivator!) and is the reason why he finally decides to attack dante and vergil. it also doesn’t have any transphobic content within (it doesn’t have any but better to have none than to have something horrible), and its depiction of race is much better handled (dante is still a half demon but he’s also half angel, alongside vergil), as demons are more obviously representative of white people since many of the demons’ vessels as white.

DmC Devil May Cry may have its fair numbers of issues, but those can be overlooked because of its everlasting image of how capitalism destroys people, is corrupting society, and how despite everything, we have to stand against it. yes vergil did shoot a pregnant woman, yes kat is in danger most of the time, yes the writing is edgy, yes dante doesn’t have white hair, but those are all in the pursuit of something that goes beyond just one person. DmC Devil May cry focuses on the whole picture, rather than devil may cry 5′s message of how friendship prevails.

as a side note, devil may cry 5′s soundtrack is very overrated, and its ending was cheesy enough to make a lactose intolerant person vomit. seriously, grow up, no one wants to hear about friendship or family or whatever anymore.

overall, i’d give this game the same stylish rank that it’s given me every mission:

[firstpuffin]

Remember this title: a looksie at the writing in DMC: Devil May Cry:

I was going to write an article on DMC.5 Kat’s arse (remember the title and please don’t leave) and how its sexualisation lacked the self-aware, tongue-in-cheek nature of the rest of the series, but I figured if I did that then it’d be the first step into a depraved rabbit-hole/looking-glass hitherto unseen. Plus I’d look too much like a pervert for my own comfort.

  Instead I’m gonna talk about Dante’s arse-

  Kidding.

 I do believe that Kat’s uninspired sexualisation represents the difference in quality between DMC: Devil May Cry and the rest of the series, but so does the writing. As both an aspiring author and student of language, the writing and dialogue seems like a more suitable area to look at, and a lot less misogynistic (see, even perverts can be self-aware).

  Still, I’ve written about the sexualisation of the ladies of this series before but I hope that I put enough focus on their actual characters that I’ve avoided the above concerns. Even though any discussion on a shallow character such as Kat will also be unavoidably shallow, the plan is to avoid focusing on sex, even though the game itself focuses so much on unironic sexuality.

 Anyhoo! Let’s get on topic.

  There is a certain realism to the dialogue in DMC.5, especially in certain social groups who swear up a storm (I’ve personally known those to whom frequent taboo language was the norm amongst the family). Anyone who knows of the series is probably aware of that scene with the succubus:

              ((“You can’t kill me! I’m over twelve-hundred years old!”

                 “You don’t a day over twelve-thousand.”

                 “Fuck you!”

                 “Fuck you!”

                  “Fuck yoouu!”))

That is- actually kinda funny. It’s funny in that it’s the sort of exchange that I’ve seen in real life; it strikes a chord of familiarity which is often good in writing humour. But it’s not witty, nor is it smart. This is a failed example of what could be a funny joke, partly because both characters in the scene are just so unlikable.

 So you remember that one kid at school, or guy at work, who’s needlessly aggressive, thinks he’s all that and is just generally unlikable? Ninja Theory made that guy their main character. In one scene he literally smacks a can of energy drink out of a fat man’s hand. That’s straight up bullying. That’s happened to me and it’s never funny.

  Now yeah, this Dante does have a few good lines: when the succubus asks (rudely) who he is he answers with “I’m your prom date”, which is actually kind of amusing; it plays on the whole succubus sex-demon thing, given certain presuppositions about sex on prom night. But then he immediately follows it up with “you ugly sack of shit!” That’s just- needless. He doesn’t even know if the succubus is there by choice yet, Dante’s just being an arse.

  The fight has more funny lines interspersed through it, playing on the established prom theme. I was about to mention how despite the humour, it’s kinda ruined by the succubus’s vulgar language, but I can actually accept that. She’s an unpleasant piece of work, always throwing up and being generally disgusting, so her language matches up.

  What about the dialogue in the original series? It’s not very realistic; it’s too witty, too perfect.

  But it’s witty, it’s entertaining and clever. There’s nothing witty, entertaining (if you are over 12) or clever about aggressively calling someone an “ugly sack of shit”.

 It seems that one of the reasons that Capcom had Ninja Theory reboot the series is because it was struggling with story, so how was the story? Well the plot itself was nothing special, but it had its good and surprisingly touching moments. Kat gets captured by a military team and Dante who is present but physically separated takes the time to walk her through surrender (apparently from personal experience), but the soldiers don’t accept it and kick the snot out of her and he can’t do anything but try and hold her, which he can’t. Unfortunately, these moments are few and far between.

  When we first see the bad guy, Mundus, he’s busy being all intimidating business-man on the phone, threatening the world economy and every aspect of the addressee’s life, only to end the call on “You have a good night, Mr President.”

  Oooh, big man threatening the President, scary. Aand kinda boring.

  I mean, sure, it shows that Mundus has enough power to treat the President like a nobody, to threaten him with no consequence, but it’s going so far up the food chain that it becomes a joke. But okay, if I’m gonna criticise their writing then I should put forward an alternative:

  I’d have him dealing with a problem; maybe they’ve found Dante or maybe he’s just bickering with his mistress (also, we didn’t need to see them bumping uglies; urgh) anyway, show him occupied and then someone comes in saying that the President in on the phone:

              ((“Has he done what I’ve asked? No? Then hang up.”))

              Yeah, it’s simple, I haven’t put much thought into it, but it shows the casual disregard and thus power over the President without being so boring as to straight up threaten the man. Leave it to the players to interpret the situation instead of pushing the relationships into our faces; it’s more interesting.

              Personally, I wouldn’t have included someone so powerful in the first place; just put in some legitimate threat and have Mundus completely disregard it. If he’s not concerned by an apparent threat then it means it isn’t a threat, so inaction is more intimidating than almost anything else he could do.

 Rather than whining about how dull the story is, I wanted to provide examples, but the story isn’t particularly interesting either. In fact, the story is no richer than the first game, even if still better then Devil May Cry 2. Heck, Twilight is still a better (love) story than Devil May Cry 2.

[rapuvdayear]

2000: “Ghetto Qu’ran (Forgive Me)” 50 Cent (Trackmaster Ent./Columbia)

It’s been over a year since I teased the idea of doing a post about my favorite 50 Cent tracks, so I guess now is as good a time as ever to get around to it! 

With the exception of maybe Kanye, I can’t think of another rapper with more raw talent whose career has been more disappointing. Obviously both Ye and Fiddy have been monstrously successful, but IMO they either burned brightly before descending into white supremacy apologia (Kanye) or never achieved their best possible trajectory (50). It’s not an accident to put them together in this way, either; just 12 years ago next month they faced off in what turned out to be a very underwhelming battle over whose album would sell better (this was back when album sales, not streaming numbers, still meant something). In many ways, it was a crossroads for each artist: Kanye dropped what I believe was his magnum opus, then followed it up with his fourth-best album, third-best album, and second-best album, before dropping off a cliff, while 50′s release basically removed him from the conversation about who was relevant in rap (“My Gun Go Off” and “I Get Money” are honorable mentions for the list below, but otherwise Curtis is entirely forgettable). 

These days, 50 has gone the Ice Cube route and is probably more recognizable as an actor than as a rapper. So, it’s hard to remember that once upon a time he was the savior of gangsta rap and (co-)author of one of the 25 greatest albums of all time. He beat the odds to survive a shooting, link up with the two heaviest hitters (at the time) in the rap game, and even be included on some GOAT lists. He also essentially established the “flood the streets with mixtapes before your album drops” strategy of self-promotion that Gucci, Weezy, and even Drake would follow in the days before Soundcloud was the go-to resource for building a rep. He singlehandedly destroyed a rival’s career, launched a clothing line, video game, and music label, and made a halfway-decent biopic. And then... he just sort of petered out. 

But! 50 is also responsible for some of my all-time favorite raps, which is why it’s so frustrating to me that he never lived up to the buzz surrounding him back in 2003. These are my five favorites, listed chronologically, with some commentary:

1) “Ghetto Qu’ran (Forgive Me)” (2000) Before the G-Unit days and before Eminem and Dre helped launch him to superstardom, Curtis Jackson was an up and coming rapper from Queens who had attracted the attention of another rap legend, Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay. A mutual friend introduced 19 year-old 50 to Jay back in 1996, and the veteran producer/DJ gave him a crash course in how to write songs and signed him to his fledgling label. The business relationship didn’t work out, but it helped lead 50 to Columbia Records’ Trackmasters imprint where he recorded Power of the Dollar in 1999. However, this debut album would never see the light of day after 50 was shot nine times while sitting in a friend’s car and subsequently dropped by Columbia. In the wake of the shooting--and then later, after 50 blew the fuck up in 2003--it became a sort of “lost cult classic” among rap fans. “How To Rob” got the most attention at the time, a funny-yet-vicious song demonstrating 50′s hunger through fantasies about sticking up famous rappers and R&B stars (the song was also clearly an homage to Biggie’s unreleased “Dreams,” and provoked an oblique diss from Ghostface). But “Ghetto Qu’ran” has had a more lasting impact, primarily because of how it was rumored to be the source of 50′s shooting, Jam Master Jay’s murder, and the Ja Rule/Murder Inc. beef. While all of that intrigue is important to rap lore, it distracts from the fact that it’s a near perfect rap song from a technical perspective: a catchy hook, a fantastic beat and sample, an effortless flow, and a well-crafted story that is equal parts celebration of the Queens underworld and subtle shots at street legends. Seriously, this is akin to what traveling bards used to do in medieval Europe, what poets in Ancient Greece wrote, what west African griots did/do, and what narcocorrido artists do now. If you want to learn about the Supreme Team, Pappy Mason, the Corley Family, and the Rich Porter/Alpo crew in Harlem, then this is a good place to start; as 50 puts it, “consider this the first chapter of the ghetto’s Qu’ran.” The secondary title to this track--“Forgive Me”--has a double meaning now. It was initially a plea to forgive 50 for the pain he caused in his criminal life but in retrospect an appeal to the figures whose names he drops. Also, it’s interesting to listen to this first and then compare 50′s voice with the next four tracks: this was recorded before the shooting, which left a bullet fragment lodged in his tongue that affected his speech and gave him his now-distinctive flow.    

2) “Heat” (2003) There are several standouts on Get Rich or Die Tryin’ (“Many Men,” “Back Down,” “What Up Gangsta,” “Patiently Waiting,” and “Poor Lil’ Rich” spring to mind, and I will always love “21 Questions” for the “I love you like a fat kid loves cake” line alone) but this one has always been my fave. It’s a perfect distillation of the image that 50 was trying to project when he burst onto the scene: a hood-hardened gangster who wouldn’t hesitate to do his enemies harm. And given his recent history, you could believe him, too! There’s really nothing about this song that should be praised in any way, but I’ve been thinking about the gravity of the following line a lot in the past month or so: “The summertime is a killing season/ It’s hot out this bitch, that’s a good enough reason.” Also, 50′s boast “the DA can play this motherfucking tape in court” *has* to be one of the inspirations behind this great Key & Peele sketch, right? 

3) “A Baltimore Love Thing” (2005) The Massacre was incredibly disappointing on the whole. I can remember clearly sitting around with my friends in a dorm room at the Shoreland listening to it all the way through the day that it dropped, wanting to love it but slowly realizing that it wasn’t going to live up to our expectations. “Ski Mask Way” could be an honorable mention on this list, and “Piggy Bank” is kind of funny, but otherwise it’s a steaming pile of shit. “Baltimore Love Thing,” though, is a masterpiece. It’s incredibly dark, rapped from the perspective of heroin itself (sort of like what Nas’s “I Gave You Power” does for guns) in order to detail the destruction that addiction--and, by extension, drug trafficking--leaves in its wake. Even more fucked up, 50-as-heroin voices an abusive partner addressing a woman, threatening her should she ever try to leave him. For my money, “You broke my heart, you dirty bitch, I won’t forget what you did/ If you give birth, I’ll already be in love with your kids” is one of the coldest lines in the annals of rap, full stop. In the second verse, he switches to the flip side of an abuser’s mindset: “I never steer you wrong, if you hyper I make you calm/ I’ll be your incentive, your reason for you to move forward.” All in all, it’s a great concept song that shows off 50′s range as a rapper... and is a testament to what he could have been.

4) “Hustler’s Ambition” (2005) Goddamn, I fucking love everything about this song! The beat is fantastic (great sample, btw), prefiguring the sound on a future great mixtape from the G-Unit crew. 50′s flow here is flawless, arguably the best, smoothest he’s ever been. This was basically the “theme” for 2005′s Get Rich or Die Tryin’ film, and tells the story of his come up in the drug game (or, at least, 50′s version of his carefully constructed hagiography). The lyrics are the true gems here, so I’ll just let a few of the standouts speak for themselves:

“Check my logic: fiends don’t like seeds in they weed, shit/ Send me them seeds, I’ll grow ‘em what they need”

“I sell anything, I’m a hustler, I know how to grind/ Step on grapes, put it in water, and tell you it’s wine”

“I made plans to make it, a prisoner of the state/ Now I can invite your ass out to my estate”

“Pour Cristal in the blender, make a protein shake”

and finally

“The feds watch me, icy, they can’t stop me/ Racists pointing at me, ‘Look at *****race’: Hello!”   

5) “Ghetto Like A Motherfucker” (2011) I remember first encountering this track on a Tumblr compilation (I think?) called Don’t Fuck This Up, Curtis! and allowing myself to get excited that the old 50 was back! As the compilation’s name implies, around that time 50 had been releasing a string of online-only singles that were better than anything he’d put out in five or so years, and so there was some hope that he’d soon be making a triumphant return to the rap game. Sadly, this was not to be. But I still bang this track every month or so. The idea here was that 50 had written something, set it to a very sparse, stripped-down beat, and posted it online as an invitation for DIY rap producers to play with it and layer their own compositions on top of it. In that sense, it represented a melange of rap’s earliest roots--dudes spitting over vinyl cuts in basements and parks, just fucking around and having fun--and the possibilities afforded by the digital age and rap’s embrace of online platforms for mixing and remixing material (on a side note, I like to think of this as part of 21st century rap’s “punk rock” aesthetic, and would argue that this genre has done it better than any other). As with “Hustler’s Ambition,” “Baltimore Love Thing,” and “Ghetto Qu’ran,” this track gives 50 a chance to really showcase his talents as a writer and a rapper. The lyrics are as grimy as the beat, painting a picture of urban poverty and pre-fame 50, and 50 switches up his flow at multiple points throughout. Here are some of my favorite lines:

“Slim chance I’ma go back to killing roaches/ Be quiet, you can hear the rats in the wall/ Make you wanna pump crack ‘til you stack racks”

“Dice game, shake ‘em up, praying’ for a 6/ The wolves out there hungry, they lookin’ for a lick”

“****** pissed on the staircase, in the elevator/ Now I’m pissed cuz I’m starting to smell like piss, player”

and

“All a ***** need is a block and a connect/ And a box of 9 MMs to load in the TEC.”

50′s last two studio albums--Before I Self Destruct and Animal Ambition--honestly weren’t half-bad; I would venture so far as to say that they were both better than The Massacre and Curtis. But for 50 it was too little, too late, really. Too many rappers had come along since then doing what he did, only better and fresher. This is a Migos world now; we’re just living in it. And so, I’m left to ponder what could have been. 

[our-reb00t-boi]

I've always had a soft spot for how downtrodden and abused the reb00t Dante version is and still do after they had to "reboot" him again for the official launch (man, to be rebooted twice👈). The 2010 trailer had hammered the point how he has a different backstory from the Uncle Awesome Dante fans were used to.

I'm not gonna highlight which is supposed to be "superior" or anything, because that's such a gatekeeping mindset and that's been called out now. People prefer so many things we'll never agree on.

And I think that's what might have happened behind-the-scenes. Capcom--the company who planned the "reboot" title from the start--had such a specific idea of "westernizing" a very niche fantasy title, there was friction from what Ninja Theory also had in mind. It bothers me, to this day, how Capcom, aka the higher-ups, handled this development, PLUS they got a Hollywood writer, Alex Garland (remember this guy??) to "help" with the writing development.

I don't think Capcom, at the time, couldn't really go on with the idea of an oppressed, marginalized protagonist that implies such a very Rated 18 backstory on what had been a funhouse, power fantasy title franchise, even though they've explicitly made it clear--or not, because the term "reboot" is such a contested marketing tool of a word that is up there being so vague, but okay, I'll make it clear, the two universes are simply separate universes that shares themes and character tropes--AFTER Capcom's realized what they've done and told us it's a separate, original story.

And yet they had gone to hire a different team--who does have an idea of what DMC is, but has no experience with developing it whatsoever--to "Westernize" whatever the fuck it's supposed to be, then turn a 360 and have the internal team from Capcom "help" in redeveloping the initial reboot idea when it was met with disdain and, dare I say, panic.

It's insane how they've let go of what a genuine idea was that Ninja Theory had cooked up, and it had likely been just a rough draft. I'm suspecting they've never really been given the chance to polish their rough drafts when Capcom had to intervene. It really makes me wonder why hire a different team when they could've talked to their own internal teams to begin with???

I will say, however, both studios are a product of their time. It's only now are many games, especially indie developers--and yes, even Ninja Theory, with their title Hellblade (even though they're under Microsoft now)--genuinely showing off backstories of mental illnesses, abuse, trauma, or an otherwise very vulnerable past with some respect and open-mindedness, that doesn't put it in an edgy, grimdark tone. As if torture and torment are the only palpable things that can "make" a character and their troubles believable.

Tldr whatevs it was such a waste. And don't even get me started with your beloved uWu Uncle Dante. His franchise has holes we tried to excuse and Uncle ain't fucking with his cambion dick.

[beyond-far-horizons]

The Theme of Love, William Blake, DMC 5 and the fate of the Sons of Sparda

I’ve always loved symbolism and literary references in my favourite stories so I’m ecstatic to see the incredible William Blake join Dante Alighieri as a major influence on the Devil May Cry series. 

Is before the game’s release too early to do some meta? Of course not!

So let’s dig deeper and see what possible plot points or themes we can glean from Blake’s work and other symbolism for what the dev team have said will be the conclusion for the ‘Sons of Sparda’

Spoilers abound - read at your own risk!

William Blake was a 18th Century English poet, artist and mystic who created his own complex religious mythology for his works. Sadly not widely known or respected at the time, he nevertheless had an increasingly powerful influence on the arts. 

The main themes Blake grappled with were the hypocrisy of the Christian Church against what he saw as the natural forces of the imagination and sexuality. He was also very concerned with the effects of the Industrial Revolution on society, especially on the poor. 

So he’s a good guy, but how does this relate to the Sons of Sparda? 

Vergil and Urizen

The big bad of Blake’s mythology as most of you know by now is a god-like figure called Urizen. Blake hints that Urizen is the Christian/Abrahamic God but he is most similar to the gnostic Demiurge figure and represents according to Wikipedia ‘ Urizen is the embodiment of conventional reason and law.’

Now who do we know who puts cold logic above emotions?

‘He is said to represent the Heavenly host, but he experiences a Satanic fall in that he desired to rule. He is motivated by his pride and becomes a hypocrite. When Albion asks for him, Urizen refuses and hides, which causes him to experience his fall. After his fall, Urizen set about creating the material world and his jealousy of mankind brought forth both Wrath and Justice.[4] Wikipedia

Urizen being cast out from Eternity. Book of Urizen

Guys, it even says ‘motivated by pride’, what more do you want? More than this, Vergil does literally fall, unable to accept his loss to Dante and the path of emotion and honour Dante represents - the true inheritor of their parents’ will.

 Despite Vergil’s coldness, he is filled underneath with anger - 

‘What defines Vergil as a character to me is that while he seems like the perfect samurai in his very calm and calculated demeanor, you can always sense the simmering intensity and even rage.’ Dan Southworth

Yet he also exhibits a strange sense of justice such as refusing to stab Dante in the back as Nelo Angelo and pride in being a Son of Sparda TM. 

In DMC 5 Urizen is described as a newly ascendent, powerful demon who seeks to use the Demon Tree to become king over the Demon World and (presumably via his actions in Red Grave City) merge it with the Human World. It’s been pretty much confirmed that Vergil is big bad Urizen in some form - from Dan Southworth’s re-pitched voice, Urizen’s looks - the blue colouring and spiky hair -  and V’s assertion that Urizen is the Cloaked Man who stole Yamato - Vergil’s sword and who also has Dan’s voice and Corrupted Vergil’s looks. Also his scheme the same power grab Vergil tried in DMC 3 and the manga.

This being said, what does it tell us about Vergil’s motivation (sorry) in DMC 5? For this we need to look at the rest of the clues...

The Poison Tree 

DMC 5 starts with the roots of the Demon Tree ‘Qliphoth’ invading Red Grave City and bringing with it a hoard of demons. It also seems to use the population’s blood as an energy source creating a demonic ‘fruit’ at its source that will grant the power to rule the Demon World according to demon Goliath. 

This relates to Blake's poem "A Poison Tree" where, through suppression of anger, the protagonist’s rage grows like a tree and bears a fruit that kills his foe.  

‘The allegory within the poem emphasizes that when a person hides or denies their emotions, they will become poisoned with bitterness and more vengefulness.’

https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-theme-poem-poison-tree-thank-you-144241

Again who do we know hides or denies their emotions? Given how closely the dev team are using Blake’s work this implies that Vergil as Urizen in some form has become consumed with bitterness and vengence, something we already saw from him in DMC 3. Added to this is his loss of pride at being the slave and puppet of his mother’s killer (Mundus) and being defeated by Dante a second time in DMC 1. We see this callousness in the way he treats Nero - his only child who he’s never met and Dante again in front of the tree. 

(Interestingly this quote could also refer to Dante as a plot twist. I’d argue that although Dante is a lot freer with his emotions he perhaps hasn’t dealt fully with the rage and pain that life has dealt him - what do you think?)

Another interesting note is the word ‘Qliphoth’ which comes from Jewish mystic branch Kabbalah and means - 

‘literally "Peels", "Shells" or "Husks" (from singular: קְלִפָּה‬ qlippah "Husk"),[2] are the representation of evil or impure spiritual forces in Jewish mysticism, the polar opposites of the holy Sefirot.[3]’ 

The Sefirot are emmanations of the Divine that manifest into this world and the pattern they are depicted in is also like a tree so the evil version makes the ‘Qliphoth’ a metaphysical demonic tree.

If we look at Urizen he looks like tree-like husk encasing another figure, connecting them to this tree. Trailers and promo material have also shown people encased in husks feeding the tree and the theme is repeated with Cavaliere Angelo being powered by Trish.

Does this hint that Vergil’s true nature is being obscured by Urizen or that, like in DMC 3 his pride and lust for power still obscure his caring side like the husks in Kabbalah?

In a Korean interview the dev team said DMC 5 will return to DMC 1′s theme of love (something I’m absolutely crazy about.) Sparda’s choice to protect humanity and love a human woman, Eva’s sacrifice for her sons and Dante and Vergil literally embodying the two human ways of dealing with the pain of that trauma have always been the most captivating aspect for me. Hopefully this means we will finally get the conclusion we lacked from DMC 1 and DMC 3 to that essential dilemma  - is the best way of life via compassion and altruism or domination and control via dispassionate reason? 

Or maybe a combo of both?

Love, Lust and Nero’s Mother

The DMC team have been remarkably coy about Nero’s mother which has always irritated me. It fridges another mother/lover character as well as denying us juicy( and I’d argue) essential story details aka why Captain ‘I Hate Humanity and Repress My Emotions’ would ever deign to sleep with a human.

But since the Korean interview hints at the theme of love perhaps we will get an insight at last, especially if we get the long awaited confrontation between father and son. 

Blake’s writing gives us an interesting hint to this. In his mythos Urizen’s female counterpart is Ahania who stands for pleasure and the desire for intelligence. They have many children including a rebellious son called Fuzon who fights against his father’s repressive ways (Nero anyone?). But the crucial part is Urizen separating himself from Ahania because he believes pleasure is sinful or limiting - just as Vergil separated himself from human desires and emotions because he thought of them as weak. But also like Vergil, Urizen becomes weaker as a result, losing his intuition, for the path to Divine Wisdom accord to Blake was passion and reason - something Dante grew into, becoming more balanced and mature as the series has progressed.

It wouldn’t surprise me if we get some callous remark from Vergil about Nero’s mother at first - was he with her out of lust which disgusted him afterwards (wasn’t Nero’s mother hinted at being a prostitute?), or was it an experiment as someone else has suggested to see if he could recreate Sparda’s power via his connection with Eva or ven some creepy deal with the Order of the Sword to continue Sparda’s bloodline despite his intention to raise Temen-ni-gru and show them ‘this devil’s power’?

Whatever he says it will cause more of a rift, but I believe at the end Vergil will be forced to confront her importance even just as the mother of his child, along with other significant figures like Nero, Dante and Eva.

Nero and Urizen’s son Fuzon

"1: Fuzon, on a chariot iron-wing'd On spiked flames rose; his hot visage Flam'd furious! sparkles his hair & beard Shot down his wide bosom and shoulders. On clouds of smoke rages his chariot And his right hand burns red in its cloud Moulding into a vast globe, his wrath As the thunder-stone is moulded. Son of Urizens silent burnings

Blake

‘As the element of fire, the element symbolizing the energy Urizen wishes to subdue, Fuzon rebels against Urizen...battling him for control of the world’ Fuzon Wikipedia

This sounds much like Nero’s reckless and impassioned battle with DMC’s Urizen for control of the Human World. 

Unfortunately for Fuzon he is eventually defeated by his father and crucified on the Tree of Mystery  - yet another powerful tree symbol.

This is not looking good for Nero...but since Blake’s works develop, the element of passionate rebellion and the quest for the reunion of reason and imaginative emotion continue and I can’t see Nero dying at the end of DMC 5 so perhaps there will be a resurrection of sorts?

Dante and Luvah/Orc

But where does Dante figure in all of this? Can Blake’s mythology give us some potential answers? He does in the double figure of Luvah/Orc (no, not that sort of orc...)

Orc. William Blake

As Luvah - ‘he represents love, passion, and rebellious energy..’ he is also known ‘as the Prince of Love, and his name may be connected to the word "lover". Love is the supreme emotion, and it is connected to all others, including hate...his fallen form is Orc. Throughout Blake's mythological system, he is opposed to Urizen, the representation of reason.’

Orc is also ‘the embodiment of rebellion, and stands opposed to Urizen, the embodiment of tradition...’ He is a ‘"Lover of Wild Rebellion, and transgressor of God's Law"... Orcus is also the Latin word for Hell, and Orc is presented as a rebellious, Luciferian character.’

We can see Dante’s human and demonic aspects in these quotes.

Urizen and Luvah/Orc engage in a complex battle across the cycle of ages as a metaphor for the conflict between reason and the emotions - just like Dante and Vergil. He also gets crucified to a tree (not looking good for Dante either then...) but resurrects in various forms including (Blake being a Christian) Jesus. In this resurrected form Urizen is afraid of the new Luvah  - perhaps in DMC terms this is when we see Dante’s Majin form? Either way I think both Nero and Dante are going to be called on to make some sort of sacrifice fighting Vergil as Urizen, hopefully to bring him back to the light and free him from the evil husk of hatred.

Healing the Division

‘Later in Vala, Orc describes the divided aspects of the soul, which, in Blake's mythological system, God has a twofold essence that is capable of good and evil. This idea parallels Blake's personal belief that there was a division within himself..’.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orc_(Blake)

The symbolism of divided aspects of God and the soul within Blake’s system hark back again to the division between Dante and Vergil and Vergil and Nero. In the manga Vergil reflects on Dante and him being one being split in two. The aspects of their all-powerful father were also split between them as Sparda was also known as being calm like Vergil and rebellious like Dante as reflected in his two swords given to each respective son. And of course there’s that ‘pesky’ human nature from Eva.

Nero too has grown into his own, arguably as some have said being more like Sparda than either of his sons, willing to sacrifice his power because of his love for a human and protect other humans for her sake. Hopefully as hinted in both the Korean interview, the works of Blake and the core of Devil May Cry, it will be the theme of Love that will finally bring the family of Sparda together and heal at long last that division.

V and the Poetry of Blake

Despite being the mouthpiece for a lot of Blake’s poetry I’m not going to talk much about V except to refer you to this great post from la-vita which lists alot of his quotes.

https://la-vita.tumblr.com/post/182731950816/two-of-the-poems-v-reads-during-battle

It says that V’s book may refer to the ‘V’ of DMC V, Blake’s Plate 5 he is reading, however...

‘Urizen is described as having multiple books: Gold, Silver, Iron, and Brass. They represent science, love, war, and sociology, which are four aspects of life.’

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urizen

Hmm...

Thanks for reading if you got this far!

[dailybestiary]

Patch Has Issues: Dungeon #1

Issue: Dungeon #1

Date: September/October 1986. (I was just entering 3rd grade—a dismal year for me—and hadn’t yet discovered D&D at this point. I had just watched Optimus Prime pass away on the operating table during The Transformers: The Movie, though.)

The Cover:

(Use of cover for review purposes only and should not be taken as a challenge to status. Credit and copyright remain with their respective holders.)

One of the notable things about Dungeon was that the covers were actually commissioned for the magazine, instead of just vaguely connected to the issue’s theme like Dragon’s were. The late Keith Parkinson’s “Into the Flame” shows off the star of the issue, the red dragon Flame. Its very humanoid posture recalls Parkinson’s time doing draconians for the Dragonlance line. I’m guessing he was very proud of being picked to launch the magazine—this image is the first that comes up on his website to this day. (If you’re curious, Parkinson’s work in general is great if you like knights in bad weather and big humanoids, but he definitely leans hard into the all-women-in-fantasy-are-bikini-wearing-sorceresses trope, a habit that—like many ex-TSR artists—only got more pronounced as his career progressed. It’s no wonder he moved into video games.)

The Adventures:

“The Dark Tower of Cabilar” by Michael Ashton & Lee Sperry, AD&D, Levels 4–7

Our very first Dungeon Adventure is...*drum roll*...a converted tournament module that is pretty rudimentary: Defeat the vampire in his stalagmite tower-and-dungeon combo (I’m already thinking a stalactite would have had more cinematic appeal), and retrieve the crown that can prove your employer’s godson’s noble lineage.

Right off the bat, this adventure features encounters with fire drakes and lava children! Yep, you read that right—lava children. (Pathfinder fans will remember them from Misfit Monsters Redeemed.) Clearly Dungeon is not afraid of Fiend Folio weirdness.

Beyond that, the module screams “I was written for a tournament” with the number of traps and cursed items and red herrings involved, and not in a good way. Once we get to to the dungeon levels, as a reader I’m just listlessly going room by room till we get to the Big Bad. Overall, a disappointing start.

“Assault on Eddistone Point” by Patricia Nead Elrod, AD&D, Levels 1–3

Our first adventure by a woman author is only our second adventure out of the gate! This bodes well for the rest of the series—wait. Hold on. Is that Patricia Nead as in P. N. Elrod? I’ve never read her work, but she’s helmed some anthologies that Jim Butcher’s short stories have appeared in. I’m guessing this is an early cut from her? And frankly the hand of an experienced author is all over these pages—a vast step up from the previous article (whose authors, to be fair, seem like they were still in college, according to their bios).

So first off, this is a tidy little adventure: Check out why the team sent to repair a signal tower hasn’t reported back. (Even Bryce likes it! We’ll talk about Bryce below.) The NPCs aren’t locked to one location (except the hostages), so once PCs get to the tower, it’s up to the GM to position them and assign reactions. But the cast is small enough this doesn’t seem daunting, even for new GMs, and you could run this thing in a single night.

But where it really shines, as I said, is the deft authorship. Elrod very quickly delivers a tight sketch of the location: two city-states vying for market advantage, dwarves under the mountain range in between minting the gold that moves said markets, some signal towers that exist as a compromise to keep the peace, and what the heck, also some elves in the valley between.

Now, this is basic stuff. And not even pumpkin-spice-latte basic...this is “I’ve only read The Hobbit” basic. Dwarves minting gold and elves in the woods and most of the villains are half-orcs? Even for 1986, this ought to be chucked in the bin as trite.

And yet...it’s not, because of Elrod’s deft pen. I suddenly want to find out more about these cities in the course of play—maybe one could be a good home base for the party? The interplay of politics and markets and signal fires and dwarf relations is just specific enough to feel real, while being sketchy enough it could be dropped into most game worlds. The clever chief antagonist is distinctive enough I don’t mind her stereotypical brute sidekicks, and trying to uncover her employer could lead to the next session’s adventure. It’s basic sure, but it’s Basic Rules-red-box basic. In other words, it feels classic. I wouldn’t put this in front of my grad school gaming group, necessarily, but if I got asked to run an afterschool session for some middle-schoolers wanting to learn the game? Hell yes!

At this point, I’ve probably oversold this adventure, so forgive me if you are underwhelmed by it. But I’m willing to risk a little overhyping to celebrate what can be constructed with such simple meat-and-potatoes ingredients.

And that’s not even counting the not-meat-and-potatoes elements, like the white raven who is already one of my favorite familiars ever, and the ticking clocking scenario the weather sets up (you need to beat the mercenaries before they can mess with the signals), and the names of the other watchtower peaks, each one slyly suggesting another adventure, and…yeah, I dig this.

“Grakhirt’s Lair” by John Nephew, AD&D, Levels 1–3

John Nephew wrote one of my favorite D&D supplements of all time, Tall Tales of the Wee Folk, which I won’t shut up about—I’ve even told him so on Twitter—so I don’t feel bad in saying that this entry is a total dud for me. Pretty much the only interesting thing about this adventure is that the humanoid antagonists are the Fiend Folio’s norkers, and they get the classic 1e AD&D humanoid treatment: that is, absolutely nothing sets them apart from any other humanoid out there aside from their stat blocks. You can skip this one without guilt.

(Admittedly, Nephew was also shockingly young when he did both this and TTotWF. Looking back, I really wish I’d made some different decisions re: my writing growing up—I was disengaging with the hobby just at the age when other people were hammering down the door to get published. Sigh. But hey, none of them held a Run-DMC concert or hung out with Rahzel at age 21, right? We all have our journeys.)

“The Elven Home,” by Anne Gray McReady, D&D, Levels 1–3

Our first D&D adventure! D&D, specifically BECMI D&D, was the neglected stepchild of the late ’80s and early ’90s, despite the earnest efforts of line champion Bruce Heard, Dungeon editors Roger Moore and Barbara Young, and a lot of talented freelancers. But I was a fierce D&D partisan, because it was what I was first introduced to and what I could afford, and because I loved the variety of classes and cultures the Known World allowed. For a line that often felt overlooked in terms of marketing and support, the love and talent put into the books that did exist were evident on almost every page.

So I wish I could find more to recommend “The Elven Home,” but it’s not even really an adventure or even a side trek—instead it’s a thoroughly fleshed-out NPC encounter that should lead to combat only if the PCs are particularly boorish. Like Bryce (again, see below) I could have used more whimsy and more weirdness to make these elves stand out just a bit more, though their twee personalities (more faerie than Tolkien) at least set them apart from most elves PCs run across these days. So your mileage may vary—some of you may be utterly charmed by this (I lean at least somewhat charmed), others of you very much not.

“Into the Fire,” by Grant & David Boucher, AD&D, Levels 6–10

I was expecting a lot out of this adventure—the cover dragon, Flame, was the closest thing Dungeon had to a mascot till the Adventure Path years under Paizo, and he wound up appearing in at least one or two more sequel adventures, if I recall correctly.

While I wasn’t blown away, I can see where the fondness comes from. The adventure isn’t particularly special at first. A necklace shows up that may hint at the fate of a lost prince, but following that lead means following the trail of a recently deceased knight, and—spoilers!—that trail leads back to a dragon. But then the combat with Flame is presented, and the brothers Boucher serve up a number of round-by-round tactics and dirty tricks for Flame to employ that wouldn’t feel out of place in 3.5...and I’m guessing were thrilling in 1986.

Remember, this is before dragons had varying power levels according to age—and were often asleep in their lairs to boot—so if DMs weren’t careful high-level characters would carve through them like butter. (Seriously, it was such an issue that every June Dragon Magazine would churn out articles about how to keep your dragons alive longer. They did this for decades.) It’s easy to ding the Bouchers—Bryce (see below) certainly does—for coming up with too many reasons why Flame is immune to PC powers and abilities throughout the adventure. But to me it just feels like an experienced red wyrm doing what an experienced red wyrm who wants to live would do. Flame is smart, more interested in survival than winning, and while he plans to ruin the PCs’ lives as thoroughly as possible, he’ll run if he has to. PCs who survive will be stoked to tell the tale, and that feeling will only be magnified by a massive treasure haul with a number of flavorful items and future adventure seeds of its own.

Other things to note: There’s a slanty tower that’s okay (I’m a sucker for slanty towers), but where it’s placed in the adventure, it will likely be an anticlimax. There are also some big wandering monster encounters—a score of ogres with an ogre magi, two dozen ghouls and ghasts, etc.—that I’d be interested to see how they rebalanced for Pathfinder/5e D&D. I think shows like Game of Thrones have put the fear back into random encounters with large groups of humanoids, so it would be fun to play that out even if the math says the PCs shouldn’t break a sweat.

Is this my favorite adventure? Not by a long shot. But I can see why readers were fond of it and why Flame’s legend persisted.

“Guardians of the Tomb,” by Carl Smith, AD&D, Levels 3–5

That...is some very boring architecture for a shrine. Also, why would a master thief even have a shrine? Especially in a swamp? And while I’m vague on the relative power levels of 3rd–5th-level characters in 1e AD&D, I feel like 2(x PCs+ y retainers) shadows+1d12 even more shadows = a whole damn lot of shadows to trap the PCs with behind an 18th-level wall of stone! Apparently Smith even worked for TSR at some point—did no one pull him aside and say, “Dude! Game balance!”?

I have questions.

Not only does this seem a bit extreme, at least for an unlucky 3rd-level party, it feels personal. This feels like Carl Smith had some players he wanted to teach a lesson. The bio says Carl Smith’s first love is Westerns; I’m guessing he likes the ones about the Alamo or Butch Cassidy or Unforgiven where pretty much everyone dies at the end.

Who hurt you, Carl Smith? Who hurt you?

Best Read: “Assault on Eddistone Point.”

Best Adventure I Could Actually Run with Minimal Prep: All but “Into the Fire” could probably be run after only a second read-through. But I actually want to run “Assault on Eddistone Point.”

Best Concept: As dungeon locations go, a leaning tower that’s leaning because a dragon decided the best way to kill the wizard inside was just to land on the dang thing and knock it over is a pretty good concept.

Best Monster: You always remember your first dragon. So of course, we have to give this accolade to the always-two-steps-ahead Flame.

Best NPC: I’m a fan of the crafty Vorona in “Assault on Eddistone Point,” but the tie goes to the titular elves of “The Elven Home,” who literally want to chat so badly that the party might get attacked by stirges for lingering too long. Don’t overlook the wolfwere in “Into the Flame” though— he sounds like a real a$$#ole.

Best Map: “Into the Flame”’s Lake Haven kinda-isometric hex map, though I also do like seeing the dragon’s volcano lair map with a boat right in the middle.

Best Thing Worth Stealing: A dragon’s volcano lair with a boat right in the middle.

Worst Aged: The magazine’s first adventure hadn’t even started yet and the text was reminding us to look up climbing rules and calculate the PCs’ weights. Yikes. I don’t miss 1e AD&D. Also, the term “magic-user.” Oy. So glad that’s gone. Oh, and alignment tongues! Ye gods, remember alignment tongues? No, you don’t, because they made no sense and no one over the age of 11 ever used one in their game.

What Bryce Thinks: “Wow. I had no idea that 1e adventures sucked ass so much.”

One of the only people who has done in-depth online reviews of old Dungeon issues is a dude named Bryce Lynch over at tenfootpole.org—which is hilarious, because Bryce hates old Dungeon adventures. An OSR (old-school renaissance) fan through and through, Bryce is super particular about what he considers an acceptable adventure. To his credit, he wants adventures able to be easily run at the table, but he also loathes boxed read-aloud text, long backstory, and pretty much anything he regards as fluff. Which means Dungeon, even at this primordial stage of the game, drives him around the twist (as our Brit readers might say)—and it’s only going to get worse. Even so, I’m going to check in on his reviews as we go along, because his laser focus on the GM’s experience at the table is a good yin to my all-about-the-fluff/inspiration yang.

But for what it’s worth...we pretty much line up on our faves for this issue. Go us! Ditto Adam Perdona, whose tastes also seem to line up with mine and who also liked “The Elven Home.”

So, Is It Worth It?: Okay so let’s say you play Pathfinder, 5e D&D, or some other contemporary system. Should you run out and try to find a physical copy of Dungeon #1?

Well...aside from the collector’s value (it is a #1 after all)...probably not. There’s nothing here that screams “Pull me off the shelf”—what pleasures are inside will also be in the PDF.

What this issue does offer is a back-to-basics approach to adventure construction and worldbuilding that I think we sometimes need. Sometimes all you need is some dwarves, some elves, and a dragon. Sometimes we need to forget secret societies and trade disputes and just help a king who’s lost his prince. Think of Dungeon #1—specifically “Assault on Eddistone Point” and “Into the Flame”—like one of those articles you sometimes see in GQ or Esquire: “How to Grill a Steak. No, put down the pesto, put down the chutney, put down the coffee dry rub and remoulade. You’re going to grab some salt and pepper and maaaybe some butter and We Are Going to Grill a Goddamn STEAK.”

If you want fusion sushi, look elsewhere. Are you in the mood for steak? Look for these two adventures.

Random Thoughts:

Editor Roger Moore’s voice in the intro is so stiff—he would be way more assured and relaxed in the ’90s.

It’s a huge nostalgia trip seeing maps in “1 square = 10’” after years of 5’ squares in 3.0/3.5/Pathfinder.

Speaking of maps, they’re still pretty rudimentary here—it is 1986, after all. But I’m pleased that we are immediately getting side or isometric views of some of these locations (especially the towers) to give us a better sense of what these structures look like. I’m a big fan of that.

One of the weird things about published D&D, AD&D, and Pathfinder settings is that, for an ostensibly Middle Ages-inspired hobby, most show surprisingly little interest in the standard medieval trappings. Kings and princes are rare, city-states are the norm rather than feudal kingdoms, and even knights and castles have largely given way to mercenaries and manor houses. I think there are tons of reasons for this—questing knight tropes feeling stale or immature, the gradual shift of the hobby’s default assumptions to early Renaissance and the Mediterranean rather than medieval England, more opportunities for political conflict but with more manageable stakes... (And let’s face it: high-level PCs just love regicide. Oligarchs don’t have targets on their backs the way kings do.) Anyway, I bring all this up because early Dungeon is clearly not afraid of kings, queens, princes, or knights. If your tastes are more King Arthur & Prince Hal than Diplomats & Doges, you might want to check these early issues out.

Comfy rooms that make you sleepy are an overdone trope in this era.

Leaning/slanty towers also get a lot of love in Dungeon—perhaps too much—but I will never not love them.

If a description, even if just meant for the GM, is going to use a simile that takes me out of the game world such as “like Spanish bayonet,” I’d prefer it walled off in parentheses.

A lot of the art inside this issue (especially James Holloway’s) would be reused again and again in the pages of Dragon, including for subscription cards, the No-SASE Ogre, and even “The Voyage of the Princess Ark.”

Notable Ads: An ad for Lankhmar, City of Adventure, for you classic sword & sorcery fans, and the Dungeoneer’s Survival Guide for AD&D.

(Any fans of the DSG out there? I’ve always heard it, like, laid the groundwork for what we think of as the Underdark. But every time I’ve seen a used copy on the shelf I’ve opened to pages and pages of rules about mining and smelting and I’ve closed it in horror.)

This Month in Dragon: Dragon #113 offers a cardboard dragon (assuming you have a physical copy or can get creative with the PDF), a tour of Hades, fiction by Harry Turtledove, and some nasty Gamma World robots. Dragon #114 serves up the witch NPC, the elven cavalier class, and Marvel’s Inhumans.

[gamerzcourt]

The Story Behind Devil May Cry 5's Music, And The Certified Banger Devil TriggerThe Story Behind Devil May Cry 5's Music, And The Certified Banger Devil Triggervideo games

New Post has been published on https://www.gamerzcourt.com/the-story-behind-devil-may-cry-5s-music-and-the-certified-banger-devil-triggerthe-story-behind-devil-may-cry-5s-music-and-the-certified-banger-devil-triggervideo-games-2/

The Story Behind Devil May Cry 5's Music, And The Certified Banger Devil TriggerThe Story Behind Devil May Cry 5's Music, And The Certified Banger Devil Triggervideo games

Though Capcom’s action game series has always had a particular sound for its gothic-horror-aesthetic, the current game, Devil May Cry 5, features music that really goes the extra mile to get players to feel something more as they’re working their way up to SSS rank. GameSpot recently interviewed DMC5 composers Cody Matthew Johnson and husband-wife team Casey and Ali Edwards about the making of the action game’s main tracks for its cast of characters. During this talk, they spoke about their collaboration with Capcom, how the game’s energizing and dynamic soundtrack is a game-changer, and what it’s like having the internet embrace their new sound.

Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited for clarity and readability.

Can you talk about what it was like working with Capcom for this project, and how they first got in contact with you?

Casey Edwards: Funny enough, even though I ended up writing the track Devil Trigger, I got found through one of Ali’s older tracks that she did for another video game called Killer Instinct with Mick Gordon [B. Orchid’s Theme, in particular]. I actually did some work on that game as well, assisting the composer.

Ali Edwards: Yeah, it’s like they wanted both of us without knowing that we even knew each other, or that we were married at all.

Casey: Yeah, Capcom heard that particular track and they really liked the drive that it had. It really just stood out to everyone. When I wrote Devil Trigger, I pitched her as the vocalist and they just immediately fell in love with it. So, it kinda just worked out in a weird, coincidental, ironic way.

And Cody, this is actually your third collaboration with Capcom, the first being for Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite?

Cody M. Johnson: That is true. My career is still in the early stages, which is really exciting as all these things are happening. My collaborator Jeff Rona and I did three games back to back for Capcom. We didn’t really stop. We started off with Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite. Right after that came out, word got around to another development team about what we were doing, and they liked what they heard. So they came back to us. Right out of the gate I was working with Jeff, who wrote “Crimson Cloud” [V’s Theme], and I ended up writing “Subhuman” [Dante’s theme]. We worked on Devil May Cry 5 first, but then shortly after that, another team at Capcom hit us up to do Resident Evil 2 shortly after. So it’s been pretty exciting.

Were you fans of the series before you worked on this game?

Cody: I had played Devil May Cry 4 and the previous games a lot. I was still young enough to sneak away and play them with my friends, but it was so hard, I didn’t get very far. Even as an experienced gamer now, I’ve come back to try to play them, when I first picked up Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite–but they’re just so hard. They’re still one of the hardest games I’ve ever played to date.

Casey: I actually grew up playing Devil May Cry. So I remembered the whole Devil Trigger aspect of the game pretty vividly, and that was what was sticking out in my head as I was writing the song. I couldn’t get it out of my head and yeah, I don’t know, I just wrote it and we just went with it. I thought for sure someone from Capcom was gonna send me an email back saying, “Hey, you need to change that.”

Ali: But that didn’t happen. They all loved it.

The big line of the song, “bang, bang, bang, pull my Devil Trigger,” is such an earworm, and it feels so appropriate for the series.

Casey: Right, I remember writing that. I wrote all these lyrics in one sitting, pretty much. For that particular part, I was looking at Ali, and then I verbalized what she was about to sing.

Ali: You were so worried I was gonna hate it!

Casey: To me, that was kind of a fun phrase. I just wasn’t sure if it would latch on to the Devil May Cry fans, you know?

Last I checked, Devil Trigger has over 21 million views on YouTube. Having those earlier reservations, are you surprised to see how much it has taken off?

Casey: Well, first of all, it’s pretty freakin’ crazy. That’s a lot of plays. It kinda blows my mind a little bit. I think there might be a few factors involved in that. People have been really excited to see a continuation of [classic] Devil May Cry. I guess in the sense that you say, the song is holding its own water a little bit as well, yeah, I don’t know what to say other than it’s pretty insane that people have played the song that many times.

Ali: Yeah, it’s definitely something we didn’t expect. We were more worried that fans would hate the track, and it would become a meme. Instead, it became a meme in the best possible way.

Both of you even got to perform the song live at The Game Awards. They had Rivers Cuomo from Weezer introduce your performance.

Casey: Yeah, that was awesome. We actually got to run into Rivers after that, and it was pretty great getting to take pictures with him and nerd out. I mean gosh, yeah, I was listening to them back in high school, so that was pretty awesome. And yeah, getting to play at The Game Awards was, I mean, a dream come true. And I know it’s a relatively new awards show, but they had so many awesome people on stage, and we got to share a stage with Hans Zimmer. That’s nuts.

Ali: Yeah, that was pretty crazy, it was a blast. It was such a crazy production if you think about it. It takes a huge team to put on a production of that magnitude. It’s crazy seeing it all happen, and being a part of it, continuously.

As far as working on Devil May Cry 5, I can only imagine how much planning went into writing the tracks and getting them just write. Can you talk about what the collaborative process was like with the other composers at Capcom.

Cody: Yeah, from the very beginning, Capcom wanted, I should say, independence. They wanted to make sure each of these key tracks could exist separately from one other, but still work together within the Devil May Cry universe. We worked with Kota Suzuki [DMC5’s main composer], who actually wrote the track “Legacy,” which was in the final trailer. He was part of the development team that flew out to LA when we did the recording sessions for the bigger tracks, including “Subhuman” and “Crimson Cloud.” Other than that, Capcom didn’t really restrict us; they really wanted the score in these scenes to give identity to their characters.

Casey: When we were working with Capcom Japan, they had some clear visions for what they wanted for some of these tracks, and it was really nice getting to implement previous work I had done in the game, and getting to bring it to new light towards the end of the gaming experience.

Ali: After they heard me on “Devil Trigger,” I guess maybe that’s when they reached out for “Legacy” with me. I didn’t think was going to happen until the game was released. I wasn’t sure that was ever going to see the light of day in trailer form. And so I remember being pleasantly surprised when that came out. It’s an exciting track, it’s really beautiful, with swelling strings, and it was amazing for the fans to finally hear that. Working with Kota on that was a great experience as well.

That song really comes up at such a great moment in the game. It also highlights how different a lot of the tracks are in the game, yet they work really well when you bring it all together.

Casey: Yeah, for sure. I think that’s one thing people can get lost sometimes. They forget, “Devil Trigger,” for instance, is some weird hybrid rock pop thing, but I am also a classically trained orchestral composer and Ali does anything from soft, ethereal vocals to just mind-blowing powerful pop vocals, and stuff like that.

Ali: I started out as a jazz singer, so there’s that, too. But we got to be totally crazy with it. Working on a session musician, you can be asked to do anything, and I think your willingness to be a chameleon is really where your usability as a session musician really comes into play. The more I can become a chameleon and adhere to different genres of music, I mean, that’s why I’m being asked to work on video games. If I couldn’t do that, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to work on so many incredible games so far.

Looking back on the history of the series, Devil May Cry has this really deep focus on presenting bombastic and energizing tracks. Another game in the series that had a really eclectic soundtrack was Ninja Theory’s DmC: Devil May Cry–featuring Noisia and Combichrist. Did the style of that game have any influence on this one?

Cody: Well from the very start, everything was based on Devil May Cry 4, as in all the references they sent us. But of course, it was something I personally looked into. It’s important to understand the trajectory of all these games, where it’s been, and how the fans reacted. And you need to make a decision about where you want your art to align with. It was very conscious from the very beginning that this game is Devil May Cry 5. That was a very conscious decision, not to stay away from that version of DmC, but to separate from it, stylistically. But yeah, the combat system that matures and alters the music was something we really liked about that game.

It’s really thrilling to hear DMC5’s music evolve depending on how well you’re playing.

Cody: Yeah, It was just something we were very conscious of from the very beginning. We don’t want to leave any players behind, but we didn’t want to make it easier for players either. It’s all about challenging yourself. But the worst thing that could happen would be if the game’s music was boring. I know this as a gamer, I know this as someone who goes listens to the same 32-second track on loop for hours. It’s the worst thing in the world: You’re stuck on a level for three days, you don’t wanna be listening to the same piece of music.

We really tried to craft these songs in a way, that if you don’t hit SSS rank, you don’t ever hear the chorus or the breakdown. By doing that, those parts of the song will never get boring. The goal from the start was to incentivize the player. There is something more, you should do your absolute best to get to your SSS, and you’ll get the payoff. There should be rewards for those players that accomplish that, and I think we achieved something beyond the normal combat music.

Did you enjoy your experience working with Capcom on Devil May Cry 5?

Cody: They’ve always been happy with what we’ve done and we’re always happy to give it to ’em. They’re such an amazing collaborator, and they really care about artistic vision, and they care about what you can bring to the table, and it’s truly an amazing experience working with them.

Casey: I was super excited to work on Devil May Cry. I’ve been playing this game since Devil May Cry 1, which came out in 2001. I remember my mom taking me to Blockbuster to rent it. And then you fast forward to 2017, when I was asked to work on it, I was already so freaking pumped to get started on it. We’re classically trained and I play guitar as well in the STEM program, right? I love doing so many different things and different genres. So being asked to genre hop is one of the best things about working in the field. TV and video games and film, all alike, and one day you could be writing a solo piano piece and the next day you’re writing “Devil Trigger.”

Ali: Yeah, for me, video games have always been a pretty large part of my life. It’s always been a love of mine. So, I remember playing games with my cousins when we were all kids and it was this bonding experience for all of us. And I never would’ve imagined that I’d be working on video games today. It’s kind of crazy to think about, but I absolutely love what I do. I love being able to work on various projects across various genres and kind of become a different person for a little while. And it’s really, really humbling, seeing how the fans have accepted our work. It’s very humbling, it’s very exciting, and, all in all, we’re very grateful to be a part of the Devil May Cry family.

GameSpot – All News

[tcookies]

DMC 5 “Devil Trigger” song analysis: Who is V?

All right so the DMC 5 team said that Nero's new battle theme song contains hints about this new character called “V” (the figure circled in red below) and I thought I would try taking a crack at this song.

Oh boy, it's been years since I took an ap literature class so my analysis skills are very rusty and I always pick apart the wrong stuff, but here goes nothing.

First, in case there are new fans reading this, it's been confirmed in an artbook that Nero is indeed Vergil's son. In the Deadly Fortune novel, it’s revealed that baby Nero coincidentally appeared shortly after Sanctus ran into Vergil at the castle. Sanctus (when Nero confronts him) explains that he ran into a powerful man of demonic heritage (Vergil) 16-17 years ago one night at Fortuna castle. Nero is 16-17 years old in the events of DMC 4. Supposedly, Vergil impregnated a prostitute and baby Nero was left at the doorsteps of an orphanage wrapped in a black blanket (hence his name "Nero"). 99% of fans already knew this, but in case you still had doubts, Nero is Vergil’s son confirmed.

Also, I personally believe this V character is Vergil or at least some form of him. It could be a clone like Trish & Eva, a remnant of Vergil’s soul, a corrupted and/or resurrected Vergil, whatever. With this in mind, I will use Vergil any time the song refers to someone/V.

I will be analyzing the song by breaking it apart into stanzas. 

Warning: As an analysis, this will be a long post.

Let’s begin.

L1: The darkest of night falls around my soul

L2: And the hunter within loses control

L3: Gotta let it out, gotta let it out

L4: Gotta let it out, gotta let it out

L5: This demon inside has a hold of me

L6: Clenching its power trying to break free

L7: Gotta let it out, gotta let it out

L8: Gotta let it out, gotta let it out

L1′s “The darkest of night” refers to the demonic nature of the character. In many forms of media, night time is when evil or insidious happenings occur. L1 discusses how the character’s demonic nature is a very dominant aspect of his being (or his ”soul”). L2 mentions a “hunter” and in the DMC series, there are multiple characters who are demon hunters. But since this song is about V (who is definitely a male by the looks of him from the back), I’m assuming the line refers to a male demon hunter. Add in the idea that this male demon hunter is of demonic heritage as well (according to L1), then you now have 3 candidates as to who this male demon hunter is: Nero, Dante, and Vergil. Again, my money is on Vergil for this V character. L3, L4, and L7 repeatedly state the line “gotta let it out”. Let what out? It’s talking about letting out whatever is causing V/Vergil to lose control of himself. And what is causing V/Vergil’s insanity? His giving in to his demonic nature and letting it consume his human half. It’s well known that Dante embraces his humanity more, while Vergil embraces his demonic heritage more than his human side. But to be more specific, I think the issue is Vergil’s Devil Trigger. The Devil Trigger is a special power that allows the user to assume his/her true demonic form and release their full demonic potential. However, in DmC (Ninja Theory’s reboot), continuously using the DT devours the user’s humanity due to constantly channeling demonic energy. I know, I know--but that’s the DmC reboot and this is DMC 5! Hideaki Itsuno was also a supervising director who oversaw the DmC project. So it is possible he brought over a few details or aspects of DmC into DMC 5. Some people have already noted that the DMC 5 gameplay/combat style seems to pull a few ideas from DmC’s combat style (i.e. the slow-mo when killing the last demon). Vergil, who is already known for embracing his demonic half over his human half, had also been corrupted by Mundus in DMC. Mundus corrupted Vergil and made him his servant after Vergil tried fighting him in DMC 3. Under Mundus’s control, Vergil became a corrupted Devil Trigger known as Nelo Angelo. The Nelo Angelo Devil Trigger is the “demon” that L5 refers to. This is what’s causing Vergil/V to lose control of himself. “Gotta let it out” and the demon inside “trying to break free” means that Vergil/V is struggling to restrain Nelo Angelo within him and that the temptation to set Nelo Angelo free is very strong because it’s his demonic half (except it got corrupted by Mundus). Now, Dante did defeat Nelo Angelo in DMC 1, but that does not mean Nelo Angelo was purged for good.

L9: Move fast baby, don't be slow

L10: Step aside, reload, time to go

L11: I can't seem to control

L12: All this rage that's inside me

L13: Hold it fast, they've been dancing on this

L14: Branded by fire on the abyss

L15: Red hot temper, I just can't resist

L16: All this vengeance inside me

This 2nd stanza seems to be a mix of both Nero & V/Vergil’s perspectives. Remember, the song is about V/Vergil or at least contains hints about him, but this is officially Nero’s theme song. L9 & L10 seems to be Nero’s perspective because I cannot imagine the word “baby” being used like that for V/Vergil. L10 sounds like it’s referring to the character taking a second to reload his gun. We all know that Vergil despises the use of guns and prefers the more traditional, warrior way: swords. L11 & L12 could be Nero’s perspective (he's pissed off at the dude who stole his arm) but I think it’s more of Vergil’s perspective. Although Vergil tries to detach himself from his humanity, it’s not something he can literally escape from. “Rage” or anger is a human emotion which Vergil could be tapping into in response to getting his ass kicked by Mundus and getting corrupted and having to be killed by Dante. I can imagine Vergil has reason to be pissed by now. For L13′s “ Hold it fast, they've been dancing on this” , I have no idea who the hell is dancing on what the fuck, but I’m guessing that “dancing” means fighting or a battle. L14′s “branded by fire” refers to the fires of Hell or Mundus himself marking V/Vergil either spiritually or physically. I added Mundus because Mundus, as The Prince of Darkness, owns Hell. And Hell is often described to be full of fire. The Hooded man (Vergil) has some sort of veiny markings on his face and hands if you look closely in the trailer. The 3rd figure on the right of the cover art also can be seen sporting arm tattoos. This could be brands that V/Vergil sustained from a certain event (which we would have to find out in the game). “abyss” refers to Hell or at least the descension into Hell. By definition, an “abyss” is a bottomless pit. In religious context, an abyss leads to Hell itself, or Satan’s domain. In DMC 3, Arkham knocks Dante, Lady, and Vergil off the Tower to activate the Temen-ni-gru. Vergil is shown falling into an actual abyss and then we next see him secretly following Dante and Arkham around in Hell. What a coincidence... L15 and L16 can be from both Nero & V/Vergil’s perspectives. Nero is known to have a wicked temper (as seen when Nero sees or remembers Kyrie in danger) and his eyes glow bright red when he taps into that demonic rage. Hence the "red hot temper" which even Dante pointed out about Nero when they fought a 2nd time in DMC 4. Since Nero is the son of Vergil, it’s likely that Vergil’s eyes also glow a bright red if he’s in a demonic rage. And as mentioned earlier, Vergil has good reason to be pissed off by now after everything that’s happened to him. L16′s “vengeance inside me” can also refer to both Vergil and Nero. In the DMC 5 trailer, Nero states that he’s “got a score to settle with that son of a bitch”. In other words, Nero seeks vengeance with the Hooded Man (who is 100% Vergil). But perhaps V/Vergil also seeks vengeance against Mundus and/or whomever fucked him up bad because V/Vergil/Hooded Man looked really sickly and messed up when you glimpse his hands and part of his face in the trailer (you can see vein-like markings when you glimpse part of his face). Also, the Hooded Man has the same coat cuffs Vergil had. Either way, both Nero and Vergil have some motive for vengeance (in this case, mainly Nero).

L17: All of these thoughts running through my head

L18: I'm on fire, veins burning red

L19: Frustration is getting bigger

L20: Bang, bang, bang

L21: Pull my Devil Trigger

L17 I’m guessing refers to V/Vergil struggling against his corrupted demon side (Nelo Angelo) and whatever insidious ideas that his Nelo Angelo side is putting in his head, hence the word “thoughts”. That, or if Vergil truly is being mind controlled in DMC 5, then L17 refers to his mind control. Bouncing off the idea of mind control, L18's "I'm on fire" could be about V/Vergil still suffering from the effects of Hell and whatever remaining influence Mundus still has on him. In DMC 1′s ending, Vergil was left in the deepest, darkest pits of Hell for an unknown amount of time before encountering Mundus and becoming his servant. As Nelo Angelo, Vergil’s sanity is scrapped and anything that triggers Vergil’s memories (i.e. the amulet) causes his mental state to be stimulated with scarred memories. L17 & L18 could be expressing V/Vergil’s struggle with his corrupted Nelo Angelo side and whatever evil is influencing him. L19 refers to V/Vergil falling further into the temptation of letting Nelo Angelo take over. L21′s “pull my Devil Trigger” means activating it and tapping into that character’s (either Nero’s or Vergil’s) DT.

L22: Embrace the darkness that's within me

L23: No hiding in the shadows anymore

L24: When this wickedness consumes me

L25: Nothing can save you

L26: And there's no way out

This entire stanza is still about V/Vergil. L22 refers to V/Vergil ultimately giving in to his demonic heritage but I think “darkness” is specifically Vergil’s Nelo Angelo. Nelo Angelo is the unwanted demon within him. V/Vergil already embraced his demonic heritage long ago, so it doesn’t make sense for him to be struggling with that decision now unless it has to do with his Nelo Angelo form. Nelo Angelo is Mundus’s creation. L23 is Vergil finally revealing his identity. For now, as seen in the trailer, Vergil is hiding his identity by use of a hood/cloak. The hood obscures Vergil's face by casting a shadow over it, hence the eventual "no hiding in the shadows anymore". L24′s “wickedness consumes me” is Nelo Angelo taking over V/Vergil again. Remember, there’s going to be a character in DMC 5 called “The Prince of Darkness” and Mundus is known as "The Prince of Darkness” in the DMC series. Mundus is Nelo Angelo’s master. Coincidence? 

L27: I'm a wildfire you won't tame

L28: Not even my temper can put out the flame

L29: There's no way to contain

L30: This storm swelling inside me

L31: I'm a bomb you can't defuse

L32: I would just accept you're going to lose

L33: Can't turn down, I refuse

L34: To hold back anymore

Okay, I had trouble with this stanza. It’s hard to determine if this is V/Vergil’s perspective or Nero’s perspective, or a mix of both. It’s very confusing, especially since L27 and L28 sort of contradict each other. L27 sounds like it’s saying that the character is doing what he wants of his own free will and that no matter what, he will not submit to the enemy. But then L28 sounds like it’s saying that not even the character’s strongest form/power can end the fight/enemy (the “put out the flame”). I’m going to take a guess and say this whole stanza is from Nero’s perspective because it sounds cheeky, confident, and daring. And again, this is Nero’s battle theme after all. L30 mentions a “storm” and a storm is something that builds up over time to produce a tumultuous, violent disturbance. Sounds like Nero is very pissed about having to chase a dude all over the city to get his arm back. Before that, he was just chilling and killing grunts on the job and getting home in time to have dinner with the love of his life. He’s definitely going to get more and more pissed, chasing the dude around. L31 mentions “bomb” and, if we look at this from Nero’s perspective, this is Nero stating that it’s only a matter of time before he gets back what belongs to him (his arm). After all, a bomb is something that counts down before the explosion, right? The “bomb” exploding means victory, hence L32′s arrogant tone indicating that victory is inevitable (”accept you’re going to lose”).

L35: All of these voices inside of my head

L36: Blinding my sight in a curtain of red

L37: Frustration is getting bigger

L38: Bang, bang, bang

L39: Pull my Devil Trigger

Again, I’m not sure if this stanza is Nero’s perspective or V/Vergil’s. I’ll just analyze it from both perspectives. Let’s start with Nero’s perspective. If from Nero’s perspective, L35′s “voices” could refer to how Nero also heard a voice inside his head echoing “Power. Give me more power!” This voice Nero heard saying that belongs to his demon self within him (the blue spectral dude that appears behind Nero when Nero uses his DT). In DMC 4, Nero recalls this memory when he is about to be killed by Agnus. His eyes glowed a bright red (Nero in a demonic rage and tapping into his DT) which is what I think L36 refers to (”curtain of red”). The color red commonly equates to the emotion of anger, blood, and violence. L37 means Nero is pissed of course. Now, let’s try looking at this from V/Vergil’s perspective. L35′s “voices” could refer to BOTH Vergil’s original Devil Trigger and the Nelo Angelo DT. Remember, Nelo Angelo is Vergil’s corrupted DT, courtesy of Mundus. Hence why L35 specifically says “voices” (plural). It’s again, Vergil struggling against Mundus’s influence and fighting the influence of his Nelo Angelo self, thus L36 mentioning “blinding my sight” because Vergil isn’t thinking clearly.

L40: When the night ends, it's not over

L41: Weave right through to get closer

L42: Like a silver bullet piercing through

L43: I throw myself into you

L40 seems to be either from Dante or Nero’s perspective (likely Nero’s since this is his song). L40 means that, even though the larger battle is over (the fight against the other demons and/or The Prince of Darkness [who will be a character in DMC 5]), Nero still has to deal with V/Vergil. L41 refers to the fight against V/Vergil. L42 mentions a “bullet” and Nero & Dante use guns but this is Nero’s song so I’m assuming this is still from Nero’s perspective. L43 refers to Nero fighting to save his father’s soul. I say “soul” specifically because L43 specifically uses the word “into” and not “onto”. If the line had used the word “onto”, then it would give a more physical take of Nero saving V/Vergil. Using the word “into” makes it sound like the fight is spiritual. L42 mentions a “silver bullet piercing through” and in L42 & L43, Nero is comparing himself to a “silver bullet”. Why is the bullet’s color specifically mentioned? Well, I don’t know, I’m guessing it’s because of Nero & Vergil’s hair looking close to the color “silver” and it wouldn’t make sense to say the bullet was white in color instead of silver. And what is the intention of having a bullet pierce through a living being? To kill. And what is Nero trying to kill? Whatever or whomever is making his old pops go crazy. Dante already "saved” Vergil in DMC 1 (aka defeated Nelo Angelo), but if Vergil is indeed back in DMC 5 and is still being possessed by an external evil influence then it would only make sense that Nero saves Vergil this time. First the brother, now the son.

Phew, that’s it! 

Take this analysis with a grain of salt because this is my own interpretation/theory. I believe V is connected to Vergil in some way (or is even Vergil himself) and I explained earlier why, so that’s why I used V and Vergil interchangeably. There’s always the possibility that V is a completely new character who has nothing to do with Vergil, but I’m bidding on my own theory.

Hell, this mystery character could be a woman for all we know. But looking at their figure closely, they don't look too feminine and the DMC women have always been portrayed to be obviously women (hourglass figure, show cleavage and booty) so it'd be such a plot twist if he turns out to be a she. Also, this is my weakest piece of evidence here but the character is wearing a dark blue tail coat and only the male Sparda dudes (Dante, Nero, and Vergil) wear those kinds of coats. And dark blue? It's dumb to color code characters but Vergil's color is blue (Nero's color is primarily blue and red is his secondary color to represent his connection to both Vergil & Dante). With Vergil being Nero's father, I feel like it'd make most sense to have the father (Vergil), son (Nero) and uncle (Dante) together on the cover.

Yes, I know the mystery character has dark hair and not white but like I said I believe this is some form of Vergil, possibly a corrupted version of him or maybe even a clone. Some form of him. If it was Dante's son instead (somehow), he should still have the signature white hair because the Sparda gene seems to be inherently more dominant than the mother's human genes. I'm basing this on Dante, Vergil, and Nero's cases. Nero's mother is human but Nero inherited all of Vergil's demonic features including the Sparda hair. The same goes for Dante and Vergil. Eva was completely human but Dante and Vergil inherited Sparda's looks and powers so it seems the Sparda/demon gene is the dominant gene at least in terms of physical attributes. So this should also apply to Dante's son (if he does have a son).

Again, take this all with a grain of salt because we won't know the truth until more info is released and/or the game is released.