Devil May Cry 4, September 3—and I’m stuck

It was nice to return to a non-Mega Man X game for once. Devil May Cry 4 is a breath of fresh air.

Last time I left off at the end of Mission 2, so this time I started Mission 3. Which I never finished, unfortunately, because of the wide-spread puzzle in the Castle Fortuna. Read on for the details.

I learned that if Nero has a full health gauge, the green orbs add up as extra red orbs, and that’s so cool! I can always use some extra red orbs. And I also look for anything breakable that could give Nero even more red orbs. The chairs and the benches are always a must. Okay, they are furniture, but does anyone even care about that furniture after Dante caused havoc in Fortuna? So that’s why Nero is allowed to destroy things so that he can get more red orbs and maybe buy some more, uh, Green Stars.

I love the way that the camera moves as Nero is walking down the bridge to the Castle Fortuna and the angle used to be above him, and then it slowly gets behind him, as if it was a cinematic scene. Neat. And things got very interesting when this female assassin character showed up. That was unexpected. Is she supposed to be an adversary, or should she be a friend or ally of Nero? Her name is Gloria. She doesn’t look like a “Gloria” to me; she should’ve been given a name like Natasha.

I don’t think she wears underwear under that outfit O__O.

It was nice of Gloria to help Nero out there, and I hope I’ll be seeing more of her later in the game. This makes up for my not getting Bayonetta yet. It was either going to be Bayonetta or DMC 4, but I chose DMC 4 since I was more familiar with the franchise (plus it cost less than Bayonetta at the time). I seriously though Kyrie and Lady were the only females in the game, but then here comes Gloria and WOW! BAM! She kicks ass.

Anyway, Nero goes into the castle and there is a big coffin with glowing blue lights. Nero can’t investigate it yet. He doesn’t have the power to open it up. So there are many doors he goes through and these lead to long halls, where of course he has to fight more demon puppets. Then I come across this script on the wall telling Nero to find the Gyro Statues in order to open this big door.  Another hour passes and I go everywhere, only to not know what to do with Nero.  How the hell does he get this Anima Mercury whatever to destroy the statues?!!!( or am I confusing this with another puzzle?)

Errrrgh, stuck stuck stuck! I finished Devil May Cry 3 without the need of a strategy guide book, so if I am playing in Human Mode in DMC4, I intend to finish it without a guide book as well!   @,@ 

Devil May Cry 4: My first session, August 10th

Devil May Cry 4 is going to be my very first video game that has “Sexual Themes” in its content (which is one of the reasons why it’s rated “M” for mature). The only other rated M game I played myself was Devil May Cry 3.

I put the disc in the PS3 and expected that there would be a data install that would take about ten to fifteen minutes. It was neat; the song from the game’s soundtrack “Out of Darkness” played as the screen showed text and images of the Devil May Cry series. That’s nice. But that song played at least six times, so it was stuck in my head when I went to bed. Hah. Sounds like a Christmas song.

Anyway I had to sit closer to the TV than I am usually used to, since the cord for the PS3 controller is short. I could go for wireless, but we stuck with the controller that was provided, so it will have to do. Those things are $60 a pop, like the former “next-gen” video games on their release dates.

After the game data was installed, there was a trailer that showed before the title screen appeared. It’s a really cool trailer in my opinion, but I was afraid it was almost going to show the whole game before I can play it. I like the song that was playing in the background though; I am hoping I can find it in the game’s soundtrack in iTunes. Soon I chose New Game and had to choose between Human and Demon Hunter. As much as I probably would have enjoyed being in Demon Hunter mode since I am almost veteran at DMC gaming, I chose Human mode to make it easier on myself, and I use Automatic so that combos are easier to reach. Hey, I’ll try the harder stuff later when I’ve beaten the game once, but I at least want to get through it to see the story unfold.

There’s so much action in this game. It’s been pretty much all action. I enjoyed watching the fight between Nero and Dante in the beginning. I though it was interesting when they locked legs and shot at each other (is this where the “sexual themes” in the game come in???). It was like an acrobatic act with violence. I read the instruction manual for the game some time ago, so it was very helpful that there was a tutorial. I always enable the tutorial. It reminds me which moves Nero can do, and also which orbs are for what:

Red Orb: For buying items. I always like to break objects that look breakable because Dante or Nero (depending on if it’s DMC 3 or DMC 4) can always use as many red orbs as possible. Those benches in the church looked so nice—but I had to destroy them if I wanted a boost in red orbs. Ha.

Gold Orb: Revives Nero or Dante back to life at the spot where they died. I hardly use those. I want to use them only in an emergency. Otherwise I prefer to continue from the last checkpoint. I think I can collect more red orbs this way.

Blue Orb: Extends Nero’s life capacity. I guess Dante’s too. I have to find them in four fragments. Otherwise if I have Red Orbs to spare then I can get one that way. The special secret missions reward Nero with a Blue Orb fragment. I’ll try to find as many of those as possible, at least one in every mission. The secret missions are indicated by a piece of paper stabbed to a wall or pillar.

Green Orbs: Heals Nero or Dante. It’s my favorite type of orb, next to the Red Orbs. They are usually small, but there is also big ones every once in a while.

I also like the Mission Menu, where I can either go to the next mission or replay another mission to get more red orbs and a better score. Oh yeah, that’s right. The scores. I got as far as Atomic A, and it really helps to do a variety of attacks. I like how D is for Deadly, so that it makes me not feel so bad about getting a low killing score on those demon puppets. I’m getting the hang of Nero’s Devil Bringer. It’s also so cool to watch him fly when he uses the Devil Bringer on the Grim Grips. He goes like, Whoooosh!

I left off right before Mission 3. In the second half of Nero’s battle against Berial, I found out he can grab on to a horn (or something) and attack him from there. I almost thought, “Okay so he’s a fire beast, so I should get my ice weapon so he’ll…oh wait, that’s Mega Man X or something.  Or isn't it wind against fire?”

Which reminds me, the next time I get to a console game it will be Mega Man X4. I still have to post about my last session with that game…

Second Upgrade…to PlayStation 3!!!

Me?  On HD?  But my face is dirty, and my pores

are gonna show!  Do you really wanna see that?

I just...

I wanted a PlayStation 3. My parents want Blu-Ray. So we compromised. The PS3 plays Blu-Ray already, since it was first released in Winter 2006.

     So now we have the right TV set for it, but for a while there seems to be a major shortage of PS3s in my neighborhood.  Sold out.   I even went to Amazon.com and bought Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete [Blu-Ray] already (OKAY, Tetsuya Nomura, you win, you’ve got my money, now don’t do another director’s cut of my favorite movie of all time or I will be vewwwy angwwy).

     I already know that the first game I am going to buy for the PS3 is Devil May Cry 4. I really enjoyed DMC3, and here I get to play newcomer Nero. As much as I wanna get Bayonetta and Final Fantasy XIII, I will wait until they cost less, cuz they were just released earlier this year (Bayonetta in early January and FFXIII in early March). DMC4 is going to be the second rated-M game I ever played, the first one being DMC3.  Now that I have the Mega Man X Collection and MMX8 and MMX: Command Mission, I am gonna have to wait a long time to get a second PS3 game.

     High Definition Cloud Strife....mmmmmmm......