To appreciate a quality videogame when you see it, one must simply play 20 minutes of Devil May Cry 2 and then compare it to the first 2 minutes of Devil May Cry 3. The improvement to gameplay, music, story, characters and basically everything goes even beyond DMC1. This is the game that really establishes a lot of what would be seen in later games, such as Dante's weapon selection and styles.

I'm really glad they stuck to the gold orb respawn system, but it's nice they give people the option for yellow orbs instead (I will never touch that option with a 10 foot pole).

There is an actual proper story now, with greater emphasis on humour and cutscenes that brings the characters to life. This is also the game to actually make Vergil into a character since he's basically just a namedrop in DMC1, and yeah he's fantastic. Of course, Lady, Dante and Arkham are great too, especially Dante, who has so much memorable dialogue compared to the blank slate in DMC2.

This game is pretty damn hard, even on normal mode. I finished almost every bossfight with less than 10% HP remaining. Although, unlike DMC1, I found the difficulty much more of an enjoyable hurdle to overcome, due to the wide variety of combos, weapons, and styles.

Also, why is Joker and Arkham in this game, but no Man? Is he stupid?