i do not care what anyone says, Hideki Kamiya made the first game and thats it, the first step towards greatness sure, but to this day he still gets credit to the franchise when this game was the one that kickstarted how people see the dmc series.
all thanks to Hideaki Itsuno, who decided that his legacy was not going to be the rushed DMC 2, he took into his own hands to craft such a masterful experience such as this. when you lose in this game, its your own fault, aside from one single instance, the game gives you all the tools to OWN every enemy in this game as stylish as the time allowed.
Itsuno shaped the true vergil, shaped the proper gameplay that the series would carry foward and for all that i say that the devil may cry series are Hideaki Itsuno legacy, not Kamiya.
the first game is both clunky and unfair at times. its not as hard as dmc 3 but dmc 3 never feels cheap like the first game simply because of the design of every tool at your disposal, be it trickster or royal guard. you can go the entire game without being touched.
is it perfect ? the fight with fake sparda where the game forces your tools out of you prevents it from being so, but this is still one of the best action games i've ever played, leagues ahead of the first game.
Thank you Hideaki Itsuno. i'm probably blocked on twitter by kamiya