Devil May Cry 5 Interview: Gameplay Length, Hide Network ID, Hidden Secrets & More

Capcom’s Hideaki Itsuno held a Q&A session at a special Devil May Cry 5 event in Seoul and he answered some interesting questions like how many hours it will take to complete the main story, is it possible to hide the network ID, whether or not there are hidden secrets in the game such as items, weapons, and so on.

On January 8, Capcom organised a special Devil May Cry 5 event in Gangnam Gu in Seoul (South Korea), and the attendees were given access to play the demo (it was possible the second demo that will go live for the general public on February 7). Game Designer Hideaki Itsuno, Micheteru Okabe and Matthew Walker held a brief Q&A session at the event where he answered a lot of interesting questions including gameplay length, whether or not it will be possible to hide Network ID during shared single play, and many others. You can read the full interview below (translated, thanks to Reddit user SpartanRammy).

DMC5 Interview: Gameplay Length, Hide Network ID, Hidden Secrets (Items, Weapons) & More

For what reason does this story take place after Devil May Cry 2?

You’ll understand the reason when you play the game, as it is touched upon in the story. For example, we have Rebellion being broken in the opening of the game.

What were the challenges you faced when deciding to use the RE Engine?

RE Engine was originally used for Biohazard 4 but has been greatly worked upon for a game as spectacular as Devil May Cry. The RE Engine is also upgraded in terms of processing speed.

The main game features 3 characters, how would you describe the length of time to complete the main story?

Based on what the development team has played, the completion time for the story of the game with multiple characters is about 15 to 16 hours in length.

Visually speaking this game resembles more of the reboot DmC than the original games. What about DmC?

It may seem like that at first, but our goal was to reach photorealism drawing inspiration from Hollywood movies such as the Avengers. At this current moment in time, I cannot say anything about the future of DmC.

Can I hide my Network ID during shared single play?

It is not possible to hide and engage in gameplay online, however, there is the option of disconnecting from the network play, and only using the offline base game to play these missions.

Do you have any additional characters to play as?

With enough fan demand, we’d be more than happy to add more characters.

Are the Devil Breakers unlocked and/or upgraded through the use of Red Orbs?

You can put as many as 8 Devil Breakers on your waist. However on higher difficulties, you’ll see them lying around less often, and you’ll have to plan your loadout and usage much more carefully.

What inspired the team to create a character that uses pets?

Nero and Dante use weapons to complete their levels. They were inspired to create a new way to play, so they drew their inspiration from Babel II (OVA or Manga it doesn’t say).

Are there hidden secrets such as stronger enemies, items or weapons?

Its very hard to say, however there definitely secrets sprinkled across the game, and possibly even some weapons.

Why is it that it’s so powerful it gets consumed, and we cannot change the order of our loadout?

It may seem inconvenient at first, however upon learning how to manage and strategize their abilities and limitations I can say that you’ll have much more fun playing as Nero.

How did the developers feel when using enemies and the Staff (Yur a wizard V) to dispatch enemies?

We set out on testing this gameplay system because it was interesting to us. Personally, I really enjoy it, as you cannot kill demons without using the Staff/Cane. Being forced into this restriction will only add more layers to the fun of the gameplay rather than dull the gameplay.

As Dark Souls has become so popular for comparisons of action games, how would you say Devil May Cry’s identity stands up to this trend?

Personally, I think the fundamental joy of actions games from Devil May Cry to Super Mario is not so different. Players are given a set of abilities and overcoming challenges with those abilities. DMC is about creating new and exciting problems for players to overcome in stylish ways, and changing this would be unnecessary.

What role did Matt Walker play, and what is his affiliation with Capcom?

Matt: Since I was a child playing games, I’ve always wanted to work at Capcom. At first, I worked as a production coordinator and then I became a producer. In Devil May Cry 5, I was in charge of management ever since the development stage. Even now I am leading all the tasks regarding; communication, management, and timings of PR marketing.*Note: CMON SERIOUSLY!?!?!? Damn guys this one hurt me.

What was the process like to simulate natural momentum from one combo to another with motion canceling?

Is there anything the Development team would like to highlight? How do they feel about the result? A veteran on the series ever since the 1st game released agreed that though motion canceling as inherently a 2D principle and did not translate to 3D, it was not good but technically unavoidable. However, we rose to the challenge regardless and can say now we are extremely pleased with the result.

What would you say that is important in Devil May Cry 5’s Story?

Frankly talking about the story is dangerous territory, however what I will comment on is that we put a tremendous amount of scenes into the story as we were touched by recent children stories (referring to films/games/tv shows catered to children) and added upon the theme of love as presented by the first game. It would be interesting to continue the story later on and see how the story evolves. Perhaps Nero becomes more of a young man, and Dante becomes more serious, it would be nice to touch upon sides of the characters we have never seen before. Devil May Cry is very popular in Korea, and I hope you will all have much more fun now that everything can be read natively in Korean. We are all very proud of what we’ve accomplished in 3 Years, and can proudly say we have made the best action game. It may be hard to wait until March but please do look forward to a demo releasing in the future.

The above Q&A surely answers some of the burning questions related to the Devil May Cry 5. It’s a positive move from Capcom, and I hope that other developers follow this path.

Source: Reddit