I decided to replay this last night and just could not understand what I ever saw in this game. What the hell was SE thinking? Almost everything about this game bothers me, which is weird because when it first came out I loved it. The one redeeming feature is the CG cutscenes, those are actually interesting.
My two biggest whines kind of run together. SE was so lazy with this game. They could have really delved into Vincent's background a lot better, but instead we get EVERYTHING WE ALREADY KNEW ABOUT HIM in a neat little package, like the ones kids light on fire and leave on people's doorsteps. Vincent loves Lucrecia, Lucrecia has a baby with Hojo, Hojo shoots Vincent, Vincent becomes monster. Wow, thank you for clearing that all up SE. Vincent was a Turk! Tell us how he became one! Why was this not thought of? Also, why weren't we allowed to see just how he was transformed?
Another little bit of laziness is shown in the gameplay. The graphics are reminiscent of PS1 era. This game came out like two months before XII, why is there such a huge difference in graphics? In the cutscene where Vincent is dodging Rosso's attacks he looks like he's taking it slow. His movement is so stiff it really just pulls me out of the action of the scene. Also, there's a scene not long after that where he's in a (Mako?) tank with all of his clothes on. That's also a mood killer. Would it have been that hard to make a different model where he's got maybe a pair of shorts on or just his pants? Maybe take of his gauntlet and abnormally large shoes, show the beast side of him for a bit? It's just a little off-putting to see a guy come out of a wannabe bacta tank with perfect hair and completely dry.
My second piece of beef with this game is the little to no effort they put into the main antagonists. Like seriously, do we really need another group of super soldiers with a select few elite leading them? SOLDIER was interesting to me, DeepGround is boring. It's nothing new. Even the ultimate goal is the same! Destroy the planet and traverse the galaxy, big freakin' deal. Again, something a little more deeper into Vincent's past would have been much more preferable. These guys have one tie to him, which is pretty stupid imo.
Whine numbers three and four are the acting and writing. I've come to get used to the acting in X, and XII and XIII did pretty good in that department, but DoC is the worst I've had to endure since that five minutes playing Sonic: Heroes.
That big ape of a boss in Edge, his final lines sounded totally unnatural. The dude you find in the alley earlier in the level, where he gives you that cliche "Let me tell you this important info before I die" bs, sounds just as bad. And the little kid between those two! My god, I think they switched voice actors halfway through that scene. His voice literally became lower as he got sadder! Every bit of dialogue bugs the hell out of me, even Vincent's, and I LOVE Steve Blum!
And that's where the writing comes in (sort of). I don't particularly know how hard writing a video game is, I don't know anything about writing a video game actually, but I do know that those annoyingly dramatic soap opera-like pauses when Vince remembers something painful or when someone "says something wrong" are just the worst smurfing things ever! I can't take it! It is just so retarded. It makes these characters look dumb when they pause for five smurfing minutes! ARGH!
Final whine (for the moment) is Shalua Rui. This woman should not exist. Her outfit tells me that SE was trying to make her that sexy female character they've had to add in all their games since X-2, but she's had a goddamn stroke! Absolutely nothing about this woman is interesting, not even the fact that she's practically begging for it, dressing like that but tossing on her lab coat and glasses to "remain professional". I'm on to you, lady! She's just... God, I want so badly to kick her in the side of the face!
I even bought the guide to this game. Why did I do such a thing!? This game is cake! What the hell was 17 year old me thinking?
