Negative reinforcement isn't sustainable for mental health, Whiplash teaches us, and it's a lesson that Devil May Cry 5 should take heed of. The fallout from Simmons' brutal teaching method is one of his former students committing suicide. Simmons' utterly terrifying music teacher in 2014's Whiplash, who opts for negative reinforcement to boost the drumming ability of Miles Teller's character into the stratosphere. How Nero's father figure Dante acts towards him is what's so damning where how he sees it, Nero losing his ability to perform physically means he's as good as dead. Now, I don't know too much about the profession of demon hunting, but I've got to imagine that having a limb ripped from your body significantly hinders your ability to kick demon ass. One second he's working on his van, next second he looks down and BLAM-no more right arm.
It's barely been a month at the beginning of Devil May Cry 5 since Nero had his right arm forcibly removed by a shadowy, hooded figure. It's easy to hate a quippy, cocky young character like Nero, but I actually feel quite bad for the hot-headed devil hunter. I said last year at Gamescom that I didn't hate Nero, and I'll stand by that now with over 20 hours logged in Devil May Cry 5. It might be someone who's referred to as "dead weight" at the beginning of Devil May Cry 5 by Dante, while he's holding off Urizen's onslaught. It might be someone that's just recently lost their right arm above the elbow, hindering their demon-slaying prowess. If you ask Devil May Cry 5 what "weakness" means, it'd be the inability to do the jumping through the air and the demon-slaying stuff. Dante's the man, Devil May Cry 5 tells us, and if he can't do it, no one can. At the outset of the nightmare in Redgrave City, Dante transforms into his powerful demon persona-type thing, flying at Urizen with unmatched strength while Nero and V escape, and Trish and Lady lie helpless on the floor, bruised and battered. The cool uncle-looking protagonist might appear to be nearing retirement, but he's still the only one that can go toe-to-toe with the big bad of Devil May Cry 5: Urizen. Nero is a little bit insulted! | Hirun Cryer/USG, CapcomĮnter everyone's favorite legendary devil hunter: Dante. Weirdly enough, this is something Devil May Cry 5 could do with a little reminder of. Secondly, so what if I don't fit the role of your average teenage boy? Not everyone has to fit the role of a smack-talking, super tough guy. I'm paraphrasing here (it was over a decade ago and I can barely remember what I did this past weekend), but he pulled me aside after practice one day and said something to the effect of "why are you so quiet?" Now considering the kind of teenagers that play rugby in east London, this can also be translated to "why aren't you talking shit with the rest of them?" Firstly, what the hell man? Just let me be a quiet kid that doesn't mind getting dump tackled because years of being an emo kid have made me numb to pain. Mainly though, I was quiet, which didn't play out so well with the six-foot-five hulking, chain-smoking behemoth of a man that was our rugby coach. If you must put me in a category, then I fit somewhere comfortably in between the goth and scene kids, which in a school in east London is sort of like admitting you're gay in the 1800s in front of the Vatican.