Sometimes it makes me really mad thinking about how Lady and Trish were handled in dmc5. Like these are extremely important characters to both Dante and the devil may cry series. I get that it was a more Nero-heavy game but Trish and Lady could’ve had an actual impact on the story ESPECIALLY with the whole family focus.
V making one comment to Lady isn’t enough, Lady making one offhand comment about killing Arkham isn’t enough, Trish saying she vaguely knows of Vergil isn’t enough, some letter from Morrison ISN’T ENOUGH. They could’ve easily been inserted into the story and had an actual role beyond getting naked for NO REASON. Hell, with the way dmc5’s story is, Lady and Trish could’ve been entirely removed and nothing would’ve changed. They had as much importance as Kyrie in this game (maybe even less now that I think about it).
Lady actually knew Vergil, even if not as well as Dante did, and she definitely knew him a lot better than Trish did, so why didn’t SHE say anything of value to Nero about Vergil? Why don’t we get to see Vergil’s reaction to Trish? UMVC3 is the closest we’ll ever get to that. Why don’t Lady and Dante talk to each other at all about anything? I get that they’re emotionally constipated, but they’ve seen each other in their darkest moments and stuck by each other’s side for more than 20 years at that point, I’m sure they’ve opened up to each other at SOME point after the fact. They’re the only two characters that have even met Vergil up to that point, I’m sure they’d both have their own thoughts on him coming back to raise hell again. Why don’t either of them talk to Nero in a meaningful manner? He doesn’t ask them about Dante despite them being his closest friends even though he has a lot of unanswered questions? He doesn’t have anything to say to them? Not even in Visions of V? Like jesus man. VERGIL doesn’t have anything to say to Lady beyond “glad to see you look so well” or whatever?
These two could’ve helped further deepen our understanding of the Sparda boys as well. Lady doesn’t even act like herself in this game and neither does Trish. The writing for these two was so dogshit it’s almost insulting. It would’ve almost been better if they didn’t include these two in the game with how botched the execution was. They were already included solely for fan service so why not actually make their presence matter? “Their main stories were done” doesn’t mean that they can’t be utilized meaningfully AT ALL. There is so much that hasn’t been explored yet with these two, so much so that you honestly could make a spinoff game about each of them. Hell, Dante’s story has been “done” since the first game but they keep finding new shit to do with him. Nero’s story was “done” in dmc4, but he’s the main character of 5. Vergil literally died and they resurrected him for 5. That’s not an excuse.
It’s so bullshit and as someone who LOVES both Lady and Trish it kinda hinders my enjoyment of dmc5. It’s not a bad game at all but the way they fucked up with those two is just hard to ignore. Hell, they could’ve somewhat redeemed themselves by making the Ladies Night dlc that so many people asked for, but they didn’t.