Former Devil May Cry series director Hideaki Itsuno has said Devil May Cry 5's pacing was all down to potato chips.
Devil May Cry is a series that is most associated with its action. Not only did it pioneer 3D action games, but it also built upon itself to create what is arguably the best combat system in any game, with Devil May Cry 3 and 5 being among the best action games. But it also packs a silly, melodramatic, yet somehow investing story into a saga of five titles, and yet it never feels like cutscenes overpower the experience.
Speaking at the Archipel Caravan event (via Genki_JPN) during a session on action in games alongside Team Ninja president Fumihiko Yasuda (who worked on Devil May Cry's Xbox counterpart when it comes to hardcore action – Ninja Gaiden), Itsuno spoke about the development of Devil May Cry 5.
When talking about the pacing of Devil May Cry 5, Itsuno claims he based the scenario design around potato chips, or more directly, on letting players know when it was time to take a break and eat some potato chips. This would be done by making it clear when cutscenes were incoming to give you a small break from the minute-to-minute action found in Devil May Cry 5.
Itsuno also mentioned that the pacing of the missions was also based on the idea that some players would only have around one hour a day free to play video games, and aimed to make every single one-hour segment something entertaining. Devil May Cry 5 was split up into 20 missions across the entire game – some far longer than others – which not only makes it a good game for those with less time, but in tandem makes it easy to play multiple runs of like I did at launch.
