So, first off, I'm loving the game and am surprised to find that I think V is my favorite character. Which is also why I'm disappointed to find that his missions are the only ones I'm having trouble on, ranking-wise. I'm trying to get S ranks on the missions as I go through the story. I know lots of people say that's the path to frustration - and believe me, for me it is - and to handle the mission rankings post-game. BUT I wanna play it my way, plus I'm not sure that waiting 'til the end of the game would have that big of an impact on my issue.

The problem is I don't think I understand what DMCV bases its final mission ranking on. While playing as Nero, even if I had problems dealing with the boss of the stage, my decent record with normal fights would sometimes carry me to an S. If not, a replay or two usually handled it. With V though... I get solid A's through S' in the fights and then do relatively as well on the boss as I would fighting as Nero, and end up with an A overall. Even if I could put this down as needing to do better on the boss (which yes, WOULD solve the issue), instead apparently my problem is with the level fights. In the ranking screen (press square to get "details" on your ranking), EVERY section of the level is rated as a B, despite the obvious average of all my fights coming out to - even if I'm being hard on myself - a low A, which it did as Nero. Note: I'm getting roughly 3500, 3600 points on the fights. An A is 4000-4999, so I'm JUST under the cut. It seems like the issue is not building up enough points rather than simply not doing well.

Am I missing some fights? I'm usually pretty good at finding the secret areas with blue orbs or secret missions, which usually have some combat to deal with before you can access them. Are there other extra fights to find? I would love this to be the case, I love using V. Do I need to find a way to prolong the fights, so as to earn more style points? Or is it not as easy as "get A's/S' in the whole level, get S on the mission"? If not, the game has definitely not telegraphed this, since this is how I handled Nero's missions. Judging by those, if you do good enough in the level, you can actually kind of suck ass on the boss and still squeak out an S ranking.

Again, I'd like to emphasize that I LOVE the game thus far. If the answer is simply "git gud" - or a more compassionate equivalent - either on the boss or in the level fights, I'll bite the bullet, stop being a high-strung perfectionist and come back later. But I would appreciate the help.

Tl;dr I love V but I don't think I understand the ranking system when it comes to missions. Am I missing something other than "do good, get good rating"?

I dont have a full grasp on it either, some missions I think i'm doing shit and get an S, others I think i'm doing great and get a B. I think it might have something to do with how fast you get through the mission on top of your style ranking. I'm not sure how the co-op stuff works either, i've rated everyone "Stylish" but I have no idea what they did. I'm sure it'll all make sense on subsequent playthroughs but its all a bit much first time through.

I think the Bayonetta games (and Platinum in general) do a better job of giving you feedback when it comes to rankings.

The ranking systems have definitely never been great in these games. It is however, a HUGE step up from the abomination that was DMC4's ranking system. Heavily punishing you if you don't pick up enough red orbs scattered throughout the level, what a horrible idea. As far as I know, it's almost entirely based on style points and time now.

I never liked Bayonetta's system either. The idea that not finding an optional encounter results in a ranking for that fight that is less than the lowest ranking is bunk. I do wish DMC5 did the thing where it shows a ranking after every encounter, though.

@doctordonkey: @boozak: I never considered speed would even factor in. I think I read somewhere just before release that "your style points alone determine ranking" and just trusted that implicitly. I'll speed through V's first level as efficiently as possible (and try to do better on the boss) and see if I can even just get a better A. Thanks for the ideas. Honestly, I'm PROBABLY rushing it just a little bit. Maybe I'll take every game outlet's advice and "just enjoy the game" my first time through (even though being completionist is how I enjoy games).

Yeah, while I dislike Bayo's idea of "wow, you did great, pure platinum level work on 14 of these fights... buuuut you missed three, so GOLD", their insistence on ranking every fight - as opposed to DMC5's weird sectioning idea - gives you a great idea exactly where you need to improve.

I remember I beat DMC4 back in the day, probably around release and it was the only DMC I've ever been any good at until 5. It makes me think that I'm probably the type of person who would actually really like DmC, with Dino (Dante In Name Only) and the Vergilmobile, even though lots of what I've seen of that game, including some of the gameplay, really puts me off.

@poobumbutt: Not sure how the DmC bit showed up in that post. But if you are talking about the ranking system, it is even dumber than 4. You get ranked on finding secrets, including ones that are inaccessible. So you HAVE to replay some levels to get an S on them, because it was literally impossible the first time.

• Rank Bonuses & Penalties

  • Special Costumes (Infinite Devil Trigger): -80% Rank Score
  • Auto-Assist: -20% Rank Score
  • Revive After Dying: Score is significantly lowered after every death.
  • No Checkpoints Or Restarts: +20% Rank Score
  • No Hit Completion: +220% Rank Score

If you can someone complete a mission without taking a single hit, you’ll guarantee an S Rank. That’s pretty tough, but it isn’t required. You can still earn S Ranks without avoiding all damage. But, you will need to avoid reviving or reloading checkpoints. You’ll also lose out if you use any of the Costumes that give special in-game bonuses.

Completing levels quickly, earning lots of Red Orbs, avoiding deaths, and playing with Network features on will improve your score and give you a better chance at S Ranks. Give all these tricks a try — and don’t bother attempting until after you’ve completed the game at least once.

That's what I could find on gameranx.

Personally I just don't continue and try to get at least an S-Rank for every normal fight as V. At least on Devil Hunter that has worked for me. No continues seems to push most of my A rank levels to S.

Tl;dr - To do good with V, hit the L1 button, then get DT to hit the L1 button again. Also, be fast and try not to get hit.

@the_hiro_abides Oh, believe me, a death would mean a mission restart. I already feel behind when it comes to points, I need all the help I can get, that 20% boost included. I appreciate the list though. I found out about that revival penalty when trying to beat prologue Urizen, but wouldn't have guessed the crazy reward for not hits. Particularly with V, it seems like it might be viable to just be ridiculously safe and lame, just to get that reward.

@tobbrobb The only reason I brought up DmC was because everyone says that for all its faults, it is at least accessible and makes you feel cool while playing it (Definitive Edition specifically, without any of that "colour matching" combat stuff). But yeah, that does seem dumb. That reminds me that Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles ranked you on secrets, too. Don't know if DmC does it the same, but your progress saved when you got them all, so in future runs, you ALWAYS had a top rank in secrets no matter what. Super weird.

OKAY, so for anyone still wondering or who found this post while Google surfing for my exact problem, I have clarifications. The thing that has allowed me to S-rank the two missions I was having trouble with turns out to be even more simple than getting good: press the L1 button. Any time you're in a battle that could conceivably give up decent amounts of style, like against a single mini-boss type enemy or a huge horde of generic enemies, summon Nightmare and then continue fighting normally. If you can read the book during this time, it will extend the length Nightmare can stay out. It can be a bit harder to keep track of what is going on, due to Nightmare's tendency to coat the battlefield with his laser explosions, but as long as you keep an eye out for incoming attacks and dying enemies to finish off, Nightmare is an almost free pass to at least A-rank in combat.

V gains Devil Trigger at a frankly shocking rate, especially if you're competent enough to read the book during combat. So, his whole combat flow seems to be "summon Nightmare to get high damage and style, fight normally to gain DT to summon Nightmare again". Bosses require a bit more finesse, as there are certainly times when it is not optimal to call in Nightmare. One that comes to mind is during the Geryon Knight fight (mission 5 spoiler): do not summon him when the boss is using his constant teleportation ability. He just can't keep up. Pretty sure doing that sunk one of my attempts. If you can summon him when the boss is standing still and you're locked on, Nightmare will usually attack them in some way during his entrance, so that's good to try.

I apologize if this strategy is too obvious, or if it was assumed I was doing this in the first place. I didn't realize how crazy V is with DT gain, and so I thought Nightmare was primarily a boss summon.

Also, boy does beating missions fast help A LOT as well. I don't have any idea on the times needed, but an S speed clear is worth 1000 points right there; that's the biggest reason I succeeded.

V continues to be cool and my favourite character, if still loose to control - in multiple aspects.