I'm in the school of thinking that the original DMC was a fluke.  None of the other games, not even DMC3, had the same kickass feeling of the first one.  DMC2 had some of the stupidest and most uninspired villains in the series and DMC3's Dante was nowhere near as snarky as he was in the first game (and I don't even remember DMC2 Dante ever speaking).  I remember every time a boss appeared in DMC Dante would fucking trash talk them.  It was a really great scene to see this gigantic lava spider burst through a wall and spew magma only to have Dante tap his shell and call him a big bug or something.  I remember that gigantic owl or whatever popping up with the fuckawesome deep voice and Dante starts FLAPPING HIS ARMS and calls him a big cock or something like that.

So yeah, every other DMC game has been uninspired shit that I don't care about!  Capcom has done nothing but ruin series (Viewtiful Joe comes to mind).