I think the story itself, out of the context of the game, is actually pretty good for what it is, but it's told in a messy way. The more I discuss it and tell other people my take on it in my own words, the more I'm fond of it, even if my first feelings after finishing the game were of disappointment.
Doesn't help that I didn't get the post-credits scene the first time around, the Jackpot scene is a much more satisfying ending.
Just the concept of Vergil wanting to leave his humanity behind but suddenly finding out that 99% of what makes him who he is was this humanity is so damn good. That he didn't leave "this other guy" behind, he left himself (though a softer version of himself) and a mindless power-hungry demon went after power.
It's kind of bullshit that it took him THIS long to finally understand that his humanity doesn't make him weak, that it makes him better, but the way he realized that is really cool.
Another example is the whole "visions of his time as Nelo Angelo" thing. It's fantastic as an idea, but the chicken just tells you this. It should be told in a more visual way throughout mission 18, I feel. But I agree that we should probably play that as Nero, not Dante.
The key thing is that most of our issues with the story would be fixed with tweaks, not necessarily rewriting the whole thing and throwing the concept away. That's probably what makes me think there's a good story in there, it was just poorly executed. But they need a better writer for that, because the cutscenes are so incredible in this game, that you can't say they ran out of time or had to rush the story. This is definitely not an FFXV situation, they just need someone who can organize and edit that story in a better way.
So what happened between Dante killing Nelo Vergil in DMC1 and this game?
How did he come back? He was falling to pieces so he went and got his arm back and split himself into two and that fixed him?
I don't get it
I don't think the split fixed him, but the blood Urizen was absorbing, as well as the fruit. The split bought him enough time, I guess, but V was still deteriorating, because he wasn't absorbing any power.
But I don't quite remember the dialogue from when he healed in the boss rush portion, so I can't remember if they say something that contradicts my interpretation.