One afternoon, my dad came showed me a flyer and asked me whether Devil May Cry 3 would be a nice game to play because playing Resident Evil 4 about times times is not very fun. Well, not for me at least, I'm not even done the game and I have fought "It" at least four times in regular mode, and twice in professional mode all because it was the "impossible" boss. Anything to get away from Resident Evil 4. It really is a good game, but not when played about ten times. The frightening thing is that it's my dad who's addicted. I kid you not it's true. I will accept any game pretty much not to see Resident Evil 4. There has to be a break.

So, I said yes to Devil May Cry 3. My dad came home with the new game he bought and it was all good. Just until I started playing the game. The funny thing is that my dad got the normal edition copy where all the modes are harder. Being new to the series and this type of game, then being forced to play "hard" mode wasn't exactly the greatest experience either. My dad was turned off by the game play so he left it "up to me" to beat the game.

The introduction movie for DMC3 did not make sense to me. There were two figures fighting. One was dressed in red, the other in blue. There was even hair slicking involved but that doesn't really enthrall me unless there's some sort of reason behind it. The cutscene afterwards also wasn't that exciting. Dante is half naked and he's fighting demons while eating pizza. The truth is, I do not like Dante very much. I do not like half naked men, cocky people, and pizza. What did the introduction to Devil May Cry 3 have? All three of those. By that point, I seriously wanted to turn off the PS2. Initially, while playing the game I had many problems. It was too hard for me, but I was rewarded by the first Vergil cutscene. From then on i was basically determined to finish the game no matter what.

  ± Why Vergil?
Without Vergil, I wouldn't even have an interest in the Devil May Cry series. Before I played DMC3 I had no idea that there would be a character like him. I just saw a little black and white photo, his cheap profile and that was it. The game itself when I started playing it was a horrible experience. I hated it, but my dad deliberately went out to buy it for me so I might as well make an effort to at least get through a good part of it.

When I learned about the Special Edition, I actually took the time to consider whether I really "needed" it. Initially I decided that I didn't want it. Why would I want to pay another $30 for a game I own just to play as Vergil? My final decision was based on my observations of the Vergil fights throughout the game. All three Vergil boss fights were my favorite because it taught me the mechanisms of the game and made the game into a enjoyable experience. So, why was it that Cerberus was such a hard boss and Vergil being nothing close to it? Patience, and realizing that the game is no different than the fighting games i'm fond of. To make the story short, after classes the day after I decided "I didn't want it", or rather "i'll buy it if the store has it!", I ran to the store. I went in, they didn't have the game but one of the people who worked there asked me what I was looking for. So I blurted out the name, he said that he had it in the backroom and he would get it for me if I wanted it. The next thing was me running to the bus to get home as soon as possible because "I had to play as Vergil".

My interests for this character hit home after the first Vergil fight when he revealed his intentions for seeking power. Wasn't it a bit stereotypical? It's fun predicting lines to something I've never seen before, and this was one of the cases where my predictions was correct. Vergil seeked power to protect. To protect what? The thing which attracted me to this character, as with most, is his past. Vergil has a half-demon half-human heritage. His father was a legendary demon warrior, and his mother was human. To top it all off, he has a obnoxious twin brother. In DMC1 Trish goes up to Dante and says this : "You're the man who lost a mother and a brother to evil twenty years ago, the son of the Legendary Dark Knight Sparda, Mr. Dante.". Although there is no sense of "time" in the series, what Trish probably meant by "twenty years ago" was that Dante lost Vergil to his obsession for acquiring the power to protect. But, to protect who? Although not mentioned in the game, I think that Vergil felt helpless during the time of his mother's death because although he has legendary blood flowing in his veins he had no power to protect those who are dear to him. Dante is another obvious reason because he is dubbed the "older brother". A familial obligation to do so? Societal? Would that be the reason why he demanded Dante to hand over his half of their mother's amulet at the end of Devil May Cry 3? Unanswered questions in stories make me happy for some reason.

  ± Where's your appreciation for Vergil?
If I give you the cognition that I don't like Vergil let me tell you a little something. Sometimes, when I really like something, I make fun of it to the point of no return. If I'm dissing Vergil like no tomorrow it's a good sign. It's a subconscious habit I do, and it only happens when I have a great liking towards something.

  ± Why Sotto Voce?:
The name was actually inspired by one of Vergil's inbattle quotes. At the end of the final boss fight of the game Vergil says "Dante" under his breath, sort of not exactly but it seemed like it at the time. When I first heard it, the first two words that came to mind was Sotto Voce. The words literally mean "to speak under one's breath" in Italian. In music it is a direction which means that it is to be played 'softly'. Basically sotto means "soft" and voce means "voice" (like voix is in French!). It is pronounced "sah-toh vo-chey". At Bartleby.com they have a audio pronounciation because my transliteration skills are horrible so reading it may not be very good. Since i'm a bit language weird I pronouce "sotto" in Japanese. Coincidentally, "sotto" in Japanese means "softly, secretly".

  ± Site Status:
Project Started : April 2, 2006
Prototype Upload : May 22, 2006
Site Open : July 24, 2006
Average hits per day:
Hosted: Flora-Fleur.net

  ± Current Layout:
This current layout was mainly inspired by a icon I made. For over a year I've been having trouble designing things, but I realized that the reason was because of the lack of music. Not listening to music, but playing music. I've been a violinist for thirteen years, and pianist for nine. I stopped playing for one year because of university work piling, and that basically ruined my sense of creativity if i may describe it that way. When I was younger, i liked drawing pictures. When i was in my mid teens I liked web designing inbetween practicing. It was then I had my "best" layout ideas. With music taken away from me it was completely gone. I was a standstill. I could sit infront of photoshop for hours with nothing good being produced. So, this is what happened with this layout. I wanted something not stereotypical of Vergil, nor do I want it looking like stuff that's already out there. I wanted "my designs" back. So, what better way than to to put a random sworl? Personally it doesn't really match the layout, but without it it looks bleh. Not the best thing i've made, but it's a start. This is actually the second layout for Sotto Voce. The first is resting in peace due to color problems and the fact that I don't like using the color black.

There are lyrics scattered around this website. They are mostly found as the subtexts of the pages in the information and extra sections. They are from the following songs :

Loreena McKennitt - "Dante's Prayer"
Matthew Good - "Avalanche"
Tea Party - "Angels", "Fire in the Head", "Taking Me Away", "Heaven Coming Down", "Lullaby", "Apathy"

There's also a line that says "Musa, mihi causas memora...". It is actually a line from Virgil's Aeneid. It translates to "O Muse, relate to me the reasons...".

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