The original DMC blew me the hell away, one of my favorite PS2 games of all time.
Like most fans, I thought DMC 2 was a real POS.
I was way into importing on the PS2, so I imported DMC3 when it came out. If you're not aware, the original JP version of DMC3 was fucking hardcore. You had to buy continues by spending valuable orbs on them which were much better spent on upgrades, and they weren't cheap... so if you weren't a zen master you could easily find yourself in a position where you just GAME OVER and have to start at the very beginning again. I'm no zen master, so it wasn't long before I had a very angry "THIS IS BULLSHIT, FUCK THIS GAME" attitude towards DMC3.
Later on it was finally released in the US minus the hardcore 'spend your orbs on continues' crap and DMC fans were saying DMC3 was now the best game in the series. "What the hell are these guys talking about? Fuck that bullshit game." I played the US version and had no problem beating it, but I dunno, I guess my opinion was already hopelessly tainted. I just didn't think it was all that great. Certainly not better than the classic original.
I was pretty stoked when DMC4 came out, but I got bored and never finished it. The last thing I remember is a puzzle where you have to push some kind of column around on a tile floor or something. I always intended to go back and complete it, but I never did. I have a copy of the PS4 remaster, can't even remember when I got it... still haven't cracked the seal.
DMC5 looks great, and I have a copy of that too... but I have no idea when I'll get around to playing it. I really want to finish DMC4 first.