I always thought the stories in 1 and 3 were perfectly fine for the type of game it was. In DMC1 you fought against Mundus' minions, won the girl over to your side, and sent the big baddie back to hell with a giant ass energy blast to the face. Action game + standard action storyline + stylistic visuals and presentation = hell yes in my book. DMC2 made no sense to me whatsoever so I'll skip it, that point goes in the new game fan's favor. DMC3 was good as well. Was a little out there with Vergil constantly going back and forth between bad guy and maybe-not-so-bad guy (was never a good guy at any point in that game) and Dante's English voice actor was horrible imo. But the game flowed well and the plot twist with Arkham and Jester towards the end was epic. Lady was a really nice character addition and seemed to be well thought out. 4 was a bit lacking for me. The "Order" just came off as cheesy and I didn't really care for them as the antagonists. Nero was alright but I still preferred Dante's character, and whats-her-name (Kirie?) was just lame as hell. In a series with strong supporting ladies like Trish, Lucia, and Lady seeing a helpless "save me!" princess character was just really out of place for the series.
Havn't played the new one and probably won't for a while. From what I saw in the demo there is no way in hell I'm gonna spend $60 on it. Maybe one day when it's in the bargain bin I'll give it a try.