Many people have said that they feel Dante is useless in this game. Granted, he is not good enough for the very final boss or the optional ending "superboss," but is he truly useless?

I say that he is absolutally NOT useless.

First, when you first obtain him, he is very strong in general (unless you are way too leveled, in which case, all bets are off on your opinion anyway). His Roundtrip and Whirlwind attacks are nice for getting rid of various pests.

Second, though he only resists ailments, and this does not cause press turn loss, he almost never gets status ailments.

Third, he resists physical, and is immune to death and expel.

Fourth, and most importantly, he obtains some very good abilities:

Holy Star: Like Dekunda, very useful

Showtime: Almighty damage to all, AWESOME for random battles, I use this even in the highest floors of the Tower of Kagutsuchi to wipe out Surt, Rangda, Yurlurnggur, Grimehalka, Cerberus, etc. Albeit it is not that good against bosses, but it is phenomenal for killing other demons with lots of immunities that bug you.

Stinger: Almighty damage + Auto kill EVEN IF THE UNIT IS IMMUNE TO DEATH AND EXPELl!!! (unless it is a boss) which is FANTASTIC for random battles. I use this even in the highest floors of the Tower of Kagutsuchi to wipe out Surt, Rangda, Yurlurnggur, Cerberus, Grimehalka, etc. Albeit it is not that good against bosses, but it is phenomenal for killing other demons with lots of immunities that bug you. Once you get Friekugel stinger is not as impressive, but if you have them both, you are all but unstoppable.

Son's Oath: Boosts damage on Attack, Showtime, Rebellion, and Stinger by 50%

Never Yeild: Like Endure

And the often overlooked REBELLION! Rebellion, as long as the enemy you are fighting is not one of the two final bosses or immune to physical damage, Rebellion is possibly the best offensive attack in the game, aside from the ones your main character can get. Some are skeptical of this... but it is true. Why? Because it deals Critical damage almost every single time! I don't hack the program, so I don't know percentages, but I've used it and observed. It nearly always Criticals. It Criticals so much I am upset when it doesn't Critical. This gets you EXTRA PRESS TURNS and does SERIOUS DAMAGE. When fighting bosses such as Metatron, Ahriman, and Baal Avatar (especially in the Kalpa graveyards to kill them in a set number of press turns or less for a fantastic prize) this attack PUNISHES these bosses. Throw a Tarukaja or two on your party and these battles are a piece of cake with Dante.

Anyway, that's why I think Dante is awesome until the VERY end of the game.

Thanks for the info. I haven't touched Nocturne yet (have it though), will get to it when I finally get around to completing SMT: Devil Summoner (forgot to finish it ;o )

I remember hearing Dante was in it (DMC2 look), and was wondering how he fared.

Anyone who can jump off a 80 storey building, usually is useless.

I didn't like Dante and use him much. Hated him for the trouble he caused me on the Kalpas.