Which had the better setting?
God of War. Its warped telling of greek mythology is oddly fascinating :p
Which had the better characters?
Devil May Cry. GOW's characters do their job well enough, but their personalities were fairly static. DMC suffers from the same thing, but to a much small extent.
Which had the better first game?
I loved the first GOW, but i'd say the first DMC has it edged.
Which evolved more in the later years?
For better or worse, DMC.
Which had the better games?
God of War. I think the 1st DMC edges out all the GOW games, but the DMC series itself is very inconsistent and has never managed to come close to the quality of the original (though 3 was a valiant effort). GOW on the other hand has remained consistent in quality, while also managing top up its scale with each main entry. The side entries don't have the same sense of scale progression that the main trilogy does, but they maintain the series core quality.
