Does Dante's power in DMC 4 surpass that of Sparda's, or is it really just his skills?

[GilverFortuna]

Once again, here I am with a question regarding the english translation of a Devil May Cry game. This time it's the 4's Dante description. It says that Dante's skills have surpassed that of his father's, but the manual JP text I've found is saying this:
想魔を狩る春を生業とするデビルノ、ンタ L であり、様々な#件に介人し恧魔を倒し きた歴戦の強荇。その力は父スパーダ '畚越えているともわれる。

It's using the 力 kanji, which means power, no matter how I combine the symbols. I can't currently check the in-game JP version, but I have a feeling that it's gonna be the same thing. So, here's the question: am I a dumbass, or is it really that Dante, in fact, surpassed his father's strength in 4, not skills?

 

[Random-Helper323]

Sparda's strength is a little uncertain. We know he beat Mundus. Still, DMC2 does state that Dante was surpassing Sparda.

Edit: this thread should have been a questions and answers thread, by the way.

 

[GilverFortuna]

Sparda's strength is a little uncertain. We know he beat Mundus. Still, DMC2 does state that Dante was surpassing Sparda.

Edit: this thread should have been a questions and answers thread, by the way.

Ah, thanks. Can I change the thread designation somehow?

 

[GilverFortuna]

Sparda's strength is a little uncertain. We know he beat Mundus. Still, DMC2 does state that Dante was surpassing Sparda.

Edit: this thread should have been a questions and answers thread, by the way.

As for Sparda's power, the closest we have to it is Urizen at the beginning of 5. He was in possession of the Yamato and the remnants of Vergil's power that allowed him to rip Nero's arm off, plus he wasn't dying at that time. He was also 100% demon with 100% of Sparda's blood, so that should put him as close to Sparda as possible in terms of potential.