February 2019 Playthrough - Bayonetta

[GrayGhost81]

Just started the game, finally. I'm playing on very easy because I'm so bad at video games and I want to finish it quickly. I forgot how cutscene heavy this game is! I mean, I've had the game on for about an hour and a half and have probably experienced about ten minutes of gameplay. Hell, some dopey cutscene is playing right now as I type this. If I remember correctly, the game opens up a bit once all the tutorials are out of the way.

I love this game, though. Everything is just so flashy and over the top, it's incredible. The music is sick.

[douglie007]

I'm at chapter 6 so far, the game confuses my wife, lol.

[singlebanana]

Finally able to put some time into this one... I'm up to Chapter 3 now and plan on trying to knock out 2 chapters a night.  There is a lot going on in this game in terms of the battle sequences.  I'm not complaining for sure, but as a much more classic gamer, I feel a bit behind the curve.  I'm having a lot of fun with this one so far and I am really digging the story. However, so far I feel like the story sequences are a bit too long and the action sequences a bit too short.  Though I love the cutscenes, I could probably do with less of them.

[singlebanana]

Well, I finished the game last Friday and am finally up to putting some thoughts down about the game. I want to first apologize for being a little MIA this month, especially since I am hosting. Our TV died the night of the Super Bowl and it took us a little while to find and purchase a new one. The good news is that I'm now playing on 65" of 4K goodness, so my mourning of my old TV was short-lasted. My two oldest kids just finished basketball this weekend and travel soccer started at the end of January (i.e. weekends have been slammed). And lastly, I've been busy with the site's fund drive, which I'm in charge of.  Glad to now be "back in the game," so to speak, as life settles down a bit, and after finishing Bayonetta, I'm back in front of the curve already at level 14 in next month's playthrough of Dragon Warrior. Good times.

Alright, Bayonetta.... How do I begin to describe this game? I guess the best way would be to compare it to a Platinum game we played a while back, Transformers: Devastation. One obvious comparison is the dodging and "Witch Time" concept present in both games. I really love this feature and feel that it slows the chaos down a bit, which is always good for a more retro gamer like me. It's fun firing off the combos and the move sets are just sick! Though Transformers was similar, I felt that the move sets were not as expressive and cool as those in Bayonetta. While "Bayonetta" did feel a bit button mashy, there was always a sense of purpose in the moves I pulled off, where as with Transformers, I seemed to go with the same, repetitive combo over and over again. Gameplay in Bayonetta was fluid and wonderful.

Transformers looked great and that was its biggest selling point for me. The cityscapes were neat, but overall, simple and conventional as to what I see from day-to-day. The environments in Bayonetta were fantastical and other worldly; there was just something very grand and majestic about them. The sprites for the normal enemies and bosses were incredible!  I don't think that I have played any other game that has put so much fantastic detail into their design.

The knocks I have on Bayonetta, come down to three things: (1) poorly developed story, (2) fantastic looking, but way too lengthy cutscenes, and (3) it was a game that had a nice length, but like last months play, Lunar Knights, I just wanted it to end.  I felt that the story developed way too slowly throughout and wasn't really established well in the beginning. It isn't until the end that we finally put together what is really going on, so there is a great narrative abyss in the middle. Cutscenes look spectacular, but are way too long. I would swap these out for shorter ones and much more combat. Sometimes I felt as if I was watching a movie as opposed to playing a hack & slash. And my goodness, was that Father Balder cutscene long and boring enough for you? Geez.... Lastly, there was so much garbage thrown on at the end that some of it felt completely tacked on (really, a second final boss and I have to f#$king dodge planets?). A few times I thought that I had finished the game, but "NOPE!" here we are, still going...

I know these may seem like harsh criticisms of the game, but I think they are valid and overall, small gripes in the scope of how awesome this game is and how much I really enjoyed it.  I had such a blast and am so glad that I picked this game for February.  I would love to hear everyone else's thoughts.

[Crabmaster2000]

Totally agree with your thoughts on the character designs in this game. I love how everything looks from the crazy gold plated Beloved to the flying warship Kindred to the ridiculously complicated bosses the game throws at you it was always visually appealing. Not to mention Bayonetta herself and how the different weapons augmented her visually as well. Swapping from the Shuraba to the Durga to Odette not only affects gameplay, but kept the visuals fresh and interesting. To tack that only another of your points the variety in combat was amplified as you unlocked said weapons which kept me from leaning back too heavily on certain combos as I progressed. And obviously different enemies lent themselves to different attack styles also so I never felt like I was doing the same thing over and over like is the case in a lot of other 3D action games.

I think you first 2 criticisms could probably be rolled into one as they are so closely related. If the story was more interesting maybe the cutscenes wouldn't feel so long? I don't disagree with you and like I mentioned in an early post, I didn't remember almost anything about the story from the first time I played Bayonetta. What I love about this game (besides how it looks and sounds) is the gameplay. That's what sticks with me and brought me back. Playing through again to Platinum each stage on normal and then again beating each stage on hard I skipped all the cutscenes, and that is when this game feels perfect to me. I don't care about the silly heavenly war and Umbran Witches vs Lumen Sages. I just want slice things with my sword, explode them with my Durgas and dodge things at the very last moment before they hit me!

As for your third point I always expect the ending to devolve into a bunch of crazy exposition and insane escalating fights that eventually pit me against a God bent of destroying all of humanity when playing a Japanese developed game so it doesn't wear out it's welcome for me, in fact it steps right up and meets expectations (I love the silly things like dodging the planets, tossing buildings/satellites at bosses and punching a statue to save humanity!). That last fight and the battles during the credits where a lot of fun.

I'm surprised no one has brought of the homage levels to Outrun or Space Harrier. Two of my favorite stages, I played the Outrun stage every time I booted up the game just to get myself pumped up with the speed of the level and the awesome remix of the original song. I ended up playing the Space Harrier stage quite a bit too, but that was just because I found it to be one of the hardest levels to get the Platinum trophy on.

I'm pretty sure Platinum has an "main' team and a "B" team though. Someone correct me if I'm wrong but the "B" team made Transformers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turles, Legend of Korra and a couple others while the "main" team is the Bayonetta team (and did a few others like Vanquish and Wonderful 101). Everything I've played by their "main" team I've absolutely loved. All their "B" team output I still enjoy, but it just does't quite live up to expectations.

[Disposed Hero]

I've been distracted with other things lately and haven't put much time into Bayonetta. My first impressions during the opening prologue chapter weren't great, as I found all of the cutscenes and tutorials to be a slog. I was starting to enjoy it much more by the time I finished Chapter 1, but I just haven't come back to it since then. Maybe I'll prioritize this game and try to finish it within the next week or so.

[MetalFRO]

I know I didn't play along this month, but since I played through Bayonetta again a few months ago when the Switch version came out, I thought I would chime in briefly. Rich, your concerns are all valid, and I generally share them. I generally like the story setup and the basics that they've laid out, but there's way more exposition than needed, and the execution of that story is somewhat ham-fisted. That said, the character of Bayonetta herself is the main draw, and the voice actress who portrays her, at least in the English language track, does a great job of embodying that attitude that she has to have, to carry the persona they're trying to build. As for the combat, I think the biggest issue with the first game is that the window of time to execute Witch Time is just a hair small, and they widened that just enough with the second game where it's a bit more forgiving. It makes activating Witch Time a bit less haphazard, and as a result, makes you feel more powerful, which is important in a power fantasy game like this. I also agree about the length - it does overstay its welcome a bit, with a couple "gotcha" false endings, and the overuse of long cutscenes making the whole thing last longer than it needed to. And like you, despite these nagging concerns, I still think it's a pretty great game, with a lot of charm and draw to it, and with the improvements I feel they made with the 2nd game, I'm looking very forward to the upcoming 3rd entry.

[singlebanana]

Yeah, kind of got the Bond villain vibes during the Father Balder long-winded narrative. I feel like this could have been condensed had the middle of the story been better and revealed more.

Also, something else I wanted to point out. Is this a stretch or did anyone else pick up on this? (spoiler tag for those who have not finished)

Spoiler (hover to show)

I appears to me that young Cereza's "teddy bear" has the second jewel on it. Young Cereza has the necklace, but it is missing the jewel, one of the "Eyes." I first noticed it when the button eye falls off. The other eye appears to be the jewel. Am I off on this or did others notice it?" They seem to flaunt it with closer pictures of the "teddy" once in a while. Hidden in plain site?

[Crabmaster2000]

[MetalFRO]

Love the OST in this game.