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LTTP: Bayonetta & Bayonetta 2 [Lots of GIFs] [NSFW]

tcrunch

Member
Didn't expect to finish B2 this weekend, but I did, so here are my thoughts. I wrote the Bayonetta 1 review after I finished it rather than after I finished both. I decided to try them because B2 got so many GOTY mentions here.
I ripped the gifs from yt playthroughs.

BAYONETTA [WiiU]

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Bayonetta is an action game, a beat-em-up with combos, horrifying enemies, and gigantic demonic summons. It also has freeform racing segments, participatory cutscenes with QTEs, and every fight against a Cardinal Virtue (a boss so big it occupies its own "Chapter") plays out like its own unique mini-game that utilizes different skills from Bayonetta's repertoire. You can choose to make skillful, elegant combos, which the game allows you to practice on every loading screen, or you can be like me and mash the quick attack button fifty times until Bayonetta's fist becomes an ultra-fast torrent of punches, culminating in a high heel made of hair flying through a portal and stomping your enemies.

But to take a step back from the gameplay, Bayonetta is about a witch who awoke from her slumber under a pond and wandered in an amnesiac limbo for 20 years, then begins chasing her memories when she hears about mysterious gemstones called the Eyes of the World. The first modern-day scene in the game involves Bayonetta tricking a bunch of angels into descending from the heavens to retrieve a dead man, only to mercilessly slaughter them all. Bayonetta has a real beef with the angels for reasons that are not immediately clear, going so far as to provoke one of the Cardinal Virtues when it attempts to leave her be. Upon the Virtue's defeat however, all the angels finally have Bayonetta in their sights as well, and hustle her along to some unknown destiny in a strange sun-worshipping city called Vigrid.

Along the way, Bayonetta encounters a series of comedy sketches that pass as characters for the game. She receives lore about Vigrid, its angels, and its witches, through a series of notebooks left by an intrepid journalist. The story of the game is depicted through a series of cutscenes that oscillate between what-did-I-just-watch levels of awesome when fighting is depicted, and some tepid, incompletely animated talking scenes that utilize an out-of-place photo negative aesthetic. This latter variety of cutscene creates unpleasant hangs in the game's otherwise breakneck pacing. There are also a few abuses of gameplay instructional or scenery highlighting cutscenes that put the game on hold, but these only become truly irritating when you reach a section of the game that takes more than one try to beat. There's also a few incidences of cutscene-walk down a hallway-cutscene. All cutscenes can be skipped, but doing so requires pausing the game, going down in the menu to the "skip cutscene" option, and then pushing left to "yes" in a confirmation window. Guh.

"I forgot to mention one of the reasons I hunt your kind. You're much too ugly not to put out of your misery." All visual elements of characters are bent either toward fashion or terror, being sexy or being glorious. In her design, Bayonetta occupies all ends of these spectrums. Her enemies, the angels of Paradiso, are strict incarnations of both glory and terror, white-armored demigods with pulsing red insides. The demons Bayonetta summons from Inferno are a part of her, incarnated quite literally through her hair, but they are also a distinctly humbled and shadowy set of designs compared to the angels, appearing like scavengers at the end of the fight to rip their weakened prey to shreds. The demons assume forms we already associate with darkness and brutality: snakes, insects, hands reaching out of the abyss. The angels meanwhile take on some shapes that are impossible to decipher, wheels and faces, double-layered jaws and armor-plated machinery. Many of the angels take their names seriously: Kinship is a longboat with many oars and attacks all working together to shoot you out of the sky, Fearless is a lunging, clumsy beast with a heavily armored head, and Joy is...well, I will get to that later.

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This one dude does remind me of a pokemon though

I focus on what these designs inspired in me because they are highly memorable and unique in the world of videogames. Bayonetta goes out of its way to animate implausible-looking bodies, and manages to make them all classy. Visually the environments of the game are nothing to write home about. Vigrid appears to be a rejected urban set from a Final Fantasy, the game's brief lava sections are unconvincing. But the strength in the environments is that they constantly change and move as you progress through them. Among Bayonetta's abilities is the Witch Walk, which allows her to traverse any surface the light of the moon is shining on. That means up walls, on ceilings, out of the rising fires of explosions, and along the surfaces of debris spinning through space. You know you have it made as far as setpieces go when you are fighting increasingly large baddies while riding a missile as it flies toward a shining golden city.

There are a wide variety of enemies in Bayonetta, and while not all of them can be defeated in the same way, your greatest ally is a well-timed press of the dodge button that activates a slowdown effect called Witch Time. Witch Time gives you the extra seconds you need to pull off a devastating combo without being interrupted by an enemy strike. When you build up enough hits without being struck yourself, you can activate a Torture Attack which renders Bayonetta invincible while you perform a QTE event to deal damage to an enemy in a canned cinematic. I played with the gamepad, which felt a bit awkward and heavy the whole time, but I got used to the controls in a general sense. Bayonetta for Wii U does allow you to use the touchpad to perform attacks if you wish, but I did not attempt it. I did use the gamepad's gyroscope for one racing section, which was really fun but hard to control. I stopped because my wrists were starting to ache and switched back to the traditional control stick and buttons.

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Bayonetta Kart coming soon to WiiU

The gamepad insists on re-displaying everything that is on the TV, which is very distracting and could not be turned off. I feel this was responsible for some premature controller deaths that forced me to stop playing, one of which occurred during the spectacular final boss fight. You can play Bayonetta for Wii U with the other types of controllers, which would probably be more suitable. Other than the occasional achy finger, the combat felt solid and consistently fun to me. Have you ever felt in a game, when you see a repeat of an enemy type you already fought, "here we go again"? A sort of internal sigh before you blunder through the encounter to get to the next story tidbit or setpiece? I never felt this way in Bayonetta. I was happy even to see the most basic grunt-level angel again, and I enjoyed fighting through every kind of mob in different scenarios with different abilities.

The only exception to this was a certain pair of enemies that are repeats of earlier enemies who negate your ability to use Witch Time, and that's only because they were hard as shit without WT. You do run into enemies like this sometimes, and they provide the occasional "breakthrough" moment, that run where you finally get it all right and you go from flopping around your foe like a fish out of water to expertly taking out their health bar with your fastest and strongest combos, and no small amount of surgical precision in your reactions to their attacks. It's not often a game makes me go "YEAH!" at my tv screen in my empty house or sort of grunt while clenching my fists in victory, and Bayonetta managed it multiple times. The game wisely provides you a little tally screen after each battle that allows you to safely get all self-congratulations out of the way.

Accordingly, Bayonetta rewards you for style: not getting hit, pulling off as many hits as possible, and doing damage as fast as possible (that means executing the right combo at the right time). But fear not: if you are just a hapless button-masher with the reaction time of sloth, many combos can be executed just by jamming your fingers into buttons and eventually you will come up with certain orders of button-jamming that feel instinctively good to you. My suggestion is that when practicing on loading screens, take note of where your combo finishers land. If you know a combo that finishes with a high heel flying out of the ground into the sky, you know it can be useful against an airborne enemy. Bayonetta felt really good, a lot more fun than many games I have played lately, even though I was not the most skilled at it.

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What it feels like to play Bayonetta

I had a few issues with the camera. The game has a "lock on", but it is soft in nature and seems to release as soon as you let off the button. This means that if you are fighting a pack of similar enemies, you may have trouble sticking to just one. Watch for visual indicators of the most-damaged enemies, like sundered armor or guts hanging out. My other issue occurred most often in a recurring boss fight with a rival witch, where the camera would jump around and the fight would be obscured until I manually rotated it back to place. One more problem came when I used the Skip Cutscenes feature, which is already laborious. If you skip a cutscene and it ends with an enemy battle (most of them do), most of the enemies will probably be launching their attacks before the game pops back up on your screen. This means you need to start tapping the dodge button before you can see anything, and hope you're going in the right direction.

Bayonetta's gameplay is constantly evolving around its centerpiece of fast, combo-based fights. It still felt fresh after binging on it for a weekend, culminating in a couple of final boss fights that are suitably climactic. It is a game I definitely recommend, even if you are not a fighting game or "button masher" fan. I'm not!

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It all started as an innocent doppleganger dance-off

I feel a separate review could be written on the "appropriateness" of Bayonetta, and the effects of its titular character's sexualization, but I am going to try and keep it short since I may have more to say about it after playing Bayonetta 2. First I will point out what I did not really see any problems with: Bayonetta's dance moves, Bayonetta's clothing melting away except for a few carefully placed coils of hair when she Climaxes (the game's name for it) out a demon from the Inferno, Bayonetta's appearance in general. The first two points I don't see as being terribly different from a concert or some other bombastic performance art. As for Bayonetta's design, she is an exaggeration of the female figure but she is certainly not in line with the standard direction of such exaggerations. I don't really find a long neck and stick arms to be that sexy, I more thought she looks cool the way a cheetah can look cool.

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Then it got weird

But my perspective alone is not enough to dismiss a character as non-sexualized. Bayonetta is clearly someone's fetish. There are many exploitative camera angles. Bayonetta sucks on lollipops, groans and purrs. I feel the creators constructed Bayonetta's aesthetic and powers around a specific sexual fantasy- leather, BDSM, fashion and butterflies become exclusively female powers in this game. In general Bayonetta's Torture Attacks are based off medieval tortures, but there is also a case where the QTE determines how many times Bayonetta hits an angel's ass before lopping its head off with a guillotine, and the unique animation for a TA on a Joy angel, the only obviously feminized enemy, involves Bayonetta choking the angel with a chain while grinding its crotch into a spiked Spanish donkey. The angel's breasts bounce around during this animation.

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Who would want to impede on this artistic vision

The absurdity of these encounters is such that I feel unqualified to say whether they were justified portraying Bayonetta this way. Bayonetta is also in-control the whole game. I don't mean this in a BDSM domineering way, but in that she is genuinely powerful and always a couple steps ahead of everyone else. This is great, but offset by the fact that the first man you meet is bumbling and stupid, and Bayonetta's most persistent male companion is also some sort of hapless stand-in for the supposed player (he wants Bayonetta bad). Luckily the game also has Rodin, a male demon, who is implied to be very strong and is also hilarious and no-nonsense. Like Bayonetta, he is not really an Earthly creature, so he is accorded a similar elegance compared to the two human men Bayonetta meets. This grace also exists in one of the last bosses, who is male and as much of a fashionista as Bayonetta herself- he wears an entire stuffed white peacock around his shoulders after all.

Would the game lose any of its charm if you cut out the bouncing angel breasts and Bayonetta flying across the room to land her crotch in an angel's face? Would it get more flak if the gameplay wasn't so fun? To me personally it did not feel so wrong that I did not enjoy the game. Bayonetta is about shedding real-life problems (no witch is ever going to worry about what she looks like, when her period is going to start, if she is going to get pregnant, if she is going to get paid less for the same work) and becoming a rock star. Part of a rock star is their sexiness, and part of it is their power. I thought it would be really cool to be Bayonetta. How would playing the game affect the perceptions of men about real-life women, or women's perceptions of themselves? I dunno boss, at the moment I just have to shrug and say it was a hedonistic pleasure. And I accidentally wrote four paragraphs about it, whoops.

COMPLETION:
This was my first playthrough. I completed Bayonetta 1 in 22 hours on Normal. I got Stone Awards for all but 3 levels (Prologue, Prudence boss fight, and Sage boss fight), translation: I wasn't very good at the game and died a lot. I completed only 1 Alfheim challenge. I began with Bayonetta's standard weapons, moved on to the samurai sword, and towards the end of the game used the claw weapons quite a bit. For a while I did not realize I had to equip weapons to use them, and I blew a bunch of halos on an extra copy of weapons because I thought I had to buy that to use them- I had a lot of issues with weapons ok. Towards the end of the game I put all my money toward what I knew would be winning choices: HP+ and magic+ items. I also tried all the Nintendo cosplay costumes once (Peach, Daisy, Samus, and Link). I did not use any accessories or lollipops, I bought a claw weapon costume fragrance from Rodin but I didn't figure out how to make it turn on. I have not played Devil May Cry and I have not read/watched any media for Bayonetta prior to playing, aside from GAF headlines about it.

BAYONETTA 2 [WiiU]

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If you play this game, it will be in your Top 5 for the year barring some extreme allergy to action games.

Bayonetta 2 follows the same formula (down to some identical sequences) as B1, but improves on the mechanics of its predecessor all in the name of increasing how fun it is to play. I found combos much easier to pull off, Bayonetta in general moves and responds faster, I got a vast increase in the number of silver and gold awards I received compared to B1, and I did not die nearly as much. Gone are the QTEs to avoid instadeath during cutscenes, and all gigaton meters have a delay on them that let you reach max bonus with less controller strumming. All the camera issues from B1 also seemed resolved to me- no more losing sight of Bayonetta during a boss fight. Temporary enemy weapons are now assigned to their own button rather than taking over your entire moveset, so you don't have to change your playstyle each time you pick one up. B2's magic-based attacks (Torture Attacks and Umbran Climaxes) are much easier to pull off because getting hit no longer takes most of your magic bar away. The "challenge area" successor is much easier than in the previous game as well, and I completed every one I could find. Basically, B2 is not as interested in punishing you for being a bad player compared to B1. You tend to feel awesome, stylish, and powerful the whole time no matter how much of a button-mashing dork you are. This allows you to set your own goals for growth in your B2 skills, or just cruise through the game watching things explode. The downside is I never had a "YEAH!" moment in B2 like I have in B1 multiple times, but I think I'll live.

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You still can't turn off the gamepad display, 0/10 for Bayonetta 2

I can already tell this review is going to be short because of how similar the two games are. B2 lifts a few environments directly from its predecessor, such as Vigrid and Alfheim (now with blue filter), but it also offers some lusciously rendered new zones including a demon's pearlescent stomach and the writhing red core of Inferno. Let me just stop here and say again how cool it is to go to hell in this game: everything is alive there, even the ground, and it is an extremely unsettling place. Perhaps the only downside is the boss, which is an uninspired humanoid thing that becomes Quelaag from Dark Souls in her second phase. Eh. Overall the game has a bright, robust color palette compared to its predecessor, which is a good thing when you are trying to be as fabulous as possible.

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It's true I don't remember surfing on a water tornado in the first game

Bayonetta 2 introduces another catalog of enemies, the demons, who show up less often than angels and are in my opinion somewhat less spectacular. Angels defy our cultural conventions of what they should look like to increased effect in B2: cut away that cherubim's faceplate and you're apt to see a handful of green eyes and worming tentacles peeking out at you, rendered in loving detail. Demons just look strange- "alien" I think is what comes to mind for me. A lot of them appear thin and weak, their bodies have bright, jewel-like armor and there's a strong insect motif among the lot of them. It may just be that you are expecting demons to look horrid, so they are less impressive than the beauty/terror complex that the angel designs have. They still look fantastic. My favorite is Resentment, a giant snake monster with an infernal portal for a face.

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This isn't Resentment it just looks cool

B2 removes the film negative frames, but not the semi-static cutscenes they showcased in B1. Now these scenes are portrayed through a prettier and much more visible witch clock, but I was still left a little annoyed when a dramatic escape of Bayonetta and her ally that involved jumping out and landing on a jet was portrayed with statics. I can only assume this is some limitation in the game's budget/dev time and not a stylistic choice. The cutscenes that are full-motion are carefully shot. Just in case you forgot what game you were playing, the opening scene begins with Bayonetta's crotch and revolves around her and another witch's body in slow-motion. A minute later, Bayonetta is riding on an angelic centaur and slapping its ass, while the effect of her bouncing on its back is done in slow-mo again, with little "boing-boing" sounds on each cheeky impact. I felt that overall B2 was slightly less interested in a pornographic take on its main character and more about fashion and power, though maybe I missed the questionable Torture Attack for this game. That said, Bayonetta does sometimes exclaim "naughty boy!" when you get the highest grade for a section, which is partly presupposing the player is male and partly being unapologetically sexual. There is also a lot of femdom type literal ass-kicking. Bayonetta 2 is a sexual game by men, for men. That is definitely problematic, but it is still a good game if you are willing to embrace its internal context.

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Bayonetta 2 outfit > Bayonetta 1 outfit btw

Bayonetta's side character Luka remains a horrifying fashion disaster not even an angel could love. B2 is pretty interested in giving you actual sidekicks of varying usefulness, and the first one it introduces is the worst. Loki is an ugly design and his edgy swearing kid act wears off real quick. Mate mate love mate love mate mate love. Speak all terms of endearment with cynicism. Throw in a "fuck". That's Loki. Loki is tied to the rather silly/unessential main story that came to an abrupt end. I finished B2 in a scant 14 hours compared to B1's 22, but I think with the new "soft touch" mechanics that's mostly an effect of how much easier B2 was, combined with me knowing how to equip weapons several chapters earlier. It certainly helps that a few of the final chapters have repeats of enemies from B1 that I still remember the patterns for.

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Too bad for you I haven't sprained my wrist yet this session

Witch Time is still readily abusable through the whole game. My thrills now come not from finishing a fight but from finishing with a good score on the round-up screen, or from flawlessly executing sweet-looking combos. Really there is nothing new under heaven with Bayonetta 2, and it's strongest in the middle rather than at the ends. Aside from YMMV Loki, though, all complaints about the game are minor next to its accomplishment of being fun from start to finish, as well as completely beautiful for the whole ride.

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Cya in paradise

COMPLETION:
This was my first playthrough. I completed Bayonetta 2 in 14 hours on Normal. I got numerous Gold and Silver awards for chapters, a few Stones, no Platinums. I completed every Musphelheim challenge I found. I began with Bayonetta's standard weapons, moved on to curved swords, and towards the end of the game used curved swords on hands and whip on feet. I used the mega green herb lollipops a few times but ignored the rest, and I couldn't figure out how to craft them so I had a lot of craft supplies just sitting there the whole time. I spent the majority of my halos on witch hearts, then I got some techniques and costume fragrances (that I still couldn't figure out how to use). I also got one makeup box with a Chun Li looking costume inside. I did not try the Tag Climax co-op mode. As previously mentioned on my Bayonetta review, I have not played Devil May Cry and I have not read/watched any media for the game prior to playing, aside from GAF headlines about it.
 

kubus

Member
Only read Bayo1 part because I haven't played Bayo2 yet. I also beat Bayo1 very recently and I agree wholeheartedly with everything you wrote. The only gripe I had with the game is that a lot of things weren't clear to me and the item screen was unnecessarily convoluted. I only discovered you could change weapons when I was already at chapter 11, lol. But then again I am a complete action game newbie, I think this was my first game in the genre (also never played DmC or similar games). But yeah, I loved it and I can't wait to play Bayo2.

Really neat OP btw, with the gifs and all. Kudos.
 

Kouriozan

Member
Very good OP, loving those GIFs.
Personally, I'm stuck at the secret battle of Bayonetta 2 with everything else done but still have so much to do in the first one.
It's definitely my favorite "stylish action" IP ever.
 

Sesha

Member
Good OP. Reads like a great casual review of the series, and I feel you describe the elements of Bayonetta and its appeal very well.

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Bayonetta Kart coming soon to WiiU

I'll take a Platinum All-Star Racing (Wii U) for $60, Alex.

Have you ever felt in a game, when you see a repeat of an enemy type you already fought, "here we go again"? A sort of internal sigh before you blunder through the encounter to get to the next story tidbit or setpiece? I never felt this way in Bayonetta. I was happy even to see the most basic grunt-level angel again, and I enjoyed fighting through every kind of mob in different scenarios with different abilities.

It's funny you mention this, because I have this exact feeling a lot of times with Bayo's older cousin DMC, wherein every game after 1 eventually reaches a point were fights with familiar enemies feels like a chore. It's hard for me to pinpoint how exactly Bayo's pacing is better than DMCs, but I guess it's partly the level design and partly the encounter design.
 

Astral Dog

Member
Great op!
So i will give my impressions, im really bad at this but whatever.
Bayonetta is one of my favorite games ever, i loved the combat, bosses, enemies,characters,world and soundtrack, its a joy to play and even watch,im still replaying it with the Wii U port, When they announced the sequel i did not wait long to get the system, until W101 was close to release,i had insane expectations for the sequel and later i knew it was not going to surpass them.

+ The Umbran climax mechanic feels great, it always fills the screen to decimate your enemies, it can be a little overpowered but it can be difficult to go back to Bayonetta without it.
+ The art direction is a definitive step up from the original, the use of colors give each area a distinctive look in a way the original game never did,it creates a much more vibrant image and that can be refreshing after other Platinum games like MG Rising, Bayonetta,Vanquish, Madworld (lol),etc i also liked how the first game looked, but this is an improvment, just pleasing to the eyes.It doesnt look "next gen" but its a pretty game.
+ Going with the above are the better graphics, this is the game that shows what the system can do, even if it isnt that much better than the first, all the areas are bigger, the textures are better, the water is beautiful, along with the lightning, the enemies are more detailed and all their animations are a delight to see.And i have tomention the cutscenes too, they are more polished, the choreography is more elaborated, and look much better than the first,great idea to go to Shimomura for this
.+ The bosses, what can i say about the Masked Lumen that has not been said by now? the battle speaks for itself, complex and varied attacks,awesome soundtrack, cool but brief setpieces that dont interrump the gameplay,all other bosses are good too, with their own unique characteristics.
+ Sometimes, i enjoy collecting things,and there are a few things to collect or find in Bayonetta 2, including the crows, the journals, the Muspelheims, items, heart and moon pieces,etc.speaking of the journals, i also enjoy reading these things in games, and Bayonetta 2 doesnt dissapoint in that regard, all the descriptions of items, locations, enemies and characters are there to read, and it may have a little reference or two from other games.
+ Tag Climax, i have played just a little of this mode,but from what i read its pretty good and adds to the replay value.
+ All the new costumes with different characteristics are nice, and included in the first game too.
+Bayonetta included for free, of course.

Now, a few issues i had, some small:
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The story: honestlyi enjoy the silly, over the top but also dramatic tone of Bayonetta, the dialogue and characters help set the tone of the game,one that can be dramatic and epic but also silly and never forgets its a videogame in the end, i enjoyed watching the cutscenes on preview videos, but in the game they do affect the pacing and can become very annoying.also Loki is more annoying in the game, specially when he follows you, ,even if i dont hate him. The story itself has its good and bad points compared to the first, but i will give the edge to Bayonetta 1.
edit: now that i think more about it, the story of Bayonetta 1 was a simple journey, it was structured so Bayonetta ends up on the tower on the way she meets her younger self, a misterious witch, an annoying journalist, and interacts with the four main bosses, this was simple, but very good for an action game, because it never loses focus on who Bayonetta is, the game is about Bayonetta, unlike the sequel, wich throws this simple structure out of the window, if you thought the plot of Bayonetta 1 was silly, convulted, over the top nonsense, this is no different, but there is a clear difference, and in the end the first Bayonetta is much better for it.

. The game does feel too similar to the first game, it doesnt feel as fresh compared to it , and there are few new mechanics, it cant stand on its own without Bayo 1, now i dont think this is that bad, but it can be dissapointing

. The soundtrack: The game has a good sountrack there are great pieces on it , the problem is that there arent enough of them, a big part of the soundtrack is recycled from the first game, and some pieces are repeated alot, it just isnt as good or varied as the first game.
The Final Boss: This is,the big dissapointment for all,the major flaw.of the game. The shitty boss from PG.
First,i will say it doesnt compare to Jubileus or Jerghinga or other final bosses, it doesnt have the spectacle to go with it, or the character, i already writted about him,so to not make this more big than it needs to be i agree, It was more of a straightforward fight, nothing special, and his Aesir music sucked compared to the Greatest Jubilee, at least he has Beyond Time,and i liked when he strangled Luka and Loki, but I still think the ending was a bit memorable for different reasons,it was the little touches, the dialogue between Bayonetta and Balder, The final summoning,Jeanne and Gomorrah,Luka appearing from nowhere to save Loki, "Dont fuck with witches" etc.

As for Loptr,as weak as a FB and antagonist he is, in these types of games i expect the Final Boss to have three things: good music, an unique design and be fun to fight, and he meets the minimun, its a well made and designed boss.,

What the ending lacked was a final dungeon and a battle with possessed Balder, using some of Aesir moves,to make it more personal and surprising

−The framerate and IQ:even if the IQ didnt bother me much on my old 720P TV, but the jaggies are still noticeable, the framerate also is not stable,there are some parts when the game runs bad and that does affect the game, i blame the hardware too for this.
− The chapter structure: I dont like how the chapters are very different in content, there are chapters when its just the boss and are too short, in general the game feels a little shorter, even if it could have more content including characters, tag climax, costumes, etc. Like i said above, it lacked a proper final level too, would had been nice. The way the first Bayonetta did it was better.
− Nitpicks, but the difficulty bothered me, its easier than the first, its not a big problem except i have been collecting heart pieces as the game gives them like candy,and i cant stop playing the Muspelheims, i advice to not collect many of those as it can make the difficulty a joke. Also some of the characters voices, especially the Masked Lumen,and Enzo.

know nobody is gonna read this wall of text :p, i could writte more,but what im trying to say is,its very difficult to me to rate this game, after seeing some complaints that the game is too similar and more of the same, yes it is, its not as different as DMC 1 to DMC 3, or even DMC 3 to DMC 4,although i would argue one was made by a different team, and the other case it was on a much, much more powerful system,so that comprasion is weird to me.

I would say its better in parts and worse on others than Bayonetta, and doesnt feel as fresh, or even as creative,as the first,i would put it slighty below the first game.

Now,i partly blame myself for having these big expectations,in a way i ruined it because i watched all the bigger and little surprises before the game came out. Nintendo showed too much,and i watched more than half of the game. but even with that, the game meet or surpassed some of them its a great game, no doubt.

Its more Bayonetta,more of the same, at the end of the day its still a 360/PS3 game ported to Wii U, it was never going to be the game that moved the genre forward, or the innovative experience that many were hoping,it was its just trying to emulate what the original did and offer more of that, its a well made sequel, nothing more or less.

It still deserves criticism for not trying to do a bit more,in the way of new gameplay mechanics, story, specially the ending section, and finishing on an underwhelming note.

Platinum has offered different twist on their games with Wonderful 101,Metal Gear Rising, Korra, Madworld,Bayonetta, Vanquish and the coming Scalebound, they deserve the chance to release a "safe" sequel,and if that sequel is to Bayonetta, im very glad they did it,as Bayonetta is still their flagship title .

 

jersoc

Member
I finished bayo2 the other week. Such a fantastic game from start to finish. I'm glad nintendo helped it exist. I need to go back and gold medal some of the acts still. Then 3rd climax.

The MP part was interesting and fun too. I like how its half coop and half against each other.
 

Astral Dog

Member
There are some spoilers in there, these are impressions of most parts of the game, but, i will remove some if they are annoying..
Edit: its a mess,
 

The Lamp

Member
If you unlock the Salamandra and Takemikazuchi, that's when you really begin to feel like a god.

Playing this game on tag climax and playing the campaign over and over has been incredibly fun.

God I love this game.

If I ever become rich as hell, I will fund Bayonetta 3 to pay for the gaming community's sins of not buying Bayonetta 2.
 

takoyaki

Member
Finally started playing Bayonetta 2 and I'm having a blast with it. I loved the first one, but the combat in B2 feels even more fluid and the whole scale of the game is just unbelievable. "Moon River" will be stuck in my head for years to come, just like "Fly me to the moon" from the first game.

Great OP btw, those gifs capture a lot of what makes Bayonetta such an amazing franchise.
 

tcrunch

Member
So i will give my impressions, im really bad at this but whatever.

I agree with what you said, interesting points about how the story detracts a bit from Bayonetta compared to the first game. I was certain that when
my ally got possessed
at the end it was going to launch into some dramatic final conflict, but nothing happened. It was back to shopping and fighting angels on airplanes, and one final cutscene that was like "hey! remember Bayonetta 1?!" despite that I had figured out what was going on well before.

Great OP btw, those gifs capture a lot of what makes Bayonetta such an amazing franchise.

Yeah, I feel it is a game better expressed in motion than in screenshots.
 

Mentok

Banned
Bayonetta came out of nowhere and quickly became my favourite action game ever on my 360. Playing through 1 again before playing 2 and I already know they'll both have multiple playthroughs.
 

tengiants

Member
Picked these up and played through both of them twice since it came out. Really good games and I'm disappointed in myself that I missed Bayonetta the first time around.

I had already owned Wonderful 101 before playing Bayonetta but couldn't get through it. I wasn't enjoying myself and I just didn't "get" it. I decided to go back to W101 this weekend and the game just makes so much more sense after playing Bayonetta. I'm actually enjoying myself and understand the flow of the game.

So if you find yourself enjoying Bayonetta, I do recommend playing W101 if you haven't already.
 
A couple of videos to make you appreciate Bayonetta even more.
Bayonetta 2 combo video (Michelle gun)

yoshesqueSA (Very skilled Bayonetta player and she goes indepth into the Bayonetta lore. Even so far as to explain torture devices and design inspiration. Awesome channel)

The Umbran Arts - Episode 01 (Saur and a few other top players have been making a video series on Bayonetta for those looking to get into the mechanics of the series).

The combo video is awesome, but at the same time sad, because I'll never will be as good T_T
 
Bayonetta came out of nowhere and quickly became my favourite action game ever on my 360. Playing through 1 again before playing 2 and I already know they'll both have multiple playthroughs.

I finished 1 for the first time today and it has also shot to the top of my action game list!!! Thing is though, i can't decide between playing through it again (which is something i normally do NOT do) or play another game out of my depressingly huge backlog hmm
 

ghibli99

Member
yoshesqueSA (Very skilled Bayonetta player and she goes indepth into the Bayonetta lore. Even so far as to explain torture devices and design inspiration. Awesome channel)
Yeah, she opened my eyes to the depth of the game's combat. Made me really appreciate what Platinum did, and as a result, made my Bayo 1 & 2 playthroughs so much fun and satisfying. Bayo 1 is good, but Bayo 2 is such an amazing and improved game!
 

Mentok

Banned
I finished 1 for the first time today and it has also shot to the top of my action game list!!! Thing is though, i can't decide between playing through it again (which is something i normally do NOT do) or play another game out of my depressingly huge backlog hmm

Play through it again, your backlog isn't going anywhere! :)
 
That's how I like LttP threads done, putting the results of both runs side by side like that does show that Bayonetta 2 was definitely a more forgiving game, yet it pulled this off without throwing away what worked in the original so it still felt challenging enough without stoning you into shameful Enzo oblivion. As such I dove straight back into 2 after I first finished in a way that just didn't happen with the original which made me feel like I lucked my way to the end.
I do however miss a few aspects of the first game, combat seemed to have a greater sense of weight behind it like firing off a single wicked weave lands with greater impact and satisfaction than an entire Umbran climax in 2. Also I prefer the pacing and variety of the first game in that it finds ways to mix up a few fighting arenas with extra hazards/concepts and areas between fights feeling more substantial making use of Bayonetta's movement options to overcome obstacles. Unfortunately this didn't always work for the best, 'd forgotten about the turret section until I replayed it on the Wii U and the bike and missile go without saying.

Both are great games, the second is more welcoming and easier to get into I'm thinking while perhaps being a bit too safe at times, then again its hard to argue with the results.
 

tcrunch

Member
OP, you can turn off the display in the Wii-U controller menu.

So I went to investigate this and found that if you press HOME while playing a game, you can go into controller settings and click DISPLAY OFF to turn the gamepad display off.

However, pressing any button on the gamepad turns the display back on, so you can't have the display off and still play the game with the gamepad unless there's something I'm missing.

I checked the system settings as well and there is nothing there.
 
So I went to investigate this and found that if you press HOME while playing a game, you can go into controller settings and click DISPLAY OFF to turn the gamepad display off.

However, pressing any button on the gamepad turns the display back on, so you can't have the display off and still play the game with the gamepad unless there's something I'm missing.

I checked the system settings as well and there is nothing there.

Misunderstood what you wanted. Yeah only helps if you have a pro controller
 

Nosgotham

Junior Member
Great OP!

I just finished both of them myself on normal difficulty. (2nd climax on 2). I LOVED Bayonetta 1 from beginning to end. There were some very fast insta death QTEs, but besides that I have no complaints about the game. I found it to be pretty difficult and really challenged me.

Bayonetta 2 looks much better and I feel there is a lot more spectacle going on, but was slightly disappointed in
the smaller scale final boss battle. I didn't feel that same satisfaction as W101 or Bayo1.
I also found the entire experience more forgiving. I have yet to play it on a harder difficulty though.Also, I did not think I would be into the story, but by the end of 2 I really wanted more of it. I thought it was very well executed.
 
Bayonetta makes me feel bad that I cant get into or play hack and slash games at all. Cause stylistically it looks like a game I would love.
 

Chastten

Banned
Just finished Bayo 2 myself this weekend. Finished story mode on 2nd climax on friday night, then did 3rd climax as well as get most costumes, moves and accesories these past 2 days.

Great game. Didn't like the first couple of levels much, and I still dislike the water parts, but overall it's definitely a GOTY-contender.
 

tcrunch

Member
Bayonetta makes me feel bad that I cant get into or play hack and slash games at all. Cause stylistically it looks like a game I would love.

I do not play hack-and-slash type stuff or fighting games at all, and I still enjoyed it, if that means anything. I have not played Kamiya's other work (DMC), but it felt a lot like God of War in that you can choose between executing combos or just mashing your way through.
 
Interesting thoughts. I agree with you for the most part.

...Joy angel, the only obviously feminized enemy...

Very minor nitpick, but the wheel enemies (Enchant) in B1 are also pretty obviously female. In B2 there's also Glamour and one of the demons, I think it was Resentment, who are likely female too. (Not including bosses.)
 

Converse

Banned
Wonderful post, OP, thanks for the thoughts. I'm basically you from the past -- I bought the Bayonetta 1 and 2 package for Wii U and am currently working my way through Bayonetta 1 for the first time. I also suck at it, and get mostly stone and bronze metals (I get lots of silvers and golds but end up dying a whole lot and using healing lollipops, which brings the overall score down, I think). Coincidentally, I'm on Chapter XI and now I know about the weapons thing (because you mention it in your post). Really enjoying the game overall, though I doubt I'll ever be any good at it. Stylistically, as I've mentioned before, I view it all as one big, absurd, kitschy drag show. It's fun.

So, I have a question for veterans of both games (especially those who played them in quick succession). I'd like to revisit the chapters in Bayo 1 after I beat the game to get better scores and unlock more things, but I'm also real eager to move on to Bayo 2. Would it be jarring to return to Bayo 1 after completing 2? My hope is that playing B2 will improve my skills for a return to B1.
 
So, I have a question for veterans of both games (especially those who played them in quick succession). I'd like to revisit the chapters in Bayo 1 after I beat the game to get better scores and unlock more things, but I'm also real eager to move on to Bayo 2. Would it be jarring to return to Bayo 1 after completing 2? My hope is that playing B2 will improve my skills for a return to B1.

I got the B1 and B2 pack. Played B1 the first time and loved the story and the combat but there was a bunch of really frustrating things about it - insta-kill QTEs, frustrating item/death mechanics, dreadful minigame things... plus also I think I'm in the vast minority but B1's model of Bayonetta herself is kind of in the uncanny valley for me or something. *shudder*

Bayonetta 2 pretty much removes/improves x100 all of those things so the thought of going back to replay B1 now is slightly sickening to me. The only thing B1 does better is the story and final boss IMO, although B2's story is also very fun. Just my 2 cents - you might feel completely differently to me. I'm sure with about 2 years of not playing either I'll replay B1 again. :)
 
A couple of videos to make you appreciate Bayonetta even more.
Bayonetta 2 combo video (Michelle gun)

yoshesqueSA (Very skilled Bayonetta player and she goes indepth into the Bayonetta lore. Even so far as to explain torture devices and design inspiration. Awesome channel)

The Umbran Arts - Episode 01 (Saur and a few other top players have been making a video series on Bayonetta for those looking to get into the mechanics of the series).

This is undeniable proof that I'm not that good at Bayonetta 2. Good Lord.

I need to get practicing...
 

tcrunch

Member
Very minor nitpick, but the wheel enemies (Enchant) in B1 are also pretty obviously female. In B2 there's also Glamour and one of the demons, I think it was Resentment, who are likely female too. (Not including bosses.)

I guess by feminized I meant not just having female features but also a noticeably humanoid female body.

But you're right, Enchant has some cute heels that I did not notice!

JhgwH7Y.png
 
Played Bayonetta 2 for the first time today (played Bayonetta 1 for 10 Minute on a friends Xbox 360 years ago)...

I play on 2nd Climax and got a lot of Silvers, one Platinum so far aaaand... I have the feeling that I have no idea what I'm actually doing but wait->evade->button mash. It's not horrible, but I really really hoped for more. At the moment I might even go as far as to say that I liked DMC's combat better. I'm probably also still doing something wrong, because I take too much damage... maybe trying too hard for witch-time while not being really good at it?! Idk... my question:

Will there be a point at like 7 hours or so in, when I know which combo does how much damage and will place the enemy where and then I can orchestrate a fight or will it always feel "no idea, mash!" ??


[Btw: The idea that an empowered character, who plays with her sexuality and can toy with pretty much anyones desires, from married fat-guy to gigantic demons, is a sexistic creation is ridiculous. People who think so should ask themselves if they are capable of imagining a sexually empowered over-the-top action heroine that is still really female and not just Kratos/Marcus Pheonix/Duke Nukem with boobs. If not, maybe then it's them who are the sexistic ones.]
 
Played Bayonetta 2 for the first time today (played Bayonetta 1 for 10 Minute on a friends Xbox 360 years ago)...

I play on 2nd Climax and got a lot of Silvers, one Platinum so far aaaand... I have the feeling that I have no idea what I'm actually doing but wait->evade->button mash. It's not horrible, but I really really hoped for more. At the moment I might even go as far as to say that I liked DMC's combat better. I'm probably also still doing something wrong, because I take too much damage... maybe trying too hard for witch-time while not being really good at it?! Idk... my question:

Will there be a point at like 7 hours or so in, when I know which combo does how much damage and will place the enemy where and then I can orchestrate a fight or will it always feel "no idea, mash!" ??

[Btw: The idea that an empowered character, who plays with her sexuality and can toy with pretty much anyones desires, from married fat-guy to gigantic demons, is a sexistic creation is ridiculous. People who think so should ask themselves if they are capable of imagining a sexually empowered over-the-top action heroine that is still really female and not just Kratos/Marcus Pheonix/Duke Nukem with boobs. If not, maybe then it's them who are the sexistic ones.]


Just go with it, the game will wean you off of relying too much on witch time as it progresses. Keep in mind the combos that end with wicked weave finishers (the huge fists/heels) and try to learn the ones you are comfortable with. With dodge offset you can really use whatever combos you want without worrying about being knocked out of them. The combo practice screen is really helpful for this.
 
Played Bayonetta 2 for the first time today (played Bayonetta 1 for 10 Minute on a friends Xbox 360 years ago)...

I play on 2nd Climax and got a lot of Silvers, one Platinum so far aaaand... I have the feeling that I have no idea what I'm actually doing but wait->evade->button mash. It's not horrible, but I really really hoped for more. At the moment I might even go as far as to say that I liked DMC's combat better. I'm probably also still doing something wrong, because I take too much damage... maybe trying too hard for witch-time while not being really good at it?! Idk... my question:

Will there be a point at like 7 hours or so in, when I know which combo does how much damage and will place the enemy where and then I can orchestrate a fight or will it always feel "no idea, mash!" ??
2nd Climax is on the easy side compared to Bayonetta 1's Normal difficulty, and the "mindlessly mashing" part is something that almost always rears its head in action games like these if you don't care about improving your ranks or just your playstyle in general. Including DMC. If you're into experimenting with various weapons, you'll be receiving more tools later down the road (as is par of the course) with each their own unique characteristics when it comes to crowd control, positioning and other such benefits, but I still suggest starting anew and cranking it up to 3rd Climax if you're not too far into the campaign.
 

tcrunch

Member
Will there be a point at like 7 hours or so in, when I know which combo does how much damage and will place the enemy where and then I can orchestrate a fight or will it always feel "no idea, mash!" ??

In Bayonetta 2 at 2nd Climax (the almost-equivalent to Normal difficulty in B1 I guess?) it's really your choice how technical you get, i.e. how much you care about getting the shiniest medals.

You can definitely play it as "no idea, mash!" if you want.
 
Awesome OP.

Having just finished Bayo 2 and starting Bayonetta 1 I am kind of taken aback by how much more sexualized the first game is. The second game is much more tastefully done.
 
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