Game of the Month #11 - Bayonetta

Blurring the borders of good and evil, this cinematic and stylized adventure stars Bayonetta, a heroine bent on sending supernatural forces to the depths of hell. Armed with her four enchanted guns known as Scarborough Fair, she battles both monstrous behemoths and angelic enemies. By combining special magic attacks, summoning primal forces and unleashing devastating weaponry, she impressively punishes anyone who gets in her way. From its fluid and intuitive combat system to its gripping story line, Bayonetta is one action thriller that won't disappoint.

I beg to present you, as a Christmas gift, Bayonetta, with 150 sick combos and plenty of craziness, and also about 25,000 bales of weird hair stuff.

- William Tecumseh Sherman presenting the Game of the Month to Mockturtle, 1864

Originally Posted by: mockturtle

Or so I Imagine.

It looks like I finally have a reason to stick the game in my Wii U :p I probably will do so in the next couple of days.

I might take part in this one since I have this again on Wii U.

i'm unstoppable! just bought bayonetta wiiu (1 & 2) from gamefly for $30.

someone please stop me! i don't even have an apartment to play these in.

but seriously - if i move in by this weekend, i'll spend this entire weekend playing this and undertale.

then crack the rest soon.

Oh man... I played it acouple of months back and loved it. I'm starting my Metal Gear run this month so I won't have the time for a replay

My body

lol, what a perfect month for a Bayonetta playthrough! :p

(Still trying to get on that playthrough btw, just been distracted with a million other things)

just came in the mail yesterday. aside from watching Return of the Jedi, then walking to Arclight to see Force Awakens at 8pm, my Saturday will hopefully be spent playing Bayonetta.

So since this hasn't really taken off in the way any of us probably wanted, I figure I might as well try and get the ball rolling. I meant to do this sooner, especially since the December 19th was Bayonetta's 604th birthday in universe, but oh well. I originally played Bayonetta when it first came out on PS3, then switched to the Wii U version once that was available, and all told I've put about 78 hours into the game (via many playthroughs and the occasional a la carte chapter). I've loved it from the moment I first laid eyes on it, and along with its sequel is my favorite game of all time. But I'm totally not biased, I promise. Well, maybe a little.

I'd played action games before, but I wasn't really prepared for Bayonetta's extreme pace. Speed and precision are the two most important elements of the gameplay, and when you add in its over the top craziness, it can get really hard really fast. I'll admit that when I first played the game, I got all stone awards for all the chapters from about Chapter V onward. The great thing is that as you play the game more an more, you learn how to play better and better, even though it doesn't always feel like a natural learning curve type of progression. For example, if you're anything like me, you probably weren't prepared to beat Jubileus at the end without dying at least a few times, but by doing more playthroughs and becoming better acquainted with the mechanics, you can beat her even without using any items by maybe the third or fourth time you punch her into the sun. I also really appreciate the fact that the game is broken up into chapters that you can replay at any time; on many a bad day I've made myself feel better by boss rushing the Cardinal Virtues. It's kind of weird that even though the chapters are pretty linear, I felt like most of them were sort of their own dungeon a la The Legend of Zelda. Maybe that's just me, though.

The story, believe it or not, I enjoyed just as much as the gameplay. I always think story is more important than gameplay, but in this case they were on par with each other. The central mystery of Bayonetta's history, her relationships with Jeanne, Luka & Cereza, and Balder's master plan to revive Jubileus combined into one very well-told story, complete with memorable dialogue and staging. This might just be me, too, but I've never understood the criticism that Bayonetta's story was hard to follow. Like, was everyone playing the game one-handed? I realize you can on Very Easy difficulty, but really, was it so hard to pay attention to what was happening? I wonder how y'all fared on this front.

Even on PS3, where the graphics were seriously hindered to say the least, Bayonetta always struck me as a beautiful game. The art direction is exquisite: the gorgeous architecture of Vigrid, the intricate and layered designs of the angels, the minute details in every scene, not to mention the characters who were wonderfully designed by Mari Shimazaki. It was all brought to life perfectly, technical problems notwithstanding. And don't even get me started on the music! Sweeping and epic are just two words I'd use to describe it. If You May Call Me Father doesn't give you chills, something's wrong with you.

Since Bayonetta is playable on PS3, 360 and Wii U, just what sort of technical hiccups you might've encountered I'm not sure, but I did discover something interesting a few months ago. When I first played the Wii U version, I noticed some occasional slowdown in various parts of the game that wasn't in the PS3 version. This gave me no end of grief, since I wasn't sure if it was the port or just my copy/console or what. Now, as I mentioned, sometimes I like to beat up the Cardinal Virtues if I'm having a bad day, but one day I couldn't get to my games, so I watched a video of the Temperantia fight on YouTube from the 360 version instead. It was then that I noticed it had the same (slight, in this case) instances of slowdown I'd had on Wii U that I didn't on PS3! After watching some other videos of the 360 version specifically, I came to the conclusion that the slowdown was present on 360, but not on PS3, which is miraculous, all things considered. Since the Wii U version was ported from the 360 version, that explained both the discrepancy I experienced as well as the conflicting answers I found online as to whether or not the Wii U version had slowdown issues; those who said "no" must have been coming from 360 to Wii U, and those saying "yes" from PS3 to Wii U! So yeah, vindication.

One last thing I'll mention regarding Bayonetta herself. Much has been written about her character, whether she's nothing but an overly-slutty male fantasy or a subversion of tropes into a feminist icon. I want to know where you guys fall on this. Personally, I feel very strongly she's the latter. Bayonetta has very little need for men, and most of the male characters, especially Luka, she openly humiliates (not to mention the angels); her powers are godlike (as proven by the fact she killed a god); the only time she's shown canonically taking damage or otherwise being vulnerable is after Cereza is sent back in time and the powers of the Left Eye overwhelm her; and most importantly, everything she does is on her terms. She dances and poses because she wants to, not for the benefit of anyone else, male or female. She makes double entendres and puns in order to make people uncomfortable. The name of her game is subversion... and also Bayonetta.

I look forward to talking more about the game with you guys as you play more of it!

Edit: also FUCK YES BAYONETTA IS IN SMASH MY DREAM CAME TRUE.

Well, as Rodin once said, ain't this a motherfucker.

Yeah, I got distracted with GOTY stuff for a while, then general "meh" attitude to most gaming things, lol.

But I started this a few days ago after I finished Splatoon's single player campaign. I'm so lazy that I don't like changing discs very often.

Anyway, I'm at Chapter V now. I decided to play on Easy (but not Very Easy) because I'm not particularly good at character action games, though I'd like to get better.

This game is insane and I love it. Everything that's happened so far is absurd and crazy and it's sooooo much fun to watch. It's just great watching everything that's happening. Currently the 'Easy' difficulty is just a bit... too easy, but I assume the difficulty will ramp up soonish. If not I'll bump it up to normal and see what happens.

But other than the QTEs (which I friggin' hate, the reaction window is way too small and I always die the first time), this game is pretty damn solid. I like it more than what I played of the DMC games and Lords of Shadow, at least.

It really wants to make me play more Platinum games, too. I have a surprising amount of them (The Bayos, W101, Revengence...) but I've never really spent more than an hour with any of them. I should fix that. :p

Yeah, I got distracted with GOTY stuff for a while, then general "meh" attitude to most gaming things, lol.

But I started this a few days ago after I finished Splatoon's single player campaign. I'm so lazy that I don't like changing discs very often.

Anyway, I'm at Chapter V now. I decided to play on Easy (but not Very Easy) because I'm not particularly good at character action games, though I'd like to get better.

This game is insane and I love it. Everything that's happened so far is absurd and crazy and it's sooooo much fun to watch. It's just great watching everything that's happening. Currently the 'Easy' difficulty is just a bit... too easy, but I assume the difficulty will ramp up soonish. If not I'll bump it up to normal and see what happens.

But other than the QTEs (which I friggin' hate, the reaction window is way too small and I always die the first time), this game is pretty damn solid. I like it more than what I played of the DMC games and Lords of Shadow, at least.

It really wants to make me play more Platinum games, too. I have a surprising amount of them (The Bayos, W101, Revengence...) but I've never really spent more than an hour with any of them. I should fix that. :p

I've had that problem. I accidentally didn't play any games from March to July. I regret that.

You're right, everything in the game is just so much fun to see. I only played easy after having beaten normal and hard modes, so whatever difficulty curve was there I didn't notice, but I assume it'll get more challenging. If not, and you switch to normal, just prepare to die. A lot.

The QTEs are unfortunate, and indeed have too small a window, but there are only... three, I think? Fortitudo throwing the church at you in Chapter II, the falling tower in Chapter III, and then one more in Chapter VIII I won't spoil. Thankfully, they did away with those in Bayonetta 2. I've only played the first Devil May Cry, but yes, the combat is so much more fluid in Bayonetta.

And I'm right there with you about Platinum's games. I have their entire output so far (what's the video game equivalent of "filmography"?), but I've only played Bayonetta 1 & 2 and MadWorld. I'mma do better in 2016, I swear.

I'm midway through chapter 10 and this game is pretty cool. I'm playing on normal, which has proven difficult for me. I'm definitely getting the hang of the mechanics, but there are some spots that are just too tough for me. I haven't played a lot of arcade-y action games, but this is pretty fun.

And as far as her sexualization, I expect a lot of people would think the game is sexist but I see it as empowering. Sure, it's a game with a half naked, over endowed woman kicking ass. But in my opinion, it's not exploitative, just fun.

Does that make me sexist?

I'm midway through chapter 10 and this game is pretty cool. I'm playing on normal, which has proven difficult for me. I'm definitely getting the hang of the mechanics, but there are some spots that are just too tough for me. I haven't played a lot of arcade-y action games, but this is pretty fun.

And as far as her sexualization, I expect a lot of people would think the game is sexist but I see it as empowering. Sure, it's a game with a half naked, over endowed woman kicking ass. But in my opinion, it's not exploitative, just fun.

Does that make me sexist?

Nah, lots of people think like that. I mean, there are some compromising camera angles, but it can easily be seen as Bayonetta is comfortable with herself, and decides to flaunt herself the way she wants. Other than the occasional odd camera angle (which was only in excess in the opening scene, from what I've seen thus far), the game itself doesn't really dwell on her outfit and her consistently bare skin that much.

And I mean her proportions are ridiculous anyway, she must have some genes spliced with a daddy long legs or something

There's one scene in Chapter XIV (you'll know it when you see it) that I think really solidifies the fact that Bayonetta and the way the game treats her is satire of the hypersexualized heroines seen in games like Dead or Alive, Soulcalibur, early (or earlier) Tomb Raider, BloodRayne, etc. In those games, the female characters are like "oh, I have all these things to do, but also these galumptuous breasts...?", but Bayonetta turns that on its head by, ironically, not focusing on her sex appeal but rather her other attributes. Which isn't to say Bayonetta doesn't know she's hot shit, because she does, and she uses that to mock the other characters, especially Luka.

I unfortunately won't be able to finish this by year end, mainly because I have a free 92 hours in A Realm Reborn and I'm planning on using those hours as much as possible (yay holiday items). But, after that I'm planning on finish Bayonetta up (I'm on Chapter VIII right now). It's pretty awesome, I love it!

Just finished this. I'm terrible at arcade action games apparently. But, I was able to beat it by mashing X and ZR with a few A's thrown in (it wasn't that haphazard - but close). The story was batshit insane with WAY TOO MUCH explaining their superfluous world. But the set pieces were cool. Didn't love the game, mostly because I never got the hang of the combat, but I definitely see how people that are good at this type of game love it. So glad I got around to playing it.

And I've got the sequel in the WiiU HD pack, so I guess I'll eventually have to knock that out at some point.

Its been a while since I've played this game but I do remember playing this game and it was great fun although I prob shouldn't of played this in front of my dad. It is a visually beautiful game with great fast pace action. The story could at times get convoluted at times but I did enjoy the plot twist where something you did "good" turned out to have a negative effect instead of positive in a sense (I'm talking about where you encourage your younger self to be stronger and thus cause the left eye to activated within you). The bosses were gloriously over the top and were fun to fight. I do agree though that the QTE's were terrible in this game

Thread revival !

I'm late to the Bayonetta party but I've finally played and completed this game a few days ago.

Overall, I liked it. I played on "Easy" which made the game simple and fun for me. I liked the visuals and pacing. The over-the-top combat sequences and set pieces were cool too.

I wished the game was more streamlined and I'd say that what I hated the most about it is the fact that I often ended watching more cutscenes than actual play time. I felt like I was constantly interrupted after short bursts of 1-2 minute levels which would have been more satisfactory if they were longer.

Still, I liked the game enough that I will most likely play the sequel eventually.

This is my full playthrough: