Bayonetta 2 (Switch)

 

At least I refreshed myself in wait for Bayonetta 3

Finished it once again. Pretty much the same verdict like last time. I liked that you keep all upgrades from the first game so it was kinda effortless to play them back to back. It was only 16 chapters with was 2 chapters less than Bayonetta 1. And I don't know why, but it felt the gameplay was a bit more grind heavy in fighting bosses, takes more time and you seem to do less damage, or it might be just me being bad at the game. Also, the ending isn't as bombastic as the first game, I mean, riding a bike up on a rocket into space to reach a god to pry its eyes out and then throw Jubilees into the sun is rather more epic than flying (on an airwing in my case) toward a mountain where you fight angels and demons and then Bayonetta and Balder fight the evil Aeiser and combining a big Madam Butterfly to throw him into Jeanne's dog demon. Not as epic all I'm saying. Hopefully the third game up the antes. 

Now with some more games under the belt I also get more references, like the Lumen Sage Panther-form looking like Amaretsu from Okami. It has more replay value as well with Jeanne as a playable character and the grind for 9 999 999 halos to get the Platinum ticket, which can't be that hard if you gotta play all difficulties and try to get platinum (or maybe even Perfect Platinum) trophies on each chapter. I won't do that, I've got a life... or rather I got a lot of other games to play. 

This was the special edition I got after talking with the local game store and they had an extra copy. So of course I got it. It contained some sheets with stickers, a steel book cage, the normal game card for the second game, downloadable code for the first game and a box with what is called verse cards. I think they are the cards that Loki uses in the second game. No real value other than maybe as a prop for a DnD game or so. They are nice though, but I think I can understand what they represent, but I'm not sure. I think mostly depicting events in the game.

Fun to play, wonder how the third game will fit into this especially with the time traveling shenanigans.

*Update* What do you know, when I wrote this no release date was mentioned and now it has been revealed and it's just weeks from release. Sometimes I'm actually very current with the release schedule it seems.

Bayonetta (Switch)

 

Fly me to the Moon!

Finally got around finishing Bayonetta for the second time, but on Switch. Started on normal, but after four chapters had to go down on easy since without the combos and everything it ain't fun playing through the game. Also, at a point I stopped playing, maybe new games appeared that was more fresh or so. But that was... 3 years ago (as of writing)? Boy, times fly by. 

Nothing much to say, pretty much the same game. High-octane action from Platinum with different things to break up the usual action, like riding a missile, driving a motorcycle and so on.  Harder to follow the story though, mostly since I didn't pay attention. So if the story holds up now I don't know. Maybe that the film reel is a bit cheap in trying to convey the cutscenes without having to animate moving people.

Maybe I get a chance to play a bit more before the third game arrives... but maybe after the sequel. I think maybe the chapters are a bit long at times (goes for both games), but maybe that's me wanting to break up the chapters in order to not need perfection all the way through.

Bayonetta 2

Played through the second game as well at it was pretty much the same as the first game. Still fun and quirky. Some improvements is that even though if you play on the easiest difficulty you still have control over the combos compared to the first one were it was automatic. How else are you gonna learn if the games does it for you? Other than that there isn't really much to say. Same characters plus some new ones, same voice actors and eerily similar story events. Takes place a couple of months after the first game and it's Christmas... which really has no impact since we are taken to some place in northern China with a holy mountain... but all the characters name is based on Norse mythology, like Aesir and Loki. Ok, so it doesn't make much sense, but it gets weirder. And this is gonna be *SPOILERS*... for both games I think.

So the basic is that the god of Chaos gave the humans free will, but in turn was divided into a good and a evil half who fights for control of the Eyes of the World. The Left Eye is currently with Bayonetta and the Right Eye was... I guess destroyed when we killed Balder in the last game (Balder being Bayonetta's father and a Lumen Sage). This caused Aesir to wake up and start his plan so you get that. Really, Bayonetta just gets wrapped up in this since her original goal was to find Jeanne in Hell since her soul was taken their after taking a blow for Bayonetta. So then the ending. Aesir deceived a time traveling Balder to get revenge for Bayonetta's mother, but are talked into helping Bayonetta. In order to defeat Aesir Balder traps Aesir soul within him and are brought back to his own time... where he start the path that lead him down to the end of Bayonetta 1? Which caused the events of Bayonetta 2? Damn time travel paradoxes, it doesn't make any sense. Or is it setting up a third game? Well, I've seen that it didn't do that well, but it didn't flop.

Forgot to mention last time another reason I bought this game was due to it being produced by the same company behind The Wonderful 101, which I loved. And I gotta say, they have much in common with layout of stages and how they shift the gameplay chapter after chapter. You fly a jet in one chapter and ride a exoskeleton suit in another between the normal enemy bashing chapters.

Bayonetta

Another game I wasn't gonna buy. I'm not much for action button masher combos... since I'm so bad at them. But for some reason I decided to download the demo for the second game and test it out... and I didn't hate it, find the visuals interesting and since I got a notion that these games were gonna be the hardest to find physical copies for so I  bought them. And boy what a ride for the first game. The story, that everyone else seems to have problems with, I found rather interesting. I wanted to know more. Yes, it was incoherent, but if you have a 500+ year old witch who lost her memory, was trapped in a casket under a lake and only awakened 20 years ago, there's gonna be holes to fill. Of course time travel really messes with time perspective, but it made sense in the end... mostly. Why she becomes the left eye as she took the little girl back to her time I don't quite get. Maybe I was so distracted by.... uh... the fan-service. Well... I mean, who doesn't like women with glasses, long, dark hair and dressed in a skin-tight suit... made out of her hair... which goes away while fighting... No I should probably stop here before I dig my grave all to deep.

Really, it's just something fun about it being released on a Nintendo console with the amount of swearing, gore and sexual... well, it's not subtle. Hell, first scene is someone urinating on a tombstone with the directors name on it, Bayonetta dressed as a nun... and losing her clothes as well. Glad for the the off-TV play so no one else sees me play it.