Another LP? Heh... Workin' me to the bone... [Bayonetta 2]

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > Another LP? Heh... Workin' me to the bone... [Bayonetta 2]

Nyeehg: Jul 14, 2013; Grimey Drawer

Been lurking for a long time but just want to say thanks for the LP yoshesque. Your last LP got me to try Bayonetta and I put an embarasing amount of time into it in spite of having the PS3 version. I never got into Devil May Cry so I wasn't expecting to love Bayonetta so much.

Gotta say, I can't get enough of your criticism of the game. Your observations re: the changes to the combat are spot on. While I can't deny the game is fun, it just doesn't scratch the itch the first game left me with unfortunately.

Not sure if I missed it being discussed here earlier but it really irked me how easy the Muspelheims are compared to the Alpheims in 1. An odd criticism I know but the dificulty of the harder Alpheims made beating them for the first time incredibly satisfying. By contrast, while some are tricky to pure platinum I think I may have failed maybe one Muspelheim during my first playthrough of Bayo 2. A minor thing, but it meant beating the Muspelheims was not all that satisfying.

Also, Loki is the worst and actively repels me from doing future playthroughs.

Ah well, I'm enjoying the ride you guys are having in this game. Keep up the good work.

# ¿ Jun 24, 2015 16:32

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 17, 2024 21:40

Nyeehg: Jul 14, 2013; Grimey Drawer

yoshesque posted:

The difference between this game and Bayonetta 1 is perceived fairness/artificial difficulty and the very specific ways the game wants you to play. Not the way *you* want to play, but the way the developers designed the game to be played. You only need to look at this example to see what I mean: http://polsy.org.uk/play/yt/?vurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DwZ7IEFR3GcE

Also for other laughs, just watch how much magic meter is built up (almost none for a lot of dodging and blocking)

Comparatively: https://youtu.be/MpfrcY2A_70?t=807 (sorry for the gross voice over)

There's plenty of examples of players stretching the first game to its limits. Not so much for this game. The rigidity of this game coupled with its very flat rollercoaster ride makes for an okay game, just one that I wouldn't go back to in a few years' time.

Plus there's that whole problem of the rival fight being badly designed, which must be breaking a few action game rules somewhere.

Bayonetta 2 had the all the pieces needed to be a fantastic sequel. The fact that it wasn't is my biggest disappointment.

Sorry for all the words but thanks for the nice words about the LP. It can get a little disheartening when each update only gets a handful of replies, but I know people are watching!

I know you've mentioned this ad nauseum but seeing the rival fights side by side really highlights how crap the lumen sage is. It's amazing just how good the Jeanne fight is in Bayo 1. Even when the camera goes to hell on the missile, you can still dodge/counter based on the audio tells. Goddamn!

I'm guessing trying to pure platinum the lumen sage with the handguns is probably impossible (assuming the handguns are an unlockable).

The thing about the muspelheims teaching you how to play the game is something I never considered. However, that's probably because they don't really teach you anything you won't have learned just by playing the main game. For me the 'don't touch the ground' muspelheims are the most disappointing since you don't have to stay in the air. As a result, you can beat them easily without really grasping how areal combat works.

By contrast, In Bayo 1 the 'don't touch the ground' Alpheim doesn't have floating platforms and forces you to at least try to learn how to string together an air combo. While you never need to master the skill to beat either game (that is reach the end credits) the Alpheim at least hints at the possible complexity of the air combos.

I'm guessing that the reason for the change is because of how aerial combos were changed in Bayo 2 but it's still a shame.

# ¿ Jun 25, 2015 04:57

Nyeehg: Jul 14, 2013; Grimey Drawer

EightFlyingCars posted:

Bayo2 is missing a lot of the texture that made the first game so fun. It was a game about a bondage hair witch that fights angels by stripping, and I think Platinum understood that this was the kind of concept they had to go all out with. So the whole game had this goofy, burlesque feel that reached into everything about it, from the music to the UI to the stylized dialogue, and not only was all of this stuff super fun, but it was also self-consistent. Within all this context, Bayonetta, as a character, made sense.

But a lot of people were like "it's too weird!" and "it's too Japanese!" and maybe Platinum blinked because Bayo2 is a lot more generic. So it's a little more pedestrian than before, which is a little more boring, but its biggest problem is that Bayonetta's character doesn't fit nearly as well in Bayo2 as a result. She almost feels vestigial, like the cutscene directors sometimes said, "oh yeah, this is a Bayonetta game, quick, swoop the camera between her legs" and just called it a day. It's not that they shied away from the series' sexuality, they were just less honest about it.

This is a very good point and is definitely part of why the plot just isn't as fun to watch as the first. What kills me is that they got it so right in the prologue! The prologue is fun and camp while also establishing the stakes. It's a race against time to save Jeanne with the complication that Bayonettas inferno demons cannot be counted on (and may all turn on her for all we know). All good stuff and then ~~Poochie~~ Loki shows up and it's downhill from there (mostly). Or to put it another way:

Pesky Splinter posted:

I think part of that problem comes from the way the game shifts focus away from her and what she's doing, to what-ever-the-gently caress is happening to Loki - Bayonetta 2 is not the "Gonna Save my BFF Sister-Witch" game, than it is the "Ersatz Yu-gi-oh Poochie" show. Like, everytime it mentions what Bayo's trying to do, the game rudely interjects with "Hey it's LOKI, what's his mysterious story, hey Loki what do you think about Bayo's plan- _{actually we're not interested in that} - tell us about yourself Loki.

# ¿ Jun 25, 2015 11:32

Nyeehg: Jul 14, 2013; Grimey Drawer

Mulgar posted:

On the topic of Musphelheims, what is this thread's opinion of the "Limited Punches and Kicks" type of Alpheim? It seems like they exist to challenge the player to utilise each weapon's charge mechanic, but I could be wrong with that.

Yeah it mainly helps you learn dodge offset since if you're doing it right your guns will keep firing after the attack/weapons will charge without breaking your combo. On a more basic level, it can be easy for me newcomers to develop a habit of sticking to the default weapons in these games as learning a new set of combo strings is often daunting for a beginner. However, if you try to beat these alph/muspelheims with Scarborough Fair/Love Is Blue, their relative weakness makes it much more challenging, prompting you to try using some of the other weapons.

Also re-enforces the importance of using wicked weaves as they're some of the strongest attacks (though the removal of score reduction penalty makes 'em less relevant).

At least that's what I got from them.

Edit:

Crisis posted:

I might be misremembering, but in the first game, doesn't Balder knock Bayonetta unconscious in a cutscene after you beat him in a boss fight?

Loving the LP, by the way.

Not quite. She shoots Balder and all is well at first. However, after she returns Cereza to her proper time, the sudden recovery of her memories causes the eyes of the world to awaken, resurrecting Balder and sealing them both into Jubileus.

...At least I think that's what happened?

Nyeehg fucked around with this message at 22:28 on Jun 25, 2015

# ¿ Jun 25, 2015 22:21

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > Another LP? Heh... Workin' me to the bone... [Bayonetta 2]