Are the battles consistently of high quality, with varying enemies? Vanquish and Revengeance both had big lulls due to inconsistency in battle design quality/lack of variety in design.
Foolz said:Are the battles consistently of high quality, with varying enemies? Vanquish and Revengeance both had big lulls due to inconsistency in battle design quality/lack of variety in design.
Yeah I would say so. Every chapter introduces 2 or 3 new enemies and you get weapons like every two hours or so. Some stuff that stood out to me was how short some of the battles against the small mobs were. I love fighting those as that is where you can pull off great combos but they were spaced out weird sometimes. Also big bosses tend to all feel the same as you fly around in the air and fight a big screen filled thing.
So I just finished Bayonetta 1, wow what a contrast in the last few chapters to Bayonetta 2. There was a ton going on in Bayo 1 outside fighting starting with the space harrier mission and continuing with the climb and the gravity wall thing. Huge multi staged final boss that was too easy. Bayonetta 2 just had more fights that all felt the same (and a smaller jet mini game). That said Bayo 1 is a pain to replay and try to go for platinum rewards. Nearly every death is due to some dumb instant death QTE or a mini game that has nothing to do with the combat. When you just want to excell at combat having to replay these tedious long sections is a pain in the ass. Bayonetta 2 has removed all of that. The only thing the game scores you on is the combat. I love variety in my games, but I also love replaying action games and getting right into the combat. I am going to say Bayonetta 1 is my favorite of the 2, but I rather play Bayonetta 2 repeatedly if that makes any sense.
Here is a post from gaf that explains what Bayonetta 2 does better than the first:
Put me in the camp that appreciates Bayonetta 2's streamlined approach. The original game was full of minor and not so minor annoyances that had me skipping a lot of missions during replays. All minigame levels, all large boss battles, Mission 3 for the fiery enemies and lava hazards, Mission 12 for the death pits and platforming and general lack of solid combat verses, etc.
On the other hand, I have no problem playing Bayonetta 2 all the way through. It's wonderful. It's brilliant. It's exactly what I wanted from a Bayonetta sequel. Bayonetta 2 has a tighter focus on the core combat, minus Kamiya's awful genre switches and unforgiving hazards and lame obstacles to fun like the Golem squishing you flat and making shockwaves while you're trying to fight and navigate the level. We get more of the good stuff: Battles big and small against a huge variety of enemies. Tons of rival bosses. Well paced missions of varying lengths that allow for both exploration and a focused race to the finish.
Hashimoto stripped out practically everything that wasn't fun in the first game, and personally I'm happy to see it all gone gone gone, not polished a bit and crowbarred back in (except for the improved vehicle sequences, which actually work now). Good riddance. Hashimoto made the right calls. As the director of Bayonetta 2, he proved himself to be the capable editor Kamiya needed in Bayonetta 1, and especially The Wonderful 101.
I agree with most of that except the Kamiya's genre switches and the obstacles, I love that stuff. It makes the game feel more full, more complete. Wonderful 101 would have not been the game it was without the all the fun non combat extras. But during replays that stuff can get tiring.
Dvader said:Yeah I would say so. Every chapter introduces 2 or 3 new enemies and you get weapons like every two hours or so. Some stuff that stood out to me was how short some of the battles against the small mobs were. I love fighting those as that is where you can pull off great combos but they were spaced out weird sometimes. Also big bosses tend to all feel the same as you fly around in the air and fight a big screen filled thing.
Cool. Sounds pretty good pacing-wise overall, then
Ok now back to Bayonetta 2 after finishing 1, WOW! Holy shit the combat is so much better, everything controls better, it moves better, it flows better, damn. I am more impressed with Bayonetta 2 now than I was when I first played it.
So I started playing Bayonetta 1 after it became apparent that my pre-ordered First Print edition wouldn't ever arrive.
And I'm not really blown away. The faux-sexiness does little for me, it's all a tad brown, with invisible walls keeping you from standing on terraces, and I don't think I've got my head wrapped around the combo system just yet. I like the story however, eventhough the cutscenes do look a bit cheap. As for the battle system: EVERYTHING is a combo in this game. It's insane and leads to brainless button mashing, which has worked wonders for me so far. I'll learn one or two weave combo's by hearth, mash buttons inbetween spamming those combo's and just prioritize not getting hit by what appears to be the biggest bad guy on the screen. Witch Walk is also a big let down so far. We could have had jedi like duels with players bouncing all over the place. But the combat system isn't designed for that, so we end up with a regular fight on angled floors which emphasize the limitations of the camera.
But hey, maybe things will click in place later on. Up till now though, I greatly prefer the transparency of W101's battle system. A few simple to excecute attacks, grouped by weapon, with an elegant rock-paper-scissors system to govern what attack to use in relation to the situation. If anyone could bring me up to speed with some more advanced techniques or how I'm supposed to be playing this it'd be much appreciated.
Finished Bayonetta.
My verdict.
When it is good, it is real good. Crazy shit starts happening, you are hammering all sort of buttons and somehow you get in the groove and everything clicks.
This happens when you are fighting. Outside of the combat, oh boy oh boy.
The motorcycle levels are tedious and not fun at all. The turret fight against a boss is boring as hell. Fire at boss, he fires back. Jump out of turret to avoid his attack, repead ad infinitum. Frustrating platforming section where you never feel fully in control, like the one against the last boss, are frustrating. Cheep quick time events that always kill you the first time. And the Afterburner level, why? Just why? The other section mentioned before where stupid, but they were short. This one is long, kinda hard and extremely shit.
Listen I do like variety, but it has to be good. In Bayonetta outside the combat, it is sometimes okay, but sometimes it is just plain bad. I actually had to force myself through the Afterburner level.
I for one welcome my Bayonetta 2 overlord!
Iga_Bobovic said:Listen I do like variety, but it has to be good. In Bayonetta outside the combat, it is sometimes okay, but sometimes it is just plain bad. I actually had to force myself through the Afterburner level.
I'm still ploughing through Bayonetta myself, but your remark was exactly how I felt about W101. The combat was greath, but all the platforming and shmup bits were horrible.
I gave up at the space harrier level. Shit game
___
Listen to Wu-Tang and watch Kung-Fu
Well Iga you will love Bayonetta 2.
Mr brother has bought me Bayonetta 1 and 2 on Wii U for Christmas. 
gamingeek said:Mr brother has bought me Bayonetta 1 and 2 on Wii U for Christmas.
Peaking at the gift closet again?
edgecrusher said:Peaking at the gift closet again?
No, he's emailed me with demands to buy his kids a $220 Playmobil gift. After I already bought him his $100 beanie hat.
gamingeek said:No, he's emailed me with demands to buy his kids a $220 Playmobil gift. After I already bought him his $100 beanie hat.
I'd tell him to lick my balls.
edgecrusher said:gamingeek said:No, he's emailed me with demands to buy his kids a $220 Playmobil gift. After I already bought him his $100 beanie hat.
I'd tell him to lick my balls.
Did you read GG's reply, or is that just you're standard reply to fall back on in any situation?
gamingeek said:No, he's emailed me with demands to buy his kids a $220 Playmobil gift. After I already bought him his $100 beanie hat.
Offer him your own terms. Or declare war on him. Or even better, send him Endless Ocean 3 as part of your terms, and while he's distracted in his search for your gift, plan a suprise attack on his christmas tree.
gamingeek said:No, he's emailed me with demands to buy his kids a $220 Playmobil gift. After I already bought him his $100 beanie hat.
$100 for a beanie hat? Does it have magical powers or something? I have never spent more than $5 on a beanie hat.
Ravenprose said:$100 for a beanie hat? Does it have magical powers or something? I have never spent more than $5 on a beanie hat.
If you plant it a beaniestalk will grow up to a giant's castle in the sky.
gamingeek said:No, he's emailed me with demands to buy his kids a $220 Playmobil gift. After I already bought him his $100 beanie hat.
Skipped the Euro and went straight to the dollar, I see. That'll really show those EU fascists!
So I am playing Bayonetta 1 now, first time not on PS3, so much better. Now that I am playing it right after Bayo 2 I can clearly note the differences.
Lets start with the combat, Bayonetta 2 is so much faster, responsive and smooth. This is key to the entire genre so I can never argue with anyone that puts Bayo 2 over 1 just because of this.
That said Bayonetta 2 basically removed all aspects not related to the combat. Bayo 1 fells much more like a full action adventure game experience with levels that have traps, puzzles, and different situations that does not deal with combat. There were all kinds of platforming sections in Bayo 1, some dealing with manipulating time, that is an afterthought in Bayo 2.
The secret verses in the portal realm are very different. In the first game each challenge was extremely difficult and forced the player to really think of new ways to battle enemies. Missions like using limited attacks forced you to learn the weave attacks. One mission has you staying in air for a minute, you need to learn air juggles. They were almost puzzles. Not the case in Bayo 2, there are like 5 types that repeat and they are all basic.
Bayo 2 removed all the furstrating things from Bayo 1 like instant death QTEs and gettuing hurt from environmental hazards. The QTE thing is great but I feel removing all danger outside of combat makes the world exploration kind of pointless.
Bayo 2 is basically just a series of battles strung together where Bayo 1 felt like an action game with some variety.