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shayminlucario07 · 1 year

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Post-clearing Bayonetta 3 thoughts

Obligatory (And obvious) spoiler warning!

So... people really didn’t like this game? Like, actually? Why?

Is it because of “Straight Bayonetta”? If so, I have news for you: Bayonetta’s relationship with Jeanne has always been deliberately ambiguous, just as much so as her relationship with Luka was in the previous two games, so like. Read it however you want- if you want Cereza and Jeanne to be a thing, they can be! Bisexuals do in fact exist!

Is it because people didn’t like Viola? Because... I mean, fair, I guess, since the narrative didn’t exactly do her justice, but she’s also the Cerezita/Loki of this game, which means she was never going to be as fleshed out as the other characters. And, frankly, if there’s going to be a Bayonetta 4, she’ll pretty obviously be the main character- which I’m totally here for, to be clear- and that’ll actually give her the chance to DO something.

Is it because of the Homunculi/Singularity plot being underdeveloped? Because... that’s kind of the case with every Bayonetta antagonist. The only reason Balder works as well as he does is because of the retroactive adjustments in Bayonetta 2, since he was... not exactly three-dimensional in Bayonetta 1. And the only reason Aesir worked is because of Loki, you know. BEING half of Aesir.

Is it because of how little focus the alternate Bayonettas got? Because... yeah, I agree, they deserved more emphasis than they had, but the thing you have to remember is- regardless of what the narrative in Bayonetta 3 implies, there’s no way to be sure that ANYONE is actually gone- Bayonetta 2′s storyline was literally about Cereza trying to bring Jeanne back from the dead, so like. As far as I’m concerned, resurrection has already been established. Also, when your story goes to multiverse level storytelling, all rules are out the window- not that there ever were any, since it’s Bayonetta, and rule of cool dominates everything, spectacle above all is the entire concept of the series.

Ultimately, my thoughts are thus:

It sucks that we have more limited weapon kits, but the weapons we did get are awesome in their own right and frankly, the acquisition of them is much more narratively effective than every other Bayonetta weapon except the guns and maybe Alruna, since. They actually HAVE A ROLE in the narrative. Also, the concepts were pretty great overall- though I could’ve done without having like, four separate slow weapons, but hey, we got Ignis Araneae Yo-Yo and Simoon and there’s a weapon named Ribbit-Libido BZ55, so, who actually gives a shit.

Some of the demon designs were... weird (Looking at you, Gouon and Clock Tower) but the returning demons were a delight to see reimagined (BAAL ZEBUL MY BELOVED YOU ARE THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE ENTIRE GAME) and while I’m kind of mad we didn’t get to see Sheba or Omne again, I also didn’t really expect it in the first place. At least we didn’t get a repeat of Khepri using Butterfly’s body model.

Demon Slave was a fantastic concept- in my opinion, a total step up from Umbran Climax, even if it did mean having to give up meaningful torture attacks- and I especially loved Wink Slave, because like. It’s like a Wicked Weave but EVEN BIGGER and AFTER A WICKED WEAVE. They took the best part of Umbran Climax and made it a normal gameplay move! Fantastic!

Viola’s combat was... weird. Not being able to move and shoot took an adjustment, and I don’t think I’ll ever know how to use the block properly for Witch Time, but it was at least successful in making her feel distinct from Bayonetta, which they never quite nailed with Jeanne and Rosa. She definitely could’ve used more polish in the gameplay department, though.

Speaking of Viola... she suffered from Luca syndrome (Admittedly, rather fitting) in that she was played for comic relief a bit too much to work as well as she needed to. I love the idea of her inheriting the name Bayonetta, but... she doesn’t quite feel like she’s actually THERE yet. She doesn’t have the badass level yet. Also, Cheshire should’ve had actual story in 3, and not just had it be locked behind Cereza and the Lost Demon.

Jeanne was neglected in a frankly depressing manner. Her missions were... fun at first, but overstayed their welcome, and honestly, the most memorable Jeanne moment was Jeanne Beta-Three/Egyptian Jeanne. She deserved better and she CERTAINLY deserved to live- she should’ve been alive to be Viola’s mentor in whatever the next story is.

Ah, Cereza... While I’m sad to see her die, frankly, they could bring her back in the next game and I wouldn’t be bothered in the slightest. It’s Bayonetta, who cares, there are no rules- just look cool and it’ll do everything it needs to. Make Bayonetta 4 be about Viola going to Inferno to bring Cereza and Luka back to the human world, and have her beat the shit out of Queen Sheba to do it. Full circle to the fullest, this time instead of killing God at the end of the game, we’re killing Satan. I’m 1000% in. Also, there’s no way that she’s supposed to be the alternate universe Cereza from the Records of Time in Bayonetta 2- They literally reference the Aesir storyline directly and how the Eyes of the World no longer exist, which is why the Multiverse fracturing happens and why the entirety of Bayonetta 3 happens at all.

Luka was... kind of weird, but not in the way people seem to think based on everything I’ve seen. First and foremost, the idea that the Bayonetta-Luka relationship came out of nowhere is simply untrue- she was always flirting with him. She put Rosemary in her perfume at the end of the first game SPECIFICALLY because of what he said- that’s what that meant! People were just blinded by the concept of Witch Lesbians, which is fair! (Let Bayonetta have both, y’all. Let her have her cringefail ambiguously-part-faerie boyfriend and her badass motorcycle-riding, literally-Joan-of-Arc immortal-ish witch wife. She deserves that.) The whole Lukaon thing was... not well developed, but frankly, I think that’s mostly because of how much the game tried to do. And really, none of the alternate universe things were that well developed, so if you’re going to criticize aspect of that, criticize them all.

Speaking of the alternate universe things- I loved all of them. Tokyo Street-Witch Bayonetta was perfect and I absolutely used that outfit the entire game, because hello, Chinese Warlord Bayonetta was awesome and it was super fun to see her lead an entire army, Egyptian Princess Bayonetta was super cool and it was amazing to see how she actually managed to have a full character arc, going from bonding with her first Infernal Demon to sacrificing herself to save Bayonetta Prime by the end, and French Thief-Magician Bayonetta- Masque*DeMasque Bayonetta, if you will (Hehe Ace Attorney reference I make myself laugh)- was an utter delight, even if she had the most tragic death. And she allowed us to see Rosa again! And she was the only Bayonetta to be blonde! Where did those genetics come from? No clue! Egyptian Bayonetta seemingly inherited Balder’s silver hair, so no clue where French Bayonetta’s blonde came from, but at least we know how/why Viola was blonde. (Also, we deserved to see a variant of Balder. Just one. It’s not fair that we got to see Rosa again but not him. Anti-feminist, dads and moms should be equally important (THAT’S A JOKE DON’T GET MAD AT ME)) I’d love to see more from any of those Bayonettas.

Sigurd was... not good, but he wasn’t really any worse than Aesir or Bayo-1-Balder would be without other characters to make them work better, and frankly, it’s probably a good thing there wasn’t an attempt at making Sigurd more well-developed, because the game was already pretty over-saturated. Singularity as a final boss was underwhelming compared to Jubileus and Aesir, but that’s honestly probably just because there was no summoning of Queen Sheba/Omne and no Infiniton Climax (Bring back the Big Bang Bonus!).

The setpiece segments of Bayonetta 3 were better than 1 and 2 by a landslide- at least, in my opinion. Even if you just focus on the setpieces from the Deadly Sin Ritual Summonings, they surpass the first two on theatrics alone- ESPECIALLY Baal Zebul. Bayonetta just randomly breaking out into a rhythm minigame with an opera-singing frog-princess-demon? PERFECT. But also... Mega-Godzilla-Sin Gomorrah rock-paper-scissors boss fight? Shockingly fun! Phantasmaraneae being upgraded to The Phantom (Devil May Cry reference! FUCK YEAH! Just make them the same universe PLEASE) and... low-key being implied to represent the Big Bang explosion? And the fight where you’re switching between him and Malphas? Fantastic. AND DON’T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON QUEEN BUTTERFLY. Madama Butterfly was badass enough on her own, but MEGA MADAMA BUTTERFLY USING THE CLOUDS AS A BATHTUB FOR A BOSS FIGHT? Immaculate. How does she relate to Queen Sheba, though? I wonder... (More Inferno lore Platinum please and thank you it’s the least developed of the trinity of realities)

And for one final note- Being able to CHANGE BAYONETTA’S HAIR COLOR FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER. WHY WAS THAT NOT A THING BEFORE. REDHEAD BAYONETTA.

#Bayonetta 3 #Bayonetta #Bayonetta 3 Spoilers #Listen I have thoughts okay #Let Bayonetta be Bi #Bayonetta 4 when

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harudyne3013 · 2 years

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Bayonetta 3 Thoughts

Now that I’ve completed Bayonetta 3 on Infinite Climax, I wanted to put together some of my thoughts on the game. This will include some spoilers on weapons, demon summons, and enemy types. There will be no direct story spoilers. If you want the short version, the game is fantastic but not perfect. It is likely the best overall gameplay package in the Bayonetta series even with its flaws, and it will likely end up becoming my favorite for that reason.

The first thing that strikes me about Bayo3 is the variety and creativity on display with the weapons. While you cannot mix and match arm and leg slots anymore, each weapon is much more unique than they were in previous games. The inclusion of different demon transformations with their own aesthetics and mobility options gives the weapons so much character, and the selection is both wide and definitively Bayonetta. Ribbit Libido-BZ55 and its ridiculous name is the perfect example, being a microphone stand Cereza uses as a spear and sings into to buff her attack or defense. There are twelve weapons in total (not counting Scarborough Fair and Love Is Blue which both return), and Bayonetta 3 is the first game in the series where I’ve genuinely wanted to get good with every single weapon. They are all so much fun to use that I find it hard to pick between them sometimes, and it is satisfying to pair up synergistic weapons both for combat and for movement.

Demon summons are a huge part of Bayo3’s combat as well. Summons are cool to look at and fun to combo with if you can combine their attacks with Cereza’s, and each weapon (besides the Bayo1 and 2 guns) comes with an associated summon. Many of the summons share basic attack blueprints (e.g. they all have a large AOE attack, gap closing attack, ranged attack, etc) but a few of them are truly unique and bring options that no other demon does. It feels like the summons you choose are mostly for their aesthetic–there is not that much gameplay difference between using Madama Butterfly versus using Gomorrah besides their speed and damage, for example. This is not a bad thing in my eyes. Aesthetics are important in this type of game, and there is a wide variety to choose from in that area. The demons that are unique make up for it. Demon winks at the end of combo strings make for satisfying finishers that echo Astral Chain, and I found that the summons were integrated very well into the gameplay. My biggest issues with summons are more related to the scoring system and some enemy types which I will talk about later.

Bayo3 has seen a lot of complaints for its liberal use of gimmick verses. As someone who hates the gimmick sections in the first two games, I was pleasantly surprised by most of them this time around. Some of Bayo3’s gimmicks are purely for spectacle and offer little for gameplay, but others are fun and combine gameplay shake ups with crazy over-the-top action in a way that genuinely adds to the game. This is a rare case where I don’t really mind the gimmick verses, especially because of the new chapter select checkpoint system. Each chapter now has several different checkpoints that you can start at, and there is a checkpoint immediately after every mid-level gimmick verse. This means that you can easily quit back to chapter select when you reach a gimmick verse on repeat playthroughs, then resume the chapter from the next checkpoint while updating your medals. You can quit out for gimmicks at the end of chapters in the same way. Bayo3 makes it possible to skip every single gimmick section during your repeat playthroughs without missing any other verse, and I love that for replayability. I still think the gimmicks were a bit overused, particularly for boss fights. Gimmicks like Queen Butterfly’s bubble bath were a blast on my first playthrough, but I have no desire to replay them and some of the impact of these sections is lost when they happen so often.

My experience with Infinite Climax was a lot of fun, but it also highlighted some of the problems I have with the game’s combat. Note that these are early impressions so they might change after I’ve had more time with the game. Firstly, the scoring system is not perfect. Time requirements often feel harsh, encouraging efficiency more than stylish combat. This was a bigger issue in Bayo2 but it thankfully does not feel as prominent here. Still, time requirements seem to be balanced around demon summons so it is difficult to finish some verses quickly enough without relying on those summons. Like Bayo2, there are some enemy attack tells that do not feel well telegraphed. They function fine on lower difficulties where “bullshit” attacks do not punish you as much, but it can be a problem on Infinite Climax when everything does so much damage. Murus (the large armored snail with axes) was the worst example for me, feeling like nothing but a massive flailing hitbox that would do more than half of my maxed out health bar in a single hit. I’m not necessarily saying that it is unfair, but it feels unfair. That is the main problem–all of these attacks can be learned and are technically 100% fair, but it feels like you have to get hit by it a few times first rather than attack signals being as intuitive as in the first game.

Some of the enemy types, Murus included, are simply not enjoyable to fight. The worst offenders are Castellanus and Nimbostratus, the large tower type enemies that prevent Cereza from approaching them. These enemies are not fun because they limit your options, essentially forcing you to stand in place and use your demon to attack them until their force field breaks. The tower itself rarely attacks and the encounters do not allow for creativity. Nothing in the game is as bad as Sloth from Bayo2, but the enemy design does not feel as tight as the original. Despite all the new enemy types, the fights against angels are my favorites in Bayo3.

Similarly, a lot of the game’s bosses are not great. This is especially true for some of the gimmick bosses. Many have forgettable designs and are not as visually striking as previous games, and there are too many “giant enemy” bosses in my opinion. These bosses are not terrible, but the overall quality of boss fights does not compare to a game like DMC5 for instance. With that said, a few of the bosses are fantastic. B3 Jeanne, B4 Rosa, B4 Bayonetta, and all of the Strider fights are a blast. The fights against Jeanne in Bayo1 are my favorites in the series, but Bayo3’s good bosses easily beat out any of the main bosses from Bayo2. This is helped by the chapter checkpoint system allowing you to skip directly to any major boss fight. I love the final Jeanne fight in Bayo1, but getting to that fight is not fun at all. It’s nice that this isn’t a problem in Bayo3.

I should probably talk about Viola. I enjoyed her gameplay a lot on my first playthrough and for most of Infinite Climax, but I did have some problems with her. It is definitely possible that these problems come from me being unfamiliar with the playstyle–her flow is so different to Cereza’s and I am not completely used to her yet. That said, her parry window feels surprisingly tight compared to Cereza’s dodge or even Jeanne’s moth within. All the chaos of Infinite Climax coupled with some of the awkward attack signals makes it difficult for me to reliably activate Witch Time with Viola. The duration of Witch Time she gets for imperfect parries is a pathetically short one second, which is not enough time to accomplish anything. This is something I’m sure I can learn and improve with, but it does not feel good to activate Witch Time only for it to immediately end–I would almost prefer if those cases didn’t activate it at all. Viola has some creative and fun combos, and I enjoy switching between attacks with her sword and her fists. Unfortunately, it feels like you are pushed into doing charged sword attacks or short combos into a wink with Cheshire because she gets so little time to capitalize off Witch Time. Offset with Viola also feels less reliable thanks to her nerfed dodges and the strange controls for offsetting after a successful parry. She ends up feeling somewhat repetitive for me, which isn’t helped by her having only one weapon and one (uncontrollable) summon. I had a great time with her on my first playthrough but I have a few reservations with her on Infinite Climax for now. Regardless of these complaints, I think she is a solid addition to the game and I will be playing her more while trying to keep an open mind. On her own, Viola is very fun and satisfying to combo with–her gameplay can’t compete against Cereza’s for me, but I never expected it to.

Before I wrap up, I have a few miscellaneous complaints. Jeanne is not playable in the main chapters. She is playable in Witch Trials and the alternate chapters, but it is disappointing that players who prefer Jeanne cannot play her in the main game. I was also hoping to be able to freely select characters for any chapter after completing the game, which is not possible. Story chapters can only be played as the character assigned to them. This is unfortunate for Viola who has only a few chapters in the main game. There is some personality missing due to changed torture attacks and the absence of unique taunts for different weapons. Torture attacks are much faster now and encourage combining Cereza and her summons, but the longer animations unique to specific enemy types are largely gone. Torture attacks now are not as satisfying unless you can chain them on several enemies in a row. They are more functional, but less stylish. The lack of unique taunts is a disappointment considering the weapons in this game. It isn’t the end of the world, but it would have been a great inclusion given the possibilities–taunts like Cereza fanning herself with Simoon, casual yo-yo tricks with Ignis Araneae, or performing magic tricks with Abracadabra could have added even more personality to each weapon.

While it does not warp the game’s balance as much as Bayo2’s Umbran Climax, Masquerade Rage is an underwhelming mechanic. The animations are excellent and some truly capture the spirit of Bayonetta, like Cereza singing Tomorrow is Mine into the microphone for Ribbit Libido. The gameplay side of these is less impressive though. They are basically Dynasty Warriors specials that do huge amounts of uncontested damage while you cannot be hit. There is no decision of how to use them like there is with DMC’s Devil Trigger for example; the only decision you make is when to use them. They do not ruin the game by any means, they are just not that interesting.

I won’t get into detail with the story, but it was fairly underwhelming as well. The multiverse premise was not used to its full potential at all, and there was a severe amount of missed potential. There are some exciting moments if you turn your brain off and try not to think too hard about things, but the story could have been much better. Cutscene fight choreography is better than ever and the spectacle of Bayo3 goes beyond anything else in the series, so it’s a fun time for the most part.

Overall, I loved the game even with its problems. Combat is immensely fun and satisfying thanks to all the different weapons, and demon summons are well-integrated into combat and non intrusive outside of some enemy types that force you to use summons. The scoring system does not feel great and may over encourage the use of summons, but the combat itself is excellent. As usual for Bayonetta, the music and presentation (not necessarily the graphics) are phenomenal. Moonlight Serenade, Al Fine, and Viola’s theme are incredible tracks for the basic combat themes. I will be continuing to play Bayo3 and it may end up being my overall favorite in the series. There are absolutely things that the original does better, but Bayonetta 3 is a blast to pick up and play and improves on many of the second game’s issues to the point where I can’t put it down.

Thanks for reading

Stay positive, haru

#bayonetta #bayonetta 3 #bayonetta 2 #character action #action games

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