• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Bayonetta 2 |OT| The time has come, and so have Wii!

More ending spoilers
Which is also why in the opening scenes the dieing Balder says that Bayonetta finally kept her promise.

also
in the opening scenes the dieing Balder tries to keep Lopth from fleeing his body. It's the never ending cycle he mentioned at the end when he absorbed his spirit


It's rather misguided to dump all over a game for its robust world building and plot elements just because they aren't to your personal taste. I happen to hugely enjoy all of the stuff you're trashing. To me Bayonetta 2 is much better for it.

Platinum made a giant leap forward from the first game with Bayonetta 2's storytelling and overall presentation. While the original has too much meandering exposition, Bayonetta 2 handles the delivery much better. Cutscenes are shorter overall. The potential tedium of plot talk is offset by the outrageous characters. They're just plain fun to watch and listen to. By the time things get heavy, it feels earned. The characters give the game so much heart and humor with their over the top personalities. The story operates on a grand scale, but at its core there's Bayonetta, just trying to save her friends. Those rare times when some tenderness slips through her wall of icy sass feel honest. When a game with such an absurdly heightened tone can create emotionally authentic moments between ridiculous characters, that seems an awful lot like good writing to me. It helps that the voice actors completely sell their material. They're great, all of them.

As for the other story elements, I like the sense of purpose and place and progression the missions have. The story tells me what I'm doing and provides a sense of urgency that makes me want to keep pushing forward. The background lore tells me where I am, what's important, and why. I like the world the story takes place in, a richly imagined fusion of religious mythological elements in modern and historical settings. Bayonetta 2 does a magnificent job of expanding the first game's universe by showing much more of the human world, Inferno, and Paradiso. Bayonetta 1's art style took me a while to get used to, but I grew to love it, and this sequel confirms that the people at Platinum have stellar design sense and know how to put it to good use. Their original interpretations of familiar subjects like angels and hell are impressive. I also want to mention that I adore all of the text descriptions and extras like the journals, enemy books, and weapon blurbs. They're just plain fascinating to me. Do I need to know that the Gaze of Despair was used to execute a witch hundreds of years ago by calling down the angelic hoards to rip her apart? No I don't. Do I want to? Hell yes I do, that awesome bit of macabre trivia makes this video game item feel like a cool historical artifact. Give me more text, give me all of it.

If the story and world of Bayonetta 2 aren't clicking for you, that's fine, but don't expect your projected cynicism to show you the same picture everyone else sees. In the end Platinum can only cater to the portion of their audience that is entertained rather than annoyed by the cheeky bombast that defines Bayonetta.


EDIT: This

The story might be unforgettable to some, but for those who played it, Love or hate...

Bayonetta (gameplay and the main character herself) is unforgettable!
 

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
MOOOOOOON RIVERRRRRRRR

dat music

Seems like every chapter is a massive boss encounter for me in the mid game, lol.
 

Seik

Banned
also
in the opening scenes the dieing Balder tries to keep Lopth from fleeing his body. It's the never ending cycle he mentioned at the end when he absorbed his spirit

I totally forgot about this part of the opening cutscene. D:

So it kinda makes sense that there won't be any sequel...because it's one big loop, shit.
 

Zomba13

Member
Anyone know how to unlock Verses 9, 35 and 48 in Tag Climax? I've got the rest (including about 4 of the random encounter verses). Are the ones I'm missing random encounters too or do I have to do something else to unlock them? I've finished the game on 3rd Climax.
 
Anyone know how to unlock Verses 9, 35 and 48 in Tag Climax? I've got the rest (including about 4 of the random encounter verses). Are the ones I'm missing random encounters too or do I have to do something else to unlock them? I've finished the game on 3rd Climax.

have you done the witch trials?
 

K-A-Deman

Member
So, i have been seeing some complaints about Kamiya and the writting,especifically the character of Bayonetta, that the game takes itself too seriously. Spoilers.

So it makes a bit of sense, the only thing i found weird was her interactions with Luka,lol she almost seems to hate him now.

I don't think she hates him, she seemed more amiable to him then the first game and less prone to teasing. I think the one thing that people get mixed up is
when Bayonetta kicks him away to prevent him getting in the way of her killing Angels.

Greate writeup. You've summed up how I feel about the game, especially regarding the story and final boss. I found both to be much better than a lot of reviewers and players give them credit for.

Thanks, I guess I've got a soft spot for surprisingly deep points in a ludicrous storyline. Like, It's easier to make things stand out when you've got a higher level of optimism or insanity to base it on.

Chapter 10 spoiler image,kinda
Really would love some dlc relating to this,kinda seems like they are teasing it.

I am an absolute sucker for that dress, It looks so damn good.

I do. Though I liked the cutscenes in Bayonetta 1 a bit better so far.

I do. :) You're welcome.

Same here, the lore building is fantastic and really adds some depth to the world and its conflict.

I totally forgot about this part of the opening cutscene. D:

So it kinda makes sense that there won't be any sequel...because it's one big loop, shit.

as far as a sequel goes, continuing
Balder's storyline is questionable at best.
However, there's still a lot of potential to work with in regards to the world of Bayonetta
like exploring why the Trinity of Realities split in the first place.
And Bayonetta still has
One more God(dess) of a reality to kill ;).
 

Ninjimbo

Member
It's rather misguided to dump all over a game for its robust world building and plot elements just because they aren't to your personal taste. I happen to hugely enjoy all of the stuff you're trashing. To me Bayonetta 2 is much better for it.

Platinum made a giant leap forward from the first game with Bayonetta 2's storytelling and overall presentation. While the original has too much meandering exposition, Bayonetta 2 handles the delivery much better. Cutscenes are shorter overall. The potential tedium of plot talk is offset by the outrageous characters. They're just plain fun to watch and listen to. By the time things get heavy, it feels earned. The characters give the game so much heart and humor with their over the top personalities. The story operates on a grand scale, but at its core there's Bayonetta, just trying to save her friends. Those rare times when some tenderness slips through her wall of icy sass feel honest. When a game with such an absurdly heightened tone can create emotionally authentic moments between ridiculous characters, that seems an awful lot like good writing to me. It helps that the voice actors completely sell their material. They're great, all of them.

As for the other story elements, I like the sense of purpose and place and progression the missions have. The story tells me what I'm doing and provides a sense of urgency that makes me want to keep pushing forward. The background lore tells me where I am, what's important, and why. I like the world the story takes place in, a richly imagined fusion of religious mythological elements in modern and historical settings. Bayonetta 2 does a magnificent job of expanding the first game's universe by showing much more of the human world, Inferno, and Paradiso. Bayonetta 1's art style took me a while to get used to, but I grew to love it, and this sequel confirms that the people at Platinum have stellar design sense and know how to put it to good use. Their original interpretations of familiar subjects like angels and hell are impressive. I also want to mention that I adore all of the text descriptions and extras like the journals, enemy books, and weapon blurbs. They're just plain fascinating to me. Do I need to know that the Gaze of Despair was used to execute a witch hundreds of years ago by calling down the angelic hoards to rip her apart? No I don't. Do I want to? Hell yes I do, that awesome bit of macabre trivia makes this video game item feel like a cool historical artifact. Give me more text, give me all of it.

If the story and world of Bayonetta 2 aren't clicking for you, that's fine, but don't expect your projected cynicism to show you the same picture everyone else sees. In the end Platinum can only cater to the portion of their audience that is entertained rather than annoyed by the cheeky bombast that defines Bayonetta.
I like this post. It's actually how I'm feeling about the story right now. It's working for me. I'm into the cutscenes, the diary entries, the story and the universe. I don't think the story is as throwaway as some people would have you believe.

Bayonetta is a great character.
 

Squishy3

Member
Anyone know how to unlock Verses 9, 35 and 48 in Tag Climax? I've got the rest (including about 4 of the random encounter verses). Are the ones I'm missing random encounters too or do I have to do something else to unlock them? I've finished the game on 3rd Climax.
There's 4 that are unlocked from the random fights, so you're probably missing those. The guide lists them by the suit, and not number, so I can't tell you which ones you're missing.

Edit: Yeah, you're missing the witch trials. There are 4 from those.
 

Jintor

Member
I'm missing my shotguns and rocket feet :( But then again, I don't have a full inventory yet.

You know the Golem sword form? I kept wanting to switch to my dual swords to auto-reflect its lasers. Stupid W101 training.
 

Zomba13

Member
I'm missing my shotguns and rocket feet :( But then again, I don't have a full inventory yet.

You know the Golem sword form? I kept wanting to switch to my dual swords to auto-reflect its lasers. Stupid W101 training.

If there was DLC to add all the weapon stuff from Bayo 1 into Bayo 2 I'd buy it in an instant.
 

Astral Dog

Member
I will say a few things about the story:

First, i will always stand that the story is NOT the piece of shit that some people say it is, its not going to win any awards, but what its there its not bad. The character designs, dialogue, over the top action and world make the story.i already explained myself on other posts, so i will just agree that it was badly presented for budget reasons, and that affected negatively the pacing of the game.

I also enjoyed the cutscenes in Bayonetta 2 alot,when i watched them on video previews, they are well made,pretty and fun,but playing the game they can get very annoying.

Now, Bayonetta 2 story is also like that, but i will say that the story CANT stand on its own, it needs Bayonetta 1 to be complete, and for the player to not just play it and pay attention, you need to at least care a little about the characters and lore to enjoy it, if you thought Bayonetta was just stupid over the top nonsense, Bayonetta 2 is more of the same.
There are many little and big references to the first game(and other games) that you can easily miss,so if you care even a little just play both games .
 

Jintor

Member
By the by, is there an easier way to skip cutscenes instead of start-down-a? Like I remember Bayo on 360 had a trigger + B hold it down or something.
 

Seik

Banned
I will say a few things about the story:

First, i will always stand that the story is NOT the piece of shit that some people say it is, its not going to win any awards, but what its there its not bad. The character designs, dialogue, over the top action and world make the story.i already explained myself on other posts, so i will just agree that it was badly presented for budget reasons, and that affected negatively the pacing of the game.

I also enjoyed the cutscenes in Bayonetta 2 alot,when i watched them on video previews, they are well made,pretty and fun,but playing the game they can get very annoying.

Now, Bayonetta 2 story is also like that, but i will say that the story CANT stand on its own, it needs Bayonetta 1 to be complete, and for the player to not just play it and pay attention, you need to at least care a little about the characters and lore to enjoy it, if you thought Bayonetta was just stupid over the top nonsense, Bayonetta 2 is more of the same.
There are many little and big references to the first game(and other games) that you can easily miss,so if you care even a little just play both games .

I agree, I've seen worse things than Bayo 1-2 story wise. Wonderful 101 was more 'over the top nonsense' than Bayo 2 imo, though it was really awesome, too. After hearing that both team were doing a little competition to see who would make the craziest game, I thought Bayo 2 would blow W101 out of the water, but I'm still liking W101's ending more in the end.

I was laughing at pretty much every jokes/references. I had a good time with the game overall.

Best part is that I'm so far of being done with it. I need to do it in 3rd Climax, play Tag Climax with a lot of people, unlock all the costumes and weapons, etc, etc. :D
 

Sixfortyfive

He who pursues two rabbits gets two rabbits.
Never seen the Club Nintendo codes printed on the reverse side of the cover art.

Going to get started on these tomorrow.
 
Bayonetta 2 - first experience with her:

I LOVE her!!!!

She owns every moment.

Probably already one of my all time favorite characters ever created in gaming, an hour and a half in.
 
Jeeze, these trials are nothing to sneeze at. Died 2 verses before the end of the fourth trial and I probably won't ever beat the fifth.
 
While I probably should've guessed from the multiple boss fights and cutscenes, after playing with
Balder, Light Speed is objectively better than witch time. From the description in the first game I had assumed LS was a sort of inverse to WT, but in game your foes just come to a complete halt as opposed to being slowed when it's activated. It's godlike.
 

foxuzamaki

Doesn't read OPs, especially not his own
First impressions of bayonetta 2's prologue, holy shit theres more than 3 individual NPC models on screen, theres also more than 3 NPC models on screen at the same time, the graphics look so good, the budget is clearly, holy crap, I need to play the demo again because the enemy attacks are so much easier to read now then in the first bayonetta, it didnt even feel like that in the demo, holy shit im kicking ass a comboing, wondering if playing bayo helped with this. Goddamn this feels even better than bayo1, everythign is so responsive when you want it to. God the framerate feels better.



The cutsenes are so fucking great now, its like the current nintendo cutscene direction with platinum/bayo's style, its just so great, so humorous! The characters personalities shine so brightly!


GOD THE VISUALS!
 
Just beat the game..... One of the finest video games I have ever played. I might actually like it more then Bayonetta 1. It improved on its predecessor in every way.
 

Rnr1224

Member
Just finished it and wow that boss battle gave me a huge adrenaline rush. Something that only platinum games have given me so far. A little sad that I beat it so quickly but I still have tons of content to explore. For those that have beat it, what are you doing now? I'll be playing tag climax mostly and then I may start to try getting more of the collectibles.
 
Just finished it and wow that boss battle gave me a huge adrenaline rush. Something that only platinum games have given me so far. A little sad that I beat it so quickly but I still have tons of content to explore. For those that have beat it, what are you doing now? I'll be playing tag climax mostly and then I may start to try getting more of the collectibles.

I replayed it once and I started another playthrough on Infinite Climax. When I don't feel like doing that I just try to get more collectables or I'll do Tag Climax.
 

Delt31

Member
I will say a few things about the story:

First, i will always stand that the story is NOT the piece of shit that some people say it is, its not going to win any awards, but what its there its not bad. The character designs, dialogue, over the top action and world make the story.i already explained myself on other posts, so i will just agree that it was badly presented for budget reasons, and that affected negatively the pacing of the game.

I also enjoyed the cutscenes in Bayonetta 2 alot,when i watched them on video previews, they are well made,pretty and fun,but playing the game they can get very annoying.

Now, Bayonetta 2 story is also like that, but i will say that the story CANT stand on its own, it needs Bayonetta 1 to be complete, and for the player to not just play it and pay attention, you need to at least care a little about the characters and lore to enjoy it, if you thought Bayonetta was just stupid over the top nonsense, Bayonetta 2 is more of the same.
There are many little and big references to the first game(and other games) that you can easily miss,so if you care even a little just play both games .

This is probably one of the worst, if not worst story/setup I've seen thus far. Why? B/c it actually takes away from the flow of the game its SO STUPID. That being said, still playing it b/c the gameplay is good.
 
Jeeze, these trials are nothing to sneeze at. Died 2 verses before the end of the fourth trial and I probably won't ever beat the fifth.

You're telling me. I managed to get through 1 and 2 with relative ease. 3 was quite a bit harder and 4 was pretty insane. I haven't even attempted 5 yet - I might run the game again on hard first before even bothering to try.
 

perorist

Unconfirmed Member
I've only unlocked 1 weapon and on chapter 8. WTF. Need more weapons/variety. When does the next one hit?
Uh what, I've unlocked 3 and I'm only on chapter 5. Two of them were completely given to me with a cutscene focusing on the LP location. Unless you're talking about secret weapons or something.
 

N° 2048

Member
Couldn't do it, had to stop Bayo 1 and start 2. With Sunset Overdrive coming, I don't have time to finish Bayo 1 right now. I'll come back to it.

Starting on 3rd Climax. Soooo stoked!
 

Delt31

Member
Uh what, I've unlocked 3 and I'm only on chapter 5. Two of them were completely given to me with a cutscene focusing on the LP location. Unless you're talking about secret weapons or something.

no I'm talking about just normal new weapons. Only one I have are blades.
 

foxuzamaki

Doesn't read OPs, especially not his own
Man the art direction is just so good in bayo 2, bayo 1 had some pretty good art direction, especially when they try to convey scope, but this brings it up quite a notch.
 
Top Bottom