Excellent post but its no real use trying to explain it to people who don't "get" the combat. Some people didn't "get" DMC's combat, they didn't "get" NG's combat and they will most likely not "get" Bayonetta's either.Monocle said:
In fact recognizing what makes Bayonetta so superb requires knowledge of previous action games, what worked and didn't work in those and how Bayonetta adds on it. Only then you can see the evolution in Bayonetta. People see regular QTEs, some dial a combos in the loading screen, a lock-on system plus a dodge button and immediately start making comparisons or calling it a "copy cat". Bayonetta manages to improve upon pretty much every facet of the action genre, as you have described in your post.
Some additions to your comments:
1) Bayonetta handling of weapons is truly unique and is a genuine evolution of what DMC3 brought to the table (2 guns equippable, 2 devil arms equippable all on the fly from a set of 10). What Bayonetta "evolves" from this is the whole Punch/Kick thing and that weapons are interchangeable between them. Plus you don't have 2 buttons to weapon switching (like DMC3 or DMC4) you have only one, which shows the genius of Kamiya as he is essentially giving you MORE with LESS. The amount of customization you can do with the weapon set up is absurd and practically surpasses that seen in DMC3.
2) Chargeable attacks give great variety to the combat and unique properties to weapons like described already. It also adds a layer of depth along with the pause combo strings and the Dodge Offset so that players who learn how to properly use this system are more efficient in battle as compared to those who just memorized a bunch of combo strings and use them repeatedly.
3) Bayonetta's canceling is godly, it is truly the next step in free form combat because of it's flexibility in its canceling system. It is more "cancelable" than DMC3 which was before it the most "cancelable" game yet. Although in DMC3 you could essentially cancel every attack with jump, shoot, another attack, weapon swap, enemy rebound, parry, trickster evasion the speed and fluidity at which Bayonetta does it is superior.
4) Dodge Offset is THE single greatest innovation that Bayonetta brings to the table. While something like DMC isn't reliant on combo string and thus wouldn't benefit from something like this (it may benefit, I certainly would like to see it), I can't imagine playing my next NG game without this. It is sometimes so frustrating in action games when you are about to get the last (usually the most powerful hit) in a combo string only to have an enemy attack and you either take the hit or dodge out of the way.... essentially reseting your combo string back to your first hit. Not anymore with Bayonetta, it is something that I have wanted to see in an action game for a long time. Your examples highlight this fact.
5) Witch Time is OK, I personally think it is more of crutch than anything else. Timing the dodges isn't that hard at all, especially for people who have experience with other action games. And when you initiate Witch Time the enemies become literal sand bags. It is the equivalent of Quicktime in DMC3 (or Slow down time in VJ) only in DMC3 it was limited to your DT gauge. Bayonetta doesn't need Witch Time to match DMC3's combos, even in real time it can match it combo to combo or even surpass it. Only thing that makes Witch Time unique is that you need to time a dodge to activate it. I guess you could say it's like a training wheel of some sort so that people can learn when it is best to avoid an attack.
6) Bayonetta re-defines over the top action and it's aerial combat is second to none. The options available when in the air is staggering and the ease by which one can perform such aerial combos is also impressive.
