Sure, you've got the Ninja Run and Defensive Offensive to avoid gunfire and all that nonsense, but it doesn't take away from the fact that it's THERE and it's a poor decision. I just got the No Damage trophy on Sundowner last night and I couldn't tell you how many times I was hit by helicopter fire while my camera wasn't even in view of the fire. It's just bad action game stuff to have shit/fodder enemies accompany a boss. Not only does it take away from the uniqueness/specialness of the main boss you're fighting, but it's just completely unnecessary and obnoxious. It's also just lazy and tells me that the boss isn't interesting enough on its own. So, even though there are ways to "get around it" the simple fact that THEY'RE THERE is amateur hour 101.
The ranking system is less than ideal, but it alone doesn't hurt the gameplay balance for me. I've always considered in-game rankings to be something of a joke because almost all of them are bad. I use them to get achievements or costumes or whatever, and then move on.
If you're going for no-damage, you very often have to be anticipatory of enemy patterns. This is true of ALL games, not just MGR. In the Sundowner fight, if you shoot the chopper down with a rocket and it never has a chance to fire. There are only two choppers that appear in the entire fight, MAX. Sundowner is probably the worst boss in the game, though, for a lot of reasons, so I'm not going to argue that the chopper's inclusion added anything to that battle.
HOWEVER, I very much disagree with you about having "shit/fodder enemies accompany a boss" being bad action game stuff. I think it can be done well, and I think it depends on the game. Ninja Gaiden Black had a lot of boss fights with minions, and it worked for that game. I don't think it's inherently a bad thing, but I also think it is often done very poorly.
Why do you say this? Because Kamiya isn't directly involved? There's so little information on the game right now. How could it fail miserably already, lol!?
I don't know dudes, I know I'm going to get crucified for saying this here, but I still think Bayonetta, in general, is Platinum's coolest and best game. As much fun as I've had with Rising, there's more to the game than what I've gone over in my last two posts that don't quite jell with me. There's just something not very fun about running through these stages again. It's hard to pinpoint it exactly (a lot of it has to do with those Codec interruptions), but this is the first Platinum game where I didn't feel compelled to replay immediately. I've been replaying it more lately because I have the time now and it's just not clicking like Bayonetta and Vanquish did. Maybe it also has to do with the setting, I don't know. I'm not a huge Metal Gear guy, to be honest (I only truly love the original MGS).
To clarify, I meant sales-wise. Bayonetta 2 is not a system seller and it's a niche game on a failing system... of course, this was before the gigantic fiasco that is the XBone, so I guess anything's possible.
You are absolutely within your right to say that Bayonetta is Platinum's best game. I would absolutely agree with you that Bayonetta is a better overall game than Metal Gear Rising. I think that's accurate.
I just think the disappointment is a little misguided for Metal Gear Rising. It's a game that scratched a long neglected itch. It was created under strict time constraints by Konami, and I see so much potential in the title... so much room for improvement. I have little doubt that a MGR2 will deal with a lot of issues that the hardcore action game players, including myself, have.
Might be a snipe at Wii U/demographic mismatch
Bingo. I mean no offense. I just don't see it. I'm also not begging for Bayonetta 2 to come to other consoles. Nintendo is publishing the thing. They have faith in it.
