Bayonetta Catch-All

I played the demo again last night and somehow scored a platinum medal. It made me tremendously sad that it wasn't saved in any way. I love the 'bigness' of the weapons, like the gigantic axe that somehow shrinks down to Bayonetta's size when she picks it up. I don't get why the scorecard at the end would penalize you points for using items though, unless I was somehow reading it wrong.

I'm definitely going to have to grab a copy of Bayonetta sometime this year.

Clemenstation wrote:

I love the 'bigness' of the weapons, like the gigantic axe that somehow shrinks down to Bayonetta's size when she picks it up. I don't get why the scorecard at the end would penalize you points for using items though, unless I was somehow reading it wrong.

It means consumables such as healing items, temproary shields, etc which you can buy or make, rather than the weapons you pick up

I believe you might also start with some sort of "save me when I die" item, because my first time through the prologue I was penalized for item use, while I didn't have any idea how to use an item.

stevenmack wrote:
Clemenstation wrote:

I love the 'bigness' of the weapons, like the gigantic axe that somehow shrinks down to Bayonetta's size when she picks it up. I don't get why the scorecard at the end would penalize you points for using items though, unless I was somehow reading it wrong.

It means consumables such as healing items, temproary shields, etc which you can buy or make, rather than the weapons you pick up

Yeah, that confused me at first too. It puts that "Used Item" line up there no matter what, and since I wasn't using any I kept wondering why that was showing up. Then I realized it's actually "Used Item:" - with a colon, and if I had used any they would be listed there.

My strategy with these types of games is generally to go through without using items so that I can use the end of level rewards to buy all the cool moves and weapon upgrades, and then at the end-boss use every single item I've saved up from the entire game to pulverise it easily into a fine mash.

I probably wouldn't have bought this if I didn't have a gift card to Target, but I did so I did. I'm glad I did. This game blew me away. I never got in to the DMC craze. This makes up for it. Same kind of play style, but without the incredible difficulty that DMC presented me. Even on normal, regular enemies kick my ass due to the lack of a block or a really good dodge button. Here, they reward you for dodging with bullet/witch time. And it looks like the developers had a lot of fun coming up with cool looking combos. Kudos. I look forward to replaying this one as well.

Tiff Chow weighs in on Bayonetta's sexual objectification.

Personally, though as a male I have absolutely no stake in the argument, I kind of agree with points from both of their articles. I think Bayonetta first and foremost goes for ironic, silly camp value and to that end is definitely intentionally exploitative. On the other hand, Bayonetta the character has agency over herself and her sexuality in a way that many sexually objectified game characters don't. For me, the fact that it takes it's sense of cheesy sexyness so far past any boundary of sense or good taste is in itself entertaining, outside of any ramifications that may have for its political correctness.

The more I play the game the more the argument that "This game is objectifying to women and goes way over the top in its sexuality" falls short.

Bayonetta in her default costume isn't any more or less scantily clad that traditional female superheroes. Ol' girl from Heavenly Sword shows more skin per frame.

The whole thing with her and lollipops being borderline pornographic is absurd. Luka and the little girl eat them, too (I'm at Chapter XII now). It's not particularly titillating nor does there seem to be some sort of special lollipop-eating engine at play.

Bayonetta seems concerned for the little girl's well-being. The fact that there is a little girl in the game seems to throw a bucket of ice water on even the sexiest of arguments.

Y'know, male characters in Final Fantasy games carry around REALLY BIG swords. Is that supposed to be saying something about their sexuality?

I would say : yes. Probably.

Anyone have any bulletproof tips on beating those claw-dude angels? I always come out of these fights badly wounded and I'm sure I'm missing something. Also is there a correlation between magic and witch time? I can never seem to activate it during some battles, but do so easily in others. What gives?

Switchbreak wrote:

Tiff Chow weighs in on Bayonetta's sexual objectification.

Personally, though as a male I have absolutely no stake in the argument, I kind of agree with points from both of their articles. I think Bayonetta first and foremost goes for ironic, silly camp value and to that end is definitely intentionally exploitative. On the other hand, Bayonetta the character has agency over herself and her sexuality in a way that many sexually objectified game characters don't. For me, the fact that it takes it's sense of cheesy sexyness so far past any boundary of sense or good taste is in itself entertaining, outside of any ramifications that may have for its political correctness.

I'm with you. I honestly find the cheesy sexyness very entertaining. I disagree with Leigh Alexander and don't find it particularly empowering, but nor do I find it particularly offensive. It's an animated videogame character in an over-the top action game where the plot and characterization are the least of the point. Why are we trying to hold Bayonetta to a standard higher than other games, or for that matter, other TV shows, movies, music and music videos? Have you SEEN music videos over the past 20 years? Why do video games have to keep apologizing for being video games?

It's like Tucker Carlson asking John Stewart why the Daily Show doesn't ask hard-hitting questions - the answer is because he's followed by fighting robots. And so is Bayonetta.

Dysplastic wrote:

Why are we trying to hold Bayonetta to a standard higher than other games, or for that matter, other TV shows, movies, music and music videos? Have you SEEN music videos over the past 20 years? Why do video games have to keep apologizing for being video games?

Other mediums also get called out for their adolescent objectification. For example:

Peter Travers wrote:

Let's pause a moment and talk about Bay and his masterful objectification of women. He intros Fox in tight shorts, bent over a motorcycle. I can almost hear Bay behind the camera like a porn director who's captured a clone of Angelina Jolie: "Push that butt out, Megan, twitch it. Now turn, bend, show the rack. Now lick those lips, pout that pout. Hey, makeup, we need more lip gloss." He even brings in another hottie, Isabel Lucas, as Alice, another student who never cracks a book.

I guess. I suppose I just never hear about it - but I'm also not really looking for it.

Back to the game - what are you guys spending your halos on? Air Doge, Bat Form, and Breakdance were all must buys, but have you guys got any accessories yet? Give me some thoughts!

Stylez : There are some enemies and bossess which you can't activate witch time against, such as Glorious, the Golden form of Glorius i.e that thing with the claws. Thoose fights tend to be a lot more tricky but if you have unlocked techniques such as Bat Form (where you hit dodge exactly as you are being hit and therefore negate the damage from that hit) help to make those fights some what more managable. It helps to play very conservatively against them if they are doing you lots of damage.

Dysplastic : I bourght all the techniques first, then witch hearts and didn't get around to buying accessories till my second playthrough. Selena's light is pretty useful, giving you witch time whenever you are hit at the expensive of some magic.

Jexhius wrote:

Dysplastic : I bourght all the techniques first, then witch hearts and didn't get around to buying accessories till my second playthrough. Selena's light is pretty useful, giving you witch time whenever you are hit at the expensive of some magic.

Does the accessory count as an "Item Used" in the final stat tally for a level?

I bought all the techniques first and the production models of the shotties (so I could quad-wield them). Now I'm saving up.

Erm... just really saving up in general right now. I haven't completed a full run-through of the game and I want to be able to really dive in to the Gates of Hell for a shopping spree when I start my game+.

I've bought all the techniques and 2 accessories: Selenas Light and moon of malla-kanna or whatnot. Both of them paired with the bat technique definitely cuts down on the hurt whenever you take a hit, and I'd say they are essential for a hard playthrough. I'm on Chapter 10 now. Man Route 666 sucked :/

Also I spent close to an hour beating the challenge where you must defend your body in an out of body experience. That was frustrating as all get out, but I worked out a technique with the whip that should help make it easy for anyone trying it.

I have trouble getting a variety of moves and combos out of the whip. Any suggestions?

I find with the whip you need to be shorter on the punches, heavier on the kicks.

The YYBBB attack is extremely powerful and can help clear multiple enemies at a time. My favourite technique is something I've coined "the stairway to heaven and hell". You jump at an enemy and hold Y. This will pull the enemy towards you. Hit y once, then A, and you will jump off the enemy further into the air. You can then hold Y again to pull him near you. After doing this a few times you should be fairly high up. Let him fall, give one more jump and then aim yourself on to the enemy for your landing. This should net you two achievements too!

Now I can't wait to get home.

By the way, this thread totally needs a rename.

Can we call it: "Welcome to MY Fantasy Zone: The World of Bayonetta"?

I caved into the Game Stop overlords. I have a copy of Bayonetta sitting on my TV stand right now. As soon as the cleaning lady is done in there, I'm gonna play the Dragon Age DLC, then kick some ass with a naked chick.

TheCounselor wrote:

I caved into the Game Stop overlords. I have a copy of Bayonetta sitting on my TV stand right now. As soon as the cleaning lady is done in there, I'm gonna play the Dragon Age DLC, then kick some ass with a naked chick.

And then you're gonna ask the cleaning lady to leave and you'll finally get around to playing Bayonetta?

Mister Magnus wrote:
TheCounselor wrote:

I caved into the Game Stop overlords. I have a copy of Bayonetta sitting on my TV stand right now. As soon as the cleaning lady is done in there, I'm gonna play the Dragon Age DLC, then kick some ass with a naked chick.

And then you're gonna ask the cleaning lady to leave and you'll finally get around to playing Bayonetta?

heyooooo

counselor, you and I have remarkably similar
tastes in games.

I played through the Prologue this morning.

The combat is fun, but that story is bananas.

Hang on tight, after the Prologue things get serious.

Well it happened last night.

I can see the Matrix.

One of the joys of action games like this is the eventual moment when it clicks. It always seems to happen when I'm frustrated and stuck on a particular section. For Ninja Gaiden it was the bone skeleton, for God Hand it was these two, and for Bayonetta it was with one of the alfheim challenges (Defeat golemn before time expires). It took multiple tries before the timing on attacks just sort of made sense, and i was able to complete the challenge with pure platinum. Looking forward to going back to normal after this and cleaning up all those stonies!

I went into Gamestop to buy a second nunchuck strap for EA Active and there was a used copy of Bayonetta waiting for me. In some bizarre twist, the used price was $50, rather than the usual $55 for recent pre-owned releases. It's mine now and man, this game is a hoot.

I have learned a valuable lesson already: I need to either rewet my lenses or switch to glasses when playing because if I have to blink a lot, I'm going to get mauled. Maybe when I cave and get a bigger TV it won't be as big a deal. I have a poor history with games of this type, getting through Devil May Cry 1 by luck mostly, but I actually want to be better at this game. Maybe it's because of all the bizarre weapons I've seen on YouTube that I'd like to be able to afford.

This game dries out my contacts like crazy, too!!! I'm always afraid one's just gonna *pop!* out.

The last 30 minutes with the game every night I have to switch to my glasses.

I watched an Alfheim challenge video because I didn't understand how I could have missed so many. Turns out you need to backtrack like crazy to find most of them. Definitely recommend watching the vid if you're wondering where all the challenges are.

TheCounselor wrote:

I played through the Prologue this morning.

The combat is fun, but that story is bananas.

B-A-N-A-N-A-S

With Splinter Cell Conviction out of February I'll probably pick this up fairly soon.