Well for the record, I still think that Gradius V analogy stands - this is a genre game. I know people who have absolutely no intention of playing the game since they believe the genre Devil May Cry invented to be inherently backwards and unfulfilling, therefore they pass Bayonetta by with the same ignorance they do Gradius V. Perhaps ignorance is too strong a word; I guess if somebody told me that the next StarCraft game was a 10/10, it wouldn't make me want to play it because I'm simply not interested in the genre.
I see what you're saying. Perhaps Gradius V isn't the best example though.
The Mario Galaxy parallels run deeper than you think. The willingness to embrace 3D environments so fully and play around with gravity was one aspect.
I really can't see it. I'm not getting anything from the gravity bending in Bayonetta. Her movement is just the same as normal, but the perspective switches slightly. It has no significant impact on the gameplay at all. And all those breaking, floating rocks you have to jump onto are superficial, so don't really qualify for me.
More significantly for me however was the similarity in evolution (Mario 64 to Mario Galaxy and Devil May Cry to Bayonetta). Neither Bayonetta nor Mario Galaxy are particularly innovative, they merely take everything that has been learnt since their respective games defined a genre and create the definitive evolution. Mario Galaxy’s different planets take the games rules and bend them, much like Bayonetta’s accessories experiment with the combat engine.
...I dunno man. You're looking into this real deep!
The evolution of these two games aren't really dissimilar from most modern genres. They've all evolved from blueprints of the past to get where they are today, and I can't see the evolutions of these two particular titles being any more linked than any others.
But I do think Mario Galaxy is actually extremely innovative, despite its platform roots, because it really does flip the platforming experience 360 degrees and finds ways to make it work, rather than just being a gimmick. Bayonetta as the evolution of DMC combat, I would warrant, is certainly the least innovative of the two.
Funnily enough, I have spoken to people with the same aesthetic aversion to Mario Galaxy as you have to Bayonetta. People that refuse to see the genius of Galaxy’s ideas because the game is “childish” with a story that wouldn’t entertain anyone beyond the age of puberty.
I hear it. I deal with Nintendo hating people everyday. But they're like newborn babies to gaming, so I forgive them. I do find MG aesthetically pleasing, but that's because it's a beautiful Mario game. I don't like Bayonetta's art direction much because it's really quite ugly - but that's not put me off of the game entirely.
For what it's worth, I find Bayonetta's knowing campness to be a lot easier to stomach than Ninja Gaiden or God of War's brooding tone that shows all the maturity of a sulking teenager.
Mmm. A matter of taste I suppose. I could deal with NG's ninja roots and bloody combat a lot more comfortably, and it's Japanese-ness didn't swamp the experience to the point of overload.
You’re kidding, right? Knowing your distain for ludicrously overplayed Japanese eccentricity, I couldn’t have written this review any more for you if I’d tried. “every cliché, reference, homage in the book,” “painfully camp dialogue,” “Bayonetta is a bawdy, puerile, otaku-appeasing work of gluttony”. If these didn’t set alarm bells ringing that you might be one of the people this game wasn’t for, I honestly don’t know what would. I spent a seriously unbalanced amount of time talking about how excessive Bayonetta was in this regard.
You did, I'm sorry dude, you're right. I only read it once but somehow I didn't see those comments as any kind of negative. I'd have probably gone for the throat a bit more when it came to those aspects (as I've done in this thread already) but you did indeed cover them.
Dunno though, I never thought I would have an aversion to otaku-appeasing works of gluttony, considering that I must be something of an otaku myself. But I find Bayonetta to be an incredibly western-influenced otaku vision, not, for example, the same as Death Smiles loli-otaku hook, or, going back real far for something zany, PuLiRula. It's like it's ticking the boxes for Japan-loving gaijin geeks, rather than allowing itself to wallow naturally in its own heritage. It's a recurring trend with JP current gen development these days, with stuff like Bullet Witch just leaving a sour taste.
If it’s mainly the disappointment of not agreeing with Famitsu/Edge scores, I think you need to get a grip. Famitsu scores have been a joke since Ridge Racer Revolution (as complete an antithesis as you could hope to find) got 39/40, not to mention the “perfect” Nintendogs, Soul Calibur and MGS4. Edge have been giving out wacky scores for nearly two decades.
Well aware of the infallibility of said publications. It's the recurring industry gushing over every hyped up release and the spilling of perfect scores that's starting to tick me off. It's deceptive. These Journalists have no balls man. These are peoples bank accounts we're talking about, you can't just carry on like every big release (Killzone 2 for instance) is a gift from god.
I used to only see games of the highest caliber appear once every three to four years which is weird, because looking back it seems as though the quality of titles was consistently higher and more inventive than they are today.
so we'll say it's a seven
I can see that you've played about 25% of the game so far so let's save the scores for when you've finished it.
Well I'm on chapter seven now. Just did six tonight.
Rodin has made me weapons from a few LP's, but I don't have the cash to buy them, which is kind of frustrating as I haven't actually bought that much. One of them looked like Katana swords but they've now gone missing from the shop inventory...?
It still feels like a grind and when the stages show some flair (like the wind dragon things trying to knock you off of the spiral) it really fails to do anything with it. Bayonetta's jump movement works for combat, making anything 'stage related' feel clumsy and a bit awkward to me.
I also got the leopard dash thing my workmate was talking about. It's okay.
I honestly don't know if I will finish the game, but I'll try. It is sort of boring for me though so by ploughing on I'm not sure who I'd doing any favours for. It might be an 8, who knows?