Bayonetta (PS3/360)

[Damocles]

PKP is awesome. Very nice against Durgas (or whatever those claw twins are called) as it's quick and knocks 'em back.

I liked the game enough after a rental to buy it. New, even. Also weaseled my way into the pre-order bonus. That being said, my complaints have mostly subsided. I'm still annoyed by having the dodge button mapped to an analogue trigger...and the fact that they kick you out of cut scenes dirently into an oncoming attack.

[CMoon]

Arrghhh! Found out about the claw/missile launcher glitch combo. A little frustrated because it is 1) enormously fun and 2) potentially ruins the game. Oh hell, probably isn't any worse than playing on easy, but I'm gonna have to leave the missile launcher unequipped for serious play.

[Rob]

Arrghhh! Found out about the claw/missile launcher glitch combo.

I'm fine with cheating, please tell me more.

[CMoon]

Equip the missile launcher on your legs on set B, Equip Durga (I bet other weapons would work but haven't experimented with it) on your legs on set A. Do the PPPPK combo (you'll know when you get it because Bayonetta screams 'showtime!'. This is the combo that's extended by hitting the kick button over and over--so technically it is PPPPKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK...(!)

So the trick is you that if you switch from set A to B just as all that kicking starts, Bayonetta will launch a tone of missiles, and consequently do a ton of damage. It is a glitch because if you do this combo normally, the kick frenzy only launches maybe 3 missiles, but the glitch launches something like 8 or 10 (or more).

Now go out there and have some guilty pleasure!

[Kiken]

Equip the missile launcher on your legs on set B, Equip Durga (I bet other weapons would work but haven't experimented with it) on your legs on set A. Do the PPPPK combo (you'll know when you get it because Bayonetta screams 'showtime!'. This is the combo that's extended by hitting the kick button over and over--so technically it is PPPPKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK...(!)

So the trick is you that if you switch from set A to B just as all that kicking starts, Bayonetta will launch a tone of missiles, and consequently do a ton of damage. It is a glitch because if you do this combo normally, the kick frenzy only launches maybe 3 missiles, but the glitch launches something like 8 or 10 (or more).

Now go out there and have some guilty pleasure!

To fully abuse it you should also have Gaze of Dispair and the Bracelet of Time equiped. Then go fight the Chapter II boss on Hard. Watch as your Halo counter flies into Takumi scoring territory.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Za7kKNFCASY

[Zaarock]

Got the PAL 360 ver yesterday and finished today on normal. Started a hard run and am at chapter 6 atm, going with the katana & moon of mahaa-kalaa and evil harvest rosaries(apart from main bosses). I havent played any of the games in the DMC series, but have played okami and viewtiful joes by clover. The references to games by clover and the two afterburner parts are great Enemy designs remind me of Okami, great stuff. Hunting for the records and alfheim portals seems pretty tiresome, I think I'll clear hard mode before looking for them properly.

[Udderdude]

Too bad, it seemed like this game had some challenge, but with the easy to perform rocket glitch it seems trivial to get the highest rank in the game. I guess people will resort to posting non-rocket glitched runs to show off from now on ..

[system11]

the two afterburner parts are great

That bit near the end is Space Harrier "Welcome to my fantasy zone", the bullets and sound effects, even half the monster patters and tunes are similar. I had a HUGE grin when I saw that bit.

[Taylor]

i thikn the combat looks deeper but its tons easier to pull off than DMC4's dante. dante in dmc4 combos are as crazy as dmc games get, weapon switching into tons of combos is pretty hard in dmc4. dmc3 dante was pretty deep in combos too but not as hard to pull off crazy long combos like dmc4.

I agree Devil May Cry was really impressive to watch played a high level and in Bayonetta there's not as much scope for that. But let's face it, most people played through mashing out one combo and dodging with the same style all game. I think Bayonetta has the right idea by keeping all that stuff within reach of good gamers rather than a few Japanese people on nicovideo. I'm sure some stuff that comes out will be impressive all the same. When people finish posting videos of the rocket glitch, anyway.

[StoofooEsq]

While I've heard many good things about Bayonetta and had plenty of fun with the demo, I don't see myself buying this for my PS3 anytime soon (maybe not at all). To have a seventh-gen game able to run at 60FPS with high-quality graphics on one console, be downgraded for another console with a jumpy frame rate, graphics that are actually worse, including lengthy loading times on top of that, while expecting me to drop $60 for the latter version is honestly insulting to me.

I'm not trying to change the opinions of anyone that have already bought the PS3 version. That's your business. But while this is just a video game I'm talking about, I'm still a consumer, and I'm still looking to get my money's worth at every opportunity. Straight up, I'm not paying full price for a version of a game that's inferior to this extent — in terms of visuals and/or otherwise — in this console generation, no matter how entertaining it is.

[Thunder Force]

The save system in Bayonetta seems broken to me. In a level after an hour or so, as I am almost at an end-of-level boss, the game pops up a message in the corner saying "Saving...", and couple of minutes later I reach the boss and lose to him. Since it's really late at night I select "Continue: No", and the game erases my entire hour and a half of progress, dumping me back to the start of level screen with a "save" menu option there, but that only functions to create another save from the start of the level. I guess basically, the pop-up message saying "Saving..." was mistranslated from japanese, and should have read "Checkpoint reached", and I guess you lose all checkpoint progress if you refuse to continue. Such flaws that waste hours of my time, makes me tempted to put a game back on the shelf and never touch it again.

[MX7]

The save system in Bayonetta seems broken to me. In a level after an hour or so, as I am almost at an end-of-level boss, the game pops up a message in the corner saying "Saving...", and couple of minutes later I reach the boss and lose to him. Since it's really late at night I select "Continue: No", and the game erases my entire hour and a half of progress, dumping me back to the start of level screen with a "save" menu option there, but that only functions to create another save from the start of the level. I guess basically, the pop-up message saying "Saving..." was mistranslated from japanese, and should have read "Checkpoint reached", and I guess you lose all checkpoint progress if you refuse to continue. Such flaws that waste hours of my time, makes me tempted to put a game back on the shelf and never touch it again.

Yeah, the saving system is hardly intuitive. The game does save your game properly every time it says 'saving', however. But when you select 'no' from the continue screen, it overwrites your save to the start of the chapter. If you're caught short and want to stop mid chapter, either just switch off the console or push start and go back to the main menu. Next time you start up, select 'continue (from last check point)' and you'll continue from the last automatic save.

As I said, it's not particularly logical

[Taylor]

Devil May Cry does the same. If you want to continue, hit yes.

[kengou]

While I've heard many good things about Bayonetta and had plenty of fun with the demo, I don't see myself buying this for my PS3 anytime soon (maybe not at all). To have a seventh-gen game able to run at 60FPS with high-quality graphics on one console, be downgraded for another console with a jumpy frame rate, graphics that are actually worse, including lengthy loading times on top of that, while expecting me to drop $60 for the latter version is honestly insulting to me.

I'm not trying to change the opinions of anyone that have already bought the PS3 version. That's your business. But while this is just a video game I'm talking about, I'm still a consumer, and I'm still looking to get my money's worth at every opportunity. Straight up, I'm not paying full price for a version of a game that's inferior to this extent — in terms of visuals and/or otherwise — in this console generation, no matter how entertaining it is.

It's really not bad at all. I haven't played the 360 version, but the only issue I have with the PS3 game is the load times when just about anything happens like opening the pause menu or collecting a new type of item. The reviews are really exaggerating the issues of the PS3 version, I think. Framerate has been perfectly fine as far as I could tell. If there have been any drops in framerate, it didn't effect gameplay at all. Colors are a little washed out I guess, but it's just not a big deal for me. I get the point you're making, but it looks like you believe the differences between the 360 and PS3 versions are MASSIVE, and I really don't think that's true, they are probably minor. Of course, I haven't played the 360 version, but considering how awesome the game is on the PS3 I can't imagine how it could be THAT much better.

[Cthulhu]

The save system in Bayonetta seems broken to me. In a level after an hour or so, as I am almost at an end-of-level boss, the game pops up a message in the corner saying "Saving...", and couple of minutes later I reach the boss and lose to him. Since it's really late at night I select "Continue: No", and the game erases my entire hour and a half of progress, dumping me back to the start of level screen with a "save" menu option there, but that only functions to create another save from the start of the level. I guess basically, the pop-up message saying "Saving..." was mistranslated from japanese, and should have read "Checkpoint reached", and I guess you lose all checkpoint progress if you refuse to continue. Such flaws that waste hours of my time, makes me tempted to put a game back on the shelf and never touch it again.

Yeah, the saving system is hardly intuitive. The game does save your game properly every time it says 'saving', however. But when you select 'no' from the continue screen, it overwrites your save to the start of the chapter. If you're caught short and want to stop mid chapter, either just switch off the console or push start and go back to the main menu. Next time you start up, select 'continue (from last check point)' and you'll continue from the last automatic save.

As I said, it's not particularly logical

Ugh, that is kinda cruddy. I never tried using the mid-level continue as I was worried it wouldn't work the way I wanted. I'm kinda glad I didn't.

[Strider77]

While I've heard many good things about Bayonetta and had plenty of fun with the demo, I don't see myself buying this for my PS3 anytime soon (maybe not at all). To have a seventh-gen game able to run at 60FPS with high-quality graphics on one console, be downgraded for another console with a jumpy frame rate, graphics that are actually worse, including lengthy loading times on top of that, while expecting me to drop $60 for the latter version is honestly insulting to me.

Talk to sony on why they went with such a odd set up for hardware and then not offer alot of support and excellent development tools. Plus ports of varying quality are nothing new. 3D ports on the saturn vs 3D on the PS1 and 2D ports on the saturn vs 2D on PS1.... then sometimes flipping around what you thought would do it better. SF2 on SNES vs Genesis...... who cared, we all played it regardless on whatever you owned it on, then whatever your buddy owned when you were over there.

It is unfortunate that PS3 owners didn't get the same game verbatim, but more important than any of it is.... don't miss out on Bayonetta just b/c you don't have a 360. It's kinda like missing out on a home port (ketsui) b/c you don't have the cash for a PCB or cab/supergun.

That game will shine through either way... it's good, I love it and don't want PS3 owners to skip over it.

[Cthulhu]

It is unfortunate that PS3 owners didn't get the same game verbatim, but more important than any of it is.... don't miss out on Bayonetta just b/c you don't have a 360. It's kinda like missing out on a home port (ketsui) b/c you don't have the cash for a PCB or cab/supergun.

That game will shine through either way... it's good, I love it and don't want PS3 owners to skip over it.

Totally agree. Don't pass this one up no matter what.

[Daigohji]

Just finished my second playthrough of Bayonetta, on Hard mode this time. I like the goofy laser guns that beating Hard mode unlocks. I don't feel like tackling ∞ Climax mode right now, as not having witch time sounds like a headache. I'm not consistent enough at countering with the Moon of Mahaa-Kalaa to compensate for it.

[Zaarock]

Just finished hard mode today as well.. bazillions seem like a lot of fun, though might just feel like that because I've just been using the katana ever since unlocking it.

Daigohji: eh, you can still dodge normally.. gotta learn to combo without witch time (as you will probably see on the airship in prologue, heh). Use evil harvest beads + moon of mahaa-kalaa, thats a nice combo. When I was trying out climax it seemed the beads actually do more damage on ∞ climax mode, splash damage from a single orb made a few weakest enemies blow up and all other enemies got launched in the air and they will definately at least get stunned, allowing you to start a combo. You do get a pretty long slowmo when you do a near dodge, same as when dodging some boss attacks that you cant witch time.

[Taylor]

Just finished by first play-through on Normal and clearly missed a lot of stuff. Played hard for one mission, laughed when the lightning/fire claw dudes appeared in the first fight. Will be fun.

[CMoon]

My God, I suck at this game:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdQAHbS9c44
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eXys_El ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMU7lKZyS20
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3JJUStz ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcmldIRZ ... re=related

(ripped off directly from gamefaqs)

EDIT: Oh yeah, and jump cancelling: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qRpYaVO ... re=related

[Damocles]

I finished a Normal run yesterday and am going back through to hit all the portals and hearts/crystals/etc. Not surprisingly this second run is much more fluid and quick. I'm actually really looking forward to Hard and Climax to spice things up.

A question: During this second run I'm getting much better medals/trophies due to me hitting all the portals and getting better combos. Unfortunately, some of my times are suffering. If I'm looking to get a time under three hours, should I have done this before the collectible run? I'm guessing when I update each level these extended times will overwrite the previous ones.

[Kiken]

A question: During this second run I'm getting much better medals/trophies due to me hitting all the portals and getting better combos. Unfortunately, some of my times are suffering. If I'm looking to get a time under three hours, should I have done this before the collectible run? I'm guessing when I update each level these extended times will overwrite the previous ones.

Well, you can always go back an do the levels over again and record the faster time. But yeah, the new play-throughs with extended times are going to overwrite the old ones and lengthen the total time for the difficulty (assuming you've been overwriting and not cancelling after each chapter).

[spadgy]

the two afterburner parts are great

That bit near the end is Space Harrier "Welcome to my fantasy zone", the bullets and sound effects, even half the monster patters and tunes are similar. I had a HUGE grin when I saw that bit.

Me too. This game just gets better and better with the epilogue being the real highlight. Screw the rocket glitch too - I'm not going near that.

Hard mode here I come...

[Kiken]

Screw the rocket glitch too - I'm not going near that.

I actually messed around with it a couple of nights ago. It's hilariously broken.

I'm now playing through Normal with Jeanne. I really need to get the Rosary Beads cause activating Witch Time with her is rather difficult.

[No_not_like_Quake]

I'm at the fight with Jeanne when you first arrive on Isla del Sol (chapter XIV, IIRC). Her life bar is rather long.

I think this might be my favorite game of this generation. Kudos on the Sega game references too. Luckily, I'm well versed in Space Harrier, so the old clock/counter clock-wise rotation came in handy on that stage.

You can tell the Platinum Games guys were thrilled to work some Sega references into this game. I wouldn't mind if these guys made a Space Harrier 3 for xbla/psn.

[Daigohji]

Out of curiosity I've been replaying DMC1 and God Hand this week. Maybe it's just because I have the poorly localised 50Hz PAL version of DMC, but it feels really clunky to me now. The dodge roll in particular is awkward and the game has its Resident Evil roots written all over it (especially with the impractical camera angles). God Hand still feels slick (helps that I've got the 60Hz US version), though I never liked having the evasion moves on the right stick. Bayonetta really is a fusion of the best elements of both games with so many improvements of its own.

[Zaarock]

Cleared infinite climax and am halfway through the alfheims now. I think I went through climax faster than hard, sort of surprised at how easy it was (using rosaries + mahaa-kalaa ofc), was expecting it to be really hard or something. I'd say normal on Ninja Gaiden 2 is harder. Last Jeanne fight was especially fun on the mode.. I also pretty much beat the last boss without dying and with high health until I managed fail at the final part I dont like how the bosses have multiple checkpoints in case you die, sort of ruins the point of the various forms etc.

No_not_like_Quake: there are plenty more references to Clover games, DMC and all kinds of stuff as well. Anyone know what the quote bayonetta says right before the last boss is a reference to?

[Cthulhu]

I'd say normal on Ninja Gaiden 2 is harder.

Really? Wow. I thought NG2 was pretty easy, especially compared to the first one. (I also thought it was pretty disappointing compared to the first one, but that's a totally different topic.)

[Zaarock]

Cthulhu: mm, I guess I might not remember much about NG2 anymore. I did start a run on mentor a few months ago, that was hard at least. I never played the first game though.

On ∞ Climax mode I developed a pretty good dodge reflex, in the end ended up doing bat form constantly at attacks even if I didnt see them coming. Rosaries are nice too, due to the splash damage you can wear out a whole group of enemies while playing defensively. A fun thing to do with rosaries is to spam dodge constantly when Golem goes into caterpillar form, explosions all over the place.

Beat all the alfheims and maxed out stats now. Trying to get platinums on normal now, its a lot of fun. First I was trying to do it with Pillow Talk & Bazillions but that clearly didnt work out: I did all kinds of fancy stuff with Pillow Talk but kept getting bad combo scores. It also brought up some bad habits from using shuraba a lot before, I spammed stiletto and now also spin Y (goes through fire enemies actually) a bit too much. Switched to Scarborough Fair as my main weapon now, I never really used them so its a lot of fun... also got like 650,000 combo on Lost Chapter verse 1 with them