Hideki Kamiya has one of the greatest resumes in gaming history . Resident Evil 2, Devil May Cry (my personal favourite game of all time), Viewtiful Joe, Okami, Bayonetta and Wonderful 101. What a sublime catalogue of games of varying genres but historically significant in their respective genres.
Such a legendary game. Also probably most content rich one on the market after you beat the game, i'm still impressed by it. All the secret weapons, playing as Jeanne, i still haven't beaten Rodin legitimately lol. What i love the most about Bayonetta is its brutally rewarding rating system (though the style meter itself leaves a lot to be desired), loved getting good enough to be worthy of the Pure Platinum.
Playing as Jeanne is something I really fail to see the novelty of, to be quite honest. Like people sometimes complain about DMC Special Editions only ever giving Vergil a rehassed version of the story campaign, but atleast he is completely unique as a playable character. Jeanne is barely anything more than a reskin of Cereza, with colour-swapped and renamed versions of the same exact weapons.
No matter how many survival horror or other types of games Charlie reviews, when he decides to cover his favourite "just action games", you can feel his excitement and enthusiasm reverberating throughout the entire video. Not saying the new, more laid back analytical videos are worse, but this style is what got me hooked on this channel. Pure platinum, Smoking Sexy Style content, keep 'em coming.
Absolutely right, my friend. With some of the newer videos, like: Sly, Kingdome Hearts especialy and Road to the Rocket Launcher starting from REmake, I was getting afraid that TGB was unnecesserily putting a leash on himself. His best work and the one I fell in love with, was the one when he was Unboud, Unleashed, Free and Spontanious. When he follows his path and let's his Heart lead him I see his most Triumphant and Badass. Crash 4, early Rocket Launchers, Ratchet Deadlocked, his newer shorter videos or Metroid Prime Echoes or Silent Hill 3. I saw the True Mad Lad back - my old friend was back, better that ever. Never left... I do hope that from now on Charlie will follow that Fire that Burns within his Soul and alows himself to run free and speak from the Heart about the thing he loves. Planing out these things isn't a bad choice, but I hope he does it only to support what is allready strong within him. Peace.
Goddamn dude, your writing/scripts are always so sharp. I feel like I wake up when I listen to your vids. They’re really fun and packed with detail and emotion without feeling superfluous or drawn out.
Yeah. They never felt as condescending like Dunkey’s (even if it’a usually part of his style of sarcastic humor that mixes his serious feelings). Or as soft-spoken essay-like in tone like Eyepatch Wolf. I love Brit’s incredible style of mixing in insight in so many accounts and perspectives in what he’s reviewing, while putting humor through his honest feelings and self-awareness of the tropes of his content.
I just finished Bayonetta literally less than ten minutes ago. I turn off my PS4, go to RU-vid and the first thing that pops up is this video. Marvelous.
You know, I actually had no idea Bayo 1 was on the PS4. I always thought it was 7th gen and PC only (and I count the Wii U and Switch as 7th gen). Nice to know.
YES. I have been waiting for someone to give Bayo the full review treatment like this. I feel like Bayo gets a ton of a great ratings/reviews but nobody quite puts it into words like you can. Great review!
I appreciate your take on the space harrier section. I don't want it removed, I just want it improved. I play shmups, I like them, I just think they can be better than that. The camera and placement of the section are my biggest problems. I'd also enjoy replaying it even more if it changed on higher difficulties, which I don't recall that it does. Correct me if I'm wrong on that. I found myself enjoying phase 1 of Mundus in DMC more, and it does change with difficulties, namely DMD. It helps that in DMC that feels like a part of the fight rather than just arbitrarily being put in the same chapter as a boss. Balder and the angel abominations have their own chapter with one verse, so why not the last Jeanne fight? Btw Charlie, if you haven't gotten to nonstop infinite climax difficulty - I highly recommend it. It's why I don't care for witch time nearly as much as dodge offset, and it annoys me when other games only copy witch time. It's also still unique to Bayo 1.
@@voodsood I never got around to that game. Makes sense, it's Platinum as well, right? Just to be clear, what I'm saying is unique to Bayo 1 is nonstop infinite climax difficulty. I was thinking of something like Norse GoW which has witch time for some reason, even though I don't think it adds much.
Not a huge fan of this section (and I also hate Space Harrier lol) but it was awesome in a "now for something completely different" way. Loved the reference as an old gamer and I also love it when over the top and spectacular games just go silly because it fits the overall theme. My only complaint is that the stage was a bit too long, but it's still super cool that it's there.
One of the best action games of all time. It just FEELS good to play and nail the pace of combat, and bayonetta happens to be one of my favourite protags in gaming, lady just oozes style
I like how you talk about Bayo's feminenity without bringing up her sexual and flirtatious nature. When talking about the character, I always feel people focus too much on that aspect and forget other elements that make her appealing, especially to women. Some nice, cheeky jokes in this video too!
He did though, he talked about her flirtatious dances, and you have a move that makes a sexual pose every time you use it so he would be justified in mentioning this as well
Her confidence is inspiring I think. How openly she owns her sexual movements and flirts with Luka and sort of angels is a breath of fresh air as someone who's very introverted.
Bayonetta is my all time faves in the hack and slash genre. This game is a well worthy to be a spiritual successor to DMC,and how ironic is that it’s made by Hideki Kamiya himself.
@@scottroxford5715 I hate to think of any of them as "best," because despite everything they all have very unique attributes that appeal to different sensibilities. Bayo 1 was probably the most "honest" game. No big insta-win mechanics like Umbran Climax (or worse, Umbran Armor) or Demon Slaves, just do sick combos with your hands and feet and make sure to throw a Wicked Weave here and there to maximize damage and reset combo point degradation. I still think this one is most suited for hardcore DMC fans, as it was literally the extreme evolution of the first DMC. Bayo 2 was clearly designed for beginners in mind, while still giving plenty of tools for hardcores to do fun shit. Much easier game, much simpler combo counter, much bigger attacks. The new Witch Time emphasized tactics over pure skill, as its duration was based on the attack you dodged rather than how close of a shave you got, so getting good Witch Times meant hovering near dangerous enemies rather than just good reactions. And Bayo 3 just said "fuck it" and gave us the most unabashedly broken Bayo yet. You want balance and nuance? Go play a cute babby gaem like DMC5.* Nah, you're here to REALLY indulge the most absurd and bombastic power fantasy ever. Send in an army of Kaiju, locomotives, and sentient landmarks to assist with the most excessively screen-filling combos with the some of the most ludicrous weapons in gaming history. Viola, meanwhile, was basically a Bayo 1 character thrust into Bayo 3's wildly broken multiverse, a character who was SO honest that she often felt out of place in a game so utterly jacked by design (something that I felt was thematically appropriate). TL;DR, Bayo 1 is for the character action purists, Bayo 2 is for the character action casuals, and Bayo 3 is for people who want to have a good time doing dumb shit. And all three have ridiculous amounts of depth in their own way, and I love them all equally. *This is a joke. Don't flame me.
@@Tenchigumi Well humongous bias on my part cause I have been playing Bayonetta since launch but when 2 came out it just felt... Off. And I'm not a fan of 2's flow and philosophy when it came to playing Bayonetta, Bayo 1 is a game where you can do fancy sick combos or just a dumb fuck amount of damage when needed, there's a balance between being efficient and stylish, Bayo 2 throws that out the window wanting to nerf Bayo's overall damage in favor of umbran climax, the weapons felt very awkward to control, unique sure but limiting since 4 of them are hands only weapons and even then they don't feel as effective as Bayo 1's weapons, the depth just isn't there and I haven't played the game in years due to that and just the game overall being a let down in many areas, hype at first but hindsight has not favored that game in my eyes. And I haven't played 3 yet because of overall consensus being mixed, the game doesn't look that good, the controversy with Helena Taylor and not owning a Switch so the investment at the moment doesn't feel worth it. I don't mind because it's Bayonetta but I wanna spend my money on other things.
@@scottroxford5715 Yeah, I pretty much agree with all of that, though I do recommend trying Bayo 3 and ignoring all those weird (and ultimately pointless) controversies. 3 actually brings back a lot of good things from 1 (a combo system that rewards attack variety, Witch Time that rewards close calls, etc.), but also just makes everything really... Big. It's a very, very unique experience you really can't get anywhere else, and I do hope you get to try it for yourself once all the angst and controversy simmers down.
@@dunkelwelpling He lacks the Brit's precision and wit (and guns), but I think he isn't half bad at expressing his thoughts poetically. Quite a wordsmith, that one.
@@Maggerama He always has to shove his political views into his reviews, that's why i unsubscribed. But i also dislike the humor KBash uses - it's so dumb but not in a funny way. There are rare moments of wordsmithery, as you say it, where i too like the guy but he always ruins it with a bad joke or his political opinion.
Getting the Normal difficulty Pure Platinums in this game is one of my greatest achievements in gaming, and it says a lot that 2 and 3 can't hold a candle to it still.
I just finished Bayonetta 1 for the first time last month after putting it off for years. Such an iconic and amazing title and I'm so happy I got to play through all three games back to back
The tiresome button mashing QTEs are why the Steam version is the best version of Bayonetta. If you're using a PS4/5 controller or a Steam Deck, you can use the touchpad (or the myriad of extra buttons on the Deck) to simply map a turbo button that auto-mashes all the face buttons at inhuman speeds (the game doesn't care if you're mashing all the buttons as long as the correct button is one of them). Is this cheating? Sure. But after over 300 hours of Bayo, do I care? Nah.
@@VexX6 There are a few tutorials for general setup (look up "Steam Controller Configuration"), but as for the specific settings for turbo functions, I'm not sure. And unfortunately, I can't recall off the top of my head how I created the button (there are a LOT of settings in there). However, there are some user-uploaded configurations that have the turbo buttons (including one that I made), so you might be able to just pick one of those and rock with it. And honestly, it's worth spending time fiddling with Controller Configuration in Steam, because it allows you to utilize your PS4/5 controllers in ways Sony could only DREAM of. That little touchpad can be remapped to do some truly wild stuff.
My favourite review of yours so far. Cheeky and informative. Also correction: the ability to use witch time on command is only unlocked when you beat the game under 2 hours.
Watching this video as a DMC player, I feel catharsis over someone else making the exact same observations about Bayonetta's HORRIBLE placement of the dodge button. When googling if the controls could be changed I even found an article with an interview where a dev said that "the controls are perfect and doesn't need to be changed". >_> Pro tip if you play on PC: Steam big picture mode let's you change your controller to only register a digital input instead of analog. Then you can alter that digital input to be whatever. Swapping LT and RT made the game actually playable for a change. Edit: I just unpaused the video to see you point out the exact same thing. Lol, well it's good to get the message out there. Non-rebindable controls in action games is a fad that needs to DIE even if idiots defend it. (Looking at you Dark Souls community)
Yeah the control layout is terrible, I don't know what sort of hands those defending it have to say it's "perfect". Unless the idea was to have you fight the controls as well as you play for added misery, in that case fair enough. Good thing you can remap via Steam or other tools on PC but having to suffer through this layout on console sucks.
Which more time in this vid was spent on enemies and bosses. The inventiveness behind some of them are top even amongst character action games. DMCs feel very vanilla afterwards. I mean just look at the Angel's designs. The Golemis one of the best enemies in any game. And they even went so far as to give Angels their own accurate language.
You know I'm enjoying some of these little jabs to other games, Brit. Keeping it cheeky as always. Pairing kids with your protagonist is so cheap and I wish more people would point it out - Like god, I get it writer, you're a mother or a father, that still doesn't make it good writing!
Excellent video that captures many of the reasons Bayonetta will always be one of my very favorite games and one of the best action games of all time. I'm pretty curious on your thoughts on Bayonetta 2 and 3. One game that is much the same with lots of little things changed, and another that changes an absolute ton but is still Bayonetta at it's core.
I always liked the still cutscenes and I never bought the idea that it was done for budget reasons, especially since PlatinumGames has done smaller titles which didn't use them. I always saw it as a stylistic choice, and imo it works. There's a lot of attention to detail in these scenes too. Angles and poses are carefully chosen and there's a lot of clever camera work. I don't think they get enough credit.
Kamiya himself did a commentary let's play of the game(which I highly recommend, it used to be on the Platinum blog or whatever but someone's since uploaded the episodes to youtube) and called it a cost-saving measure. A cost-saving measure that ended up still being a pain in the ass to make though thanks to those stylistic choises, lol.
My issue with the Shmup section is that it's a mandatory section in a game that is otherwise not about Shmup'ing at all. It's the only section like it in the game, and the dodge mechanics carrying over isn't enough to feel like there's enough mechanical continuity. Another big issue is the difficulty and length. Kamiya treats the section like it should carry on from the game's prior difficulty curve, and not adjust the difficulty based on the fact that it's the only section like it, and not nessessarily a genre all players are going to have prior experience in. Coupled that with it being a full levels worth in length, leads the section to feel exhausting if it's not a gameplay style you care for. It's biggest sin though is gatekeeping not just story progress, but arguably the best boss in the game. If a player wants to fight Jeanne 3, they have to do the whole section all over again, as there's no dedicated boss selector in Bayonetta. If Kamya absolutely had to have his Shmup (and bike) sections in the game, he should have made them dedicated side games outside the levels (simular to the end of level arcade shooter sections).
I don't remember why I played the original Bayonetta. I remember being kinda weirded out by the marketing and publications hype, which was just a lot of "ERMAGERD SHE'S SO SCANDALOUS, LOOK HOW HOT AND SCANDALOUS SHE IS GAIZZZZZ." I wasn't a big DMC fan at the time, and I wasn't a big Kamiya nerd yet. Literally nothing about this game appealed to me on the surface. Then I played it. Holy shit, it was not what I expected. It was so zany and over-the-top, and all its attempts at sexiness were so comically tryhard that it was more endearing than titillating. But it also had an undeniable attitude and style that was all its own, and it drove this whole package all the way to the most memorable ending sequence I'd ever seen. And the gameplay. Oh god, the gameplay. The first time I landed a Witch Time and launched someone into an air combo that culminated in a Wicked Weave that literally stomped them into the ground, I was in love. Then I realized I could stroll up to the enemy I just drove into the floor... and spank them. This was it. This was the game. That intersection of the smooth controls, the ultra-satisfying reward of a good Witch Time, the incredible combo variety and the crushing impact of Wicked Weaves, and the absurdity of furiously slapping an angel's ass cheeks with an oversized pistol... yes. This was everything. I remember playing DMC 1 at launch and skipping every other DMC that followed until over a decade later. As a result, whenever I thought of a "stylish" action game, I thought of Bayonetta. For all its various flaws, if a game is judged by how memorable it is, how good it is to play when it's at its peak, and how often it reaches those peaks, then Bayonetta is damn near the ideal game. And while the following game refined the formula, and the third game absolutely blew it up to cosmic proportions, the original Bayo still has a very firm place in my heart and still feels damn good to play today.
Intro is a huge improvement from what you were able to articulate in the Bayo 2 video, I did wince a bit back then when you were saying it was cool to have a protagonist inspiring for women, but here you’re able to elaborate on that without having to make a broad statement and put angles on it I don’t think I’ve encountered. The rest of the video stayed strong and supported your initial argument as the story progressed while making me reflect on my feelings for the entirety of this game’s experience.
Bayonetta was always such a cool game and series, there was a time period where it felt like Bayo was picking up what the Devil May Cry series was dropping. The first still holds up so well to this day, but the sequel is also nothing to dismiss. As much as I've been enjoying Bayonetta 3, it feels like a downgrade compared to Devil May Cry 5. That's a bit unfair due to DMC5 being well, practically perfect. But I still wish 3 could have gone to some great places that DMC5 demonstrated, especially with how much longer it took Bayo 3 to come out.
@@ubadman1 I think honestly they were trying to get *too much* out of the Switch. I'd be happy with a Bayo 3 that looked more like Bayo 2 if at least ran like Bayo 2.
@@rna151 I feel they tried to get too much of a game too tbh, like a new weapon granted every chapter, with a demon and it's own gimmicks, while in the other games many weapons were optional, plus Viola gameplay, plus the Jeanne stuff.... in a game where knowing your combos and moveset is critical. it felt crammed in.
The incessant and unstoppable escalation of stakes made me completely check out of b3's story even before the halfway point, which is why my entry for "who would win between bayonetta and Dante" is "bayonetta, but it would be lame"
Surprised to hear so many little things bothered you about this game. Maybe I'm just biased; this was my first real 3D action game, and it's still my favorite. Since you've been playing so much Sonic I'll assume this comparison makes sense: saving Jubileus for the end is a little like finishing off with the Super Sonic fight. The game tests you on the core mechanics, then climaxes with something spectacular and less testing because you've earned that. At least, that's why I prefer my monstrous godfights after that personal shit 9 times out of 10. Also no thoughts on Nonstop Infinity Climax? I know Dante Must Die started it all, but nothing's ever satisfied me quite so much for how it kicked my crutch out from under me. Game just kept getting harder until my sixth playthrough in when it said "Oh wait, you've been _relying_ on Witch Time? Well we can't have that now can we?"
I played the shit out of this game (and it's sequels) but always average around gold at end of level because of the hidden fights, I would do them if I knew where they were but since they frequently require you to backtrack to places you've already cleared and have no reason to go to I often forget they exist / miss them outright. This honestly bothers me more then the quicktimes or the insta-death falls as those at least are instantly perceivable and thus fixable if you know they're coming.
Good video! Back in the day, Bayonetta's poor PS3 performance was actually the reason I decided to go for a 360 instead of a PS3. I thought the game looked really cool and wanted to have it in an actual playable state. There are a lot of little annoyances to the game, but on the whole it's a game I really like. I also played DMC4 at practically the same time, and despite releasing a year apart, Bayonetta felt like it came out five years later. DMC had stuck to a lot of old stuff seemingly out of tradition, and Bayonetta looked like it was free to just drop and change stuff that now felt pretty antequated in DMC4 - and it took a decade until they got that presentation right for real in DMC5. The similar locales of Fortuna and Vigrid and certain similar elements like the Savior/evil pope and Jubileus/Balder only made the comparison to DMC4 less favorable for that game with how underwhelming comparatively it was, at least in my eyes. Bayo might have had some ungraceful asset reuse but it was obviously better than just playing the whole game backwards at the half-way point. There's a joyful vibe to everything in Bayo that I just adore, lots of funny little jokes and energetic quirky segments that stand out and make it all fun. I think it's easy to appreciate Bayonetta as one of the greatest action games despite the frustrations with elements like the instant death QTEs, a pretty messy story and prolonged minigame segments thanks to the heights it reached in combat and presentation, and how it got there ahead of pretty much anyone else.
Is this is a joke? 🤣🤣🤣. Bayo that is know for having one of the worst stories in gaming. Even bayo fans don't care about it. Dmc 3 on the other hand is pretty much the standard for action game story with the birth of Dante and vergil's rivalry
@@jasonsamueltoye Nah not a joke man xD I do think the first Bayonetta had really good story. The writing of character are on point. The worst stories in these character action game should be... Ninja Gaiden 2? xD My favorite game lol My man Ryu casually walk from Futuristic Tokyo to modern day Venice and then out run a nuclear explosion in point blank range... Story doesn't even connect from chapter to chapter and so too the design of enemies... So yeah Bayonetta are pretty good xD
Something I'm surprised you didn't mention when talking about the combo system is the Punish mechanic and some other hidden techniques. Maybe you weren't aware of them or felt they weren't necessary to mention but the Punish system is pretty interesting in it's own right.
Personally I really like the Durga. The electric mode's charge attack does a pretty big chunk of damage, and you can charge an electric burst with every punch in the combo, so you can really chew through some enemies. If I recall correctly, at least. I love these kinds of games but I'm not too good at them, so it was really helpful for some of the tougher enemies.
Agreed. The electric Durga had the base Scarborough moveset, but those bursts were almost Wicked Weave tier in terms of damage, trading long-distance chips for close range blasts that was great for exploding crowds. And the fire Durga had a completely different moveset that was both wilder but more methodical, allowing you to set devastating traps for aggressive big boys. I'm honestly really surprised how "hardcore" players stick to the Scarborough Fair so tightly and never really experiment with the more interesting weapons. Perhaps its because charging the Durga involves a lot more risk for its reward, and getting touched once can ruin platinum aspirations.
@@Tenchigumi I think that might be exactly why I liked them. With my reflexes the pure platinums were a pipe dream for most fights, and I'm probably gonna be taking the hits the charges leave me open for anyway, so what's basically happening with them is yeah I'm taking damage sometimes, but I'm also killing the enemies a lot quicker and thus ensuring I can't take any more. Sometimes the best defense is a good offense.
The space harrier section is pretty good, but I hate how long it last and that you have redo this everytime you want to do the Final Jeanne fight which sucks.
I think the most distractingly dated aspect of the game is the fire effects. I didn't like them back then, but after seeing so many better effects all these years later, it makes me wonder why they were so bad back then
@Kriss especially weird since the blood effects look pretty good (especially compared to every other game that messes up blood even today). I wonder if the fire looks worse depending on framerate(ps3 user)
This game is 10yrs old but it puts a lot of others to shame. Tho the game needed a few mechanical tweaks, not the nitpicks mentioned but actual fixes to the core gameplay loop.
Interesting how much of this review matches my feelings toward Bayonetta 3 too. I know people tend to disparage Bayonetta 2 for some mechanical missteps with the combat but for me it still feels like the most polished and consistent experience in the series while also having the least amount of annoying half-baked bullshit that drags me out of the experience.
Just letting people know, you only get insta-killed in route 666 when you drive on the other side of the road cause you're driving into oncoming traffic. You only need to be on that side to a get a witch heart.
No you don't, the only two witch hearts in that level can be found on the right side. One on the arch of the bridge in verse 3 and the other on the side winding road guarded by traffic cones in verse 4. You never have to drive on the oncoming traffic lane.
Plans to cover Metroid Dread and No More Heroes III anytime soon? Would love to hear your take on them. And no I didn't mean "Dread or NMH III", I want one video covering both and have you scramble to find out some obscure and nonsensical way to connect them disregarding the ridiculously minuscule audience overlap between the two. Anyway, best regards. Xoxo
I hope P* learns to cut back on QTEs in the future. I'm glad bayo 3 got rid of the mashy torture attacks cuz they do get quite old. Same with heat attacks in yakuza games. Nero's buster in dmc4 and 5 does it perfectly. It's a quick yet cool move to pull off that changes slightly when you're powered up in devil trigger or if you mash the button for more hits
I think it's an industry-wide trend that's going to continue. Button mashing made for cute call-backs to simpler times, when it was considered a novel way of conveying effort or strength, but now it just feels like a lazy substitute for actual gameplay, and a lot of modern QTEs just let you hold buttons (or not even interact at all). With Bayo 3, it seems even Platinum is wisely starting to bend with the times.
I actually love Jeanne, especially the way the game handles her at the end. I can't think of another rival character where the twist turns out that they are actually your best friend that you've forgotten, and once you both remember, they actually become your best friend _again,_ and you end the game by kicking ass alongside them. It's a nice little twist on a genre staple, and very uplifting to boot
While I can agree Bayonetta's way of integrating rival characters introduced as antagonistic enigmas, whose real identity and reasons for fighting Bayo you'll have to play through the game to find out, is in concept an interestingly different way to go about establishing a rival, I feel Balder from Bayo 2 is the only one with whom the series has so far managed to make it work without feeling like bit of a cop out. Besides that, the thing that I find makes Jeanne fall short as a rival, is that a good rival, who is fun to juxtapose with the hero, generally has to have attributes that actively contrast with those of the hero, whereas Jeanne is more or less identical to Bayonetta, with every facet of her character being just a colour-swapped and renamed version of whatever Bayo has. Not to mention nothing about her personality or ideology clashes with Bayo's, which is why she needed to be brainwashed to even function as your rival in the first game (and while i'm at it, I've never understood how that brainwashing was supposed to have worked; it seemingly changes nothing about Jeanne's general demeanor or personality, just gives her the urge to want to kill Bayo, despite how succeeding at it would run contrary to her puppet master's plans). To me the friendly rivalry from their past growing up as the outcast and heir of the Umbran clan actually seems substantially more interesting, but only time that actually gets any narrative highlight in the story proper is in Jeanne's chapter from Bayonetta Origins and the only time it directly factors into the gameplay is that initial flashback bossfight against Jeanne in Bayonetta 1.
