Johnny vs. Bayonetta 3 

You can tell Lewis edited this with all those Devil May Cry references sprinkled in all over the place.

Viola was supposed to be Bayonetta’s Nero, but I’m pretty sure Viola inherited too much of Luka’s butt monkiness

"badly paced action porno" its a line i never thought i would hear but yknow what? it fits

Going into Bayo 3 right after I played Yakuza Like a Dragon was some whiplash in experiencing how well you can pull off a torch pass, holy shit

To add further insult to the injury, Jeanne is only playable as a character for Witch Trials and Phenomenon Remnants but NOT as fully playable character on the main chapters, unlike the previous two games 😭 So many little things that were present before but are now being gatekept from us.

Johnny's "Get the fuck outta here" had me in stitches

This honestly makes me hyped for whenever Johnny does the Devil May Cry series. A lot of the criticism he has for Bayonetta are things DMC, specifically 3, 4 and 5 and even DmC to an extent, do better than Bayonetta. The stories in DMC are simple and they use that simplicity for the better. They also allow the characters to breathe. Yes they're cool and do cool things, but there's more to them than seen on the surface. I hope you get to tackle DMC some time in the future.

Props to Anna Brisbin- I’ve been following Brizzy’s videos for years and seeing her play Viola in this game is a major achievement.

I feel like Bayonetta 3's story is Kamiya trying to make his own version of Devil May Cry 5's story without the buildup and character development + depth of DMC5's story

The worst part about Jeanne isn't how bad she got done in the story. It's that she is only playable in side missions.

Oh thank god, Johnny agrees about the story. In terms of a “Passing the torch” story, DMC does it SO much better. It’s genuinely great, even if I think DMC4 tends to plod a bit

I don't really mind Bayo and Luka getting together, but is it just me or was he a lot more handsome in 1&2 and looks kinda like a melting Adrien Brody in this one

Let's remember this game started development around 7 years ago, when the multiverse theme was not as overused as it is now

The problem with umbran climax wasn't that it was overpowered. The problem was that to compensate for that power, most of your other abilities were made weaker. Witch time in Bayonetta 2 was made shorter compared to Bayonetta 1, especially against bigger or enraged enemies, and if an enemy was big and enraged, you would get practically zero witch time. On top of this, enemies were made more resistant to being staggered, juggled, or thrown around than in the first game unless you're in witch time or using umbran climax. Witch time making enemies more susceptible to staggers was technically in the first game, but it wasn't nearly as prevalent as it is in 2. Magic abilities also suffered. Torture attacks were worthless in 2 because using them meant not being able to use umbran climax. The only time torture attacks were worth using was against the sloth enemy, AKA the worst enemy type in Bayonetta 2. Instant wicked weaves were also made worthless because, again, using them meant not having magic for umbran climax. In fact, all wicked weaves in Bayonetta 2 deal significantly less damage than in Bayonetta 1 because if they didn't, umbran climax would be outright broken instead of just being a crutch you all but have to rely on. Lastly, Bayonetta 2 is much more stingy with magic than its predecessor. Taunting enemies gives half or less magic than it did before. Dodging enemy attacks no longer gives magic at all, and attacking enemies doesn't give as much magic either. Again, these changes were made because without them, umbran climax would be even more broken than it already is. All these changes, combined with more aggressive enemies that can break your combos much more often than in Bayonetta 1, and sometimes outright dodge THROUGH your attacks and wicked weaves, result in a game where you have to play reactively and defensively, as opposed to Bayonetta 1 where aggressive and proactive play was encouraged. And all of this is because of umbran climax.

I think maybe when they introduced Viola they didn’t really want her to fall into Mary Sue territory and make her seem too good and better than Bayonetta but how they went about it didn’t really do her any favors either way.

I'm not a coffee guy, but waking up to a new Johnny video ain't half bad!

I’m so excited for you to start the Zero series. Your Mega Man reviews are some of my favorites

Johnny: "dont spend $60 bucks on this, wait for a sale" Nintendo: "we dont do that here"

It's amazing to hear a different side of people talking about the series after only hearing Woolie, Pat, and Suzi talk about it. The idea that some of the things didn't get to Johnny is surprising, when it sounded like everybody I follow had the same issues.

Even if Bayonetta was never necessarily a narrative driven series, it's kind of a shame that the story here seems so superficial and undercooked Doubly so when you consider the games that inspired Bayo (Devil May Cry) actually manage to balance compelling characters and presentation with stories that similarly don't take themselves super seriously but still feel complete

"Wait for a price drop" Is a Nintendo game, that means never

I think I like Bayonetta 2 a bit more but I loved Bayonetta 3. One of my favorite games of this year. Also DEFINITELY play Astral Chain. That game is masterful.

Ok, I gotta say this. The moment he brought up MegaMan, I was silently pleading for him to say the Zero Series. It is my favorite series in the franchise. I'm super excited for this

If they wanted to turn Viola into the main character for future games then they should have had HER do most of the interaction with alternate universe Bayonettas.

I thought it was awesome that Luka finally got together with bayonetta. It felt rewarding after all the teasing.

I may be the only one but I always thought that Bayo ending up with Luka made sense. Jeanne always felt like Bayonetta's Vergil, just an archenemy that the main character had a strong connection with. I agree with everything else being extremely bad and/or mediocre, but I thought the Luka stuff made sense, even if it wasn't developed in a good way.

Viola seems to be the Dante from the DMC reboot game LOL. Youll have no idea how fast theyll be back with Bayonetta as the MC come Bayonetta 5

I have not had this many mixed feelings with a game in a long time.

I feel like they tried a little too hard on this game, which took away from some parts as a result. Case in point, trying to make things flashier and better gameplay, but took away from the narrative. That delay ended up leading to some bad choices basically...

Seeing this review just makes me want a Devil May Cry marathon even more.

I felt the same about the story and Viola. The gameplay was definitely the highlight (with Bayonetta that is.) I HIGHLY reccomend Astral Chain. It's really fun and the story although somewhat predictable, is held up with it's world building. It became my favorite games I played back in 2021 and I hope that sequel rumor is true.

Not gonna lie I called Sigurd being singularity as soon as he was mentioned

Gonna be honest: this was easily the most disappointing game of the year for me. It’s still a fun time, but after five years of waiting, it’s shocking how many things ended up being a downgrade compared to 1 and 2. The core combat is still a blast, but every other aspect aside from music is inferior to past titles. It’s very obvious how many problems it had during its development. And that’s not even getting into the disaster-piece of a story that does every character a major disservice. I had a fun time; I can’t deny that. I just don’t see myself going back to it and replaying it a dozen times like I did the other games. And that sucks…

Happy new year, John! Thanks for being a consistent presence on in my YT subs for about 10 years now!

ehhhh, bayonetta and luka were always a thing if ya pay attention. the plot of the whole first game is about them raising a child together. however, their actual dynamic shifted 180 to a degree i thought was weird. like now all of a sudden luka is the ambivalent edgy mysterious badass and bayonetta is the hopeless romantic reverently chasing him? when did that happen? its just so unearned

Thank you for another wonderful year of cozy content, Johnny. I hope you had a nice 2022 and that your 2023 is absolutely great for you.

Bayo and Luka were meant to end up together from the start, but they didnt get the proper development they were supposed to get. Ideally it should have happened in this game, but it didnt.

Johnny coming through with the late Christmas gift this year!! Probably my favorite present! :)

13:27 Astral Chain is an under appreciated gem of a switch game.

Astral chain is an amazing game that I really wished that gotten more attention.

I had to do a bunch of research after beating this game just to understand what the hell was going on. The two main Bayos who join you at the end are in fact two separate entities from the two previous games and Bayo 3 is in fact Cereza from the first game who's holding the cat doll...WHICH is Violas in this game. So it kinda all connects. I'm not sure if this is all completely true, but it does make you think if they had planned this out in advance.

Just letting you know Johnny that Hideki Kamiya does plan on making more Bayonetta games (since apparently 4 and 5 are already in the works) as well as spinoffs (Bayonetta Origins for ex) so there is hope that they will try to improve the story aspects of this series.

I honestly would've been fine with Bayonetta ending up with either Jaune ore Luka, she has close friendships and a personal respect for both of them with both of them. My problem is, if the writers were going to put Bayonetta together with anyone, they should've spent more time developing the romance. Through the whole first 2 games, I didn't get the feeling that Bayonetta was into anyone, so much as it felt like she was developing a found-family.

Did anyone else feel like the characters were a bit.....Watered down in this game? Not say they were out of character, but Bayonetta, Enzo and Rodin felt a little "off" and weirdly toned down.

It's been 4 months and I'm still waiting for him to talk about the gameplay

I don’t mind the Bayo/Luka is a thing. Like you said; there was flirting from BOTH ends

Lmao, they created their own Nero just to fumble the bag

13:26 Yes, it's a great game. Underrated as hell in my opinion. The combat takes a bit to get used to, but once you get it down it's a good time.

I don't understand the comment "wait for a price drop" for Nintendo games, that's likely not gonna happen in a long time, if ever.

I feel like the game's camera and the enemy design is what really brings down Viola's combat style. Most of the time its pulled waaaaay far back to help keep an eye on the larger enemies and allow for the kaiju battles. The problem is for parry style combat you need to keep track of the little tells and details in character movement to react properly. So you have really jello wobbly looking enemies that are hard to read with a camera pulled way back making parry timing on reaction very difficult. Its also not helped by the fact that Viola gets very little play time compared to Bayonetta's more fluid combat making it feel herky jerky unless you basically put in time to practice which doesn't feel rewarding because again she isn't playable for most of the game. Story wise the game feels so rushed and the repetitive nature of go to world, see new bayonetta, see her get killed, weapon get, repeat really hurts this trying to be Bayo's final adventure. Its like it wants to be a huge epic but the build up is poor and falls flat at the finish line. Like the final battle tries to make the big bad feel like he is a threat in the worse way possible by getting punched to the moon, beat up by the bayonetta army, punched back into the planet, stabbed by viola, fought by a team up of bayo 1,2 and 3, they then fusion dance into 1 and that still doesn't beat him. At that point what does kill him is a complete anti climax because hitting him with ALL THE BAYONETTAS isn't enough to kill him so when he does die it feels like a cop out. The fact that Viola never gets a round on the final boss is also a huge mistep. This game keeps on getting compared to DMC4 for good reason and one of the things they got right was having Nero have half the journey dedicated to him and let him be the one to beat the big bad in the end. Viola gets 3 stages and most of her boss fights are against werewolf Luka and she mainly fails for comedy in most of her story bits and pretty much just gets dropped during the finale where where she jobs to the big bad in an unplayable cutscene. After that suddenly Dark Eve boss fight and she is the new Bayonetta. This would be like if Nero only got to fight the big demons during the first half but never got to have his levels in the finale and Dante solved everything but Dante still let him keep the Yamato at the end.

The reason why Bayo reminds people of little Cereza is because it is Little Cereza grown up.

“Always wanted to visit Germany’ *zooms in on Belgium’s flag* Of course I’m a Belgian watching this video from Germany currently to make the joke go full circle.

Yeeeeesh wasn’t expecting him to tear into this game as much as he did. I can’t say I agree with all of it, but I can totally see where he’s coming from. Jeanne did definitely get done dirty, I fully agree there.

This seems as good an opportunity as any to put this in writing. Bayonetta 3 is NOT a bad game. The gameplay is as solid as we've come to expect by this point, and the new mechanics introduced are well-implemented and really fun. That said, the game's ending is what killed any inclination I may have had to replay it (SPOILERS AHEAD). Mind you, this isn't about the issues I've heard people had with the shipping direction the writers went for. That was never an issue for me. My issue is with how they axed 80% of the series main cast including the title character. The whole thing just left a bad taste in my mouth. As I was watching the ending unfold onscreen, I admit, I wasn't sure what to think. But the more I thought about it after the fact, the more I came to realize that NO, this was NOT how one of these games should have ended. These characters deserved better. I get that they went for the whole passing-of-the-torch angle, but it just didn't do it for me, especially since we've had less than one game to get fully acquainted with the recipient of said torch. See, one thing I loved about the endings of B1 and B2 is that, in execution, there was always this potent feeling of triumph in how they were presented. In comparison, B3's ending is a downer, all told. I play these games for fun. Knowing how this one ends fundamentally undermines that for me.

The most I can say about Bayonetta 3 is that it gave us the all time classic quote of Castle Super Beast; The 9/11 for Gays

Merry Christmas, Johnny, and a Happy New Year!

Mostly agree. I will say demon slave becomes far better when you realize you can tap the button to keep moving while they attack. I have no issue with a luka romance myself, I don't recall Jeanne and Bayo ever being romantic with eachother, but Luka has basically 0 screen time in this game to build up that romance. The game is focused on its multiverse over its characters while wanting to be an emotional sendoff. But it spends more time on the multiverse hurting its cast and story but also has the most by the numbers, uninspired and repetitive multiverse it could be. It felt less like a multiverse and more like Bayonetta world tour, though admittedly. There being an entirely French dimension is funny.

I don't consider this game my least favorite as I really like the demon summoning stuff and the constant instant kill stuff of Bayo 1 definitely wasn't great, but I think this game definitely feels the least "cooked". Like Bayo 1 and 2 felt like games that had their visions realized. Bayo 3 feels like a game that got kneecapped by *something*. Be it the hardware, a changing scope, or behind-the-scenes stuff (and from what I hear, all three might be true), Bayo 3 DEFINITELY has the feeling of something that wanted to try something more ambitious but had to dial it back/cut things out at a late stage. Whatever form Bayo 4 takes needs to be something absolutely doable on whatever hardware it ends up on. Because 3, for as much as I like it, absolutely feels like something that had all ambitions yanked from it.

I personally have no strong feelings about the ships in this series, so I felt a bit miffed when many were angry about Bayo and Luka being an item when neither his or Jeanne’s relationship with Bayo were developed for me to feel strongly on which ship got the shaft. I felt frustrated with Viola’s parry mechanic and her overall slow combat. The performance of the game did not help coming from 1080p 60 FPS for the first two on Switch to this one with blurry visuals and inconsistent frame rates. This game was frustrating because it had everything to be the best in the trilogy.

you’re one of my favorite content creators. happy new year!

I am very excited that the zero series is next because I've played those games to death. And if you have time left I want to recommend the azure striker gunvolt series. Which is basically a spiritual successor to the zero series, especially gunvolt 3 which has become one of my new favorite games alongside zero 3. All of these games are very short both zero and gun volt so maybe you could also look at gun volt after the zero series.

Astral Chain is great. Would love to see you play it and share your thoughts

Good tidings for the end of 2022, Johnny. Here's to the channel heading for 2023!

I think bayo 2 was awesome this felt like they did not know how to end the series. And we are getting a bayo 4 apprently i am worried about a fourth one

Bayonetta 3 is the "Spider-Man 3" in the series to me. Ambitious in scale and crammed full of content, falls flat on it's face in country fresh manure in terms of execution. Have to spend more time fighting the camera than the enemies, especially when the enemies are large and you have to use the just as large "Infernal Summon" to deal major damage to them. Not a fan of playing "Scrappy's" (sorry Viola's) levels, just want to get through them and back to Bayonetta's. Jeanne's levels are a nice little diversion where I don't have to fight the camera so that's a plus. I don't think this is a game that I will replay as often as the prior installments and gives caution to future installments (sequel and prequel Cereza games).

My headcanon is that Hideki Kamiya is that guy from Big Lebowski that pulls a gun during an argument over the rules of bowling. It makes me giggle every time I think of it. Honestly this game seems confused AF on the story front. Maybe they did a line in the writer's room and then watched the MCU while blitzed and then wrote down whatever it was that came to mind, because yikes, you know it's bad when the game that actually _tries_ with it's story ends up having the worst one of the trinity.

Happy New Year John! All the best in 2023!

Enjoy the new year, Johnny. Make that first cup of coffee a good one. And I'll be waiting for that Zero series review. It's in the name, after all.

Commenting from the middle of this video Johnny and I can confirm that Astral Chain is a VERY good game. Personally, I'd replay it any day over bayo 3, but thats moreso to do with how completely fresh astral felt. I still appreciate videos on Bayo 3 because as a long running fan of this franchise I wanna see how other people perceive this really strange entry in the franchise.

0:38 Johnny says he always wanted to visit Germany, shows the Belgium flag 🧐 I really should get back to finishing Bayonetta 1! I still haven’t finished it

i got the collectors edition and that is way beyond 60. still love it.

This probably has my favorite set of Weapons in any of the games. 5:08 I don’t know why, but “Christmas Creature” worked so well for me. I agree. Viola was not fun to play. Storywise, I found it pretty enjoyable. Not good, especially after figuring out the twist easily, but I had fun. The first final boss, Singularity Definition, definitely went on for too long, but despite playing as Viola, I found the last battle against Dark Eve to be enjoyable. Especially since you learn that she’s basically been watching from afar the whole time since she was the one who controlled Kraken, an early game boss that randomly showed up. While I found myself using some of the weapons out of necessity, I actually found myself playing with all of them to be fun. I actually got to use the Rodin as a meaningful weapon instead of the “last unlock.” Cassiopeia was another one I had fun with. And Labolas’ weapon was a good as well. Yo-yo was fun starting off as well. I will admit that I did enjoy the ending just because of how unpredictable it was. One more thing, I should mention that I am excited about Bayonetta Origins. Especially after that book gave us a sample.

Astral Chain is a diamond in the rough, and people write it off not realizing it was a new IP by Nintendo Honestly it holds up pretty well and the presentation is simply nicer than Bayonetta 2/3 (probably because it targets 30 FPS)

While I can't say I agree with you on the story part (Though I admit I thought it was a mess, had to take a break at a point since it felt like it was meandering), Singularity I agree is a terrible villain. It's strange how after Baldir this series really can't do good villains right, and even then he isn't "technically" one as we find out in 2. It's more like what the villains DO in the story is supposed to compensate for personality and motivation, but that only goes so far, y'know?

bayonetta from 2 is my favourite looking bayonetta, the clean blue and black just is so cool

there are two accessories to mitigate two of your issues, one that prevents the demons from going berserk, and one that makes them opporate on their own when summoened so its like having a party member controled by AI so you can still play as bayonetta

Man, Bayonetta 3 seems to be one of the most divisive games drawing attention this year. I'm not a Bayo fan myself (no particular reason, I've just never played any of the games) but this is the 3rd review I've watched of the game from a content creator whose work I follow and watch regularly and so many of the points made were similar to the others I've heard, but just as many were vastly different. I don't know if I can think of a game offhand that's garnered such widely differing opinions on it. Regardless Johnny, this was still a damn good watch as always. And I'm really looking forward to seeing you cover the Megaman Zero games next year.

I think Astral Chain is a great game. Amazing music as well!

Johnny is getting to The Zero Series knowing the Battle Network Legacy Collection is out in April. Better late than never I guess

The Cauldron Stirs

For me, what makes the narrative so frustrating is that nothing ends up happening the whole game then Chapters 13 and 14 hit and it takes itself way too seriously. And Viola doesn't just not have an impact, the game actively beats her down and makes her look like a fool with not a scrap of development so when the game ends and Bayo says, "You've grown so much" I was like, 'No she hasn't. When did that happen?'. And, maybe hot take, but I don't think even Jeanne would've made that ending okay. There's no romance plot until Bayo and Luka kiss and it's so terribly written that subbing in Jeanne still wouldn't have made it good. My issues all pin down to one major point: Bayonetta 3 wants a gripping ending with emotional stakes and a new beginning but will absolutely not work for that ending for a single moment and so everything ends up jarring and forced. This is even more frustrating because it absolutely has the time and refuses to use it, yet expects me to cry on command. Love the combat and the fanservice is on point, but Bayo 2 remains queen. I only rank it above 1 because 3 feels so much more fluid and I actually like the non-Gommorah demon sequences but loathe the motorbike and missile from 1.

This is one of those games that I think Nintendo *should've* interfered more during its production because it's clear that even they were getting impatient with what Platinum was doing during 3's long, protracted development. They were patient and largely hands-off for this long because they trusted in them enough after W101, Bayo 2 and Astral Chain to put out a quality product, but there has to be a breaking point somewhere and this should've been it. Have them involved more during the design process, and you'd have a significantly tighter, more focused game. Considering that Nintendo now solely owns the Astral Chain IP, any sequels made with Platinum would have to go through them first and they would have the final say on things during development. Which honestly would make it less like Bayo 3 and more akin to Nier Automata ironically enough since AC's director was the co-lead designer for that game. As much as Nintendo didn't want to impede on Kamiya's and the rest of the team's vision for this game, it was pretty clear from the final product that they should've stepped in much sooner.

Hope you have a great 2023, John ❤

Happy New Year Johnny!

I agree with a lot of this - looking forward to your views on Astral Chain!

I pretty much agree with everything here. to me, the story REALLY dampened by enjoyment of this game. I do care enough about the story to wanna see what they'd do, and I feel that, while Bayo2 retroactively enhances the story of the first game, this one makes both previous games feel lesser by implying we were even playing as the same Bayonetta in each game.

i just finish playing bayonetta 1 and 2, can't wait for the next one.

thanks for the video john, and on my birthday no less, anyway, can't wait for the new marathon in the new year.

looking forward for your look on the zero series. i would recommend checking out astral chain when possible, I personally enjoyed it quite a bit. A quick heads up though, unlike in bayonetta, you are not penalized for using items and it seems to be encouraged. You do get a small score bonus if you don't use items though.

I think my favorite part was the last 2 bosses of the Paris section

Excited to see you tackle the Mega Man Zero games, as I'm fairly sure I first found you through your first Mega Man marathon, and Zero 2 was the first Mega Man platformer I owned. (First Mega Man period was Battle Network 3, and both games were Christmas presents the same year.) If I may make one recommendation, though? Include ZX and ZX Advent in the marathon. (Y'know, workload permitting by the time you're done with Zero 4.) They might as well be called Zero 5 and Zero 6.

I look forward to when you get to the DMC games because their stories are miles better than whatever Bayonetta tried to do.

You know Johnny, you can queue the delayed demon slave attacks and return to controlling Bayonetta while the demon plays out their animations, letting you control both Bayonetta and the demon at the same time if done optimally, and you can chain different demons and their attacks together by swapping them out mid combo.

Thanks for another year of entertainment. I'll be looking for to what you have in store for 2023.

I will say that with the demon summoning, I figured out that with the incredible delay in their moves, you can "queue up" their attacks then go back to moving and attacking freely while their animations play out, and it made me happy to see that PG's commitment to deep combat systems hasn't wavered over the years. That being said, the story was insulting and I'm still mad about it.

I knew I have yet to play the game yet, But since Bayontta is voiced by another well known voice actress Jennifer Hale, I gonna say... I think she pulls the role very well.

I did enjoy this game but after beating it I think it okay I was disappointed I prefer Bayonetta 2 than this game honestly but still I enjoyed the gameplay

i love all the DMC hints please do a dmc marathon

Johnny I think you missed the Nucleus accessory you get at the end of the game. It lets you fully control Bayonetta while her demons do their own thing, real game changer!

Honestly kinda surprised you didn't really like the gameplay all that much. After marathoning all three games I can agree on the story but I felt this had the most refined gameplay the series has had ever. The infernal summons can be hit or miss, literally the best one is locked behind completing the game and the next best thing is the very first you get. But overall I feel it stuck the landing twofold for gameplay loop. Story though, meh. Viola too was the absolute low point of the game I never liked any part of her, nor her gameplay style she was frustrating. Whereas Bayo felt good to smoothly chain dodges into attacks, viola however did not. If anything her parry bullshit felt like a complete screeching halt to combat with a hit or miss on whether or not it'd even be worth it. Even the ending was *really* not great. Felt hamfisted and weird, like you said with the death of Jeane being bizarrely sudden and anticlimactic, and how forced the sudden romance of Luka and Bayo was, even down to her sudden death and the admittedly worrying post credits that show viola to be what I will assume is the last remaining umbra witch now, and honestly not one I have as much interest in as I did Bayonetta. Good gameplay, Bad story. Although; I am still pretty hyped for Cereza and the Lost Demon because having gotten a chance to sort of demo it in bayo 3 was fun, and it showed me that maybe that game will be better than the preview shown at TGA gave it credit to be. Who knows, maybe with more in the side series of Bayonetta Origins we can at least get some interesting divergences in the overall gameplay style while still exploring the universe that we only got a brief, all too brief, taste of in this one. And if you, the reader, don't know how to get that demo, its not particularly worth it if you dont already have some vested interest in the game, but if you do its a short 10 minute romp showing off the graphical style and gameplay loop by beating the game, buying a key item, and going to 3 separate levels to get special items that only appear after completion.