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    Bayonetta 2

    Game » consists of 9 releases. Released Sep 20, 2014

    The sequel to the critically-acclaimed action brawler Bayonetta, this time with a two-player online co-op mode and exclusive to the Nintendo Wii U.

    What do you think of the game?

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    GunstarRed

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    #1  Edited By GunstarRed

    I was surprised that there doesn't seem to be any kind of Bayonetta 2 impressions thread.

    I just finished the game a couple of hours ago and have some pretty mixed thoughts. I played through on 3rd Climax and came away from it, not so much disappointed, but buzzing with far less excitement than when I beat the first game.

    Obviously the crazy can only become less and less impressive the bigger and dumber it gets, but I actually found this game to be scaled way back in that department. Theres no lipstick headshots or throwing gods into the sun here, but it's still very much Bayonetta, with things exploding and boss after boss after boss. It can be just as exhausting as the first one. (in a good way)

    My three main thoughts are that it's easier, shorter and less crazy than the original, but on the plus side, the story is more coherent, the storytelling is actually far better, it looks gorgeous and it plays even better.

    The Umbran Climax makes some fights kind of a joke as it kinda bounces some of the bigger enemies around, and the Musselheim(?) portals are much, much, much, much easier than the Alfheim portals in the first game. I'm always thankful for less Quick Time Events, and I definitely found myself messing with all of the weapons a lot more. I really, really love the chainsaw swords/whip combo.

    Overall, probably the best game I have played all year, better than the first in places and not as incredible in others. Awesome game with tons and tons of stuff to do and collect. I guess there's really only so huge you can go. I think the Wonderful 101 is probably Platinum's peak of craziness to date, but this is definitely the much better game.

    Anyways, what do you think?

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    BoOzak

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    #2  Edited By BoOzak

    I know this is a bland answer but I pretty much share your opinion. I loved it but the ending wasnt quite as epic as the first game. But as conceptually cool as a lot of the set pieces were in the original Bayonetta they werent that fun to play and kind of overstayed their welcome. The ones in Bayonetta 2 are much shorter but benefited from it as a result.

    I'm in the process of going after all the LP's I missed, which seemed to be about half of them but I still havent quite mastered all the combinations I already have so I can see myself playing this for awhile. It's also my GOTY year so far, with Dark Souls 2 being a somewhat close second. (I felt this was the better sequel, not that the games are all that comparable)

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    GunstarRed

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    @boozak: I got all of them, well I assume I got all of them. I feel like the collectibles are much easier to find this time around. I'm only missing like two heart pieces, both of which I assume are in portals... Some portals are completely unmissable as they're on the main path.

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    BoOzak

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    @gunstarred: I'm terrible with collectibles. The same thing happend in the original Bayonetta. But I look forward to getting more weapons and playing through on 3rd Climax once I have all my moves. I'm not too bothered about health and magic. I'd rather spend the halos on dumb costumes anyway.

    Have you played any of the Co-Op? Is it any good?

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    ViciousBearMauling

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    Absolutely fantastic. It's my game of the year winner.

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    GunstarRed

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    @boozak: I played two matches. One kicked me out about a minute into it and the other I failed because I didn't revive the other player in time. When I was playing it was smooth and I didn't feel like there was any slowdown or whatever. I'll probably mess with it some more tomorrow.

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    Catarrhal

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    #7  Edited By Catarrhal

    In gameplay terms, Bayonetta 2 is a flawless masterwork that more than lives up to its predecessor, which makes it the correct choice for game of the year. And I'm feelin' like Platinum deserves a tremendous amount o' recognition for the fact that they've thrown in countless costumes, weapons, upgrades, and accessories--all of which can be unlocked just by playing the game. Any other developer on the planet? You'd be looking at retailer-specific pre-order bonuses or some shit like that (e.g. having to pay $1.99 per costume). "Unlockables" are the exception to the rule these days, so I appreciate this kinda integrity.

    I do share one complaint with Jason A. Striker, however; the Jaden Smith character is a blight on the game. His ridiculously fake accent brings the whole production down a few notches, and he gets way too much screen time (whereas Jeanne and the rest o' the cast are all relegated to making cameo appearances). If Bayonetta 3 had already been confirmed, I suppose it would be less of a concern.

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    devitiffany

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    #8  Edited By devitiffany

    I think it is a very fun game, but a little on the easier side compared to the first game. I also don't hate Loki, I think him and Bayonetta have some fun chemistry together. I just imagine Bayonetta is running around with Bakura from Yu-Gi-Oh. He's even got Yugi's puzzle as a necklace.

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    GunslingerPanda

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    #9  Edited By GunslingerPanda

    It's too easy: I'm nearly done with 3rd Climax without dying once, and I found all but two of the Golden LPs and Muspelheim portals on my first time through.

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    GunstarRed

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    #10  Edited By GunstarRed

    @gunslingerpanda: Yeah, I didn't die a single time which I thought was kinda crazy considering I died a ton in the earlier parts of the first game. I wondered if I was just a lot better due to playing so much of the first game, but it seems like I'm not the only one that thinks it's a much easier game.

    The closest I came to dying ( very nearly) was during the fight in hell when you save Jeanne.

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    BabyChooChoo

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    #11  Edited By BabyChooChoo

    Not much to add that hasn't been said already. I enjoyed it much more than Bayo1, but it's fucking braindead easy on 2nd climax/normal. With the Evil Harvest Rosary equipped, if you are even remotely capable of activating witch time regularly, you can just kinda zone out and mash buttons and wreck any boss especially the human-sized bosses like Balder, Aeiser, etc etc.

    Still easily my favorite game so far this year. I missed one piece of an LP (the hammer one) and skipped pretty much all of the Muspelheim portals (I don't find them particularly interesting) so I'll probably go back, finish all that, and playthrough it on a higher difficulty later this week.

    Oh yeah, almost forgot, I fucking love this song. I wish it played more throughout the game though. "Tomorrow is Mine" is also fantastic, but this is my goddamn jam:

    Loading Video...

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    GunstarRed

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    #12  Edited By GunstarRed

    @babychoochoo: Man, I love how Moon River is all over this game (Although none are as great as Audrey Hepburn singing it.) I think Tommorow is Mine is faaaaantastic "Bang Bang Down Down!"

    Overall I think the music in the sequel is a massive improvement over the first game. Some of the big orchestral pieces during the bosses are suitably grand, and there's some cool dramatic music playing over some of the levels.

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    Yummylee

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    #13  Edited By Yummylee

    @catarrhal said:

    In gameplay terms, Bayonetta 2 is a flawless masterwork that more than lives up to its predecessor, which makes it the correct choice for game of the year. And I'm feelin' like Platinum deserves a tremendous amount o' recognition for the fact that they've thrown in countless costumes, weapons, upgrades, and accessories--all of which can be unlocked just by playing the game. Any other developer on the planet? You'd be looking at retailer-specific pre-order bonuses or some shit like that (e.g. having to pay $1.99 per costume). "Unlockables" are the exception to the rule these days, so I appreciate this kinda integrity.

    I haven't even played the game, but yeah, the amount of stuff in Bayonetta 2 I saw in the QL that would more than likely function as nickel and dime DLC in any other game is something I really respect. I miss in-game unlockables...

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    FrostyRyan

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    It's my game of the year so far, but this year didn't exactly have anything mind blowing in my opinion. Some amazing games but nothing that really sort of blew me away.

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    WesternWizard

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    I'd have to say it is my game of the year as well. My main beef (as it was with the first one) is sometimes the camera isn't out far enough for some of the crazy big boss fights so you can't really see the enemy moves to try and dodge them intelligently.

    And yes the second game is easier than the first one if you spent the time getting good with the first one. I've done almost every challenge room now and none of them were as bad as the hardest ones in Bayo 1 were to me, but part of that was the amount of time I spent learning to beat those (I put 60+ hours into the first one, but due to rust I'm no where near as good now, my offsets are sloppy/terrible now :().

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    Catarrhal

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    @westernwizard: I believe the camera zoom is adjustable in the options, although I've never felt the need to mess with it.

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    civid

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    Playing through this side by side with the original, it becomes apparent just how much better this looks and plays. Enemies are much easier to stun, or throw out of attack animations and Bayonetta generally moves at a much faster clip making the game more easy but also way more exciting to play. My only gripe with the game so far is the lack of the Onyx, probably my favourite weapon in Bayonetta 1. I also feel they do a great job of scaling everything up, making Bayonetta feel like a stronger, more empowered protagonist than she was the first time around.

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    GunstarRed

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    #19  Edited By GunstarRed

    Now that I have played a crazy amount of the game I have a couple more thoughts on it. I've messed with a ton of Tag Climax and it seems the vast majority of the challenge in the game comes from that mode. By betting 3 stars you can be wiped out in a matter of seconds if you're sloppy. It's a fun mode, but a little awkward to accept other players invites... That is if anyone accepts. (not often.)

    My biggest problem with Tag Climax is that it makes getting halos pretty trivial. I have ended up finishing six cards with 150,000+, and just by 3-starring the dragon from the prologue you're guaranteed 60,000 halos. You can make enough money for all of the costumes and treasures in no time. I also unlocked both Balder and Rodin in the space of like 40 minutes, and seeing as it's random and has taken other people hours to do so it's hard not to feel a little disappointed by how easy/lucky it was to do. That said only the former is fun to play as.

    I've messed with other things like Climax 2 difficulty... Holy shit is the game a joke on that setting. I don't buy the "If you've played a lot of the first game you'll be godlike at this one" argument as the things that make it easy are unique to the second game. I'm super close to finishing Infinite Climax and it has been challenging, but nothing I've felt really overwhelmed by. (Still had real trouble saving Jeanne because of the back to back boss/es.)

    The Chain Chomp is super silly and yet super fun, and Jeanne's "You motherfucka!" taunt is still the best thing ever.

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    Nefarious_Al

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    #20  Edited By Nefarious_Al

    Playing it on Non-Stop Infinite Climax and will probably be my game of the year. Only Guilty Gear Xrd has a chance to take the title.

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    WesternWizard

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    #21  Edited By WesternWizard

    @gunstarred: There's actually a faster way to farm halos, using the mech level. I haven't done it on infinite climax yet but I got a ton of halos in a few minutes blasting through that on only Climax 3 (using a bell though I don't fully understand how it works so maybe it isn't worth using...)

    And yeah if you cleared Climax 3 and then go back to Climax 2 with all the weapons/health upgrades/etc plus all the tricks you learned clearing Climax 3 you're going to laugh at 2. I wasn't even trying very hard when I was clearing 2 and I minimum silvered' every chapter with multiple plats and I'm still not back to where I want to be in my combat skills, though I'm starting to get there.

    Edit: BTW do you get any Verse cards from clearing Infinite Climax? I still need to clear Witch Trials 4 to get one of them, but there are 3 more I need to get (I already have the randomly available 53rd card from doing Tag Climax)

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    GunstarRed

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    @westernwizard: No. I'm still missing a card from Witch Trials 4 also. The cards I unlocked randomly from Tag Climax were...

    Hair Dragon

    Bayonetta and Jeanne

    Rosa and Balder

    Rodin

    I think that's all there is.

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    Sarumarine

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    @civid said:

    My only gripe with the game so far is the lack of the Onyx, probably my favourite weapon in Bayonetta 1.

    If you can find it (not to spoil anything), there's a character in the game with weapons that function and behave like the Onyx. Bayonetta can't use them, but it was pretty cool for me because the shotguns were definitely my go-to weapons in the first Bayonetta. So they're in there, in a fashion.

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    rolanthas

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    Way, WAY beyond what I've expected. It fixed every single gripe I had with the first one, from the color palette to the obligatory Platinum shoot-em-up levels, and has a shockingly amazing co-op to boot! Just what a sequel to an action game should be imho, all new arsenal, new enemies and setting, and an iteration on the combat system.

    I've also really liked how they expanded Balder's character and his reason for plotting Jubileus' reincarnation. First game kinda threw him out of nowhere as an antagonist. And him being this ultimate evil that used Rosa only to have an offspring to sacrifice didn't really make sense, what with their union being implied of being one of passion and love rather than a Machiavellist venture.

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    WesternWizard

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    @gunstarred: Okay so I need to play more tag climax, didn't realize there were more cards that unlocked from playing it, since they hid 53 away until you randomly got to do it, figured it was the only one like that. Guess after I go find the rest of the moon pearl pieces I'll start hitting that hard to get the 3 I'm missing and then go after Trials 4 again (I only get to the halfway point so far, that one is so much harder than 1-3 it is insane).

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    Quantris

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    Loading Video...

    Yeah...geez I can't get this one out of my head!

    I really enjoyed my first playthrough (2nd climax). I hadn't played Bayonetta before, so I've started on that before going back for harder difficulties. I noticed right away that the timing for witch time is way looser in Bayonetta 2 than Bayonetta 1. I didn't really mind the game being relatively easy (Umbran Climax seemed kind of cheap after playing a few levels in the original) though; it was super fun to experiment with the different weapons, and the flow of the game really does make you feel powerful & badass. I'm sure as I start getting more familiar with the basics and going for pure platinums, I'll appreciate the harder difficulties.

    This is definitely my single-player GOTY [though it should be said that I haven't played a lot of stuff this year due to a new job]. Tropical Freeze was great too, but it didn't quite grab me in the same way that this did. I was very slightly disappointed that the ending wasn't super crazy though (compared to something like Wonderful 101, which was quite the ridiculous trip). As for overall GOTY, I'll have to wait until Smash comes out before deciding. In the meantime I'll have to give Tag Climax a try (didn't touch it yet).

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    killroycantkill

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    #27  Edited By killroycantkill

    Quick thoughts:

    Bayonetta 2 combat is better than Bayonetta 1.

    The "epic" moments in Bayonetta 2 pale in comparison to Bayonetta 1.

    MAJOR STORY SPOILER WARNING! The fact that Bayonetta 2 is both a prequel and a sequel at the same time is nuts.

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    Icemael

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    Good: More colourful than the first game, more enemy variety. Most of what was great about the first game is there.

    Bad: Loki is unbearable, combat is visually messy in a way that fairly often makes it hard to tell what's going on (can't recall ever having that issue in the first game), the enemy designs aren't as cool as in the first game, the pacing is inferior, flying battles are lame since from a functional standpoint they do little more than restrict your movement options, Umbran Climax looks cool but you're practically invincible during it which is a bit boring, the selection of weapons is overall slightly worse than in the original (no shotguns, the flamethrowers aren't as cool as Durga, the new whip doesn't look or feel nearly as satisfying as the old one even though it is more useful, no ice skates -- you can skate on the chainsaws but they're not nearly as fast -- etc.), and the game never gets as crazy as the most climactic parts of the first one (boss fights in particular don't feel nearly as spectacular). Also, going from having all of the moves, weapons and accessories in the first Bayonetta to being forced to purchase basic shit like the stinger all over again feels kind of crippling.

    It's just not as good as the first one. Still, I enjoyed it a lot, and I'm definitely going to go through it again on Infinite Climax.

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    GunstarRed

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    #29  Edited By GunstarRed

    @icemael: I think it says a whole lot that a bronze ranking is a statue of Loki.

    Loki: worse than Luka. FACT!

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    Daneian

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    I love it for the most part. I think it feels better than Bayo 1 overall, looks nicer, has a tighter pacing and, thankfully, recycles itself less.

    The boss fights are a drag that rely too much on their spectacle. The flying sequences all just take way to long and hurts their replayability.

    I think that Asura's Wrath set the bar too high for absurd battles and that's a bummer, since Bayo 1 kinda got that ball rolling in the first place.

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    LeStephan

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    #31  Edited By LeStephan

    Hmmm I should maybe get back to it, I worked my way through bayonetta 1 on wiiU first and now...I don't know...I missed pretty much half the lp's in it so having the extra weapons may have made it more fun buuuut I really didn't enjoy it that much, by the end I was pretty sick of it already actually. So much so in fact I haven't been able to get myself motivated enough to even play past the first 2 chapters of bayonetta 2....

    I really want to like bayonetta, Dmc 3 used to be one of my favorite games in the ps2 era and this stuff doesn't seem THAT different, I'm just not having much fun with it for some reason... maybe I've changed....

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    WesternWizard

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    @daneian: The flying sequence fights other than the one in chapter 16 can mostly be sped up with the right weapon load outs and the like IME. I used to feel the same way until I started trying different things, then I realized I could enjoy it way more. Has made all my replaying way more fun (cleared first on Climax 3, went back and did 2, upped all of 2 I didn't have to Gold there, now working on getting all Plats on 2, plus finding all the moon pearls I'm missing along with the books and crows).

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    Belegorm

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    @lestephan: I would say you should try and keep going. I did the opposite: I started with Bayonetta 2, then went back to 1. In 2 it was around chapter 4 or 5 where I really started having fun, and just had this tremendous blast the rest of the game. Didn't take too long either, on normal, then went back and played through it on easy in a day.

    I then went back and played bayonetta 1 and I definitely see where you're coming from. I think the first one is a pretty good game overall but not great, and doesn't come close to the second in the total experience. I was pretty on board with it about halfway through, then it started to really drag a bit, get kind of repetitive, get hard out of nowhere and really be hard to get a grasp on, and tons of random shit like QTE's and gimmicky fights. The core of the combat's still pretty good, but I thought the difficulty curve ramped up too fast for me so I never hit a level of mastery where I felt really powerful. Which is where I think this series is fun: playing through a bunch of levels, dodging everything stringing combos together fluidly, trying out a ton of different weapons and feeling like a general badass. The level of frustration you get in bayonetta 1 reminded me of the more annoying parts of earlier character action games, whereas in bayonetta 2 you feel powerful out of the gate and can have fun while ramping up the difficulty at a more tolerable rate.

    The pacing in the second one feels a lot better as well, and I thought the weapons felt better.

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