Going into the Bayonetta 3 later than most people, I didn't have high expectations with all the backlash this game was getting from the fans.
After now beating the game, I see where this backlash is coming from. However, at it's core Bayonetta 3 is still a very good game with some major flaws that held this from being the best in the trilogy.
Being one of the most ambitious Platinum games, it contains some of the highest highs in the franchise, while also bearing some of the lowest lows, with the lows here being bad enough to drag down it's "Great" status that both Bayo 1 and 2 hold.
To start with the good, playing as Bayonetta is as good as ever. She has the largest and most diverse arsenal ever and I enjoyed all the weapons offered. I had an abosulte blast with every second as Bayo and really wanted more.
The scale of the bossfights are the biggest and (arguably) the best. The only comparison I can make here is that each big bossfight feels like something Final Fantasy 16 did with it's huge bossfights where it would mesh the great standard gameplay, with amazing cinematics and fun minigames in between making something absolutley grand and satisfying.
The multiverse scenario also brings foward some of the best and most diverse settings in a Bayonetta game. Playing to find out where I would end up next was a great treat.
While the demon slave system did have some problems which I will go into detail with, I still appreciated the inclusion of it and how it made you truly feel like the demon witch Bayonetta has always been, with the abiity to summon your favorite hair demon and mog anything both big an small.
With those positives, Bayo 3 would have easily been my favorite in the trilogy, but this is where I bring in the issues that severely brought it down.
I will start with the complaint that most people have with this game and it's with the new character Viola.
Viola as a character herself is not nearly as endearing as Bayo, or Jeanne, or even Luca. All I can really say about her character is that she's just a typical clumsy teenager.
Now her gameplay was the worst part. I could not really enjoy her gameplay as she played like a watered down Vergil from DMC. All the diverse weapons, combos and fun that Bayo has in her gameplay is sucked dry with Viloa. She has one Summon too which makes the gameplay even worse as you can't control it, and while summoned Viloas combat becomes even worse with the loss of her katana. She takes about 1/3rd of the game, a 1/3rd that could have easily gone to more Bayo gameplay. This alone soured the game for me and brought the hype I had from the beginning right down.
Previously I also praised the Demon slave system, and while I do like the inclusion of it, it is simply too overpowered and takes away a lot of Bayo's fantastic gameplay. Most of the time you are expected to use it as the game now presents you with a lot of gigantic enemies that you are expected to deal with by summoning the demons. I simply would have enjoyed fighting these giant enemies playing as Bayo alone, but if you try to do that you deal chip damage which takes a much longer time than just using your summons. To fix it, all they had to do was nerf the magic bar. As the magic bar just auto regenerates really quickly, you basically have unlimited summoning time. Repeneshing the magic bar should have not been automatic and should have only been filled up by using items or raking up combos (or any other way to reward good gameplay).
In short, you barely get to have some good time with Bayo's combat, because you're forced to play as a shitty character 1/3rd of the time and with the inclusion of demon slaves, there is even less opportunity to combo your foes as Bayo.
The story was one of the biggest complaints from the fans. Personally, as this is a Bayo game I don't really care for the story as long as it sets up a cool premise for the gameplay. In the case of the Multiverse story, I liked that it gave you an excuse to fight in vastly different areas and meet cool unique alternate versions of Bayonetta. Even all the stuff in the ending, I did not really mind.
I hope the future of this franchise does not take the "Viloa is now the main character" route as that would simply kill any hype and uniqueness the character of Bayonetta brought to action games. But with all the feedback Bayo 3 did recieve, one could simply hope Platinum will listen and bring back what people really like about this franchise.
After now beating the game, I see where this backlash is coming from. However, at it's core Bayonetta 3 is still a very good game with some major flaws that held this from being the best in the trilogy.
Being one of the most ambitious Platinum games, it contains some of the highest highs in the franchise, while also bearing some of the lowest lows, with the lows here being bad enough to drag down it's "Great" status that both Bayo 1 and 2 hold.
To start with the good, playing as Bayonetta is as good as ever. She has the largest and most diverse arsenal ever and I enjoyed all the weapons offered. I had an abosulte blast with every second as Bayo and really wanted more.
The scale of the bossfights are the biggest and (arguably) the best. The only comparison I can make here is that each big bossfight feels like something Final Fantasy 16 did with it's huge bossfights where it would mesh the great standard gameplay, with amazing cinematics and fun minigames in between making something absolutley grand and satisfying.
The multiverse scenario also brings foward some of the best and most diverse settings in a Bayonetta game. Playing to find out where I would end up next was a great treat.
While the demon slave system did have some problems which I will go into detail with, I still appreciated the inclusion of it and how it made you truly feel like the demon witch Bayonetta has always been, with the abiity to summon your favorite hair demon and mog anything both big an small.
With those positives, Bayo 3 would have easily been my favorite in the trilogy, but this is where I bring in the issues that severely brought it down.
I will start with the complaint that most people have with this game and it's with the new character Viola.
Viola as a character herself is not nearly as endearing as Bayo, or Jeanne, or even Luca. All I can really say about her character is that she's just a typical clumsy teenager.
Now her gameplay was the worst part. I could not really enjoy her gameplay as she played like a watered down Vergil from DMC. All the diverse weapons, combos and fun that Bayo has in her gameplay is sucked dry with Viloa. She has one Summon too which makes the gameplay even worse as you can't control it, and while summoned Viloas combat becomes even worse with the loss of her katana. She takes about 1/3rd of the game, a 1/3rd that could have easily gone to more Bayo gameplay. This alone soured the game for me and brought the hype I had from the beginning right down.
Previously I also praised the Demon slave system, and while I do like the inclusion of it, it is simply too overpowered and takes away a lot of Bayo's fantastic gameplay. Most of the time you are expected to use it as the game now presents you with a lot of gigantic enemies that you are expected to deal with by summoning the demons. I simply would have enjoyed fighting these giant enemies playing as Bayo alone, but if you try to do that you deal chip damage which takes a much longer time than just using your summons. To fix it, all they had to do was nerf the magic bar. As the magic bar just auto regenerates really quickly, you basically have unlimited summoning time. Repeneshing the magic bar should have not been automatic and should have only been filled up by using items or raking up combos (or any other way to reward good gameplay).
In short, you barely get to have some good time with Bayo's combat, because you're forced to play as a shitty character 1/3rd of the time and with the inclusion of demon slaves, there is even less opportunity to combo your foes as Bayo.
The story was one of the biggest complaints from the fans. Personally, as this is a Bayo game I don't really care for the story as long as it sets up a cool premise for the gameplay. In the case of the Multiverse story, I liked that it gave you an excuse to fight in vastly different areas and meet cool unique alternate versions of Bayonetta. Even all the stuff in the ending, I did not really mind.
I hope the future of this franchise does not take the "Viloa is now the main character" route as that would simply kill any hype and uniqueness the character of Bayonetta brought to action games. But with all the feedback Bayo 3 did recieve, one could simply hope Platinum will listen and bring back what people really like about this franchise.
RedBackLoggd
25 days ago