It's an interesting game, originally conceptualized as Kamiya's response to Devil May Cry 4.
It's hard to pin down what exactly he was responding to, but I'm guessing it was the flexibility afforded in DMC4's engine. Bayonetta's approach was to let you stall each hit in a string and to let you resume combos after dodges (via its pioneered dodge offset). The logical conclusion afterward was to force you to land the Wicked Weave (the final hit of a combo) at the end of each combo to stop your scoring from staling.
Meter is also handled differently. The magic in Bayonetta is not an analog of Devil Trigger. While it does gate specific moves, its primary use is Torture Attacks. These deal heavy damage to single targets, but more importantly drop Angel Weapons which are powerful and an excellent tool for rapidly increasing your score.
The freedom afforded by being able to resume combos via dodge-offsetting in this combat system allowed for far more aggressive enemy design than is usually seen in the genre, and gave way to the innovation the game is best known for, Witch Time. Witch Time functions as a set of training-wheels that allow the player to safely attack enemies after dodging an attack. The more narrow the window, the more time given. Though, certain attacks don't give time. These training-wheels are expected to come off, and this is made most clear on the final setting Non Stop Infinite Climax where it's disabled outright. Unfortunately, this part was not understood by many players and Witch Time is included in other games (I'm assuming few people who've played or seen this game played NSIC or understood that it was intended to be played instead of just carelessly thrown in as part of developer sadism), sometimes unnecessarily, and is freely available in them, including Bayonetta's sequels.
Another aspect that is minor in the scope of the game, but absolutely worthy of its own section is Kamiya taking full advantage of Sega publishing to show his reverence for Yu Suzuki's arcade games. Chapter 8's motorcycle section modeled after the Hang-On and Super Hang-On titles with music from Afterburner II in the background, or chapter 14's Space Harrier section complete with enemy-movement patterns, projectiles, and music lifted directly from Space Harrier. Bayonetta is also a game designed to be replayed in the pursuit of score-chasing, and this is reinforced throughout. It's a game made by someone who likes games for other people who like games.
Another innovation Bayonetta brought to its subgenre is the widespread use of intermissions. This isn't new to the genre. Intermissions exist in Devil May Cry 1. They're essentially sections where the player isn't on a timer and can freely explore. They're one-offs in DMC1, and don't exist in any other DMC game. Bayonetta allows for stress-free exploration outside of every fight due to its per-fight grading-system that the chapters take an average from.
The game is no slouch in terms of things to find during those intermissions either. The game is stuffed with health/magic upgrades, crows, files, hidden fights, secret missions, and extra weapons. Not to mention unlockable characters, 1 for scoring and 1 for finishing the Bloody Palace equivalent (Angel Slayer), and of course a super boss fight in the form of Rodin that also unlocks a final hidden weapon.
I think a QTE discussion deserves its own paragraph. There are a tiny amount of them that result in instant death during cutscenes. We're talking less than 5 the entire game. I'm referring specifically to pressing square/X (or Y for Nintendo) during a cutscene. The rest that come up tend to be counterattack opportunities which always use the TA input of punch+kick. I think the amount of griping leveled at these moments is overblown. I think the game would be better without the mid-cutscene ones, but I don't have an issue with the counter-prompts in the game. They don't drag the experience down enough to warrant docking the game for them imo.
This was longer-winded than I'd have liked, but there was a lot to cover. It's one of the best games in its genre, though it's not my personal favorite. Goty 2009, and a 5/5.
It's hard to pin down what exactly he was responding to, but I'm guessing it was the flexibility afforded in DMC4's engine. Bayonetta's approach was to let you stall each hit in a string and to let you resume combos after dodges (via its pioneered dodge offset). The logical conclusion afterward was to force you to land the Wicked Weave (the final hit of a combo) at the end of each combo to stop your scoring from staling.
Meter is also handled differently. The magic in Bayonetta is not an analog of Devil Trigger. While it does gate specific moves, its primary use is Torture Attacks. These deal heavy damage to single targets, but more importantly drop Angel Weapons which are powerful and an excellent tool for rapidly increasing your score.
The freedom afforded by being able to resume combos via dodge-offsetting in this combat system allowed for far more aggressive enemy design than is usually seen in the genre, and gave way to the innovation the game is best known for, Witch Time. Witch Time functions as a set of training-wheels that allow the player to safely attack enemies after dodging an attack. The more narrow the window, the more time given. Though, certain attacks don't give time. These training-wheels are expected to come off, and this is made most clear on the final setting Non Stop Infinite Climax where it's disabled outright. Unfortunately, this part was not understood by many players and Witch Time is included in other games (I'm assuming few people who've played or seen this game played NSIC or understood that it was intended to be played instead of just carelessly thrown in as part of developer sadism), sometimes unnecessarily, and is freely available in them, including Bayonetta's sequels.
Another aspect that is minor in the scope of the game, but absolutely worthy of its own section is Kamiya taking full advantage of Sega publishing to show his reverence for Yu Suzuki's arcade games. Chapter 8's motorcycle section modeled after the Hang-On and Super Hang-On titles with music from Afterburner II in the background, or chapter 14's Space Harrier section complete with enemy-movement patterns, projectiles, and music lifted directly from Space Harrier. Bayonetta is also a game designed to be replayed in the pursuit of score-chasing, and this is reinforced throughout. It's a game made by someone who likes games for other people who like games.
Another innovation Bayonetta brought to its subgenre is the widespread use of intermissions. This isn't new to the genre. Intermissions exist in Devil May Cry 1. They're essentially sections where the player isn't on a timer and can freely explore. They're one-offs in DMC1, and don't exist in any other DMC game. Bayonetta allows for stress-free exploration outside of every fight due to its per-fight grading-system that the chapters take an average from.
The game is no slouch in terms of things to find during those intermissions either. The game is stuffed with health/magic upgrades, crows, files, hidden fights, secret missions, and extra weapons. Not to mention unlockable characters, 1 for scoring and 1 for finishing the Bloody Palace equivalent (Angel Slayer), and of course a super boss fight in the form of Rodin that also unlocks a final hidden weapon.
I think a QTE discussion deserves its own paragraph. There are a tiny amount of them that result in instant death during cutscenes. We're talking less than 5 the entire game. I'm referring specifically to pressing square/X (or Y for Nintendo) during a cutscene. The rest that come up tend to be counterattack opportunities which always use the TA input of punch+kick. I think the amount of griping leveled at these moments is overblown. I think the game would be better without the mid-cutscene ones, but I don't have an issue with the counter-prompts in the game. They don't drag the experience down enough to warrant docking the game for them imo.
This was longer-winded than I'd have liked, but there was a lot to cover. It's one of the best games in its genre, though it's not my personal favorite. Goty 2009, and a 5/5.