Witch Way

Last week I wrote about my love for the recently PC ported release of the strange but fabulous Bayonetta.  I'm happy to report that I am still joyfully mashing buttons, torturing the various minions of Paradiso, and screaming obscenities at myself for my inability to avoid attacks that I should know are coming.  This time around I am playing on the "hard" setting and wondering when my total lack of skill will become a roadblock to progression.  It hasn't happened yet...hurrah!

This week I thought I would share some helpful hints and poke fun at my pathetic leather-clad witching skills.

Each level includes stages which are wittily referred to as "verses."  Some verses are fights against the weaker variety of angels while others are boss fights.  At the end of each level you receive an award based upon your score on several different areas--how many times you died, how many items you used, the amount of time it took you to complete the level, and the amount of damage that you took.  If you do well you will receive bonus haloes in payment for your amazing performance.  This is how I have done:

There's plenty of Enzo to go around.

That's right....I got one gold statue on the very first and easiest level in normal mode.  Gold isn't even the top trophy!  I also managed to scrape out a silver trophy on the second level of hard.  Yep, I'm that good.  I've gotten used to the goofy sound of the stone Enzo trophy being presented at the end of each level.

Avoiding damage is my main downfall.  Even after having played through it once I STILL manage to get clocked.  Stupid reaction time!  I will give about .01% of the blame to the camera--I am bad about mashing the ALT button to recenter the camera and usually end up with a horde of angry angels standing just out of frame winding up a series of devastating attacks.

It is recommended to play Bayonetta on PC with a controller.  I laugh at your recommendation!  Plus, I don't have a controller.  Playing with the mouse and keyboard isn't undoable and the controls are actually decent.  It does take a little bit to get used to mashing LSHIFT (dodge) with your pinkie finger.  Here's a handy tip--turn off sticky keys.  I'm not even sure why I had this option still tagged but got really annoyed at constantly being booted to the desktop to be asked why I was hitting SHIFT so often.

The sweet magic of the chainsaw attack.

Somehow in my first playthrough (on normal) I missed almost all the Alfheim portals.  If you see a shining, golden circle on the ground you should go check it out.  Alfheim portals offer a series of different challenges for players to complete.  You may attempt those challenges as many times as you like and they will provide a reward--either a broken witch heart or a broken moon pearl--upon completion.  Each challenge has its own set of requirements--one challenge requires you to stay in the air for 30 seconds, another one presents a group of enemies that must be defeated within a certain amount of time, and another can only be competed by using a certain number of attacks.  These challenges are no joke....I have spent hours trying to complete some of them.  I've also probably disturbed my neighbors with the amount of yelling that I usually do.  Alfheim portals are tough!

I have discovered that there is a great deal of replayability in Bayonetta.  I confidently strode into my second playthrough thinking that this time would be a breeze since I would face the same enemies but had the experience of knowing their attacks.  WRONG!  So, so wrong....  On Hard you will face the same levels, but with new, harder enemies injected into each one.  Even the bosses seem to have slightly altered attacks that make them more difficult than they already are.

My least favorite enemy to face is the deadly duo of Glorious & Gracious.  Having to fight two of those little suckers at the same time is tough.  Either through design or my own total incompetence you cannot trigger Witch Time while fighting them.  My strategy in fighting them is constantly tapping dodge and praying for a torture attack so I can whittle one down quickly and then focus on number two.  Sometimes I get lucky and that series of attacks happens.  Mostly I just die a lot.

You can find Bayonetta on Steam for $19.99--which is a great price for a game that is truly enjoyable.  Someday I will get better at it.....likely I will just keep dying an obscene number of times and yelling at my computer.