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.

I Never Knew

When it comes to my gaming choices I tend to veer towards the old familiar genres of my comfort zone--the carpal tunnel numbness of mad-clicking ARPG's, the life sucking 100 hour playthroughs of the modern RPG, a stylishly popular indie about something socially relevant, and possibly a little strategy.  Every once in awhile I decide to veer from this decidedly rote path and play something a little out of my ordinary.  Sadly, this choice had led me to some games that have remained firmly parked in my library with little to no play time (I'm looking at you Spelunky).  This time around I think I stumbled on a real gem though...and it's not even in a genre or type of game that I'm comfortable admitting that I play.  I never knew I wanted to be a sexy, British accented witch from hell, but thanks to Bayonetta my horizons have been broadened.

I'm pretty sure I've posted this same statement several times on my blog--I'm not really into anime or anime style games.  I'm so not really into it that I've actually disabled "anime" as a tag on my Steam discovery feed (for awhile there it seemed like there were many, many variations of the hot anime girls in tiny costumes and impossibly large boobs type of games inundating my queue--all thanks to playing The Valkyria Chronicles and Steam deciding that one game was enough to decide that I needed to see every new anime game in the store).  When Bayonetta started popping up on the top seller list on Steam I scoffed at yet another weird anime game.  Here's where I admit how wrong I was--Bayonetta is the perfect combination of fun yet challenging combat, quirkiness, and complete irreverence.  You should buy it....now!

One of the many irreverent moments sprinkled throughout Bayonetta.

Bayonetta was originally released as a console-only game seven years ago.  The PC port and release seemed to be a surprise--I only read about it because it kept popping up on some of the PC gaming threads that I follow.

In Bayonetta you play as a time-bending, lollipop sucking, leather-clad, witch who is recovering from a bad case of amnesia.  You shouldn't think of the traditional "broomstick" type of witch--Bayonetta is a lithe, martial artist who can manipulate time.  Oh and she also has guns attached to her high heels.  And can perform powerful magical attacks using her hair....which can transform into giant monsters.  Yup, it's kind of weird--but it's also wicked fun.

The combat in Bayonetta is probably the best part of the game.  Bayonetta herself is locked in some sort of eternal struggle against the forces of heaven and is constantly fending off attacks by the various (really weird) minions of Paradiso.  Combat is based on combination attacks executed by artfully timed punches and kicks.  The really unique aspect of the combat is the ability to perform a perfectly timed dodge which results in entering what is known as "witch time"--a state of temporarily slowed time that allows players to crank out powerful combo attacks.  As players complete these combos, Bayonetta's magical attack meter fills up.  If the correct combo is performed she will use a unique, powerful magic attack.  There are other times in combat where players have the option of perform "torture" attacks that utilize a variety of torture devices and mad-clicking to determine their effectiveness.  I still haven't figured out exactly what triggers the option to use a torture attack.  After you've stylishly slain your way through masses of smaller enemies you will reach the true crux of combat--the boss fight.  The bosses in Bayonetta tend to be giant monstrosities that take a few tries to figure out.  These long, drawn out battles are frustrating but oh so satisfying to finish.

The level of stylish cinematics and downright silliness balance each other out perfectly.  There are moments where I am in awe of Bayonetta performing a crazy move and then there are others where I am rolling my eyes at cheesy dialogue.  If anything, it's a game that doesn't take itself too seriously.  In the middle of a fight you might grab an enemy and get the option to "punish" it and mash the punch button to repeatedly slam it into the ground.  Bayonetta's moves are part martial arts and part stripper--it's a really weird combination.

Something I really enjoyed that might seem silly is Bayonetta's ability to "witch walk."  Witch walking can only take place when the moon is visible and allows her to walk across any surface--at several points throughout the game you have to navigate the sides of buildings or wind your way up a nauseating spiral tower.  Even though the game is linear this feature adds an entirely new dimension to some boss fights and different parts of the story.

My one major gripe is the camera and it's inability to stay in the right place.  This has been a long time issue for me with many console style games.  It's a little irritating to have the camera lodge itself in a location where you can't see the enemies you are fighting.  The camera movement isn't the worst I've ever dealt with, but it can be annoying.

At first glance Bayonetta might appear to be a tits n' ass punch em' up--it's true, there are definite aspects of that, but if you push past you will find yourself in the midst of a really bizarre story punctuated by genuinely fun bursts of combat.  It's unlike anything I've ever played and I don't regret buying it for one second.