Topic: The Bayonetta thread

[W7RE]

There wasn't a thread, so I made one. Gamespot has early access to the 360 version of the demo)

I wouldn't mind playing something like this or God of War (and I don't have a PS3), but this one is definitely not my cup of tea. Seems very button mashy, and has tons of over the top spell effects that clutter the screen. It has seemingly pointless things I was collectings (rings, a butterfly or something, some other random stuff, I don't know, it would pause the action when I would grab the first of something). I also don't care for the music.

[TheOtherBelmont]

I'm interested in it since its being done by the same guy who did the Devil May Cry games which I enjoyed.  I would still like to play a demo of it though, but I'll have to wait for a PS3 demo.

[beo]

this looks like everything i hated about devil may cry, x20.

[Schlotzky5]

this looks like everything i hated about devil may cry, x20.

+ boobs

These kinda games bug me. I mean if you wanna make the lead character a sexy woman fine. The problem comes in with shit like this. This says to me, "Our game is crap, but you will buy it anyway because we put huge boobs in it. You are nothing but a horny male consumer and we will exploit you for it." Its insulting.

[Xessive]

I hate that stuff too.

So far I think MGS4 pulled off the most successful "sex sells" campaign in a game: The Beauties and the Beasts.

[Quemaqua]

If you aren't used to boobs in games by now, there's something wrong.  Just because a game has boobs in it doesn't mean the game sucks.  I think it's stupid too, but it's really not even worth paying attention to, and certainly not anything to try and read meaning into.  It is what it is.

Game looks cool to me.  I'm curious to check it out at some point.  I'm not the biggest DMC fan ever, but I did appreciate several of the games (especially 3, which while utterly ridiculous, really separated the men from the boys as far as difficulty), and I do enjoy a good, challenging action game.  This one looks like a winner in my book.

[W7RE]

See the problem is that the Japanese have to exaggerate to get an attractive woman in a game. If they tried subtlety, they'd end up with something that looks like Japanese male game characters.

Aside from that, it seems like an ok action game that's maybe a little button mashy. But then you throw in overdone special efects on every attack, a bunch of stuff to collect, annoying techno/pop music that sounds like an anime theme, and it all comes together to scream into your face "THIS IS A JAPANESE GAME!" The only thing missing is a 12 year old school girl getting raped by tentacles, though I guess the sexy librarian with lots of body hair takes her place.

[Quemaqua]

Oh I know, because non-Japanese developers never have giant boobs in them.  Ever.  Ever.  Ever.

Anyway, all the ridiculous hyperbole in this thread aside, I've heard the game is supposedly not particularly button-mashy.  The God of War games were always far mashier than DMC anyway.  Try DMC3 and see how far mashing gets you.  From the few I've talked to who've played the game, that doesn't seem to be much of an issue.  The number of moves is supposed to be pretty high, and the specific usages are supposed to be just varied enough to let you get a bit creative, not to let you rely on anything too much.  Can't say much beyond what I've heard, though, since I haven't played it yet.

[Schlotzky5]

Now tentacle rape. Thats all cool.

[W7RE]

I'm not trying to say that only Japanese games have girls with big boobs. I'm saying that male characters in Japanese games look like girls. Without giant boobs and a tiny waist, you'd mistake the women for men, and vise versa. The males are so fucked up that you have to exaggerate the females to compensate.

[Quemaqua]

Granted, Vaan was pretty fucking faggy in the pre-release stuff for FFXII, but most of them aren't so bad.  Gender tends to be more obvious in other races and less obvious in Asians (to us) because they have softer features and more stuff you'd generally consider feminine.  The Bayonetta chick doesn't look like a man, though, does she?  Looks chicky enough to me.

[Xessive]

I find the stuff stupid but I think (in my case at least) is that I am attracted to the "natural" woman. The women in these games just look like a cosmetic surgeon's deities; silicone-filled boobs, unnaturally symmetrical features, flawless skin, etc. They're just wildly exaggerated, which is perfectly appropriate for certain art styles, but not everything.

I am reminded of Dr. Steinman (Bioshock) "That one, too fat! This one, too tall! This one... TOO SYMMETRICAL!"

By contrast, I kinda like the women in Dragon Age Origins, Mass Effect, and Fallout 3; they seem more "down to earth." Another examples is Alyx from HL2.

I guess when it comes to Japanese games it's more about the culture and art style. They look just like the women portrayed in anime and manga, which is pretty much just one of two categories: beyond-well-endowed-boobage or schoolgirl.

[W7RE]

No, she doesn't look like a man. I'm insulting the design of the males, not the females. I'm also saying that giant boobs help the player tell the difference between male and female, since the guys look so much like girls.

Another examples is Alyx from HL2.

This is sort of what I mean. Most male characters in Japanese games are more feminine and dressed up than Alyx. So the girls have to be even MORE female, so they get giant boobs. In Western games they just have big boobs because it sells the game.

[MysterD]

I find the stuff stupid but I think (in my case at least) is that I am attracted to the "natural" woman. The women in these games just look like a cosmetic surgeon's deities; silicone-filled boobs, unnaturally symmetrical features, flawless skin, etc. They're just wildly exaggerated, which is perfectly appropriate for certain art styles, but not everything.

I am reminded of Dr. Steinman (Bioshock) "That one, too fat! This one, too tall! This one... TOO SYMMETRICAL!"

By contrast, I kinda like the women in Dragon Age Origins, Mass Effect, and Fallout 3; they seem more "down to earth." Another examples is Alyx from HL2.

I think Bioware has always came up w/ excellent female characters in their games, for the most part.

I loved Aerie from BG2 - yeah, I know, not everybody loved her b/c of her whining and always being a victim - but, well, I did, dammit! Nathyrra was interesting and complex w/ her conflict of wanting to do good, despite drow being evil in nature (NWN: Hordes); Aribeth (NWN); Ashley (voiced by Mila Kunis - Mass Effect); and the two  completely opposite natured characters in Jade Empire (Dawn and Fox).

About girls in Fallout 3 - I love Moira. She's too cool and quirky.

[Xessive]

They're almost more of an icon to indicate gender than accurate renditions. They may as well have given ridiculous bulges to the males, but then that wouldn't sell well with the target demographic.

I'm just thinking about alternative art styles like in Torchlight and Borderlands; the females are sexualized but not overly exaggerated.

EDIT:

Ashley (voiced by Mila Kunis - Mass Effect)

Ashley wasn't voiced by Mila Kunis! It was Kimberly Brooks! hehe

[MysterD]

They're almost more of an icon to indicate gender than accurate renditions. They may as well have given ridiculous bulges to the males, but then that wouldn't sell well with the target demographic.

I'm just thinking about alternative art styles like in Torchlight and Borderlands; the females are sexualized but not overly exaggerated.

Lilith is fuckin' awesome in Borderlands.

I love all the girly references, like Lilith's name being a reference probably to Lilith Fair and power called "Girl Power" and all that cool shit.

[Quemaqua]

Different strokes, I guess.  I prefer natural-looking women too, in reality, but this isn't reality.  All of it looks fake and weird.  I think all the robotic-looking women in all the games you mentioned are also somewhat creepy, low-poly, and ugly.  Alyx perhaps less than some, who could potentially be mildly attractive if she wasn't so fucking annoying.  Seriously, the chicks in DA look totally wrong.  Morrigan has lips the size of New Jersey, has ridiculous permanent eye shadow, and a nose you could slice cheese with.  I don't see the appeal.  Leliana (sp?) isn't so bad, but she still looks more like a mass of polygons than a woman.  Same goes for all the women in Fallout 3.  They only barely resemble people.

I see your point, though, W7.  I don't really think that's why anime and manga chicks have big boobs, though.  I'm pretty sure that's just because dudes like hooters.

[MysterD]

Ashley wasn't voiced by Mila Kunis! It was Kimberly Brooks! hehe

*slaps self upside the head*
Well, then Kim did a great job, then...
Thanks for the correction.

[W7RE]

I love Moira. She's too cool and quirky.

I can't stand her accent, whatever that is. (that's not Canadian, is it?) But after a while I got to like her weirdness. It's so annoying that it's fun to listen to. Sometimes I'll read ahead of a clip of dialogue audio and skip it, but not with her.

[Xessive]

I can't stand her accent, whatever that is. (that's not Canadian, is it?) But after a while I got to like her weirdness. It's so annoying that it's fun to listen to. Sometimes I'll read ahead of a clip of dialogue audio and skip it, but not with her.

Y'know, she sounds like Sarah Palin! haha I guess that's Hockey Mom Alaskan

[Schlotzky5]

Fallout 3 was awful for women. Maybe not so much women, but for npc realism in general. All the characters gave you that empty gaze. Creepy as hell. That could be the point, but still weird.

[Quemaqua]

For anyone interested, the PS3 demo for Bayonetta is now available on PSN.

[W7RE]

It's available without a promotional code now on the 360 as well.

[TheOtherBelmont]

For anyone interested, the PS3 demo for Bayonetta is now available on PSN.

I liked what I played on the demo, definitely going to consider getting it.

[iPPi]

Reviews are starting to trickle in and it seems that it's a pretty good game, but it's also very clear that the developers did a shit job of porting it to the PS3.  It appears that the game was designed for the 360 in mind, and at the last moment was decided to be ported to the PS3, as there's a ton of loading from what reviews are saying (6+ seconds to pause the game, loading at odd places during play, etc.) on the PS3 version.  That's just plain laziness and poor work on the developers side.  It appears from Wikipedia that the game was ported to the PS3 by Sega -- a different group of people who developed the game for the 360, so I think they had trouble getting it optimized on the PS3.

I guess I might pick this up on the 360.  I'm somewhat interested in the game now.

[Quemaqua]

I'm very interested in the game itself, but I don't consider 360 games a worthy investment anymore, so I'm still a bit torn.  I guess it all depends on how bad the PS3 port really is.

[Schlotzky5]

I played the demo. I dont know how well the 360 version plays, but the ps3 demo didnt play badly.

I also take back what I said before about the game being nothing but a bad dmc clone with boobs. There is an actual game behind the boobs. And its not as sexy as I was expecting. Its pretty creepy actually. She walks like a spider.

[Cobra951]

I can't stand her accent, whatever that is. (that's not Canadian, is it?) But after a while I got to like her weirdness. It's so annoying that it's fun to listen to. Sometimes I'll read ahead of a clip of dialogue audio and skip it, but not with her.

Moira cracks me up.  She's so cheerful and peppy about sending me into deadly torture.

I hadn't thought about it, but I believe you make a good point about Japanese games.  The males are often so effeminate that a Westerner wouldn't be able to tell the genders apart without exaggerated female features on the women.  And neither the teen males buying these nor the Japanese bean counters mind a bit.

[beo]

played the demo. seems that you can just just mash random combinations of buttons and stuff happens. it looks just as shallow as the dmc games to me. if there's a drought of games in the future and it's in the bargin bin i might give it a go, but until then if i want to look at boobs, there are far more rewarding avenues.

[Xessive]

played the demo. seems that you can just just mash random combinations of buttons and stuff happens. it looks just as shallow as the dmc games to me. if there's a drought of games in the future and it's in the bargin bin i might give it a go, but until then if i want to look at boobs, there are far more rewarding avenues.

It feels like a cross between Devil May Cry and Blood Rayne. I'd consider it in a bargain bin too.

[Schlotzky5]

Blood Rayne... Ouch.

[Quemaqua]

Uh, DMC isn't shallow.

[W7RE]

I've been hearing that it's accessable in that you can get by with button mashing, but there's enough depth for something more if you want to get into the combat system.

I just can't get past that Japanese way of putting shit-tons of shiny things on screen and making you collect rings like she's sonic, and that annoying anime inspired music. I'll just say I don't care for Japanese games and that's what kills this one (and many others) for me.

[beo]

Uh, DMC isn't shallow.

obviously, i disagree. i played the first dmc, but ended up returning it after getting bored of hitting buttons in no particular order and watching yet another cutscene. tried the demo for dmc 4 and saw it was more of the same. maybe dmc isn't shallow, but from what i played, nothing about it gave me reason to continue searching for any hidden depth.

[PyroMenace]

Giantbomb gave it 4 stars for the 360 version. The PS3 only got 3 stars getting notched down for bad framerate and load time issues.

[MysterD]

GameSpot reviews

9.0 for X360.
Video review.
Written review.

8.0 for PS3 version.
Written Review.

Unfortunately, as entertaining as the stylish action combat of Bayonetta is, it's plagued by a number of technical issues on the PS3 that distract and spoil some of the fun. Not only are the visuals grainier and more washed out than in its Xbox 360 counterpart, but there are also noticeable frame rate dips that occur when the action gets too heavy.

Most commonplace, however, are the frequent, excessively long load times. While the loads between levels are partially mitigated by the useful practice mode, it can only cover up so much and doesn't do anything at all to help all of the other loads. You're met with an immersion-breaking, several seconds long loading screen every single time you want to pause the action, access your inventory or switch between submenus there, save or load your game, or pick up a new item. All together, these problems notably affect your enjoyment, and in a game where high-energy combat is king, these are pretty significant.

[Quemaqua]

I actually got the PS3 version but took it back after several sources said it was just not worth it.  I had heard about the problems but didn't realize quite how extensive they apparently are.  Hope someone patches that shit.  Pisses me off that I'll be playing on 360 since even a broken game you can play is better than a fully functioning game in the burned out husk of a broken console￸l

[iPPi]

PS3 Patch live

This patch allows PS3 users to install the game, thereby lowering loading times dramatically. 

Also, according to sources, apparently the patch has nothing to do with the SEGA or Platinum Games, the developer/publisher of Bayonetta.  The patch was released by Sony.  I think it kind of goes to show that the devs of the game really do not have any grasp on how to work with the PS3 architecture.

[MysterD]

PS3 Patch live

This patch allows PS3 users to install the game, thereby lowering loading times dramatically. 

Also, according to sources, apparently the patch has nothing to do with the SEGA or Platinum Games, the developer/publisher of Bayonetta.  The patch was released by Sony.  I think it kind of goes to show that the devs of the game really do not have any grasp on how to work with the PS3 architecture.

Kudos to Sony for saving the game.

If this is the case - no reason for anymore copies of Bayonetta PS3 Version 1.0 to be published on disc anymore by Sega. Just stop.

They should give Bayonetta PS3 a re-release on disc - and honestly, it should - that version really should come w/ this patch on disc to allow the full install.

[iPPi]

From what I've read -- the patch is 138 MB, and the install is 4.5 GB for the PS3 now.  Apparently, this fixed nearly all of the technical issues that plagues the PS3 version of Bayonetta (frequent load time, and choppy framerate).  I'm now seriously considering picking this game up.