Bayonetta [PS3/360]

[Stakers]

Just thought I'd pop in here to add to the praise. I've sunk about 40 hours into this little beaut already and loving it, despite not getting on with the DMC's.
It builds you up into this insane fighting machine without you realising it. Should finish infinite climax soon but I'm doing a speed run on Normal at the same time and I know I'm going back to do full platinum as well. That'll be SIX runthroughs! Crazy. Its the only thing that's stopped me playing Street Fighter 4 every day apart from A Boy and His Blob!

[Yakumo]

Do you get anything extra for finishing Climax Non-Stop level? I've done all the other levels but I'm only up to chapter 14 on Climax. Time for a break I think after 61 hours of play.

I'm just hopping that there are some secret mini games in there since people who have downloaded the 360 Bayonetta theme will know that there are Bayonetta themed versions of {Virtua Fighter, Wonder Boy in Monsterland, Quartet (I think) and something else} shown in the backgrounds.

Yakumo

[plopboy]

^ You get

->Open Spoiler<-

another LP which is the weapon Pillow Talk

but nothing from the theme

[Geoff D]

Finished this on normal last night - utterly brilliant from the get go & very deserving of the 10/10 plaudits it's been receiving.

1 trivial annoyance in chapter XV -

->Open Spoiler<-

having to shoot Temperentia with the big guns. For a game that rewards you for getting up close & personal, this seemed oddly out of kilter.

I'm going to clean up some Alfheims first, then report back for a hard mode run.

[Atticus]

Finished this last night. Got to say the production values and fun factor in this game are out of this world. Not sure whether I want to spend time going through it all again on hard but while it lasted it was a blast.

Got to say I got this totally wrong. I sold the game after finishing it on normal and then couldn't stop thinking about how satisfying the combat was/is. So I bought it again. And I'm loving it again. Even more than before. This game's all about the replay.

[Yakumo]

^ You get

->Open Spoiler<-

another LP which is the weapon Pillow Talk

but nothing from the theme

Ah, I already have that by using the phonebox trick. Maybe I won't bother for the time being then.

[Btang84]

The patch is out for the PS3 version, allows an install. I've never seen an install make such a difference, the loading times of nearly everything are significantly shorter and faster, makes a difference in the loading and the menus.

The patch itself is 130mb but the install is fairly long, 20 mins if I'm not mistaken.

[Golgo]

The patch is out for the PS3 version, allows an install. I've never seen an install make such a difference, the loading times of nearly everything are significantly shorter and faster, makes a difference in the loading and the menus.

The patch itself is 130mb but the install is fairly long, 20 mins if I'm not mistaken.

Is that for the Japanese version?
And does it affect graphical performance at all?

[Btang84]

It was announced to be the Japanese version, but it appears it's a worldwide patch, so yes.

I can't comment too much on graphical glitches, but it seems slightly smoother on my playthrough so far but I haven't noticed quite as much tearing as before, but I'll give more impressions once I play it a bit more.

[saturn-gamer]

The most important thing is that this Install stops the constant streaming off the BR disc that most likely put a lot of stress on the laser.

The load times are considerably shorter now, but still there. Entering Rodin's cafe takes 10 secs or so now.

All in all the game as a whole (including menu navigating etc) feels and runs more polished since everything appears on screen when it should instead of lagging behind due to streaming. It baffles me that Sega didn't include this when this game launched. It would surely save some flak as the load times were being hammered by quite a bit. Oh thats right, its Sega, the company that defies any logic.

By the way, the Sai-Fon are FUN!

[Del Boy]

UK version too. About time.

[Yakumo]

It baffles me that Sega didn't include this when this game launched. It would surely save some flak as the load times were being hammered by quite a bit. Oh thats right, its Sega, the company that defies any logic.

Because the game wasn't made by Sega. The 360 version is by Platinum Games which is why it's spot on. The PS3 version was outsourced plus it is built upon the 360 code. This could be the reason for the crappy load times however Sony consoles have always had crappy load times (PSX vs Saturn, PS2 vs Dreamcast and now PS3 vs 360) but the cause for the graphic downgrade is most probably due to the outsourced 360 engine port.

[saturn-gamer]

Platinum outsourced it to Sega. The latter is fully responsible for this port. Platinum doesn't even talk about this version.

Apparently the load times aren't all that crappy now that a chunk of the data can be installed. As with so many other Ps3 games in the past.

What I'm saying is that this Install feature should've been there on release, at least in the west.

[MatWoods]

Sold my first copy cos' I could not stand the load times breaking up the flow of what is a fast game. Bought a new copy after the patch came out and god, how good is it not to see 'loading' all the time.

Menu screens are a dream and you can actually collect items without having to endure disk accesing.

Having completed Ninja Gaiden 2 in the interim, I can say that Bayonetta is a lovley game when it all flows and looking forward to spending some time with it now, other than just waiting on a load screen.

[FelixofMars]

I completed this on Normal today, may as well be called Hard. To be honest most of the challenge on Normal seems to be figuring out the various hidden quicktime events that just appear or bits of the gameplay that are not explained or the bosses and how to deal with them.

A quick go on hard feels like it isn't much harder, especially your not badass from all the upgrades.

It general I feel a mix of fun, endurance, frustration and marvel at the game. It certainly has some amazing environments and pushes the consoles far more than I thought they would for this type of game. In fact for most games!

I did notice some slowdown of the final boss but it is pretty amazing how much action there was, characters onscreen, environments and of course all the effect especially the credit sequence.

I still hate the camera and some of the disgusting little cheap moves some of the bosses and larger enemies have. I wasted hours on some of them just trying to get the timings right or trying to avoid the evil tricks they seem to have.

Either way the game is probably still not an Edge 10/10 but when did I belive that. It is however a solid shooter and now I have gone back to Darksiders I am missing not being able to dodge quickly, the lack of speed and the combos you can run up. So they must have done something right!