A Three Month Journey Though Bayonetta

I am on a journey of grinding out my gaming backlog due to 2024 seeming to be a lighter year in terms of game releases. So, I have been grabbing a game that I already own and I’m finally forcing myself to start them. The latest game in this mission is Bayonetta 1.

The hack and slash game that I have had on my self for a few months now was a game that I have put off for a bit because I was intimidated. I have watched my roommate play a little bit of the game and all I could think about was how I’m gonna get stuck and not be able to get past some random boss.

Well, I wasn’t completely wrong. Bayonetta is a very hard game for my standards. I am use to platformers, games that I don’t have to think about combos and going through a series of boss fights in a row. So, having a game the has a core function of go and kick ass the entire time was a bit of a learning curve. Even by the end of the game, I stuck to about five combos that I would just spam during fights. I ended up jumping and holding the charge up attack and waiting for the enemy to come underneath me for a lot of fights.

This was an incredibly frustrating game. I lost count of how many times I would be doing good in a fight and then get (what I see as) unfairly combo-ed. Every so often, I would run into a fight that was tricky. It would lock me into a series of trying to fight, get beaten, repeat. Early in the game, that worry that I would be stuck and not beat the game, so I would take breaks (take a five minute phone break, go get some water, or even just walk around the house). This was the only way that I would be able to get past these sections. Bayonetta taught (forced me to learn) patients - fight slower, read the moves of the enemy, and use the air to my advantage.

I am someone who hates using items in my games. For no reason other than “but what if I need them later on?” This stance was something that I held onto until the second Jeanne fight. That plane flight was brutal! It was by far the longest fight that I was stuck on. I tried for so long to beat her on my own until finally I hit that wall and started to pop health items. Two health items and one of those really helpful shield items and I was finally able to move onto the next section.

One thing that I was worried about was the part of the part of the game that stumped my roommate. I consider him to be a better overall gamer than me (even though he disputes this claim) so I was scared this would be the challenge that would screw my progression. Well, turns out this challenge took me all of 10 minutes to beat. I have to be honest, once I passed this, I was so confident in my Bayonetta skills.

Coming up to the end of the game, there was a few days that went incredibly smooth and I was blasting through chapters. The finally section threw all of that off the table. The final boss was designed with many (I lost count) phases that divide up into two different playstyles. My very first attempt got me two phase two… but then for a good hour after, I could not pass the first phase no matter how focused I was. This caused me to leave the game on the table for a day or two while I focused on my finals for grad school. When I went back to the game, I decided that I was going to finish the game that day! I was pretty confused going into the prolog because I was only on chapter 17, but when I looked up how long the game would be when I was about halfway through, I was told that there was 18 chapters. This made me scared to use my now limited amount of items because I thought that I would be facing a somehow harder boss in the next chapter. Well, once I realized that I would not be beating this boss without a bit of extra health, I just had to make sure not to die while running for my life.

Once I beat the boss, I got to watch this amazing cutscene with Bayonetta and Jeanne. Usually I never bother to sit and watch all of the credits, but Bayonetta had such fun credits. Having random sections that let you control Bayonetta and beat up more enemies on a timer is something I have never seen done before. This plus an entire dance scene made the act of finishing Bayonetta a huge accomplishment. I really enjoyed my time with this game, and I’m dreading moving onto Bayonetta 2 because I’ve been told it’s even harder.