Greatness in Half

Bayonetta 2 is a game that nearly never got made and you have to wonder why Sega felt lukewarm about publishing the sequel. It does feel like a lower budget game than the first game for sure, clocking in about two-thirds the length of the first Bayonetta. You could make the case that the first game was a little too long but the way Bayonetta 2 ended left me feeling like THAT WAS IT? Ok the ending was nice and wrapped the story up nicely leading to the events of the first game even if it's way too similar to DMC3 ending.

The story of Bayonetta 2 does not revolved around Cereza, her story arc was done in the first game and here she is just dragged into the thick of things. A bit like how Kiryu story was completed in the first Yakuza and every installment of Yakuza games is not really about Kiryu. I was playing Max Payne 3 recently and I didn't like how the story narrative shifts from the wealthy family Payne was protecting to human trafficking. Bayonetta 2 has the same type of narrative shift, first the story is about Cereza trying to rescue her friend Jeanne and then suddenly, it's about time travelling and trying to get to Fimbulventr. I supposed you can't expect much of a story when the game starts and ends with Bayonetta shopping in a high end district.

The fighting mechanic is very much the same as the first game except now you can use a widespread climax attack instead of one torture attack on a single enemy. It's useful when you are fighting in a big crowd especially if you don't want to waste the torture on the wrong enemy in the midst of the chaos.

Platinum Games are learning from their western counterparts, you can see them trying to create these cinematic interactive experience like the Uncharted games. When you fighting a boss sometimes the background shifts and your summoned is fighting the other summoned in the background. It's frantic and looks really good but having to juggle combos while being distracted by all this is sometimes a bit too much. Go back to the first game that is included in the packaging and you can appreciate some definite graphical improvement.

In the end this doesn't feel like a full fledged sequel to me more like, Bayonetta 1.5. All the players that made the first game great are back but constraints held this one back a bit.

Keep The Home Fires Burning

This mobile strap comes with first edition copies of Devil May Cry 3 JP Edition

The Devil and Bayo series shares this weird symbiotic relationship. They obviously have the same fanbase (me being one) but coincidentally the games never competed head on. 

The Devil series did their thing and faded away for a bit then the Bayo games came and kept the fires burning. I don't think it would be too far to say that if it wasn't for Bayonetta, DMC4SE would never have happened. 

One man that has a hand on both series is action director Yuji Shimomura. He crafted the cutscenes in both the series, making the games just as fun to watch as it is to play. Yuji started in this genre with DMC3 which is probably still his best work if you asked me. His work on the Bayonetta series has been less impressive perhaps because the Devil work were so outstanding.

I can't pick out a single impressive scene from Bayonetta 2. That creative energy that I expect from Yuji just isn't there, not sure if the story and characters just didn't suit his strengths. Bayonetta 2 felt like a lower budget game to me and considering how hard Platinum fought to make that game, I believe that to be the case. The cutscenes felt just as long as the first Bayo but less impactful, there isn't much scenes of showing off that you come to expect. 

DMC4SE new scenes looked very promising, I can't wait to see what Yuji has cooked up as it certainly looked like he found his vigor again. 

The inside of the strap has a different color depending on which character

This is for Vergil. There is also one for Dante and Lady

Jumping The Gun

I have a set of 5 figures but I keep coming back to these two

What's the first button you instinctively reach for when you want the character to jump?

It's usually the lowest button on the controller regardless of what system or generation, that's how buttons are normally mapped to by default. You don't go against the system especially if it's a technical action game like Devil May Cry or Bayonetta.

The first Devil May Cry game mapped the jump action to the Triangle button. That's right, it's on the highest button on the gamepad for reasons I failed to understand. The buttons also cannot be re-configured so you are basically stuck with unlearning what you learnt through years of playing these games.

Thankfully as I tend to have multiple copies of these games, I discovered that the Japanese version of Devil May Cry doesn't have this type of insane button mapping. Jump is actually mapped to the X button like how it usually is. For once, owning multiple copies of the same game actually paid off and I can put this import copy to use despite have to start all over. Or if you are not the nostalgic type, you can always pick up the HD collection as it's seems they have fixed this problem on the HD reissue.

This anniversary re-issue is actually pretty sweet, it comes with a bonus soundtrack disc and a nice new cover art. When I first bought it, I even got a bonus DVD of the wesker report and trailers for other Capcom games. Those were good times, too bad it never lasts as with all good thing.

I Need More Controller

Devil May Cry is never far from gamers' minds despite not having a proper sequel for more than 5 years. It's a cult series for sure and cult followers expect more. Like retail copy more, I get that because I'm one of those too. DMC4 SE will be released strictly through digital distribution on current hardware. Looking back at DMC3 SE, it's unreasonable to think that Capcom would do more than distribute this on the digital medium.

This reissue looks largely the same as DMC3 SE in terms of content except it took 7 years to arrive. DMC3 SE only had a Greatest Hits cover despite being a year apart. I remember importing the japanese edition of DMC3 SE just for the new cover art. I dusted off the game to play recently after a bit of Bayonetta fatigue and the game still holds up remarkably well. Of course, it claimed the life of another dualshock2 controller but these imitation stuff never do last anyway.

The Art of Remastering

Bayonetta Wii U and Resident Evil HD are two recent high-profile ports that really show you the different philosophy adopted by its publishers/developers.

Nintendo could have easily slap a Definitive Edition label to Bayonetta and charge $30 for the port but instead they decided to bundle the game free with every purchase of the sequel.

Of course, Capcom is infamous for making a quick buck off everything they can find in their vault so no one was expecting them to give RE HD away for free. 

The issue here is the level of effort put into the port and despite charging for RE HD, Capcom's effort on RE HD remains subpar as usual. Early on Capcom announced that Chris and Jill BSAA costumes will be new additions to the HD Remaster. The logical assumption would be to have the young Chris and Jill wearing the BSAA costumes of their older counterparts. That would be the ideal case except it required a lot more work than simply pulling the BSAA models from the RE5 DLC and sticking it in HD remaster. Which of course, Capcom did so in the end. 

I wasn't very surprised with Capcom's efforts on RE HD Remaster but I was surprised with what Nintendo and Platinum Games did on Bayonetta Wii U. Now when the Bayonetta port was announced, the Nintendo costume were highly publicized and were directly supervised by original director, Hideki Kamiya. Recently, the concept artist revealed sketches of the costumes on Platinum Games blog and divulged that Kamiya insisted small details like the Samus suit had to be the classic original from the NES Metroid. 

Nintendo and Platinum games did a fine job on the Nintendo themed costumes. If they had delivered just a steady port with no additional costumes, a lot of gamers would have been more than satisfied. What I didn't expect was that these concept drawings also made their way into the bonus gallery after you completed the game. Clearly one publisher went the extra mile with the small details while the other was quick to call it a day. 

Labels like Remaster really don't mean all that much anymore and in the end, you got to walk the talk or risk becoming easy target for obsessive fanboys. Sure Capcom are patting themselves on the back because RE HD broke all sorts of digital sale records while Bayonetta 2 probably sold a criminally obscene amount. But passionate gamers care and so do passionate developers, some of which used to work in Capcom and are now working in Platinum Games.

Talking About My Generation Games

Since it's NBA Draft Night and I'm in the mood of compiling my own selection of picks, I thought I shared my choices for IGN Game of the Generation Poll. I loved taking part in these polls and finding out the results even though IGN tend to be doing these Best of list almost every other month.

Now I gave quite a bit of thought as to which three games should make up the top 3 but not nearly as long for the rest on the list. Mostly I just knew the other games had to be there no matter what the order were, most were really early in the generation so no game had the benefit of making the list just because I recently played it. Well, except The Last of Us but I don't think anyone would argue it isn't a game for the generation.

1. Red Dead Redemption - Playstation 3

I wasn't as hyped up for this game when it came out, in fact I patiently waited for the GOTY edition before picking it up and really took my time to play and finish this. But it's pretty apparent this game did everything right even down to the DLC and multi-player mode. I was pleasantly surprised by how good the writing was, now I'm used to playing Japanese games so most of the time the story is just serviceable or sometimes things get lost in translation. Red Dead may be about outlaws and lowlifes but the conversations are never random babbling or meaningless chatters, and you don't have sit through a long cutscene most of the time too.

2. Super Mario Galaxy - Nintendo Wii

Mario 64 was my first 3D Mario game but it was years after release when I finally played it on the Nintendo DS. Let's just say the controls on the DS remake are not nearly as accurate as the original without an analog pad on the handheld. So Super Mario Galaxy was more like my first real taste of 3D Mario platform and the game works so well because Nintendo didn't just do a 3D version of conventional Mario platform levels like how the early 3D Castlevania games were.

3. Catherine - Playstation 3

This was a first day buy for me despite not having played much of Atlus' previous games. I bought this game after being intrigued by  the premise and characters but the only reason I replay this game is solely because of the addictive puzzle/block-climbing. In fact, I wish you could just skip all the evening drinking session because once you played through it once, those nightly sessions can be a chore.

If you look at the rest of my picks, you may think I deliberately left out any Capcom's games but the truth is, most of their game released this generation just weren't very good though Dead Rising is noteworthy exception.

Hurry Up and Wait

It's no secret that I used my ps3 a lot more often than my nintendo Wii, I liked the online functionality of the system and even when i'm not busy downloading a file off PSN in the background I would still logged in while gaming. Having my live community of gamer friends there online is like a reality check sometimes if i get too carried away into the wee hours I would be constantly remind to stop soon by presence of my friends signing off.

Another benefit of being signed onto PSN network while you are playing is the immediate access to any update patch that may be been made available to the game. This will improve the gameplay experience like the ability to have game data install for Bayonetta or even provide additional content such is the case for Yakuza 3 japanese edition.

During PSN network downtime this past week I rarely turn on the system without the online functionality there. I have grown used to having my new trophies synced the moment I quit the game and without that assurance, the drive to chase trophies just isn't there. I was almost done with my third run through Dead Rising 2 at a point where I would achieve a couple more trophies and I just stop momentarily while Sony sort out this mess. Apparently PSN will be back online within a week and during this time I have been keeping myself busy with the Wii. I feel sorry for my Wii now that its impending successor has been made official as I never got the most out of it. I kept waiting and waiting for the Wii to have a truly great year to call its own with a software lineup that will shed some of the public misconception of the system and it never really happened. Instead I waited and I found out that it's going to be replaced soon now.

Devil-Bringer Back to Where It Came

Next to go on my ps3 hard disk was actually the very first game I install when I got the system, Devil May Cry 4. Sentiments aside there is really no reason to keep this game data on my ps3 as there are no patch or dlc for the game so re-installing the game in the future should be fairly quick.

I initially plan on just viewing the cutscene through the story theater and be done with it but being the sap that I am, there is no way I will be able to do that without feeling guilty. So I thought I should have a quick playthrough the game without worrying about ranking and just clear another one of the six difficulty modes in the game. A friend of mine absolutely loathe this game when he first played it for reasons I couldn't see why but I begin to have similar feeling after rushing through the game. Maybe my heart just wasn't in it this time as I was expecting enemies to be shuffled around and other surprises in the son of sparda hard mode. From what I can remember everything feels the same as before and after Bayonetta, playing as Nero just feels woefully one-dimension. In the end I just couldn't wait to devil bringer this game back to where it came - my collection where it will remain for a long time to come.

Eyes to Behold

I have gone and done it again. This time I was so desperate that I didn't even bother with a standard Play asia coupon code. Speaking of codes, it's funny how those things are so readily available when you don't need them and when you do need one, you just can't seem to get hold of one. Story of my life I suppose.

A Witch's Job is Never Finished

It's been a while since I last played Bayonetta and while I long to play that game again there are always issues preventing me from doing so. For one thing there are other games waiting to be played (though the reality is I'm also replaying some other games at the moment) and then there is also the 'fragility' of dualshock3 controller i have to be concerned with.

During this time Platinum Games has released a 5-disc soundtrack album and artbook to complement the game release with the Best of reprint of the original game for Japanese market scheduled for release later in September. Looks like a witch's job is never finished surely this won't be the last we see of her as Platinum Games is set to unveil some Bayonetta-related news really soon according to the game's producer. While I would love to add both the 5-disc soundtrack and artbook to my collection it stills burns that I wasn't given the pre-order soundtrack sampler when i purchased the japanese copy of the game from a local dealer. Having the 5-disc soundtrack might just be a painful reminder of that so the artbook is certainly much more tempting to me right now. Now if only I was done going through the last artbook I got I won't feel so guilty about getting this now.

Stone by Stone

So i finished Bayonetta again on Normal mode, this time i managed to improve all my previous stone ranking to at least bronze, very rarely do i hit the platinum rank so i suspect i'm still a long ways off if i'm to unlock Jeanne for future replays. Often times it's my combo points that bring my ranking down as i tend to stick to my 1-2 preferred combo and once i exhausted them, i just button-mash my way through until the end. A bit disappointed i didn't unlock anything this time around but then again i do have a habit of taking my time with these things. While i would love to play it again to uncover all the secret missions i have decided to give my dualshock3 and disc drive a break as i noticed the disc drive has been emitting strange noise lately. No doubt the burden of having to load everything off the disc in Bayonetta has been straining the lens more than usual but i'm not about to lament here about how inferior the ps3 version is.

Since i still have yakuza 2 to finish before the third installment arrives soon, i guess it's time to get re-acquainted with the dragon of dojima again.

Bewitched Again

Finishing Bayonetta a few weeks back i immediately feel the urge to play it again, not because the entire campaign was too short (10-12 hours) but because i had such a horrible time with my first play-through that i knew i would enjoy it more the next time around. Weird huh? Not so if you are familiar with action games like Bayonetta and Devil May Cry.

You see Bayonetta has a rigid save system where it only allows you to save the game at the end of the level so not knowing how long the level is and when exactly you can save can be a very scary feeling. Not to entirely bash the game, i suspect the game auto-saves your progress at designated checkpoints because there's always an auto-save checkpoint on my ps3 save file utility. But not wanting to risk losing any of my valuable progress, i have never tried not finishing a level and saving my progress at the end before exiting the game. So here i am, trying to better my score on every level while uncovering the secret mission portals and notes which i may have missed earlier. Not entirely different with what happened with Devil May Cry 4 so maybe that's why i knew once i finished Bayonetta for the first time, there can only be good times ahead.

The Birds and Bees

Recently the Black Cat made her return to the pages of Amazing Spider-Man and despite eagerly awaiting that story arc, I was ultimately disappointed with how the writer portrays the Cat as an overly-sexualized character. It certainly wasn't the Black Cat I remembered I first got introduced to the character (back when Peter Parker was a married man) and in a way that's the same way i feel about Bayonetta right now.

As with both characters, the costume has already done the job on selling the sexiness of the characters so there's always the danger of over-doing it when it comes to what they say. Unfortunately Bayonetta's english is highly-charged with sexual provocative meanings. I can understand if it's done in a tasteful manner but with Bayonetta, it's a bit of an overkill as she seems to tease and talk that way with everyone in the game, save perhaps for the little girl looking for her mummy. It ruins an otherwise potentially great character so it remains to see if Bayonetta has anything else on her mind at end of her mission aside from making babies.

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

Boy am I having a hard time on Bayonetta, earning an Enzo Stone rank at almost every level. I'm sure I'll get better eventually with enough practise but right now I'm really getting my rear whipped. Luckily the cinematics are cool and the game is littered with Easter eggs to make things bearable and interesting.

Of course, most Devil May Cry fans would know that Enzo's name first appeared in the openning pages of the first Devil May Cry manual where he writes a brief account of his first meeting with Dante. Then Bayonetta utters Dante's famous words when she too tells one of the bosses in the game to flock off, feather-face.

The highlight for me is when pretty boy Luka talks about his past girlfriends after sharing an intimate moment with Bayonetta. Each one of them happens to be a leading lady from past Kamiya games! There's Claire from Resident Evil 2, Trish from Devil May Cry, Silvia from Viewtiful Joe and finally Ammy from Okami. At that point I totally geeked out and wonder if there are any more surprises in store?

Word Gets Around

I got (coaxed into getting) Bayonetta over the weekend, laying to rest any earlier doubts seeing the negative comments surrounding the ps3 version. I guess it was inevitable that I would purchase the game regardless of how it turned out and which version was better. At least according to others.

Having failed to seriously get down to playing a string of action games of late, I was having doubts about whether I could sustain my interest and commit myself to Bayonetta. Especially since the Japanese import isn't exactly cheap. But perhaps that's exactly what I need right now and if any game possess that ability to keep me hooked until the very end, it's a Hideki Kamiya game. The last I heard of the game was the rather entertaining Q&A video session with Kamiya at Platinum Games official website where he was doing a gravure idol pose at the end of the session.

I do know that the Japanese version will ship several months earlier than other versions to give the game a better chance to perform overseas once the holiday seasons is over. I also know that the Japanese version will have a different cover art compared with the US version. All that remains is whether the Japanese version was import-friendly or not to seal the deal. Once the word got around that it was, I really had no excuse not to. The timing of it being just two weeks after my birthday didn't hurt either. And so it begins, the road back to gaming and hopefully the reboot of my good ole gaming blog.

It's a Mad Mad World

It took the guys at Clover studios a while to realise but eventually they finally got around to realising the cold hard truth, sex and violence sells even more so in video games. Developers are still very cautious when it comes to pushing the envelope for sex in video games but they are certainly not shy of pushing the level of violence in video games. While everyone applaud and sing praises for Viewtiful Joe and Okami, there is no denying that the lack of violence in those games was what led to the lack of interest among the general gaming community and ultimately, their poor sales.

Now the newly reformed Platinum Games seems to have abandon their previous approach and have decided to follow the trend of the market by doing exactly what the public wants, more violence action games. The first two up are Madworld and Bayonetta, with the latter being a return to the action genre for hideki kamiya since his last foray being the first Devil May Cry. I personally am pretty excited to see Bayonetta though it would have been nicer if it came out before Bulletwitch because the early concept of the lead female character looks awfully lot like her. It remains to be seen if these games will go down well with the critics but one thing's for sure, better or worse, these games look to sell bucketloads more than Okami or Viewtiful Joe.

Kinda sad when you really think about it don't you think?