Let's just all hope that in Bayonetta 4 they go back to the original timeline and state that Bayonetta 3 was just a fever dream of a drunken Bayonetta.

A Bayonetta game without Bayonetta. You put it so perfectly, I feel like we were so betrayed with her character assassination

I cannot agree more on the aesthetic part. Bayonetta should be about religious, angels & demons, solving ancient mysteries, not science fiction multi-dimension adventure. One thing I really enjoy in bayo 1 2 are collecting journals, learning the lore about the places we visit. With most stages in bayo 3 being empty huge spaces, the journals are downright boring.

Bayo 1 and 2: *knows where the enemies come from behind despite they're spouting sass* Bayo 3 AND VARIANTS: *SHOCKED to be not aware of every possibility where they're coming from*

Can we talk about how Tokyo Bayo (my fave variant) was the only one who actually managed to capture the true essence of Bayo? Her cheeky response to iridescent, her hunger to get revenge for Jeanne and her gorgeous look! I think she was the bravest of all. Also can we talk about the proportions of One and two's costumes, it seems like the character model is shorter so the looks seem smushed and not as tall and confident.

THANK YOU. I HATED when she just stood there like a statue when she was LITERALLY watching herself get killed, its lik the creators didnt even try to keep bayonettas brave and can do attitude. also egyptian bayonettta is my favorite varient

From the early trailers I knew something felt off when bayonetta's dancing for her summons felt less burlesque and more akin to a k-pop dance. Still I had fun with the game. But it's great to watch a critique that better articulated some of the issues I've had with bayonetta 3.

(45:40) This right here. My main critique with Bayonetta 3. This game removed Bayonetta’s identity as a witch. Emphasized in the first game, she is an ancient witch brought to modern day- and felt like an antihero with a gray morality. She’s a user of the dark arts, but she weaponizes them with her feminine power, as that is the definition of the “witch” archetype. The demonic and witchy imagery from the first two games are just gone, with a minimal futuristic style for things like the menu screens. I know that’s a small detail but they add up to such a character who is closely linked to witchcraft and the lore surrounding it. Even the treasure chests are no longer lore relevant, just Golems instead of the original chests implied to be graves or memorials to fallen Umbra Witches. This was supposed to be the third installment, with many Triple Moon symbolism found in witchcraft today, I was hoping for the Maiden Mother Crone storyline or something more. They did such an amazing job pulling from real world mythology from Catholic and Pagan beliefs and I hoped to see more rich lore and history added to this installment. To quote the artists who designed the goddesses of reality (Jubileus and Sheba) were designed to resemble Bayonetta because they represent the most powerful divine feminine energy in this universe. (Jubileus/Paradiso, Sheba/Inferno, Cereza/Human World) And who doesn’t make an appearance in the third installment? The goddesses, which really just feels like they stripped Cereza from her heritage. Bayonetta 3 does feel so sanitized, which is shocking because when the series was ported to Nintendo, the company seemed more than willing to keep Bayonetta’s character very true (with minor censoring for family audiences.) To put it bluntly, this feels like they wanted to make Bayonetta a Marvel Superhero for today’s modern audiences. I mean come on. The multiverse, the science fiction themes, the revisions to the story, it just feels too corporate and greedy when Bayonetta is a style icon in terms of her identity, games, and in our hearts and minds as fans. So don’t fuck with our witch.

The funniest thing is that they've had 11 years (2008-2019) worth of Capcom's experience to learn from in making a passing the torch plot with Nero and DMC, only to fall flat AND gleefully assassinated their own main character. The more I see Bayo 3 the more I am glad DMC has been fully in Itsuno's hands since 3.

I don't think it's just Bayonetta who's gone, the original composer, Masami Ueda? Gone, the cinematographer? Gone, the writer? Gone, the actress? Gone, the director(s)? Also gone Reminder that for DMC5, they got one of 4's composers, the original actors, director, cinematographer and writer

Thank you! I honestly never get where people are coming from when they say “ Luka and bayo are soul mates They’ve been together since the beginning”

Gonna be honest, Bayo should have been paired with no one. Even with Jeanne, it felt like a 'sisterhood' type deal. It's okay to have female protagonist without love interest. Just like it's okay to have male ones.

This was so well articulated…I think the dance moves from Maiko Uchida omitted from the game is really, really disheartening. Especially if we consider Brave Cereza wanted to be more like the variant she met in the future. Why is the characterization so retconned beyond repair. It leaves a bitter taste as a fan of Bayonetta gameplay and lore.

I really felt like they betrayed us with how they characterized Cereza and killed her and Jeanne in bayo 3. They made such a great complex and strong character in bayo 1 and 2 making people look up to her and then just making her fizzle and die in bayo 3 like she didn't matter. I ugly cried at the bayo 3 ending out of pity for my girl...

Can we also just take a minute to just look at Viola's design and how she looks nothing like bayo OR Luka? Yeah obviously she's form a different universe but up until the end of the game i really did not think she was going to be their child, they look nothing alike

god, that ending almost made me cry. a perfect critique of the tragedy that was Bayonetta 3, on every level. thank you for making this video.

The thing that makes me most angry about Bayo3 is that I waited like 8 years to just play Hideki Kamiya’s self indulgent wet dream the remix.

When they used Viola to replace Bayo at the end it immediately reminded me of Borderlands 3, where they too used a character, who you barely get to know, to replace 2 beloved characters. Honestly, Viola had her moments but she needed more if they wanted to set her up as the new “Bayonetta”

I couldn't care less if people like Bayonetta x Luka, it's just not something I enjoy, but the defenses I've seen for Bayonetta "falling in love with him" confuse me. So many people say she cared about his well-being in the first game and made some sexual comments towards him. And? Seriously, respecting someone more as a friendly acquaintance doesn't mean you're in love with them. And Bayonetta made sexual comments towards him. Yeah, that's what she tends to do in general. The openly sexual dominatrix witch saying something sexual isn't that mind blowing. Also while I do prefer Helena Taylor's voice, I understand why she was replaced. She was paid well for her role as Bayonetta, but she instead decided to leave out the fact that she would be getting $4,000 for every acting session she was given, which was 5, and being still being offered $4,000 for cameoing as Bayos 1 and 2 after rejecting the entire role. That is on top of her shooting herself in the foot by begging the people who hadn't preordered the game to donate to an anti-abortion clinic, supporting the "blue lives matter" crowd in the midst of police brutality against black people and her implied unwillingness to support trans rights, three things I as a black trans man find especially repulsive. I won't be buying Bayo 3, but I do hope Jennifer can grow on people and improve over time.

The Straightonetta segment is pretty much all of my thoughts I couldn't put into words summed up perfectly. Thank you for being the first person I've seen to point out the absolute rug pull that all is.

The entire staff at PG should watch this whole Critique in it’s entirety. It’s her legacy! Very well done.❤️💙💜

Im really glad how you mentioned that her nudity is never seen at all in 3. Even though we've seen and heard multiple times that Nintendo leaves a lot of creativity and freedom to their development teams, especially for Platinum, it really makes me wonder if they were more strict with Bayonetta 3's development. Oddly in 3 they sneakily try to cover Bayonetta's nudity during infernal summons-even though she's already covered due to the hair wrapped around her, they really try to make sure she is seen as less as possible during the scenes-they even put the portal in front of her so the hair that is pulling out the demon blocks her body. Along with the pole dancing scene at the end being shown through that circle gear object and not the full screen with the scene. The scene also cuts to gameplay sequences during it which has never been done before.

I’m glad I wasn’t the only person to think the ending was terrible. I had so much fun with the alternate universes, which made the slog of the last fight annoying.

For as much as the game wants us to be invested in Bayo/Viola’s mother-daughter relationship, they spent very little time on it. The multiverse was a great opportunity to explore this dynamic (as Everything Everywhere all at Once has proven), but they completely waste it by killing off every Bayo before they can have a real conversation conversation. Viola herself doesn’t appear to have ANY counterparts, which could’ve been interesting to explore, but they waste that chance too.

You very accurately and eloquently expressed exactly how I feel about Bayo 3! Great review! Those 40-something minutes flew by.

Greatly apprecite you validating all the things that made Bayonetta 3 feel so off. The camera issues. Weird Pure Plat time goals. The inability to retry a single verse. The lack of costumes esp for Jeanne. The shoehorning of her love for Luka. And most importantly, the lost of that magical powerful and sexy and campy humor in Bayonetta's character writing. It's truly a shame that we waited this long for a game at this level of quality.

but it fails to carry the heart and soul of the titular witch, betraying her legacy as an empowering female icon.

I feel like bayonetta left with Helena Taylor’s soul. Nothing like her. Her sass her self her independence the way she fool around with the demons her dance moves. I would forever respect that woman even with all the controversies.

The ending really made me sad, I really will miss our Bayonetta :'(

i appreciate the new voice actor for bayonetta so much but even i catch a lot of voice lines that helena would’ve characterized a lot better. her voice in the first two games is much more bouncy but i think that’s because she sounded really playful while also having a mature tone and jennifer’s rendition is very playful but it has more of a youthful tone instead

Honestly speaking even without the correct story writing which I completely agree with. Jennifer did not bring the characters voice to life like Hellena Taylor did and that is what it is. I know I might receive hate for that, but a fact is simply a fact.

It felt particularly weird to me for Bayonetta to end up with Luka because I just can’t see her with someone who isn’t on the same “level” as her, so to speak. Bayo exudes class and grace, sexuality and power. Luka provided a foil to her because he had none of that, and that contrast was great for comedy. That said, it is exactly because he has none of those qualities that it feels so odd for her to end up with Luka. Never mind the fact that she is over 500 years old and will ostensibly continue to live for hundreds of more years, while Luka lives the relatively short lifespan of a human (that is, until he became a faerie I guess?). The only character in the game which had all of these qualities that are so central to Bayonetta as a character is Jeanne. She also is the one who knows Bayonetta the most and has been through thick and thin with her. A relationship between the two of them just felt natural. So natural, in fact, that I just assumed they were in one and it wouldn’t ever be officially confirmed, just implied, until this game threw that out the window. I have to wonder if the reason for that was literally just so they could shoehorn in the new generation of Bayonetta in the form of Viola. If so, that was a colossally bad choice, particularly given the fact that Viola as a character didn’t even pay off.

Luka and Bayonetta becoming soul mates is kinda annoying because it affirms to dated idea that man and woman cannot legit just be friends and instead always wish to advance to romantic interest

ABSOLUTELY! I definitely relate to your reaction of the ending, as a lesbian who found a lot of comfort and acceptance through bayonetta because of how unafraid she is to be herself, her campiness, and the queer undertone with her and Jeanne.. the ending was a slap in the face.. of course I wasn’t expecting her to get with Jeanne at all but getting her with the creepy stalker guy.. *shudder*

I love how in all of this you didn't even touch on the fact that Luka is suddenly a werewolf out of nowhere lmao. Great critique though! Most reviewers don't delve into the Jeanne relationship unless they're actively LGBT, and completely miss all the text and subtext that you pointed out.

I think a big disappointment for this game for me is also the complete absence of Loki. As far as I can recall they don't even mention him, along with Balder the two of them are completely gone from the narrative. it could have even been a nice circle with Loki calling the Bayo 3's Bayonetta ' Cereza' since he didn't think the Bayonetta he met fit the name, it's even worse when the end of 2 emphasized the fact that they would most likely see each other again. Balder's absence is excusable because of the time loop, but it does also doesn't feel like a Bayonetta game without him either.

Yeah I agree with everything in the video. The main reason this game turned me off is just how...restricted bayonetta feels. Like when she danced before it felt awesome and she was just flaunting and taunting the angels. Now it just felt like a tap dance routine that I would rather see Enzo or Viola try and do. Even the voice sounded less seductive/domineering and more...what a highschool kid thinks sounding sexy is like. To shorten it, I don't care how fun the game play wa. If it doesn't feel like the character then it won't feel right playing them. Edit: sound track does go hard tho

Just started this and finished bayonetta 3 yesterday honestly can say it has some of the best music I’ve heard but lord the story was really just bland for me

These videos need more attention with the time they take to make them. A hit once again.

For the confusion of Bayo 2 appearing alongside Bayo 1, it took me a while to understand myself, but with a bit of research I learned that the Records of Time, prologue chapter, of Bayonetta 2, show an alternate Bayonetta which never encountered young Balder until she traveled back in time. So essentially the Bayo 2 near the end of the game, is that Bayo from the Records of Time. Although having been through the same as Bayo 1, it's the her meeting of young Balder that splits the timelines. I also learned through other various videos, that even though Brave Cereza didn't go through the 500 sleep, her awakening the left eye, resonated with the other universes left eyes, and thus Bayo 1 awakened hers. I had to lots of videos to understand all this lol

This is an incredibly thorough and fair breakdown of the game! You carry an obvious sense of love, knowledge, and passion for the series, which only enhances your honest criticisms. The world of game analysis needs more reviews like this one. One day I'll put aside time to actually sit down and play those first two games. I've always loved their sense of style, and anything with direct involvement from Kamiya is generally worth checking out. Bayo 3 never really quite interested me as much, even before the real-world controversies and story revelations kicked in. Something always seemed off, even from the viewpoint of an outsider like myself. I also think it just sucks that Nintendo hardware has to hold such a technically ambitious game back, like this. And the story? Maaan, it is such a letdown to know just how much it missed the mark. It's a little offensive just how forced the heteronormative romance aspect is, and I am already growing insanely tired of multiverse gimmicks.

Nice critique. They really disappointed me with the story sadly

As usual you hit the nail right on the head. Excellent work Caelum!

Commenting as I go here, but I'm really glad you brought up the fact that Demon Slave is mandatory. My first playthrough, I was playing it like a Bayonetta game, maybe with the demon slave coming in every now and then. I'm not some pro player, but I noticed I kept getting golds on times and I was like wtf I was doing all that I could there. Eventually, I realised that they want you to do most of the heavy lifting with Demon Slave because they melt healthbars and taking down enemies without it is such a chore. It's like they didn't even realise what was good about the first game and for both 2 and 3 have felt the need to tack on these gimmicks instead of doing what the first game did but better. Like the fact that Witch Time isn't required in 1, makes me want to play because I don't have the best timing but I can still manage and have fun. The demon slave doesn't make me feel powerful and I think that's something they nailed in 1, the more powerful you as the player get the more magic you get in fights to easily dispatch certain enemies with torture attacks or wicked weaves. At the sound mixing section currently and I couldn't agree more. Viola was unbearable to play as because for some reason they made her pant when she walks and runs and it's so loud and personally distracts me. I don't think I've ever experienced that in a hack n slash game. The ranking system is absolutely an improvement if you ask me, I would never even bother trying to platinum Bayo 3 if you couldn't save your progress. This simple change makes me feel happy when I do manage to platinum one of those gameplay change segments, because if that weren't the case I'd feel so drained playing these missions pure platinum, just to lose it right at the end for a one off gameplay segment. That's one thing 1 could have done with for shit like Isla Del Sol or Route 666. Also, this goes off the point you brought up on the lack of costumes, was anyone else pretty bummed out when we didn't even get the fake dress she makes in the intro as an alt or her casual attire for that matter? I'm so used to seeing the first cutscene getups and later being able to play in those getups and it was extremely disappointing that they had nothing when the previous games absolutely spoiled us. I almost feel it's unfair to compare Jennifer Hale's performance to Helena's because it's not the same character anyway, I'd list off the reasons but you've done more than enough heavy lifting for that point there. And yes, Bayo should be 1 character. The multiverse story is something I really wish they didn't go for, I hate all this speculation it's caused because it makes things needlessly complicated. Viola's main problem was the constant hinting at being Bayo's kid for me, first cutscene and she goes "I'm your..." and immediately it's clear and the whole game I was thinking "Just say it, just say it, just say it, just say it" because it's not surprising yet it wants you to be like OMG SHE'S BAYONETTA'S DAUGHTER COOL. Also the joke about "The name's Viola" genuinely could have worked if I think the second time we hear it she wasn't unbearably obnoxious with the "MY NAME IS VIOLA! V-I-O-L-FUCKING-A! VIOLA!" and then smiles like yeahhh I'm a badass, I fuckin hated that scene man lmao. If there was some build up to her using the naughty fuck word, it could have worked. But they blew their load too early and everyone after that just becomes her catchphrase and weaker in comparison because she's never that angry at being called Kitty again. Yes, they 100% did Jeanne dirty. It doesn't matter if her death didn't mean something, it's the fact that she died and no one cared. Shit fuckin sucks man because when you see them popping off in one, fighting one on one, equal in skill, it was so cool and so important to the genre. Just sucks that she was shafted so hard, to make room for the ETERNAL SHIP! LUKA X BAYO 4 EVER! Fuck out of here man. I'm also annoyed at the people who say people are just mad she's not gay. And it's 100% not that, it's the fact it's with Luka. Not someone fuckin good enough for the god slayer that is Bayo. Thank you for reading my fuckin novel here, it's a tad disjointed but I was writing as I was going through the video and I just have to say well fuckin done man because you put my thoughts into words exactly. I feel like this is a fascinating game to study for everything it gets wrong and should be used as an example of how not to do your hack n slash games. It's beautiful how DMC5 got everything so right, where Bayo 3 dropped the ball many of times. Truly two masterpieces, two sides of the same coin. Brilliant.

omg your ending conclusion... I am so happy for the me who got to experience that other universe! Thank you for this! It was the most heartbreaking end I've ever felt. I had no idea what I was crying for as the credits rolled because so much had happened.

It's like Platinum just decided to commit suicide on this one.

This is thorough! From gameplay, to characters, to music, to story! Thank you. I actually loved the game but understand 100% of the criticism against it and if anything, it makes me want to play the first two games (that I did not play again after they were released back in the day) again. This quote from your conclusion is insane : "It may seem ridiculous to think that Platinum would seriously consider their hypothetical next sequel to not even feature their beloved protagonist from previous entries ...until you realize that's exactly what Bayonetta 3 already is. A Bayonetta game without Bayonetta."

Your analysis is so on point it hurts. Thanks to you Bayonetta finally gets a proper burial, though definitely NOT a proper funeral. I pray she rises from her grave eventually, but this’ll surely leave dark mark on her legacy

Man I sure do love watching the main protagonist break out dance moves while the entire city they live in is swallowed by a tsunami

Great job on the video as always! A fair and thorough review all around.

This is by far the best review/critique I've seen of the game!

this game seriously felt like it was rushed out of the door despite cooking for almost 8 years, like why is luka a wolf? what is viola's fairy-like transformation? if the bayonetta's from 1 and 2 are from different universes, how does that explain the scene in bayo 2 of father balder dying alongside the destroyed jubileus statue? WHY DO THE ENEMIES LOOK THE SAME????

I come back to this video every once in a while since the release of Bayo3 as some sort of eulogy to a passed friend. You nailed the head on nearly everything wrong with the game and what we loved about the past two installments. It's a great shame how it turned out this way, and how it probably will never be the same ever again. I hope you realize that this video brings a great comfort to those who had a great emotional connection to this franchise who felt Bayonetta3 spat in the face of its most loyal and hardcore fans and its own legacy. Some of us are still in the grieving process, and it's because of you that this video helps cushion the blows every time they resurface themselves. Thank you.

With the demonic summons, in Bayonetta 3, it really does seem like Kamiya saw what Itsuno was doing in Devil May Cry 5 and thought, "I'd do that, but bigger! Because bigger is better and it always been!" However, in order to make it work, Kamiya nerfed the characters' damage output and made enemies throw up shields, meaning you're forced into using the demonic summons that feels like their too powerful and you can end up cheesing your way through the game using them. Especially when the game is always actively throwing meter at you to use them. Also between Not Nero, who's set up to be the new face of the franchise, with her Not Devil Trigger. The chainsaw motorbike thats now a chainsaw train. The magic cowboy hat thats now a magic top hat and S(h)in Devil Trigger and S(h)in Gomorrah, it really does make me wonder, does Kamiya have any original ideas of his own anymore, or is just looking to copy Itsuno's homework from here on out? I really don't have any problems with Bayonetta making references to Devil May Cry with Kamiya's work on it, but this is practically plagiarism at this point.. Oh! And Luka's Bayo 3's sheepskin lined coat being pretty much ripped off from a scrapped Dante concept costume from DMC4, and as if it wasn't obvious enough they were trying to make him like Dante, might as well give him the cowboy hat as well 🙄

By far the best critique of the game I have seen so far, managed to put into words a lot of what i felt going through Bayo 3.

Holy shit! I agree with EVERYTHING you said, except gimmick parts. They are not tolerable, they are criminally awful

As a Bayonetta lover this Game doesn't feel like 1 & 2 and because of that i hate this Game and that Viola carachter OMG just hate it

I feel like i'm not missing out with Bayo 3 considering how disappointing it is. Bayonetta 2 will always be my favorite.

Why did the end of this make me cry? You’re SO right

The omly thing I disagree with is saying this isn't the Bayonetta I knew from the previous games. Because this is cereza who is from a different universe and has different ways of carrying herself while still being Bayonetta in the end as her personality and methods stay the same and it feel authentic.

Everything you said in this perfectly captures how I feel about this game, thank you so much for putting it all together in such a cohesive manner

This video is exactly what the most hardcore Bayo fans want to say but can't quite put into words... The conclusion of this video hits really hard because that's exactly how i feel about this game - a Bayonetta game without Bayonetta

I cannot find a single thing that I disagree with in this video. This was perfectly said and thoroughly explained right up until the end. Absolutely Love This!!!

damn the ending to that video hit hard

Thank you so much for this Video. It is truly fantastic! Bayonetta means so much to me and you summed up my feelings towards this game perfectly. I was shocked and felt speechless. I know this sounds dramatic but I still can‘t get over this empty feeling. Well, I guess it‘s time to replay the Bayonetta duology again and to dance under the moon once more. Keep up the good work, this video is amazing! 🌕

I hope they kill off Viola in the next game and retcon 3 into the Inferno where it belongs. In fact, just make another Bayonetta 3.

BRAVO! Gorgeous review, everything was on point!

Thank you very much for this review it explains soooo much of how I was feeling about this game.

You took the words right out of my mouth. My god. Thank you so much.

Guys, we need to push Platinum games to make Jeanne playable in Bayo 3's story mode. Judging by the Viola fixes, it seems like they listen

The multiverse theme it's clearly not made for this series, at least not by the hands of its actual writers and that's a fact, I would have enjoyed it a lot more if they just kept the time paradox issues from the first two games. I personally love Bayonetta's new design (it might even be my favourite) and it could have been a gorgeous way to portray her persona as the same we've been in touch with until now but actually embracing her past inner child, but everything was thrown away with a very bad multiverse plot. A plot which didn't only restrict us from playing with the witch we love watering down her personality and doing whatever nonsense with the character under the excuse that she's just not her, but also executing very poorly and uninterestingly its major appeal, which was meeting different versions of Bayo which are sadly not as cool, nor interesting (not at least from what we know since they didn't do anything) as the original one.

I can’t wait for the video essays 2 years from now with titles like “Why Viola is hated while Nero is loved” or something akin to that

This game just felt like a generic, albeit solid, action game wearing a bayonetta skin rather than a true bayonetta experience 🥲

I find it stupid how they always find a way to actually kill Jeanne, then find a way for Bayonetta to save her...

This is the best review i've seen so far. Good job!

While I have never played a bayonetta(because I am bad at video games) but hearing what a fan had to say was interesting.

CAN YOU IMAGINE KUNG FU PANDA WITH NO JACK BLACK ??? THIS IS WHAT BAYONETTA 3!!! FEELS LIKE!!!

Stellar content as usual

man you did an amazing work here, congrats bro.

this is much that i felt when played the game but you went more in deep, thank you for this video!

Thank you, you are the first one to rreally express my point of view of this game, specially, the cutscenes laughs that dissapear on the third and also the graphics and the character who was much better in the second game and also the fact that Bayo 1 and Bayo 2 were the same persons before the third... I also drop a tear at the ending, for the same reason as you... I just hope, someday, somehow, we're gonna to have again our original Bayo

i havent finished playing the third game, but there are moments in which it seems like im playing devil may cry 2 all over again, the emptyness of some levels, the overall missed character growth for previous games and Bayonetta just seems like a different person .

An excellent video that perfectly captured most of my thoughts on the game!

Amazing intro and outro man! Made me bawl my eyes out all over again. "This isn't the women I once worshiped and adored" I'm still trying to recover from her loss and you truly said it so beautifully "A Bayonetta game without Bayonetta🥺"

For me, the gameplay killed the game. I can’t exactly put my finger on it, but it doesn’t feel as satisfying to play as Bayo 1 or even 2. If I had to describe it as best as I could, the smaller enemies that were fun to fling and juggle around in 1 and 2 feel like random trash mobs now. And the large enemy types that broke up the groups are now boring as the main focus of the combat encounters. It doesn’t feel as fun or natural to dance around them, it just feels like I’m mashing buttons at a wall until it falls over, occasionally dodging any time I see a sudden movement. I’m no expert at these kinda games, “educated button masher” is probably the simplest way to put it, but it felt like Bayo 3 encourages you to button mash more than ever. The fights feel less like energetic dances like they were in the first two games, something just feels off. If someone else can word it better, please do, cuz Bayo 3 felt like a slog to play because of the focus on larger enemies. This also might just be a “me” thing, but most of the weapons felt boring to use. Bayo 1 and 2 had a handful of weapons that didn’t exactly grab me, but I could see their use and maybe work toward getting a feel for them. Bayo 3 chucks a bunch of random bullshit at you every second until you see credits (and even shortly after), but all of them just felt like slight variations on light, medium, and heavy weapons with some gimmick that rarely seems add anything. And one more thing, and it’s something I almost never see brought up, half the gameplay is just mini games. Running/chase segments, Kaiju battles, rail shooters, even a rhythm segment. All the bayos have these, but there’s sooooo fuckin many in 3. They are hype at first, but the longer the game goes on (and especially on replay) they get very old for me.

The multiverse storyline always feels like a cheap writing choice to artificially increase the scale of the danger in media. The entire multiverse subplot could easily be replaced, specially considering Cereza visits real world places like Egypt, France and China We always believed Cereza and Jeanne were the last 2 Umbra Witches, but this game could have subverted this by making Cereza find a few other survivors from the Witch Hunt that scattered across the world. They could be trying to protect and help them against other people trying to find and kill them for good now, maintaining the religious themes of Heaven and Hell instead of tapping into the sci-fi aspect. The whole Viola/Luka/Faerie subplot could be entirely removed from the game (and honestly probably for the better), cutting the whole Arch-Adam and Arch-Eve thing. I’d have much preferred more focus on Jeanne than whatever was this subplot in the game.

My issue with the so-called "Straightonetta" (you are not the first one with this phrase) commentary is that some made assumptions about her sexuality. The prior games didn't go into it, but some just jumped into "She's queer" and ran with it. Apparently, there are some tweets that make a claim, but since when is the use of Tweets and not the use of source material? Also, did we forget about the plot point of why he was "stalking" her in the first game? Luka became a journalist, using his father's notes to seek the truth (what his father worked on), to hunt down Bayonetta, and avenge his father's death. Later on, Luka's "learns the truth". In the second game, he was more of a supporting character that was providing information Bayonetta needed. Bottom line, some filled in the blanks of points that were not there and got mad that the "head cannon" of Bayo x Jeanne didn't happen. It would have been just as hamfisted with Cereza x Jeanne.

I'm a BayoDante shipper but I do get and understand why people are all for BayoJeanne, its honestly a more sensical pairing then her and Luka which had no build and please don't try and tell me what Bayonetta 1 and 2 had was "build up" for their relationship. Also I haven't seen anyone else talk about the weapon switching of Bayonetta, I hate it, the series would definitely benefit from DMCs weapon switching were all weapons are accessible by a press of a button instead of pausing. Great critique dude

Why does the fanbase don't like Luka? I think cutscence with him in Bayonetta first was the best of all.

I absolutely despise the "multiverse" plots and I hate how so many franchises are taking that direction

37:29 Thank you. Thank you so much. I really don't understand what was going on when they did this. I had so many thoughts in my head during that scene in the ending and trying to figure out what I was supposed to feel.

This is it. This is the ultimate critic on Bayonetta

Best Analysis of the game so far. Thanks for this video.

7:36 Transformers Devastation fixed that issue 7 years ago... so what the heck happened here?

For me viola is near useless because her sword parry time window is almost non existent. Her dodge is pretty useless as well. Not being able to control cheasire from a distance is a burden

Thanks for putting my feelings into words. a great video

Very well done nice review

this video is literally perfect

I feel like the score of Bayo 3 is a major downgrade from the bangers we got in Bayo 1 and 2

I know the story in Bayonetta has never been the main focus but the script was always gold but this game brought so many contrived moments