Bayonetta Revisited: The Game’s Real Challenge

I bought Bayonetta for the XBox back when it was released in January, and almost three months later, I’m still playing it regularly.  I loved the game when I first played it, my only complaint being that the cut scenes were annoying and that the story is largely nonsensical and irrelevant.  I’ve completed the game on the hardest difficulty level – Non-Stop Climax – so how is it that I’m still drawn to Bayonetta?  It’s because – aside from the gorgeous visuals – I’ve come to realize that Bayonetta isn’t meant to be played as an action adventure game; the real challenge lies in mastering the combo/style system and winning platinum trophies for chapters completed.

Bayonetta does indeed have a lot in common with a lot of action games.  Like in the Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry, and God of War series, Bayonetta features a range of difficulty levels as well as the ability to acquire health and weapon/combo upgrades as you progress through the game.  By the time you reach the hardest difficulty level in the game, more likely than not you’ve powered up your character so that it somewhat levels the playing field.  With defeated enemies dropping currency in one form or another (in Devil May Cry, for example, it’s in the form of souls; in Bayonetta, it’s Sonic-esque rings), you can also load up on health items to make the challenge easier.

And that’s what enabled me to beat Bayonetta on the hardest difficulty level – loading up on health items and giving myself a larger margin for error.  Although this is possible in other actions games – like the ones mentioned above – health items can be concocted in Bayonetta, making them quite abundant.  This, coupled with unlimited continues, made the hardest difficulty of Bayonetta, well, not that difficult.  After completing the game, the fulfillment and satisfaction that came with beating Ninja Gaiden 2 on Master Ninja difficulty level were missing.  And that’s because Bayonetta isn’t meant to be beaten, it’s meant to be mastered.

Each chapter in Bayonetta is made up of individual verses, and you’re rewarded with a medal at the end of each verse.  Depending on your combo score, the time it took to complete the verse, and the damage you took during combat, you are awarded a bronze, silver, gold, or platinum medal.  For verses in which you take no damage and rack up a sweet combo score, you’re awarded a pure platinum medal.  When a chapter is completed, you’re awarded a trophy, the type of which is dependent on what kind of medals you received for each individual verse – stone, bronze, silver, gold, and platinum.  It’s pretty simple.

The thing is, if you use continues or items, it’s impossible to earn a platinum trophy.  And considering that platinum medals can be won pretty much only by taking no damage, it makes winning a platinum trophy all the more difficult.  Oh yeah, you’ve got to find and complete the hidden Alfheim verses, too, if you want a shot at a platinum trophy.  For these reasons, I believe that this is the true essence of Bayonetta – not simply completing the game on the hardest difficulty level, but mastering each chapter and earning platinum trophies.

During the course of the game, you can check your progress and see what trophies you’ve earned for each chapter in any given difficulty setting.  So whereas you may have cruised through the game on the “hard” difficulty level using up continues and healing items like there’s no tomorrow, you’re bound to have earned an unimpressive collection of stone and bronze trophies.  In reality, anyone who takes enough time can pull something like this off, and a lack of gold or platinum trophies is quite telling about the actual skill level of the player.  Finishing a chapter with a stone trophy is essentially failing; winning a platinum trophy means mastery.

Which brings me back to one of the reasons why I like action games so much: the challenge they provide when playing on the hardest difficulty levels.  I found Bayonetta’s hardest difficulty level somewhat challenging, but nowhere near the likes of some other action games.  That’s because I racked up a ton of stone trophies and came to realize that the real challenge lies in bringing home the platinum.

I’m currently playing through on the “normal” difficulty setting and having fun winning platinum trophies.  I want to unlock Jeanne (which can be done by completing the game and winning platinum trophies on every chapter), but I also want to challenge myself to master Bayonetta.  I imagine I’ll try to do the same on the “hard” difficulty level, but we’ll see whether or not I decide to give it a go on “Non-Stop Climax,” during which Witch Time (slow motion after a dodge) is disabled.  I probably have the patience; it’s really just a question of time.

To those of you who have played Bayonetta, what do you think?  Was it simply enough to finish the game, regardless of the type of trophies you received, or did you feel how I did, that finishing the game was really just the beginning of the gameplay experience?  Also, how do you go about racking up those crazy combo scores?  I’ve found that the electric claws on the hand and the rocket launchers on the feet work best so far (I refuse to use the Kilgore glitch, by the way), but I’m always looking for ways to improve.  Let me know.