In the Bayonetta 2 there was a brief discussion about Wonderful 101 and how it compares to Bayonetta.
I thought it'd be nice to have a thread about what are the strengths and weaknesses of each game (and any other Platinum game in general that you may want to add to the table)
I am gonna try to be brief on both though.
Bayonetta
This is for both games. While I personally like Wonderful 101 more, I think both Bayonetta (2, at least) its a better game because its more focused on its core mechanics. There are many gimmicks versions, but they are not as often as in W101 and they are even less frequent in the sequel.
Bayonetta is a challenging game, in the first game it was not uncommon for me to die out in actual encounters (something that rarely happens to me in w101 or Bayo 2) but it feels fair, like every hit one takes its because one's own faults, not because the game was being unfair on it.
The way the game deals with weapons is great, one can equip most weapons in one's arm and feet, and if one buys a duplicate of a weapon, it can equip it in both. There are two sets one can have at any time, and weapons can also be easily changed. I think this adds a lot of variety and allows for different gameplay styles.
In terms of spectacle both Bayonetta games are great. The boss battle in the first are great, and the Jubileus fight is incredible thanks to its music and buildup, however I find that fighting the actual boss battle in the first game is not all that great. I think the second game's final boss is a tad underwhelming in a "this is the resolution to the plot" kind of way, but I definitely had a lot more fun fighting that last Boss Battle than with the first game's final boss.
I think the problem in the first game is the QTE sections, Wonderful 101 had them too, but if you failed those in w101 you would only lose health (for most of them, I think, haven't tested failing in all of them) in the first Bayonetta failing a QTE meant a GAME OVER meaning that one's entire hard work on a chapter could be ruined just by failing a single button prompt that newcomers (and even people that just haven't gone back to the game in some time) will probably fail often.
Also the story, the story in the first game wasn't terrible, it was at least entertaining as a story that didn't take itself too seriously all the time, and I at least did find the characters enjoyable, I thought the second Bayonetta had a much better story, wouldn't you agree, love?
Seriously though, I think the second game's plot is a lot better, it actually managed to flesh out the first one and change how one would see the first game's plot, although I won't dwell too much on that cause of spoilers.
Wonderful 101
Oh man this game.
I love this game, It made it into my top 10 ever.
I however can understand a lot of the complains from this game. While I think the gimmick sections help with the pace of the game, and are all too varied, I can agree that there's just too many of them, and some of them more than overstay their welcome.
I think the game would have been a lot better with just making some of these shorter, or just not making them part of overall ranking.
Another (minor) flaw I'd give to the game, would kind of the opposite of what I said about Bayonetta's plot and characters. I think as a whole, this is probably Platinum's best story, BUT the characters aren't just all that great.
While I personally loved Red, Vorkenn, and Blue, the rest of the w101s just... felt flat. I think it might be on purpose due to how all of them are ridiculous stereotypes, but even if It was on purpose there's just so many times I can find Blue's and Green's antics funny (not that manny).
I did love how silly and over the top the entire thing is though, the game, in terms of specatle and escalation was amazing and hilarious. It was like mixing Gurren Laggan with Kill la Kill. Shit just kept getting realer and realer until it was at its realest, and it was hilarious on top of that. I just think most of the main characters weren't really all that great.
Onto the weapons, I loved how the game dealt with it. All weapons are readily available (once they are first unlocked, that is) and have to be drawn them to get use them
I also liked the light RTS elements in the game.
Each morph takes up battery energy, this includes dodging. I liked it that one couldn't dodge whilly nilly and had to be more thoughtful about it, but then again this was not really a problem until the hardest difficulties, so I don't think it's implementation was all that substantial in the other difficulties.
In terms of content. THIS GAME HAS LOTS. There's unlockables everywhere, with 15 (or 14, not sure) Unlockable heroes, each with their own little quirks and there's a Kahkooh-Regah (This game's Alfheim/Muspelheim challenges) for EACH DIFFICULTY starting from normal. That's great. There's ton of content in this game, took me some time to 101% all of it.
The final boss spectacle was great. It felt like a great ending to the whole story. Seeing the boss throw those little minions at you
gives one the sense of how big the scale has scalated. The music was great. I, however did not have as much fun fighting this as I did fighting Bayonetta's 2 final boss. Also that escape section was annoying >:v
Ultimately, I love Wonderful 101 for what it is, and what it did, I just think that Bayonetta is the better game simply because it focused much more on the combat.
Sorry for not doing much of an actual comparison of the games, but I at least wanted to throw out my feelings on both of these.
Which game did you think was best, in which aspects? You can also throw whichever other Platinum game you want into the mix. I haven't been able to finish MGR yet (haven't had a ps3 for a while now) and would love to hear how that compares too.
I thought it'd be nice to have a thread about what are the strengths and weaknesses of each game (and any other Platinum game in general that you may want to add to the table)
I am gonna try to be brief on both though.
Bayonetta
This is for both games. While I personally like Wonderful 101 more, I think both Bayonetta (2, at least) its a better game because its more focused on its core mechanics. There are many gimmicks versions, but they are not as often as in W101 and they are even less frequent in the sequel.
Bayonetta is a challenging game, in the first game it was not uncommon for me to die out in actual encounters (something that rarely happens to me in w101 or Bayo 2) but it feels fair, like every hit one takes its because one's own faults, not because the game was being unfair on it.
The way the game deals with weapons is great, one can equip most weapons in one's arm and feet, and if one buys a duplicate of a weapon, it can equip it in both. There are two sets one can have at any time, and weapons can also be easily changed. I think this adds a lot of variety and allows for different gameplay styles.
In terms of spectacle both Bayonetta games are great. The boss battle in the first are great, and the Jubileus fight is incredible thanks to its music and buildup, however I find that fighting the actual boss battle in the first game is not all that great. I think the second game's final boss is a tad underwhelming in a "this is the resolution to the plot" kind of way, but I definitely had a lot more fun fighting that last Boss Battle than with the first game's final boss.
I think the problem in the first game is the QTE sections, Wonderful 101 had them too, but if you failed those in w101 you would only lose health (for most of them, I think, haven't tested failing in all of them) in the first Bayonetta failing a QTE meant a GAME OVER meaning that one's entire hard work on a chapter could be ruined just by failing a single button prompt that newcomers (and even people that just haven't gone back to the game in some time) will probably fail often.
Also the story, the story in the first game wasn't terrible, it was at least entertaining as a story that didn't take itself too seriously all the time, and I at least did find the characters enjoyable, I thought the second Bayonetta had a much better story, wouldn't you agree, love?
Seriously though, I think the second game's plot is a lot better, it actually managed to flesh out the first one and change how one would see the first game's plot, although I won't dwell too much on that cause of spoilers.
Wonderful 101
Oh man this game.
I love this game, It made it into my top 10 ever.
I however can understand a lot of the complains from this game. While I think the gimmick sections help with the pace of the game, and are all too varied, I can agree that there's just too many of them, and some of them more than overstay their welcome.
I think the game would have been a lot better with just making some of these shorter, or just not making them part of overall ranking.
Another (minor) flaw I'd give to the game, would kind of the opposite of what I said about Bayonetta's plot and characters. I think as a whole, this is probably Platinum's best story, BUT the characters aren't just all that great.
While I personally loved Red, Vorkenn, and Blue, the rest of the w101s just... felt flat. I think it might be on purpose due to how all of them are ridiculous stereotypes, but even if It was on purpose there's just so many times I can find Blue's and Green's antics funny (not that manny).
I did love how silly and over the top the entire thing is though, the game, in terms of specatle and escalation was amazing and hilarious. It was like mixing Gurren Laggan with Kill la Kill. Shit just kept getting realer and realer until it was at its realest, and it was hilarious on top of that. I just think most of the main characters weren't really all that great.
Onto the weapons, I loved how the game dealt with it. All weapons are readily available (once they are first unlocked, that is) and have to be drawn them to get use them
I also liked the light RTS elements in the game.
Each morph takes up battery energy, this includes dodging. I liked it that one couldn't dodge whilly nilly and had to be more thoughtful about it, but then again this was not really a problem until the hardest difficulties, so I don't think it's implementation was all that substantial in the other difficulties.
In terms of content. THIS GAME HAS LOTS. There's unlockables everywhere, with 15 (or 14, not sure) Unlockable heroes, each with their own little quirks and there's a Kahkooh-Regah (This game's Alfheim/Muspelheim challenges) for EACH DIFFICULTY starting from normal. That's great. There's ton of content in this game, took me some time to 101% all of it.
The final boss spectacle was great. It felt like a great ending to the whole story. Seeing the boss throw those little minions at you
which are the actual giant robots from the first operation
Ultimately, I love Wonderful 101 for what it is, and what it did, I just think that Bayonetta is the better game simply because it focused much more on the combat.
Sorry for not doing much of an actual comparison of the games, but I at least wanted to throw out my feelings on both of these.
Which game did you think was best, in which aspects? You can also throw whichever other Platinum game you want into the mix. I haven't been able to finish MGR yet (haven't had a ps3 for a while now) and would love to hear how that compares too.