Hero_Of_Hyrule said:Did anyone else actually play this game?
Me! Even though I was kinda lukewarm on the first two games, for some reason B3 got me inspired to subscribe to GameFly and give it a try.
As well as Sonic Frontiers, which, uhh, we'll see how that goes when it gets here...I just finished Chapter 9 and yeah, I feel largely the way you do. The core combat is easily the best part of the game, but it feels like I'm only doing it about 40% of the time. The rest of the time is exploration (better than I'd expect but not amazing) or cutscenes (awful) or set-piece minigames (some hits, more misses) or Jeanne's stealth sidescrollers (janky). The cutscenes and minigames were definitely most prevalent at the start, too, and I'm happier now that I'm in the middle and there's less of it. I dread that the late-game will ramp up the story and minigames again, though.
One thing I've never liked about this series is, it's just so hard to look at. Everything's so monochrome and overly detailed, it's just impossible to discern things at a glance, especially when combat gets hectic with lots of different kinds of enemies and witch time effects and junk going on. Every different kind of enemy is just some assortment of white blades and neon-green goop. And the cutscenes, hoo boy. It's like watching a Transformers movie, just a tumbling mess in shaky cam with two cuts every second.
And yes, I'm not crazy about all the new giant stuff in this game, friends and foes alike. The giant enemy hitboxes are massive and either invisible or don't match the animation well. And the camera often misses parts of their animation because they're so big. The camera gets even less cooperative when you summon your own giant, who should be the new focus of the action instead of stationary dancing Bayo. Also, any time a game asks you to hold multiple shoulder buttons down at once, especially on the same side, it's a mistake. Having to hold a button to summon a giant, and another to hold stance for some of their moves, feels like it's giving me finger pretzels. Why can't I just toggle the summon on and off?!
On a similar note, I want to like the new playable character Viola, but it kills me that you can't fully remap the controls, and can only choose from four shoulder button options. I want ZL to be my Witch Time button (bayo-dodge, viola-block) but then they have different buttons for giant summoning, and I get confused going back and forth in the story.
And for as much as I like the core combat, it has the same problem every Platinum game does, where there's intricate systems for the player to take advantage of, and the game is
terrible at teaching you how those systems work. I'm more than halfway through the game and I'm still fuzzy on how stunning enemies works, or the special finishing moves, or when to summon my giant (is the answer just, always?). I have to watch
this guy's videos to learn how to play Platinum's games. And unfortunately for me it looks like he hasn't made any Bayo3 videos yet.
I know I'm complaining a lot, but I like the game overall! I'm just frustrated that a great core game is surrounded with not great stuff. Even when I'm enjoying the game, I can't help but wish I were just playing Devil May Cry instead, because it's just less encumbered by the problems Bayo has, even when it shares them.
