Bayonetta. Mind: I haven't ever played it, so i can't comment on gameplay from direct experience. I speak more about.... the world and its protagonist.
A big part of it is that my initial impressions of Bayonetta when i was younger, were that she was a sexually charged, overpowered jerk, and that it was alright for her to be a jerk because she's sexy. That already pushed me away for years.
Part of the intro to B1 where she breaks off gravestones didn't endear her to me either.
Now i do know of more nuance with her character, that she's heroic and that her own confidence and stuff have been of big, positive effect for people.
But i feel like the world and story... bend over backwards to make her look cool. Unless the villain needs to look cool for a bit.
The sense of power, aptitude and competence feels out of its gourd (and i've heard that it's even worse in B3) -- i don't know how to express my thoughts in words in detail, so i'll keep it at this:
Bayonetta seems like she can do anything with the greatest of ease, there's nothing that can stop her, and that is boring to me.
I'm well aware that you could use this wording to *sell* people on the game and character. I know an argument can be made too that the player themselves have to earn being as skilled as Bayo.
For me it doesn't hit. Instead, i've found the Angels of Paradiso and the various references to history, mythology and culture in the weapons & accessories more interesting.
Heck, i'd be curious for a Bayonetta universe RTS like Warcraft 3, wherein the creatures of Inferno, Paradiso and the Fairies are units under command of Umbra Witches and Lumen Sages. I'd be up for seeing more about the histories of Lumen and Umbra rather than Bayo herself.
Ninja Gaiden is another one of which i know of the legendary status and have learnt of why people who stick with it, love it.
World, characters and story don't stick with me much-- fair enough, NG lives and dies on its gameplay.
Said gameplay seems like a pain to me. The speeds and weapons are insane and so are the techniques and enemies-- but my impressions are that you need to wade through long low lows to get to high highs.
And those highs may be VERY high, but i can't derive satisfaction from them.
I don't think i really stand still at "looking cool" or using the enemy as a punching bag for crazy combos. Ninja Gaiden seems to demand the player to very, very, VERY strongly focus on what you need to do at speeds i can't keep up with, or suffer the consequences and suffer hard.
I've already had such an experience with Magenta Horizon: Neverending Harvest. That one has its own share of mercilessness and had me go down to difficulty 2 of 5, a third through the game.
It has frustrated me and then some and i still haven't beaten the final boss. But there's more surrounding the gameplay that has kept me going and mechanically-- there's little i can fault it for.
Still very high speeds that i struggle to keep up with and enemies give no quarter, but said surrounding things (story, world, art direction, characters, writing) resonated more with me to want to stick with it.
Very much recommend it, especially with how badly it's going under the radar.
Within the genres of hack-and-slash and beat-em-ups, i have been finding myself more interested in the likes of Darksiders, Soulstice, Zeno Clash, The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile and Magenta Horizon: Neverending Harvest. Even in Heavenly Sword, Dante's Inferno and Knight's Contract.
