Talk:Bayonetta 2/@comment-189.250.153.84-20141029044727/@comment-1661895-20141029124127

If I had to speculate, the idea of making Balder more sympathetic probably came from the creation of Bloody Fate which Platinum members seem to have enjoyed a lot.

In the film, Balder is portrayed as a man of desperation who wants to transform to universe because of Rosa's death because he loved her, despite his madness taking extremes in terms of how to deal with it. I think it painted him as a much more complex character as the first game didn't really explain a lot of why he was doing what he was doing besides his alliance with the angels and Jubileus. A similar case of sympathetic corruption happens in Bayonetta 2 because he's only trying to avenge Rosa as well as stop Loptr from trying his plan again. Just as Bayonetta herself has a more developed character thanks to getting her memories back, it seems fitting that other characters develop too.

I don't think it was a case of the story being made 'simple'. The plot of Bayonetta 2 is complex on it's own with it's lore surrounding Aesir, the time travel and explanations of things in the first game. Kamiya and Hashimoto have gone on record stating they were discussing ideas for a sequel for a while after Bayonetta was completed, so some of the general set up such as Jeanne needing to be rescued will have been there from the start.