Witch of the two Bayonetta games do you think is the better one, and why?

1 is great. 2 is best.

Better combat. Setting. Music. Costumes. Visuals.

2

1 because it has mechanics that are more balanced around themselves. Bayo 2 problem is that combat suffer a bit for spectacle, it has some really annoying design decisions. The ones who stick out to me more are enemies that can either insta dodge or insta block an attack, which makes the combat feels less like a dance(as it did in the first game) and more like a wait-to-attack game, as many others out there. Not to say its super shallow or anything, some enemy behaviours are still promoting interesting gameplay decisions(tho most of those came back from the first game), but it is dissapointing to me.

If your thing is spectacle, style and more fun lore from the bayo universe you probably will like bayo 2 more i feel. But what is special about bayo was how it handled fights with charm and competence, so i'm more of a 1 guy.

Thank you for your analytical contribution, Egoraptor. 

The first one, because I was forbidden to play the second one.

Bayo 1 has some bullshit design choices like insta death QTE that come out of nowhere, Megaton/Gigaton attacks being almost impossible to fill at max (this is very frustrating) and generally more cheap difficulty from enemies. There's also the lack of variety in the game locations and related to this is the lack of color in general. The attacks feel less impactful and powerful than in Bayo 2 and the story is presented in a very confusing way.

All of this is fixed and/or vastly improved in Bayo 2. Plus, we get online co-op (and offline on Switch), far more interesting weapons, Umbran Climax (some people dislike this for making the game easier, I on the other hand think is incredibly satisfactory and gives magic a more defined purpouse) and a bunch more stuff.

Don't get me wrong: Bayo 1 is still a great game and it even has some edges over Bayo 2 like better bosses, (slightly) better soundtrack, more interesting non-battle mechanics/levels... But when I tried to replay Bayo 1 after having played hundreds of hours on Bayo 2... I just couldn't. It felt so downgraded and clunky to play...

Nailed it.  I just finished Bayo 2 (for the second time) last week.  I am currently playing Bayo 1 on the ps4.  And your post is exactly right, IMO.  

1, because everything about it felt and looked great at the time.

2, I dunno, I never got to play 2, because it was made an exclusive to a portable system I do own, but refuse to play, because I know that game can do better, than being shackled to lesser hw.

I prefer the first one, it was fresh and I enjoyed the story more. 2 was still fantastic though.