Batman Arkham Blank

[Waldorf and Statler]

My only problem when I played with the Beyond Skin was the all mighty Butt-Cheeks.

 

They were staring at me. THE WHOLE TIME. I can see why he has a cowl.

[TCP]

The Batman Beyond skin doesn't have a cape right? In story mode can you still glide?

[Hot Heart]

Yeah. Little wings pop out of it when you glide.

[SomTervo]

Just like in the show!

 

Also, I just experienced an awesome thing in a Catwoman segment, that I didn't know could happen.

 

 

Once you've broken into the vault as Catwoman, entering the final act of the game, and Batman is trapped in the Steel Mill, she looks at the door out of Arkham City, the door back into the City, and the CCTV Camera shot of Batman lying under rubble, and she has a monologue about how bad she'd feel leaving him behind.

 

In my first playthrough I just turned left, dropped the suitcases, and went back for him. In my NG+, I turned right, and walked out the door to leave Arkham City.

 

The game doesn't just correct the Universe to fit your decision. You get treated to the surprise pleasure of the area name popping up: "Gotham City": and you walk out into the city, emerging at the bottom of a flight of steps beneath street level. As you walk up the steps, the place looking rank about you, like Arkham City but frankly worse, she says "Screw him" and walks off, the camera fades to black. And the game's credits roll. Batman's dead.

 

Then, during the credits, we hear Barbara Gordon/ Oracle in a distorted radio message begging for help, that everything's gone wrong; the joker is winning, Batman is dead, etc. It's pretty harrowing. Then suddenly, the game snaps back to Catwoman walking up the steps, and goes into fast-speed rewind, winding her all the way back into the compound, the vault, and then you take control again. So you can save him.

 

 

Awesome stuff. Really shows integrity in terms of storytelling. Makes the universe feel that bit richer, too. Amazing.

Edited January 5, 2012 by kenshi_ryden

[Hot Heart]

Also, I just experienced an awesome thing in a Catwoman segment, that I didn't know could happen.

I liked that too. Funny thing is, I told my friend that during a particular bit as Catwoman "Go right instead of left. You'll know", leaving it as cryptic as that.

 

Of course, he forgot I had said it, but his natural 'jerk sense' meant he went that way anyway.

 

 

He said he preferred that ending too.

 

[SomTervo]

Also, I just experienced an awesome thing in a Catwoman segment, that I didn't know could happen.

I liked that too. Funny thing is, I told my friend that during a particular bit as Catwoman "Go right instead of left. You'll know", leaving it as cryptic as that.

 

Of course, he forgot I had said it, but his natural 'jerk sense' meant he went that way anyway.

 

 

He said he preferred that ending too.

 

 

Ahhh, one of those. Yeah my best gaming friends are douche-players. I remember noticing it first back when we were teens and one of us got Black and White. I would help my people and have fun trying to complete the level in a roundabout way; the other two literally picked up the first settler they got their hands on and pitched him miles away. Then destroyed the village. That kind of singleplayer (and often multiplayer (yep, they grief)) behaviour continues in them to this day. Those guys.

[Hot Heart]

In single-player games he will always try and be as big of a dick as possible, but I don't think he's a griefer at all. He's actually a really nice, polite guy.

 

Having said that, we were falling off our seats laughing at griefing each other on LittleBigPlanet 2 (especially with the grabinator). Now that was one of the 'forgotten' games of 2011.

[Yantelope V2]

So I finally finished the game yesterday.

 

 

 

So I think the whole Batman doesn't kill anyone character flaw is driving me crazy. First off, everyone is only in this prison because Batman never killed them to begin with. Next, Strange starts killing hundreds of inmates and Batman goes in and starts beating the crap out of him but when Ras kills him Batman gets all upset and sad. Then Hugo tries to kill Batman again. So they jump out and Ras kills himself since Batman never would have done it. Finally Joker shoots Batman's girl and then Joker must have really wanted to die just like Strange and Ras because he breaks the cure when Batman was going to save him after all of that. Then what happens? He carries Joker's body out slowly like he's all upset that his love/hate relationship with Joker is over. I swear I'd be reading some deeper meaning into this if I really wanted to. Batman doesn't even blink an eye that his GF/lover was shot in the back. He leaves her there to rot. Anywho, AA was better than AC and Batman could stand to learn a thing or two from Iron Man

 

 

 

 

and for the record I still loved the game.

[TheMightyEthan]

In what respect did you like AA better? Granted the "throw in every badguy ever" aspect of AC got a little ridiculous, but overall I thought it was basically like AA but everything more polished.

[Hot Heart]

AA had a tighter story but I felt everything else about AC was way better.

[Yantelope V2]

I just like the flow of AA better. AC seems like it's 75% side quests and much less focused. I beat the game and I'm only at 60% completion. Probably just a matter of preference. Also I have no intention of getting all 400ish riddler challenges. That's a bit on the crazy side.

[Thursday Next]

Who are you calling crazy? They were mocking me! With their annoying green and pinkness...

 

One tiny, but HUGE gripe I have with the game is that I completely completed single player, but I think I died trying to get a Riddler trophy in

Zhaz's

hideout. So now, even though that task is done, the icon still sits there, taunting me. I've tried going back, talking to people, everything, but the icon will not go. I vexes me. I'm terribly vexed.

[Yantelope V2]

I was talking to one of my friends about it yesterday and I think we both agreed it's just that we are too busy these days. If I had more time I'd probably love all the extra diversions but now since my time is so limited I'm just like "why do they have so much extra junk in here. Really the problem with the Riddler trophies is they're all 15 variations on one puzzle. Don't touch the ground, hit all three ?'s in a certain time, just these magnetic things again. It's not just the number of trophies it's the repetition in the trophy puzzles.

[Hot Heart]

I really liked the Riddler challenges. Some of them were basic variations but a fair few were very rewarding to solve or involved some kind of physical dexterity. And some even included outsmarting the cheating Riddler.

[Yantelope V2]

Yeah, some of the hostage rescue stuff was pretty cool. I liked that stuff.

 

Here's my problem. Here are all the "collectibles" in one area that is like 1/5th of the game.

 

 

 

That's a ton of crap. Too much for my tastes.

[TheMightyEthan]

Ordinarily I just ignore stuff like that (like the pigeons in GTAIV), but in AC I loved it. I enjoyed just the act of playing that game so much, the traversal and the combat, that I loved an excuse to hang around in the game world after I beat it. I finished the story in 15 hours but I didn't "finish" the game until 45. It was great.

[Yantelope V2]

Ordinarily I just ignore stuff like that (like the pigeons in GTAIV), but in AC I loved it. I enjoyed just the act of playing that game so much, the traversal and the combat, that I loved an excuse to hang around in the game world after I beat it. I finished the story in 15 hours but I didn't "finish" the game until 45. It was great.

 

Yeah, I think it's a matter of taste. By your calculation the game was at least 2/3rds optional and that kind of bugs me.

[Thursday Next]

All of the game is optional... No one makes you play it.

[TheMightyEthan]

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/04/03/trophies-suggest-batman-arkham-city-getting-harley-quinn-dlc/

 

Yay! More Arkham City!

[Waldorf and Statler]

So Robin story based DLC? Cool. I'm guessing it'll be like Catwoman's and show what he did when he met up with Batman and slightly afterwards

[Hot Heart]

Interesting. Looks like there could be some new game mechanics thrown in.

 

The one that says 'Use 5 different Quickfire gadgets in one fight as Robin in Harley Quinn's Revenge' suggests it may be more like the Riddler's Revenge though. Hopefully that's an added side thing.

Edited April 3, 2012 by Hot Heart

[Thursday Next]

Given that one of the other trophies is "Find a way into the secret base" there is almost certainly some story stuff occurring.

[RockyRan]

Wall o' text incoming!

 

So I just started playing this on the PC (yes, I'm behind the times) and as someone who thought Arkham Asylum was sublime, I have to say my initial impressions of the sequel are mixed (I've played about, oh 7-ish hours).

 

I enjoy the fact that Rocksteady manages to communicate pretty well just how passionate they are about the IP that they're working with. Just flying around and taking in the atmosphere of the city lets me know damn well how much they've pored over to truly make you feel like you're the goddamn Batman. Same for Catwoman, actually. Her inclusion as a playable character might feel like a bit of fanservice-shoehorning (the fact that WB was able to lift her from the game completely for Online Pass purposes attests to the "disposability" of her content) but DAMN were her mechanics implemented well. All the pieces for a fantastic game are all there, and they're mostly in the right places, but unfortunately the game feels unhinged thanks to the fact that I don't think the game scaled too well to the size Rocksteady wanted.

 

First is Batman himself. His mechanics are identical to those of Asylum, but it doesn't work in City. Especially outdoors. Bats' default "walking mode", with the really zoomed in, almost claustrophobic camera and slow walking speed works well under small, narrow corridors built to a realistic scale. This, of course, was well designed in Asylum, where you spend the vast majority of the time indoors. This default walking mode, though, doesn't work at all when you're outdoors, and since in City you're outdoors for considerably longer periods of time, it simply makes no sense. What in the outdoors commands such a closed perspective of my view? What in the large, open streets and flat rooftops commands such a slow walking speed? Nothing. There's a reason why the Spider-Man games, Assassin's Creed, inFamous, Just Cause 2 etc., all have the camera view that's equivalent to Batman's "running mode", because that's what's appropriate for large and open areas. It makes no sense to have the camera this close up when 90% of the time, I'll be using my Batclaw to pull myself up to places that I can't see. 90% of the time, if I want to see where I'm clawing to, I have to awkwardly move up the camera and search around. The way it should've been handled is pull back the camera in the same way that it's done when Bats is running, but keep it permanent and ditch the A-to-run mechanic when outdoors, instead bringing in analog walk-and-run push controls. That would've gone a long way into scaling his movement/controls to handle all the crazy shit going on outdoors and letting you see more easily where you're clawing to. Dealing with the current camera makes me feel like I'm trying to look at the world through a cardboard tube.

 

My second biggest complaint also has to do with the outdoor sections, and also has to do with the distinct lack of scalability in Bats' game design: the combat. I played Asylum on Hard on my first run-through because I thought Normal was too easy and generally devolved most fights into button-mashing affairs, whereas on Hard the combat system was graceful, rhythmic, and nothing short of amazing. In City, though, it's obvious Rocksteady intended the game to played on Normal because the game throws WAY to many goons at you. As in, easily twice as many as should be needed, actually. I remember the only times I had to take down upwards of 8+ goons at once were in the "stealth" sections, where there were plenty of nooks, crannies, vents and gargoyles with which to conceal myself and do my "stealth ballet" of sorts. This is still present in the indoor sections of City and just as fun as they were in Asylum. Outdoors, however, this stealth mechanic is significantly dampened and replaced with the same amount of goons, except on open streets and rooftops. Since fights in Hard mode are far more about concentration, skill, and timing, simply spamming enemies is borderline maddening because these fights can take several minutes to finish. It's even more infuriating when the fight makes its way around the corner and even MORE goons join in, causing 10+ person melees. Fights never escalated this quickly and with such frequency in Asylum, simply by virtue of having smaller areas to work with and laying enemies more carefully.

 

I got a couple of other niggling issues but I don't want to feel like I'm nitpicking. I feel like the game is really well put together and I have lotsa fun, but there's a couple of flaws that make you go wut, especially the outdoors. Great presentation, very well built, lots of love given into making the experience of gliding along the city badass, but mechanics-wise, the close-quarters design of the game feels really awkward.

[TheMightyEthan]

I would like to see them make a Catwoman game actually, I think they could do a good job of it. I really liked that she actually played differently than Batman, wasn't just a reskin with some missing abilities or something.

 

You're totally right about the camera, but as for the encounters I can see where you're coming from but I don't personally find it bothersome. The fights are so smooth and satisfying that I don't mind them going on forever.

[Strangelove]

So I dont know if this is a bug, intentional, or maybe just bad luck, but everytime Im in a losing fight and i wanna bail and I look up, I NEVER seem to find something to grapple on to. The icon pretty much never shows up And im down on the ground level too. Does being in a fight disable it? Cus I dont see the point of that. I should be able to grapple out of danger. Im sure Batman does it all the time.

 

 

Anyways, the camera never bothered me. Never noticed it til Rocky brought it up. That being said, I ALWAYS run in games. I dont think most games even need a walk button anymore. Ive been holding the run button since Super Mario Bros. and its worked out fine. In Arkham City, they also need the x button to climb, so you cant automatically run. It just cant be fixed that way. I will say thats one thing Assassin's Creed does better than Arkham City, you shouldnt use a face button to run and climb, because that makes it almost impossible to readjust your camera with the other analog stick while running and climbing, which to me is very important. Thankfully Assassin's Creed has r1 as the run button.

 

As for the fighting, sometimes it takes way too long to beat a few people. Its just tiring after a while. Its fun, but sometimes im not in the mood to get in a fight. The real difficulty with the fighting is all the different button presses for the different types of enemies. Im not going to lie, I get disoriented easily when I have to employ different strategies for different enemies ALL AT ONCE. My fingers are quick enough to counter and fight, but my memory recollection isnt fast enough to remember that im supposed to jump over the guy with the shield and hit him from on top, while countering the guy with the knife who I have to evade 3 times, then hold the counter button the last swipe so I can disable him instantly. While beating up ten other guys who each have their own method of beating. And I fucked something up so I cant do my super counter press two buttons at once attack. Oops.