Batman Arkham Blank

[Mister Jack]

Which one was that?  I'm drawing a blank.

[TheMightyEthan]

Oh yeah, totally agree that the boss fights were a step down from Arkham City's.  When I'm talking about the combat, I just mean the standard, non-boss combat.

[Vecha]

Anyone get the handheld version?

I'd rate it anywhere from 5-7. Not bad, but not good. Having a bit of fun with it. 

Read some theories(always theories on the net) that the vita port coulda been better without the 3ds version. Honestly, I feel that's kind of BS. You can make a great game on 3ds...why not both?

[Hot Heart]

I finished the Harley Quinn's Revenge DLC. While there were some nice moments in it (attaching a snap flash to the environment and then having it moved behind an enemy before detonating), I'm kinda glad I didn't pay for it. For starters, while Robin is cool, he seems to be missing a few vital tricks up his sleeve. No weapon-breaking move and no freeze grenade (shield bash is good but limited uses and more prone to failure compared to a grenade) make a big difference in the tougher fights, and no disruptor makes predator stuff a little trickier.

 

What really spoiled it thought was that I actually had some odd occurences in combat anyway (like in Origins) and when one of the bad guys took a hostage in the final predator bit, there was no way to take him out without being seen. I snuck up behind him on two separate occasions, got the Silent Takedown prompt but then it automatically had him kill the hostage when I pressed a button. The only fix was to play uber-aggressively...which, admittedly, was pretty fun.

 

But speaking of fun, I gave Nightwing a quick go. He's pretty damn awesome, and rather than explosive gel, he has a really handy ground-pound move. Got through a combat challenge completely untouched during my first go with him.

[toxicitizen]

Yeah, Nightwing plays incredibly well. He felt a bit weird at first but once you get a handle on his moveset he's probably the most powerful character in the game. It's a shame they didn't bother getting a voice actor for him. I mean, I can see why considering he's only in the challenge rooms but still, would've been nice to have at least a few lines.

[TheMightyEthan]

I just replayed Arkham Asylum last week, and I still feel like the combat doesn't flow as well as it did for me in Origins.  It's no one specific thing I can point to (the object throwing guys weren't an issue once I'd re-adapted to not being able to counter them), it's just the overall feel of it.  

 

It has reinforced my belief that overall Asylum is the better game though.  It's just so much more cohesive.Now   I'm playing City and the combat in this one does flow better than Origins did, so Origins was still a step back from what had been done before.  Like someone else said, even the gliding feels better in City.  Pretty much the only thing I feel like Origins improved on over the Rocksteady ones is the crime scene investigations.  I like how they expanded the concept.

[toxicitizen]

God, Ethan! We all moved on, I suggest you do the same!

 

 

You're still wrong, though.

 

Edited November 11, 2013 by FLD

[TheMightyEthan]

Haha, I actually had dropped it, but finishing Asylum had me thinking about it again.  And I did throw in "as well as it did for me" as an acknowledgment that other people were having technical issues that I just wasn't.

[Hot Heart]

No, no, Ethan has come over to the RIGHT side. He is saying while he feels Asylum's combat has its issues, it is still a better game overall compared to Origins.

 

And that City is still the best.

 

Right, Ethan? RIGHT, ETHAN?!

[TheMightyEthan]

Yes.  In fact, while I might not have been clear about it, I was always saying that it went City > Asylum > Origins in terms of the overall game, just that the combat was better in Origins than Asylum.

[Hot Heart]

Even if I can't entirely agree on the combat part (admittedly, I'd need to replay Asylum though) I can get behind that. Also, it was me who said even the gliding was off in Origins. I couldn't believe it myself actually, but even during the Harley DLC, I noticed it felt so much better.

[toxicitizen]

Yes.  In fact, while I might not have been clear about it, I was always saying that it went City > Asylum > Origins in terms of the overall game, just that the combat was better in Origins than Asylum.

No, you were quite clear. I simply disagree with the bolded part.

 

As for the gliding, I can't really say I noticed a difference personally. But, considering everything else about the game, I'm willing to take you and Hot Heart's word for it. How does it feel better, though? I guess maybe they sped it up in Origins? It's kinda surprising, though. I pretty much breezed through even the most advanced AR challenges in Origins but that last one in City is always such a goddamned pain in the ass for me. You know, the one where you need to glide through that damn tunnel.

[TheMightyEthan]

It just feels better somehow, like I have more control.  It's hard to elaborate on.

[Hot Heart]

I think the gliding actually felt quicker in City, plus you can grapple to most things, unlike Origins.

[toxicitizen]

Ah, yeah okay. If we count what you can grapnel onto as being a part of "gliding", then yeah it was fucking terrible in Origins.

 

Also, while we're on the subject, one thing that kinda bugged me but I never thought to mention because it's purely cosmetic: holy shit does the cape get torn to shreds in Origins! Seriously, like halfway through I actually started to wonder how the hell he wasn't just diving to his death. I mean, it took some battle damage in previous games but I feel like they kinda went overboard in this one. It just looks like it's going to fall apart any second.

[CorgiShinobi]

oh lord the grappling in Origins sucks. I was doing the Deadshot crime scene investigation, so at one point you have to get back up to the tower where it all starts. You can not just stand underneath the tower. You have to go to a specific place that will recognize, "Hey, there's that one ledge!"

[Hot Heart]

Well, I meant the gliding was still off somehow, but the grappling exacerbated it. Having a bigger environment is all well and good, but I also think they needed to be smarter/less stupid about the world design or tweak the grappling distance a little.

 

Also, I don't know if anyone's been paying attention to the Humble Bundle, but it's been updated to include the Millenium Skins pack for Origins (I think they're all unlockable in-game otherwise?)

[TheMightyEthan]

So I'm playing Arkham City again right now, and even though in terms of actual area it's smaller than Origins it feels a hell of a lot bigger.  Like, 2-3 times as big.  I haven't decided if that's because of the lack of fast travel or if it's something else, but goddamn.

[toxicitizen]

It's better designed, plain and simple. Origins' map just feels kind of... thrown together, if that makes any sense. And I'm pretty sure that small area in the middle of future Arkham City, that little pointless park, is WAY smaller than the whole barricaded section around Wonder Tower was. So, I think it actually is physically smaller. Basically, that entire half of the map felt off for me the entire time.

[CorgiShinobi]

Stuck it out and finished the game tonight. Not really up to explaining everything, but like I was saying in one of my prior posts, it was a mix of excitement and frustration. Like, "Oh, I like where this is going... this doesn't handle well though." Or, "Cool! This is gonna be a big battle that... ugh, so I should probably ignore these guys again."

 

My Super Review Score of Online Excellence: 6.8/10 (or 7/10 if you prefer).

 

It's strange, but the postgame environment ran much better than when the story was happening. I went to a few places that normally gave me some stuttering, and it wasn't bad. Some areas ran smooth even...

[Hot Heart]

Initiation DLC playthrough if anyone's interested. From what I hear, this isn't the promised 'story DLC' but a few challenge maps tied together by some cutscenes.

[CorgiShinobi]

Don't even bother with the DLC. Infuriating pile of shit is what I would rate it.

 

I don't mind that it happens to be a bunch of challenge maps, but the last challenge is ridiculous. I hate blade-wielding enemies because the constant dodging, and the martial artists that can only take a hit if you keeping hitting   -> when attacking them. And remember the Shiva boss battle? That's what you have in Round 2 of the last challenge, but it doesn't show Counter markings for her. That wouldn't be bad, but her katana minions do have them and so you have to keep in mind there's a character in the lot that doesn't show when to counter. I got her to a third of her health, but all the literal backstabbing from her minions killed me.

 

You get 5 retries, and I used them all on that last challenge. If you fail, you get nothing to show for it. A waste of time and money, and I'm not going to bother with whatever the true story DLC is either now. Jumping back into Origins reminded me of the ruined combat WB Montreal pulled off.

[Hot Heart]

Wow, that does sound bad. That's what WB Montreal lacks in comparison: moderation.

 

I mean, spotting it is as simple as how often you get frustrated with a game. I was only frustrated with Asylum during that titan fight just before the final boss, and I don't think I got frustrated once with City, whereas Origins is full of them, both major and minor.

[CorgiShinobi]

I'm not even fully speaking out of frustration. It's just as I described, but after typing out my above comment, I tried once more.

 

I got Shiva down to about a quarter of her health and failed. All my other retries I didn't get as far. It's a waste of time to go through four simple challenges, so after 20 minutes you're back to where you need to improve. It's simply a hassle where you're pushing more than . What helps is if you can maintain Free Flow Mode (or whatever it's called) so you don't have to block and counter as often. Thing is if you lose it, then it's another uphill battle to maintain momentum.

[TheMightyEthan]