Played a bit more and catwoman is so shit. I'm not enjoying this game at all. Whereas the world, story and progression grabbed me and made me love AA, none of that is the case here. I'm just bored.
I'm stopping playing to start Skyrim. Silly me playing it when I'm not enjoying it. I might give it another go next year, but in pretty much every aspect it seems like a complete step back from AA.
Started to get a hang of this game and so far I am liking it alot more than Arkham Asylum. The stealth is better, you have so many options for attack. There is so much freedom to maneuver. I like that there is an overworld and within that overworld there are more linear tasks. So good and the best stealth ever. No other game makes you feel more like a bad ass. The music is fantastic.
If you would have used them, you would know they changed almost everything. Fighting style wise and score-attack wise.
Learn to crowd control a group of twenty people with three batarangs, or manage to pull a freeflow focused gel explosion, or have an armored thug flying from one block to the other with a REC shot, and you'll see.
One of the things in which Rocksteady managed to be awesome to the max is the way they re-invented characters to fit with the Unreal engine presentation. Robin, Riddler,
Calendar Man, Mad Hatter
have lost the corny, cartoon-style look they had in the comic book to become something almost completely different. I bet that if he wasn't dead they would have managed to make even a character like Movie-freak look threatning.
The Arkham-verse Riddler is not a character who is smarter than usual, he is a narcisisstic freak who is
convinced he's smarter than anyone.
This is very clearly outlined in the Strange therapy sessions you unlock upon solving all the riddles
. The not-so-challenging riddles are all about that: making you realize this is a guy who's basically took straight out a Cohen brothers movie, the guy who thinks himself smarther than anyone but instead gets outsmarted by everyone. You can almost hear him saying: I'm a nihilist Batman, I don't believe in nothing Batman, I will cut off your johnson Batman... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5J_kao6mwA
To me this setting felt much more emotionally charged.
Stumbling into Crime Alley and getting the Pay your respect achievement without knowing there was one, fighting in the Monarch Theatre with a sword
, fighting inside the court-hall while Two-Face shoots at you, flying seamlessly from one block to the other and pulling a U-turn to kick the crap out of some thug on a roof who keeps challenging you and didn't know better, all this stuff is much more in tune with what I perceive to be Batman.
Asylum was too much Metroid and Zelda-like: you had four, five dungeons, too much closed spaces, nowhere to glide, fights were too easy (too easy, I did a no-upgrade run on hard and it was absolutely boring and unchallenging) and the whole narrative felt more like an homage to everything and everyone in the Batman universe rather than a stand-on-his-own-feet plot.
I want to have sex with this post because I agree with everything you said (is that weird?).
But seriously, well said. I feel like Arkham City does the Batman universe more justice than Arkham Asylum. And on atmosphere alone it wins in this regard for me. I think people are forgetting how repetitive Asylum felt after a while since it was one arena after another, one Titan boss fight after another, etc.
Arkham City does seem convoluted at first, and there IS a lot going on, but I loved the mayhem with all the villains out and about doing their own thing.
And these two games have effectively ruined third-person melee combat for me. After playing Uncharted 3, all I have to say is, decent effort Naughty Dog, but better luck next time. Fuck your Bayonnetas and your Devil May Crys and your God of Wars--the rhythmic simplicity of the Arkham games' combat is absolutely unrivaled in intuitiveness and overall aesthetics. Especially when you employ every move and tool at your disposal to string together insane combos--it's a game changer, not unlike Resident Evil 4's OTS shooting for action games last gen.
Played a bit more and catwoman is so shit. I'm not enjoying this game at all. Whereas the world, story and progression grabbed me and made me love AA, none of that is the case here. I'm just bored.
I'm stopping playing to start Skyrim. Silly me playing it when I'm not enjoying it. I might give it another go next year, but in pretty much every aspect it seems like a complete step back from AA.
Played a bit more and catwoman is so shit. I'm not enjoying this game at all. Whereas the world, story and progression grabbed me and made me love AA, none of that is the case here. I'm just bored.
I'm stopping playing to start Skyrim. Silly me playing it when I'm not enjoying it. I might give it another go next year, but in pretty much every aspect it seems like a complete step back from AA.
Movement around the environment and combat are both leagues ahead than they were in AA, and the boss fights are much better. The rose-tinted glasses some people have for AA are astounding.
Just found out something, you can change Catwoman costume in the main game. If you changed it in Catwoman's side missions then when you play the main game she will still have the same costume on. SWEET!
I want to have sex with this post because I agree with everything you said (is that weird?).
But seriously, well said. I feel like Arkham City does the Batman universe more justice than Arkham Asylum. And on atmosphere alone it wins in this regard for me. I think people are forgetting how repetitive Asylum felt after a while since it was one arena after another, one Titan boss fight after another, etc.
Arkham City does seem convoluted at first, and there IS a lot going on, but I loved the mayhem with all the villains out and about doing their own thing.
And these two games have effectively ruined third-person melee combat for me. After playing Uncharted 3, all I have to say is, decent effort Naughty Dog, but better luck next time. Fuck your Bayonnetas and your Devil May Crys and your God of Wars--the rhythmic simplicity of the Arkham games' combat is absolutely unrivaled in intuitiveness and overall aesthetics. Especially when you employ every move and tool at your disposal to string together insane combos--it's a game changer, not unlike Resident Evil 4's OTS shooting for action games last gen.
... Even then, if you just critical strike chain your way through combat challenges you won't really do so well on the leaderboards/barely scraping enough for the third medal.
Another annoying thing: sometimes the super gadgets really screw you over because the time of impact and effect outpaces the auto-tracking. For instance, I used an overpowered REC and immediately followed it up with a hit, and Batman flew towards a thug who stumbled out of the way because of the electricity and I broke my fucking combo.
Fuck that shit!
/edit happened again, seems like a reliable way to fuck over your combo. I recommend a dodge after an overcharged REC
Fuck your Bayonnetas and your Devil May Crys and your God of Wars--the rhythmic simplicity of the Arkham games' combat is absolutely unrivaled in intuitiveness and overall aesthetics.
I take issue with this. At the higher tier of play a lot of Arkham's auto-assist features begin to conk out and overload. Bayonetta is forever.
Argh, I hate shields. Dodging actually takes about a half-second to activate with them so while it does cancel, it doesn't do it instantly...
/edit also, the batclaw slam randomly disrupting combos is kind of annoying. Attempting to counter out of a slam which stuns an enemy breaks the combo because enemies are stunned out of their attacks... I think this only happens if slams are performed during whatever red-concentration mode is called.
I don't get the hate for this move.
I had much more problems with the blade takedown, which is waaaay more dangerous and hard to pull off. If you properly time your bat-swarms, your freeflow focus gel explosions, your batarangs and your ultra stuns the risk for either a fail-out or an interruption is absolutely minimal.
IMO the only thing bad about the ground pound is the animation: it's boring. It's the same animation I've gone through and through in Asylum and I would have liked at least more variations in City. Instant takedowns have three or four animations, ground pound only two (and they are basically the same).
The main reason is because you can't cancel out of it, and it's a fairly time-consuming move. Let's say you smack down an enemy. You think he's the last, or everybody else is on the ground, so you jump on his face. While you're mid-air twirling, some complete git you didn't see who was offscreen runs up to the mighty Batman and does some ineffectual swipe at your face. Kapow! Turns out you can't do shit while you're ground pounding! Combo lost!
Blade takedown by comparison, while a little trickier to pull off, has the advantage of invincibility during the maneuver from all other enemies, and an instant takedown on a successful ending - or you can just hold on the button if you want to preserve the enemy as a resource for later points.
Oh shit, Just wait man. Robin and his bow staff are fucking amazing! Might seem a little slower than other character when performing certain moves, but he has awesome crowd control and his zip line attack is super useful.
Over hanging ledge takedown, wall smash takedown, smoke pellet takedown, air vent takedown, window smash takedown, window drop takedown, double takedown, zip line takedown, grate takedown, ice freeze takedown, glide boost takedown, ledge glideboost takedown.
gadgets used for takedowns: explosive gel, stun batarangs, freeze grenade, REC charge on heavy enemies (shoot of ledges). remote batarang boost hit and send enemies over ledges. zipline kicks.
I think the overall problem with AC's combat at its higher stages is just a simple lack of consistency. Shit is always not quite reacting the way I expect it to react, and one thing messing up your combo is enough to fuck you up entirely.
I think the overall problem with AC's combat at its higher stages is just a simple lack of consistency. Shit is always not quite reacting the way I expect it to react, and one thing messing up your combo is enough to fuck you up entirely.
I would probably just ignore trying to use the Batclaw slam if you have FFF. The aoe stun has gotten me to break my combo a couple of times so don't do the slam. I haven't ever did a FFF REC shot only to miss a follow up attack from a stumble, unless you happen to mean you attacked from half the room away or something.
Just finished the game on normal NG+, combat was fun at the start but later on at the prison riot area it got mostly dicey even without counter indicators. I messed up during a beatdown or two on titans and lieutenants because of that, and I really dropped the ball on multicounters sometimes. Still fun as hell, too bad the only way to replicate NG+ style fights are custom challenges only. Shields were probably the most trouble since I couldn't really tell when they were telegraphing their attacks.
Does
Mr. Freeze need more takedowns
in hard NG+? I did NG+ on normal and I didn't even really use as much as I thought I needed to stop him.
Definitely did:
-silent takedown
-hanging ledge silent takedown
-window takedown
-vertical window takedown
-line-launcher takedown from behind
-line-launcher -> wire walk -> drop attack
-magnet shot
-explosive gel wall stun
-lured him over to the pool of water and hit the switch to shock him
-grate takedown
Pretty sure there were a few I didn't even have to do like
using the distruptor against him
. Someone said there was supposed to be a list during the bossfight, is that only on hard because I did not get stuck at all or anything and the back button was disabled the entire time. Still fun as hell though.
I kind of just want a game mode that lets you play just the boss fights over again. I loved those but I don't wanna grind through the story again just yet to get to them.
Good god, the last of Catwoman's campaign extreme predator challenges are a pain in the ass. Is there a way to lure enemies to a specific location, like with the sonic batarang? It would make things so much easier.
Oh yeah... being unable to see where the Sickle is swinging is really pissing me off. Seems like one out of every three swipes I'm just randomly in his attack zone when I should have dodged out of it. Fuck.
Asylum was too much Metroid and Zelda-like: you had four, five dungeons, too much closed spaces, nowhere to glide, fights were too easy (too easy, I did a no-upgrade run on hard and it was absolutely boring and unchallenging) and the whole narrative felt more like an homage to everything and everyone in the Batman universe rather than a stand-on-his-own-feet plot.
Good god, the last of Catwoman's campaign extreme predator challenges are a pain in the ass. Is there a way to lure enemies to a specific location, like with the sonic batarang? It would make things so much easier.
Good god, the last of Catwoman's campaign extreme predator challenges are a pain in the ass. Is there a way to lure enemies to a specific location, like with the sonic batarang? It would make things so much easier.
Nope. It's was really annyoing when you needed to do environmental takedowns. At least in the museum you can press those voice switches and lure your enemy to a specific area. Beat em down next to the wooden walls, and wait for the henchmen to find the body for an easy wooden wall takedown.
Quick question (might contain a slight spoiler, early game):
Who is broadcasting the numbered message "I will return batman"? I can't lock on to the signal. I'm guessing maybe it's Sharp? Or Calender Man or something since it's got to do with numbers. It seems significant, but I don't know what it's meant to lead me to.
Quick question (might contain a slight spoiler, early game):
Who is broadcasting the numbered message "I will return batman"? I can't lock on to the signal. I'm guessing maybe it's Sharp? Or Calender Man or something since it's got to do with numbers. It seems significant, but I don't know what it's meant to lead me to.
The line, "You will pay for what you have done to me.", together with, "I will return, Batman.", seem to imply the broadcaster is somehow linked to Joker, or perhaps Ra's al Ghul.
The line, "You will pay for what you have done to me.", together with, "I will return, Batman.", seem to imply the broadcaster is somehow linked to Joker, or perhaps Ras Al Ghul.
No, they definitely do keep coming no matter what.
Also, isn't it odd that he just repeatedly starts shooting his gun once it's known that you're in the area? It seems so out of place from the rest of the game.
No, they definitely do keep coming no matter what.
Also, isn't it odd that he just repeatedly starts shooting his gun once it's known that you're in the area? It seems so out of place from the rest of the game.
I took all the henchmen but the last down without alerting anyone, and then attacked the last one and him. It was over pretty quickly, so I can't really tell whether more henchmen were spawned during the fight. Seemed pretty easy to me.
The line, "You will pay for what you have done to me.", together with, "I will return, Batman.", seem to imply the broadcaster is somehow linked to Joker, or perhaps Ra's al Ghul.
Yeah, this is what I was talking about. I've only heard the first message so far. Was only wondering who and what the message was for because I'm trying to knock out current sidequests before moving on in the story (
I have just regained control of Batman after being poisoned by Joker
), but the broadcast had me stumped. I guess it's nothing particularly important.
Got to be honest, I'm finding NG+ to be pretty painfully difficult, to the point of it not being much fun at all.
440/440 on the riddles, and 100% complete on normal difficulty, but I'm seriously getting my ass handed to me by the mass of goons in
Penguin's coliseum
.
It takes a long time to beat them all down, and Bats' health just gets chipped away by the occasional shot that gets through. What am I doing wrong? I know most of the crowd control tricks but I can't seem to reliably execute any sort of strong special move without a high chance of taking a hit and scrubbing my flow.
Yeah, this is what I was talking about. I've only heard the first message so far. Was only wondering who and what the message was for because I'm trying to knock out current sidequests before moving on in the story (
I have just regained control of Batman after being poisoned by Joker
), but the broadcast had me stumped. I guess it's nothing particularly important.
Got to be honest, I'm finding NG+ to be pretty painfully difficult, to the point of it not being much fun at all.
440/440 on the riddles, and 100% complete on normal difficulty, but I'm seriously getting my ass handed to me by the mass of goons in
Penguin's coliseum
.
It takes a long time to beat them all down, and Bats' health just gets chipped away by the occasional shot that gets through. What am I doing wrong? I know most of the crowd control tricks but I can't seem to reliably execute any sort of strong special move without a high chance of taking a hit and scrubbing my flow.
Are you failing out of counters? I got that plenty when I only hit it once and then another or two clocked me mid-counter; sometimes they don't rush you in groups and just all start swinging while in the mosh pit.
If it's guns then I guess you need to concentrate on breaking them or something. Are you batswarming much? It usually helps if people are piling up on you. Batarangs usually autoaim towards gun thugs. Batclaw them out of their hands too.
If it's the Titan then it is rather annoying not getting counter indicators mid-beatdown with a giant thing blocking your view. At that point just evade after a couple of hits. I always find that you should ultra stun a titan following out of a batswarm and the final ultra stun should make you invulnerable to any swings while you are doing it.
Punch, dodge over someone's head, repeat is still too effective in this game. Game breaking really. Even ignoring that, 99% of Asylum games combat is me knowing what is going to happen then doing what I should with a lot of ease, so automatic and QTE-like. Basically it is like this until my 1% chance of failure procs and it restarts that pointless number in the corner.
That said, I can see some improvements here and the game seems harder on Hard(which I think you had to unlock in AA?) Stealth also seems better too, less repetitive which was the main fault of the first game. It does a lot of things better than Asylum and it at least realizes what Asylum was going for much better. Free-roaming has replaced the stupid backtracking, collect-a-thons are still in, but more creative this time(also detective mode actually has a CSI thing going, wish it was less guided though), and thematically this is a Batman game unlike the cameo-filled shit Asylum was. So far I am feeling 3/5 on it, with Asylum being a 2/5.
Punch, dodge over someone's head, repeat is still too effective in this game. Game breaking really. Even ignoring that, 99% of Asylum games combat is me knowing what is going to happen then doing what I should with a lot of ease, so automatic and QTE-like. Basically it is like this until my 1% chance of failure procs and it restarts that pointless number in the corner.
It's not really difficult to master because of its depth, it's difficult to master because it's highly flawed, and somewhat sloppy. It's GREAT for making you feel like Batman, and for others to watch, but there are too many inconsistencies and annoying obstacles that prevent me from ever bothering with anything beyond the high scores set in the game.
I've been putting a lot of time into challenge mode and I think I would largely agree with that assessment. I dunno about highly flawed, but it is sloppy as fuck. As you can see over the last few pages, I've found that consistancy is a real problem.
I've been putting a lot of time into challenge mode and I think I would largely agree with that assessment. I dunno about highly flawed, but it is sloppy as fuck. As you can see over the last few pages, I've found that consistancy is a real problem.
It's flawed when the Titans get into the mix because they have no rules and can pretty much do anything they want. I'll be laying into one, and a guy might come up to slash me with a knife, then if I start trying to dodge him, the Titan will just sweep us both out of the way. It's incredibly annoying.
It's flawed when the Titans get into the mix because they have no rules and can pretty much do anything they want. I'll be laying into one, and a guy might come up to slash me with a knife, then if I start trying to dodge him, the Titan will just sweep us both out of the way. It's incredibly annoying.
Titans (even in AA) and lieutenants have always broken the rules and generally anything more than 1 of each is frustrating to play (Funhouse Brawl extreme rounds 2 and 4 come to mind). It's funny, because you can be right on top of a titan but if you do an instant takedown you will be invulnerable but a knife dodge or something that usually makes you invulnerable will be stopped. I've been titan swiped while in the middle of an aoe whip trip too many times to count.
Other than that regular henchmen usually obey the rules.
