Support NeoGAF

[Aklamarth]

Finished it today. Great game. Can't wait to see where they "go" next. Hopefully when they'll release a game on "next gen" consoles we'll get to explore all Gotham City.

 

[Hot Coldman]

That torture chamber, huh. This game just gets better and better.

 

[Sober]

I am about a third of the way through new game +, and I still can't get used to the lack of warning on the counters. I had modified my fighting to the punch-evade-punch-evade-etc style when I was doing all the side missions and such in the post game the first time, but it seems less effective on NG+ as I keep getting combos broken up. I've started working in counters when possible, but it's been a decent challenge. It's been annoying that you have to follow certain paths exactly though, such as in the torture chamber, when you are forced to cut down the raft rather than just use the ice raft you've used so many times already.

Thugs do that thing where they telegraph pretty hard. It's even more obvious when they run at you in groups of 2 or 3, plus they give that hilarious overexaggerated wind-up, even with their fists and feet.

Also, if you are in the Torture Chamber in NG+, just use the line launcher to get around (the only time you need the raft is to save someone). You can't make your own ice raft in the Torture Chamber in NG+? (to be fair

Spoiler

you don't get the freeze grenades until you finish the museum anyway, so the raft you had to cut down was always intended to be used at least in the regular first run, any other time it's for backtracking purposes

.

At first I was all like, feh 300 Riddler trophie that's too many I'll never do that. But then I was like, aaaaah yeah, I just picked up the last Riddler trophy.

I'll say this: I got all the Riddler trophies in Arkham Asylum, and that one was a big pain in the ass because of all the laborious Metroid-style backtracking and navigation. The open world of Arkham City makes knocking these trophies out way less encumbered by backtracking. That's how I found myself just taking them on one after the other. At that point, I felt that the number of them was totally reasonable, because you don't spend forever getting to them.

I really don't understand the criticism with the amount of Riddler Trophies. "I want to 100% the game but I don't want to 100% this portion." If it's that tedious, you probably should stop and parcel it out or just quit and play something else. They really aren't that tedious to collect.

 

[Red Blaster]

Inspite of the lame ass per-rendered cutscenes on PC I think the game is far better than Arkham Asylum. When people said it was open-world I thought it would be this enormous area but Arkham City proper is very small so it doesn't take much time to travel. Plus it's packed with diversions, I much prefer it to the claustrophobic environments in Asylum.

 

[Shiv47]

Thugs do that thing where they telegraph pretty hard. It's even more obvious when they run at you in groups of 2 or 3, plus they give that hilarious overexaggerated wind-up, even with their fists and feet.

Also, if you are in the Torture Chamber in NG+, just use the line launcher to get around (the only time you need the raft is to save someone). You can't make your own ice raft in the Torture Chamber in NG+? (to be fair

Spoiler

you don't get the freeze grenades until you finish the museum anyway, so the raft you had to cut down was always intended to be used at least in the regular first run, any other time it's for backtracking purposes

.

No, for the third cop I made my own ice raft, pulled it over to the cop, and when given the prompt to rescue him, I'd hear Batman say "That'll hurt the hostage" or something similar. I finally had to look at a FAQ to remember to cut down the hnaging raft. When I used that, I could rescue him. Although, I hadn't spoken to the second cop and I was given the prompt to do that after I had already gotten the third, so maybe that was a step you couldn't skip.

 

[Kaori's Babydaddy]

Thugs do that thing where they telegraph pretty hard. It's even more obvious when they run at you in groups of 2 or 3, plus they give that hilarious overexaggerated wind-up, even with their fists and feet.

Also, if you are in the Torture Chamber in NG+, just use the line launcher to get around (the only time you need the raft is to save someone). You can't make your own ice raft in the Torture Chamber in NG+? (to be fair

Spoiler

you don't get the freeze grenades until you finish the museum anyway, so the raft you had to cut down was always intended to be used at least in the regular first run, any other time it's for backtracking purposes

.



I really don't understand the criticism with the amount of Riddler Trophies. "I want to 100% the game but I don't want to 100% this portion." If it's that tedious, you probably should stop and parcel it out or just quit and play something else. They really aren't that tedious to collect.

You must be playing a different game then, because in the game I played a majority of the trophies were just thrown in their for the sake of it. There's no real thought involved in getting a riddler trophy that's hanging from a wall or that you just have to perform a simple slide to get to. Not to mention that all of Catwoman's trophies are like this. If you're going to do something do it well and not lazily.

 

[Curufinwe]

There are tons of Riddler trophies which require clever puzzle solving or skilled control of Batman to get.

 

[Imbarkus]

There are tons of Riddler trophies which require clever puzzle solving or skilled control of Batman to get.

Yeah. Some of them were pretty obscure one-trick-ponies though. Like

Spoiler

laying down three explosive gels but then zooming in so you choose which one to detonate.

That's never used in the rest of the game. I didn't even have any idea I could do that!

Possibly. But the presence of

Spoiler

Azrael

and the cryptic teasers he gave made me think of

Spoiler

Knightfall

. So whether it's

Spoiler

Hush or Bane (to capitalize on the next movie) or both

as mastermind for a storyline like

Spoiler

Knightfall

would make sense to me.

Here's what I'd like to see:
Batman: Gotham City

The open world nature of this game is the most controversial addition. There's no way they can fill the entire, skyrise-ladened city we saw in the background or Arkham City with enough interesting content for the game to go full Gotham the way they've handled it now. That said, the traversal across the open world WAS entertaining, just not the content within. I think they could expand the game to all of Gotham and the surrounding countryside, including Wayne Manor and the batcave, and give you the traversal and a detailed city without much to interact with. Just a playground to swing and grapnel and glide across.

Giving full Gotham treatment could add more traversal options, the Batmobile, and the Batwing. I know it's all new mechanics I'm asking for but I just don't see Batman swinging across the whole city for 45 minutes being fun. This addition is debatable, and the biggest risk. Maybe you have some street-crime or bank robbery or car chase events in the course of this, but care must be taken not to overdo this ala Spiderman 2. Just enough to give you a few non-repeating optional side missions to establish Batman's presence in all of Gotham city.

Spoiler

Perhaps at times, you switch to Azrael, training under Batman, as a plyable character for these side mission.

So where is he traversing to? Well, if you duplicate some of the plot points of

Spoiler

Hush and Knightfall, you've got a Villain mastermind orchestrating a coordinated breakout/attack from all of Batman's rogue gallery. I mean, the ones who aren't dead.

So, you follow that same plot point, and there are, within the overall city, various arenas where a villain is holed up and presenting some sort of threat. Within these, you get the more tightly concentrated and designed areas like Asylum represented overall, and the subareas of Arkham City represented, like the museum, the steel mill, Wonder City, etc.

I would suggest Stonegate penitentiary (Black Mask), Gotham Zoo (Mad Hatter controls animals!), Wayne Tower (Penguin takes over in revenge against Wayne family), a return to Arkham City (above ground only) in a lesser capacity (Two-Face has taken over), Gotham University (Scarecrow makes his return). Plus more, whatever is good you know. At each of these Batman brings down another arch-villain, taking more and more wear in the process.

Finally he returns to Wayne Manor and the batcave, very injured, where

Spoiler

he is ambushed and beaten, and Bane lifts him up and breaks his back, straight outta Knightfall. Azrael then takes over as the new Batman, your new playable character, complete with costume change and new twists to traversal. Chaos erupts into the streets of Gotham when Bane (and maybe Hush, who could have taken Bruce Wayne's place in the manor) announce the defeat of Batman. That means your side missions intensify.

At some point in an Azrael/Batman mission, maybe during a beatdown, you lose control oF the character and he just starts getting ultra-violent and kicking ass on his own, getting close to killing someone until interrupted by Nightwing. Nightwing is now your new playable character as you follow Azrael/Batman and confront him repeatedly to try and prevent him from killing.

Meanwhile Bruce Wayne, desperate at this turn of events, return to Ra's Al Ghul's lazarus pit in Wonder City. You're playing him rolling in there in the wheelchair, making the hard decision to use the pit rather than have the mantle of the bat tainted by the violence of Azrael. Maybe throw in a freshly reanimated Ra's, that Bruce could battle from the wheelchair.

So Batman returns, and maybe you have to take out an enclave of baddies headquarted within Gotham City Hall. But your final "arena" to infiltrate is then Wayne Manor and the batcave itself, for some payback. Pretty much the Knightfall storyline. I think they hinted at it.

The most controversial idea is representing the full city, and if it's a sticking point you could skip over it and just have "fast travel" via vehicle from one arena to the next. I love the tightly structured areans from Arkham Asylum and City both, but I didn't like the overly dense Riddler trophy presence in City, and I didn't like all the Metroid-style backtracking in Asylum. The freedom of travel in City was great and should remain, the tight structure and clear gameplay segments of Predator vs. Combat vs. Puzzle gameplay of Asylum should come back to the forefront, within these specific areas I mentioned.

So, that's my hope for the next one.

Okay so maybe I totally went 15 years old and geeked out on this one, but does anyone think it would be cool?

 

[Ventilaator]

Just fought

Spoiler

-----Mr Freeze-----

and goddamn it if that wasn't one of the best bossfights in any game ever. It would have been better if

Spoiler

He started disabling your ways to attack from the get-go

but the mere fact that he even does it in the first place is something I have never-ever seen before, and something I most definitely didn't expect from this game.

 

[Melchiah]

I really don't understand the criticism with the amount of Riddler Trophies. "I want to 100% the game but I don't want to 100% this portion." If it's that tedious, you probably should stop and parcel it out or just quit and play something else. They really aren't that tedious to collect.

The problem is that getting all of them is a tedious task, whereas it was fun to hunt them all down in Arkham Asylum. I gave up after getting about a third of them in Arkham City, it just wasn't fun, and I hate the fact I miss the rest of Riddler's hostage missions because of that.

 

[Sectus]

Inspite of the lame ass per-rendered cutscenes on PC I think the game is far better than Arkham Asylum. When people said it was open-world I thought it would be this enormous area but Arkham City proper is very small so it doesn't take much time to travel. Plus it's packed with diversions, I much prefer it to the claustrophobic environments in Asylum.

I'm not sure if you mean to imply cutscenes are not pre-rendered elsewhere, but just to make sure, the cutscenes are pre-rendered on every platform for both Arkham Asylum and Arkham City. It is a shame, but at least they bothered to render the cutscenes at 1080p for PC.

 

[John]

Just fought

Spoiler

-----Mr Freeze-----

and goddamn it if that wasn't one of the best bossfights in any game ever. It would have been better if

Spoiler

He started disabling your ways to attack from the get-go

but the mere fact that he even does it in the first place is something I have never-ever seen before, and something I most definitely didn't expect from this game.

Loved this fight

 

[Green Mamba]

Okay, I just defeated

Spoiler

Mad Hatter. When I beat him, I unlocked his profile with like five interview tapes all at once, and I 100%'ed a side quest I had not been made aware of yet.

Did I skip a bunch of lead up stuff, or what?

 

[Raxus]

Okay, I just defeated

Spoiler

Mad Hatter. When I beat him, I unlocked his profile with like five interview tapes all at once, and I 100%'ed a side quest I had not been made aware of yet.

Did I skip a bunch of lead up stuff, or what?

No. It is one of 2-3 one shot side quests. You get the quest and it is completed after you do the task.

 

[Tedesco!]

I haven't been able to read through this entire thread, but has WB or Rocksteady addressed the "Identity Theft" glitch?

 

[Green Mamba]

No. It is one of 2-3 one shot side quests. You get the quest and it is completed after you do the task.

Okay, just making sure.

 

[RPGCrazied]

Is DLC ever going to be made for this game? Batman's voice actor pretty much confirmed it, its the new year, what are they waiting for?

 

[Sober]

The problem is that getting all of them is a tedious task, whereas it was fun to hunt them all down in Arkham Asylum. I gave up after getting about a third of them in Arkham City, it just wasn't fun, and I hate the fact I miss the rest of Riddler's hostage missions because of that.

Everything including your gadgets and trophy/riddle progress carries to NG+ so you are not forced to find everything before starting again, if you are not inclined on revising parts of the city/dungeons just to hunt for trophies. Like I said, it isn't as tedious if you decide to spent a day only doing a certain part of the city and then another tomorrow and so forth.

A good portion of the trophies are ones that require you to backtrack to a dungeon with gadgets you didn't have prior in order to get a trophy which is no different from AA. Yes a bunch of them scattered around the city seem a bit unimaginative but there are plenty more that are interesting brain-teasers.

I didn't even start hunting trophies until I finished the main story and I didn't even get the ability to scan environmental riddles either so I know how long it takes to gather up the 300 or so riddler trophies and riddles as the majority of my time spent in the game since I barely just scraped enough to unlock most of the challenge maps by the end of the story mode.

I haven't been able to read through this entire thread, but has WB or Rocksteady addressed the "Identity Theft" glitch?

Do the bodies not spawn or do you mean Oracle won't give you a hint on the location? Because when she calls you about it is kinda random.

 

[beat]

Yeah. Some of them were pretty obscure one-trick-ponies though. Like

Spoiler

laying down three explosive gels but then zooming in so you choose which one to detonate.

That's never used in the rest of the game. I didn't even have any idea I could do that!

That was an optional upgrade available in Arkham Asylum. It might have been explained in the Waynetech pause screen of AC too, I dunno. It was definitely pretty hidden though.

The technique can be useful in game too, I guess.

BTW, as cool as Batman is, I kept thinking at various points in the story that Superman would have wrapped up this whole story in like 2 seconds flat. =P

 

[Kaori's Babydaddy]

Then it wouldn't have been much of a game.

 

[Dice]

Yeah. Some of them were pretty obscure one-trick-ponies though. Like

Spoiler

laying down three explosive gels but then zooming in so you choose which one to detonate.

That's never used in the rest of the game. I didn't even have any idea I could do that!

Shit, me either! This game does a terrible job at explaining what you can do and how.

 

[Kaori's Babydaddy]

There are tons of Riddler trophies which require clever puzzle solving or skilled control of Batman to get.

Out of the 243 trophies, I only counted 40 of them involving much thought.

When you have one guy left, jam his gun with the disruptor and let him try to shoot you; when he can't he'll throw his gun down, punch you, and run to the nearest crate.

Thanks.

 

[Melchiah]

Everything including your gadgets and trophy/riddle progress carries to NG+ so you are not forced to find everything before starting again, if you are not inclined on revising parts of the city/dungeons just to hunt for trophies. Like I said, it isn't as tedious if you decide to spent a day only doing a certain part of the city and then another tomorrow and so forth.

A good portion of the trophies are ones that require you to backtrack to a dungeon with gadgets you didn't have prior in order to get a trophy which is no different from AA. Yes a bunch of them scattered around the city seem a bit unimaginative but there are plenty more that are interesting brain-teasers.

The problem is, I don't tend to play games twice. Not to mention, that NG+ is apparently a lot harder, and I don't tend to play games on anything above normal difficulty level.

I could find all the Riddler trophies in Arkham Asylum on my 1st playthrough, with minimal backtracking, at least compared to AC. Not in the least, because the area was smaller (=better), and because I got most of the trophies when I first visited the locations.

I've got most of the AA type Riddler trophies in AC, but skipped all the run & gun ones. I couldn't be less interested in trying to sprint to a goal, or shoot several targets, within a strict time limit. I though we got rid of those tired old gameplay mechanics a couple of console generations ago.

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

Finished the game. Loved it! Lived it to hell! That said, I am NOT getting the damn Riddler trophies. Never ever. Far too many. Everything else was almost perfect!

 

[Dice]

So basically the only reason to do Ridder stuff is to go and defeat him? There is no other payoff?

 

[Larsen B]

So basically the only reason to do Ridder stuff is to go and defeat him? There is no other payoff?

You unlock audio interviews, character biographies, story filler, concept art and character models as you solve riddles and pick up the trophies.

I appreciated that a heck of a lot.

 

[Green Mamba]

I have to agree on the sentiment that there are too many Riddler Trophies. It went from Arkham Asylum's Metroid Missile Expansion searching to GTA4's find the Pigeons.

That said, the method for revealing Riddler secrets in Arkham City is one of my favorite new mechanics in the game.

 

[Bucket-o-roadkill]

So, I completed the side mission for 'mystery stalker' but the acheivement didn't pop. Wonderful. So am I screwed or what? If I do it again on NG+ is there a chance it will pop? What a piece of shit.

 

[Tedesco!]

Do the bodies not spawn or do you mean Oracle won't give you a hint on the location? Because when she calls you about it is kinda random.

At first Oracle didn't call for the third body. The other bodies are now gone as well, so I can't go back to try to bump things forward. The only thing I have left in the game to complete are some riddles; it seems odd that nothing has triggered yet to allow me to complete the quest.

 

[Inkwell]

At first Oracle didn't call for the third body. The other bodies are now gone as well, so I can't go back to try to bump things forward. The only thing I have left in the game to complete are some riddles; it seems odd that nothing has triggered yet to allow me to complete the quest.

This happened to me too. After I finished the main story I wanted to finish up the side missions. I selected this mission from the map menu and she instantly gave me the next location. It could have been coincidence though.

 

[Dice]

So not only did it still include GFWL, but I also can't play when Steam is down. Thanks for the awesome tip, GAF.

 

[Raxus]

My save seems to have disappeared for this game on the PC. Is it gone forever or is there some way to retrieve it?

 

[Dice]

My save seems to have disappeared for this game on the PC. Is it gone forever or is there some way to retrieve it?

Steam is down right now, so you are probably playing logged out of GFWL, for which there is no save.

 

[Raxus]

Steam is down right now, so you are probably playing logged out of GFWL, for which there is no save.

Guess this is the perfect chance to pick up on Darksiders on 360. Thanks. I was freaking out my 86% save disappeared.

 

[Dice]

Guess this is the perfect chance to pick up on Darksiders on 360. Thanks. I was freaking out my 86% save disappeared.

Use that feeling as motivation to start backing up your save, because it could still happen and has to many people.

 

[Sober]

At first Oracle didn't call for the third body. The other bodies are now gone as well, so I can't go back to try to bump things forward. The only thing I have left in the game to complete are some riddles; it seems odd that nothing has triggered yet to allow me to complete the quest.

I don't remember if the bodies are supposed to disappear (the prior ones), but you can intentionally search for them (I got tired of waiting during NG+) and find them; the third one SHOULD spawn in its location after you finish scanning the 2nd one (it is located

Spoiler

just south of the ACE Chemicals building by an alley or something

). Barring that, I haven't heard of a glitch, per se.

 

[Dice]

WHAT WHY

Guys it won't log in. Fallout 3 and Dirt 3 log in but Batman won't...

 

[Red]

WHAT WHY

http://i.minus.com/iMp5MBW0Pz0uW.jpg[IMG]

Guys it won't log in. Fallout 3 and Dirt 3 log in but Batman won't...[/QUOTE]

GFWL is such shit.

Try starting the client outside of the game, and logging in there. Then start up Batman.

 

[Dice]

GFWL is such shit.

Try starting the client outside of the game, and logging in there. Then start up Batman.

Did that. Everything will log in to GFWL except Batman. If it keeps doing this I won't even be able to start over.

Edit: Verifying integrity...

Edit 2: Didn't work, rebooting computer since rebooting Steam did nothing...

 

[Red]

Did that. Everything will log in to GFWL except Batman. If it keeps doing this I won't even be able to start over.

Edit: Verifying integrity...

Edit 2: Didn't work, rebooting computer since rebooting Steam did nothing...

Have you accepted the latest changes/agreements with GFWL? I don't remember how to access the agreements page, but I had a similar problem once before doing that.

The worst thing GFWL has done to me is redirecting all GFWL assets to a nonexistent folder on my PC, and disallowing me from changing it. I had to manually delete every instance of "GFWL," "Games for Windows," and "Games for Windows Live" from my system registry before being able to even reinstall.

 

[Dice]

Yes, and I don't think that is it, otherwise it wouldn't log into the others.

 

[Red]

Yes, and I don't think that is it, otherwise it wouldn't log into the others.

I could log into Bulletstorm, but not into AC or Dirt 3 until accepting the latest TOS agreement. The whole system is screwy with GFWL. When something goes wrong, it doesn't make sense.

 

[Dice]

Wait, now the GFWL client is saying I own the Nightwing bundle, but I never ordered that. WTF.

 

[fokkusu]

Works here ok, just played 1-2 hours.

 

[Ventilaator]

Finished it. Holy expletive at the ending. I'm aware that

Spoiler

Mark Hamill doesn't want to play the Joker anymore

but goddamn, that was still a crazy way to handle that.

There has to be some comic book or DLC or something that continues that story and does something to make that ending un-happen...right?

Also, I want more Batman now. I have never been a comic book fan, so my whole Batman experience consists of the 2 Nolan movies and the 2 videogames. Can anyone recommend anything else Batman related (other than comic books, not gonna go there yet) that is recognized as completely awesome?

 

[besiktas1]

Finished it. Holy expletive at the ending. I'm aware that

Spoiler

Mark Hamill doesn't want to play the Joker anymore

but goddamn, that was still a crazy way to handle that.

There has to be some comic book or DLC or something that continues that story and does something to make that ending un-happen...right?

Also, I want more Batman now. I have never been a comic book fan, so my whole Batman experience consists of the 2 Nolan movies and the 2 videogames. Can anyone recommend anything else Batman related (other than comic books, not gonna go there yet) that is recognized as completely awesome?

The Animated Series.

 

[Dice]

Apparently if I say "Yes" to that screen and start a non-saving game, it will let me log in to GFWL, but then I am stuck on a non-saving game, but to back out to the start screen means it wants to log into GFWL again, which fails.

Now I also just tried backing up my save and straight-up deleting the Batman save folder, then I tried it with the XLive folder. No change on either, so I restored them to what they were.

Emailing WBGames support... oh god...

 

[Dice]

Aaaaand now seconds after launching that email, it successfully logged in... I hope this doesn't become a regular occurrence.

It also still seems to think I own the Nightwing pack, and keeps trying to download it, but is perpetually calculating download size. If I cancel that and try to download it, it fails, saying it can't contact the download server. I don't mind for now since I didn't actually buy it, but I hope it doesn't prevent me from getting it later when I do buy it.

 

[Shadybiz]

The Animated Series.

Yep, fond memories of that series; pretty sure it still holds up today.

Ventilaator: If you DO decide to get into the comics, now is a good time to start. The DC Universe just rebooted, and they are only about 4 issues into each title.

Of course, there are the various trade paperbacks from before that I do not know much about yet, and won't pretend to.

 

[Ferrio]

So about the ending, crazy prediction:

Spoiler

Clayface went into the lazerus pit, clayface was imitating joker throughout the game. Clayface comes back as immortal joker.