finally started playing this, and I find myself agreeing with a common complaint: the city feels empty, like, really empty. At first i thought it couldn't have impacted the game as much as reviewers say, but it's true. Gliding around the various districts and looking at the occasional group of thugs, then another one, then another one again, is kind of disheartening. The whole city is like a box made of nothingness. Yes, the gameplay is good, graphics too (although i swear AC looked better than this) , but I'm really trying to find a reason to continue because navigating through this barren concrete wasteland is a borefest
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Batman: Arkham Origins |OT| Justice from the head of Prototype And Hulk: UD
- Thread starter The Living Tribunal
- Start date
LaunchpadMcQ
Banned
So, can anyone who is as shameless as me and actually purchased the season pass tell me if the New Millennium skin pack is out on Steam yet? I'm not home so I can't check myself, but it seems to be out on 360. It would make sense that the pack is out today seeing as how it's going to be a bonus in the WB Humble Bundle.
Palette Swap
Member
As I posted/whined some time ago, the Blackgate prisoners Most Wanted mission never unlocked for me on my first playthrough, even after doing pretty much everything there was to do in the game and amply meeting the requirements for it.
I went through NG+, redid everything aside from Riddler (that one carried over) and I've finally unlocked that mission. Here's the fun part: after doing it, having 100%ed every most wanted mission, the 100% all most wanted missions trophy won't unlock. This fucking broken game.
If it wasn't so broken, I think it would actually be my favorite entry in the series (and I'm a massive fan of the first 2). The combat I hated at first really comes into its own on NG+.
Welp, on to I am the Night. (this genuinely scares me)
I went through NG+, redid everything aside from Riddler (that one carried over) and I've finally unlocked that mission. Here's the fun part: after doing it, having 100%ed every most wanted mission, the 100% all most wanted missions trophy won't unlock. This fucking broken game.
If it wasn't so broken, I think it would actually be my favorite entry in the series (and I'm a massive fan of the first 2). The combat I hated at first really comes into its own on NG+.
Welp, on to I am the Night. (this genuinely scares me)
CorporateClown
Member
Anyone on the PS3 interested in boosting for some of the multi trophies? It can take 10-15 minutes to fill a room sometimes and then usually someone leaves so these trophies are going to be a pain in the ass. My ID is CorporateClown if you want to add me.
Starts as one of the detective case files, depending on how far you are into the main story
actually, this a spoiler inside a spoiler so unless you are half-way through the game DON'T READ THIS
it probably unlocks only after you've cleared the Gotham bank from Joker's goons, after the face-off with "Black Mask"
Dave1988
Member
I guess I'd be up for it though we will need 6 more people to fill a private room. I'll add you later.
Imbarkus
As Sartre noted in his contemplation on Hell in No Exit, the true horror is other members.
I'm in. I'd love to explore this mode but pick-up is just hopeless.
I'll friend when I get home from work.
Thank you!
Just finished the story, now I am going to finish the rest.Was a great game, no big difference to Arkham City and superior to Arkham Asylum.
H
megamerican
Member
Just finished it. So much for it having an engaging story. It just sort of ends
. There was some creative stuff, and the boss battles were interesting, but overall this was pretty mediocre. I thought the
after the umpteenth Bane fight
twist of having Joker be the villain was about the most uninteresting thing they could have done. Black Mask would have at least been something new in a game that feels like a re-hash of the previous games.
I liked the concept of the skills being on a tree. The organization of it is terrible though. I see what they were going for seeing as in AC people would just b-line for the obvious combat upgrades like 8x-5x, crits, freeflow focus, D&D, batswarm and ignore everything else.
What was dumb was locking some upgrades like batswarm/multi-batarang behind THREE armour upgrades (at least just do two). I'm don't mind crits being locked until about 1/3 into the game, but maybe it should've been locked right after either all the armour upgrades or the batswarm/multibatarang should've led right into it instead, or swapped with critical counters and Shiva's sidequest.
But the whole point in locking some of the later combat options was to force the player to use more variation. AC was easily won by going freeflow and just chaining crits mixed in with instant combo takedowns for things that can't get simply punched. The combat challenges even on extreme were easily trivialized by that.
AO combat I feel has much more to offer. There are a few things that clearly lack polish or a few things to still iron out in that regard but I feel like everyone complaining about combat being hard at the start of AO didn't really take advantage of all the moves and gadgets that got added over the course of AA to AC.
Picked this up a couple of days ago. Seems more of the same as the last two and I love it. Loved the last two as well. Not really sure where the complaints about the city are coming from...seems about the same as it always has been. Though it's been a long time since I've played the first.
Imbarkus
As Sartre noted in his contemplation on Hell in No Exit, the true horror is other members.
I felt this way until it became clear this was the origin story of his obsession with Batman.
I do think people's opinion of this game was negatively affected by the bait-and-switch nature of the bad guy, and the fact that the story, as initially marketed, seemed a perfect "the gauntlet" story archetype for fighting through areas dedicated to each assassin, culminating in their boss battle.
What we got was less predictable and formulaic, but it was a formula for which I was ready, and I did have a moments disappointment that the structure of the game and its story didn't match what was teased.
Going back to AC, the smaller chunk of the city seems more intricate and detailed. But looking at it closely a lot of it is grime and dirt or graffiti in the textures, or newspapers fluttering around or painted on the wall or street as textures. More barrels for bonfires, crates, things like that.
I didn't really feel the city in AO was missing out on important details that mattered, just some of this... clutter, which was honestly more appropriate to the plot and setting of AC anyway. I felt the city in AO fit the Gotham of the story... except for, you know, no ambulances or fire trucks or anyone out except crooks and crooked cops who all need a good beating.
Also, the helicopters in AC added a lot. I missed them.
I don't get the complain about the lifeless city much like I don't get the complain of not getting to drive the batmobile. I'm guessing that the main reason why you don't do any of these things (other than being a fair ammount of work, yes) is that it has the potential to ruin the atmosphere by making the game look really, really dumb.
Like, here's Batman walking among the pedestrians. Then he stops. People point at him then keep walking. Dumb!
Or here's Batman driving like an ass, crashing into traffic lights, random vehicles... the civilians magically always dive away at the last second. Dumb!
So yeah, AC and AO have open worlds were there are only criminals... and this keeps the player focused on doing what Batman does best, which is kicking crooks in the face.
And you know what, I'm not even saying that -it can't be done-, it's just that personally I can't picture a way of making it work. We'll see what happens in the future.
Like, here's Batman walking among the pedestrians. Then he stops. People point at him then keep walking. Dumb!
Or here's Batman driving like an ass, crashing into traffic lights, random vehicles... the civilians magically always dive away at the last second. Dumb!
So yeah, AC and AO have open worlds were there are only criminals... and this keeps the player focused on doing what Batman does best, which is kicking crooks in the face.
And you know what, I'm not even saying that -it can't be done-, it's just that personally I can't picture a way of making it work. We'll see what happens in the future.
Imbarkus
As Sartre noted in his contemplation on Hell in No Exit, the true horror is other members.
Yeah. I had a L.A. Noire flashback there...
Spring-Loaded
Member
The problem is that challenge in past Arkham games was about keeping one long combo, not merely escaping damage. That was central to the combat design. In pre-release interviews with Rocksteady, their devs always mentioned that combat itself wasn't supposed to be grueling because you're playing as Batman who's suppsoed to be one of the best martial artists in the series' universe.
Increasing the frequency and speed of enemy attacks without adjusting everything else will actually pressure the player to not mix things up. Having freeflow attacks (at least three hits in a row) is a must, especially with faster enemies. Starting out, you only have the cape stun, beatdown, claw, smokebomb, explosive gel and stun grenade; smokebomb doesn't keep the combo going. The claw takes time to use, the cape stun isn't as infallible as in AC, explosive gel-cartwheel move doesn't evade attacks as much as in AC (might just be the increased attack freq. though), and so forth. It takes timing to use those moves, but it's easier to just counter, so that's tacitly encouraged.
The "vault off one enemy and land on another" is much less useful now (and it wasn't that great in AC) considering it's not a k.o. The jump doesn't throw anyone off for a reasonable amount of time; enemies follow you while you flip through the air, even if it's a long distance away. The animation even takes longer than the ground finisher. This isn't a really important or especially useful move, but it reflects how the change in balance brought on by merely increasing enemy attack frequency can trivialize certain attacks/strategies.
Then there's the shock gauntlets which make getting medals in the challenge maps extremely easy. There's nothing that breaks the combat quite as much in AC, even with the "focus mode + explosive gel + beatdown + multi-ground takedown" combo doesn't guarantee the highest score, even in that Joker's Carnival challenge (speaking of, that combo is even more exploitable in AO since you can use multiple special combo moves in a row). You can use the remote claw during battle, but since it doesn't have a quickfire option, it's indirectly discouraged to use since it can end a combo.
Combat is inconsistent in difficulty now and a Joker's Carnival-type challenge would just be maddening since that relied entirely on keeping one long combo throughout. I know I'd probably go crazy trying to do that since getting three medals in that was a real challenge for me, but every time I messed up, I immediately knew what I could've done better. That's not always the case in AO, and since the challenge of the game stems from not merely surviving encounters, but doing well in them and not getting hit at all, the combat being a bit flawed here and there is actually a big deal.
Again, if survival was the main focus, small problems like smokebombs somehow not affecting enemies who were outside the initial blast, or animation priority not being re-balanced across the board, wouldn't be problematic. When those small things throw off a player's combo even though it seems the devs wanted to encourage variation in player strategy (going by the inclusion of variation bonuses and quickfire gadgets), that goes against what WB montreal were (seemingly) going for.
I appreciate the increased difficulty in the combat and hope Rocksteady/future devs continue to revamp the system, but it's clear it's flawed in AO. Still very much enjoyable, but is in some ways limiting, which can hinder fun. If attack freq. is sped up, I'd want entirely new enemy animations that are more natural, revamped animations for the player characters and more animation blending to allow for counters during any action (maybe allow for quickfire gadgets during vaults, like throwing a batarang while diving). That way, the player is kept on their toes, but are able to manage anything thrown at them at any moment. enemy attacks would have to be much different to keep that from being too easy though.
Some of the gadgets need updating too. The stun bomb thing is cool in that the delay before the detonation can be used tactically. I don't think the effect is that great though; it's like a small scale smoke bomb which is redundant and the "stunned attacking" makes enemies more dangers as those attacks are harder to counter. I'd keep the "timed distraction device" function, but replace it with an actual bat-summoning device, like from Batman Year One/Batman Begins and get rid of/replace the weak bat summon move that exists now. I want a legitimate swarm of bats to appear, but it would be delayed like the stun bomb is in AO. Make it so that enemies get stopped in their tracks completely. The remote claw needs a quickfire option too, because that's the only new and genuinely awesome gadget in AO.
A legitimate open world wouldn't require Batman to be able to drive/fly like in GTA. The car could be auto-travel only, but in real time, allowing the player to screw around with various cockpit functions. The plane could be grapnel'd to in real-time, but only fly/hover at a specific height, allowing the player to drop out where they want.
Pedestrians don't have to be vulnerable to player attack, they could just react to Batman's appearance and would actually augment the atmosphere; having people react appropriately to seeing Batman would be better than having a completely dead world where there are only enemies who aren't appropriately scared of Batman.
Imbarkus
As Sartre noted in his contemplation on Hell in No Exit, the true horror is other members.
Nope.
In other news it seems like the first skin pack title The New Millenium pack is now available for season pass owners and as a separate download.
A little late since I've finished the damn game 3 times already.
Kai Dracon
Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
On the subject of city atmosphere, here's why AC works better to me. AC pulled off the dystopic prison-city motif really well. The themed criminal gangs taking over different sectors. Constant, heavy, oppressive security helicopter presence. City borders constructed of intimidating spiked and warning-striped walls, with floodlights and gun ports. With Wonder Tower being the centerpiece of all this, instead of just a darkened spike in the middle of the map.
Origins' christmas eve theme has potential but it does feel lifeless. It feels as if the city should be lit up from a distance with multicolored lights contrasted against the sinister goings-on at street level and across rooftops. There should be creepy christmas music floating through the air a lot more, and so forth.
Plus the up-close city detail is inferior to Rocksteady's ultra dense art direction. Both AA and AC were very Metroid Prime-like in the density of environmental detail that felt non-generic. There was the impression of unseen stories having played out in every corner. AO mostly lacks that, it looks like it from a distance but fails inspection up close, the longer you wander around the environment.
Origins' christmas eve theme has potential but it does feel lifeless. It feels as if the city should be lit up from a distance with multicolored lights contrasted against the sinister goings-on at street level and across rooftops. There should be creepy christmas music floating through the air a lot more, and so forth.
Plus the up-close city detail is inferior to Rocksteady's ultra dense art direction. Both AA and AC were very Metroid Prime-like in the density of environmental detail that felt non-generic. There was the impression of unseen stories having played out in every corner. AO mostly lacks that, it looks like it from a distance but fails inspection up close, the longer you wander around the environment.
Looks like they knocked a buck off the price of the skin pack on the eShop. Saw it was $5 for PS360/PC but was $4 for Wii U. Is WB actually being logical and reducing the price because the Wii U doesn't have multi and therefore doesn't get the Robin skins?
Twenty hours in and still loving the game. Think my story completion is about 70% and I've finished all the side villains, except for enigma and two blacked out profiles. Anyone know to unlock those two people? I'm guessing I just need to progress a little further in the story.
Starting to find finishing Enigma a little tedious, but I'm this far, so no quitting now. Think I've finished every extortion package below the bridge and have about two thirds to complete above.
One last thing. I've noticed when I'm using the electric gloves, I'm not able to use ground take downs. Any tips for keeping the flow going, if they're all down on the ground? I notice a regular attack will still normally work, but I can't 100% rely on it.
Starting to find finishing Enigma a little tedious, but I'm this far, so no quitting now. Think I've finished every extortion package below the bridge and have about two thirds to complete above.
One last thing. I've noticed when I'm using the electric gloves, I'm not able to use ground take downs. Any tips for keeping the flow going, if they're all down on the ground? I notice a regular attack will still normally work, but I can't 100% rely on it.
Only read if you completed the game:
Wouldnt surprise me, there were a lot of bis ice pillars in the first areas of Blackgate... My first thought was, that they will show Freeze as the last villain, but there was nothing...
Killing_Joke
Member
Just finished it and thought it was awesome. I'll put it on par with the other games which is a huge compliment since it was made from a different team. Which in most cases turns out to be be shit. Kudos. I don't get all the hate for the ending.
Pros
- Graphics. Played it on PC so no Framerate issues for me. physx was so-so. Some areas didn't work well. Didn't feel as detailed as the other games. But still pretty for a last gen game.
-Gameplay. Nice mixture of combat, stealth, and platforming. I thought the pacing was excellent.
-Boss battles. NEVER a strong suit for the arkham games but the buildup for all of them were great. The stealth Bane fight was intense as fuck.
-Music. Loved the xmas jingles.
-Story. Probably my favorite in the series with AA a very close second. Loved all the cutscenes and the interactive Joker scene was ace.
Cons
-Combat. Something felt off. The counter system just felt weird. Can't really put my finger on it. Didn't feel it had much depth as AC.
-City is small as fuck. Traveling through that bridge is tedious as fuck and using the batplane is a waste of time.
- Riddler/Side missions were boring. I haven't dug too much into the side stuff but that's because they didn't make me feel excited to. AC did the perfect blend of side missions. The way they meshed it with the main story was great. AO just felt flat.
For the most part it's a copy and past from AC. But why is this bad? Fulfilled my Arkham itch quite well. Going to get Blackgate during black friday, then wait for some next gen rocksteady. *drool*
Pros
- Graphics. Played it on PC so no Framerate issues for me. physx was so-so. Some areas didn't work well. Didn't feel as detailed as the other games. But still pretty for a last gen game.
-Gameplay. Nice mixture of combat, stealth, and platforming. I thought the pacing was excellent.
-Boss battles. NEVER a strong suit for the arkham games but the buildup for all of them were great. The stealth Bane fight was intense as fuck.
-Music. Loved the xmas jingles.
-Story. Probably my favorite in the series with AA a very close second. Loved all the cutscenes and the interactive Joker scene was ace.
Cons
-Combat. Something felt off. The counter system just felt weird. Can't really put my finger on it. Didn't feel it had much depth as AC.
-City is small as fuck. Traveling through that bridge is tedious as fuck and using the batplane is a waste of time.
- Riddler/Side missions were boring. I haven't dug too much into the side stuff but that's because they didn't make me feel excited to. AC did the perfect blend of side missions. The way they meshed it with the main story was great. AO just felt flat.
For the most part it's a copy and past from AC. But why is this bad? Fulfilled my Arkham itch quite well. Going to get Blackgate during black friday, then wait for some next gen rocksteady. *drool*
GekigangerV
Member
Hopefully that pops up on psn soon so I can finish the black mask stuff on my ng+.
neoism
Member
wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow this game think I'm done for good... -_- on new game plus on the fight right after Electro dude... I just cant fucking beat it...(the 30+ enemies and 5 or 6 ninja guys) those motherfucking ninja guys.. :/ fuck whoever decided to take the counter icon away on new game plus.. fuck them in the ass.
Oh yeah.....I forgot that's what "New Game+" does....maybe I'll be done with this then. lol
Beaten the critical path.
The story was the best out of the three Arkham games, however the game felt somewhat unpolished and no particular level stood out to me like they did in Asylum and City.
That said, i liked the boss more than the predecessors', especially
, who i think is the best boss the series has had so far.
Forgot to say, played it on PC, encountered no bug outside of minor visual glitches.
Nothing affecting gameplay anyway, however i haven't done much of the side stuff (if at all).
The story was the best out of the three Arkham games, however the game felt somewhat unpolished and no particular level stood out to me like they did in Asylum and City.
That said, i liked the boss more than the predecessors', especially
Death-Stroke
Forgot to say, played it on PC, encountered no bug outside of minor visual glitches.
Nothing affecting gameplay anyway, however i haven't done much of the side stuff (if at all).
That's two of my problems with Origins. Holmes doesn't want to let go this "abilities through experience pay-wall" system he has used over and over in his previous games. Didn't make sense in Prototype, doesn't make sense here. An action game is based on learning the basics of a fighting system, and then progressively combine different tactics against mixed groups of enemies. You design an action game around reflex, coordination and (possibly) style, not around the order in which you acquire abilities.
Rocksteady designed the new game plus around the addition of new skills and new gadgets: WB Montreal should have concentrated on doing the same instead of trying to fix something that wasn't broken. No point in new game plus when I start the game again with the same equipment I had at the start of the main game. The idea behind new game plus in Arkham City wasn't to make the game more difficult, but to expose the player to a subtle reinterpretation of the game fighting system.
It's true but the idea of freeflow is to combine the moves and attack you like in the way you want. I would hardly call a game "tough but fair" when the game speed and the AI are stacked against you.
Also they trivialized combat rooms in Origins too: they made gel explosions give points, and since the amount of gel is unlimited and it doesn't damage enemies you can repeat gel explosions for hours and get insane scores without much skill. I just got my scores beat by someone who cleared 600k on the third map: I imagine other similar scores will soon follow through.
On the game not being hard, I'm with you. On the game requiring more effective use of gadgets, I'm with you. The fact is Rocksteady built the game around a strong narrative tone, giving you the feel of a bad-ass: here they tried to make it about difficulty instead of style. In close quarter you can only throw batarangs or counter because your strikes won't make it in time, in each group you have to go for the guy with the gun immediately and, as you noticed, doing so without the disarm and destroy skill is extremely annoying. Armored foes will now reset the combo counter to zero when hit by batarangs, cape stun has been slowed down significantly, enemy slide in from out of the screen. But the biggest culript of all is the fact that the game designers didn't understand the need for "special units" to be visually differentiated. In Arkham City you recognized armored thugs immediately, here they sport the same colours and the same size of normal enemies. You fight Penguin thugs and they are all grey: in the midst of a fight is almost impossible to distinguish them. Swats? they all look like they are armored. An helmet won't make much of a recognizable detail if the camera draws back as much as it does in Origins.
Martial artists (the only good addition they made to the fighting system, the only one I'd wish Rocksteady would adopt in their next game: they are PERFECT) look somewhat recognizable, but you have to pay attention to their movements to single them out.
Another issue I have is the electrical gauntlets: they can suck up electricity from stun batons and counter shields. Cool. Yet, how many stun rods appear in the game? three? four? and the counter timing is completely messed up on both the stun rod attacks and the shield attacks: when you counter the other enemies you have a VERY large window and their attacks are anticipated by ample and slow motions, but the stun rods and the shield can only be countered when the attack animation is ending (like a just guard from Soul Calibur or something like that) which again becomes another element that messes up the completely inconsistent timing of the fights.
So in the end you have a lot of freedom apparently, but the way the game tries to be difficult (since it's not difficult but simply unfair) narrows down the way to address every single fight to the same tricks.
Overall, I liked the game but they made a couple of serious mistakes with the fighting system, the only thing they should have left untouched. I've double dipped it and bought the season pass, and I would do all that again knowing the game has these flaws, but that doesn't make me less unhappy about the fighting system.
If the story dlc doesn't push Bane as main villain I'm going to throw a fit!
Agree on many points. As for the concussion detonator, I don't understand if you are doing this or not but you can anticipate the timing of the explosion by quickfiring it a second time (like a gel explosion) and make it go off immediately.
all of their attacks are anticipated profusely, so I'd suggest to play around with the training rooms and the challenge rooms to get accustomed to them.
Otherwise, easy way:
vault over them and kick them in the back like you do with the stun rod guys. They don't counterattack when you do that.
Good luck with the Shiva fight
Good luck with the Shiva fight
Samir Sedlar
Member
There is one that unlocks after you beat the whole game, maybe say what side quests you done, and I can guess the 2 left without spoiling the game.
I am not sure, indeed electric gloves messes the rhythm greatly, I use you talk about the normal ground take down, did you try the multiground takedown ?!
PhantomZone
Member
Have not touched this for 9 days now, gotta get back into it, Finish the remaining collectibles in my current game, then do it all again in New Game+
Yep.
The Season Pass is also back.
Finished all the single player stuff besides the challenge maps on hard and NG+ and although I did enjoy the game, I don't have any motivation to play it a third time on IATN mode. Part of it is because of how many cutscenes are unskippable (usually I'd alt-tab to something else during an unskippable cutscene but the game pauses if I do that), the other reason is that I wore myself out on the game trying to rush through everything before I get my batch of PS4 games. I'll probably come back at a later time to get all the medals in the challenge maps, but that's it for me.
Samir Sedlar
Member
For those who got the Season Pass was the whole 'Initiation DLC' avaiable ?!, or is it yet to be released ?!
It'd be nice if they'd throw Wii U users a bone and gave us the WBID costumes as freebies, since we have no way of getting them.
If the story DLC isn't an adaption of 'The Court of Owls' storyline, I'm going to be disappointed.
I want to be Bruce Wayne, sorting through my presents on Christmas morning, as the Owls crash through the window. And it would give them the opportunity to do those trippy, hallucination sections they love so dearly.
I want to be Bruce Wayne, sorting through my presents on Christmas morning, as the Owls crash through the window. And it would give them the opportunity to do those trippy, hallucination sections they love so dearly.
Not available yet. Just two skin packs for now.
Samir Sedlar
Member
well isn't that hard with an Origin story ?!, I didn't read the comics but doesn't the Court of Owls take place where there is Nightwing and Robin, meaning years after Origins ?!.
Thank you mate.
I wonder when we will see Initiation and the other new DLC.
Monkeylord
Member
Well, the statues at the top of the Royal Hotel seem to suggest that it's not out of the realms of possibility...
Well, the statues at the top of the Royal Hotel seem to suggest that it's not out of the realms of possibility...
That's awesome.
Well, the statues at the top of the Royal Hotel seem to suggest that it's not out of the realms of possibility...
Oh shit, never saw this before
I loved the Court of the Owls, I hope, Rocksteady includes them in Arkham World.