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Batman: Arkham Origins |OT| Justice from the head of Prototype And Hulk: UD
- Thread starter The Living Tribunal
- Start date
Hero_of_the_Day
Member
I wish they'd let you change into a fresh batsuit when you go to the cave. My cape is more holes than cloth at this point. How the fuck am I supposed to fly on that shit?
ViewtifulJC
Banned
So I just beat it. 7/10 seems about right.
-The combat is clearly worse than AC. From the pacing of the encounters, the enemy types, the arenas, the hyper-aggressive AI, the timing of the counters and increased wind-up time on attacks like the ground pounce, Batman's homing ability(several times he'll just punch the air and screw up a combo), its just frustrating. I see another group of enemies, and its like "fuck, not again". This is further exacerbated by this shitty skill tree system, which locks the things you want behind upgrades I wish I could avoid. Prior Arkham games let me upgrade the Batman that I wanted, now its more restricted. Furthermore, they lock some important upgrades behind optional side quests, like the damn critical strikes I can't get until 1/3rd through the game.
-Traversal kinda stinks, too. Its simply far less satisfying to move around the world, due to the restrictive, arbitrary grapple points. Perfectly horizontal ledges and rooftops, you simply just can't get on top or use to boost you around, which is a big downgrade from the freedom City gave you. The world is also twice as big for the sake of being big, and unless you unlocked all those fast travel points(oh wait, you CAN'T because one of them is glitched lolol), its just a hassle to get around in this game.
-Side missions are kinda wack. There are either A) fetch quests around the city, boring, B) even MORE badguys to fight in a game where you do way too many of that anyway, and C) riffs on Rocksteady's ideas(
).
-The story...well, spoilers.
-Bosses...pretty mixed bag. The much-ballyhooed Deathstrike fight is an overlong interactive quick-time event without the button prompts.
takes all the problems of AO's combat and multiplies them.
Honestly, the
boss brought me the most entertainment.
-It's glitchy/janky as FUCK. Nevermind the clipping error in the Riddler tower, how about falling through the damn map more than once divekicking towards an enemy? How about the camera not panning around so I couldn't see where to jump towards. Or entering a battle and having none of my attack buttons work as Batman walks around and enemies don't fight. One fight none of my utility weapons worked, I even switched to them manually and the quickfire didn't work. I climbed up a ledge on accident and got stuck in the geometry. I'll buy an upgrade in the batcave, fly to some location, the upgrade didn't register so I have to buy it again. Fast travel somewhere, the audio just cuts out in the cutscene. None of these things are game-breakers or something that can't be solved with a restart checkpoint, but they do add up, and in a game that was already frustrating me with its combat, its traversal, the direction the story went, etc, they just make the experience more frustrating.
-Honestly though, the biggest problem is that it never escapes the feeling of being as also-ran. A stop-gap. A current-gen prequel to a popular franchise made to get money out of fans while the A-Team works on the big next-gen installment. The 7/10 mainly comes from Rocksteady's game mechanics. Fighting, stealthing, moving around the environments; its still fun, but with so little major changes, it no longer fresh and interesting. Hacking doors seemed interesting the first dozen times you did it in City, now its just rudimentary in Origins. Combat is all Rocksteady's animations and ideas, with all the combat problems I mentioned above. Stealth is largely the same, with no new enemies, although the new Just Cause 2 like hook is a fun addition. Criminal investigations are visually interesting, but its overly simplistic and holds your hand step by step throughout the entire process. Honestly, if you gonna streamline it that much, I wish I could skip it. It all adds up to a game that never escapes Rocksteady's shadow; it doesn't improve on its core mechanics, and it doesn't bring much new to make it more interesting. By the end of the game, I was just hoping for it to be over.
I'm really curious what Rocksteady does next. It cannot just be prettier Arkham City 2.2. It has to be that kind of jump from Asylum to City again, and good luck to them. Because this right here don't cut it.
And enough with the fuckin' Joker.
-The combat is clearly worse than AC. From the pacing of the encounters, the enemy types, the arenas, the hyper-aggressive AI, the timing of the counters and increased wind-up time on attacks like the ground pounce, Batman's homing ability(several times he'll just punch the air and screw up a combo), its just frustrating. I see another group of enemies, and its like "fuck, not again". This is further exacerbated by this shitty skill tree system, which locks the things you want behind upgrades I wish I could avoid. Prior Arkham games let me upgrade the Batman that I wanted, now its more restricted. Furthermore, they lock some important upgrades behind optional side quests, like the damn critical strikes I can't get until 1/3rd through the game.
-Traversal kinda stinks, too. Its simply far less satisfying to move around the world, due to the restrictive, arbitrary grapple points. Perfectly horizontal ledges and rooftops, you simply just can't get on top or use to boost you around, which is a big downgrade from the freedom City gave you. The world is also twice as big for the sake of being big, and unless you unlocked all those fast travel points(oh wait, you CAN'T because one of them is glitched lolol), its just a hassle to get around in this game.
-Side missions are kinda wack. There are either A) fetch quests around the city, boring, B) even MORE badguys to fight in a game where you do way too many of that anyway, and C) riffs on Rocksteady's ideas(
Mad Hatter is just Scarecrow again, Deadshot is like a worse version of Mr. Freeze
-The story...well, spoilers.
The story started off with an interesting premise, Black Mask and these assassins. Then it turns out, nope its just The Joker! Again! *sigh*. Props to Troy Baker doing a good Mark Hamill impression, but Joker really bored me here. His antics no longer surprise or humor me. The most interesting scenes with him are either the Mad Love/Killing Joke anagram or the "you and I are the same/why won't you kill!?" scenes similar to The Dark Knight, which are both ideas handled faaaar better in the actual source material. There's supposedly some drama about Alfred being in danger, but since this is a prequel, we know he's gonna be just fine so its hard to care. The overall story has a few strong cinematics now and again, but the overall narrative lacks weight and I find myself forgetting it as soon as the credits rolled.
-Bosses...pretty mixed bag. The much-ballyhooed Deathstrike fight is an overlong interactive quick-time event without the button prompts.
Copperhead
Bane
was fine the first time, but we didn't need to fight him AGAIN, and certainly not with the tedious Mr. Freeze redux at the end.
Firefly is neat, in a heavily scripted kind of way.
Executioner
-It's glitchy/janky as FUCK. Nevermind the clipping error in the Riddler tower, how about falling through the damn map more than once divekicking towards an enemy? How about the camera not panning around so I couldn't see where to jump towards. Or entering a battle and having none of my attack buttons work as Batman walks around and enemies don't fight. One fight none of my utility weapons worked, I even switched to them manually and the quickfire didn't work. I climbed up a ledge on accident and got stuck in the geometry. I'll buy an upgrade in the batcave, fly to some location, the upgrade didn't register so I have to buy it again. Fast travel somewhere, the audio just cuts out in the cutscene. None of these things are game-breakers or something that can't be solved with a restart checkpoint, but they do add up, and in a game that was already frustrating me with its combat, its traversal, the direction the story went, etc, they just make the experience more frustrating.
-Honestly though, the biggest problem is that it never escapes the feeling of being as also-ran. A stop-gap. A current-gen prequel to a popular franchise made to get money out of fans while the A-Team works on the big next-gen installment. The 7/10 mainly comes from Rocksteady's game mechanics. Fighting, stealthing, moving around the environments; its still fun, but with so little major changes, it no longer fresh and interesting. Hacking doors seemed interesting the first dozen times you did it in City, now its just rudimentary in Origins. Combat is all Rocksteady's animations and ideas, with all the combat problems I mentioned above. Stealth is largely the same, with no new enemies, although the new Just Cause 2 like hook is a fun addition. Criminal investigations are visually interesting, but its overly simplistic and holds your hand step by step throughout the entire process. Honestly, if you gonna streamline it that much, I wish I could skip it. It all adds up to a game that never escapes Rocksteady's shadow; it doesn't improve on its core mechanics, and it doesn't bring much new to make it more interesting. By the end of the game, I was just hoping for it to be over.
I'm really curious what Rocksteady does next. It cannot just be prettier Arkham City 2.2. It has to be that kind of jump from Asylum to City again, and good luck to them. Because this right here don't cut it.
And enough with the fuckin' Joker.
Screaming Meat
Unconfirmed Member
To be honest, and without reading the spoilers, that reads more like 4/10 XD
ViewtifulJC
Banned
Yeah, its mostly complaints because the positives like the presentation, the combat, the stealth and stuff like that...its still a solid game, but its all from Rocksteady, ya know? It kinda goes without saying. Its got some great areas and a couple neat ideas, but I'm looking at it as a sequel, as something that is suppose to build on those mechanics, what these new guys brought to the table...it just doesn't really do its job, I find.
Luftwaffle
Neo Member
Is it just me or is it a little hard to do takedowns. I'm playing on PC and the control is Lctrl+right click or something. Half the time I end up just trying to counter when i press that combination.
Screaming Meat
Unconfirmed Member
Nah, that's fair enough, man. From what I've read on here, it definitely comes across as a stop gap game.
Jaded Alyx
Member
Apparently it performs the best of the three. No multiplayer though of course.
sketchsanchez
Member
Man i feel blessed. Haven't had a single glitch and the combat hasnt felt any different from City to me. Been rocking faces like usual.
Dave1988
Member
Wow, you're assessment seems spot on from what I've seen so far. While the combat in AA/AC was a pure joy to engage in, I'm starting to get tired of it in AO. There's just too much of it and with enemies being more aggressive, larger in numbers, and Bats being seemingly slower than ever as his animations haven't been adjusted for the increased enemy aggressiveness and speed, most fight start to feel like a chore rather than being fun. Worse still, I don't feel like Batman anymore. In AA/AC, I felt like you had the upper hand no matter the odds stacked against me. Sadly, I don't feel that way in AO.
I also completely agree that the new upgrade system is trash. There's just no flexibility to it.
This really feels like a game made by the B (C?) Team. They copied everything that made the games by Rocksteady so great but they do so without thought and do not seem to understand what made the games so good in the first place. What's worse, AO is a game that is full of glitches and bugs. Some minor and some way more severe. It feels to me that either WB Montreal didn't have enough time to QA the game properly or WB knew all along that this game won't live up to the expectations and just decided to release it and be done with it.
It's a shame that this game is shaping up to be a disappointment but at least there's still the next gen Rocksteady Batman project to look forward to.
So... as someone who isn't overly anxious to play this game at the moment do you guys recommend holding off until it gets patched? I'm a little bit paranoid after reading this thread and I'm wondering if it is even worth it to play the game in its current state.
Also how long is the game, I'm a bit surprised to see so many people having already beaten it. For reference it took me about 16 hours to finish Arkham City, a few less hours than that to finish Asylum but they were both in the same general range as far as playtime goes.
Also how long is the game, I'm a bit surprised to see so many people having already beaten it. For reference it took me about 16 hours to finish Arkham City, a few less hours than that to finish Asylum but they were both in the same general range as far as playtime goes.
The bugs, glitches and hard locks are the only thing upsetting me about the game but MAN they are fucking getting to me...
ViewtifulJC
Banned
Another thing about the combat, why the hell did they mute the sound effects? In Rocksteady's game, you had this big, impactful, distinctive sound, which not only felt good when your blows connected, it also told you the enemy was down and not getting back again. In the bigger brawls, that was a good thing to keep in mind.
Compare the sound of these finishing blows from City here
and here's the weak-ass Origins version
Just another weird quirk they added/changed that made the combat worse, IMO
Compare the sound of these finishing blows from City here
and here's the weak-ass Origins version
Just another weird quirk they added/changed that made the combat worse, IMO
ViewtifulJC
Banned
I'm starting to think this was intentional, like "this is younger Batman, so his attacks should be slower, sound weaker, enemies should be faster, he's always at a disadvantage" etc. In City, when I saw a big group it was like "Fuck yeah!", you were the aggressor, it was fast, fluid, and fun. Now, with all the combination of the above changes, plus the bad pacing of the encounters, the small arenas, the annoying enemy type combinations, its like "Fuck no not again..."
Yes. I spent a lot less time admiring the art assets this time around.
doniewhalberg
Member
Is there a new trick to critical strikes? I time it the exact way I did in AC, and it just seems I never get more than say 5-6 in a 50 hit combo. My shadow vigilante track has just kind of stopped there at rank...12 I think? for the last 6 hours of gameplay because I'm not getting any. Easy enough to do it in AA or Ac though.
AgentLampshade
Member
The function's there, but I haven't found a use for it. And I've finished the story.
One of the sidequests is started using it. Mostly it's used for the Anarchy marks, which are just another collectible.
canadian crowe
Member
Is it me or is this game way harder than the other ones. Im playing on hard and cant even get past the tutorial level.
Schweinehund
Member
hook claw thing, the thing you get off deathstroke. Its pretty awesome for predator maps to hook people onto the gargoyles
Someone said it earlier but the interiors are a bunch of fight arenas connected together by simple corridors.
I was walking through this big empty room on the way to an objective with fire extinguishers on the walls, gas canisters lazily left in the corners and boxes of guns strewn about. I thought to myself "there's going to be a big throw down in here when I inevitably have to come back" and low and behold it did kick off when returning.
It's almost as bad in a cover based shooter where there's debris and walls every where and you know a gun fight is going to kick off.
Never got that feeling with Asylum, a bit with City but Origins doesn't even try to blend them into the environment.
I was walking through this big empty room on the way to an objective with fire extinguishers on the walls, gas canisters lazily left in the corners and boxes of guns strewn about. I thought to myself "there's going to be a big throw down in here when I inevitably have to come back" and low and behold it did kick off when returning.
It's almost as bad in a cover based shooter where there's debris and walls every where and you know a gun fight is going to kick off.
Never got that feeling with Asylum, a bit with City but Origins doesn't even try to blend them into the environment.
Yep, it's the harder of the Arkhams. That last "crowd battle".. holy God.
AHA-Lambda
Member
I'm glad I've not been hit so hard with the glitches as some, all I've had are the Burnley towers one and the synopsis one.
I've completed the main story and all of the side content now except for Riddler. At this point I'll wait on a guide for the collectibles and also a patch for the tower glitch.
I've completed the main story and all of the side content now except for Riddler. At this point I'll wait on a guide for the collectibles and also a patch for the tower glitch.
canadian crowe
Member
So as someone who beat the other two on hard with no problems, i should start over on normal, shouldn't I?
I'm enjoying the game. Definitely feels like a B team version of a great franchise. Despite its inability to meet the standards of the previous two, the game is still fun and worth the $28 I spent on the ebay code I bought.
Game looks very pretty maxed out on PC. I was having the streaming issues at first, but I updated my drivers and those were gone.
Game looks very pretty maxed out on PC. I was having the streaming issues at first, but I updated my drivers and those were gone.
Great. Tried installing new drivers from AMD and now the game runs worse, cutscenes still act like slideshows, and I lost half the features for my AMD Control Center. And the game got stuck on the plane loading scene during fast travel for 10 minutes.
Seriously considering uninstalling this buggy ass game until I hear it's been patched for optimization and bug fixes. Damn it I've been mad at this game all day.
Seriously considering uninstalling this buggy ass game until I hear it's been patched for optimization and bug fixes. Damn it I've been mad at this game all day.
GAF, I just was fighting Deadshot and wtf!
This is on the 360 btw.
I fought him twice.
The first time, after I was pummeling him to a pulp didn't realize though that reinforcements for him would arrive and they shot me down.
The second, I cleared the room and then went to work on Deadshot, this is where it gets crazy, you know how you can't jump on him after the beat down to knock him out? Yea, well I was doing that along with the beat down, and he rolled right into the wall and disappeared??? His life meter went with him.
The game still has Deadshot on the map as a task to complete but hell he disappeared. I restarted and everything, and he doesn't come back.
I also simultaneously have the Electrocutioner to track down on the map. I do not want to start this over, this game is certainly not polished.
The first time, after I was pummeling him to a pulp didn't realize though that reinforcements for him would arrive and they shot me down.
The second, I cleared the room and then went to work on Deadshot, this is where it gets crazy, you know how you can't jump on him after the beat down to knock him out? Yea, well I was doing that along with the beat down, and he rolled right into the wall and disappeared??? His life meter went with him.
The game still has Deadshot on the map as a task to complete but hell he disappeared. I restarted and everything, and he doesn't come back.
I also simultaneously have the Electrocutioner to track down on the map. I do not want to start this over, this game is certainly not polished.
This is on the 360 btw.
doniewhalberg
Member
Depends how you play I guess, I'm 21 hours on the clock and I think I'm only half way through. 33% on my file, but I'm guessing a good % is side stuff. The last two could probably be done in that if you just went story to story mission.
This is more immediately post year one, just as the threat turns from the gangsters to the costumed villians. Batman literally doesn't know who The Joker is here for example. This is probably the genesis of
Arkham Asylum
vasametropolis
Member
Thoughts are not super organized and are mixed together. Spoilers from previous two games:
I finished it a bit earlier on Hard (first run) and I feel like I wouldn't give this game anything less than an 8/10. The story is better executed than AC's for sure, and unlike some people here, I think the weighty, counter-based combat is a welcome switch. I could mop the floor with enemies in the other two games with my eyes closed so it was great having to rethink some things. New enemy variants are excellent.
If I were to dock it, it would be for the city being a bit more boring, but still totally ok I guess. The thing that Rocksteady did really well was pack their game space full of an absurd amount of content, which these guys don't seem to have pulled off quite as well.
Also, once the game really gets going you want it to keep going, but like AC it feels like it ends a bit premature. That's not to say it's a non-ending, because it is totally complete, but I thought there would be a bit more.
Bosses = a range of usual stuff to pretty damn awesome.
I would say the other points are lost from a lack of moments where I was pleasantly surprised (not including story, which I really liked). AA had the Batcave on the island, which was cool as shit, and Scarecrow and Riddler stuff... and pretty much all the benefits of being the first game. AC had stuff like all the crazy nice side missions with a cast of characters that was massive, Wonder City, Riddler hostages, etc.
With AO, there understandably just weren't a lot of NEW ideas. They changed many things around, iterated, and added to things and made them noticeably better IMO (Detective mode is way cooler, but more can still be done with it) but it was lacking in more original ideas. I feel this is what it would have need to be a 9+ title, but make no mistake, what they made is still pretty damn good and worth your time. Not to mention, I think it's easily better than what a lot of review sites have been giving it.
I finished it a bit earlier on Hard (first run) and I feel like I wouldn't give this game anything less than an 8/10. The story is better executed than AC's for sure, and unlike some people here, I think the weighty, counter-based combat is a welcome switch. I could mop the floor with enemies in the other two games with my eyes closed so it was great having to rethink some things. New enemy variants are excellent.
If I were to dock it, it would be for the city being a bit more boring, but still totally ok I guess. The thing that Rocksteady did really well was pack their game space full of an absurd amount of content, which these guys don't seem to have pulled off quite as well.
Also, once the game really gets going you want it to keep going, but like AC it feels like it ends a bit premature. That's not to say it's a non-ending, because it is totally complete, but I thought there would be a bit more.
Bosses = a range of usual stuff to pretty damn awesome.
I would say the other points are lost from a lack of moments where I was pleasantly surprised (not including story, which I really liked). AA had the Batcave on the island, which was cool as shit, and Scarecrow and Riddler stuff... and pretty much all the benefits of being the first game. AC had stuff like all the crazy nice side missions with a cast of characters that was massive, Wonder City, Riddler hostages, etc.
With AO, there understandably just weren't a lot of NEW ideas. They changed many things around, iterated, and added to things and made them noticeably better IMO (Detective mode is way cooler, but more can still be done with it) but it was lacking in more original ideas. I feel this is what it would have need to be a 9+ title, but make no mistake, what they made is still pretty damn good and worth your time. Not to mention, I think it's easily better than what a lot of review sites have been giving it.
krameriffic
Member
I think the window is shortened. You have to hit the attack button very quickly after you are able to perform the attack.
I agree with almost everything you said. I made a similarly critical post in the spoiler thread. Only thing I disagree with is the
Firefly fight being interesting. I found it to be a clone of Poison Ivy in Asylum. All I did was dodge roll to avoid his attacks and then spam glue grenades and batarangs at him. Him going down to be batclawed is the equivalent of Ivy going down to be exploded, and there was nothing to the fight.
The "cinematic" portions of the fight where you have to move around were just dumb. I didn't see exactly what they wanted me to do, so I died the first couple times. Breaks the flow of the fight when that happens. Better developers like Naughty Dogs and Valve are good at executing that kind of encounter because they're better at demonstrating subtly but powerfully to the player what you're supposed to do next. When you don't see it, and you're in a place where you're constrained to be unable to fight, it's incredibly frustrating to not see what the developer wants you to do.
I know I should have gotten the Wii U version. The PC version is a mess. Fuck man.
ThoseDeafMutes
Member
I'm past 7 and not finished yet. I'm a series vet and only doing a little bit of side stuff, he must have been racing through.
vasametropolis
Member
It is? I didn't touch a lot of the side mission stuff yet so I can't speak to that, but I finished the game without noticing a thing, well, besides one of the radio towers that you get locked in which is an absurd bug to miss.
With those glitches it's not a bad idea, but at the same time I can't help but feel that can suck enjoyment out.
WanderingWind
Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
I'm sort of enjoying this, but the biggest thing that is turning a great experience into a "I can't wait until it's over" experience is the super shitty world traversing mechanics. The grapple doesn't attach to goddamn anything, you float slower than shit and there are enormous buildings scattered around that the game arbitrarily decides are not climbable - which wouldn't be as big of an issue if you could actually grapple pieces. I swear that red "no grapple sign" is burned into my TV.
Bah. And also, goddamn does this game just recycled content. I'm looking especially at you,
. Fuck off already.
Bah. And also, goddamn does this game just recycled content. I'm looking especially at you,
the wholly expected Joker
So since my save file is fucked I decided to replay AC. The combat is so much more forgiving, I'm destroying all my old high scores in the challenge rooms. Also, the level of polish puts Origins to shame. I guess beating next gen to stores was more important than finishing the game properly.
Fell through the map twice in the sewers 
I also had to manually restart during the
segment. An object kept spawning too far away from land, so Batman would jump into the water as opposed to standing on it :/ Either that, or it'd spawn too far on the land, meaning it wouldn't move across the water.
I also had to manually restart during the
Mad Hatter
I'm playing on PS3 and it seams to me that the environment textures aren't as sharp (even when they've streamed in fully they are still a little blurry, especially text based ones) but characters are on par at least.
Performance wise it feels about the same though it did get a little spotty when I went flat out grapnel boosting across the bridge (might have been going a little to quick for the game).
Though I'm only about 6 hours so god knows what the framerate will be like when the mass encounters start.
And we have save corruption on 360 too. I have a feeling there's really no way to win short of raw FPS on PC.