Finished playing through Batman: The Telltale Series last night. Missed out on the discussions while the episodes were coming out and I couldn't find a general thread for all episodes. Was also wondering if other people played through it since the holidays.
I really enjoyed it. I haven't played the other Telltale games (mostly because I don't care about any of the other franchises) and was pleasantly surprised by how they handled Batman. Batman in particular is such a good character for this kind of interactive narrative because so many people have different interpretations and preferences. Now I kind of don't want to play another game where I can't play as my Bruce.
Since I had never played a Telltale game before, I was really anxious whenever "[Character] will remember that." appeared on the screen. But apparently this has no effect. Reading online it seems like your choices don't usually matter except in a superficial sense. But I'm kind of okay with that? For now I was amused enough with being able to control Bruce's actions and seeing the immediate consequences of that even if they didn't tend to carry through. Of course I'd rather that my choices mattered more narrative wise. But ultimately I had more fun than I usually do with recent Batman stories because I wasn't constantly complaining about Bruce's characterization.
It seems like the episodes weren't very well received and that a second season isn't locked in, but I'd really want one. My biggest issue was performance. Played on PS4 and while I had minimal issues in episodes 1-4, the finale episode was almost impossible to play. :/
Bruce
My Bruce was very compassionate, honest, collaborative, and merciful. I loved, loved how much time we spent as Bruce out of the costume. The fighting seemed unnecessary most of the time and just filler before getting back to the meat of the game. I think my ideal Batman game might be Telltale narrative choices with Arkham fighting and predator sections. (Except I absolutely suck at those.) With some sort of way to choose how violent to be. Or I can live with them just being entirely separate games.
It's kind of cheating because obviously I get to choose how Bruce acts, but watching the game just reminds me how I have yet to see a Bruce I like in live action movies. (And by Bruce I mean the whole character. None of this Bruce and Batman being separate shit. If you can't play Bruce, you can't play Batman. Vice versa.) My other gripe is with the small "puzzles" and detective parts, if you can even call them that. Having a Batman game where you can actually be a detective would be amazing. (Even if it would probably be pretty hard.)
I'm generally really bored with stories about the early part of Bruce's life, but the game did a good job of keeping me interested and invested in where things were going. I don't know if I agree with all the changes, but at least none of them were so jarring that I couldn't move past them. Naturally the biggest change is the nature of Bruce's parents. I'm not 100% in yet, but I do think on some level the Batman stories should recognize that wealth of that size just cannot be dirty in some way. And it cemented that Alfred is truly best dad. On the other hand, I can see people reducing it to "Thomas and Bruce both put people into Arkham and make them worse so they're the same and evil!" I didn't take the bait when Cobblepot started talking about Martha and she's criminally ignored in Batman stories (as most female characters are) so I'm not entirely sure what was going on there. Maybe they'll go into it more in the future.
But what I want most in later games? Bruce as a dad. <3
Selina
My avatar is typically of Bruce and Selina's daughter (and right now it's of me copying a panel from her book) so of course I'm going to make sure her parents get together. Tbh my main goal in the game was to get Selina to fall in love with me once I realized that I could romance her. Success... pending? Seems like I was on the right track but the game didn't want to jump the gun with it. I also controlled myself and didn't tell Selina I loved her at the end 'cause I was pretty sure that would have sent her running. Which is fine because I prefer Bruce and Selina to be on and off when they're younger and then settle down when they're older and more mature. Speaking of mature, I thought the sex scene was pretty okay all things considered. In retrospect I could have been far more embarrassed while playing with my boyfriend watching.
I love that Bruce recognizes her as one of the smartest people he knows and that she was generally rather competent. I didn't even mind that there was an option to "save" her because she returns the favor afterwards so it really feels like they're on somewhat equal footing. I felt the stuff with Harvey though was kind of unnecessary considering there's already so much there for each character. (And guys fighting over a girl is stupid in general.)
I do like my Selina to be a bit more heroic, but considering that this is a young Selina, I thought it was a good foundation. I think it makes sense when she's younger that she feels guilty about how she's had to pull herself out of the gutter by stealing from people who are poor like her. So she puts on this persona of doing it for the fun and excitement to deal with it. Of course, you can also just buy into it and think she's selfish which is fair. But I like that the game gave me the option to tell her to cut the bullshit.
For later games, I'd want to see Selina take on a more Robin Hood type mission. I also want to see more of her backstory because I think it's so important in understanding why she does what she does. (I'm a firm believer that a poor Bruce Wayne would had ended up more like Selina than not.) And of course, more options for Bruce/Selina. I never knew until now that what I really wanted in a game was choosing what to make Catwoman for breakfast.
Harvey
Oh Harvey. He's one of my favorite villains so I tried really hard to be nice to him. But he was definitely a bit more sleazy than I had hoped even before Two-Face shows up. And yes, I saved Selina instead of Harvey after he dumped me. I pretty much assumed he'd go bad no matter what I did and with Selina at least I could show some loyalty. His character design was a bit jarring since he absolutely loomed over Bruce. Oh, and the coin came out of nowhere. I know that we've heard it a hundred times, but still. I ended up putting him into Arkham with the best intentions but we all know how that's gonna work out. I still kept telling him how I believed in him even after all the shit he pulled. Not as a politician, but as a person as least so that maybe one day Harvey can win.
Cobblepot
Another big change for a character. He was synthesized with Hush which might make the latter redundant. (I actually like Hush as a villain in theory. Being primarily written by Jeph Loeb though...) Like, I get it. It sucks that Bruce's parents did that shit, but Cobblepot felt pretty much irredeemable. Thematically and design-wise he fits a completely different space than the original Penguin though.
Vicki Vale
Alright, I don't like Vicki. She's a poor woman's Lois Lane. And she pretty much usually only exists as a love interest for Bruce. And let's be real: there's one woman in Bruce's life and she's not it. But I really liked what they did in this game. I should have learned from Mask of the Phantasm
I really enjoyed it. I haven't played the other Telltale games (mostly because I don't care about any of the other franchises) and was pleasantly surprised by how they handled Batman. Batman in particular is such a good character for this kind of interactive narrative because so many people have different interpretations and preferences. Now I kind of don't want to play another game where I can't play as my Bruce.
Since I had never played a Telltale game before, I was really anxious whenever "[Character] will remember that." appeared on the screen. But apparently this has no effect. Reading online it seems like your choices don't usually matter except in a superficial sense. But I'm kind of okay with that? For now I was amused enough with being able to control Bruce's actions and seeing the immediate consequences of that even if they didn't tend to carry through. Of course I'd rather that my choices mattered more narrative wise. But ultimately I had more fun than I usually do with recent Batman stories because I wasn't constantly complaining about Bruce's characterization.
It seems like the episodes weren't very well received and that a second season isn't locked in, but I'd really want one. My biggest issue was performance. Played on PS4 and while I had minimal issues in episodes 1-4, the finale episode was almost impossible to play. :/
Bruce
My Bruce was very compassionate, honest, collaborative, and merciful. I loved, loved how much time we spent as Bruce out of the costume. The fighting seemed unnecessary most of the time and just filler before getting back to the meat of the game. I think my ideal Batman game might be Telltale narrative choices with Arkham fighting and predator sections. (Except I absolutely suck at those.) With some sort of way to choose how violent to be. Or I can live with them just being entirely separate games.
It's kind of cheating because obviously I get to choose how Bruce acts, but watching the game just reminds me how I have yet to see a Bruce I like in live action movies. (And by Bruce I mean the whole character. None of this Bruce and Batman being separate shit. If you can't play Bruce, you can't play Batman. Vice versa.) My other gripe is with the small "puzzles" and detective parts, if you can even call them that. Having a Batman game where you can actually be a detective would be amazing. (Even if it would probably be pretty hard.)
I'm generally really bored with stories about the early part of Bruce's life, but the game did a good job of keeping me interested and invested in where things were going. I don't know if I agree with all the changes, but at least none of them were so jarring that I couldn't move past them. Naturally the biggest change is the nature of Bruce's parents. I'm not 100% in yet, but I do think on some level the Batman stories should recognize that wealth of that size just cannot be dirty in some way. And it cemented that Alfred is truly best dad. On the other hand, I can see people reducing it to "Thomas and Bruce both put people into Arkham and make them worse so they're the same and evil!" I didn't take the bait when Cobblepot started talking about Martha and she's criminally ignored in Batman stories (as most female characters are) so I'm not entirely sure what was going on there. Maybe they'll go into it more in the future.
But what I want most in later games? Bruce as a dad. <3
Selina
My avatar is typically of Bruce and Selina's daughter (and right now it's of me copying a panel from her book) so of course I'm going to make sure her parents get together. Tbh my main goal in the game was to get Selina to fall in love with me once I realized that I could romance her. Success... pending? Seems like I was on the right track but the game didn't want to jump the gun with it. I also controlled myself and didn't tell Selina I loved her at the end 'cause I was pretty sure that would have sent her running. Which is fine because I prefer Bruce and Selina to be on and off when they're younger and then settle down when they're older and more mature. Speaking of mature, I thought the sex scene was pretty okay all things considered. In retrospect I could have been far more embarrassed while playing with my boyfriend watching.
I love that Bruce recognizes her as one of the smartest people he knows and that she was generally rather competent. I didn't even mind that there was an option to "save" her because she returns the favor afterwards so it really feels like they're on somewhat equal footing. I felt the stuff with Harvey though was kind of unnecessary considering there's already so much there for each character. (And guys fighting over a girl is stupid in general.)
I do like my Selina to be a bit more heroic, but considering that this is a young Selina, I thought it was a good foundation. I think it makes sense when she's younger that she feels guilty about how she's had to pull herself out of the gutter by stealing from people who are poor like her. So she puts on this persona of doing it for the fun and excitement to deal with it. Of course, you can also just buy into it and think she's selfish which is fair.
But I like that the game gave me the option to tell her to cut the bullshit. For later games, I'd want to see Selina take on a more Robin Hood type mission. I also want to see more of her backstory because I think it's so important in understanding why she does what she does. (I'm a firm believer that a poor Bruce Wayne would had ended up more like Selina than not.) And of course, more options for Bruce/Selina. I never knew until now that what I really wanted in a game was choosing what to make Catwoman for breakfast.
Harvey
Oh Harvey. He's one of my favorite villains so I tried really hard to be nice to him. But he was definitely a bit more sleazy than I had hoped even before Two-Face shows up. And yes, I saved Selina instead of Harvey after he dumped me. I pretty much assumed he'd go bad no matter what I did and with Selina at least I could show some loyalty. His character design was a bit jarring since he absolutely loomed over Bruce. Oh, and the coin came out of nowhere. I know that we've heard it a hundred times, but still. I ended up putting him into Arkham with the best intentions but we all know how that's gonna work out. I still kept telling him how I believed in him even after all the shit he pulled. Not as a politician, but as a person as least so that maybe one day Harvey can win.
Cobblepot
Another big change for a character. He was synthesized with Hush which might make the latter redundant. (I actually like Hush as a villain in theory. Being primarily written by Jeph Loeb though...) Like, I get it. It sucks that Bruce's parents did that shit, but Cobblepot felt pretty much irredeemable. Thematically and design-wise he fits a completely different space than the original Penguin though.
Vicki Vale
Alright, I don't like Vicki. She's a poor woman's Lois Lane. And she pretty much usually only exists as a love interest for Bruce. And let's be real: there's one woman in Bruce's life and she's not it. But I really liked what they did in this game. I should have learned from Mask of the Phantasm
that the masked villain could be a woman but I keep underestimating writers[/spoiler.] I like that she's a foil to Bruce as far as adoptive parents go. My boyfriend didn't quite like how she was able to go toe to toe with Batman in that last fight, but I'm okay with that. I kind of just assume anyone who wants to in this universe can go out and be trained to do this shit.
Alfred
It's probably a bit too much, but I definitely took every opportunity I could to thank Alfred because he fucking deserves it. Realistically I think at this age Bruce is probably still too immature to really do it (at least to the extent that I did) but still. I totally revealed my identity to save him because:
1) It's fucking Alfred.
2) I operate on the assumption that most villains know Bruce's identity later on and don't care or no one believes them or whatever.
3) I wanted to see Vicki's reaction.
Lucius Fox
I'm sorry for doubting you Lucius, but I kept expecting the game to reveal that you were the mole inside Wayne Tech all along. I'm glad you weren't. ;-;
"John Doe"
One of the most refreshing parts of the game was no fucking Joker at first. Then I get to Arkham and I thought everything was going to go down the drain. Luckily he didn't take up too much screen time. It'll be different if there's a sequel though. And I guess we're not going with the whole Red Hood backstory? Unless Joker just doesn't remember and Bruce doesn't recognize him as that victim.
Jim Gordan
Jim Gordan was Jim Gordon. Although sometimes he talked about me being violent when I was trying very hard not to be. ;-;
Renee Montoya
I love my girl Renee but she didn't feel quite right? Maybe we can get a Gotham Central Telltale series starting her. Before it all goes to shit and she becomes The Question.
Overall the plot and mysteries were pretty standard Batman fair. But my love of Batman exists because of the characters and their interactions so this was definitely the game for me.
Now I really, really want a game where Bruce adopts Dick and becomes a dad. Honestly can't think of a game I want more. Or I would take a time skip to when he already has most of his kids.
What would you want for a sequel?
Alfred
It's probably a bit too much, but I definitely took every opportunity I could to thank Alfred because he fucking deserves it. Realistically I think at this age Bruce is probably still too immature to really do it (at least to the extent that I did) but still. I totally revealed my identity to save him because:
1) It's fucking Alfred.
2) I operate on the assumption that most villains know Bruce's identity later on and don't care or no one believes them or whatever.
3) I wanted to see Vicki's reaction.
Lucius Fox
I'm sorry for doubting you Lucius, but I kept expecting the game to reveal that you were the mole inside Wayne Tech all along. I'm glad you weren't. ;-;
"John Doe"
One of the most refreshing parts of the game was no fucking Joker at first. Then I get to Arkham and I thought everything was going to go down the drain. Luckily he didn't take up too much screen time. It'll be different if there's a sequel though.
And I guess we're not going with the whole Red Hood backstory? Unless Joker just doesn't remember and Bruce doesn't recognize him as that victim. Jim Gordan
Jim Gordan was Jim Gordon. Although sometimes he talked about me being violent when I was trying very hard not to be. ;-;
Renee Montoya
I love my girl Renee but she didn't feel quite right? Maybe we can get a Gotham Central Telltale series starting her. Before it all goes to shit and she becomes The Question.
Overall the plot and mysteries were pretty standard Batman fair. But my love of Batman exists because of the characters and their interactions so this was definitely the game for me.
Now I really, really want a game where Bruce adopts Dick and becomes a dad. Honestly can't think of a game I want more. Or I would take a time skip to when he already has most of his kids.
What would you want for a sequel?
