They really need to pull their head out of their ass and redo their Arkham City design in Arkham Knight.
Nobody is impressed with the one round AR challenges. They suck.
I will say I do like that the 3 waves are connected via spawns instead of breaks in the fighting. A combo that runs 3 waves feels pretty great.
On a different topic, and I haven't any real test on this, just going on basic feel, the game seems to run a faster/smoother with KBAM than with gamepad.
I do not like the way the enemies spawn mid wave at all in this game. They can attack instantly and the spawning graphic covers the counter icon as well as their general outline so you can't see their animations properly either. It has lost me combos. I'm doing shit, planning out my attacks, bam dude in the middle of nowhere.
Batman is about forward planning first and foremost. Because the spawns are not in set locations and not set times it throws the whole foreplanning thing out on its ear. It's out of place.
Sure it feels great to have a long combo but the old system could already handle endless spawn enemies. They just had them jump a barrier first and run over to you. This let you see them coming.
The best way to genuinely piss me off is to take a really consistent system and ruin it for momentary thrills. Because the thrills wear off after a while, and when you knuckle down to best your own score you now have to deal with an inconsistent system without the appropriate tools or game design.
Same reason I hate the batclaw zoom in.
Don't get me wrong, there are some pretty great combat systems out there that can revel in inconsistency, but they give you tools to bounce back from such situations and don't unduly punish you when things do go against you. But Batman isn't about reflexes, or combat technical proficiency, or any of those things. It's about all the higher order stuff that happens after you've mastered those things in other games: the unconscious choosing of your next target and flowing onto them soon as the previous is deal with, dividing your attention between the other enemies on the battlefield and not just the enemy you are currently fighting, prioritising the greatest threats instead of the nearest enemy, and making long range plans several steps in advance.
They deliberately created a combat engine that requires these skills just to progress at a basic level. Even if you are constantly getting hit and lose your combo, as long as you actually beating the fights at all you are utilising these skills at some level, otherwise you die.
If that's your design, you don't make enemies spawn right next to you and attack instantly with covered cues. That's a design for another game. And you damn well don't do it in a secondary mode whose entire purpose is challenging yourself and your friends. The only variable should be your own skill. Anything else is a mistake.
Morninglord on
(PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
Got a triple kill on humvees with the batmobile. Chasing one guy down, just about to hit him, come to an intersection with 2 more humvees right in the middle. Side swipe into original target, send him crashing through one of the others, and boost straight through the 3rd. If I had 1 more second in that round I would have broken into the top 100. I was on a guy but couldn't quite get a lock in time. As it sits, I'm ranked 101.
I loaded up AC today and was astounded by just how much better AK is when you compare them directly. Granted AK has a few things here and there that are silly/steps backward, but as a whole, wow they did a great job building on the franchise. (*note: I personally enjoyed the tank stuff, minus the boss battle part.)
Speaking of the Batmobile and APC chases, I had a pretty amazing glitch happen.
Chasing just the APC, its escort was all taken out. Down to the last hit and trying to get the lock on when we both ramped over a hill or something. APC lands and keeps going, but I fell through the ground. Just kept falling falling falling, watching the map get smaller and smaller as I fell. I finally fell so much, that I just landed right in the middle of the street, like the game world looped back around or something. Heading straight for me was the APC... so I floored it and hit the afterburner. *Bwoooooom* slow-mo takedown. I just sat there like "...I'm the goddamn Batman!"
Everyone has a price. Throw enough gold around and someone will risk disintegration.
So... from an onlookers perspective, Batman was in an unsurvivable crash, whereas in fact he was sent outside of normal spacetime, only to reappear just when needed to stop a criminal from getting away?
Because I'm positive that's been done in the actual comics, with a few minor twists.
I'm one of the lucky ones who has a PC that played very nicely with the game. I still have to track down all of Riddler's garbage, but I loved the game. Probably helped that I really enjoyed the Batmobile stuff, even if it never felt as quintessential Batman as the combat and predator segments. The narrative matched the previous games in that the moment to moment pacing, writing, and action is excellent, but the overarching plot and themes fall a bit flat. Some specific points:
- Holy crap is the gliding way better. I was able to 100% all the challenge rooms in Asylum, but for City and Origins I couldn't be bothered because I loved gliding around the city too much. Sadly, I don't think I'll be able to play those games again. Not only are the actual physics of the gliding improved significantly, but this city is made to glide around. And through. Its perfectly functional if you just want to get from point A to point B at a decent speed. But if you want to speed-glide through narrow openings, Rocksteady has built the city for you. There are so many little railings and platforms that create tight windows for Batman to glide through. I was never a fan of the "fly through the rings" game type, but it feels so organic here that I can't resist.
- I'm a fan of the Batmobile, but I wish there had been more of the revamped predator and combat segments.
- I think the FEAR takedowns are great. I do wish the double takedown didn't get rolled under the FEAR, and it can occasionally be frustrating to target enemies, but other than those issues I think its an improvement. Most of the other takedowns are still there anyway, they're just called silent now so that you recharge fear. I love trying to corral thugs into close quarters so I can set up a huge FEAR takedown.
- These games keep treating predator combat like the red headed step child, instead of the awesome Batman mode that it is. Asylum was the only game that held a good balance between predator and combat, and even that was tilting towards combat. The games have gotten emphasized combat more and more, and this game focuses on the tank gameplay to the detriment of the other gameplay types.
- I wish Rocksteady had iterated on some of Origins design. Origins had a great crime in progress system that generated random combat opportunities. This game sort of does the same thing - the rioters - but as far as I can tell those are only standard mooks, whereas Origins had the full array of mooks. Copying Origins system would have been better, and it'd have been nice if this game also had "predator crimes in progress" and repopulated some of the Predator encounters. Also, the game had exactly one interesting boss fight. Pretty much every boss encounter in Origins is memorable. Maybe Rocksteady should have called up some of the Origins team for advice? If you've played Origins there's one fight in particular that is unforgivable.
- The interesting boss fight was the
Arkham Knight predator fight
. That and the fights with allies were the most unique encounters in the game. Why can we only do them a handful of times? By the way, during the latter, I liked to wait until there were one or two mooks left, switch to Batman, and watch Nightwing or Robin as they took down the last few guys. I cut some combos short early, but I felt like Batman needed to evaluate his proteges.
All in all great game. Really hope we get some legit challenge rooms soon.
+2
Options
NocrenLt Futz, Back in ActionNorth CarolinaRegistered Userregular
edited July 2015
I do love Rocksteady's banter.
"Ok ok, we do one, maybe two more riots, then we're outta here. I gotta watch the kids tomorrow."
"Hey can we swing by a toy store? Promised my kid I'd pick him up something nice."
I love hearing "Yeah, I faced The Bat back in Arkham City. Broke my arm in two places." just as you're about to slam into the guy with a fully charged glide takedown.
I also love fucking with the guy who's superstitious about saying "Batman" and then the other guy says it to prove he's being rediculous. I like to just jump down from the rooftops right after he says it.
Everyone has a price. Throw enough gold around and someone will risk disintegration.
+2
Options
Caulk Bite 6One of the multitude of Dans infesting this placeRegistered Userregular
I keep trying to track down the guy who says he's been in all these games riots - Blackgate, Asylum, City, Halloween - and he's never seen Batman once. Not once!
I really want to just land behind him as he finishes the line, but he's always too far away for me to track down in time.
Speaking of the Batmobile and APC chases, I had a pretty amazing glitch happen.
Chasing just the APC, its escort was all taken out. Down to the last hit and trying to get the lock on when we both ramped over a hill or something. APC lands and keeps going, but I fell through the ground. Just kept falling falling falling, watching the map get smaller and smaller as I fell. I finally fell so much, that I just landed right in the middle of the street, like the game world looped back around or something. Heading straight for me was the APC... so I floored it and hit the afterburner. *Bwoooooom* slow-mo takedown. I just sat there like "...I'm the goddamn Batman!"
"He just came outta the goddam sky!"
Morninglord on
(PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
I'm at the point where I have side quests to defeat but there's nothing on my map. I guess I just drive around until they pop up? Boo. In particular I have one checkpoint left and no idea where it is.
I'm at the point where I have side quests to defeat but there's nothing on my map. I guess I just drive around until they pop up? Boo. In particular I have one checkpoint left and no idea where it is.
You'd need to drive/fly around. The checkpoint counters reflect how many are actually on the map, not the 20 total in game, more spawn as plot progresses and such. Which island is it on?
“I used to draw, hard to admit that I used to draw...”
I'm at the point where I have side quests to defeat but there's nothing on my map. I guess I just drive around until they pop up? Boo. In particular I have one checkpoint left and no idea where it is.
You'd need to drive/fly around. The checkpoint counters reflect how many are actually on the map, not the 20 total in game, more spawn as plot progresses and such. Which island is it on?
Also, listen for police chatter, they will sometimes give you a nudge in the right direction. Depending on which side quests, sometimes Alfred will have "intel" that will give you a way point pretty much right where you need to be.
But yes, this is a terrible point in the game just searching for the last few things you need.
If there are still drones in the sky, you can use detective vision to spot them from far away and through buildings. Making your way to them might help you find the other sidequests you need to complete.
The DLC this month is just the 1989 Batman/mobile and race track, right? I want challenge rooms!
Everyone has a price. Throw enough gold around and someone will risk disintegration.
0
Options
IlpalaJust this guy, y'knowTexasRegistered Userregular
One thing I was able to do if you're in postgame mode, was if you quit to the main menu and re-enter, usually I'd get contacted about the general location of the next whatever (firefighter for me) immediately. Sucks that I had to did that, but hey.
FF XIV - Qih'to Furishu (on Siren), Battle.Net - Ilpala#1975
Switch - SW-7373-3669-3011
Fuck Joe Manchin
I'm at the point where I have side quests to defeat but there's nothing on my map. I guess I just drive around until they pop up? Boo. In particular I have one checkpoint left and no idea where it is.
I you want to know them, I've got a list pretty much all the locations for checkpoints, bombs, and so on.
I'm missing a few watchtowers, but those are easy enough to spot from the air, just look for the red searchlights.
Just say what you're missing (and which island it's on), and I can give you some pointers.
Is that anything different than just hitting F12 in Steam?
Most photo modes let you pause the action, then move the camera around to get whatever angle you want. They also offer post-processing, depth of field, etc.
Much more than just hitting the screenshot button. PS4/Xbox have that at the system level too, btw.
Is that anything different than just hitting F12 in Steam?
Most photo modes let you pause the action, then move the camera around to get whatever angle you want. They also offer post-processing, depth of field, etc.
Much more than just hitting the screenshot button. PS4/Xbox have that at the system level too, btw.
Is that anything different than just hitting F12 in Steam?
Most photo modes let you pause the action, then move the camera around to get whatever angle you want. They also offer post-processing, depth of field, etc.
Much more than just hitting the screenshot button. PS4/Xbox have that at the system level too, btw.
Well that's pretty cool.
As an example, this Infamous Second Son shot was taken in-game using the photo mode.
Photo mode almost made me postpone finishing him up, just so I could take some good shots of him getting beat. But since I have no idea when it will actually update for PC, I just went ahead and finished him up.
Did take him along for some tank fighting before heading to GCPD.
Posts
I do not like the way the enemies spawn mid wave at all in this game. They can attack instantly and the spawning graphic covers the counter icon as well as their general outline so you can't see their animations properly either. It has lost me combos. I'm doing shit, planning out my attacks, bam dude in the middle of nowhere.
Batman is about forward planning first and foremost. Because the spawns are not in set locations and not set times it throws the whole foreplanning thing out on its ear. It's out of place.
Sure it feels great to have a long combo but the old system could already handle endless spawn enemies. They just had them jump a barrier first and run over to you. This let you see them coming.
The best way to genuinely piss me off is to take a really consistent system and ruin it for momentary thrills. Because the thrills wear off after a while, and when you knuckle down to best your own score you now have to deal with an inconsistent system without the appropriate tools or game design.
Same reason I hate the batclaw zoom in.
Don't get me wrong, there are some pretty great combat systems out there that can revel in inconsistency, but they give you tools to bounce back from such situations and don't unduly punish you when things do go against you. But Batman isn't about reflexes, or combat technical proficiency, or any of those things. It's about all the higher order stuff that happens after you've mastered those things in other games: the unconscious choosing of your next target and flowing onto them soon as the previous is deal with, dividing your attention between the other enemies on the battlefield and not just the enemy you are currently fighting, prioritising the greatest threats instead of the nearest enemy, and making long range plans several steps in advance.
They deliberately created a combat engine that requires these skills just to progress at a basic level. Even if you are constantly getting hit and lose your combo, as long as you actually beating the fights at all you are utilising these skills at some level, otherwise you die.
If that's your design, you don't make enemies spawn right next to you and attack instantly with covered cues. That's a design for another game. And you damn well don't do it in a secondary mode whose entire purpose is challenging yourself and your friends. The only variable should be your own skill. Anything else is a mistake.
I need to do some drifting and some crit tank shots before I can wrap up the AR.
Steam ID: Good Life
Steam ID: Good Life
Chasing just the APC, its escort was all taken out. Down to the last hit and trying to get the lock on when we both ramped over a hill or something. APC lands and keeps going, but I fell through the ground. Just kept falling falling falling, watching the map get smaller and smaller as I fell. I finally fell so much, that I just landed right in the middle of the street, like the game world looped back around or something. Heading straight for me was the APC... so I floored it and hit the afterburner. *Bwoooooom* slow-mo takedown. I just sat there like "...I'm the goddamn Batman!"
Because I'm positive that's been done in the actual comics, with a few minor twists.
- Holy crap is the gliding way better. I was able to 100% all the challenge rooms in Asylum, but for City and Origins I couldn't be bothered because I loved gliding around the city too much. Sadly, I don't think I'll be able to play those games again. Not only are the actual physics of the gliding improved significantly, but this city is made to glide around. And through. Its perfectly functional if you just want to get from point A to point B at a decent speed. But if you want to speed-glide through narrow openings, Rocksteady has built the city for you. There are so many little railings and platforms that create tight windows for Batman to glide through. I was never a fan of the "fly through the rings" game type, but it feels so organic here that I can't resist.
- I'm a fan of the Batmobile, but I wish there had been more of the revamped predator and combat segments.
- I think the FEAR takedowns are great. I do wish the double takedown didn't get rolled under the FEAR, and it can occasionally be frustrating to target enemies, but other than those issues I think its an improvement. Most of the other takedowns are still there anyway, they're just called silent now so that you recharge fear. I love trying to corral thugs into close quarters so I can set up a huge FEAR takedown.
- These games keep treating predator combat like the red headed step child, instead of the awesome Batman mode that it is. Asylum was the only game that held a good balance between predator and combat, and even that was tilting towards combat. The games have gotten emphasized combat more and more, and this game focuses on the tank gameplay to the detriment of the other gameplay types.
- I wish Rocksteady had iterated on some of Origins design. Origins had a great crime in progress system that generated random combat opportunities. This game sort of does the same thing - the rioters - but as far as I can tell those are only standard mooks, whereas Origins had the full array of mooks. Copying Origins system would have been better, and it'd have been nice if this game also had "predator crimes in progress" and repopulated some of the Predator encounters. Also, the game had exactly one interesting boss fight. Pretty much every boss encounter in Origins is memorable. Maybe Rocksteady should have called up some of the Origins team for advice? If you've played Origins there's one fight in particular that is unforgivable.
- The interesting boss fight was the
All in all great game. Really hope we get some legit challenge rooms soon.
"Ok ok, we do one, maybe two more riots, then we're outta here. I gotta watch the kids tomorrow."
"Hey can we swing by a toy store? Promised my kid I'd pick him up something nice."
I also love fucking with the guy who's superstitious about saying "Batman" and then the other guy says it to prove he's being rediculous. I like to just jump down from the rooftops right after he says it.
I think they learned a lot from the backlash to the mook banter from City
What bitch do you that bitch mean?
I really want to just land behind him as he finishes the line, but he's always too far away for me to track down in time.
A little variety in your slurs, please gentlemen...
Steam ID: Good Life
"He just came outta the goddam sky!"
Steam ID: Good Life
You'd need to drive/fly around. The checkpoint counters reflect how many are actually on the map, not the 20 total in game, more spawn as plot progresses and such. Which island is it on?
Also, listen for police chatter, they will sometimes give you a nudge in the right direction. Depending on which side quests, sometimes Alfred will have "intel" that will give you a way point pretty much right where you need to be.
But yes, this is a terrible point in the game just searching for the last few things you need.
Steam ID: Good Life
Switch - SW-7373-3669-3011
Fuck Joe Manchin
I you want to know them, I've got a list pretty much all the locations for checkpoints, bombs, and so on.
I'm missing a few watchtowers, but those are easy enough to spot from the air, just look for the red searchlights.
Just say what you're missing (and which island it's on), and I can give you some pointers.
The promo image shows Batman, Nightwing, Robin, and Catwoman.
Nice.
Maybe by then they will be putting out DLC for the PC.
Steam ID: Good Life
Steam ID: Good Life
Most photo modes let you pause the action, then move the camera around to get whatever angle you want. They also offer post-processing, depth of field, etc.
Much more than just hitting the screenshot button. PS4/Xbox have that at the system level too, btw.
Well that's pretty cool.
Steam ID: Good Life
As an example, this Infamous Second Son shot was taken in-game using the photo mode.
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5138/14081218943_54739f6b26_o.jpg
Did take him along for some tank fighting before heading to GCPD.
Steam ID: Good Life