Batman: Arkham City Catch-All

I'm not very far (just got eaten by a shark) but so far I'm not feeling the game as much as B:AA. I don't know what it is, since the combat is pretty much the same. Maybe it's not as well paced as the first one. I also feel like there were a gazillion pop ups telling me what to do early on. It's like "do THIS, now THIS" etc. like a really extended FPS tutorial. The opening of B:AA was much slower and didn't throw a ton of things in your face.

kyrieee wrote:

I'm not very far (just got eaten by a shark) but so far I'm not feeling the game as much as B:AA. I don't know what it is, since the combat is pretty much the same. Maybe it's not as well paced as the first one. I also feel like there were a gazillion pop ups telling me what to do early on. It's like "do THIS, now THIS" etc. like a really extended FPS tutorial. The opening of B:AA was much slower and didn't throw a ton of things in your face.

I agree entirely. AA is paced so well and AC just isn't doing it for me like AA did. It's still a good game but I put it aside about half way through. I'll get back to it at some point.

If you stick to the main story, the pacing for AC is every bit as good as AA, IMO. I mostly followed it and didn't do a lot of the Riddler stuff or side missions (planning to do them later) and the story for me felt tense, and very well paced. I thought it was excellent and an overall better game than AA.

Finished! Man that was fun.

Still, a lot of Riddler stuff to do. But I just wanted to at least finish the story before I go visit family for a few days. Wasn't planning on taking my PS3 with me.

Free Batman Inc. DLC skin for PC and console, free challenge DLC for PC. Story with links.

kyrieee wrote:

Oops, just beat it. Felt like it was a lot shorter than AA.

Not sure that's true. But when you beat it, you still might have 50% completion rate. I have a lot of Joker stuff, Deadeye stuff, etc still sitting here to be done.

Oops, just beat it. Felt like it was a lot shorter than AA.

Jeff-66 wrote:
MannishBoy wrote:
Jeff-66 wrote:

What is the skill choice that destroys weapons? I could really use that, to prevent them from picking guns and shields up again.

It's the combo "Disarm and Destroy". X+Y on Xbox.

Thanks. For whatever reason, I've not seen that one introduced. I do use the B+Y instant-takedown, but haven't tried X+Y yet. I also picked up the bat-swarm stun, which is A+X I think. I'm not sure how useful it is, other than something to add to the variation bonus.

Hmm I never got that one either.
Had to combat moves that were never unlocked.

Oh I know, I just meant the main story.
I'm only like 36% or something complete. I got all the riddler stuff in the first one and I didn't feel like bothering with it in this one. Don't think I did a single side mission actually.

Finished the last Catwoman chapter this morning. You guys e right about it being tough.

Stele wrote:

Finished the last Catwoman chapter this morning. You guys e right about it being tough.

Is this prior to finishing the game proper, or is it post main game ending?

I haven't switched characters since beating the main story.

There was a fight that was probably a bit tougher near the end with Catwoman, that I assume would have been easier if I'd have put any points in her upgrades. But I enjoyed it, and got it without too many attempts on my hard play through.

Post game ending.

Spoiler:

Two Face

Just saw some comments a few pages back about it. Took me several tries. Ended up going with...

Spoiler:

taking out 3 of the thugs separately, which slowly drew off some of the others, leaving me a window where TwoFace was alone on a bridge. I knocked him down the stairs, away from the other guys, then kinda fought with him down towards the other stairway while the guys chased around. I got shot a couple times and really thought I was going to lose, but then finished him off with just a sliver of health left.

That was probably my 10th attempt though. After trying to clear the room, or trying to just clear one guy and bum rush TwoFace without much luck, I thought maybe clearing "most" of the guys would work better, and I got away with it.

That last bit with her was terrible, because it broke the established rules in a pretty un-fun way.

Spoiler:

I didn't fight any of the thugs. They just respawn/wake up too quickly. I would appear, do one "attack" on Harvey (since every attack does 25% damage, it doesn't matter if you do a takedown, regular attack, pounce, etc), then run like hell from all the bad guys until they lost interest. Repeat four times total. It really felt very un-Arkham City-ish, but there you have it.

I am really, really dreading it when I get around to New Game +.

Stele wrote:

Post game ending.

Spoiler:

Two Face

Just saw some comments a few pages back about it. Took me several tries. Ended up going with...

Spoiler:

taking out 3 of the thugs separately, which slowly drew off some of the others, leaving me a window where TwoFace was alone on a bridge. I knocked him down the stairs, away from the other guys, then kinda fought with him down towards the other stairway while the guys chased around. I got shot a couple times and really thought I was going to lose, but then finished him off with just a sliver of health left.

That was probably my 10th attempt though. After trying to clear the room, or trying to just clear one guy and bum rush TwoFace without much luck, I thought maybe clearing "most" of the guys would work better, and I got away with it.

For me, that 'fight' was comically easy ...

Spoiler:

I was out in the foyer/hall before the big room with the bridge. I was just sitting on a gargoyle. I was planning my attack, when TwoFace himself just comes wandering out into the foyer area, all alone. I pounced on him and beat him down with ease. That's all there was to the fight. I never even set foot in the big room, or had to fight any other henchmen.

I didn't like that section either, but about the earlier bossfight in that area:

Spoiler:

I think his name was Grundy or something, the guy Penguin kept. He was the most annoying boss for me. There's so much crap you have to dodge and I don't think the dodge mechanic is responsive enough to do it, at least not with m/kb, and getting hit by anyhing puts you in a stun or knockdown animation.

Why do the bosses all have so many stages btw? When I beat them I just feel relieved that I don't have to do them again. Maybe other people love them.

Jeff-66 wrote:
Stele wrote:

Post game ending.

For me, that 'fight' was comically easy ...

I had a very similar experience, and basically completed it accidentally....

Spoiler:

I came into the main area, had taken out 1 or 2 thugs, then put on the Cat-X-ray vison (or whatever) to track the others and plan my next move. I was up on a gargoyle when some thug walked along onto the balcony right under me. I pounced down, did a ground takedown and suddenly the encounter was over. I was confused because I still had the x-vision on, so I switched to normal only to see Catwoman standing over an incapacitated Two-Face.

I kind of felt ripped off, and with all the later talk of how hard this level was supposed to be I still do!

I completed the main quest on the weekend, with only a couple of side quests done and tons of Riddler trophies ignored. I also felt for most of the game that it just didn't have quite as good of a "feel" as Arkham Asylum. I finally figured out that the camera is pulled out just a bit too far for my liking in combat. Easier to see incoming attacks but somehow the first game felt more intense and literally close-quarters.

BUT..... I am finding the challenge (brawling) maps a lot of fun, and _better_ than those in the first game (hypocrite? no, I'm just complex ). There is more variety of opponents, bigger areas, and I still need to work on using the quick-gadgets more.

I think this is a _great_ game, but compared to the first one....maybe my expectations were a bit high. I was expecting an Aliens-calibre sequel and I think I got Predator 2.

kyrieee wrote:

Why do the bosses all have so many stages btw? When I beat them I just feel relieved that I don't have to do them again. Maybe other people love them.

The good part about this game as opposed to most is when you die on a boss it lets you continue from the stage you were on instead of starting at the beginning. It's a great feature and makes the fights much less frustrating.

Stele wrote:
kyrieee wrote:

Why do the bosses all have so many stages btw? When I beat them I just feel relieved that I don't have to do them again. Maybe other people love them.

The good part about this game as opposed to most is when you die on a boss it lets you continue from the stage you were on instead of starting at the beginning. It's a great feature and makes the fights much less frustrating.

Yeah. That's a nod to how annoying and dated boss battles are. I'd rather they just skipped traditional boss battles.

DSGamer wrote:
Stele wrote:
kyrieee wrote:

Why do the bosses all have so many stages btw? When I beat them I just feel relieved that I don't have to do them again. Maybe other people love them.

The good part about this game as opposed to most is when you die on a boss it lets you continue from the stage you were on instead of starting at the beginning. It's a great feature and makes the fights much less frustrating.

Yeah. That's a nod to how annoying and dated boss battles are. I'd rather they just skipped traditional boss battles.

I couldn't agree more.

I'm relieved that in the Batman series, the boss fights aren't annoying. They are doable, even by someone older than 15 and not amped on Redbull and cheetos. I don't hate them. That's my compliment to the Batman boss fights.

I liked the Joker boss fight because ...

Spoiler:

(the first Joker fight) because it just basically turns into a 'big' brawl/combat challenge room kind of fight. No 28 foot high monstrosity following a mechanical pattern. It's a tough fight, but a good way to do a boss fight IMO. And I like that Joker is just another guy you can pummel.

I enjoyed the Batman boss fights a lot. They all felt like logical challenges within the story, made use of skills you learned up through that point, and were not extraordinarily difficult.

I would like to know which Batman game Jayhawker played, because it wasn't Arkham Asylum or Arkham City.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

I would like to know which Batman game Jayhawker played, because it wasn't Arkham Asylum or Arkham City.

I played both, but was talking about AC.

It is comments like this that grow your reputation as a hater. It's cool that you didn't like the game so much. It's cool that you didn't find the boss fights compelling. It's cool that you post your impressions here for all of us to discuss.

But that was kind of a pointless chunk of bitterness that makes you look bad.

I'm sorry you felt like that was a pointless chunk of bitterness, Jayhawker. But I meant it literally: most of the boss fights in the Arkham games specifically do not make use of skills you've learned in the game up to that point. The only examples that come to mind where you do utilize your normal skills are the battles against Mr. Freeze and Joker in Arkham City, and Harley Quinn and arguably Bane in Arkham Asylum. Otherwise, they're arbitrarily mechanical, making use of your gadgets and powers in a way outside of their normal scope during regular gameplay, and not even as logical extensions. The Al-Ghul fight is the most egregious example in Arkham City.

"Hater"? Haven't heard that term lately.

Thing is, you can love Arkham City and hate the boss battles. I've already gone over this before, but I go back to that final boss battle in Arkham City. Literally minutes before that I had been swooping around Arkham, acting stealthy and taking out snipers. It was really fun. Then I get into a closed-off arena with no ability to grapple to safety or use any of my gadgets in a clever way and it's just patterns at that point. Much the same as it was in Deus Ex. It didn't make me hate the game in the end. But it severely diminished my enjoyment. Mostly because it felt so unnecessary. They didn't make the game any more fun to me. Just temporarily frustrating.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

I'm sorry you felt like that was a pointless chunk of bitterness, Jayhawker. But I meant it literally: most of the boss fights in the Arkham games specifically do not make use of skills you've learned in the game up to that point. The only examples that come to mind where you do utilize your normal skills are the battles against Mr. Freeze and Joker in Arkham City, and Harley Quinn and arguably Bane in Arkham Asylum. Otherwise, they're arbitrarily mechanical, making use of your gadgets and powers in a way outside of their normal scope during regular gameplay, and not even as logical extensions. The Al-Ghul fight is the most egregious example in Arkham City.

I agree with this. In both games there were several places where I didn't know how to defeat something until I died and read the tip during the loading screen. It's good that those tips are there, but it's a flaw in the design that they need to be there.

DSGamer wrote:

"Hater"? Haven't heard that term lately.

That's because the current term is actually "Clocky".

"Clocker" is the noun form.

I just thought it was a humorous way to say "you're in the minority if you like the boss fights." Didn't seem like a big deal to me.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

"Clocker" is the noun form.

Duly noted!

As somebody who routinely hates boss fights, I really don't have a problem with the ones in this game. Even the final fight made sense to me - dodge, dodge, use a specific gadget, fight some dudes, repeat.

The Poison Ivy on in AA made me want to find the programmers responsible and end them. For me it was just the difficulty was so high with the spikes coming out of the ground and the goons, and the difficulty in actually hitting Ivy...gah.

But Arkham City really didn't bother me at all. I died once or twice on some of them but for the most part I was just fine with it. It's also pretty well in line with Batman comics...I mean, Batman is only going to gather so many clues and tie up so many thugs before he actually has to fight the "real" villain each time.

This is a game I actually want to 100%. I've got every single Riddler item, 3 medals on all the combat challenges, and 3 medals on the first 6 predator challenges. Just did my first campaign. It was okay, but the modifiers are sort of dumb. Once I'm done with all the challenge rooms and campaigns, I'll probably head back into New Game + while my skills are still fresh. Then I'm buying a grapnel gun and trying this all out for real.

I have put myself on a total blackout since the release of the game and now its finally on sale.
My big question to all of you is, what DLC packs are worth the extra money? Are those extra characters that different that you would pay for them just for the challenge maps?