Batman: Arkham City Catch-All

Plastefuchs wrote:

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?

If you haven't heard, they've released two new DLC bundles today, and released the Batman, Inc skin for free. Personally, I was waiting for something like this to bundle everything together, so I'll probably bite.

Yeah, I've got to chime in and say I'm still not following the boss fight hate. Not all of them were stellar by any means, but there wasn't anything on par with the frustration of the Poison Ivy fight, the repetitive Bane/Titan battles and Scarecrow sequences (awesome the first time, boring by the third), or the silly final Joker battle from AA. The Al'Ghul fight wasn't anything special mechanically, but it WAS an impressive set piece. Mr. Freeze was awesome for reasons already gone into at length. Most of the rest, like Solomon Grundy or

Spoiler:

Clayface

, were just kind of there.

In regards to the DLC, it's probably awesome but I'm 40 hours in and I still have content to master (including the whole NG+) so if cash is tight, don't bother, but if you enjoy the challenge/campaign rooms, why not?

Damn is Games for Windows a pile of garbage.

After playing for few days, last night Batman: AC starts crashing when I try to log in my GfW account. No error code, no information, as soon as I click on my account I get punted back to the desktop. Turns out I needed to log into their website (that being the X-Box Live website because Microsoft has stopped even pretending to give a damn) and agree to an updated EULA. How about linking me to it GfW? How about providing me even a single bit of information telling me what I need to do? How about not shutting down the game I'm trying to play so abruptly that I think your idiotic system is crashing it? God forbid you incorporate it into all that useless junk you include as an in-game overlay.

Tannhauser wrote:

Damn is Games for Windows a pile of garbage.

After playing for few days, last night Batman: AC starts crashing when I try to log in my GfW account. No error code, no information, as soon as I click on my account I get punted back to the desktop. Turns out I needed to log into their website (that being the X-Box Live website because Microsoft has stopped even pretending to give a damn) and agree to an updated EULA. How about linking me to it GfW? How about providing me even a single bit of information telling me what I need to do? How about not shutting down the game I'm trying to play so abruptly that I think your idiotic system is crashing it? God forbid you incorporate it into all that useless junk you include as an in-game overlay.

I've seen several people with that same problem. Sometimes I think GFWL is run by a small team of chimpanzees.

At least you could log in at Xbox Live Marketplace (shiver).

When I tried previously for the patch (which never did work -thanks again Green Man Gaming. I know to NEVER buy anything from you again), it wouldn't let me on. After some google-fu I learned that my password is probably too complex. Apparently the Marketplace can't handle passwords over 8 characters ?!?!?!?!

If I reset my password (which is also hit-and-miss because the Microsoft servers for THAT were down for a while) to something shorter it lets me in.

Bleargh. I hope the developers got SERIOUS coin for locking into GFWL again.

The game crashes on startup 3/4 times for me too, the intro movies have sound bugs, the splash screen has a graphical glitch. Strange stuff.

By Grapthar's Hammer, what a difference! So after having this on the xbox 360 for a while now and dumping maybe 2-3 hours into it, I finally picked this up on the PC. Holy crap. PC just blows the 360 out of the water. On xbox I had to go normal difficulty because I was having so much difficulty. On hard, the first fight outside the courthouse took me maybe 10-15 retries.

I loaded it up on the PC, whacked it on hard and sliced up those thugs like a chainsaw wielding ninja on crack. It was like easy mode. Inside the courthouse I got a 39x combo. Never took a hit and beat it first go.

I solidly pledge never to buy another game on xbox ever again... ever!

BlackSabre wrote:

By Grapthar's Hammer, what a difference! So after having this on the xbox 360 for a while now and dumping maybe 2-3 hours into it, I finally picked this up on the PC. Holy crap. PC just blows the 360 out of the water. On xbox I had to go normal difficulty because I was having so much difficulty. On hard, the first fight outside the courthouse took me maybe 10-15 retries.

I loaded it up on the PC, whacked it on hard and sliced up those thugs like a chainsaw wielding ninja on crack. It was like easy mode. Inside the courthouse I got a 39x combo. Never took a hit and beat it first go.

I solidly pledge never to buy another game on xbox ever again... ever!

That's hilarious! I had no idea they gimped the difficulty to account for old geezers on their PC's. I guess it makes sense.

It wouldn't be the first game that's ever had different difficulty levels between PC and console, although it's a surprising choice to me. Some developers get really into it and make each version tailor made for each platform, and some just do quick tweaks like upping the game speed (UT3).

I know there's the holy war between joypad and keyboard/mouse, but on AA I much preferred being able to spin the camera around as I wanted, although I don't really think it would make that much of a difference.

I'm pretty sure there's no difference. I suspect either he likes the K&M combo better, or the higher FPS makes the game more fluid and thus it feels better.

Yeah either the controls he's used to or the fps.

I ended up plugging my PS3 controller in after I had platinumed AA on PS3 though, and went through PC GotY 1000-ing that. So I figure I'm way more used to the dual analog now, and stuck with PS3 for AC.

MannishBoy wrote:

I'm pretty sure there's no difference. I suspect either he likes the K&M combo better, or the higher FPS makes the game more fluid and thus it feels better.

Yeah, pretty much this. It's just the controls.

Not sure if Jayhawker is trolling or not, but all I was trying to point out is that the mouse and keyboard makes a pretty huge difference for me.

Jayhawker wrote:

That's hilarious! I had no idea they gimped the difficulty to account for old geezers on their PC's. I guess it makes sense.

I think that's to balance out the increased difficulty of the "get the game that you paid good money for to run despite constant interference from GFWL" minigame.

ThatGuy42 wrote:
Plastefuchs wrote:

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?

If you haven't heard, they've released two new DLC bundles today, and released the Batman, Inc skin for free. Personally, I was waiting for something like this to bundle everything together, so I'll probably bite.

Ehhhhhh....the only thing you're getting in the DLC are a couple of challenge rooms and some skins. I got the free Robin DLC from Bestbuy, and while it was cool, the only real difference is character animations. They play pretty much exactly the same with the exception of gadgets.

And the skins are only usable in the challenge rooms (except the Darkwing skin), so unless you're really into the challenge rooms you can probably save yourself some money.

BlackSabre wrote:

Not sure if Jayhawker is trolling or not, but all I was trying to point out is that the mouse and keyboard makes a pretty huge difference for me.

I don't really like the M&K on this game, as it makes it harder for me to bounce around between enemies. But whatever works and makes it most fun to you.

BlackSabre wrote:
MannishBoy wrote:

I'm pretty sure there's no difference. I suspect either he likes the K&M combo better, or the higher FPS makes the game more fluid and thus it feels better.

Yeah, pretty much this. It's just the controls.

Not sure if Jayhawker is trolling or not, but all I was trying to point out is that the mouse and keyboard makes a pretty huge difference for me.

I wouldn't say trolling, just that it was odd that you viewed Xbox games as the problem. I figured you were using a controller on the PC. But I'm skeptical of anyone that says they can't use a specific input device, because I remember resisting the mouse for first person shooters. Then, after forcing myself to adapt realizing it was probably the most perfect way to control the game.

Then I resisted using a gamepad for Halo, eventually picking it up for the PC because it obviously needed a keyboard and mouse. My PC allowed me to get far enough into the game to enjoy it, but I tired of the fact that it ran so poorly. So I decided I wasn't less capable than the millions playing Halo with a gamepad, and forced myself to adapt, finding that while it can't be more precise, it easily my favorite way to play. so I became a console gamer primarily, and gave up on the PC in favor of my Mac.

In reality, when we think controllers won't work, yet millions are enjoying a game with that particular controller, we are blocking ourselves from learning and adapting.

I definitely think people should buy games on the platforms they enjoy the most. If I had a PC that could handle gaming, I'd be gaming on it. And I suppose I would bounce between a controller and mouse and keyboard depending on the title, as I did before. I suspect I would play Batman with a controller, but I have read enough positive views from folks using a keyboard and mouse that I would have to try it.

Just beat this. I had heard lots of people (reviewers) complaining that there were too many distractions, so I came up with a solution.

I didn't do any sidequests or optional material unless it was more trouble not to.

12 hours of expertly-paced, smoothly-flowing awesome.

I played it on my PC, near-maxed graphics, 42" LCD TV, 360 controller. So amazing.

I just need to finish the

Spoiler:

Catwoman "Epilogue"

.

On to Saint's Row the Third!

So, after frying my old processor I now have a new setup, i5 2500, 8GB of RAM, Batman is now smooth as butter. But my saves are gone. You will pay for this, GFWL, one day I will smear your viscera all over Gotham. It already cost me my 100 percent save of AA and now I lost 13 hours of Batman AC. The hate, it is flowing profusely.

If you've still got your old windows user profile you might be able to salvage it. That we have to pray to the tech gods to salvage a save file from GFWL encryption is still stupid though.

Yes I have that, but several tries to restore the saves produced no results. I will still be googlin' n'tryin' though.

Okay, so playing this last night on PC. Everything was running smoothly. I am about 3/4 of the way through and during the big arena fight right before you go to Tyger my computer randomly decides to only give me about 5 frames per second.

So I spent about 10 minutes fighting the 15 guys at 5 FPS, never been more annoyed in my life, almost gave me a headache.

And of course as soon as that fight is over it went back to normal.

Scratched wrote:

If you've still got your old windows user profile you might be able to salvage it. That we have to pray to the tech gods to salvage a save file from GFWL encryption is still stupid though.

After three hours of fiddlin' my save is back. Of course, I could have been playing the game instead, but GFWL apparently decided that getting to know my comp is a better idea. Still, problem solved, thank god.

Again, it's not a GFWL decision to encrypt these saves. The two Batman games are the ONLY ones I've ever had this kind of problem with. This one thing can't be blamed on GFWL by itself.

MannishBoy wrote:

Again, it's not a GFWL decision to encrypt these saves. The two Batman games are the ONLY ones I've ever had this kind of problem with. This one thing can't be blamed on GFWL by itself.

True enough, it seems to be a feature they offer and Rocksteady use it, but I'm sure they could do something similar without GFWL.

I guess my main problem with how it's done is that it's hidden, they don't tell you in any readme or offer a way to transfer the saves, and you don't notice until it's too late. For all the negatives, I can't think of a positive it gives back. Possibly that people can't share saves (achievement farming?) but I see that as a decision the players themselves get to make.

I put 12 hours in and just finished the main campaign. The ending sequence was quite well done, but I can't really see myself going back and playing the Game Plus Mode or doing any of the challenge rooms. This game was somewhat of a letdown for me, which is a huge bummer as I really loved AA. I think I might go back to revisit AA or AC in the future, but with so many games in the pile I don't see it happening any time soon.

Still having lots of fun with post-game sidequests. Got lost for a couple hours running around last night as both Bats and Catwoman. Looking forward to extended hours in the challenge rooms.

Michael wrote:

I put 12 hours in and just finished the main campaign. The ending sequence was quite well done, but I can't really see myself going back and playing the Game Plus Mode or doing any of the challenge rooms. This game was somewhat of a letdown for me, which is a huge bummer as I really loved AA. I think I might go back to revisit AA or AC in the future, but with so many games in the pile I don't see it happening any time soon.

Of course now that I say this, I went back and tried the first few challenge maps. Those are kinda fun. One of them forced me to fight without the counter indicator, and that was kinda neat. Maybe I'll start up a Game Plus Mega Mode after all. Might as well give it a shot, eh?

My only complaint is that there isn't much incentive to go back and get everything. I got all 440 collectibles. Nuthin'. No achievement pop, no special gadget or skin that nobody else gets to use, nothing.

I do like that 440 is the hertz of the A they use to tune most orchestras, at least in the US, though. So that was satisfying?

InspectorFowler wrote:

My only complaint is that there isn't much incentive to go back and get everything. I got all 440 collectibles. Nuthin'. No achievement pop, no special gadget or skin that nobody else gets to use, nothing.

Spoiler:

You can only rescue the last of the Riddler hostages if you have all 440 riddles solved. Doing so gets you 50GS, which is like, 4% of the total gamerscore! Great success! :)