Batman: Arkham City Catch-All

Higgledy wrote:

Not sure when I'll have to opportunity though.

When you make the opportunity.

I've read the first three of five issues of the comic, Batman: Arkham City. I've also read two the the frist five issues of a digital exclusive story also based on the game. The two comics are setting up the story between the end of AA and the beginning of AC. I'm reading them on my iPad via the DC app, but you can find the first one at your LCS, and I'm sure DC has the second one on the web.

While I won't call the writing amazing and must read for comic fanatics, I think fans of the game will really enjoy these. You've got the same writer, Paul Dini, setting up the pieces for the second game. I'm loving the hell out of theses stories. I understand some of you want to go as much media blackout as possible, but these are probably still worth the time. If you loved the story of AA, then this is really a no-brainer.

Scratched wrote:
Higgledy wrote:

Not sure when I'll have to opportunity though.

When you make the opportunity.

but... but... there are insignias to be earned and M-com stations to be defended and I'm only level 14.... I need to get to level 50 (which is a lifetime away) before Battlefield 3 comes out so I can start the process all over again!!!1!

Higgledy wrote:
Scratched wrote:
Higgledy wrote:

Not sure when I'll have to opportunity though.

When you make the opportunity.

but... but... there are insignias to be earned and M-com stations to be defended and I'm only level 14.... I need to get to level 50 (which is a lifetime away) before Battlefield 3 comes out so I can start the process all over again!!!1!

But, it'll be weeks into BF3's release that you'll be able to get into a stable game reliably. Maybe months. So go ahead and replay Batman with confidence.

CptGlanton wrote:
Higgledy wrote:
Scratched wrote:
Higgledy wrote:

Not sure when I'll have to opportunity though.

When you make the opportunity.

but... but... there are insignias to be earned and M-com stations to be defended and I'm only level 14.... I need to get to level 50 (which is a lifetime away) before Battlefield 3 comes out so I can start the process all over again!!!1!

But, it'll be weeks into BF3's release that you'll be able to get into a stable game reliably. Maybe months. So go ahead and replay Batman with confidence.

Ah, so there are some advantages in arriving late to these games.

Higgledy wrote:

but... but... there are insignias to be earned and M-com stations to be defended and I'm only level 14.... I need to get to level 50 (which is a lifetime away) before Battlefield 3 comes out so I can start the process all over again!!!1!

Did a bit of research out of curiosity (you can check the site I used at www.bfbcs.com). Out of the group I play with on 360, I have the highest score per minute, and after 155 hours I'm at level 34. The guy who's basically the same spm as me and is at level 50 has put in (drum roll) 487 hours. No doubt many of those are after hitting 50, but it's a steep hill. Someone else, with a lower spm, is at level 41 after 346 hours.

I started this post to get you to play Batman, but writing this out has been a bit sobering, frankly.

CptGlanton wrote:

The guy who's basically the same spm as me and is at level 50 has put in (drum roll) 487 hours.

Heh, bet that's MikebRG. He's always playing either BFBC2, or 1943.

EDIT: Nope, he's got about 2x that time

Back to the original point, Batman is a great game and should be enjoyed by all.

MannishBoy wrote:
CptGlanton wrote:

The guy who's basically the same spm as me and is at level 50 has put in (drum roll) 487 hours.

Heh, bet that's MikebRG. He's always playing either BFBC2, or 1943.

EDIT: Nope, he's got about 2x that time

Back to the original point, Batman is a great game and should be enjoyed by all. :)

Spoiler:

It's Ballo.

Spoiler:

After I posted that, I also looked up PlainGrey. He's an excellent player, which I guess I hadn't realized because the lag is so crippling.

Batman is still my most anticipated game for October. Go Bats!

CptGlanton wrote:
Higgledy wrote:

but... but... there are insignias to be earned and M-com stations to be defended and I'm only level 14.... I need to get to level 50 (which is a lifetime away) before Battlefield 3 comes out so I can start the process all over again!!!1!

Did a bit of research out of curiosity (you can check the site I used at www.bfbcs.com). Out of the group I play with on 360, I have the highest score per minute, and after 155 hours I'm at level 34. The guy who's basically the same spm as me and is at level 50 has put in (drum roll) 487 hours. No doubt many of those are after hitting 50, but it's a steep hill. Someone else, with a lower spm, is at level 41 after 346 hours.

I started this post to get you to play Batman, but writing this out has been a bit sobering, frankly.

Actually, my hankering to get to level 50 isn't too strong, mostly because it is so far away. I'm just having a ton of fun with the game right now and feel I could play it for many months and not get bored with it but I've felt that about quite a few multiplayer games a day before I dropped them forever. I'll play through Batman AA again at some stage but I won't be buying Batman AC right away so I have time to do it a lot later in the year or early next. Unfortunately, Assassin's Creed Rev and Battlefield 3 have priority as I want to be in at the start of the multiplayer.

Getting to rank 50 doesn't take that long. Took me 384 hours

But I'm confused... isn't this the Batman thread? Shouldn't we be discussing batman and beating up thugs and stuff?

BlackSabre wrote:

Getting to rank 50 doesn't take that long. Took me 384 hours

But I'm confused... isn't this the Batman thread? Shouldn't we be discussing batman and beating up thugs and stuff? ;)

I'm tempted to add BIFF, BAM and POW randomly into my post just to disguise the fact that it isn't very Batman-y.

This weekend I replayed AA, picking up achievements and whatnot. Kind of started it on Saturday afternoon on a whim. Finished about 9 tonight, and then played a few hours of the challenge rooms. I undervalued AA the first time I played it, but I'm completely and totally hooked on the franchise now. If I could get AC, right now, and the price was getting the CE, then I'd do in a heartbeat.

I've gone back to AA also. I've also finally got past the pressure control junction on hard (the octagonal room with the Titan and a large number of ordinary henchmen). It was a good 3 hours to get past that point, and it was the first time I ended up using all the toys in a fight like that: explosive gel, the bat claw and the multiple batarang. Ivy merely took me an hour to get past.

DudleySmith wrote:

I've gone back to AA also. I've also finally got past the pressure control junction on hard (the octagonal room with the Titan and a large number of ordinary henchmen). It was a good 3 hours to get past that point, and it was the first time I ended up using all the toys in a fight like that: explosive gel, the bat claw and the multiple batarang. Ivy merely took me an hour to get past.

I found on hard, for me, it was worth always having one upgrade in my pocket unused. Then when I hit a fight I had trouble with, I'd just use it for a health upgrade mid fight, which would also put me back at 100% and generally allow me to beat that fight.

I think the Ivy fight on hard was the only one I had trouble with. Part of the reason was that I quit playing for a month or so right before I got to that, so was pretty rusty and coming back on one of the harder fights of the game.

By the time I've practiced enough in the challenge rooms to try Hard, AC will be out.

Speaking of, I went and watched this gameplay video last night:

Either they've really changed things, or it has a lot of animation and framerate problems (Batman moves very differently in combat & between combos now). I want to have faith in Rocksteady after what they did with AA, but some of the movements in that video are a bit 'hmm.'

CptGlanton wrote:

By the time I've practiced enough in the challenge rooms to try Hard, AC will be out.

Hard wasn't really that hard. The main difference was you didn't have the icons to warn you of attack, you have to watch their actual animations.

And challenge rooms always have the icons turned on, so it won't necessarily help you with that change.

CptGlanton wrote:

Either they've really changed things, or it has a lot of animation and framerate problems (Batman moves very differently in combat & between combos now). I want to have faith in Rocksteady after what they did with AA, but some of the movements in that video are a bit 'hmm.'

I think the issue is that they seemed to have added "dramatic pauses" at the end of combos and certain big moves. The most obvious one being the Batclaw-into-Lariat move. While stylish, I agree that it can throw off the flow of combat. I think they should have stuck to saving such moments for the big, close up, slow motion final knockout move at the end of combat.

In the video, I was seeing fewer frames of animation for some combat moves, which gave his movements a more cartoon-y and lighter style, without the weight that I felt while playing AA. I noticed it while he was leaping from dude to dude during combos, but during one of those slo-mo KOs, his arm looked like it teleported from 'cocked' to 'on dude's chin.' Again, I want to have faith in Rocksteady, but it wasn't quite what I wanted to see in a gameplay trailer.

MannishBoy wrote:
CptGlanton wrote:

By the time I've practiced enough in the challenge rooms to try Hard, AC will be out.

Hard wasn't really that hard. The main difference was you didn't have the icons to warn you of attack, you have to watch their actual animations.

And challenge rooms always have the icons turned on, so it won't necessarily help you with that change.

I looked at some of my friend's list scores on the challenge rooms last night. Trust me, I'd find Hard to be harder than some people here.

MannishBoy wrote:
CptGlanton wrote:

By the time I've practiced enough in the challenge rooms to try Hard, AC will be out.

Hard wasn't really that hard. The main difference was you didn't have the icons to warn you of attack, you have to watch their actual animations.

And challenge rooms always have the icons turned on, so it won't necessarily help you with that change.

For me, playing the challenge rooms certainly made playing through on hard a lot easier. While the challenge rooms had the counter icons, I found that when I played without them, I had seen the attack animations so often, and had gotten so used to the rhythm of combat, that I knew when to counter without seeing them. Likewise, learning to deal with the titans in the challenge rooms (particularly in the extreme challenges) made the fights against them a lot easier to manage on hard, because the in-game battles, even on hard, are easier than the challenge rooms.

In fact, after clearing all of the challenge rooms with three medals, the only thing that was hard on hard was the Poison Ivy battle, and I honestly chalk that one up not to sheer difficulty but simply to poor design.

There will be plenty of skins available as pre-order bonuses.

Link.

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/4czmN.png)

Character: Batman
Skin: 1970's Batman skin
How to get it: Pre-order Batman: Arkham City from ShopTo.net (UK) or Toys R Us (USA)

Character: Batman
Skin: Batman Beyond skin
How to get it: Pre-order Batman: Arkham City from GameStop.co.uk or MightyApe

Character: Batman
Skin: The Dark Knight Returns skin
How to get it: Purchase the Batman: Arkham City Collector's Edition from any store.

Character: Batman
Skin: The Animated Series
Image: Above
How to get it: Purchase the Batman: Arkham City from MightyApe.

Character: Batman
Skin: Earth One
Image: Above
How to get it: Purchase the Batman: Arkham City from MightyApe.

Character: Robin
Skin: Red Robin skin
Image: Currently unavailable
How to get it: Pre-order Batman: Arkham City from Best-Buy (USA), GamesMania.be (Holland) or JB Hi-Fi (Australia)

I found the opposite. There were a couple of challenge rooms I couldn't get 3 batarangs on after I had finished my first medium playthrough. But after I got the game on PS3 and beat hard mode first, then I was able to finish the challenge rooms very easily.

Leaning to play without the warning notifications makes you so much better at combat that the challenge rooms turning it back on makes things laughably easy.

That second one there looks more like Fatman, amirite? Anyone? *sigh*

Also... where is the Steam pre-order?

I'm disappointed there's no Adam West Batman skin.

I really, really like that Dark Knight Returns skin but, sadly, not enough to shell out extra for all the kitch in the CE.

I just love further recognition for batman beyond.

I'm sure they'll all be available for DLC afterward.

This kinda thing makes me wonder if I should just wait a year for the GotY version that will surely include all of it.

But AA is so fun, I just want to play!

Stele wrote:

I'm sure they'll all be available for DLC afterward.

This kinda thing makes me wonder if I should just wait a year for the GotY version that will surely include all of it.

But AA is so fun, I just want to play!

They sure as hell better be. Goddamn Rocksteady is on to me.

I'd like to know which ones I get for Amazon or Steam. Probably won't buy from anywhere else. A retailer I trust is worth a lot more than some shiny bonus.

Arkham City's going to be one of the very few games I purchase at full price. Half because I'm on a tight budget, other half because I can wait for Steam deals. I can't wait for Arkham City though... I'm playing that one day 1