Batman:Arkham City

[wonderpug]

There's a sequence in the Penguin's museum where you take on a f*$@ ton of enemies at once, the most I've seen thus far. Is there another battle like this?

Yes.

Spoiler gives the name of a villain you can come across in an optional side quest:

Spoiler for Hiden:

There's a mission with the Mad Hatter that practically sends endless waves of weaponless enemies at you.

I know my multiplier went at least over 50x on that section because I got an achievement popup for it.

[wonderpug]

wtf is going on?  I swear my posts are ending up at the top of a new page a hundred times more often than normal this past week or so.

[Purge]

You're just that damned important.

[Purge]

Spoiler for ending:

Talia... NOOOOOOOOO!

I had to say it... sure she was lethal ... but the catwoman has issues, Robin is a little too touchyfeely, Vicki is boring-she lives through other peoples lives- and Talia was the whole package.

Hot, crazy for Bats, and could keep herself, and him, young almost indefinitely.

All he had to do was kill her dad (which her dad was cool with). Would have been a very different ending.

[Caine]

RE the 2nd set of ART's;

the steel mill

Spoiler for Hiden:

  is the one in the back right?  you need to start atop the sign, glide for a short bit, then dive through two rings, then glide through a tunnel and hit the last ring iirc.  this one was hard but doable.  pull out of the dive a bit sooner than you think you need to, just before you get to the top of the tunnel.  you'll drop a tad more before your wings catch enough air and this will give you enough height/speed to get past the last ring.

the one near where you start the game, where you have to double back,

Spoiler for Hiden:

I got this by diving down to the first set of rings, then doing a right u-turn in the intersection just afterwards.  I had just enough lift to hit the last ring so the timing is pretty tight but there is some room for error.

near the cranes, heading towards the north part of the map:

Spoiler for Hiden:

this one is just like the steel mill, but looser.  again, dive-bombing and releasing just before you reach the height of the rings is key.

from the cranes, heading towards the open water

Spoiler for Hiden:

this one requires good use of diving then pulling back afterwards to gain altitude. 

and yes, there is a story mission where all of this training comes in handy, so it pays to get practiced in the art of batsuit gliding.  whether you find the story mission easier to learn (there are glowing paths to follow) to learn the mechanics for the ART's or vice-versa is your call.  I had already done the training before getting to the mission so the section was pretty easy, but i can see the mission helping you improve for the training.

[naednek]

so beat the game, and when i mean beat, i mean the main mission.  I don't really have much desire to find all the riddler trophies and such.  Might go and wrap up the side quests though.  Overall, a bit disappointing.  Seems shorter than the first, and I definitely had more fun playing the first game.  Didn't really care for the open world, but at least the core game play was still there.

[spigot]

I beat the game this past weekend as well. The ending was anticlimactic and unfulfilling, to me at least. I may revisit the game and do story+ in the future, but I'm skipping the Riddler stuff and shelving this for a bit. It was definitely a blast though.

[USMC Kato]

So far this game and Dark Souls are tied for my GOTY

[Gratch]

Grabbed it on Friday, and am now convinced that whatever it is that everyone sees in these games is completely lost on me.  Oh well...up in the trading forum if anyone wants it.

[wonderpug]

If you ever want to give the series another try to see what the fuss is about, I think Arkham Asylum works much much better as an intro.  It sets things up better and introduces new mechanics in a more progressive manner.  Arkham City just kind of dumps you in the middle of things.

[Gratch]

Tried that one too, just didn't care for it.  I'll just add it to the rather extensive "games everyone loves but me" list. 

[wonderpug]

Tried that one too, just didn't care for it.  I'll just add it to the rather extensive "games everyone loves but me" list. 

Uncharted and Dark Souls are on mine.    Yeah, if you didn't like AA then I don't think there's much hope for AC.

[whiteboyskim]

Finished it as well this weekend and AA was much, much better. Tighter and more focused overall. There's a lot to love here and I do feel that the combat offers more options here. But the story wasn't that great and the game overall feels like a monster mash or a greatest hits package. I seriously enjoyed Arkham City and I'm going through finishing off side quests and stuff though. I got a heck of a lot of fun out of AC and I can't wait to get into all the challenges.

[leo8877]

Finished the main story line as well. Good game, but as others have mentioned, I felt that it was not as tight of a package.  Still fun and I plan to buy some DLC.

[leo8877]

Don't forget to talk to Calendar Man today.

[CeeKay]

Don't forget to talk to Calendar Man today.

I wonder if the PC version will let itself be tricked by changing the date.

[Bullwinkle]

Don't forget to talk to Calendar Man today.

Yawn.

I was expecting something a little more.

[wonderpug]

Can someone spoil it please? (In spoiler brackets, of course)

[Bullwinkle]

Can someone spoil it please? (In spoiler brackets, of course)

Spoiler for Hiden:

He just says how Halloween is lost on GC, since so many freaks are out in costume anyway.  And then he brings up that time Joker broke everyone out of the asylum.  The next time you talk to him, he asks if you're going to give thanks with him.

[leo8877]

I was reminding more for the completionists, who would get an achievement for talking to him on all the dates circled on the calendar next to his cell.

[Purge]

12 of the dates. I didn't check out how many are on his calendar though.

[Isgrimnur]

You guys might want to play this on the 31st. Calendar Man seems to think it might be important.

It's worth all of 10 GamerScore.

[Bullwinkle]

I was reminding more for the completionists, who would get an achievement for talking to him on all the dates circled on the calendar next to his cell.

I wasn't criticizing you, just disappointed in the way it played out.

[Isgrimnur]

I'm half tempted to take my box off line, change the date, and try and game the Calendar Man thing.

[metallicorphan]

I'm half tempted to take my box off line, change the date, and try and game the Calendar Man thing.

that's what everyone else has been doing


if you are going to do it now,just make sure that Halloween is the last one you do,then reconnect before doing it and get the date print on your achievement,if you care about stuff like that

[leo8877]

I beat the game and the final cat woman mission is afterwards, but I am stuck on the mission and can't find a way to get back to open world roaming with Batman...is there a way to do it without finishing the cat woman story?

[spigot]

I beat the game and the final cat woman mission is afterwards, but I am stuck on the mission and can't find a way to get back to open world roaming with Batman...is there a way to do it without finishing the cat woman story?

If you're already in the museum, then I think you have to complete it. After you're done, then it takes you back to the open city.

[Isgrimnur]

Well, I decided not to mess with the whole date hacking to get the achievement tonight.  I did talk to him, but it took me so long to finish the Ra's al Ghul quest that once I did, I just kept playing.  I'm having trouble finding an entrance to the steel foundry to get the Titan that's in there. 

Oh, and I hate the next AR missions.  Stupid zero tolerance tunnel to get AR 1 5th ring.

[The Grue]

I was in the museum when I decided I wanted to talk to Calendar Man last night and came to the realization that I would have to finish it.  Luckily, it didn't take too terribly long and I was able to get over there well before midnight, but kind of annoying that if I had started later in the night, I might have missed out on it because of game restrictions.

[CeeKay]

for those who don't feel like resetting the date or waiting, here's all the Calendar Man stories: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcVTVeU7a6s

[madpeon]

Just a warning, I got hit by the corrupt save game bug last night 

I had just finished all my side quests AND Riddler challenges (all 440) on my first playthrough when I got the 'You have corrupt DLC' message. My game then hung, so I restarted my 360 and when I got back into the main menu, my 75% complete save was gone. Browsing through the official forums, it looks like I probably got a disc read error during an autosave.

I can see it listed on my hard drive, but its only 44kb (normal saves are about 250kb to 300kb).

 

[Bullwinkle]

Just a warning, I got hit by the corrupt save game bug last night 

I had just finished all my side quests AND Riddler challenges (all 440) on my first playthrough when I got the 'You have corrupt DLC' message. My game then hung, so I restarted my 360 and when I got back into the main menu, my 75% complete save was gone. Browsing through the official forums, it looks like I probably got a disc read error during an autosave.

I can see it listed on my hard drive, but its only 44kb (normal saves are about 250kb to 300kb).

 

That sucks.  I've been hearing about this.  Are there preventative measures?  I've been making sure to exit out of the game when I quit, since that's helped with this kind of thing in the past.

[madpeon]

Just a warning, I got hit by the corrupt save game bug last night  

I had just finished all my side quests AND Riddler challenges (all 440) on my first playthrough when I got the 'You have corrupt DLC' message. My game then hung, so I restarted my 360 and when I got back into the main menu, my 75% complete save was gone. Browsing through the official forums, it looks like I probably got a disc read error during an autosave.

I can see it listed on my hard drive, but its only 44kb (normal saves are about 250kb to 300kb).

 

That sucks.  I've been hearing about this.  Are there preventative measures?  I've been making sure to exit out of the game when I quit, since that's helped with this kind of thing in the past.

I'm pretty sure you can backup your saves to a USB drive. I would definitely do that every day or two if it is possible.

[JCC]

Having been done with the main quest for a week and having spent the time since running around doing side quests and finding Riddler stuff, I must say my disappointment with this game has grown. One thing that really annoys me is that there are too many random (respawning) criminals in the city with guns. I enjoy the stealth element and clearing rooms/areas of these guards, but the process always takes me a few minutes. When I want to run back to an area and do a search for side stuff, it's annoying to have to keep clearing out these guys since it brings my side quest hunt to a screeching halt. This annoyance has me on the brink of just quitting even though I am only at like 54% done.

So, final thoughts. Main quest was very good, but way too short. Gliding, and grapnelling around the city was super fun - even more fun than some of those Spider-Man games. However, the city doesn't feel as craftily designed as the Asylum. The explosion of side stuff is a bit of a turn off for me since I would have rather had more main quest. Overall, I am demoting this to a B+ title - which fundamentally makes this a disappointment to me. I am somewhat surprised that this seems to have reviewed at least as well as the first and in some cases reviewed better. Definitely disagree on that one.

[Purge]

Spoiler for for iGrim:

If I'm not mistaken, it's either under the elevator shaft (which you couldn't hack the first time you were there) or try the back door near the train. It's been over a week so I don't remember exactly where, but that one wasn't hard to get. It might even be in the building facing the Steel Mill, but I was pretty sure it is in the back door (head all the way south, and there is a small door on the south side of the building).

Spoiler for Hiden:

[Punisher]

If you get all ARs, methinks I recall reading somewhere that you unlock the batwing model.

Why would I want a model of Batmans stretched scrotum? Unless it comes with a teabga achievement, or unlocks the butt kick attack move...

[Bullwinkle]

I got through the confrontation with Strange the other night, and there's still a little bit to go with the story.  When I loaded it up, I got the corrupt DLC error.

Fortunately, it's not as bad as the corrupt save bug, I guess.  I was able to exit out and load it again without a problem, though I felt like I was walking on eggshells a bit.

Anyway, I finished.  Still have a little Catwoman story to get through (these were spread out a little too far, IMO, and moving her around the city becomes more annoying once Bats gets his upgrades).  Also just a handful of Riddler trophies.  It's definitely worth it to do these ADD style, since waiting until the end would just lead to tedium, I think.  I also completely forgot about the Identity Thief, somehow, so I'll have to get to that.  I discovered this omission just as I was getting to Strange, and the game wouldn't let me do it, which is annoying.

I don't know if I'll tackle the challenges, since that was my least favorite part of the last game.  The fighting isn't my favorite part.

Overall, though, I kept coming back to it, so that's something.  Clearly, I really enjoyed it.  It's not as good as AA, but it's still a AAA title.

[metallicorphan]

Overall, though, I kept coming back to it, so that's something.  Clearly, I really enjoyed it.  It's not as good as AA, but it's still a AAA title.

I think that is pretty much spot on with me also,i really liked the game...but not sure if i liked AA better because it was a better game or because it was the first,i keep wondering what it would be like if AC was released first and then AA released afterwards


and yeah Catwoman getting about the city was hard work compared to Bats..RB, RB, RB, RB

[wonderpug]

You can use the A button as well for the followup Catwoman jumps.

[spigot]

I think I'm putting this away for a while after this past weekend. I finished saving the last Riddler hostage, but can't muster up any motivation to fully complete his side mission (or the AR training side mission). The challenge rooms are fun if, especially the combat ones, if you just want to pummel an army of guys from time to time, but I don't have an inclination to get high scores for either the predator or combat challenges.

I thought the game was really well done and enjoyed it a lot, but what with two major releases out this week, my time with AC comes to a close. Rocksteady has put together a fantastic follow-up to AA and it's well worth the price.