Batman: Arkham Origins

[Zombipanda]

I'd say set it between Origins and City, since by City evidence of an Earthquake striking Gotham is visible (and even mentioned if I recall correctly), and during that time period Batman can be less of a loner and more open to recruiting allies which allows for the multiple characters thing.

It'd also be interesting to involve the earthquake (or other natural disaster, but I think earthquake works best) affecting the map/world/buildings around you, allowing for dynamic and edge of your seat gameplay as buildings occasionally crumble around you or even under your very feet. Will add a new dimension to grappling and gliding. And since such effects are possible in games like Battlefield 4, it's doable, though may require a whole new engine.

But since the League of Assassins has already gotten appearances in Origins and City, I'd prefer they focus on another group, like the Court of Owls (which I admittedly know nothing about).

Well, my idea is for a sort of "end-of-the-career" story that ties into the themes of the game that precedes it, with a focus on Talia and Damian and a heretic branch of the League that gave birth to Azrael. I want to expand and give more prominent parts to female characters.

 

[DIrishB]

Well, my idea is for a sort of "end-of-the-career" story that ties into the themes of the game that precedes it, with a focus on Talia and Damian and a heretic branch of the League that gave birth to Azrael. I want to expand and give more prominent parts to female characters.

Ah ok. Well if one earthquake hit Gotham previously there's nothing stopping a second one, most especially if that second one is the result of some plot by the League using some comic book like device (sort of a nod to Ra's plan in Batman Begins).

 

[Zombipanda]

Ah ok. Well if one earthquake hit Gotham previously there's nothing stopping a second one, most especially if that second one is the result of some plot by the League using some comic book like device (sort of a nod to Ra's plan in Batman Begins).

Oh, the League is probably gone. But the religious radical branch the Order of St. Dumas is kicking and thinks Gotham will be the site of the apocalypse (though the Owls could likely substitute in a pinch). I'd leave the door open for a Damian Wayne vs. Doctor Hurt and the Three Ghosts of Batman and Joker's Daughter game set in post-apocalyptic Gotham.

 

[Zombipanda]

Anyway, the idea is that after Batman's "Death" at the end of the fourth game, he decided a change was in order. Batman stayed dead and devoted his life to being Bruce Wayne, to sinking his resources and intellect into fixing Gotham in the less glamorous but more effective means of socio-economic repair. Filling in for Batman is a network of his allies who each approach the threats to the city more surgically, by playing to their strengths, under Bruce's supervision.

A bulk of the game is devoted to the Bat-family rather than Batman specifically, each able to wander the city, but with their individual missions and strengths playing to different areas of Gotham under the control of various villains, in the style of a comic book crossover. Interweaving stories that you can swap between on a whim. Gotham is in utter disrepair, the loonies who have been more or less locked away for years have free rein, and Batman is missing, being held by a revived and lunatic Talia and the son he never knew he had, now at the helm of a zealot splinter group of the League.

And the reason I prefer using the League over the Owls is that they do have precedence in the established games. They've been used but not all that properly developed. I'm of the mind that it's better to take recurring plot threads that haven't run their course and flesh them out than to just throw something new into the mix. They've been introduced, but I'm not sure their story's really been told yet. Although, it would be more Talia's story. One of the recurring themes of the revived trilogy would be the idea of cross-motives, whether it's the various members of Harley's inner circle using an ideology that has actual purpose to pursue their individual means, to the cross-purposed relationships of the US and Santa Priscan governments and the fairweather alliance between Batman and Bane, to Talia staging an apocalypse and manipulating a group of religious zealots when all she really wants is a family for her son.

The interlinking thread to the trilogy would probably be parents and sons, elaborating on the whole integral but unexplored relationship between who Bruce/Batman is and the death of his parents. Harley and her kid plays into it obviously. I'd consider linking each game to a relationship between Bruce and a parent figure. The first game with the legacy Thomas wanted for his son vs. what he became. The second with the secret bond formed between Thomas and Alfred in Santa Prisca. The third with Martha and Bruce reflected through the lens of Talia and Damian and Harley and her daughter (who would be almost right at the same age as Damian). Talia was pregnant, which was part of the reason she was so invested in Bruce taking over the mantle of the League.

 

[DIrishB]

Fair point. So what characters would you use? Robin, Nightwing, Batwing, Batgirl, Batwoman, Bat-Mite?

You go a long way in terms of setting up my proposed Batman - Beyond Arkham game focusing on Terry McGinnis under Bruce's mentorship.

 

[Zombipanda]

Fair point. So what characters would you use? Robin, Nightwing, Batwing, Batgirl, Batwoman, Bat-Mite?

You go a long way in terms of setting up my proposed Batman - Beyond Arkham game focusing on Terry McGinnis under Bruce's mentorship.

Catwoman/Selina Kyle, retired and now Bruce's wife, navigating the black market underworld of post-earthquake Gotham as she searches for her husband.

Nightwing/Dick Grayson, the Bat-family's liaison to the police department, trying to keep morale among the force as Quinn (who has kept a lower profile and managed to elude the law all these years as she raises her daughter) and Harvey Dent stage a bloody gang war.

Oracle/Barbara Gordon, playing a puzzle-solving element as she squares off against Eddie Nigma.

Robin/Tim Drake, trying to seize back control of various Wayne Enterprise properties from the freaks, tangling with the assassins in Talia's employ as he tries to get the grid back online.

Maybe a brief intermission as Azrael's crazy ass. I'd like to include Huntress, but I can't really think of a reasonable way to fit her in, especially since she doesn't have any precedence in the canon, and the mob families or more or less extinct at this point.

I'd considered a Batman Beyond thing instead of a Damian thing and I think it could work really well. Honestly, I'd be happy with either.

Actually, scratch that. Babs would be trying to get the grid online by getting access to Wayne facilities but still squaring against Enigma. If you really wanted to get ambitious, you could make those sequences a tandem thing with her and Canary (or maybe Huntress), shifting between action and puzzle solving; a bit of an expansion on the Batwing towers from Origins. In that scenario, I'm not quite sure where Robin would fit, but maybe square him off with a new breed of criminals. Pyg and Flamingo and Hush and the like, or maybe Ivy. Maybe have him trying to keep the peace in the neighborhood of Leslie Thompkins' community clinic? Pyg vs. Thompkins seems like a pretty good ideological fit.

 

[Zombipanda]

Ideally, each thread would influence the others. Babs' successes open fast travel points and collectible indicators for the others. Grayson thins out the gang presence in the core neighborhoods and expands police influence. etc.

 

[Ice]

New Year, new story for Batman: Arkham Origins in "Cold, Cold Heart" DLC


Celebrate the New Year after Batman's long Christmas Eve with Mr. Freeze and an all-new story in this DLC mission for Batman: Arkham Origins due April 22 for $9.99.

 

[DIrishB]

New Year, new story for Batman: Arkham Origins in "Cold, Cold Heart" DLC Celebrate the New Year after Batman's long Christmas Eve with Mr. Freeze and an all-new story in this DLC mission for Batman: Arkham Origins due April 22 for $9.99.

Yup.

Also, Arkham Origins - Blackgate, which came out last year 3DS and PS Vita, is coming out April 1 for Xbox 360, PS3 and maybe Xbox One and PS4 (not sure about the newer systems. It'll have updated graphics, etc.

Glad I don't have to buy a new handheld to play that. I believe it'll be $20.

 

[wyokid]

Yup.

Also, Arkham Origins - Blackgate, which came out last year 3DS and PS Vita, is coming out April 1 for Xbox 360, PS3 and maybe Xbox One and PS4 (not sure about the newer systems. It'll have updated graphics, etc.

Glad I don't have to buy a new handheld to play that. I believe it'll be $20.

It's also coming to Wii U

 

[DIrishB]

It's also coming to Wii U

Ah cool, I didn't realize that. Glad to see the Wii U get some love.

 

[the watcher]

The extended pack, "Cold, Cold Heart" is out. I haven't been able to finish it yet. I got some stuff to do. But it's been pretty good so far.

 

[DIrishB]

I am beyond pissed.

I beat the main story for Arkham Origins months ago, not long after I bought it when it was released. A few weeks ago I decided to finish up all the extras, including the remaining Riddler trophy/extortion files, the Anarky tags, and the Cyrus Pinkney plaques, to hopefully get as close to 100% completion as possible.

So I'd collected all but one remaining Extortion File (I was working on the last upgrade for the Distorter so I could obtain the last File which required disabling 3 Distortion devices), and had a few Anarky tags and a few Pinkney plaques left. I was attempting to fast travel to a different portion of Gotham to grab the last few tags and plaques and the game screen went black instead of showing the usual screen of the Batwing traveling as it loaded the section of the city I was traveling to. I waited a few minutes and nothing changed, just a black screen. So I left the game and went back to the main menu of my Xbox 360 (since I had no choice), and tried to reload the game...only to discover the save file was corrupted.

So now I'm screwed. Unless I want to start all over again, which I'm sure as hell not going to do. Seriously WB Montreal, screw you. Your game, while great on the surface, is riddled with major bugs and game breaking glitches. And instead of offering patches you bow out to make more DLC, which is complete now that Cold, Cold Heart has been released.

Will never buy another game from WB Montreal, which is a shame because I have a feeling they'll be making future Arkham games, a series I love.

 

[Zombipanda]

I am beyond pissed.

I beat the main story for Arkham Origins months ago, not long after I bought it when it was released. A few weeks ago I decided to finish up all the extras, including the remaining Riddler trophy/extortion files, the Anarky tags, and the Cyrus Pinkney plaques, to hopefully get as close to 100% completion as possible.

So I'd collected all but one remaining Extortion File (I was working on the last upgrade for the Distorter so I could obtain the last File which required disabling 3 Distortion devices), and had a few Anarky tags and a few Pinkney plaques left. I was attempting to fast travel to a different portion of Gotham to grab the last few tags and plaques and the game screen went black instead of showing the usual screen of the Batwing traveling as it loaded the section of the city I was traveling to. I waited a few minutes and nothing changed, just a black screen. So I left the game and went back to the main menu of my Xbox 360 (since I had no choice), and tried to reload the game...only to discover the save file was corrupted.

So now I'm screwed. Unless I want to start all over again, which I'm sure as hell not going to do. Seriously WB Montreal, screw you. Your game, while great on the surface, is riddled with major bugs and game breaking glitches. And instead of offering patches you bow out to make more DLC, which is complete now that Cold, Cold Heart has been released.

Will never buy another game from WB Montreal, which is a shame because I have a feeling they'll be making future Arkham games, a series I love.

It might not be WB Montreal's fault. Origins felt like a game that was rushed to production as a band-aid between Rocksteady releases. Knowing that, and that WB Montreal is a fledgling studio it strikes me as highly probable that the lack of patching was less a decision by Montreal and more an edict from WB Studios, knowing that Arkham Knight would be out a year later. If anything, that sucks for Montreal, because it really does hurt their reputation.

And honestly, I didn't have a lot of problems with bugs. Arkham City, OTOH, corrupted my save file twice.

 

[wyokid]

The Wii U version is incredibly buggy. If your game isn't ready don't release it. *cough* *EA* *cough*

 

[DIrishB]

It might not be WB Montreal's fault. Origins felt like a game that was rushed to production as a band-aid between Rocksteady releases. Knowing that, and that WB Montreal is a fledgling studio it strikes me as highly probable that the lack of patching was less a decision by Montreal and more an edict from WB Studios, knowing that Arkham Knight would be out a year later. If anything, that sucks for Montreal, because it really does hurt their reputation. And honestly, I didn't have a lot of problems with bugs. Arkham City, OTOH, corrupted my save file twice.

I didn't have any problems other than an issue on Penguin's ship which was patched, until the corrupt save thing. And again, I know you shouldn't turn off your console or exit the game while it's saving, or you're likely to get a corrupt save. However, I got a black screen when trying to fast travel. I waited several minutes for the issue to hopefully resolve, but it didn't. I had no choice but to exit. The issue was caused by a bug which didn't load the city section I was traveling to correctly, and then corrupting the save because I had no other options. That seems like something they should've picked up on.

I have no doubt production time was cut unnecessarily short by WB, but I do feel WB Montreal deserves the blame since their QA testing didn't pick up on the numerous bugs before shipping the game. Even worse, they released various patches, some specifically targeting corrupt save files and minimizing or eliminating them, yet here I am.

The Wii U version is incredibly buggy. If your game isn't ready don't release it. *cough* *EA* *cough*

Seriously, I am wondering how crazy it's going to get in terms of studios forcing the release of games before they've been checked thoroughly to fix bugs. It seems to almost be an industry norm to release games 80-90% finished and then worry about bugs through patches later. It's idiotically unprofessional.

 

[Zombipanda]

I didn't have any problems other than an issue on Penguin's ship which was patched, until the corrupt save thing. And again, I know you shouldn't turn off your console or exit the game while it's saving, or you're likely to get a corrupt save. However, I got a black screen when trying to fast travel. I waited several minutes for the issue to hopefully resolve, but it didn't. I had no choice but to exit. The issue was caused by a bug which didn't load the city section I was traveling to correctly, and then corrupting the save because I had no other options. That seems like something they should've picked up on.

I have no doubt production time was cut unnecessarily short by WB, but I do feel WB Montreal deserves the blame since their QA testing didn't pick up on the numerous bugs before shipping the game. Even worse, they released various patches, some specifically targeting corrupt save files and minimizing or eliminating them, yet here I am.

That still doesn't mean the studio is to blame. If their QA team didn't have the time to address all the bugs or the production team didn't have the time to properly learn the intricacies of the engine, that's a budget problem.

 

[DIrishB]

That still doesn't mean the studio is to blame. If their QA team didn't have the time to address all the bugs or the production team didn't have the time to properly learn the intricacies of the engine, that's a budget problem.

The studio is responsible for programming the game. The studio is the one who tests the code. The studio is responsible for making the most of their budget. The studio/publishing company set the release date (obviously too soon for them to work out the bugs).

So regarding the large amount of glitches in the game, how is it not the studio's fault?

 

[Zombipanda]

The studio is responsible for programming the game. The studio is the one who tests the code. The studio is responsible for making the most of their budget. The studio/publishing company set the release date (obviously too soon for them to work out the bugs).

So regarding the large amount of glitches in the game, how is it not the studio's fault?

Are we going to pretend that publishing companies don't set unreasonable expectations or move the bar halfway through production? Or that unexpected problems arise and it's the responsibility of the people who hold the money to loosen the purse strings to make sure the product comes out at a quality that's acceptable?

By the sound of interviews, Arkham Knight was delayed by a year, which makes it sound to me like this was a rush job. I'm not saying the studio doesn't hold some blame. I just think it's ridiculous to be outraged with them for putting out a product in the time they did, learning an engine from scratch, in the shadow of the studio that did the original games, especially given all the glitches in Arkham City.

They had some good ideas for the franchise and while the rough edges were apparent, I don't have any reason to believe that, given a proper timetable, they couldn't turn out something great.

 

[DIrishB]

Are we going to pretend that publishing companies don't set unreasonable expectations or move the bar halfway through production? Or that unexpected problems arise and it's the responsibility of the people who hold the money to loosen the purse strings to make sure the product comes out at a quality that's acceptable?

Of course not. I'm not saying the publishing companies don't do those things, as we both know they do. I'm saying massive amounts of corrupt save files on all systems the game was released for is a serious problem, and definitely something that should've been addressed. I'm also well aware it was ultimately the publishing company who put an end to WB Montreal releasing patches/fixes that the game still desperately needed. It was a failure on both fronts.

By the sound of interviews, Arkham Knight was delayed by a year, which makes it sound to me like this was a rush job.

Arkham Origins or Arkham Knight is a rush job? I'm presuming you mean Origins, since there seems to only have been about a two year window on that game, as opposed to Arkham Knight, which will have had at least a 3 1/2 - 4 year window since Arkham City's release. Granted some of that time was dealing with a new engine and new consoles.

I'm not saying the studio doesn't hold some blame. I just think it's ridiculous to be outraged with them for putting out a product in the time they did, learning an engine from scratch, in the shadow of the studio that did the original games, especially given all the glitches in Arkham City.

I know some ran into glitches in AC, but I think it's fair to say the vast majority of those glitches weren't the game breaking corrupt save file problem so many have had with Origins. That to me speaks of a problem with how they wrote the code for the save file flagging system in terms of how it communicated with the console/PC memory. THAT'S my issue. I can forgive glitches, I can't forgive game-breaking bugs that require you to start your game entirely over, and likely run into the issue again, requiring yet another start over. The other issue is that it's an auto-save approach, which prevents being able to save at certain points intentionally (game like Mass Effect allowed that), which would've helped prevent the game breaking aspect of the save corrupt bug.

That's my problem. It was a glaringly stupid, obvious, and boneheaded mistake they made. You can blame it on the publisher all you want, and I'm sure some or much of the blame lies there, but it's the studio who wrote the code, who ignored fixing a blatantly obvious mistake. I find it hard to believe they never noticed that in the QA playthroughs.

They had some good ideas for the franchise and while the rough edges were apparent, I don't have any reason to believe that, given a proper timetable, they couldn't turn out something great.

I agree with that. Origins story was definitely the strongest, and the gameplay additions were generally noteworthy improvements on the series. But personally, I won't be preordering or buying another game from WB Montreal until I know it'll work without game-breaking glitches.