Batman: Arkham Knight Discussion

There's been a few things I've been dying to talk about with this game and since I know Trip got it, might as well start a thread

This game has been a blast so far. I really like the Batmobile except there is just too much tank combat. On top of it not really fitting that well for the game, it just isn't all that fun. Gets rather repetitive with some battles just taking too long. I do like driving around in it a lot. And they also do some cool stuff with the remote control and using it to solve puzzles that is really great. I had to use it to get myself out of a bind once and one of the early Riddler trials had this really neat puzzle sequence. A pretty cool chase sequence in one of the side missions too.

They have also let me switch between characters a few times during combat which I though was pretty awesome. I guess I really like the dual mechanic with both characters and Batman/mobile that they have used so far. It is really cool.

Yeah, the tank sections have been a dud, but the puzzles and driving segments make me glad they added it overall.

Story wise I absolutely love how they 

Spoiler:

From what you guys have said/what I've seen I'll get this eventually but not until it drops in price a bit.

Can't believe they completely pulled the PC version though, that doesn't happen often.

Just beat it. Definitely my favorite game this year so far. Haven't been this sucked into a game in a while. Even want to do all the side stuff even though there's so much of it.

Yeah I am super addicted to this. When I'm really hooked on a game, I usually stop playing, try to do something productive, then an hour later I just start playing again. That happened many times this weekend.

The tracker says I am 70% through the story and I have done quite a few side missions. Almost done the Riddler quest and finished a couple of the other most wanted things. I will probably go for all the side quests except the little Riddler challenges/trophies. They just seem excessive to me. Surprised there really hasn't been a boss fight except for one where you use the tank.

Well the game seems to be saving boss fights for the side quests. Story really just focuses on Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, Arkham Knight and....well you know who. Not like Asylum or City which would throw villains every five minutes. But I have done some bosses in side quests.

I'll probably do the Riddler objectives even because the game showed me what happens if you do them

Well I finished the main story path and this game was awesome. I may try and do the Riddler stuff too now that I finished his little side questline thing. Going to chip away at them as I try and clean up the various side quests I still need to do. Anyway, I will post more full thoughts tomorrow when I'm not so tired.

I definitely agree that the Riddler puzzles are excessive though and I found them all in Asylum three times. Right now I'd put Two Face's side missions as the highlight of them. They have a fun twist on the stealth mechanics that I really like.

How would you compare Knight to the others by the way? I'm waiting for the patch to fix all the slowdown and replay this before I can say for sure, but it's close to Asylum. A lot closer than I imagined.

Honestly, and I might change my mind after thinking on it some more, I think Arkham Knight is my favorite. There are certain things the other games do better. I did miss having proper boss fights in this game even if they weren't always great (and they feel like they missed some opportunities for good ones here). I think the tank sections get a bit tiresome (they aren't bad, but just go on too long at times) and there is one section late in the game where things get a little too Batmobile centric. As much as I loved the Batmobile I felt that section had some pacing issues where as most of the game let me jump between the typical Batman stealth and brawling, etc. with the Batmobile. Anyway, despite those issues, I think I just had the most fun here. But I will try and quantify it a bit more here (worth noting I have only played all the games once).

It is a little easier to compare to the open-world ones. I never really liked the move to an open world. In fact because of my apathy for it, I didn't explore City's as much as I should have. I did a bit more in Origins. But here I finally just got into that aspect. I think that is partly because it is a better realized open world. I loved both tearing around the streets in the Batmobile on the ground and flinging through the air. I like stumbling upon side quests while exploring; there is an investigative aspect to that that just feels like Batman. And I guess I just like the map better.

Asylum is tougher to compare because I still really like the that tighter level design and world and it feels more apples and oranges from a level structure standpoint. But I thinking timing helps for me with Knight. Where as someone like you went into Asylum loving Batman and dying for a great Batman game. I went in just because it was supposed to be a great game without being much of a Batman fan (you actually finally convinced me to play it). It was kind of educational as far as learning some of the lesser-known villains which was cool. But now after three games, catching up on the movies and watching the three DC shows I watch, I have a lot more knowledge about the lore and so I think I get bigger kicks out of a lot of the things now when I play. So maybe I'd think differently if I'd replay Asylum now, but all that helped me connect more with Knight now.

Of course there is a bunch of other stuff I liked about Knight. Stuff I already mentioned like the team-up combat bits and the cool sidequests and the stuff you expect like fun brawls and good stealth sections plus the new fear takedowns. I loved Scarecrow and the bit you spoilered earlier and how those two talk to you throughout the game. The psychological aspects are just great. I don't know I usually need a bit of time away from something for proper perspective, but that is how I feel at the moment.

Oh and on the Riddler front, I do think the tighter world made Asylum's feel more fun to track down all the little stuff. Where as it feels more daunting here because of how big the world is.

I have finished all the sidequests except I am missing one fireman and a shit ton of Riddler trophies/challenges. That will probably do it for me right now. Going to talk about how some of these finish in spoilers here:

Side Quest Spoilers:

I will probably come back to this game at some point to try New Game +. I'd actually like to go back and try the other games again for comparison's sake too. Not sure when I will though.

Also reading other players impressions online, it really seems like people's enjoyment will hinge on how they feel about the Batmobile. It is definitely a fairly big part of the game, so I can see why if someone wasn't digging it, the game wouldn't hit them as well. I really liked it for the most part, so that didn't really hurt the game much expect for some stuff I mentioned earlier. Overall a really fun addition for me.

Right so I'm only about 4 hours in so I wont read the rest of this thread and spoil anything but my only gripes so far are:

1. The Batmobile - it's fine that it's there but it HAS to bee used for nearly every story mission. Which is so odd considering that they upgraded the grappel boost and everything. I play batman to be batman not to drive cars. This is no more scandalous than the riddler and scarecrow side missions that have them "Toying with your mind" by doing car races. It's out of character to say the least.

2. Side quests. Side quests don't seem as easy to find/trigger in Arkham Knight. So far I've triggered one or two just by luckily flying by something in the street.

Overall though I've been playing the hell out of it.