So.. Batman: Arkham Asylum

[Nachimir]

Did anyone else find the first half of the final boss fight

much harder than the second where you're electrocuting the Joker?

I'm now doing the challenge levels. After initially thinking "Fuck off!" to the extreme stealth ones, I tried them today and found that getting the medals on each is basically an awesome set of puzzles.

I'm terrible at the combat challenges, though thanks to this from gamefaqs I'm actually figuring out combos and fight mechanics for the first time... ever (Always hated beat 'em ups).

[Hyetal]

I like to think I've gotten a decent hold on the combat, so my advice is to check youtube for some clips of people showing off combos.

I put a few up myself, mostly to show a buddy how bloody cool the combat can get if you really get into it. If you're interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfhLV-3G3Vs

[elmuerte]

I thought everything from the party was quite more difficult than the rest of the game. I'm not that good with the combos, it's mostly button smashing for me.

[Nachimir]

I found the Joker fight easy because you can lead the little exploding robots to gaggles of crooks then dodge away as they explode, flattening everyone. To that point, you can spam counter as much as you need to, and after that you get opportunities for ground takedowns.

I put a few up myself, mostly to show a buddy how bloody cool the combat can get if you really get into it. If you're interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfhLV-3G3Vs

Wow, thanks. You're incredibly fluent; watching that emphasises just how reliant I still am on occasional panicked button mashing, which of course kills my combos. I'm also having trouble getting throws in, and only manage instant takedowns about 50% of the time I can do them.

Edited October 4, 2009 by Nachimir

[Nachimir]

A few notes on these:

I completed all of them yesterday with some decent times, including the two DLC ones. They seem to revolve around making a plan and sticking to it, but once you have it down to a good one speed is basically affected by an AI lottery: they'll go where you want them to, but the speed varies.

The top players have ridiculous times for the extreme ones, like 20 seconds. It makes it seem pretty obvious that they're using some kind of exploits, or are very skilled and get amazingly lucky in terms of AI placement. I couldn't find any really fast runs like that on youtube though.

I watched youtube

, and that's a really good method. The only exploit seems to be that henchmen will ignore batman if he ziplines right past them. He also gets very lucky in that his batclaw takes out two people at once (not visible in the video).

I also didn't know that the sonic batarang has a brief moment on landing, before it triggers any collars, where it will take out the nearest henchman upon detonation (In the video, it's used to take out the high security prisoner, who's stood under the platform to the right of where he throws the batarang - if you do it too soon it'll take out the patrolling guy you can see moving under the walkway instead). Now I can actually do the initial section fast enough to take out the high security guy before the patrolling one gets anywhere near the ladder, but doing it that fast that seems to mess up the later half so the same method means your next glide kick plants you too far from the ladders. Best time is just over a minute, which put me at 37 on the table. Pretty happy with that since I seem to hover between 10,000 - 20,000 on most.

[Hyetal]

The top players have ridiculous times for the extreme ones, like 20 seconds. It makes it seem pretty obvious that they're using some kind of exploits, or are very skilled and get amazingly lucky in terms of AI placement. I couldn't find any really fast runs like that on youtube though.

As far as I could tell, the AI spawns at the exact same place every time. Which does make it easier to plan and execute, but you can't get lucky beyond not getting killed if you're spotted. So I'm saying exploits, mostly because 20 seconds is outrageous.

[Nachimir]

Yeah, absolutely. The one with the 3 walls and exploding foam medal is surely impossible in that time. Might be lucky glitches rather than intentional exploitation though; either way I'd love to see how they're doing it.

You can get lucky with AI to a certain extent. Sometimes the positions just line up the kills, and sometimes they don't. Hothouse with the method in that youtube video is a really good example. The sonic batarang is a sure thing once you've got how to use the instant takedown it can do, but everything after varies. Got to #16 today, but it was only because I managed the double batclaw takedown, the glide kick landed me close to the ladders, and the remaining two henchmen were at the bottom of the ladders together but one paused, so they came up one at a time. The same routine can easily get me shot instead.

[Korax]

They're also both fairly dark-palette Unreal Engine >2 games...

Fixed. Bioshock ran a heavily modded UE2.5, with elements from UE3 added in. Not quite full-fledged UE3.

[brkl]

I knew it! They are nothing alike!

[Hyetal]

Nachimir: Good point. I guess despite default placement, the AI will invariably change it up.

Side-note: I had no idea that Paul Dini--who's written tons of stuff for various superheroes, Batman included--wrote this game. Not only is that totally awesome, it helps explain why it's so damn good. They actually got an experienced dude to do it.

Sorry, just a personal moment of me being oblivious.

Edit: In case anyone experienced the same lack of clue, I recommend watching this http://www.gametrailers.com/video/director-interview-batman-arkham/55009

[Chris]

Fixed. Bioshock ran a heavily modded UE2.5, with elements from UE3 added in. Not quite full-fledged UE3.

Yeah, that's true. Some of what was added was lighting though, which is particularly relevant.

[toblix]

Wow, I really didn't think Batman would do the thing where it gets impossible for me to continue. I gave up at the

Ivy

fight after failing multiple times. I think boss fights are fun, but they always start sending in the thugs, at which point it just gets stressful. I realized that all the boss fights will likely be like that, especially the end fight, so I quit while I still loved the game.

The

Scarecrow game crash bit

might be the best, I dunno... thing to be in a game, ever. It was just so well done. I actually thought

my console had overheated or something, and it lasted just long enough to get me worried, and then the bizarro intro just iced all over the cake

. So well done.

So, awesome game. I'm happy I got it, and I know I'd probably beat this boss in the end, but I'd just keep playing knowing that all the later bosses would be harder still.

[Korax]

The

Scarecrow game crash bit

might be the best, I dunno... thing to be in a game, ever. It was just so well done. I actually thought

my console had overheated or something, and it lasted just long enough to get me worried, and then the bizarro intro just iced all over the cake

. So well done.

Great bit. My favorite part was

when you'd try to skip the cutscene, and get the "Press J to skip" prompt.

I couldn't help but laugh.

[toblix]

Great bit. My favorite part was

when you'd try to skip the cutscene, and get the "Press J to skip" prompt.

I couldn't help but laugh.

Yeah, and

use the middle stick to dodge the Joker's bullet.

So good.

[Korax]

Yeah, and

use the middle stick to dodge the Joker's bullet.

So good.

Didn't actually do that.

It dumps you to a game over screen, but when you select "Load game" (or "retry" or whatever), the scene continues.

I almost threw my controller through a window when that happened.

[toblix]

Didn't actually do that.

It dumps you to a game over screen, but when you select "Load game" (or "retry" or whatever), the scene continues.

I almost threw my controller through a window when that happened.

Yeah, because there isn't a

middle stick

?

[Korax]

Yeah, because there isn't a

middle stick

?

Huh, I just now realized that. I actually don't remember getting any sort of message regarding sticks of any kind. I just thought the game was being a dick.

[toblix]

Wow, I really didn't think Batman would do the thing where it gets impossible for me to continue. I gave up at the

Ivy

fight after failing multiple times. I think boss fights are fun, but they always start sending in the thugs, at which point it just gets stressful. I realized that all the boss fights will likely be like that, especially the end fight, so I quit while I still loved the game.

Don't worry, Tobelix. The game saves your progress in the fight, so that you won't have to do the whole thing over.

Just though I'd give Batman another go, as I often do after realising I have rage quitted too quickly. And guess what, this fucking amazing game saves your progress during boss fights, so that when I reloaded my game I was in the middle of the Ivy fight, instead of back at the start. This is amazing and unexpected, and awesome.

[eljay]

I'd imagine most people didn't mention that because most people didn't give up in the middle of the fight?

That is a really nice feature though!

[Nachimir]

Yeah, you can also save your progress at any non-boss fight point by moving to a new location.

[toblix]

Sorry for dredging this old thing up again, but I'm wondering if any of you could give me a pointer or two on the final titan fight, the one in Party Crasher. I've tried this ten times now, and I'm able to get one of them down, but I'm unable to:

1. Keep an eye on the titans to dodge thrown bodies
   
2. Dodge or fight bad guys
   
3. Batarang the titans when they charge
   

... all at the same time, and the thugs keep on pouring in. Did you guys fight the thugs at all, or did you just dodge them and focus on the titans? Is there a pattern to when the titans charge or throw or whatever? It seems sometimes they can't stop charging, and sometimes they just stumble about.

It seems that, if I just stand in place and hit Y repeatedly, I'll stand in place and counter whenever someone tries it. Is this worth doing or will I eventually drown in thugs?

[Scrobbs]

I got stuck there a bit. The way to do it is to thin the thugs out a bit, batarang one of the titans until you can climb on his back and batter the thugs/other titan as much as possible. When he chucks you off, concentrate on the same one, get on his back, batter.

Easier said than done I suppose, but persevere.

[elmuerte]

Ignore the thugs, just jump and dodge until a titan charges, then quick draw a battarang (make sure you have the 2x battarang and you'll take out both titans). then the titans are hit just keep hitting on them until they recover and then being at the beginning.

Focus on 1 titan at the time, use him and ride him to also damage the other. It can be finished in 4 or 5 cycles of the above tactic.

[Nachimir]

Yeah, it's a nasty fight. I passed it by using the titans to beat the henchmen senseless. Don't entirely ignore them, but pay more attention to the titans. Good to get as many moves on the smaller guys as you can, but dodge jumps and cape stunning are your friends, and it's the titans pattern you should concentrate on. They'll help a lot in flattening the smaller enemies.

Make sure you've got the hang of launching quick batarangs by tapping LT too - my housemate was struggling with all of the titan fights until near the end of the game, because he didn't realise you could launch batarangs without aiming like that. As long as you're facing the charging titan, it should prioritise them over other targets.

[miffy495]

I wound up just exploiting the system a bit for that one. I brought down one titan for riding fairly quickly, then pounded on the other until he collapsed. About then, the titan I was on threw me and I hopped on the other. Repeat until only one titan is left alive, with very little health left. Then take out the henchmen with a bit of flair once both titans are out.