Roderick

Batmazement: Knightly Man Bruce

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Because let's face it, that's what this is, that's what we wanted it to be and it might be amazing. Here's Blur's latest million dollar bit of eye candy:



Important things:
- Scarecrow plays a big part
- You get to ride in the motherloving batmobile
- The batcave exit is in a goddamn lake
- It's made by Rocksteady
- Singleplayer only! No tacked on multiplayer distractions, either for the player or the developing team. This is good.
- Thomas Wayne is a manipulative dick. Nice job putting pressure on your son, you philanthropist billionaire good guy. No wonder Bruce turned out this way.
- The batmobile

Not much else is known or interesting, but considering Asylum and City, this game will probably be amazing.

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Yes, yes and YEEEEEEEEESSS. Somewhere I had kind of hoped that they'd be working on new IP, but I'm fine with this too. It can wash away the mediocrity of Arkham Origins.

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I really hope there is more to this than just upgraded graphics and a bigger world in which you can occasionally drive. They probably aren't going to heavily revise the formula, but I hope they've had enough time to make some meaningful changes to the core design. It isn't to say that I don't like the last two games, but I don't know if I'm in for a bigger version of the same thing.

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Two questions:

 

1) Why did Thomas Wayne create a last will and testament under the assumption that he would be killed and that he'd never see his son grow up. Did he travel to the opera / theatre / whatever under the assumption that he was gonna get it in the alley?

 

2) Did he write his will thinking: "also when I die my wife is going with me, so, I don't need to write her into the will."

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I feel it's now safe to assume that the entirety of Batman history is some sick machination on Thomas Wayne's part. The video cuts it off, but as Bruce reads on, his dad gets into crazy territory.

"I have carefully put into place a chain of events that will in twenty years time flush an innocent man out into a chemical plant. That man, Bruce, will become the greatest enemy you've ever faced. But don't worry, I have arranged for you to be trained in the depths of exotic Asia. When you return, there will be a commissioner with a moustache waiting for you. If only this plan didn't call for my sweet Margaret to join me in my earthly grave, but alas, the strands of fate are indifferent and MY WILL BE DONE."

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I really hope there is more to this than just upgraded graphics and a bigger world in which you can occasionally drive. They probably aren't going to heavily revise the formula, but I hope they've had enough time to make some meaningful changes to the core design. It isn't to say that I don't like the last two games, but I don't know if I'm in for a bigger version of the same thing.

The word is it's a true open world. It's also current-gen only, so there are no PS3 & 360 ports to hold Rocksteady back or divert their attention.

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I'm not sure what they can do with this series to make it any more interesting than Arkham City.  AC at least brought in some interesting combat refinements, and changed up the world exploration a bit from its predecessor.  But driving just feels like another analogue for swooping around in AC, and I wonder if having to make environments large enough to make a car feel worthwhile will also mean that traversing the world without the car feels slow or boring.

 

In some ways I kind of wish that rather than infinite Batman sequels, they'd done one or two competent games, then applied the same design choices to a different superhero.  I suppose you could say they did that a bit in AC with the different playable characters, but they all felt a lot like Batmans.

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Has there ever been a game/comic/whatever that talks about the almost certain major social inequities in Gotham City that has resulted in the armies of beefy disenfranchised young people that follow around super villains

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Has there ever been a game/comic/whatever that talks about the almost certain major social inequities in Gotham City that has resulted in the armies of beefy disenfranchised young people that follow around super villains

Other than all of Chris Nolan's Batman films?

 

Anyway, the game idea seems like the logical step, but I thought they were working on some on something else that involved old-timey golden/silver age Batman game? Disappointing to see that didn't take off.

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Two questions:

 

1) Why did Thomas Wayne create a last will and testament under the assumption that he would be killed and that he'd never see his son grow up. Did he travel to the opera / theatre / whatever under the assumption that he was gonna get it in the alley?

Presumably had he lived to the point where Bruce grew up he would have written a new will.

2) Did he write his will thinking: "also when I die my wife is going with me, so, I don't need to write her into the will."

He probably had two wills, one for if his wife also died and one for if his wife was still alive.

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Other than all of Chris Nolan's Batman films?

 

Except they don't really delve into the socio-economic elements of the city that would lead to there being hundreds or thousands of people willing to follow an assortment of super villains.  I've always been a little surprised that there hasn't been an alternate universe where Batman is the villain (unless there has been one and I don't know about it).  His mega-corporation allows him to keep the poor under control economically, and if any of the impoverished get uppity, he breaks out the Batsuit in order to put them in their place.  The super villains would become anti-heroes trying to oppose the unstoppable behemoth that is Wayne Industries, but their eccentricities become more and more extreme as they try to figure out how to pull it off. 

 

 

Anyway, the game idea seems like the logical step, but I thought they were working on some on something else that involved old-timey golden/silver age Batman game? Disappointing to see that didn't take off.

 

I think those early reports about a Silver Age game were just confusing elements that ended up in the Origins game.

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Initially I wasn't that thrilled with this announcement, thinking that it would just be Arkham sequel 2.5

But hearing that it's next gen only has peaked my interest, and got me thinking...

I'd imagine the bat mobile is just the first of serveral announcements, if they created a proper sand box of the city and the surrounding area I fully expect a bat bike (of course) and the batwing will be available to fly. (This is rocksteady, they don't do half measures)

Also if it's a true sandbox I expect there to be some civilian life out and about on the streets, there's definitely going to be civilian traffic including police cars. I expect there to be cops and robber style high speed car chases going on (like in the trailer) which you'll be able to intercept the police radio etc etc oh bollocks! Escort missions :(

It's a shame it's not a full reboot, it looks like they're going for something halfway between Arkham city and the Nolan movies

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Except they don't really delve into the socio-economic elements of the city that would lead to there being hundreds or thousands of people willing to follow an assortment of super villains.  I've always been a little surprised that there hasn't been an alternate universe where Batman is the villain (unless there has been one and I don't know about it).

The latest Batman movie, where Batman is basically fighting against Occupy Wall Street, is one where Batman is the villain, although the movie doesn't know it.

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The latest Batman movie, where Batman is basically fighting against Occupy Wall Street, is one where Batman is the villain, although the movie doesn't know it.

 

I remember so little of that movie.  I only saw it once, and remember walking out of the theater thinking that it was a mess. 

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The latest Batman movie, where Batman is basically fighting against Occupy Wall Street, is one where Batman is the villain, although the movie doesn't know it.

Yeah, Rises really bugged me in this respect. It's about a rich white man flexing his considerable financial muscle to uphold the scoio-economic status quo.

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Has there ever been a game/comic/whatever that talks about the almost certain major social inequities in Gotham City that has resulted in the armies of beefy disenfranchised young people that follow around super villains

 

The government actually turns a blind eye to the goon squads each supervillian employs because they can count them in their employment numbers. Also some of them offer great benefits...like the Penguin's 401k contribution is insane.

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The things I recall from The Dark Knight Rises, in specific order:

 

- It took a good six hours before Batman showed up

- Halfway through I got nauseous for no other reason than watching the film and it didn't pass until the end

- Bane was kind of cool

- At the time I thought the Scarecrow inclusion was lame, but now I see it as the highlight of the film

- Catwoman was in there and she did things like stealing and a bunch of stuff I don't remember

- The Batwing was really ugly

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The things I recall from The Dark Knight Rises, in specific order:

 

- It took a good six hours before Batman showed up

- Halfway through I got nauseous for no other reason than watching the film and it didn't pass until the end

- Bane was kind of cool

- At the time I thought the Scarecrow inclusion was lame, but now I see it as the highlight of the film

- Catwoman was in there and she did things like stealing and a bunch of stuff I don't remember

- The Batwing was really ugly

 

- You can fix a broken back by having an old Syrian man punch you really hard.

- Listening to Bane talk was like reading this without highlighting it.

- Being really strong means nothing if getting one of your little mouth-nozzles broken totally incapacitates you.

- Morgan Freeman's character was a hilarious coward and the movie thought we wouldn't notice.

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Also, Batman doesn't give a shit about Gotham, he just wants to go be a playboy in tropical paradise.

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I'm heartened to read they are clearly going the excellent way of city regarding their approach to the open world: a smaller world with more stuff in it per square meter, rather than a huge expanse of desolate location. It's a huge reason why City worked for me, it felt so alive and detailed at all times.

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Except they don't really delve into the socio-economic elements of the city that would lead to there being hundreds or thousands of people willing to follow an assortment of super villains.  I've always been a little surprised that there hasn't been an alternate universe where Batman is the villain (unless there has been one and I don't know about it).  His mega-corporation allows him to keep the poor under control economically, and if any of the impoverished get uppity, he breaks out the Batsuit in order to put them in their place.  

 

They sort of did this in Kingdom Come, sort of. But it's Batman we're talking about, not a prolific social commentary of our times.

 

Rises was kind of a mess of a movie with mish mash of ideas. From the movie news headlines it really sounded like the studio got their claws in to it. They had a decent enough occupy wall street thing going on that could have went somewhere, but then ditched it for the awful super villian/league of shadows stuff that just wanted to blow up a city. 

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They sort of did this in Kingdom Come, sort of. But it's Batman we're talking about, not a prolific social commentary of our times.

There's a few versions of the evil type character, Owlman being the main one.

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Mark Millar even followed the "Batman, but evil!" concept to its logical conclusion in a 4-issue miniseries, Nemesis with Steve McNiven.

 

Arkham City is one of the better representations of the Caped Crusader, regardless of medium. I hope Rocksteady can not only deliver on their promises, but actually want to be making this game. It seems entirely plausible that they'd be burnt out after living and breathing Batman for nearly a decade at this point.

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They sort of did this in Kingdom Come, sort of. But it's Batman we're talking about, not a prolific social commentary of our times.

 

Rises was kind of a mess of a movie with mish mash of ideas. From the movie news headlines it really sounded like the studio got their claws in to it. They had a decent enough occupy wall street thing going on that could have went somewhere, but then ditched it for the awful super villian/league of shadows stuff that just wanted to blow up a city. 

 This and this again, It felt to me like Bane should have been a much more complex, even believable villain, more a hyper-violent che guevara insurrectionist type than the caricature and ultimately the pawn he turned out to be. there was so much fodder at the time to give him real motivations that would have reflected on the state of the nation, what with the bailout, occupy, rampant cronyism etc. instead of the cartoonish nonsense we were served with at the end.

 

I find villains that believe they are actually doing good far more disturbing than your run of the mill cookie cutter baddy.

 

interestingly a game that invoked this precise feeling in me was BlOps 2, I only later found out goyer, the man who wrote DKR also wrote the.."story" for Blops2. Holy shit they could have done something with that villain. south american, having suffered under US imperialism, he decides to use Americas massive army of killer robots against them, using cunning propaganda techniques to not only turn the world against the US, but also the lower classes and the criminals in country. I actually thought we just might get a COD that at the very least attempted to put a human face on all the brown people you are slaughtering.

 

Nope, just the usual cookie cutter bullshit. Villian was mad about his sister dying or something, really ridiculous shit considering the scope they were aiming for. Maybe im just being an arrogant neckbeard, but it seems as if it would not have been that hard to apply at least a smidgen of nuance to such a tale.

 

the paranoid schizophrenic in me almost thinks villains are done badly on purpose.

 

They dont want us sympathizing with the villian, because that would render the underlying propaganda ineffective. Especially in the case of blops I dont think this is too far-fetched. every "character" in COD games is such a ridiculous ooo-rah wanker It wouldnt take much to see them as the bad guys...

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