And for those who bought it already, said DLC is free! AWESOME!
fade
Staff member
Skyrim
I'm giving this a second play through as a warrior. I played once through with a Conjuration/Sneak/Archery mage, which was so easy it was boring. The warrior is definitely more challenging, and I think Breton (which my mage was) is definitely the way to go. I never knew magic could hurt so much. I miss having 2 Dremora Lord tanks and sniper skills to back them up, though.
Still gotta buck the trend though, and say that this game is still kind of boring to me. The stories are neat, but 90% of the time, you're just mashing the main mouse button. The only challenging fight has been reforging the Gauldar amulet.
I'm giving this a second play through as a warrior. I played once through with a Conjuration/Sneak/Archery mage, which was so easy it was boring. The warrior is definitely more challenging, and I think Breton (which my mage was) is definitely the way to go. I never knew magic could hurt so much. I miss having 2 Dremora Lord tanks and sniper skills to back them up, though.
Still gotta buck the trend though, and say that this game is still kind of boring to me. The stories are neat, but 90% of the time, you're just mashing the main mouse button. The only challenging fight has been reforging the Gauldar amulet.
Clearly not bucking your trend
Still haven't played 4, but going by 3....Because of the great music and atmosphere, and the constant idea you can do just a little bit better?
And, despite all its flaws, because at least it mostly remembers to be fun?
Pretty much, yeah. I could easily get bored of it, and then it always tosses something interesting at me.
"Hey, volcano eruption! Put out these fires!"
"Hey, new type of hotel unlocked, bet this'll boost your tourism sector right up!"
"Hey, you depleted all the iron ore on this island, better start calculating whether it'll be worth it to import the raw materials to keep your weapons industry going, or whether you should just shut down your weapon plants and move the workers to something else!"
One of us, one of us.
I'm right there with you, I have yet to really get into any of Bethesda's open-world RPGs. Fallout 3, Morrowind, Skyrim, etc.
Personally, been hopping between 3DS Xenoblade, FFXIV's xpac, and pretending I'm competent at Ultra Street Fighter IV.
Arkham Knight
EDIT: Woo boy, this went on much longer than I intended. Apologies in advance.
I'm nearly done the game (just one more story mission, I think, some side stuff, and Riddler trophies). And honestly? I REALLY regret pre-ordering this. Take away the PC port problems and the troubles I had just getting it to run properly, and the game itself is really disappointing.
Don't get me wrong. The game as a whole is fun. The story is compelling, the city is vast, and rumbling around in the Batmobile is a blast. And I really love some of the new features, such as the fear takedowns or teaming up with characters like Robin and Nightwing, doing dual takedowns. The combat and predator aspects are, as they've always been, the most enjoyable parts of the game. The voice acting is top notch and it's always fun to see new characters/villains show up or old ones returning.
Except...blech, there are so many things to criticize, too. The side missions get INCREDIBLY repetitive. There's little to no diversity between each task. Worse, the final part of each mission is very anti-climactic. For example, there's one side mission where you track down and tackle a villain three times. And that's it. No final boss fight. There's a murder mystery that goes on far too long, though the final mission there is at least mildly satisfying. It's one of the few. Most of the side missions, even the ones involving major villains like Two-Face or Penguin, end in a very anti-climactic manner.
As for the Batmobile, the game's biggest selling point? As I said, it's fun, but there are two problems with it:
1) It's crammed down your throat in nearly every aspect of the game, like the developers needed to cram it in EVERYWHERE. If there's one mission type I loathe more than any other in a sandbox game, it's the racing missions. I'm terrible in any kind of racing games, so I cringe when I have to do them (usually skip the optional ones in Saints Row or GTA). So when The Riddler goes from "You can't outwit me, Dark Knight!" to "How fast can you drive, Batman!?" I get pissed off. Fortunately, those Riddler races only occur three times, but still. Throughout the whole game, the Batmobile is overused to the point I was getting sick of it. Worse, because of its overuse, other parts of the game, such as the predator or brawling, is lessened. Why bother with either if you can barrel through with the Batmobile? The fear takedowns and team-ups were such fun additions but you barely get to use them compared to the overuse of the Batmobile.
2) The tank transformation. At first, it was fun blowing away tanks. But like many other things in the game, it grows tiresome. Your fighting options are nowhere near as diverse as the brawling. It's mostly just shoot, shoot, shoot, build up your special weapon, then fire rockets and take out half a dozen of them at once. Dodging the blatantly telegraphed shots gets boring after awhile. And of course, the biggest, most key boss fights involve the Batmobile. You fight the Arkham Knight twice, against their own special tanks. Fortunately, you fight him one more time outside the Batmobile. That was a blessing.
Speaking of the Arkham Knight, two things bugged me about him:
1) Throughout the game, when there are story-driven predator missions, he orders his troops to change their tactics according to your actions. It reminded me of the Mr. Freeze boss fight in Arkham City, which was my absolute favourite part of all the Arkham games. Unfortunately, it falls short. You can still work around those changed tactics and sometimes even use the same actions as before. It feels like a greatly missed opportunity.
2) The big mystery of the Arkham Knight? Blatantly telegraphed from the beginning. The hints are so blatant that by the time he's finally revealed, it has no impact because of how it's been hammered at you. Within the first few lines he speaks, it's obvious who his identity is. So when the World's Greatest Detective keeps asking who he is, even though you figured it out almost immediately? It becomes grating. That said, I did actually like the twist on this character. I like the idea of the Arkham Knight being this military tactician.
But honestly, the story as a whole is really basic and disappointing. There are barely any big or satisfying twists. There's one that pissed me off, but then it twisted again. I'll mention that in the spoilers below.
Scarecrow is the most disappointing, though. When he was revealed as the big bad for this game, I expected some new, fun, original, scary nightmare missions like in Arkham Asylum. Those were the favourites for many fans. And yet, they're far and few between. There's one aspect of the fear gas that keeps popping up throughout the game in little ways, but it's more to add humour than scares, so it's very disappointing. Scarecrow basically plays the Hugo Strange role, where he's the voice on the video screens throughout the city, taunting you. REALLY disappointing.
I will say that it's fun to revisit GCPD to see the thugs and super criminals locked up and throwing insults at you. That's incredibly satisfying and I'd love to see other superhero games do that in the future.
Here's a few spoiler thoughts before my final thoughts:
Overall, I would put Arkham Knight in third place below Arkham Asylum and City. Story-wise, I'd put it in fourth because honestly, even Origins had a better, more cohesive and meaningful story. For all the new additions to the game, the overuse of the Batmobile grated on me by the end. It's still a very enjoyable game because it's still as well-made as the others (even Origins, to a lesser extent), but it's a REALLY disappointing finale for what should have been the homerun. Ironically, it's the Dark Knight Rises of this game trilogy. Very disappointing after what we've seen before.
EDIT: Woo boy, this went on much longer than I intended. Apologies in advance.
I'm nearly done the game (just one more story mission, I think, some side stuff, and Riddler trophies). And honestly? I REALLY regret pre-ordering this. Take away the PC port problems and the troubles I had just getting it to run properly, and the game itself is really disappointing.
Don't get me wrong. The game as a whole is fun. The story is compelling, the city is vast, and rumbling around in the Batmobile is a blast. And I really love some of the new features, such as the fear takedowns or teaming up with characters like Robin and Nightwing, doing dual takedowns. The combat and predator aspects are, as they've always been, the most enjoyable parts of the game. The voice acting is top notch and it's always fun to see new characters/villains show up or old ones returning.
Except...blech, there are so many things to criticize, too. The side missions get INCREDIBLY repetitive. There's little to no diversity between each task. Worse, the final part of each mission is very anti-climactic. For example, there's one side mission where you track down and tackle a villain three times. And that's it. No final boss fight. There's a murder mystery that goes on far too long, though the final mission there is at least mildly satisfying. It's one of the few. Most of the side missions, even the ones involving major villains like Two-Face or Penguin, end in a very anti-climactic manner.
As for the Batmobile, the game's biggest selling point? As I said, it's fun, but there are two problems with it:
1) It's crammed down your throat in nearly every aspect of the game, like the developers needed to cram it in EVERYWHERE. If there's one mission type I loathe more than any other in a sandbox game, it's the racing missions. I'm terrible in any kind of racing games, so I cringe when I have to do them (usually skip the optional ones in Saints Row or GTA). So when The Riddler goes from "You can't outwit me, Dark Knight!" to "How fast can you drive, Batman!?" I get pissed off. Fortunately, those Riddler races only occur three times, but still. Throughout the whole game, the Batmobile is overused to the point I was getting sick of it. Worse, because of its overuse, other parts of the game, such as the predator or brawling, is lessened. Why bother with either if you can barrel through with the Batmobile? The fear takedowns and team-ups were such fun additions but you barely get to use them compared to the overuse of the Batmobile.
2) The tank transformation. At first, it was fun blowing away tanks. But like many other things in the game, it grows tiresome. Your fighting options are nowhere near as diverse as the brawling. It's mostly just shoot, shoot, shoot, build up your special weapon, then fire rockets and take out half a dozen of them at once. Dodging the blatantly telegraphed shots gets boring after awhile. And of course, the biggest, most key boss fights involve the Batmobile. You fight the Arkham Knight twice, against their own special tanks. Fortunately, you fight him one more time outside the Batmobile. That was a blessing.
Speaking of the Arkham Knight, two things bugged me about him:
1) Throughout the game, when there are story-driven predator missions, he orders his troops to change their tactics according to your actions. It reminded me of the Mr. Freeze boss fight in Arkham City, which was my absolute favourite part of all the Arkham games. Unfortunately, it falls short. You can still work around those changed tactics and sometimes even use the same actions as before. It feels like a greatly missed opportunity.
2) The big mystery of the Arkham Knight? Blatantly telegraphed from the beginning. The hints are so blatant that by the time he's finally revealed, it has no impact because of how it's been hammered at you. Within the first few lines he speaks, it's obvious who his identity is. So when the World's Greatest Detective keeps asking who he is, even though you figured it out almost immediately? It becomes grating. That said, I did actually like the twist on this character. I like the idea of the Arkham Knight being this military tactician.
But honestly, the story as a whole is really basic and disappointing. There are barely any big or satisfying twists. There's one that pissed me off, but then it twisted again. I'll mention that in the spoilers below.
Scarecrow is the most disappointing, though. When he was revealed as the big bad for this game, I expected some new, fun, original, scary nightmare missions like in Arkham Asylum. Those were the favourites for many fans. And yet, they're far and few between. There's one aspect of the fear gas that keeps popping up throughout the game in little ways, but it's more to add humour than scares, so it's very disappointing. Scarecrow basically plays the Hugo Strange role, where he's the voice on the video screens throughout the city, taunting you. REALLY disappointing.
I will say that it's fun to revisit GCPD to see the thugs and super criminals locked up and throwing insults at you. That's incredibly satisfying and I'd love to see other superhero games do that in the future.
Here's a few spoiler thoughts before my final thoughts:
-Holy shit, does it ever suck to be a woman in this game. You have to rescue Oracle more than once and they kill off Poison Ivy. Ivy's death is actually really cool and poignant, but it happens so soon after Barbara's death that it just makes me wonder if the devs hated women or something. Barbara's death pissed me off because of how much I loved that character, but fortunately, it was a fake-out. I kinda felt it was, given how nightmarish that whole scene looked.
-Joker's reappearance legitimately shocked me, at first. I had a feeling it was the fear toxin because right before he appeared, the gas production suddenly said "1000%" instead of the lowering number before. And even though I'm tired of Joker's overuse, I won't lie. His constant appearances, usually at the worst times, was hilarious. And his constant jabs at Batman for all his mistakes is priceless. Which makes it doubly great because it's really Bruce saying it to himself.
Except...it's not. Because Bruce is still infected with Joker toxin from the last game. So technically, it's really Joker that's still around, within Bruce's subconscious. If it had just been the fear toxin, I'd be okay with it. But no, no. It has to be the Joker toxin, too. So the game is all about Bruce trying to beat Joker again, not just Scarecrow. And given that he was the main villain for THREE games, I was hoping maybe - just maybe - Joker would finally be given a rest. As entertained as I was by his constant appearances and comments, I would've been happier without him appearing yet again.
-Joker's reappearance legitimately shocked me, at first. I had a feeling it was the fear toxin because right before he appeared, the gas production suddenly said "1000%" instead of the lowering number before. And even though I'm tired of Joker's overuse, I won't lie. His constant appearances, usually at the worst times, was hilarious. And his constant jabs at Batman for all his mistakes is priceless. Which makes it doubly great because it's really Bruce saying it to himself.
Except...it's not. Because Bruce is still infected with Joker toxin from the last game. So technically, it's really Joker that's still around, within Bruce's subconscious. If it had just been the fear toxin, I'd be okay with it. But no, no. It has to be the Joker toxin, too. So the game is all about Bruce trying to beat Joker again, not just Scarecrow. And given that he was the main villain for THREE games, I was hoping maybe - just maybe - Joker would finally be given a rest. As entertained as I was by his constant appearances and comments, I would've been happier without him appearing yet again.
Overall, I would put Arkham Knight in third place below Arkham Asylum and City. Story-wise, I'd put it in fourth because honestly, even Origins had a better, more cohesive and meaningful story. For all the new additions to the game, the overuse of the Batmobile grated on me by the end. It's still a very enjoyable game because it's still as well-made as the others (even Origins, to a lesser extent), but it's a REALLY disappointing finale for what should have been the homerun. Ironically, it's the Dark Knight Rises of this game trilogy. Very disappointing after what we've seen before.
Last edited:
You're still being comparatively kind. I've heard a lot of negative about the game - and not just the technical side of things.
- The tanks are all drones. It doesn't make sense for Batman - of all people - to go around blasting them to bits instead of jamming the signal
- The "zap them out of the way to avoid civilian casualties" mechanic isn't just absurd, the ragdolling is pretty explicit in people looking very, very dead.
- They're non-lethal rockets! We swear! Crashing other cars into the wall doesn't kill the drivers, we swear! Those huge big explosions and fireballs are...errr...look! There! A birdie!
Just to name a few
- The "zap them out of the way to avoid civilian casualties" mechanic isn't just absurd, the ragdolling is pretty explicit in people looking very, very dead.
- They're non-lethal rockets! We swear! Crashing other cars into the wall doesn't kill the drivers, we swear! Those huge big explosions and fireballs are...errr...look! There! A birdie!
Just to name a few
To be fair, you can jam the signals and even hack them to turn them friendly.
I think you'll like it. It's not without the problems I mentioned, but like Origins, it's still an overall enjoyable experience. Asylum and City still stand above it and Origins, though, no question.
As I said, I DO like it. I just find it's crowbarred into the game a little too much.
I dont think I'd make a good critic, because I haven't found anything about Arkham knight that I dislike.
Here are some possible critiques
And here are some more
I don't really have a horse in this race, considering I don't own the game nor intend to buy it. Though I do feel persuaded/inclined to agree with much of what he says. Though he isn't always complete. Though....eh. Anyway
And here are some more
I don't really have a horse in this race, considering I don't own the game nor intend to buy it. Though I do feel persuaded/inclined to agree with much of what he says. Though he isn't always complete. Though....eh. Anyway
Again, I haven't finished the game yet, so it's difficult to say for certain where they're going, but I would say those reviewers missed the point, at least when it comes to thinking the batmobile doesn't fit the theme. If they don't like the gameplay, that's fine.Here are some possible critiques
And here are some more
I don't really have a horse in this race, considering I don't own the game nor intend to buy it. Though I do feel persuaded/inclined to agree with much of what he says. Though he isn't always complete. Though....eh. Anyway
This is the final game of the "trilogy." This is the Batman end game. We've seen the more traditional Batman in the previous games, but this is a Batman that had progressed to the logical end. He's becoming increasingly more destructive, paranoid, fascist, and it's coming back to haunt him. His city has become a warzone, his sidekicks soldiers, and it's mostly his fault.
Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate: Why did I take a break from this wonderful game? I paused so I could play Devil Survivor 2, but when that didn't hold my interest, I went wasting money on other shit instead of going back to my happy place. Now I've been playing all day and loving it again. Shaken off the rust of my two month break and ready to kill.
Also had to change my in-game message alerts to Mad Max quotes.
Also had to change my in-game message alerts to Mad Max quotes.
After playing Civ 5 for god knows how long, I gotta say that I prefer Civ 3 for a couple of reasons.
- You are more incentivized to build and maintain armies in Civ 3 because you usually don't need a huge force to beat an opponent in Civ 5.
- The ability to steal enemy territory via superior culture is gone. This means playing a peaceful game is essentially out of the picture.
- Some nations (Babylon, Korea... I'm looking at you) have advantages that come early and last until the end game, making the much stronger choices than others. This is still true in Civ 3 but not as significantly.
- The introduction of City States makes winning a political victory almost impossible if you've EVER gone to war with someone and wiped them out. You are basically forced to bribe them heavily to win that way.
- Religion is under used. Winning a Religious victory is nigh impossible without getting a cultural or military victory first.
Dave
Staff member
I've been playing as well lately. 700+ hours in and I'm still finding quests I haven't done. My main character right now is level 49 and went to a place called Falskar and I had to go slowly and carefully because everything there just fucked my shit up. I finally finished it last night and it was like winning the lottery. The writing was fairly terrible with a LOT of cliches. Like the bad guy who says, "Give me the super powerful artifact and I'll let your family live." Good guy gives up the thing. "Thanks. Kill them all." Bad guy goes to get all powerful God-like item while the good guys are helpless. "I challenge you to one on one combat!" and the bad guy says, "Let's do this!"
Again, writing is bad but the challenge level is difficult if not super duper hard.
My biggest problem with Falskar was the voice acting. I found most of the female voices to just be horrible. On the other hand, that's the mod that some kid took a year off after high school to make on his own, as an interview piece to work for Bethesda, I believe, so they weren't professional voice actors.
I had a Celtic civilization that had researched gunpowder and metallurgy by 1060 AD, but since there was no iron or horses anywhere on my lands, my best unit was still fucking spearmen. Catapults were completely useless and got captured before they could hit anything unless they were in a city. That's why I was so pissed.
Splatoon recently had its first Splatfest in North America. This is where players vote for a team (in this case, Dogs vs Cats) and then during Splatfest weekend they represent their teams by duking it out with the opposing team. The winning side gets prizes.
My wife played this a good chunk of the weekend, representing Team Cat. Today, the results were posted--though Team Cat won more matches, because Team Dog was voted by more people, they won. Good job, Nintendo, you made the competition side of Splatfest not matter to the end result. Yes, players still get prizes individually based on how well they did, but their team lost over stupid pre-game crap. I didn't do shit, but my team won.
She's getting off Splatoon to play Fallout New Vegas now.
My wife played this a good chunk of the weekend, representing Team Cat. Today, the results were posted--though Team Cat won more matches, because Team Dog was voted by more people, they won. Good job, Nintendo, you made the competition side of Splatfest not matter to the end result. Yes, players still get prizes individually based on how well they did, but their team lost over stupid pre-game crap. I didn't do shit, but my team won.
She's getting off Splatoon to play Fallout New Vegas now.
Arkham Knight
And finished. Overall, I stand by my original opinion: it's third place from Asylum and City. A very low third. There's far too much reliance on the Batmobile throughout the game, the story is honestly very basic and dull compared to the others (little to no surprises), and there are absolutely no good boss fights. That's something City improved on from Asylum, with great boss fights like Solomon Grundy, Ra's, Clayface, and especially Mr. Freeze. Here? None. I can't think of a single boss fight that comes even remotely close to those or even Asylum (which had a few decent ones like Ivy and Joker at the end). Oh, and the last mission? Not even a boss fight.
Actually, what pisses me off most about the last mission is an issue I have with the game as a whole. Spoilered thoughts:
Oh, and you don't even get the "real" ending until you collect all the Riddler trophies and beat him. Which is even more bullshit.
Criticisms aside, I still enjoyed the game as a whole. But after everything before it (even parts of Origins) and all the build-up, I was expecting something a lot better.
This was definitely not worth pre-ordering.
And finished. Overall, I stand by my original opinion: it's third place from Asylum and City. A very low third. There's far too much reliance on the Batmobile throughout the game, the story is honestly very basic and dull compared to the others (little to no surprises), and there are absolutely no good boss fights. That's something City improved on from Asylum, with great boss fights like Solomon Grundy, Ra's, Clayface, and especially Mr. Freeze. Here? None. I can't think of a single boss fight that comes even remotely close to those or even Asylum (which had a few decent ones like Ivy and Joker at the end). Oh, and the last mission? Not even a boss fight.
Actually, what pisses me off most about the last mission is an issue I have with the game as a whole. Spoilered thoughts:
ENOUGH WITH THE FUCKING JOKER. He's been the main villain now for THREE games. Scarecrow is barely in this and throughout the whole game, what you're doing is either fighting the Arkham Knight's forces or you're having manic attack visions from The Joker. The final mission? A prolonged dream sequence starring The Joker. It's entirely story driven with little to no difficult gameplay. Really, the final mission is Joker vs. Scarecrow. The whole mission is basically an extended nightmare for Joker, not Batman.
Rocksteady had this great opportunity to give us all sorts of creepy, unexpected nightmare sequences like in Arkham Asylum. Hell, remember when it seemed like the game crashed and reset in Asylum? That whole sequences was fantastic, arguably the best part of the game. Where was that great stuff? Where was the mind fuckery? Oh, that's right. More Joker. When it doubt, add Joker, right? I'll admit, he was entertaining. He had some great lines, as usual. But City should have been his last appearance in this trilogy. He was dead. We burned him alive at the start. Let that be it and then give us all Scarecrow.
It doesn't help that Scarecrow was fucking dull as hell. He just went on and on and on about fear this, fear that. He was a broken record. I expected better from the writing team.
Rocksteady had this great opportunity to give us all sorts of creepy, unexpected nightmare sequences like in Arkham Asylum. Hell, remember when it seemed like the game crashed and reset in Asylum? That whole sequences was fantastic, arguably the best part of the game. Where was that great stuff? Where was the mind fuckery? Oh, that's right. More Joker. When it doubt, add Joker, right? I'll admit, he was entertaining. He had some great lines, as usual. But City should have been his last appearance in this trilogy. He was dead. We burned him alive at the start. Let that be it and then give us all Scarecrow.
It doesn't help that Scarecrow was fucking dull as hell. He just went on and on and on about fear this, fear that. He was a broken record. I expected better from the writing team.
Oh, and you don't even get the "real" ending until you collect all the Riddler trophies and beat him. Which is even more bullshit.
Criticisms aside, I still enjoyed the game as a whole. But after everything before it (even parts of Origins) and all the build-up, I was expecting something a lot better.
This was definitely not worth pre-ordering.
I'll have to disagree nick. Ill write a better review when I'm done, but I've greatly enjoyed the game thus far--although to be fair, your review isn't scathing--I just feel that I enjoyed it a bit more than you have. I've finished the main storyline quest, and want to finish up a few side quests before I post about it.
Still pretty much going between FFXIV's new xpac and 3DS Xenoblade.
I've barely made progress on XB's story because I keep stopping to do sidequests. Thankfully I'm in Satorl Marsh now, which I hate, so I can skip some quests for now and not overlevel everything.
I've barely made progress on XB's story because I keep stopping to do sidequests. Thankfully I'm in Satorl Marsh now, which I hate, so I can skip some quests for now and not overlevel everything.
Yeah, keep in mind that I HAVE enjoyed it for the most part. But I have MANY things to criticize about it. I'm not full out saying it sucks.