Batman: Arkham Knight

From a rumor I've heard, if you put the password in on the Arkham Knight website, you'll find out Hush is the one that repaired Scarecrow's face, only Scarecrow asked him to make it spooky looking.

Also, Poison Ivy looks like The Boss.

Also, this. Joker's plot twist and cure plot get a bunch of importance to the plot.

Strange is kept in the background the whole game to the point where he needs to remind you that Protocol 10 is happening every hour or so, and Ra's was only there for his blood and to explain Strange getting his funding.

edited 27th Feb '15 1:22:22 PM by Hobgoblin

I guess Scarecrow said "Just fix the tendons and leave the rest. I want it functional, and that means 'as fucked up as possible'" .

Related.◊

I never said Origins wasn't canon. I'm just saying that, since Origins was done by a different studio working in the same canon, they can and are going to get details wrong, such as Black Mask.

I don't know why some detail of Black Mask being wrong in Origins or Endgame suddenly makes Endgame COMPLETELY 100% NON-CANON. Particularly since comics in general haven't had the greatest continuity.

We have absolutely no reason to believe the main core events of Endgame (most importantly, Joker is dead dead) are suddenly non canon and I don't know why its a matter of scrutiny. I say its canon until we have legitimate reason to think otherwise.

I think we can all agree it would be a thematic misstep for them to revive Joker for Arkham Knight, after his death was portrayed so dramatically and even the focus of a DLC.

• The Arkham Knight is an organized terrorist with a chip on his shoulder. This doesn't fit Joker.
• Joker has successfully hijacked the plot three times. Rule of Three.
• Joker was killed by toxin from the TITAN formula - while this is a pretty easy thing to fix in a standard comic book, Rocksteady hasn't crafted a universe that runs on typical comic book logic.

It would simply be more fascinating for Joker to finally be dead (one of the few times this has actually happened - The Dark Knight Returns, one of the Crises.

And Bruce will probably have a "Sherlock" moment where Joker shows up inside his mind palace, or where Joker's face is superimposed over somebody else's.

All EU material from any franchise needs to be taken loosely when it comes to canon. It's fine to take it as an interesting expansion of the story but to expect a completely different set of writers to both read each others mind on important story points and follow story points the other established is just not realistic. Star Wars and Transformers fans have had to deal with that a lot.

I actually wouldn't mind if there was a subplot that looked like it was Joker related, but then turned out to be some one else - like maybe Scarecrow deliberately making a trap that brings to mind the Joker so as to play with Batman's mental state.

Or maybe they make a Mythology Gag out of hinting that Anarky might have a connection to the Joker during his side-plot, only for it to turn out to be a ruse. Especially if Harley gets wind of the rumor and gets involved. Though I kind of want them to pull the "Lonnie Machin replaced by Ulysses Armstrong" plot and make Anarky's side-plot a Robin segment instead (if they're having those in this game).

Edit: I could've sworn Anarky was in one of the trailers, but I guess not. Either way, if he appears I hope they do either of those with him.

edited 27th Feb '15 10:29:42 PM by KnownUnknown

Im one of the few who prefers origins to the others, so seeing that it's indeed canon is reassuring for me. i love what that game did with Bane and Joker, and I liked the still comic-booky but more streamlined character designs. Im glad to see Firefly in his Origins model, as he was one of the coolest bosses in that game. Also, Scarecrow is my favorite Bat-villain and one of my favorite DC villains, so Im all for this game!

The only complaints I've seen about Origins story is that the Joker ends up the Big Bad after the marketing said it would be Black Mask.

Taken by itself I found Origins to be the best of the series, an engaging story that builds an actual character arc for multiple people. The glitches were obnoxious, but I enjoyed the scrubbing mode and the additional enemy types.

edited 28th Feb '15 1:44:05 AM by KJMackley

My complaint was the above about Black Mask since what I did like about Origins was that the shows was being run by a bunch of other characters rather than Joker. Which turned out to not be true.

The other was that, after the big WHAM Episode of Arkham City, Origins felt kind of odd, out of place, and 'One of these things is not like the other'. Asylum leads into City and then into Knight. Origins exists kind of in a bubble comparatively. It doesn't really feel like it has anything to offer to the greater narrative of the series.

edited 28th Feb '15 1:50:18 AM by InkDagger

Gotham seems to have a civilian population of 0.

Acceptable Breaks from Reality

There can't be civilians wandering the streets, because it'd be very easy for them to get caught up in one of your fights, which can't happen, because you're Batman.

In Asylum and City it's a non-issue, since you're in areas specifically designated for criminals and the mentally unsound (and City kind of skirts the issue with the political prisoners). Origins has everyone at home because it's the middle of Christmas Eve Night. Not the most realistic, but not the worst explanation ever. Knight is going for full out evacuation of the city.

"Gotham has no civilians" has always been one of the dumbest criticisms of the series, IMO.

There can't be? But why not? GTA does it, and there's more going on in it. It's NOT acceptable. How does the average citizen react when Batman appears? Even if they just run away screaming, you want to see the effect he has on the populace directly.

I live in NYC. People are outside every second of the day.

GTA has as a selling point the fact that you can slaughter how many cops, civilians and gangsters as you want.

Batman has as a selling point that you can beat up gangsters, corrupt cops and some animals.

> GTA does it

GTA kind of sells itself on being able to do whatever you want to pretty much whoever you want. Batman doesn't.

And I disagree that you "want to see the effect he has on the populace directly". In everything I've seen with him, he rarely interacts with civilians. Batman prefers to stick with criminals, villains, and cops. Regular people are more Superman's thing.

edited 28th Feb '15 7:11:48 AM by BadWolf21

One word: Curfew.

I'm a little baffled that we saw actual police cars in the gameplay trailer. The Batmobile can tear through asphalt and railings so... can we hit cop cars by accident?

Can we hit cop cars on purpose?

I agree that Origins rivals City story-wise, trumps every other game in the series (besides Knight, though since that's not out yet) artistically, and definitely tells a damn good prequel story for the rest of the series. My only real issue with the story is - yeah - how they handled Joker and shafted Black Mask (I still think they should've had the fateful Red Hood robbery of Ace Chemicals be a side-mission, and then had Joker's first appearance be DLC a la Cold, Cold Heart), but on the other that's by far the best version of Bane outside the comics, and it characterized a lot of their secondary characters better than the previous games did.

But I just can't get past the fact that mechanically the game is a mess. Too many glitches, to many hang-ups, too much tedium - the game is a lot more fun to watch than it is to play, imo.

edited 28th Feb '15 10:41:53 AM by KnownUnknown

Also Death stroke was way too early in the game IMO when the marketing played up the confrontation between the two

I kept expecting the first battle with him to be a starter fight, as prelude to a real fight later on. The fight we did get with him was more or less a tutorial battle.

He was definitely the Wake-Up Call Boss, though. Truthfully, rearranging the placement of the eight assassins would result in something lacking. Firefly was the perfect "calm before the storm" boss, the epic boss fight before we reach the most personal one. Croc was a mini-Wake-Up Call Boss in that he showed how the fights in this game were going to be a little more messy, and so being the first works well for that. Electrocutioner was never meant to be a serious enemy, so it makes sense to take him down early. I would have preferred if Shiva and Deadshot had integrated fights (the excessive 100% Completion is something I feel is a weakness in the series) but I can also understand leaving it in the hands of the player too. And Bane was made to be the Dragon-in-Chief and emulate large elements of Knightfall, putting Deathstroke later in the game and a more prominent enemy would compromise that.

You didn't mention Copperhead. Could she maybe swap places with Deathstroke?

That would make sense. IIRC you have to use a lot of the same things when fighting her that you do when fighting Deathstroke (same with Shiva, which makes sense - Deathstroke's fight introduces the player to mechanics that they have to have down pat by the time they fight either of those two), so swapping the two makes sense.

It doesn't make his presence in the story any more meaningful or important. Pacing is important and Deathstroke comes at a part of the story you might start becoming complacent. Copperhead is generally considered the weakest boss fight and wouldn't serve the same purpose at that point.