Batman: The Telltale Series

The end of Episode 3 has a trailer that shows Good or Bad Harvey bursting into Wayne Manor with a huge gun depending on which you have on your present save.

I'm a little surprised that people are so shocked and flabbergasted about Joker having an appearance in this game. Was there a serious expectation that he wouldn't? This is a "story of Batman's formative years" narrative, after all.

I think people expected it, but that doesn't mean they can't still be disappointed. People are a little Jokered-out after the Arkham games, and given the way he does tend to gradually take over any adaptation he's in, I can understand their concerns. This being fairly early in the Bat's career, it could've made a certain amount of sense if Joker didn't exist yet. We're getting Batman's first run-ins with Catwoman and Penguin, and the origin story for Two-Face. I'd have almost preferred if it we'd gotten the original Red Hood in this game.

But anyway. I'll give this rendition a chance. It kind of seems like he's not actually that important, and he's just in the trailer as a bit of a stunt to bring in those fence-sitters who stat out the previous installments.

If anything, the impression that that I'm getting from the trailer is that allying with Joker will be critical in escaping from a high-security facility such as Arkham.

It would actually make quite a sequence if during the inevitable prison break, Bruce will be forced to face the dilemma of letting Joker kill guards and policemen to further their escape. Joker will be disappointed if you choose to value the guards' lives more than his, and you would have to continue the now much more difficult escape without a nigh-invincible NPC ally as a result.

Given Telltale's usually storytelling style, them using him as a major character in a small but crucial part of the plot seems right up their alley.

Joker being nigh invincible wouldn't matter in a Press X to Not Die game like this.

edited 19th Nov '16 3:02:44 AM by Imoo57

If they're going for what I think they are, that being Thomas Wayne creating Bruce's Rogue's Gallery, that could be an interesting spin on things.

Episode 4 is out, by the way.

Except on PC, where Telltale is delaying release until they can finally fix the performance issues.

(I'm kind of annoyed at this)

On the final choice, who went for Harvey? I'd like to know how that goes down.

Batman races home to aid Alfred defending Wayne Manor from Harvey and the rogue GCPD officers. Harvey is eventually defeated and arrested by Gordon, but at the cost of Penguin successfully forcing Batman to shut down the Batcave and losing all of his equipment.

I'm annoyed that after all the work I put into being nice to Harvey everyone is all like "Harvey's gone too far!" and not "We have to make an antidote for Harvey immediately!".

I did.

• TFW the Joker is the least problematic part of your asylum sequence. Using mental illness for cheap scares places real life mentally ill people in danger from bigotry and is lazy writing.
• I actually liked how they used the Joker here. He reminded me a lot of AI Jack from Tales from the Borderlands. Which shouldn't be surprising, since I'm pretty sure that Jack is based on the Joker.
• I chose to save the guard instead of going for a phone.
• BTW, mental institution patients in the United States have the right to freely contact people outside the institution, even if they are involuntarily committed. Bruce should sue Arkham.
• Two-face will remember that :(
• I bribed the enforcers to get out of the checkpoint.
• The Vales are almost certainly Abusive Parents. Between their son begging Batman not to send him to "Punishment" for hiding and Vicki killing her father with a belt of all weapons, it adds up. It probably doesn't justify their murder though.
• That kid is totally a future Robin.
• I went to talk down Two-Face as Bruce. This backfired immensely, as Two-Face responded by ordering Bruce's suicide and he only survived when Gordon showed up to save the day.
• I went after Two-Face, mostly to protect Alfred but also to save Gotham from a tyrant. The fight was cool: Two-Face used a machine gun with explosive bullets and Batman couldn't use his Battech thanks to Penguin's hacking. At one point, Batman presses a button on his wrist and all the bats from the Batcave come out and distract Two-Face's enforcers. During the finishing move, Batman causes Two-Face's gun to blow up in his hand, which lights the rest of Two-Face's burned side on fire. I'm assuming that if he wasn't disfigured already, he becomes disfigured now. After the fight, I was given the choice of sending Harvey to Blackgate, where he won't be a threat but will never receive treatment, or Arkham, where he will receive treatment but will probably escape because Arkham. I chose Arkham.
• Because I went after Two-Face, Batman was forced to shut down all of his tech to prevent Penguin from using it. End of episode.

edited 23rd Nov '16 4:18:34 PM by lrrose

If Harvey isn't disfigured, it only burns his arm and part of his torso. The face remains intact.

edited 23rd Nov '16 6:01:56 PM by GamerSlyRatchet

They'd need a sample of his blood before the drugging.

Additionally, one thing the above person did not mention about choosing to go to the manor: you get to choose whether to send Harvey to Blackgate or to Arkham.

You can also agree to do a favor for the Joker when he asks you to. He will remember that.

edited 24th Nov '16 6:03:22 PM by Hobgoblin

I can't take Bruce under the influence of the drug threatening the protesters and Alfred seriously. It reminds too much of Archer in design, dialogue, and delivery.

You know, now that you mention it...

So Harvey still basically became Two-Face even though I saved him. I expected as much, but it is still a shame, as he was less unstable in the previous episode.

saving Harvey still has a noticeable effect in that appearing as Batman will bring out the good side of him and have him attempt to persuade Batman to join him, whereas not saving him will cause him to become vengeful for Batman valuing Selina's life more than his.

Yeah. I heard it mentioned in another place that unscarred Harvey is more paranoid and pathetic, while scarred Harvey is more full-blown Two-Face and is nastier and more bitter in general. It sounded about right.

I'd like to subscribe to the "Redeeming Harvey" newsletter, please. Damn shame it didn't pan out, even if it's not surprising.

@"We have to make an antidote for Harvey immediately!". I know, right!? We just need his DNA sample. Bat-dust tray his old hair or bat-Private Detective his personal items from before the injection, jeez.

I refuses Joker's favor because ofc you refuses Joker's favor. I'm surprised quite a bit of people went for the phone, actually.

Also, I talked down one of the mooks which, in an incredibly unsurprising twists, means he's shot in the head by the other mook.

You know, it would be neat if they QTE the cobblepot beatdown that landed us in Arkham. For people who want to be good, it'd be horrifying. For people who want to beat that smug little face, it'd be liberating.

edited 27th Nov '16 9:38:11 PM by pblades

I actually thought that would be how Episode 4 started.

Thinking back on it, Harvey's not really a good friend is he?

"Hey, Bruce, I need you to be at my beck and call near constantly whenever I make a public appearance. I also decided to invite Roman Falcone, the notorious mob boss, to your house without consulting you."

"Hey, Bruce, sorry to hear your reputation is tanking because you were seen in the presence of Falcone and also have the police seizing your property. I'm gonna have to distance myself from you. Oh, but if you could keep backing my campaign, that'd be great."

"Hey, Bruce, I see you're at Selina's house. I'm going to instantly assume the worst out of both of you despite you having my back the whole way up to this point."

"Hey, Bruce, I'm going to throw you in Arkham, seize and or set fire to your house, and attempt to kill you and your butler. Thanks for the campaign money."

Doesn't that mean you spent the night out fighting criminals when you said you'd be at his fundraiser, threatened to pull his funding for something that really wasn't his fault (which would have been before anyone was threatening to seize the Waynes' assets), and spent the night with Selina? None of those are really great things for a friend to do.

And he is Two-Face for a reason, so how much of that is Harvey (as opposed t o the other guy) is up in the air at this point. There's no real excuse for his actions in Episode 4, but the fact is, he's dealing with a serious mental illness. Although the fact that he declares martial law on Gotham and it's so easy is a little far-fetched for a one-episode gap. If those cops were still in uniform instead of military gear and balaclavas I might have bought it a little more, but it's only been a matter of days. Blowing up whole city blocks strikes me as too easy a way of making Harvey the villain— it's lacking subtlety and complexity compared to how the character had been handled up to that point. He shouldn't have been on the street with those kinds of issues, let alone the mayor's office, but the fact that no one else even noticed what he was going through boils down to them failing Harvey, too.

This version of the character probably would have been better off not going into politics.. Then again, I tend to prefer those origin stories where Harvey Dent doesn't start out with a split personality, and it's the trauma of his injuries (and the stress surrounding the event) that could break any man, no matter how good they were to start with.

edited 29th Nov '16 11:48:29 AM by Unsung

Interesting article on the Mary Sue about how Telltale handled Selina, her personality and relationships, and consensual sex.