There were Titan monsters in Asylum and Venom thugs who work for Bane in Origins, but there were also regular Black Mask mooks who WERE inexplicably ten feet tall. I'm replaying Arkham Origins right now, they make no sense and are close to Goddamned Bats in that you have to remove their armor first before doing the beatdown.
"The English language is like a brick wall between me and you, and 'F**K' is my chisel."Well ok, I guess I should've reworded that. I think the whole concepts of madness, insanity, gothic, Batman is terribly overused. I mean, that's far from the only themes Batman can tackle. I'd personally like a Batman that focuses on Organized Crime villains (The Maronis,The Falcones, etc) and Noir as the theme with a psychopath or two, as opposed to the Arkham Series which mainly have several psychopath's and madness as the main theme and some organized crime in side plots. (Aside from the Penguin, and Black Mask doesn't count because he was largely the Joker in disguise).
Hopefully that'll make sense.
I see what you mean now. Yeah I love all the different themes and interpretations. Since its a Telltale game, I wonder if they will explore the psychology behind Batman himself. He simultaneously lost his childhood but then he never really grew up either. Dressing up in a costume and deciding to fight crime as a superhero is a very child-like thing to do. Batman is also canonically more comfortable interacting with younger people than the other Justice Leaguers, though whether his relationship with the various Robins and Batgirls is as a brother or a father is kind of difficult. I hate the juvenile sex jokes some people feel the need to make, there are even some writers like Devin Grayson who want to write slash fics about Dick and Bruce. Its especially creepy since Batman is supposed to be his adopted father.
Having the Mafia as the villains, I don't know I just feel that Penguin and Black Mask fulfill the same role while also keeping the classic rogues gallery in there.
I think Anarky would be an interesting villain as well, it would be a different direction but more politically charged though.
"The English language is like a brick wall between me and you, and 'F**K' is my chisel."
Oh I would totally be down for some future Penguin and Black Mask action. I just pointed out the fact that they were featured in the Arkham games before anyone thought about pointing them out for me.
As for the psychology of Batman, while I do like the idea of his actions being very child like and having the game develop further into that, I'm not sure if it'd be wise to do a big exploration of Bat-Psychology here...at least for the first installment (chances are this is getting more installments or seasons as it were). As was mentioned before, there were 4 whole games exploring the psychology of Batman and if he was truly sane or if he was just as crazy the people he locked up and all that. Yeah, it's practically textbook Batman at this point but it would be a nice change of pace to not raise the sanity question and just establish that Batman is relatively grounded in reality and won't slip anytime soon.
Of course, having him start to lose that sanity in later installments wouldn't be a bad idea either.
TL;DR Version: I think they should hold off on the psychology of Batman until this series has really found its footing and has been established as its own beast.
I think the game should at least explore his personal relationships as well as the motivations behind being Batman. Stuff like his own madness and such often just gets the occasional line, but can get over-done or bog down the plot.
"The English language is like a brick wall between me and you, and 'F**K' is my chisel."Depends on the direction, I guess.
Telltale games typically have fairly large casts, because you need people to talk to when the central mechanic is having conversations. From that perspective, I can't see them not including characters like Robin, Batgirl, and Jim Gordon. On the other hand, Batman's detective stories usually strip away most of his supporting cast to focus on Batman himself.
If it's episodic, then each case could focus on a different case while still having an overarching plot (kind of like Sam and Max, except serious rather than comedy of course).
If that's the case, then we could conceivably see Batgirls, Robins, Nightwing, even perhaps Spoiler or some other Gotham heroes in various cases while still having several episodes where Batman is largely on his own.
I'm pretty sure that the bulk of the "characters you talk to in every chapter/episode in different contexts" will be the Gotham police force + Alfred.
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I like that idea of each episode being a different case, but how would the episodes tie together?
Perhaps the final episode could be The Reveal that the Big Bad (be it Black Mask, Clock King, Riddler, Penguin, the Ventriloquist, or whoever) was planning and manipulating everything from behind the scenes and the mastermind behind the main case of each episode.
But would you have the individual cases solved at the end of each episode with the Stinger setting up the next, or have them pile-up throughout the series to be resolved all at once?
I also hope the series avoids C-List Fodder if it is about a murder mystery. So fucking annoying.
Who would you like to see Cortez?
edited 20th Dec '15 2:30:13 AM by jenkind1
"The English language is like a brick wall between me and you, and 'F**K' is my chisel."Let it vary a bit.
- Episode 1 is stand alone for inciting people to buy the rest and sequel hooks the other cases.
- Episodes 2 and 3 are a single case with Cliffhanger between episodes.
- Episode 4 is self contained by sequel hook/Cliffhaners into Episode 5
- Episode 5 encompass all the other cases.
edited 20th Dec '15 2:31:42 AM by InkDagger
That's a lot of cliffhangers, but its very comic book-like and especially Batman-y. The Adam West show almost always ended with Batman in a death trap and you had to tune in next week to find out if he escapes or not. Maybe an episode can end with you stuck in a trap, though that might be a little difficult to jump back into 6 months later.
One cliffhanger could be the classic rooftop scene, Gordon shows Bats a playing card to set up Joker (or an envelope from Riddler) in the next episode, something like that.
"The English language is like a brick wall between me and you, and 'F**K' is my chisel."Maybe make it a little like Ace Attorney? Fairly self-contained, but also part of a larger narrative.
Or, to continue with Telltale, Sam and Max?
Oh God! Natural light!The problem is that Batman has become a Marty Stu with the Joker being a Villain Sue, and people have forgotten the more modest missions Batman has gone against. Normal organized crime, where mob enforcers presented a very real challenge to Bats... before he started wearing body armor, etc.
Not always a bad thing. Batman IS meant to be a power fantasy after all.
I also feel like Mary Sues can be a bit more accepted in video games? Because Mary Sues are often defined by how little difficulty they have doing certain things and resolving the conflict. But, one man's easy platforming puzzle can be another man's two hour nightmare of difficulty. Its a bit harder to pin down when the 'challenge' is subjective from player to player.
Also, if someone has no problem fighting or solving puzzles, they're more likely to say the game isn't hard enough or up the difficulty setting rather than accuse the player character of being a Mary Sue.
edited 4th Jan '16 4:02:15 PM by InkDagger
Not sure what that last comment is supposed to mean.
Let's see the premise of Batman is...
"After the death of his parents, a young Fortune 500 Rich Boy vows to train himself in combat and stealth to fight crime from the shadows. He trains til adulthood (sometimes around the world under various masters) and spends his vast fortune on a high tech combat suit, weapons, and an armored car to fight crime. His bank account is seemingly endless and there's no situation or villain he can't out smart. He has the strongest body and the greatest mind; He is the night. He is Batman"
That SCREAMS 'Power Fantasy'
In the words of Grant Morrison: "Batman is obviously much cooler, but that’s because he’s a very energetic and adolescent fantasy character: a handsome billionaire playboy in black leather with a butler at his beck and call, better cars and gadgetry than James Bond, a horde of fetish femme fatales baying around his heels and no boss. That guy's Superman day and night. Superman grew up baling hay on a farm. He goes to work, for a boss, in an office. He pines after a hard–working gal. Only when he tears off his shirt does that heroic, ideal inner self come to life. That's actually a much more adult fantasy than the one Batman’s peddling but it also makes Superman a little harder to sell. He's much more of a working class superhero, which is why we ended the whole book with the image of a laboring Superman."
edited 4th Jan '16 6:34:59 PM by InkDagger
Well, that's the Goddamn Batman, Crazy Steve.
By the way, power fantasy is irrelevant. We're talking about being a Marty Stu. Batman Can Breathe in Space? He can beat the entire JLA without lifting a finger.
edited 5th Jan '16 2:35:38 PM by AnotherGuy

Drugs. Loooots of drugs.
Oh God! Natural light!