Do you suppose Joker’s really dead? It sure would be a shame if they ruin the ending of Arkham City by bringing him back for the next game. The voice message he left which plays during the credits is chilling, and somehow kind of sweet at the same time.
Ra’s is surely gone for good, considering the League of Assassins is gone. Who’s left to carry his body to a Lazarus Pit?
Hugo Strange was forgettable in the extreme. Introduced for a single story arc, and killed prior to its conclusion. I hope we don’t see him again.
Overall, how do you think the storyline held up, compared to Arkham Asylum? I’d personally rate the sequel higher than the original.
Did anyone choose not to have Catwoman save Batman? What happens in that case?
Yeah, I chose for her not to save Batman, then the game “ends” and during the credits you hear reports of how Gotham is being invaded by Strange’s thugs or something like that… Then it rewinds to that decision point so you can go save him and continue with the rest of the game.
Here’s what I would like to see for the next Batman game, though I have no idea how they would pull it off since they haven’t set up the backstory for it at all.
I’m not spoilering this, because it’s from a comic that was made in the late 80’s:
Have some new, unknown super-villain. Some people think it’s The Joker back from the dead, or maybe The Scarecrow or some other villain we haven’t seen.
Then Batman discovers it’s Jason Todd, who is none too happy that Batman “left him for dead.”
Obviously, problems are abound with this.
As I said, they haven’t set up the back-story at all. The Robin we see a brief glimpse of is Tim Drake, and Dick Grayson is already Nightwing, so there is a “skipped” Robin, continuity wise, but that’s as close as we get. And the animated series skipped over Jason Todd entirely, and that’s the closest version the Arkham series is following, so it’s not like they have to have a Jason.
Even if they do bring it up, they have to have some lame-ass way for Jason to come back from the dead. Either he wasn’t dead, which makes no sense because surely Batman would have noticed, or someone dug him up and revived him. In the DC comic continuity, He comes back because of the Infinite Crises story-line because Superboy punched through reality, which is just stupid. I guess they could have it to do with the Lazarus Pits…
But I would like to see what they could do with it anyway. It’s always been one of Batman’s biggest failure’s, and as awesome as it is to see him be all super-awesome, kick-ass, and do everything perfect, it would be cool to show a glimpse of a side of him that shows he is human and can make mistakes…mistakes that haunt him.
FWIW, Mark Hamill (who voiced the Joker in the Animated Series, and both of the Arkham games) stated that he didn’t think he’d reprise the role, because he thought it unlikely he could top himself in Arkham City.
Of course, that doesn’t mean they couldn’t bring back Mister J with another voice actor, but unless they’re soulless cash whores I don’t really see it happening. For my money, the Joker’s gone in that particular continuity.
Which isn’t that bad, really - there are plenty of villains we’ve hardly punched in the mouth yet. Two-Face barely gets screentime in AC, Scarecrow is due a comeback (and threatens as much in some super secret AC content), Harley’s preggers, Penguin I could just beat up and beat up for hours on end because he’s so loathsome and his name is so cathartic to spit with a loathing*…
I guess there’s always the slight possibility of them using the Lazarus Pits for some sort of Joker revival - maybe in Arkham Continent, Harley will have that as her story arc. But really, that wouldn’t be wise. His story’s good as it is, and so is his end.
seriously, try it sometime instead of a regular swear. CobblePOT !
Yeah, that’s what I meant. I spoilered the “brought back” stuff because I thought it was earlier than that…like two years ago, but I guess it was like 8.
Just start running/gliding around the city in the same savefile as your first playthrough, during the “endgame” stuff. Eventually, Oracle will contact you.
As for #2, the trick is evade, punch, evade, punch, evade, punch. If you can’t get counters to work without the symbol (I can’t either…) this is a nearly foolproof way of building up a combo and not getting hit. Never more than one punch before evading. Once you get a big enough combo, do a special move like disarm or instant takedown.
It took me ages to get through that slog - but rest assured once you have it’s pretty smooth sailing, not only because it’s the last big fight in a while, but also because getting through it teaches you to fight well without the prompts.
The thing that helped me the most was that I stopped trying to counter people, especially not in the middle of the throng. Dodge a lot, always keep on the edges pounding on a couple dudes at a time tops, dodge a lot, keep your combo slowdown time up rather than use it to instant takedown just one guy (except maybe armour guys. Don’t instant take down weapon guys, someone else will pick up the weapon), remember to dodge, keep the titans for last and dodge a lot.
Did I mention dodging ? It’s more or less an invincibility frame (the only thing that seems to consistently break it are the wide sweeps of the Russians).
Speaking of end-game stuff, did I just miss it or is it ever explained what disease exactly Joker caught (and how) or how he’s been sick with it for weeks but it can nearly kill Batman in a matter of hours?
Yeah, apparently using supercharged 'roids to turn oneself into a giant abomination in defiance of the laws of conservation of mass is bad for ya. Who could have known, right ?
As for why it nearly killed Bats in one night whereas Joker coughed up his lungs for months, it’s not explained but you could fanwank it in a number of ways:
the disease has been incubating in Joker for a while, now that he’s in his last stretch his blood is probably more teeming with Bad Stuff than it was back then
blood transfusions in general tend to play merry hell with the immune system, especially if you’re given a non-compatible blood type. It’s possible that this allowed the disease to progress faster in Batman than in Joker. Happens all the time on House.
Joker wants Batman to find a cure pronto. Infecting Bats was basically his Hail Mary pass - he had no idea whatsoever what Batman could do about it, if anything, but he did know he didn’t have much time left. So when you think about it, there’s no telling what kind of poisonous sewage he put in that syringe to hasten the process.
Joker was given medical attention immediately following his Titan extravaganza, and was consequently kept bed-ridden or at least confined in a cell. Batman runs around sewers and zip-lines all across town, not to mention gets smacked in the face with lead pipes a lot (least my Batman does). Maybe Titan is like snake venom and flailing about only speeds its progress.
Batman just wasn’t prepared.
ETA: thought of another thing: Bats did get injected with Titan at the end of AA, didn’t he ? Could be his immune system had been fighting it all along and Joker’s injection just put his immune system over the edge, like breaking a dam so to speak.
Joker infected Gotham with the disease right? Mr Freeze confirmed it is impossible to create any more of the antidote. Does that mean Joker’s plan succeeded?