September 2018 Playthrough - Batman: The Telltale Series

[Crabmaster2000]

Just finished Chapter 2 last night. Anyone else play Chapter 1 at least yet or are you guys waiting to binge it all together? I have to say that I liked Chapter 1 a lot and 2 was quite a bit weaker.

I'm into the new take on Penguin so far as we got quite a bit more of him in Chapter 2. How is everyone feeling about Harvey? After chapter 1 I'm not totally sure he's someone that Bruce would back as strongly as he has been. He really hasn't given us much reason to trust him or believe in his vision of Gotham. He seems solely concerned with his image and our money over everything else, not the shining pinnacle of justice he is typically made out to be. Makes me a bit leary to go full on support Dent which is getting reflected in my dialogue choices.

I love the fact that they aren't beating around the bush with Batman and Catwoman and they figured out who each other is right off the bat. That makes for a far more interesting dynamic for the rest of the episodes I think.

I was really confused with Vicki Vale at the press conference when Bruce and Harvey were announcing their new hospital. It seemed like all the press had received the info on the Wayne's possible corruption, but she actually asked about the hospital while every other reporter was grilling Bruce on a possible scandal. Was cool to see that make sense in the next scene when she visited him and suggested that she didn't buy it and wanted to get more info from Bruce to clear things up. So far this is my favorite version of Vale I've ever seen/read. She's an actual reporter! Have high hopes for her as the game keeps going.

What is everybody's thoughts on the Wayne's possibly being corrupt and in league with the mob? I thought that was an amazing note to end the episode on. Really plays with the Batman origin/mythos in a good way. As we get into chapter 2 there are a lot of things about that Wayne Mob connection that bug me though, which we can get into after the 14th, but as a way to end the first chapter it mad me salivating to continue the story. Also ending with Falcone getting captured was great. He served his purpose in the first episode well, but I was ready to move past him to more interesting antagonists.

[GrayGhost81]

Episode one did a great job of setting everything up. I pretty much agree with everything you said, Crabby. I like how Dent is way shadier than he is usually portrayed.

The idea of Thomas Wayne being involved with the crime syndicate is cool, but far-fetched. You're telling me the world's greatest detective didn't know his own father was on the take? I know this is set early in Batman's career, but I hope it becomes clearer how Bruce could be oblivious to such a revelation.

I played through episode one really impressed by how well it was running, but sadly, episode two lives up to Telltale's extremely low performance standards. This is C H O P P Y as hell so far. Playing on PS4 pro.

I'm surprised they're still doing the "So and so will remember that" thing. A developer like Telltale really needs to innovate on this mechanic somehow, but like their technical standards, they must see no need to improve it. Their motto has always seemed to be: If it ain't broke, don't fix it, and if it IS broke, don't fix it. But anyway when I see "so and so will remember that" I think: I sure as hell hope so! 90% of the gameplay is dialogue choices in a game that screams at you that your choices "matter," so show and don't tell would be a better choice here, I think. These text messages really take me out of it.

[Crabmaster2000]

Episode one did a great job of setting everything up. I pretty much agree with everything you said, Crabby. I like how Dent is way shadier than he is usually portrayed.

The idea of Thomas Wayne being involved with the crime syndicate is cool, but far-fetched. You're telling me the world's greatest detective didn't know his own father was on the take? I know this is set early in Batman's career, but I hope it becomes clearer how Bruce could be oblivious to such a revelation.

I played through episode one really impressed by how well it was running, but sadly, episode two lives up to Telltale's extremely low performance standards. This is C H O P P Y as hell so far. Playing on PS4 pro.

I'm surprised they're still doing the "So and so will remember that" thing. A developer like Telltale really needs to innovate on this mechanic somehow, but like their technical standards, they must see no need to improve it. Their motto has always seemed to be: If it ain't broke, don't fix it, and if it IS broke, don't fix it. But anyway when I see "so and so will remember that" I think: I sure as hell hope so! 90% of the gameplay is dialogue choices in a game that screams at you that your choices "matter," so show and don't tell would be a better choice here, I think. These text messages really take me out of it.

Totally agree with you on the Bruce not knowing his family was involved with the mob not really making sense for the character, especially when you factor in that Alfred obviously knew. I'm also hoping there is some kind of revelation later on that sheds some light on how Batman could over look such a thing. I think the opening to the second chapter is ridiculously weak particularly because of that first scene with Bruce reliving his parents murder and he just magically "remembers" better. That's not just dumb because of the plain old silliness of that concept, but doubly so because you're talking about a character that has deep knowledge of human capabilities and would be painfully aware that memories are fallible and would need hard evidence no matter how he felt about it.

I totally forgot about the technical issues I've had with some of the past Telltale games too. Chapter 1 was smooth and fantastic. The start of Chapter 2 I thought it was odd that my mother during the recreated alley murder didn't have any hands, but thought it must just be something to do with Bruce's memory....until my game crashed. Once I restarted she had both hands as she should have originally and the rest of the chapter ran smoothly. It hasn't happened in this game, but the most frustrating was in Walking Dead Season 2 it would lag right when I was supposed to make a dialogue choice and I wouldn't be able to respond in time and I'd miss it completely. Sounds like they have cleaned up the engine quite a bit on the newest season of Walking Dead and have promised it would be better on the new engine they have been working on so maybe after half a dozen games or so they finally got the message from consumers to tighten up the overall package.

I've never much thought about the "______ will remember this" before, but you're right. That seems very archaic nowadays after story driven games have been more common place and Telltale specifically has multiple games under their belt at this point. There has to be a far better way to approach that then an on screen text prompt for sure.

[GrayGhost81]

Alright, let's talk about episode two!

In this episode, I found myself leaning towards making things more chaotic just to make things more interesting. Not to throw everything out the window, but really more like letting go and making choices that I thought would be a little subversive. For example I completely understood the whole point about Harvey being advised to distance himself from Bruce, but I withdrew the funds anyway.

Did anyone choose to save Harvey over Selina at the end of the episode? I was tempted, but I didn't want to play through a subplot of Selina getting captured and I didn't want her to get killed. In the moment, that's what I guessed would happen, plus I figured it's time for Harvey to get Two-Faced!

One last thing I noticed, did anyone think it was not believable that Bruce was the one to interrogate the cop who killed Falcone? I mean, I get Harvey pulling some strings to get Bruce in to talk to Falcone, but to then put him in the room with the assassin makes no sense whatsoever, unless I missed something.

The Children of Arkham reveal is very intriguing, and it could end up being awesome.

[Crabmaster2000]

The start of Episode 2 was super lame. Recreating the alley murder of his parents through sheer memory and then magically remembering new info was ridiculous. And even if Bruce did forgive Alfred (which I feel like he may have since he is really his last family), their relationship would be fundamentally different from that point on and at the very least a little bit strained, but instead they just seem to go on as they always have. It also doesn't really make sense that Alfred would let Bruce get that carried away with his Batman persona/training/obsession without ever saying something along the lines of "hey, I believe in what you're doing, but make sure you're doing it for the right reasons. That shining pinnacle of humanity called Thomas Wayne that you have always looked up to isn't quite the man you thought he was. You can do better". Because of stuff like this as well as Bruce just not apparently knowing I still don't quite buy the Wayne's as corrupt and am waiting for a moment later on that clears their names (although with Alfred backing up the story it seems quite unlikely this will actually happen).

One last thing I noticed, did anyone think it was not believable that Bruce was the one to interrogate the cop who killed Falcone? I mean, I get Harvey pulling some strings to get Bruce in to talk to Falcone, but to then put him in the room with the assassin makes no sense whatsoever, unless I missed something.  

A few things bothered me about the police station as well. How does a drugged up cop not only sneak up on freaking Batman, but sneak up with a weapon drawn and kill another person in that room before he realized what happened. I get that he may be emotionally involved in the conversation, but it looked like she just opened the door and walked in. Both Bruce and Falcone should have noticed Montoya entering the room in her state, especially with Falcone facing the entrance. And I'm in total agreement that it's quite a stretch of belief to have a civilian stuck in a room with a not only a murder suspect, but a witness to said murder with a police officer accused of murder. I don't see any scenario where that is plausible. If they wanted a moment to have Bruce use his fancy phone to get a toxicity sample they had their chance immediately after the murder as opposed to this scene. It also bothers me here that he freely talks to Alfred about being Batman while she is drifting in and out of consciousness. How could he know what she may remember later on? Seems sloppy.

With both the fight in Cobblepot Park in Ep1 and the Bar scene in Ep2 Bruce really isn't worried about showing off his fighting prowess in public. This paired with his constant talking in public on his comm device with Alfred about Batman stuff makes me think he doesn't care as much about concealing his secret identity as you think he would. Also him and Catwomen fight conspicuously well as a duo considering both of them are well known loners at the point in both their careers. I chose to avoid the kiss after the fight so as not to sour my relationship with Harvey.

I went to see Mayor Hill as Bruce. I'm curious how the Batman meeting would have went because the Bruce one played out pretty predictively. No real new information, just confirms the Wayne's corruption and that Hill is as bad as his reputation has been to this point so far.

For me the debate was the one highlight of this otherwise disappointing episode. Like I mentioned in the first episode I havn't really bought into Harvey's altruism as a player. When both Harvey and Hill got drugged by Penguin I took my time a bit so that I could listen in on their dialogue while they were supposedly letting their inner feelings come out. Hill publicly stating he wants to kill off the homeless population seemed in character and would be political suicide so I figured whatever Harvey had to say would be as truthful. He talks about wanting to fix a corrupt and flawed Gotham and that he still sees some good in the city. That was enough to sway me more towards Harvey like I should be.

Did anyone choose to save Harvey over Selina at the end of the episode? I was tempted, but I didn't want to play through a subplot of Selina getting captured and I didn't want her to get killed. In the moment, that's what I guessed would happen, plus I figured it's time for Harvey to get Two-Faced!

I chose Harvey over Selina. My thoughts where that I had just seen some of Harvey's true intentions which were in line with Bruce's, I had seen Selina in action on three separate occasions, twice specifically against Penguins crew and thought she could handle herself. She left bloody and hurt, but alive. I found it quite odd that Penguin killed off the moderator and then immediately looked around for a new moderator and chose Vicki Vale. Seemed pretty convenient just to get a recognizable character in the game again. Why not just make her the moderator to begin with?

The video footage of Thomas Wayne is again pretty convincing and makes it less likely something is going to be able to clear his name.

The Children of Arkham reveal is very intriguing, and it could end up being awesome.

Agreed. Really neat concept that descendants of those wronged through Akrham have banded together to get revenge on the people involved and the city that let it happen to them and their loved ones. Based on Arkham and the fact that drugs are involved I'm leaning towards Huge Strange, Jonathan Crane, or less likely Harley Quinn behind the mask, but I'm always happy to be surprised so I'm hoping that when/if their leader is unmasked it's not who I expect.

This chapter was a bit of a bummer after the stellar episode 1. Still looking forward to Episode 3, but a bit less hyped this time than last.

[singlebanana]

Finished Chapter 1 last night and really excited to catch up with you guys.  Kind of shipped over the posts where you guys discuss Chapter 2, so please bear with any rehashing of Chapter 1 things you might have already discussed. For me, Chapter 1 was more of a rogue's gallery introduction, since it established at least four of the classic Batman villains.  Reminds me a lot of the show "Gotham" in that sense, but with only 5 chapters, I guess you have to introduce everyone fairly quick.

I wasn't really into it at first, but I'm into the more quiet, shyer Bruce Wayne character portrayal. Most of the characterizations I've seen have been him being the kind of reluctant, millionaire playboy. However, oddly enough, this more introverted, somewhat stumbling with dialogue at times, character is much more practical for a grown up, orphaned child raised by a butler. Maybe they are on to something here.

Crabby, I'm really glad that you wrote about Cobblepot. I'm not really knowledgeable about his origin story, but having him as a childhood friend of Bruce and fallen heir was a take I had never read about.  I'm intrigued so far and even a bit excited to see how this plays out.

Typically with these types of games, I find that my personality dwindles into the decisions I make for all of the characters. However, this game is much different.  I've read a lot of the graphic novels, watched most of the TV series, movies, etc., so I have a pretty good familiarity for what these characters are like.  I can't help but to think, "Bruce wouldn't talk to Alfred that way", or "Batman doesn't kill/overly harm evil doers." For instance, in the scene where I had the opportunity to break the culprit's arm at the dock warehouse, I couldn't. That's not what Batman would do.  So my question to you guys and one I will pose on the show is, "How does 'knowing' these characters affect your choices?"

That's all for now. Until next time. WWBD   

[Crabmaster2000]

Finished Chapter 1 last night and really excited to catch up with you guys.  Kind of shipped over the posts where you guys discuss Chapter 2, so please bear with any rehashing of Chapter 1 things you might have already discussed. For me, Chapter 1 was more of a rogue's gallery introduction, since it established at least four of the classic Batman villains.  Reminds me a lot of the show "Gotham" in that sense, but with only 5 chapters, I guess you have to introduce everyone fairly quick.

It was cool to see a deep cut character show up also with Blockbuster which I don't think we've mentioned yet. He's the big blueish dude named Roland that hangs with Penguins crew. Comics in general are scattered with tons of wanna be villains that just aren't typically interesting enough to be a main protagonist so I always enjoy when they get little moments to shine like he does in his fights in this game. I wonder how much of the Penguin design was inspired by Gotham. He definitely has very similar physical characteristics.

I wasn't really into it at first, but I'm into the more quiet, shyer Bruce Wayne character portrayal. Most of the characterizations I've seen have been him being the kind of reluctant, millionaire playboy. However, oddly enough, this more introverted, somewhat stumbling with dialogue at times, character is much more practical for a grown up, orphaned child raised by a butler. Maybe they are on to something here.

I'm the complete opposite in this regard. I like the overblown outrageous Bruce Wayne persona that Batman uses often to make it seem incredibly implausible that this human being could possibly be Batman to any onlookers. The Bruce you're describing is how I like my Clark Kent and I like the two characters being polar opposites both in Super Hero and Civilian lives. Keeps an interesting dynamic for me when both characters have essentially the same goals, but have drastically different takes on how to achieve them. In this game there is no indication that Superman even exists, but even so it's using my preferred take on Bruce so I'm totally into that.

Crabby, I'm really glad that you wrote about Cobblepot. I'm not really knowledgeable about his origin story, but having him as a childhood friend of Bruce and fallen heir was a take I had never read about.  I'm intrigued so far and even a bit excited to see how this plays out.

As with most comic characters, especially ones that have been around as long as Penguin, he's got multiple origins depending on who's writing him and what universe he belongs to. I've never come across this particular origin however. If you're familiar with the villain Hush (one of my all time favorites) they borrow heavily from his origin for this version of Penguin with him being a childhood friend of Bruce's that re-enters his life in his adulthood after a long absence abroad. Both characters also have a strong personal vendetta specifically against Thomas Wayne and since he is long gone they both look to Bruce to channel that revenge. Both characters are also intelligent, sane and have no supernatural powers. It's a neat blend of two villains and though it's sad to not see my favorite villain represented well in video games yet, I like the obvious nods to his character here.

Typically with these types of games, I find that my personality dwindles into the decisions I make for all of the characters. However, this game is much different.  I've read a lot of the graphic novels, watched most of the TV series, movies, etc., so I have a pretty good familiarity for what these characters are like.  I can't help but to think, "Bruce wouldn't talk to Alfred that way", or "Batman doesn't kill/overly harm evil doers." For instance, in the scene where I had the opportunity to break the culprit's arm at the dock warehouse, I couldn't. That's not what Batman would do.  So my question to you guys and one I will pose on the show is, "How does 'knowing' these characters affect your choices?"

I've actually been thinking about this a bit lately as well. Having recently played Beyond with you guys and Detroit on my own I definitely approach Batman differently. With games where I don't have an existing relationship with the playable characters you're obviously learning about them as you play and uncovering behaviors and motivations and much of the time you are directly responsible for creating those. In Detroit the main playable female lead is treated horrible right from the start of the game. I played her as though she was very empathetic and protective of the little girl in her life though as I felt that relationship would have been important to her. When I play again I think I'm going to try playing her as resentful and angry about how she is being treated and I think both are valid takes on the character. Like you mentioned about Bruce talking to Alfred though I often see the 4 choices and think "there are really only 2 choices here" because the Batman canon in my head just automatically excludes certain choices that I don't think the character would make. Some may see this as limiting myself, and it is, but I'm enjoying playing this more like I'm editing a Batman story to suit my tastes rather than exploring the possibilities of the character if that makes any sense. I've read many many different takes on the character, and while I still do like being surprised by new takes, deep down I like it a specific way and am definitely pushing my game in the direction.

Now to get all Comic Book Guy on you!

[img width=650 height=354]https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1881/44749269172_03017fcb0e_o.jpg[/img]

I totally broke that guy's arm in the warehouse to get information out of him. There is tons of precedent for Batman being uncomfortably cruel typically drawing the line at killing, but sometimes even crossing that line. When Hush is introduced there is an entire comic where Batman thinks Joker killed his childhood friend and nearly every panel is him brutally pummeling Joker except for a few moments where he knocks out Harley and Catwoman for trying to intervene. It's extremely savage. The entire run of All-Star Batman & Robin has a very brutal Batman burning criminals and breaking bones left and right. One of the most famous Batman books Dark Knight Returns Batman breaks the Mutant leaders arm, leg, and nose (probably more bones too) and leaves him a bloody mess in front all all his henchmen inspiring them to become the "Sons of Batman" in which they savagely dish out "justice" in Batman's image. The Michael Keaton Batman movies are often ridiculed because Batman kills henchmen several times during those films. Christian Bale blows up the League of Shadows in Batman Begins, and the new Ben Affleck Batman doesn't hesitate to kill dozens of criminals as well as torture and even brand them occasionally. And if you've played the M rated Arkham Knight game Batman can get pretty dark in there also like when he uses the Batmobile as an "interrogation" tool.

I think the Batman you are playing as is probably more representative of the 90 Animated Series which he is far "softer" on criminals. I absolutely love this version of Batman as well, but apparently given the choice of how to get info from a goon in a warehouse I'm gonna go to the Dark Knight's more aggressive side. Your choice is completely within character for certain versions of Batman. Just wanted to point out that when peoples live's are on the line Batman doesn't mess around with ethics and morality, that's what we have big sissies like Superman for

Batman vs Penguin who is obviously not a physical match for him
[img width=640 height=593]https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1846/29862293407_2b1a1fb269_o.jpg[/img]

Here is the relevant clip from the animated version of Dark Knight Returns with the scene I mentioned with the Mutant Leader. It's also got the amazing Batman line "You don't get it son. This is not a mud hole. It's an operating table....and I'm the surgeon..." as he starts systematically breaking his bones.

https://youtu.be/dRYGfKUEyfM?t=3m5s

Arkham Knight Batmobile scene

https://youtu.be/7rYqsoDAIl0?t=1m8s

[singlebanana]

Very well said!  I think that sometimes I forget how ruthless Batman can be sometimes, especially the more modern iterations. I guess I'm a little stuck on the Adam West profile I grew up on. Ha ha!

[singlebanana]

Alright, so I finished Chapter 2 last night.  I suppose I can agree that it wasn't as riveting as Chapter 1, but I think a big part of that is due to the rouges gallery of multiple villains that the initial chapter introduces.  It's interesting, but I'm not sure that I'm a big fan of the Waynes being tied to organized crime. However, I'm going to give it a chance and see how it goes.  It's interesting to say the least and puts kind of a target on Bruce Wayne as well. Typically, I have been used to seeing the target mainly on Batman and Bruce using his real persona to hide and rest; however, it seems that Bruce is totally on the run now on both fronts.

I also want to mention some of the ties in the game to Gotham.  I know not everyone here was a fan of the show (**nudges Crabby**), but I found it very entertaining and a fresh take on the Dark Knight mythology, especially in the realm of the villains.  This game came out in 2016 and I'm really not sure on the timeline as far as when this was released and some of the events in Gotham, but there is a mysterious serum that appears on the show (a la the Mad Hatter).  When injected, the serum attacks the body and makes its hosts rage out. Whatever they are most passionate about, they take it to the extreme, even if it means killing others. It also causes the veins to be exposed in a similar way.  

Also, the Wayne Enterprises, the board specifically, is tied to crime and the Court of Owls in Gotham, but I don't think that the Waynes in particular are involved. I think there are a few other nods to Gotham that I can't quite recall right now, but I'll be on my toes and write them down.

One of my big pet peeves happened to me last night. Sat down to play Episode 2 and low and behold......I had to download it. Sure, it was free, but took over an hour wait with my Wi-Fi (insert Shawn ridicule and laughter here).  Why would you make a game and only put one damn episode on it and make the other 4 downloads?? What happens when this disappears from the PS Store and if my PS4 happens to crap out down the road?  Ugh.... so frustrating!

Anyway, going to have to hustle to be able to play tonight. Hopefully, I can get the house cleaned up in time to play through Chapter 3.

[Crabmaster2000]

Very well said!  I think that sometimes I forget how ruthless Batman can be sometimes, especially the more modern iterations. I guess I'm a little stuck on the Adam West profile I grew up on. Ha ha!

Fun fact: BIFF, ZLONK and KA-POW were just censorship bubbles while Batman was breaking bones and torturing Cesar Romero!

Rich and I have discussed Gotham in the past and try as I might I just don't enjoy it. No biggie. We live in a time where we are over-saturated with comic book content so for every Gotham I can instead enjoy a Teen Titans Go or Batman Brave and the Bold for different takes on the character. I did watch the first 2 seasons and I guess I didn't get far enough to see the Serum you are referencing. Is it Mad Hatter in the show that uses a serum? That would be extremely out of character for him based on what I know. He usually uses technology or hypnosis to control people in the books and it's not typically to just cause mayhem it's to play out his twisted Alice in Wonderland fantasy or commit a crime for him that will help him play out his twisted Alice in Wonderland fantasy...... he's a pretty one dimensional character and possibly a pedophile. Serum or something injected would be more Scarecrow, Hugo Strange, Joker, Bane, Harley, or League of Shadows MO.

Totally with you on the downloading garbage. I don't understand the physical nature of the media when 4/5 of it isn't even on the disc. I was expecting it though since I had the same issue with the Walking Dead Telltale games so I downloaded all 4 additional episode right after finishing the first one so I could play as I wanted instead of waiting for them to finish when I wanted to play. It's really dumb and quite a few Switch games are following this method so I have to be super careful which versions of games I support now. 

[Crabmaster2000]

Episode 3 baby!

Quick little visit to Harvey in the hospital to make sure he is going ok. Then you get to start off with the decision to protect Harvey or help Montoya take down some Children of Arkham moving some more of their drugs around....... wait wait wait. Montoya is back to work like nothing ever happened?!? In what reality would a cop who killed a suspect in custody be back to work days later? This is a huge suspension of disbelief they are asking of the player. Regardless I went to help Montoya assuming Harvey would have police protection at the hospital and that stopping the drug shipment would be more beneficial overall.

Bruce is getting forcefully removed from his position as CEO at Wayne Enterprises. Regina breaks the news to Bruce. I like this kind of thing, when there is pressure on Bruce from both fronts (vigilante and civilian). Can lead to some interesting decision making due to more limited options. Enter Lucius Fox and Bruce's secret Batcave inside Wayne Enterprises. He's got these kinds of hidden Batcave's a lot in various media and I don't think I've ever read/seen how he builds these things in public areas without notice. I can buy him building one on his personal property, but some of these satellite caves seem like a stretch.

Cobblepot being chosen as the replacement CEO seems crazy to me. Can you guys think of a single example of a company of any significant size choosing a CEO that has no experience as a CEO or no direct connection to the company in question? If it's like Regina says and they want to keep investors calm they would go with a safe or recognizable CEO, not a complete unknown. Unless there is come kind of corruption throughout the Wayne board that gets touched on later this seems like another big leap of logic. Anyway after this scene I asked Lucius to stay at Wayne Enterprises as my inside man. I figured with Cobblepot snooping around the building I'd want someone close to keep an eye on my tiny Batcave.

Quick meetup with Harvey shows he is really having a hard time keeping it together. Seems like they are really getting ready to setup him up as Two-Face now. If not this episode then likely the next.

Cool little confrontation with the leader of the Children of Arkham. They are quite competent in hand to hand combat. Catwoman saves the day and takes you back to her place. This is one of those moments like we all talked about near the end of Beyond when they really want to push a specific narrative on the player whether you want to go down that route or not. I made every previous effort to avoid a relationship with Selina so that I could keep Harvey's trust, but somehow still ended up in bed with Selina. It felt quite forced to me since I was actively trying to avoid that from happening. Regardless it happened and Harvey obviously found out immediately and that pushed him over the edge to give in to his darker personality and start behaving violently, but just ended up leaving sad and beaten. At no point did it seem important to him that I was bandaged up and beaten and bloodied, but I guess he would have likely been in a rage filled focus over the Selina betrayal.

Now for what is definitely my favorite scene to this point, the Wayne Enterprise press conference. I refused to read their teleprompter script and made it known I wasn't happy about the actions of replacing me as CEO with Cobblepot and then, as Adam West might have said WHAMMO, huge twist. Vicki drugging Bruce to go berserk towards Cobblepot on camera publicly was just amazing. I didn't see it coming for a second that she was the leader of the Children of Akham and her just cementing in the public's mind that the Wayne's are terrible people was too perfect. I mentioned before that this was a good version of Vicki, but this just pushed it over for me as easily the best Vicki Vale from any Batman medium. I love it when characters I'd previously written off as D list, one dimensional characters get vastly more interesting and that is definitely what has happened here. Did you guys pick up on her as a villain or did it surprise you guys as much as it did me?

This chapter was a big mixed bag. I think it had the lowest lows, but also the highest high also. That cliffhanger though is just too captivating for me and it's got me very excited to play forward once again and overlook some of my issues with the game to this point.

PS - I think I mentioned it in my first post, but havn't seen anyone else bring it up. Am I the only one who thinks this is a super cool version of the Batmobile? It's a Ferrari that can turn into a Batmobile!

[singlebanana]

Quick little visit to Harvey in the hospital to make sure he is going ok. Then you get to start off with the decision to protect Harvey or help Montoya take down some Children of Arkham moving some more of their drugs around....... wait wait wait. Montoya is back to work like nothing ever happened?!? In what reality would a cop who killed a suspect in custody be back to work days later? This is a huge suspension of disbelief they are asking of the player. Regardless I went to help Montoya assuming Harvey would have police protection at the hospital and that stopping the drug shipment would be more beneficial overall.

I went to help Montoya as well, since I figured Harvey probably had things under control. Again, I think that knowing the characters a bit probably influenced this decision for me. Also wanted to mention that Montoya is not back on the force when you go to save her. According to Gordon, she has gone rogue and is attempting to make up for her previous "mistake."  

Bruce is getting forcefully removed from his position as CEO at Wayne Enterprises. Regina breaks the news to Bruce. I like this kind of thing, when there is pressure on Bruce from both fronts (vigilante and civilian). Can lead to some interesting decision making due to more limited options. Enter Lucius Fox and Bruce's secret Batcave inside Wayne Enterprises. He's got these kinds of hidden Batcave's a lot in various media and I don't think I've ever read/seen how he builds these things in public areas without notice. I can buy him building one on his personal property, but some of these satellite caves seem like a stretch.

Yeah, not sure if this was the right decision or how things would have played out, but I asked Lucius to leave Wayne Enterprises and come with me. Perhaps I might have avoided

Spoiler (hover to show)

having the "power outages" with my equipment

had I had him as an inside man. I dunno and curious what happened if any of you kept him at Wayne.

Cobblepot being chosen as the replacement CEO seems crazy to me. Can you guys think of a single example of a company of any significant size choosing a CEO that has no experience as a CEO or no direct connection to the company in question? If it's like Regina says and they want to keep investors calm they would go with a safe or recognizable CEO, not a complete unknown. Unless there is come kind of corruption throughout the Wayne board that gets touched on later this seems like another big leap of logic. Anyway after this scene I asked Lucius to stay at Wayne Enterprises as my inside man. I figured with Cobblepot snooping around the building I'd want someone close to keep an eye on my tiny Batcave.

I was a bit suspect of Regina and there is some stuff from Gotham that kind of played into my suspicions. I have finished the game, but will refrain from commenting on whether this hunch was valid or not. I agree Crabby, the Cobblepot take over makes no sense practically.

Cool little confrontation with the leader of the Children of Arkham. They are quite competent in hand to hand combat. Catwoman saves the day and takes you back to her place. This is one of those moments like we all talked about near the end of Beyond when they really want to push a specific narrative on the player whether you want to go down that route or not. I made every previous effort to avoid a relationship with Selina so that I could keep Harvey's trust, but somehow still ended up in bed with Selina. It felt quite forced to me since I was actively trying to avoid that from happening. Regardless it happened and Harvey obviously found out immediately and that pushed him over the edge to give in to his darker personality and start behaving violently, but just ended up leaving sad and beaten. At no point did it seem important to him that I was bandaged up and beaten and bloodied, but I guess he would have likely been in a rage filled focus over the Selina betrayal.

Glad that you pointed this out!  Though I didn't quite show the "restraint" that you did, I am quite surprise that this event could not be avoided.  I understand that they need to create the Two Face character, but something as simple as him seeing Bruce leave her apartment would have been sufficient.  It's a shame that we are encouraged to choose our own adventure even though our fate is mapped out in some instances...

Now for what is definitely my favorite scene to this point, the Wayne Enterprise press conference. I refused to read their teleprompter script and made it known I wasn't happy about the actions of replacing me as CEO with Cobblepot and then, as Adam West might have said WHAMMO, huge twist. Vicki drugging Bruce to go berserk towards Cobblepot on camera publicly was just amazing. I didn't see it coming for a second that she was the leader of the Children of Akham and her just cementing in the public's mind that the Wayne's are terrible people was too perfect. I mentioned before that this was a good version of Vicki, but this just pushed it over for me as easily the best Vicki Vale from any Batman medium. I love it when characters I'd previously written off as D list, one dimensional characters get vastly more interesting and that is definitely what has happened here. Did you guys pick up on her as a villain or did it surprise you guys as much as it did me?

I was definitely shocked at this revelation, but I'm not as into it as you are.  It's not so much as it is Vicki as it is that they are already revealing the leader this early in the story. I would have much rather had some more build up and suspense created before the unveiling. Batman is a great detective right?  Wouldn't it have been much better for him to piece it together over the remaining chapters of the story?  I mean it does make a typically dry character like Vicki more interesting, but the story arch is quite lazy in my opinion and I'm not a big fan.  Also, if it's the "Children" (not child) of Arkham, why is it just her that gets any attention. I thought this might be a good point to introduce more villains.

PS - I think I mentioned it in my first post, but havn't seen anyone else bring it up. Am I the only one who thinks this is a super cool version of the Batmobile? It's a Ferrari that can turn into a Batmobile!

I agree, this was neat. I know that the Batmobile has had camouflaging capabilities in the past, but this one really seems to fit in terms of the flip-flopping of the Batman/Bruce Wayne personas.

Just wanted to mention that during Chapter 3, I really started noticing the issues with this game. I play A Wolf Among Us a while back and never encountered any of these slow downs or glitches.  Though they never affected my gameplay or reactions to the QTE sequences, they were really annoying and off-putting.

[Crabmaster2000]

I pulled up a youtube vid and double checked the Montoya scene and you're correct that she isn't on duty during that scene, she's just an idiot who is out with a weapon doing police work while I'd assume at the least being on suspension and at most being investigated for murder.

I'm quite surprised that you arn't as into this Vicki/Lady Arkham reveal as I am. I thought it was a truly amazing moment. Batman is typically a great detective and it's usually one of his defining character traits. I'm not sure this particular version of Batman is as strong in that department though. He seems to let a lot of stuff get past him and only picks up on things when it's spelled out for him or the Bat-Computer tells him the answer. I'm eager to dig into Vicki more as we talk about the next 2 chapters though now that I've played ahead as well. Anyone else think this was really great or am I just fan-boying out and giving it more significance than it might deserve?

I've had a few more issues with the game chugging along and being choppy, but thankfully it was never during a QTE sequence or dialogue option. Only had the one major issue is episode 2. It's been quite a while, but I remember having a lot more consistent issues with the Walking Dead Telltale games.

[douglie007]

Took me a bit to get through it. I don't know if I like what they did with Batman in this story, but it was an interesting twist.  They way it does the sons of the father through out.  And why would the board boot Bruce? Seems a little crazy, being they could have easily found most of this out years ago. Besides that, playing as Bruce so often seemed to have got him in more trouble then just staying as Batman.  The game itself was fun, but the store just rubbed me the wrong way at some points.  But the Vicki Vale part caught me by surprise to the point I had to check and see if any comic ever did this type of twist with her.