This is the worst Telltale game I've played yet.
No, that isn't a joke title, but I can get why you might think that it is. There are apparently very few that agree with me. This is going to seem like a bit of a stream-of-consciousness rant, so bear with me.
The graphics are horrendous. The engine should be taken out back and shot, fans and critics have been saying this for years, but that isn't even the problem. How did Telltale go from casually throwing around characters that looked like this back in 2013 and 2014...
... to using characters that look like this, years later? Shouldn't they be improving?
Seriously. There's also an ABUNDANCE of blurry objects and floors/walls, but the fact that fairly important characters look so poorly textured is just bizarre.
Telltale games aren't exactly renowned for their polish, but this one is seriously out of hand. The cuts between scenes are jarring. The dialogue can get very cliche and cheesy, and not in an endearing way; I heard the kind of one liners that you might expect from a children's TV show. Sound effects, like groups of people gasping or applauding, seem very plastic and forced whenever they're used. And for once, even some of the voice acting made me cringe; here's an example of delivery that left a bad taste in my mouth. Very stiff.
It even bears some strange similarities to past games, like TWAU; remember the scene with Alfred at the beginning? Picking glass out of his Bruce, much like Swineheart picking bullets out of Bigby, while having the same exact talk about how they should use more caution, and how "sometimes the city need a monster"? That, on top of the abundance of reused animations that I'm accustomed to seeing from Telltale games, is giving the impression that Telltale isn't branching out in the way that they should be. Their work is starting to feel stale, uninspired, like everything's just blurring together at this point. It murders immersion. Can they really not afford to create newer assets?
And at the end, despite doing nothing more than twisting that one henchman's arm a little, Alfred says that I "beat him half to death", scolds me, and Bruce expresses guilt. I remember reading somewhere on here that choices really seemed like they mattered this time, but I have no idea why anyone would say that. This is weakest Telltale's illusion of choice has ever been. They SERIOUSLY dropped the ball.
Overall, disappointed. Instead of the innovation that I saw from TWD games, or TWAU, or TFTB, I had an experience that's best described as generic. If you disagree or want to add anything, I'd be happy to watch you guys discuss things below.
Comments
I don't know which system you played this on but this is by far the best looking telltale game (on pc). I also don't see a problem with Falcone's line, the guy is a dick with a huge ego. The only thing that made me cringe is when batman said to catwoman "I'm going to put you in a cage" or something. That was very awkward lol.
I'm on PC too. The blurriness in it seems much more apparent than what I've seen in the past few Telltale games. Tales from the Borderlands looks consistently beautiful in comparison.
But yeah, those are the kinds of awkward one liners I was talking about. I didn't have a problem with the way Falcone's line was written, it was just the way he delivered it. Very unnatural-sounding. This might sound nitpicking on my part, but there's a difference between a bump in the road here and there and 50 of them, one after another.
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Nice balanced usage of photos there for the first thing. Taking a far away group shot of important characters and then a close up shot of two meaningless extras is great. Not to mention... DIFFERENT THINGS HAVE DIFFERENT ART STYLES. That's like comparing TFTB with it's Borderlands visuals and GoT with it's oil painting-esque environments.
Next on the list, saying about cheesy dialogue and overreactions from the audience of certain moments... You do know this is based on a comic book right? The creators of cheesy dialogue. Just look at this
Then, the comparisons to TWAU. Sure, that scene is a lot like the opening to episode 4. But that's the thing, this scene is typical in most "Feared hero" trope stories, people get hurt and need to be healed. If we're using the same logic for everything, TWAU is just a re-hash of Skyfall then.
The illusion of choice is the worst ever because Alfred said you beat a guy. What about when you threw Falcone off a building for the world to see or got him arrested? Did it not matter then? Was that dead body or that arrested man just an illuuuusion?
You honestly seem like someone who's just annoyed that it's not a new season of TWAU or TFTB so you went into trying to find the smallest detail to hate on.
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I actually really like the new engine, there's way more organic detail on the clothing where it actually looks like fabric and the character models look a lot smoother as well since they're going for a blend of comic book and realism and there's more emphasis on making metal objects actually look metal and some of the clothes physics are really well done compared to other Telltale works, I actually do see an improvement.
Also, don't flip your shit about no innovation when it's only JUST the first episode, TFTB's first episode wasn't much to write home about from a gameplay standpoint since it was about as standard as any Walking Dead or Wolf Among Us episode beforehand from my perspective and it continued to change somewhat as the season went on.
Whether or not the acting works is strictly personal taste so I can't really argue with that though I think you're somewhat overreacting. Other Batman works have dealt with the split duality of whether Batman should become a brutalizing vigilante or law abiding city hero WAY before TWAU so no, I don't agree this is "ripping off" TWAU.
(EDIT: AH SHIT, IGNORE)
I understand that it might look like I was cherry picking screens, but I'm speaking from personal experience more than anything. I didn't liked how it looked. And no, my problem isn't that it has a different art style, my problem is that aesthetically, it wasn't pleasing. I didn't like the art style. I can have a negative opinion about it if I want to. The outlines were inconsistently thick/thin, faces looked unusual and didn't really have any crisp shading or lines to define their features better, and oftentimes, things just looked glitchy and unpolished, like I was playing a beta build.
I have no experience with Skyfall, but I was talking about a very specific scene with very specific types of characters, actions, and themes, not a general trope.
I guess we're just going to have a difference of opinion there, because I don't think that line is NEARLY as bad as what I heard in the game.
By "illusion of choice", I mean that I could tell that basically everything I did had no impact on what played out in this episode. This is the case with most Telltale games, but this one felt especially linear. Some minor things change if you "brutalize" him, but not much.
I can't really prove you right or wrong there, you can make all the assumptions you want. I was one of the fanboys that got worked up when Tales From the Borderlands got released, and then I played it. I loved it. I was proven wrong. That isn't the case with what happened here. I played it, I didn't like it. I don't know how else to tell you that.
We can disagree there, no problem. I feel differently, but if you like how it looks, one man's trash is another man's treasure.
There's a difference between standard/lackluster, and flat-out bad. I'm not going to refund it, I'll see what happens in the second episode. I'm not going to disregard the whole series. But I feel poorly about the first episode, and I felt the need to speak about it.
I didn't say it was "ripping off" TWAU at all, please try not to misquote me. I said it shared resemblances. More specifically, I was referring to the scene where Swineheart picks metal shellings out of Bigby. The point I'm trying to make isn't that the whole game is a ripoff of TWAU. I'm trying to say that it feels like Telltale as a whole is rehashing subplots and assets, and that it's having a negative effect on the experience of the game.
For me TWD:Michonne has the best graphics in a Telltale game for now, I played Batman on PC 30 minutes ago and it doesn't look THAT good, I mean it looks decent for a TT game but not what I've been expecting since they upgraded their engine, the scenes at night look good and near the final when it's raining
I will agree with the 2 old people. I have no idea who saw them and was like. "Yeah that looks good"
That isn't even a subplot, that's just a similar scene or scenario, I might as well say I didn't care for the battered up Bigby Swineheart scene in episode 4 of TWAU cause it was too similar to some other scene in some superhero/action thriller, I don't understand that kind of complaint. Telltale usually reuse assets to save time and I honestly didn't see much of that in here aside a few recycled animations.
I'm not saying you're wrong for feeling the way you feel and I don't expect Telltale to make everything turn to gold when they touch it, but I honestly think there's some Over reactionary nitpicking going on here mostly with the graphics and the voice acting.
The only major issue I have right now is that the framerate is rather choppy and hindered a little bit of my enjoyment of the episode as well as some other minor hitches, I see great potential with this and if Teltale iron out the issues, I can imagine it'll be a better experience.
It wasn't bad...The graphics are not what I'm here for...
But I did whised the story was better as a whole, and maybe more detective segments...
Oh yeah I remember that. When he said that I literally said "ohhhh noooo" out loud because it was so bad.
Didn't do a damn thing to that henchman and I got scolded by Alfred. I was super pissed TT left something like this in. Considering that it's a major choice at the end in the episode. Really hurt me liking the game. Then I read the codex on Viki Vale after I gave a quote to her. It said I didn't, which made matters worse for my opinion of this episode. Ugh I hate when crap like this happens.
Yeah. I loved the episode, but I wondered whether other people had the issue with Alfred scolding you. It sucks that something like that gets through. Otherwise, I loved the look and feel of it, and actually thought it was, artistically, something of a companion to the Wolf Among Us. Can't wait for episode 2
Well, we got another rushed episode of a Telltale game, guys!
Graphics <<<< Story and Mechanics
That specific part is really my only criticism. I loved the episode overall but I can understand people being frustrated with that part. The rest seems like nitpicking to me.
Dont know what your playing on but mine looks amazing especially the wide city shots and too bad RS didnt design GC like this for knight .and the story is just heating up and this is by far the best Catwoman Batman together in a video game ! What great chemistry .
i dont know whats your problem with this first episode, i just finished it and i loved it! the story, the combat, at first i had a few problems with my pc, i had to lower the graphics but other than that, i think you are overreacting a little bit with your complains, maybe you'll like the next episode
If your on pc you have to know that WB is involved. I'm betting it would be way worse if TTG were not envolved. The forums are divided again! #shockednotshocked
Telltale presents! Arkham Knight: A Telltale Games Series!
What? This episode was anything but rushed.
Thing that most bothered me was Batman's "voice", I mean, why the stupid voice changer thingy? It was embarrasing enough in the Batfleck movie, but c'mon telltale, you too? Batman never needed such a silly thing for being scary...
Considering how well-known Bruce is in Gotham and all the attention he gets in this episode alone, they all know his voice and if Batman have the same voice, people are able to easily figure out his identity.
It isn't to be scary, but to hide his identity.
You think the voice changer is stupid but not putting on a deep voice like they did in the films?
You are right about one thing, this does seem like a stream of consciousness. I'd try to take your statements objectively, but I can't because many of them are subjective, and even those which ARE objective(like the recycled animation and other things you mentioned) are, in regards to the negative impact they have to such things as immersion or enjoyment, subjective. As in, I might agree that the graphics are not as improved as they should, but not that it's as bad(if at all) for everyone else as it is for you.
My own opinion, I really really liked Episode 1, I could go into detail as to why that is but that's besides the point.
The point is, most of your critics and concerns are subjective, which is not bad in and of itself since after all, video games' values are defined by how much people enjoyed it and how many of them did, but if you try to pass it off as anything more than "My personal experience" then I'd have to disagree with you there.
I was about to suggest that you refund if you felt robbed but.......if you'd like to avoid this sort of financial disappointment in the future, I suggest that whenever you have worries you use some other means of acquiring the game(like borrowing it from a friend) and playing it first before deciding to reward the company with a purchase. For me even as a person who really enjoyed this episode and got his money's worth, it displeases me to hear that others like yourself who didn't enjoy it had paid for it.
They didn't have this problem for almost 75 years of comic books and now suddenly is an issue?
Are you sure? I mean did you play minecraft or walking dead michonne?
Does the comics specifically say that Batman doesn't change his voice?
There is also the matter of Suspension of Disbelief. I personally would not believe that people won't be able to figure out that Bruce is Batman if he keeps the same voice.
Bale's voice was stupid allright, but that was his problem. Possibly because of that they decided to use that voice modulator on the Dark Knight. I find both stupid.
If you are saying that Keaton's voice was stupid, well, it's the first time I've heard anything like that. You also think Kevin Conroy's voice on animated Batman is also stupid? Or in the Arkham game series?
Anyway, I find silly using a voice changer mostly beacuse it feels totally unnecessary, and also inaccurate if you think of the comic books.
I don't think Batman used a voice change in the Dark Knight. Did you mean Batman vs Superman?
Yes, he changes his voice, but without the need of any gimmick
And about Batman's identity, c'mon, yes it's obvious that he is Bruce Wayne, it's been like that for ages. And that's the same for other superheroes and villains. Of course Superman is Clark Kent, but do you think they need to invent some device to alter his face in order to cover his secret?
I mean, in a world where people dress like a bat to fight crime, some people can fly and shoot lasers from their eyes, others have super speed and can time travel and there's even a chipmunk with a powerful ring to defend the universe...The only thing we wouldn't belive is that people can't figure it out who is Batman, because his voice is recognizable?
Oops, yes sorry, I meant Batman vs Superman. I remember though some kind of discussion about Bale's voice in TDK, how they use some computer voice distortion or something...
Was Bale's Batman voice him trying to sound rough or was it really computer generated?
Still one of the things that keeps puzzling me.
It seems they altered his voice somehow in the TDK, but I don't know for sure, at least I remember there was some discussion about it...
I loved Episode 1. The only real issue I had was being scolded for 'beating him half to death' when I literally did nothing to hurt him. Also, I agree on the model for the two older people. I had to check my graphics to make sure they were actually on high for that. Other than that, though, I love the upgraded engine look.
I think sometimes we have to accept the people in each universe behave the way they do.
So far, I don't see any supernatural element in this game, so they might not exist.
I think that since Batman has so many gadgets already, I think people will question why he didn't made a voice changer.