She doesn't quit if you went to her first before Harvey in Episode 3, but since that's my play-through I don't know what happens if you did the opposite, so I assume it's a glitch or mistake?
I don't know how to feel about this episode, in all honesty. I liked it well enough, and I feel like an emotional wreck, but some things jus… moret felt...off. The pacing could feel a little wanky at times, but nothing too major there.
If any of you have seen absolutely anything I've posted in this subforum, then you'd know that Harvey's one of my favorite characters in this series. I don't like to declare favorites, but maybe I'd go that far. I was really thinking that we'd get to see more of his human side again, considering, for me at least, that everything I've done I've done the bro way. They seemed to really tune into his aggressive, mentally ill side instead of focusing on his humanity and morality. This felt a little disappointing. Though, at the same time, every scene with Harvey did kill my heart in more ways than one. When I went after him at the Wayne Manor and he was getting burnt, I was absolutely flipping the hell out. I thought t… [view original content]
Tbh, a villain-trying-to-do-good is pretty standard as well, and we even got that in form of Harvey. And I don't think Vicki is as unstable with all her victims, as Batman said the murder of the Vales was clearly a vendetta. My two cents is that the Vales treated Vicki badly in her childhood - possibly also their younger adopted kid.
Yeah... that Vicki scene... sorry Victoria Arkham scene
During episode 3 I just assumed she wanted to hurt Hill, Falcone, and the Waynes bu… moret seeing as how she dealt the Vales... she was WAY more messed up then I thought which is a shame because I thought her point of view was interesting in the Children of Arkham fight in episode 3 as sort of a Handsome Jack Villain who is actually trying to do good. Sad to see that they may just be going for the standard unstable villain
Just gone done with this episode, so gonna spill some of my initial impressions while still fresh:
Definitely the most difficult episode in terms of choices, perhaps out of any of the TT series I've played. Pretty much every binary choice was an awful choice, and I thought the relentlessness of that did well raising the stakes and undercutting some of Bruce/Batman's key resources. It'll be much more interesting to see how he will overcome with an arm tied behind his back.
I also kind of loved the scene with the two cops. Maybe it was a little heavy-handed, but I think it needed to be highlighted that "Two-Face" isn't just a single man. Well I mean he is a single man now but...you get what I mean?
On the downside, I share some disappointment in that I was expecting to spend more time at Arkham. I thought it was a great setting for Bruce to wrestle with his own demons and reaffirm why he fights, and why the Batman persona is so important. Would have liked to see that metamorphosis, but perhaps we'll see that in the final.
And yeeeaaaah. Selina. I completely agree, though, that it was very much in character for her gut instincts to win out over her feelings for Bruce during such a crisis. And I kinda didn't blame her. I told her I understood, and felt better about that after the parley with Two-Face. I still believe in my girl, though. She's spooked now, but warming to that next level on that hierarchy of needs chart. Right? Right??
I'm still kinda chewing on it, but I didn't hate it.
Anyhow, played through and finished Episode 4. It was good, but not as good as Episode 3. This was actually the worst penultimate episode I've played in a Telltale game. And I usually love penultimate episodes, heck every episode of a series, while others dislike it because of short episode, condensed plot, etc. I usually don't mind those, but this time, I finally felt that. This does not mean it's bad, nononono, just not as good as the others.
To start, The choices were very difficult. I was debating whether or not to trust Joker in the beginning, but decided to not go with his plans. He's a pretty unstable guy, and while he does seem to want to help Bruce, I have a feeling Joker will repay him in an unfriendly light (according to a sane person). So, no trust, no deal, no favors for you, buddy. His character was interesting, but the Asylum scenes with him seemed to go too fast. I didn't want him there for the whole episode, but I at least thought the Asylum section would take at least half the episode. Next, the drug. While I am glad Bruce found a cure (another thing off my mind, whew!) I thought they would keep it in and only get one by the end of the episode, or beginning of episode 5. It really added tension to Bruce's scenes, knowing he still had a chance of flying off the handle. Your choices would have unintended effects or at least be more severe and brutal because wha-hey! Bruce is unstable! But, I can live without.
The crime scene of the episode was well made, and had a very creepy setup and tone. Yeesh, those eye-holes. Man Telltale, your engine maybe stepped up too much. Nothing truly good worth noting, but the fact that the child was clearly afraid of Batman, and super uncooperative, transitioning to instant trust when Batman helps him up? Sorry, something's missing, game.....
The episode ended in a good spot (for me at least.) but seemed a bit lacking in the cliffhanger department. I chose to go stop Oswald, fully knowing the consequences of the possible destruction of Wayne Manor. But, I figured a city-wide technology system is much more important than a Billionaire's house. I'm sure Alfred would understand (if he's alive to see it.) Once I did get Cobblepot, I thought that I'd at least get a call from Lady Arkham to go and defeat her, or see the consequences of my choice. I did see it, but it was kind of lackluster. Wayne Manor being destroyed is very bad, and got my hype ready to see more, but then it abruptly ends with Harvey walking away? I expected for the camera to pan out, or something to show an end of scene or episode, but it felt a bit quick.
Though now, I'm completely in the dark about Episode 5, and I am hopeful to whatever happens, it'll be amazing (as is the case with Telltale's finales).
Now, I'm not good at rating things as a whole, but out of everything I said, I think I'd give it a 7.7 - 8.0. This series is going to end too quickly if the next one comes out in December, so here's hoping for more Batman in the future.
Really disappointed with the fact that Selena became another Molly and Jane. "Let's spend a lot of time developing these characters just to make them walk out because we ran out of ideas for them." I was super excited for her character, too. Such a shame. It kind of totally ruined my mood so it was hard to enjoy the rest.
Joker was okay. Laughed a little too much at redundant times so it became cringe but overall his character was well done, or should I say, not over done.
Episode was too short. 60 - 70 minutes. Kind of slow but the end was nice.
In episode 1-3 it seemed they were going in a pretty solid direction. But then things...shifted focus and branched out. So now we're all over the place and it's a little too overwhelming to utterly enjoy as much as I would like too.
This was probably my favorite episode.
An opinion that is evidently not shared by too many of you guys, but I liked it nonetheless. It had Batman being Batman despite so many things crushing down on him.
But I gotta say... Did anyone else think the conversations with the Joker were a little too on the nose?
For example...
You're Bruce Wayne. You just got wrongfully institutionalized in Arkham Asylum and the only person who even helps you is a dude named John Doe. A doctor then tells you that John here is the most recovered Arkham Asylum patient, to the point where he's even a trusted inmate.
He then offers you help to get out of the Asylum...
"YOU'LL NEVER GET OUT OF ARKHAM YOU SCUMBAG PIECE OF SHIT!"
Literally one step away from accusing him of murdering Robin.
Some of the dialogue options weren't directed at John Doe, the guy Bruce just met... They were directed at The Joker, Batman's enemy for a decade.
Yeah, I hate it when the dialogue comes off more aggressive than expected. Some of the John Doe dialogue was like this, and another example was when I decided to send Harvey to prison. My reason was just to keep him away from Joker, but Batman proceeds to rant about how Harvey is a ruthless murderer who deserves a harsh punishment, while the guy is still close enough to hear And I just told him that I still believe in him.
This was probably my favorite episode.
An opinion that is evidently not shared by too many of you guys, but I liked it nonetheless. It had … moreBatman being Batman despite so many things crushing down on him.
But I gotta say... Did anyone else think the conversations with the Joker were a little too on the nose?
For example...
You're Bruce Wayne. You just got wrongfully institutionalized in Arkham Asylum and the only person who even helps you is a dude named John Doe. A doctor then tells you that John here is the most recovered Arkham Asylum patient, to the point where he's even a trusted inmate.
He then offers you help to get out of the Asylum...
"YOU'LL NEVER GET OUT OF ARKHAM YOU SCUMBAG PIECE OF SHIT!"
Literally one step away from accusing him of murdering Robin.
Some of the dialogue options weren't directed at John Doe, the guy Bruce just met... They were directed at The Joker, Batman's enemy for a decade.
Probably my least favorite episode in the entire Telltale franchise. Not only does Batman get his ass kicked way too many times (you know, t… morehe guy that can take down freaking Superman) but the only person I got to beat up was Penguin, and honestly, I don't even hate him that much, dude has a point, the Wayne's took everything from him AND we already got to beat him within an inch of his life. If I couldn't have my rematch with "Lady Arkham" than I at least wanted to give Harvey his second face (since I saved him from getting it the first time). So...
Pros
- Joker helping Bruce Wayne
- Helping the kid (maybe he can be our future Robin, I'd like that)
- Making a tough choice between our home or our tech
Cons
-Making Selina have only one damn scene, and it's just to say goodbye
-Not showing Harvey's decent into madness, just making him a dick right off the bat
-Making every citizen in Gotham unlikable, seriously, they attack me and g… [view original content]
I too sent Harvey to prison so he would avoid being around the Joker. Batman's words regarding why Harvey should go to prison didn't exactly match my reasons. I still care about Harvey and thought the reason given was a bit harsh. Didn't have to worry about the Joker conversation though, I pretty much told him everything he wanted to hear.
I am dealing with a madhouse, that was my thought when I keep playing this episode.
While it was good, right now, I feel this episode is my least favorite of the episodes. I love the Joker's appearance and I respect the fact that he wasn't the focus in the episode. But beside that, I feel like this episode didn't flowed that well narratively. It was short and wasn't paced as well as Episode 2. And there is the fact that despite the performance patch, it didn't ran too smoothly even on my big PC.
Pretty good episode even if the ending is embarrassingly anti-climatic, its like they deliberately cut it short because anymore runtime would run into episode 5, which i'm assuming will be just as short if not shorter. It felt a bit rushed in places (the escape, the conflict with Harvey, SELINA'S GOODBYE!), but it had some really nice moments (investigating the Vales murder and interacting with future Robin, come on he has to be Robin at some point, and the final choice leading to an entirely different lengthy-ish final scene depending on how you act, but man where it felt rushed it felt REALLY rushed. I don't mind Selina too much since, that's her character, but the scene felt way too short. Overall my least favorite episode, but it was still pretty great. 8/10
I am dealing with a madhouse, that was my thought when I keep playing this episode.
While it was good, right now, I feel this episode is … moremy least favorite of the episodes. I love the Joker's appearance and I respect the fact that he wasn't the focus in the episode. But beside that, I feel like this episode didn't flowed that well narratively. It was short and wasn't paced as well as Episode 2. And there is the fact that despite the performance patch, it didn't ran too smoothly even on my big PC.
So yeah, I give this episode a 7/10.
I should've known when this came out so timely it was going to be a bad sign. This episode is criminally short and nothing absolves it of that.
Knowing how little things moved forward in this ep involving the MAIN enemy. It makes me feel like ep5 is going to have a super abrupt ending with obvious intentions for a 2nd season. Or just as bad it actually get resolved in another super short episode.
Why is the Mayor just allowed to do whatever he wants? You can't just tell police they have the right to search anything they want.
I am dealing with a madhouse, that was my thought when I keep playing this episode.
While it was good, right now, I feel this episode is … moremy least favorite of the episodes. I love the Joker's appearance and I respect the fact that he wasn't the focus in the episode. But beside that, I feel like this episode didn't flowed that well narratively. It was short and wasn't paced as well as Episode 2. And there is the fact that despite the performance patch, it didn't ran too smoothly even on my big PC.
So yeah, I give this episode a 7/10.
Well it was good, but it wasn't as good as others. The opening the was great, the middle dragged, and the ending was was great. Also Im pretty mad at how they handled Selina, she's one of the best characters and she shows up in a one minute long scene just to say "Lmao bye homie." Also, the lack of Vicki Vale/Lady Arkham was pretty annoying too. Penguin was also basically not in the episode. I guess my real complaint was not alot of characters were touched upon at all. Selina, Vicki, and Oz were almost not existent, and almost everything was focused on Harvey. Don't get me wrong, I loved all the Harvey scenes, but its a little annoying that the whole episode felt like it was about him instead of showing other characters.
Great opening and ending, and relatively average middle. I really liked the Joker in this, his voice acting was fantastic! It was also pretty cool interacting with some of the comic characters in Arkham Asylum. Both boss fights were also really well done in my opinion but Penguin should have been in the episode more and the same goes to Vicki Vale/Lady Arkham.
Also as I feared this episode continues the curse of the Telltale's Batman having some horrible bugs in every episode.
Episode 1 with the game breaking Codex bug, Episode 2 with the sound cutting out and the missing lip sync in the bar, Episode 3 with the stuttering Batmobile and now Episode 4 with the missing sound during the Harvey fight at the end.
Overall I thought it was a good episode, though it's not as good as Episode 3. Also it was nice to see the choices being very middling in the results which is not something you see too often.
Yeah, I kinda wanna go back to Arkham Asylum. Sure, I run the risk of getting killed, but it was relatively calm and peaceful compared to the mess that I have to deal with in Gotham.
I am dealing with a madhouse, that was my thought when I keep playing this episode.
No kidding. Tfw you realize it's more calm and orderly inside Arkham
I don't know about you people, but I really enjoyed the episode. A 8/10 for me.
I suppose this is because I saved Harvey in Episode 2 and 3, did not kiss Selina in Episode 2, choose to have the relationship remain platonic in Episode 3, and told her to leave Gotham in Episode 3. I didn't really care that she only texted Bruce one. Harvey is my bro. I need to save him.
I also enjoyed beating the crap out of Oz. I didn't enjoy seeing Wayne Manor burn at the end, but I will save Harvey. That kid in the crime scene is probably Robin, and the crime scene itself was very well done.
I should've known when this came out so timely it was going to be a bad sign. This episode is criminally short and nothing absolves it of th… moreat.
Knowing how little things moved forward in this ep involving the MAIN enemy. It makes me feel like ep5 is going to have a super abrupt ending with obvious intentions for a 2nd season. Or just as bad it actually get resolved in another super short episode.
Why is the Mayor just allowed to do whatever he wants? You can't just tell police they have the right to search anything they want.
I suppose this is because I saved Harvey in Episode 2 and 3, did not kiss Selina in Episode 2, choose to have the relationship remain platonic in Episode 3, and told her to leave Gotham in Episode 3. I didn't really care that she only texted Bruce one. Harvey is my bro. I need to save him.
I did the same thing and was in the same mindset, that to my Batman, Harvey was more important than Selina. I decided to go to Wayne Manor and confront Harvey. It was too dangerous to have him loose.
I don't know about you people, but I really enjoyed the episode. A 8/10 for me.
I suppose this is because I saved Harvey in Episode 2 and… more 3, did not kiss Selina in Episode 2, choose to have the relationship remain platonic in Episode 3, and told her to leave Gotham in Episode 3. I didn't really care that she only texted Bruce one. Harvey is my bro. I need to save him.
I also enjoyed beating the crap out of Oz. I didn't enjoy seeing Wayne Manor burn at the end, but I will save Harvey. That kid in the crime scene is probably Robin, and the crime scene itself was very well done.
Some irritating bugs, mostly lip-syncs.
I don't know about you people, but I really enjoyed the episode. A 8/10 for me.
I suppose this is because I saved Harvey in Episode 2 and… more 3, did not kiss Selina in Episode 2, choose to have the relationship remain platonic in Episode 3, and told her to leave Gotham in Episode 3. I didn't really care that she only texted Bruce one. Harvey is my bro. I need to save him.
I also enjoyed beating the crap out of Oz. I didn't enjoy seeing Wayne Manor burn at the end, but I will save Harvey. That kid in the crime scene is probably Robin, and the crime scene itself was very well done.
Some irritating bugs, mostly lip-syncs.
I think it might be related to the fact that he was still suffering some of the effects of the drug at the time. He's not fully in control of his actions.
This was probably my favorite episode.
An opinion that is evidently not shared by too many of you guys, but I liked it nonetheless. It had … moreBatman being Batman despite so many things crushing down on him.
But I gotta say... Did anyone else think the conversations with the Joker were a little too on the nose?
For example...
You're Bruce Wayne. You just got wrongfully institutionalized in Arkham Asylum and the only person who even helps you is a dude named John Doe. A doctor then tells you that John here is the most recovered Arkham Asylum patient, to the point where he's even a trusted inmate.
He then offers you help to get out of the Asylum...
"YOU'LL NEVER GET OUT OF ARKHAM YOU SCUMBAG PIECE OF SHIT!"
Literally one step away from accusing him of murdering Robin.
Some of the dialogue options weren't directed at John Doe, the guy Bruce just met... They were directed at The Joker, Batman's enemy for a decade.
I think the game primed you for it, though. They didn't mention anything about Arkham being terrible or the Joker or anything like that. Gordon just said that Harvey did a ton of crap and should rot in prison...but that he clearly needs help, too, so should you send him to rot or send him to help? It makes sense that if you pick the option he just said was the punitive option then Batman has a punitive response.
I too sent Harvey to prison so he would avoid being around the Joker. Batman's words regarding why Harvey should go to prison didn't exactly… more match my reasons. I still care about Harvey and thought the reason given was a bit harsh. Didn't have to worry about the Joker conversation though, I pretty much told him everything he wanted to hear.
He's allowed to do what he wants because most of the police is in his pocket and no one else locally has the power to say no to him. It's only been like a week or something, right? The real question is if Batman didn't come in to save the day how long before the National Guard or whatever would be called in to deal with this mess. What does Harvey seriously intend to do once the Children of Arkahm are taken care of? Because I'm guessing the answer is not "back down from a police state."
I should've known when this came out so timely it was going to be a bad sign. This episode is criminally short and nothing absolves it of th… moreat.
Knowing how little things moved forward in this ep involving the MAIN enemy. It makes me feel like ep5 is going to have a super abrupt ending with obvious intentions for a 2nd season. Or just as bad it actually get resolved in another super short episode.
Why is the Mayor just allowed to do whatever he wants? You can't just tell police they have the right to search anything they want.
This episode had it's ups, and it's downs. Still, liked it a lot.
I'll start with the 'bad' stuff and then move on to what I really liked about this episode.
Unburnt Harvey; now, I'm aware that we don't know how much time Bruce spent on Arkham Asylum and what went on with Harvey during that period, but holy crap his paranoia escalated quickly! And that's the problem, waaayyy too quickly! We last see him in episode 3 leaving Selina's house completely broken for his actions as nutty Harvey, yet in this episode not-nutty Harvey seems to be completely gone and there's no good explanation to why that is so. Having brief old-Harvey moments, like a suden sense of remorse, at least on the unburnt version of him, would be just enough to make this all go away. But no, both versions of Harvey are just "Blew up a city block! KEK! No big deal c:".
Selina; I just think a totally pro-Selina playthrough should have some kind of pay off. Would it really be so hard to have her stick around if so? If Bruce went to Wayne Enterprises she'd just go MIA with Alfred and determinant Lucious. If he went to the manor we would just see her in the background dealing with some of Harvey's goons, and, instead of having Alfred being the one to save Bruce and almost get shot, Selina would take his place. Obviously, her presence would need some more work and added scenes/conversations (having Harvey reacting to Bat and Cat like 'You're working with this burglar?' or 'Serves you right, Batman. Two criminals working together.'; having her participate on the Bat-team conversations and giving her two cents about shit like visiting the mayor as Bruce or Batty, going after Penguin or Dent, etc.) , which is easier said than done, I totally get it! but having this character who recieved so much focus on the first three episodes just up and leave no matter what? That sucks!
With that said, I hope she does come back (somehow?) on the fifth episode if you dealt with mayor Harvey. That'd fix things... partly.
Now, I don't see how adding some of these branches would damage or influence greatly the storyline, which leads me to believe that Telltale does not add branches alike because of the 1 month deadline. It's best to release something perfect, than realease something fast.
"John Doe"; I think it was right to present him now since Bruce was in Arkham during this episode, but I don't think it's right to involve him in the main plot. He does pass on crucial information about Victoria Arkham and I wonder how he knows so much without being directly involved with her. Hopefully, HOPEFULLY it's just plot convinience. I'm getting serious Handsome Jack'sahemNegan'sahem 'two dimensional evil guy' vibes from him, which is not great so I don't whish to see him involved in the plot at all. He's just been introduced to late and too briefly to have him impact the plot so much, yet. Leave him for Season 2 or for the 'Batman Joker Adventure Pack' or whatever.
Arkham Asylum; Although Bruce's internment felt a bit too brief, I think Arkham was, overall, ok. Very nice and complete hub (which I haven't experienced completely since every youtuber feels like ignoring Blockbuster), crazy people were crazy (as expected), everyone hates Bruce...
It could be better, though. I don't think they did a good enough job of having the player feel bad about Thomas' victims. There were the two dudes who beat him up in the beginning, but they were painted as vilanious assholes rather than actual victims. I would've prefered if they had put more effort on emphasizing this idea of guilt/responsibility for Thomas' victims, instead of focusing on random dudes who didn't care about us and not crucial to the plot. "She wanted me to feel what my father had done to all those people". "All those people"? The two dudes whose past suffering wasn't even delved on? Ok, right, Vicki's objective was not acomplished.
Victoria Arkham; Even without any direct involvement in the episode, Vicki's character still manages to be the episode's silver lining to me. (I'm hyping this character very much Telltale. Do not fail me!) Her backstory is rather poetic when put into prespective with Bruce's. I think I can understand her motivations, and I don't think they're unplausible at all;
(I'll copy paste another comment because I'm feeling lazy)
Vicki is not trying to kill milions of people.
Vicki was left with an 'unquenchable thrist for revenge'. She grew up under abuse and watching the person who destroyed her life and got her relatives killed similling on TV, being thanked for his 'good deeds', drowning in money, money gotten through the killing of her parents. She then sees this 'progidy' kid, just like her, living the life of a god, using money adquired through her sacrifice. While he's there lying on the news, being aclaimed, hiding his true face, a face only she knew about; she's a no-one, getting weekly beatings from people who were suposed to protect her.
Vicki (Realm of Shadows): "Some of us are old fashioned -- I still want the truth.
Lady Arkham (Children of Arkham): "We are here to end the maquerade and expose the corruption at root in your city."
Vicki is plotting to 'end the charade'. She's been refining a drug, over and over, so she can get people to finally tell the truth to talk and act on their base impulses because she grew up obssessed in taking down liars who got away with the murder of countless innocent people. Now that she's gotten those who wronged her out of the way (Hill and Falcone) she wants to make sure that never happens again, that no more corrupt jerks get away with it.
It is a delusional, and seemingly impossible, plan, sure, but if she did improve the drug just so the victim doesn't turn completely violent, then it has become possible.
Additionally, you gotta love how everyone behind her seems to respect her as a leader. The Penguin is willing to die for her cause, the Children of Arkham show unwavering loyalty to the cause, she must be insanely presuasive.
The Drug's effects; I loved that. The veins popping up on his face and Bruce getting uncontrolable was just gold. Having us feel what it's like to be a victim of such drug was a good move (so we can see what it's like to be in Harvey's shoesQ) and something I enjoyed a lot, too bad it didn't last. It was well done, nevertheless.
Bruce: I am tired. I am hungry. I haven't showered in THREE DAYS. I want to go home, and if you don't get the HELL out of my way, I swear to GOD I WILL HAVE THIS CAR RUN YOU OVER AND BACK UP AGAIN, JUST TO MAKE SURE IT DID THE JOB.
Quote of the episode, and Troy Baker, you're a god.
Your Choices Matter; There's no denying it on this one. Pretty much every scene has it's variations, aside from the Arkham ones and the car scene (which I loved by the way).
The choices also seemed extremely meaningful. I don't know how Bruce will bring Penguin down now that he has no tech/no place to call home. Harvey can determinantly be out there, or not. And you gotta love how costumizable Harvey is. Now you can have:
His body and face half burnt.
His body burnt and his face intact.
His face burnt and his body intact.
Harvey in perfect shape.
... which is just gold xD.
Now some loose points I wanna make; Gordon was fantastic this episode. Having the goon acknowledge that Harvey, his superior, was too far gone was also a prety strong scene.
I felt like this episode was more about resolving the Harvey subplot rather than advancing the really good shit that is the Children of Arkham conflict, hence it seeming so underwhelming.
Comments
Yeah, I wondered this as well. And it's not like she does anything important either, so they could've just used some other random police.
She doesn't quit if you went to her first before Harvey in Episode 3, but since that's my play-through I don't know what happens if you did the opposite, so I assume it's a glitch or mistake?
I was actually ready to throw my controller at the screen during that.
Tbh, a villain-trying-to-do-good is pretty standard as well, and we even got that in form of Harvey. And I don't think Vicki is as unstable with all her victims, as Batman said the murder of the Vales was clearly a vendetta. My two cents is that the Vales treated Vicki badly in her childhood - possibly also their younger adopted kid.
She resigned for me as well, but she still showed up in Episode 4. I'm assuming it's a glitch.
What was the use of Jokers key? I accidentally talked to him before opening the boxes and I didn't get another chance
Apparently it was just a joke. I tried it on the boxes and when I said to "John Doe" that it didn't work he basically just laughed that I even tried.
Happened for me too... gave me a 'what' moment but overall didn't really effect the game to me.
Pretty good episode! I really liked the scene with the kid, and taking down Two-Face was pretty badass. Time to truly restore order to Gotham.
Also what did the Jokers key do? I talked to him before I opened the boxes and didn't get another chance.
Just gone done with this episode, so gonna spill some of my initial impressions while still fresh:
Definitely the most difficult episode in terms of choices, perhaps out of any of the TT series I've played. Pretty much every binary choice was an awful choice, and I thought the relentlessness of that did well raising the stakes and undercutting some of Bruce/Batman's key resources. It'll be much more interesting to see how he will overcome with an arm tied behind his back.
I also kind of loved the scene with the two cops. Maybe it was a little heavy-handed, but I think it needed to be highlighted that "Two-Face" isn't just a single man. Well I mean he is a single man now but...you get what I mean?
On the downside, I share some disappointment in that I was expecting to spend more time at Arkham. I thought it was a great setting for Bruce to wrestle with his own demons and reaffirm why he fights, and why the Batman persona is so important. Would have liked to see that metamorphosis, but perhaps we'll see that in the final.
And yeeeaaaah. Selina. I completely agree, though, that it was very much in character for her gut instincts to win out over her feelings for Bruce during such a crisis. And I kinda didn't blame her. I told her I understood, and felt better about that after the parley with Two-Face. I still believe in my girl, though. She's spooked now, but warming to that next level on that hierarchy of needs chart. Right? Right??
I'm still kinda chewing on it, but I didn't hate it.
Okey-dokey. Okey. key. "The key is a lie!!"
Anyhow, played through and finished Episode 4. It was good, but not as good as Episode 3. This was actually the worst penultimate episode I've played in a Telltale game. And I usually love penultimate episodes, heck every episode of a series, while others dislike it because of short episode, condensed plot, etc. I usually don't mind those, but this time, I finally felt that. This does not mean it's bad, nononono, just not as good as the others.
To start, The choices were very difficult. I was debating whether or not to trust Joker in the beginning, but decided to not go with his plans. He's a pretty unstable guy, and while he does seem to want to help Bruce, I have a feeling Joker will repay him in an unfriendly light (according to a sane person). So, no trust, no deal, no favors for you, buddy. His character was interesting, but the Asylum scenes with him seemed to go too fast. I didn't want him there for the whole episode, but I at least thought the Asylum section would take at least half the episode. Next, the drug. While I am glad Bruce found a cure (another thing off my mind, whew!) I thought they would keep it in and only get one by the end of the episode, or beginning of episode 5. It really added tension to Bruce's scenes, knowing he still had a chance of flying off the handle. Your choices would have unintended effects or at least be more severe and brutal because wha-hey! Bruce is unstable! But, I can live without.
The crime scene of the episode was well made, and had a very creepy setup and tone. Yeesh, those eye-holes. Man Telltale, your engine maybe stepped up too much. Nothing truly good worth noting, but the fact that the child was clearly afraid of Batman, and super uncooperative, transitioning to instant trust when Batman helps him up? Sorry, something's missing, game.....
The episode ended in a good spot (for me at least.) but seemed a bit lacking in the cliffhanger department. I chose to go stop Oswald, fully knowing the consequences of the possible destruction of Wayne Manor. But, I figured a city-wide technology system is much more important than a Billionaire's house. I'm sure Alfred would understand (if he's alive to see it.) Once I did get Cobblepot, I thought that I'd at least get a call from Lady Arkham to go and defeat her, or see the consequences of my choice. I did see it, but it was kind of lackluster. Wayne Manor being destroyed is very bad, and got my hype ready to see more, but then it abruptly ends with Harvey walking away? I expected for the camera to pan out, or something to show an end of scene or episode, but it felt a bit quick.
Though now, I'm completely in the dark about Episode 5, and I am hopeful to whatever happens, it'll be amazing (as is the case with Telltale's finales).
Now, I'm not good at rating things as a whole, but out of everything I said, I think I'd give it a 7.7 - 8.0. This series is going to end too quickly if the next one comes out in December, so here's hoping for more Batman in the future.
Really disappointed with the fact that Selena became another Molly and Jane. "Let's spend a lot of time developing these characters just to make them walk out because we ran out of ideas for them." I was super excited for her character, too. Such a shame. It kind of totally ruined my mood so it was hard to enjoy the rest.
Joker was okay. Laughed a little too much at redundant times so it became cringe but overall his character was well done, or should I say, not over done.
Episode was too short. 60 - 70 minutes. Kind of slow but the end was nice.
In episode 1-3 it seemed they were going in a pretty solid direction. But then things...shifted focus and branched out. So now we're all over the place and it's a little too overwhelming to utterly enjoy as much as I would like too.
"Does no one read anymore?"
If you read the news part in the batcomputer, there's an article about her getting reinstated.
This was probably my favorite episode.
An opinion that is evidently not shared by too many of you guys, but I liked it nonetheless. It had Batman being Batman despite so many things crushing down on him.
But I gotta say... Did anyone else think the conversations with the Joker were a little too on the nose?
For example...
You're Bruce Wayne. You just got wrongfully institutionalized in Arkham Asylum and the only person who even helps you is a dude named John Doe. A doctor then tells you that John here is the most recovered Arkham Asylum patient, to the point where he's even a trusted inmate.
He then offers you help to get out of the Asylum...
"YOU'LL NEVER GET OUT OF ARKHAM YOU SCUMBAG PIECE OF SHIT!"
Literally one step away from accusing him of murdering Robin.
Some of the dialogue options weren't directed at John Doe, the guy Bruce just met... They were directed at The Joker, Batman's enemy for a decade.
Actually, when i went to read the news articles on the bat computer nothing came up. It was a blank white slate.
Yeah, I hate it when the dialogue comes off more aggressive than expected. Some of the John Doe dialogue was like this, and another example was when I decided to send Harvey to prison. My reason was just to keep him away from Joker, but Batman proceeds to rant about how Harvey is a ruthless murderer who deserves a harsh punishment, while the guy is still close enough to hear
And I just told him that I still believe in him.
He ain't joker yet though
Well to be fair this is a young batman
So did bats give penguin his limp at the end?
I too sent Harvey to prison so he would avoid being around the Joker. Batman's words regarding why Harvey should go to prison didn't exactly match my reasons. I still care about Harvey and thought the reason given was a bit harsh. Didn't have to worry about the Joker conversation though, I pretty much told him everything he wanted to hear.
I had that problem too, none of the articles seemed to load properly. Bit of a waste of a decision though.
I am dealing with a madhouse, that was my thought when I keep playing this episode.
While it was good, right now, I feel this episode is my least favorite of the episodes. I love the Joker's appearance and I respect the fact that he wasn't the focus in the episode. But beside that, I feel like this episode didn't flowed that well narratively. It was short and wasn't paced as well as Episode 2. And there is the fact that despite the performance patch, it didn't ran too smoothly even on my big PC.
So yeah, I give this episode a 7/10.
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Pretty good episode even if the ending is embarrassingly anti-climatic, its like they deliberately cut it short because anymore runtime would run into episode 5, which i'm assuming will be just as short if not shorter. It felt a bit rushed in places (the escape, the conflict with Harvey, SELINA'S GOODBYE!), but it had some really nice moments (investigating the Vales murder and interacting with future Robin, come on he has to be Robin at some point, and the final choice leading to an entirely different lengthy-ish final scene depending on how you act, but man where it felt rushed it felt REALLY rushed. I don't mind Selina too much since, that's her character, but the scene felt way too short. Overall my least favorite episode, but it was still pretty great. 8/10
It was all well and good for me until Bruce left Arkham, and then 20 FPS galore. That final scene at wayne Manor was destroying my laptop.
I should've known when this came out so timely it was going to be a bad sign. This episode is criminally short and nothing absolves it of that.
Knowing how little things moved forward in this ep involving the MAIN enemy. It makes me feel like ep5 is going to have a super abrupt ending with obvious intentions for a 2nd season. Or just as bad it actually get resolved in another super short episode.
Why is the Mayor just allowed to do whatever he wants? You can't just tell police they have the right to search anything they want.
Whatever you think of him, I predicted it. Telltale's Joer is Billy Bibbit.
No kidding. Tfw you realize it's more calm and orderly inside Arkham
Well it was good, but it wasn't as good as others. The opening the was great, the middle dragged, and the ending was was great. Also Im pretty mad at how they handled Selina, she's one of the best characters and she shows up in a one minute long scene just to say "Lmao bye homie." Also, the lack of Vicki Vale/Lady Arkham was pretty annoying too. Penguin was also basically not in the episode. I guess my real complaint was not alot of characters were touched upon at all. Selina, Vicki, and Oz were almost not existent, and almost everything was focused on Harvey. Don't get me wrong, I loved all the Harvey scenes, but its a little annoying that the whole episode felt like it was about him instead of showing other characters.
For me it was the weakest episode of the series yet.
The Joker's voice was not very good. And Batman having problem witrh some drones...really?
Great opening and ending, and relatively average middle. I really liked the Joker in this, his voice acting was fantastic! It was also pretty cool interacting with some of the comic characters in Arkham Asylum. Both boss fights were also really well done in my opinion but Penguin should have been in the episode more and the same goes to Vicki Vale/Lady Arkham.
Also as I feared this episode continues the curse of the Telltale's Batman having some horrible bugs in every episode.
Episode 1 with the game breaking Codex bug, Episode 2 with the sound cutting out and the missing lip sync in the bar, Episode 3 with the stuttering Batmobile and now Episode 4 with the missing sound during the Harvey fight at the end.
Overall I thought it was a good episode, though it's not as good as Episode 3. Also it was nice to see the choices being very middling in the results which is not something you see too often.
Yeah, I kinda wanna go back to Arkham Asylum. Sure, I run the risk of getting killed, but it was relatively calm and peaceful compared to the mess that I have to deal with in Gotham.
I don't know about you people, but I really enjoyed the episode. A 8/10 for me.
I suppose this is because I saved Harvey in Episode 2 and 3, did not kiss Selina in Episode 2, choose to have the relationship remain platonic in Episode 3, and told her to leave Gotham in Episode 3. I didn't really care that she only texted Bruce one. Harvey is my bro. I need to save him.
I also enjoyed beating the crap out of Oz. I didn't enjoy seeing Wayne Manor burn at the end, but I will save Harvey. That kid in the crime scene is probably Robin, and the crime scene itself was very well done.
Some irritating bugs, mostly lip-syncs.
Its an 1 hour and a half long...like the other episodes in the season.
I did the same thing and was in the same mindset, that to my Batman, Harvey was more important than Selina. I decided to go to Wayne Manor and confront Harvey. It was too dangerous to have him loose.
I loved it too and I did romance Selina.
I think it might be related to the fact that he was still suffering some of the effects of the drug at the time. He's not fully in control of his actions.
I think the game primed you for it, though. They didn't mention anything about Arkham being terrible or the Joker or anything like that. Gordon just said that Harvey did a ton of crap and should rot in prison...but that he clearly needs help, too, so should you send him to rot or send him to help? It makes sense that if you pick the option he just said was the punitive option then Batman has a punitive response.
He's allowed to do what he wants because most of the police is in his pocket and no one else locally has the power to say no to him. It's only been like a week or something, right? The real question is if Batman didn't come in to save the day how long before the National Guard or whatever would be called in to deal with this mess. What does Harvey seriously intend to do once the Children of Arkahm are taken care of? Because I'm guessing the answer is not "back down from a police state."
This episode had it's ups, and it's downs. Still, liked it a lot.
I'll start with the 'bad' stuff and then move on to what I really liked about this episode.
Unburnt Harvey; now, I'm aware that we don't know how much time Bruce spent on Arkham Asylum and what went on with Harvey during that period, but holy crap his paranoia escalated quickly! And that's the problem, waaayyy too quickly! We last see him in episode 3 leaving Selina's house completely broken for his actions as nutty Harvey, yet in this episode not-nutty Harvey seems to be completely gone and there's no good explanation to why that is so. Having brief old-Harvey moments, like a suden sense of remorse, at least on the unburnt version of him, would be just enough to make this all go away. But no, both versions of Harvey are just "Blew up a city block! KEK! No big deal c:".
Selina; I just think a totally pro-Selina playthrough should have some kind of pay off. Would it really be so hard to have her stick around if so? If Bruce went to Wayne Enterprises she'd just go MIA with Alfred and determinant Lucious. If he went to the manor we would just see her in the background dealing with some of Harvey's goons, and, instead of having Alfred being the one to save Bruce and almost get shot, Selina would take his place. Obviously, her presence would need some more work and added scenes/conversations (having Harvey reacting to Bat and Cat like 'You're working with this burglar?' or 'Serves you right, Batman. Two criminals working together.'; having her participate on the Bat-team conversations and giving her two cents about shit like visiting the mayor as Bruce or Batty, going after Penguin or Dent, etc.) , which is easier said than done, I totally get it! but having this character who recieved so much focus on the first three episodes just up and leave no matter what? That sucks!
With that said, I hope she does come back (somehow?) on the fifth episode if you dealt with mayor Harvey. That'd fix things... partly.
Now, I don't see how adding some of these branches would damage or influence greatly the storyline, which leads me to believe that Telltale does not add branches alike because of the 1 month deadline. It's best to release something perfect, than realease something fast.
"John Doe"; I think it was right to present him now since Bruce was in Arkham during this episode, but I don't think it's right to involve him in the main plot. He does pass on crucial information about Victoria Arkham and I wonder how he knows so much without being directly involved with her. Hopefully, HOPEFULLY it's just plot convinience. I'm getting serious Handsome Jack's ahem Negan's ahem 'two dimensional evil guy' vibes from him, which is not great so I don't whish to see him involved in the plot at all. He's just been introduced to late and too briefly to have him impact the plot so much, yet. Leave him for Season 2 or for the 'Batman Joker Adventure Pack' or whatever.
Arkham Asylum; Although Bruce's internment felt a bit too brief, I think Arkham was, overall, ok. Very nice and complete hub (which I haven't experienced completely since every youtuber feels like ignoring Blockbuster), crazy people were crazy (as expected), everyone hates Bruce...
It could be better, though. I don't think they did a good enough job of having the player feel bad about Thomas' victims. There were the two dudes who beat him up in the beginning, but they were painted as vilanious assholes rather than actual victims. I would've prefered if they had put more effort on emphasizing this idea of guilt/responsibility for Thomas' victims, instead of focusing on random dudes who didn't care about us and not crucial to the plot. "She wanted me to feel what my father had done to all those people". "All those people"? The two dudes whose past suffering wasn't even delved on? Ok, right, Vicki's objective was not acomplished.
Victoria Arkham; Even without any direct involvement in the episode, Vicki's character still manages to be the episode's silver lining to me. (I'm hyping this character very much Telltale. Do not fail me!) Her backstory is rather poetic when put into prespective with Bruce's. I think I can understand her motivations, and I don't think they're unplausible at all;
(I'll copy paste another comment because I'm feeling lazy)
Additionally, you gotta love how everyone behind her seems to respect her as a leader. The Penguin is willing to die for her cause, the Children of Arkham show unwavering loyalty to the cause, she must be insanely presuasive.
The Drug's effects; I loved that. The veins popping up on his face and Bruce getting uncontrolable was just gold. Having us feel what it's like to be a victim of such drug was a good move (so we can see what it's like to be in Harvey's shoesQ) and something I enjoyed a lot, too bad it didn't last. It was well done, nevertheless.
Quote of the episode, and Troy Baker, you're a god.
Your Choices Matter; There's no denying it on this one. Pretty much every scene has it's variations, aside from the Arkham ones and the car scene (which I loved by the way).
The choices also seemed extremely meaningful. I don't know how Bruce will bring Penguin down now that he has no tech/no place to call home. Harvey can determinantly be out there, or not. And you gotta love how costumizable Harvey is. Now you can have:
... which is just gold xD.
Now some loose points I wanna make; Gordon was fantastic this episode. Having the goon acknowledge that Harvey, his superior, was too far gone was also a prety strong scene.
I felt like this episode was more about resolving the Harvey subplot rather than advancing the really good shit that is the Children of Arkham conflict, hence it seeming so underwhelming.