Speaker 1:
0:00
Welcome to your go-to source for entertainment. Wait for it.
Speaker 2:
0:05
Gaming. Wait for it Anime PLUS ULTRA.
Speaker 1:
0:11
Mr Eric Almighty and Phil the Filipino. Yeah, they've got you covered, and all you gotta do is wait for it.
Speaker 2:
0:31
This is the Wait For it Podcast. Hey, everyone, welcome back to the Wait For it Podcast. I'm your co-host, phil Barrera, aka Phil the Filipino.
Speaker 1:
0:40
And I'm your other co-host, mr Eric Almighty, and for this episode we're going to go over an iconic character, an iconic game franchise and a game in particular. Not only that we played a lot when we were younger, but also inspired the combat for many of the games that we play today. This is the game room where it happens and we are covering the Batman Arkham series, specifically Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, but we will dive into a little bit more than that on this episode.
Speaker 2:
1:11
Yeah, what a legacy that the Arkham games have just left on the gaming landscape in general. So excited to unpack all of that with you here this evening, eric, as well as our audience. So welcome in any brand new listeners as well as returning listeners to the Wait For a Podcast. This is our recurring episode of the Game Room where it happens where we discuss a game either from our past, tackle some new games or play something totally out of our wheelhouse. But, as Eric mentioned, we will be reminiscing, the most part, very fondly about the Arkham series. We will dive into some of the games that Eric has not played that I have played.
Speaker 2:
1:51
I, for some reason, have been very much keeping up with the Suicide Squad debacle and, oddly enough, eric, it just so happened that today, the day of recording January 14th I believe this is right around the time the Suicide Squad game is shutting down, where we got a big chunk of lore regarding this Batman. So it's crazy that we are actually recording this on this day just so happened to coincide with that coming out, which is just again crazy. So we're going to discuss all of this, but let's, let's take it back, eric, right, the year is 2009. I am working at gamestop at the time and I pre-order a copy of a game that we have been keeping up with via it was probably game informer at that time game trailers, which was a website and a youtube page at that time, and a game that just looks absolutely incredible with a character that also in this time frame, you know, we've seen the Dark Knight, the Dark Knight Rises, that's this era and we're just we just have Batman fever right and we're ready to play this game.
Speaker 2:
2:54
I remember picking up my collector's edition copy of Arkham Asylum. It's the one with the Batarang. I wish I still had that thing, really, really cool. I'm not sure which copy you picked up, but we load this into our 360 and it is just a revolutionary game when it comes to combat, when it comes to visuals setting, obviously the voice acting is top tier, which I'm sure we are going to mention. But, eric, let's relive a time, a simpler time, if you may, when the Xbox 360, in our eyes, you know, was reigning supreme and this incredible game comes out and, you know, changed everything.
Speaker 1:
3:33
Yeah. So Arkham Asylum, specifically was obviously the game that started it all back in 2009. And this was a game, film and a character that I was excited about and it seemed really interesting. But I was still like I've never been the biggest Batman fan. I've always been the biggest fan of his rogue gallery, and that's really what I think made this game so appealing when it first came out, and then we'll talk about the madness that is arkham city as a follow-up.
Speaker 1:
4:06
I think those two are 1a 1b, honestly, when it comes down to comparisons with each other, but they both offer and arkham asylum specifically started it off offering that rogue gallery that look into those other villainous characters and ultimately, your fucking batman dude like that's gotta be the coolest thing ever. If that isn't, your game's not gonna work. And what they did with the combat, the detective skills, the stealth, the gadgets all of those things just were perfectly laid out in that asylum setting and I I really enjoyed the gameplay that. That really cannot be understated. Were these stories like masterpieces? No, but within the confines of Gotham and what was going on and Batman as a character, they really lend themselves to a video game.
Speaker 2:
5:01
Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned story. I think Arkham city is certainly the strongest, which we'll get to in a little bit in terms of story. But yeah, I think, because the combat is so good and as well as the setting of Arkham Asylum you know the backdrop a lot of people do tend to kind of just forgive or try not to remember how bad the ending is for Arkham Asylum, so we'll talk about that as well. But yeah, in terms of a starting point and then a follow up, I don't know many other games between Asylum and City that would be held in like a similar regard, probably Uncharted 2 to 4, like at least that I can think of. Maybe some of the maybe going from, uh, the game before Skyrim. I know the the game before Skyrim was also very, very popular.
Speaker 2:
5:49
But like when we're talking about games released in a, you know, in that quick of a time frame like Arkham City came out five or a couple years later, which was just kind of now, that would be totally unheard of.
Speaker 2:
6:01
Right, it would take probably a decade for an amazing sequel to come out, but we got both of them within like a three year time span, which is crazy.
Speaker 2:
6:11
But yet I mean going back to popping in Asylum for the first time and you're driving the Joker into Arkham and you're wheeling him in and then he escapes and you get that first taste of combat and, like we alluded to, the arkham style of combat is something that still exists today.
Speaker 2:
6:29
Obviously, it very heavily influences games that we've talked about in the series, such as spider-man and countless number of other games that have tried to replicate it, but no one, I don't think, has really been able to nail the combat aesthetic of batman, also pairing it with the detective skills of Batman, like the world's greatest detective. Right, that's something we just don't see enough in the Batman films. I think the Matt Reeves Batman did that pretty well, but in terms of the other one, it's like a lot of it's more focused on, like you know, like his gadgets as opposed to his him being a really really good detective and in this you really get to see that from like the get-go, with him investigating what has happened throughout arkham asylum and getting all these clues and figuring out what's happening and what the joker has been up to. Again, it's. It really is a special time where it's one of those instances where you just have to say you had to be there.
Speaker 1:
7:32
And when it comes to this game in particular, like really trying to get back into it and really get a better feel for some of the things that we loved about it. Obviously, this is a game we played very much when it came out and know a lot about it, but, phil, we did not get a chance to replay these games, you know, close to this episode. Looking back at it, I mean again, it's easy to say kevin conroy, mark hamill and all the rest of the cast were going to do great. The writer of the animated series and batman beyond also had credits on this. So there was a lot of moving parts that were kind of working in its favor.
Speaker 1:
8:05
But back in 2009 again, this is early assassin creed time I think assassin's creed 2 came out maybe a few months after this. So this was very revolutionary is a strong word as far as what it does when it comes to the gameplay, but it's very impactful impactful in the video game landscape and I think that that alone, honestly, is probably the biggest talking point for the first game, because I do think Arkham City takes what was done in the first one and really elevates it to 110%, like I really think it goes that extra mile. But arkham asylum again. Great, great intro to a franchise and one that I think is just felt in modern gaming today who was your favorite villain in arkham asylum if you were to remove the joker from it.
Speaker 2:
8:59
You know, because obviously the joker, the main protagonist, um, you know the standouts going. I was so terrified to go into Killer Croc's lair and then that fight ends up being relatively easy when it's like in the grand scheme of things, but it's just so terrifying because you see him early on and he is this giant menacing figure and like he's talking about how he's got your scent and you see him like while you're being wheeled in and you know that when the beginning of the game you're like son of a bitch, I'm gonna have to fight that big motherfucker hard, and you just know that it is coming. But you also have the bane fight. That is really really good. Victor azaz, who is a character that I just really didn't know anything about and you know obviously you see him very, very early on. So, like, who do you think was your favorite? Or maybe just even a couple of the candy, because it's just so hard to kind of rank them.
Speaker 1:
9:47
Yeah, I mean Bane was cool, poison Ivy as well, but if I had to pick one it'd probably be Scarecrow, because I do remember specifically. One of the sequences I remember the most is the nightmare fuel that happens when he is like basically drugged or induced with with induced with some type of chemical, and really there's moments in that first game that I remember more than anything else. I think when we get to the second one there's definitely some stronger standouts that I'm excited to talk about. The one thing I will say is I did remember this, but I almost had second guessed myself that you do a bunch of Riddler related stuff, even though he's not in the game, which again was a nice setup.
Speaker 2:
10:30
Yeah, we'll talk about Riddler trophies later.
Speaker 1:
10:32
Yeah, which was a nice setup for what you do in the sequel. But yeah, that would probably be. My main call out was Scarecrow, but I like them all honestly.
Speaker 2:
10:47
Yeah, man, because none of the batman movies, other than, again, the matt reeves one, I think, has some horror elements but, like none of them really capture some of the really terrifying villains that are in the batman rogues gallery, not the way that you know the animated series is able to, and batman beyond, like there are some truly terrifying moments in that we saw the killing joke in theaters, right, nothing really like that has been portrayed in terms of being like nervous to watch a Batman movie. I've never felt that. But these games, and especially being cranked up in Arkham City with, as far as, like, the, the atmosphere is top tier and really really encapsulates what you want out of a batman game, what you want out of a batman experience. I would go as far to say, eric, that to this day, arkham asylum and arkham city probably still belong in the top five in terms of video game, superhero video games, right, like what else would be up there? The first spider-man game, um, which?
Speaker 2:
11:48
takes a lot of inspiration right, uh, I would say like, when you look at, you know, because obviously we were still in this kind of era where video, uh, you know, superhero adaptation video games this isn't an adaptation, but you know, superhero video games were still a little iffy. Maybe the wolverine origins game, like that game is really good, but like I think it's really good in this in the uh like underrated sense.
Speaker 2:
12:10
I don't know yeah, but in terms of top tier, like I don't know what else is up there with this other than spider-man, I'm sure infamous, which isn't like a um, you know that's an original property, but infamous is a really good superhero game.
Speaker 1:
12:24
Maybe Injustice. I mean, I really love that franchise.
Speaker 2:
12:27
That's a fighting game, though, so like it's you know, in terms of a story yeah, definitely top tier.
Speaker 1:
12:33
Yeah, a little bit different. I mean, there are definitely some of those games that are here that are beloved.
Speaker 2:
12:38
You know, we really like the X-Men Legends game Well, marvel Ultimate Alliance Alliance. Like the x-men legends game well, marvel ultimate alliance alliance. Yeah, yeah, that one was really, really good to be up there I'm sure there's a couple you could this.
Speaker 1:
12:48
It feels like with the spider-man game specifically, other than sony spider-man, like the classics, like you got your ultimate spider-man shattered dimensions, dimensions, yeah those are the ones that are like web of shadows even people like a lot.
Speaker 1:
13:01
I think that's your cup of tea, but yeah, I would definitely say this is top three guaranteed, especially if you combine them together and you exclude the Sony Spider-Man games, because I think what makes those games really special is the web swinging adds a whole other element, the same way that the Arkham games really dive into the stealth aspect and the detective skills of Batman which go alongside the combat, which are very similar in both franchises.
Speaker 2:
13:32
And depending on what camp you're in, like, I don't think that we're in this camp, but people love Arkham Knight and it has its defenders and we'll get to Arkham Knight, we'll talk about it. But yeah, depending on who you talk to, arkham Knight people put that in the discussion as well, so I really did forget that. We got both of these games Asylum and City within a couple of years of each other.
Speaker 1:
13:57
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
13:57
Meaning like they would have had to probably immediately start development. I mean, in terms of gameplay, wise, like it's still the same, and in terms of like, visually, I don't think there's necessarily that much of a difference and I'm sure the setting helps out with that a lot. There's not a lot of bright sets, you know, it's obviously dark all the time, so I'm sure that helped quite a bit. But the fact that we got both of these classics within a couple years of each other again is incredibly unheard of. So we were really eaten back then and we took it for granted. Oh, I wish we. I wish there was a way to know that you were in the good times while they were still happening. To quote one andy bernard from the office uh, because, yeah, we had it really good. Did you get a collector's edition for either one of these? Uh, again, I, I know I had the batarang from asylum, but that was about it, if that I can recall.
Speaker 1:
14:49
No, you were more into collector's editions than I was at that time. Honestly, there's not a lot of games that I really went collector's editions. I then, for some reason, decided to spend more money on those deluxe versions of games, like those deluxe versions of games like back for blood, your favorite. I saw it. Uh, this is such a caveat, this is such a like turn really quick, but I saw it for like a dollar on the steam sale yes and I I shed actual tears.
Speaker 1:
15:14
All right, I'm gonna go to bed now I should get some sleep. It's uh, it's rough I'll pay for.
Speaker 1:
15:22
Forever. But back to your original point. Rocksteady actually was conceiving their ideas for a possible sequel before Arkham Asylum was completed. So that was in some of my research leading up to this episode was something I thought was really interesting that they developed the story and that way the game could be effectively connected, uh, from one another. And if you kind of think about it like, asylum had a lot we talked about, the riddler had a lot of little easter eggs to what a sequel could be, and I think that's a great segue into the sequel that we want to talk about.
Speaker 1:
15:57
Probably out of the two, I would assume, our favorite and this is something that I thought was interesting because, you know, they kind of turn it on its head Bruce Wayne is, uh, you know, obviously uh like in jail now and there's a bunch of stuff going on. There's like a super prison and all that. To find out that we are going to get Hugo strange, and I personally love that character. There's something about him I really like and I think the fact that we haven't gotten him live action is crazy, absolutely nuts. So I know, for me, going into this game, I was very excited and seeing that in kind of the opening of the game and getting an early idea of what was going to happen was really cool. What were your feelings going into the sequel for Arkham City?
Speaker 2:
16:43
feelings going into the sequel for Arkham City. Yeah, just take it back a little bit because I'm glad you brought that up in terms of them knowing they wanted to do Arkham City even before Asylum came out. There is an Easter egg in Arkham Asylum where you can find the blueprints of Arkham City in somebody's office. So, yeah, they were certainly planning ahead. But again, Arkham City also has a really, really cool opening. You know, you, they throw bruce wayne into this super prison, which, okay, let's talk about the logistics of a city, of a prison the size of a city. There's got to be a better way. There's got to be a better way than to just be like let's give them this part of town. How?
Speaker 1:
17:24
did they explain that to the taxpaying citizens? They?
Speaker 2:
17:29
can't they're getting. There's like full-on restaurants and they're like it's a whole ecosystem.
Speaker 1:
17:35
It's a whole lived in world.
Speaker 2:
17:36
It's not just like a prison, it's literally a city yeah, they just section off part of arkham and they're like just give it to the joker, like again, there had to have been a better way. But it also has a really cool entrance or a really cool opening. You know you're being brought into the, into Arkham City and all the you know the, all the inmates and stuff are shaking the chains as you're being let in and then you know he gets away and somehow his suit is missiled into arkham city. I don't care about the logistics of that, it looks cool so and then you see the scope of how large this map truly is and it's it's intimidating and it's daunting in like the best possible way. I think asylum has better atmosphere, but City is certainly the better game of the two.
Speaker 2:
18:28
I think this is a game that a lot of people gave 10 out of 10s. It's got a 94% Metacritic score, a 9.5 on IGN. I could have sworn IGN gave it a 10, but maybe that's just incorrect revisionist history. But I mean, obviously both have scored very, very well, but I'm fairly certain this one game of the year. Back then, when it pans out and you just see the actual size of the Arkham City like, you find out that it wasn't just a gimmick. Once again, another. You had to be there moment.
Speaker 1:
19:01
Yeah, and I do think it did win Game of the Year, which is crazy because Skyrim came out that year and I think that was a trivia question of ours. Actually, I believe so.
Speaker 1:
19:10
I believe so, which is very, very sad. It apparently was tied with Skyrim, though, for the highest rated game according to Metacritic. So that is something to be noted and something to respect, because I don't know that Asylum would have been, you know, if it came out two years later, in 2011. Don't know that it would have been as renowned, where it already had a lot of good graces.
Speaker 1:
19:35
It was such a strong intro and again, arkham city just takes everything and elevates it and turns the dial beyond the maximum point, and I think that's what I really liked about it. Again, it's a freaking whole city that you get to fight these rogue gallery characters that we've already talked about, how much we love. So you know, for that reason, I think alone the setting, the additional things in the arsenal of, like the gadgets, and just the combat, again being so smooth and continuing to go in the right direction really, really cool. Never got bored speaking of Spider-Man and web swinging. Never got bored of flying around the city. One of my favorite things to do was just to get to a high point and just glide again. Might seem simple, but to me that was an aesthetic that I could eat up all day.
Speaker 2:
20:32
Yeah, and going back to 2009, uncharted 2 2, one game of the year, which doesn't surprise me, but batman, arkham asylum was nominated.
Speaker 1:
20:39
uh, dragon age origins, arkham asylum, demon souls, assassin's and uh, yeah, you know, and I assume you like arkham city because you beat that, unlike skyrim, right you know, you know it feels like I should be mad, but I also can acknowledge that I may have set that up specifically talking about Skyrim in that manner, and I'm going to let you have that one.
Speaker 2:
21:12
I don't know what the question was.
Speaker 1:
21:15
I would like to just reiterate, for any new listeners, that I did in fact beat Skyrim. However, I did not 100% complete it and if you would like to know that story well, it will come up every single time.
Speaker 2:
21:29
Love the saver for the Skyrim episode.
Speaker 1:
21:30
Yes. When there is eventually a Skyrim episode where I relive all of the haunting I'll sit here, I'll read a book while eric talks to a guest we really do need to just have the skyrim clip I'm just playing of that story but yeah I don't want to, uh, don't want to do that here, so no, uh, please continue yeah, who else you know was added to this.
Speaker 2:
21:51
You know we get cat woman, like you said, hugo strange, who are some other villains that weren't. They were teased in the first game, but we fully got, obviously, clayface. We get that way down the line. That's a big reveal. But I know there's so many other bosses. Obviously you get the rich. Oh, two-face.
Speaker 1:
22:11
I think there's more Two-Face. Two Can't forget Calendar man.
Speaker 2:
22:14
Calendar man sitting in his cell the whole time. Lots of Easter eggs with Calendar man.
Speaker 1:
22:19
Yeah, solomon Grundy Clayface Although Clayface, I think, is in the first one a little bit. This is where we put the Mad Hatter who was axed from the first one. There's also Hush.
Speaker 2:
22:32
Hush, azrael, azrael.
Speaker 1:
22:36
And remember this has a bunch of.
Speaker 2:
22:37
DLC where you got to play as Catwoman. I believe Robin, I'm not. Am I make? I think Harley Quinn? Am I making that up or was that Arkham Knight?
Speaker 1:
22:47
That one I think you're making up this one was Catwoman and Robin, for sure, though.
Speaker 2:
22:52
I feel like Arkham City is the one that has the Harley Quinn DLC. After the Joker dies Spoilers. The game is 13 years old. After the Joker dies, harley Quinn finds out she's pregnant in the DLC and I think that's where I'm getting this from.
Speaker 1:
23:10
We'll double check that. Just looking at some of the information I had up, I didn't see that city dlc's.
Speaker 2:
23:17
Remember when you said I have to buy dlc like on a disc. What a time what a time. What a crazy time.
Speaker 1:
23:25
But yeah, no, but but again a lot of character raz agul there he makes a surprise appearance like yes yeah, talia ghul. Uh, so many again, wood wood they uh this one also.
Speaker 1:
23:38
I think you know we just we talked about arkham and we brought up a couple of characters. Right, this one has so many like again it just when I talk about just taking that dial and turning it past its point of no return, like it just goes all the way bat shit crazy for a lack of better words and a pun intended. So that is, yeah, I think that just kind of explains a lot of it, which is why and you know we could talk about the endings of these games. I know you mentioned that you didn't like the ending of Arkham Asylum. Maybe comparing the two before we move too far forward, but you know, when we reminiscece about it it then opens up the door to questions like god, how did this all go so wrong so quickly after this?
Speaker 2:
24:22
yeah, of course, the arkham asylum ending. You know joker takes the serum, becomes this, just this giant monster. As opposed to it being like a really well thought out and you know intricate boss fight, it just becomes like a button mash fest and you know you never like to see that happen. Arkham city definitely had the better ending. You know you get the big reveal that it was clay face the entire time. Obviously, like you said, uh, racia ghoul is in there, talia ghoul, so there's quite a bit happening in there. I think in is it arkham city that has where barbara has her accident, or that might happen in origins, which I because I watched a video about it earlier today. We'll talk about those here in just a moment. But yeah, city definitely has the better ending. I don't think either one of them are perfect. Certainly not asylum, but again, because there's so much filler in there and good filler this is used in a positive term there's so much going on in between as far as the content sandwich that it's and it's so good. You kind of forgive the other things that are happening and they did a great job. You know, speaking about DLC, which is sadly something we don't see enough of of, I think these days the play styles for Catwoman and for Robin. They were so unique, you know, which makes what happens later with the Arkham Knights or whatever the hell I keep forgetting the name of that game Gotham Knights so frustrating in terms of how those characters played, because they had it already done in Arkham City.
Speaker 2:
25:52
You played as other characters in Arkham City. I think one of them was Nightwing and Robin. I'm pretty sure there's Nightwing and Robin DLC in Arkham City. So again, getting ahead of ourselves. But because everything else was done so well then you didn't really, you weren't really too upset about those endings. So, yeah, you know, to kind of you already gave a precursor to it, like where did they kind of go wrong? And I will say this I'll train. Let's transition first to arkham origins, because neither I don't think either one of us played that I do remember watching one of my old roommates play it and him getting the shit kicked out of him by deathstroke. I remember hearing that that and that's like the first boss fight in the game and it's like really difficult. And I do think that that game, in terms of fan reception people have come around to it and correct me if I'm wrong, eric Origins is made by Rocksteady Montreal. Right oh, wb Games Montreal.
Speaker 1:
26:45
Yeah, it was not the same. It was not Rocksteady.
Speaker 2:
26:57
Yeah, it was not the same Rocksteady that had made the original two, which, off the bat, gave it a a lot of trouble. 2013, two years later, after arkham city. So people are like, why isn't rocksteady working on this game? You know and we find out why a little bit later how we got a batman game every two years from 2009 to 2015. That's insane.
Speaker 2:
27:13
But yeah, origins what was it about origins, eric, did you? Was it that? Because, I think in 2013, we still weren't really like fully paying attention to who's developing these games. We pretty much were just like, uh, do I want to play it or do I not? And I remember this game coming around and, I'm sure, working at gamestop. I knew that, hey, this is being developed by a different team, but it just was never something that I wanted to visit, because I think, if I had to guess, I want to move forward with Batman and this character and I don't want to really move backwards. So do you remember why you had never tried this out? And have you tried it out to this day? Still, no right.
Speaker 1:
27:50
Still no, no right, still no, no. And I was curious, as we were getting ready to discuss this episode, about Origins and Knight and why I didn't get to them. Knight is a little bit more confusing, but I think Origins really just comes down to. I played so many other games that year. That is the year the Last of Us came out, although I did not play it in that year, but the other games that came out Bioshock, infinite, so that's probably all I played except Assassin's Creed. Black Flag also came out that year.
Speaker 2:
28:21
Still is that a Black Ops year?
Speaker 1:
28:24
Great question, Possibly. I'm going to look here, but what I will say is Black Flag hot. Take Best Assassin's Creed. That's when the Tomb.
Speaker 2:
28:34
Raider reboot happened oh, yeah, you love 2013.
Speaker 1:
28:38
I I played the shit out of that. Uh, we talked about it maybe being an episode gta 5 came out in 2013 this was gta 5, so, uh, I got to play like 40 of it before it deleted my save file.
Speaker 2:
28:51
Yeah, call of duty, ghosts came out that year okay, which it was bad, but we still played it a lot. We well, maybe not you know any better, I did yeah, we didn't know any better.
Speaker 1:
29:02
Sly cooper uh, there was a sly cooper game in 2013. Dead space 3.
Speaker 1:
29:06
I was playing pokemon yeah, uh, were we still playing dead rising? Dead rising 3 is on here. Yeah, ton of games, ton of games. I I really think that had something to do with it. And then maybe the reception of origins, again talking about like we didn't really pay that much attention to like video game companies. Maybe that's why I didn't play arkham knight, but I wouldn't be surprised if a similar thing happened in 2015. Just off a first glance. But I think definitely, specifically, origins was just because there was a lot of other better games that ended up coming out yeah, and when you go back and kind of like, look into the story of origins, it's not bad.
Speaker 2:
29:46
Uh, that's the black mask game as far as the main protagonist or antagonist and, like I said, the deathstroke fight I heard is very good. Bane is also in that game, so and I think you get a lot of. You get like the origins of Oracle. I believe in Origins, but yeah, this was also a time, you know, just talking about like lifestyle. I was also living with roommates so I didn't have a whole lot of time to play single player games, you know with a bunch of, you know with a few other people around, so I could have sworn you played arkham knight eric. So you never played arkham knight, huh nope, nope did not.
Speaker 1:
30:23
and I'm looking at 2015 video games other than fallout 4 and rise of the tomb raider. I don't know how many games I played in 2015. That was black ops 3, but yeah, no, I I don't have an excuse here. I think at that point it had just been four years removed. I heard Origins wasn't good and I just didn't pick up Arkham Knight, although it should be fair. I mean, it did release on PS4. I did own a PS4. But I also was still flip-flopping between Xbox and this did really.
Speaker 2:
30:54
but you got a PS4 way later. I'm pretty sure it was when I had moved. You didn't get a PS4 until I moved, Maybe I still had the 360 at that point.
Speaker 1:
31:03
Yeah, Cause it released on Xbox one which is one of the consoles. I did, unfortunately.
Speaker 2:
31:10
Yeah, but the Xbox one is probably the worst console I've ever owned. Why did I?
Speaker 1:
31:12
buy it. Yeah, the Xbox One is probably the worst console I've ever owned. Why did I buy it? There are no games on it. So, yeah, you would think that that would lead me to play Arkham Knight because there were no games to play, but at that point I think I had just given up. This was probably a transition year. Now that you say it, this might have been my transition year to PlayStation. I had Rocket League came on 2015. Crazy.
Speaker 2:
31:29
Yeah, well, remember, because we had a lull before I moved where we didn't play video games. You know I was throwing in some single player games here and there, but you know, halo 5, guardians certainly wasn't something that we would have played. But then when I moved we got into Titanfall 2. So we started playing that and then Fortnite came out and the rest is history. So now we can't go, you know we go a night without playing some sort of multiplayer experience and we have withdrawals. But yeah, arkham Knight to speak on that, because I've played through Arkham Knight in terms of the main story and I I do not like that game, mostly because if you've heard you've heard me talk about this over and over again Eric, you personally I hate the Batmobile.
Speaker 2:
32:12
The Batmobile ruins the gameplay of the arkham series. It's obvious. It's also the worst kept secret who the fuck arkham knight was like. Even if you didn't play the game, you knew it was going to be jason todd. There was no other way that it could be any other character and he was just a very underwhelming villain. Like he looks like this kind of like. He even looks like an angsty teenager. Even the outfit is not good.
Speaker 2:
32:36
All of the riddler trophies were done via the batmobile, so terrible. The way that they explain it away is that the how the batmobile doesn't kill people, because you can hit people with this car, you can just mow them down. But I think it's explained away as it is like a shock, like they get electrocuted but they don't die, which makes no sense. What if I just run them over? So I don't understand how any of that worked. And then later on in the game, the fucking tanks are introduced and their stealth missions with the car. You do stealth missions with the batmobile and it is so bad.
Speaker 2:
33:11
I will never believe any of these arkham knight truthers. It's not a good game and it's crazy that this game has pretty high reviews. Now, again, I think the farther you get away from some of this stuff and in the less nitpicky people get, they can be convinced that a game is actually, you know, really not that bad. And granted, there are many other superhero games that are much worse than this. But you're not going to ever catch me playing Arkham Knight again. I'll play Origins way before I even think about revisiting Arkham Knight. So it's been free multiple times through, like PlayStation or Xbox, since it's come out. Eric, have you ever thought about diving into Arkham Knight?
Speaker 1:
33:52
No, and it's really because, while you're saying that overall it's been well received, when it came out 9.5 yeah, when it came out, I remember people that I knew that, like this series, hated this. You specifically were the Batmobile hater. I heard people really enjoyed that. It's something about the aesthetic of this game as well. It just didn't have the same appeal to me. Uh, again, the main, the main storyline is with scarecrow yeah, scarecrow, not again.
Speaker 1:
34:22
The joker is a forced ghost essentially yeah and again, I just think it was too far. I think it was too far to try to recapture that magic finding out just through my research that the writing team had changed for this and with what you know what your complaints were for the uh, for the story makes sense now. But yeah, no again. It's just every time it's come up. I've also had chances to get it for cheap or for free. I just I don't think it's a game I'm ever going to revisit. To be completely honest with you, I think they really recycled a lot of the supporting cast. There's still more of the rogue gallery. Where's Kite man? Where is Kite man? Hell yeah, hell yeah. So no, I just think. And then I guess the campaign is like also really short, right.
Speaker 2:
35:11
Oh yeah, because once you beat the game, there's a whole bunch of other things that you have to do to get the true ending of the game. So I've never gotten the true ending. That, yeah, yeah I hate.
Speaker 1:
35:23
I hate when games do that. I want to play it and be done with it. I try, I try every time to play a game after it's like a god of war is a great example. I always want to play what's after. I know they came out with the dlc. I said I wanted to play it when I put the controller. Man, when I put the controller down, I don't, I don't want to go back to it if I feel like I beat it, it's just, I feel like it's such an old guy, but that is. That is like one of my biggest pet peeves. So now that you said that, i'm'm never going to play this game.
Speaker 2:
35:55
Yeah, they also have the Bat family in this. You know, red Hood shows up, I think, robin and Nightwing you see them because you do some missions with them. There's also a mission with Asriel we talked about him in Arkham City but he shows up and you do some missions with him and then, yeah, like I said, the Joker is always this constant presence. So their inability and the Joker, just he leaves such a huge shadow. I understand them wanting to fit him in and obviously, like, anytime you can get Mark Hamill, like you gotta get him into the game, but like with him just kind of being like this kind of weird passenger for the story, that didn't really work. Like, if you really want me to focus on the arkham knight, then give us the arkham knight. If you, if you're really confident in this character, then you shouldn't have had to also lean on the joker. So, yeah, poison ivy comes back for this. She dies in this game. She sacrifices herself, which I think was an interesting story arc. Catwoman returns in this one as well. No-transcript. The gas that Scarecrow is using has like overtaken the entire city, so you have to essentially like grapple and fly everywhere and that part's kind of cool. But again. There's a really kind of iconic jump scare with the man bat, which is pretty terrifying because it can happen at any point in the game. So when it happened to me, scare the shit out of me so that I will always remember that moment. And then we kind of like glossed over this. The outfits are always really cool in the in all of these Batman games.
Speaker 2:
37:34
But yeah, origins don't ever want to revisit it. I'm sure we'll get some, or I mean some, I'm sorry Arkham Knight never going to revisit it. I'm sure we're going to get some Arkham Knight truthers in our comments, but I have no desire to ever jump into this again. And yeah, I don't really think you should either, eric. But yeah, it's again. Three out of four is pretty solid. I don't know that I'll ever have time to go play Origins. We're just at a time in our life where we have to commit time elsewhere in terms of like gaming and all the other things, a million other hobbies that we have. But I do believe that I would probably enjoy it much, much more than Arkham Knight, that's for sure.
Speaker 1:
38:17
Yeah, and again, I think, this game. There's been nothing up until last year, with Suicide Squad, which is in that universe, and then that VR game, which I heard good things about, arkham shadow. We obviously did not talk about any of the mobile games we are not going to. We did not play them, but you know, I uh, I just think too much time has passed where the interest isn't there, and that's. I just don't know that we'll ever get anything worth playing again, whether it's revisiting the franchise or any new installments in the franchise.
Speaker 1:
38:50
Obviously, kevin Conroy now gone, rip but yeah, that's, I think that's it. I think that's it and that's why it made this particular series a fun one for us to reminisce about. On this episode, because we we really wanted to fit in, and we're trying to this year fit in a couple more games that we get to reflect on, but also those new games as well that we're going to be playing. So, fingers crossed we could keep that mixture going. This is a great start, though, and I'm glad we finally got to the series yeah.
Speaker 2:
39:21
So let me just very briefly touch on gotham knights, because so at the end of Arkham Knight, bruce Wayne, batman, dies, we think he dies, and then Gotham Knights is announced, and you know this is a WB Ames Montreal game as well. You know the people that did Arkham Origins and they make this really strange decision that these universes are not connected, even though their Batman is quote, unquote, unquote dead. Um, it turns out he's not again. Spoiler, spoilers. If you were ever going to play gotham knights I just saved you a lot of time uh, even though he's not dead. And I think raja ghul is the main villain in gotham knights, if I remember correctly.
Speaker 2:
40:01
Again, me and me and my buddy josh played this and the combat is just so abysmal, even though, like they already, once again, they had the layout for how to make this game good laid out in front of them and they still could not do it. It's so slow. They capped it at 30 frames per second. It runs like a snail. It's awful, but then, like I said, they made this decision to separate it from the Arkhamverse. So, like Eric was there, this is.
Speaker 2:
40:28
We are always looking for cooperative games to play and this one never even crossed your mind. Like I, I wanted to play it because josh and I don't get to play a lot of games together and he's a big batman fan, so I was like sure I'll jump into it. But, like, this is something that you and I never even discussed getting like aesthetically it just didn't fit. The gameplay didn't look very good, which is crazy, because I'll stand by this. Playing as Red Hood is a blast, if probably Rocksteady you know the Rocksteady we knew had developed this game. It could have been great. And the fact that it's only two player multiplayer they added a third later. I will say that but why was this never four player multiplayer support? It baffles me. It doesn't make any sense.
Speaker 1:
41:09
There. Why was this never four player multiplayer support? It baffles me. It doesn't make any sense. There were so many things leading up to that game that were red flags to me, but the biggest thing I mean we could go over all of those like intuitions I might have had it's something in Gotham that has nothing to do with Batman, and Gotham is not interesting if you're not a villain or Batman. So why would I play a game where he's one not the focal point and and you know before we knew what happens he's dead. Why would I want to play that? It's like when the gotham nights tv show came out, it died in a season. Nobody wanted to watch that show. When the gotham show came out, it did have its fans. Gotham had fans, yeah had fans.
Speaker 1:
41:48
So maybe not the best comparison, but an example for me, another one where, like, oh uh, bruce is a child, we're gonna follow commissioner gordon and the penguin and some of these other characters. Like there was some type of appeal there, but it's just not interesting to me. I like, like Batman as the character he is and I like the villains. That's really all that matters. That matters to me For this game. I was reading that it had stuff to do with, like the League of Shadows, the Court of Owls, court of Owls yes, that's what it was.
Speaker 2:
42:20
They were the main, and that is an interesting concept, but not without Batman.
Speaker 1:
42:29
One I would love to see them explore in live action or in film, uh, you know, in an adaptation maybe batman 2 with, uh, robert pattinson feels like that would be the vibe. But yeah, no, again some cool stuff, but I I don't care about nightwing batgirl robin red hood like red red hood does seem like the coolest.
Speaker 2:
42:44
I feel like I'd play a red hood adjacent game again. Not just red hood by itself, but if you had thrown Red Hood into the Arkham City DLC sweet.
Speaker 1:
42:54
That sounds good. Yeah, that would have been cool. But yeah, no like. And again, it's nothing against Nightwing Batgirl Robin.
Speaker 2:
43:00
No, all offense to Robin. No, 100% total offense to Robin.
Speaker 1:
43:04
Total offense yeah.
Speaker 2:
43:04
He's the worst character in a really bad game.
Speaker 1:
43:08
They would be fun to play as supporting characters, but they're not main characters. And again, there was no indication that this was going to be something of a story like in Arkham Asylum or again the better example Arkham City, where I was going to really enjoy it and resonate with it, and again, it's just balls to the wall action. It just didn't present itself that way. And this is again when we're starting to pay 2022, phil, that's fucking three years ago $70. Yeah, one price, but two.
Speaker 1:
43:42
We started being more self-aware of this. So we knew at that time, the studio that was making this, the developers that was making this, the developers that was making this, the history of the arkham series. So, yeah, I could not believe you were. You were like, really like sold, that this was probably going to be a good time and I just no, I, I, I saw the signs, I guess, but it ultimately it did come down to. I would have given it a shot if batman was in it. If you could be batman and it was batman and the gotham knights, maybe that would have given it a shot if Batman was in it. If you could be Batman and it was Batman and the Gotham Knights, maybe that would have been more appealing If I knew there were going to be specific villains that I really wanted to see that I never got to see before. Maybe I'd do that. But again 2022, the last time I was interested in this particular franchise, unfortunately, was 2011.
Speaker 2:
44:28
Yeah, if they could have at least bare minimum made it 60 frames per second, which should not be that difficult again in 2022. When this game came out two years ago, three years ago, yeah, that doomed it from from the start.
Speaker 1:
44:41
So, yeah, and then crazy to see that die and then the suicide squad dies so quickly after that.
Speaker 2:
44:47
It's yeah that's the last thing I'll mention, because neither one of us played the Suicide Squad, never will. They're practically giving it away on Steam and we're like no, thank you. They're basically saying, here you throw this away.
Speaker 1:
44:59
How much would they have to give us to play it?
Speaker 2:
45:01
Well, it was free on Epic Games, I think, maybe.
Speaker 1:
45:04
Oh no, it's free on PlayStation Plus right now and we still have no desire they'd have to pay us.
Speaker 2:
45:10
Yeah, no you'd have to give me a refund. If you give me like two months of fortnite crew, then maybe I'll check it out.
Speaker 1:
45:15
Oh man, some rival, some rival skins right now would be really fucking cool yeah, yeah, give me some marvel rival stuff. So here's what happened to me that uh give me that sue storm skin would, so let me.
Speaker 2:
45:27
This is what we'll end with, unfortunately. So here's what happened today. So a lot of things happened. Do you know what happens with the batman in the suicide squad game? That people?
Speaker 1:
45:34
were very upset about okay um, he spoilers for that game. Yes, uh, again doing you a favor, correct? Yes, harley shoots him killed.
Speaker 2:
45:43
Yes, no, I did see that I think it's harley, or it's the, or it's uh boomerang. But then he gets shot and this is Kevin Conroy's final performance as Batman before he passed away, so obviously a lot of people were very upset that this was his last appearance and he is so unceremoniously taken care of.
Speaker 2:
46:03
He actually probably has, because, again, I know way too much about the Suicide Squad game. He probably has the coolest mission in the game. When Batman is introduced, he starts picking off the Suicide Squad, kind of like one by one, but then again he is a very unceremoniously just killed off. I mean, the name of the game is called Suicide Squad, kill the Justice League, granted, but it's just done in such a really really poor way. Well, again, suicide Squad is being sunset. No more support there.
Speaker 2:
46:29
Pulling the plug the final cut scene, I believe, came out today, january 14th, at the time of recording. This episode will be out in a couple of weeks. It turns out, eric. So, ok, so you beat the game. You beat Brainiac and then, once again, like, like you hate. You find out there's 20 other Brainiacs you have to kill in order to get the true ending of the game because, remember, this is a live service game, it's meant to go on forever. So you find out there's a bunch of other brainiacs. Well, again, pulling support, it's all over. They do the final cut scene today, and it turns out the suicide squad that was killed in suicide squad killed the justice league. All clones, all clones. So the original arkham batman is alive, oh my god. He is alive, along with the real justice league.
Speaker 1:
47:19
So that's what happened today so they didn't even kill the justice league. No, no, it's the name of the game.
Speaker 2:
47:27
So it's. I'm really curious, because this is set in the arkham verse this is in the same.
Speaker 2:
47:32
Yeah, right, so, right. So like, was this the plan the whole time? Did they have to just, you know, pivot to something because they totally fucked this up? Who knows, will we find out? I bet you we will find out someday. I will watch. I will gladly watch another suicide squad kill the justice league youtube documentary a year from now, because I love watching just the disaster that this game has been so yep, so again. Crazy that that we recorded this on this day. If we recorded yesterday we wouldn't have known that. We would not have known that information I.
Speaker 1:
48:08
So there you go. I envy the version of me that that recorded yesterday. There you go folks.
Speaker 2:
48:15
That is how suicide squad killed the justice league crazy. And so remember the good times. If you are a younger listener and you've never played arkham asylum or arkham city, you can buy them together in the arkham collection. It might even come with Arkham Knight again to each their own. I hate the Batmobile. I thought it really ruined the whole aesthetic of the game, but at least you'll get two really really good games and even Origins again has its truthers and I think probably is the better of the other two between that and Arkham Knight. So if you for some reason have never played these games, they are still great in 2025 in terms of visuals gameplay. If you've played the spider-man games, you'll know immediately how combat works, because they got it from rocksteady.
Speaker 1:
49:00
So definitely check them out if you haven't yeah, and I'd argue again, a lot of other big franchises like assassin's creed, yep, uh, again a lot of that. That counter didn't even talk about the gadgets cool, the cool gadgets.
Speaker 2:
49:11
the stalking system we barely briefly touched on, but like the fear yeah.
Speaker 1:
49:15
Yeah, Like man Again being able to get those enemies tie them up like that Dangling them, dangling them, probably suffering from severe head trauma they'd always talk so much shit too, before you got them. They're like yeah, when that batman shows up, and then you show up and beat his ass and then you show up and you break his legs absolutely brutal. There's no way they're insured I will say, I will say to finish it the, the punches. In this game you felt everyone, you felt everyone.
Speaker 2:
49:52
I may have to put a video in A 50-punch combo on just a random thug.
Speaker 1:
50:00
Honestly, I should have brought it up during combat. Yeah, no, you literally feel it was so satisfying. You felt every single punch that was landed and I don't know that a game has ever made me feel like that. Spider-man's been close, but no, batman takes the title. But, guys, that is it for us. Yeah, that is Arkham as a whole and specifically our experience with Asylum and City and Phil's experience with Knight. So, with that being said, we got a lot of great stuff playing this year. So if you want to stick around and find out where you can go for past and future episodes, phil is going to take us there.
Speaker 2:
50:40
Yeah, suicide Squad next month right.
Speaker 1:
50:42
Nope, nope.
Speaker 2:
50:44
Nope, stop it Okay.
Speaker 1:
50:46
I don't have to play the superhero game that we signed up for no, please.
Speaker 2:
50:49
God, it's so good. Oh my gosh, I can't wait anyway. Yes, if you want to find all the rest of our content catch up or keep up you can make sure you click the link tree link. In the show notes of this episode you'll find all of our social media pages, the most important ones to keep up with being our instagram, being our Instagram page, tiktok. Maybe We'll see if this episode comes out in like a week.
Speaker 1:
51:13
It comes out on the 22nd the 22nd, so maybe it's still there.
Speaker 2:
51:19
You let us know, yeah, you let us know. You won't see clips of this if it's gone. No, check that out, obviously. Our Discord page, our YouTube channel. We also stream on Twitch every other Thursday. You can support the show a couple of different ways. Head on over to Apple Podcasts, spotify. Leave us five-star reviews. That is so incredibly helpful and we appreciate all of you who have done that already and share the content. Let people know that you're listening. Let us know that you're listening. We hope to meet even more of you in 2025. It's been a whole lot of fun, even early on this year. We've had a blast meeting some new people. But if you find yourself wanting some extra content behind the scenes stuff and maybe even a couple treats here and there from eric and I, eric will let you know a little bit more about that and close us out yeah.
Speaker 1:
52:08
So all of the things that you could do to support us that are no cost to you, very much appreciated. Continue to do those things. But if you want to go beyond in your support for the podcast, that is where Patreon comes into play, where patrons of the show Stefan Briar, corey T3Kato and Vintage Macaroni are helping us out with their Patreon subscription and in return you'll get early access and behind the scenes exclusive access to episodes like this one. In addition to other perks, there's several tiers you could select from and we'd be eternally grateful. But again, everything from the likes, the comments, the shares, the listens, the engagement go a long way for lifeblood of podcasting. Continue to do that and we will keep on going. My name is Mr Eric Almighty. That is my co-host. Phil the Filipino, you didn't have to show that. You didn't have to rub that in my face. I hate you. I hate you so much I can't even do this.
Speaker 1:
53:16
I can't, even. I can't even do the closing. Anyway, we're the wait for it podcast. We release new episodes every Wednesday, plus bonus content across all of our social media platforms, and all you gotta do is wait for it.
Speaker 2:
53:32
So I heard you're looking for a go-to source for entertainment. Wait for it. Gaming, wait for it. Anime PLUS, ultra.
Speaker 1:
53:43
Mr Eric Almighty and Phil the Filipino. Yeah, they've got you covered and all you got to do is wait for it.
Speaker 2:
54:03
This is the wait for it podcast.
