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kalonZombie
May 24, 2010

D&D 3.5 Book of Erotic Fantasy


Superhero games kinda mostly suck, don't they? Don't get me wrong, there's been a few good ones here and there, but for the most part, superhero video games, especially licensed superhero video games, get the short end of the stick. Nobody really seemed to know how to work with the various powers they have, which is honestly baffling since video games are basically the perfect medium to play superhero, since pretty much every tabletop superhero game sucks.

However, in 2009, Rocksteady studios, previously known for its work on Urban Chaos: Riot Response, released this brilliant gem of a game. Batman: Arkham Asylum is one of my favorite games spawned into a franchise ever. In it you really feel like Batman. Every punch, every bone broken, every thug terrified at the prospect of fighting you alone... I can't say that it's perfect, as the sequels also done by Rocksteady are better, but it certainly spawned quite an excellent series. Action games are beginning more and more to try and copy the Arkham series combat, but none have gotten it down quite as well as Rocksteady has.

The Arkham games are largely split up into two different styles of play: Combat and predator. Combat play makes up the majority of the game, with Batman beating down foes with not only his fists but various gadets, like batarangs. However, since Batman is but a regular man in a very expensive suit, guns hurt. A lot. This is where the predator stuff gets its time to shine. Batman sticks to the shadows, sneaking around and, either quietly or very loudly, takes out mooks one by one in order to avoid becoming very rich swiss cheese.

With me as always is Ape, who has played the game before but hasn't done so in years, and Heave, who has never seen anything Arkham related ever. Now, I'm usually the grand prize winner of the Not Very Good At Video Games competition, but I'm actually pretty good at Arkham Asylum. As a result, you're going to see a skilled, 100% playthrough of the game. I will be getting every collectable, doing every challenge map, and seeing drat near every easter egg. I'm glad I'm finally getting to this one.

Videos

Episode 1: Ha-Ha-Hacienda ... Uncut ... Cut
Episode 2: Your Intellectual Superior ... Uncut ... Cut
Episode 3: Thug, Murderer, and Kindergarten Teacher ... Uncut ... Cut
Episode 4: It's A Trap ... Uncut ... Cut
Episode 5: You're In My World, Now ... Uncut ... Cut
Episode 6: I'm Pretty Close To Perfect, Aren't I? ... Uncut ... Cut
Episode 7: Kook and Granny ... Uncut ... Cut
Episode 8: Why'd He Do It, Officer? ... Uncut ... Cut
Episode 9: She's A Good Kid ... Uncut ... Cut
Episode 10: At This Rate, You'll Never Catch Me! ... Uncut ... Cut
Episode 11: Let Me Show You What I've Cooked Up ... Uncut ... Cut
Episode 12: What... Are You?! ... Uncut ... Cut
Episode 13: I'll Rip You Like Paper ... Uncut ... Cut
Episode 14: I'll Make the Salad ... Uncut ... Cut
Episode 15: The Party ... Uncut ... Cut

Bonus Videos

Bonus 1: Riddle Me This
Bonus 2: I Am Vengence (Standard Challenge Maps)
Bonus 3: I Am The Night (Extreme Challenge Maps)
Bonus 4: I Am Batman (DLC Challenge Maps)
Bonus 5: A Dance With The Devil In The Pale Moonlight (Joker Challenge Maps)

Interview Tapes

The Spirit of Amadaeus Arkham - Part 1
The Spirit of Amadaeus Arkham - Part 2
The Spirit of Amadaeus Arkham - Part 3
The Spirit of Amadaeus Arkham - Part 4
Interview Tapes - Joker
Interview Tapes - Zsasz
Interview Tapes - Killer Croc
Interview Tapes - Riddler
Interview Tapes - Poison Ivy
Interview Tapes - Harley Quinn
Interview Tapes - Scarecrow

kalonZombie fucked around with this message at 00:27 on Jun 1, 2016

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kalonZombie
May 24, 2010

D&D 3.5 Book of Erotic Fantasy
reserved for stuff I guess

Great Joe
Aug 13, 2008

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7-TQdN40Dk

THE LESBIATHAN
Jan 22, 2011

The name Daria was already taken.
How can you mention Bat Nipples and not provide your viewers with a link? Up your game Mr. Zombie.

Serperoth
Feb 21, 2013



I had pirated that game back when it was new and I was a dumb teenager, and I finished the game without any grappling issues. Not sure if the crackers fixed it, or if it just didn't take effect all the time, but oh well...

I've since bought it 2-3 times to make up for it, as gifts :unsmith:

THE LESBIATHAN
Jan 22, 2011

The name Daria was already taken.
With permission from kalon, I am now going to go completely nuts about Batman. So I guess skip this post if you don't wanna read about comic nerd stuff?

Anyways, kalon and Ape touched on it in the video, but because they have lives and aren't giant shut in nerds, they really didn't talk much about Batman Incorporated, which was a continuation of Grant Morrison's excellent run of writing for Batman. The basic idea is that Batman, having returned from being stranded in the past by Darkseid's Omega Sanction, has decided to fund and train all the "Batmen" of the world. Typically this means non-powered dudes who like to beat up people and have a kid sidekick. As a cover story for why these Z-list super heroes are getting all sorts of funding, Batman, as Bruce Wayne, sets up Batman Incorporated and states that Batman is now his personal body guard. Its a pretty loving ballsy move, but it pays off because you get amazing characters like El Gaucho (the Batman of Argentina), the Native American Man-of-Bats and his sidekick and son Little Raven (who drive around in an old pick up, provide medical care to those who need it, and beat the poo poo outta jerks), Mr. Unknown (the Batman of Tokyo and was actually a character from the Batman manga), Nightrunner (the Sunni Muslim Batman of Paris that made racist nerds cry big giant tears), and, my personal favorite, Batwing, who was billed as the Batman of Africa. Batman Incorporated was actually so cool and awesome that it became part of the new continuity when the New 52 hit.

For those of you not in the know, the New 52 is the soft reboot of DC's continuity following the events of Flashpoint (which also had an excellent alternate Batman and Joker, but that's probably best saved for a later post). I'm of the opinion that lots of the New 52 was very not good, but most of the Batman stuff loving rocked; specifically because my favorite character from Bataman Incorporated got his own series. Batwing started off amazing; it had a native African in a high tech Batman suit flying around Africa and beating the poo poo out of warlords and criminals. At one point, I think he might've punched a warlord in the face at a diplomatic dinner? The point is, Batwing was hella cool and didn't give a poo poo about who you were; if you were a criminal he'd beat the poo poo out of you. Unfortunately, this all changed when Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti took over writing; they decided that Batwing needed a more "international feel" and have more ties to Gotham City. To this end, they replaced the first Batwing with Luke Fox, the son of Lucius Fox. This is about the time I stopped reading the series, as part of the draw for me had been the fact that Batwing had been a pretty good reflection of Batman: like Batman, he had an intense feeling of ownership of Africa and didn't really care to step outside of that.

And that is your Batman history for today, please tune in tomorrow at the same Bat-time in the same Bat-place!

FicusArt
Dec 27, 2014

Why would I draw dudes when I could be drawing literally anything else?

THE LESBIATHAN posted:

Unfortunately, this all changed when Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti took over writing; they decided that Batwing needed a more "international feel" and have more ties to Gotham City. To this end, they replaced the first Batwing with Luke Fox, the son of Lucius Fox. This is about the time I stopped reading the series, as part of the draw for me had been the fact that Batwing had been a pretty good reflection of Batman: like Batman, he had an intense feeling of ownership of Africa and didn't really care to step outside of that.

What, the patrol route of AN ENTIRE CONTINENT wasn't international enough?

SonicRulez
Aug 6, 2013

GOTTA GO FIST
Wow mate, how many great LPs can you hit me with at once? I absolutely adore this game. Batman is my second favorite superhero of all time, right under his protege Nightwing. When it comes to Bats, I've seen quite a bit. Animated series, comics, graphic novels, films. I will never say I know it all, but I know quite a bit.

One thing that I always wanted to see was an alternate take where one of the guards has itchy trigger finger and just shoots the bastard when he says "Boo!" Would've been great. One of you, I think it was Heave, asked about researching Joker toxin. Batman has. He's got a cure for it whenever it shows up, but Joker also changes the formula and upgrades it a lot since he knows Batman is capable of that. So generally one person (or a lot depending on the writer) will go down to the toxin and then Batman will be able to save everyone else.

THE LESBIATHAN
Jan 22, 2011

The name Daria was already taken.

FicusArt posted:

What, the patrol route of AN ENTIRE CONTINENT wasn't international enough?

No, don't you see Batwing moved to Gotham City to become more international.

grandalt
Feb 26, 2013

I didn't fight through two wars to rule
I fought for the future of the world

And the right to have hot tea whenever I wanted
Excellent work, you guys have good conversation, and that makes for a better LP. I will be watching this.

Mzbundifund
Nov 5, 2011

I'm afraid so.
Batman is a member of the Homo Battus species, commonly known as Batmen. Like most apes, Batmen are an omnivorous species that self-organizes into larger social groups known as tribes. Batmen are generally loyal to their tribe, but usually hold a higher degree of loyalty to their immediate family, and instances have been known of batman families being pushed out of their tribe and joining other tribes. Batmen are monogamous and mate for life, but this is widely recognized as a learned rather than an instictive behavior. A batman separated from its parents early on will usually fail to form a stable pairing later in its life, although brief non-monogamous pairings may still occur. Batmen will usually reject the offspring from these non-monogamous pairings.

Batmen are affectionate social animals, and when raised in captivity have been known to imprint upon humans. Such a batman will usually rank the various humans they imprint upon as members of their tribe and/or family, and will exhibit appropriate degrees of loyalty to both groups. Batmen are fiercely territorial and protective of their tribe and will react violently to perceived threats, and as such it is generally not legal to keep batmen as pets in most states.

Batmen are intelligent, and like woodpeckers, sea otters, and many other ape species are able to use tools. They are extremely curious about their surroundings, and people living near batmen will commonly find them investigating their houses or belongings. Non-domesticated batmen are usually not dangerous unless they feel threatened, although there have been accounts of injuries inflicted by batmen upon zealous homeowners attempting to scare them away, there have not been any confirmed deaths caused by batmen.

RareAcumen
Dec 28, 2012




I love the Batman Jojo universe and am saddened that they rolled back Gordon's impeccable bodybuilder physique in the future games.

achtungnight
Oct 5, 2014
I get my fun here. Enjoy!
drat, Batwing sounds awesome! I may have to read it at some point. I'll stick with the original though. That replacement does not sound good.

Two rejected members of Batman Inc-

The Batman of South Park, Colorado, aka the Coon. Spent too much time beating up hippies and others who weren't really criminals. Also too fat.

Die Flader Maus, aka the Batman of the City. Did he EVER fight crime?

Sorry, had to make this joke. Off to watch the LP.

White Coke
May 29, 2015
I remember reading an article by, I think is was, Grant Morrison talking about how it was important to establish that while Gotham was a crime infested hellhole it also had a lot of reasons for people to stay and try and make a living despite the regular threat of super criminal attacks. In the Arkham setting it seems Gotham is the fitness and nutrition capital of the world given how ripped even its 70 year old police commissioners are.

kalonZombie
May 24, 2010

D&D 3.5 Book of Erotic Fantasy
Gotham, for all it's regular crime and supercriminal problems, does have a bunch of reasons to stick around. Especially if you're employed by Wayne Enterprises, because Bruce is a legitimately good boss that cares about his company's future and it's role in the city.

Though if you ask me, Central City is where it's at.

Fabulousvillain
May 2, 2015
kalon's doing good at combat in a game, too bad its the first episode. I propose when you first take damage I'll stop watching the Lp and play the game myself, eventually. I'm sorta in the same boat as Heavenator, but I've seen the older live action movies as well.

PhazonLink
Jul 17, 2010

kalonZombie posted:

Gotham, for all it's regular crime and supercriminal problems, does have a bunch of reasons to stick around. Especially if you're employed by Wayne Enterprises, because Bruce is a legitimately good boss that cares about his company's future and it's role in the city.

Though if you ask me, Central City is where it's at.

Is that Flash's city? Then yeah, like that one JLU episode, you get high fives from him.

White Coke
May 29, 2015
Whenever Batman accidentally kills someone while violently violating their civil rights does he just make the corpse disappear or does he frame one of his rogues gallery?

RareAcumen
Dec 28, 2012




White Coke posted:

Whenever Batman accidentally kills someone while violently violating their civil rights does he just make the corpse disappear or does he frame one of his rogues gallery?

Actually that's the Flash's supervillains.

Ape Has Killed Ape
Sep 15, 2005

RareAcumen posted:

Actually that's the Flash's supervillains.

A rogues gallery is just a term for a collection of criminals. The Rogues, on the other hand, are a criminal organization that use technological abilities or supernatural powers to rob banks, and mostly get poo poo on by the Flash.


There, we're all slightly nerdier.

RareAcumen
Dec 28, 2012




Ape Has Killed Ape posted:

A rogues gallery is just a term for a collection of criminals. The Rogues, on the other hand, are a criminal organization that use technological abilities or supernatural powers to rob banks, and mostly get poo poo on by the Flash.


There, we're all slightly nerdier.

:saddowns:

The Flash season one is a mostly decent TV show.

Now I've contributed something as well!

White Coke
May 29, 2015

RareAcumen posted:

Actually that's the Flash's supervillains.

http://batman.wikia.com/wiki/Batman_Rogues_Gallery

dscruffy1
Nov 22, 2007

Look out!
Nap Ghost
Alright, let's get technically nerdy.

The proper Rouges Gallery was the group of villains that typically fought the Flash. They had a really weird bond with him that included a vow not to kill any Speedsters. Basically they were just screwing around and occasionally robbing banks. I forget the exact panel but it had some of them sitting around ruminating that they had the power to rule the world and that the Flash was such a good guy that he convinced them just to play around. That JLU episode where the Flash sits down with the Trickster at a bar and talks about how he needs to be on his meds? That's the Flash. He's a good guy who is friendly with his villains.

That being said, rogues gallery became a catch-all term for any group of villains. Superman has a rogues gallery. Spiderman likely has a rogues gallery but I don't know because I read more DC than Marvel.

I haven't watched the video yet but I expect to see people getting thrown into bottomless Arkham pits.

Paused
Oct 24, 2010
In fairness, you do always hear the splash of the thugs 'safely' hitting some water for some reason in Asylums pits. Now as for how they survive being thrown off skyscrapers during fights in the later games in the series is because


Didn't know that's how the term rouges gallery came about. Cool nerd trivia.

RickVoid
Oct 21, 2010

dscruffy1 posted:

Alright, let's get technically nerdy.

The proper Rouges Gallery was the group of villains that typically fought the Flash. They had a really weird bond with him that included a vow not to kill any Speedsters. Basically they were just screwing around and occasionally robbing banks. I forget the exact panel but it had some of them sitting around ruminating that they had the power to rule the world and that the Flash was such a good guy that he convinced them just to play around. That JLU episode where the Flash sits down with the Trickster at a bar and talks about how he needs to be on his meds? That's the Flash. He's a good guy who is friendly with his villains.

That being said, rogues gallery became a catch-all term for any group of villains. Superman has a rogues gallery. Spiderman likely has a rogues gallery but I don't know because I read more DC than Marvel.

I haven't watched the video yet but I expect to see people getting thrown into bottomless Arkham pits.

The Flash is essentially DC Jesus.

With regards to Batman's combat style, I feel it necessary to mention that we've already seen him knock a man out with a butt-punch. I kind of want to keep a running tally of the number of times Batman knocks out a guy in a way that really shouldn't knock him out.

dscruffy1
Nov 22, 2007

Look out!
Nap Ghost

RickVoid posted:

With regards to Batman's combat style, I feel it necessary to mention that we've already seen him knock a man out with a butt-punch. I kind of want to keep a running tally of the number of times Batman knocks out a guy in a way that really shouldn't knock him out.

A thread title that occurred to me too late when I was doing my LPs was "Asspuncher Returns" for Arkham City :v:

I think asspunching is largely limited to Arkham Asylum though, the next two games usually focus on the crotch or the head. Arkham Knight does ground takedowns differently.

Case in point from Arkham Origins (thanks again, Mzbundifund!):

dscruffy1 fucked around with this message at 14:19 on Dec 9, 2015

Great Joe
Aug 13, 2008

dscruffy1 posted:

Spider-Man
:colbert:

Lord_Magmar
Feb 24, 2015

"Welcome to pound town, Slifer slacker!"


I think the theory on the buttpunch is that it's so embarrassing that they refuse to move afterwards. The more reasonable one is with his exceptional knowledge of the human body Batman strikes them in such a way that they cannot walk afterwards. You'll notice a number of the criminals moan on the ground after combat in this game, at least I believe this to be true. This is also sort of the other half of the explanation for where Joker's goons keep coming from later on, Batman only temporarily disables them and they get up and leave the area after a while. The first half being the whole Blackgate thing, which isn't so dumb if you consider that Arkham is actually a correctional facility for the criminally insane, as well as an ordinary mental asylum and as such has proper cells for when criminals who aren't Joker level crazy or don't require special cells but still need to be held get brought in for said correction. It doesn't help that basically everyone not directly working with Batman and Bruce Wayne are probably corrupt in some way or another because Gotham is a really lovely place at times.

Basically Arkham has prison facilities because it needs prison facilities, and if Joker can get a fire going in a prison he has no direct contact with he could probably find a way to get his men transferred to Arkham instead of another city, like say Bludhaven which I believe is the closest city and probably has a large enough prison to hold the excess.

VolticSurge
Jul 23, 2013

Just your friendly neighborhood photobomb raptor.



Paused posted:

In fairness, you do always hear the splash of the thugs 'safely' hitting some water for some reason in Asylums pits. Now as for how they survive being thrown off skyscrapers during fights in the later games in the series is because

In the immortal words of Tienshian, " I can see the parachutes! They're OK!"

SonicRulez
Aug 6, 2013

GOTTA GO FIST

RickVoid posted:

The Flash is essentially DC Jesus.

Are you familiar with Clark Kent?

RickVoid
Oct 21, 2010

SonicRulez posted:

Are you familiar with Clark Kent?

Correction, the other DC Jesus.

PhazonLink
Jul 17, 2010
Supes's death doesn't send the JL into Fascism mode.

The Flash is better.

RickVoid
Oct 21, 2010

RickVoid posted:

Correction, the other DC Jesus.

Actually, let me clarify this. Barry is a guy who the universe basically shat all over until he got fast, and he was still a genuinely good guy even before he got the speed. The Speed Force just made him more of what he already was. If he is an intentional Jesus allegory it's subtle and well done. Clark is... not.

kalonZombie
May 24, 2010

D&D 3.5 Book of Erotic Fantasy
BORING EXPLANATION FOR THE ASSPUNCH: Originally Batman was only supposed to go for head punch takedowns, but they never could fix it, so there are a number of times where Batman will knock a man into unconsciousness by shoving his mighty batfist up someone's colon. Future games took out rear end punching, but they DID leave in crotch punching, so at least they're meeting us halfway.

fractalairduct
Sep 26, 2015

I, Giorno Giovanna, have a dream!

If I recall correctly, Damien Wayne was retconned out for a long time and brought back relatively recently, but I'm not much of a comics fan so I could be completely wrong on that. I might be thinking of Helena Wayne.

You also didn't mention any of the Batgirls, so I'm just going to state for the record that there have been four: Barbara Gordon (the only one who makes an appearance in this series, as Oracle), Helena Wayne (who got retconned into Helena Bertinelli, the Huntress), Cassandra Cain, and Stephanie Brown.

In case it wasn't completely obvious, Blackgate is also where Batman's non-insane villains get sent - like Penguin and Catwoman.

White Coke
May 29, 2015
Mr. Freeze goes to Arkham because they have the facilities to store him even though he's sane. I don't know if there are other sane criminals who also go to Arkham because they have more funding, but it is established that Arkham gets all the money, presumably because they want to keep to keep the Joker locked up.

Also I am very sad the default name of the male PC in Fallout 4 isn't Victor.

MonsterEnvy
Feb 4, 2012

Shocked I tell you

RickVoid posted:

Actually, let me clarify this. Barry is a guy who the universe basically shat all over until he got fast, and he was still a genuinely good guy even before he got the speed. The Speed Force just made him more of what he already was. If he is an intentional Jesus allegory it's subtle and well done. Clark is... not.

Well Barry was the one who died and actually killed his main villain in Eobard Thawne. (In a scene that man of steel ripped off.) Wally West his successor meanwhile went to Captain Cold's Christmas party and reformed the Pied Piper. Wally was pretty much friends with the Rogues. Who for the most part were pretty non violent as far as super criminals go.

White Coke posted:

Mr. Freeze goes to Arkham because they have the facilities to store him even though he's sane. I don't know if there are other sane criminals who also go to Arkham because they have more funding, but it is established that Arkham gets all the money, presumably because they want to keep to keep the Joker locked up.

Also I am very sad the default name of the male PC in Fallout 4 isn't Victor.

Well according to his Doctor. Crane is not insane, he is just evil. Warren White AKA Great White Shark was also not insane, but he pleaded Insanity despite knowing nothing about Gotham. Which resulted eventually in Jane Doe locking him in Mr Freeze's Cell for a few hours, after which he became a full on super villain. (But not before ensuring his eternal happiness by making a deal with Demons that ensured that when he goes to hell, instead of being tortured like everyone else he gets to torture all of his tormentors from Arkham Asylum while unliving the good life in hell.)

MonsterEnvy fucked around with this message at 16:46 on Dec 10, 2015

Great Joe
Aug 13, 2008

That's a lot of periods that should be commas.

Lord_Magmar
Feb 24, 2015

"Welcome to pound town, Slifer slacker!"


I'm pretty sure that Great White gets a few different versions of the story. But the general direction is he's a business man who pleads insanity when he's caught of a crime, it's a successful plead and he goes to Arkham, the actual crazy villains don't like someone getting off on an easier sentence by faking insanity, they shove him face first into some freezing solution kept around for Freeze or lock him into Freeze's room, this causes irreparable damage to his nose, mouth and ears. This drives him actually insane and leaves him with a fairly disturbing face, the demon thing is something I've never heard of though so that's interesting.

I think Black Mask gets to stay in Arkham too, even though his madness is just extreme rage. Killer Croc is just a cannibal but again Arkham has facilities to hold him unlike Blackgate which is as far as I can tell a normal prison.

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kalonZombie
May 24, 2010

D&D 3.5 Book of Erotic Fantasy
Basically: Are you a sane person without super powers or extremely special needs? If yes, you go to Blackgate. At this point I think it's only Riddler, Catwoman, and Penguin who get sent there. Maybe Hugo Strange, too.

Everyone else get sent to Arkham, because they get way better funding because it's new primary function is basically housing super criminals. Insane or not, most of them go there simply because Arkham is better handled for them. Freeze isn't technically insane, but he's sent there because Arkham can afford to maintain his special cell. Scarecrow isn't insane, but if you leave him alone with normal inmates he'll manipulate them into killing each other simply because he loving can. Mad Hatter has no powers, but he's got almost as many screws loose as Joker. Stuff like that.

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