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Video 19 Notes "You know, I made a promise of my own-to your parents." Oh, the funhouse face doors, panel for panel. Are we supposed to know who Harleen Quinzel is? Are we not? That's a modified Dark Knight still at 4:10-nice- Oh, a shame that unlockable costume got cut because they ran out of time, but few people would have seen it anywa-Oh, god, I'd forgotten that they rip off the alley scene again.  "I think I promised them I would have my freaky lips looked at- someday.""Here, remember this? Wasn't it cool?!? Don't you love this? It's that thing that was good once! Don't worry about what it means- context is for books! Here! The alley scene! here! have a quote! We don't have the resources to model a turkey so let's leave that offscreen, but let's waste a huge chunk of devtime on something that will be completely incoherent if you haven't read a specific Alan Moore comic! References! Continuity! This! This is a thing you remember! With the time! And that one book! Killing Joke! Knightfall! Alfred is angry! The Cake is a Lie! This thing a character says is like a thing another character says at a time! It's like Year one! Or was it two? Have a cutscene like another cutscene! Hear a story you've already heard! It doesn't matter, because it is a Thing You Already Know is Good- and that's the only kind of Good you can recognize anymore. Suck down our lukewarm design diarrhea!" "Or maybe it was that I'd stop plagiarizing the plot of recent popular movies- or fanfiction".This game has nothing new to say. The popularity of its writing among batman fans comes from their prior familiarity with the different plot arcs that it presents- to the point where giant, gaping, nonsensical holes are ignored because the fanbase is distracted by the similarity of the concept to other concepts in popular Batman media- Killing Joke, Knightfall, Serious House (though with less gay panic Joker, at least). Previous games have referenced and used material from the extensive archive of batman trivia, and shown similar literacy- but they also tried to explore new themes and use unfamiliar plot structures. Instead of using these to provide a ground to work from for the plot, this game uses such references and background to replace the plot entirely. The plot of the game is repeating something to you and acting like it is new. The sickening part is that I can't really blame this on the forced inclusion of the Joker. Have you noticed yet? The businessman bringing in Bane, the snowstorm, the underground tunnels, the big central bridge and the bombs that will destroy everything? It was going to be a combo of the Dark Knight Rises and Knightfall. "Maybe it was-hang on, Master Bruce, I feel a script-edit-induced mood swing coming on. Oh, well, if I'm going to have a character, I prefer it to be multiple choice!"
Discendo Vox fucked around with this message at 07:21 on May 27, 2015 |
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May 27, 2015 06:51
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It will be their end, says Batman before going out and promptly releasing any criminal he finds and subdues, because actually doing something about a problem is beyond his mental capabilities. I don't know if that was the writers' intention, but the game does a good job of underlining just how insane he - and the Gotham City, for that matter - is.
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May 27, 2015 07:38
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If it were well-written, it wouldn't be creating that middle school-level objection to batman. The other games didn't have this problem, in large part because they didn't make batman into a Conflicted, Angry Being with Dark Tendencies and a Troubled Past. Most other depictions, including AC, make it at least implicit that during the day Bruce Wayne is funding schools and reform programs. Remember, the whole church outfit with medical supplies in AC was a Wayne Foundation affair- one which he also used to rehire Cash. Batman as crazy Punisher archetype isn't a revelation of his true nature- it's a choice authors make. Frequently, a lazy choice. It was a new and interesting idea- in 1988.
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May 27, 2015 07:50
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FoolyCharged posted:Nah, there's a second one of the assassins that actually gets a decent amount of the plot to himself.
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May 27, 2015 08:50
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FoolyCharged posted:Fun fact about the radio tower shown in this video, you can make it inside without the glue grenade with a good dive bomb and glide. The game will sadly not let you proceed inside if you do this before the game wants you inside the tower, and you can't open the door at the end of the waterway. I can attest to this since I had no idea that a Glue Grenade would be in the game and figured that was actually the way you were supposed to do it. Boy did I feel like a jackass once I found out about the door you couldn't open.
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May 27, 2015 09:43
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Doctor Reynolds posted:Isn't Firefly the only assassin left? Technically Shiva's still out there. I mean, we beat her, but we never apprehended her. And yeah, Bane's very much in play. Yes but tell us how you really feel.
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May 27, 2015 09:43
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anilEhilated posted:Not really. Firefly was tacked in completely randomly without any relevance to anything else. He shows up and while his schtick is separate from the Joker vortex, he occupies the main plot, gets a solid set piece, and must be dealt with before moving on. It's not about the Joker, but it's 100% a main plot point.
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May 27, 2015 13:27
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anilEhilated posted:Not really. Firefly was tacked in completely randomly without any relevance to anything else. I don't think you need to spoil his name. He's shown up already and was stated by name to be one of the assassins. FoolyCharged posted:He shows up and while his schtick is separate from the Joker vortex, he occupies the main plot, gets a solid set piece, and must be dealt with before moving on. It's not about the Joker, but it's 100% a main plot point. I fully agree with this.
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May 27, 2015 21:13
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Okay, so here's the thing. Firefly is probably my favorite Batman villain so his treatment here hurts, but let's face it: he is completely superficial to the plot. The Joker's gone, he's got no reason to be baiting Batman the way he does. His part of the game is great, don't get me wrong, but it's entirely self-contained. Remove him and the story is the same. There's no impact on it, no connection - and it's not like that'd be hard to do. There's no reason for him to be part of the main plot, that's probably the best way I can put it. You know you got something wrong when the best levels of your game are literally padding.
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May 27, 2015 22:31
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Discendo Vox posted:Video 19 Notes I actually agree with you. Origins is a hodgepodge of Batman lore and references with way too many side nudges and winks and it makes the story a bloated mess. which is a huge difference between origins and other two. Asylum was a simple contained and structured batman story, there were some references and winks and ended in a video gamey boss fight and ending. City was an expanded version of asylum with some bloated story, but nothing as bad as origins. Honestly arkham origins feels alot like bioshock infinite to me. so good even great moments mixed with mediocre stuff and a stitched together story with lots of cut sections and pieces that would have probably made the game better.
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May 28, 2015 01:40
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I do not understand why this game's writing got any praise at all. It's somehow even worse than City, which was already kind of a pile story wise. Asylum was pretty great, though.
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May 28, 2015 02:04
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I never realized that Alfred had such wild mood swings. He always seemed so unflappable in everything else, what with the spec ops background or whatever he had. Also has anyone in this game presented a threat outside of cutscenes yet? I am aware that's hard to do in a game like this but I mean all the assassins are loving jokes except Bane (sorta... that fight looked boring as hell) is here and has an implied plan but this is the first we have heard of it, joker is blowing buildings up because.... (in fairness his character apparently doesnt need reasons) which leaves firefly who has (unless i have missed it) not shown up before the last few videos. This game needs an overarching plot that doesn't suck balls. Also less angst. ^^^^ At least city had interesting vignettes and like a political backstabbing intrigue thing going on throughout. You knew who the baddie was, its hugo you dont know exactly his plan but you know its him ( til that last minute switcheroo) this game has a ton of enemies and they are all pathetic.
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May 28, 2015 02:27
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ZeusCannon posted:^^^^ At least city had interesting vignettes and like a political backstabbing intrigue thing going on throughout. You knew who the baddie was, its hugo you dont know exactly his plan but you know its him ( til that last minute switcheroo) this game has a ton of enemies and they are all pathetic. And even then it was still Hugo's plan on how to carry out his backers goal.
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May 28, 2015 02:35
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Jimmy4400nav posted:Oh shoot, you're right, my bad, I haven't seen the movie in a really long time, I got some of the characters and sequences mixed up. Thanks for the correction. No worries. I read the book as a teenager and that whole part just kind of stuck with me since then.
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May 28, 2015 03:26
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Szurumbur posted:It will be their end, says Batman before going out and promptly releasing any criminal he finds and subdues, because actually doing something about a problem is beyond his mental capabilities. I don't know if that was the writers' intention, but the game does a good job of underlining just how insane he - and the Gotham City, for that matter - is. That whole scene was really bizarre - partly for Alfred's sudden mood swing (really highlighting how the cutscenes were made first and the rest of the game awkwardly fitted around them) - and partly because Batman really isn't putting the fear into them. I mean, we've seen the other two Arkham games, we know most if not all of these assholes are still out there causing damage five years down the line. And they're still managing to field entire armies of cannon fodder, so Batman isn't really scaring the common thugs, either. Sure, they freak out when he shows up, but knowing The Bat is out there doesn't seem to be affecting their decision-making much.
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May 28, 2015 03:34
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Well you see it works cause Scruffy is boosting all his I'm A Badass Nightmare Spooky upgrades, which lowers the numbers of enemies on the map by 10% a level. Duh!
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May 28, 2015 05:38
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anilEhilated posted:The Joker's gone, he's got no reason to be baiting Batman the way he does. Yes he does. The reason being he is an insane pyromanic who would bait him anyway.
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May 28, 2015 06:53
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Alien Arcana posted:That whole scene was really bizarre - partly for Alfred's sudden mood swing (really highlighting how the cutscenes were made first and the rest of the game awkwardly fitted around them) - and partly because Batman really isn't putting the fear into them. I mean, we've seen the other two Arkham games, we know most if not all of these assholes are still out there causing damage five years down the line. And they're still managing to field entire armies of cannon fodder, so Batman isn't really scaring the common thugs, either. Sure, they freak out when he shows up, but knowing The Bat is out there doesn't seem to be affecting their decision-making much. In the other two games, he was also in a "prison" with either criminals from Blackgate (The Joker trashed the place a week prior to Asylum to bring in hordes of thugs to throw Bats the best birthday party) or filled with as many criminals as possible, including people still awaiting trial and people who just happened to be speaking out against the prison in general? (I still haven't figured out exactly how they were managing to shove so many people in there in City. There's corruption, then there's whatever was happening there. Televised abduction of a multi-billionaire on live TV by a prison warden's private army seems like there would be some sort of government intervention outside of "Oh fine, just blow the whole thing up, whatever.")
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May 28, 2015 07:41
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pointlessone posted:I still haven't figured out exactly how they were managing to shove so many people in there in City. There's corruption, then there's whatever was happening there. Televised abduction of a multi-billionaire on live TV by a prison warden's private army seems like there would be some sort of government intervention outside of "Oh fine, just blow the whole thing up, whatever." League of Shadows. Holdings roughly equal to the United States, including a Yellow Panic version of its armed forces.
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May 28, 2015 07:55
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Discendo Vox posted:League of Shadows. Holdings roughly equal to the United States, including a Yellow Panic version of its armed forces. Comic books also kind of rely on all official authorities being incredibly complacent, corrupt, or incompetent to necessitate a man in a silly costume beating the tar out of criminals. That isn't even necessarily a criticism, more that it's one of the chief things you have to suspend disbelief in for the genre to work.
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May 28, 2015 08:33
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Also they kind of had the Gotham PD extremely outgunned, had the mayor under their thumb (and then kidnapped him because reasons), and the whole thing took place over the space of a night. It is sort of reasonable to say the national guard or whoever the state governor or the President would have sent in probably didn't have time to respond if you factor in the hours it must have taken for anyone to figure out what the hell was going on. How many hours does Hugo Strange say is left when Bruce first enters Arkham City? Eight?
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May 28, 2015 09:31
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paragon1 posted:Also they kind of had the Gotham PD extremely outgunned, had the mayor under their thumb (and then kidnapped him because reasons), and the whole thing took place over the space of a night. I believe it's 10 or 12 when you first start. Besides that, would the government really want to send in troops (National Guard or otherwise) against prison guards who are spec ops trained, super criminals with henchmen that are better armed and number potentially in the hundreds? And on that note, I just finished Origins myself and GODDAMN is it horrible. I am done with the combat system, and my god, how can you lock certain upgrades that I'd almost deem essential behind bullshit challenges that you can only do at certain points and if you miss it, you're locked out forever? On an unrelated note, just watched Batman: Assault on Arkham and man is that a good movie, if they can make the Suicide Squad movie half as good as this one, I'll be happy.
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May 28, 2015 09:53
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And so here is more rounding things up. Cosmetic Masque/PolsyThe smoke bomb upgrade I'm pretty sure is needed for finishing the predator challenges. Smoke doesn't last long enough for three takedowns otherwise.
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May 28, 2015 17:28
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As a sidenote, I want to be sure and attribute the "feeding warm diarrhea" line to Scotch comedian Stewart Lee, who compared the act of a popular observational comic to "Spoon-feeding you[the audience] his warm diarrhea". Good Writing Discendo Vox fucked around with this message at 19:13 on May 28, 2015 |
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May 28, 2015 17:56
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Maybe he should loving level up already if he's so sad
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May 28, 2015 17:58
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Oh yeah, one thing I forgot to mention. On the second to last tower scruffy does, you can totally glide inside the tower without the glue grenades available, which is why those steam vents are placed right after the door. It kinda screams "change made after playtesting" to me. Not that it makes much sense to have that tower be unavailable until then, since unlocking the tower before you got the glue grenades wouldn't really change much with how the game is played besides making it a little easier for the player to get around. I have a feeling that the last tower scruffy did is also why you can't just punch down or glide through cardboard walls anymore, otherwise you could do that tower right after the first visit to the GCPD. Which also doesn't make much sense since there were already alternate destroyable wall sections that you couldn't punch through.
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May 28, 2015 18:03
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Why wouldn't they give Black Mask an HP bar like they did for Anarky? I mean granted it wouldn't change the fight much, but it would do something to make him out to be an actual boss fight as opposed to just a different texture. I love how smug Enigma always is, because it compels me to complete his sidequest in all 3 games just to shut him up.
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May 28, 2015 18:23
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Everything Black Mask has done has shown the guy has balls of steel and a cool head on his shoulders. Everything that happens with the guy just makes me regret it more that the Joker stole the villain slot from him. It would even fit to have Batman, a guy who ostensibly relies on intimidation, up against a cool, badass mob boss who basically can't be intimidated.
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May 28, 2015 18:57
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Night10194 posted:Everything Black Mask has done has shown the guy has balls of steel and a cool head on his shoulders. Everything that happens with the guy just makes me regret it more that the Joker stole the villain slot from him. Plus the men who stayed loyal to him are almost kind of endearing in a way, like the one mook who was asking how his boss was doing after going through hell. Sure Sionis threatened to kill him, but its the thought that counts.
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May 28, 2015 19:50
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He's also one of the first guys to explicitly call Batman out on something: "Sure, you beat the poo poo out of me, but they call guys like me untouchable for a reason." I mean, I can't imagine how that trial goes. "You were found beaten up in a church with a bunch of exploded drugs." "Yeah, because some psycho in a suit dragged me there after attacking me." I mean, considering their money, the effectiveness of high powered lawyers, and the fact that Batman doesn't really follow any kind of procedure (and isn't yet being treated as a part of law enforcement like he is in Asylum) I wonder how many of the people he beats just get out of it on the trial at this point.
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May 28, 2015 20:25
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Did... did you just use taser fists on a man with a pacemaker?
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May 28, 2015 21:05
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He was a bad guy, it's fine.
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May 28, 2015 21:15
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WFGuy posted:Did... did you just use taser fists on a man with a pacemaker? Eh, maybe the shocks don't go any farther inside than the skin.
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May 28, 2015 22:06
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Love the Let's Play's you've been doing of the Batman games Scruffy. If you're not burned out by the end of this one, definitely looking forward to Arkham Knight. I was curious if you (or anyone else in the thread) had some advice on getting better at the controls, in particular, Arkham City. Picked it up during the Steam sale.
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May 28, 2015 22:06
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LoonShia posted:He was a Batman Villain, he'll be fine. FIFY. Any why didn't Black Mask pick up a spare mask from somewhere? He's the only one in that fight without a mask!
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May 28, 2015 22:16
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WFGuy posted:Did... did you just use taser fists on a man with a pacemaker? I think it was established that Batman really doesn't care if he hurts Sionis when he threatened to turn his pacemaker up to 245 bpm. The only reason Batman doesn't kill is because he's tremendously lucky that no-one he throws off buildings, tortures, or cracks the skulls of provably dies as a result of his actions. It's a superpower.
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May 28, 2015 22:17
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Night10194 posted:Comic books also kind of rely on all official authorities being incredibly complacent, corrupt, or incompetent to necessitate a man in a silly costume beating the tar out of criminals. DC did have a populace dumb enough to elect Lex loving Luthor president, so yeah, that's pretty accurate.
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May 28, 2015 23:06
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Night10194 posted:The only reason Batman doesn't kill is because he's tremendously lucky that no-one he throws off buildings, tortures, or cracks the skulls of provably dies as a result of his actions. It's a superpower. 
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May 28, 2015 23:12
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Another thing that I don't think has been mentioned about snipers being buggy: If they see you once, they will never lose sight of you. Even if there's a building in-between you and them. Basically, gently caress snipers in this game.  Also, context of Black Mask's parents aside, this is the best password in the game.  Alien Arcana posted:That whole scene was really bizarre - partly for Alfred's sudden mood swing (really highlighting how the cutscenes were made first and the rest of the game awkwardly fitted around them) - and partly because Batman really isn't putting the fear into them. I mean, we've seen the other two Arkham games, we know most if not all of these assholes are still out there causing damage five years down the line. And they're still managing to field entire armies of cannon fodder, so Batman isn't really scaring the common thugs, either. Sure, they freak out when he shows up, but knowing The Bat is out there doesn't seem to be affecting their decision-making much. To be fair, in this game he was going to get Calendar Man the death penalty. Who knows how many other crazy people he brought in that got the same treatment. SonicRulez posted:Why wouldn't they give Black Mask an HP bar like they did for Anarky? I mean granted it wouldn't change the fight much, but it would do something to make him out to be an actual boss fight as opposed to just a different texture. This is probably the thing that annoys me most about this game.  WFGuy posted:Did... did you just use taser fists on a man with a pacemaker? And this. Blueberry Pancakes fucked around with this message at 02:22 on May 29, 2015 |
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May 29, 2015 01:31
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berryjon posted:Any why didn't Black Mask pick up a spare mask from somewhere? He's the only one in that fight without a mask! On the video, The dead parents password is probably because Roman hated his parents and eventually set them on fire, before he started his criminal gang. Like many other Bat villains Roman is a mirror of Bruce Wayne and Batman. The one he is most similar to is Hush, who he predates quite a bit. Also here are some comic pages featuring Black Mask and Deathstroke that I planned to link earlier but could not find. Edit putting the images on the new page. MonsterEnvy fucked around with this message at 02:48 on May 29, 2015 |
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May 29, 2015 02:26
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