Why is Gotham a bunch of islands?

[RedHaze1911]

Whats the in lore reason theyre islands? Wasnt gotham a pretty much land locked city in most media? What happened to it and when? Is there an explanation somewhere in game at all?

[RamiroRa]

Same reason as to why GTA maps are islands. They are not islands in the lore, but from a gameplay perspective, players feels less restricted with the sea than having roads closed.

[Homer Simpson]

Gotham has always been connected by bridges. Even the Nolan trilogy used them for story points.

[Devsman]

I feel like Gotham just has whatever quality it needs to fit the story the writer has in mind.

Like, in Cataclysm it lies on a fault line out of nowhere just so it can have an earthquake.

[Arkham99]

the transitions between them are cleverly disguised loading screens...:-)

[Recreational Colonoscopy]

It's because of game development reasons. If they surrounded the city with barren land or massive mountains, the player feels trapped. Having the city be surrounded by water with a city skybox in the distance feels more realistic without making the player feel trapped.

This is just how most open world maps are. Look at every other Arkham game, Just Cause, GTA, and a ton of other games I've forgotten about.

Don't take this as a negative aspect of the game, asking for lore explanations for video game tendencies doesn't make much sense.

[RedHaze1911]

Originally posted by Recreational Colonoscopy:

It's because of game development reasons. If they surrounded the city with barren land or massive mountains, the player feels trapped. Having the city be surrounded by water with a city skybox in the distance feels more realistic without making the player feel trapped.

This is just how most open world maps are. Look at every other Arkham game, Just Cause, GTA, and a ton of other games I've forgotten about.

Don't take this as a negative aspect of the game, asking for lore explanations for video game tendencies doesn't make much sense.

It doesnt make sense if youre just playing the game like an occasional pinball round or tetris. But with people who want to get immersed in the world and characters they need for stuff to make sense. At least comic book sense, if it doesnt suck. Simply leaving important stuff not explained would be a disservice, especially since theres so much creative writing involved with the characters and lore anyway, why leave the random relocation to islands out and not explain it in some way? xD

[Devsman]

I dunno, I wouldn't call this important.

Not when, you know, somehow the board at Wayne Indoprises doesn't inquire or investigate the Batmobillion dollar deficit in the Applied Science Division, and there's a several-ton animatronic dinosaur in the Batcave that only a few people are supposed to know about.

[RedHaze1911]

Originally posted by Devsman:

I dunno, I wouldn't call this important.

Not when, you know, somehow the board at Wayne Indoprises doesn't inquire or investigate the Batmobillion dollar deficit in the Applied Science Division, and there's a several-ton animatronic dinosaur in the Batcave that only a few people are supposed to know about.

Ssssssh! xD

[Recreational Colonoscopy]

Originally posted by RedHaze1911:

Originally posted by Recreational Colonoscopy:

It's because of game development reasons. If they surrounded the city with barren land or massive mountains, the player feels trapped. Having the city be surrounded by water with a city skybox in the distance feels more realistic without making the player feel trapped.

This is just how most open world maps are. Look at every other Arkham game, Just Cause, GTA, and a ton of other games I've forgotten about.

Don't take this as a negative aspect of the game, asking for lore explanations for video game tendencies doesn't make much sense.

It doesnt make sense if youre just playing the game like an occasional pinball round or tetris. But with people who want to get immersed in the world and characters they need for stuff to make sense. At least comic book sense, if it doesnt suck. Simply leaving important stuff not explained would be a disservice, especially since theres so much creative writing involved with the characters and lore anyway, why leave the random relocation to islands out and not explain it in some way? xD

Because it is not relevant? After millions of years of tectonic plate shifting there ended up being 3 islands that Gotham City ended up being built around. The characters are what is relevant, not the style Gotham is portrayed in.

I love immersing myself in games, not once have I ever thought "huh, why is this place surrounded by water?". This is not important, if anything you are doing the game a disservice by making a complaint about something that makes zero sense to complain about.

[VisciousFishes]

Okay, so, Gotham is meant to be either based on New Jersey or New York. There are 3 islands in New York - Manhatten Island, Statten Island and part of Long Island. So, if they have based it on New York then that could be why there are three islands.

Also, there are 3 parts of the psyche according to both Jung and Freud. So it could be a thematic use of three considering the journey Batman goes on.

[doomedSniper]

Originally posted by jakethebusker:

Okay, so, Gotham is meant to be either based on New Jersey or New York. There are 3 islands in New York - Manhatten Island, Station Island and part of Long Island. So, if they have based it on New York then that could be why there are three islands.

Also, there are 3 parts of the psyche according to both Jung and Freud. So it could be a thematic use of three considering the journey Batman goes on.

+1.

Originally posted by RedHaze1911:

Whats the in lore reason theyre islands? Wasnt gotham a pretty much land locked city in most media? What happened to it and when? Is there an explanation somewhere in game at all?

Imao, if there were some water mass then there'd be an opportunity for the devs to show off their dedicated water physx simulations and also I think it'll enhance the ambience of the environment to some degree. Imagine you're gliding through the simulating water mass, with enhanced rain and shafts, lightning strikes etc. Arkham knight's water physics is very different from other AAA titles, as far as I see it.

This game is a dedicated physx game and adding water to the picture enhances it even more along with the gliding. Then comes the Batmobile and...

[trevalex]

Originally posted by Recreational Colonoscopy:

It's because of game development reasons. If they surrounded the city with barren land or massive mountains, the player feels trapped. Having the city be surrounded by water with a city skybox in the distance feels more realistic without making the player feel trapped.

This is just how most open world maps are. Look at every other Arkham game, Just Cause, GTA, and a ton of other games I've forgotten about.

Don't take this as a negative aspect of the game, asking for lore explanations for video game tendencies doesn't make much sense.

Hadn't thought 9f this but just started playing Metro 2033 and the start is purely underground.. then you get out in Moscow and it's bleak.. it's well done.. but I did find it trapping so I stopped playing.