I'm questionning myself about the character design...

[Donoghu]

First, note that I'm not saying that the design is ugly or badly made. It's awesome.

What I'm questionning myself is mostly about in what direction the characters design is moving from one game to the other. I know that this game is not made by the same team as the one who worked on the previous title so it's logical that some part change... but the thing is that each studio still have to follow certain rules and guideline in their work or they wouldn't be able to publish a copyrighted intellectual work.

Now, what I'm questionning myself more precisely is how the design have moved from something like a "light armored high tech kindda-ninja warrior of justice" into "some kind heavy armored more primitive mid-tech WWF fighter of justice". To be honest, I don't recognise the new batman at all except for his mask as he's heavy, feel like don't use shadows as much as he was before and he seems pump-up with some kind of steroids that render him a lot more resistant to attacks than in any previous Batman stories.

With the movies, his design went a lot more toward the ninja-style with high-tech gadgets. I liked that as it was staying true to the original while still being creative. In AA, Batman had to use the blind spots of the enemies and avoid confrontation whenever possible. In AC, because of how the game setting render batman more like a fugitive (in a criminal city) than an unofficial law enforcer, it gave to Batman the image of someone who must do what he must to survive along with his peers and allies.

In this new installement, what I see is like if they took the design from AC, pumped it up a lot to make him look stronger, brought him back in the "normal" city and let him off. Visually, it's cool with all those armors and defensive capacities... but that's not true to the character. One major rule that have been followed in EVERY comic book about him is this one :
- Batman never bring more than what he needs. If a new situation arise, he retreat and prepare.

AC and especially AA showed that with brillance with the on-progress item delivrery on-site.
Unlike those, this installement seems to put Batman on some kind of high-red-alert-of-doom mode where he's jacked with too much stuff just in case.

From the look of him and his design, I'm starting to see him becoming more and more as some kind of DC's Masterchief (yeah from Halo) with how his design move on to something with more armors, more "weapons" and gadget, etc. Almost seems like he'll get thrown into some kind of WWIII or something. (It's like padding Superman with armor. Should never be needed.)

[aidanr]

It's a prequel, the idea being that in the other two games Batman is more experienced and has slimmed down his outfit to be more sleek and maneuverable.

[ShaDoW]

You do realize the game is called "Batman Arkham Origins" for a reason right?

[Ekoes]

You know that he has been Batman for two years right? He isn't that good like he is in AA and AC. Developers said that and said also that he will make mistakes, what AA and AC Batman wouldn't do.

[Donoghu]

In respond to the people who get the idea that Batman, in this prequel, is inexperimented, I already knew that and took it into consideration.

The point thought that people might have forgotten is that once Bruce Wayne took up the mask, he wasn't anything close to a newbie. While the movies doesn't put much emphase on that part (which is a shame). He took many years of training, learning and mastering in multiple fields like martial arts, sciences and laws. He only took the mask as way to put both a symbol of laws and source of fear for the criminals of Gotham.

Another also unknown part of Bruce Wayne which is rarely used is that he was also known by the criminal circles as someone who nobody should mess around. Before becoming Batman, he was actually punching criminals in street and was letting himself as an easy target. (He took up the mask because that method had little results in comparaison to the wounds he ended up with. Criminals never feared the rich Wayne because of the justice, but just because of his punches. A famous old quote from Batman when Robin asked him why he took up a mask when he was already one of the most powerfull and ressourcefull man in Gotham, he answered "As Wayne, I'm nothing.")

The reason why this installation got an armored Batman has nothing to do with his lower experience in comparaison to the other game. It's because his design from both the movie and also from the Injustice : Gods among Us had a good effect on the players.

If his design was really based on his lack of experience, the first thing that would have been implimented in the design would be flaws instead of upgrades of previous designs.
Flaws like the material used, the weak spots, restrictions, etc. Not the kind of flaws that actually break the original characters design.

With all honesty, can anyone say that this installation doesn't seems like a futuristic version (to not say "space version") of the Batman?

This is the Batman of this installement :
http://bat-burger.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Batman-ArkhamOrigins_Multi_Div_010.jpg
Like mentionned above, it's supposed to represent Batman around the 2nd year after taking up the mask.

This is the design from the Arkham City :
http://s.pro-gmedia.com/videogamer/media/images/xbox360/batman_arkham_city/screens/batman_arkham_city_62.jpg

This is Batman from the Injustice : Gods Among Us :
http://assets1.ignimgs.com/vid/thumbnails/user/2013/03/15/batINJ.jpg
In the timeline, that Batman is actually an relativally old one (one of his version got a son who have not only been Robin, but also became an evil Red Hood)

So... From what I take from the people who "try" to explain his design...
He went from heavily armored, then decided to remove most protection... then decided to put them back on? It's flawed.

[poopoo timer]

If anything, more people will like this Batman because it looks almost exactly like the one from the movies. IMO, the Batman from the other games looked terrible. His cowl was awkward as hell and his suit was ugly. I much enjoy the more heavily armored and darker Batman. I never took it seriously when they called him "The Dark Knight" in the other games because he just looked like he was straight out of a comic book (which he was obviously, but the rest of the world does not reflect that). They got it right with this one. I hope they never go back to the half silly half gritty costume they were using previously.

[Donoghu]

Originally posted by socpens:

If anything, more people will like this Batman because it looks almost exactly like the one from the movies. IMO, the Batman from the other games looked terrible. His cowl was awkward as hell and his suit was ugly. I much enjoy the more heavily armored and darker Batman. I never took it seriously when they called him "The Dark Knight" in the other games because he just looked like he was straight out of a comic book (which he was obviously, but the rest of the world does not reflect that). They got it right with this one. I hope they never go back to the half silly half gritty costume they were using previously.

I agree that the armored version look neat and that it's a lot cooler. I'm not saying that the version in spandex should be in this game. After all, Batman have been around and evolved for more than 2 decades.

I'm just saying that the design seems to not match the timeline as it doesn't reflect at all what it was supposed to reflect. If they were saying that this new game follow the 2 others in the timeline, I would say that the design is spot on... but it's not.

For those who played the whole series of Metal Gear Solid, it would be like if Big Boss (in MGS3, during the Cold War) had access to Octocamouflage, monocellulare knife, nanomachines,etc. and many more creations that only been develloped (in the story) 10-20 years later.

Design wise, there are tons of ways to show a younger yet still "padded" Batman than what have been shown up to now for this installement. The one that have been choosen is, to be honest, amateurish. If you look at him from a first perspective, it's cool with all the details. Then you think about what it's actually is... then you think about "how it ended up as that"... then you're in a dead end. I don't know who is the character designer who worked on that version, but in my point of view, he missed the goal. It's cool looking, but still have nothing to do with what it's supposed to be.

The more I think and look at this new remake from an old design, the more I think it's sub-effective. Others might not agree with me as they are amazed by the dept and details on the superhero and I fully agree that he's looking cool. But I say that the design is like a neat and delicious apple while the game was supposed to be a Citrus pie - They weren't ment to each other.

[Divine Executioner Vlad]

Originally posted by ShaDoW15:

You do realize the game is called "Batman Arkham Origins" for a reason right?

^ What he said. He looks different because he hasn't learned much yet. His armor becomes sleeker with time as he learns and improves over the years.

[AskariAdam]

For the comments ive seen here about the design i think i should point some things out:

even in batman lore (Yes lore aha) he has always adapted his suit/armor -Over Time-. Take batman begins and the dark knight rises for instance; He starts off with a full suit of Kevlar armor (Correct me if im wrong but you get the point) and moves onto ceremic plates because "He wanted to be able to turn his head" That revalation was learnt through experience. Experience which he will learn in batman origins presumably.

and the genral idea is that yes; batman will be "sloppy" and unexperienced in this game as he has not encountered any of the supervillans that will push his boundries yet.

I mean im not expert on the franchise it just seems like people are debating the obvious facts that he IS inexperienced here and he Does update his equipment and armor over time.