The Dork Knight: a Batman: Arkham Asylum Let's Play

[Sir_Mopalot]

So, me and a friend decided to start a series of Let's Plays. This one is all done, and we had a blast. More episodes will be coming out pretty often. Please, watch, critique, yell at me for playing on easy :smalltongue: and suggest games for the future!
Episode 1.01: Welcome to the Madhouse (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2k6hChq22Y&feature=feedlik)
Episode 1.02: The Best Laid Plans (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYXTptsrrbI&feature=related)
Episode 1.03: Never Trust a Drunkard (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnIN3NabPHc&feature=related)
Episode 1.04: Oh Silent Knight (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp5LAZVVgHQ&feature=related)
Episode 1.05: Batman, M.D. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijY7HmcPWno&feature=related)
Episode 1.06: Drugs are Bad (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0c04L40hRA&feature=related)
Episode 1.07: The Bane of our Existence (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6v4LJtreV8&feature=related)
Episode 1.08: To the Batcave! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbzZ-dBd8pA)
Episode 1.09: Batman, in the Library, with a Grappling Hook (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MlbTBziLzE)
Episode 1.10: The Adventures of Young Bruce Wayne (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fdT5KNbb6Y)
Episode 1.11: Only the Good Die Young (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-10dugnYTI&feature=channel_video_title)
Episode 1.12: Faaaaaanserviiiiiiice! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnJqyQbTZjE)
Episode 1.13: The Epic Battle of Bats vs. Boobs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzsX_ax84Cc)
Episode 1.14: Nutshots for Everyone! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn2hutEeLHc)
Episode 1.15: You Got the Hookshot! (Dah da da daaaah!) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wS4HOb0oKRs)
Episode 1.16: See Where Being Nice Gets You? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7y1j1c0npc)
Episode 1.17: Moar Explosives! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cITtMejCEeg)

[Domochevsky]

The episode 5 link is faulty. :smallwink:

(You finished Batman in 7 episodes? I suspect they're extra long each then.)

[Sir_Mopalot]

Fixed. Thanks for pointing it out. We're buying time to find a break in our schedules to play another game by releasing the fifteen minute episodes piece by piece every couple of days. I'll be up-dating the first post with the links as they come out.

[Domochevsky]

Watched the first episode now... don't appreciate you talking over the intro with random stuff. Can't hear anything from the game itself and can't read the subtitles due to youtube compression.

Not a strong start. >_>

[Sir_Mopalot]

Apologies, this is our first time with this kind of thing, it's good to hear ways we can suck less in future. Also:
Episode 1.08: To the Batcave! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbzZ-dBd8pA)

[Comet]

This is surprisingly great. You guys have proper recording systems, interesting things to say and the radio faces to put it all out there in a calm, ordered yet relaxed manner.

For me, having already beaten the game twice, the talking is very much welcome as I have already seen the game itself. And boy, you guys deliver on the talking.
Really good fun, so I'll just go ahead and subscribe! I look forward to more.

[ThePhantom]

Not bad, not bad at all. I like the commentary, keep up the good work.

[Drfaust]

I rather enjoyed this.

[Sir_Mopalot]

The ONE... The ONLY...
EPISODE NINE! Episode 1.09: Batman, in the Library, with a Grappling Hook (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MlbTBziLzE)

Also, thank you for the kind words. Right now we're looking at Rainbow Six: Vegas as our next game. Anyone else have good ideas?

[Maxios]

Well, a Fallout New Vegas LP would be interesting. Or perhaps, Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions

[Domochevsky]

Impression so far: The sound levels need to be normalized. Sudden music inserts here and there are loud. :/

(Also not sure how to feel about the intro in each video. It's easily skippable, but eats a minute every time. But then again, you're not fully using the (theoretical by now?) 15 min time limit anyway, so hm.)

That being said, there is merrit to your commentary. (even though i can't for the love of it hear or read what's going on ingame. Most of it is pretty self-explanatory though.) :smallsmile:

[Sir_Mopalot]

And another:
Episode 1.10: The Adventures of Young Bruce Wayne (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fdT5KNbb6Y)

Maxios: We have New Vegas and I'll bring it up again, but my counterpart is the one who's played it and he was... frustrated by the bugginess. Shattered Dimensions I'll also bring up. Thanks for the suggestions.

Domochevsky: The feedback is appreciated. I personally don't do the editing, but I'll pass that along!

[Maxios]

Alright :smallsmile:. Also, with the various updates for New Vegas, the bugginess is almost non-existent.

[Guildenstern]

Hey, folks, Guildenstern here: second commentator and editor for these Let's Plays.

In regards to the feedback we've been receiving, much thanks for your support and advice. Though the Batman LP has since been completed, our future projects will try to improve upon our inaugural venture here by using some of your suggestions.

We've recently upgraded our video capture cables from composite RCA to S-video, and upgraded our editing suite to Adobe CS5, which combined should help give us crisper image quality and perhaps sort out that subtitle issue. It's not HD, but it's a step up from what we have now.

The title theme is just a fun little intro we thought we'd throw in to eat up an extra minute or so, simply because we need to cut the episodes at a natural break in the commentary and often those breaks don't come at precise 15 minute intervals (our fault for not timing our place session). So we usually end up cutting them between 12 and 14 minutes and throwing the intro in for a buffer. Though if general consensus is that it's too obnoxious at the start, we can move it to the end so that it's easy to skip for those who don't want to watch it every time.

And to Maxios: Fallout: New Vegas was actually our first trial run back in December. We only recorded one episode and I've long since deleted that particular abomination. While New Vegas is a wonderful RPG, we found it difficult to make an engaging LP for it simply because of the massive amounts of travel time and inventory management that the game necessitates. Our third commentator actually started up a game of Diablo halfway through our recording session. No joke. And of course the 14 console lock-ups I had during the course of my playthrough weren't exactly a barrel of laughs either.

We'll look into Shattered Dimensions, as it would definitely be interesting for the both of us to do a blind LP for a change. That, and everybody loves Spiderman.

Apologies for the length of the post, but I'm jumping in a bit late here and attempting to address everything that came before me.

[Domochevsky]

Do you have any plans to record/upload in actual 720p or higher? That would fix the subtitle issue and would make for a more enjoyable experience overall. :smallwink:

[Guildenstern]

Believe me, we would love nothing more than to record videos in 720p...except to record in 1080p, of course. But until we rake together the cash for an HD PVR (easier said than done for a couple of college students) then we're pretty much stuck at what S-Video can give us. Though if you know of a decent HD alternative on the cheap then we'd love to take advantage of it.

[Domochevsky]

HD... are you doing the recording with straightup recording hardware from a console? Because on the PC there would be various (free) software solutions for that. (Maybe funnel the video signal with a video card into your PC and then record there.)

[Guildenstern]

Well we're running the A/V signal from the console to an external capture device and then into a computer via USB 2.0 where we record in pinnacle, since Premiere Pro doesn't support USB capture.

Thus far we haven't found a way to simply funnel that signal directly onto a PC, at least not without unacceptable amounts of lag given our somewhat outdated machines. Even most other products I've seen that take your component/hdmi signal and store it on your hard drive will downgrade to 480i first. So a dedicated HD capture device is really our best bet.

But as for now, you can see an example of what our upgraded video quality looks like here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE7gNVnUM6s&feature=related)

[Sir_Mopalot]

The thrilling Conclusion!


Just kidding.
Episode 1.11: Only the Good Die Young (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-10dugnYTI&feature=channel_video_title)

[Toric]

Oh man I love that glitch in the fight at the warden's office!

[Guildenstern]

I really think there's something about Let's Plays that bring out the most amusing bugs and glitches a game has to offer. I never experienced a single one of the hiccups we saw here in my previous runs of the game, but suddenly they crop up out of nowhere. So long as we don't get stuck in level geometry or crash the game entirely, I like to think it adds flavor. (Note to developers: that does not mean that it's okay to leave in a ton of obvious bugs just because we happen to chuckle at them every once in a while. I'm looking at you, Obsidian.)

Also, We're now officially halfway through the game. Woo!

Episode 1.12: Faaaaaanserviiiiiiice! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnJqyQbTZjE)

[Guildenstern]

Another episode up.

Episode 1.13: The Epic Battle of Bats vs. Boobs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzsX_ax84Cc)

[Demon 997]

Great job so far. I'm not sure if I should laugh at your puns or smack you. Maybe both.

[Sir_Mopalot]

I vote you smack Guildenstern. :smalltongue:

[Guildenstern]

I'd argue, but I almost certainly deserve it.

Also, Episode 14 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn2hutEeLHc)

[Sir_Mopalot]

This episode actually has my favorite glitch from the entire playthrough: The amazing flying crazy-man.

[Toric]

And Batman's aerial takedown looked so fluid and non-buggy, I love it! But I still prefer the Bat-Tele-Punch.

[Guildenstern]

For those of you that wanted more glitches, don't worry; we got you covered.

Episode 1.15 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wS4HOb0oKRs) is here to help.

[ThePhantom]

Nice work, beating invisible enemies.

[Guildenstern]

We couldn't let anybody get away with stealing technology from other games; Batman insists that Otacon's active camouflage stays in Metal Gear Solid.

He also insists that we post Episode 1.16 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7y1j1c0npc)

[Guildenstern]

Because you haven't had enough of that one room from the demo yet, here's Episode 1.17 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cITtMejCEeg).

[ThePhantom]

Yes, every thug that Joker messes with in game is named Razor, its a running gag.

[Copacetic]

These are really fun to watch. Keep it up.

[Sir_Mopalot]

Just so everyone knows, Guildenstern, who has the actual final product, may not be able to post the next episode today, because he's moving across the state. And we're on the west coast, so we have big states. :smalltongue: . I'm sure he'll get it posted as soon as possible.

[Guildenstern]

Hey folks; as my partner told you, I was a little bit preoccupied last week with finals and an all-day roadtrip away from my godforsaken little college town. It's difficult to get solid wi-fi access when you travel through each hotspot at about 70 mph so I failed to get Friday's episode up on time.

So to make up for it, today we'll be bringing you not one, but two (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6p_Gz3Cz4g) episodes (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxXuRLPZBs4). Don't ever say we don't love you.

[ThePhantom]

Very good. We have episodes again.

[psilontech]

I've subscribed to you guys, but I never get announcements when you guys upload stuff...

Good stuff, though. Funny!

[Guildenstern]

Yeah, the lack of notifications would be my fault, I'm afraid. The way in which I uploaded them (in bulk, over a month ago) means that regardless of when I release them for public viewing YouTube still only shows updates based on upload date, meaning that the notification for each episode is generally buried under more recent announcements. Sorry 'bout that. This is largely a learning experience for us, so we'll try to avoid that problem in the future. 'Til then, we'll continue to keep y'all updated through this thread.

[Sir_Mopalot]

And to forestall the obvious question, we're holding finished episodes in reserve so we have time to make the next game's worth of them.

[Guildenstern]

Episode 1.20. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJ6ovhAChC8)

And that's all I have to say about that.

[ThePhantom]

nice pulldowns. Keep up the good work boys.

[Guildenstern]

Episode 1.21 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Bnnn0i3NSo)

We're coming up on the end now. Just two more boss fights to go and we'll wrap this one up on Wednesday.

[Guildenstern]

The second to last episode (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ig-YQ8KgiOM)

Sorry for the weird cut towards the end, the progression of the endgame prohibited me from finding a decent place to divide the footage in a more natural way.

But since we're almost done you won't have to put up with my Tyler Durden-esque splicing of footage for much longer. Or at least, not until we start the next LP. Bwahaha! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDmb4YQqizQ)

[ThePhantom]

And now, the semifinal battle.

[Guildenstern]

Tha-tha-tha-tha-that's all, folks. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy1VKTKhS4w)

So there ya go. Batman: Arkham Asylum is now finished. We'll be starting work on a new project probably this weekend and hope to have that to you as soon as possible. As always, comments and suggestions are welcome and once again: thanks for watching.

[Comet]

It was great. This also marks the third time I've seen this game from beginning to end, two of which I have played myself. Make that almost four, since I was forced to replay a bit over half the game after my first save got wiped.
A great game, for sure.

[Copacetic]

Awesome play through, I'd like to see more stuff from you guys.

[ThePhantom]

Nice work, nice work indeed.

I just remembered, the riddler was wrong. After beating the game, go back to the area in front of Dr. Young's Office, Ra's al Ghul's body is gone. So it looks like he rose up again.

[Guildenstern]

So wait... does that mean that there's a Batcave *and* a Lazarus Pit on Arkham?

It's like a bad 1950s pulp adventure: The Lost Island of Plot Devices.