Batman: Arkham City

RoboSparkle

Edit history:

RoboSparkle: 2012-06-07 07:15:08 pm

RoboSparkle: 2012-06-07 07:01:50 pm

2012-06-06 12:35:50 am

Magical. Flying. Bathtub

Quote from DarthKnight:

Quote from RoboSparkle:

I also had no idea that you could simply disarm Joker's Snipers at the end of the game, I'll have to have a play with that to revise my route now.

That's very interesting that you say that because I actually got that idea from you. In one of your past posts I thought you said something about standing in a spot and disarming/disrupting the snipers before clayface. The disarming worked for me, but using the gun disrupter didn't since I guess that has a range or a time limit on it?

Oh I meant that I disarmed them to make it easier / quicker to take them down, I hadn't realised that it actually counted as disabling them lol. Yeah if you use the disruptor on Strange's bodyguards you can't also use it on Joker's snipers.

I wouldn't worry about your run not getting accepted because of the subway glitch. The consensus on this thread was that mine would have been accepted without having used the glitch at all (basically this comes under the heading of "glitch discovered since submission" and it happens all the time, and runners are rarely, if ever, penalised for it)

EDIT: Here's my (probably) 1:49:10 that I tried to submit before I discovered the 30 seconds or so that my HD PVR (or my then shitty laptop) had simply decided not to record. Bear in mind this was created before several of the new tricks mentioned (specifically before I knew you could get back in bounds after using the Climbing OoB glitch in the sewer). Overall I was incredibly happy with how this one went (due mainly to being one of the few completed runs where I don't die or have any major mistakes) - to put this in context this is still my fastest run by about half a minute even though I have so far had one deathless run with my version of the Climbing Glitch in the sewer. However it isn't perfect by any means and as always any and all criticisms are welcome:

This is also (probably) the last run you'll see from me in this category that uses the disruptor (I'll be swapping it out for the Batclaw Disarm from now on) or moves slowly on the ice in the museum at any time. Or doesn't diveroll across the first gap as Bruce Wayne Smiley

[quote="DarthKnight"][quote=RoboSparkle]I also had no idea that you could simply disarm Joker's Snipers at the end of the game, I'll have to have a play with that to revise my route now.[/quote]
That's very interesting that you say that because I actually got that idea from you. In one of your past posts I thought you said something about standing in a spot and disarming/disrupting the snipers before clayface. The disarming worked for me, but using the gun disrupter didn't since I guess that has a range or a time limit on it?[/quote]

Oh I meant that I disarmed them to make it easier / quicker to take them down, I hadn't realised that it actually counted as disabling them lol.  Yeah if you use the disruptor on Strange's bodyguards you can't also use it on Joker's snipers.

I wouldn't worry about your run not getting accepted because of the subway glitch.  The consensus on this thread was that mine would have been accepted without having used the glitch at all (basically this comes under the heading of "glitch discovered since submission" and it happens all the time, and runners are rarely, if ever, penalised for it)

EDIT: Here's my (probably) 1:49:10 that I tried to submit before I discovered the 30 seconds or so that my HD PVR (or my then shitty laptop) had simply decided not to record.  Bear in mind this was created before several of the new tricks mentioned (specifically before I knew you could get back in bounds after using the Climbing OoB glitch in the sewer). Overall I was incredibly happy with how this one went (due mainly to being one of the few completed runs where I don't die or have any major mistakes) - to put this in context this is still my fastest run by about half a minute even though I have so far had one deathless run with my version of the Climbing Glitch in the sewer.  However it isn't perfect by any means and as always any and all criticisms are welcome:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5kxh1cCX8Q&feature=youtu.be

This is also (probably) the last run you'll see from me in this category that uses the disruptor (I'll be swapping it out for the Batclaw Disarm from now on) or moves slowly on the ice in the museum at any time. Or doesn't diveroll across the first gap as Bruce Wayne :)

facetouch

2012-06-07 09:22:37 pm

One thing I was always curious was why nobody punches Penguin as soon as you break his hand right at the beginning instead of waiting until after the first fight? Would it be slightly faster?

RoboSparkle

2012-06-07 09:34:50 pm

Magical. Flying. Bathtub

Quote from facetouch:

One thing I was always curious was why nobody punches Penguin as soon as you break his hand right at the beginning instead of waiting until after the first fight? Would it be slightly faster?

Because ko-ing Penguin has no effect whatsoever on the run. One (or both) of Darthknight's runs on youtube leaves Penguin standing and he just yells at you. You don't get experience or save or cost time by punching him, and you can't add it to your combo either. Mostly it depends on whether I feel like it or not at the time.

diddyknux

2012-06-08 12:13:51 am

This is the first time I've followed the development of a run, and I've gotta say its interesting to see. Watching how the different strategies develop and runners working in unison to refine the route is cool to see. I watched the run you most recently put on YouTube, Robo, and its really impressive. I don't remember any real glaring errors, aside from a few misses with the Cryptographic Sequencer. And I think you had some bad luck in the room with Freeze's suit in the museum, but that looked like a glitch beyond your control from what I could tell.

And I must say, I really dug the Mr. Freeze fight. If there were any major slips, I think that went well enough to negate them somewhat. But I really wouldn't know. But yeah, really good once again.

jeremysaint

Edit history:

jeremysaint: 2012-06-09 08:46:15 pm

jeremysaint: 2012-06-09 08:18:20 pm

2012-06-09 08:08:48 pm

do you have a turbo controller? beause i certainly dont hit stunned targets that fast. anyways, spectacular run so far, juat finished watching up to mr hammer.

you must really want that 500xp for the titan container, but i can not fathom what for. you already had the 4 relevant combat skills.

ok... umm well damn. your encounter with the first titan guy in the museum was amazing, and the remote batarang was crazy.

your robot head scanning was very impressive. i didnt even know that was possible.

RoboSparkle

2012-06-10 05:03:14 am

Magical. Flying. Bathtub

Quote from jeremysaint:

you must really want that 500xp for the titan container, but i can not fathom what for. you already had the 4 relevant combat skills.

Sonic Shock Batarang for the museum predator. When I free freeze I usually only just have enough exp for the Sonic Shock after getting the container. Also getting the container costs no time because the Thugs in the subway start moving from when you grapple onto the first set of train carriages and the only faster strat I've found is too risky in a Hard SS and nets me 600 fewer exp anyway. In the current strat I need the first two guys to cross paths before I can take them down.

Also the non-sonic strats for Museum Predator are either a) much slower or b) the same speed but gets you killed on Hard mode roughly 60% of the time. I know what you mean by the 4 relevant combat skills but I think you're forgetting how useful the Sonic is when it is essentially a free long-range KO on the thug of your choice

jeremysaint

2012-06-10 09:25:42 am

sonic is strong, no argument. and if it effectively costs you nothing in time then great idea. i did not realize it effectively costs you nothing in time though. finishing up watching the rest today i think.

i know that you already know this, but i will say it anyways. that is some extraordinary play. you are performing at a near segmented level, in a single segment run. the minor tweaks you have made to pathing are great. i was especially impressed at your path on chasing the ninja to plant a tracker. every time i tried to refine that path i end up getting too far ahead of her and failing.

RoboSparkle

Edit history:

RoboSparkle: 2012-06-17 02:01:12 pm

RoboSparkle: 2012-06-17 01:40:11 pm

RoboSparkle: 2012-06-17 01:27:57 pm

2012-06-17 09:22:19 am

Magical. Flying. Bathtub

So just had a run today and there were good and bad points:

The good:
SUB 1:47! (1:46:56)

The bad:
I died on Strange's bodyguards AGAIN! It got worse though, after my new route failed (and I did this run immediately after running that route though 10 times to make sure it was consistent) I panicked and tried to pick up the pieces and died anyway, when I should have restarted there and then. I reckon that mistake alone cost a minute of time.

So here's the thing, even without deaths my very best run so far has been 1:49:10 - granted that was without the Sewer OoB glitch (which saves just over a minute), but a lot of suspect areas of the run went very smoothly and I could churn out another 5 deathless runs that won't be as fast as this one, so should I submit this anyway?

What do you guys think?

EDIT: I've just worked out that the error costs me just under 2 minutes. I'm really not sure I can submit it.

TheVoid

2012-06-17 01:39:03 pm

I'd say give it some more shots, especially if you're already unsure about it. Nice job though.

RoboSparkle

Edit history:

RoboSparkle: 2012-06-18 06:33:33 pm

2012-06-17 02:08:18 pm

Magical. Flying. Bathtub

Yeah I'll keep going. It's just so very frustrating that there was one major mistake in the whole run and it cost me so much time... Sad

EDIT: This is now officially my favourite trick in the run. It may save less than 2 seconds but that doesn't matter to me...

TheVoid

2012-06-18 11:32:26 pm

It's a nice pace to cross some ice. Too bad about the very tiny last crouching part though Wink

When you grapple up there, isn't it faster to let go off the grapple when you almost reach the end (So that you either fall on the balcony or railing)?

RoboSparkle

2012-06-19 12:16:04 am

Magical. Flying. Bathtub

Quote from TheVoid:

It's a nice pace to cross some ice. Too bad about the very tiny last crouching part though Wink

When you grapple up there, isn't it faster to let go off the grapple when you almost reach the end (So that you either fall on the balcony or railing)?

Well, you can't grapple unless you're crouched. I'm not sure why. Also yes it is faster to let go of the grapple but you have maybe a few frames' window as due to the awkward direction of the grapple (you'll see it's not simply a straight line up there) too late and he'll climb up the scaffold, wasting time. Too early and he'll fall into the drink without his shark repellant. I have also fallen THROUGH the floor on more than one occasion when trying that. And it's slightly different every time because I'm in a very slightly different place every time.

TheVoid

2012-06-19 12:23:40 am

Oh, yeah that's strange that you need to crouch to grapple.

And yes just grapple all the way then, more consistent.

DarthKnight

2012-06-19 12:48:49 pm

Quote from TheVoid:

Like it's possible in the subway (By getting in there from the Steel Mill area) to cross the water part where you would actually need the Line Launcher. The first time I succeeded doing that I couldn't continue because I couldn't hack the device to open the doors... As soon as I could hack stuff I tried again and the Signal Jammer was there (Before activating that quest), but only its top was there, not the smashable side parts.

I knew someone had said this in the forums a while back. How on earth did you do this?? That skip combined with the glitch me and Robosparkle came up with in the subway could possibly allow a player to skip half the game. Maybe not since a lot of doors would have to be left unlocked to get to Ra's from the very beginning. But from right after putting on the batsuit you would 100% be able to at least get to the room where Batman first falls to the floor poisoned. And that would be interesting, cus that's definitely not a room Rocksteady anticipated players to be in so early in the game.

[quote=TheVoid]Like it's possible in the subway (By getting in there from the Steel Mill area) to cross the water part where you would actually need the Line Launcher. The first time I succeeded doing that I couldn't continue because I couldn't hack the device to open the doors... As soon as I could hack stuff I tried again and the Signal Jammer was there (Before activating that quest), but only its top was there, not the smashable side parts.[/quote]

I knew someone had said this in the forums a while back. How on earth did you do this?? That skip combined with the glitch me and Robosparkle came up with in the subway could possibly allow a player to skip half the game. Maybe not since a lot of doors would have to be left unlocked to get to Ra's from the very beginning. But from right after putting on the batsuit you would 100% be able to at least get to the room where Batman first falls to the floor poisoned. And that would be interesting, cus that's definitely not a room Rocksteady anticipated players to be in so early in the game.

TheVoid

2012-06-19 01:21:45 pm

I crossed that water part by running off the edge and gliding forwards and then turn to the left against the first corner so that you can jump off the wall again and then glide to the platform in front of you (Where a Riddler Trophy is). Then turn around and jump off that edge and glide to the opposite side.

I never succeeded to glide against the corner on the right and then glide to the final platform right away.

DarthKnight

2012-06-19 10:07:15 pm

Well. I'm an idiot. Forgot you needed the line launcher to actually perform the glitch. So disappointing. And yeah you need the city municipal codes to unlock the gate. Still a great find tho.

Btw I actually wasn't able to grapple at all. I had to just run into the wall and climb up. Dunno if thats a difference between pc and console. In my experience on the ps3 a lot of times you can't grapple to places where you haven't been before. A good example are certain parts during the wonder tower climb.

RoboSparkle

2012-07-29 02:48:22 pm

Magical. Flying. Bathtub

Sorry for the lack of posting, but I think I finally have a submittable SS Hard Mode (No Catwoman) run! And it's sub 1:45! I'm going to run through the vid now to make sure that I didn't have the problem I did last time where it just skipped bits of recording for no reason...

Changes in routing:

1) Steel Mill 1: I no longer go through the little hatch to sneak up on the armed guard, now I batarang him through the window and rush him through the hail of bullets like a man. It's surprisingly consistent (as in, it never fails as long as I don't screw up!) and sometimes I don't get shot at all! Not this time though.

2) Route towards GCPD: I no longer get the grappel takedown guy outside the Steel Mill, as I don't need his Exp any more (although I cut it close this time!)

3) GCPD: I use a variant of Darthknight's route that involves getting shot by the first guy while diverolling to his right. This allows me to take a second shot (which I did) without dying. Unfortunately I screwed up the end by moving too quickly and lost my time advantage.

4) Museum: I now use my "ice slide" technique on both ice skating sections instead of just the second one. I also changed my predator route to not need the Sonic Shock (although I did end up using it because the last thug wouldn't come up to play...)

5) Grundy: I REC him during his first Phase to de-electrify the last plate sooner. I also Ultra Stun Penguin at the end because it's quicker than a Beatdown.

6) Wonder Tower 1: New route through these thugs which is both quicker AND safer! (seriously, I have taken precisely ONE hit since I started using this route, I don't know how we didn't find it sooner!)

7) Wonder City: Slightly altered guardian scanning route.

8) Ra's Al Ghul: It's not a new strat as such, but I've played it so often that I've developed a kind of rhythm to his giant Ra's phases and managed to get through that bit quicker.

9) Rescuing Sharpie: Instead of using the Bat Shockwave attack, I use the glide kick instead.

10) Entering the Steel Mill: New route in the Predator bit

11) Scanning Choppers: New route here so I finish much closer to the entrance to Wonder Tower.

12) Strange's Bodyguards: Decided to go for a safe variation of my new route that doesn't use a Smoke Bomb. Ironically I didn't need that for Joker's snipers in the end!

13) Joker's Snipers: Variation on Darthknight's route.

I'll get a vid and some comments up shortly...

Sorry for the lack of posting, but I think I finally have a submittable SS Hard Mode (No Catwoman) run!  And it's sub 1:45!  I'm going to run through the vid now to make sure that I didn't have the problem I did last time where it just skipped bits of recording for no reason...

Changes in routing:

1) Steel Mill 1: I no longer go through the little hatch to sneak up on the armed guard, now I batarang him through the window and rush him through the hail of bullets like a man.  It's surprisingly consistent (as in, it never fails as long as I don't screw up!) and sometimes I don't get shot at all!  Not this time though.

2) Route towards GCPD: I no longer get the grappel takedown guy outside the Steel Mill, as I don't need his Exp any more (although I cut it close this time!)

3) GCPD: I use a variant of Darthknight's route that involves getting shot by the first guy while diverolling to his right.  This allows me to take a second shot (which I did) without dying.  Unfortunately I screwed up the end by moving too quickly and lost my time advantage.

4) Museum: I now use my "ice slide" technique on both ice skating sections instead of just the second one.  I also changed my predator route to not need the Sonic Shock (although I did end up using it because the last thug wouldn't come up to play...)

5) Grundy:  I REC him during his first Phase to de-electrify the last plate sooner.  I also Ultra Stun Penguin at the end because it's quicker than a Beatdown.

6) Wonder Tower 1: New route through these thugs which is both quicker AND safer! (seriously, I have taken precisely ONE hit since I started using this route, I don't know how we didn't find it sooner!)

7) Wonder City: Slightly altered guardian scanning route.

8) Ra's Al Ghul: It's not a new strat as such, but I've played it so often that I've developed a kind of rhythm to his giant Ra's phases and managed to get through that bit quicker.

9) Rescuing Sharpie: Instead of using the Bat Shockwave attack, I use the glide kick instead.

10) Entering the Steel Mill: New route in the Predator bit

11) Scanning Choppers: New route here so I finish much closer to the entrance to Wonder Tower.

12) Strange's Bodyguards: Decided to go for a safe variation of my new route that doesn't use a Smoke Bomb.  Ironically I didn't need that for Joker's snipers in the end!

13) Joker's Snipers: Variation on Darthknight's route.

I'll get a vid and some comments up shortly...

InsipidMuckyWater

2012-07-29 02:54:20 pm

Visit my profile to see my runs!

Awesome! Cannot WAIT to see this. Good job

RoboSparkle

Edit history:

RoboSparkle: 2012-07-30 05:43:23 am

2012-07-29 03:01:47 pm

Magical. Flying. Bathtub

Thanks, you and me both. I'm really paranoid that something's going to go horribly wrong now...

Also I've looked back through the thread and discovered that my original target for this category was 2:15, and now I would be disappointed if I did it with Catwoman and got 2:15!

EDIT: My time is 1:44:25 - had a quick watch and couldn't see any awful missing bits of footage like last time I thought I had it so hopefully when I get to watch the whole thing tonight it should be ready to verify! I think darthknight's run is still in verification so I would imagine that Flip or puwexil will talk to them first to see who wants to verify my run as well.

ozzy88

2012-07-30 07:07:52 am

Good job Robo!

Hope everything is well with this video Smiley

DarthKnight

2012-07-30 04:36:03 pm

That is an unbelievable time. It'll be interesting to see how the verifiers compare our runs, since the easier difficulty and Catwoman eps 1-4 gives me both an advantage and disadvantage in time. Plus I'm still way more bitter than I should be about how ps3 loads slower than xbox. Although that can't account for more than a minute total. Probably lower. Assuming you don't go any faster (which is a big assumption) my verification copy is 19 extra min. I think I've gotten better since May though, and it might be awhile but I'll definitely try to improve on the one I submitted at some point. My goal would just be sub 2 hours probably.

Man I cannot wait for runs to be posted.

DarthKnight

2012-07-30 05:04:53 pm

Also, the more I think about it the Catwoman DLC might even be better as a separate category with JUST catwoman and separate times for each episode. That way we can keep the page from looking less flooded with potentially 8 categories. I mean I still want my run to be accepted and posted, but maybe the next guy (or if I do improvements) should do a run without Catwoman and if the Batman parts are faster, mine would get replaced. Not sure what people think about that. I guess we'll see.

RoboSparkle

2012-07-30 05:23:12 pm

Magical. Flying. Bathtub

Actually qubit and I were discussing something similar, and it might be fun to have an IL table for all the Riddler's Revenge sections; while the Catwoman episodes can be done as an IL table too, I'm not sure that would be something that could obsolete a full game. Obviously, they're your runs so you can do with them what you like. I may give this game a rest if my run passes verification. Or I might do HQR, I've managed to get my time for that down to sub-24mins, although I've yet to find any major sequence breaks for it.

Also I found out that at least some of those loading times are due to playing with Catwoman (the main culprit that I can think of being the scene where Joker gasses Batman in the Steel Mill) as opposed to ps3 differences.

DarthKnight

2012-07-30 06:38:22 pm

I agree with the table for the catwoman eps, and most of the riddler's revenge. Although it might look silly to have records on here that are clearly slower than the ones shown in-game haha.

Yeah catwoman definitely doesn't help the cutscene where batman gets gassed. Although it only affects two scenes, that one and the one right after you fight clayface joker since these are cutscenes right before catwoman eps 2 and 3. I actually gain time with the second cinematic since instead of loading protocol 10 it just loads the catwoman poison ivy scene. I guess I'd have to post a run of me playing without Catwoman to prove what I'm saying. It actually could just be my shitty ps3.

I've tried HQR too. My run of it is on youtube. I haven't found any large breaks for it either besides skipping some thugs here and there. And you can't just beat on Harley to finish the predator mission like you can with Two-Face. I haven't played that in awhile though mostly due to how so incredibly annoying Harley's voice was in the dlc.

I agree with the table for the catwoman eps, and most of the riddler's revenge. Although it might look silly to have records on here that are clearly slower than the ones shown in-game haha.

Yeah catwoman definitely doesn't help the cutscene where batman gets gassed. Although it only affects two scenes, that one and the one right after you fight clayface joker since these are cutscenes right before catwoman eps 2 and 3. I actually gain time with the second cinematic since instead of loading protocol 10 it just loads the catwoman poison ivy scene. I guess I'd have to post a run of me playing without Catwoman to prove what I'm saying. It actually could just be my shitty ps3.

I've tried HQR too. My run of it is on youtube. I haven't found any large breaks for it either besides skipping some thugs here and there. And you can't just beat on Harley to finish the predator mission like you can with Two-Face. I haven't played that in awhile though mostly due to how so incredibly annoying Harley's voice was in the dlc.

RoboSparkle

Edit history:

RoboSparkle: 2012-08-05 02:52:22 am

2012-08-05 02:50:21 am

Magical. Flying. Bathtub

So those of you paying attention to my stream yesterday will know that I found a way to glitch through certain gates using the Line Launcher + Tightrope and spent about 1.5-2 hours trying to break the museum (specifically, to do the museum before activating or destroying Penguin's jammers and saving 3 minutes! The technique is pretty simple and there will be a video to follow, but the idea is that you start close to the gate and line launch from an angle (the shallower the easier) and then immediately use the tightrope and you will swing through the gate.

Unfortunately it didn't take because if you don't activate the jammers then none of the actors are loaded apart from the thugs and cop in the first room (although you can wander round an empty iceberg lounge which was entertaining; you can even leave the museum by that exit although the door is locked behind you). If you activate the jammers but glitch through the museum then you can't rescue Mr. Freeze because you need to hack his door, and if you hack his door first THEN activate the jammers then it won't let you free the cops in the shark tank and you can't leave the room until you do.

I now have a save file where Batman is permanently trapped in the shark room, and another where he is merely trapped in the Museum (once you've started saving cops, you can't leave until they are all safe. I'm going to try this in other areas in the game and see what I come up with.

If you guys want to play with it then you can explore the museum without getting trapped as long as you don't try to hack the device near the door. Once you rescue the cop you can't leave by the main entrance but you can exit via the iceberg lounge. Bear in mind though that because you need to activate the jammer to advance the story, and you can't leave the museum until that's done, YOU WILL MAKE THE GAME UNBEATABLE. At least until we find a way out of it. Basically if you want to try this on your NG+ file, make sure you back it up first.

On the plus side, even if this turns out to be yet another Glitch City thing that is useless for a speedrun, we can use it to save a few seconds' hacking the terminal once the jammers are down Smiley

So those of you paying attention to my stream yesterday will know that I found a way to glitch through certain gates using the Line Launcher + Tightrope and spent about 1.5-2 hours trying to break the museum (specifically, to do the museum before activating or destroying Penguin's jammers and saving [i]3 minutes![/i]  The technique is pretty simple and there will be a video to follow, but the idea is that you start close to the gate and line launch from an angle (the shallower the easier) and then immediately use the tightrope and you will swing [i]through[/i] the gate.

Unfortunately it didn't take because if you don't activate the jammers then none of the actors are loaded apart from the thugs and cop in the first room (although you can wander round an empty iceberg lounge which was entertaining; you can even leave the museum by that exit although the door is locked behind you).  If you activate the jammers but glitch through the museum then you can't rescue Mr. Freeze because you need to hack his door, and if you hack his door first THEN activate the jammers then it won't let you free the cops in the shark tank and you can't leave the room until you do.

I now have a save file where Batman is permanently trapped in the shark room, and another where he is merely trapped in the Museum (once you've started saving cops, you can't leave until they are all safe.  I'm going to try this in other areas in the game and see what I come up with.

If you guys want to play with it then you can explore the museum without getting trapped as long as you don't try to hack the device near the door.  Once you rescue the cop you can't leave by the main entrance but you can exit via the iceberg lounge.  Bear in mind though that because you need to activate the jammer to advance the story, and you can't leave the museum until that's done, YOU WILL MAKE THE GAME UNBEATABLE.  At least until we find a way out of it.  Basically if you want to try this on your NG+ file, make sure you back it up first.

On the plus side, even if this turns out to be yet another Glitch City thing that is useless for a speedrun, we can use it to save a few seconds' hacking the terminal once the jammers are down :)