For one, I really hate how the moves don't come out right when I press the button, but instead behave in this highly context sensitive manner. My platonic ideal for a fighting system is Virtua Fighter. That wouldn't work in a Batman game, of course, but you can extrapolate backwards from that.

Much simpler reply: I don't find it fun, so I don't like it.

Agreed. And that's why I love Shadow of War so much as well. I've never seen a more impactful and detail oriented form of combat in a game. It's good enough that tons of other devs use it. It's used in Shadow of Mordor / War, Hand of Fate had it. Other games I can't think of but I know it's praised for its technical fighting combos etc. I love it. Cant see why some people dont. It's so engaging each time.

Well I’ll give props for giving a concrete complaint at least. Why were you playing the game in the first place? (This wasn’t meant to sound snarky, I’m just curious since it seems like a type of game I would wager you’d dislike right off the bat based on your tastes, and I don’t remember ever seeing you proclaim some big fandom of Batman)

When I think of how Batman would fight I think of a cold, calculated martial arts master who would time his strikes and counters with near-inhuman precision, and the combat of those games conveyed exactly that to a degree of excellence and respect to the character unlike anything I had ever seen before in a video game. I think it says a lot that so many games since have basically stolen that combat system, Shadow of Mordor/War included

I like a lot of games with melee combat (fighting games, arcade beat 'em ups, Dynasty Warriors and various other such games).
I love stealth games when they're at their best (Tenchu in particular).

The Batman games combine the two, but I don't care for really anything about specifically how they combine these things. They also exhibit way too many bull**** tropes of modern AAA design that rub me the wrong way.

But I like to give things a chance, simply. I've played a very large number of games that weren't likely to be my thing. Some of them I did like, despite expectations. Halo Reach/ODST/4, for example. I generally don't like those sorts of games, but had fun with those three.

EDIT: And I don't "live into" games like a power fantasy. I'm not 12 years old anymore, so I don't really give a crap about how much the game does or does not feel like being Batman.

Damn it I want to go play Arkham Asylum it but I also want to keep playing Tales of Vesperia.

What bull**** tropes of modern games are in Arkham? If anything Arkham influenced modern games way more than modern games influenced Arkham

FUCK i cant wait for the remaster of Vesperia to come out

It could do with some remastering. The 2008 360 graphics leave something to be desired, and the cut scenes have cinematography like my right butt cheek.

Dude, the Arkham games are largely constructed after ideas that have their origin in big studio Playstation 2 era games.

Uh, how so?

Just one example to key you into what kind of thing I'm talking about: Those sequences where you walk slowly while Batman talks to some disembodied voice.

Or as another example, those sequences where you have to use some gadget to progress but there's no real puzzle and it's just like a pointless road block to make you feel like you're doing something.

And the emphasis on pointless collectibles in City.

A bunch of shallow, unfocused design stuff that makes this sort of game feel really watered down to me. A typical Gears of War type game does a lot of the same stuff with the moment to moment structure as the first Batman game does, for example.

Now, I have a long history with being very annoyed by how certain ways of putting together a game have taken hold over the past 15 years, so not everyone will agree with me, as clearly, most gamers really love these big AAA games. I think they are to gaming what the Fast & Furious and Transformers franchises are to movies, and what Ariana Grande and 50 Cent are/were to music.

Assassins Creed, Call of Duty, Arkham, GTA, Uncharted, Gears of War, Splinter Cell, Hitman, more recent Tomb Raider games, etc.

Those and a lot of other games are honestly kinda trash in my view of things. Just not very interesting or focused designs. Lots of shallow, patronizing details in the moment to moment gameplay.

Of course it's just my subjective view of things, as I'm arguing elsewhere that that is all it can possibly be, but that's it. To me, it is surprising that even people who play a lot of different games keep on hyping those big franchises. To me, they're just not even close to being interesting. But oh well. Different strokes...

Basically, if I'm being honest, I downright find those Batman games to be terrible and miserable to play. It's like being stuck in a Michael Bay marathon.

[Kind of went off topic there, but come on: Can't you see how the moment to moment gameplay in the Batman games is often very close to that of other AAA games? It sure as hell isn't like playing something from the 90's or like playing some more focused indie action game.]