This thread will attempt to provide a place to discuss past/present/future PC gaming deals. While mainly focusing on Steam games, any standout sales may also be presented. I will not be updating every Daily/Weekly/etc. sale. The tools to help individuals become a smarter shopper will be provided below.
See this POST for links to store sale pages, threads of interest and other tools to help you become a more informed PC game shopper.
This is how I feel about most DLC today. I don't really wait for the GOTY/DLC bundled edition anymore if I'm interested enough in the base game. Usually it offers more than enough to entertain me. I can't say I really wanted anymore of Skyrim after the base game. Same for Borderlands 2 even though I got the season pass early on a glitch deal -- eventually it becomes a tedious slog.
If you skipped the Borderlands 2 DLC then you missed Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon's Keep, which was arguably better than a good chunk of the main game.
But then again, people that don't like to spend a lot of time with a single game probably have no business buying DLC for games like Borderlands or Skyrim, which are already long games that are meant to be explored thoroughly.
So Arkham Knight won't release until Fall, meaning it's going to be at least another couple months. Which tells you just how little of a they gave about the pc version and how little work went into it considering when it's all said and done it'll probably have taken them over 3 months to fix it.
Sorry for the double post and beating a dead horse. I just want to say how unfortunate this all is. I'm lucky enough to be one of those that are not having problems with it. I'm 26 hours in.
Rocksteady has pushed the envelope in terms of story telling and just what they can do with the world graphically. As a Batman fan, I'm loving every second of it -- the story is very dark and twisted. And having a huge world with virtually no loading (it's hidden extremely well), even as you exit buildings and enter the city at large, is so welcome.
I've read a few reviews that say the Batmobile is forced upon you far too much, but if you think about it -- the Batmobile is arguably one of Batman's most iconic and important gadgets. And it's badass. There's really no better way that Batman could have dealt with the armored drones of the militaristic Arkham Knight.
Anyhow, I hate that all the technical issues have already soured people on what's a really wonderful game. I'm glad that it's being fixed and hope people give it a second chance.
Sorry for the double post and beating a dead horse. I just want to say how unfortunate this all is. I'm lucky enough to be one of those that are not having problems with it. I'm 26 hours in.
Rocksteady has pushed the envelope in terms of story telling and just what they can do with the world graphically. As a Batman fan, I'm loving every second of it -- the story is very dark and twisted. And having a huge world with virtually no loading (it's hidden extremely well), even as you exit buildings and enter the city at large, is so welcome.
I've read a few reviews that say the Batmobile is forced upon you far too much, but if you think about it -- the Batmobile is arguably one of Batman's most iconic and important gadgets. And it's badass. There's really no better way that Batman could have dealt with the armored drones of the militaristic Arkham Knight.
Anyhow, I hate that all the technical issues have already soured people on what's a really wonderful game. I'm glad that it's being fixed and hope people give it a second chance.
I mean once it's fixed I'll definitely buy it once it hits my price point. Just think it's ridiculous they released it in that state in the first place. I just think the fact that it's going to take them as long as it is to fix reflects just how broken it really was for most people. I'm sure at its core it's a fine enough game. Personally I'll be shocked if i like it better than Arkham Asylum though. I thought City was great, but I just preferred Asylum and how tight it was. I thought the smaller, metroidvania-esque game space was very well done and didn't enjoy the open world of City as much at all. I probably won't end up getting Arkham Knight for another year and a half or something as I'll be waiting for a pretty substantial price drop.
Just think it's ridiculous they released it in that state in the first place. I just think the fact that it's going to take them as long as it is to fix reflects just how broken it really was for most people.
If you skipped the Borderlands 2 DLC then you missed Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon's Keep, which was arguably better than a good chunk of the main game.
Also Mr. Torgue's Campaign of Carnage. The Torgue and Tina dlcs are both great, probably better than most of Borderlands 2. Hammerlock's dlc though, oye.
Also Mr. Torgue's Campaign of Carnage. The Torgue and Tina dlcs are both great, probably better than most of Borderlands 2. Hammerlock's dlc though, oye.
Torgues dlc was really good. I thought it was one of the funnier bits of borderlands, although if you hate Torgue's character you probably won't really like it. Tiny tina dlc was obviously also pretty great. Hammerlock was by far the worst, although I don't think it's quite as bad as it's made out to be.
I played through most of the BL2 DLC... eventually. The D&D theme of Dragon Keep was great (despite Ashley Burch's annoying voiceover). The rest of the DLC I found tedious.
Sorry for the double post and beating a dead horse. I just want to say how unfortunate this all is. I'm lucky enough to be one of those that are not having problems with it. I'm 26 hours in.
Rocksteady has pushed the envelope in terms of story telling and just what they can do with the world graphically. As a Batman fan, I'm loving every second of it -- the story is very dark and twisted. And having a huge world with virtually no loading (it's hidden extremely well), even as you exit buildings and enter the city at large, is so welcome.
I've read a few reviews that say the Batmobile is forced upon you far too much, but if you think about it -- the Batmobile is arguably one of Batman's most iconic and important gadgets. And it's badass. There's really no better way that Batman could have dealt with the armored drones of the militaristic Arkham Knight.
Anyhow, I hate that all the technical issues have already soured people on what's a really wonderful game. I'm glad that it's being fixed and hope people give it a second chance.
I agree w/ too much Batmobile sentiment - namely b/c there is not too much variety to the enemy drones & the way you fight them. And those Batmobile stealth battles (whether on foot or on in a tank), those can be a royal pain in the neck; especially later on when you have to take on lots of drones. All of this overdosage on the Batmobile can get monotonous in these main missions, after a while - especially in the back 1/3rd of the game. They could've shifted more of the Batmobile combat battles to the side quests.
They could've done way more w/ boss fights, as well - since there really ain't many, if even much of any. IMHO, that was one thing Origins did better than any of the Rocksteady games was having kick-ass boss fights.
Oh, and let me tackle story-stuff. There's an awful here to cover.
If you ain't finished Batman: Arkham Knight game, do NOT read this stuff in Spoilers.
In the game, there's a lot....
...of kidnapping in Batman: Arkham Knight. It's almost borderline ridiculous here. When all else fails for a plot device, someone gets kidnapped - Barbara/Oracle, Lucius Fox, Batman (even in his own damn game), Robin, etc etc. And this kidnapping overdosage, it can get quite annoying - just like the Batmobile overdosage.
Even though this seems like typical Batman: Arkham stuff, I did like the rest of the story w/ the typical Batman criminals popping up into the story + side quests. The best stuff for me was Batman's mind + the player's mind being screwed with so much (thanks to the Scarecrow's toxin), which even causes him to be a very unreliable viewpoint + storyteller at times. There's some really nice twists later on, namely b/c of this - b/c you do have times when you're unsure if what you're actually seeing is real or not, thanks to Scarecrow's toxin.
I absolutely loved Joker being your side-kick for most of the story, after you in-take all the gas from Scarecrow's toxin - as he's always there w/ you like Elizabeth was in Bioshock: Infinite. I guess they had to do some kind of comic-relief, since there's really nothing funny about Scarecrow - or hell, even any of the other criminals in the game. He's down-right hilarious, anytime he comes into the game. Oh, and the Joker's own game-show + musical number thing was fantastic!
I really dug the part also when you are traveling in or above the world, once Scarecrow fills it all w/ Toxin. That was just so damn cool, either way.
For every cool + great thing Batman: AK does - it seems to always find someway to over-use it & make it repetitive (Batmobile + a certain story element gets overused here) or completely under-use it (i.e. there ain't enough of the team-up battles w/ other side-kicks + superheroes & boss fights).
About the graphics - while I think they're good + have nice amounts of details, I don't think they're spectacular. Nothing really ground-breaking here; especially b/c of how it performs. I got this game cranked at High at 1080p - not super-impressed w/ them. B/c this port was obviously basic (there ain't a ton of graphics options exposed here) + feels just slapped together (b/c Iron Galaxy is not a big studio here); unoptimized so much that they capped it at 30 frames; the game-world being so much bigger than the previous Batman games; and b/c the game basically floats around using 3-4GB VRAM to run at 1080p on Normal (even more so on High, often eating up over 3.5 GB VRAM) - this game's currently in a state where it's really only for those equipped w/ video-cards running A LOT of VRAM.
I mean once it's fixed I'll definitely buy it once it hits my price point. Just think it's ridiculous they released it in that state in the first place.
I just think the fact that it's going to take them as long as it is to fix reflects just how broken it really was for most people. I'm sure at its core it's a fine enough game. Personally I'll be shocked if i like it better than Arkham Asylum though. I thought City was great, but I just preferred Asylum and how tight it was. I thought the smaller, metroidvania-esque game space was very well done and didn't enjoy the open world of City as much at all. I probably won't end up getting Arkham Knight for another year and a half or something as I'll be waiting for a pretty substantial price drop.
I think Batman: AK should've + could've been the best Batman game. With so much cool stuff happening + new stuff here & such a ridiculously huge scope, all the elements were there. It's just - there tends to be a lot of filler & repetition in this game's main quest, in terms of both story + gameplay. And the things that are awesome, they really just don't utilize enough.
Like yourself, I loved both Arkham Asylum + City. I prefer those over B:AK. Those two are just tighter & much better games, overall. Hard for me to pick between those two - namely b/c AA felt so fresh at the time + b/c AC felt like it made so many improvements w/ the bigger open-world, playable Catwoman & added just added more-more-more! At least w/ Batman: AC when that came out, if you had DX10+ troubles (and most did then back then), you could run it in DX9 mode and it ran wonderfully at 1080p. With Batman: AK - eh, you basically currently need flat-out more VRAM to run at 1080p. While Batman: Origins had great boss fights, it felt way too much like Arkham City rehashed w/out offering much of anything new - so, it didn't do too much for me. I really liked Cold Cold Heart DLC, though.
For me, it goes like this: Batman AC + AA > AK > AO.
As of Sunday, I'll be binning off Clicker Heroes. Every night I log on, waste an hour on it, and feel like I've accomplished nothing.
This Sunday will be a group intervention. I call on you, Clickerbros and Clickergals, to put it down. Stop clicking. Leave it alone. We need to move on.
As of Sunday, I'll be binning off Clicker Heroes. Every night I log on, waste an hour on it, and feel like I've accomplished nothing.
This Sunday will be a group intervention. I call on you, Clickerbros and Clickergals, to put it down. Stop clicking. Leave it alone. We need to move on.
As of Sunday, I'll be binning off Clicker Heroes. Every night I log on, waste an hour on it, and feel like I've accomplished nothing.
This Sunday will be a group intervention. I call on you, Clickerbros and Clickergals, to put it down. Stop clicking. Leave it alone. We need to move on.
What's the highest level you've hit on Clicker Heroes? Mine is only 209 but you really have to ascend and get and upgrade ancients to get further. Stick with it.
What's the highest level you've hit on Clicker Heroes? Mine is only 209 but you really have to ascend and get and upgrade ancients to get further. Stick with it.
I think it was 920something. I'm aiming to hit 1000 before retiring it completely.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it for a while. There was some fun in working out how to take it further. Then I got to re-gilding everything so I only ever used one hero - the samurai - and all of a sudden the game became a huge grind. It's just whatever magic brought me to it in the first place.
Sunday and done for me. Time to play proper games again. Like Ori. That's a proper game. And a good one too.
I think it was 920something. I'm aiming to hit 1000 before retiring it completely.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it for a while. There was some fun in working out how to take it further. Then I got to re-gilding everything so I only ever used one hero - the samurai - and all of a sudden the game became a huge grind. It's just whatever magic brought me to it in the first place.
Sunday and done for me. Time to play proper games again. Like Ori. That's a proper game. And a good one too.
I mean if you want to quit before you get all the acheevos and join the ranks of all the other clicker quitters I completely understand, just don't dare call yourself a Clicker Hero. You haven't earned that.
I mean if you want to quit before you get all the acheevos and join the ranks of all the other clicker quitters I completely understand, just don't dare call yourself a Clicker Hero. You haven't earned that.
I'm more hero than you'll ever be. You don't even have a cape. Scrub.
You can barely break 200. Is that what you call clicking? Don't talk to me. Don't even look at me. You're not worthy. You don't know the click. You don't understand the click. You don't feel the click. You are nothing. Nothing to me. Not a hero. Nothing.
I'm more hero than you'll ever be. You don't even have a cape. Scrub.
You can barely break 200. Is that what you call clicking? Don't talk to me. Don't even look at me. You're not worthy. You don't know the click. You don't understand the click. You don't feel the click. You are nothing. Nothing to me. Not a hero. Nothing.
....[Boss Fights] They could've done way more w/ boss fights, as well - since there really ain't many, if even much of any. IMHO, that was one thing Origins did better than any of the Rocksteady games was having kick-ass boss fights...
....[Story] Oh, and let me tackle story-stuff. There's an awful here to cover...
...[Graphics] About the graphics - while I think they're good + have nice amounts of details, I don't think they're spectacular. Nothing really ground-breaking here; especially b/c of how it performs...
... [Gameplay] I think Batman: AK should've + could've been the best Batman game. With so much cool stuff happening + new stuff here & such a ridiculously huge scope, all the elements were there. It's just - there tends to be a lot of filler & repetition in this game's main quest, in terms of both story + gameplay...
I just want to touch on a few points you've brought up. Forgive me for cutting up your post. I don't want to argue with your opinion -- lord knows everyone has one of those -- there are just a few things I want to highlight.
- Boss Fights: Why does a game have to have lots of boss fights?
- Story: I didn't read your spoiler -- I'm only 3/4 through -- I'll allow for the possibility that it falls straight into the toilet after the point I've reached. I didn't think AC had a great story, but I liked the scope of the game. AA had a pretty solid story and a small, but enjoyable, world. The AK story blows AC out of the water and the large scope is handled better. AC had a large city full of bad guys, but the story was largely contained within buildings and the big city felt a little disconnected. AK incorporates the big city into the story in a much more meaningful way so that it never feels like the city is little more than an overworld map filled with little portals to the story.
- Graphics: I won't pretend to know a lot about graphics from a technical standpoint, but AK is clearly far superior to the previous two games in that department. The art direction and details are outstanding -- you really can't argue with that. Performance is not a part of my assessment.
- Gameplay: I feel like we played two different games. Again, allowing for the possibility that the last 1/4 of the game falls into the shitter and is a cookie-cutter cast of the previous 3/4 (not there yet!), I found there was a tremendous amount of different scenarios and some really great set pieces. AA>AK>AC>AO
Again, I don't want to get into a debate with you over your opinion. I just felt like there were a few points where I totally didn't get where you were coming from and yours seemed diametrically opposed to my own.
I'm more hero than you'll ever be. You don't even have a cape. Scrub.
You can barely break 200. Is that what you call clicking? Don't talk to me. Don't even look at me. You're not worthy. You don't know the click. You don't understand the click. You don't feel the click. You are nothing. Nothing to me. Not a hero. Nothing.
I just want to touch on a few points you've brought up. Forgive me for cutting up your post. I don't want to argue with your opinion -- lord knows everyone has one of those -- there are just a few things I want to highlight.
- Boss Fights: Why does a game have to have lots of boss fights?
It seems very odd w/ this game that the game is set-up with a bunch of villains in here, yet these is a severe lack of boss fights w/ any of them. Some of them that are here - they feel very puzzle-like, aren't that fun, or even that interesting. And even some of the boss fights, they just ain't that great here. When a game seems to set-up a lot of possible confrontations, yet it never amounts to much of anything - that's quite disappointing there.
- Story: I didn't read your spoiler -- I'm only 3/4 through -- I'll allow for the possibility that it falls straight into the toilet after the point I've reached. I didn't think AC had a great story, but I liked the scope of the game. AA had a pretty solid story and a small, but enjoyable, world. The AK story blows AC out of the water and the large scope is handled better. AC had a large city full of bad guys, but the story was largely contained within buildings and the big city felt a little disconnected. AK incorporates the big city into the story in a much more meaningful way so that it never feels like the city is little more than an overworld map filled with little portals to the story.
I wouldn't say the story falls into the toilet. It's one of the things that kept me going here, when it's digging into certain psychological elements.
I think the repetitiveness of a certain storyline trope element (i.e. read my spoilers from my earlier post, only when you finish the main quest of the game and you'll understand where I'm going w/ this - this quite annoyed the hell out of me) and the repetitive nature of the Batmobile combat (i.e. it ain't that varied for your skills + not much varying of enemy drone types you face; and the stealth tank sequences can get quite annoying) - for me, they get over-abused in the Main Quest of this game.
I like the game a lot for its ambition + scope - especially when it does new things, different things, & cool things that I've never seen a game really do. That is what I dig a lot about this game. These are the reasons, I highly recommend this game...provided one actually has the VRAM to actually run the damn thing. Problem is, this greatness gets overshadowed by its often very repetitive nature in the Main Quest. If they wanted to beat the Batmobile combat + stealth to death, that overdosage of that stuff could've been easily placed in the optional side-quests/challenges. The main quest could've been a lot shorter, a lot less filler - and then, it could've been something special.
EDIT:
I think a great comparison, for me, to Batman: AK would be STALKER: Clear Sky. And that's not b/c of the remixing + rehashing of things in that game - it's for something else, scope-wise. Basically, in Batman AK + STALKER Clear Sky - all the new additions sound awesome & great on paper - and once you first have them, in the palm of your hands. But, once they get over-abused; remain under-cooked for the amount of usage they have in the game; and/or don't even feel like they're used enough - yeah, that tends to drag things down quite a bit.
MysterD made a poor life choice when he bought his card. I think that's par for the course. You guys should really stop throwing it in his face. It will hurt his robot whore feelings.
GF 970 is not a true-blue 4 GB VRAM at 256-bit bus...and for that kind of money, it bloody should be.
It's 3.5 GB VRAM with 256-bit bus + 0.5 GB VRAM with 32-bit bus.
For that kind of money, that last 0.5 GB should be at 128-bit bus or more. Preferably at 256-bit bus - like the other 3.5 were allocated for.
About MGS5: The Phantom Pain - not interested enough. I still need to get MGS5: Ground Zeroes first.
MGS5: GZ requires a 2GB VRAM card + wants a GF 760 for a recommended spec, so I don't think MGS5: TPP will require that much more; and many have said GZ was one of the better recent PC versions. So, I don't think my 4 GB 960 will have that much trouble with Phantom Pain, TBH - when I decide to get that.
And I think we need MGS1-4 on the PC first, as well.
MysterD made a poor life choice when he bought his card. I think that's par for the course. You guys should really stop throwing it in his face. It will hurt his robot whore feelings.
You and everybody else here that might see my 4GB 960 purchase as a poor choice for me - well, it's worked out great for me. Key words: FOR ME.
I am running most games maxed at 1080p on High to Ultra settings. This PC (i7 950; 16 GB RAM; Win 7 64-bit) with that vid-card (4 GB 960) is handling anything that I throw at it for breakfast: The Evil Within, Watch Dogs, AC Unity, even Batman: AK, etc etc.
I'm happy with it - and it's a major improvement over my aging 1 GB VRAM 560 Ti. It's a difference b/t night and day.
If I wasn't happy w/ the 4GB 960, I would've gotten rid of it by now. I took a gamble - and I feel it paid off. It worked out way better than I ever expected b/c I thought the 128-bit bus might've been an issue here. But, not so much - since it handled Batman: AK like it did (which I think is the most challenging game I have here); and everything else I been wanting to run (see above said list).
All this hardware talk made me think for a moment that I had somehow taken XYZ123 off of ignore.
And even a game I don't especially want I'll take for free if it comes with something I'm already going to buy. Something extra free is better than nothing.
These days if you're going to shell out for for a video card anyway you might as well try to get a free game or two out of it.
Weekly, Midweek and Weekend Deals
Ending 7/20
50% off Broken Age (Steam) - $12.50
Up to 50% off Evolve titles
Up to 87% off SEGA titles
Up to 75% off Stardock titles
All this hardware talk made me think for a moment that I had somehow taken XYZ123 off of ignore.
And even a game I don't especially want I'll take for free if it comes with something I'm already going to buy. Something extra free is better than nothing.
These days if you're going to shell out for for a video card anyway you might as well try to get a free game or two out of it.
I'd rather the cards cost less & not come w/ a game, TBH.
I'm not one to normally #fakeybro games. I only have Batman: AK b/c it came w/ the vid-card and I felt that I needed a new vid-card. I'd never have bought it, otherwise - not this soon, anyways.
My 1 GB VRAM was not handling certain games well enough or even at all to suit me at settings I was aiming for (The Evil Within, AC Unity, Witcher 3, etc etc). B/c of all the hoopla, I figured it'd be the toughest game to toss at my rig - so, I figured "What the hell?!" and just redeemed the key for it.
I'd rather the cards cost less & not come w/ a game, TBH.
I'm not one to normally #fakeybro games. I only have Batman: AK b/c it came w/ the vid-card and I felt that I needed a new vid-card. I'd never have bought it, otherwise - not this soon, anyways.
My 1 GB VRAM was not handling certain games well enough or even at all to suit me at settings I was aiming for (The Evil Within, AC Unity, Witcher 3, etc etc). B/c of all the hoopla, I figured it'd be the toughest game to toss at my rig - so, I figured "What the hell?!" and just redeemed the key for it.
I don't think the games add to the costs of the cards. The hardware manufacturers already work closely with many game publishers and work out deals with them that helps promote the game and the cards.
Besides it's not like the video cards without game offers are really any cheaper.
You could always sell the game on eBay or whatever also.
I don't think the games add to the costs of the cards. The hardware manufacturers already work closely with many game publishers and work out deals with them that helps promote the game and the cards.
Besides it's not like the video cards without game offers are really any cheaper.
You could always sell the game on eBay or whatever also.
Do you really think "free game w/ card" doesn't figures into all the marketing expenses that NVidia, AMD, and vid-card companies like them do?
NVidia has to be spending something, to get all these keys for these games.
In the end, though - it does make both look good; especially if said game runs + looks well w/ said card it's being bundled with; and that they're all working together on the same page.
I could've sold Batman: AK, but wasn't really looking to sell for the $20-30 that at that time it was often going for on The Cesspool. I figured that I might as well just keep the damn thing, at that point.
[1] It seems very odd w/ this game that the game is set-up with a bunch of villains in here, yet these is a severe lack of boss fights w/ any of them. Some of them that are here - they feel very puzzle-like, aren't that fun, or even that interesting. And even some of the boss fights, they just ain't that great here. When a game seems to set-up a lot of possible confrontations, yet it never amounts to much of anything - that's quite disappointing there.
[2] Problem is, this greatness gets overshadowed by its often very repetitive nature in the Main Quest. If they wanted to beat the Batmobile combat + stealth to death, that overdosage of that stuff could've been easily placed in the optional side-quests/challenges. The main quest could've been a lot shorter, a lot less filler - and then, it could've been something special.
[3] I think a great comparison, for me, to Batman: AK would be STALKER: Clear Sky. And that's not b/c of the remixing + rehashing of things in that game - it's for something else, scope-wise. Basically, in Batman AK + STALKER Clear Sky - all the new additions sound awesome & great on paper - and once you first have them, in the palm of your hands. But, once they get over-abused; remain under-cooked for the amount of usage they have in the game; and/or don't even feel like they're used enough - yeah, that tends to drag things down quite a bit.
I will try to make this my last post. I didn't mean to get sucked into this. It's just a mixture of not understanding what you're saying and wonder at setting up your own requirements of what the game should be rather than judging it on what it is.
1. Why u need Mega Man bosses? The bad guys in the game don't really have the power to compete with Batman, The challenge is in solving the menace they pose, locating them, and then putting them away after dealing with their henchmen. For the most part, that's how the other games have worked too, save for guys like Bane and Killer Croc that are very powerful. (will reserve judgement until completing the final 1/4)
2. What part is repetitive? The Batmobile vs. drone segments? There's plenty of stuff to do in between them and it's kind of the key to the story. I've only played up until the mega-tank encounter with Arkham Knight, so I'm assuming the game goes hog-wild with drones from then on?
3. STALKER? New additions that are used too much? You mean the Batmobile? What's the new stuff that's not used enough?
Did you rush through the story and avoid the side missions? I guess parts of it could feel similar if you did that, but that's how all the previous games have been.
Sorry to clog up all the deal talk with Batman. :^o
I will try to make this my last post. I didn't mean to get sucked into this. It's just a mixture of not understanding what you're saying and wonder at setting up your own requirements of what the game should be rather than judging it on what it is.
2. What part is repetitive? The Batmobile vs. drone segments? There's plenty of stuff to do in between them and it's kind of the key to the story. I've only played up until the...
mega-tank encounter with Arkham Knight
...so I'm assuming the game goes hog-wild with drones from then on?
3. STALKER? New additions that are used too much? You mean the Batmobile? What's the new stuff that's not used enough?
Did you rush through the story and avoid the side missions? I guess parts of it could feel similar if you did that, but that's how all the previous games have been.
It's one thing to make puzzle-like and cool boss fights. Origins did a nice mixture of these, w/ the villains coming after Batman's head for money. Most of Batman AK's boss fights - they ain't that interesting, varied, and/or go on way too damn long to suit me.
To go into details (don't read the spoilers until you finish the game)...
The boss fight w/ Arkham Knight in the huge machine race/battle with the Batmobile, when in the underground tunnels - at first, it's cool. It's a puzzle-like thing + racing kind of thing - but you can easily be one-hit killed and reload it. A LOT. You wind-up going through a trial-and-error process of getting the route down path; doing it over and over; then timing it right to be able to defeat this huge machine of his. It gets to be more repetitive, tedious, and boring more so than actually fun.
And one of the later boss-fights w/ Arkham Knight - where he's trying to avoid you, he reveals new parts to the game-area, and tossing more enemies - this just goes on way too long w/out changing much of how it really plays. It was cool after 1 area reveal, where he tries to hide and snipe you out - but downright annoying after more + more + more.
The Joker Level right by the end - this boss-fight level was had its cool elements to it, especially since it story-wise prays on Batman being infected w/ the gas and his state of mind - but some of its stages just go on way too long to be interesting + compelling, for its entire long-winded duration.
Answer to #2:
The overused stuff in Main Quest for gameplay = Batmobile combat sequences; Batmobile stealth sequences.
About storyline-wise over-usage =
...the extreme overusage of kidnapping characters as a plot device.
Answer to #3:
I compared Batman: AK to STALKER: Clear Sky b/c both games, IMHO, are over-ambitious in share size + scope. They try to do A LOT. Clear Sky introduced some new features (such as Faction Wars), which were over-utilized + under-developed for the amount they are used in. That's how I feel about Batman AK's Batmobile sequences - under-developed for the amount that they're actually used in the game.
About what's under-used - the tag-team + character-switching fights w/ your side-kicks, such as Catwoman + Robin. There could've + should've been more of these. These were awesome.
Answer to #4:
I didn't do a lot of side-quests, no. There's not a ton of necessary reasons to do so, other than your point of breaking the gameplay up - since you can finish the game w/ not sinking a ton of points into your character's skills + abilities. Batman: AK is not like Dragon Age: Inquisition - in DA:I, there are points in the game that you do need to grind, so you can level-up to be able to handle the next main quest area/mission/story. Batman doesn't go through that at all.