Bioshock Infinite

[Bored of Canada]

Here is a Very Interesting Article. You can see it's interesting because I capitalised three words. Seriously. It's very fascinating.

[The Boston Crab]

Very.

[Bored of Canada]

Here's a new video, which is partly promotional, and also an attempt to put faces to the game to make people understand that it's more than Ken Levine, and employers should consider hiring them now that they've all been made redundant.

http://www.polygon.com/2014/3/11/5493926/bioshock-infinites-burial-at-sea-episode-two-dlc-promo-comes-with-an

Seriously though, the gameplay in these looks interesting. The fact that they've announced you can get through this without killing anyone, and the stuff in here where it's far more stealth focused and actually added in a proper self-system is really interesting. Probably be like a more linear version of the original Deus Ex in terms of mechanics, which is cool.

I fluctuate between annoyance and sheer excitement for these. I'm back on the excited side, but I mostly just want this to be out so I can get some closure.

[Bored of Canada]

Playing the new and final DLC now.

So far, so good. And by good, I don't just mean the narrative and "SHIT SHOOTAN THOUGH LUDONARRATIVE DISSONENCE" whatever the fuck.
I think, for me, they've finally cracked the gameplay, because they've just turned it into an actual stealth game. I mean, an actual stealth game. You're now mainly trying to get behind people to knock 'em out, avoiding glass and puddles, you're way more vulnerable, and even the level design's a bit more interesting. With vents and high ledges now. Bit of Dishonored in this.

I'm not sure if you can play it easily as a shooter, there does seem to be guns, but bullets were more sparse in the last one, and I've only found five for my handgun currently, so seems to be keeping with the Survival Horror Stealth influences. It doesn't seem too viable to be trying to shoot your way through, maybe on easy, but it's a struggle to find bullets.

I've actually been killed once in this, and you don't just respawn with all the people remaining dead now, which honestly, fixes a lot of issues with Bioshock and encourages stealth and taking it slow. I've a lot of love for the original Bioshock, but I remember not enjoying the actual feel to the combat too much when I played that one. It always felt like everyone was sponges and didn't react to your bullets and such, but I guess that was to inspire experimentation and such, but I never loved it. It was a means to an end. This one, being a stealth game, seems to work quite well as a Stealth game.

I think with the way people talk about these DLC, and the death of Irrational, and Ken Levine going to do other things, this'll be a sort of goodbye to the series as a whole, and so far, from the near hour I've played, I'm enjoying it and it's shaping up to be a worthy final.

If you hate stealth, then I don't know how you'd feel about it, but I think this works significantly better gameplay wise than any of the other Bioshocks really. Bioshock 2's combat was solid, but again, I wasn't particularly playing it for the combat.

But me? I just fucking love stealth games. So, yeah. So far, so good. Just checking reviews now, and it all seems to be much more positive. So that's good. You still wouldn't be able to play this one without playing the first act though.


Oh. By the way, I've not killed anyone yet. I'm going for a no-kill run. Who'd of thought that was possible in Bioshock Infinite?

[Bored of Canada]

Finished this. Took me a decent while to finish it, and I missed about two or three audio diaries.

I enjoyed it. The gameplay was fun, the world was pretty gorgeous, I felt the actual narrative disappointed a bit, as it didn't tell a new story.
It's frustrating. Because it literally has infinite possibilities of the story it can be telling, but they chose to just do a fan-fiction that

Spoiler alert

Basically just creates connections to things we've already known, but in doing so, doesn't spin anything new or compelling. Just a basic filling in of the blanks which I don't really give a shit about.

[close]

Spoiler alert

Honestly, I would have liked more of Columbia in this. And I feel Ken Levine may not be as imaginative writer he could be with this. After the end of the first episode and Infinite, Elizabeth is an omnipresent God-Like figure who can control tears, and can go to any universe. All seeing of every strand, so Ken Levine just contrivedly kills her off, off-camera, in that first minute. Perhaps this is an attempt to give her an arc, but she's already completed her arc. To take away her arc like that just feels contrived and a betrayel, much like the unsatisfying feeling in that final season of the Wire, where suddenly all of the work of his character in the past, (to allow the actor to take a break and return to England for a bit) is undone off camera just so he can be back at square one for that final season.

Rapture feels very explored now. I've had enough of Rapture, I would have liked more in Columbia, to flesh out...I don't know. Something. But what was done felt very unsatisfying and a bit dull given the possibilities set up in the conclusion of Bioshock Infinite proper.

Perhaps it was just the wrong idea to continue on with DLC, or even the Bioshock series after the conclusion of Infinite.

[close]

In conclusion, this continues to be flawed. Every single Bioshock game was inherently flawed in various ways. This one's gameplay is quite fun, the stealth systems aren't as in-depth as a proper stealth-game, obviously. You can't go in expecting Dishonored for a small piece of DLC of a Shooter, but it's still very good. The narrative is very fan-fictiony, and doesn't really add much to your interpretation of the universe, or the characters. It just fills in a few blanks which honestly, you probably didn't care about knowing, and even if you did, it's more fun leaving it to your interpretation.

I have a lot of thoughts about the narrative issues with this that I'm going to stew on and write properly about. Won't bother you guys here as I don't even know if people here are going to be . Might make a blog post or something about it.

[Thursday]

I'm an hour in, and it's certainly intriguing. I actually find myself getting lost quite a bit since it's so dark it's hard to get my bearings and distinguish the different paths. I already suspected it would feel a bit like fan fiction when they mentioned that just about every Bioshock character would make an appearance. (Although, presumably no Bioshock 2 characters)

[Thursday]

Hmm that ending felt a bit abrupt.

Spoiler alert

It explains things or retroactively ties things together that don't need to be, yet so much of it's own story isn't really explained. I'm still not really sure who Sally is, why Elizabeth is imagining Booker talking to her, and uh, did she actually get out, or was she dying but happy because she'd set out to achieve what she'd planned or what?

It seemed like it really rushed through and glossed over everything that expanded the possibilities at the end of Infinite but really hammered home the fact that the events connected to Bioshock 1 but who really cares about that?

All that said it was incredibly exciting and tense as I was playing it, but it all turned out to be interested in a completely different answers to me.

[close]

[Bored of Canada]

Hmm that ending felt a bit abrupt.

Spoiler alert

It explains things or retroactively ties things together that don't need to be, yet so much of it's own story isn't really explained. I'm still not really sure who Sally is, why Elizabeth is imagining Booker talking to her, and uh, did she actually get out, or was she dying but happy because she'd set out to achieve what she'd planned or what?

It seemed like it really rushed through and glossed over everything that expanded the possibilities at the end of Infinite but really hammered home the fact that the events connected to Bioshock 1 but who really cares about that?

All that said it was incredibly exciting and tense as I was playing it, but it all turned out to be interested in a completely different answers to me.

[close]

Spoiler alert

Definitely. What it does, is turn itself and Bioshock Infinite into a conclusion for the original Bioshock. A game which was already concluded and wrapped up. It perverts Infinite's narrative and changes the meaning, so it's all some elaborate scheme where Elizabeth's characters core NEED is to stop Atlas, and save the young girls of Rapture, discovered upon gaining her true potential by seeing the infinite multiverses at once, being out of place and time, and being able to shift between them?

It just limits the scope, and feels completely unnecessary.

What it does is sacrifices her character and entire narrative of Infinite for a story and character who was already wrapped up, not to mention one-note. He's a silent protagonist slave who ends as either a one-note baddie or a goodie. Why would you throw away the countless opportunities of the premise proposed at the end of Infinite to obsessively tongue lick your past work like a fan ret-conning details for their fan-fiction.

I didn't care about Sally whatsoever. I could give a fuck. I wasn't sure of the relevance of her, and her implementation was ineffective, in that I didn't care about her. As a character want, I didn't understand it really, other than the basic human empathy of wanting to save a child, but hey, as Atlas points out, there's loads of other girls that she'd be able to save.

[close]

I really enjoyed it regardless. I think despite the flaws, it really did go quite a way to solving the problems that have been held towards the systems of the series since the start, but especially with Infinite. The gameplay was great fun and it is ridiculously fucking gorgeous. I mean, it is disgusting how lavish the production values are.

It's their swansong. I'd be surprised if there was another Bioshock, and Irrational are now, unfortunately, gone. So I think as a final little piece, it's nice. I would have preferred a braver ending, but for what it is, I'm happy with all my experiences of these games. They were definitely a thing, and I really liked them.

Spoiler alert

Did you watch Sander Cohen's newest experimental film?

Lovely, lovely, lovely.

[close]

[wasp_f15ting]

Just completed Burial at sea pt 2, what a masterpiece.

One of the finest pieces of gaming ever. I played all 3 of them, and really enjoyed it. I think Bioshock 1 peaked with that surreal atmosphere and gorgeous set pieces. Infinite was stunning too.. I was in tears at the opening sequence when you first enter Columbia. It is a stunning achievement, and I hope that any gamers out there make an effort to play them all.

It looks especially gorgeous on the PC, took some screenshots - there maybe spoilers so be warned..

http://steamcommunity.com/id/OG10/screenshots/

[The Boston Crab]

The Paris opening to part two was as beautiful as anything I've played, as with the opening of Infinite. Staggering world creation from just brief glimpses of the reality. Elizabeth is a far more interesting character than Booker. Which is why it's an enormous shame that the stealth hype was total bullshit and I was radar ranging desperately to stay alive. Maybe I'm shit at stealth but the violent action was even more jarring and mood-breaking with this protagonist. This series had some of the greatest moments of any game I've played. The social satire and criticism wasn't especially interesting to me and was pretty heavy handed overall but the ability to shift mood and subvert emotional responses to the world was pretty special on occasion. All the shooting and magic stuff was an absolute chore though. Can't wait to see what he does next though.

[Shade]

I just got round to finishing Burial at Sea the other day after replaying Infinite. I enjoyed playing Part 2, the stealth was ok, I thought at first you had to stay crouched in the shadows to avoid detection and silently move around to avoid detection, as is usually the case. Turns out it's to do with distance, making clobbering Splicers over the head with the Sky Hook Air Grabber a bit of a chore. I'd be sneaking up behind them, or hiding on a ledge and the "awareness" bar above their head would increase, eventually putting them on alert just as I was preparing to strike. Having said all that, it does get a lot easier when you find the Peeping Tom upgrades.
The whole story just seemed pointless though, I spent about 2 hours trying to save a little girl, and I still have no idea who she is or what her significance is. It's like Atlas said, there's dozens of other little sisters Elizabeth could have saved back in Rapture. I did like the bit with Fitzroy though, when she died was around about where Infinite started to go downhill a bit for me, as the story focused on Booker and Elizabeth from then on.

Burial at Sea did answer one question for me though.  When playing Infinite I noticed there was no mention of ADAM, and wondered what it was that powered the Vigours since I doubt there's many sea slugs in Battleship Bay. There's an audio diary in Finks lab where he curses Suchong for choosing such a costly method of manufacturing ADAM, as he was constantly having to send people to the bottom of the ocean to collect slugs, and drinkable vigours/plasmids use 10x more ADAM than hypos.

As TBC said, Paris looked amazing, they should think about expanding on that in any future games.

[Artemis]

I don't game at all really, and the last one I played was COD MW2 which I thought was brilliant.

I started this today without knowing much about it other than its high ratings.

Fucking. Hell. This is a thing of absolute beauty.

[Kelvin]

I don't game at all really, and the last one I played was COD MW2 which I thought was brilliant.

I started this today without knowing much about it other than its high ratings.

Fucking. Hell. This is a thing of absolute beauty.

I've talked about this a few pages back, but even if it's not the BEST GAME EVER!! in terms of gameplay[nb]although for my money, it's still bloody good in this respect[/nb], as an "experience", Infinite is second to none.

For the first time in my life, I actually envy you, Artemis. 

[Artemis]

For the first time in my life, I actually envy you, Artemis.

I know it's difficult to believe what your conscious mind is refusing to let you accept, but really - there's genuinely so much to envy[nb]or so goes my mantra[/nb].

[Thursday]

With a bit of distance, I think I did get a bit swept up in the hype over Infinite and maybe felt defensive over it. But I do still find some of the backlash ridiculous.

I think to my mind it was a bit like a Doctor Who season finale (I've not actually watched that in years, but even so) It just seems impossibly exciting at the time as all the plot threads twist and turn and you get genuinely caught up in all the emotions and drama. Then you go online and think about it a bit more and realize certain elements weren't that good or didn't really make much  sense, but they aren't things that bothered me at the time. And part of the problem is because it's a game, the standards are lower and it gets hyped up as the most profound, intelligent piece of media ever created. Which means the backlash inevitably has to be bigger in proportion to it.

But if you can isolate it from all that, I still think it's a fantastic game.