[Megathread] Bioshock Infinite

[Deleted]

Well this game is pretty hyped by people so I decided to get it. I am at the Smith Shop or whatever it's called where you go to find Lin and get the weapons for the resistance. I looked up a guide and it seems that I am about half way through the game and I m still waiting to be impressed by anything. I ve read people say wow amazing game, top story, good combat and I don't like any of those so far. The combat is so blunt and boring :/ Graphics are sweet but that doesn't save this game for me.

Never have I been let down by a game but this just feels a little hastily made with not much feel to the gameplay. I will mention I haven't played Bioshock game before. Am I still behind in the story or should i just drop this game, cause i m fighting the urge to go replay ME3 or Borderlands 2 again.

[Fencers]

Well this game is pretty hyped by people so I decided to get it. I am at the Smith Shop or whatever it's called where you go to find Lin and get the weapons for the resistance. I looked up a guide and it seems that I am about half way through the game and I m still waiting to be impressed by anything. I ve read people say wow amazing game, top story, good combat and I don't like any of those so far. The combat is so blunt and boring :/ Graphics are sweet but that doesn't save this game for me.

Never have I been let down by a game but this just feels a little hastily made with not much feel to the gameplay. I will mention I haven't played Bioshock game before. Am I still behind in the story or should i just drop this game, cause i m fighting the urge to go replay ME3 or Borderlands 2 again.

Probably should drop it if the premise isn't intriguing. The gameplay remains constant throughout. So it's not like some super amazing mechanic is introduced that blows your mind after the skyrail thing.

Setting and story telling are the game's trump card.

Like if it doesn't blow your mind that a black slave is signing Fortunate Son as a spiritual than the game's importance is dashed.

[Deleted]

No i don't get this at all. I do enjoy the story a bit, it s definitely out of the ordinary. But by you quoting Fortunate Son as something important I am made to believe I don't get this game's allegories. What I do make out so far are time rifts and the girl can somehow control them. And I also appreciate the brainwashing that happens through religion and how the man behind this has in a sense rewritten history as these people know it. People of African and Asian ethnicities are opressed and so on. But that's as far as it goes for me. I feel limited half the time by just 2 powers and 2 weapons.

To be fair I m gonna finish this game because I am curious to see how the story plays out and why is everything stuck in the early 1900s but with technology of the future and maybe find how the cities are being floated or how is the girl different and what is being intended for her to do.

Maybe it has a lot of references in US history that I can't appreciate.

[Jamber]

I feel limited half the time by just 2 powers and 2 weapons.

Unless there's some limit on a console from not on PC, you aren't limited to just two powers. You have all of them available on a wheel. You can just quickswap between two. Popping up the wheel even pauses the game while you pick.

[Fencers]

Maybe it has a lot of references in US history that I can't appreciate.

Erm. That's kind of the whole point. The game is a play on an idealized America that never was in parallel to modern American mythologizing. In Columbia, they made those myths of the American south and per-abolition era real.

Again, that's sort of the point of the game...

[ro9ue]

92/100 from me. I loved everything about this game except the combat system and gameplay. At one point I was hoping they would've just put in a story mode where it just plays through for you. The garbage mechanics got in the way of an incredible story, characters and setting

[Endus]

No i don't get this at all. I do enjoy the story a bit, it s definitely out of the ordinary. But by you quoting Fortunate Son as something important I am made to believe I don't get this game's allegories. What I do make out so far are time rifts and the girl can somehow control them. And I also appreciate the brainwashing that happens through religion and how the man behind this has in a sense rewritten history as these people know it. People of African and Asian ethnicities are opressed and so on. But that's as far as it goes for me.

Then yes, you're missing out on 90% of the story's references and import, and that's leading you to misinterpret the 10% you are getting.

There's two ways of telling a story. The more common one, today, is to hold the audience by the hand and treat them like they're ignorant of everything. The other, which I appreciate more, is to leave them the pattern of significance, and if they lack the knowledge to understand the why, they should seek it out themselves.

For instance; Columbia is not based on a rewriting of history. Not really. It's an alternative extension of real history. The major background events are the same for Columbia, and for the real world. There is no real "brainwashing", unless you're referring to Elizabeth (and that's not really what was happening, there); people are not being deluded by religion, they're True Believers. They're in Columbia because they believe in Comstock's vision, not because they've been forced to exclude other options. The kind of racism and brutality you see in Columbia is not unique; that stuff actually happened, in the real world. That's not rewritten; it's transplanted from its original setting into Columbia.

The whole thing is predicated on the real history, and without getting into story spoilers, there's a significant meta-story wrapped around the whole thing that likely only becomes clear right at the end (I still need to play through a second time, to better see the foreshadowing and such). It's all fairly subtle, without big flashing arrows saying "THIS IS IMPORTANT AND WE WILL NOW EXPLAIN IT IN DETAIL", but it's all there. It's a style of writing where, instead of telling you everything, it says "by the way, this is important", and if you don't understand why, the onus is on you to figure it out.

A story being told is only one part of the equation. The person it is told to is part of the system as well. If you're not meeting the story halfway, you're going to miss out.

[WarpedAcorn]

It was dull and unoriginal. They could have done much more with the tools they had rather then just having the player shoot everyone in the face. I aslo dislike the "clown car" enemies. Where at a predetermined time, they just start to poor out of doors. If you go back to the original intent of the game, where they had shown much more complex and nuanced game play, you'll see what is missing from the released product. There are still hints at what the combat could have been, things like the sniper rifle that could have supported different play styles.

That is the best and most hilarious way to describe the combat.

[Shinzai]

That is the best and most hilarious way to describe the combat.

Yeah, unfortunately it applies to far too many games these days. Reach point A, prepare for battle arena. Progress through area B with a few enemies already laying in wait, reach point C, engage in another battle arena.

[Deleted]

@Endus I was aware that Columbia has evolved differently than the rest of the "world", I wasn't talking about the negro bashing being the rewritten history. I was talking about how Comstock uses the methods of a religious doctrine to keep the people from questioning what he is doing with his other issues, saviour of the people and all. The thing is I get the hint on a lot of the thing people are mentioning but it s just not exciting at all for me. I will keep playing though to see how it all pans out.

[Kujako]

Yeah, unfortunately it applies to far too many games these days. Reach point A, prepare for battle arena. Progress through area B with a few enemies already laying in wait, reach point C, engage in another battle arena.

This game is worse then most in the regards. Anytime I clear an area with a locked door I just know I'll be back through here in a bit and there will be 20 guys crammed into a small room behind the door waiting for me. They must be in there during the first battle, but for some reason they wait till I'm heading back to spring out and yell surprise.

Perhaps they think its a surprise party... now I feel bad for all the bullets to the face.

[WarpedAcorn]

This game is worse then most in the regards. Anytime I clear an area with a locked door I just know I'll be back through here in a bit and there will be 20 guys crammed into a small room behind the door waiting for me. They must be in there during the first battle, but for some reason they wait till I'm heading back to spring out and yell surprise.

Perhaps they think its a surprise party... now I feel bad for all the bullets to the face.

I think DragonAge 2 was worse...though from what I saw of Defiance in AngryJoe's review the other day, it might be even worse with regards to waves of enemies appearing from the same door.

[SirRobin]

The most impressive part of BSI was that there was nothing which actively detracted from the rest of the game. While the combat was relatively bland. It wasn't actually "bad."

Yahtzee's review.



The shinfles. lol

[WarpedAcorn]

The most impressive part of BSI was that there was nothing which actively detracted from the rest of the game. While the combat was relatively bland. It wasn't actually "bad."

The most impressive thing, in my opinion, was that everything you see in the game is intentional. If you think you see something that doesn't look or sound right, its intentional. But the crazy thing is that you are not specifically told to pay attention to it. Its just there as a part of the setting.

Honorable Mention: Songbird's friggin deathcry in Bioshock 1!? How long have they been planning this!? 0.o

[Kujako]

While the combat was relatively bland. It wasn't actually "bad."

True. The only issue really is that what they showed and said prior to the game being finished indicated that they had far grander things planned then what we got. For example one of the early videos showed how you could holster your weapon and blend in with a crowd of Vox Populi to avoid fighting. They would only attack once you drew your weapon. Likewise there was talk of far more complex things being pulled from a rift. As it stands, it seems like the only difference between dimensions is where the fright hooks are. And frankly it didn't make sense to me that the turret she pulled through a rift would automatically be on your side.

[arantes]

True. The only issue really is that what they showed and said prior to the game being finished indicated that they had far grander things planned then what we got. For example one of the early videos showed how you could holster your weapon and blend in with a crowd of Vox Populi to avoid fighting. They would only attack once you drew your weapon. Likewise there was talk of far more complex things being pulled from a rift. As it stands, it seems like the only difference between dimensions is where the fright hooks are. And frankly it didn't make sense to me that the turret she pulled through a rift would automatically be on your side.

Well, opening rifts is a little bit about wish-fulfillment so I'll buy every one you open being "on your side". I do wish the things you mentioned had made it in though.

[Svifnymr]

Yeah, unfortunately it applies to far too many games these days. Reach point A, prepare for battle arena. Progress through area B with a few enemies already laying in wait, reach point C, engage in another battle arena.

I was actually complaining to a friend about this in Halo4. Vast open stretches, then a set-piece battle that you clear out before another vast open stretch.

Bioshock Infinite has these of course, but does blend it a bit better than most such games lately, so it didn't bother me here.

---------- Post added 2013-04-15 at 07:38 PM ----------

The only problem with the parallel universes theory is that if that was possible, the chance of a person existing at all is so small that if you take one at random, there wont be another you there. Just think about it. For you to be born (a person that even looks like you and shares your personality), the same "sprinter" would have to win the race. If you have brothers or sisters otherwise youd just have a brother or sister instead of you being born. And the same is true for your parents, their parents and so on for billions of years.

So even if you just take all the universes where you were born, the chance that you have someone else there that you know except for your parents and anyone who directly influenced your birth is astronomically small. .

Actually they make a point that certain elements are constant across all existences. It's a bit Eternal Champion at times, but they do address it here and there.

Perhaps someone can clear up one thing for me though: The "twins", were they the same person but born either male or female, or were they actual twins and in some universes the male died and in others the female died?

Was Lady Comstock, Bookers wife that died in childbirth?

I'll ignore the idea that Comstock somehow bought Bookers debt in order to extract the child from him, rather than just kidnapping her.

[bigfoot1291]

The most impressive thing, in my opinion, was that everything you see in the game is intentional. If you think you see something that doesn't look or sound right, its intentional. But the crazy thing is that you are not specifically told to pay attention to it. Its just there as a part of the setting.

Honorable Mention: Songbird's friggin deathcry in Bioshock 1!? How long have they been planning this!? 0.o

That "deathcry" is just ambiance. You can hear it throughout the entire level.

[wombinator04]

That "deathcry" is just ambiance. You can hear it throughout the entire level.

Or...or Kevin Levine is just a creative mastermind.

[Jamber]

There's a large possibility that songbird's "voice" was created after the sound we heard in BS1. Even if it is the exact same soundbyte, I don't think we have enough evidence to prove this was planned years in advance.

Although, that being said, it's a possibility. I feel they had much grander ideas for Infinite, too many in fact, and just didn't have the time to fit everything in. That would explain shoehorned mechanics and seemingly missed opportunities.