So, midnight sale at the last shop in Winnipeg that rents (I started buying from there so that they can stay in business, hopefully!), and picked this up.

A FPS with a STORYLINE, and a protagonist that ISN'T silent! I'm amazed!

Also, for being locked up in a tower all her life, Elizabeth is remarkably useful in combat situations. Also, she shares every PC's Klepto tendencies. And tries to brain the first intruder she ever had with a book on Quantum Physics (In 1912!!!) I approve!

Also, free Bioshock 1.

Yeah, I played it for nearly eight hours this morning (from 12:05am to 7:45am), and will shortly be diving back in.

Lots of fun. A bit more frenetic than I like during the big fights (I'm a camper at heart, I hate being so easily and quickly flanked like Infinite allows), and sometimes I wish Elizabeth would stop throwing me coins JUST AS I'M ABOUT TO SEARCH SOMETHING, argh! (Really, the woman has no sense of timing - that, or she's a closet sadist.)

But overall, very very good.

She grew up in a tower with a giant steampunk robotic bird for company. She's surprisingly well socially adapted considering that!

*Sighs* Do to a heavy fear of sleep (Don't ask), I beat it this morning. I'm blown away from the storyline completely!

I'm itchy to start playing but I'm still downloading my copy. Curse my crappy internet.

And I continue to plot to raid my citys' Redboxes to find a copy, since I has no monies to buy one myself.

Well, I'm certainly interested in thinking about the implications of the game quite a bit, and I have to say that it's been a long time since any form of media made me think about this type of situation in a long time.

This one will be a keeper, and I'm wondering what kind of DLC/Expansion Packs are due out for it now. And, yes, there will be some, there's a Season's Pass.

I imagine it's themes would seem all the more relevant, considering the current socio-political climate of things.

A bit, yes, but it's other parts that got me thinking. I think too much about the world's current state (too much for my mental health. ), it's a very deep game.

In the "rabbit hole" sense.

LOL, empowerment fantasy for the modern urban man, who spends his life locked up in an (apartment) tower with more access to heavy books than real weapons.

Grr, trying to finish 100% completion on Tomb Raider so I can trade in for this...


-k

I'd resemble that, but I rent a room in a house.

In terms of gameplay, please compare it to Bioshock 1 for me.

Very similar, you have "Magic" powers, called "Vigors" in this game, but can only carry two different weapons at a time rather than the arsenal that you had in Bioshock. Also, you don't get health packs or Eve syringes that were in Bioshock, so you're much more careful about health and "Salt" (mana) in this game.

On the flipside, you also have shields that regenerate. They're smaller than your health (even when maxed out!), so it's not game-breaking. Cover is your friend!

The area is much less claustrophobic than Rapture, but Agoraphobics (like myself) will not like the difference. The Skyline system is quite inventive, but can be a pain when you're trying to figure out where to go. "Do I jump on this line? That one? Which direction?", but that could just be me. Also, the skyline "hook" you get in the game is also your Melee weapon, which is a nice thing, and the "Executions" are quite interesting!

Clothing replaces "Tonics" from Bioshock 1, but you can only have a hat, shirt, pants, and boots. It can be quite difficult to figure out which to want.

Also, despite Elizabeth being with you through most of the game, it is NOT a constant escort mission. She holds her own (despite being a non-combative), and passes you quite useful items at times. ("Son of a, I'm almost out of... Thank you freaky girl with a thimble for a finger! I needed those Hand Cannon rounds!").

There's no Vita Chamber, but Elizabeth will heal you up if you get "killed", which considering her powers, and the weird syringe she seems to use, as well as the cost in money for it, is a nice break from the "slap on the wrist" that the vita chambers had. Hell, I figured Rapture would have charged me out the *** for respawns! And also explains how she does it in-universe.

So, essentially, same but different, with some nice add-ons.

The shields at max, are equal to yoru healtht at the beginning of the game (in my current playthrough, I consciously decided to build those up to 11, before adding to Health or Salts).

Oh, and: because you don't carry around syringes of EVE or medkits, the various snack/drink items laying about are more important for survival.

...

Oh, one other thing "missing" in Infinite: no hacking ... damnit. All the lock-picking is done by Elizabeth, and simply costs a specified number of lockpicks (which you pick up in 1's and 2's and 3's around the gameworld).

The plumbing... ahem... hacking in Rapture was a bit bland. I ended up getting a refund check yesterday that I was expecting so perhaps I'll get Infinite.

To be fair, neither Booker or Elizabeth have experience with vending machines in their life, so hacking is not possible.

That said, the first Vigor you get can be used on the machines.

Yeah, I don't like the Possession vigor for the simple reason: it's too easy. I liked having to look around, and figure out a good approach to a camera or turret, minimising my exposure time, in order to hack it. Now, though? Clear across the area map, WHAM, turret is mine, WHAM, Motorized Patriot is on my side, etc.

And they had a great mechanic available to them - the same kind of puzzles they used in Industrial Revolution.

So, knowing that I wouldn't be able to play this game for a very long time, I decided to simply watch someone play it on YouTube.

I got engrossed just from watching and ended up watching like 3 or 4 40 minute installments while working on other stuff.

It seems like an excellent game.

But, yeah, Elizabeth kind of strikes me like some kind of fantasy for guys who want a smart, nice, empowered girlfriend who nevertheless likes them and feels the need to hang around and depend on them for some things. The closest real world analogue might be some young lady who's been locked up in some ivy league university with domineering, wealthy parents. Considered in this light, Elizabeth seems to take gory and lethal massacre-firefights with, like, ravens eating people alive and decapitation and shotguns at closer range very, very well. In stride, even.

Which is just fine...I mean, that's why it's entertainment.

The fantasy gets really tainted real quick at the end, I assure you.

...well then, my thumbs hurt for playing this game nonstop for 8 hours.

Really need to stop and sleep, but all I can say is that this game is awesome: DAMN awesome.

Without spoiling anything for anyone else... While I appreciated the writing quite a bit, I still saw the plot twists coming from a mile away. Nihil novi sub sole.

Just finished it.

...

HO.LY.SHIT.

To me, this game is a shining example of video games being an experience. And that video games don't have to be about JUST killing dudes in cool ways, solving puzzles in colorful environments and in unique ways, or to simulate/roleplay as something that you aren't in real life.

Going to need a bit of time to process things: that ending was a doozy.

One thing to warn people about this one though: there are lots, and LOTS of wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey...stuff.

And:

I probably would have, but my brain isn't exactly in good shape right now.

I also just realized how RACIST the naming/advertising of the weapons are in-universe. Really, there are levels upon levels in this game that you just don't get things on the single playthrough. I think the "Broadsider" pistol (The Broomhandle Mauser) is the only one that doesn't have any negative implications to it.

The racism is rampant (and appropriate) throughout the game. While I powered through the game I did catch quite a bit of thing in it (hearing Fortunate Son as a slave hymn was awesome). I did miss the Bioshock 1 feel of upgraded weapons looking different and the randomness of the clothing wore on me a little. You could end up getting awesome stuff (30% faster reload pants, 40% chance for salts on kill) or much less useful stuff that involves doing jump kills which you can't use in most fights.

I was missing the upgraded weapons as well, until I realized that you don't carry the whole arsenal like you do in Bioshock 1. As you switch out from enemy weapons frequently, it'd be hard to implement.

Maybe in the NextGen Consoles/PC games. Yes yes, I know they could do it now for PC Games, but the market that sells today is Console. Except for Kickstarted Indie Games, which is why I'm happy for them!

...

I really need a new time sink, too.

Just ... wow.

I sat baffled for 2h after finishing it.
Do NOT read the spoilers if you haven't finished the game!

So many details ...


I found the general theme progressed logically from the first game(s). In Bioshock's Rapture, we have the extreme extrapolation of Ayn Rand's 'ideals' (if you want to call a flawed and hypocritical philosophy that) represented by Andrew Ryan and Fontaine, and the atheism and self-reliance of the people there lead to a moral abyss of horrible depths. In Columbia, on the other hand, racism and misogyny is rampant.
They hate black people, the Irish, Jews, Native Americans, the Chinese and basically everything that's not American At Heart As Given By The Founders.
It's the other extreme, religious zeal and Manifest Destiny extrapolated to the final consequence.
A candy-colored, happy city, full of horrible ideals, directly under the surface.



My conclusion: Irrational Games really know how to make people think about their material. And they are very, very skilled in crafting nightmarishly dystopian settings that look pretty on the outside but quickly become a bloody and awful mess.
I approve.

"Welcome to what we think a Utopia is. Now, let's see how badly humans can **** it up."

Found this link that compiles together a couple of theories on just what the hell is up with Bioshock Infinite's ending.

http://www.ign.com/wikis/bioshock-infinite..._source=twitter

Don't you just LOVE wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimeys?

I finished the game and I was not impressed. The gameplay was simplistic and repetitive. The storyline was okay. The wrap-up was internally inconsistent, and left huge gaps without explanation. The only part of the game I really enjoyed was the setting, which was beautiful. I feel like it's somewhere between Avatar and Lost; beautiful, makes you want to 'uncover the mystery', but ultimately pretty shallow.

Yes, I do love wibbly-wobbly-time-wimeys -- when they're thought all the way through and make sense. But Bioshock was caught up in the narrative imperative. An hour after the game is done and the euphoria of the ending has faded, well ...

-k

Was I the only one really disappointed when in the end, when you visit a spiffed up version of...you know...you didn't also get to visit a next gen vision of Citadel Station and the Von Braun?

So, I bought Bioshock Infinite yesterday, as GameStop was offering it for half off on their download service. Amusingly, it only installed a little utility that installed the game itself through Steam.

Just arrived at Monument Island. Having fun so far.

Did the guy hit on you by suggesting Gecko-Roman style wrestling?

Er... you mean Greco-Roman? No, I haven't met anyone who suggested that.

Yeah, just woke up from my nap. Fingers didn't work yet.

And apparently he doesn't always do it.

I have a weakness for blue-eyed brunettes, and man, Elizabeth is punching that button really hard. O.o

Finished it.



I enjoyed it. It's a little too linear to go back and replay immediately, but I probably will replay it at some point.

And now to wait for the Noir-esque DLC in Rapture!

Burial At Sea trailer #1



-k

I just finished Burial At Sea, episode 2. Was Ken Levine on downers when he wrote the DLC?

Also: Jesus H. Christ fucking Tom Cruise in the ass while Nicole Kidman and Katie Holmes cheer Him on, Frank Fontaine was a monster.

I finished my second playthrough of the main campaign yesterday. The ending doesn't make a whole lot of sense, the second time around. Elizabeth drowns Booker, ostensibly to prevent him from becoming Comstock... but this version of Booker already rejected the baptism. He's already past the decision-point; and, having seen Comstock's work, can presumably be relied upon to never reconsider his decision. So, what's Elizabeth's motivation for killing him, again?

Wasn't it to prevent everything?

That's what I'm saying: killing the player-character Booker doesn't actually prevent anything.

There are two factors: Booker's decision to either accept or reject the baptism, and Booker's personal timeline(s).

The Bookers who accept the baptism become Comstocks. The Bookers who reject it don't. The player-character Booker is one of the latter: one of the scenes Elizabeth takes you to after destroying the siphon is Booker's almost-baptism, where we see him reject it. The Booker who rescues Elizabeth already faced the choice of whether to become Comstock, and chose not to.

Additionally, in order to prevent a Booker from becoming a Comstock, he must be killed at a point in his timeline before his baptism. Again, in the player-Booker's personal timeline, even if he were going to become Comstock, it's too late. If he had chosen to accept the baptism, he would already be Comstock by the time the game opens, twenty years after Anna/Elizabeth's abduction.

Player-Booker wasn't Comstock, isn't Comstock, and will never be Comstock. Killing him accomplishes nothing.

It deletes all the Bookers at that point in time. Then you have no Booker or Anna.

How do you figure?

If you don't kill all the Bookers that attended the baptism, regardless of if they became Comstock or not, to prevent a paradox you have to destroy them all. Then any remaining Bookers would only be ones that never even came to that point in time.