This thread is about Bioshock Infinite

[SanAndreasX]

The latest in Irrational Games's first-person adventure series is coming out March 26.

It is one of my most anticipated games of the year. I like everything I see about it so far, and the aesthetics look cool. The shooting will probably be kind of weaksauce, but since I'm not a big shooter fan, I'm not too worried about that.

What's funny is that I didn't really care much about Bioshock 1 or 2 at all.

Discuss.

[volvocrusher]

Definitely like the look of the city more than Rapture's, I just want proof that the shooting will be bearable. I'm not asking for much, just more than 1's where I never knew if I actually hit an enemy unless I saw the change in the health bar.

[SanAndreasX]

I hope it is an improvement over Bioshock 1 and 2 myself. I'm not too good with first-person shooting. Fallout 3 and New Vegas had the VATS system which made the combat bearable for me.

[Miraculous Kaydybug]

I dig the artstyle also tits, but I'm with Greenman. The combat and gameplay just look boring. I'll wait on it till i hear some opinions. Also Tomb Raider is getting my March money.

[b.b.hagen]

The atmosphere of Bioshock is what always enthralled me. The shooting/plasmid mechanics weren't really an issue for me.

But yeah, I'm very excited for Infinite. I still remember when the game was revealed and how weird "Bioshock in the sky" seemed. I can't wait.

[SanAndreasX]

The atmosphere of Bioshock is what always enthralled me. The shooting/plasmid mechanics weren't really an issue for me.

But yeah, I'm very excited for Infinite. I still remember when the game was revealed and how weird "Bioshock in the sky" seemed. I can't wait.

I didn't like the shooting, but I thought the plasmids were pretty awesome. The time manipulation mechanic in Infinite will hopefully be interesting.

[Krubixcube]

I play games for the atmosphere and story mostly and if the gameplay is adequate then I'm in...if it's great I'm even more in.

So as you can imagine I'm pretty damn excited.

Hmmm...I have some free days built up at work...Might just take some days off around my b-day and Bioshock infinite it up in my underwear eating delivery sushi hahahahaha. Yes.

[Nephilimi]

It's all about the atmosphere for me. Can't wait for this one.

[Krubixcube]

Me and Neph are agreeing something. Rejoice people, rejoice =p. Also, good to have you back buddy.

[Nephilimi]

Me and Neph are agreeing something. Rejoice people, rejoice =p. Also, good to have you back buddy.

We agree about lots of things. I think we actually agree much more than we disagree. We are both so opinionated that any little difference turns into a mess.

[volvocrusher]

Me and Neph are agreeing something. Rejoice people, rejoice =p. Also, good to have you back buddy.

We agree about lots of things. I think we actually agree much more than we disagree. We are both so opinionated that any little difference turns into a mess.

Plus I usually get involve and there's little all three of us agree on. Like Bioshock Infinite!

[Nephilimi]

Me and Neph are agreeing something. Rejoice people, rejoice =p. Also, good to have you back buddy.

We agree about lots of things. I think we actually agree much more than we disagree. We are both so opinionated that any little difference turns into a mess.

Plus I usually get involve and there's little all three of us agree on. Like Bioshock Infinite!

What's that quote from The Wire? Three Polaks and five opinions... yeah that's us.

[Krubixcube]

Sounds about right to me.

[Nephilimi]

I watched an hour interview with Levine. That dude is a smart. Super excited for Tuesday.

[ajapam]

Pre-loading this onto my computer right now. Pretty excited to boot it up when the day comes

[Krubixcube]

Did you have to pay extra for that preloading stuff?

[ajapam]

No, I paid $60 on steam and it was the only purchase option on the page.

[Krubixcube]

Oh you're right! Awesome, I will get it loading tonight! =D

[Motinator]

It's cool when a game like this comes out and everyone's all excited. It wasn't really on my radar but with all this buzz... I need to play the original first haha.

[Nephilimi]

You NEED to play the original because it's incredible and a classic.

But you wouldn't need to play Bioshock before playing Bioshock Infinite. They are completely different storylines.

[Krubixcube]

Played only the first few hours and I'm loving it so far. There are so many little MYSTERIES and I love mysteries.

[ajapam]

My computer that could've played this died for the 4th time in less than 3 months. so I'm not playing it, sadly

... I'm pretty sure I deserve a replacement for that thing

[Krubixcube]

I'm pretty sure you deserve a hug...

[Krubixcube]

Thank god i have a VPN because despite BUYING the game and it being out if I connect through the Japanese server it's like "THE GAME ISN'T OUT YET, BUT IT'S PRELOADED!" then I go to the US one and it's fine...but that's stupidly annoying.

Good lord I am loving this game

Spoiler:

[Nephilimi]

Ughh, super super unimpressed with the game so far. It's still a decent game but I was expecting Bioshock 1 (aka brilliance). At least the shooting is improved... but the two gun system ruins counters any improvement because 2 gun systems are dumb.

Because I like lists

1) Bioshock had such an interesting premise and it was facinating. A world without ethics leads to this and this etc. So much potential for discussion. As opposed to Infinite and it's ham fisted message of racism bad. Okay I get it. They're racists, like hardcore 1800s racists. Great. Move on. The raffle scene was shocking for sure, then it's all down hill. What an incredibly interesting and relevant topic... hardcore racism... because that's just such an issue these days. The game has already made me really take a hard look at myself and I've found that I should really stop murdering helpless asian people with crows. Brilliant.

2) So the game establishes that they're racists and then it's like a green light for genocide. That's the only reason you're given for slaughtering these people. And the game is constantly reminding you that they're racist so the continued murder can be justified. There's no context for anything you're doing. Head to the tower killing people on your way. Head to the blimp killing people on your way.

3) Where are the interesting characters? Fuck. Even Bioshock 2 has a couple gems and that game was bad. And fuck you Nolan North for voicing the main character... wait it's not Nolan North... fuck you for hiring a guy that sounds exactly like Nolan North.

4) And it's awkward and nonsensical how the game constantly shifts from happy, paradise, simple life to hell. You walk through a street and there's children playing, and people laughing and whatnot, then two seconds later it's like a riot went through and there's food rotting and stores have been boarded up and the city has been abandoned for months. It's happened four times so far and it literally makes no sense not to mention how jarring it feels. Bioshock 1 was this incredible journey exploring a ruined civilization and trying to piece things together. This game is just depressing. You feel like a monster ruining the lives of these racist bumpkins. It's like grabbing a shotgun and gunning down people in a quite mormon community shouting, "That's for hating the gays, you ignorant fucks."

5) Sorry Twolf I disagree. I would rather a game go modern shooter style and just ignore the violence then do the half assed "lets make a big deal about the first kill... then never talk about it again on your way to 80,000 in game kills". If you really want to address violence it needs to be a game long effort like Spec Ops, not this half assed garbage. Also the execution kills bother me. They feel so unnecessary gory.

6) Oh and as far as mystery I'm going to spoil the ending for you Twolf. Booker doesn't exist or something dumb. Elizabeth called him through a tear and he made up his backstory and he is a puppet for some other person's agenda.

[Krubixcube]

I wouldn't say it's about just racism though...it's much more about fanaticism and religious zealotry in my mind. Seeing only racism becasue that's what's on the surface is a bit...much I think.

Also, I think right from the getgo it's established that Booker isn't a wonderful person. He's with the Pinkertons who were NOTORIOUS, he's a war vet, he has gambling debts and who knows what else. And once again they're playing with shooter conventions. When Elizabeth is horrified over the shooting his only response is "What do you expect?" These are people that have been literally isolated so the fact that they're fanatical...well, makes sense. There are still situations I'm not sure whether to shoot or not and I've been rewarded for that on several occassions. Whatever ISN'T working for you is specifically working for me.

As for the voice actor...he's doing a fine job so far. I wouldn't have chosen him as my first choice but I think that's a petty complaint.


But I will say, from what I've been looking at seeing that it's just "racism is bad" seems to be seeing only about 20% of what I'm seeing. That's like watching Deadwood and only seeing the racism, or ANY period piece and only seeing the racism. Yes, racism is ABSOLUTELY a piece of the story, but it's only part of what helps us understand the society. The fact that it's a racist society doesn't necessarily endorse it's destruction...the fact that their religious zealots shooting at you does that for me.

Given, I'm not very far in so something may change my view of that but so far... Idon't know, I love that period of history, I love that debate. If you had a game about a successionist American colony of religious fanatics that WEREN'T overtly racist I would find it strange. I appreciate they have the balls to put it in. And I think unlike a lot of games dealing with similar topics it's not showing these drawn out cutscenes showing the baddy kill a black guy and then say the N word it's just treated as normal in that society. Not to mention a lot of the terms they use aren't modern but from back then...I think it works. You might see it as a simple "oh it's a racist thing" but that's like saying The Civil War was caused by racism. That's certainly a part of it but it ignores EVERYTHING else it boil it down to that. There's a LOT in this game you're not discussing, the worshiping of the founding fathers, the prophet, the sci fi elements, the mysterious characters, the little details.

As for the pacing...I think it works. It goes from happy town to rotting fruit and stuff because well...the society hasn't collapsed but it's rotting from within. There's resistance movements, darker more fanatical cults, but the happy sections are showing a happy...ignorant populace and seeing all the facets of it is fascinating to me.

[Krubixcube]

4) And it's awkward and nonsensical how the game constantly shifts from happy, paradise, simple life to hell. You walk through a street and there's children playing, and people laughing and whatnot, then two seconds later it's like a riot went through and there's food rotting and stores have been boarded up and the city has been abandoned for months.

But it' s a city that' sfloating as separate islands...it does make sense.

As for your thing about the violence, you are right about that if its main theme was to contemplate violence it would need the whole game but it's not. I was merely pointing it out as a nicely written, human moment that I enjoyed.

[Nephilimi]

How is it about religious zealotry?! The majority of the people are just normal misguided folks going about thier daily business. They are told that you're a threat to their lifestyle and after the first genoicide they have every right to try and stop you. You're fighting police for the entire beginning of the game! Okay a chick caught herself on fire and there's one church scene with cult members... what else do you have? The game is just beating you over the head constantly with racism to the point where it's irrelevant. Like The Dictator.

The fact that Booker is a bad guy doesn't make killing without context somehow meaningful. You need some sort of personal motivation as the player and that's lacking. I keep wanting to just let these folks go about their business. I hate being forced to do things in games that I don't like, and I hate being forced to kill police.

And the first kill pause has become a shooter convention. There's nothing here that's original about Elizabeth's reaction. But we will see if it continues or if her character progresses. I've noticed her flinching and cowering sometimes, if that changes to confidence later then it would be a nice touch.

The voice actor is not doing a fine job. A fine job would be doing anything other than Nolan North and every second male lead in video games. It's like having another bald, meat head lead. I may have slightly enjoyed Nathan Hale but he was still the stereotype, overused silent, bald, meathead.

EDIT: But you're walking through the same areas that go from paradise to Detroit. You aren't switching islands for these shifts. That's what I mean about it literally not making sense.

Enlighten me. What's the other 80% you're seeing here. There's absolutely fuck all going on in this game. Every poster is a racist poster. Every neutral npc conversation is about racism or not rocking the boat. The main conflict is race based. Racism can be an interesting theme if it's subtle and you can shine a mirror on people exposing the ways in which they might unconciously have bias. But white purity posters and young boys being encouraged to shoot jews is so over the top it's absurd. Maybe it's all going somewhere but for right now the game is just pissing me off.

[Krubixcube]

YOU HAVE TO BE BAPTIZED TO ENTER THE CITY, HOW IS NOT RELIGIOUS EXTEMISM?!

And for fuck's sake, I'm not saying that Elizabeth's reaction was the most original thing to ever happen to video games, Neph, I'm just saying that I liked it and as far as that convention goes I thought it was good!

And how can you ONLY see racism?

Spoiler:

And i'm sorry you don't like the game because you have to kill police. I'm sure there's someone out there who hated the first Bioshock because they hated killing psychotics, and if you tell me that that's not a good comparison it's equally as valid.

In Deus Ex, I felt bad for killing police, sure, because the climate made it so police were neutral enemies. In this game...they're not. So what? We kill freedom fighters, and police in other games and this is the one that has you up in arms about it?

As for the "every poster and conversation is about racism thing"...well, that's just...bullshit. It's not. Maybe that's all you're choosing to remember but I'VE JUST gotten finished with playing another section and that is so far from the truth it makes me mad. There's loads of posters about Jefferson, about succession, about religion. How the word "God" is replaced in prayers by Washington, Jefferson and Franklin. How there's a GIRL who can rip holes in spacetime. Two mysterious characters who show up seemingly nonsensically. Your character keeps getting wounds and brands that he didn't have before he arrived. The fact that he seemingly can't die in the beginning and acknowledges it. His dreams, the nature of Elizabeth herself...THERE IS SO MUCH MORE THAN FUCKING RACISM THAT IT'S BLOWING MY MIND THAT'S ALL YOU CAN SEE.

This one's gonna get ugly...

People put your hats on.

[volvocrusher]

Played the first hour using trial version off PS+. Shooting felt half decent, but there was a noticeable stuttering every now and then. Still, the first half hour of what I saw in this world was fucking incredible. The scale and tone it took left me speechless and that raffle scene blew my mind. Then it was kind of shattered right after when all the civilians disappeared and only cops were there. Just was a little too abrupt of a change especially when the world was so incredible before. Then there's regenerating shields, two weapon slots like every other shooting, wish they'd gone with more leveling up and a real inventory system instead. I'll definitely pick this up at some point though based on that, which is more than I can say before I played the trial.
Also, fuck those fucking turrets.

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