Bioshock Collection - Would you kindly talk about these games?

CT Phipps

CT Phipps

Carbon Dated and Proud
I remember explaining the plot of Bioshock: Infinite here to some people who hadn't played it and I have to say, I still was a buyer of this collection as soon as it was out. I even made sure to buy it from Xbox's Store rather than in physical form.

Why?

So I could have it for the next generation console and would never be tempted to part with mine.

It's weird how much I love the games as I don't consider them on my top ten list because they're too short and have no real freedom but DAMN if they feel like they should be. I'm eager to do a replay of the entire series now.
 
Tbh I only enjoyed Infinite for the Half Life 2 part at the start: Going around, hearing conversations, exploring the environment, etc.
Then I started shooting and never stopped.
Sky hooks were cool though
Story wise the only thing that did get to me was the very last "twist".
 
CT Phipps said:
I remember explaining the plot of Bioshock: Infinite here to some people who hadn't played it and I have to say, I still was a buyer of this collection as soon as it was out. I even made sure to buy it from Xbox's Store rather than in physical form.

Why?

So I could have it for the next generation console and would never be tempted to part with mine.

It's weird how much I love the games as I don't consider them on my top ten list because they're too short and have no real freedom but DAMN if they feel like they should be. I'm eager to do a replay of the entire series now.
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Sellout.
 
Bioshock 1 was fun despite its simplicity. Bioshock 2 was fun despite not being as good as its predecessor. Bioshock Infinite, I played for 6 hours and then my desktop died, now am I going to replay those 6 hours just so I can continue playing once my computer gets fixed? Nope.
 
Mr Fish said:
Bioshock 1 was fun despite its simplicity. Bioshock 2 was fun despite not being as good as its predecessor. Bioshock Infinite, I played for 6 hours and then my desktop died, now am I going to replay those 6 hours just so I can continue playing once my computer gets fixed? Nope.
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Did you stop at the part where you kill people or the one where you kill people?
 
Arnust said:
Did you stop at the part where you kill people or the one where you kill people?
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To be completely honest, I've forgotten the plot... The girl, whatsherface, was running away from me cause I'm so evil then I caught up with her after she had done multiple timeshiftthingies and... I'm blank. The plot of Infinite is so forgettable to me. Everything just blends together. But yeah I was probably at a part where I was killing people, it was right after killing some people.

[edit]

I think I remember now, I went down an elevator with whatsherfacethatgotashitloadofpornofherdespitenotbeingparticularlyattractive and I was supposed to meet some arms dealer or something so I could git gunz for the we wuz kangz people.
 
The Bioshocks are all three shooters so if you don't like that sort of gameplay, you're never going to get much enjoyment out of them. They are, however, well-timed for their sort of gameplay in that they don't go on and on for hundreds of hours of shooting. Still, I can't help but wonder if the game world wouldn't benefit the way Tales from the Borderlands did in an alternative gameplay style. Not just a Telltale game, which would be awesome, but an RPG. Then again, 2K owns the franchise now and there's an ugliness to how they acquired it which matches Fallout and Bethesda.

Ken Levine always hated Bioshock 2 because it was made without him (even if made by his partner) ad that Bioshock: Infinite's develpment nearly killed him only to find out his company was being dissolved after it was done (albeit, 2K asked him to remain in charge of the franchise). The article doesn't mention that Burial At Sea's mean-spiritedness was actually in large part due to his desire to leave nothing for the franchise according to fellow developers. Then again, I can't blame the guy given he suffers from depression.

Here's the Rolling Stone Interview which talks about Bioshock.

http://www.rollingstone.com/culture...-inside-bioshock-video-game-franchise-w439921

I'm glad Ken Levine straight up admits he has no idea how Comstock's mind works and doesn't understand religion.

That explains a lot.

I have to say, though, that Rapture really does seem like a place I'd have more fun exploring than I would shooting up the place. Everything I remember about the world is from the audio diaries and the backstory rather than my love of killing Splicers. Well, that's not true, I also love zapping people with electricity but the gunplay was the least memorable or enjoyable part of the game. I felt similar about Columbia and couldn't help but think the game would have been better if you could do something more than shoot up the place. They're the games' greatest weaknesses.
 
Bioshock Infinite would've been so much better if it was a detective game where we just delve into the culture, religious fervor and racism of the people of columbia. The parts in the beginning were genuinely creepy to me. That's where it shined. Once it started all rooty tooty shooty malooty then it got so fucking boring. It just felt so hamfisted in, so pointless. The reason a lot of combat worked in Bioshock 1 and 2 was because you were a silent protagonist, it was okay for it to feel a bit 'gamey' because the protagonist was just a vessel for you. But the moment you get a personality and it shows normal people doing normal things then it makes me wonder how the hell someone can stand up after getting 4 machine gun rounds in their chest and that goes both ways, for both the protagonist and the human enemies. People so twisted on mutagenics that they've lost nerve endings and shit worked for Bioshock 1 and 2 but in Infinite it was just regular human beings. It doesn't make sense anymore.

At least not to me. Infinite's combat just felt hamfisted in. Completely out of place. As if you spliced in Rocky Horror Picture Show dance routines into Requiem For A Dream. Bioshock Infinite in four words: Huge waste of potential.
 
Got bored halfway through Bioshock 1 back in the day and never touched the series again. T-t-t-that's all, folks.

porkey.jpg
 
Kohno said:
Got bored halfway through Bioshock 1 back in the day and never touched the series again. T-t-t-that's all, folks.
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Gotcha. Sorry you can't participate in the conversation.

Mr Fish said:
Bioshock Infinite would've been so much better if it was a detective game where we just delve into the culture, religious fervor and racism of the people of columbia. The parts in the beginning were genuinely creepy to me. That's where it shined. Once it started all rooty tooty shooty malooty then it got so fucking boring. It just felt so hamfisted in, so pointless. The reason a lot of combat worked in Bioshock 1 and 2 was because you were a silent protagonist, it was okay for it to feel a bit 'gamey' because the protagonist was just a vessel for you. But the moment you get a personality and it shows normal people doing normal things then it makes me wonder how the hell someone can stand up after getting 4 machine gun rounds in their chest and that goes both ways, for both the protagonist and the human enemies. People so twisted on mutagenics that they've lost nerve endings and shit worked for Bioshock 1 and 2 but in Infinite it was just regular human beings. It doesn't make sense anymore.

At least not to me. Infinite's combat just felt hamfisted in. Completely out of place. As if you spliced in Rocky Horror Picture Show dance routines into Requiem For A Dream. Bioshock Infinite in four words: Huge waste of potential.
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One area which Bioshock excells at is the same as Spec Ops: The Line, which is examining the nature of violence in video games. Bioshock did it with the fact Jack is a man who is literally nothing more than a mind-controlled weapon. OF COURSE, he's not going to have any objection to killing whoever Frank Fontaine tells him to do because he doesn't posses free will. He's literally an avatar of violence for his master (both player and Fontaine).

Bioshock: Infinite one-upped it, though, because Booker is a man who is literally a psychopath. His propensity for violence and the fact violence is all that he's good at is the heart of his character. We get this examined many times and it is all build-up to the fact that he can't do anything good with his life because he's a monster.

It requires killing him to save the world from Columbia.
 
CT Phipps said:
Bioshock: Infinite one-upped it, though, because Booker is a man who is literally a psychopath. His propensity for violence and the fact violence is all that he's good at is the heart of his character. We get this examined many times and it is all build-up to the fact that he can't do anything good with his life because he's a monster.
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I didn't get that feeling at all though. Booker is a poor bastard that couldn't do much out of the army and becoming a detective/goon didn't take the problem anywhere.
Desperate and drunk enough to
Sell his own baby daughter
, he's just trash, not mental.
Thing is, EVERYONE is trying to kill you in Columbia. I didn't see Booker get enraged but when he deals with Comstock. The rest of the time, he never starts the shootouts.
If we went for "shoots people relatively unprovoked = Violence as a theme and that character is a Psycho", every FPS would be.
 
Arnust said:
I didn't get that feeling at all though. Booker is a poor bastard that couldn't do much out of the army and becoming a detective/goon didn't take the problem anywhere.
Desperate and drunk enough to
Sell his own baby daughter
, he's just trash, not mental.
Thing is, EVERYONE is trying to kill you in Columbia. I didn't see Booker get enraged but when he deals with Comstock. The rest of the time, he never starts the shootouts.
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Booker=Comstock and a reminder that there's a number of moments where he horrifies Elizabeth by slaughtering someone in a murderous way, starting with the cop he stabs to death. Booker participated in the Wounded Knee massacre where he murdered women and children to prove he wasn't a Metis. He also was kicked out of the Pinkertons for unnecessary brutality.

He's a man with many good qualities but his humanization doesn't take away from his brutality and that's something I liked.

If we went for "shoots people relatively unprovoked = Violence as a theme and that character is a Psycho", every FPS would be.
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I think that's actually a point Bioshock indicates.
 
CT Phipps said:
there's a number of moments where he horrifies Elizabeth by slaughtering someone in a murderous way, starting with the cop he stabs to death. Booker participated in the Wounded Knee massacre where he murdered women and children to prove he wasn't a Metis. He also was kicked out of the Pinkertons for unnecessary brutality.
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Still cold. This sort of thing is a shock rekative to the amount of violence in the "real" world there, and in Columbia and Rapture everyone and their grandma have firearms and access to mighty drug-powers. It doesn't make a difference painting red over a red painting, it's about contrast.

CT Phipps said:
I think that's actually a point Bioshock indicates
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What? I mean that Gears of War could go and say "Oh this is a point on violence with more violence" if we follow what you said.

Same with your headcanonig issue, that you can glaze it over with meaning doesn't mean it had one.
 
Interpreting a work doesn't = headcanon. It's called literary analysis. If you can read a meaning into something, that actually means that it has meaning. Even if the author doesn't mean it, it can be ascribed to it due to "Death of the Author."

That's how it works.

Yeesh.
 
The first two (and i played them long long ago) did not impress me at the time, the shooting mechanics and combat sequences felt clunky and rpg like (kind of like Fallout 3).

I have Bioshock Infinite in my steam library, but i can't play it yet, because the performance is all over the place on my r7 360 in linux. Waiting for better open source drivers... Though from what i did manage to play, i liked the lighthouse beginning (really did not see that coming) and am not sure i enjoyed my brief stint at the city (did not reach any combat). I will try to finish the game when i will be able to get decent performance, but all of them somehow feel like a compromise between an rpg and fps, without being good at any of those parts.
 
Bioshock Infinite is utter garbage thats gameplay is worse in almost everyday than it's predecessor and it's story is pretentious review bait that when you take 5 minutes to actually think about it is littered with plot holes and stupidity.
The game's ending itself breaks it's own (admittedly slapdash and made up as they go along) rules.

 
Truth be told, I think Bioshock: Infinite gets worse and worse the more you get into its plot. There's three different plots thrown together in the book which give the illusion of depth when they're actually making the game harder to enjoy.

* There's the parody of early 20th century American exceptionalism and racism.

* There's the whole quantum physics bullshit.

* There's the issue of religion and redemption which works around principles of Christianity which Ken Levine clearly does not understand beyond, "So Darth Vader gets into Heaven? That sucks."

* There's also the revolution with Daisy Fitzroy which exists solely to give you different people to murder.
I mostly let B:I slide because of the graphics, design, and Elizabeth.

By comparison, I find Bioshock 1 and 2 stronger stories due to the simplicity of their narratives that still possess actual depth-depth.

I also find Burial at Sea amazing bullshit which makes not only Bioshock: Infinite worse but also Bioshock.

So yes, bizarrely, I agree with @Vergil.
 
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