Bioshock 3 - Infinite
- Thread starter Neil79
- Start date
Soldato
Finally finished this, i wont pretend i fully undestand the entire story line (afterall its been what 5+ years?) nor will i pretend the gameplay was flawless but generally its been a fantastic experience!
Such a shame they went under. no pun intended
Cannot remember the last game that had a setting as imaginative as the bioshock series. Actually that's a lie, Dishonoured was pretty good and a few others. But generally games make little use of the few barriers in the gaming world. Its a refreshing change when one does.
On a side note, what was with the radar range weapon, i used it once or twice else it was pretty pointless due to its speed of eating ammo.
Such a shame they went under. no pun intended
Cannot remember the last game that had a setting as imaginative as the bioshock series. Actually that's a lie, Dishonoured was pretty good and a few others. But generally games make little use of the few barriers in the gaming world. Its a refreshing change when one does.
On a side note, what was with the radar range weapon, i used it once or twice else it was pretty pointless due to its speed of eating ammo.
I used it quite a bit in episode 1, it did get through ammo quickly as you say but the ammo for it was very cheap to buy. Did feel somewhat over powered though.
Well I finally decided to go through Episodes 1 and 2 of BaS the last couple of days.
Warning - quite a few strong subjective personal opinions below - I don't expect anyone to agree with it.
Warning - quite a few strong subjective personal opinions below - I don't expect anyone to agree with it.
Story aside, I thought the art direction was superb, top quality - especially the Paris section in the beginning of Ep2, I loved this. It felt like a Disney movie, but if you looked closer you see the dark undertones of Elizabeth's guilt at the events in Ep1.
Regarding the gameplay - Ep1 was pretty fun with Old Man Winter, but otherwise more of the same. I enjoyed Ep2 gameplay much much more - despite dodgy enemy AI, enemy voices not coming from their location and slightly broken mechanics (peeping tom... seriously it trivialised everything). I only ever needed peeping tom and sometimes possession on turrets. Crossbow and melee dealy with ~80% of everything, and handcannon/shotgun/whatever dealt with the rest. Loved the crossbow and stealth/melee otherwise, and the Big Daddy was properly frightening.
I like the variety they were beginning to introduce in the combat, although unfortunately it couldn't be fully developed - so I hope that in a future game (even though different company) these gameplay mechanics can be explored further - to play as something of a hybrid of DeusEx:HR and "magic powers".
Anyway, on to the awkward part - story... At the moment I'm not sure what to think - still gathering thoughts and reading different peoples' opinions regarding what happens.
I think while it was nice to see Rapture shown at its glory, the entire DLC was gratuitous and did more harm than good to both BS1 and BSI if taken on their own. DLC for the sake of DLC...
BUT, even so, it was interesting and engaging from start to finish and provided excellent character development for Elizabeth - better than most AAA standalone games tbh.
Now I may be in an unpopular camp here, but I'm one of those people who vastly prefers BSI to BS1, for the simple reason of emotional investment - I care what happens to the characters - Booker, Anna/Elizabeth, the Luteces and so on. Because we are in Columbia while it is vibrant and populated, it feels all the more appealing.
BS1 by contrast is a cold, horrific, calculated affair that is hard to get emotionally involved in. Yes both games have all the similar undertones about the same aspects of life and society - don't get me wrong - BS1 story is excellent, but aside from a little emotion as to the fate of the Little Sisters I really can't care about or feel anything for the rest of the story. It's an intellectual game that likes to indulge in pretentious political/philosophical/ideological debate for the sake of it, all of which amounts to an overly complicated perspective on life which I don't agree with - and there's very little love involved which turns me off.
Yes BSI also has these same themes running through it - but at least on the surface there are characters and set pieces that allow me to feel emotionally engaged with what is going on.
Which brings me back to BaS - it is unnecessarily dark and twisted just for the sake of trying to shoehorn in explanations and tie BSI and BS1 together. Yes every good story needs twists and turns, but BaS starts to go a little up its own **** similar to Lost, for what? To exercise peoples' grey cells and give them the fuel to write endless long worded intellectual debates over a view of life that I don't buy into? Life for me is simple - live with love and fulfill your soul's purpose. Yes I believe in soul. No I don't want to debate about it on an internet forum, and anyway it's beside the point - which is that BaS is overly complicating two stories that were already well rounded, with the only silver lining being excellent character development for Elizabeth.
At the end of the day the things I will remember most are:
- the emotion in the good ending of BS1
- the emotion felt at the end of BSI
- the laughter on battleship bay
- the fear of running from Songbird
- the emotion felt in the Paris sequence
- and so on...
... overall the emotional rollercoaster that these games take me on.
I won't care much for the political/philosophical/idealogical themes beyond briefly recognising them as anchors for the story, and the only non-emotional theme that will stay with me is the multiverse and its use in the story - because my interest and line of study has been physics/maths/education even though funnily enough I am more susceptible to art and music as motivators in a story.
Anyway seeing as the ending of BaS2 was as clear as mud regarding the fate of Elizabeth and Booker, like everyone else I will create my own opinion of what happens - Elizabeth's human death finally breaks the circle and all is "reset" to the single reality in the post credits scene of BSI where Booker is about to look into the crib - and as the outcome of that event is up to the player to decide, therefore I will decide that Anna is there in the crib. "Memories" of Booker's experience in BSI are vaguely with him as if a bad dream (as in Jumanji, but much more cloudy). "Memories" of Elizabeth are in the soul of Anna but are inaccessible while her brain develops - and all these things may surface only as deja-vu or a fragments vague bad dream in her conscious mind. When they both finally live out those lives, in a completely different path than the one that takes them down BSI, and die the full extent of the memory of all the events that did occur returns to them as they are reunited in spirit.
Yes this is my personal subjective view - I don't expect anyone to like or agree with it, call it fanfiction or whatever you want. That gives me closure and also can be true within the context of the story.
Regarding the gameplay - Ep1 was pretty fun with Old Man Winter, but otherwise more of the same. I enjoyed Ep2 gameplay much much more - despite dodgy enemy AI, enemy voices not coming from their location and slightly broken mechanics (peeping tom... seriously it trivialised everything). I only ever needed peeping tom and sometimes possession on turrets. Crossbow and melee dealy with ~80% of everything, and handcannon/shotgun/whatever dealt with the rest. Loved the crossbow and stealth/melee otherwise, and the Big Daddy was properly frightening.
I like the variety they were beginning to introduce in the combat, although unfortunately it couldn't be fully developed - so I hope that in a future game (even though different company) these gameplay mechanics can be explored further - to play as something of a hybrid of DeusEx:HR and "magic powers".
Anyway, on to the awkward part - story... At the moment I'm not sure what to think - still gathering thoughts and reading different peoples' opinions regarding what happens.
I think while it was nice to see Rapture shown at its glory, the entire DLC was gratuitous and did more harm than good to both BS1 and BSI if taken on their own. DLC for the sake of DLC...
BUT, even so, it was interesting and engaging from start to finish and provided excellent character development for Elizabeth - better than most AAA standalone games tbh.
Now I may be in an unpopular camp here, but I'm one of those people who vastly prefers BSI to BS1, for the simple reason of emotional investment - I care what happens to the characters - Booker, Anna/Elizabeth, the Luteces and so on. Because we are in Columbia while it is vibrant and populated, it feels all the more appealing.
BS1 by contrast is a cold, horrific, calculated affair that is hard to get emotionally involved in. Yes both games have all the similar undertones about the same aspects of life and society - don't get me wrong - BS1 story is excellent, but aside from a little emotion as to the fate of the Little Sisters I really can't care about or feel anything for the rest of the story. It's an intellectual game that likes to indulge in pretentious political/philosophical/ideological debate for the sake of it, all of which amounts to an overly complicated perspective on life which I don't agree with - and there's very little love involved which turns me off.
Yes BSI also has these same themes running through it - but at least on the surface there are characters and set pieces that allow me to feel emotionally engaged with what is going on.
Which brings me back to BaS - it is unnecessarily dark and twisted just for the sake of trying to shoehorn in explanations and tie BSI and BS1 together. Yes every good story needs twists and turns, but BaS starts to go a little up its own **** similar to Lost, for what? To exercise peoples' grey cells and give them the fuel to write endless long worded intellectual debates over a view of life that I don't buy into? Life for me is simple - live with love and fulfill your soul's purpose. Yes I believe in soul. No I don't want to debate about it on an internet forum, and anyway it's beside the point - which is that BaS is overly complicating two stories that were already well rounded, with the only silver lining being excellent character development for Elizabeth.
At the end of the day the things I will remember most are:
- the emotion in the good ending of BS1
- the emotion felt at the end of BSI
- the laughter on battleship bay
- the fear of running from Songbird
- the emotion felt in the Paris sequence
- and so on...
... overall the emotional rollercoaster that these games take me on.
I won't care much for the political/philosophical/idealogical themes beyond briefly recognising them as anchors for the story, and the only non-emotional theme that will stay with me is the multiverse and its use in the story - because my interest and line of study has been physics/maths/education even though funnily enough I am more susceptible to art and music as motivators in a story.
Anyway seeing as the ending of BaS2 was as clear as mud regarding the fate of Elizabeth and Booker, like everyone else I will create my own opinion of what happens - Elizabeth's human death finally breaks the circle and all is "reset" to the single reality in the post credits scene of BSI where Booker is about to look into the crib - and as the outcome of that event is up to the player to decide, therefore I will decide that Anna is there in the crib. "Memories" of Booker's experience in BSI are vaguely with him as if a bad dream (as in Jumanji, but much more cloudy). "Memories" of Elizabeth are in the soul of Anna but are inaccessible while her brain develops - and all these things may surface only as deja-vu or a fragments vague bad dream in her conscious mind. When they both finally live out those lives, in a completely different path than the one that takes them down BSI, and die the full extent of the memory of all the events that did occur returns to them as they are reunited in spirit.
Yes this is my personal subjective view - I don't expect anyone to like or agree with it, call it fanfiction or whatever you want. That gives me closure and also can be true within the context of the story.