Whatever I may think about the Bioshock series, at least its behind me now. That was a big unknown hanging over my head, and a great missing piece in the repertoire. The other big piece, just as glaringly obvious, is Mass Effect. But I don't want to just rush right into it, I need some space between. Time to update the game list.
There are some other really big titles I must play, especially Fallout New Vegas. But I think I know what Fallout 3.5 is going to be like, and it will be good and I will like it. Same thing for the Elder Scroll series, and the latest GTA. I almost don't even mind spoilers for those games, because I know what I am getting, but I am still bothered by any hint of Mass Effect spoilers.
Its time to fix that.
Friday, February 20, 2015
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Bioshock series review
Over the past few months I finished Bioshock, Bioshock 2, and Bioshock Infinite, a series I've been putting off for years. While there were many disappointments, it was entertaining overall. There is no replay value, but I don't care about that too much since I got the whole series on sale from Steam. Most of all, as a gamer, its a card that needed to be punched, and I'm glad to have experienced it. I would not blankly recommend the series to others without asking them what they're looking for in a game. Now that my review is complete, I can spend the rest of this blog nitpicking all the details that drove me nuts during this series.
Number one, first and foremost, made me crazy during each game multiple times, is the inconsistent world building. I don't demand realism from a world, my favorite worlds are sci-fi and and fantasy, but I want them to feel real. Exactly how you do that would be a fascinating study, but my best understanding of it right now is to make your world consistent. When you establish the rules of a world, of course you can and should bend them and break them for story effect, but you can't do this arbitrarily. There are so many examples of this I barely know what to hold up as examplar.
In every game, a case is made that this world is firmly rooted in our real world, and it forked off at some point, but its still our same world, and this could have happened here. And yet all three games are packed with fantasy elements, especially magic. The plasmids/vigors are really poorly explained (magic sea slugs), and their ease of propogation is even more preposterous (here, drink this). I've got no problem at all with magic in a world, I love it, but you then lose all pretense of ever having been set in the real world we're presently stuck in.
In these games technology is tortured to fit a world that is desperately trying to be magic based. If you know anything about technology at all, you learn that materials and systems are built on previous layers. You can trace the modern car of today back over a hundred years, and point out all sorts of twists and turns in what is basically still just a car. But whether its a car, a submarine, an airplane, a nuclear weapon, a computer, or whatever, you do not go from invention to mature product instantly; there are usually many generations.
The worst example of this by far is Lutece in the third game being the first in her world to think some really deep thoughts about quantum physics, to inventing a floating city within a few years (not sure, not looking it up, but it was within her lifetime). Discoveries in the physical world take time to develop into practical applications, and even once invented, take much longer to mature, especially something as crazy as a floating city. Its even kookier to think you can maintain a monolopy on this technology; usually discoveries are made in multiple places around the same time.
Also, technology needs maintenance, or it starts breaking down really fast. When you first enter the city of Rapture its already in a chaotic state, and it seems like its barely being maintained. While you could argue that a few diligent Big Daddies are patching whatever holes they can, by the second game its even crazier to think that a city that is probably the most complicated system ever created can just keep on going by itself with minimal damage. There are plenty of human cities in temperate places that can barely keep going without constant maintenance, let alone a city that is more complicated than a space station.
Some technologies defy description, and the game doesn't even bother to try to come up with a half-baked explanation. All three games are filled with artificially intelligent weapons, that have perfect identification of friend and foe, are really good at targeting, and can be convinced to switch sides if you have the right ability. The level of artificial intelligence required is so advanced that even in the 21st century it remains a distant notion, whereas in these worlds that are barely out of the 1800s its cheap and commonplace.
The real reason for all this is no mystery - because its cool. Underwater cities are cool. Floating cities are cool. A world with guns, robots, artificial intelligence, and magic is cool. Who wouldn't want to just keep adding cool stuff to their story? At some point, too much becomes a problem in itself. In this way the Bioshock series is tripped up by trying to emulate the System Shock series, which also suffered from the same exact desire to include everything and the kitchen sink. More is not always more, and too much is less.
As much as the worlds suffer from trying to be too cool, they are often pretty to look at. The graphics in Bioshock 1 and 2 are showing their age, but if you can get past the premise, they are almost always visually interesting. The third game is actually stunning in parts. Same goes for sound effects and music, which by the third game are really moving and interesting. Voicework is almost always high quality, and in some places really good. Its what they are scripted to say where things fall down.
The worst character in the game is Andrew Ryan, who creates an artificial person as a surrogate son (or something), complete with embedded hypnotic command words, and then promptly forgets about it. A rival figures out the command words, commandeers the surrogate to go kill Ryan, and Ryan just lets him do it. This is never explained.
Before that, we get to know Ryan as the world's biggest blowhard about predatory capitalism. The Atlas Shrugged metaphors are being poured on with buckets, as if someone really had a deep personal grudge to settle with that book. Its a fine hook to hang some plot elements on, but Bioshock wants to make a deep Aesop's fable about it for the ages.
Bioshock 2 remembers this, but is increasingly playing with religion and the cult of leadership, and by the time of Bioshock Infinite I'm starting to think that's the real message of the game.
The real problem linking all these games is me. I bought three cans of soda from a vending machine, and I'm complaining that all three are just carbonated sugar water. I knew what I bought and I don't have any right or reason to complain. All three of these games were made for consoles, and unlike most ports, they are not even trying to hide it. For console culture, these are good games, in computer culture they are just barely OK. If you want to play some console games on your PC, here are three of them.
I normally avoid console ports, but sometimes you have no choice. Bioshock was so hyped, and so entrenched in gaming culture, that I could no longer ignore or avoid it. I can't really be all that mad at the Bioshock series, because it was never supposed to be something like champagne, it was always supposed to be pop. You can't fault it for being what it is. You can only blame yourself for consuming it. I know the Grand Theft Auto series is a console series, but I still play them as soon as I can get them on PC; sometimes they are even good ports. And if The Last of Us ever comes to PC, or if there's ever a Bioshock 4, I'm going to play it, and nitpick it, and hopefully enjoy it at least as much as I enjoyed the Bioshock series.
Now then fun part of concluding any media property, I can freely visit the tvtropes and YouTube pages on it.
'Bioshock 1 bad ending' (unleashing splicers on the world, and gaining nuclear powers) - I'm glad I can see this without having to go back and do it.
"BioShock Infinite Easter Eggs and Secrets"
Got most of these myself, couple of interesting music anachronisms I didn't pick up on. I really liked the random tears, and bits of culture leaking from one dimension to another.
It was nice to see again when Booker picks up the guitar and Elizabeth sings. It was contrived, and almost like a sudden Disney-esque break into song, but there was something so human about it that I don't think I'll ever forget it.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Franchise/BioShock
"Bio Punk with a heavy dose of Diesel Punk" - that's one way of putting it
"Mix and Match: Zeerust Science Fiction + Survival Horror + Art Deco + Anarcho-Capitalistic Dystopia = BioShock" - that's another way of putting it.
There's a bunch of DLC out there, but from what I can tell, they don't add any value that justifies the time.
"Bioshock Infinite: Booker DeWitt Has An Eating Disorder"
My stomach hurts from laughter.
There's a Making of BioShock DVD - I listened to a bit and its not as interesting as I had hoped. Maybe I need to give it more time.
"Bioshock Infinite ENDING EXPLAINED! (Complete Analysis)"
Nothing new, but a nice summary. It bears repeating that while most things are explainable, its hard to say what the source of Anna/Elizabeth's powers are. If it is something as simple as leaving a bit of body part behind, anyone with tear powers could grant them to you by nipping off one your toes deliberately with a portal. Therefore, Elizabeth could grant her Dad tear ability, and maybe he could walk off to some neutral world and be neither Booker or Zachary.
And if I haven't stated it clearly enough by now, the biggest problem I have with the game is that there is no throughline from Dewitt to Comstock, and it is insultingly lazy of the story to even suggest it. This might have been a cool idea if they had worked it into the story, writing in little hints or clues about it, but they did not. It feels sudden and forced, and is ultimately a cheat.
http://www.reddit.com/r/Bioshock/comments/1bk21y/bioshock_infinite_the_ultimate_spoiler_faq/
So far this is the best write-up that describes the events of Infinite; it helped me articulate a few things I felt were right but I was still thinking through. I knew Booker had been looping for a while, and I wasn't quite clear why this Booker finally learned he was stuck in a loop, and how he broke it.
Interesting problem, I didn't think of this: if entering a new timeline forces you to reconcile memories with your self in this universe, why wouldn't Dewitt have to reconcile memories with Comstock. This blows a huge hole in that notion as presented in the game.
http://www.reddit.com/r/Bioshock/comments/1bn88f/spoiler_analysis_of_songs_in_bioshock_infinite/
Again, stuff I mostly knew or figured out, but its nice to see it all layed out. The use of music is one of my favorite artful things about Infinite. I thought the use of music was random, but analysis makes it seem very deliberate. I not only like the musical selections, the use of them in the game, but also the analysis of how they were used. That's just layers of goodness.
All this analysis makes me appreciate Infinite a bit more, but I am still missing a plausible connection between Dewitt and Comstock. I don't think I'm ever going to receive it, because it was never written. I wonder what the DLC has to add, and if its worth buying and playing.
2015.02.20
Another day out from finishing and I'm starting to go hazy and nostalgic about the series. I am forgetting about all the tedium and frustration and the stupidity, and I'm just remembering how cool the visuals and sounds and music were, and how much fun it is to throw fire and lightning around. Elizabeth and Booker were great characters, and it was fun to follow them, until the end when you realize that's all you've been doing, is following them. You never have any choice in what they do; you the player provided animus but nothing more. At least Bioshock 1 and 2 had some choice in how you play and how it ends, even if its the simple but dire choice to harvest or rescue Little Sisters. Bioshock 3 was a console movie with a pretty but dumb soap opera ending, where our hero turned out to be his evil twin all along, and its obvious the writers just didn't know how to wrap up the story that week, and the deadline was looming.
Some time later... there are two DLCs, that together cost more than I payed for the entire series up til now. Maybe if they were more reasonably priced, I wouldn't be watching this walkthrough:
"Bioshock Infinite : Burial At Sea - No Commentary"
Not bad, but it ends in some ways worse than Bioshock Infinite. You're being punished for all sorts of things you don't even remember, let alone have been established in the story yet.
In all my ramblings on this topic, I don't think I've ever mentioned that I don't mind a downer ending. Sad or mixed feeling endings tend to beat happy endings. I rather liked the victory in defeat ending of Bioshock 2. And I like the idea in Infinite of endlessly repeating the same mistake, and how you may or may not break out of that loop. Or rather, I would like it if they had properly established it. I think this is going to bother me until I can figure out how it should have been written.
"Bioshock Infinite : Burial At Sea 2 - No Commentary"
Elizabeth killed Booker, after making him believe he's Comstock for all of 5 seconds - even if we're to accept this, how is this justice? In Infinite, they needed to rush to kill Comstock because he was actively trying to kill Booker and Elizabeth with every resource he could muster. His death was brutal, but explainable. Booker is just quietly living his life and Elizabeth just gets him killed and gloats about it. Its like they doubled down on the stupid premise, and are betting the house on it.
Still, its nice to see the world from Elizabeth's perspective, and to see the Paris she dreamed about. I don't think she ever gets there, but its nice to see what she dreamed about. I love the part where she goes in a bookstore, asks for a book, and the proprietor apologizes that it hasn't been written yet.
It gets even better, as an NPC remarks some things are best left in dreams, and even better yet when the scene goes full Disney and animals are doing cute things like listening to music, and singing while perched on your finger. Elizabeth at her full powers can tear to anywhere, so why couldn't this universe exist? Still, its also a nice callback to songbird, and sure enough, next stop is a cage seller. Of course, things start getting weird as Sally enters the picture, with a Red Balloon (like the movie).
Its nice to finally see Elizabeth as a lead, but having Booker on the radio is shades of Battlestar Galactica reboot. Wait and see.
"Just a normal girl with a normal pinky". Seems like a stealth game, interesting that this is finally an option this late in the series. There's even a stealth plasmid.
The use of schematics while talking is pretty.
"Cross-reality collaboration". Why not.
2015.02.22
I've been thinking about how cool it is that this game explores a multiverse of possibilities, and being able to transverse them. While the endless stars that are lighthouses at the end of Infinite is fascinating, there's also something debilitatingly sad about it. Your victories and defeats matter little if you can just duck into a lighthouse where you got it right. The game says it itself, we defeated Comstock in this universe, but there are many, maybe infinite universes, where he still reigns. What are you supposed to do with this knowledge?
Which makes Elizabeth's mission to save one particular universe's Sally so pointless. Just pop into a universe where she's fine. Not to mention Elizabeth is releasing Atlas/Fontaine from prison to do so, and there is little doubt that he aims to get far more people killed than the one you are saving.
Back to Burial at Sea 2.
The cross reality collaboration is actually really interesting, and helps explain why Elizabeth's time was so advanced. Sometimes the story is smart.
It's cute how Booker always used to hastily slam on elevator buttons, in Columbia and in Rapture, and yet they animated Elizabeth daintily pressing it.
Its kind of eery to hear Ryan talk as if he knows who and what Elizabeth is. And yet isn't this the same Ryan who allows his clone child stick a golf club through his head when he could have just as easily ordered him to stick it through Fontaine's?
Another smart thing, explaining why Big Daddies lose the ability to shoot their drill. I love it. But wait, how old a model was Delta? Never mind, let me enjoy the smart thing while I can. Nice, another reference explaining Vita Chambers, but barely.
The lion with the thorn in its paw, the same method that bound Elizabeth to Songbird binds Little Sister to Big Daddy.
I love the circularity as they set up Suchong's death scene. You know what's coming, and its still neat to see it play out.
Of course, I should have seen that coming, the hero of a Bioshock story always dies at the end. But Elizabeth's sacrifice was not in vain, she set in motion Jack, who would ultimately take down Atlas/Fontaine. Wait, uh, how many more people is Fontaine going to kill once rescued? Just by activating Jack alone, Elizabeth has doomed an entire air crew and passengers. Oops. Let's not think about that.
I like how the end credits once again show the real voice actors doing their thing. It doesn't diminish the game at all, strangely it adds.
Well, the Burial at Sea DLCs didn't help clear up any of the stupid stuff, if anything it made it stupider. I somewhat regret watching it, but I had to see for myself. Infinite deserved a better wrap-up than this; its ending is not much more effective than the old it-was-all-just-a-dream ending.
I can now walk away from the Bioshock series with mixed but overall good feelings, if I don't think about it too much.
Number one, first and foremost, made me crazy during each game multiple times, is the inconsistent world building. I don't demand realism from a world, my favorite worlds are sci-fi and and fantasy, but I want them to feel real. Exactly how you do that would be a fascinating study, but my best understanding of it right now is to make your world consistent. When you establish the rules of a world, of course you can and should bend them and break them for story effect, but you can't do this arbitrarily. There are so many examples of this I barely know what to hold up as examplar.
In every game, a case is made that this world is firmly rooted in our real world, and it forked off at some point, but its still our same world, and this could have happened here. And yet all three games are packed with fantasy elements, especially magic. The plasmids/vigors are really poorly explained (magic sea slugs), and their ease of propogation is even more preposterous (here, drink this). I've got no problem at all with magic in a world, I love it, but you then lose all pretense of ever having been set in the real world we're presently stuck in.
In these games technology is tortured to fit a world that is desperately trying to be magic based. If you know anything about technology at all, you learn that materials and systems are built on previous layers. You can trace the modern car of today back over a hundred years, and point out all sorts of twists and turns in what is basically still just a car. But whether its a car, a submarine, an airplane, a nuclear weapon, a computer, or whatever, you do not go from invention to mature product instantly; there are usually many generations.
The worst example of this by far is Lutece in the third game being the first in her world to think some really deep thoughts about quantum physics, to inventing a floating city within a few years (not sure, not looking it up, but it was within her lifetime). Discoveries in the physical world take time to develop into practical applications, and even once invented, take much longer to mature, especially something as crazy as a floating city. Its even kookier to think you can maintain a monolopy on this technology; usually discoveries are made in multiple places around the same time.
Also, technology needs maintenance, or it starts breaking down really fast. When you first enter the city of Rapture its already in a chaotic state, and it seems like its barely being maintained. While you could argue that a few diligent Big Daddies are patching whatever holes they can, by the second game its even crazier to think that a city that is probably the most complicated system ever created can just keep on going by itself with minimal damage. There are plenty of human cities in temperate places that can barely keep going without constant maintenance, let alone a city that is more complicated than a space station.
Some technologies defy description, and the game doesn't even bother to try to come up with a half-baked explanation. All three games are filled with artificially intelligent weapons, that have perfect identification of friend and foe, are really good at targeting, and can be convinced to switch sides if you have the right ability. The level of artificial intelligence required is so advanced that even in the 21st century it remains a distant notion, whereas in these worlds that are barely out of the 1800s its cheap and commonplace.
The real reason for all this is no mystery - because its cool. Underwater cities are cool. Floating cities are cool. A world with guns, robots, artificial intelligence, and magic is cool. Who wouldn't want to just keep adding cool stuff to their story? At some point, too much becomes a problem in itself. In this way the Bioshock series is tripped up by trying to emulate the System Shock series, which also suffered from the same exact desire to include everything and the kitchen sink. More is not always more, and too much is less.
As much as the worlds suffer from trying to be too cool, they are often pretty to look at. The graphics in Bioshock 1 and 2 are showing their age, but if you can get past the premise, they are almost always visually interesting. The third game is actually stunning in parts. Same goes for sound effects and music, which by the third game are really moving and interesting. Voicework is almost always high quality, and in some places really good. Its what they are scripted to say where things fall down.
The worst character in the game is Andrew Ryan, who creates an artificial person as a surrogate son (or something), complete with embedded hypnotic command words, and then promptly forgets about it. A rival figures out the command words, commandeers the surrogate to go kill Ryan, and Ryan just lets him do it. This is never explained.
Before that, we get to know Ryan as the world's biggest blowhard about predatory capitalism. The Atlas Shrugged metaphors are being poured on with buckets, as if someone really had a deep personal grudge to settle with that book. Its a fine hook to hang some plot elements on, but Bioshock wants to make a deep Aesop's fable about it for the ages.
Bioshock 2 remembers this, but is increasingly playing with religion and the cult of leadership, and by the time of Bioshock Infinite I'm starting to think that's the real message of the game.
The real problem linking all these games is me. I bought three cans of soda from a vending machine, and I'm complaining that all three are just carbonated sugar water. I knew what I bought and I don't have any right or reason to complain. All three of these games were made for consoles, and unlike most ports, they are not even trying to hide it. For console culture, these are good games, in computer culture they are just barely OK. If you want to play some console games on your PC, here are three of them.
I normally avoid console ports, but sometimes you have no choice. Bioshock was so hyped, and so entrenched in gaming culture, that I could no longer ignore or avoid it. I can't really be all that mad at the Bioshock series, because it was never supposed to be something like champagne, it was always supposed to be pop. You can't fault it for being what it is. You can only blame yourself for consuming it. I know the Grand Theft Auto series is a console series, but I still play them as soon as I can get them on PC; sometimes they are even good ports. And if The Last of Us ever comes to PC, or if there's ever a Bioshock 4, I'm going to play it, and nitpick it, and hopefully enjoy it at least as much as I enjoyed the Bioshock series.
Now then fun part of concluding any media property, I can freely visit the tvtropes and YouTube pages on it.
'Bioshock 1 bad ending' (unleashing splicers on the world, and gaining nuclear powers) - I'm glad I can see this without having to go back and do it.
"BioShock Infinite Easter Eggs and Secrets"
Got most of these myself, couple of interesting music anachronisms I didn't pick up on. I really liked the random tears, and bits of culture leaking from one dimension to another.
It was nice to see again when Booker picks up the guitar and Elizabeth sings. It was contrived, and almost like a sudden Disney-esque break into song, but there was something so human about it that I don't think I'll ever forget it.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Franchise/BioShock
"Bio Punk with a heavy dose of Diesel Punk" - that's one way of putting it
"Mix and Match: Zeerust Science Fiction + Survival Horror + Art Deco + Anarcho-Capitalistic Dystopia = BioShock" - that's another way of putting it.
There's a bunch of DLC out there, but from what I can tell, they don't add any value that justifies the time.
"Bioshock Infinite: Booker DeWitt Has An Eating Disorder"
My stomach hurts from laughter.
There's a Making of BioShock DVD - I listened to a bit and its not as interesting as I had hoped. Maybe I need to give it more time.
"Bioshock Infinite ENDING EXPLAINED! (Complete Analysis)"
Nothing new, but a nice summary. It bears repeating that while most things are explainable, its hard to say what the source of Anna/Elizabeth's powers are. If it is something as simple as leaving a bit of body part behind, anyone with tear powers could grant them to you by nipping off one your toes deliberately with a portal. Therefore, Elizabeth could grant her Dad tear ability, and maybe he could walk off to some neutral world and be neither Booker or Zachary.
And if I haven't stated it clearly enough by now, the biggest problem I have with the game is that there is no throughline from Dewitt to Comstock, and it is insultingly lazy of the story to even suggest it. This might have been a cool idea if they had worked it into the story, writing in little hints or clues about it, but they did not. It feels sudden and forced, and is ultimately a cheat.
http://www.reddit.com/r/Bioshock/comments/1bk21y/bioshock_infinite_the_ultimate_spoiler_faq/
So far this is the best write-up that describes the events of Infinite; it helped me articulate a few things I felt were right but I was still thinking through. I knew Booker had been looping for a while, and I wasn't quite clear why this Booker finally learned he was stuck in a loop, and how he broke it.
Interesting problem, I didn't think of this: if entering a new timeline forces you to reconcile memories with your self in this universe, why wouldn't Dewitt have to reconcile memories with Comstock. This blows a huge hole in that notion as presented in the game.
http://www.reddit.com/r/Bioshock/comments/1bn88f/spoiler_analysis_of_songs_in_bioshock_infinite/
Again, stuff I mostly knew or figured out, but its nice to see it all layed out. The use of music is one of my favorite artful things about Infinite. I thought the use of music was random, but analysis makes it seem very deliberate. I not only like the musical selections, the use of them in the game, but also the analysis of how they were used. That's just layers of goodness.
All this analysis makes me appreciate Infinite a bit more, but I am still missing a plausible connection between Dewitt and Comstock. I don't think I'm ever going to receive it, because it was never written. I wonder what the DLC has to add, and if its worth buying and playing.
2015.02.20
Another day out from finishing and I'm starting to go hazy and nostalgic about the series. I am forgetting about all the tedium and frustration and the stupidity, and I'm just remembering how cool the visuals and sounds and music were, and how much fun it is to throw fire and lightning around. Elizabeth and Booker were great characters, and it was fun to follow them, until the end when you realize that's all you've been doing, is following them. You never have any choice in what they do; you the player provided animus but nothing more. At least Bioshock 1 and 2 had some choice in how you play and how it ends, even if its the simple but dire choice to harvest or rescue Little Sisters. Bioshock 3 was a console movie with a pretty but dumb soap opera ending, where our hero turned out to be his evil twin all along, and its obvious the writers just didn't know how to wrap up the story that week, and the deadline was looming.
Some time later... there are two DLCs, that together cost more than I payed for the entire series up til now. Maybe if they were more reasonably priced, I wouldn't be watching this walkthrough:
"Bioshock Infinite : Burial At Sea - No Commentary"
Not bad, but it ends in some ways worse than Bioshock Infinite. You're being punished for all sorts of things you don't even remember, let alone have been established in the story yet.
In all my ramblings on this topic, I don't think I've ever mentioned that I don't mind a downer ending. Sad or mixed feeling endings tend to beat happy endings. I rather liked the victory in defeat ending of Bioshock 2. And I like the idea in Infinite of endlessly repeating the same mistake, and how you may or may not break out of that loop. Or rather, I would like it if they had properly established it. I think this is going to bother me until I can figure out how it should have been written.
"Bioshock Infinite : Burial At Sea 2 - No Commentary"
Elizabeth killed Booker, after making him believe he's Comstock for all of 5 seconds - even if we're to accept this, how is this justice? In Infinite, they needed to rush to kill Comstock because he was actively trying to kill Booker and Elizabeth with every resource he could muster. His death was brutal, but explainable. Booker is just quietly living his life and Elizabeth just gets him killed and gloats about it. Its like they doubled down on the stupid premise, and are betting the house on it.
Still, its nice to see the world from Elizabeth's perspective, and to see the Paris she dreamed about. I don't think she ever gets there, but its nice to see what she dreamed about. I love the part where she goes in a bookstore, asks for a book, and the proprietor apologizes that it hasn't been written yet.
It gets even better, as an NPC remarks some things are best left in dreams, and even better yet when the scene goes full Disney and animals are doing cute things like listening to music, and singing while perched on your finger. Elizabeth at her full powers can tear to anywhere, so why couldn't this universe exist? Still, its also a nice callback to songbird, and sure enough, next stop is a cage seller. Of course, things start getting weird as Sally enters the picture, with a Red Balloon (like the movie).
Its nice to finally see Elizabeth as a lead, but having Booker on the radio is shades of Battlestar Galactica reboot. Wait and see.
"Just a normal girl with a normal pinky". Seems like a stealth game, interesting that this is finally an option this late in the series. There's even a stealth plasmid.
The use of schematics while talking is pretty.
"Cross-reality collaboration". Why not.
2015.02.22
I've been thinking about how cool it is that this game explores a multiverse of possibilities, and being able to transverse them. While the endless stars that are lighthouses at the end of Infinite is fascinating, there's also something debilitatingly sad about it. Your victories and defeats matter little if you can just duck into a lighthouse where you got it right. The game says it itself, we defeated Comstock in this universe, but there are many, maybe infinite universes, where he still reigns. What are you supposed to do with this knowledge?
Which makes Elizabeth's mission to save one particular universe's Sally so pointless. Just pop into a universe where she's fine. Not to mention Elizabeth is releasing Atlas/Fontaine from prison to do so, and there is little doubt that he aims to get far more people killed than the one you are saving.
Back to Burial at Sea 2.
The cross reality collaboration is actually really interesting, and helps explain why Elizabeth's time was so advanced. Sometimes the story is smart.
It's cute how Booker always used to hastily slam on elevator buttons, in Columbia and in Rapture, and yet they animated Elizabeth daintily pressing it.
Its kind of eery to hear Ryan talk as if he knows who and what Elizabeth is. And yet isn't this the same Ryan who allows his clone child stick a golf club through his head when he could have just as easily ordered him to stick it through Fontaine's?
Another smart thing, explaining why Big Daddies lose the ability to shoot their drill. I love it. But wait, how old a model was Delta? Never mind, let me enjoy the smart thing while I can. Nice, another reference explaining Vita Chambers, but barely.
The lion with the thorn in its paw, the same method that bound Elizabeth to Songbird binds Little Sister to Big Daddy.
I love the circularity as they set up Suchong's death scene. You know what's coming, and its still neat to see it play out.
Of course, I should have seen that coming, the hero of a Bioshock story always dies at the end. But Elizabeth's sacrifice was not in vain, she set in motion Jack, who would ultimately take down Atlas/Fontaine. Wait, uh, how many more people is Fontaine going to kill once rescued? Just by activating Jack alone, Elizabeth has doomed an entire air crew and passengers. Oops. Let's not think about that.
I like how the end credits once again show the real voice actors doing their thing. It doesn't diminish the game at all, strangely it adds.
Well, the Burial at Sea DLCs didn't help clear up any of the stupid stuff, if anything it made it stupider. I somewhat regret watching it, but I had to see for myself. Infinite deserved a better wrap-up than this; its ending is not much more effective than the old it-was-all-just-a-dream ending.
I can now walk away from the Bioshock series with mixed but overall good feelings, if I don't think about it too much.
Monday, February 9, 2015
Bioshock Infinite (2013)
* spoilers for Bioshock series *
After Bioshock 2 ended on such a high note, I wasn't expecting Bioshock Infinite to go backwards in time. The story last left us with Eleanore in the 1960s, and now I'm in the 1910s with someone named Booker. Booker seems to be a detective following a lead on a missing person, and quickly finds and infiltrates a closed society living in a floating city.
I feel like I'm playing Myst. Whereas Myst was bizarre and empty, this city is crowded with NPCs, bizarre, and empty. I thought the underwater schizo-tech city of Rapture was a gut-wrenching suspension of disbelief, but this floating city is an evisceration. Not only that, there seems to be a hint of plasmid magic here, in the form of vigors and salts, which shouldn't be discovered until decades later in Rapture.
I was just starting to get used to the world of Bioshock 1 and 2, and this feels like this reboot into an alternate timeline . I don't know what to feel, and I'm trying to reserve judgement, but I am disappointed. When you add in that this seems to be the worst console port yet, I feel despair.
2015.02.11
I was always a bit uncomfortable with all the religious trappings of Bioshock 1 and 2, but here they are laying it on with a trowel. The first thing you need to do to get past a checkpoint is get baptized. Then you're infiltrating some society based around a cult-like worship of some prophet.
Everything is all sunshine and roses until the slave auction, or raffle. So much for a stealth operation, now its run and gun time. The game mostly unsubtly prompts you to keep after the girl. The girl looks kind of like Eleanore from Bioshock 2, as does the giant angel statue towering over everything. Maybe Eleanore traveled back in time, and tried starting her own Rapture in the clouds? On to the next chapter.
What is this little Cthulhu ragdoll I keep finding?
Various propaganda posters refer to the angel girl as The Lamb, a phrase you heard a lot in Bioshock 2.
A statue dedicated to John Wilkes Booth, I guess that explains why there is still slavery in the 1900s. Apparently the Order of the Raven doesn't mind its mascots crapping all over everything.
Why is a raven like a writing desk? Print screen works in Bioshock, finally.
These exposition kinetescopes scattered throughout the land sure are useful for learning bits and pieces of backstory... wait a second, is that Sofia Lamb standing there, in the movie about strange anomalies in the city? Did they both come back in time together? Or maybe Eleanore chased her here? Can't wait to find out what's going on.
Moving further in, more and more images of what looks like Eleanore. Siphons... I've been wondering where these people are getting plasmids and ADAM from - Eleanore had a very high level, and added more when she absorbed Delta. Prophet Comstock calls her Elizabeth, oh well, there goes that theory.
Escorting Elizabeth through various dangers and obstacles feels a little like The Last of Us. Sometimes when Booker responds to something Elizabeth says or does, it sounds just like Joel. I'm not really interested right now in which game came first.
Can I really only carry two weapons at a time? Interesting choice for this game, considering its everything and the kitchen sink heritage. Its too bad my inventory screen shows, and therefore spoils, all possible weapons. Looks like weapons can be upgraded - does that mean I'm stuck carrying around that particular weapon? Because right now I'm swapping out various weapons to try them out.
Up till now I've been going everywhere, eavesdropping, and taking stuff right under people's noses. Now the shopkeepers are aware if I go behind the counter, and I can't just take from the cash register, my only option is to steal. Is this because Elizabeth is in tow?
I forgot to mention something from the escape from Elizabeth's prison. While in progress, you are harassed by what seems to be a large dragon, but eventually you get close enough to see that it is a giant robotic raven. That seems to be the inspiration for the strange little stuffed animal.
I'm walking around the resort, and everyone is oblivious to the fact I have long guns out; I really like games that let you holster. Why isn't the city in lockdown? Or at least the radio should be sending out alerts constantly. Do they think we're dead?
Elizabeth can open portals to other worlds, she calls it a tear. Ever since I first saw her do it in her prison, I had some idea that's why the game is called Bioshock Infinite, for infinite dimensions in a multiverse. But if she can open portals, and even pull things through, why can't she just leave? Are there limits on size?
2015.02.12
2015.02.15
The rapid estrangement and rapprochement between Joel and El- I mean between Booker and Elizabeth seems necessary, but a little forced.
I love that the portals to other dimensions are a little random, and sometimes you even get a little glimpse of what might be our world (Return of the Jedi, Creedence Clearwater Revival). I am a little concerned that *spoiler for Battlestar Galactica reboot* that we might get an All Along The Watchtower ending, which would be absolute bullshit.
I've been meaning to mention this for some time, but traveling around by hanging off a hook at high speed is hardly plausible for people like Booker and the soldiers and police, but it makes no sense for Elizabeth. She's been locked in an apartment all her life, and suddenly she has the strength and resolve to hang from a hook at literally break-neck speeds at great heights?
I really like that alternate timelines and worlds have been introduced, and you the player are traveling into them. This is one of my favorite things in this whole series this far. So much potential, I can't wait to see what they do with it. Maybe I should temper my expectations.
Its a strange feeling to finally recognize something you have been seeing for years. Elizabeth is dressed a certain way, with a particular haircut, in most of the game art I've seen before I played, and now I know why.
More parallels with the ending of BSG, with the weird mystery couple that can enter the story whenever they feel the need. And another person singing a song they shouldn't know.
2015.02.17
I like where the story is going as I learn more about Lutece (who I originally thought was Sofia Lamb from the second game). Still, it offends everything we know about science and technology that you can just tell 19th century people, hey, quantum physics!, and suddenly you have flying cities.
This game is easy, even on Hard difficulty, except for Handymen, who are monstrously overpowered. They can move very quickly and can jump to any height, so you can not get away from them. They can deny you use of the skyway hook system. And they have a ton of hp and armor, and are only weak in one spot, which is hard to get a lock on, and none of your weapons are very good against.
OK, next time around a different strategy, and it was almost easy.
In most FPS RPG, I tend to like the revolver and shotgun, or whatever's closest to it. I've also really been liking the carbine, which is a nice mix of everything, but getting too underpowered later in the game. Running around with the the high-end revolver, called handcannon for some unstated reason, just feels right for Booker. I'm still switching amongst and learning the weapons. There are so many, I'm still trying to figure out a few.
I was just starting to get used to and liking this inter-dimensional aspect of the game, but the Lutece stuff keeps getting weirder, and now I'm fighting the Elizabeth's mom in spectral form, who is busy raising the dead against me. Not sure what to think of this, but things are moving too fast to judge.
2015.02.18
I've already invoked spoilers, but now I claim double spoilers.
The confrontation with Comstock doesn't make sense. Of course you expect him to say something to make Elizabeth fly off the handle again, but the best he could come up with is the thimble on her finger? For Booker to go murderous isn't that much of a stretch, especially considering all he's been through to get to this point, but Elizabeth doesn't really try all that hard to stop him. Hopefully it will make more sense in time, the way Ryan's murder (from Bioshock 1) didn't.
The fight on the deck of the zeppelin is long and tough and there's a low hp object to defend. Kind of boring. Tried twice, taking a break.
Thinking about it some more, I like the resonance of the great bird coming to Elizabeth's defense once more, but shouldn't this ship have some anti-air guns on it?
I'll try defense on Hard once or twice more, but its not really all that interesting, so I'm ready to ratchet down to Medium. There's probably some optimal pattern of heavy weapons and plasmids to use to get to the end, but I don't know how many times I want to go through this long sequence to learn it.
As usual when I say things like that, I sail right through it.
And from there, you're on rails to the ending. I'm glad I sat through the credits, because there's a little bit more at the end.
I'm resisting going straight to the internet, I want to work through this a bit for myself. I don't like the ending, and I want to know why. I don't mind and ending where our hero has to sacrifice himself to right some wrong, or so that someone he loves can go on, or to otherwise snatch victory from defeat. Those are all acceptable endings to stories. But this doesn't feel like that.
I don't accept that DeWitt is Comstock, insofar as they are saying that that literally. Maybe more like DeWitt played a role in the evil that was Comstock, and he removing DeWitt somehow breaks that chain that turns Anna (DeWitt's daughter?) into Elizabeth.
The game looks and feels like it has a powerful ending where you realize the consequences of your actions catching up to you, but it does not bear inspection. As a theory, it doesn't even mostly explain what is going on in this multiverse.
Also, Elizabeth seems all to happy to push the story cart down the rails its on, as if she can't wait to drown her father (the way DeWitt drowned Comstock), and just get it over with. I think that's what's bothering me. Mechanically, most things just click into place and the story trundles along, but it betrays all the emotional resonance that has been building up until now. The DeWitt and Elizabeth that have been portrayed this far suddenly start acting out of character,
And what does Elizabeth even want to see happen out of this? Its not like DeWitt is suddenly going to turn into Comstock, figuratively or literally.
I wonder what is the significance at the beginning of the game of choosing the bird or the cage. Maybe nothing. OK, let's go to the net, and see what others have said.
Looking at the official site, there are three DLCs out!
OK, read the wiki, it maintains that some Bookers took the baptism and became Zachary Comstocks in their respective universes. A bunch of Elizabeths from various universes gather to drown him, he lets them, and Comstock never comes to be. This is bullshit on multiple levels. Baptism doesn't turn you into a whole 'nother person, as I understand it you get a spiritual reboot, but you are still you. Its not like the procedure lobotomizes you or brainwashes you, and the Comstock and Dewitt are just fundamentally different people. Sorry, no sale.
Also, wouldn't all these Elizabeths have to drown all the Dewitts in each of their perspective universes? When they drown a Dewitt, that Elizabeth should dissapear, but the rest should remain. They can then take the suffocation train to the next Dewitt, drown him, another Elizabeth pops out of existance, and move on. Only the last Elizabeth needs to do the fell deed on her own. Still not buying it.
Dissapointed that they couldn't have written a tighter ending, but I'm not all that mad. Right now I'm just really enjoying "Will The Circle Be Unbroken". That was a really special, if out of nowhere, moment in the game, like finding an easter egg in a game, and yet there was something sincere about it. Now I'm reading more about it, and listening to it on YouTube, looking for violin version.
2015.02.19
Now that I've slept on it, I'm trying to summarize what I think of Bioshock Infinite, but I keep stumbling over what I want to say about the whole series, and that is for another post. All I can be sure of right now is that I feel empty about it, something like dissapointed or underwhelmed, but neither of those entirely. Sometimes when I finish a work of text, video, or game I will miss those characters or their world intensely for a while, and for some of the better ones it can taper off over a long time, sometimes over a lifetime. While I was inside the game I was deeply interested in where Elizabeth and Booker were going, and something about the ending just broke that connection, to the point where they're just gone.
I have a bunch of things to say about this game, but they are so mixed in with the rest of the series they will have to go together. Time to move on to the series review.
After Bioshock 2 ended on such a high note, I wasn't expecting Bioshock Infinite to go backwards in time. The story last left us with Eleanore in the 1960s, and now I'm in the 1910s with someone named Booker. Booker seems to be a detective following a lead on a missing person, and quickly finds and infiltrates a closed society living in a floating city.
I feel like I'm playing Myst. Whereas Myst was bizarre and empty, this city is crowded with NPCs, bizarre, and empty. I thought the underwater schizo-tech city of Rapture was a gut-wrenching suspension of disbelief, but this floating city is an evisceration. Not only that, there seems to be a hint of plasmid magic here, in the form of vigors and salts, which shouldn't be discovered until decades later in Rapture.
I was just starting to get used to the world of Bioshock 1 and 2, and this feels like this reboot into an alternate timeline . I don't know what to feel, and I'm trying to reserve judgement, but I am disappointed. When you add in that this seems to be the worst console port yet, I feel despair.
2015.02.11
I was always a bit uncomfortable with all the religious trappings of Bioshock 1 and 2, but here they are laying it on with a trowel. The first thing you need to do to get past a checkpoint is get baptized. Then you're infiltrating some society based around a cult-like worship of some prophet.
Everything is all sunshine and roses until the slave auction, or raffle. So much for a stealth operation, now its run and gun time. The game mostly unsubtly prompts you to keep after the girl. The girl looks kind of like Eleanore from Bioshock 2, as does the giant angel statue towering over everything. Maybe Eleanore traveled back in time, and tried starting her own Rapture in the clouds? On to the next chapter.
What is this little Cthulhu ragdoll I keep finding?
Various propaganda posters refer to the angel girl as The Lamb, a phrase you heard a lot in Bioshock 2.
A statue dedicated to John Wilkes Booth, I guess that explains why there is still slavery in the 1900s. Apparently the Order of the Raven doesn't mind its mascots crapping all over everything.
These exposition kinetescopes scattered throughout the land sure are useful for learning bits and pieces of backstory... wait a second, is that Sofia Lamb standing there, in the movie about strange anomalies in the city? Did they both come back in time together? Or maybe Eleanore chased her here? Can't wait to find out what's going on.
Moving further in, more and more images of what looks like Eleanore. Siphons... I've been wondering where these people are getting plasmids and ADAM from - Eleanore had a very high level, and added more when she absorbed Delta. Prophet Comstock calls her Elizabeth, oh well, there goes that theory.
Escorting Elizabeth through various dangers and obstacles feels a little like The Last of Us. Sometimes when Booker responds to something Elizabeth says or does, it sounds just like Joel. I'm not really interested right now in which game came first.
Can I really only carry two weapons at a time? Interesting choice for this game, considering its everything and the kitchen sink heritage. Its too bad my inventory screen shows, and therefore spoils, all possible weapons. Looks like weapons can be upgraded - does that mean I'm stuck carrying around that particular weapon? Because right now I'm swapping out various weapons to try them out.
I forgot to mention something from the escape from Elizabeth's prison. While in progress, you are harassed by what seems to be a large dragon, but eventually you get close enough to see that it is a giant robotic raven. That seems to be the inspiration for the strange little stuffed animal.
I'm walking around the resort, and everyone is oblivious to the fact I have long guns out; I really like games that let you holster. Why isn't the city in lockdown? Or at least the radio should be sending out alerts constantly. Do they think we're dead?
Elizabeth can open portals to other worlds, she calls it a tear. Ever since I first saw her do it in her prison, I had some idea that's why the game is called Bioshock Infinite, for infinite dimensions in a multiverse. But if she can open portals, and even pull things through, why can't she just leave? Are there limits on size?
2015.02.12
2015.02.15
The rapid estrangement and rapprochement between Joel and El- I mean between Booker and Elizabeth seems necessary, but a little forced.
I love that the portals to other dimensions are a little random, and sometimes you even get a little glimpse of what might be our world (Return of the Jedi, Creedence Clearwater Revival). I am a little concerned that *spoiler for Battlestar Galactica reboot* that we might get an All Along The Watchtower ending, which would be absolute bullshit.
I've been meaning to mention this for some time, but traveling around by hanging off a hook at high speed is hardly plausible for people like Booker and the soldiers and police, but it makes no sense for Elizabeth. She's been locked in an apartment all her life, and suddenly she has the strength and resolve to hang from a hook at literally break-neck speeds at great heights?
I really like that alternate timelines and worlds have been introduced, and you the player are traveling into them. This is one of my favorite things in this whole series this far. So much potential, I can't wait to see what they do with it. Maybe I should temper my expectations.
More parallels with the ending of BSG, with the weird mystery couple that can enter the story whenever they feel the need. And another person singing a song they shouldn't know.
2015.02.17
I like where the story is going as I learn more about Lutece (who I originally thought was Sofia Lamb from the second game). Still, it offends everything we know about science and technology that you can just tell 19th century people, hey, quantum physics!, and suddenly you have flying cities.
This game is easy, even on Hard difficulty, except for Handymen, who are monstrously overpowered. They can move very quickly and can jump to any height, so you can not get away from them. They can deny you use of the skyway hook system. And they have a ton of hp and armor, and are only weak in one spot, which is hard to get a lock on, and none of your weapons are very good against.
OK, next time around a different strategy, and it was almost easy.
In most FPS RPG, I tend to like the revolver and shotgun, or whatever's closest to it. I've also really been liking the carbine, which is a nice mix of everything, but getting too underpowered later in the game. Running around with the the high-end revolver, called handcannon for some unstated reason, just feels right for Booker. I'm still switching amongst and learning the weapons. There are so many, I'm still trying to figure out a few.
I was just starting to get used to and liking this inter-dimensional aspect of the game, but the Lutece stuff keeps getting weirder, and now I'm fighting the Elizabeth's mom in spectral form, who is busy raising the dead against me. Not sure what to think of this, but things are moving too fast to judge.
2015.02.18
I've already invoked spoilers, but now I claim double spoilers.
The confrontation with Comstock doesn't make sense. Of course you expect him to say something to make Elizabeth fly off the handle again, but the best he could come up with is the thimble on her finger? For Booker to go murderous isn't that much of a stretch, especially considering all he's been through to get to this point, but Elizabeth doesn't really try all that hard to stop him. Hopefully it will make more sense in time, the way Ryan's murder (from Bioshock 1) didn't.
The fight on the deck of the zeppelin is long and tough and there's a low hp object to defend. Kind of boring. Tried twice, taking a break.
Thinking about it some more, I like the resonance of the great bird coming to Elizabeth's defense once more, but shouldn't this ship have some anti-air guns on it?
I'll try defense on Hard once or twice more, but its not really all that interesting, so I'm ready to ratchet down to Medium. There's probably some optimal pattern of heavy weapons and plasmids to use to get to the end, but I don't know how many times I want to go through this long sequence to learn it.
As usual when I say things like that, I sail right through it.
And from there, you're on rails to the ending. I'm glad I sat through the credits, because there's a little bit more at the end.
I'm resisting going straight to the internet, I want to work through this a bit for myself. I don't like the ending, and I want to know why. I don't mind and ending where our hero has to sacrifice himself to right some wrong, or so that someone he loves can go on, or to otherwise snatch victory from defeat. Those are all acceptable endings to stories. But this doesn't feel like that.
I don't accept that DeWitt is Comstock, insofar as they are saying that that literally. Maybe more like DeWitt played a role in the evil that was Comstock, and he removing DeWitt somehow breaks that chain that turns Anna (DeWitt's daughter?) into Elizabeth.
The game looks and feels like it has a powerful ending where you realize the consequences of your actions catching up to you, but it does not bear inspection. As a theory, it doesn't even mostly explain what is going on in this multiverse.
Also, Elizabeth seems all to happy to push the story cart down the rails its on, as if she can't wait to drown her father (the way DeWitt drowned Comstock), and just get it over with. I think that's what's bothering me. Mechanically, most things just click into place and the story trundles along, but it betrays all the emotional resonance that has been building up until now. The DeWitt and Elizabeth that have been portrayed this far suddenly start acting out of character,
And what does Elizabeth even want to see happen out of this? Its not like DeWitt is suddenly going to turn into Comstock, figuratively or literally.
I wonder what is the significance at the beginning of the game of choosing the bird or the cage. Maybe nothing. OK, let's go to the net, and see what others have said.
Looking at the official site, there are three DLCs out!
OK, read the wiki, it maintains that some Bookers took the baptism and became Zachary Comstocks in their respective universes. A bunch of Elizabeths from various universes gather to drown him, he lets them, and Comstock never comes to be. This is bullshit on multiple levels. Baptism doesn't turn you into a whole 'nother person, as I understand it you get a spiritual reboot, but you are still you. Its not like the procedure lobotomizes you or brainwashes you, and the Comstock and Dewitt are just fundamentally different people. Sorry, no sale.
Also, wouldn't all these Elizabeths have to drown all the Dewitts in each of their perspective universes? When they drown a Dewitt, that Elizabeth should dissapear, but the rest should remain. They can then take the suffocation train to the next Dewitt, drown him, another Elizabeth pops out of existance, and move on. Only the last Elizabeth needs to do the fell deed on her own. Still not buying it.
Dissapointed that they couldn't have written a tighter ending, but I'm not all that mad. Right now I'm just really enjoying "Will The Circle Be Unbroken". That was a really special, if out of nowhere, moment in the game, like finding an easter egg in a game, and yet there was something sincere about it. Now I'm reading more about it, and listening to it on YouTube, looking for violin version.
2015.02.19
Now that I've slept on it, I'm trying to summarize what I think of Bioshock Infinite, but I keep stumbling over what I want to say about the whole series, and that is for another post. All I can be sure of right now is that I feel empty about it, something like dissapointed or underwhelmed, but neither of those entirely. Sometimes when I finish a work of text, video, or game I will miss those characters or their world intensely for a while, and for some of the better ones it can taper off over a long time, sometimes over a lifetime. While I was inside the game I was deeply interested in where Elizabeth and Booker were going, and something about the ending just broke that connection, to the point where they're just gone.
I have a bunch of things to say about this game, but they are so mixed in with the rest of the series they will have to go together. Time to move on to the series review.
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