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Bioshock ain't that bad...

JDR13

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Nov 2, 2006
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The Swamp
Wut? I don't think you understand what was written if you believe that to be the case. I am all for (reasonable) loss of progress as penalty for failure, as well as other methods of penalization. I know you are too, so what are you getting at?
The has to be some kind of penalty for failure, it's extremely integral to game design on a fundamental level. Vita chambers as it stands in Bioshock offer none outside of the approximate 5 seconds it takes to return to where you died. In fact, death is more often a reward in that game than it is a penalty, technically. there's more times it benefits you than hinders. You can save health hypos by just reusing vita chambers and the health they give over and over. I mean this doesn't actually benefit you because you just don't need to do it, but it would be a legitimate strategy in a different game (e.g games that have infinite health sources, it is wise to abuse those sources as much as possible before moving on, and is often also lame).

Why do you keep bringing up a feature that is 100% optional and pretending you're making some kind of point?
 

DalekFlay

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I don't totally know what I'm talking about here as I didn't get far into Infinite, but isn't there also a twist that was even widely regarded by normies as a bridge too far?

Like Zombra said, the twist itself is fine. I actually thought it was pretty cool at first. The problem is they launch off that twist into an endless spiral of nonsense in the last quarter of the game or so. Up until that point though, I think the overall concept is solid and the presentation is excellent.
 

LudensCogitet

Learned
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Nov 4, 2019
Messages
210
When I play a game I tend to prioritize; Story > Atmosphere > Gameplay, with the exception of multiplayer games being the other way around.

Story is very subjective but it's pretty similar in style to the first two I guess? Directed by the same dude. It's a little more involved I suppose, with more cutscenes and dialog interactions and not everything being on audio logs. Atmosphere you can google but it's mostly a dreamy kind of bright fantasy, the main theme being nationalism run amuck like capitalism and socialism in the first two. Gameplay... like I said, it's a better shooter. You move around a lot more, enemies are more reactive, the skyline stuff adds a neat layer. Nothing OH MY FUCKING GOD amazing, but it's fun.

I think Bioshock Infinite is the only game I've ever refunded on Steam. Partly because of the tired arena shooter gameplay some have mentioned being the first thing I had to do, but also because the entire setting is like... what the fuck? An underwater city with a sort of dystopic retro futurism vibe is one thing, but a flying cloud city where everyone worships George Washington as a deity? What was even going on?
 

Zombra

An iron rock in the river of blood and evil
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Make the Codex Great Again! RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Codex+ Now Streaming! Serpent in the Staglands Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
I think Bioshock Infinite is the only game I've ever refunded on Steam. Partly because of the tired arena shooter gameplay some have mentioned being the first thing I had to do, but also because the entire setting is like... what the fuck? An underwater city with a sort of dystopic retro futurism vibe is one thing, but a flying cloud city where everyone worships George Washington as a deity? What was even going on?
Add to that the disconnects between gameplay and setting. Eating cotton candy out of garbage cans heals gunshot wounds with no explanation. Magic potions given to every child at the county fair grant permanent, highly lethal superpowers; yet none of the armies of SWAT teams trying to kill you think to use these powers as they watch their comrades slaughtered in the hundreds, on their home territory, by one untrained stranger. It's just gibberish.
 
Joined
Oct 19, 2010
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Bioshock ain't that bad and it ain't that good. It's surprisingly lacklustre for what initially was promising in both setting and design

I completed bioshock 1, and while gameplay wise it was pretty average it had the novelty factor of the setting and aesthetic (and very good music) to pull me along

I got bored of Bioshock 2 part way through. Mechanically an improvement? Probably but absolutely no point to the story, a setting that was no longer novel by that point and nothing new or interesting. I just couldn't muster the interest to go on
 

Falksi

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Nottingham
I bought all the Bioshock games during a steam sale like 5 years ago because I remember the series being super popular as a kid/teen and figured I might as well give it a shot.

I remember Bioshock 1 being one of the most meh games I ever played, and got so bored with Bioshock 2 I dropped it like 3 hours in and haven't touched it since. I consider giving it another shot every year or so, but everybody seems to pan Bioshock Infinite so even if I manage to complete Bioshock 2 it feels like I'm just setting myself up for future frustration and disappointment.

:prosper:

Aye, that's the thing with 1, it's the best of the bunch but it's flat our boring as fuck.

For me it's a game that requires the player to be heavily stimulated by the none-interactive elements of gaming, such as environment & story. I like those elements, but when I buy a shooter the interactive elements such as gameplay & exploration need to match that, if not better it. Bioshock's on the other hand has design choices which means it's totally the opposite.
 
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vota DC

Augur
Joined
Aug 23, 2016
Messages
2,258
Bioshock
Ai de sora ga ochite kuru
Bioshock
Ore no mune ni ochite kuru

Atsui kokoro kusari de tsunai demo
Ima wa muda da yo
Jama suru yatsu wa yubisaki hitotsu de down sa

Bioshock
Ai de kodou hayaku naru
Bioshock
Ore no kodou hayaku naru

Omae motome samayou kokoro ima
Atsuku moete iru
Subete tokashi muzan ni tobichiru hazu sa

Ore to no ai wo mamoru tame
Omae wa tabidachi
Ashita wo miushinatta

Hohoemi wasureta kao nado mitaku wa nai sa
Ai wo torimodose
 

DalekFlay

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I think Bioshock Infinite is the only game I've ever refunded on Steam. Partly because of the tired arena shooter gameplay some have mentioned being the first thing I had to do, but also because the entire setting is like... what the fuck? An underwater city with a sort of dystopic retro futurism vibe is one thing, but a flying cloud city where everyone worships George Washington as a deity? What was even going on?

Eh, I can't agree here. I like weird ass settings that only video games can get away with. It annoys the hell out of me that 9 out of 10 RPGs take place in extremely Tolkien settings because people whine about them being "too weird" when they don't.
 

Zombra

An iron rock in the river of blood and evil
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Make the Codex Great Again! RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Codex+ Now Streaming! Serpent in the Staglands Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
I think Bioshock Infinite is the only game I've ever refunded on Steam. Because the entire setting is like... what the fuck? An underwater city with a sort of dystopic retro futurism vibe is one thing, but a flying cloud city where everyone worships George Washington as a deity? What was even going on?
Eh, I can't agree here. I like weird ass settings that only video games can get away with. It annoys the hell out of me that 9 out of 10 RPGs take place in extremely Tolkien settings because people whine about them being "too weird" when they don't.
Yeah. Also, the superficial craziness of the setting does make complete sense when considering its underlying basis: the truth of the Everett, Wheeler, Graham model of reality or "many-worlds interpretation", whereby every possibility is played out in parallel universes. Infinite takes place in a "fringe" reality where a lot of people made some very bizarre decisions. It's supposed to make you say, "Well this is all very weird and unlikely."
 

Parsifarka

Arcane
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Dec 31, 2014
Messages
1,022
Location
Potato field
I tried to play Bioshock Infinite once but after twenty minutes or so in I still hadn't had the chance to shoot a gun or do anything other than suffer tiring blabbering. Feeling trapped in a walking simulator, I quit the game and uninstalled it never to touch it again. I think I bought it for about two euros in Green Man Gaming or something like that, so not much of a loss.
As for the Bioshock 1 vs 2 controversy, I agree with the sentiment that the second was better than the original as it actually had mildly entertaining combat whereas the first was below mediocrity in every department beyond the visuals and the sound. That's not much of a compliment, and it is true the setting was already exhausted by the time it came out but at least it managed to be an average shooter instead of an awful one. Shitty series of games overall.
 

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