Still, it's a great read. I continue to assert that the game was just as fun after the big revelation as it was before it, but this is because I realize that a game can only provide choice and freedom to a certain degree, particularly where moral choices, character mindset, and overall outcome are concerned.
I agree -- b/c if there is to really be a sequel to Bioshock, the designers are gonna' have to basically "pick an ending" as the "True" Ending of the game, so they can set-up one exact point where Bioshock 2 begins -- especially since you have a "Good" And "Evil" ending here in Bioshock, in which I'm guessing the two endings will probably conflict w/ each other. So, they'll probably pick one ending from Bioshock 1 to actually begin Bioshock 2, if they want the same lead character to return.
Now, on another hand, Deus Ex 2 did a very interesting thing -- they decided that ALL THREE ENDINGS HAPPENED from Deus Ex 1, which is VERY interesting, indeed; since there's no real moral choices of a conflicting good and bad in any of the game's endings, by the player. All THREE endings are basically a "bunch of events that occurred," designed in such that none of them would conflict w/ each other. It wasn't a point where say if Ending A occurred, Ending B can't. It was Ending A, B, or C could all happen -- possibly, even altogether. So, Ion Storm never really had to decide "which ending occurred." They took them all. Quite genius, if you ask me.
Now, I come back to STALKER -- b/c for an action game, there's 7 different endings, in total. This one game has 2 different branching directions you can go in, right near the very end of the game. There's a branching point, where the game shoots off in two directions, namely. It's up to you, to decide which way to go -- both, which are different and lead to a different set of endings.
STALKER Spoilers Of "The Two Branching Pathways"
Now, one road will actually lead to a final battle, while the other will avoid a final battle completely so that the game will just end w/out any combat.
Now, depending on which road of the two roads you chose, if you did (or didn't do) certain particular quests in the game, AND what some stats of your character actually are, you can get a different ending.
After The Big Twist In Bioshock Spoilers....
After the big twist, I wanted to destroy everything -- which was pretty much what I was doing, as I kept Harvesting Little Sisters the whole way through!
With Andrew Ryan dead, who really didn't want to live anymore, it only seemed natural to not want Fontaine to take over Rapture, either. I wanted to destroy Fontaine. I wanted to destroy Rapture, too. Andrew Ryan's Rapture was dead to me, as long as he was. And well, that's pretty much the path the game leads you on, so no complaints there....
![Tongue :P](https://www.overwritten.net/forum/Smileys/default/tongue.gif)
Though, what really would've been interesting -- is at the end, you could decide to become a Big Daddy so you could go after Fontaine OR you could also somehow and some way decide to not become a Big Daddy but you could find some other way out of Rapture to avoid Fontaine completely.
So yeah, give it a read and discuss. We could use more game journalism like this. Somebody should give the man a medal.
Hell of a read -- I agree w/ that.
Regardless of what people think of Bioshock, it's a great action game -- one of the best, w/ an outstanding story. That's what it is, from start to finish, more so than anything -- an action game w/ a hell of a story.