Topic: Bioshock Infinite announced

[MysterD]

I thought I didn't care about Infinite, and would probably play it "some day" when I could get it cheap. The imminent launch has be wishing I had the money to get it though. I've stayed away from pretty much all discussions, but can't help but feel hyped anyway.

Playing Bioshock 2 for now. I started with Minerva's Den, and I'm liking the combat and weapons a lot more. I really hope those things are done well in Infinite.

Oh, I'd like to hear your thoughts on Minerva's Den DLC for Bioshock 2, some time.
I missed out on that.
I really wish they did a Bioshock 2: Complete Edition re-release w/ all of the DLC's.

[Xessive]

I played about 20 mins of Infinite last night. Wow. It is engrossing. It parallels the first Bioshock in terms of introductory structure, except Columbia is very much thriving when you first arrive. It is a gorgeous game too.

I'm really anxious to play some more of it.

[W7RE]

Oh, I'd like to hear your thoughts on Minerva's Den DLC for Bioshock 2, some time.
I missed out on that.
I really wish they did a Bioshock 2: Complete Edition re-release w/ all of the DLC's.

I posted impressions in the Bioshock 2 thread.

[MysterD]

I played about 20 mins of Infinite last night. Wow. It is engrossing. It parallels the first Bioshock in terms of introductory structure, except Columbia is very much thriving when you first arrive. It is a gorgeous game too.

I'm really anxious to play some more of it.

Awesome. Can't wait to hear more.

[MysterD]

PC Gamer -> A bunch of Bioshock: Infinite PC tweaks.

[Xessive]

I'm getting more deeply invested in Bioshock Infinite. The story is definitively engrossing, I'm constantly wondering!

I've finally liberated Elizabeth. She is a pleasure to have around! Her combat aid is welcome but more-so is her insights on places we go and items we find. Her dynamic with Booker is particularly unique, very much like Big Daddy to the Little Sister. Which has actually caused me to ponder the plot..

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I've just defeated Slate and gone through the First Lady's museum, showing Elizabeth's history (per Comstock). Even though we're told Elizabeth is Comstock's daughter I think Elizabeth is really Booker's daughter, Anna! And now I'm starting to think Comstock is Booker's biological father or, considering Elizabeth's tear-manipulating abilities, possibly Booker from an alternate dimension/timeline! OoooOooo

I'm just speculating, the story is taking some pretty interesting turns.

[Quemaqua]

Damn it. Stop making me want this. Because I sort of really do.

[MysterD]

LOL @ THIS

EDIT:
IGN -> Port Authority on the features & technical stuff of PC version of Bioshock: Infinite.
IGN -> ***SPOILERS*** -> Easter Eggs & Secrets in Bs:I

[gpw11]

Okay, this game is absolutely amazing. I didn't think it would be, but it's just so well put together and engrossing. It's amazing that it's just as impressive as Bioshock was to me (more so actually) after I've already run through the same formula twice before.

[Pugnate]

I don't want to shell out $60! GAH!

[gpw11]

Well, I just finished this. Pretty amazing all around and it's really impressive how good of a job they did with making Elizabeth your companion throughout the game.  Spoilers ahead for the ending:

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Xessive hit the nail on the head with his theory and I didn't see that coming at all until close to the end/reveal.  My theory on Anna/Elizabeth was pretty much in line with what ended up being true but I thought Booker would end up being the Songbird and Comstock was just some dick. I was actually hoping that Elizabeth WASN'T Anna and just some random girl, but Booker's feelings over how he failed his daughter (Which was only assumed at this time) was his driving motivation to not abandon her.  I also still think that there's a good chance Booker and Songbird are one in the same, Songbird being a Booker pulled from another reality.

  All in all, the ride was extremely entertaining and the tiny little appearance of Rapture was completely awesome.

[Xessive]

Oh man, it was a journey.

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To be honest, I was kinda surprised I got it relatively early on. What set me thinking on that path was Comstock seemingly knowing so much about Booker. Then what set it in stone was Comstock telling Elizabeth to ask Booker about her pinky. It was still an entertaining revelation all through.

I started the game again and now I'm noticing the Lutece siblings everywhere! It's almost a different experience knowing what you cannot un-know!

[Xessive]

BioShock Infinite steampunk case mod opens dimensional portal to your heart



Wow! Steampunk fantasy!

Look at that keyboard!

[Pugnate]

Playing for a few hours now. I love it...

[MysterD]

**********SPOILERS in link Below********
Giant Bomb -> Alex Navarro on Bioshock: Infinite -> "Infinite Judgment".

EDIT -> April 16, 2013:
***** Dishonored & Bioshock: Infinite SPOILERS In Link Below ******
Kotaku -> Bioshock Infinite vs. Dishonored

[Cobra951]

I recently said of Bioshock Infinite I wished the game would have been something other than a first-person-shooter about halfway into playing it. Exploring the world, the characters and the story were just inherently more interesting than the gun fights, which seemed noticeably contrived, given the meticulous nature with which the rest of the game was put together. You never actually fought any of the major adversaries or villains, so the path of the story seemed set to play out in a very specific manner. That just left you fighting arenas full of grunts every so many steps, making it seem like this element was more of a concession to the marketers, who would need some guns and gore before believing they could sell the game.

That's a shame, because if there is one thing that's holding me back from immediately replaying Bioshock Infinite, it's knowing that I'd have to slog through more of those spastic and twitchy firefights. Had it been something more along the lines of TellTale's The Walking Dead, I'd be ready to jump back in.

Game franchises get married to genres pretty early, and players, maybe the industry as a whole, get nervous when they tries to switch things up. Metroid Prime got most of its pre-release attention back in its day simply for daring to switch perspectives. Turned out to be a brilliant and modern way to explore the worlds of that franchise. I think Bioshock might be ready for a similar kind of leap.

My thoughts exactly. It is funny, actually. The main idea behind Bioshock Infinite's story was choice and the huge consequences that even a small choice can have. But the game never really gives you a choice to do anything. You can run through corridors and shoot. There was actually much more choice in the previous two Bioshock games than in Infinite, which just feels dumbed down.

The real shame is that there was enough money to make Infinite so much more. Keep the shooter elements, but add depth to Columbine [sic!], which seems just like a stage set.

If a team as talented as Irrational Games, with all the time and money they could ask for and with a franchise that will sell regardless of whether the game is great or "just good", does not aspire to achieve more, then I am afraid that perhaps we will never see AAA games that aspire for more . . .

I'm not done yet, though I suspect I'm quite far along.  

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(I just entered Comstock House before quitting last night.)

 These comments to a nifty Warren Spector blog resonate with me quite a bit.  They let me be lazy, and use their authors' effort to serve as my impressions so far.  I need to finish before forming a full opinion, though.

[Cobra951]

As it turned out, I wasn't where I thought last time I posted.  I had quite a while to go to get there still.  Emporia is where I actually arrived.  Regardless, I'm done now, and I'm back to Emporia on a second playthrough.

There are some things about this game that are magnificent.  The setting and its details impressed me to no end.  The actual game felt more mundane, with the exception of the skylines.  I had a lot of fun with those.  The story . . . oh, the story.

Is there one?  

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When reality has no hard-and-fast rules, does anything that happen really mean anything?  If an event can happen a million different ways across a million different universes, and somehow all those universes congeal into one experience, does anything matter at all?  Time travel and parallel realities blow away all logic, all cause and effect.  Without those, what's left is a nonsensical mess.

Plus I hated the ending.  Totally despised it.  Makes playing through again much more of a chore, realizing

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how little anything I do matters at all.  I'm the good guy, the bad guy, and everyone else some warped mind can dream up.

 So what difference does anything make?  Ridiculous.

[Xessive]

It was all about the experience for me. As much as I crave closure it wasn't the driving force for me here. It highlights the notion of knowing and not being able to "unknow" something.

[Cobra951]

The experience was very cool.  I can set aside my disbelief in time travel and multiple universes for a sci-fi game, just like I can suspend my disbelief when reading a fairy tale.  It was very cool even through the more surreal sequences.  Where the coolness becomes disgust is the final reveal, which as you implied only matters for a moment, while the good experience itself matters for many hours.  Fair enough.  Still, the taste left in my mouth is rotten, like being served a dead rat for dessert after a gourmet meal.

[MysterD]

Kotaku -> 3 DLC's for BS:I announced.

Clash in the Clouds DLC -- 4-maps to do battle on and do challenges. Play as Elizabeth or Booker. Out today for $5.

"Burial At Sea" Episodes -- there'll be 2 Episodes in total, taking place in Rapture.  
Episode 1 -- Play as Detective Booker DeWitt who enlists Elizabeth, for some unknown reason - before Rapture falls and in its prime.
Episode 2 -- Elizabeth is playable in Episode 2 and will have survival-horror and stealth elements.

[Cools!]

I finished the game last night and I have to say I thought it was mediocre. I stopped caring about the characters and the plot after a few hours because the gameplay never picked up. I did have a few "oh cool" moments but for the most part none of the guns, vigors or clothing upgrades made any difference. Remove the setting and the upgrade system and it's still the same boring, linear FPS. You'd think that with a flying city and multiple universes the devs would go for more variety and originality in weapons and vigors or create maps that had more exploration (there was one moment where you could go back and unlock new rooms thanks to a new vigor). The deadbeat AI didn't help matters. 

I did like the rail system and the handyman battles, but other than that I really didn't care in the later part of the game and wanted it to end already and it's not even that long to start with.

[Cobra951]

The funny thing is that my favorite of the series, in terms of gameplay, is Bioshock 2, which most consider the weakest game of the three.  Like I said, and you said even more emphatically, the Infinite gameplay feels mundane.  I did like the setting and and its details, but unfortunately the attention to detail did not extend to what we get to do i that setting--which is by far the most important thing in a game.  The exception is the sky lines.  We needed more innovative and compelling mechanics like those.

[gpw11]

The funny thing is that my favorite of the series, in terms of gameplay, is Bioshock 2, which most consider the weakest game of the three.  Like I said, and you said even more emphatically, the Infinite gameplay feels mundane.  I did like the setting and and its details, but unfortunately the attention to detail did not extend to what we get to do i that setting--which is by far the most important thing in a game.  The exception is the sky lines.  We needed more innovative and compelling mechanics like those.

I agree with this.  I think I liked the second the most.

[sirean_syan]

I thought that Handyman stuff were some of the weakest bits in the game. It seemed like none of the really fun vigors did anything useful against them and the only good way to fight was to sprint, turn around, take a shot, then sprint off again. It felt like they became more tedious than anything else. At least with normal enemies you could through them around to do some fun tricks on them. If the Handymen were supposed to be the Big Daddy equivalent the missed that mark but a fairly large margin. It's been a while but I remember the Big Daddies mixing things up a bit more and at least being more interesting to deal with.

[MysterD]

The funny thing is that my favorite of the series, in terms of gameplay, is Bioshock 2, which most consider the weakest game of the three.

That's b/c the setting (Rapture) and many of the assets were re-used from the original. It felt more like an expansion pack than say a new game, in that sense.
Plus, the story for Bioshock 2 was nowhere even remotely close to the greatness Bioshock 1 had.

Like I said, and you said even more emphatically, the Infinite gameplay feels mundane.  I did like the setting and and its details, but unfortunately the attention to detail did not extend to what we get to do i that setting--which is by far the most important thing in a game.  The exception is the sky lines.  We needed more innovative and compelling mechanics like those.

Can't speak on Infinite yet - ain't played it.

[Cobra951]

That's b/c the setting (Rapture) and many of the assets were re-used from the original. It felt more like an expansion pack than say a new game, in that sense.
Plus, the story for Bioshock 2 was nowhere even remotely close to the greatness Bioshock 1 had.

Story vs gameplay.  I'll pick the latter every time, if it comes to a choice.  The thing about 2 is that the setting and premise were the same awesomeness as the first's, while the gameplay mechanics were notably refined, and expanded.  This is why game sequels are often better than the original, while movie sequels tend to be worse.  Story starts to get stale in sequels, but technology and gameplay improve.