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BioShock 2 |OT| of Big Sisters, Delta Daddies, and Creepy Uncles

Solo said:
Your neverending quest to putting BS2 over BS1 is admirable :lol , but no. Fontiane Futuristics isnt even as good as Siren's Alley or Persephone.

IMO the only thing that BS1 has over the sequel is the fact that it was the original and that it was the one that brought all these ideas to the table. I don't know about the twists/turns in the story yet but even if they're not as good as the oft-praised twist in the first one, well, that will be one of the few things I think it has over BS2. That, and sadly, the textures. :lol
 

Rlan

Member
The main problem I've had with Bioshock 2 is that I've been straight-up running out of stuff by the end of the level.

After killing a bunch of Big Daddies, doing 2 or 3 Sister defending minigames and shooting all the splicers along the way, I've got practically nothing left to hit the
Big Sister.
. I just died 10 times in a row because all I had was a few plasmids and an empty drill to hit her with over and over.

My fault for using far too much of my weaponry, but I don't remember having this problem at all with Bioshock 1.
 
Rlan said:
The main problem I've had with Bioshock 2 is that I've been straight-up running out of stuff by the end of the level.

I never have this problem, but then again I hack stuff all the time. I think if someone walked in on me playing BS2 they'd probably see me hacking... and hitting all the blue things. yeahhhhhhhhh
 

Rlan

Member
mescalineeyes said:
I never have this problem, but then again I hack stuff all the time. I think if someone walked in on me playing BS2 they'd probably see me hacking... and hitting all the blue things. yeahhhhhhhhh

I'm hacking everything too with flying colors, I don't know what's happened between the transition from Bioshock 1 to 2 that makes me crap :lol
 

Psy-Phi

Member
Rlan said:
The main problem I've had with Bioshock 2 is that I've been straight-up running out of stuff by the end of the level.

After killing a bunch of Big Daddies, doing 2 or 3 Sister defending minigames and shooting all the splicers along the way, I've got practically nothing left to hit the
Big Sister.
. I just died 10 times in a row because all I had was a few plasmids and an empty drill to hit her with over and over.

My fault for using far too much of my weaponry, but I don't remember having this problem at all with Bioshock 1.

Sounds like you need to plan your attack better. Nothing forces you to put that little sister in the vent to bring that enemy to you. I've got max cash much of tthe time and constantly spend it on whatever ammo is low. Set off an alarm near a bot shutdown switch to get a couple bots to help you out too.

BUt all you should need is about 100 rounds of upgraded machine gun ammo, or the upgraded drill. I just stand there and stick my drill in the big sister (lol, as I typed that...not intentional) and she goes down before I'm out of fuel.

And regarding BS1 vs 2, I much prefer 2. Sure it's not as original, but like Killzone 1 to 2, this sequel is better in the ways that matter...gameplay. So much more effective combat, many more choices (unlike the first games very limited number of ways to dispatch enemies). And I find myself more scared of certain areas and frightened when an enemy just walks up behind me out of nowhere than in the first game. The story seems better to me too. The only thing the first game had going for it was the twist. This story seems better fleshed out to me.
 

uraldix

Member
Rlan said:
I'm hacking everything too with flying colors, I don't know what's happened between the transition from Bioshock 1 to 2 that makes me crap :lol

Whatever it is, it affects me too. I am always running on empty for ammo. I am thinking of just harvesting the little sisters to conserve ammo.

Psy-Phi said:
I just stand there and stick my drill in the big sister (lol, as I typed that...not intentional) and she goes down before I'm out of fuel.

What platform are you playing on? Drilling her and her going down for you sounds much better than having to fight her.
 

Salz01

Member
Finished it this past weekend. My favorite part was Fontaine Futuristics for sure. From that point on I started having more fun with the game. The few key parts at the end was awesome. But it just made me wish those parts were introduced early in the game, because I wanted more of it.

The overall experience just made me want to play 1 again. Which I prefer overall.
To get me interested in a 3rd one, they'd have have to do something dramatically different to the formula. I dont know how, maybe the POV of a Splicer would be kind of intresting. I kind of wanted the powers of the Houdini Splicers. Or being able to control a mob of splicers would be cool. Likewise, going in as a straight sequel to 3 is hard. They'll have their work cut out for them for sure coming up with a 3rd one.
 
Dax01 said:
Fontaine Futuristics is a MUCH better level than Siren's Alley.
I can't be blamed for the fact Alexander the Great is a better character than Sander Cohen.
Trolling? :D

Personally I prefer Cohen, but each character had a totally different point to them.

In the context of Fontaine Futuristics, Gil served his purpose (showing you who he was before and after Lamb's Utopian project). That aspect of the character lends itself to being more well-rounded because the player needs to see both sides of Gil to understand what happened to him (and to be scared that the same thing awaits him when he finds Eleanor).

Cohen, on the other hand, was a random creep. His purpose within the story, in my view, was to make your skin crawl. No more, no less. If they explained and rounded him out as much as they did Gil, I think the impact of the character would have been really blunted.

Either way, to each his own. :D I know you're not doing this, but in general I hate going through sequels and trying to convince myself they outdid this or that from the first game.
 

Red

Member
Dax01 said:
Fontaine Futuristics is a MUCH better level than Siren's Alley.
I can't be blamed for the fact Alexander the Great is a better character than Sander Cohen.
2m4rtc6.jpg
 
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Deleted member 1235

Unconfirmed Member
uraldix said:
Whatever it is, it affects me too. I am always running on empty for ammo. I am thinking of just harvesting the little sisters to conserve ammo.

how far in the game are you? By the end of siren alley I have almost too much ammo. it's that level when you start getting too much of everything.

the beginning of the game was nuts though, I was dying at 80% of a little sister harvest, then I'd spawn in a vita chamber and have to take her back there to have her do it over again while I had no ammo.

EDIT: I just wandered into fontain futuristics, am I close to the end? I just realised I didn't find a 'power to the people' place in the level before. not sure if that's bad.

I also
didn't kill that dude in the train, was that good or bad? I'm not harvesting any little sisters this time around
 
Rlan said:
The main problem I've had with Bioshock 2 is that I've been straight-up running out of stuff by the end of the level.

After killing a bunch of Big Daddies, doing 2 or 3 Sister defending minigames and shooting all the splicers along the way, I've got practically nothing left to hit the
Big Sister.
. I just died 10 times in a row because all I had was a few plasmids and an empty drill to hit her with over and over.

My fault for using far too much of my weaponry, but I don't remember having this problem at all with Bioshock 1.

This is what I love about the game, there's tons of weapons and powers, yet you really have to manage your inventory and use the right things for the right situations. Even on normal I get that always on my last clip feeling, -every piece of special ammo is valuable- which I really like.

The only thing in abundance are the plain .50 cal ammo and regular rivets.
 

Dyno

Member
The challenge arc really changes in this one, it's even more dramatic than the first.

The first couple levels are quite hard and I ran out of supplies constantly. All that changed however, I went into Pauper's Drop a boy in a funny suit and I came out a MAN! After that there was plenty of everything and now, at Fontaine Futuristics, supplies are getting regularly maxxed.

A tip that works for me: At the beginning of a level buy what special ammo you can. It comes in limited supply at most vending machines - and there is a good reason for this. Make sure you pick up some armour piercing and anti-personnel rounds where ever and when ever possible. Have a decent supply. When you fight Big Daddies start with armour piercing and then move on to regular. When you fight the splicer mobs start with anti-personnel and then move to regular. What I find is that special ammo nearly completes the job, leaving you with large stores of regular ammo for your exploration of the level. Using the right ammo at the right time is very efficient and you will not run out so quickly. Using regular ammo in special situations uses it up.
 
Salz01 said:
The overall experience just made me want to play 1 again. Which I prefer overall.
To get me interested in a 3rd one, they'd have have to do something dramatically different to the formula. I dont know how, maybe the POV of a Splicer would be kind of intresting. I kind of wanted the powers of the Houdini Splicers. Or being able to control a mob of splicers would be cool. Likewise, going in as a straight sequel to 3 is hard. They'll have their work cut out for them for sure coming up with a 3rd one.

I agree. I love Bioshock 2, but I think it's pretty much the only time they can get away with making a sequel with a similar atmosphere of the original. I don't know what they could do with the story though. It would be kind of difficult to set the game before the events of the first one because... well nothing really happened until the Ryan/Atlas war and you kind of get to play that during multiplayer :lol

Personally I'm fine with the story direction that BS2 took: take what has happened and craft some moral story around the repercussions of large-scale failures (like Jurassic Park). I might get e-shot for this, but I think it would be cool to do a futuristic setting and have characters discover Rapture and that culture still intact, maybe they discover that someone was able to continue life there or something and the two sort of time periods could clash. I don't mean like Jason X shit or anything, no spaceships or laser guns, just a more advanced civilization discovering Rapture and then sending a team in and then they get caught or something.

*shrug* I see myself being the only person that could agree with something like that but it would just be dependent on the story/script/execution.
 

Dyno

Member
What I like about Bioshock 2 is seeing the already established art design (because I think it was strong enough to have another go) with improved level design. I like the big maps filled with what are essentially small and medium scale dungeons. The residential areas in B1 were the weakest levels but in B2 places like Pauper's Drop are really strong.

Also, the new areas of Rapture really reinforce Andrew Ryan's vision and complete the telling of the overall story. Ryan's Amusements (read Indoctrination) was a very interesting idea as is the whole concept of Pauper's Drop, that even Ryan's utopia would require an underclass to the point where millions of dollars was spent to build an undersea slum. It's a perverse idea that makes Rapture all the more dystopic.

These backdrops, where you have brutal and surprisingly strategic combat are making the game for me. That the multiplayer is also very good has made me satisfied for this sequel, no matter how it ends.
 
I think that if there's another Bioshock they need to have the Splicers much, much further degraded and barely recognizable as human anymore. It'll have to be more of a horror game - the one weird thing about Bioshock 2 is that Rapture really didn't seem to have decayed too, too much compared to what it had been 10 years before.
 

uraldix

Member
catfish said:
how far in the game are you? By the end of siren alley I have almost too much ammo. it's that level when you start getting too much of everything.

the beginning of the game was nuts though, I was dying at 80% of a little sister harvest, then I'd spawn in a vita chamber and have to take her back there to have her do it over again while I had no ammo.

I am still pretty early in the game, just got the camera. I am doing the no vita chamber option which only accentuates my lack of skill :)
 

Dyno

Member
badcrumble said:
I think that if there's another Bioshock they need to have the Splicers much, much further degraded and barely recognizable as human anymore. It'll have to be more of a horror game - the one weird thing about Bioshock 2 is that Rapture really didn't seem to have decayed too, too much compared to what it had been 10 years before.

The splicers do seem more 'degraded' in the sequel, what with tumorous growths. The spider splicers show this the best, they are repulsive goblins now.

It seems some parts of Rapture are holding up better than others. Dionysus Park was really decrepit, with nature claiming it from the inside out, like a virus.
 
Dyno said:
The splicers do seem more 'degraded' in the sequel, what with tumorous growths. The spider splicers show this the best, they are repulsive goblins now.

It seems some parts of Rapture are holding up better than others. Dionysus Park was really decrepit, with nature claiming it from the inside out, like a virus.
Yeah, they're definitely somewhat more degraded - just not as much as I might have expected.
 
TTG said:
Let's not get into what characters were more fleshed out or more interesting, it doesn't paint a particularly good picture for the sequel. Sofia Lamb is nothing more than a mouthpiece for the utilitarian "common good" ideology, she serves as the philosophical foil to Ryan and nothing more. On the other hand, Ryan goes down in history as one of the most interesting characters across all mediums.
Sofia Lamb was fleshed out far more than to be just Ryan's foil.

Dyno said:
What I like about Bioshock 2 is seeing the already established art design (because I think it was strong enough to have another go) with improved level design. I like the big maps filled with what are essentially small and medium scale dungeons. The residential areas in B1 were the weakest levels but in B2 places like Pauper's Drop are really strong.

Also, the new areas of Rapture really reinforce Andrew Ryan's vision and complete the telling of the overall story. Ryan's Amusements (read Indoctrination) was a very interesting idea as is the whole concept of Pauper's Drop, that even Ryan's utopia would require an underclass to the point where millions of dollars was spent to build an undersea slum. It's a perverse idea that makes Rapture all the more dystopic.
Yeah. BioShock 2 shows the other end of the spectrum, both in Rapture and in ideology. The wealthy areas were shown in BioShock, while the poor areas were given attention in BioShock 2.
 
Rlan said:
I'm hacking everything too with flying colors, I don't know what's happened between the transition from Bioshock 1 to 2 that makes me crap :lol

you're not the only one, for what it's worth. a lot of my friends had to dial it down to easy to get through it without literally suffering.

it does get better once you get the camera, because enemies will take more damage.

oh, and please don't take this the wrong way, are you rushing through the game? most of my time in BioShock 2 I spent exploring, thus finding an abundance of ammo...
 
I've probably put over 10 hours in BS2 and I'm just at
Siren Alley
:lol

I feel sorry for those barreling through the game, there's a lot to see and a lot of details to soak in. Like the guy that beat it in 6 hours and gave it a 3/10, that's a borderline joke post. It might have actually crossed the border, though.
 

Scarecrow

Member
If they make a third one, I hope they get a much more diverse cast of voice actors for the regular splicer enemies. I was dissapointed it was the same 3 people doing the voices again. I"m pretty sure I heard some re-used voice clips from the first one, too.
 

Solo

Member
BS2's unforgivable sin is the texture detail. Absolutely wretched. Even worse, it suffers from Mass Effect 1 syndrome, wherein when you enter a new area/load, sometimes the textures load into a blurry mess right away, and then 10-15 seconds later the detail starts coming in. I had one of the health vending machines (its a circus of values!) after I loaded one time that was just a complete disaster, and it took about a minute before the clown's face came into focus.

brandonh83 said:
I've probably put over 10 hours in BS2 and I'm just at
Siren Alley
:lol

I feel sorry for those barreling through the game, there's a lot to see and a lot of details to soak in. Like the guy that beat it in 6 hours and gave it a 3/10, that's a borderline joke post. It might have actually crossed the border, though.

I dont know, mang. I took my sweet ass time with the game, found 114 audio diaries (apparently there are 128), found 11 of upgrade stations (apparently there are 14), and it still only took me 8-9 hours.
 

Red

Member
Solo said:
BS2's unforgivable sin is the texture detail. Absolutely wretched. Even worse, it suffers from Mass Effect 1 syndrome, wherein when you enter a new area/load, sometimes the textures load into a blurry mess right away, and then 10-15 seconds later the detail starts coming in. I had one of the health vending machines (its a circus of values!) after I loaded one time that was just a complete disaster, and it took about a minute before the clown's face came into focus.



I dont know, mang. I took my sweet ass time with the game, found 114 audio diaries (apparently there are 128), found 11 of upgrade stations (apparently there are 14), and it still only took me 8-9 hours.
Took me about 12 hours to do absolutely everything on hard with vita chambers turned off. 80% of that time was probably spent in the first half of the game, because once I was about halfway through Pauper's Drop I never hit another snag. Never even came close to dying after that point.
 

see5harp

Member
Solo said:
BS2's unforgivable sin is the texture detail.

The textures are probably the weakest part of the entire game, but overall I think the audio/visual department is still above average. I also had no instances of texture pop in ever, and even if I did that wouldn't be that big of a deal. I'm just hoping next game they can get the thing looking good enough to be able to avoid CGI altogether. If you are going to use prerendered stuff at least make the game looking good enough for it not to look radically different (gears of war or uncharted 2).
 

Oreoleo

Member
I had texture pop-in a few times on PC. Usually on a fresh load or when coming into a new area, and it was never more than a second or two. But it's to be expected from Unreal Engine.
 

Jswanko

Member
About the ending and ideas presented in the game:

I feel like the ideas presented in BS2 were much more concise and clear than BS1 but the game kinda lost me at the end.

It was interesting to see how religion, a lower class, exploitation of poor, develop even in Ryan's "perfect" society. Despite being filled entirely with similar people, doctors, scientists, entrepreneurs, they all felt constrained by society and/or surface life. Yet from these people some became rich, some poor, and some turned to religion to cope with loneliness of the perfect individualistic society. When lamb discusses how intelligence inevitably leads to becoming self-aware I though she was headed for something very interesting.

I felt like all the "Utopian" bullshit got layered on pretty thick at the end and it kinda bothered me. The "perfect man" the "perfect society" sounds like the motivation for every mad scientist ever.
 

Sanic

Member
Well, I just finished the game...bad ending...

My thoughts:
Favorite level would have to be a tie between Pauper's Drop and Siren's Alley. They, to me, felt the most like actual, lived in areas, as opposed to an artistically sterile game enviroment. Least favorite is by far Ryan Amusements. They could have done a lot more with that one.

I as well wasn't crazy about the last level, the pacing felt...off. Thing's felt rushed. I mean, I understand that we were kind of in a hurry plot-wise and all, but it seem that tradeoff towards plot came at the expense of the gameplay.

The level where you play from the POV of the little sister was the most memorable scene. When you collected adam...it was haunting. It really drives home how far gone rapture is...

I'm still thinking things through, perhaps i'll post more when i've had time to think about it and get my mind cleared.

Oh, and what was up with tenebaum? What a throaway.
 

see5harp

Member
I think they could have gone without Tennenbaum, but I think they probably threw that in towards the end to give a nod to the first game early on. Most of the best fanservice was in some of the hidden audiologs towards the end in Fontaine Futuristics. I really enjoyed that stuff. Initially I thought Amusements was a highlight because of the cool exhibits but I think the actual gameplay was lacking in retrospect. It might also be the lack of the crazy drill stuff you can do later on which I really enjoyed.
 
This game is kind of annoying me. I make sure to check every room in a level so that I don't miss anything, and yet I've missed a few audio tapes, and I think I missed a Power to the People station (or two)... Even worse is that you can't backtrack to prior levels :(

I'll just have to use a guide for my second play-through.
 

Oreoleo

Member
Firestorm said:
I haven't had any problem aside from the annoyance of having to quit game to enter Multiplayer.

I feel like we are the only two people on the whole board who are actually supportive of GFWL integration in games.
 
Am I the only one that got the
9-irony achievement without reading how to do it? I was on Ryan Amusements on my first playthrough and noticed a golf club next to the animatronic Ryan and thought "this is too perfect." I wasn't actually expecting an achievement out of it. One of my most memorable moments actually.
:D
 

Ridley327

Member
Orellio said:
I feel like we are the only two people on the whole board who are actually supportive of GFWL integration in games.

I honestly don't mind GFWL all that much, but that isn't to say that there shouldn't be more improvements to make things more seamless, particularly on the Marketplace side.

Speaking of, I noticed in the menu for single player that there was an option to play downloaded content. Are they planning Challenge Rooms for the game?
 
Orellio said:
I feel like we are the only two people on the whole board who are actually supportive of GFWL integration in games.
My main issue is keeping the game up-to-date in order to save. My internet is painfully slow tonight for some reason.. the progress bar barely moved after about 10 minutes. It looks like I won't get to start it anytime soon as a result.
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
big_z said:
sometime around the pillow scene it's briefly explained that if the little sister dies the connection with the big daddy is lost forever. as a result the big daddy goes insane and ends up dying. thats why the screen goes red and you grunt going through those tubes at the end, youre dying. kinda opens up a massive plot hole, since you died at the start of the game....
not really a plot-hole, it's vaguely explained by Lamb
she instructs Splicers not to kill him violently, as that will just cause him to respawn, whereas a slow 'natural' death will cause you to die forever. At the start of the game you're killed violently, but it is long before the vita-chambers have been programmed to accept you.
 
D

Deleted member 1235

Unconfirmed Member
I don't know if i'd bother playing it with no vita chambers... what happens when you die then? Also, wouldn't everyone doing this just use saving as a vita chamber anyway? THat's pretty much what I do with the chambers on :lol
 

TTG

Member
So I just watched all
4
of the endings. Got the happiest one of all myself, so it was interesting to see the others.
I assume the one that has you "not wanting" Elenore plays when you ignore the little sisters the whole game?
Does anyone know if the in game cutscene that plays before the FMV ending is different as well?

EDIT: IT IS!
I'm guessing Elenore sparing Lamb, or not, is controlled by the decisions you make for the 3 minions.
 

Ridley327

Member
catfish said:
I don't know if i'd bother playing it with no vita chambers... what happens when you die then? Also, wouldn't everyone doing this just use saving as a vita chamber anyway? THat's pretty much what I do with the chambers on :lol

The game kicks you to the main menu if you aren't quick enough to press the quick load button on the PC.
 

This2x4Skeleton

Neo Member
*possible spoilers below?*

The game was pretty breezy after I got the Hypnotize Plasmid. It's pretty quick and painless defending the little sisters if you use Hypnotize combined with the Security Command. When you hypnotize a splicer he becomes both a distraction and an ally, so Decoy is just useless IMO. Waste of ADAM. Also it's pretty fun having a Big Daddy as an Ally.

It's pretty easy just summoning bots and using mini turrets with Big Daddies. Fun stuff.
 
Just finished it last night, great game! :D I really loved both Bioshocks.

Got the goodest ending also, I always play the good guy.

I spent ages trying to figure out a way to NOT kill Sinclair :lol

Hmm now to decide if I do a Hard run or not, what do you guys think is an easier run, Bio1 Hard or Bio2 Hard?

I'd like to complete at least one game achievement wise. And completing game on Hard is the only one I'm missing on both.
 

Liquidus

Aggressively Stupid
Conrad Link said:
Just finished it last night, great game! :D I really loved both Bioshocks.

Got the goodest ending also, I always play the good guy.

I spent ages trying to figure out a way to NOT kill Sinclair :lol

Hmm now to decide if I do a Hard run or not, what do you guys think is an easier run, Bio1 Hard or Bio2 Hard?

I'd like to complete at least one game achievement wise. And completing game on Hard is the only one I'm missing on both.

Bioshock 2 is MUCH easier on hard given the fact that you can use Vita-Chambers. To get all trophies in Bioshock 1 you had to beat the game on Survivor with Vita-Chambers turned off.
 
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