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Bioshock Infinite |OT| No Gods, Kings, or Irrational Games

G

GavinGT

Banned
Hasphat'sAnts said:
She's saved me a couple of times with a timely Health Kit during combat.

She's alright in my book.
Click to expand...

But you can tell that she's not actively scrounging items from the battlefield. It's sort of just a cooldown that determines when she'll give you something (along with a few other factors).

And the constant coin toss prompts are way out of hand. That interaction should only happen about half as often. You can tell she isn't actually picking up coins you missed, either. It's just a counter that ticks up when there are coins around.
 
I

Incendiary

Banned
Superimposer said:
I hate to ask this here because I've been told numerous times how to do it and forgotten, and it's completely off topic. But I've been looking around for absolutely ages now and still can't work out how to access the 'Who Posted' page. Can anyone help me?
Click to expand...

If you mean who posted in response to you, click on your User Control Panel and scroll to the bottom. If you mean who posted in the thread, click on the thread reply count off the main forum.

captainnapalm said:
Thank goodness Elizabeth's presence doesn't turn the game into one giant escort mission, which seems to be what some people want. That would have been an awful choice.
Click to expand...

People love Ico, though. Maybe they were expecting something in a similar vein? Personally, I think Bioshock's combat is too frenetic to the point that the people complaining about her not being escort-y enough would be complaining how often she dies randomly if she did take damage. There's already enough going on in combat between vigors, skylines, turrets, tears, heavy hitters, etc. for you to keep track of. Having to also keep track of Elizabeth would drag the game down I'm fairly certain.
 
captainnapalm

captainnapalm

Member
Incendiary said:
People love Ico, though. Maybe they were expecting something in a similar vein? Personally, I think Bioshock's combat is too frenetic to the point that the people complaining about her not being escort-y enough would be complaining how often she dies randomly if she did take damage. There's already enough going on in combat between vigors, skylines, turrets, tears, heavy hitters, etc. for you to keep track of. Having to also keep track of Elizabeth would drag the game down I'm fairly certain.
Click to expand...

Haven't played ICO, but I generally loathe escort missions. I don't like being responsible for any health bar other than my own. And I definitely agree that Inifinite's combat is already frenetic enough.
 
U

ultron87

Member
This game is really good at making me not feel bad at all about killing the people on Columbia assuming they are down with the city's founding ideals.
 
G

GavinGT

Banned
Hasphat'sAnts said:
Don't think I care all that much when a Patriot is shooting me in the face, lol
Click to expand...

I'd prefer it if she actually picked up items, but only within a certain vicinity of Booker or something like that. As it stands you can pretty much both stay in one spot while she continuously pulls items out of her dress.
 
marjo

marjo

Member
Superimposer said:
As has been said many times before, it might as well be a new IP. Just cause it doesn't have those things might make it a bad 'Shock' game, but it doesn't make it a bad game in and of itself. You'll have a much better time if you play the game that it is instead of comparing it constantly to previous games, which is what I did for a while. I came out the other side thinking this is one of the best games I've ever played.
Click to expand...


I agree. It IS a great game.

It's just that I really love the 'Shock' games, and there are so few like them, that I really wanted another one to scratch that same itch. So far at least, this one doesn't seem to do it.
 
C

CzarTim

Member
GavinGT said:
But you can tell that she's not actively scrounging items from the battlefield. It's sort of just a cooldown that determines when she'll give you something (along with a few other factors).
Click to expand...

She's never annoying, and she never gets in the way. I agree that the AI behind doesn't seem completely ground breaking, but once I put aside my expectations, I was able to enjoy her for what she is.

My two biggest gripes were her lines about lockpicking not matching the tone of the story at times, and sometimes she would try and give me money during a story beat, which kind of deflated the scene.
 
S

Superimposer

This is getting weirder all the time
padlock said:
I agree. It IS a great game.

It's just that I really love the 'Shock' games, and there are so few like them, that I really wanted another one to scratch that same itch. So far at least, this one doesn't seem to do it.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately I don't think that will change then as you go through the game.
 
M

madmackem

Member
So how do you backtrack?, I've found a key but can't seem to get back to that first chest, does it open up after awhile as I'm only hour or two in?.
 
G

GavinGT

Banned
CzarTim said:
She's never annoying, and she never gets in the way. I agree that the AI behind doesn't seem completely ground breaking, but once I put aside my expectations, I was able to enjoy her for what she is.

My two biggest gripes were her lines about lockpicking not matching the tone of the story at times, and sometimes she would try and give me money during a story beat, which kind of deflated the scene.
Click to expand...

I'm with you. I just think it's interesting how focusing on companion AI introduces a whole host of new problems (most of them I feel were addressed adequately, though). It also introduces an uncanny valley effect where you really take notice when she does things that are out of the ordinary.
 
U

ultron87

Member
Tawney Bomb said:
Played up to rescue rescuing Elizabeth and the biggest gripe I have is no dedicated save feature, unless I'm blind.
Click to expand...

At least it has the "Your last checkpoint was at *TIME*" thing when you quit. So you know exactly how much progress you may or may not be losing. Every game needs to have that.
 
G

GavinGT

Banned
I wonder if the worry was that a save anywhere feature would be equivalent to keeping the Vita Chambers and no penalty for death.

I agree that there needs to be smarter checkpointing, though.

madmackem said:
So how do you backtrack?, I've found a key but can't seem to get back to that first chest, does it open up after awhile as I'm only hour or two in?.
Click to expand...

If it's the first key, I think you have to go back through the Blue Ribbon restaurant to get to the chest.
 
N

n8rtot

Neo Member
Messofanego said:
I wish developers didn't take precious time out of development to produce such vertical slices that are basically game concept reels and make them come off as real gameplay on E3. Or at least label it correctly. Not only does it bring disappointment (Halo 2) or bring developers into a lot of trouble (Aliens Colonial Marines), but also give hope for games that were nowhere being anything (Prey 2).
Click to expand...

Vertical Slices are usually put upon developers by publishers. The developer would rather continue working on the game instead of wasting two months on a public demo.

What did you mean by "nowhere being anything" ?
 
M

Megasoum

Banned
So quick question. I'm past the point in the game where you pick up your Industrial Revolution rewards and now I'm thinking about buying the season pass. Am I screwed for the Season Pass rewards (aka do you pick them up at the same point in the story) or you can just get them anywhere?
 
I

Incendiary

Banned
GavinGT said:
I'd prefer it if she actually picked up items, but only within a certain vicinity of Booker or something like that. As it stands you can pretty much both stay in one spot while she continuously pulls items out of her dress.
Click to expand...

I'm playing on Hard, and during combat for me Elizabeth pretty much finds one item and then says "Sorry, I can't find anything else!" And once the areas open up, I'm zipping around so much I don't even know where Elizabeth is to get items from her. It hasn't been noticeably bothersome/game-breaking yet to me.

Tawney Bomb said:
Played up to rescue rescuing Elizabeth and the biggest gripe I have is no dedicated save feature, unless I'm blind.
Click to expand...

I think my biggest problem with that is that I can't have more than one save file. That's a dumb design decision in an otherwise excellent game.
 
K

KorrZ

Member
ultron87 said:
At least it has the "Your last checkpoint was at *TIME*" thing when you quit. So you know exactly how much progress you may or may not be losing. Every game needs to have that.
Click to expand...

Agreed, that alone absolutely saves the save system
lol
. Makes a huge difference after coming off of Dead Space 3, what a god awful system that was. I lost big chunks of progress more than once in that game.
 
F

f0rk

Member
GavinGT said:
I'm with you. I just think it's interesting how focusing on companion AI introduces a whole host of new problems (most of them I feel were addressed adequately, though). It also introduces an uncanny valley effect where you really take notice when she does things that are out of the ordinary.
Click to expand...
My problem with it is that I don't think they addressed the problems, they just made her irrelevant in all those situations. Like she doesn't 'handle herself', it's just not possible for her to get into trouble
 
G

GavinGT

Banned
n8rtot said:
Vertical Slices are usually put upon developers by publishers. The developer would rather continue working on the game instead of wasting two months on a public demo.

What did you mean by "nowhere being anything" ?
Click to expand...

I think he means that such demos can create the impression that a fully fledged game exists when really the vertical slice was created wholecloth.

f0rk said:
My problem with it is that I don't think they addressed the problems, they just made her irrelevant in all those situations. Like she doesn't 'handle herself', it's just not possible for her to get into trouble
Click to expand...

Yeah. I'm sure it would have been a monumental programming task to make it so she could react dynamically to enemies in combat, constantly pushing them away and so on. It was definitely part of the original plan, but then they realized it was better to focus elsewhere because the player's attention won't be on her when in combat.
 
B

BearPawB

Banned
f0rk said:
My problem with it is that I don't think they addressed the problems, they just made her irrelevant in all those situations. Like she doesn't 'handle herself', it's just not possible for her to get into trouble
Click to expand...

What would you rather do? Have her die constantly. Also it makes sense thematically that no one would want to shoot her, just you
 
V

vladdamad

Member
My top two video game endings of all time are 999 and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, in terms of emotional impact. Is Bioshock Infinite's ending really so good that it manages to beat those two out?
 
captainnapalm

captainnapalm

Member
No game is perfect and if I had to raise some gripes, the save system would definitely be one of them. I'm sure there's some kind of technical limitation that forces games to take the autosave option more and more these days, but it's still annoying. Or maybe it's just because games are all console ports these days.

The enemy physics is also a bit off. Sometimes guys go flying off into the air like rigid surfboards. Looks weird.

And why choose a voice actor like Troy Baker for a character that seems like he ought to have a Southern accent? I'm not American, but it's even obvious to me that Booker's dialogue at times seems to conflict with his accent.

None of these are huge gripes, though. The save one would have been a lot bigger if they weren't clear about when last you saved.
 
P

pakkit

Banned
Just noticed...there aren't any exploding barrels!

captainnapalm said:
And why choose a voice actor like Troy Baker for a character that seems like he ought to have a Southern accent? I'm not American, but it's even obvious to me that Booker's dialogue at times seems to conflict with his accent.
Click to expand...

Isn't Booker from NY?
 
G

gdt

Member
Hmm i got a light spoiler question about an optional quest. The second cypher one.
Elizabeth mentioned the good time club as being the possible location of the cypher, but i don't know where to look there. I don't want to advance and them lose out on the quest. I think it has something to do with clocks...as the location with the code had a bunch of clocks around.
 
G

GavinGT

Banned
captainnapalm said:
And why choose a voice actor like Troy Baker for a character that seems like he ought to have a Southern accent? I'm not American, but it's even obvious to me that Booker's dialogue at times seems to conflict with his accent.
Click to expand...

It wasn't distinctly Southern, but rather general "old-timey" sort of dialog in spots. It was at times clear that this was a modern voice actor using turns of phrase that he isn't too familiar with. And he doesn't talk this way consistently enough that it really catches your attention when he says one of these things.
 
A

antitrop

Member
Okay, I got my morning cup of coffee here, stopped the game off last night pretty near to the ending hours. I'll boot up and finish this thing here in a bit. Can't wait to type up my final impressions, because this is a once in a generation kind of game.

It certainly has its flaws, though. I agree with much of what EatChildren said about Elizabeth. She's not quite what she needs to be.
I have the same problems with Alyx, though. She didn't do it for me, either.
 
G

GavinGT

Banned
gdt said:
Hmm i got a light spoiler question about an optional quest. The second cypher one.
Elizabeth mentioned the good time club as being the possible location of the cypher, but i don't know where to look there. I don't want to advance and them lose out on the quest. I think it has something to do with clocks...as the location with the code had a bunch of clocks around.
Click to expand...

It's near a chalkboard with a list of prisoners on it after you fight the waves of enemies. Don't go in any rifts until you find it.
 
captainnapalm

captainnapalm

Member
GavinGT said:
It wasn't distinctly Southern, but rather general "old-timey" sort of dialog in spots. It was at times clear that this was a modern voice actor using turns of phrase that he isn't too familiar with. And he doesn't talk this way consistently enough that it really catches your attention when he says one of these things.
Click to expand...

It certainly caught my attention every time the old-timey dialogue popped up. They might have benefitted from a riskier casting choice for Booker. Someone who really sounds old-timey. But like I said, not a huge gripe. The voice acting is mostly excellent.
 
D

Deleted member 102362

Unconfirmed Member
The ending reminds me of
Doom: Reprecussions of Evil.

The radio said "No, Booker. You are the demons."

And then, Booker was a Comstock.
 
G

Geoff9920

Member
I'm likely a little late on this and I'm not even sure where to start, but I'm about 5 or so hours in on hard.

At first Infinite feels immediately like Bioshock 1/2 with the whole introduction sequence among many other nods. However, Irrational slowly introduces new twists to existing mechanics and completely messes with your expectations from both a gameplay and story standpoint.

I'm slowly working my way through the game but I go very slowly as I'm the type who loves to explore all the small side areas just outside the main path and check out all the environment art. I think in another life if I had any sort of artistic talent - which I don’t - I'd seriously consider becoming an environment artist. I'm absolutely in love with the look and feel of Columbia. So much thought and subtle details put into the world and all this immediately reminds of why I loved the original Bioshock so much. My only complaint so far is that I wish the levels had taken a more Hub based approach instead of the current rather linear layout. I'm still early though as the game just introduced the concept of tears so it's entirely possible the areas I haven't seen are wider in scope.

Also, the mechanics are probably the single biggest improvement over the both previous titles. The guns themselves feel significantly better than either previous Bioshock title. They've got a really nice weight to them and I like that I don't have to use iron sites 90% of the time to use them successfully. Also, it might just be my imagination but the vigors in this game feel more powerful than plasmids did in Bioshock 1/2. The ability to combo multiple vigors and traps also adds some nice wrinkles to the existing formula. I've only just been introduced to what tears are and I haven't had the chance to experiment with them just yet. I'm looking forward to seeing how that changes the way I approach the upcoming encounters.

I can't remember the last time I woke up early and put some time into a game prior to heading into work. Nice work, Irrational. :)
 
V

ViewtifulJC

Banned
EatChildren said:
One thing I will say is that I'm not sold on Elizabeth being anything special at all. She's totally inoffensive, nice to have around, implemented into both the combat and narrative well enough, but in none of these areas doing anything significantly beyond the norm of many other games. For me, anywho. Her teleporting around the environment, occasionally goofy (as in, unrealistic and silly) looking facial expressions, and pretty transparent "now I will talk about something related to the narrative while we wait for this elevator to move even if it has no relation to what we were just doing" scripted dialogue pulp doesn't leave much to the imagination.

I'd never chalk her up as a bad quality of the game at all. But I really don't think she's doing anything better than what Valve did with Alyx through Episode 1 and 2.
Click to expand...

I'm at the same point you are, and I'm also not seeing anything special about Elizabeth that Valve didn't already do pretty well 6 years ago. I spun around a couple times and saw her model teleporting around, and sometimes she just makes the goofiest, weirdest animations (The "I want a puppy, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna get it" looked really phony).

She's good, I like her, but she's not some "revolutionary AI" that I'm gonna be talking about to everybody after the game is over.
 
D

Devin Olsen

Member
Loving the feel of the game so far, i am taking it very slowly just to appreciate everything.

I also got side tracked a few minutes in and ended up getting out of the map.

I got out and ontop of a floating building
d0tRUQTl.jpg


Then after falling off the building I just fell for a minute or so and ended up down here. It 'killed' me after I fell for about a minute but then I just respawned in the same spot down below.
62FbQECl.jpg


Sorry for the lack of proper screenshots, I am playing on PC so I have literally no idea why I decided to take pictures with my phone instead of print screening -_-
 
I

ironcreed

Banned
captainnapalm said:
Thank goodness Elizabeth's presence doesn't turn the game into one giant escort mission, which seems to be what some people want. That would have been an awful choice.
Click to expand...

I agree, she is nice to have around. Her ability to open tears in combat is proving to be rather interesting. They could have toned down things like her flipping coins to you just a tad, though.
 
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