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

D

Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
10 hours in on hard and I'm thinking about switching back down to normal at this point as enemies have just turned into bullet sponges to the point that any weapon that doesn't do a ton of damage in a single shot is pretty much just not worth carrying.

My tactics have devolved into taking shots from afar with the sniper rifle, or using the ram charge/octopus pull to get enemies in close range and finish them off with the shotgun.
 

DatDude

Banned
I'm not seeing what's so special about it at all. I'm actually kind of enjoying it as I slowly progress through it but as usual when people prop up a game as industry defining or some shit I end up lost and confused.

The Narrative, the characters, the setting/atmosphere.

THIS IS THE KEY TO INFINITE.

Again, if you simply love old school gameplay mechanics, than you really should stop Infinite, since how it plays now (besides it becoming less linear as you progress, and the plot becomes more enticing) will be how it plays until the end.

The narrative though. Every moment in the game gives you a clue towards the ending. The foreshadowing in this game is probably the strongest in the medium to date, and while the game begins to become sort of padded out through the middle, and kind of the end, the ending is probably one of the most strongest endings to date in this medium.

The characters are also incredibly fleshed out and really enjoyable.

AN the setting is just devine, of course.

If narrative, characters, nor setting do it for you than just play something else.
 
Oh...story stuff. I was secretly hoping you were talking about some drastic gameplay shift that really spiced things up a bit. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised.

Are you telling me you don't see the Sky rails as a dramatic gameplay shift? How many other games have featured something like them that you can name?
 

Vire

Member
Oh...story stuff. I was secretly hoping you were talking about some drastic gameplay shift that really spiced things up a bit. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised.

From a gameplay front, I vastly enjoyed it over Bioshock 1 as well.

Elizabeth's companionship during the battles added an extra layer of depth through the tears and throwing over ammunition/salts. It gave you various options on how to attack a scenario, it playing out differently each time.

The skylines also lend itself to the sandbox nature of the combat with free flowing movement all around the map. It gave me a feeling of unbridled joy just flinging from skyline to skyline. It was exhilarating in the same way a roller coaster was, except this time I shooting guys while on a roller coaster. What more could I ask for?

I very much enjoyed the changes they made.
 
I'm not seeing what's so special about it at all. I'm actually kind of enjoying it as I slowly progress through it but as usual when people prop up a game as industry defining or some shit I end up lost and confused.

It's not revolutionary, nor genre-defining, but, it's probably one of the best FPS games this gen.

Btw, what the fuck is up with your new title? Yin? Why no Mr/Accurate?
 
Oh...story stuff. I was secretly hoping you were talking about some drastic gameplay shift that really spiced things up a bit. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised.

There's no doubt that the game, mechanically, suffers from some of the issues of current-gen game design, but I don't feel it holds it back. The narrative and other elements work so cohesively together, that I am able to forgive some of that stuff. It's time to just accept the state, and hope there are still devs that try to push some 'originality'. If not, gaming is just not worth it man.
 

Uthred

Member
Does this game have a new game+ option where you carryover stuff?

The characters are also incredibly fleshed out and really enjoyable.

Only Elizabeth and (possibly) Booker really get fleshed out, Flint, Fitzroy, etc. get next to no fleshing out (even the audio logs you find from them are expository background guff on the setting rather than the characters themselves)
 

Derrick01

Banned
Are you telling me you don't see the Sky rails as a dramatic gameplay shift? How many other games have featured something like them that you can name?

From a gameplay front, I vastly enjoyed it over Bioshock 1 as well.

Elizabeth's companionship during the battles added an extra layer of depth through the tears and throwing over ammunition/salts. It gave you various options on how to attack a scenario, it playing out differently each time.

The skylines also lend itself to the sandbox nature of the combat with free flowing movement all around the map. It gave me a feeling of unbridled joy just flinging from skyline to skyline. It was exhilarating in the same way a roller coaster was, except this time I shooting guys while on a roller coaster. What more could I ask for?

I very much enjoyed the changes they made.

I guess I'm not far enough yet to appreciate these (literally) on rails stuff. I've only used the sky rails a couple of times and it was only to go to a new area. To me it could have been a loading screen and I would have felt the same about it...nothing.

It's not revolutionary, nor genre-defining, but, it's probably one of the best FPS games this gen.

Btw, what the fuck is up with your new title? Yin? Why no Mr/Accurate?

Aww damn it I didn't even notice that until now. Someone switched it back to this lame one.
 
I don't know if this game could have worked if it weren't linear. Not every developer knows how to make an open world game, and if you want an open world game that isn't garbage with actual good design, most devs do not know how to do it. Thats the problem with Dishonored, right? It was open but in the end it all boiled down to a single path as every other path was pointless or led to the same place.

For a linear shooter infinite's design isn't the best, but, it's pretty decent.
 

DatDude

Banned
Does this game have a new game+ option where you carryover stuff?



Only Elizabeth and (possibly) Booker really get fleshed out, Flint, Fitzroy, etc. get next to no fleshing out (even the audio logs you find from them are expository background guff on the setting rather than the characters themselves)

Well I mean in a sense, that there more fleshed out than your ordinary side character in a fps.
 

Vire

Member
I guess I'm not far enough yet to appreciate these (literally) on rails stuff. I've only used the sky rails a couple of times and it was only to go to a new area. To me it could have been a loading screen and I would have felt the same about it...nothing.



Aww damn it I didn't even notice that until now. Someone switched it back to this lame one.

How far are you?

There are multiple instances throughout the game where they give you large battlefields to use the skylines freely around the map.
 
what are you trying to accomplish here?

Derrick has proven to me that there are gamers out there, especially ones who value gameplay and nothing else, who really cannot be appeased in this modern industry. Back in the late '90's, we expected nothing else except better narratives and atmosphere in our games and now that we're here, there are a vocal minority who despise it.

I guess it's just the same reaction/response to change that humans have always used: rampant traditionalism.
 
So the game is certainly a masterpiece. Better than Bioshock 1, even though it didn't capture its wow factor, in terms of setting. What we have instead is an improved Bioshock 1, with better pacing, refined gunplay intertwining vigors/plasmids better, and an amazing story.

It'll definitely be in my top 3 in the end of the year. I can't wait to play the superior PC version in a few months.
 

Derrick01

Banned
what are you trying to accomplish here?

I guess that was my way of saying I don't care about story in games outside of a really small few. So far I haven't been wowed or impressed with what I've seen in this either. Levine's strength is in symbols and unique settings or worlds but the actual story is usually weak.

How far are you?

There are multiple instances throughout the game where they give you large battlefields to use the skylines freely around the map.

I dunno, I'm going after
some ex captain guy
I guess. Got the
bucking bronco
power in the previous area.
 

Uthred

Member
Also, let me know when you see a game that tackles issues like racism and religion as deeply as this game.

Does it really tackle them though? It places them front and center a lot of the time but in an amazingly black and white (no pun intended) manner. It doesnt examine them or provide alternate viewpoints, it simply slaps you aroudn the face with "HEY HEY Racism and Religious Extremism are BAD!". Admittedly they are elements which often arent given the limelight, so perhaps they deserve some commendation for including them. But I think its a bit of a stretch to say the game tackles them (or even manages to present them in a nuanced way)

Well I mean in a sense, that there more fleshed out than your ordinary side character in a fps.

Ah yes I agree with you there, it just felt like a bit of a wasted opportunity when some of the other characters were fleshed out so well.
 

Vire

Member
I guess that was my way of saying I don't care about story in games outside of a really small few. So far I haven't been wowed or impressed with what I've seen in this either. Levine's strength is in symbols and unique settings or worlds but the actual story is usually weak.



I dunno, I'm going after
some ex captain guy
I guess. Got the
bucking bronco
power in the previous area.

Ah pshh.. you got a ways to go.

Keep going.
 
I guess I'm not far enough yet to appreciate these (literally) on rails stuff. I've only used the sky rails a couple of times and it was only to go to a new area. To me it could have been a loading screen and I would have felt the same about it...nothing.



Aww damn it I didn't even notice that until now. Someone switched it back to this lame one.

I can tell you with 90% certainty it's never going to "click" for you, based off what you've posted so far. There's nothing revolutionary about the gameplay, no point at which it suddenly opens up into an old-school, nonlinear hybrid FPS/RPG or something wacky like that. It doesn't go from being a good FPS to an amazing one on gameplay mechanics or anything like that. The skyhooks are fairly gimmicky and only present in certain potions of the game - you're not going to be making dashing escapes from the police to other parts of Columbia. Just take it as it comes, and I think you'll enjoy it more.
 

DatDude

Banned
Does it really tackle them though? It places them front and center a lot of the time but in an amazingly black and white (no pun intended) manner. It doesnt examine them or provide alternate viewpoints, it simply slaps you aroudn the face with "HEY HEY Racism and Religious Extremism are BAD!". Admittedly they are elements which often arent given the limelight, so perhaps they deserve some commendation for including them. But I think its a bit of a stretch to say the game tackles them (or even manages to present them in a nuanced way)


It wasn't meant to be the main theme, and least I don't think it was.

The game never had a secret agenda about how they think racism is bad. It was more to show "just how the way things were in the year of 1912, America."

I think it was also meant to paint this more realistic painting as well. There this image, at least for Americans I think, that once upon a time America was like Disney Land Main Street USA...beautiful blue skies, kids could walk anywhere in the street without worry about criminals, and all this crap.

Instead Levine, tried to paint the real America of 1912. An they did that in subtle ways like the 2 bathrooms. One being all fuck up and nasty, and the other shining like gold.
 

WanderingWind

Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
I can tell you with 90% certainty it's never going to "click" for you, based off what you've posted so far. There's nothing revolutionary about the gameplay, no point at which it suddenly opens up into an old-school, nonlinear hybrid FPS/RPG or something wacky like that. It doesn't go from being a good FPS to an amazing one on gameplay mechanics or anything like that. The skyhooks are fairly gimmicky and only present in certain potions of the game - you're not going to be making dashing escapes from the police to other parts of Columbia. Just take it as it comes, and I think you'll enjoy it more.

It's Derrick. He doesn't enjoy games.
 

marjo

Member
I don't know if this game could have worked if it weren't linear. Not every developer knows how to make an open world game, and if you want an open world game that isn't garbage with actual good design, most devs do not know how to do it. Thats the problem with Dishonored, right? It was open but in the end it all boiled down to a single path as every other path was pointless or led to the same place.

For a linear shooter infinite's design isn't the best, but, it's pretty decent.

Given that Ken Levine designed System Shock 2, whose levels were far less linear then infinite, I'd say he knows how to do it.
 
Does it really tackle them though? It places them front and center a lot of the time but in an amazingly black and white (no pun intended) manner. It doesnt examine them or provide alternate viewpoints, it simply slaps you aroudn the face with "HEY HEY Racism and Religious Extremism are BAD!". Admittedly they are elements which often arent given the limelight, so perhaps they deserve some commendation for including them. But I think its a bit of a stretch to say the game tackles them (or even manages to present them in a nuanced way)



Ah yes I agree with you there, it just felt like a bit of a wasted opportunity when some of the other characters were fleshed out so well.

I disagree actually, and I typically hate politics and race and such in games because the writers do such a terrible job with them, usually coming across as face-punchingly smug or self-consciously wishy-washy (and totally violate my immersion in imaginary worlds). The up-front racism and the like felt entirely organic and appropriate to the setting, thematically (enslavement, bonds of the mind etc.) and otherwise. It felt like the stark opposite of "slapping you in the face with it" to me. That said, one of the reasons the industrial and lower-class areas were probably the weakest was that everything seemed so rote, like "oh we have a late 19th/early 20th century class warfare section, let's tick this box, and this box, and..."
 

Dave1988

Member
Electric Punch: 70% Chance that a melee target is stunned for 4 seconds.

Ammo advantage: Increases clip size for all weapons by 75%

Eagle Strike: Increase weapon damage by 50% on skylines.

Ghost Solider: Killing with a vigor trap has a 70% chance to cause the enemy gun to become a ghostly ally for a few seconds.

Where do you find these things? I've entered the season pass code even before I started the game and I never found the gear.
 

SmithnCo

Member
Electric Punch: 70% Chance that a melee target is stunned for 4 seconds.

Ammo advantage: Increases clip size for all weapons by 75%

Eagle Strike: Increase weapon damage by 50% on skylines.

Ghost Solider: Killing with a vigor trap has a 70% chance to cause the enemy gun to become a ghostly ally for a few seconds.

Those look petty good, especially
the ammo one

Definitely buying the pass after finishing the main game... So good.
 

DatDude

Banned
Given that Ken Levine designed System Shock 2, whose levels were far less linear then infinite, I'd say he knows how to do it.

I disagree.

The way Infinite works, narratively is much more complex and different than System Shock.

Your not guided by some ambiguous voice on a radio. That ambiguous voice, is now your partner who is by your side till the end.

Plus, the game involves less of hunt Andrew Ryan down and kill him.

It's woven much more complex, and having system shock 2 levels would've been quite the challenge, and might've ruined the pace of the game substantially.
 

antitrop

Member
Are you telling me you don't see the Sky rails as a dramatic gameplay shift? How many other games have featured something like them that you can name?

I agree. The integration of rails into combat sets this game apart. There are combat set pieces in this game that are just playgrounds of fun. Like Bulletstorm, I said it earlier and I do not regret making that comparison. There is even a few Vigors that can compare to the abilities you are granted by the whip in that game.

I need to replay Bulletstorm, that game kicked ass.
 
Given that Ken Levine designed System Shock 2, whose levels were far less linear then infinite, I'd say he knows how to do it.

And honestly, I think people overstate the level of non-linearity (in terms of level design) in SS2. It shares the same basic system as Bioshock, where you have a "hub" area and various different areas to explore, but you're probably going to end up visiting all those areas anyway, at which point you "unlock" the next hub.
 

DatDude

Banned
Electric Punch: 70% Chance that a melee target is stunned for 4 seconds.

Ammo advantage: Increases clip size for all weapons by 75%

Eagle Strike: Increase weapon damage by 50% on skylines.

Ghost Solider: Killing with a vigor trap has a 70% chance to cause the enemy gun to become a ghostly ally for a few seconds.

Thanks!

Which one is the most effective you've found?

An also, do you guys think the exclusive gamestop pre order weapons and items will be sold as dlc later on?
 

WJD

Member
Hate to be one of those guys but I'd like to know If I've got enough time to finish this today...

Big bird bastard just took Elizabeth away and it all got a bit snowy.

How long have I got left? It feels fairly close to the end.
 

Tacitus_

Member
I guess that was my way of saying I don't care about story in games outside of a really small few. So far I haven't been wowed or impressed with what I've seen in this either. Levine's strength is in symbols and unique settings or worlds but the actual story is usually weak.

I dunno, I'm going after
some ex captain guy
I guess. Got the
bucking bronco
power in the previous area.

The gameplay doesn't really deviate much from that point. You get a couple new powers and guns (and the guns aren't that imaginative), but that's it.

Hate to be one of those guys but I'd like to know If I've got enough time to finish this today...

Big bird bastard just took Elizabeth away and it all got a bit snowy.

How long have I got left? It feels fairly close to the end.

Once you complete that, you still have one more gameplay area and then the mindfuck ending segment. An hour or two, depending on where you are at that place.
 

Dave1988

Member
Hate to be one of those guys but I'd like to know If I've got enough time to finish this today...

Big bird bastard just took Elizabeth away and it all got a bit snowy.

How long have I got left? It feels fairly close to the end.

You probably have 2 or 3 more hours of playtime depending on the difficulty you're playing.
 

antitrop

Member
There is going to be a substantial backlash against Irrational from PC gamers if they don't get the stuttering issues sorted out. It's pervasive across almost every configuration of settings and hardware.
 

Zeliard

Member
I agree. The integration of rails into combat sets this game apart. There are combat set pieces in this game that are just playgrounds of fun. Like Bulletstorm, I said it earlier and I do not regret making that comparison. There is even a few Vigors that can compare to the abilities you are granted by the whip in that game.

I need to replay Bulletstorm, that game kicked ass.

Did you make the Bulletstorm comparison before I did? It really does remind me of the game, heh. Surprised I haven't seen the two compared more often.
 

DatDude

Banned
Hate to be one of those guys but I'd like to know If I've got enough time to finish this today...

Big bird bastard just took Elizabeth away and it all got a bit snowy.

How long have I got left? It feels fairly close to the end.

3-4 hours, depending on your playstyle.
 

WJD

Member
The gameplay doesn't really deviate much from that point. You get a couple new powers and guns (and the guns aren't that imaginative), but that's it.



Once you complete that, you still have one more gameplay area and then the mindfuck ending segment. An hour or two, depending on where you are at that place.

You probably have 2 or 3 more hours of playtime depending on the difficulty you're playing.
3-4 hours, depending on your playstyle.

Sounds perfect, thanks!
 
There is going to be a substantial backlash against Irrational from PC gamers if they don't get the stuttering issues sorted out. It's pervasive across almost every configuration of settings and hardware.

its annoying when I stay solid at 60fps then WHAM.. stutter then back it goes.
 

antitrop

Member
Did you make the Bulletstorm comparison before I did? It really does remind me of the game, heh. Surprised I haven't seen the two compared more often.

I'd say I'm about a good 1/3 of the way through the game and so far, to me, it improves upon every single aspect you mentioned.

Some more than others, of course. The biggest "some more" being improving the combat strategically. This is probably the best gunplay I've played in an FPS since Bulletstorm.
Bucking Bronco gives me Bulletstorm vibes.

And I should mention that the Octupus vigor (forgot the name) is obviously comparable the the BS whip lasso.
 

K.Sabot

Member
So I'm nearly finished an I have to say that I liked Rapture way better.

The way the music was structured in Bioshock is way better than in Infinite. A lot of the time the original score will be playing while some random source of music is also playing, which ends up being a jumbled mess.

The period of Rapture made for more interesting characters that I cared about, despite having the walking expositional character right beside me this time around.

The gunplay feels better, but I don't find myself using plasmids as much this time around because I can't stock mana potions. I hate to use 2 powers and then have to run around looking for a blue potion.
 
There is going to be a substantial backlash against Irrational from PC gamers if they don't get the stuttering issues sorted out. It's pervasive across almost every configuration of settings and hardware.

I personally had no problem with stuttering in the sense that it only happened briefly between sub-zones. The weird mouse sensitivity was more of an issue. (stock 570, 2500k to 4.5ghz, all max bar shadows (high) and postprocessing (normal)).
 

Raxus

Member
What is the best way to
deal with handymen? These bruisers seem nearly invincible to everything I have when I first meet them.
 
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