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[derExperte]

I don't get the complaints about the shootouts. There's more than enough downtime between them to explore and if you want there are a lot of different ways to engage enemies. Crazier weapons? Okay, would have been nice but other than that it's the most fun I had while shooting people in a while. Don't just stick to one tactic that works, use all Vigors, the skylines, rifts, melee.

 

[PepperJack]

Man, it seems GAF is just hating on every good game that has come out this year.

DmC Reboot - sucks
Tomb Raider Reboot - sucks
Bioshock Infinite - not good enough

After having played Bioshock 1 just before infinite, and also a little bit of bioshock 2, I have to say that Bioshock 1 is probably a more interesting game than infinite. I felt there was more exploration and open-endedness to the combat. Also the splicers were crazy and said crazy things, and the whole big daddy/little sister/splicer ecosystem was just incredible. Collecting and buying upgrades with ADAM was also great, and there was a big emphasis on using your plasmids and the environment to kill enemies much faster (electrocuting water, setting oil slicks on fire, controlling a big daddy, enraging enemies against each other, etc.). At times it felt more like a puzzle game than an action game.

**No story spoilers, just gameplay mechanics and how Elizabeth comes into play"
Infinite on the other hand, from the 5 hours I've played, is a different game. It is more streamlined (no quicksaving, no health packs, no plasmid refills that you can carry). The guns feel better, but everything is less up close and personal and less satisfying than in Bioshock 1. The AI is very meh, and it just feels like everyone is running around trying to shoot at you without any thought. I always found it cool how in Bioshock 1 the splicers would use healing stations, for example. The vigors are also interesting, my favorite is murder of crows. Also, being able to set up traps is very cool. The vigors are all individually upgrade-able in very interesting ways, so it makes me feel the combat must really pick up later on in the game. The skylines are incredibly fun to use, and add a lot to the combat. Also Elizabeth's ability to open up rifts and bring new elements into the world is very clever. I haven't encountered any puzzles-like scenarios yet, which would have been nice if they were peppered in. Also a lack of any AI ecosystem makes the prequel overshadow this game (so far). Elizabeth is cool and kind of attractive, so it makes a single guy like me want to play this game hahaha, and the overall feel of the design and story are great. I would say this is an incredible game by today's standards, a solid 9/10 from what I've played so far, and I have a feeling it only gets better. If I was to mention one absolutely infuriating thing so far, it's the 2D roses...

 

[Hop]

I got an email from Irrational but they didn't give me any code to redeem it.

The site has an option for what platform you got the game on, and if you say you bought it on Steam, it asks you to log in through Steam. I suspect it checks your account that way, so you don't need a code at all.

 

[Fjordson]

Sweet, thanks! Do you let go of the LT before or after you switch weapons?

edit: Just tried it, maybe I fucked up but it didn't work and I laid down a trap and wasted 50% salt ;;

After. I switch the weapons to cancel and then let go of the fire vigor button.

 

[LiK]

The site has an option for what platform you got the game on, and if you say you bought it on Steam, it asks you to log in through Steam. I suspect it checks your account that way, so you don't need a code at all.

Really? I didn't see that. Will check again.

 

[Broder Salsa]

Man, it seems GAF is just hating on every good game that has come out this year.

DmC Reboot - sucks
Tomb Raider Reboot - sucks
Bioshock Infinite - not good enough

Wait what? I have seen a lot of hate for the DmC reboot but most of everything I have read about Infinite and the Tomb raider reboot on here has been good. There will always be some people not liking the new direction of games, but I doesn't seem like the majority at all.

 

[DatDude]

Man, it seems GAF is just hating on every good game that has come out this year.

DmC Reboot - sucks
Tomb Raider Reboot - sucks
Bioshock Infinite - not good enough

After having played Bioshock 1 just before infinite, and also a little bit of bioshock 2, I have to say that Bioshock 1 is probably a more interesting game than infinite. I felt there was more exploration and open-endedness to the combat. Also the splicers were crazy and said crazy things, and the whole big daddy/little sister/splicer ecosystem was just incredible. Collecting and buying upgrades with ADAM was also great, and there was a big emphasis on using your plasmids and the environment to kill enemies much faster (electrocuting water, setting oil slicks on fire, controlling a big daddy, enraging enemies against each other, etc.). At times it felt more like a puzzle game than an action game.

**No story spoilers, just gameplay mechanics and how Elizabeth comes into play"
Infinite on the other hand, from the 5 hours I've played, is a different game. It is more streamlined (no quicksaving, no health packs, no plasmid refills that you can carry). The guns feel better, but everything is less up close and personal and less satisfying than in Bioshock 1. The AI is very meh, and it just feels like everyone is running around trying to shoot at you without any thought. I always found it cool how in Bioshock 1 the splicers would use healing stations, for example. The vigors are also interesting, my favorite is murder of crows. Also, being able to set up traps is very cool. The vigors are all individually upgrade-able in very interesting ways, so it makes me feel the combat must really pick up later on in the game. The skylines are incredibly fun to use, and add a lot to the combat. Also Elizabeth's ability to open up rifts and bring new elements into the world is very clever. I haven't encountered any puzzles-like scenarios yet, which would have been nice if they were peppered in. Also a lack of any AI ecosystem makes the prequel overshadow this game (so far). Elizabeth is cool and kind of attractive, so it makes a single guy like me want to play this game hahaha, and the overall feel of the design and story are great. I would say this is an incredible game by today's standards, a solid 9/10 from what I've played so far, and I have a feeling it only gets better. If I was to mention one absolutely infuriating thing so far, it's the 2D roses...

Lol dude. No one is even hating on this game.

Mostly everyone agree that the music, atmosphere, and narrative is one of a kind.

Some people aren't a fan though of the combat which is fair enough.

Honestly, go back and read more posts. I've never seen GAF gush this much about a game in ages. An I doubt there will be the typical gaf backlash to since the narrative holds up (no plot holes), and the world will forever have that beautiful atmosphere.

 

[LiK]

Lol dude. No one is even hating on this game.

Mostly everyone agree that the music, atmosphere, and narrative is one of a kind.

Some people aren't a fan though of the combat which is fair enough.

Honestly, go back and read more posts. I've never seen GAF gush this much about a game in ages. An I doubt there will be the typical gaf backlash to since the narrative holds up (no plot holes), and the world will forever have that beautiful atmosphere.

Yea, I think only 5 dudes here are overly critical or not liking it. Seems to be the norm and did I mention that they're CRAZY?

 

[Deleted member 47027]

Man, it seems GAF is just hating on every good game that has come out this year.

DmC Reboot - sucks
Tomb Raider Reboot - sucks
Bioshock Infinite - not good enough

All three of these games were bomb as fuck. Everyone's got different tastes but I've had a hell of a time between all of them for different reasons.

 

[Ban Puncher]

Just finished the game and it was fan-fucking-tastic. 1999 playthrough, here I come.


I broke my rule of 'Season Passes are Bullshit' and bought one because shit, I'd be all over any kind of DLC day one anyway so might as well save a little cash. Plus golden weapon skins dawg.

 

[Stumpokapow]

All of these are my predictions, based on the point I'm at in the uspoiled text, none of them are spoilers except if I happen to guess right:

About five minutes into the game, after

Spoiler

being baptized and drowning

, I thought "Hmm... Comstock was at wounded knee, Booker was at wounded knee, I wonder if Booker lived in Columbia for a while and just doesn't remember", especially given BioShock 1 and 2's premises.

When I heard the first song in one of the stores while touring Columbia, I thought "This sounds more 40s-50s, how anachronistic..." and then I checked, and it was. And then there's the barber shop quartet

Spoiler

singing Beach Boys

. Most of the songs since then have felt at the earliest 1930s. And then when you are trying to find Elizabeth and she (30-mins in spoilers?)

Spoiler

opens up a tear to Paris and some sort of street car or vehicle comes driving towards her

I thought "That didn't look like 1912". My sense is that when you observe an anachronism in a work, there are three possible explanations: 1) Carelessness, 2) The game takes place in an alternate universe where the anachronism does not exist, 3) Time travel. My speculation:

Spoiler

My sense is pretty strongly the third right now. I think there are time loops or time travel of some kind.

The weird male-female couple that rowed me to the lighthouse,

Spoiler

showed up to get me to flip a coin, offered me armour, had Elizabeth pick a broach... it's pretty clear the game wants you to be aware that these are the same people each time, but to what end I'm not sure. That's part of why I feel like time loops might be involved. Like something happened the first time and then these people were sent back to subtly shape the process so it doesn't happen again.

I pretty much immediately guessed about Elizabeth's ancestry/parentage, even before the game mentions anything about it. Just seemed super obvious.

The scene where you first get into combat after you meet Elizabeth

Spoiler

is really stupid. I get that it was supposed to provide some sort of emotional context, stress that she's innocent, that she's not involved... but it doesn't work. She freaks the hell out without apparently noticing that the bad guys are shooting at me and stabbed me in the hand. When she sees the hand she calms down, and then has an immediate prescience that more killing will be required, and promptly says jack shit about the extremely brutal and inhumane ways I kill people going forward... err...?

It seems to me like the game's vision has changed a good deal since the first trailer. The initial concept for Columbia, as I understand it, was "American Exceptionalism"--but the result seems closer to antebellum racism meets Mormonism. Seems less philosophical and more of an explicitly political project. I haven't seen any President since Lincoln mentioned explicitly, which is unfortunate because it'd be interesting to see alter-McKinley or alter-Teddy Roosevelt during the Boxer Rebellion events. The scapegoating of anarchism is period appropriate though, because it evokes McKinley's death. I feel like I'm probably reading the real-world politics a little too closely--while the Pinkertons were strikebreakers, it's odd that the game doesn't examine their connection to Lincoln especially in light of the very explicit way Lincoln is rendered in Columbia as an anti-Christ like figure... I also think it's a little weird that the Lincoln Fan Club doesn't seem to have portraits of any other abolitionists... despite Lincoln's big victory in the form of the emancipation proclamation, Lincoln's overall politics on slavery were fairly moderate for the Republican party of the time.

 

[Khar]

I'm only part way through; it's taken me 8 hours to

Spoiler

get just past the Hall of Heroes

.

Elizabeth is a very impressive accomplishment by the team. The writing, character design, animation and voice acting combine to create a character that truly feels like a companion.

I haven't really felt that since Alyx, or perhaps (to a far far lesser degree), the Uncharted cast.

Spoiler

Busting into the her rooms in the Statue of Columbia - despite the danger warnings from the observers - did a sterling job in making me feel for her.

I started to react differently because of her presence. At the ticket booth it was obvious they'd been rumbled.

"What would Elizabeth think if I just started shooting?"

I demanded the tickets. If I'd been alone I would have drawn my gun without a second thought.

I didn't shoot Slate either. I regretted it since he seemed to be suffering but I didn't have the stomach to shoot a defenceless man in front of my companion.

I felt saddened watching her feel fear at the carnage I created. At her horror seeing a shop filled with dead bodies.

It's a rare treat to feel true empathy for a digital creation.

Marvellous stuff Irrational Games! I'm loving every minute so far and can't wait to return to Columbia when I finish work tonight.

 

[Drayken]

I got an email from Irrational but they didn't give me any code to redeem it.

I didn't even received the email from irrational

And I didn't understood how it works to redeem the stuff

 

[Hasphat'sAnts]

You dudes who are hating on the combat are probably the same people who rolled Soldier in Mass Effect.

 

[Kade]

Man, it seems GAF is just hating on every good game that has come out this year.

DmC Reboot - sucks
Tomb Raider Reboot - sucks
Bioshock Infinite - not good enough

What the hell are you talking about? Aside from the DmC reboot (which I thought wasn't as bad as everyone else did. It's a good framework to build on, at least), everyone seems to be loving the new Tomb Raider and BioShock Infinite.

Really not seeing the complaints about combat. I love it, hoisting enemies up into the air and blasting them with the shotty, or possesing one guy, seeing him turn on the others and picking them off with headshots from the hand cannon, while at the same time keeping mobile. I'm mixing it up constantly and really enjoying doing so. I do have a liking for fps games, so I don't know if thats a factor, and I always keep moving from one cover to the next. (That's kinda important. The worst thing you can do is stay stationary behind cover, you must keep mobile, its far more fun that way).

The combat is really fun if you're mobile. I love the big combat areas with lots of verticality, tears, ziplines, hooks and the varied enemy compositions. I had a lot of fun keeping combat momentum while trying to use every weapon and vigor I possibly could within each space. With all the vigors and abilities I had, staying in one spot and peaking out to shoot was definitely out of the question.

 

[Deleted member 30609]

Undertow hilariously breaks the game. When you can grab three people from across the map, then shotgun them to the face with gear that propagates out electricity damage, even the Patriots go down in seconds. Some of the later-game vigors are so much fun, it's a shame you don't get them earlier.


I'm... not entirely sure what to make of the ending.

 

[Wunder]

Quick question to those people playing on Hard: Do you die a lot? If so, how do you get enough money to upgrade stuff? I've been playing on Hard for about a couple hours now and I've died a TON. It's usually specific encounters, anything with a turret or big flamy dudes. Once I got both and died like 5 times. I have like 50 bucks.

 

[PeterVenkman]

Quick question to those people playing on Hard: Do you die a lot? If so, how do you get enough money to upgrade stuff? I've been playing on Hard for about a couple hours now and I've died a TON. It's usually specific encounters, anything with a turret or big flamy dudes. Once I got both and died like 5 times. I have like 50 bucks.

I'm on hard. I just recently got the Electric vigor and I've died a few times, maybe five so far. To offset dying, aside from scavenging everything, I upgraded possession all the way and I rob vending machines blind. Works pretty well for me.

I've run into a few "defeat 'x' waves of enemies" and boy are those always a disappointment. Other than that, gameplay has been fun, but not stellar.

Also when the combat is really flexing all of it's muscles, it's at its easiest. Open battles with sky rail options and tears? Cake. I can summon a turret, zip away, skyhook melee one shot kill anyone, rinse repeat. Even tougher enemies are rendered useless as I can just snipe them from afar (the ones who can't skyhook). It's almost like they didn't take into account how RIDICULOUSLY overpowered Elizabeth/Skyhook is. Summoning a crate full of six health packs mid fight?! Jesus.

 

[Valkyr Junkie]

Just started playing last night on PC. Definitely thinking of playing on a 360 controller due to mouse speed/acceleration and the fact there seems to be so more buttons I need quick access to then I can handle between the keyboard and only having 4 buttons on my mouse.

 

[Gorillaz]

Quick question to those people playing on Hard: Do you die a lot? If so, how do you get enough money to upgrade stuff? I've been playing on Hard for about a couple hours now and I've died a TON. It's usually specific encounters, anything with a turret or big flamy dudes. Once I got both and died like 5 times. I have like 50 bucks.

Im playibg on hard as well and getting my ass kicked every once and awhile.

I always make the money back through elizabeth finding it or possession of machines which lowers the cash for items and give you some money. Also looking around helps.

 

[Deleted member 47027]

Elizabeth has been throwing me money every two minutes, give or take a few seconds. Is this normal? It's been happening for about 4 hours.

 

[MaximumFlipFlop]

After sitting on my feelings for the night, story is incredible. Combat has incredible ideas but I think a majority of the combat scenarios are rather dull. Combat really shines when the sky lines are available. Hop on, find a target, jump off, punch a fool, get back on. Those parts were great. I think it would have been awesome to be able to create 2 loadouts for combat. I would have loved to tailor one to skyline combat and one to ground combat. Could you imagine jumping on the skyline, and with a quick button press you are outfitted with all the gear to make you a skyline champ. Would have loved it.

 

[Kade]

Quick question to those people playing on Hard: Do you die a lot? If so, how do you get enough money to upgrade stuff? I've been playing on Hard for about a couple hours now and I've died a TON. It's usually specific encounters, anything with a turret or big flamy dudes. Once I got both and died like 5 times. I have like 50 bucks.

Possess machines, scavenge and spend as soon as possible. I backtrack to vending machines in areas I've cleared out to avoid losing money as well.

 

[gdt]

Biggest gripes I have with the game.

-Too many similar weapons, especially with a 2 weapon limit. Machine Gun and Repeater....and you can upgrade both....why. Its a money hole for no reason. Should've had just kept the system from BS1 IMO. I loved seeing the weapons change visually after each upgrade.

-Made even suckier by the fact that there is no form of New Game + (this game could really really use it). New Game + is a missed opportunity here. While scavenging and exploring every single bathroom in the game was A LOT of fun for me, that stuff will probably wear on me during 2nd and 3rd playthroughs....NG+ would let me bypass that stuff (because I'd have money and upgrades already) if I wanted to.

Of course it couldn't be true NG+ because of the way you get vigors throughout the game. But a modified form. Maybe we keep the upgrades when we get the vigors back.

 

[jim2point0]

DmC Reboot - sucks
Tomb Raider Reboot - sucks
Bioshock Infinite - not good enough

Negative voices are the loudest. When you come to a forum, you typically gloss over all the people saying the game is fantastic, great, etc etc. I know that when I see a post like that about this game, I think "yup, I agree" and I go on to read the next post. But when I see someone say "AAH THIS GAME SUCKS" I'm like "no, you're wrong and I must tell you why!"

A lot of other people pitch in and do the same, and all the sudden you think there are a ton of people who hate this game.

If I didn't play it, my overall impression of the game from this thread would be that it's one of the best games to have been released in years. A few people (predictably) don't like it... but most do.

 

[ViewtifulJC]

On Hard, it's probably best just to specialize in whatever your favorite Vigors/Weapons are, because you can't afford all that shit. I ended up using the shotgun(close-range), machine gun(close-to-mid), revolver(mid-to-long, big damage dealer), and RPG(even BIGGER damage dealer, fuck you Handyman/Patriot, hold dez rockets, my nigga) for pretty much the last 1/3rd of the game, and just focused on giving those four upgrades.

Also, the gear is randomized, right? So it's possible to get that "every successive kill gives you increased damage" skill early on? Because holy hell did it make the final stretch of the game more palatable.

 

[electricpirate]

Quick question to those people playing on Hard: Do you die a lot? If so, how do you get enough money to upgrade stuff? I've been playing on Hard for about a couple hours now and I've died a TON. It's usually specific encounters, anything with a turret or big flamy dudes. Once I got both and died like 5 times. I have like 50 bucks.

I'm on hard, I died a LOT at the start. You have fewer options, so you'll mostly be shooting dudes. Stay back, set a crow trap to cover an angle and go to town.

As you get some better weapons, gear and vigors the combat really opens up, though I still have a few deaths here and there.

Getting the carbine really helps, it acts similarly to the pistol, but it packs more punch, and can take down turrets easily.

Does anyone else really want a mass effect style hoarde mode for infinate? I didn't expect the combat to be this fun, and I'd love to be able to just dive into it with friends.

 

[Fine Ham Abounds]

Quick question to those people playing on Hard: Do you die a lot? If so, how do you get enough money to upgrade stuff? I've been playing on Hard for about a couple hours now and I've died a TON. It's usually specific encounters, anything with a turret or big flamy dudes. Once I got both and died like 5 times. I have like 50 bucks.

So far my only issue on Hard has been respawning in the middle of a hail of bullets thanks to the checkpoint being right in front of a turret I possessed but didn't destroy. Fun.

 

[Truant]

What happened to Nostrums?

Edit: I guess they were replaced by gear.

 

[PowderedToast]

do people think with infinite (moreso than most mainstream contemporaries) that the dichotomy between shoot-bang gameplay mechanics and the setting, story themes and subtext side of it has finally grown large enough to acknowledge as a real problem?

should ken levine finally let go of the shooting and attempt to find a replacement? this is interesting to me. people are speaking as if there is a real tension between these two elements of infinite, maybe even to the point of posing a contradiction

i know it could very well be a case of logistics (2k would not allow this budget for a title without shooting), but still

 

[Truant]

do people think with infinite (moreso than most mainstream contemporaries) that the dichotomy between shoot-bang gameplay mechanics and the setting, story themes and subtext side of it has finally grown large enough to acknowledge as a real problem?

should ken levine finally let go of the shooting and attempt to find a replacement? this is interesting to me. people are speaking as if there is a real tension between these two elements of infinite, maybe even to the point of posing a contradiction

i know it could very well be a case of logistics (2k would not allow this budget for a title without shooting), but still

I think combat and violence is more effective when it's an optional thing, and in moderation.

I loved firing a gun in Dishonored, because it fucked shit up. I had like five bullets, so each of them mattered, and the damn thing felt so powerful.

 

[ViewtifulJC]

do people think with infinite (moreso than most mainstream contemporaries) that the dichotomy between shoot-bang gameplay mechanics and the setting, story themes and subtext side of it has finally grown large enough to acknowledge as a real problem?

should ken levine finally let go of the shooting and attempt to find a replacement? this is interesting to me. people are speaking as if there is a real tension between these two elements of infinite, maybe even to the point of posing a contradiction

i know it could very well be a case of logistics (2k would not allow this budget for a title without shooting), but still

And miss out on all the exciting set pieces and battles? Fuck that. I'm more impressed that this game actually managed to straddle the line between crowd-pleaser thriller while still maintaining such intelligent, sophisticated storytelling. More impressed than say, The Walking Dead's direction, which also had a great story, at the expense of much in the way of gameplay. Or Planescape Torment, another game with a beloved story, but again, nobody played that shit because of the clumsy combat. Infinite is the complete package.

 

[toastyToast]

Aw shit

 

[KingKong]

I'm really surprised how much the gameplay is like Bioshock, it feels like the exact same game, down to rummaging through desks and trash cans for coins in between combat sequences

 

[Suburban_Nooblet]

Having such a good time I ordered a GTX660ti yesterday and overnighted it with prime.

 

[Milchjon]

do people think with infinite (moreso than most mainstream contemporaries) that the dichotomy between shoot-bang gameplay mechanics and the setting, story themes and subtext side of it has finally grown large enough to acknowledge as a real problem?

should ken levine finally let go of the shooting and attempt to find a replacement? this is interesting to me. people are speaking as if there is a real tension between these two elements of infinite, maybe even to the point of posing a contradiction

i know it could very well be a case of logistics (2k would not allow this budget for a title without shooting), but still

I thought it worked quite well. In the end it's still a huge rescue/escort mission, so unless you made it something like ICO or maybe a stealth game, I don't really know how you'd make the story work.

 

[geekamania]

This may have been asked already, but is there a limit to the number of vigors you can have at once? I picked up the third last night and, after continuing this morning, found I have the second

Spoiler

(possession)

& third

Spoiler

(crows)

, but not the first

Spoiler

(firebombs)

.

 

[CrazedProfessional]

Let me be the first to say the part where you

Spoiler

command songbird with literally waves upon waves of patriots upon you firing at this generator made of paper

is by far the worst and laziest part of the game. It is tedious and awful.

 

[Stumpokapow]

This may have been asked already, but is there a limit to the number of vigors you can have at once? I picked up the third last night and, after continuing this morning, found I have the second

Spoiler

(possession)

& third

Spoiler

(crows)

, but not the first

Spoiler

(firebombs)

.

hold l1/left bumper

 

[geekamania]

hold l1/left bumper

Completely missed that somehow. Thanks.

 

[Double D]

I feel like I'm pretty close to the end now. Last night I stopped playing after

Spoiler

I met old Elizabeth in the future, and saved young Elizabeth and gave her the note

. I really thought the game was ending on me then, but I realized I hadn't had some crazy final encounter with anyone (which I just assume there is one), and there was still some unfinished business.

I wouldn't say I'm rushing through the game at all, but goddamn there is some serious poopsockage happening. I've been getting to bed no earlier than 2:00AM every night since Monday. Just can't seem to put it down. I really want to see how it all ends but, by the same token, don't want it to end.

Also that dude with the

Spoiler

lantern/alarm for a head that 'wakes up' the Washington enemies that was just standing there when I turned around

scared the shit out of me. I feel like Irrational owes me a clean pair of underwear.

 

[Dr Dogg]

Either I'm going mental or there's subtext gallore going on here. Some subtle and others right in your face. From musical nods, literary allusions, religious themes to cinema references. Did I really just see

Spoiler

Elizabeth open up tear to a field with a blistering tornado shot for shot out of the Wizard of Oz?

Wowed to the point of having a permanent grin but keep on altering my perspective on keeps on being thrown at me next and what the game might be alluding to. Can't wait to see how it finally plays out.

 

[Drayken]

do people think with infinite (moreso than most mainstream contemporaries) that the dichotomy between shoot-bang gameplay mechanics and the setting, story themes and subtext side of it has finally grown large enough to acknowledge as a real problem?

should ken levine finally let go of the shooting and attempt to find a replacement? this is interesting to me. people are speaking as if there is a real tension between these two elements of infinite, maybe even to the point of posing a contradiction

i know it could very well be a case of logistics (2k would not allow this budget for a title without shooting), but still

In fact at the beginning I was puzzled about the atmosphere so calm and quiet and how it would evolve into a all battle arena..

 

[Tummi Gummi]

do people think with infinite (moreso than most mainstream contemporaries) that the dichotomy between shoot-bang gameplay mechanics and the setting, story themes and subtext side of it has finally grown large enough to acknowledge as a real problem?

should ken levine finally let go of the shooting and attempt to find a replacement? this is interesting to me. people are speaking as if there is a real tension between these two elements of infinite, maybe even to the point of posing a contradiction

i know it could very well be a case of logistics (2k would not allow this budget for a title without shooting), but still

I would agree up to the point that in a game like Infinite, it's more difficult to dismiss things as "videogame logic" or the like. Why do the security forces practically forget you exist after massacring squads in the middle of major civilian hubs, for example? For a game about being hunted by a whole city, it didn't really feel very different (on that level) to Bioshock, which had the benefit of being devoid of civilians and a functional society. For a setting the devs invested so much time and effort in, Columbia didn't really seem "alive" in the way those early proof-of-concept trailers sold it.

I don't really know what the answer to that problem is. It's fine to talk to about world-building via natural ecosystems and such (X-Ray AI in STALKER, Radiant AI in Oblivion/Fallout) but you can still end up with the same problem. I do reiterate what I said earlier, which is that Columbia would've benefited from a more open-world RPG setting than was necessary for immersing (hurr) oneself in Rapture or The Von Braun. But I doubt such a project would've been economically feasible.

 

[misterhektik]

Quick question to those people playing on Hard: Do you die a lot? If so, how do you get enough money to upgrade stuff? I've been playing on Hard for about a couple hours now and I've died a TON. It's usually specific encounters, anything with a turret or big flamy dudes. Once I got both and died like 5 times. I have like 50 bucks.

I've only died a couple times on hard so far. Usually it's because I'm out of ammo and have to run around checking corpses for bullets. The turrets are pretty easy to handle, just pop out and shoot a couple times then hide before it responds.

I should mention that I fully upgraded my shield first. Now, I'm working on my health, which is half way upgraded. Watch for when your shield is down, then find cover until it regens.

 

[Deleted member 30609]

I can see where he's coming from.

When it had been a while since a major story-beat, I would get restless. When it had been a while since the last open-area rail combat scenario, I'd get restless. It was never a game that flowed well. Even now, looking back on it, on one hand I'm left disappointed by how little we actually got to use the rails in combat; on the other, I'm disappointed there wasn't more time spend on building the relationships between different characters (for example, Elizabeth and Songbird).

I'm very impressed with the game, but I feel like I'd have probably enjoyed a movie or adventure game with this story, or a straight-shooter (think, Bulletstorm) with these mechanics, more than the mish-mash of the two.

 

[CzarTim]

Let me be the first to say the part where you

Spoiler

command songbird with literally waves upon waves of patriots upon you firing at this generator made of paper

is by far the worst and laziest part of the game. It is tedious and awful.

I really enjoyed that part.

Spoiler

It was a good finale to the combat side of the game

 

[ironcreed]

Interesting conversation. All of the shootouts and being swarmed by hordes of bumrushing enemies are about the only thing that has brought this game down a notch or two for me. While the abilities and pulling things in from tears has proven interesting, I simply don't find the shooting and combat in general to have enough weight to balance the scale of the outstanding narrative and world.

In fact, it has grown a bit tedious at times and I think the game would have been better served by being more of a mystery game where combat is mostly limited and you instead have to solve puzzles and find clues by using Elizabeth to manipulate the environment and by talking to people and exploring. This would have worked much better than being a shooter and would have made it stand out even more than it already does.

 

[Magnus]

Let me be the first to say the part where you

Spoiler

command songbird with literally waves upon waves of patriots upon you firing at this generator made of paper

is by far the worst and laziest part of the game. It is tedious and awful.

At first, I hated it too. Must have died five or six times and actually failed the Defense mission two or three times as well. It really forced me to get creative and smart with vigor/weapon use and combo'd in skylines and one new gameplay mechanic, and as a result, functioned really well IMO as

Spoiler

essentially the last boss or final battle. I do wish a couple of the other Heavy Hitters showed up too, though.

I agree that it wound up too...comprehensive and heavy than creative and direct. They did kind of just dump everything into one space and say, FIGHT

 

[Voice of Reason]

At first, I hated it too. Must have died five or six times and actually failed the Defense mission two or three times as well. It really forced me to get creative and smart with vigor/weapon use and combo'd in skylines and one new gameplay mechanic, and as a result, functioned really well IMO as

Spoiler

essentially the last boss or final battle. I do wish a couple of the other Heavy Hitters showed up too, though.

I agree that it wound up too...comprehensive and heavy than creative and direct. They did kind of just dump everything into one space and say, FIGHT

I guess I'm one of the few that found that part really easy.

Spoiler

Return to Sender and shotgun combo is your friend