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

conman

Member
It's funny you bring up AC1, because for all the criticism it got for its gameplay, the game succeeds in using gameplay to service its story in a way that Infinite fails (not to mention all the AC sequels). Like Infinite, the intent of AC1 was to bring the player into the world and actually play the role of an assassin. The focus was on infiltration, gathering information, and observation before taking out a single target and fleeing. Combat with the various guards was supposed to be boring because that's not how an effective assassin operates.

In contrast, Infinite's combat segments, while fun in isolation, are incongruous with the larger experience, and it undermines the narrative.
This was one of many jarring things about Bioshock Infinite. It tried so hard to integrate everything (gameplay, story, politics, interpersonal drama) into a single, coherent whole that the fissures and seams stand out more than they would in most other games. Combat felt like an intrusion and an unwelcome interruption.

Hah, is this about AC1 specifically? I'm actually with you there. So much of the changes they made in sequels still rub me the wrong way, and it got especially bad with Brotherhood adding in the killstreak stuff. The combat in AC1 actually had a decent amount to it, even if most people cruxed on countering everything and then complaining it got old. I also played it HUDless, but to be fair I didn't attempt this with the sequels to see if it worked as well as it did, as 1 had a ton of cues to look out for in the world itself.
Indeed.
 

elwes

Member
Anybody here play this game like a Vanguard from ME2/3? The charge vigor was ridiculously overpowered when mixed with gear that boosted your melee and an upgraded shotgun. It got to the point where I didn't even need to switch vigors towards the end because everything died so fast.

My method was as so:

1. See enemy
2. Use "Charge" to fly across the map at them.
3. Once I hit them with charge, melee attack with gear that had 70% to set them on fire and do additional damage.
4. Shotgun blast
OPTIONAL:
5. Do another charge or shotgun blast to finish them off.

Combine all of this with gear that has a chance to give me back vigor replenishing items upon enemy death and you were only limited by your ammo. Once you upgrade Charge to replenish your shield, it's even more ridiculous.

As much as this playstyle kind of cheesed most of the games enemies, it was a blast to play.

Edit: I beat the game on Normal, so maybe Charge isn't as advisable on harder settings.
 
Weird. I encountered a bug the other night that wouldn't let me progress in the game. I'm doing a replay. Just to make sure I don't spoil anything I'll explain the bug here.
It's right after Battleship Bay immediately before you are asked to choose either the cage or bird choker necklace for Elizabeth. Normally, there should be a button prompt that begins the scene, but no button prompt came up for me. Tried hitting X repeatedly, but nothing happened. The crappy part is the last auto save checkpoint is about 20 minutes earlier. Hopefully this doesn't repeat when I play the game again tonight.
 
Can anyone with the PS3 version tell me how easily noticed the screen tearing is? I'm not a big fan of it, and I'm curious to know just how prevalent it is.
 

StuBurns

Banned
Can anyone with the PS3 version tell me how easily noticed the screen tearing is? I'm not a big fan of it, and I'm curious to know just how prevalent it is.
Assuming you have the framerate cap on, you get lots in the first half hour, than it's really minimal. I'm pretty screentear sensitive, and it didn't bother me really, after that initial opening, which is a real shame given how the game starts.
 
Just completed it.

I think I will have to replay it to formulate a proper opinion, I'm a bit conflicted.

I loved the presentation and the story was great and unlike the original didn't cave in on itself after 2 thirds.

However, I just didn't seem to gel with Columbia the same way as I did with Rapture; it lacked the claustrophobia.

Gunplay I'm also conflicted on as there was some gameplay decisions that I'm not sold on, but I will reserve judgement until after a replay.

I will say that I warmed to it a lot more as it went by and the final act was excellent.
 
I was merely comparing it to COD and other modern shooters in terms of how its combat scenarios are staged. You come into an area with obvious cover points, tears, ammo... etc. And you know that over the course of the next 5-10 minutes, you're going to be slaughtering 30-50 enemies.
Ehhhh...you can essentially distill any FPS down to this description. With Infinite, though, the combat areas are more noticeable because of the presence of tears and sky-lines, signifying a combat space.
Once that's over, you'll probably scavenge a bit, walk about fifty more feet, and then hit another room of that sort.
Again, that's something you can say about almost any FPS.
 

Ricker

Member
What an awful,janky,messy,confusing as hell last Boss fight...taking a break before I throw my controller at my screen...what am I suppose to do exactly...
 

Divvy

Canadians burned my passport
What an awful,janky,messy,confusing as hell last Boss fight...taking a break before I throw my controller at my screen...what am I suppose to do exactly...

HINT:
You can skyline into the zepplins to take them out really easily instead of wasting songbird against them
 
Yeah the reason I'm not going back to play 1999 Mode after beating Hard is because as a whole, the game is pretty damn good. As a game though, it's a repetitive shooter and no amount of changing up Vigor strategies or self-imposed rules is going to make the game any more than that.

I used completely different Vigors the second time through in 1999 mode and it really changed up how I played the game, honestly. It can be a repetitive shooter, yeah, but only if you treat it like one.
 

pj

Banned
HINT:
You can skyline into the zepplins to take them out really easily instead of wasting songbird against them

wtf, were we supposed to just assume that was possible? I don't recall there being a hint of a hint that I could do that.
 

dc89

Member
Can anyone with the PS3 version tell me how easily noticed the screen tearing is? I'm not a big fan of it, and I'm curious to know just how prevalent it is.

Playing PS3 version and its gorgeous. The lighting is top class, and I've not noticed screen tearing.
 
Had a customer come in trading in their copy, he hated it. I asked why. "It has nothing to do with Bioshock, which was awesome, there were no Big Daddy's! "


Uh..hmm....
 

Creamium

shut uuuuuuuuuuuuuuup
Can anyone with the PS3 version tell me how easily noticed the screen tearing is? I'm not a big fan of it, and I'm curious to know just how prevalent it is.

If you leave it on ugly mode, there's little to no tearing. If you turn on pretty mode, then this game tears like a motherfucker. Most tearing I've ever seen in a game. However! It plays a lot smoother and once I turned it on at the start of my 1999 run to test it, I couldn't go back. The game plays and looks a whole lot better. The tearing sucks, but I got used to it. I couldn't imagine playing 1999 with the locked framerate tbh. Wish I'd unlocked it from the get go.
 

Ricker

Member
HINT:
You can skyline into the zepplins to take them out really easily instead of wasting songbird against them


Thanks for the tips guys but like a few said,I didnt really see any opportunity to do what the spoiler tag mentions but I will try...but dont I have to protect that other thing also....mmmm,I'll give it a shot,the 2 weapons I have arent the best also,might try and pick others up along the way,if I can spot them with the carnage going on...
 

Divvy

Canadians burned my passport
Thanks for the tips guys but like a few said,I didnt really see any opportunity to do what the spoiler tag mentions but I will try...but dont I have to protect that other thing also....mmmm,I'll give it a shot,the 2 weapons I have arent the best also,might try and pick others up along the way,if I can spot them with the carnage going on...

Another hint:
Return to sender traps around the core to mitigate damage.
 

Minamu

Member
I can't use melee with the Move controller? I can't seem to find a button/motion for the regular punch, only a small popup about the skulls above enemies.
 

StuBurns

Banned
I can't use melee with the Move controller? I can't seem to find a button/motion for the regular punch, only a small popup about the skulls above enemies.
You 'jab' to melee, flick to melee finisher, it's awful.
And L1 to fire a Vigor is the fucking worst with Move, I don't know who is responsible for the Move mapping, but they're incompetent.
 
I feel like that final fight probably gets a lot more fun on later playthroughs. It was frustrating as fuck at first, but the time I did it it was awesome.

Probably the realisation that the things I was wasting "it" on could just be taken out easily by myself.

edit: Do we know anything about the DLC yet?
Booker the Martyr seems like an obvious one to do.
 
Okay, first things first, let me say that I enjoyed this game.

But I've never seen a bait-and-switch this shameless since Halo 2. All the trailers and gameplay demonstrations that got me excited for this game are neutered completely in the final game. Remember that amazing zeppelin battle with the roaming airship and hooting Vox in the huge sandbox arena? It's replaced by a static zeppelin in a basically square arena. It's so underwhelming compared to the prerelease gameplay demo.

Basically, nothing that was shown as representative of the game was actually in the game. It's a pretty reprehensible tactic, and even though it's not limited to BioShock Infinite, the disparity between prerelease footage and the final game is striking.
 

Minamu

Member
You 'jab' to melee, flick to melee finisher, it's awful.
And L1 to fire a Vigor is the fucking worst with Move, I don't know who is responsible for the Move mapping, but they're incompetent.
Oooh, I see. Oh well, my hands cramp up like hell whenever I hold my Move so I think I'm gonna stop using it. The twitchy crosshair is kinda jarring too. I also tend to rest my Vigor finger on L2 and for some reason I regularly hard press it enough to enter the change vigor menu >_< It's terrible, indeed.
 

Lakitu

st5fu
Going through the game (a 4th time now) on easy to get the rest of the achievements and then a 5th playthrough for 1999 mode and the last 3 achievements.
 

PBY

Banned
Okay, first things first, let me say that I enjoyed this game.

But I've never seen a bait-and-switch this shameless since Halo 2. All the trailers and gameplay demonstrations that got me excited for this game are neutered completely in the final game. Remember that amazing zeppelin battle with the roaming airship and hooting Vox in the huge sandbox arena? It's replaced by a static zeppelin in a basically square arena. It's so underwhelming compared to the prerelease gameplay demo.

Basically, nothing that was shown as representative of the game was actually in the game. It's a pretty reprehensible tactic, and even though it's not limited to BioShock Infinite, the disparity between prerelease footage and the final game is striking.

Wasn't sure what you were talking about, went and looked it up- did you mean this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCRG_z94uKI

Because I love this game, but holy shit lol, its basically nothing like the game in the video lmao
 
Okay! I'm a little hesitant to make a promise here in the event that I do not manage to do it...but I am finishing this game TONIGHT!

I have everything all set. I don't have any immediate work to do, don't have work tomorrow until 8am. I can do this!

Prepare for posts. This girl is ready to have her mind blown.
 
Ugh, feel so dumb, deleted a bunch of stuff off my PS3 to install the original Bioshock, remembered afterwards you only need twice the space when you have to download and install games, not just to install them.
 
You wont finish shit, Slowpoke McSlowenstein. You'll spend more time on here commenting on your progress. Fact.

Nuh-uh! I'm at the part where
Elizabeth is crying out and I'm looking at the dude with the horns in his ears. And the kind-of dead people around.
This is fucking creepy.
 
Wasn't sure what you were talking about, went and looked it up- did you mean this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCRG_z94uKI

Because I love this game, but holy shit lol, its basically nothing like the game in the video lmao

Yep, that video and (to a much higher extent) this one were what I was basing my expectations around:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEBwKO4RFOU

Look, I understand that the gameplay in the trailer only works in a very guided, surprisingly linear way, and I expected compromises to be made, but not to this extent. The encounters with citizens and the backstory provided through gameplay alone trump anything in the final game.

It really is on another level. If you can't deliver on something, don't use it to hype up your game. It's a dirty practice that's all-too-common in the games industry.
 
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