Bioshock Infinite

[Sigfried1977]

Bioshock Infinite was supposed to be a hell of a lot more ambitious initially as well. Remember the trailers where Elisabeth was actually an active participant during combat situations and not just the simple item donor/Vita chamber we have now?

Either way, I wasn't particularly thrilled about the story here. In the first Bioshock, everything was intrinsically linked to the philosophy of Andrew Ryan. Your moral choices, the plasmids, your part in all of it. Bioshock needed to be set in a place like Rapture. In Bioshock Infinite, the setting and themes were completely meaningless in the grand scheme of things. It was all very elaborate background noise. Certain parts, like the vigors for example, even felt out of place entirely. In a quasi theocracy where people idolise and deify a guy like Zachary Comstock, tonics which give the average Joe godlike abilities don't really have a place.

 

[Billy Idol]

Bioshock Infinite was supposed to be a hell of a lot more ambitious initially as well. Remember the trailers where Elisabeth was actually an active participant during combat situations and not just the simple item donor/Vita chamber we have now?

Either way, I wasn't particularly thrilled about the story here. In the first Bioshock, everything was intrinsically linked to the philosophy of Andrew Ryan. Your moral choices, the plasmids, your part in all of it. Bioshock needed to be set in a place like Rapture. In Bioshock Infinite, the setting and themes were completely meaningless in the grand scheme of things. It was all very elaborate background noise. Certain parts, like the vigors for example, even felt out of place entirely. In a quasi theocracy where people idolise and deify a guy like Zachary Comstock, tonics which give the average Joe godlike abilities don't really have a place.

Read more about the story, things clear up if you did not listen to all the voxophones and stuff. All makes sense...neogaf has a great spoiler thread, highly recommended.

 

[Sigfried1977]

I'm not saying the story doesn't make sense. I'm saying that the very prevalent racial and religious themes don't really factor into the story much. Comstock could've been a mad scientist/evil wizard and nothing would've changed.

 

[-tkf-]

I wont comment on the story , i wish that everyone that plays this game goes into it as untouched as possible, but this is without any doubt one of the best games i have ever played, and in many cases it's simply the best. Took me 18 hours , as i searched pretty much everything, and still didn't get everything

 

[DuckThor Evil]

I haven't bought Infinite yet, I'm currently playing Bioshock 2, which is pretty good so far, but does not feel as great as the first one. Bioshock 1 was clearly one of the gaming highlighs in recent years and those who haven't finished it should pay some type of penalty for their heinous transgression.

 

[Billy Idol]

I'm not saying the story doesn't make sense. I'm saying that the very prevalent racial and religious themes don't really factor into the story much. Comstock could've been a mad scientist/evil wizard and nothing would've changed.

I would be a bit more carefully with respect to potential spoilers for others who want to go completely fresh into Infinite (which I highly recommend).

Spoiler

In some sense you are right, but it seems to me that you do not understand the "big picture". It is in fact one of the story themes thatthis "background story" you are talking about does not matter much: the main theme matters..there is always a man, a lighthouse and a mad city, etc. etc....the particular city and its situation is in this sense not important.

This is discussed in the level "Sea of Doors". You can replay exactly this level to listen to Liz what she is saying about this all...

Also, with respect to you mentioning Vigor does not make sense: there is a voxaphone where Fink says that he watches a genius biology guy where he learns all the stuff...obvious he watched the scientist guys from Raptor and Vigor is a direct replica of Plasmids he saw in one of the tears.

Really, I recommend that you read the link I have below...it is super interesting!

Here is a good summary thread of the story, but it is obviously full of spoilers!!

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=533205

 

[messyman]

Possible spoiler.

If this was planned then WOW!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TRlbBewdgE

 

[Arwin]

Ah, Move controls seem good: http://www.pushsquare.com/news/2013...k_infinite_any_good_with_the_playstation_move

I'm just like london-boy about the first game, but Move support may just pull me through.

 

[PixResearch]

Great game.

Loved the original Bioshock storylines and the twisted take on Ayn Rand. IMO the main storylines wasn't quite as strong this time (although I suspect this game's driving theme(s) would have more of an impact in the USA)... Still, one of the best game narratives I've played.

Took a good 16+ hours playtime opening every bin and looking round every corner. Enjoyed every minute.


PS: didn't notice any of the framerate issues mentioned earlier in the thread even on similar hardware. Running Steam's big picture mode on an NVidia 670 @ 2560x1600. All graphics set on max. (It was running off an SSD though which may have hidden whatever streaming issues you were having).

 

[Billy Idol]

Great game.

Loved the original Bioshock storylines and the twisted take on Ayn Rand. IMO the main storylines wasn't quite as strong this time (although I suspect this game's driving theme(s) would have more of an impact in the USA)... Still, one of the best game narratives I've played.

Took a good 16+ hours playtime opening every bin and looking round every corner. Enjoyed every minute.

PS: didn't notice any of the framerate issues mentioned earlier in the thread even on similar hardware. Running Steam's big picture mode on an NVidia 670 @ 2560x1600. All graphics set on max. (It was running off an SSD though which may have hidden whatever streaming issues you were having).

What CPU do you have? I have a i7 930 only. And I do run from standard HDD

 

[PixResearch]

What CPU do you have? I have a i7 930 only. And I do run from standard HDD

My home machine's more for work than gaming so a fairly high spec might have hidden any bottleneck issues.
(i7-3930k @ 4.5GHz)

 

[swaaye]

What CPU do you have? I have a i7 930 only. And I do run from standard HDD

Experiment with the graphics settings and see if a specific one is the problem.

The game is a PS360 port with some tweaks for PC. I've had it running very well on a Core 2 with 4850.

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

Okay guys, so I need some help and I don't want to hit any of the other boards because of the risk of spoilers.

So I just got past the crow guy and got his crow vigor. So.. what? am I screwed now? Because now it only shows that I have the one that makes machines work for you (the first one you get) and this stupid crow thing. Meaning that it seems like I've lost the fire skill that I used to have.

Did I lose it? Did it somehow swap when I picked up the crow thing? Or do I still have it and just can't figure out how to equip it? If there's a way to swap one of these out back for inferno, I'd love it if you could tell me. The game is no help at all.

Thanks.

 

[swaaye]

You're probably on console? On PC the button is long-press "Q" to bring up a circular menu of vigors.

 

[PixResearch]

On steam with a controller you hold one of the shoulder buttons to choose which two vigours you want to equipped. I'd guess it's the same on a console. (Later on you'll probably be swapping them in and out mid fight).

 

[Cornsnake]

On PS3 it's press L2 to change between the 2 Vigors you have currently equipped. And Hold L2 to bring up the menu that lets you swap your Vigors out. I assume it works the same way on 360 with the left bumper.

If that doesn't work you could always try replaying the entire chapter.

 

[orangpelupa]

just finished infinite.
nice atmosphere, annoying bloom

I dont understand the praise it gets for the AI. Since i comes first time to columbia, the AI just doing linear scripts. After the scripts end, they just back to idle animation. its so jarring.

Mafia 2 felt a lot more natural.
The NPC do their own daily activity. They interact with each other NPC.
NPC and Player have interaction.

For example

Spoiler

when the first time you come. Vito is being greeted by the NPC. They say that they miss vito, vito also respond by saying something.
Vito also can approach other NPC to have another conversation.

if you rob a clothes store and run away. The store clerk will call cops. Then if you come closer when the cops interogating the clerk, the store clerk will say that i remember the face of the robber, he looks like THAT person.

if you walk around the city, the NPC will meet each other on park, or on traffic light, and having meaningful conversation.

 

[Sigfried1977]

The enemy A.I. was uniformly bemoaned, though. Or are you talking about Elizabeth?
If the latter is the case, I'm still gonna have to agree with you. It's not like she's doing anything particularly complex in the game. She's just really well animated. Her job in BI is considerably more easy than the tasks a support character like Sheva Alomar has to perform in RE5 (healing you, mixing herbs, item management and of course self preservation). Most of the really impressive stuff Elizabeth was initially supposed to be doing didn't even make it into the final game. Pulling giant twisters out of parallel dimensions became the throwing of health tonics and a constant supply of convenient freight hooks.

I also agree about the bloom and add annoying "God Rays" (this gen's equivalent to lens flares on the old Playstation) to the list.

 

[orangpelupa]

i mean the Eliz AI and NPC (townsfolk) AI. And i agree that Eliz is well animated, but its double edge knife.

When Eliz doing things like on the a-bit-hidden Guitar/Sing scene, its awesome (Eliz goes to the guitar, then starting dialogue, then start to sing). But when the script ended, Eliz just stand there like nothing happends.

Same when Eliz complaining about me (booker) killing people with holding melee button, after that Eliz looks fine, no problem with me, she even happily help me killing more of the enemy. When enemy stopped spawning, Eliz act like nothing happended.

really impressive stuff Elizabeth was initially supposed to be doing didn't even make it into the final game

do you have a link for the video for that? the only pre-release trailer i have seen is the trailer with Elizabeth talking with dead horse. (i was blocking myself from BI trailers story spoilers).

Thanks

 

[Gradthrawn]

Eliz AI and
Eliz is
Eliz doing things
Eliz goes to
Eliz just
Eliz complaining
Eliz looks
Eliz act like

Eli, damn it, Eli! If you're going to abbreviate a name like Elizabeth, do it right! Eli, Liz, or even Beth, but not Eliz!

do you have a link for the video for that? the only pre-release trailer i have seen is the trailer with Elizabeth talking with dead horse. (i was blocking myself from BI trailers story spoilers).

This trailer shows some of it (for example at 2:00 and 2:50). VideoGamerTV's "Everything Bioshock Infinite Gets Wrong" may be a bit long but they touch on some of her "missing" powers as well (and shows the supporting clips like the future New York rift she never opens in the actual game but was apart of the early gameplay footage).

EDIT

This short interview also shows some of the removed elements.

EDIT 2

Took a closer look at the current trailer on Hulu (not the extended trailer, the regular one). Nothing in the trailer actually appears in the game. Not in gameplay, not even in cutscene.