Bleh, just finished this. Hated, hated, hated the ending. It just made no sense to me. Feel like I wasted my time and $$. I loved Bioshock 1 & 2 so I think I’ll go back and play 1 again.:mad:
What didn’t you like/what didn’t make sense to you?
For me it was one of the most satisfying endings in a game in recent memory.
It’s the gameplay that was a bit lacking, IMHO.
Kinthalis: the top of the list below spoiled in case there is one other person who got to the end after me 
I guess because of all the paradox’s and the whole thing being on rails after the stupidly hard last battle, well and the whole thing being on rails the whole game actually. And all the way thru I hated the whole can’t save when you want to thing. And it never explains how DeWitt could have possibly turned into Comstock. I don’t understand how being baptized and forgiven leads to that type of turn around. Going from feeling desperately sorry for Wounded knee to being a total bigot? Really?
Plus the game was hyped as being better than Bio 1 and 2 and the ending was “awesome” and after hating the gameplay thruout I just felt totally let down by the ending. I must confess I did not sit thru the credits to see the end ending, didn’t know one existed til I read all the spoilers, but I had to turn it off and put the controller down so I didn’t heave it at the TV (MrSin would not have approved)
Totally agree with the on rails feeling. No where near the same feeling of exploration as in the first Bioshock. Same for the whole auto save, which only let’s you know it has done so with a tiny icon that shows up for a all of .05 seconds.
[spoiler]
In regards to the motivations of Comstock/Booker I agree this is the weakest part of the story line. I think they could have explored how and why he changed so drastically a bit more.
My own thoughts on this is that Booker’s guilt over what he had done turned him into a gambler and a drunk. But the lifting of that guilt turned ugly. Remember that Booker is not a good guy. He didn’t do good things before the events in Columbia, and he wasn’t all that good during those events either ('m pretty sure I killed a good thousand men or thereabouts). It’s possible that spirituality relived him of the burden of guilt - the only thing keeping him in check. [/spoiler]
Just finished this last night. First, allow me to say that I am in bloody awe of you people who are talking about finishing it in modes that are harder than the standard hard. Seriously, from pretty much the fight in the graveyard on, I was stuck in easy. Ugh. (Yes, I suck at FPSes, why do you ask?)
The ending was a great bloody mindfuck. Perhaps not without holes, but satisfying anyway.
On gameplay: I found myself never really using Vigors all the much. And again, you folks talking about upgrading them–seriously? Where in the world did you find the Silver Eagles to afford it? O.O Possession was handy with the various mechanized enemies, though. Weapons I similarly settled into a two-gun routine–a shotgun and some variety of automatic, usually the boring ol’ machine gun. The former saw the most use, again reflecting my lack of FPS skill. (This sort of thing may have been less of an issue if I were playing this not on a console…)
Anyway, bottom line: I loved the story and the atmosphere; to a certain extent (and certainly past a certain point) I was just forcing myself through the actual game so that I could get more of the story and atmosphere, though. But I think that’s just me and FPSes.
This is the longest related thread so I’ll put this here:
Amazon has an amazing deal: all 3 PC Bioshocks for $20. Or the first two for $5. Considering that it’s still $40 for the one game on Steam now, or $20 on Amazon as well, it’s great if you haven’t tried the series yet.
These are Steam codes. I own the non-Steam versions of the first two, not sure if I’ll just add to my collection or what.
I got ripped on for posting this in another thread earlier, but it’s been enough time now, I think.
The ending is the time/dimension travel equivalent of “it was all a dream.” Everybody you killed, everybody you saved, all the choices you made for good or ill? Every obstacle? Completely pointless, since in the last scene you make all of these worlds pop out of existence and never have happened.
Yay!
This was the “amazing story” we were promised? It’s the end of basically every bad time-travel sci fi story ever. Bletch. And sure, after the credits you inexplicably wake up again, but it was still all a dream.
Yeah,. pretty much. And as a result, I basically don’t care to get any DLC for it no matter how good. It’s hard to care about a spinoff story which retroactively never happened at all before I played it.
They’d have been pointless regardless. You were out to save Booker & Elizabeth and, in the end, you succeed. The fate of Columbia and those who reside on it is irrelevant.
The obstacles, etc weren’t pointless since without overcoming them you would have never reached the point of your redemption. You can call it a “dream” but you were never going to wake up without rescuing Elizabeth and walking the path. Had you said at the first sign of trouble “Screw this, I’m out” then you would have failed in saving Booker & Elizabeth.
Welcome back to Rapture. The first 5 minutes of the new DLC, “Burial at Sea”, which looks to be released episodically. An interview on the basics. You’ll also play as Elizabeth.
The place looks better than ever, I must say. Like the Columbia approach of showing the setting before the s hits the f. Also like Big Daddy’s grapple-drill, shame Subject Delta didn’t have it - would have made the Drill Expert route a bit easier in 2.
That looks very interesting indeed… I’m looking forward to it. Love the non-ruined Rapture setting too. I did wonder what they were going to do for DLC given the way Bioshock Infinite ended.
One thing I did notice from the trailer, though:
Isn’t Booker DeWitt about 79 when this DLC is supposed to be set (assuming an 1879 birthdate, as seen in the loading screens for BS:I)? And I get Elizabeth is some sort of pan-dimensional entity at this point but she would chronologically be about 62 by 1958, assuming she was 16 in BS:I - as opposed to the late 20s she appears here.
Yeah, the date in Booker’s room gave me pause - I was sure it’d be 1912 then he’d get pulled through the door into 1958, rather than starting in 1958 (New Years Eve, to be precise - a day before the riots that started Rapture’s fall). Who knows how it works, but I expect quantum will be involved. Constants and variables.
According to the Hall of Heroes Elizabeth is about 19 in Bioshock Infinite (born in 1893), so she’d be about 65 in Rapture if she hadn’t time-travelled or gone through tears or whatever. In the later sequence of Infinite where you see Columbia attacking New York she’s 92 (!).
The obvious answer is that, even for an old guy, Booker is still full of vim and vigors.
This is one of the many alternate universes we see in the ending of “Infinite,” and if you take the many-worlds theory to its extreme, there’s no particular reason why Booker and Elizabeth’s lives need to have started at the same time in each universe. My guess is that this isn’t even the exact Rapture we see in “Infinite” - and therefore, possibly not even the Rapture seen in “Bioshock.” It’s a variation on the theme, one that allows us to explore a familiar setting as it once was without having to be (too) slavishly devoted to continuity.
As someone who loved the story of “Infinite,” but particularly for the beautifully-drawn relationship between Booker and Elizabeth, this suits me just fine. I’d be perfectly happy if Irrational did nothing but make “Booker and Elizabeth Explore the Multiverse” games from here on out. Space Booker and Space Elizabeth fight an alien invasion! Pirate Booker and Pirate Elizabeth plunder English merchant ships in the Caribbean! Taxi Driver Booker and Elizabeth the GPS Device drive New Yorkers to their destinations!
Boo.
I wish I had thought of that.
Pretty much my thoughts, too - and I suspect that’s the direction they’ll have to go, although I’d like to see more of Columbia (there is a universe where someone else made it, right?)
Burial at Sea: Episode 1 is out now. Back to Rapture we go! I’m downloading it on Steam now, will let you know my first impressions soon.
I’m very impressed so far. Without getting into spoilers, it’s relatively obvious that it’s not the same Rapture as in the original Bioshock games - but that’s a good thing.