Bioshock Infinite - 1999 Mode

[Andy Shandy]

Ken Levine has announced that there is going to be a "1999 Mode" in Bioshock Infinite.

http://kotaku.com/5877468/permanent-consequences-up-bioshock-infinites-difficulty-like-its-1999

Basically, it's a call back to 1999 when System Shock 2 came out. What 1999 Mode entails is that at the start you'll pick various skills/powers at the beginning of the game. However, the catch is that you have to stick to the powers. Also, if you die and you don't have the resources to be brought back, game over. So, both old and new-school gamers, what are your thoughts on this, are you going to give it a go, and if so are you going to jump right in or give it a playthrough first?

Personally, I think it's a good idea, and I'll be leaving it until the second playthrough of the game.

And now that I've noticed it...500 Posts! Woo.

 

[Zhukov]

So... I can pick a bunch of skills at the start, only to find out several hours in that they suck but I won't be able to change them?

Just like System Shock 2!

No thanks.

 

[Weaver]

??

That's not like SS2, sure you could pick skills at the start but you weren't stuck with them and could branch out to other skills if you wanted to if I remember right.

My memory is a bit foggy on the game.
My recollection of how it worked was you essentially pick a class and then you can RPG your way through skills within that classes limits however you want.

I could be entirely wrong though.

 

[go-10]

I might try it in my 2nd play through but I mostly like feeling like a badass so it'll probably go by unnoticed by me

 

[Otaku World Order]

It's an interesting idea. It seems like the Hardcore Mode in New Vegas, trying to give a bigger challenge with something other then tougher enemies in greater numbers.

It might work on a second or third playthrough.

 

[ResonanceGames]

There were no skills that genuinely sucked in System Shock 2, but there wasn't a ton thought put in to balance, either. The last levels became a huge ***** if you weren't skilled enough in certain areas. The worst thing you could do in that game was try to be "well-rounded." Better to specialize in something that would eventually lead you to invisibility or mad hacking skills.

 

[darkcalling]

Seems like an interesting concept though I can't chime in on how much it is or isn't like System Shock 2. I honestly never heard of that game until the first Bioshock started making the hype rounds.

 

[TD_Knight]

That... seems odd.

In SS2, whilst you could choose to be a Marine and then focus on weapon and physical skills for your first three years on the job, once you get into the game proper there's no stopping you from spending cyber modules on whatever you want.

You could end up having your Marine come out with psychic skills, even though Marine training proper doesn't offer any of those skills. Likewise, your Navy character (who's more of a tech/hacker guy with a smattering of weapons skills), could choose to specialize in weapons if he so wanted.

In brief, you weren't completely fixed to one type of path due to what class you picked and what options you chose in the intro. The skills you picked at the beginning were only minor stuff that affected your early game more than defining your character for the whole of it.

Oh yeah, there wasn't any respeccing in SS2, but you could always increase a skill by one point temporarily if you equipped a module (which only had a few minutes of battery life and needed to be recharged every now and again). In any case, skill balancing wasn't SS2's strong point, IMO.

For example, the Standard weapons tree was far and away the best weapons tree in the game. Stuff like Heavy and Exotic were either one point wonders or weren't worth leveling up much since the stuff you got at higher levels was either too rare to be useful or just outclassed.

In any case, you could usually find items that would allow you to do things you had no skill in, e.g, auto-hack kits, auto-repair kits, auto-mod devices etc. Sure they were rare, but you should save such items for a rainy day. Moreover, you usually found door codes and keys and such through searching around and reading/listening to PDAs, and I don't recall ever getting stuck because I didn't have a particular skill.

 

[Terminate421]

It's an interesting idea. It seems like the Hardcore Mode in New Vegas, trying to give a bigger challenge with something other then tougher enemies in greater numbers.

It might work on a second or third playthrough.

Actually it less like that and more like hardcore mode from Dead Space 2, you only get 3 saves throughout the game.

 

[Zaik]

Picking skills and being stuck with them sounds more like Dungeons of Dredmor than System Shock 2.

Yeah, you picked a class, branch of the military, training, duty station, etc., but that didn't really prevent you from accessing any skill, just gave you a few bonuses

 

[Smooth Operator]

So... I can pick a bunch of skills at the start, only to find out several hours in that they suck but I won't be able to change them?

Just like System Shock 2!

No thanks.

I think the idea is you beat it once and then you go back to play around.
That is the only way it makes sense to me.

 

[Pegghead]

I might give it a go on the second play-through, but I played System Shock 2 once and it'd largely unfair nature was something that turned me off it. Don't get me wrong, I like a challenge as much as the next guy but I hope that they keep balance and fair reward in mind when implementing the mode.

 

[Wolfram23]

Hmm, so basically it's "hardcore" mode, as they say.

Might try it, might not. I don't know enough about the game to really decide yet. If I had to chose right now, though, I would not use it initially.