Bioshock Infinite 1999 mode

[Tomaius]

Just finished my first run of Bioshock Infinite. Outstanding game overall, definitely a genre defining classic.

But I'm playing through 1999 Mode currently (Just got to the Hall of Heroes), and I'm finding it fairly straight forward. Does the difficulty suddenly ramp up later on? Its not nearly as difficult as Ken Levine said it would be, and I'm fairly certain its not because I'm so amazeballs at the game I'm just not noticing the difficulty hike.

 

[Zeke17]

It might seem hard to a lot of people who never had to try hard at any game they've played. Imagine if the only games you're used to playing are Call of Duty and Assassins Creed. The presence of an actual challenge might make the game seem almost unfair.

 

[ThriKreen]

I'm noticing enemies take and dish out a bit more damage than on Medium.

No navigate ability either, to figure out which direction to go, gotta remember it yourself.

 

[Corven]

The only thing I've learned about 1999 mode through my playthrough is to not look at money as something to save for new items but on how many continues you have left.

 

[Tomaius]

The only thing I've learned about 1999 mode is its difficulty is really overstated. All those Ken Levine articles must have been talking about something completely different that was eventually removed from the game.

Definitely helps that I'm familiar with the mechanics, but its still not the challenge Levine said would be. You could play this mode on your first time and whilst you'd struggle, it's more than manageable.

Snip

Corven, your better off just hitting restart checkpoint when you die. Sure it takes longer, but the money you save is worth it, especially in the long run. Getting those crucial vigor upgrades early on will make the late game more manageable.

EDIT: Actually lets share all my wisdom, though admittedly its not that much.

General Tip: Use Vigors, often. You get less ammo in 1999 Mode, and your weapons get horribly underpowered by the end game. Embrace that and focus on using vigors like possession to draw away fire, and bombard the enemy with vigor combinations. Still use weapons, but don't get attached, switch them often to suit the situation.

1st Rule: Never purchase health upgrades, you're better off improving your shield. Additionally split your infusions between Shield and Salt upgrades.

2nd Rule: Don't bother upgrading weapons early on, your weapons do the job that they need to without upgrades. Focus on buffing your vigors, they do far more damage and have better utility. In particular, Possession for Less and the Devil's Kiss Aid are far more effective than a standard buff for a single weapon you won't always have access to. Wait until the Vox Populi weapons (Which are much more common in the late game) start popping up to upgrade.

3rd Rule: Make sure you reset for the Urgent Care trousers, arguably the best piece of gear in the game. Its a frequent drop in the secret area in the Order of the Raven house.

4th Rule: Snag the Winter Shield piece of gear. It makes you invincible for about 5 seconds after your jump from a Sky-Line. That means that whenever you see a Freight Hook or Skyline you can continuously jump back and forth whittling away at the enemy.

5th Rule: Continuously switch tears, if the enemy breaks whatever you summon in, switch between a tear will renew it.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

It's significantly harder IMO. But it rewards players who take the time to explore every corner of the game in order to find the much needed ammo as well as health and salt items. Which is good because I have found a few audio logs that I missed the first time around. And these proved to be crucial to fully understanding everything.

 

[ramboondiea]

the problem with the 1999 mode is the fact its not unlocked as default (with out the good old konami code anyway) so people who just go straight other from a playthrough to it already have the game down and a lot of the challenge is lost, i stopped playing about an hour or two in, and started the 1999 mode and yeah it feels a lot more challenging.

maybe give it a break then go back to it when you have forgotten some of the game.

 

[Tomaius]

Perhaps my expectations for 1999 Mode were too high. I was in the mindset it would force you to make some decisions early on which would drastically effect the end game. I also don't feel like I'm being pushed enough, even a Mechanised Patriot is a pussycat with good use of the Shock Jockey vigor.

Also I would argue that the problem with 1999 mode is that it doesn't really change the game, just makes ammo rarer, enemies tougher and has enough salt to give you heart disease.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

Yeah, Infinite wasn't hard by any stretch of the memory. Resources are too plentiful, tears are too powerful, guns are too strong, the shield is going to take all damage and leave your health fine.

3rd Rule: Make sure you reset for the Urgent Care trousers, arguably the best piece of gear in the game. Its a frequent drop in the secret area in the Order of the Raven house.

4th Rule: Snag the Winter Shield piece of gear. It makes you invincible for about 5 seconds after your jump from a Sky-Line. That means that whenever you see a Freight Hook or Skyline you can continuously jump back and forth whittling away at the enemy.

Best gear pieces, in my opinion, were either of the Bloodlust gear pieces. One gave you health for every bit of melee damage inflicted, meaning Skyhook assassinations and the Ram vigor were free health, and the other gave you increased damage for ten seconds after each kill, and the damage stacks.

Also the +50% critical damage gear piece that the interracial couple gives you, if you don't hit them in the beginning of the game, is really helpful for a person like me who headshots everything.

 

[Tomaius]

Also the +50% critical damage gear piece that the interracial couple gives you, if you don't hit them in the beginning of the game, is really helpful for a person like me who headshots everything.

Head Master? Yeah that is useful, but gear is randomised and it seems you pick from a select pool depending on location. There is also a pair of boots I've read about which lowers gun damage when not using iron sights, but raises it when you do. Been unable to get it to drop.

EDIT: Happy 50th post me. Only took me 16 months to do it.

Also Urgent care reduces shield recharge by a second and it refills twice as fast, if you build around this by focusing on upgrading your shields instead of your health you get a substantial advantage.

 

[Pebkio]

Currently using tunnel vision(+25% aim damage -25% ironsights), urgent care (2x shield recharge and less cooldown on recharge), scavenger (40% chance to get ammo from kills), and sheltered life (temp invulnerability when using health items). I actually use that invulnerability to full effect whenever I can, and it's saved my bacon many a time.

The sniper rifle makes things so so so so so so much easier. Overpowered phallic extension that it is, I can shoot turrets without them even seeing me, headshot most enemies into the ground, and nothing seems to hit me from far enough away. There's only one enemy that never fails to pwn me... and that's the Handy Man. Otherwise just keep Bucking Bronco and powerful secondary... hand cannon, shotgun or carbine... for the melee enemies and shotgun enemies. As for rocket guys and flak guys... I noticed that they can survive 5 headshots from a sniper... but one possession works just fine and they'll kill themselves.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

Also the +50% critical damage gear piece that the interracial couple gives you, if you don't hit them in the beginning of the game, is really helpful for a person like me who headshots everything.

Head Master? Yeah that is useful, but gear is randomised and it seems you pick from a select pool depending on location. There is also a pair of boots I've read about which lowers gun damage when not using iron sights, but raises it when you do. Been unable to get it to drop.

Tunnel Vision, it's a boot piece. I've found in all my playthroughs so far, never used it because giving up the crosshairs is too important to me.

 

[Tomaius]

Its definitely one I think of that would get some good use though, using the crosshair instead of the iron sights is viable in certain areas of the game.

 

[babinro]

It might seem hard to a lot of people who never had to try hard at any game they've played. Imagine if the only games you're used to playing are Call of Duty and Assassins Creed. The presence of an actual challenge might make the game seem almost unfair.

I consider the highest difficulty of a CoD single player campaign to be extremely challenging.
I haven't tried the highest difficulty on Bioshock Infinite but it sounds like I'll have no chance.

 

[Pebkio]

Okay... I take it back, this isn't hard at all. Except the handyman stuff. I'm not even having to worry about dying anymore. The most that happens is a melee guy gets up behind me sometimes to take away all of my shields and half my health. But then I've got bucking bronco and a shotgun to ruin his day. Whatever that one guy was talking about, having to specialize and all, is nonsense. The only thing that was more challenging about 1999 compared to the other modes was the start when things were unfair.

Okay, serious question, why can't game designers balance the sniper rifle? I'm taking out boss after boss with this thing. The only drawback is sniper aiming with a console controller isn't exactly precise. But you know what I just noticed after taking out the two automatic turret launchers, flak soldier and mechanized patriot? I haven't even turned the aim assist back on from my first playthrough. I'm seriously going to have enough cash to buy the fire upgrades which will ONLY come in handy during the siren fights. And this is without purchasing anything from those Dollar Bill machines. 1999 mode is a joke, and it'd be even easier on the PC.

And I guess I'm really not looking forward to the other handyman fights... I think I'll have to pick up a machine gun just to deal with them. Other than that, I'm not worried about being able to finish anymore.

Edit: Y'know what, I noticed I had all the good rail gear except for the ice shield shirt just before the next handyman fight... and all the remaining handyman fights have rails... and there is gear just before the fight... so I'm restarting until I get the shirt. Then I'll just exploit my death from above pants and constant invulnerability.... plus a burning halo hat. Constant fire damage and constant invulnerability. All I have to do is jump and jump and jump and jump. This'll also probably work in the final fight.