Why Haven't I Played Bioshock Infinite?

[CollinxChu]

Lol. noted in lackuster NPC reactions. As said, they don't seem alive at all, like someone left some very well dressed manequinns all over the place

I moreso meant that in no way is it noted by anyone. Besides the vendors, nobody, not voxophones, not signs, not text, not voice, not cutscenes, nothing. It's as if they exist outside of people's perception.

 

[ClassicJokester]

Yeah, the plasmids had a better narrative purpose. But I had more fun with the vigors as a side-effect of the awesome art design, animations of the visors, sound design and controls.

You misinterpreted that. I meant it literally seems like most people aren't even reacting to it, not poetically, but literally. Nobody seems to marvel at the fact that people shoot lightning now.

So the citizens of an enormous collection of floating city-parts --which are held up by quantum particles (or balloons, if you're a pleb)-- and who follow the leadership of a man based on his promises to essentially lay waste to the Earth (from his giant destructo-sky-castle, let's keep in mind) are a somewhat unflappable group?

Who'da'thunk.

 

[CollinxChu]

-sarcastic comment-

Not everyone was blindly following, and marvelling at miracles, even small, seemed to be a staple of the believers. Why not marvel at superpowers?

We have computers, but we're still announcing revolutions, discoveries, and advances that we marvel at.

 

[chikusho]

I don't think is overrated. And my guess on why you haven't played it is because of some peoples negative reaction towards what is ostensibly a fantastic game, and an even more fantastic story. The attention to detail in Bioshock Infinite is a true marvel.

 

[Thoughtful_Salt]

I don't think is overrated. And my guess on why you haven't played it is because of some peoples negative reaction towards what is ostensibly a fantastic game, and an even more fantastic story. The attention to detail in Bioshock Infinite is a true marvel.

Let's be honest here. I called it overrated because almost every single so-called "proper" review praised the heck out of this game while offering no criticism of the game, despite the fact that it has some pretty serious issues. It's still a great game (IMO), and it has a pretty decent story at the very least, but it's definitely not a flawless masterpiece of the heavens like a lot of reviewers claim it is.

 

[chikusho]

I don't think is overrated. And my guess on why you haven't played it is because of some peoples negative reaction towards what is ostensibly a fantastic game, and an even more fantastic story. The attention to detail in Bioshock Infinite is a true marvel.

Let's be honest here. I called it overrated because almost every single so-called "proper" review praised the heck out of this game while offering no criticism of the game, despite the fact that it has some pretty serious issues. It's still a great game (IMO), and it has a pretty decent story at the very least, but it's definitely not a flawless masterpiece of the heavens like a lot of reviewers claim it is.

This is true. The game, as a game, has its fair share of issues. But I think enough people have called the game of these flaws enough for the game not to be labeled as _overrated_. I think Bioshock Infinite made some remarkable strides in video games and storytelling in general.

 

[James Joseph Emerald]

Not everyone was blindly following, and marvelling at miracles, even small, seemed to be a staple of the believers. Why not marvel at superpowers?

We have computers, but we're still announcing revolutions, discoveries, and advances that we marvel at.

Well, they had that fair at the beginning where the people where invited to marvel at the different vigors.
I got the distinct impression that they were considered one of the many 'miracles' that Comstock uses to protect them, along with the Handymen and Songbird and Firemen, etc. And he probably keeps a tight control on it, so there's less risk of uprising (obviously you find salt everywhere, but that's more of a gameplay thing). I mean, after a few years of all that stuff, it would become a bit mundane.

There's also the whole Shock Jockey thing, which a big deal is made out of.

All in all, the vigors didn't break my suspension of disbelief any more than any other element of the game.

 

[CollinxChu]

Well, they had that fair at the beginning where the people where invited to marvel at the different vigors.
I got the distinct impression that they were considered one of the many 'miracles' that Comstock uses to protect them, along with the Handymen and Songbird and Firemen, etc. And he probably keeps a tight control on it, so there's less risk of uprising (obviously you find salt everywhere, but that's more of a gameplay thing). I mean, after a few years of all that stuff, it would become a bit mundane.

There's also the whole Shock Jockey thing, which a big deal is made out of.

All in all, the vigors didn't break my suspension of disbelief any more than any other element of the game.

You're missing my point. There was no SOLID evidence that anyone was REACTING to them. No voxophones, no dialogue, and besides the initial fairgrounds where people just sort of looked, nobody seemed to be for, against, or even aware of their existence outside of Slate, Booker, Elizabeth, the vending machines, that one fire enemy, and the crow vigor people.

 

[Thoughtful_Salt]

Well, they had that fair at the beginning where the people where invited to marvel at the different vigors.
I got the distinct impression that they were considered one of the many 'miracles' that Comstock uses to protect them, along with the Handymen and Songbird and Firemen, etc. And he probably keeps a tight control on it, so there's less risk of uprising (obviously you find salt everywhere, but that's more of a gameplay thing). I mean, after a few years of all that stuff, it would become a bit mundane.

There's also the whole Shock Jockey thing, which a big deal is made out of.

All in all, the vigors didn't break my suspension of disbelief any more than any other element of the game.

You're missing my point. There was no SOLID evidence that anyone was REACTING to them. No voxophones, no dialogue, and besides the initial fairgrounds where people just sort of looked, nobody seemed to be for, against, or even aware of their existence outside of Slate, Booker, Elizabeth, the vending machines, that one fire enemy, and the crow vigor people.

it is weird, but it didn't throw me off enough to care. I guess it's a matter of preference, the original bioshock used plasmids as a metaphor for self-destruction, the vigors I think are used as a gameplay element more than anything else. They're fun, that's why I didn't really care whether they were justified or not.

 

[CollinxChu]

it is weird, but it didn't throw me off enough to care. I guess it's a matter of preference, the original bioshock used plasmids as a metaphor for self-destruction, the vigors I think are used as a gameplay element more than anything else. They're fun, that's why I didn't really care whether they were justified or not.

Certainly they were fun, but at least someone going 'wow, ain't that cool?' would have been enough. It's a fault, and therefore must be pointed out, even in passing.

 

[Thoughtful_Salt]

it is weird, but it didn't throw me off enough to care. I guess it's a matter of preference, the original bioshock used plasmids as a metaphor for self-destruction, the vigors I think are used as a gameplay element more than anything else. They're fun, that's why I didn't really care whether they were justified or not.

Certainly they were fun, but at least someone going 'wow, ain't that cool?' would have been enough. It's a fault, and therefore must be pointed out, even in passing.

I think I did point out that weren't justified and the fact of the npc interactions being lacklustre.

 

[Frotality]

the more i think about it the less bioshock infinite makes sense. i enjoyed it and it does a lot of things right, but its just....

is it just me, or is the whole multiverse malarky starting to come off as an excuse for a game that went through a dozen failed ideas before giving up and settling on a pretentious way of throwing a tantrum over how they failed to do what they wanted? there is so much awesome, bioshocky stuff going on in columbia, but the story barely touches on it, and quite frankly most of the game serves as a distraction to the main plot. the struggle of the vox populi and the founders amounts to little more than an excuse for columbia to go to hell and give you demon versions of standard enemies, the vigors make no sense at all in the context of the game, and songbird was never anything more than a cutscene-generator. the boys of silence ended up being NOTHING but security cameras with no real explanation (probably some voxophone somewhere, w/e), and comstock's origins are only a surprise because they make no sense: he looks, sounds, and acts nothing like his origins, there is no way in any reality his turning point could make such a COLOSSAL shift in character, facial structure, and voicebox. and wtf is with the ghost of lady comstock? obviously she was meant to be a more standard kind of enemy, given that you fight her fifteen times and her explanantion is all kinds of shady.

its because none of these things were designed to fit together, at least not in this way. infinite is the result of a developer unable to settle on one idea and going through a thousand different builds and stories before getting a sudden inspiration to use that jumble of assets to make a game about its own development.

 

[Thoughtful_Salt]

the more i think about it the less bioshock infinite makes sense. i enjoyed it and it does a lot of things right, but its just....

is it just me, or is the whole multiverse malarky starting to come off as an excuse for a game that went through a dozen failed ideas before giving up and settling on a pretentious way of throwing a tantrum over how they failed to do what they wanted? there is so much awesome, bioshocky stuff going on in columbia, but the story barely touches on it, and quite frankly most of the game serves as a distraction to the main plot. the struggle of the vox populi and the founders amounts to little more than an excuse for columbia to go to hell and give you demon versions of standard enemies, the vigors make no sense at all in the context of the game, and songbird was never anything more than a cutscene-generator. the boys of silence ended up being NOTHING but security cameras with no real explanation (probably some voxophone somewhere, w/e), and comstock's origins are only a surprise because they make no sense: he looks, sounds, and acts nothing like his origins, there is no way in any reality his turning point could make such a COLOSSAL shift in character, facial structure, and voicebox. and wtf is with the ghost of lady comstock? obviously she was meant to be a more standard kind of enemy, given that you fight her fifteen times and her explanantion is all kinds of shady.

its because none of these things were designed to fit together, at least not in this way. infinite is the result of a developer unable to settle on one idea and going through a thousand different builds and stories before getting a sudden inspiration to use that jumble of assets to make a game about its own development.

It is interesting seeing the evolution of the game from when it was announced and the final release: Me and mfeff had a huge discussion over the many tangled threads and dropped gameplay elements, it was fun debating the merits of the leftovers for sure. Out of all the elements I think that the songbird was the most disappointing aspect of the story, it could have been so much more.

 

[barbzilla]

Did it occur to you that nobody cares why you haven't played Bioshock Infinite?

You didn't like it, fine, a lot of people did, and a lot of the reasons are simply subjective. "I didn't like the gameplay" well plenty of us did, I found it a lot more exciting and fun than Bioshock's. Bioshock Infinite 1999 mode is about a 100x more tense and exciting than any FPS game I've played in years, even if it is frustrating at times.

All this fucking hipster posturing over how 'bad' Bioshock Infinite is is beginning to piss me off.

I don't understand, are you saying that since many people liked Bioshock Infinite that he is unjustified in expressing his opinion about his dislike of the game? For that matter, he actually gives it a fair review. It isn't bashing the game by any means, he just says it isn't as great as everyone made it out to be (to sum it up).

As for your final sentence, I don't think that disliking B.I. makes anyone a hipster. I personally haven't been overjoyed at any of the Bioshock games, though I did fully play 1 and Infinite. I found them to be good, but repetitive. As ADHD as I am, I have issues with repetitiveness so that probably affects my enjoyment of said games though. That doesn't make me a hipster however.

 

[USSR]

I'd like to add that they also have very little justification for BEING there. They just sort of materialize from some other universe with no real profound effect.

Isn't that sort of the point with the game being based on multiple dimensions blending together?

EDIT: Unless you were referring to the crows themselves, which I can see what you mean.

 

[CollinxChu]

Isn't that sort of the point with the game being based on multiple dimensions blending together?

Not when most people aren't supposed to be aware of this blending.

 

[USSR]

Not when most people aren't supposed to be aware of this blending.

Aren't we supposed to be aware of the blending after a certain point?
Like a 'revelation' type of deal.

 

[CollinxChu]

Aren't we supposed to be aware of the blending after a certain point?
Like a 'revelation' type of deal.

Yes, but most existing in those universes were unaware. So vigors should have made at least a small ripple in reactions. Like 'wow, we can shoot lightning. Innit cool?'. They talk about the Vox enough, even before violence erupts in large amounts.

 

[USSR]

Yes, but most existing in those universes were unaware. So vigors should have made at least a small ripple in reactions. Like 'wow, we can shoot lightning. Innit cool?'. They talk about the Vox enough, even before violence erupts in large amounts.

Ah, I think I see what you're saying.
Yes, they probably could've handled that better.

It was treated more as an accepted gameplay mechanic rather than an acknowledged 'superpower' to the citizens of Columbia.

 

[Brotha Desmond]

It's an over-rated game with average gameplay. The only reason why the story got praise is because it used alternate realities as the explanation. Without that it would be your average fantasy game.