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Dewgy
Nov 10, 2005

~🚚special delivery~📦
HELL YEAH BIOSHOCK INFINITE DISCUSSION




Having just finished it for the... third or fourth time? I really think BS:I is a great if oversimplified game and it’s really obvious that while a lot of care and effort went into it they just ended up needing to re-skin their old code. Bees turned into crows, fire power, ice power, electric power, splicers are just regular assholes with billy clubs and guns, and so on. Even Elizabeth’s powers are just “press button to use thing you’re pointing at”. It’s a little weird that they decided to CoD it up with a two gun limit, but the run button was a welcome add. The skyhook stuff, though, is really fun to use if you let it be, and the combat arena DLC shows it off way better than the main game ever has a chance to. Plus, it has exploding headshots, which I appreciate.

Mechanics aside, the story isn’t exactly great but I think it’s one of the first times a AAA game really felt like directly confronting racism and used America :911: as the bad guys for once, especially given it was basically the big release of the year. I think other games since have done it better (Mafia 3, Wolfenstein) but it was pretty bold at the time. I think people tend to forget exactly how lovely the Founders are though, what with the “totally not the KKK” crow guys torturing and executing people, giant “PROTECTING OUR RACIAL PURITY” posters, shrine to JW Booth, and all that poo poo being involved in the city and government’s official designs everywhere. The Vox might be written badly, but the Founders are complete and total shits.

There’s also waaaaay too much of the backstory hidden in Voxophones where the metaphysics and junk get explained, or at least discussed. There’s 80 of the friggin’ things, and some of them are in weird bullshit little crawl spaces. If you dig them all up there’s a ton of detail added to the world (like you’d never know about everything to do with Lady Comstock’s murder and coverup without them, or what happened with the alt universe Booker during the revolution), but they’re so easy to miss and totally skippable, which is kind of a dumb design choice. It worked for BS and BS2 because of how they were structured, most of the collectible audio logs were world building, but there’s really important plot stuff in Infinite’s.

The worker revolt stuff is handled both better and worse than I remembered, Booker may be a shithead, but Elizabeth generally calls him on being a dick, and the Comstock/Fitzroy comparison she just sort of... agrees with. Maybe they’re trying to show he’s rubbing off on her at that point, and they definitely do try to stress that this is a version of reality that she willed into existence, and the overall plot does lead to a conclusion of “everything good happens, everything bad happens, everyone’s great, everyone’s a dick, multiverse nothing matters! :lol: “ but it still is kind of... bleagh. That bit is a lot less of the overall game than I remembered though, there’s only a handful of fights with the Vox alone before Fitzroy dies and you’re back to fighting cops.

I think the 3/4 score is perfectly fair in retrospect, and overall, Bioshock 2 is the best one, especially with Minerva’s Den. Like, holy crap Minerva’s Den is good. Infinite is tons of fun, but BS2 evolved on what BS1 did where Infinite toned it all down and made it into a straight action FPS.

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DLC Inc
Jun 1, 2011

I wouldn't replay Bioshock Infinite these days when Prey exists. Ken Levine wishes he could create the stuff Arkane has. Maybe I just kind of prefer the themes of morality and choice presented in Prey over Infinite. I will say I prefer Bioshock over its 2 sequels but that's also because it feels closer to the System Shock games, which in turn feels what Prey does right.

Dewgy
Nov 10, 2005

~🚚special delivery~📦
Oh yeah and Elizabeth is a great AI companion because she stays the hell out of the way, gives you free poo poo, and makes a :gonk: face when you mulch someone’s head. :black101:

Stexils
Jun 5, 2008

DLC Inc posted:

I wouldn't replay Bioshock Infinite these days when Prey exists. Ken Levine wishes he could create the stuff Arkane has. Maybe I just kind of prefer the themes of morality and choice presented in Prey over Infinite. I will say I prefer Bioshock over its 2 sequels but that's also because it feels closer to the System Shock games, which in turn feels what Prey does right.

its not like the themes and morality are particularly deep in prey but theyre infinitely better integrated into the gameplay and don't have possibly-unintended idiot implications behind the choices and story events so its miles ahead of bioshock by that metric alone

MMF Freeway
Sep 15, 2010

Later!
Prey is definitely the king of the mountain right now but I still really really like Bioshock 1, especially the first half which has some amazingly effective world building.

In Training
Jun 28, 2008

Dewgy posted:

HELL YEAH BIOSHOCK INFINITE DISCUSSION




Having just finished it for the... third or fourth time? I really think BS:I is a great if oversimplified game and it’s really obvious that while a lot of care and effort went into it they just ended up needing to re-skin their old code. Bees turned into crows, fire power, ice power, electric power, splicers are just regular assholes with billy clubs and guns, and so on. Even Elizabeth’s powers are just “press button to use thing you’re pointing at”. It’s a little weird that they decided to CoD it up with a two gun limit, but the run button was a welcome add. The skyhook stuff, though, is really fun to use if you let it be, and the combat arena DLC shows it off way better than the main game ever has a chance to. Plus, it has exploding headshots, which I appreciate.

Mechanics aside, the story isn’t exactly great but I think it’s one of the first times a AAA game really felt like directly confronting racism and used America :911: as the bad guys for once, especially given it was basically the big release of the year. I think other games since have done it better (Mafia 3, Wolfenstein) but it was pretty bold at the time. I think people tend to forget exactly how lovely the Founders are though, what with the “totally not the KKK” crow guys torturing and executing people, giant “PROTECTING OUR RACIAL PURITY” posters, shrine to JW Booth, and all that poo poo being involved in the city and government’s official designs everywhere. The Vox might be written badly, but the Founders are complete and total shits.

There’s also waaaaay too much of the backstory hidden in Voxophones where the metaphysics and junk get explained, or at least discussed. There’s 80 of the friggin’ things, and some of them are in weird bullshit little crawl spaces. If you dig them all up there’s a ton of detail added to the world (like you’d never know about everything to do with Lady Comstock’s murder and coverup without them, or what happened with the alt universe Booker during the revolution), but they’re so easy to miss and totally skippable, which is kind of a dumb design choice. It worked for BS and BS2 because of how they were structured, most of the collectible audio logs were world building, but there’s really important plot stuff in Infinite’s.

The worker revolt stuff is handled both better and worse than I remembered, Booker may be a shithead, but Elizabeth generally calls him on being a dick, and the Comstock/Fitzroy comparison she just sort of... agrees with. Maybe they’re trying to show he’s rubbing off on her at that point, and they definitely do try to stress that this is a version of reality that she willed into existence, and the overall plot does lead to a conclusion of “everything good happens, everything bad happens, everyone’s great, everyone’s a dick, multiverse nothing matters! :lol: “ but it still is kind of... bleagh. That bit is a lot less of the overall game than I remembered though, there’s only a handful of fights with the Vox alone before Fitzroy dies and you’re back to fighting cops.

I think the 3/4 score is perfectly fair in retrospect, and overall, Bioshock 2 is the best one, especially with Minerva’s Den. Like, holy crap Minerva’s Den is good. Infinite is tons of fun, but BS2 evolved on what BS1 did where Infinite toned it all down and made it into a straight action FPS.

You're mentally insane if you think I'm gonna read all this crap about bioshock

oddium
Feb 21, 2006

end of the 4.5 tatami age

bioschlock

In Training
Jun 28, 2008

oddium posted:

bioschlock

That's what I'm talking about

Endorph
Jul 22, 2009
Bioforge

Saint Freak
Apr 16, 2007

Regretting is an insult to oneself
Buglord
It took me like an hour to beat the Bullet Sponge Ghost on the highest difficulty because I ran out of ammo and you can't leave so all you can do is sit until Elizabeth randomly finds some. Then I sold it back to Gamestop and I think they gave me like $35-40 for it so they're even stupider than I am.

Cowcaster
Aug 7, 2002



biofreaks

homeless snail
Mar 14, 2007

Biofreaks is abetter game than any of the Bioshocks, except orf maybe 2

Cowcaster
Aug 7, 2002



bionic commando

haveblue
Aug 15, 2005



Toilet Rascal
Best commentary on Bioshock is this pair of YCS posts so old I don't remember who made them:

quote:

they should call it bayoushock because it's about underwater cities

quote:

no they should call it dioshock because it's about holy divers

Macaluso
Sep 23, 2005

I HATE THAT HEDGEHOG, BROTHER!
The “would you kindly” reveal was to me, one of the best reveals in a video game and it’s a gaming “moment” that’ll always stick with me. The other two Bioshock games were never really able to accomplish something like that again

fridge corn
Apr 2, 2003

NO MERCY, ONLY PAIN :black101:
Im trying to think of some of my gaming "moments" and im coming up blank

Expect My Mom
Nov 18, 2013

by Smythe

Endorph posted:

Bioforge
backflips

Doorknob Slobber
Sep 10, 2006

by Fluffdaddy

fridge corn posted:

Im trying to think of some of my gaming "moments" and im coming up blank

the half life tram intro was p. cool

codenameFANGIO
May 4, 2012

What are you even booing here?

fridge corn posted:

Im trying to think of some of my gaming "moments" and im coming up blank

figuring out what to do at the end of Portal 2 was one for me for sure

Macaluso
Sep 23, 2005

I HATE THAT HEDGEHOG, BROTHER!

codenameFANGIO posted:

figuring out what to do at the end of Portal 2 was one for me for sure

The roof opening up and revealing the moon brought such a big smile on my face. It was so good coupled with the music. Portal 2 ruled

FauxLeather
Nov 7, 2016

Um Bongo
My favourite Gaming Moment is the MGS2 ice cubes

FirstAidKite
Nov 8, 2009
Bioforce Ape

ditty bout my clitty
May 28, 2011

by FactsAreUseless
Fun Shoe

DLC Inc posted:

I wouldn't replay Bioshock Infinite these days when Prey exists.

Bad game slightly worse than other bad game, gotcha.

CharlieFoxtrot
Mar 27, 2007

organize digital employees



I like how this retread of the same BioShock Infinite discussion occurred because someone mentioned they felt like they had to play it because every time someone mentions it, the same discussion occurs

VideoGames
Aug 18, 2003

codenameFANGIO posted:

figuring out what to do at the end of Portal 2 was one for me for sure

Just thinking about this bit give me goosebumps and I can hear the music in my head. This moment and all the others contained within are why Portal 2 is my favourite game of all time!!

fridge corn
Apr 2, 2003

NO MERCY, ONLY PAIN :black101:
epic fridge corn gameing moment: getting to the top of the first part of the tower of babel in ff4 by running from every encounter with no phoenix downs and only yang alive only for him to sacrifice himself so i wipe immediately from the first random battle on the way back down

Expect My Mom
Nov 18, 2013

by Smythe
God Portal 2 was so good

Cowcaster
Aug 7, 2002



my most epic gaming moment is when i was hot on the tail of an enemy and chased them into a pipe much smaller than myself, and came out the other end with my entire body in the shape of the pipe

CharlieFoxtrot
Mar 27, 2007

organize digital employees



Completing The Challenge in The Witness

Chev
Jul 19, 2010
Switchblade Switcharoo

CharlieFoxtrot posted:

Completing The Challenge in The Witness

I second that but the real big moment in the witness for me was understanding that thing. It's brilliant because it's both completely unscripted and absolutely engineered, a great many things with how the game's structured are there just to prepare that moment.

Another I'll forever remember is discovering the inverted castle in SOTN.

Dewgy
Nov 10, 2005

~🚚special delivery~📦

In Training posted:

You're mentally insane if you think I'm gonna read all this crap about bioshock

That’s OK, I just needed to rant. Thanks for scrolling. :unsmith:

FirstAidKite
Nov 8, 2009
Two of my favorite video game moments:

1. Final stage of Ace Combat 04.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGVoehiWngY
There's no describing it. Just watch that video. It's so loving great. Everything in the game leads up to that level, with the speech before hand, the rex tremendae cutscene, the mobius squadron, the yellows, agnus dei, everything.

2. Playing FF4DS, I was heavily gimped by not making proper use of the augment system (I didn't really understand how it worked so I just used augments on whoever instead of giving them to characters that would leave the party like you're meant to) so I got to the final boss and I wasn't underleveled or anything but I definitely didn't have anything overpowered. So the final boss kept using an attack that would kill almost everybody and it got to the point where I was stuck in a cycle of healing/resurrecting only for him to kill them again and I was worried because I felt like I was close to killing him when he finally wiped out everybody in my party except for Kain because Kain was in the middle of jumping at the time. Kain had really low hp though and to spend the time to heal him or to res someone else would guarantee my defeat. I decided "gently caress it" and told Kain to jump again. He jumped, hit the final boss, and the final boss didn't die. I figured "welp, guess I'm restarting the fight" and waiting for the boss to take his turn. Somehow, Kain took his turn before the final boss did. I had Kain jump again. Kain landed the hit, final boss still isn't dead, it's guaranteed that the boss will finally take his turn and wipe out Kain. I sit there waiting and Kain's turn comes up again without the boss taking their turn. I have Kain jump again and Kain hits the final boss and the final boss dies. I have no clue what happened but I really really really lucked out with Kain managing to jump a bunch while the boss never seemed to have their turn while Kain was grounded.

ONE YEAR LATER
Apr 13, 2004

Fry old buddy, it's me, Bender!
Oven Wrangler
Best gaming moment is the ending sequence of Mario Odyssey.

Phantasium
Dec 27, 2012

Chrono Trigger, the second World Revolution starts playing.

Jay Rust
Sep 27, 2011

Sonic 2006, when the fourteen-year-old human princess kisses Sonic

Sakurazuka
Jan 24, 2004

NANI?

Leaving your house in ALttP and seeing the best rain effect you've ever seen

Viewtiful Jew
Apr 21, 2007
Mench'n-a-go-go-baby!

Raxivace posted:

So a streamer got all of the gold thingies in SotC PS4. It unlocked a secret area below the main temple area that contains the "Sword of Dormin", which looks like it kills Colossi in one hit. No word on if it changes the ending or anything yet, though that seems unlikely.



I'm kinda torn on this.

On one hand I can understand people being upset there isn't some secret 17th colossus fight here after thirteen years of people theory-crafting "One final secret" as it were. On the other hand I can also agree with anyone saying this would kind of tarnish what SOTC already had going for it, even though the original is still out there for anyone to play...

I think that while the "Reward" and the fact there's an entirely new area is fine, I would have loved it even more if the walls of the cave had just the slightest hint to some of those cut colossi we already knew about but were never implemented and any work done of them has probably long since been lost. Like just the faintest of etches on the basement walls that you couldn't even make out unless you direct the dark from the new sword at the them.

fridge corn
Apr 2, 2003

NO MERCY, ONLY PAIN :black101:
epic fridge corn gameing moment: Everquest - bound at the entrance to the plane of fear waiting for our raid party to break the zone-in and falling asleep at the keyboard (I had been playing for like 30 hours straight at this point.) Wake up to see I was logged off. Logged in find myself naked at someplace I'd never been before, apparently our raid party couldn't manage to break the zone in and everybody left and I preceded to die 9000 times to the spectres guarding the entrance and someone managed to eventually teleport me out of there and force my client to log off but not before I had lost nearly an entire level of experience

oddium
Feb 21, 2006

end of the 4.5 tatami age

recent epic moment.... when river in the desert switches from instrumental to vocals

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Samuringa
Mar 27, 2017

Best advice I was ever given?

"Ticker, you'll be a lot happier once you stop caring about the opinions of a culture that is beneath you."

I learned my worth, learned the places and people that matter.

Opened my eyes.
I have a terrible memory but climbing the insurmountable, continent-sized Great Wall in Grandia was a pretty good moment. The great OST also helps

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wd9NP0nWOTA

That was such an optimistic game

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