Bioshock InfiniteFollow

Called out.

I bet you jerk off to Alyx ****, you sicko.

So, not to divert back to the topic...

Bought the game during the Steam Summer Sale, beat it with about 15 hours on my initial run-through (somehow still missed like 10 voxophones...). Initial run was on easy and I never died; only came close maybe twice. So, my next run is, of course, 1999 mode.

Ouch.

It's actually NOT quite as hard as I expected. It's about the same as ME2 and ME3 on Insanity; lots of staying in cover, stepping out to take two shots, ducking back and waiting for shields to recharge, repeat. That said, I'm more impatient, and the additional of a Z axis has let enemies sneak up on me and slaughter me a few times, so I've died several times (and restarted at a checkpoint; no respawns and -100 Silver Eagles for me!).

I had a question about out-of-game ethics... there are some glitches you can exploit in the game, on any difficulty level, to make things easier. Right now I've just exited Soldier's Field with Shock Jockey, and there is an exploit to get unlimited money, lockpicks, and all the gear (if you put in the time). Do people think that cheapens the experience of the highest difficulty? What about the fights with the Handymen; in each of the three fights, there are ways to glitch the not-so-gentle giants so that they will just stand still and let you snipe their hearts to your heart's content. Good way to get past some difficult fights, or cheesing them lessens the accomplishment? Finally, there is a strategy to beat the Siren boss fight in under 30 seconds. Unlike the other two situations, it is a valid use of gameplay mechanics (basically making use of Charge's shield recharge, some invincibility gear, and several other gear synergies), but to do it you have to be pretty lucky with gear drops... or you can cheese it using the glitch I mentioned above.

Just curious what you all thought about it. I might do the first glitch enough times to get the gear pieces I want, but I doubt I'll glitch the Handymen unless they kill me a few times in straight combat. I'd like to try the Siren battle; it strikes me as similar to the method in DA:O, where you can blow up the high dragon in the mountains in seconds by stacking a few dozen traps and having the boss trip them all at once. I'm sure I'll cackle maniacally while doing so

With this game it doesn't matter, that's for sure. You've already experienced the only strong thing this game has to offer (the story) so if you're up to replay it, play how you want.

Well, I did end up using the infinite gear/money exploit, though in the end it didn't make much of a difference. Maybe the gear thing did, I suppose... and while I cheesed the first Handyman fight in Finkton, looking back on it now I could have done it without glitching the enemy (made the achievement simple, though).

Overall thoughts: 1999 mode isn't impossibly hard. All it requires is more planning and patience, not necessarily more skill. And once you get Winter Shield (gain brief invincibility when jumping off a skyline), any fight with a hook or rail line becomes a walk in the park. Most overpowered gear in the game, hands down. Combine that with some other gear choices like Fire Bird (Jumping from a Sky-Line has a 100% chance to burn nearby enemies. Victims take 400 damage over three seconds) and all those fights become quick and painless. It was laughable, going toe-to-toe meleeing Handymen, Patriots, and Firemen.

I also cheesed the Siren fights with Charge and some melee gear choices. And while I dreaded the final battle (which I almost lost on Easy), once I read about using Return to Sender traps, the fight was simple.

Anyway, glad to go through it again. Unfortunately I'm still missing about 4 Voxophones, but I don't feel like backtracking to figure out which ones they are. Time to move on to my next game choices until the Burial at Sea DLC goes on sale

Thought of two questions that didn't make sense to me by the end:

1. Booker is a Pinkerton, and Fink comments on the fact. SpoilerBut as is shown in the end, each time Booker "accepts the job," he is brought to a reality with Comstock, thus leaving his own. This means that in this reality there is no Booker DeWitt; he becomes Comstock after after 18. How would Fink know he's a Pinkerton, since it happened in an alternate reality? The only possible answers I can think of are:
A. Comstock became a Pinkerton immediately before his Baptism when he was still known as Booker
B. Comstock became a Pinkerton post-Baptism, but before abandoning his Booker name
C. Fink overhears Booker talking about being a Pinkerton. But IIRC, it's Fink talking about Booker being a Pinkerton that sparks the whole conversation in the first place.

2. Elizabeth in the Vox-armed world. SpoilerBooker and Elizabeth explicitly jump to parallel realities twice: first to bring Chen Lin back to life, and second to bring weapons out to the Vox. They stay in that last reality for the rest of the game - in this reality, Daisy Fitzroy and the Vox Populi are armed and slowly are taking Columbia and pushing out the Founders. Through Voxophones, it's revealed that the Booker from this reality (call him Booker B) joins the Vox and is killed at the Hall of Heroes next to Slate. The reason he joins the Vox is because Comstock in this reality knew he was coming and took Elizabeth from her tower before Booker could get to her; Booker joins the Vox with the promise that he'll get the girl when they take Comstock House.

Now the problem is... where is Elizabeth B? We spend the rest of the game in this reality, but never see or hear about Elizabeth B. Elizabeth A is eventually kidnapped by Songbird and brought back to Comstock House, where you teleport into the future and meet the result... but what about Elizabeth B? There would now be two Elizabeths, but the second one is never mentioned besides Booker's initial Voxophone. What gives?

Not that Bioshock would be the first game to have characters have significant accomplishments at young ages, but IIRC Booker was in the army from 16-18 (Wounded Knee and his leaving of the army being around 18, when SpoilerAnna was born and his wife died. If he was in the Pinkertons even before that... damn, that's one cold kid!


That actually makes a lot of sense. Yikes. I hate that woman. SpoilerOnly reasons I'm not sure: Fitzroy doesn't comment on Elizabeth when faced with her right before her death nor when she's with Booker on the elevator and she calls him a ghost, and the timing of Booker B's final voxophone seems odd; presumably he still thought she was alive, based on Slate's word, and Slate was many things but not a liar. Then again, I never did quite figure out why Fink had the voxophone. If anything it should have been at the Hall of Heroes or next to Fitzroy herself, not Fink's body).

SpoilerFink's brother was the "creator" of the voxophone, and probably recorded the words of an alternate reality Slate while "creating" his music. Fink then gets the recording from his brother in order to use it as leverage or blackmail against the Slate from his reality.

Edited, Aug 26th 2013 8:16pm by Shaowstrike

Indoctrination!

Oh hey I finally did put that code from the AMD Never Settle promo into Steam, so there's that. Maybe I'll play this next year or so.

I'm waiting until both parts are released before playing it. That, and I don't feel like paying full price, so I'll wait for a deal.