This time you paly as a pinkerton agen in a flying city.
It looks awesome but I do hope the main story is longer than 20 hours.
I can't WAIT for this game. I went through Bio 1 three times. Haven't played 2 yet.
Rent Bio2, the main story is too short to be worth a buy. The developers sacraficed an indepth story so they could include Co-Op play.
I would have been curious to see a third part to the Rapture saga - just to try and bring it to a close like a story trilogy.
Nonetheless, this looks really cool and a logical extension of the Bioshock's themes of change and individuality and society.
So yea, very interesting for now.
So its been pretty quiet in this thread as we are a month away from Bioshock Infinte, and I have to ask: interest anyone?
Obviously, a lot more details have happened since the game was announced 2 1/2 years ago. I want enjoy this game, but there's a bit trepidation that the hype will overwhelm a good game.
The folks at Irrational haven't disappointed me yet, but still there's a higher expectation than there was with Bioshock - which was an unknown quantity at the time.
Also, the game looks like its evolved quite a bit in look and approach since it was first released in my opinion. Not sure if this was intentional, or just the nature of how they built the game and Ken Levine was working on it.
Videos:
I think what's interesting about these initial videos is that emphasis seems to be on saying "It's Bioshock meets steampunk meets overzealous Americana." Despite the brightness, it still evokes the creepy vibe I've come to associate with Bioshock.
The most unusual things I noticed was that the Skyhook concept didn't seem as well conceived at this point beyond being a roller-coster means of travel. Also - Elizabeth's abilities seem more pyschic - telekinetic in nature - weird, but also insync with the era's ideas of "mentalism." Also, she seems older in these early videos than she would later on in design.
Good news: Bioshock Infinite goes gold.
Basically a month out. Trying to temper my enthusiasm with the realistic results of what the game experience will be.
Not so good news: Bioshock Infinite Season Pass
Personally, I am hating this trend and seems like a marketing oversell. The game hasn't even come out yet, and no matter how awesome it is supposed to be, they are already telling us about DLC and expansions??? The problem I have with this is Bioshock is that it is such a tight, single-player story I don't see how adding more content will "accent/improve" that story.
Guess we'll see.
Others of us get excited by the promise of DLC. Like with Fallout, MoH, Halo, and so on, the core disc games are fun and complete, but the DLCs either add more to the story, more capes, or more time for play.
I can see your point. Honestly, I loved DLCs for Fallout and Mass Effect - but those were more open and flexible worlds in my opinion. Mass Effect, especially, has greatly benefitted from the DLC concept for multiplayer because of the careful partitioning of the content. But it wasn't as overly promised as it has been in the case of Bioshock (and also as they did with Assassin's Creed 3). It's the "season pass" concept that I also don't like.
The problem you have with a Bioshock game is that the storylines are tightly woven into something that doesn't leave a lot of room for "more depth" in the main story. It can wind up seeming pointless. For example, Bishock 2 had to essentially create a whole seperate story for their DLC - Minerva's Den . It was good and I enjoyed it, but it didn't really help me get more out of the main story involving the Alpha Big Daddy.
So perhaps I should be more specific. It's the notion of a good DLC for Bisohock specifically that I am disliking. Maybe I will feel different if the game blows me away, but based on all the things I have read and no multiplayer element, I am skeptical right now.
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I have only played 2 hours of this, but I must say it is quickly becoming one of my favorite games of all time. A refreshing and high-speed update to the FPS genre. If you liked Dishonored, you'll love this game. If you loved Dishonored, then don't buy this game unless you have a few days off of work. Seriously.
I can't WAIT for this game. I went through Bio 1 three times. Haven't played 2 yet.Rent Bio2, the main story is too short to be worth a buy. The developers sacraficed an indepth story so they could include Co-Op play.
Just a note, if I remember right the multiplayer was developed by a completely different team, so it didn't take away from the story development whatsoever.
Looking forward to Infinite when I can get it in about a week.
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I have only played 2 hours of this, but I must say it is quickly becoming one of my favorite games of all time. A refreshing and high-speed update to the FPS genre. If you liked Dishonored, you'll love this game. If you loved Dishonored, then don't buy this game unless you have a few days off of work. Seriously.
Great - now I am getting cranky because by the time mine has finished downloading I have to get to work :-(
If you liked Dishonored, you'll love this game. If you loved Dishonored, then don't buy this game unless you have a few days off of work. Seriously.
I loved Dishonored - but tend to think of it as more of descendant of Thief.
Anyhow - very much looking forward to the game. I'm a little bummed that (as you mention) won't really have time until this weekend to play. Also - a little nervous that after all the hype, I might be a little disappointed. *fingers crossed*
BIOSHOCK INFINITY does have some similar DNA to DISHONORED, most notably the way you can jump onto the tops of buildings (though only if there is a skyhook present, you can't jump on any rooftop in sight/range). The big difference is that INFINITY is not a stealth game. There are one or two moments when you can stealth past guards or hide in shadows, but 99% of the progress through the game is only possible through combat.
5 hours in, and this may be the single best pure, linear FPS (DISHONORED being more of a stealth-'em-up and DE:HR an RPG) since HALF-LIFE 2. It definitely wipes the floor with the original BIOSHOCK (which I always felt was chronically overrated anyway).
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Ya I didn't mean to imply this is a stealth game, the comparison to Dishonored for me was more due to the quirky powers and heavy Steam Punk feel this game has.
Seriously though, do not let anything I say detour you from this game, the only thing bad about this game is sometimes you might get shot while stopping to admire just how awesome the scenery is.
Ya I didn't mean to imply this is a stealth game, the comparison to Dishonored for me was more due to the quirky powers and heavy Steam Punk feel this game has.
BIOSHOCK INFINITY does have some similar DNA to DISHONORED...
I think that's right about the use of weapons/weird powers in combo in both games. Actually, in doing some digging and if memory serves, these games actually share more DNA than I originally imagined.
Ken Levine - the man behind Bioshock Infinite and Bioshock - worked at the studio that made Thief - which was part of the inspiration for Dishonored's style of play. Dishonored was made by the Arkane Studio which worked on artwork and design for Bioshock 2.
Which might explain why I enjoy all the games mentioned - something familiar about them all.
Although Dishonored's art style was just as heavily influenced by Half-Life 2's art (fitting, since the Art Director for that game worked on Dishonored).
It was a great mix of styles in my opinion.
Is it bad that I correctly guessed the first big plot twist after playing the first hour of the game and the second big plot twist about midway through the game, when it was becoming clear how you and Elizabeth interact as characters?
2.) Elizabeth is your time-displaced daughter
Diesel-quantumpunk?
So I bought the DLC season pass at GameStop and can't for the life of me figure out where to input the code from my receipt. Ditto for the preorder code. Anyone else have this problem?
I just picked this up yesterday and so far this game is every bit as good as the first two Bioshock games, though I must say neither of those made me absolutely hate the denizens of Rapture. The majority of the people in Columbia though I thoroughly despise...which I belive was the intention so I guess they did a great job of characterization.
So I bought the DLC season pass at GameStop and can't for the life of me figure out where to input the code from my receipt. Ditto for the preorder code. Anyone else have this problem?
First question is XBox,PS3 or PC?
Xbox the easiset way I've found is from the little menu you get when you press the "Home" button in the center of the controller.
on PS3 the enter code selection is to the far right of the menu bar when you boot the system
and I have no clue what you would have to do on the PC...sorry if that's the case.
Steam you should be able to do it from the "Activate a Product on Steam" function.
Good stuff.
Xbox. Thanks!
I agree, I really dislike the people of Columbiana.
Who likes white supremacists?
Other white supremacists, of course.
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Yeah, bioshock infiniti is diesel punk, not steam punk...
I had to look up Diesel Punk, I guess it is sorted by timelines, so yes I guess technically it is Diesel Punk. Though had I not be informed of the timeline in the game, the southern styles and strong man characters could easily be mistaken for Steam Punk.
They also hate the Irish and unionized workers lets not forget. A certain Goblin would take a great deal of pleasure in helping a workers revolution in Columbiana.
I enjoyed Dishonored a lot more, it had a decent story at least
Yeah, bioshock infiniti is diesel punk, not steam punk...I had to look up Diesel Punk, I guess it is sorted by timelines, so yes I guess technically it is Diesel Punk. Though had I not be informed of the timeline in the game, the southern styles and strong man characters could easily be mistaken for Steam Punk.
By timeline it is not disel as the game takes place in 1912. Disel is the inter war period. In themes it is disel punk.
I've had quite a bit of fun with the game so far. Haven't finished it yet (though I think I'm getting close to the end), but it has been thoroughly enjoyable. Just standing there and looking at the city is breathtaking, and I have to say that I find the setting quite interesting.
So just finished this and I must say that ending is...odd? but not in a bad way ...just odd. If you haven't beaten it yet make sure to stick around for the entire credit roll.
I will say that I was mislead by online rumors that the number of times you used Elizabeth's abilities alters the ending, it doesn't, it just makes the game harder so if your in to self imposed challenges in games go through the entire thing not opening tears except the ones required by the story.
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By timeline it is not disel as the game takes place in 1912. Disel is the inter war period. In themes it is disel punk.Yeah, bioshock infiniti is diesel punk, not steam punk...I had to look up Diesel Punk, I guess it is sorted by timelines, so yes I guess technically it is Diesel Punk. Though had I not be informed of the timeline in the game, the southern styles and strong man characters could easily be mistaken for Steam Punk.
Ok what theme does it have that Steampunk does not, enlighten me. Its is an alternate version of reality that involves technology and magic that did not exist in the real timeline. If it is not Diesel Punk, as in the time between 1918-1930s, than Originally calling it Steampunk was not out of line.
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I think that, while the timeline in Infinte is more than half a decade too early to meet the technical definition of dieselpunk, the detailed-look and motifs are definitely not steampunk--maybe the whole in-the-sky thing lends a kind of superficial steampunk feeling, but all the machines are definitely fueled-clockworks rather than steamer-clockworks.
If the visual and technical layout were steampunk, I'd expect more glass, more organics (like leather and denim), shiny brass fittings and lotsalotsa steam.
In Infinite we have a deceptively bright setting, which might be aiding this idea of daylight Victorian steampunk, but instead of clouds of white or misty steam, we have greasy puffs and stacks of smoky exhaust, dingy machinery, and the tell-tale blue-white of diesel-flame (from the exhaust ports on the airships). The clockwork beasties spark and fizzle black smoke, rather than spark and grind with puffs of air or steam.
This is the same confusing thematic treatment the first two Bioshock games gave us: Rapture obviously existed in the atompunk period, but was painfully dieselpunk in operation.
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Just giving my opinion, and of course were talking about a video game in a sci-fantasy universe.
Nonetheless, I stand by my observational conclusions that we're not dealing with steam.
Steam-power rarely produces black exhaust (unless coal is burned to boil the water, and not balanced in ratio to the flue capacity) or blue flaming (the steam provides motive power, so flames, looking like aircraft JP8 burn is obviously from a fuel or a high-energy process, like elementary power).
Then again, some things in Columbia are powered by ZPMs, apparently, so who really knows. The aesthetics of the games are, to my analysis, dieselpunk.
Also, @ Nimon, I think you're right with regard to much of the design, architecture, and dress--very steampunk era, and very little of the art deco of dieselpunk.
Maybe Infinite is some in-between setting, post-steampunk.
Ultimately this only matters to genre-geeks and English-Lit majors who categorize everything they experience.
Diesel-quantumpunk?
At first look, I tended to see BI as steampunk: Pre-WWI/Edwardian; dirigibles; a sort of bright palette with the white clouds (like steam); and the fascination with automata.
But given Columbia's advances in technology (and the whole setting especially in the Fink Mfg. areas), I can also see Dieselpunk elements:
Soldiers are wearing WWI/1920's uniforms and helmets; guns and weapons are derivative of mechanized equipment akin to the first war; machinery tends to look like it's motorized (not clockworkish) - even horses are being replaced with mechanical ones; lighting tends to look like its electrical as opposed to gaslight style.
But aside from the technology portion, from a social story perspective, Steampunk is more often a new thing - bright and optimistic and wonderous that few people have access to. Everyone is kind of exploring the potential positives of the technology. To the player, that maybe more visible in their experience of Columbia.
Dieselpunk, the tech is perceived as more common and accessible - less about discovery or novelty. Certainly, the citizens of Columbia seem very much at ease with the floating city and the technology. Dieselpunk also tends to have more concerns of about the nature of technology and its impact on people - both societal and individual. The tortured look of the Handymen; the struggle of the Vox Populi's workers revolt with Fink; themes of technology being abused in a large-scale way.
I tend to lean towards Diesel as we result, but as was mentioned, the combustion engine seems to have been replaced with some form of quantum energy or alternative energy. Not quite atompunk style, but more akin to the old theory of Aether (and been used in some sci-fi variations). This kind of links back, since many physicists of the late 19th century were trying to define what Aether might be and wound up defining thermodynamic theories, and those in turn were studied as part of the quantum mechanical theory. (FYI - interested in a great book on the history of the science, check here)
So, maybe diesel-quantumpunk is a good definition - with a transitory dash of steampunk in the midst of it all.
No. Its steampunk, if anything.
Go read the Difference Engine. It's more Dickens with cool toys or Wells with more dirt and suffering then Vern.
OK. I didn't wholly dismiss the steampunk suggestion, just that it is clearly mixed in with other elements. I would say its transitory in its definition. The fact that everything just magically runs without either steam or diesel doen't help ("So - no giant balloons?"). The closest we get to a power source in the game is the "Shock-Jockey" vigor. Hence the quantum suggestion (since no other is given).
Also, I am starting to see elements of Moorcock's Warlord of the Air triology in Bishock Infinite's whole setting - Edwardian era; imperialism, racism, socialism; time-travel/alternate dimension - but with an American perspective. Which I guess would point to steampunk; Moorcock originally subtitled the books "A New Scientific Romance."
I have read it. That's William Gibson dropping Cyberpunk trends into Steampunk. Wouldn't disagree with your assessment of it. It certainly adds to the genre, but is hardly the only standard for the concept.
Funnily enough, I find that in Bioshock 2's Minerva's Den expansion, there's hints of dieselpunk mixed in with cyberpunk, since the ideas of mixing plasmids with computers and AI (The Thinker).
Changing subjects for bit. I have to ask what might be some possible choices for DLC for this game?
Given the results of the main story (without trying to spoilerize), I'm curious as to what they could add to the game in a creative manner.
Bioshock games have had DLC's, but it seems like mostly mixed results. Bioshock 1 didn't really have any real additions, unless you count the Challenge Rooms on the PS3. The add some new areas to Rapture, but don't really add to overall plot or story.
Bioshock 2 - multiplayer aside for a sec - had the Protector Trials and Minerva's Den. Of the first, I find the story element is flimsy and really the thing is just an excuse for more game mechanics play.
Minerva's Den, on the other hand, was a great DLC addition - new mechanics; more history of the Rapture and its citizens; and something that added to overall story without detracting from what happened to the other protagonist in the two games.
The B2 multiplayer I look at with mixed results. I didn't much care for how it played, but was interested in the pretext of it taking place during the Rapture Civil War and how it fleshed out some of the residents.
Since Ken Levine has said that they made "6 or 7 games" worth of material, I'd be curious to see what they can pull from that for a DLC that expands the game. I don't really want to hear about a "gun pack" or "vigor pack" for the DLC. Something interesting or at least substantial to the story is what I am hoping for.
-Something related to the Vox/Founder's conflict that parallels Booker and Elizbeth's narrative along the way.
-More areas of Columbia to explore - perhaps as part of the orginal story ala Mass Effect.
-Some kind Skyline racing idea as something light-hearted and non-essential to the game plot.
-Maybe a multi-worlds game that further adds to Elizabeth's story.
There's a couple of concerns I have, though:
1) Given the game's main story:
That Comstock and Columbia never existed in the first place. How do you set any further adventures in the city without it seeming pointless in the end? Again - unless your goal is to only add gameplay mechanics and no plot.
2) Ken Levine has shown himself to be rather wary of sequels or such continuation from the main story. Irrational passed on making Bioshock 2 entirely, and then dumped the original plans to go back to Rapture for another game and created Columbia instead.
I certainly applaud their efforts and I have enjoyed my trip through Columbia, but I am concerned about efforts to expand the world of Columbia to the point that I wonder if we'll get any kind of good DLC.
Is it bad that I correctly guessed the first big plot twist after playing the first hour of the game and the second big plot twist about midway through the game, when it was becoming clear how you and Elizabeth interact as characters?
I would give you credit for being way more insightful than me. The first big plot twist didn't occur to me until almost the three-quarters in. I suspected the second big plot twist, but though it would turn out that:
Elizabeth was Booker's wife(not daughter) from an alternate timeline. Since he was married when he was probably 18, that certain would have been possible - she being from before they met (1892) while he's from the present (1912). I thought that was the hint when he kept calling her Anna whenever he woke from being unconscious.
Definetly never guessed that Robert Lutece was
from the same parallel universe as Booker and they were both transferred to Rosalind/Comstock's universe.
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Vernian Steampunk isn't actually from Vern's Writings. It is based on his stories feel.
It is also called Steam Romances.
Finished the game last night. I really liked the ending. Left me thinking in the dark for almost half an hour. Awesome game.
1) Given the game's main story: ** spoiler omitted **...
Personally, I'd love to see more of Columbia before the Vox/Founder conflict exploded into all-out war.
So, now that the DLC's have been announced.
So let me understand this your reveal is:
DLC #1: A map pack and combat-centric piece for achievements and trivia.
DLC #2/#3: A story piece set back in Rapture again - with the new characters.
I had already signed up for the season pass some time ago, hoping for more interesting trips into Columbia and that world. So maybe I sound like a hypocrite when I say that I am disappointed by Irrational Studio and Ken Levine's efforts here.