Just curious what you guys thought of the game. This past weekend I took to a binge play session with the game until I beat it. It only took me about 18 hours to beat and that was with gawking at just about every new scene I came upon. The visual fidelity in the game just had me astonished the whole way through. But…the best part for me was the story and the characters in it. Elizabeth was such an amazing AI companion. I mean, she really felt like part of a living breathing world.
All I can say is the team at Irrational did such a superb job with this installment, and it makes me proud to be a developer.
Things I liked:
-Elizabeth was by far the best AI companion I’ve seen in any game.
-Story was deep and had a nice twist that I certainly wasn’t expecting.
-Skylines.
-Visuals (I was playing on lower settings, and it still looked amazing).
-Great new take on respawning.
Things I didn’t:
-Lack of backstory on the smaller things like vigors and some enemy types (or maybe I just didn’t find enough audio logs).
-Poor enemy AI.
-Some poorly placed respawn points.
-I couldn’t help but feel that vigors were a bit repetitive in use and rather dull (except for undertow and bucking bronco).
-Boys of Silence were a big disappointment.
Things I’m on the fence about:
-Two weapon limit.
-No carrying health packs or salts.
The AI was a big letdown. I remember in the second and third Siren fights, I just sat back at the edge of the arena and sniped at the Siren with the hand canon. Only a few individuals actually came forward to attack me. The first Siren fight was also a good example of a poorly placed respawn. Often, the Siren and her goons would wait out in the centre of the graveyard and you’d be spawned out in the open with minimal cover.
I thought it was great and loved every minute. The original Bioshock had sort of a… less interesting section after the main reveal before the game ended, but Infinite avoided that by continually ramping up and introducing new things literally until the last minute, which I think was great.
Vigors and a bunch of other things were indeed explained in logs. Though (minor spoiler) once you understand what tears are and what people are doing with them, they really explain away everything all at once.
I didn’t think much of the combat either. It had its cool moments, but… well, it really struck me that the developers are better at tight spaces than open ones. The rail system was cool, though I don’t feel it was used enough. I personally found Handymen to be a bit of a chore to fight. I don’t at all mind the two weapon system, though combining it with weapon specialization meant that I didn’t end up using a big variety of weapons. I’d pick things up and use them, then immediately drop them again so that I kept the ones I’d specialized in when I moved on, where in the original I’d often fight with different weapons for longer periods because switching weapons didn’t mean I lost them.
I can’t say I had the same issues with the AI. In the Siren fights I definitely had to deal with the minions, and it was a constant decision as to whether I fought back the minions or focused on the boss. The Silent Boy was really cool, and I’d like to have seen more of it, but again it made sense that we didn’t.
Anyway, loved the game, and it’s really odd for me but I’m eagerly awaiting the DLC.
I very much hate FPS, i don’t play any fps ever, it’s just not my type of game (with the exception of unreal tournament 2/3 maps with colleagues which feels less like an fps than a full on vehicle mega powered man zergest of doom and i somehow find funny).
But i did buy bioshock infinite anyway, just for the screenshots, i wanted to see it i wasn’t disapointed, it was amazing, pure beauty! I’m a bit disapointed there were some dark parts (i don’t mind the gory parts, but i liked the pretty / light environment, i’m not into the darker environments so most of the end of the game i didn’t like). But overall i don’t regret getting it, i probably won’t ever touch it again.
For the the game itself there was 1 thing i didn’t like, backtracking, i don’t want to go through the same place twice, either keep me going forward, or find a way for the backtracking to be faster. That aside it’s a pure beauty, very much loved the final fight too.
So-called “backtracking” is a super difficult thing to handle, though. I for one love re-visiting areas I’ve been to, as long as they’re not over-used, there’s something new, and it’s not just filler. The environment is only one part of the experience, and a lot of experiences would feel overly contrived if they somehow never lead me to tread the same ground twice. Also, it was helped greatly by always having something new in an area when I returned to or via or through it (eg: some voxaphones are only in areas when you return, not the first time you go in).
Having said all of that, I also love other types of games (RPGs, for one) where returning to areas is pretty intrinsic to they work, so I’m predisposed to be accepting of that kind of thing.
I don’t like fps game but I really enjoyed the experience. Elisabeth was fantastic.
It’s seems a lot have been build and finally left out of the final release game. I would have love to play more;
I would also have love to know what happen to the city at the end.
Some part where definitely short. The boy of silence where quite a strange paradox. I tried to be quiet (crawling and stuff) but actually it wasn’t the point.
The twist is better than the original (i don’t understand why everyone find it so great …). On this one the end is really horrific when you realize what’s happening.
I have a question for you english speaking people but it’s a Spoiler
It’s better if you google it as it’s a very large spoiler, you learn it at the end of the game and it kinda spoils the whole story, so i don’t think it’s fit for this thread.
I too did find the combat slightly lacking in parts, but overall, the system was pretty solid. I actually liked the fact that there wasn’t a whole lot of opportunity to fight from the skylines, as I would have probably became bored with it then. I think the game is amazing because they balanced just about every aspect perfectly.
And on a side note, I too can not wait for the DLC.
This game actually turned it around for me with the Ending that made everything worth it. There were some sweet spots though the entire game but I was very skeptical most of the time, sometimes even bored. I had my preconceptions going into it, though, because of the turbulent development history and that so many things I enjoyed when they announced it had been completely replaced. But, surprisingly, I still enjoyed my stay in Columbia for its unique styles and themes, gorgeous graphics, and the Story. Despite some weaknesses like the Combat system (which for me became more fun once I got the Carbine rifle, it felt the best in the game to me) and Wave Spam of Enemies it really got me in the end. I wasn’t entirely sure what to think of it until then but the End really sealed the deal, since everything made so much sense, everything tied into everything else and there are a lot of details to be spotted that tie into the events at the end that might make a replay worthwhile. No game is perfect, but I will remember this one as a gem. I think in times of run-of-the-mill shooters it sure was a breath of fresh air and it deserves all the praise it’s getting.
Great game, Great gameplay, good AI(I wish they fell for my traps more.) My only gripe is the inter dimensional time travel. I hate time travel and believe that it should left alone by everyone!!
Really, the plot was somewhat reminiscent of Legacy of Kain series, in particular Blood Omen.(I’m trying not to give anything away.)
How is that a let down? The AI isn’t stupid enough to charge like an idiot. They will wait you out because they know you have to come out to defeat them. Besides, if AI was smart at all, they would never mess with the player character. If the devs are like God, then player characters are like Jesus, more so when PC can respawn after death, sounds familiar??
They aren’t stupid enough to charge like an idiot, but they are stupid enough to stand out in the open, in range of my weapons and get shot to death without retaliating while I bombard them and their lifeline with gunfire.
That’s a massive letdown. Really the biggest threat to me there is running out of things to hurl at them, and the second time I was right next to a vending machine.
I haven’t witnessed them just standing out in the open except when they are swarming you, that aside they usually hide if it’s possible.
I’ve only seen an AI issue twice, both times it was some pathing bug where i could find a spot where the AI would stop moving, trying to come to me (definately agroed) but just not moving as if it couldn’t find a path.
which platform were you playing on? I was playing on PC and didn’t have that issue at all. My only issue was stealthing was completely useless because they were aware whenever I placed traps and that was a letdown.
Let me just say ive not played infinite but have the the previous two, So Just curious apart from Elizabeth being tightly woven into the storyline and pulling rabbits out of the hat like some magician trick (which is lame) IMHO, and manipulating the environment at set key locations. I’m thinking, Elizebeth is no Black&White emergent A.I.
PC here. I think it’s mainly in areas where you can keep your distance.
Stealth is a good point, too.
Because she’s actually useful in combat (beyond spamming bullets at enemies), she isn’t totally annoying, she doesn’t get in the way, and she doesn’t need babysitting.
It was pretty shitty. The world was living and breathing… for about 45 minutes, until it turned into an incredibly generic first-person shooter. After that, even when you walked around the world, it rarely reacted to your presence unless it was super important to the story to happen or somebody was trying to shoot you. The combat segments were incredibly poorly integrated and often felt like they were there to preserve the traditional combat gameplay loop that first-person shooters often have.
The world was well thought out but incredibly poor in how the inhabitants of this world were realised. You can just stand somewhere and watch a guy go “WOOSH, FWOOSH!” with a model of the Songbird in front of some kids for 30 minutes if you feel like it. Throughout the whole game, people reacted so much to each other but so infrequently toward Booker and Elizabeth that I felt like I was completely invisible. Like I said earlier, outside of some very rare instances early on, people don’t notice you unless it’s to further the story or to shoot at you. There’s also that stupid moment where the game tells you “SOMETIMES STEALING CAN HAVE CONSEQUENCES”, which is true! Twice. In the whole game. The rest of the time I’m stealing from kids and collection plates and rifling through garbage cans and nobody says anything.
Even calling this a first-person shooter feels erroneous at times because the game has 30-45 minute segments where you don’t shoot anything. The game becomes a matter of exploring the world and its narrative and it’s at these moments that the game absolutely SHINES. These are where the moments of brilliance lie. Unfortunately, the gameplay and the world itself rarely ever back this up.
If this is the kind of game we herald as one of the greatest games of all time then I weep for our standards.
Exactly how I felt. I was more interested in the non-combat parts. They were the highlight of the game and the best moment for me in the game was the beginning up until the game started becoming a FPS(Couldn’t think of a way to say that without being a spoiler).