• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea |OT| Episode One

abrack08

Member
Did you PS3 owners get a chance to see if they fixed the airlock glitch?

I just finished playing through this on PS3. There was one time where an airlock took a long time to open, and a few other times it took a little longer than you'd expect, but I just figured it was a hidden loading screen (why else would some doors require a button press and others not, when they're otherwise identical?). I didn't come across any glitches, or any OTHER glitches, if that's the door glitch. But it just made me stand in the room for like a minute or two, no big deal.
 
I just finished playing through this on PS3. There was one time where an airlock took a long time to open, and a few other times it took a little longer than you'd expect, but I just figured it was a hidden loading screen (why else would some doors require a button press and others not, when they're otherwise identical?). I didn't come across any glitches, or any OTHER glitches, if that's the door glitch. But it just made me stand in the room for like a minute or two, no big deal.

One or two minutes I shall wait, it seems.
 
What bugs me the most is that the DLC has no german localisation. I always liked the german voice actors in Bioshock games so I was hoping to hear them again. It was a litte dissappointing that I couldn't hear Ryan's oder Cohen's voice
 

Fuchsdh

Member
I just finished my fifth playthrough of Infinite. That game is becoming the equivalent of my comfort food. I'm going to jump into my second run in BaS but on 1999 mode this time. Have any of you guys played it on that difficulty level? How balanced is it?

My thoughts on the narrative of BaS while I'm here (spoiler tagged for those that haven't finished it yet):

I wasn't too impressed with the story in Burial at Sea. I would have gone in a different direction with the narrative personally. But that said, it was really great to have a marriage of the game mechanics of Bioshock 1 and Infinite in a Rapture sandbox. Rapture was amazingly well realised in the Infinite engine. The music and sound design was uber tier as well. It almost doesn't matter that the narrative didn't click perfectly with me.

Part of me wishes that Irrational/Ken wrote a different Elizabeth+Booker+Rapture story altogether (of the same quality and depth as Infinite's) and used it as the basis for a full next generation Bioshock title.

BaS is a little bit of an opportunity missed for me as everything outside of the story is outstanding. On the plus side, at least we'll get a completely new lighthouse and city for the next iteration.

For the next Bioshock I just want a game set in the early 80s or something where you're an outside team that stumbles across what remains of Rapture. Most of the splicers are gone, they'd function more like big bads you try to avoid or lure into traps--make the focus more on exploring. The previous games have been very Rapture-focused in terms of themes. I think there could be some interesting story fodder in the idea of rehabilitating the city, or how people visiting after the war would see the lure of ADAM.

I want to travel through all of Rapture--an issue I've had with all the games is they've never really felt like they take place in the same locations; I can see the Kashmir through the window but I still can't spatially orient myself.

Either way, one more game to do it right, then leave it alone. Rapture is a great place but as Burial at Sea proves fan service can just weaken the overall quality of the franchise if you succumb to easy revisitations.
 

Lingitiz

Member
I reviewed Burial at Sea here.

Overall it had some interesting moments and the ending was great, but the combat was frustratingly bad at points and a pain in the ass. Definitely disappointed with the clear gameplay split early on. Still worth checking out though, but not at $15.
 

Sullichin

Member
Also, the DLC for some reason neglects to tell you the weapon wheel is back.

Abuse Skyhooks. Possession is one of the better uses of eve in a multi-person fight.

I didn't even realize I could switch between all of my weapons until I was nearly 3/4 way through the DLC.
Wound up beating it without upgrading anything, I could never afford it. I played on hard mode. I was happy to be back in Rapture but I was disappointed with the length and I didn't really get into the groove of the combat like I did with the main game.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
Abuse Skyhooks. Possession is one of the better uses of eve in a multi-person fight.

Possession is such a massively overpowered vigor/plasmid. Once you've upgraded Possession for Less it becomes a game of "hit that guy, let him damage a few enemies or else get himself plastered, rinse and repeat".

In Infinite, it was less powerful because of the range enemies would attack you and Heavy Hitters being immune/highly resistant, but in Burial at Sea it was god-tier.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
So is Burial At Sea worth the $15? I liked Infinite and Bioshock 1 was one of my favorite games last gen.

Probably. Just get the season pass and save a bit on the next bit of DLC. You'll probably find the play-through worth it--I dunno if I'll ever play it through again since I got the achievements but I don't feel like I wasted my money, so you won't either.
 
So I finally got around to playing and finishing this and I thought it was sadly average at best...

I was pretty bored most of the time. I had way more fun with Clash in the Clouds to be honest.
 

Felsparrow

Neo Member
So I finally got around to playing and finishing this and I thought it was sadly average at best...

I was pretty bored most of the time. I had way more fun with Clash in the Clouds to be honest.

That's fine. Sounds like you're a combat person over an exploration and worldbuilding person. No judgements, this episode was a bit low on combat for the first half.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
So if it wasn't already clear from the drinkable, Infinite-drawn plasmids and radar range, it's pretty clear that the Rapture we're in this episode is dramatically different than Bioshock's.

Case in point: your view from Market Street of Kashmir:
Y6y46y.png

Kashmir in Bioshock 1:

There's a big honking building missing between them, Atlas is on top of the restaurant rather than within it, etc, and the Kashmir appears way larger.

(Although you wonder why the Kashmir had a big window looking onto no view in the first one.)

For a lark I'm trying to build a semi-accurate version of Rapture in Minecraft, and I realize how little it actually makes sense.

The novel also gives a rough figure of something like 20,000 people living in Rapture. The Infinite Rapture has to be way larger to fill out all those skyscrapers... the art design is completely different on the two games as well--Infinite treats Rapture as a much larger open-air world. Bioshock 1 feels kind of dinky in comparison.
 

Fuu

Formerly Alaluef (not Aladuf)
Just beat this. I had a good time but I can't say I cared much for the story so far as much as I thought I would. Walking around on non-fucked Rapture was cool and seeing Elizabeth again was nice too. The combat sections were mostly average with a few great parts, but it was all entertaining throughout. I started on Hard but turned down to Medium because my ass was getting handed to me a lot early on and I wanted to beat it in a single sitting, but after that things went smoothly.

I'll do an achievement run later, but now I'm looking forward to trying Clash in the Clouds since I'm in the minority (on GAF at least) who really enjoys the combat in Infinite. Had a lot of fun moments with the Vigors during my 1999 mode playthrough of the main game.

Mind you that I got the Season Pass during the price error on Steam earlier today, so it cost me $3.18 (Brazil store). Burial at Sea part 1 alone isn't worth it for the normal full price imo, even if I was overall positive on it. Anyway, I'm curious about the final DLC and I'm glad I'll be able to play it day 1 now as opposed to my original plan (wait for everything to be released then wait for a Season Pass sale).
 

MNC

Member
Finished this, and while I am both amazed and confused:

So, this Comstock/Booker fails to secure young Anna, kills her, travels to Rapture, forgets his past, Elizabeth finds him (BioInf Elizabeth?) and kills him. What are Elizabeth's motivations to kill *this* particular Comstock?
 

Ithil

Member
Finished this, and while I am both amazed and confused:

So, this Comstock/Booker fails to secure young Anna, kills her, travels to Rapture, forgets his past, Elizabeth finds him (BioInf Elizabeth?) and kills him. What are Elizabeth's motivations to kill *this* particular Comstock?

He's Comstock.
 
After having considerable time to ponder. In the end whilst I enjoyed episode one and relished bieng back in Rapture, my mind couldn't help but compare it to being back in Rapture in 2007.

This new Rapture could really hold a candle to the original vision, and I knew that, yet everytime I spent in Infinite's Rapture I couldn't help but a little disappointed that it wasn't like its original vision.

Secondly, I forgave enjoyed all the mechanics of Infinite as it was a separate BS game, but when it was introduced within Rapture and fused with some BS1 mechanics, the end result ultimately showed how dumbed down Infinite's mechanics are when in combat situations.

BS1’s variety in approaching and clearing different combat situations was stellar. The only thing you could do in Episode One was destroy every threat available or sometimes run past it.

At the moment, I would easily say Minerva's Den > Episode One. However, still wildly anticipating Episode Two.
 

Dang0

Member
Finished this, and while I am both amazed and confused:

So, this Comstock/Booker fails to secure young Anna, kills her, travels to Rapture, forgets his past, Elizabeth finds him (BioInf Elizabeth?) and kills him. What are Elizabeth's motivations to kill *this* particular Comstock?

Never really thought about it, but yeah, that doesn't really make sense. What's the point of killing Comstock after he killed Anna? Wouldn't it make more sense to kill him beforehand?
 

Jigorath

Banned
Though it was a bit short I thought BaS was fantastic.
I loved getting to see Rapture pre-fall, but we left there too quickly. The rest of the DLC just felt like playing through Bioshock again. Also, the skyhook addition was pretty jarring, they had a decent explanation for it, but I think it should have been left out.
 

Kaswa101

Member
Finished this, and while I am both amazed and confused:

So, this Comstock/Booker fails to secure young Anna, kills her, travels to Rapture, forgets his past, Elizabeth finds him (BioInf Elizabeth?) and kills him. What are Elizabeth's motivations to kill *this* particular Comstock?

The way I see it, Time God Elizabeth survived the end of Infinite, and is now going around through universes and killing off any Comstocks that still exist. Her tampering with one universe's Comstock stealing Anna resulted in that Anna dying, which is why that Comstock goes to Rapture and forgets his past. The one thing I don't understand very well though, is why did she do everything she did in BaS? Why lead Comstock to the vent with the child, pretend to belong to Rapture's timeline, etc? Why not just kill Comstock and move on?

Anyway, I enjoyed the DLC overall, but the gameplay got very boring very quickly. Felt like a re-run of Infinite, but with less variety and more aggressively annoying enemies. First half was awesome, despite not finishing BS1 - I loved exploring Rapture and running around doing simple, somewhat medial tasks. But once the splicers came in, it just became boring. Felt excessively violent and just out-of-place, like the main game.

Levine's team needs to drastically revamp the combat system for the next BioShock, as it's seriously the worst aspect of the game. Infinite had a lot more potential; if they had made it more like the original gameplay vids, it could have been something special both story-wise and gameplay-wise, but instead, it'll only be remembered as having great presentation imo. Overall, I'd rate Infinite 9/10, and this DLC 7.5/10. It felt lacking, if I'm to be honest, and the gameplay is obviously just a means of filling up the game time. So meh.
 
The buzz (or lack thereof) around this sort of kept me from playing it, not wanting to taint my experience with Infinite (which, I am slightly ashamed to admit, nearly brought me to 3AM tears when I finished it the first time around). I have to say though: disappointing length aside, I really like Episode 1. Spoilers below.

Realizing that this Elizabeth was "our" Elizabeth was a great "aha!" for me. Her huskier voice and harsher attitude aren't just new digs for the noir setup, they're clues to what she's been up to since Infinite: interdimensional Comstock murdering. The conclusion was a little bit on the cramped side - I pieced together what was happening perfectly fine with the flashback combined with the Sally-in-vent imagery. Turning around to have Elizabeth and the Lutece twins explain it in full detail was a bit much, although again, it's less a matter of the actual writing and more a matter of it simply being too squished together. You turn around and BAM, Elizabeth and the Luteces are there to give you exposition. I suppose it's just the biproduct of needing somewhere to put that explicit information in a relatively short piece.

but yeah, I loved the ride. The shopping arcade was awesome, as were Elizabeth's increasingly ridiculous femme-fatale routines to distract the shopkeepers. I giggled at her heavy mastur-breathing in the record store and laughed out loud in the jewelry store.

Sander Cohen's art show (and the Artist's Struggle gallery) was the standout, though. I'm glad that this game gave us a better glimpse of what his actual pre-meltdown (well... pre-final-meltdown) art looked like, as well as his frustration with being a populist artist with his music and a misunderstood avant-garde genius in his sculpture work. His shitty art film got a chuckle out of me as well.

To be honest I wish the shopping arcade stuff was longer. The combat and exploration in the department store was fun, but part of what makes the DLC interesting is seeing pre-fall Rapture. Spending half of our "pre-fall" adventure in the first part of Rapture to go to shit is sort of cheating.

Can't wait for Ep 2.

So I saw a the first hour or so of this at a friend's house. Seriously, does elizabeth have to not subtly at all hint that she's
omniscient
or whatever every fucking line she has? It got pretty grating really quickly.

The one thing I don't understand very well though, is why did she do everything she did in BaS? Why lead Comstock to the vent with the child, pretend to belong to Rapture's timeline, etc? Why not just kill Comstock and move on?

I think the implication is more that she doesn't really give a fuck and clearly isn't interested in this "Booker's" well-being. Her outsider status is confirmed immediately by her lack of period-appropriate knowledge, but it's not really that important - she just wants this Booker to die in the most ironic and vengeance-fulfilling way possible. If her cover was ever blown, she could just shoot the poor sod.
 
Finished it, really liked it. Got the ending spoiled for me, so I already knew what was going on, but can't wait until episode 2.
 
From all I'd read my expectations were low for this. While it's not perfect I really enjoyed it, especially the ending. Reading Xander's stuff above has me really excited for the next episode and the possibility that
maybe future games can exist where you're hunting different Comstocks as Elizabeth?

When is episode 2 supposed to hit?
 

MNC

Member
The way I see it, Time God Elizabeth survived the end of Infinite, and is now going around through universes and killing off any Comstocks that still exist. Her tampering with one universe's Comstock stealing Anna resulted in that Anna dying, which is why that Comstock goes to Rapture and forgets his past. The one thing I don't understand very well though, is why did she do everything she did in BaS? Why lead Comstock to the vent with the child, pretend to belong to Rapture's timeline, etc? Why not just kill Comstock and move on?

They probably needed a setup for BaS2, a very poorly thought out one at that.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
They probably needed a setup for BaS2, a very poorly thought out one at that.

What I didn't understand is Elizabeth didn't seem to give two shits about the Little Sister. Comstock is trying to pull her out and Elizabeth is busy giving him the third degree while the girl is getting burned. I don't really see her going on a Tenenbaum "save the little sisters" kick, so I have no idea what BaS2 is supposed to revolve around.
 

Hesemonni

Banned
Nice, a game breaking bug about 10min in :D

The shopkeeper of Golden rule was stuck the first time I tried and when I restarted the checkpoint he had disappeared altogether. Guess I'll restart the whole thing.
 

bengraven

Member
He's Comstock.

Basically this. The end of Infinite made it clear she was eliminating him through all universes. This time he did something especially horrible, moreso than the original, so she wanted to make it more painful.
 

Fracas

#fuckonami
Just finished it. Really enjoyed it, and I'd go as far as to say this surpasses the base game. Still not quite on the level of the original or even Bioshock 2 but very solid DLC nonetheless.
 

Dimefan3

Member
Irrational have been awfully silent, that's for sure.

Still, I'm thinking we should have news on part 2 before March, at least.
 
Top Bottom