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[Neiteio]

There is a meta-interpretation I have mused over with some friends that the "circle" can only be broken if you never play BioShock Infinite again. Because every time you replay the game, you restart the cycle. You enter the game through a tear (fact) and begin playing a different universe from what you played before.

It's established that every time Booker dies, the player resumes the game at a similar point in a different universe. Every time Booker dies, the Lutece try again. Or simply have another Booker already in motion. Every time you respawn, you are a different Booker.

So every time you replay Infinite, you are spawning another Infinite through another tear. The cycle is unbroken (the etymology of "unbroken" can be interpreted as UNbreaking the circle, which WAS broken previously), and continues. The song isn't asking rhetorically, it's asking you.

This mirrors the meta that the only way the physical player can "beat" BioShock 1 is to turn off the game when Atlus tells you to insert the key into the control panel. BioShock says you do whatever you're told, regardless of the consequences, because you have been programmed to do it. You are a slave. And even when it tells you this, you still do what Atlas says and put the key into the machine.

Because you are a slave, and a slave obeys.

But if we follow your advice and turn off BioShock 1 when Atlas tells us to insert the key, then aren't we just obeying Finale Fireworker? And how can we beat GAFShock if we listen to him?

 

[WiiredShawn]

But if we follow your advice and turn off BioShock 1 when Atlas tells us to insert the key, then aren't we just obeying Finale Fireworker? And how can we beat GAFShock if we listen to him?

He's not saying you "have to" do that, just that you have a choice.

A man chooses. A slave obeys.

 

[Neiteio]

He's not saying you "have to" do that, just that you have a choice.

A man chooses. A slave obeys.

I know. I didn't say otherwise!

 

[Steel]

For sure, the mechanic of Vigors was decided upon well before the conceptualization of the narrative. This means they were tasked with transplanting a device developed in one story and making it part of another. They had to repurpose Plasmids into something new, despite their firm entrenchment in the narrative that originally bore them.

This thread was written because people generally don't think this transplant was well achieved and are quick to conclude Vigors have no meaning or no narrative value because they were not at a natural addition to Infinite. That's why I've written this analysis, as a defense for their presence and an explanation of their thematic purpose. Because even though it is wildly, wildly different, they are still meaningful to the narrative in a way that their absence would damage the story.

Many, many players and critics picked up on Booker being the Anti-Christ. But less connected the fact that Comstock (who is Booker) is the fully realized Anti-Christ who has led an entire city away from God by idolizing himself as a false prophet. Booker and Comstock personify all the Biblical characteristics of the Anti-Christ when the truth of their shared identity is unified.

It's funny to read early rants about Infinite as being Anti-Christian because you play as te Anti-Christ when the story is actually about stopping and destroying the Anti-Christ.

I'm actually surprised to hear that people didn't pick up on Comstock being the fully realized anti-christ if they figured out that Booker was also the anti-christ. I mean, the whole scene where Booker tries to find comstock as a baby and kill him, and the fact that elizabeth drowns Comstock/Booker simultaneously in the first instance of the Comstock timeline should really make that clear.

On the subject of the thread again, I'm not sure I fully agree with your interpretation of plasmids. I agree that they're similiar to heroine, in that it's highly addictive. However, I don't believe that everyone would start using heroine if it were made legal like in Bioshock, and I think Bioshock itself provides that explanation. It's the ultility of plamids that sets them apart. It's the ultility that gets Jack to jam that first needle, after which he becomes a destructive splicer. I'd think a better paralell might be if heroine were injected into McDonald's hamburgers. People would come to eat the burger, but end up getting hooked and high from the heroine. Still, the message is essentially the same about regulation.

Fans of this piece might also enjoy this shameless plug for my Last of Us thread, which I completed last month.

I'd actually be curious to see what you'd think of Catherine. I think you'd have a field-day with it. I mean I've seen a well-detailed several page write-up about its start screen alone.

 

[Blanquito]

Great thread, will read more when I get the chance

 

[Neiteio]

Catherine is a great game for lit crit types. Layers upon layers of symbolism. It's unfortunate some people out there think it's a hentai game based on the cover (especially when any sexual elements are minimal, and done tastefully in a humanizing rather than titillating way — I've seen T-rated fighting games more suggestive than Catherine).

 

[Finale Fireworker]

I'd actually be curious to see what you'd think of Catherine. I think you'd have a field-day with it. I mean I've seen a well-detailed several page write-up about its start screen alone.

I want to play Catherine, but my internet isn't strong enough for PlayStation Now and I don't have a PS3 anymore. I will eventually rebuy a PS3 if I have to so I can play Catherine, Okami, Braid, and Spec Ops: The Line.

I have a list of games I want to write about, and eventually will, all it comes down to is access and time.

I said Luigi's Mansion will be next last time, but it will probably actually be next now. Unless I write about Metal Gear 1+2 as an emergence of games as a fully interactive narrative medium. I'm really into Metal Gear 2 right now.

I want to write about the torture scene in Metal Gear Solid, too. Which might also be sooner than later because it won't require a replay.

 

[Neiteio]

I want to play Catherine, but my internet isn't strong enough for PlayStation Now and I don't have a PS3 anymore. I will eventually rebuy a PS3 if I have to so I can play Catherine, Okami, Braid, and Spec Ops: The Line.

I have a list of games I want to write about, and eventually will, all it comes down to is access and time.

I said Luigi's Mansion will be next last time, but it will probably actually be next now. Unless I write about Metal Gear 1+2 as an emergence of games as a fully interactive narrative medium. I'm really into Metal Gear 2 right now.

I want to write about the torture scene in Metal Gear Solid, too. Which might also be sooner than later because it won't require a replay.

Luigi's Mansion? I've gotta see this.

 

[bomma_man]

This is one of the most comprehensive OPs I have read on GAF. Very well written.

My two cents would be that the citizens of Columbia live pretty high on the hog, therefore, don't really have a need to enhance their reality. I mean, if we look at rampant drug addiction to life ruining substances like crack, meth and heroin, we see that the poorest of the population are typically the ones engaged. (Of course there is addiction in all social classes but we don't see a lot of homeless CEOs panhandling for spare change). Please note that this isn't indicative of specific races, rather income classes.

Therfore, I can't see the citizens of Columbia even having a desire for something like a Vigor. They have the "perfect life" so to speak. Why bother? Mind altering drugs and substances are usually sought after by those who find a need to escape their reality.

Drug use is more visible among the lower classes, but I don't think the middle and upper classes are any less seseptible to it. Rich people drink, take coke, take E when they're young. The difference is that they can financially support their habit, and most of it takes place behind closed doors.

I'm actually surprised to hear that people didn't pick up on Comstock being the fully realized anti-christ if they figured out that Booker was also the anti-christ. I mean, the whole scene where Booker tries to find comstock as a baby and kill him, and the fact that elizabeth drowns Comstock/Booker simultaneously in the first instance of the Comstock timeline should really make that clear.

On the subject of the thread again, I'm not sure I fully agree with your interpretation of plasmids. I agree that they're similiar to heroine, in that it's highly addictive. However, I don't believe that everyone would start using heroine if it were made legal like in Bioshock, and I think Bioshock itself provides that explanation. It's the ultility of plamids that sets them apart. It's the ultility that gets Jack to jam that first needle, after which he becomes a destructive splicer. I'd think a better paralell might be if heroine were injected into McDonald's hamburgers. People would come to eat the burger, but end up getting hooked and high from the heroine. Still, the message is essentially the same about regulation.



I'd actually be curious to see what you'd think of Catherine. I think you'd have a field-day with it. I mean I've seen a well-detailed several page write-up about its start screen alone.

If McDonalds has a purpose then heroin has a purpose. Both just crap that gives you a temporary high. Health wise maccas might even be worse!

 

[Juice]

Freaking fantastic OP. Great little article, and cleverly misleading title. Favorite thread in a while.

 

[Grief.exe]

This type of analysis would make for a great YouTube channel. I would subscribe.

 

[Finale Fireworker]

Luigi's Mansion? I've gotta see this.

The basis of my Luigi's Mansion thread is the narrative purity. Every element of the game and every mechanic is meant to immerse the player intrinsically into the progression of the simple narrative.

There are no functions, no game elements, and no features that are not directly related to advancing Luigi along in his narrative.

The simple arc, about a timid sibling overcoming fear to rescue his beloved brother, is one of gaming's most elegant stories. Its merit and masterful weaving of mechanical progression and literary progression is completely overlooked.

For example: The collection of money is a metaphor for Luigi's independence, which ceases to be a metaphor when it literally becomes a means of accomplishing independence in the form of a house of his own.

Money is not used to buy upgrades, or maps, or consumables. Money is only meaningful to Luigi's quest for independence.

Luigi's Mansion wastes nothing. Everything it contains is meaningful to the literature.

But this is just a really rough explanation.

 

[III-V]

There is a meta-interpretation I have mused over with some friends that the "circle" can only be broken if you never play BioShock Infinite again. Because every time you replay the game, you restart the cycle. You enter the game through a tear (fact) and begin playing a different universe from what you played before.

It's established that every time Booker dies, the player resumes the game at a similar point in a different universe. Every time Booker dies, the Lutece try again. Or simply have another Booker already in motion. Every time you respawn, you are a different Booker.

So every time you replay Infinite, you are spawning another Infinite through another tear. The cycle is unbroken (the etymology of "unbroken" can be interpreted as UNbreaking the circle, which WAS broken previously), and continues. The song isn't asking rhetorically, it's asking you.

This mirrors the meta that the only way the physical player can "beat" BioShock 1 is to turn off the game when Atlas tells you to insert the key into the control panel. BioShock says you do whatever you're told, regardless of the consequences, because you have been programmed to do it. You are a slave. And even when it tells you this, you still do what Atlas says and put the key into the machine.

Because you are a slave, and a slave obeys.

Interesting take on this, I suppose I should flesh out my own interpretation a bit more.

My interpretation of the song itself is that of life and death, and that the death of a loved one breaks the circle. Unbreaking the circle consists of reuniting in heaven in a state of eternal life. I think it also relates to the baptism, where where the individual is born again, unbreaking the cycle of the sins of life. When Booker is drowned in his baptism by Elizabeth, he breaks the circle by not emerging, not being born again, not eligible for eternal life.

My take was this: as long as Booker is alive, the circle is unbroken.

Edit: I am reading the word unbroken as something that is whole and not broken, although the song may be referring to a circle that was broken and unbreaking is it being made whole again.

 

[PaulloDEC]

Great thread. Bioshock Infinite tends to get flatly dismissed quite often on this forum, so it's really cool to see someone delving a bit deeper.

Thanks for taking the time OP.

 

[elfinke]

The basis of my Luigi's Mansion thread is the narrative purity. Every element of the game and every mechanic is meant to immerse the player intrinsically into the progression of the simple narrative.

There are no functions, no game elements, and no features that are not directly related to advancing Luigi along in his narrative.

The simple arc, about a timid sibling overcoming fear to rescue his beloved brother, is one of gaming's most elegant stories. Its merit and masterful weaving of mechanical progression and literary progression is completely overlooked.

For example: The collection of money is a metaphor for Luigi's independence, which ceases to be a metaphor when it literally becomes a means of accomplishing independence in the form of a house of his own.

Money is not used to buy upgrades, or maps, or consumables. Money is only meaningful to Luigi's quest for independence.

Luigi's Mansion wastes nothing. Everything it contains is meaningful to the literature.

But this is just a really rough explanation.

Sensational work again FF, I'm glad you were able to find the time to type this and share it with us. As I mentioned to you elsewhere, I quite enjoy just reading your sentences, regardless of content. Just beautiful. Also, somewhat tangentially, I feel an overwhelming desire to replay RDR having read the thread and the discussions within...

And I won't lie: the above snippet about Luigi's Mansion has whet my appetite!

I'd actually be curious to see what you'd think of Catherine. I think you'd have a field-day with it. I mean I've seen a well-detailed several page write-up about its start screen alone.

Oh boy, that was great by pepsiman. I've read and watched lots of great things regarding Catherine over the years, and this is right up there. Gosh I loved that game so damn much.

 

[EvoMaldonado]

Great topic! To me, neither plasmids nor vigors make much sense even in scifi, but vigors at least have the context of being snake oil that actually works and fit well into the setting of Columbia.

 

[Finale Fireworker]

Great topic! To me, neither plasmids nor vigors make much sense even in scifi, but vigors at least have the context of being snake oil that actually works and fit well into the setting of Columbia.

Most people find Plasmids very organic to the plot and themes of BioShock, which I agree with. I won't go into it such I touched on it already in the OP. It's funny you came around the the opposite!

Thanks a lot for reading.

 

[Prosopon]

This thread is the best thread. Awesome analysis.

 

[Grief.exe]

This thread almost made me want to replay Infinite.

 

[Finale Fireworker]

This thread is the best thread. Awesome analysis.

Thank you!

This thread almost made me want to replay Infinite.

Well, if my dreams come true, maybe we will get a BioShock collection at E3. That would be a great opportunity to replay it, if the urge becomes strong enough.

Unless you're a PC gamer, in which case lol remaster.

 

[Aces&Eights]

Drug use is more visible among the lower classes, but I don't think the middle and upper classes are any less seseptible to it. Rich people drink, take coke, take E when they're young. The difference is that they can financially support their habit, and most of it takes place behind closed doors.

That's true, but we don't see the shattering social repercussions from hard drug use in the upper classes as we do in the lower. I think someone who is born into poverty and has no chance of making a decent life for themselves is more opt to do hard drugs as an escape than someone who is born with a silver spoon.

If a traveling snake oil salesman goes to two towns; Beverly Hills, CA and the poorest part of Chicago and tries to sell a drug that makes you feel powerful but completely messes you up in the long run, I think those from Beverly Hills will realize they have a lot to lose and are more apt to not take the drug compared to the folks from Chicago who are hungry, cold and extremely poor.

EDIT: It's the age old question of would you commit a crime to save your family? Most of us don't steal. Even if there is something we want but will never be able to afford it, we don't take what isn't ours. Often we have the basics, so we are not starving and have a roof over our heads. Now, take away the food and roof. You are homeless and hungry, people walk to the other side of the street when they see you coming in your dirty clothes and unkempt hair. You pass a food truck and there is food sitting there and no one around. Do you steal something to eat? What if you had kids at home that are hungry? Most would. What have you got to lose? You are at rock bottom so justifying breaking your morality code becomes quite easy when you feel life has forsaken you. It's a scary concept. There are a lot of people who talk about having morals and doing the right thing because it is the right thing to do but if the consequences were removed a la "The Purge" a lot of people who cite how moral they are would be out killing that neighbor who has always pissed them off. People in Columbia might have it in them to use the drugs and secretly would if there were not consequences but the risk of losing everything keeps them in check.

 

[Finale Fireworker]

Drug use is more visible among the lower classes, but I don't think the middle and upper classes are any less seseptible to it. Rich people drink, take coke, take E when they're young. The difference is that they can financially support their habit, and most of it takes place behind closed doors.

That's true, but we don't see the shattering social repercussions from hard drug use in the upper classes as we do in the lower. I think someone who is born into poverty and has no chance of making a decent life for themselves is more opt to do hard drugs as an escape than someone who is born with a silver spoon.

If a traveling snake oil salesman goes to two towns; Beverly Hills, CA and the poorest part of Chicago and tries to sell a drug that makes you feel powerful but completely messes you up in the long run, I think those from Beverly Hills will realize they have a lot to lose and are more apt to not take the drug compared to the folks from Chicago who are hungry, cold and extremely poor.

I think both of you are correct and this is a really interesting discussion.

Both Rapture and Columbia had really significant class divides. Both cities had shanty towns and slums where the working class lived, and suffered.

But in BioShock, Frank Fontaine appealed directly to the underclass, and Plasmids were his business. The working class in Rapture, impoverished with no chance of upward mobility, had Plasmids accessible to them through their association with Frank Fontaine, the working class hero.

But Fink does not push his Vigors on the working class. The working class probably couldn't even afford them. Fink despised his workers, underpaying and overworking him for the benefit of his industrial production. When he sells Vigors, he goes to the Columbia fair and tries to sell them as a novelty to the upper class. His clientele is disinterested, because his clientele aren't looking for more upward mobility.

But Fontaine's impoverished, with no other opportunity, found Plasmids extremely appealing. They used them to fuel their revolution ("demons out the bible, they were).

The revolution in Rapture was fueled by Fontaine and his Plasmids, but the revolution in Columbia was AGAINST Fink and his Vigors.

 

[Grief.exe]

Unless you're a PC gamer, in which case lol remaster.

Tough to go back to 1080p at this point.

 

[Karamsoul]

An extremely well-written and thought-provoking piece. This is some GamingRebellion level of breakdown right here. Thanks for posting. I quite enjoyed reading it.

 

[snyderman]

As much as I love Infinite, its biggest flaw is being a BioShock game. It has such a direct, linear, and wasteless plot that wants nothing to do with BioShock and Rapture.

I would say that this problem is more evident in the Burial at Sea dlc than in the main game.

 

[snyderman]

There is a meta-interpretation I have mused over with some friends that the "circle" can only be broken if you never play BioShock Infinite again. Because every time you replay the game, you restart the cycle. You enter the game through a tear (fact) and begin playing a different universe from what you played before.

It's established that every time Booker dies, the player resumes the game at a similar point in a different universe. Every time Booker dies, the Lutece try again. Or simply have another Booker already in motion. Every time you respawn, you are a different Booker.

So every time you replay Infinite, you are spawning another Infinite through another tear. The cycle is unbroken (the etymology of "unbroken" can be interpreted as UNbreaking the circle, which WAS broken previously), and continues. The song isn't asking rhetorically, it's asking you.

This mirrors the meta that the only way the physical player can "beat" BioShock 1 is to turn off the game when Atlas tells you to insert the key into the control panel. BioShock says you do whatever you're told, regardless of the consequences, because you have been programmed to do it. You are a slave. And even when it tells you this, you still do what Atlas says and put the key into the machine.

Because you are a slave, and a slave obeys.

Fascinating interpretation. Makes sense giving the other bits of meta commentary in Infinite.

 

[NewGame]

I am totally on struggle street here, how does snake oil or the concept of the snake oil salesman relate to vigors?

If the snake oil sales man had a working product that did what it said it would then wouldn't the metaphor completely loose meaning?

If you're relating vigors to sin then aren't you addressing the genesis account when Adam and Eve took the fruit of good and bad? Unless you're saying the serpent in the tree was selling his-

Yep this isn't going anywhere. Vigors are in this game because reasons. It's not clever or enjoyable its just useless fluff factoids that vaguely relate to something else. Like how BioShock is 'deep' because 'Ayn rand' except instead of taking inspiration from a philosophy class they're taking it from Sunday school. So smart. Much clever.

 

[BocoDragon]

I am totally on struggle street here, how does snake oil or the concept of the snake oil salesman relate to vigors?

If the snake oil sales man had a working product that did what it said it would then wouldn't the metaphor completely loose meaning?

If you're relating vigors to sin then aren't you addressing the genesis account when Adam and Eve took the fruit of good and bad? Unless you're saying the serpent in the tree was selling his-

Yep this isn't going anywhere. Vigors are in this game because reasons. It's not clever or enjoyable its just useless fluff factoids that vaguely relate to something else. Like how BioShock is 'deep' because 'Ayn rand' except instead of taking inspiration from a philosophy class they're taking it from Sunday school. So smart. Much clever.

I don't have a problem with this reading of the Bioshock series. I always took it to be a videogame-ass-videogame with some mild intellectual themes.

If we want to chastise fans for making it out to be this philosophical masterpiece - hey, I'm with you. But I don't think it fails at what it does because the themes are occasionally shallower than what it has been made out to be. It's mainly a shooty-bang-bang game.