Enslaved: the little things I love and hate so far

I just got to the end of Chapter 2 of Enslaved, and there's already a lot I can say about this game. It's definitely enjoyable, despite the moments where it feels like an uncharted game (climbing, using signs as cover from gunfire). 

Here's what I love and hate so far:

Love:

- Monkey's facial expressions. I know we've come to expect this from Ninja Theory, but they're really awesome.

- Tripp's voice acting and general demeanour - she feels more lifelike than even Elizabeth in Bioshock Infinite

- Sci Fi setting, story involving mechs, slavers and a green NYC; generally wanting to find out more

- A game about two characters bonding after the apocalypse

(Hrmm... almost all of these relate to the story and not to the gameplay, and yet I'm struggling to add more)

Hate (and I use that term loosely):

- Monkey's weird amorphous accent. He's generally gruff which is fine but sometimes he sounds like an old mobster and sometimes he doesn't.  It's not very consistent.

- Combat is...repetitive (so far), and usually Ninja Theory games have decent combat, so I'll wait for this to improve.

- Fake platforming. If you're gonna make me press A to jump at the edge of a ledge, and not really allow me to fuck it up, then don't make me press A at all, just auto-jump it. Jumping always takes you exactly as far as you need to go, you can't over or under jump, so there's no tension in doing it. Sometimes I'd just mash the direction stick and A until Monkey would go where I'd want him to. I appreciate the game would've been too hard if you could fall off ledges, but the platforming kind feels a bit meh sometimes. It is a nice opportunity to check out the scenery though.

- That first boss. How many times did you guys fight him before realising you were supposed to get him to charge the statue? Maybe 10-12 deaths here. Did I miss some prompt immediately before the battle or was I supposed to just figure it out?! I did laugh when those fish died after Tripp literally just said they'd been alive for hundreds of years

Ok so maybe I shouldn't have written this up so soon after that first boss.

Bioshock: Selection of quotes from Neptune's Bounty

I do not recommend searching for these, as the internet will try very hard to spoil this game for you, but here are some audio tapes from Neptune's Bounty:

Ryan: This Fontaine fellow is somebody to watch. Once, he was just a menace, to be convicted and hung. But he always manages to be where the evidence isn't. He's the most dangerous type of hoodlum... the kind with vision.

-------

Sullivan: Mr. Ryan asked me personally to make this clear to you. You give us Fontaine, and this whole filthy ring of his, and you'll be knocking back pints up at the Fighting McDonaghs. But if you prefer to play the mule... we'll treat you like a mule... Give him a taste, Patrick... 

(Timmy screams from electrocution) 

Sullivan: Oh, what's that? Change of heart, Timmy? Timmy? Ready to talk now? 

Timmy H: Go on, Sullivan... go on and do your dirty! ...whatever Ryan thinks he can do to me, Fontaine can do double!

------- 

McDonagh: Mr. Ryan... I believe in Rapture. But that doesn't mean we always win. Fontaine Futuristics is the biggest thing going in Rapture. So let me be plain: when we arrest that toe-rag Fontaine for his thieving and smuggling, we must make it clear that we won't touch his business interests. We sit on the Council because these poor sods trust us... not because God gave us a chair.

-------

Ryan: The death penalty in Rapture! Council's in an uproar. Riots in the streets they say! But this is the time for leadership. Action must be taken against the smugglers. Any contact with the surface exposes Rapture to the very Parasites we fled from. A few stretched necks are a small price to pay for our ideals.

-------

McDonagh: Rapture's changing, but Ryan can't see the wolves in the woods. This Fontaine fellow... he's a crook and a proper tea leaf, but he's got the ADAM, and that makes him the guv'nor. He's sinking the profits back into bigger and better Plasmids, building them Fontaine Poorhouses... more like Fontaine recruiting centers... 'Fore we know it, Bloke's gonna have an army of Splicers, and we're gonna have ourselves a whole heap of miseries.

BioShock: NB (In the end... our choices, make us.)

“A man creates.  A parasite asks, ‘where’s my share?’”

I’ve started this post three different times, and every time I feel ready to post you guys bring up something else I want to address.  So let me start with the obvious.

Joker, about your rescue stories, I’m pretty sure the pattern is every three sisters.  And I only know this because I’ve rescued six total.  But how the hell did I do this?  Between the Medical facility and Neptune’s bounty it should only have been five sisters? 

Turns out I activated a glitch in the game by accident.  I looked up the Wiki; just to be sure I wasn’t crazy. (POSSIBLE SPOILERS, but the one in reference should be at the top of the page)

Before I found out that I had started this glitch, what was driving me nuts (and probably cost me another hour and a half of playing time) was the sheer worry that I missed saving a sister.  Every time I tried to enter Fontaine Fisheries and battle Peachy it kept issuing a warning that I missed a sister.  Which prompted me to go back through the entire level AGAIN to make sure I got them all.  Three good things did come out of this:

• I’ve gotten a hell of a lot better at battling Big Daddies.  I fought an extra three battles by mistake thinking that a sister would come out.
• The Shotgun is my fucking jam.  The frag grenade/proximity mines being a very close second.  
• I love crowd control. I made all my money back that I spent in the stores/ammo shops since Big Daddies (or Rosies… whoever the hell they are) drop about 60-70 bucks a pop.

Another annoying glitch I found was when I get killed.  If I’m in the middle of firing a gun, and I get killed while pulling the trigger – the entire clip empties if I don’t switch the gun.  Either way you still lose a few bullets because you can’t switch until you completely revitalize at the vita-chamber.  Such bullshit.

Now, for my real notes about this thing:

Joker, I finally share your love for hacking things – that is, once I got the slow-flow upgrade plasmid.  I now hack everything in sight, and it makes the security cameras a complete joke.

My plasmid use is mainly Electro Bolt, Telekinesis, and Winter Blast currently.  I did swap WB for Incinerate when I went to battle Peachy.  That fucker deserved to fry.  Especially when I found out that after I deposited my weapons, the people he sent after me used my own ammo against me.  Once I recollected my weapons, my ammo was almost exactly halved.  I immediately walked back to his body and lit him on fire again. 

I also love how different all of us are in our approaches to battles.  I manipulate surroundings to do most of my fighting, and you absolutely have to in order to limit Big Daddy damage.  Spacing is critical, and setting traps has evolved into my favorite pastime in this game.  First time I laid a satisfying trap was after I killed Steinman, and all the splicers start running down the hall at you.  I backed up, lit a wall of oil on fire as they crossed, and all of them died instantly.  There has been a different way to get around obstacles while saving your health packs, and you feel so much smarter when you find a new way to do so.  This loops back to my wasted time looking for a little sister that didn’t exist.  I battled the Big Daddy in the bar by laying three proximity mines across the floor he was standing – and watched him walk into all my mines.  He was dead within 60 seconds.  Telekinesis is also vital when battling them – if you catch his own mines and throw them back at him you save ammo and get such a larger sense of satisfaction knowing his own weapon killed him.  And I just realized I love playing hot potato with Big Daddy.

Photography is acceptable.  If it helps raise my damage against what I photo, I’ll keep doing it.  Finding more film seems easy enough so far.  It gave me a free upgrade plasmid too.

This game doesn’t scare me much, but it sure as hell creeps me out.  That laughter at the Circus of Value machine still gives me shivers.  Especially if you pause while it’s running – the laughter just trails off into silence.  Yeesh.

The audio diaries continue to be fantastic.  You can feel the sheer hatred between Ryan and Fontaine in their tapes.  Another one I found equally entertaining was the audio diary of Sullivan while he was ‘interrogating’ a suspect in the locked room outside the fishery.  You just hear the guy getting shocked while he was talking, a nice dose of old school mob behavior.

So excited for a new checkpoint – See you guys in Arcadia.

(Side note: have any of you played Skies of Arcadia?  AWESOME GAME.)

SBG

BioShock: Neptune's Bounty (You Can Go Your Own Way)

i just wanted to take a quick moment after reading the two most recent posts to say how interesting i find it that, in a game that is largely linear - it's not a sandbox at all - we've managed to approach things very differently. Granted, some of that is set up by the choice system of the game, but i'm really talking about our different combat styles. HotFuj talks about his controlling Big Daddies and manipulating splicers. I certainly have those plasmids and thought they were a neat idea but found them largely useless because i'm just not encountering Big Daddies enough to justify that slot being taken. Wallaby talked about the kinesis and rag doll physics. Don't get me wrong, i used them, noted them and then quickly swapped out that plasmid because i didn't feel like searching for gas tanks to toss around when i needed something more inherently offensive.

For better or worse, the choices we make on that fundamental level really changes the gameplay, potentially more than even the Harvest vs Rescue choice and i have a level of fascination about that from a game-producer standpoint. These guys are creating a shared experience, much like a movie, but it has the added layer of how the individual approaches it. It's not even about BioShock so much as it's about the nature of interactive entertainment (two-way) vs traditional entertainment (one-way). Gamers always know it's there on some subconscious level but this blog is a satisfying way of setting aside the time to devote focused thought at the paradigm.

Wallaby's feelings about him aside, a while ago (about a month before Beyond: Two Souls launched) i had a nice long talk with David Cage about the future of gaming. I was surprised by his reluctance to acknowledge the similarities and influences between Cinema and Video Games, especially because his work seems to be largely cinematic and Beyond was featuring two well known actors providing both voice and their likenesses directly translated into a game. In dancing around this comparison, i asked him "Since movies were originally shared in a communal setting (a theater) and then shrunk down for individual consumption in a living room, do you ever think that video games which are made for the living room can ever go the opposite direction and be shared at once with many people in a theater?"

His answer was somewhat evasive mainly, i think, because it's an interesting idea without a simple solution. Online multiplayer and co-op seemed to be the current answer that video games are giving to that question but its a fun little brain exercise to think: What kind of game could be brought to a group of, say 50, people all at once in a single location and how would you do it?

Next checkpoint sounds good, Wallaby. My week is a bit hectic with yet another console launch and i have the added bonus of being a groomsman in a wedding on Saturday too. I'll do my best to reach the checkpoint with everyone.

On a completely unrelated note: I've been playing Forza5 all morning and have finally raced enough to send my Drivatar out into the world. Yup, there is currently an artificial version of my own intelligence racing against other journalists and beta testers and microsoft officials while i sit here and blog. It is simultaneously a source of pride and deep concern to know that, even on this extremely superficial level, my consciousness is existing in some virtual world without my knowledge of what it's doing. Welcome to the future.

-joker

Next week's goal

Having just consulted a walkthrough, I think that we should get to the beginning of Fort Frolic by next weekend, 23 November.

Should be a sizeable chunk of game comparable to the Neptune's Bounty segment, if not slightly longer.

Re: BioShock: Neptune's Bounty (Hey Soul Sister)

You're right behind where I stopped actually, If you finish that Smuggler's Hideout section you'll get to Arcadia which is where I stopped. I suspect it's 5-10 minutes of playtime from where you are, and not much action, mainly story.

Thank god for the grenade launcher, a lot of my money goes into ammo for that. The machine gun is my main weapon though. I love the way the weapons feel and look and reload in this game. They get even cooler as you upgrade them. I'm gonna to focus on upgrading those two, before moving on to the shotgun. 

The camera - it increases the damage you deal to enemies which you've photographed, notwithstanding useless hints like 'use armour piercing rounds!'. I actually use it, it's easy and quick to switch out if you hold RB to bring up the weapon wheel. Having said that, the mission to photo the 3 Spider Splicers for Peach is one of the low points of the game, aside from the awesome audio tapes you find throughout.

Do you guys use the hints? I didn't until I couldn't find the 3rd fucking Spider Splicer, and the hint told me exactly where he was. Pretty cool guidance system, because it somehow makes you feel bad about using it (maybe because it's limited to 3 uses). Contrast this with a game like Mass Effect or Dead Space where I'm constantly pushing down R3 to see where the objective is because it's just natural.

Twice now the game has spawned me into a raging battle when I load up (and I don't remember saving in those circumstances). So I hear you on that one. I also agree entirely on Rapture being a bit gross. It was more obvious when I came upon a splicer talking to himself in a flooded bathroom.

On Harvesting/Rescuing, I guess i'm just a bad guy when I'm scared. I'm normally the paragon character in video games, but in Bioshock (last time at least), I thought fuck it, more power!! I think it was the giant needles that made me instantly want the little monsters harvested last time around. The only reason I'm not harvesting them now is that I am going for a 'different gaming experience' and despite the teddy bear rewards, I feel like I am somewhat hindered for rescuing the evil little monsters.

Fontaine's audio tapes are some of the best in the game, I might try to find some quotes from the ones found in Neptune's Bounty. Also, Sully's are pretty interesting too (he's the head of Rapture's security).

- W

BioShock: Neptune's Bounty (Hey Soul Sister)

I didn't finish off the good doctor before i ended the last session (had to sign off because of Wallaby's screaming) so i opened this session with a boss battle.  It did not go well, partly because i didn't expect it and partly because, after a week of playing other things, i was going into it with a disoriented muscle memory. Didn't take long to get back to normal but a very unwelcoming return to Rapture.

Harvest or Rescue? i was only slimly aware of the implications of this choice. The end result of getting loot was very secondary in my decision because the primary consideration (for me) is what it says about the kind of person I want to be (in the game). I want to be a hero. Are my good intentions paving the way to hell? i don't know but i do know a hero doesn't kill children when there's an alternative. i'm rescuing the little sisters. and, damn, they sure do make me feel appreciated when i do. Though it's slightly off-putting when, after you save them, they talk about getting sleepy and then crawl into a nearby hole and out of sight.  (Soap Box, i got a teddy bear after rescuing three little sisters but haven't gotten anything extra after saving two more.) Still, i have more than enough ADAM and i'm really only using a combination of three offensive plasmids (ice, fire, electro). I've also become quite fond of my machine gun and rarely feel a pinch on my ammo.  High accuracy and lots of scavenging, FTW.

On a side note (i'm writing this during a pause from gameplay); If you put aside the flashiness and imaginary sparkle that Rapture, presumably, had before its downfall, wouldn't it still suck to live there? It just feels like everything would be wet ALL THE TIME. Even if you weren't physically wet, i bet there'd be this unstoppable feeling of being wet. The whole place makes me feel like my socks are soaked inside my shoes. Seems very unpleasant.

Other miscellany:
Big Daddies don't scare me. I still manage to have a ton of cash and it all goes into first aid kits. Load up six of those and top off my EVE and go into the fight. The grenade launcher has helped (see below).

This game doesn't scare me. I think it's funny that you have to play in the morning, Wallaby. I started the second session around 1130 last night and stopped around 1am. Saw HotFuj on around the same time who ignored my Party Invite, you bastard.

Shooting enemies....with a camera. What the shit is this? i keep doing it and the only thing i've gained is the occasional tidbit of knowledge like armor piercing rounds are useful on Rosie. Oh, really? The gigantic armored bodyguard is susceptible to bullets that pierce armor. Cheers for that, you researcher nerds. Am i missing something?

Hacking: i still fucking love it. My default state in the game is with two hover bots watching my back. Hack ALL the things!

That Grenade Launcher: Electric Plasmid + Heat Seeking Missiles is just nasty.

Peach, that fishmongering mother fucker. Very nifty the way they took away all my weapons in that fight. Atlas goes out of his way to say he couldn't take away my plasmids. You know what else he couldn't take away? My hacking skills. Froze a couple of enemies, hacked every auto bot and turret in the place and scavenged the rooms on the wings while my minions did the dirty work, then came back to loot the bodies. Who needs guns?

"You don't fuck Fontaine, Fontaine fucks you." Ha. Great bit of dialogue that came out of nowhere.

I just left off in the Submarine Room where i was supposed to meet up with Atlas, finally. Hope i didn't get too carried away and go too far. Seemed like a good place to stop though.

So, what's the next checkpoint?

-joker

Bioshock: Harvest or Rescue (+ tiny update on goal posts)

Minor update on goal posts: I just got to the end of Neptune's Bounty. I stopped immediately after Smuggler's Hideout (a very short section), as soon as I got to Arcadia.

On rescuing vs harvesting - you've probably have read that the ending of the game is somewhat of a let down compared to the overall experience. On that basis, I didn't bother with the morality system last time I played the game. I harvested every single little sister. I agreed with Atlas, look at these little monsters, what good could come out of them? 

This time around, I've been rescuing them. I suppose the little animation of them saying thank you (which I'd never seen before) made me feel a little bad about previously consuming them all. But I still don't feel great about rescuing them so far, I feel like I'm missing out on precious ADAM, despite the game's way of making it up to you. Big daddies kill me repeatedly and splicers still scare the shit out of me. As much as I love Rapture, I really hate this place when I feel weak.

Things I've noticed generally:

- I can only play this game in the morning when it's really bright outside

- I sometimes want to mute the TV because I just can't handle hearing some of the things random enemies say

- Big Daddies are hard as fuck so far, I'm so happy to be able to ignore them when I know I've dealt with all the Little Sisters in the area.

- I've found that 'pausing' the game during battles, by bringing up the weapon/plasmid wheel, really helps me stay calm under pressure

- This game stresses me out

There is a TON of story packed into the audio tapes in Neptune's Bounty - Fontaine's rise within Rapture, his power struggle with Ryan, how that affected the citizens of Rapture etc. Lots to discuss there.

W 

Re: Rapture Revisited

Ha! That weapon is awesome... I'm somewhat ashamed to admit I've actually never played any of the Half Life games.

We are playing (hopefully) a slightly bigger chunk before next Friday 15 November, getting to the end of Neptune's Bounty. 

If we determine (probably this weekend) that this goal is too ambitious or too easy, we will reevaluate and post.

Good to have you on board! 

- Wallaby

Re: Rapture Revisited

-       Nothing like eating potato chips straight from the garbage.  Who the hell throws a full bag of chips away?  Better question – I haven't been in Rapture for more than five minutes and I've already gone this low?

Haha this is true of so many video games, but somehow the Bioshocks make it seem especially ridiculous. I think it's the specific use of 'potato chips', particularly in a game that contains health packs.

-       Plasmid use has to be the closest event I've seen to equate the actual use of heroin.  

I agree. i find it somewhat disturbing every time I have to reload my plasmids, particularly in the heat of a battle as mentioned before. You truly feel like a junkie when people are shooting at you and attacking you with knives but you still need to take a second to shoot something up. 

 

-       This Atlas character.  Dude I only have been talking to you for 10 minutes on a radio, and you want me to rescue your entire family?  Seriously, WTF did you do to have to rely on me?

Gotta love his accent though! One of the most memorable voice acting jobs of the last generation that didn't come from Nolan North or Troy Baker. 

 

-       Another note about the audio diaries – it's considerably slowed down my gameplay.  I love listening to them, but it has me on edge.  I worry so much about missing one that I search rooms at such a slow rate. 

Agree, nothing sucks more than hearing two audio tapes by the same character and feeling like you've missed one in between. It's also frustrating when you're trying to listen to one and you get attacked out of nowhere. I've ended up listening to several diaries twice because I was in a state of panic the first time round (or there was a splicer talking over it). 

 

-       Hacking sucks.  I may be more upset at this because of my day job, but man this rip-off of Pipe Dream makes me angry.  Difficulty could be on easy for a vending machine and I get 3 seconds to solve it.  Get this mini-game out of my face.

 

No way! I love that shit! It can really add to "the heat of the moment" when you really feel it's necessary to hack that turret before, say, a set of baddies enter the room (and you can hear them coming). Some hacks can be prohibitively hard though. 

Lastly, I definitely agree on the telekinesis being a fun plasmid to use - Ragdoll physics makes throwing bodies at splicers especially fun!

Whooo it's a rainy weekend in England and the girlfriend has plans... It's all coming together for a heavy gaming session.

- Wallaby

 

Re: Bioshock - 1st Discussion

Guy Fieri:
 

SBG - Great point about having to save Atlas' family within first five minutes. Dude, what was your name again? Atlas? Where am I? I just survived a harrowing plane crash to find an underwater city, and this dude is asking me to basically go John McClain and save people. I'm trying not to vomit and die from fear.

Also, yes, seeing this when it was "Utopia" if it ever was would have been amazing.

Bioshock - 1st Discussion (or segment or whatever you want to call it)

Bioshock - Played up to Telekinesis.

This is the second time I have attempted to play through Bioshock. The first time, I stopped at the point of getting the Inferno plasmid. After this play-through, I noticed that I am significantly more scared, and that I tend to use my First-Aid packets accidentally more often. Why? I blame it on my age as well as the fact that my fiance was trying to engage in conversation with me (she was in the kitchen and thus yelling so I can hear), scaring me on every single front.

I really enjoy the environment and have little idea of the story of Bioshock or how it will end. I think the characters of Ryan and Steadman are incredibly fascinating, but more so, the side characters of Tenenbaum and Diane add a level of intrigue to the whole atmosphere. We have to meet them eventually, or see how they end up, right?

The philosophy theme is an interesting one at that. This is taking place during the 50's, when ideology was at the forefront of discussion, compared to now, when people are more apt to discuss how the Kardashians and Guy Fieri are popular and thriving. Thinkers like Ryan, who try to implement their beliefs into practice usually have a tough go of it, but to see Rapture, one has to think that he did smell the sweet embrace of success.

Did cabin fever doom the city? I'm curious to find out what the hell is going on. One thing I want to ask you guys, do you have any idea what was the explanation for Adam / plasmids? Are they genetic enhancements Ryan promoted to develop a perfect genetic race? Seems kinda advanced for the 50s.

Favorite part so far - Lighting the splicers on fire after getting the Inferno plasmid.
Scariest part so far - using all my health accidentally while trying to kill that group of splicers and co. in a darkened room.

Our continuing collage of cool splicers. (I did search her and received 3 dollars).

Welcome to Rapture: Collectibles

So in starting off Bioshock, I somehow missed two early audio-tapes. I wondered, what games did you ever seriously care about the collectibles? For me, Tomb Raider (the OG), the collectibles were sooo addictive. Recently, Last of Us (sorry Joker), new Tomb Raider and Batman: Arkham Asylum both really made me want to find every little thing.

I really want to start doing this for Bioshock, but going back and re-starting is way too annoying. What do you guys think about collectibles in games? Worth it, do you care? Does it make you go back to games?

Welcome to Rapture: Pre-Post Thoughts

As an aside, I paid the $10 to officially change my gamertag to Hotfuj, so don't ever say I am not financially invested into this.

Here are some quick notes before I finish up to "Chapter 2" (which we delineated as the moment you get telekinesis). Also, it's funny that my iPhone knows that I spelled Joel Schumacher's name wrong. 

Bioshock's opening hour

Update: Bioshock is not as clear as we thought in terms of telling the player when they've reached a new chapter. So in light of that, we're only playing up until you get the Telekinesis plasmid then stopping until the Saturday 9 November. I refuse to change the way I write dates.


Fear Factor

So this game is a LOT creepier than I remember! Whenever I think of Bioshock, I tend to remember the story and lore of Rapture much more than I remember the actual gameplay, which has been pretty much terrifying so far!

Anyway, I just love this game's opening. You get so much information about the world of Rapture from the opening sequence before you really even get to move around in the city.

I also especially liked the speech Andrew Ryan gives about a man's sweat during the opening

There's Andrew Ryan's speech, Atlas and friend trying to get you out of the bathysphere, that splicer woman who Atlas' friend meets. And before all that, in the lighthouse the statue of Ryan with the inscription "No Kings, No Gods, Only Men".

The juxtaposition of the utopian beautiful city on the outside with the scary-as-all-hell place on the inside really adds a lot to the 'realism' of Rapture as a paradise fallen, and the vox tapes do a wonderful job of filling in the details of the city's decline.  Diane McClintock's vox tapes allow the player to witness her progression first from Andrew Ryan's devoted lover to a misshapen and bewildered victim of the Kashmir Restaurant bombing and ultimately one of Dr Steinman's first plastic surgery experiments (at a point when he'd clearly lost his mind and believed that genetic rewriting was the only path to beauty). 

Few games are this good at making you remember an NPC's name, and wanting to learn more about their fate, despite this being completely separate to the game's main narrative. I am not sure if I ever saw Diane McClintock (or her body) in my first play through of this game, but I remembered her story the moment I listened to the first vox tape I found, and I wanted to hear it again.

Just a short manifesto written in blood outside a door

Anyway, onto the game playing experience.

The game seemed pretty scary initially, with splicers screaming horrific things like "make me beautiful again", but I quickly started feeling invincible - I was holding 9 health packs and tons of Eve, zapping and clocking each individual splicer I came across with my wrench as I proceeded along the way Atlas directs. The game, the splicers, and the environments didn't really seem scary anymore, maybe just a bit creepy.

Certainly a creepy body, but still not quite scary yet...

But this all changed the moment the game locked me in a room with a fire turret and a gazillion splicers. All my supplies were used up, I died clearing that room, and the reality check wasn't lost on me. The game wasn't as easy as I thought I remembered it being. The feeling of invincibility was gone. The initial fear was back. Seeing this fucking thing didn't really help:

WTF

Slight aside - I love that Bioshock doesn't really punish you for death, though some may argue that makes it too easy. You simply respawn while all of your attackers stay where they are, waiting for you to come back and get them.

One thing I hate about Bioshock, though, is the inability to dual wield (which you can definitely do in Infinite, and presumably Bioshock 2?). There is an awful pause which can be deadly when switching from weapon to plasmid and vice versa. If your Eve meter is empty, the odds of dying increase dramatically as you watch Jack slowly shoot himself up like a junkie while being attacked. I also initially didn't like pressing B to use a health pack (because I forgot to do it several times) but I got used to this one.

So yeah, I guess the takeaway of my first 'diary post' is that the game can be terrifying. Especially in moments like the one below, when you have no health, no eve, no ammo, and you can hear that evil bastard splicer around that corner (thank goodness I had my hacked and confused turret buddy on hand when I did eventually turn that corner):

FML

Somehow, I managed to make it to a vending machine where I bought health. I'm now rolling around with my electricity and newfound telekinesis plasmids (left the incinerator one out for now, because I overused that plasmid on my first playthrough and would like to experience new things) waiting to meet Dr Steinman. 

I do hate buying Eve or health at vending machines because it's usually so plentiful, but sometimes there's simply no other way to get comfortable!

- Wallaby

Re: Bioshock - 1 November 2013

oooh, Bioshock. That sounds neat.

I'm the most mainstream gamer of the three. i've made my peace with the amount of crap that gets thrown my way because of it. I like big budget games, wanna fight about it? Because i will, and i'll be overly verbose when i do. 

BioShock somehow slipped through my net though. unusual for a GOTY or a platinum hit but weirder things have happened, like the fact that i didn't enjoy The Last of Us. Or so i'm told. Often. 

You know what's nice? Writing about games in the first person. I don't get to do that very often. It feels good to be "me" and not "we" for a change. 

My copy of BioShock is en route. i guess i'll distract myself from the wait by helping Wallaby figure out how to use a blog. 

-joker

Re: Bioshock - 1 November 2013

I kind of wish I played this game with a microphone nearby so everyone could hear the way I scream. Also, Wallaby, can we please remember that the other two people are on the other side of the pond, so we will actually be starting Bioshock on NOVEMBER 1, 2013.

I'm quite excited to re-start it. I don't really remember why I stopped, I just know that it gave my fiance dizzy spells. Maybe I just answered my own question. Anyway, I plan on trying to soak in all the audio tapes, letters and environment Bioshock has to offer.

-Hotfuj

Bioshock - 1 November 2013

We will begin playing Bioshock, the one great Bioshock, on 1 November 2013. HotFuj has started it, Joker has never played it, and I've finished it but looking to replay it before the Bioshock Infinite Rapture DLC comes out.

We will only play the first two chapters in preparation for a discussion of the game on 7 November 2013. Things to watch out for are: intense and extreme Ayn Rand themes, awesome steam punk weapons, and some of the creepiest bad guys you'll ever see in the Splicers and Big Daddies.

Looking forward to Joker's first impressions on this one, but given the way he describes The Last Of Us, maybe deep story telling experiences just aren't his thing...

- Wallaby