Anyone else *INSANELY* disappointed by Bioshock Infinite?

[IPunchWithMyFists]

Just did a weekend runthrough of the game. I have to say it's quite possibly the most disappointing game I've ever played in my life. Not worst, it's not THAT bad, but disappointing. I found myself hating every aspect of it after the half-way point.

Just so I don't seem like a cage rattling hypocrite looking for some easy attention, here's why in short form (because who the hell reads threads with intros over 4 paragraphs, honestly?). I'd be more than happy to elaborate on any of these points.

-Convoluted story
-Lack of narrative depth outside of explaining unnecessary convolution
-Dissonant dialog
-Inconsistent characters
-Incompatible controls for the new 'open arena, strafe-and-shoot' style of gameplay
-Backtracking is worse than ever
-Repetitive
-Enemies not as much a weighty challenge as an annoying obstacle
-Punished multiple times for doing thing the game told me to do
-Alternate world concept takes focus from the story
-Alternate world concept also entirely unnecessary from a narrative standpoint
-Worse ending twist than 'WIFE-ARM' from Bionic Commando

And to get this out of the way, I'm not here to bag on people who like it. You're free to your own opinion and I'd like to hear it. Not here to antagonize. Also, I'm not bagging on the series as a whole. LOVED Bioshock 1 and Bioshock 2 was... well, Bioshock 2. So any thoughts?

 

[Legion]

To be honest, I disagree with pretty much all of it.

The only things I'd criticise are:

- The weapons were a little boring. I liked the variety of the last two, as well as the unique mods. This time around they were pretty basic weapons with rather boring enhancements.

- The lack of explanation for some things was a little disappointing. I'd like to have found out more about the SongBird and the Vigors for example.

- The checkpoint system is horrible. They are too far apart, and only being able to have one save while relying on auto-saving is a terrible idea.

- At first the flying city aspect was amazing, but it quite quickly became rather irrelevant beyond needing skyrails to get around occasionally. I'd have liked the city to have a bit more depth to it.

- The ending felt a little rushed. It was going along smoothly, and then suddenly we were at the final scene and it was over. A little better pacing in the last hour would have been nice.

As for these points:

-Alternate world concept takes focus from the story
-Alternate world concept also entirely unnecessary from a narrative standpoint

If you honestly believe that, then I can only assume you missed half of the point of the story, because the alternate world concept is extremely relevant to the overall plot.

I also really liked the twist, even though I had figured out about half of it before it was revealed.

 

[IPunchWithMyFists]

My thoughts are that this topic took a week later than I expected to arrive.

Normally when an almost universally praised game gets released, it's about an hour or two before somebody creates a topic about how much they dislike it.

As for what you said, I disagree with pretty much all of it.

The only things I'd criticise are:

- The weapons were a little boring. I liked the variety of the last two, as well as the unique mods. This time around they were pretty basic weapons with rather boring enhancements.

- The lack of explanation for some things was a little disappointing. I'd like to have found out more about the SongBird and the Vigors for example.

- The checkpoint system is horrible. They are too far apart, and only being able to have one save while relying on auto-saving is a terrible idea.

- At first the flying city aspect was amazing, but it quite quickly became rather irrelevant beyond needing skyrails to get around occasionally. I'd have liked the city to have a bit more depth to it.

- The ending felt a little rushed. It was going along smoothly, and then suddenly we were at the final scene and it was over. A little better pacing in the last hour would have been nice.

As for these points:

-Alternate world concept takes focus from the story
-Alternate world concept also entirely unnecessary from a narrative standpoint

If you honestly believe that, then I can only assume you missed half of the point of the story, because the alternate world concept is extremely relevant to the overall plot.

I also really liked the twist, even though I had figured out about half of it before it was revealed.

I get that they really REALLY wanted to make the alternate world concept central, I mean it's even in the title, but its only purpose other than to make the whole "Elizabeth can do magic things" and the ending twist make sense, is to make Booker's parallel character arc an actual plot point. i.e., the man Booker COULD have become, hero of the Vox Populi and whatever, is now an actual part of the story.

I'm not trying to be a douche here, but what honestly is the point of the alternate world stuff if the story is, essentially a study of The Working Man vs. The Bourgeois and the duality of Booker's less-than-consistent character?

The only reason for the ending twist, also, is either two-fold. 1. The notion that a religious creed (the baptism) can-and-will turn a man into a racist, greedy, evil and self-righteous scumbag or 2. Sloppy writing that assumes we will believe that a (somewhat) arbitrary point in a man's life will literally change the man he becomes? Either way I found myself incredibly offended.

Though, again, this is all my opinion. People have read my opinions on games as personal attacks WAYYY too many times. Not that I'm assuming.

 

[jcfrommars9]

I was only that disappointed with the ending. The last twist in the ending was the first and far too obvious twist in the beginning. Plus these ambiguous endings are becoming commonplace which really doesn't make me think. No point in conjuring up an ending that will always have holes in it.

 

[ohnoitsabear]

I just finished it today, and I thought it was better than the first Bioshock. Yeah, I said it. This was the best damn shooter I've played in fucking years.

I actually really liked how the story worked out. I think that too many games these days have straightforward stories, and its nice to get one that definitely isn't. It was also nice to have a video game story go in a completely different direction than I expected it to without it pulling out random shit that makes no sense.

That's not to say there are no problems. The checkpoint system is awful, I hated the two-weapon switch system, and the weapons could have been far more interesting. But really, none of these problems significantly affect my opinion of the game.

Also, how the hell is the backtracking in this game worse than in Bioshock? I'll concede that the backtracking in the sidequests is awful, but if you ignore those, there really isn't any significant amount of backtracking in the game. Certainly not as much as Bioshock.

 

[IllumInaTIma]

As someone who enjoyed both Bioshock 1 and 2 I really loved Infinite. The thing is, I wasn't disappointed because I acknowledged that Infinite would be totally different from first incarnations, so I might've as well treated it as completely new IP.

 

[CityofTreez]

I really liked the first one, but Infinite blew everything I thought I was getting away. I expected a good game at least, but I didn't expect an incredible game.

It's not perfect. I would have liked manual saves, a little more RPG elements and maybe an ending that differed on what choices you had, but none of those took away from the game. on a scale of 1-10, I can't give it a lower score than that of a 9.5. I enjoyed it that much.

On a side note, I'm shocked it took a week for a thread like this to be made. It normally only takes a day (if that) to get a "this game is disappointing" thread.

 

[IPunchWithMyFists]

On a side note, I'm shocked it took a week for a thread like this to be made. It normally only takes a day (if that) to get a "this game is disappointing" thread.

My thoughts are that this topic took a week later than I expected to arrive.

Does this really happen that often? I'm not trying to be a dick about anything.

 

[Dryk]

-Dissonant dialog
-Inconsistent characters

I thought I was the only one that noticed that. One of my main criticisms as I was playing apart from the checkpoints was "Wait, where the hell did that conversation come from?". The game is sorely lacking in segues and context for its dialog, it seems like its been shoehorned in in places because it's dialog that has to happen.

I loved it still though.

 

[anthony87]

Actually I wasn't expecting much because I made it to the point after the big reveal in the first one and I stopped playing because I was bored and skipped the second one entirely.

In the end I was totally blown away with how good I found Infinite to be.

 

[Mr Mystery Guest]

Truly awesome. This game proves that you actually can by class.

 

[EHKOS]

I'm glad I'm not the only one. I'm going to mention this up front because it rustled some of my jimmies. On the PS3 version at least, it makes a new file everytime it auto-saves. So now I have about twenty save files I have to delete manually.

The vigors were half-assed to me. Charge was completely useless. Undertow could have been more imaginative, and Bucking Bronco was just...meh.

The story left me feeling blue-balled, and after days of reading online theories and making a few of my own, I have come to the conclusion it was meant to be individually interpreted.

There was no final boss AGAIN, and

Spoiler

You never got to fight Songbird

There were only four Handymen, and three Boys of Silence.

Spoiler

Why would the old, jaded Elizabeth want to help you out anyway? I guess she could have regretted everything, but it seems a tad unlikely if she's pissed enough to attack New York.

Everytime someone sneezed the audio logs volume would fade out so I couldn't hear any of them properly, and it's either because of this, or the city wasn't explored to the depth it should have been.

The whole Vox Populi thing was an...odd side story. The whole Industrial Revolution thing made it seem like they were going to be bigger than they were.

I think I had a few more minor complaints but I forgot them.

EDIT: Oh yeah,

Spoiler

When that chick mistakes Ellie for Annabelle, (should have tipped us all off but it didn't)it had me think, why was Elizabeth's name changed to Elizabeth in the first place? Beside to hide the fact she was your daughter. And how did this random chick know about that, unless it was bleed-over from another universe? That whole part didn't make sense to me.

 

[shrekfan246]

On a side note, I'm shocked it took a week for a thread like this to be made. It normally only takes a day (if that) to get a "this game is disappointing" thread.

My thoughts are that this topic took a week later than I expected to arrive.

Does this really happen that often? I'm not trying to be a dick about anything.

Oh yeah, we get "[Game] is overrated!" threads all the time whenever something that's been hyped up finally releases. People were calling Diablo III and Mass Effect 3 overrated before they even released. And then the internet had a massive collective toss-off about how "objectively terrible" those games were because of... well, everyone knows why.

OT: I loved it, myself, if only because I thought it was a massive improvement over what the first Bioshock had begun. As interesting as Rapture was, the amount of detail poured into Columbia grabbed me far more effectively, and as inconsistent as he may have been, I appreciated that Booker actually had a character.

 

[jetriot]

I loved the game and thought it was better than Bioshock 1 and 2. My only real gripe about the game was the save system as someone else stated. If I wanted to leave the game I would have to wait until I got to a checkpoint to do so. Loved the story, the ending, the powers. Loved it all.

 

[DrunkenMonkey]

I really don't think a lot of people in 2013 can get insanely disappointed over any game that's been overhyped, unless it's Aliens colonial marines where the devs do a bait and switch. Really any game that got reviews like Bioshock Infinite should be entered cautiously. As for the rest of your post OP that's just preferences, you may not like a convuluted story, but 20 other guys might. I will agree that some of the dialogue feels disjointed. Particularly the bit where Elizabeth mentions her pinkie, but other than that if you came in with the mindset that the game is a 7/10 or an 8/10 it's hard to be too disappointed by it.

The focus of the story obviously changed from Columbia to Booker and Elizabeth, but I'll give you that one, that's unforeseeable and shouldn't have been put on the back burner, then again the civil war story has been told a million times, so it's not like the fine motivations of Fitzroy or Comstock are particularly missed.

 

[DEAD34345]

Yeah, hype can do that to pretty much any game. I couldn't even bring myself to complete the first Bioshock, mainly because it seemed incredibly mediocre after all the talk I'd heard about it. After that I went into Infinite not expecting much, and was completely blown away by how good it was. It has a few flaws, but I wouldn't hesitate to call it a great game, and this is coming from someone who doesn't really care for the First Person Shooter genre at all.

The lack of explanation for some things was a little disappointing. I'd like to have found out more about the SongBird and the Vigors for example.

Not sure about the SongBird, but the Vigors were explained as being the same thing as Rapture's Plasmids, I believe. In some of the audio tapes Fink talks about stealing technology from the tears that show him other worlds, and at one point he mentions observing a brilliant biologist (presumably Tenenbaum).

 

[Innegativeion]

I'll keep it short and say I disagree. I loved Infinite almost as much as Bioshock... it's tough, actually, I'm not sure which I liked more.

Anyway, to me, the many worlds WAS the narrative, so I can't see how it would distract from itself. The many worlds are responsible for events throughout the entire game, and this is likewise hinted at and foreshadowed throughout the entire game. It also stands for the central metaphor of the game's theme;

It is NOT about how "religion is bad, don't get baptized". Remember that Booker is screwed with or without it.

The take-away message is that every choice matters, that choice has real power, and that it gives individuals infinite possibilities, and power over their own world. Furthermore,

Spoiler

The Booker who could only make bad choices willingly gave himself up to oblivion, as should be done with the darker part of ourselves. What is left is the Booker at the end of the credits; a transformed man who realizes the value of his only child.

He has all the power in the world now; the power to prevent Columbia, to save his daughter, to save his own soul. All he has to do is make the right choices, and NOT fall to alcoholism and gambling again.

It's about a man who did wrong by his daughter, and to what ends he would go back to make the right choice instead. The many worlds serve to illustrate how powerful his choices actually are.

 

[R.Nevermore]

Snip

I was glad there was no final boss, but there was a final fight. I never got the sense that I should have to fight comstock, a feeble old man as an epic encounter. I thought the much more personal encounter was better.

And as for the Annabelle thing from that random chick, I just thought it was some coincidence. Booker's daughter was never Annabelle, it was Anna. While similar enough to present some foreshadowing, it wasnt solid enough to give me any indication that this random agent knew the connection.

 

[IronMit]

As good as the story/atmosphere and world they have created is, my biggest disappointment is why the games have to be built on a first person shooter template. or any template for that matter.

Though credit to the devs; they seemed to have approached the game mechanics with a 'well as it's going to be a shooter, what powers and story elements can we add to make it less jarring'. So immediately it's a massive improvement over Tomb Raider.

It's a very good shooter with a story. But as an overall game it's the same old stuff, just executed very well, an immersive fresh universe, interesting characters and fun shootings with different approaches to the combat.

 

[Koshok]

I'm going to assume that anyone reading this won't mind spoilers. Just in case, consider this your spoiler warning.

I really liked the game, right up until the ending. It brings up so many questions that it just doesn't feel like answering. Once Songbird destroys the Columbia Monument, Elizabeth just becomes a completely different person. I assume this is because without the siphon, she is able to see all the different worlds, but I wouldn't expect a complete 180 change in personality immediately. Over time, sure, but it just felt unnatural, even under those conditions.

Let's just step through Elizabeth's actions at the end. She kills Songbird, even though he was her friend once upon a time, when she really didn't have to. She could have easily sent herself and Booker to Rapture without dragging Songbird along. Then she encourages, almost seems to force Booker to give Anna to Lutece. I still don't fully grasp the implications of that decision. That's how Anna becomes Elizabeth, but history could have been rewritten (I assume) such that Anna is raised by Booker, and Comstock or Elizabeth would never have been. Then Elizabeth drown Booker. The most shocking part of that, is that there were several versions of Elizabeth who all believed that be the proper course of action. To make sure Comstock never existed, I get that, but there were a number of other events that would have prevented DeWitt from becoming Comstock.

I just don't get the motivations. Did Elizabeth really believe that the series of events she chose would lead to the best outcome? For whom? It was all just very shocking. I'm still trying to decide whether I like the ending or not.