Serial Killer Round 48: It's finished.
- Thread starter RaNDM G
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@Schizzy: The initial showing was an adventure title with detective elements. DeWitt is a private investigator, providing the perfect motivation for him to investigate the goings-on in Colombia. Recovering Elizabeth while maintaining his cover could have introduced new character dynamics, allowing the player to make agonizing decisions to keep out of harm's way. Elizabeth was an interactive AI that actively used Vigors in combat, allowing for new tactics in the battlefield. The Founders and Vox Populi were more violent, but showed more unity and political sway. Playing the factions off each other would have better served the player's end goal. More than anything, the premise of plunging into tears and exploring alternate worlds, where you could actually witness the opposite consequences of your actions, had me excited.
In the end, it was another shoot 'em up in a line of generic shoot 'em ups. The character's cover is blown not five minutes after arriving. Both political factions want you dead. Elizabeth was only ever good for picking locks, making the game feel like one big escort mission. The last half of the game was... Well, I'd need weeks to tear that apart.
Unlike the first and second games, there was no intellectual stimulation, no internal debate on technology, philosophy, or the morals of a xenophobic society. The player's only motivation to face Comstock is his portrayal as being genuinely evil.
Infinite is not a thinking man's game. It takes several steps back from the ethical debates underlying its predecessors, and I do not believe it is worthy of carrying the Shock title.
Now I can see why 2K was advertising to frat guys. That was the game's target audience.
In the end, it was another shoot 'em up in a line of generic shoot 'em ups. The character's cover is blown not five minutes after arriving. Both political factions want you dead. Elizabeth was only ever good for picking locks, making the game feel like one big escort mission. The last half of the game was... Well, I'd need weeks to tear that apart.
Unlike the first and second games, there was no intellectual stimulation, no internal debate on technology, philosophy, or the morals of a xenophobic society. The player's only motivation to face Comstock is his portrayal as being genuinely evil.
Infinite is not a thinking man's game. It takes several steps back from the ethical debates underlying its predecessors, and I do not believe it is worthy of carrying the Shock title.
Now I can see why 2K was advertising to frat guys. That was the game's target audience.
@RaNDM: I guess I had the benefit of not immersing myself in all the Bioshock Infinite PR and hadn't built up the same expectations for it as you had. Admittedly, I expected Elizabeth to be more active in combat, I was denied the ability to catch an artillery round with my bare hands and there was no opportunities for skyline combat like they had initially shown.
I disagree that it is just like any other shoot 'em up, but then again, neither did it feel much different from the first Bioshock. The tears in combat were of questionable value most of the time. And I dare say that I was less horrified dealing with the freaks in Columbia than those in Rapture, whose inhabitants often made it difficult to keep my pants clean for long.
As for Elizabeth in combat, I felt her passive involvement in combat is more in keeping with her character that they finalised on. For someone who's lived isolated from the horrors of the real world but who's had the opportunity to think for herself, I think that they've captured her personality in combat fairly well; an unwilling participant in violence but not useless by any means.
Perhaps, intellectual stimulation-wise, it could have been better. I was a little let down in that the political intrigue, religion and xenophobia had not been explored more. But given the circumstances that it's more about a 'rescue' than a tale of espionage, I was somewhat satisfied that these issues were only covered via voxaphone recordings. The onus has always been on the player to put it together themselves, just like the first Bioshock. I can't speak for any of the System Shock titles as I've never played them.
Speaking of voxaphones, I was disappointed that listening to some of them never really advanced or enhanced Booker and Elizabeth's interactions with each other. You'd think with the revelations about Comstock, Columbia, the Luteces and Elizabeth, more discourse could have taken place between the two. I guess that's where the first Bioshock succeeds, in that your communications with Atlas and Ryan actually drove the story further.
Where Bioshock Infinite shines is emotional impact. Where Jack was a voiceless protagonist, Booker wasn't. He had personality and a past you wanted to know more of (but sadly, it wasn't explored in greater detail). He could make a connection with deuteragonist Elizabeth. As your extension, you make a connection to them too. Much more than was ever possible with Jack and the Little Sisters. You'd laugh with them. You'd cry with them. You'd hurt with them. You'd heal with them.
So, no, Bioshock Infinite isn't a thinking man's game, like you say. But it's more akin to a great storybook that plays with your heartstrings.
I guess it appears that I've made a lot of excuses for the game, but they're the reason why I love it all the same.
And it's been long time since I've ever been lumped together with frat boys, seeing that I'm 30+ an all that. (I kid. I had taken no offense.)
I disagree that it is just like any other shoot 'em up, but then again, neither did it feel much different from the first Bioshock. The tears in combat were of questionable value most of the time. And I dare say that I was less horrified dealing with the freaks in Columbia than those in Rapture, whose inhabitants often made it difficult to keep my pants clean for long.
As for Elizabeth in combat, I felt her passive involvement in combat is more in keeping with her character that they finalised on. For someone who's lived isolated from the horrors of the real world but who's had the opportunity to think for herself, I think that they've captured her personality in combat fairly well; an unwilling participant in violence but not useless by any means.
Perhaps, intellectual stimulation-wise, it could have been better. I was a little let down in that the political intrigue, religion and xenophobia had not been explored more. But given the circumstances that it's more about a 'rescue' than a tale of espionage, I was somewhat satisfied that these issues were only covered via voxaphone recordings. The onus has always been on the player to put it together themselves, just like the first Bioshock. I can't speak for any of the System Shock titles as I've never played them.
Speaking of voxaphones, I was disappointed that listening to some of them never really advanced or enhanced Booker and Elizabeth's interactions with each other. You'd think with the revelations about Comstock, Columbia, the Luteces and Elizabeth, more discourse could have taken place between the two. I guess that's where the first Bioshock succeeds, in that your communications with Atlas and Ryan actually drove the story further.
Where Bioshock Infinite shines is emotional impact. Where Jack was a voiceless protagonist, Booker wasn't. He had personality and a past you wanted to know more of (but sadly, it wasn't explored in greater detail). He could make a connection with deuteragonist Elizabeth. As your extension, you make a connection to them too. Much more than was ever possible with Jack and the Little Sisters. You'd laugh with them. You'd cry with them. You'd hurt with them. You'd heal with them.
So, no, Bioshock Infinite isn't a thinking man's game, like you say. But it's more akin to a great storybook that plays with your heartstrings.
I guess it appears that I've made a lot of excuses for the game, but they're the reason why I love it all the same.
And it's been long time since I've ever been lumped together with frat boys, seeing that I'm 30+ an all that. (I kid. I had taken no offense.)
@Shizzy: That may be one of the reason's I dislike this game. I'm a cynic at heart, hence, it doesn't take much for me to be pulled out of a game's immersion.Schizzy said:
It's not that the game did not meet my expectations. Game themes change over time, that's a natural part of development. The problem lies in the huge divergence between game-play and story, where hyper-violent combat contrasts with Colombia itself. There is such a disparity between the game-play and the themes Infinite tries to address, it feels like I'm playing two different games. It's a very muddled experience.
I'm glad you enjoyed the game. I just wish it lived up to the previous games, or at least embraced the shooter it was.
@RaNDM: You're entitled to your opinion and preference and you shall earn no condemnation from me.
And yes, the hyper-violence does contrast starkly against the idyllic world of Columbia (which is why I avoid melee combat like the plague and loathe using murder of crows). Thankfully, none of the violence was anywhere near as violent as the first death in Columbia. I just stared at the dead policeman for what felt like hours in the aftermath.
I've heard it said that the hyper-violence highlights the underlying reality that Columbia isn't as perfect as we are led to believe. What kind of society thinks it's perfectly normal to kill a mixed couple with baseballs, or execute convicts with a Skyhook to the face?
But personally, I think it would have done just as well without it. I dare not even show the game to my wife
And yes, the hyper-violence does contrast starkly against the idyllic world of Columbia (which is why I avoid melee combat like the plague and loathe using murder of crows). Thankfully, none of the violence was anywhere near as violent as the first death in Columbia. I just stared at the dead policeman for what felt like hours in the aftermath.
I've heard it said that the hyper-violence highlights the underlying reality that Columbia isn't as perfect as we are led to believe. What kind of society thinks it's perfectly normal to kill a mixed couple with baseballs, or execute convicts with a Skyhook to the face?
But personally, I think it would have done just as well without it. I dare not even show the game to my wife
So, it has come down to this. Executed my the flip of a coin. And I was so close to killing you all.
I'm very tired. Work this week has been killer, so I apologise for the poor death sequence.
The Facility was a strange place. Long corridors flanked by small rooms, strange lighting and an incomprehensible layout. It's very difficult stalking and killing over a dozen other people when you keep getting lost. The organisers even gave him a damn map, but apparently his map reading skills are rather poor.
However, he had somehow managed to make it down to the last few stragglers. In fact, he'd been helped out a lot by the mobs killing people everytime he'd killed someone off. But now the jig was up, he'd been caught. It's kind of hard to deny being the killer when someone walks in to see you stabbing a guy repeatedly. What followed was a chase that, if not surrounded by such dark circumstances, could have been comical. Running through the labyrinthine corridors, the three survivors chased the out of shape killer. There was a few times when the killer managed to hide out, sometimes even for hours on end, but the facility was locked down, there wasn't really any way for him to get out.
The killer was tired, he'd been up for about 36 hours now, and spent a lot of time running. He hid himself below a bed and waited. He had no real way to tell the time, and so he wasn't sure if minutes or hours had gone by, but eventually he drifted off to sleep in spite of himself.
As the hunting pack searched the corridors, one of them noticed a strange noise emanating from one of the rooms. "Can anyone else hear that?"
"Is... Is someone snoring in that room!?"
The three of them opened the door, and the noise got louder. And there he was, the killer lying, helpless, under a bed, a loud and unsettling snore coming from him. "Let's get him!"
Hands grabbed at the killers legs, pulling him out. Pulled out of his dreams, the killer realised his predicament, and started kicking and screaming. He managed to fight them off for a short while, but three on one was too much. One person held his arms down, and another his legs, whilst the third person strangled him. A slow, horrible death that drew to a close this charade.
However, he had somehow managed to make it down to the last few stragglers. In fact, he'd been helped out a lot by the mobs killing people everytime he'd killed someone off. But now the jig was up, he'd been caught. It's kind of hard to deny being the killer when someone walks in to see you stabbing a guy repeatedly. What followed was a chase that, if not surrounded by such dark circumstances, could have been comical. Running through the labyrinthine corridors, the three survivors chased the out of shape killer. There was a few times when the killer managed to hide out, sometimes even for hours on end, but the facility was locked down, there wasn't really any way for him to get out.
The killer was tired, he'd been up for about 36 hours now, and spent a lot of time running. He hid himself below a bed and waited. He had no real way to tell the time, and so he wasn't sure if minutes or hours had gone by, but eventually he drifted off to sleep in spite of himself.
As the hunting pack searched the corridors, one of them noticed a strange noise emanating from one of the rooms. "Can anyone else hear that?"
"Is... Is someone snoring in that room!?"
The three of them opened the door, and the noise got louder. And there he was, the killer lying, helpless, under a bed, a loud and unsettling snore coming from him. "Let's get him!"
Hands grabbed at the killers legs, pulling him out. Pulled out of his dreams, the killer realised his predicament, and started kicking and screaming. He managed to fight them off for a short while, but three on one was too much. One person held his arms down, and another his legs, whilst the third person strangled him. A slow, horrible death that drew to a close this charade.
I'm very tired. Work this week has been killer, so I apologise for the poor death sequence.
[HEADING=2][color]IT'S ALL OVER FOLKS![/color][/HEADING]
Not happy with the result, but we had to end it somehow. Stay tuned for Round 49.
I was planning an actual "ending" for this round, but lack of support killed that idea. Maybe next time.Link_to_Future said:My one regret about the round:
We didn't end it by blowing up the entire mountain.
P.S.: Anyone hear word from @MortifiedPenguin? She was spy this round, but she hasn't messaged since April 30th.
Holy Dick! Who knew me choosing heads would actually win us the game! I feel so damn important right now.
@RaNDM: Man, I was just going through all the promotional stuff for Bioshock Infinite from 2010 to 2012. And you're right, it could've been so, so, SO much more, while still keeping the story intact. Seems like they pared it quite a bit for the final release.
@Jak: was actually wondering that too, I was assuming that since it would be a differently run round maybe Neo would run it. But I'm not too concerned about who will run it, I was just concerned that I missed the start of the next round while I was sick.
@Jak: Dude. Calm down.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/540.409671-Serial-Killer-Round-49-Carnival-of-Fear?page=1
Razer put it up, although why he figured he could just do it all from his phone, I don't know. The Participants list isn't even up for crying out loud!
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/540.409671-Serial-Killer-Round-49-Carnival-of-Fear?page=1
Razer put it up, although why he figured he could just do it all from his phone, I don't know. The Participants list isn't even up for crying out loud!