Note: I?m considering writing a Plot Analysis on BioShock, but figured I?ll do it step by step. This is the first aspect of what might turn out to be a massive undertaking if this small review of the Vita Chamber is any indication. Strangely, this review of a simple aspect of BioShock?s gameplay is longer than any movie review I?ve ever written.
I wrote this because I feel the need to outline how important the Vita Chamber is to the story of BioShock, even if all you see it as is an artificial "make game easy" machine. This review is essentially ONE MASSIVE SPOILER written for the people who have experienced BioShock in mind. You have been warned.
Most critics tend to automatically dismiss the use of Vita Chambers as a petty attempt at scaling down the BioShock?s difficulty to a friendlier level. Granted if you just take the Vita Chambers at face value and never really ask yourself why they?re there or what the whole point of them plot-wise is, then that?s exactly what it levels out to. Fact is, BioShock is deliberately crafted from the ground up, which means that virtually every element of the game, pertaining to both aesthetic and UI design, has a reason. Vita Chambers are no exception.
So what exactly does a Vita Chamber do?
The phrase underscored in bold text effectively sums up the point of the Vita Chamber. Whenever you die, you immediately come back to life at the last Vita Chamber you encountered. Since Vita Chambers are a commercial product in Rapture, you encounter them several times throughout every level, which means that even the worst players (like myself) aren?t overly inconvenienced by death. It?s nice to let the common folk enjoy the game, but the more serious players are disenchanted with the idea since it does little more than water down the experience in their eyes. This is especially odd since a studious player should feel more immersed by their presence if anything.
Another clue to the underlying purpose of the Vita Chamber is discovered in the last moment of Suchong?s diary: ?Ryan will only allow it to be tuned to his genetic frequencies for testing...? By the time you discover the audio diary, you?re only seconds away from the plot?s revelation, so even if you?re sharp enough to figure out what everything means, it?s not like you?re waiting very long to be proven correct. For the rest of us, it amounts to an explanation as to why Vita Chambers are an important part of the game design: you?re able to use them, therefore you share Ryan?s genetic frequency, therefore you must be related to Andrew Ryan! (cue dramatic sound byte)
This is where things get interesting. Vita Chambers are tuned to a specific genetic frequency, and since the player shares that frequency, this explains why the player is able to use them. But what about the rest of Rapture? What good is a widely commercial product available for only a handful of citizens, if anyone outside Ryan?s immediate genetic structure at all?
The Vita Chamber: Overly successful attempt at scaling back the difficulty, or critical element of BioShock's story?
What constitutes Ryan?s ?inner circle? as far NPCs are concerned possibly includes the following people:
- Sullivan (Chief of police and security)
- Bill McDonagh (Rapture?s general contractor)
- Sander Cohen (He and Ryan must?ve been fairly tight, or else I can?t fathom why Ryan would hand over the keys to Fort Frolic to him)
- Mary-Catherine ?Jasmine? Jolene (Ryan?s mistress, so it?s entirely possible)
- Dr. Suchong (Ryan?s head scientist after Fontaine was ?taken down?)
It?s not unreasonable to believe that there are other characters in the game who are able to use the bathyspheres as they please, largely because the depth of Ryan?s inner circle is never explicitly known. The important thing to note is that it?s entirely reasonable to believe that the same genetic device in the bathyspheres is the same genetic device in the Vita Chambers. If this is the case, then ?anybody in the ballpark genetically will be able to comes and go as they see fit,? and by extension live and die.
Do you ever find yourself underwhelmed by the small variety of character models and voices in game? You kill one batch of splicers, only to encounter what could very well be the exact same splicers ten in game minutes later! But wait a tick, what if those splicers are exactly the same splicers? What if they can use Vita Chambers and bathyspheres too? Wouldn?t that both explain why you see the exact same enemies everywhere and lend credibility to this rather preposterous genetic device?
And here?s where things really get interesting. Sander Cohen is the ?Section Eight? that runs Fort Frolic. Part of the game has you tasked with murdering his former disciples in order to complete his masterpiece: The Quadtych. Later on in Olympus Heights, you gain access to Chohen?s apartment where you find two Houdini splicers dancing to his music. If you kill the splicers, Cohen appears to murder you (?When will you ever learn to take instruction, Little Moth??). Funny thing is, Cohen needs to be able to use the bathysphere in order to come home from Fort Frolic. This proves one of two things: either Cohen is part of Ryan?s inner circle, or Cohen is related to Ryan (possibly his brother). In either event, Cohen?s genetic frequency is keyed into the bathysphere. After murdering Cohen (don?t forget to snag the ?Irony? achievement by taking a snappy of his corpse), you can return to Fort Frolic to set the Quadtych you so lovingly created on fire. Doing this causes Cohen to come back to life in what is either a glitch in design or proof of the Cohen/Ryan relation (either as family or confidant).
But what about Ryan himself? You killed Ryan, or rather Ryan had you commit his suicide, but is Ryan truly dead? All Ryan wanted was to see Fontaine dead, and Fontaine just gave Ryan what he wanted. Is it really that much of a stretch to imagine that Ryan pulled the same maneuver with Fontaine? Granted the Vita Chamber in Ryan?s office was turned off, but there?s no clear reason outlined why he couldn?t simply use another Vita Chamber in Hephaestus or a safer place altogether.
Many have noted that for Ryan to survive is a betrayal of the philosophy he built Rapture on, but many should also note that this wouldn?t be the first time he betrayed his own beliefs as this diary retrieved from the Farmer?s Market, as do a selection of other diaries scattered throughout the game, reveals.
Just keep in mind that whether or not Ryan lives is a coin toss, and a likely direction for BioShock 2: Sea of Dreams.
?No Gods or Kings. Only Man?
And we all know the type of creature a man can become.
I?d appreciate feedback, especially if you?d like to see more of the details and nuances in BioShock?s plot. Really, I just don?t want to undertake a massive plot analysis only to find out that no one cares, so here?s your opportunity to nip this in the bud.
Either way thanks for reading.
I wrote this because I feel the need to outline how important the Vita Chamber is to the story of BioShock, even if all you see it as is an artificial "make game easy" machine. This review is essentially ONE MASSIVE SPOILER written for the people who have experienced BioShock in mind. You have been warned.
Vita Chambers
Most critics tend to automatically dismiss the use of Vita Chambers as a petty attempt at scaling down the BioShock?s difficulty to a friendlier level. Granted if you just take the Vita Chambers at face value and never really ask yourself why they?re there or what the whole point of them plot-wise is, then that?s exactly what it levels out to. Fact is, BioShock is deliberately crafted from the ground up, which means that virtually every element of the game, pertaining to both aesthetic and UI design, has a reason. Vita Chambers are no exception.
So what exactly does a Vita Chamber do?
Dr. Suchong (The Vita Chamber, Rapture Central Control)
Initial Deployment, Vita-Chamber/Client Ryan Industries. Stage one is complete. Sinclair and Alexander tried to explain the science to me, but Suchong does not believe them. They keep saying plasmid reconstruction this and quantum entanglement that, and then poof, dead people come back to life. Bullshit! Of course, Ryan will only allow it to be tuned to his genetic frequencies for the testing...
Initial Deployment, Vita-Chamber/Client Ryan Industries. Stage one is complete. Sinclair and Alexander tried to explain the science to me, but Suchong does not believe them. They keep saying plasmid reconstruction this and quantum entanglement that, and then poof, dead people come back to life. Bullshit! Of course, Ryan will only allow it to be tuned to his genetic frequencies for the testing...
The phrase underscored in bold text effectively sums up the point of the Vita Chamber. Whenever you die, you immediately come back to life at the last Vita Chamber you encountered. Since Vita Chambers are a commercial product in Rapture, you encounter them several times throughout every level, which means that even the worst players (like myself) aren?t overly inconvenienced by death. It?s nice to let the common folk enjoy the game, but the more serious players are disenchanted with the idea since it does little more than water down the experience in their eyes. This is especially odd since a studious player should feel more immersed by their presence if anything.
Another clue to the underlying purpose of the Vita Chamber is discovered in the last moment of Suchong?s diary: ?Ryan will only allow it to be tuned to his genetic frequencies for testing...? By the time you discover the audio diary, you?re only seconds away from the plot?s revelation, so even if you?re sharp enough to figure out what everything means, it?s not like you?re waiting very long to be proven correct. For the rest of us, it amounts to an explanation as to why Vita Chambers are an important part of the game design: you?re able to use them, therefore you share Ryan?s genetic frequency, therefore you must be related to Andrew Ryan! (cue dramatic sound byte)
This is where things get interesting. Vita Chambers are tuned to a specific genetic frequency, and since the player shares that frequency, this explains why the player is able to use them. But what about the rest of Rapture? What good is a widely commercial product available for only a handful of citizens, if anyone outside Ryan?s immediate genetic structure at all?
The Vita Chamber: Overly successful attempt at scaling back the difficulty, or critical element of BioShock's story?
Sullivan (Bathysphere Keys, Neptune?s Bounty)
We're putting all the bathyspheres in lockdown until further notice. Ryan had us install some kinda genetic device into the things so only Ryan and his inner circle will be able to use 'em without dispensation. But the boys tell me the keys are pretty unreliable. Sisters, cousins-anybody in the ballpark genetically will be able to come and go as they see fit.
We're putting all the bathyspheres in lockdown until further notice. Ryan had us install some kinda genetic device into the things so only Ryan and his inner circle will be able to use 'em without dispensation. But the boys tell me the keys are pretty unreliable. Sisters, cousins-anybody in the ballpark genetically will be able to come and go as they see fit.
What constitutes Ryan?s ?inner circle? as far NPCs are concerned possibly includes the following people:
- Sullivan (Chief of police and security)
- Bill McDonagh (Rapture?s general contractor)
- Sander Cohen (He and Ryan must?ve been fairly tight, or else I can?t fathom why Ryan would hand over the keys to Fort Frolic to him)
- Mary-Catherine ?Jasmine? Jolene (Ryan?s mistress, so it?s entirely possible)
- Dr. Suchong (Ryan?s head scientist after Fontaine was ?taken down?)
It?s not unreasonable to believe that there are other characters in the game who are able to use the bathyspheres as they please, largely because the depth of Ryan?s inner circle is never explicitly known. The important thing to note is that it?s entirely reasonable to believe that the same genetic device in the bathyspheres is the same genetic device in the Vita Chambers. If this is the case, then ?anybody in the ballpark genetically will be able to comes and go as they see fit,? and by extension live and die.
Do you ever find yourself underwhelmed by the small variety of character models and voices in game? You kill one batch of splicers, only to encounter what could very well be the exact same splicers ten in game minutes later! But wait a tick, what if those splicers are exactly the same splicers? What if they can use Vita Chambers and bathyspheres too? Wouldn?t that both explain why you see the exact same enemies everywhere and lend credibility to this rather preposterous genetic device?
And here?s where things really get interesting. Sander Cohen is the ?Section Eight? that runs Fort Frolic. Part of the game has you tasked with murdering his former disciples in order to complete his masterpiece: The Quadtych. Later on in Olympus Heights, you gain access to Chohen?s apartment where you find two Houdini splicers dancing to his music. If you kill the splicers, Cohen appears to murder you (?When will you ever learn to take instruction, Little Moth??). Funny thing is, Cohen needs to be able to use the bathysphere in order to come home from Fort Frolic. This proves one of two things: either Cohen is part of Ryan?s inner circle, or Cohen is related to Ryan (possibly his brother). In either event, Cohen?s genetic frequency is keyed into the bathysphere. After murdering Cohen (don?t forget to snag the ?Irony? achievement by taking a snappy of his corpse), you can return to Fort Frolic to set the Quadtych you so lovingly created on fire. Doing this causes Cohen to come back to life in what is either a glitch in design or proof of the Cohen/Ryan relation (either as family or confidant).
But what about Ryan himself? You killed Ryan, or rather Ryan had you commit his suicide, but is Ryan truly dead? All Ryan wanted was to see Fontaine dead, and Fontaine just gave Ryan what he wanted. Is it really that much of a stretch to imagine that Ryan pulled the same maneuver with Fontaine? Granted the Vita Chamber in Ryan?s office was turned off, but there?s no clear reason outlined why he couldn?t simply use another Vita Chamber in Hephaestus or a safer place altogether.
Andrew Ryan (Desperate Times, Farmer?s Market)
Doctor Suchong, frankly, I'm shocked by your proposal. If we were to modify the structure of our commercial plasmid line as you propose, to have them make the user vulnerable to mental suggestion through pheromones, would we not be able to effectively control the actions of the citizens of Rapture? Free will is the cornerstone of this city. The thought of sacrificing it is abhorrent. However... we are indeed in a time of war. If Atlas and his bandits have their way, will they not turn us into slaves? And what will become of free will then? Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Doctor Suchong, frankly, I'm shocked by your proposal. If we were to modify the structure of our commercial plasmid line as you propose, to have them make the user vulnerable to mental suggestion through pheromones, would we not be able to effectively control the actions of the citizens of Rapture? Free will is the cornerstone of this city. The thought of sacrificing it is abhorrent. However... we are indeed in a time of war. If Atlas and his bandits have their way, will they not turn us into slaves? And what will become of free will then? Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Many have noted that for Ryan to survive is a betrayal of the philosophy he built Rapture on, but many should also note that this wouldn?t be the first time he betrayed his own beliefs as this diary retrieved from the Farmer?s Market, as do a selection of other diaries scattered throughout the game, reveals.
Just keep in mind that whether or not Ryan lives is a coin toss, and a likely direction for BioShock 2: Sea of Dreams.
?No Gods or Kings. Only Man?
And we all know the type of creature a man can become.
BioShock Wiki [http://bioshock.wikia.com/wiki/BioShock_Wiki] for their archive of audio logs. It really made this quick Vita Chamber review that much easier.
I?d appreciate feedback, especially if you?d like to see more of the details and nuances in BioShock?s plot. Really, I just don?t want to undertake a massive plot analysis only to find out that no one cares, so here?s your opportunity to nip this in the bud.
Either way thanks for reading.
