RF Generation Message Board

Tips & Tricks:

- The most dollars you can hold is 500 and this is not upgradeable. Don't hoard your money.

- Turn on subtitles because radio transmissions are important and way too faint even with volume adjusted.

- Audio diaries are very important for fleshing out the story of this game. However, the way they are implemented in the game is a bit awkward. You are supposed to pick them up with the action button, then hold the action button to play them. This can cause problems if other items are around. I try to pick up the audio diaries last in an area, then listen, then go on my way. If you trigger a radio transmission while listening to an audio diary, the audio diary gets cut off. You can listen to any audio diaries in the menu, but it's a pain in the neck to do constantly.

- You can aim down a weapon's sights by clicking the right thumb stick, but this only works with certain weapons!

- Security alerts are a pain in the neck. Carefully locate and destroy security cameras to make life a little easier.

- Save hacking tools for safes. They are hard to hack but usually have great loot.

- This game is scary! Play it with the lights off and use headphones for maximum creepiness.

- Speaking of which, Bioshock is not for children. Singlebanana's kids are not going to be able to partake in this one.

- The following is a spoiler about the nature of the game's multiple endings. It is not a story spoiler.

Spoiler (hover to show)

The game's morality system (repeated binary choice) has a direct impact on the ending you will get. That's all I'll say, you can look it up or dm me if you want more details without story spoilers.

Checkpoints:

Week 1 (Nov 1-10) - Clear the Medical Plaza and get to Neptune's Bounty
Week 2 (Nov 11-17) - Clear Farmer's Market and get to Fort Frolic
Week 3 (Nov 18-24) - Get to Olympus Heights
Week 4 (Nov 25-30) - Finish the game

Participants:

GrayGhost81
singlebanana
zophar53
Disposed Hero
MetalFRO
Crabmaster2000
EngineerMike
russlyman

Would you kindly sign me up? Still one of my favorite FPSs.

Count me in! One of the best games of its generation, and I'm due for a replay.

I will plan to play this as well. I have a copy, but have never dug into the game. I only briefly played the PS3 demo a few years ago.

Im willing to give this one a second chance

[img width=480 height=480]https://media.giphy.com/media/oOxBQwNqGwxeWLDF6A/giphy.gif[/img]

I didn't like it the first time around and also didn't really understand the cultural impact (environmental game design and storytelling) it had. I've talked with people and listened to some podcasts and youtube vids about the game since then that have shed some light on the game that I missed during my initial playthrough so I'm actually a bit curious to go back and check somethings out that were lost on me the first time around. Also just having a blast playing through and discussing games with everyone lately so if it's a game I've got in my collection I'll likely be joining in on the playcast.

I’m shocked to see Crabby join in on this. Any conversation we have ever had about this series, did not have you ever giving much of a favourable opinion. Glad to see you coming around. Hey maybe we should do a Fallout 3 playthrough on here, some time. 😉 Being that this is probably one of the first titles I ever played on my PS3, and honestly one of my favourites on that console, I would like to try and join in on this one, too.

Playing on the PS4 Bioshock Collection, I just made my descent into Rapture.

First checkpoint is up as well as a good set of tips and tricks for ya!

I finished the game last week and it's as good as I remembered. Can't wait for y'all to dive in, PUN INTENDED.

Sign me up. I’ll try this for sure. Not really into first person shooters but I enjoyed doom.


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After sitting down and playing for a bit yesterday, I made it to Neptune’s Bounty. I’m glad to be revisiting this game, and having an excuse to open my Bioshock Collection, for PS4.

[img width=700 height=525]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181103/14ab6d4adbeb918e963a359444ef2226.jpg[/img]ready to rock


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[img width=700 height=525]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181103/3ee57cf0ff7b27ec659082aa852036b3.jpg[/img]o wait it takes forever to install


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I started this today and have already reached the first checkpoint. This game definitely holds up.

I'm playing the remastered edition on Steam, which I hear is a butchered port, but I haven't had any problems with it.

Made the first checkpoint. Maybe I just suck at FPS games, but I found this to be fairly difficult. The Big Daddies are brutal. I like the atmosphere and the period feel to it, and the random dialogue from enemies is an interesting touch, highlighting what I presume is the eventual insanity one experiences after using the Plasmids. The telekinesis skill is pretty awesome, and I like that the elemental powers actually affect things properly.

Well my PS3 controller crapped out. The analog stick that moves me was in a spin. I had a wired 3rd party but when I got a weapon found out R2 didn’t work 😓
So was looking for controllers at the game stores and found this for $16
[img width=700 height=933]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181105/b3d410b0bb67d5b177ea922a74a96fa5.jpg[/img]

So now I’m playing on PS4 and I can use my usb headset.

I’m also going to live stream it
Www.youtube.com/RussLyman


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Yeah, the Big Daddies are tough by design, but there are some ways to take them down relatively easily. The easiest way is to use the Hypnotize Big Daddy plasmid to get two of them to battle to the death and then finish off the survivor yourself. Hacked RPG turrets usually deal a good amount of damage as well before they are inevitably destroyed. They are susceptible to Electro Bolt, so use that to stun them and buy yourself some time if you need a breather. And always use hard hitting ammo like explosive and/or armor piercing rounds against them, as standard rounds do practically no damage.

It's also a good idea to check and make sure any Big Daddy you attempt to take down is actually escorting a Little Sister before fighting them. I've killed two Big Daddies so far that didn't have a Little Sister with them and felt like I wasted a ton of resources.  >:(

It's also important to note that Big Daddies are not immediately hostile and will not attack on sight like all other enemies in the game, so you don't have to kill every one in your path. It also gives you a chance to set up traps or an ambush using proximity mines and turrets!

All good points, thanks for the strategies! I haven't got far enough to find the hypnotize plasmid, but I'll be sure to watch for it. One assumes you unlock the ability to equip more than 2 at some point...

Made the first checkpoint today. I'm still having the same major issue that I had with it when I played it years ago. I have no idea what the hell is happening and what anyone is talking about!! Granted FPS games are not my strongest genre, but whenever Atlas is on the radio or I'm trying to listen to an audio tape that I picked up I maybe get one sentence into it and then either can't listen because I'm in combat, I've triggered an alarm or most often I just get distracted looting or navigating around. I've had to go into my inventory and re-listen to them, but even then I don't really comprehend what is going on. I'm not sure I'm supposed to this early though and I'm hoping it makes more sense to me later, but I remember coming out of this game on my initial playthrough and just thinking "wtf did I just play?". Another issue that I had during my first playthrough was with navigating. When you are far from your target you get that arrow to show you where to go which I think is basically mandatory. Everything in this game looks identical so I get lost constantly.

Please correct me if I'm wrong or overlooking something (and perhaps I missed an audiotape or two), but this is what I know/don't know so far: My plane crashed and I entered Rapture by coincidence(?). Someone named Atlas wants me to help him escape with his family. Andrew Ryan built this Rapture to exists as a free society. ADAM is a substance that was created here that can alter a persons genetic code to enhance their abilities (via plasmids) or even their appearance/gender/race/etc.. Splicers are people that have overused ADAM and it has driven them to an unstable mental state and like junkies they will do almost anything, even dangerous things, to obtain more. Most common citizens of Rapture have become splicers. Tenenbaum takes young girls specifically and makes them into Little Sisters whose job it is to harvest ADAM from fresh human remains. Big Daddies are also manufactured (by Tenenbaum or someone else, not clear yet), and their sole purpose seems to be bodyguards to the Little Sisters.

I think that's all the major story beats up to this point, but like I said above please correct me if I missed or misinterpreted somethings because I am determined to make sense of this game this time around.

The shooting and the Plasmid use are pretty straightforward. Didn't initially understand the health and plasmid system until I started dying and recovering health so the numbers next to each bar started to make sense after that. I feel like I've spent 25% of my time hacking, 25% looting, 25% exploring, and a combined 25% in combat/listening to audiotapes and characters talk/using vending machines. Does that sound about right for everyone else's experience?

Has it explained how the Vita-Chambers work lore-wise yet? Why can I use them and not the splicers or even some of the more prominent characters like Steinman? Why can't I talk to anyone? I'm pretty sure my character said stuff during the opening before the plane crashed, but doesn't seem to be able to once in Rapture. Most splicers I come across are looting bodies and other items/machines. Why is there still so much loot around, did this event that destroyed Rapture happen incredibly recently before my arrival? What's with all of the automated Turrets/Drones around? Seems like any area with a security system (which I can't seem to avoid, I feel like I'm missing something because I'm pretty sure I've activated all of them multiple times so far) has unlimited drones. How do you hack a safe? Am I going to be 400lbs at the end of this with all the Chips, Candy Bars, Booze and Smokes I am consuming?

While it would be awesome to have the extra ADAM I can't bring myself to kill a Little Sister to obtain that extra bit of ADAM. It's a kid or at least was a kid and it just feels ichy to go that far. Like my first playthrough I'm going to have to rescue any I come across. Sure the Big Daddy is tough, but because you can regen at the Vita-Chamber and he keeps on him whatever damage he already had you can just Wrench him a bit-respawn-Wrench him again-respawn-repeat if you want to conserve your ammo supply. I'm not a fan of this kind of death mechanic in a game because it doesn't encourage you to get better at the game or even try and adapt. You can just brute force your way through any situation by taking advantage of the Vita-Chamber. Also the Playstation Vita will not let me pronounce that word like this game wants me too anymore. 

Started the game, and it head phones with all the background talking.. I don't know if they are all baddies or if some are just background

Crabby - not to derail the thread with mindless philosophizing, but the gist of the story is that Rapture is supposed to be an Objectivist paradise. Andrew Ryan is an anagram for Ayn Rand, the foremost objectivist thinker, and the game's story serves as a bit of a critique of that mindset.

I've heard that before. Im just more curious to know of the game does a good job of laying that out or if its just something we know from interviews with Ken Levine and the crew.

@Crabby: The Vita-chamber thing gets explained later. You're entering Rapture not long after everything has gone off the rails. Back when we did Infinite, I don't recall if you did the DLC or not - but it ties together.

I'm going to try to run by the local used game shop and look for copy of the collection. May have time to catch up.

That sounds pretty accurate to me. The story definitely begins as a mystery but should become clearer as you go along.

I kind of agree with your points about the Vita Chambers, but honestly I forget they're there most of the time, so I'm always trying my best to stay alive. Relying too heavily on them and brute forcing my way through the game like you described doesn't sound appealing to me at all, but I like being able to jump right back into the fray and not lose any progress when I die. I guess it's really up to the player whether they choose to exploit them or not. There is also an option in the menu to turn them off entirely if you'd rather go that route.

I haven't had any trouble avoiding alarms. Once spotted by a camera, you have a pretty generous amount of time to get out of sight before the alarm actually activates. Using electrobolt and then hacking/destroying the cameras (I always opt for hacking when I can) should minimize the threat of cameras/alarms, as well as turrets and drones.

I'm also going 100% rescue on the Little Sisters. You actually don't lose out on much ADAM in the long run since you get the bonuses/gifts after every third (?) rescued Little Sister.

@Duke - I didn't touch the DLC on any game ever, lol.  I really don't remember much of the plot across any of the 3 games in this series even though I've beaten them all. They left almost no impact on me.

@Disposed Hero - Thanks for the confirmation. I really want to make sure I'm getting a good grasp on things so having this broken up into checkpoints for me to swallow it might actually be the best way to play.

Abusing the Vita-Chambers is not my favorite way to play either, but if a player is running low on resources it's easily abused to keep your coffers filled.

Is there a trick to spotting the cameras? I honestly didn't even realize there were cameras. I was looking for trip wires, turrets or enemies that got alerted and assumed that was what was triggering the alarms. Is it like Goldeneye and you can shoot them out so they don't alert the area to your presence?

Yes, the cameras are always up on the walls. You should see the red light they emit on the ground, which is the biggest giveaway that one is nearby. You can shoot them out, but keep in mind that shooting them begins to set off the alarm (unless they're stunned from electrobolt), and they take several shots to destroy, so you'll have to be quick. I find hacking them to be preferable so that the enemies will set them off instead (drones won't attack you if the enemy sets off the alarm).

[img width=700 height=394]https://portforward.com/games/walkthroughs/BioShock/BioShock-large-202.jpg[/img]

Week one is over and I went ahead and checkpointed the rest of the game. So far there isn't much to talk about with the story, but things will heat up going forward. For now, let's save Atlas' family.

I always shot out the cameras. In addition to the red light sweeping the area, they make a distinct sound. Sometimes it's tricky to find them once you start looking up.

It is really hard to harvest little sisters, and in multiple playthroughs of this game, I have never done it once. Ken Levine, in an interview on the remaster, said he wished he'd made it more punishing to save them. By the end of my playthrough I had tons of Adam and wasn't close to using it all by the time I finished.

So much great chatter in here. I am def pass the first check point and streamed the game 3 times so far.
I tried to stream straight from the PS4 but it’s blocked. So just have to use the elgato and go through the computer.

Enjoying the game a lot and enjoying the story.

I too have saved all the sisters


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I just wanted to give a heads up that some of you guys may want to make some strategic save files while in the Fort Frolic area. I just encountered a glitch during a particular spot that has basically made it so that I cannot progress any further, and I believe my only recourse now is to restart the entire area from my autosave and lose over an hour of progress. After doing some searching, this appears to be a fairly common problem and is not specific to any game version or platform. I'm being intentionally vague for the sake of spoilers, but I can give more details upon request.

I must really suck at FPS games. That, or I just suck at this one. I expected DOOM to give me trouble, but I’m getting my backside handed to me frequently in this game. Between Big Daddies overpowering me, to getting mobbed by multiple enemies that respawn when I do, I find myself having to really watch my ammunition levels pretty carefully. Now that I’ve unlocked a couple extra plasmid slots, and can juggle more powers, I think I might have a better chance of getting a leg up on the hazards, but man, this game is definitely giving me what for.

Thanks for the heads-up about the glitch. I'm playing the remaster on Steam too, and while I haven't had any issues yet it's nice to have a warning just in case.

I'm past the first checkpoint and am pleased at how well it holds up, atmosphere-wise. My favorite thing about this game is its world-building and sense of ambiance. The art deco architecture, the music, the strung out behavior of the splicers, the intimdating Big Daddies, and the super creepy Little Sisters, it all adds up to one of the most engrossing games I've ever played. I love just randomly looking out a big window at the sprawling underwater city. It's really impressive how well they sell the environment.

I don't really have any trouble buying into the story. It's a little erratically told, yes, but it's a slow burn approach to story telling. A big part of the fun for me was coming into this city that clearly used to be grand but has gone to hell and filling in the context of the characters. Audio logs themselves don't make much sense in a real world practical way, but when done well as a story telling device they're a neat way to fill in backstory and give depth to what's going on.


I didn't find this game as difficult as Doom, but I think that has a lot to do with the fact that Doom is much more fast-paced. I took a much slower approach to the BioShock games. Resource management can def be a thing, but I find that if I'm meticulous about searching every nook and cranny and scouring everywhere for health, eve hypos, and ammo I don't really have too many problems. The fact that I enjoyed the world-building of Rapture so much meant that I didn't mind taking a more meandering pace. The Big Daddies can be rough though. Been a while since I played any of the later levels, but I seem to remember even the later ones being a knock down drag out fight regardless of having better weapons and plasmids at your disposal. But I could be misremembering.

Like the rest of you, I tend to not like abusing the vita-chambers to proceed either, but it's nice knowing I won't be losing much (if any) ground if I get overpowered. And yeah, hacking everything you possibly can is a big help too, since you can get the security system stuff working for you instead of against you. Just be careful in the later levels. The later hacking parts include more frequent red squares and it's possible to get trapped if you don't reveal the tiles early enough to plan your route around them.

I guess I need to learn to do more hacking. My problem is, the stuff flows so fast, it’s hard to keep up. However, now that I’ve got the hypnosis ability, to control the Big Daddies, that helps somewhat. The freaking beehive section was a nightmare, but the ability to bring a BD with me, to help keep splicers occupied, was a helpful thing. I have to agree about the atmosphere, the Art Deco style, the period music, and the voice acting is very good for the recordings. They evoke that period feel that helps sell them, despite the somewhat ridiculous premise. The game certainly keeps me on my toes, and sometimes has me in some fairly intense “oh crap” moments, like waiting for the compound to finish. That’s another situation where a BD comes in handy.

Finished the second check point now.  While this checkpoint seemed longer than the last one I don't feel like I've progressed the story really at all. Just seemed like busy work to open a bunch of doors. But I very well could have just missed what is happening. I honestly cannot pay attention to an audio log or radio transmission and play the game at the same time, just don't seem to be able to multi-task like that. All the sudden I've got to collect some water and chlorophyll and I have no idea why I'm doing that.

Gameplay-wise though I feel like during this second chapter things are a lot easier than during the first area. I'm constantly finding that I'm maxing out my ammo, EVE Shots and money to the point that I'm purposely spending and shooting at everything just so I can pick up the next drops I find. Having 3-4 slots in all of my improvements is making a huge difference as well. Big Daddies are no longer an issue with Bolt Shells, Armor Piercing Ammo, Frag Grenades and the Chemical Sprayer. And now that I know the Big Daddies will leave you alone unless you initiate combat they are not scary or intimidating at all. You can literally prep yourself and the area to make the combat as favorable as possible before you engage them so it loses that sense of dread that I felt the first time I encountered one. I kind of wish they had used them more like Nemesis from Resident Evil where when you hear those footsteps it's always scary. I totally forgot about the Camera function from the first time I played. It's a neat idea, but it really shines a light on the lack of enemy variety (and honestly I'm finding it pretty hard to distinguish most types of Splicers from each other) and gets very repetitive very quickly, but seems necessary to get the ++ Damage bonus on each enemy. I'm also pretty underwhelmed with the "boss battles" so far. The first Big Daddy fight felt big and meaningful. The 4th clear this room full of splicers and one mildly stronger splicer boss fight is already stale.

At this point in the game, which I'm assuming is halfway, I'm sick of hacking. It's way too easy and they don't seem to be changing it at all so it's just the same thing over and over again. There should be a plasmid that let's you auto-hack anything under a certain level of difficulty. Since I've got so much extra money I keep crafting Auto-Hacking Tools just to speed up that part of the game now.

I really like the initial decent into Rapture and the first area is very spooky and unique. At this point in the game they are still relying heavily on it though so I'm not as in awe at the atmosphere anymore. It's so dark it's hard to appreciate a lot of it and the stuff I can see is just more of the same now. Plus the character models for anything that isn't a Bid Daddy or Little Sister are pretty bad, It's no wonder they don't let you get close to NPCs or have them wear welding masks. I keep running into goofy stuff too like this pic of an arm going through her own head or when I had to return to the lab where the plant doctor died her body was flailing about on the floor like she was having a seizure. And while I'd agree the voice acting is pretty good from what I've actually heard some of the character dialogue has taken me out of the experience. For example when Atlas's family possibly dies in the Submarine explosion he seems obviously sad and then immediately is like "wow you made it to this area now go do this thing" as if nothing had ever happened. And with events like his family dying or Andrew Ryan poisoning the Botanist it really doesnt make me feel anything because I literally just got introduced to the character and havn't had time to make any sort of attachment of judgement of them or in the case of Atlas's family don't have any contact with them at all.

Thanks for the tip on the security cameras earlier. I'm still not catching all of them, but definitely setting off less alarms this time around.

[img width=640 height=480]https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1941/45811616192_d0943df401_z.jpg[/img] (https://flic.kr/p/2cNdvrA)

PS - Does anyone else get the impression that your character is 2 feet tall? I feel so close to the ground especially when walking up stairs or looking at the ground or squatting to pick up an item and then back up to full stance. There doesn't seem to be much actual movement to get from the floor to upright. There has been so many times I've felt Oompa Loompa sized.

For the audio logs I would recommend standing still where you got them to listen to them. That way you don't have to worry about them being cut off by story-triggered dialogue or combat sounds. That's fair about things not changing much throughout the course of the game. Visually it's the same the whole way through. I didn't mind it since I like it so much, but yeah, it doesn't do much new as you progress. Same with the splicers. BioShock does its thing very well, but it is fairly limited in scope.

I didn't have an issue with the lack of traditional boss battles. I consider fighting a Big Daddy a kind of boss battle in my mind and that's enough for me. I also agree about the story and not caring about the people much. There's a reason Atlus acts that way, but this isn't the time for spoilers yet. It didn't bother me not having a connection with the characters I interact with; I was more interested in filling out a picture in my mind of what Rapture used to be, what it looks like now, and filling in the gaps with my imagination about the fall of this great, impossible, flawed achievement of building it.


Hahaha! I didn't get that feeling mostly, but there are a few places I'm noticing where the angles of looking at something are a little weird.


That's a good idea. I don't think I've ever once hypnotized a Big Daddy in my previous playthroughs. I may do some experimenting this time. I don't think I did any setting up before fighting a Big Daddy either, other than to stock up on health, eve, and ammo. That's not a bad idea. There's a lot of situations that call for that kind of thing in the second game, but I never did it in the first.

I'm curious if people are drinking the alcohol and smoking the cigarettes. On my first playthrough I took it all, regardless of any drunk vision or detriments to my health/eve that came with them. This time I'm avoiding pretty much all that stuff. I can never remember which is good for my health and bad for my eve or vice versa anyway, so I'm choosing to just not even worry about it.

Here's a tip - don't hypnotize one, then attack him. He will immediately be out of his hypnosis, and come at you with a vengeance! I made that mistake already. As for the alcohol, I'm drinking it all, especially when I find a bunch in a room I've cleared out, because each one gives a sliver of health. So if there are several bottles, I'll drink them all in rapid succession, because I haven't found a limit to how much you can drink and then get actually drunk, to where you're incapacitated, just a brief moment of disorientation. Smoking I do as well, but mostly because I tend to rapidly press A and grab everything on a table/countertop/etc., and end up smoking, even though I know it takes away a sliver of health. I just need to be more careful I suppose ;)

I avoided the cigs and booze, just like in real life. I figured there was plenty of food and health kits everywhere and I was always loaded on eve hypos (this is because I tended to use guns way more than plasmids, though).

I appreciate the spirited conversation here, my friends. I may jump in and play the game again, or at least jump in on one of my saves to mess around.

@Crabby, check out my tips and tricks section about the audio logs. You really just need to stand in one place and listen to them if you want to hear the whole thing, and only grab them when there are not enemies around.

I never even contemplated not picking up the booze and cigarettes. I didn't even notice the were hurting you and not helping. I guess I just assumed they would up your EVE or something. May have to lay off going forward.

During my first playthrough I had a lot of trouble with listening to the audio logs too early and getting attacked or having them cut off by some other dialogue, but this time I'm going in like you suggest or doing some light looting/hacking. It's still an issue for me because I'm not particularly engrossed in them so my mind wanders and I still don't get all the info I should have. I'll instead be thinking about where I need to go or "ooo what's that shiny thing over there I can go pick up after they are done talking" or "where the hell is that damn security camera that caught me three times!!". During the first chapter I went into the pause menu and re-listened to a bunch of the tapes that I felt I didn't really hear when I first found them, but I didn't have the patience to do that during the second check point.

I'm beginning to understand that it's likely a me issue and not a design problem. With certain types of games I'm super happy to get engrossed in the story. Give me something like a Quantic Dreams game, or a jRPG and I'm all in to explore the world and read every line of NPC dialoge. Throw in some type of action in though and I feel like I'm a lot more likely to gravitate towards the gameplay mechanics and ignore the lore. I am currently playing Nioh between check points and my son sat down with me a couple days ago and was watching me. After a few minutes he asked me "this looks cool, what's it about?". And my answer was "I dunno, I'm just having fun being an awesome ninja guy". Very similarly when I was playing Dark Souls and talking to Duke.Togo about it he kept telling me all this cool stuff about the lore of the world and these deep character bios that sound really amazing and how many different ways there were to build characters, but I just was so focused on getting to the next boss and playing my thief build like I felt like he should be played that I completely ignored all of that. I think it's quite rare for me to find a game that blends quicker action elements with story that gets me immersed in both aspects. The Batman Arkham series did a good job of that for me and I'm sure there are other examples, but that the only one that jumps immediately to mind. I've beaten Ninja Gaiden over a dozen times and still have no idea what that game is about because I always skip the cutscenes.....

YOOOOOOOOOOO!!!  Yep, I'm finally here and joining in on the playthrough. Sorry for my earlier absence, as I am taking care of some personal matters in my life. Anywho, I started the game last night and took out the mad doctor, as Shawn tells me, I'm really close to the first checkpoint.  I haven't fought any Big Daddies yet, but from the looks of things on the forum, that should happen very soon (no real spoiler, since Big Daddies are kind of synonymous with this game).  I'm really enjoying catching up on the forum posts!

Initial thoughts:  The random plane crash/finding Atlantis story mechanic is pretty weak. Perhaps there is some reason that the plane was brought down in this area that I don't know about yet, soooooooooo.....I'll hold my breath until then.  However, once in Rapture, I am really digging the story of this fallen "Utopian" society.  Though I don't have a ton to go on yet, I really enjoy the slow-burn of piecing everything together. This is probably my favorite means of storytelling, so this unlocking of little tidbits as I go, works really well for me.  I like the story recorders and really try and scour an area to find them and tend to pick them up after I've cleared an area to focus on the dialogue.  I can see how that might be aggravating if you are trying to listen in combat, but I think you guys did a nice job of preparing me for that.  Thumbs up so far in terms of the story for me; I'm captivated.

Gameplay for me is a little lackluster, especially after coming off of DOOM (2016).  Not that it's bad, but it feels a bit clunky to me as far as attacking, aiming, and keeping my orientation, especially while in combat. This is pretty much the major issue that keeps me from playing most FPS games. However, it's not terrible and I'm slowly getting better at it. I assume the gameplay will improve further as I gain more implants, equipment, etc. and I'll of course get more accustomed to it. No biggie.  Button layout is okay, but triangle to jump as default is strange. I'm sure that as in most modern games, this can be changed.

The hacking is by far the most annoying feature of this game. I really wish they would switch it up a little with more puzzles and it takes you away from gameplay too long.  The concept is good and I like manipulating enemy machines, I just wish the execution was better. Most of the time I just pay, which is weird.....how does that work? Robots and safes be lovin' some money I guess. And why do vending machines sell ammunition? Perhaps this will also be answered later. One thing I dig is hacking healing devices so that they don't heal and harm your enemies when they try to replenish (sorry Doc!).

I love the look of this game and the art deco style. The music is creepily effective. I love when "innocent" music is used in horror films and it has the totally opposite effect of creeping you the hell out. The music, combined with the slicer dialogue is chilling and pulled off well. The advertising in the environments makes me chuckle sometimes and disturbs me as well, good stuff!

Anyway, just some initial thoughts.  I'm enjoying the game very much so far and will be caught up with you guys soon. :)

 

I agree that BioShock feels sluggish coming off of the blazing-fast combat of Doom. I wouldn't necessarily call it slow, but there does feel like there's some weight to moving around. This is definitely a game that's meant to be played at a slower pace to soak in the setting. But yeah, once you have a big arsenal of weapons and plasmids the combat possibilities are pretty fun. Re: the jumping, it didn't bother me as I almost never felt the need to jump. There isn't much verticality to the levels except when you go up or down staircases to up or down a floor.

That's a good idea about hacking the health stations. Typically I just destroy them. When you do that they drop two medkits, so you can heal up without spending money and get an extra one for your stash. Course, you can't use those stations again obviously, but I consider the double medkits a better payoff.

You don't like the hacking??? Who doesn't love a quick round of Pipe Dream!?

The music always reminded me of Fallout. Those games do a similar thing of using old-timey music contrasting with a devastated environment. I've always enjoyed that thematic device for some reason. I remember the old trailers for BioShock really leaning into the creepiness of the environment and strung-out splicers, with the old music behind it. It was the first game I can remember that made me upset I hadn't bought an Xbox 360 yet. At the time I only had a PS3 and the game didn't come to that platform for another year or two.


Ah, good tip! I think that's why I almost never hypnotized a Big Daddy; I would hit him once and then he'd snap out of it and show me what for. I never even considered using him to attack the splicers.

Unless I'm mistaken, I think the alcohol gives a small boost to health and a small decrease to Eve, and vice versa for the cigarettes, so using any of those items is a trade off. Food items give a small health boost, while coffee gives a small Eve boost, and neither of these have any detriments that I've noticed.

I actually really like the hacking minigame, but after doing it literally hundreds of times from hacking everything in sight, it does start to get old after a while. At around the halfway point, I find myself not hacking nearly as much as I was in the early game, although the increased hacking difficulty of the machines contributes to this as well. It would have been nice if different machines had different minigames to add some variety.


I actually had an epiphany the other day that I play this way also. It feels like 99% of my offense comes from my weapons, while I use plasmids almost exclusively for utility purposes. For this reason, I've completely forgone plasmids like Cyclone since I usually don't play the game that way.

Anyway, I took a few days away from the game after the glitch I mentioned previously. I came back to it last night using my autosave at the beginning of Fort Frolic, but I haven't quite gotten back to where I left off, but I'm close. Here's hoping it doesn't bug out on me again!

Hey Stephen can you explain the glitch so that we can look out for it. I don't think that that would be a spoiler at this point

There are a couple of times in Fort Frolic when Sander Cohen will lock down the area and send waves of splicers at you, and you have to kill them all to proceed. The first is at the beginning of the area, right after he submerges the bathysphere before unlocking the doors to the atrium. The second is immediately after placing the third photograph on his weird sculpture thing. People have reported the game glitching at both points, but the second point was where it glitched for me. After killing all of the splicers, Cohen should start talking to you again and unlock the doors, but for some reason it doesn't trigger and the sequence will just continue indefinitely even though there are no more enemies to kill.

I've done some searching, and no one seems to know exactly what causes this to happen. Some have said that saving during one of these sequences can somehow screw up the scripting, and coincidentally I did save during the sequence that glitched for me, so there could be some truth to that. It's not a big deal if it glitches during the first part since it's at the very beginning of the area and everyone should have an autosave, but I would recommend making a manual save sometime before placing the third photograph on the sculpture just to be safe.

Thanks man!

Interesting. I find that I'm taking a balanced approach. I often use a plasmid to help give me an advantage, such as shocking an enemy, then executing a headshot, or using Incinerate to deal damage and get them distracted, then follow that up with gunfire. That's probably why I find myself buying EVE a fair bit at vending machines.

Very interesting thread guys!  Having played through this game a few times in the past it was interesting to read how some of you are experiencing it for the first time in 2018.  I guess Bioshock's gameplay would be a bit jarring after coming from Doom 2016. It's a reminder that not all FPSes are cut from the same cloth.  Just like platformers or RPGs, the have different flavor's and styles.  I feel too often that the genre gets a raw deal because of the popularity of the "bro" online shooters like Call of Duty or Battlefield. (And I don't mind some games in those franchises.)

Bio is definitely a slower paced game, that needs to be savored at times.  It is after all, the type of shooter Doom 2016 was giving the middle finger too when the marine smashed the "story telling" console at the beginning of the game. 

Great point Kevin re: the pace and comparison to Doom.  Yeah, I for one am actually enjoying the slower pace and scavenging nature of this game. It's fun to explore and find goodies that you've passed several times. The passcodes for the doors are a neat feature and it's so great the way you might find them written down or in a message on one of the voice recorders.  Certainly, this game is not for everyone and especially those who want to take a quicker pace to hurriedly finish the game.  

I have played several of the CoD games and actually enjoy the campaigns quite a lot. I think those get more of a "bro" label due to the interactive content, but outside of that, most of the campaigns are solid.

I passed the first checkpoint last night. I had to replay an area and it set me back about an hour and a half........more on that in the next Playcast.......Currently in the Smuggler's Hideout

I spent a couple of hours with the game last night and was thankfully able to get past Fort Frolic, and I eventually made it a little past the Week 3 checkpoint. There's a really cool moment that occurs during that stretch, and anybody who has played the game before will know what I'm talking about, but it's probably too early to talk about that now.

I found that using the Chemical Thrower with Electric Gel on the Big Daddies is a very effective way of taking them down. They remain stun locked from the electricity the entire time, and even if they don't die before you need to reload, they should be weakened enough to finish them off easily with a different weapon.

I finished the game last night. I have some thoughts about some of the game's later events, but I'll save that for later.

Great pick, I really had fun revisiting this one!

Alright, I'm caught up now. Finished checkpoint 2 and probably about halfway into checkpoint 3. Enjoying it, but I feel like every new area is a fetch quest. I kind of wish they would mix it up with some more straight forward levels.

The camera is okay. Nice to be able to do more damage to certain species, but having to take damage just to get photos as a little irritating.

Finished the game at around 3:00 AM last night!  Wanted to go ahead and push through, since I have a very busy Thanksgiving and end of the month.  Had a lot of fun with this one and can't wait to discuss it up to the end of the 3rd checkpoint.

I reached the Olympus Heights checkpoint yesterday. The whole Sander Cohen part just seemed like more busy work to open a door. Why would we blindly kill and help him create his "art" anyway? He didn't use the "magic words" as far as I heard. Plus you find the room he is hiding out in fairly early on and you're a person who is extremely well equipped. You'd think your Frag Grenade or even a shotgun could take down that flimsy mall security gate he was guarded by ;) Anyone else find the crossbow an extremely lame final weapon? They could have just stopped at the Chemical Launcher since it is pretty cool, versatile and unique. I assume if you kill Sander you'd get the key to the chest he had locked up, but I just had no interest in killing another thing after all the murders I have already committed in this game.

There was a stairway though that led down to a basement that I wasn't able to figure out how to open even though I had explored every other visible area on the map. Anyone figure out how to open up that stairway?

The Ryan Industries area is my favorite since the start of the game. Things finally felt fresh, intimidating and interesting once again. The puzzles are all still super simple and the combat at this point is just going through the motions to the point that taking down Big Daddies is not any harder than taking down splicers so gameplay wise I'm finding it stale. But visually I'm pulled back in and this area seems to have the most story progress by far. My memories were of this area and the confrontation with Andrew Ryan being the end of the game. I cannot remember what I'm going to come across in the final chapter at all unless I'm blurring my memories of the sequels together with this game. I'm assuming some of my questions about the "Big Reveal" are going to be answered in the next checkpoint so I'll refrain from most of them here, but I can't figure out a big thing so if it was answered in the game already and I missed it please help me out. Why would Andrew Ryan want us to kill him (and specifically in such a personal and violent method)? Is that something that is going to still get answered or did I miss something?

PS - The game did something that I absolutely hate. When I was leaving the theater and heading to Ryan Industries the game pulled up a menu to let me know that I hadn't found all the little sisters in the area yet and it strongly suggested I go find them before I move on. I wish it would have not told me that. Let me make mistakes, and not hold my hand.

PPS - How did I lug that 4' EMP around and still have 2 hands for my shotgun! Oh video games!

PPPS - I got a ton of achievements in this last chapter. Havn't looked at the list of them yet, but I'm curious as to what will be left when I'm done playing because it seems like I've got a fair amount just by playing without knowing what's on the list.


What difficulty are you playing on? When I read this post I was surprised that you'd get two med kits and thought that did sound worth destroying some med stations for. I only get 1 kit when I take them out though. Tried it on a few in different areas and never got two. Does it scale the drops depending on your difficulty perhaps? I'm playing on Normal.

Agreed, the crossbow was useless. I used it one time to try it out and was like, "Nope!" I also never used the chemical launcher. I dunno, I'm just a fan of guns and wrenches I guess.

I'm with you Crabby, the Sander Cohen part of the story was rather flimsy. Like you said, why would you be doing this guys bidding?  Perhaps another way that this could have been approached would be to make the guys you have to track down mini-bosses and you then have your confrontation with Cohen.

I'm not sure that the Ryan question is ever answered fully, but you do learn more about your character later than shines a bit of a light on it. I just figure that Ryan knows he is going to die and after everything you've been through, everything he has sent to kill you, you feel he needs to be brutalized.

Understand your comments about the little sisters and the funny thing is that I never knew you could use the start menu to see how many were left until I has at least halfway through the game. Not sure if I got the "good ending" or not. Are you playing on PS4 Crabby?  I played on PS3 and ever got that message. Perhaps I got them all anyway. I'll have to check the endings on YouTube to see.

As far as lugging weapons around. Yeah, almost every 1st person shooter I've ever played does this, so I don't find any issue with it. Like you said, it's a video game. I feel that way about most things when it comes to gameplay, but it's harder for me to give flawed story elements/plot holes a pass.

Achievements...no idea. I'm not an achievement hoochie mama like you. ;)

As far as the med kits go, I've found that when you destroy them, the number of kits they drop vary.  I typically got 1-3 kits.

     

I have found the crossbow useful, but mostly only for enemies with less health. If you can manage to snipe one from a distance, in the face, the steel-tipped bolts can often give you a one-hit kill, even on splicers with more HP. Also, if you stock up on the trap bolts, you can set up a series of stops in a long corridor, so when you attack a Big Daddy, you can keep them from advancing while you pelt them with Frag Grenades or similar things. That and Proximity Mines are a good way to take them out, or severely curtail their health, so they're easier to deal with. I've been at least marginally successful with this strategy.

There's a case to be made for destroying the health stations, because the splicers can freaking use them! I was kinda flabbergasted yesterday when I was playing, and had an enemy down to a sliver of health, and suddenly, their health bar refilled, because they used the health station. It makes total sense, but I kinda couldn't believe it when I saw it the first time. But then in the same area, I was using the Napalm and the Incinerate plasmid on splicers, and in one corridor where there's water, they would run quickly to that and dive in the water to douse themselves and dispense with the fire. I thought that was a pretty nice touch, and made me more positive on the game's elemental engine than I had previously been. Certainly, they put more thought into it than I thought.

Despite my frustrations with the game, and the difficulty I'm having, I'm still enjoying it, and have found that the game's atmosphere, period setting and trappings, and overall presentation is strong enough to keep me moving forward. The story, though it has issues which many of you have touched on, is still interesting enough to consider the ramifications of such a scenario. One thing I'm unclear of is why little girls were used for cultivating and/or harvesting ADAM, and whether or not the Big Daddies are actual people. You don't ever get to unmask one, and because their HP is so high, if they are human, they've definitely been enhanced far beyond even the normal splicers. It's my understanding that BioShock 2 focuses more on the Little Sisters and Big Daddies, so perhaps that's expounded upon in the sequel? It's hard to say, but it's an element of mystery that is intriguing. Is it possible I missed an audio log somewhere that provides more insight into these questions?

I pushed ahead yesterday, and made it to the 3rd checkpoint area and beyond, so if I can swing it, I'll probably finish the game by mid-week. I'm close enough now that I want to see the end, especially after the major story twist that happens around the 2/3 point, or thereabouts.

Sander Cohen submerged the bathysphere that led to Andrew Ryan, so doing his bidding and playing his sick games was presumably the only way to proceed. He will also open that locked box when he walks down the stairs after you put the last photo on his sculpture.

The crossbow was absolutely NOT useless. It's possibly the most powerful weapon in the game and was my weapon of choice for the final segments, although for most of the game I rotated through all of my weapons pretty evenly.

I only ever found 1 medkit in destroyed health stations, although I usually hacked them when given the chance. I was playing on Hard, and also wondered if the difficulty setting had an effect on how many dropped.

@MetalFro: There is an audio log left by Tenenbaum where she asks the same question about the Little Sisters. I don't think the game ever gives an explanation for why they are all girls. As for your question about the Big Daddies, you'll find out about that soon enough. ;)


Do you mean the stairway in Fort Frolic? If so, it opened for me at some point, but I didn't know what triggered it. I looked it up just now, and apparently there is a switch/button located behind the bar in Sinclair Spirits that opens it.

Yep, switch on the side of the  ar opens it. I remember doing that. Just pure luck that I saw it.

Before you guys record the next episode, you should check out the recent Retronauts episode where they talk about Bioshock. Might be interesting to compare and contrast.

I can't speak for Shawn, but I try to stay away from other reviews and commentary on games before podcasting. I feel like even though it is unintentional, their ideas or thoughts might influence my own.  Sure, we sometimes do some background research beforehand, but it tends to be more factual than opinion based. However, I will definitely listen to it after we record.

I used the Crossbow for the Sander Cohen missions as it did quite a bit of damage to splicers, that reload is just too brutal though. I'm sure it's a bit better if you can mod it to increase the rate of fire, but at that point in the game I had a maxed out Shotgun and several other partially upgraded weapons so it seemed far too late to invest in the crossbow.


I'm playing the Xbox 360 version. My first play was on the PS3 so I thought I'd try out the original console release this time around.

My lugging weapons around comment wasn't a dig at Bioshock, but at video games in general. One of my favorite gaming moments was as a child playing through Space Quest 3 and finding a ladder to collect and you type "pick up ladder" and the game makes a comment like "you shoved the ladder in your pocket.....ouch!". While the game was using it humorously it really pointed out to me that basically any video game has silly inventory systems with very few exceptions.

I must just have terrible luck with the Med Kit drops then because I destroyed 5 stations and they all gave me 1 kit :(

Thanks for the button location to open the stairs in Fort Frolic @Disposed Hero!! Next Bathysphpere I may back track and check it out.


I absolutely LOVE retronauts and listen to them very often and have heard probably close to 100% of their stuff. That Bioshock episode is bad though. They spend over half the episode just crapping on Ken Levine and Bioshock Infinite instead of discussing the actual game the episode is about. Then when they get to the discussion it's pretty shallow compared to their usual stuff. It's not often one of their shows is a miss for me, but I wouldn't recommend that episode. It actually makes me excited to hear a proper discussion about the game via the playcast when we are done.

Thanks for the compliment Crabby!  Shawn and I are really excited about the upcoming recording. Should be a good one.

I was hoping to beat the game last night, but from Olympus Heights forward, the game gets harder, I think, even though I'm sufficiently powered up enough to feel like a bit of a powerhouse. As much as I don't want to rely on the Vita-Chambers for keeping my health up, I find that Big Daddies still end up taking me out more often than not, and getting bum rushed by 3 splicers at once, especially in narrow corridors and tight spaces, is a recipe for a fast death. Sure, I can freeze one or two, and deal with what's remaining, but those effects are short-lived, so it's a constant juggling act. Splicers that attack you via melee means will always shave a little health off, and because their movements are so erratic, I often end up wasting ammo as I'm trying to target them. Over time, I've learned how to conserve that somewhat, but it's still a factor. Either way, I'm hoping to finish it off tonight, as I think I'm about to enter the final area.

Good luck FRO!  Anyone else think those Hoodini Splicers especially suck?

Boy howdy, do they! The Houdini style are so annoying, because they can disappear right as you're lining up your shot, and even if you use the Electro Bolt plasmid, they can still teleport away, so they can take a little while to take out.

Have you guys maxed out your Houdini research with the camera? One of the benefits of doing that was it makes it easier to see where they are reappearing. Makes it pretty simple to line up a shot well in advance and they can't really do anything about it.

LOL, I'm too busy trying to NOT DIE to take pictures of those turds :P

Ha!

Unfortunately, I am once again falling behind in the playthrough. I will try and get this finished before December, but between trying to compete with my gf over the PS4, and being hopelessly addicted to Let’s Go Eevee, I’m struggling to play this.

Just name your character Atlas and you Rival can be Andrew Ryan then you can play right alone side us with your pokemon/splicers

Finished it off this morning. I did remember the Big Daddy stuff, but I thought it was in Bioshock 2 for some reason. No I can't remember what happened at all in Bioshock 2, lol. I have many questions for you guys:

Why did it have to be little girls gather the ADAM? Tennenbaum mentioned in a log I found that she understood why it had to be, but I must have missed the one that explained it to the player.

Why did at no time during this game did the player speak? Did they ever explain why you are a mute?

How does everyone who is on the radio with you know exactly where you are and what you are doing at all times? Ryan, Fontaine, Tennenbaum, Cohen all would speak to you as certain actions unfolded like they had just witnessed what you had done.

Why wouldn't you ever turn off your radio especially after learning about the psychological conditioning?
 
Did they dive into how the magic potion heals your physiological condition? That seemed a bit far fetched even in the reality they had constructed for this game. Just seemed like a lazy out so they could have you face Fontaine in a head to head fight.

What exactly was I doing to the little sisters when I was "rescue"ing them? I never really understood what was going on there.

I still don't get how the Vita-Chambers fit in. What did I miss there?


As for how I feel about the game in general. I don't care for it. It's a long repetitive slog for very little actual story. Cool twists don't make it worth the time investment. If they cut out half of the game I think it would have been a lot more enjoyable. The shooting itself never evolved past the first area and it wasn't very fun there. The hacking just got worse and worse to the point it felt like a modern mobile game at the end where I was spending money to not play the game (purchasing auto-hacking tools). Nearly all of the plasmids and upgrades felt tacked on just to flush out the game and weren't actually useful. That last fight (and really every encounter after the first Big Daddy) was so easy it was very silly that he would knowingly keep restraining himself even after you started harvesting him. The style of story telling just didn't jive with me, I had a really hard time piecing things together and getting attached to any of the characters. It's a neat idea and I can definitely see the merit, it's just not for me.

I did like the happy ending I got though for saving all of the Little Sisters. That was a satisfying conclusion afterwards. It seemed like only about 5 made it out with me though and there were a ton more of them still in Rapture though. My favorite part of the game was when I was in Olympus Heights and I was wandering around with all of the little sisters and I took a candy bar off of one of the tables and one of the little sisters looked right at me and said "hey!!", that caught me off guard and was a super cute moment in such an otherwise dark depressing game.

A friend of mine has had me playing through the original Halo with him a little bit each time I go there and I feel very similar about that game as I do Bioshock. I could see if I was enjoying the game play a lot more that the sparse story might not be an issue for me, but since it's not really my thing it makes the whole experience feel like a slog. There isn't really a part that I love about the game that has me grinding through the rest of it to get there, which I definitely do in a lot of other games. I definitely need to play more FPS games as I'm sure there has to be one that sucks me in. This wasn't it unfortunately though.

PS - I blew up every first aid station I found for the rest of the game and I only got one that dropped me 2 kits!! I was starting to think you guys were trolling me, but it seems I just had back luck assuming they are rng drops.

QUESTION OF THE MONTH: @thesinglebanana and I will be recording this weekend and we want to know, what is your favorite DYSTOPIA from any from of media, and why?

PS - Thank you all for an incredible discussion this month. I still love this game and it was awesome to revisit it with the playthrough gang. I'm pretty sure everyone has finished the game so we can go ahead and discuss everything, including the ending, freely at this point. Coherent final thoughts will be read on the podcast as usual, so fire away!

Equilibrium is one of my favorite Dystopian settings for sure. The odd society were people take drugs to suppress their feelings and it's a crime punishable by death to engage in things like listening to music or hiding art is fascinating. Also Gun Kata is super badass!!

Crabby, you missed airtime with the answer by just a few hours, but thank you for the response!

What is Equilibrium from? Sounds cool.

Aww dang. It's an early Christain Bale and Sean Bean movie. Really cool concept and the Gun Kata that I mentioned is a gun based martial art that they train the government agents in so you get to see Christain Bale do all sort of wicked gun based karate moves. If you go to moviebodycounts.com his character is still ranked number 3 character of all time for dropping 118 bodies in 1 hour and 47 minutes. It's one of my favorite movies period dystopian or not.