History Fridge / BioshockInfinite

* There are (at the moment) 4 [[BlingBlingBang Gold Weapon variants]] that were be acquirable by pre-ordering the game and the DLC. Comstock's China Broom, Comstock's Bird's Eye, Comstock's Broadsider, and Comstock's Triple R. But Comstock is never seen with them and Booker gets a damage buff while using them. [[spoiler: Booker is Comstock's Alternate universe self.]]

** Another reason from the story perspective is that, compared to Rapture, there really isn't anything or anyone worth ''saving'' in Columbia for Booker and Elizabeth to care. After seeing the city for what it is, they ultimately find it pointless to save it without destroying the whole thing. All they care about by that point, as mentioned, is to simply ''leave.''

*** There was a point in the game's development when we were told that Vigors would only be good for a limited number of uses, then you'd have to find another bottle. The EVE-like Salts hadn't been conceived yet. The setting makes more sense under those rules- Vigor bottles would be a rare resource, and once a person used up a Vigor's "charges", he'd be a regular Joe again.

*** There might be an edit war over the general usage of Vigors throughout the game and the plot, but if it's any consolation, we've come to an agreement that it doesn't make much sense for the majority of the Vox Populi to be running around without superpowers now that they're in control of Fink's factory. You could raise the trope on the main page with that point.

*** There might be an edit war over the general usage of Vigors throughout the game, but if it's any consolation, we've come to an agreement that it doesn't make much sense for the majority of the Vox Populi to be running around without superpowers now that they're in control of Fink's factory.

*** Well, the whole issue of game design angle was kinda what I was going for -_- hence the GameplayAndStorySegregation trope. I just fear putting it on the main page now for fear of it causing an edit war.

*** Not really suggesting that the sort of Vigors available in stores are just temporary samples; I'm just suggesting that Columbia's citizens would have to do a lot more than just show up with the money if they wanted the real deal- proof of loyalty to Columbia and its ideals, or proof of white ancestry, something like that. But I agree, it doesn't really make sense for the Vox not to start powering themselves up; it's either an issue of supply (the Founders bombed the shit out of the factory's store Vigors, and it takes time to manufacture more for the Vox to use) an issue of philosophy (the Vox don't want to rely on Fink's product unless they absolutely have to, although I doubt this is the case) or an issue of game design. You be the judge. Hopefully, though, it'll be explained in the upcoming DLC.

*** That doesn't really hold up for me. Before the encounter with Fitzroy and Fink, Booker and Elizabeth go through the factory. They see the conveyer belts of Vigor being produced off the line. There are crates full of the stuff. Even if you could argue the stuff people can actually walk into a store and buy is just a temporary "sample" type deal, which there's nothing really in the game to support that (in fact a lot of what you're suggesting to justify it seems to only exist in your head and not in the game, but it does make sense so I'll give you that), how can you explain the Vox not chugging that shit when they take over the factory? You storm the gates with them, and by the time you get to the top and officially say "ok, Columbia sucks, lets bail out" the Vox completely ''own'' the factory and basically the entire city. The place where the Vigors are produced and stored is under their control. Why aren't all of them drinking that shit by the bucket load? Brainwashing that it doesn't work on minorities or not, I refuse to believe not a single Vox soldier at least took a sip of that stuff out of curiosity, and when they saw it worked despite the fact he wasn't white, the entire army should have been running around tossing lightning and possessing their enemies to watch them kill themselves for pure amusement. The fact there ARE Vox aligned Firemen and Crowmen to fight for the rest of the game only further goes to show that yes, they know you can use Vigors even if you aren't white as the driven snow. Even if you could make the tenuous claim that Vigors weren't in wide spread use before the uprising, I don't see why they aren't afterwards.

*** That doesn't really hold up for me. Before the encounter with Fitzroy and Fink, Booker and Elizabeth go through the factory. They see the conveyer belts of Vigor being produced off the line. There are crates full of the stuff. Even if you could argue the stuff people can actually walk into a store and buy is just a temporary "sample" type deal, which there's nothing really in the game to support that (in fact a lot of what you're suggesting to justify it seems to only exist in your head and not in the game, but it does make sense so I'll give you that), how can you explain the Vox not chugging that shit when they take over the factory? You storm the gates with them, and by the time you get to the top and officially say "ok, Columbia sucks, lets bail out" the Vox completely ''own'' the factory and basically the entire city. The place where the Vigors are produced and stored is under their control. Why aren't all of them drinking that shit by the bucket load? Brainwashing that it doesn't work on minorities or not, I refuse to believe not a single Vox soldier at least took a sip of that stuff out of curiosity, and when they saw it worked despite the fact he wasn't white, the entire army should have been running around tossing lightning and possessing their enemies to watch them kill themselves for pure amusement. Even if you could make the tenuous claim that Vigors weren't in wide spread use before the uprising, I don't see why they aren't afterwards.

*** I actually wondered a bit about Possession: it's ''supposedly'' only being given out as a free sampler- the kind of thing that lasts for a couple of minutes and then wears off- but instead, Booker gets the full-blown version. Why? I personally suspect the Lutece twins of manipulating things from behind the scenes; after all, they're implied to have killed off a few of Comstock's assassins already, so maybe it's not such a leap for them to replace one of the sample bottles with the real Vigor. As for the reason why none of the Vox seem to use the Vigors scattered around willy-nilly... well, in the interests of not repeating myself too many times in a row, I won't bring up the "Vigor Propaganda" thing again; so, maybe some of the rebels ''did'' take advantage, and Booker doesn't run into them. In the Vox Populi Uprising universe, this might (key word being "might") be justifiable by the few rebels with vigors being sent deep into enemy territory to kill off high-priority targets- before the events of the endgame, anyway: since the Vox believe that Comstock's aboard the ''Hand Of The Prophet'', logically they'd have no excuse for not sending in their most powerful troops to bust through his defences.

*** I actually wondered a bit about Possession: it's ''supposedly'' only being given out as a free sampler- the kind of thing that lasts for a couple of minutes and then wears off- but instead, Booker gets the full-blown version. Why? I personally suspect the Lutece twins of manipulating things from behind the scenes; after all, they're implied to have killed off a few of Comstock's assassins already, so maybe it's not such a leap for them to replace one of the sample bottles with the real Vigor. As for the reason why none of the Vox seem to use the Vigors scattered around willy-nilly... well, in the interests of not repeating myself too many times in a row, I won't bring up the "Vigor Propaganda" thing again; so, maybe some of the rebels ''did'' take advantage, and Booker doesn't run into them. In the Vox Populi Uprising universe, this might (key word being "might") be justifiable by the few rebels with vigors being sent deep into enemy territory to kill off high-priority targets- before the events of the endgame, anyway: since the Vox believe that Comstock's aboard the ''Hand Of The Prophet'', so logically they'd have no excuse for not sending in their most powerful troops to bust through his defences.

*** "As for citizens, they get a few cheap samplers at the carnival games that wear off in a minute or two, but unless they can pay for the real deal and meet the necessary requirements, that's it." And yet Possession, arguably the vigor that would be most concerning to a group of people that are actively oppressing another group of people, is being GIVEN away for free at an open air fair. Granted, the base version only works on machines and it doesn't seem like any non-whites/Irish were allowed in, but it would be easy enough for a revolutionary to sneak a bottle and possess a gun turret or two. Not to mention that several bottles of various kinds of Vigors are found just lying around in-game. They only give Booker salt, but that's because you already have that Vigor. Heck, the only bottle of Charge in the entire game is literally sitting on a pedestal for any of the dozens of revolutionaries running by it to take a quick sip, and only Booker thinks to take advantage of this.

*** Well, once again, we're going to have to bring up the big difference between Rapture and Colombia: because of Andrew Ryan's objectivist beliefs, Plasmids were sold on the open market, with no regulations or restrictions whatsoever; Colombia is a much more restrictive environment. As has been discussed on the headscratcher page, Comstock and Fink would almost certainly make citizens and soldiers alike jump through a lot more hoops before giving them superpowers; the Firemen and the Crows are elites- they've proved that they have no rebellious leanings and can be trusted to obey orders- so they're given a vigor: ''one'' vigor, not the small arsenal Booker's wielding by the end of the game. As for citizens, they get a few cheap samplers at the carnival games that wear off in a minute or two, but unless they can pay for the real deal and meet the necessary requirements, that's it. Racial minorities and the other underclasses of Columbia wouldn't be allowed within ten feet of a vigor. This is just speculation, but the reason why nobody in Columbia brings up the fact that Vigors are usable by just about anyone can be attributed to at least two reasons: 1) advertisers like the fairground barkers simply leave it as the ElephantInTheRoom and allow their audience to think "He said any "man" can do these things with vigors, so obviously the blacks and Irish can't get anything useful out of them. After all, they're not really men, are they?" 2)Comstock and/or Fink issues a statement that vigors only work for "good, wholesome god-fearing white men and women." In the case of blacks, Irishmen, Jews, etc, they claim that vigors have negative effects ranging from grievious mutilation to death; thus, Comstock's flock feel so much better about themselves, and the underclasses of Colombia will be hesitant before trying to use vigors of their own.

*** Well, once again, we're going to have to bring up the big difference between Rapture and Colombia: because of Andrew Ryan's objectivist beliefs, Plasmids were sold on the open market, with no regulations or restrictions whatsoever; Colombia is a much more restrictive environment. As has been discussed on the headscratcher page, Comstock and Fink would almost certainly make citizens and soldiers alike jump through a lot more hoops before giving them superpowers; the Firemen and the Crows are elites- they've proved that they have no rebellious leanings and can be trusted to obey orders- so they're given a vigor: ''one'' vigor, not the small arsenal Booker's wielding by the end of the game. As for citizens, they get a few cheap samplers at the carnival games that wear off in a minute or two, but unless they can pay for the real deal and meet the necessary requirements, that's it. Racial minorities and the other underclasses of Columbia wouldn't be allowed within ten feet of a vigor. This is just speculation, but the reason why nobody in Columbia brings up the fact that Vigors are usable by just about anyone is for one of two reasons: 1) the advertisers simply leave it as the ElephantInTheRoom and allow their audience to think "He said any "man" can do these things with vigors, so obviously the blacks and Irish can't get anything useful out of them. After all, they're not really men, are they?" 2)Comstock and/or Fink issues a statement that vigors only work for "good, wholesome god-fearing white men and women." In the case of blacks, Irishmen, Jews, etc, they claim that vigors have negative effects ranging from grievious mutilation to death; thus, Comstock's flock feel so much better about themselves, and the underclasses of Colombia will be hesitant before trying to use vigors of their own.

*** The issue is not the existence of Vigor's themselves. The issue is that the entire population of Columbia seems to ignore their existence. We see them being made by the truck load in Fink's factories, we see them next to dead soldiers bodies, we see advertisements for them everywhere, but aside from the existence of the Firemen and Crowmen enemies, they don't seem to have any significance outside of allowing Booker to use special powers. It's just especially jarring considering what a huge deal Plasmids were in the original game because, well, duh, having some magical goo that would allow you to snap your fingers and light people on fire would have a HUGE impact on the city and its occupants. The fall of Rapture was inevitable due to the psychotic implications and addictive nature of Plasmids. Infinite has none of that when it comes to Vigors, and it makes even less sense as to why: the whole city is based around racial purity, and how non whites are inherently inferior to whites because God said so, and yet the powers granted by Vigors know no color. Anyone could drink one and suddenly be able to light whoever they want on fire, or possess people and make them do their bidding. And yet the idea that maybe Fitzroy or her Vox might take advantage of these and use them to rise above their natural place isn't even brought up! We never see any soldiers who USE Vigors, aside from the Firemen and Crowmen, and that only covers two out of the eight Vigors you can get in the game. This is the ''definition'' of GameplayAndStorySegregation, where something that exists entirely for the sake of the gameplay (letting players use powers) is divorced from the actual story, when you'd think the existence and usage of Vigors would fundamentally change the way Columbia operates, and yet they're entirely ignored as far as the setting and narrative is concerned.

*** Explained in a different Voxophone: [[spoiler:They're derivatives of Elizabeth's own full potential.]]
*** So, in this sense, it's somewhat similar yet different to the Plasmids: like Plasmids, they are another example of the things that a certain technological [=McGuffin=] has produced for the city of the setting, but unlike the Plasmids, they don't take centre stage and they don't play a part in it's downfall.

* Moved here from GameplayAndStorySegregation in YMMV because apparently it doesn't count as a trope. Chalking that little edit to fanboy trying to protect their precious new release from valid criticism, but you be the judge:
** Sadly, the existence of Vigors in Columbia makes absolutely no god damn sense in the context of the story. Aside from possibly being justified by Fink [[spoiler: being inspired by Plasmids by viewing Rapture through a tear]], they seem to exist in a vacuum apart from the setting as a whole. In the original Bioshock Plasmids were an integral part of Rapture, both in construction and its ultimate downfall. Where do Vigors fit into Columbia? I don’t know, and neither does Infinite. There are advertisements for Vigors all over the city, and you can find bottles of the stuff lying around, but very few Columbians use them. In a society that espouses racial purity, you’d think Vigors would be more of an issue. After all, they can turn a person into a demigod regardless of race. But this never comes up. Instead they merely exist as a hold over from the old games to give an excuse for why Booker can shoot lightning from his finger tips instead of feeling like a very tangible element of the narrative like they were in the original game.
*** Explained in a different Voxophone: [[spoiler:They're derivatives of Elizabeth's own full potential.]]

** Sadly, the existence of Vigors in Columbia makes absolutely no god damn sense in the context of the story. Aside from possibly being justified by Fink [[spoiler: being inspired by Plasmids by viewing Rapture through a tear]], they seem to exist in a vacuum apart from the setting as a whole. In the original Bioshock Plasmids were an integral part of Rapture, both in construction and its ultimate downfall. Where do Vigors fit into Columbia? I don’t know, and neither does Infinite. There are advertisements for Vigors all over the city, and you can find bottles of the stuff lying around, but very few Columbians use them. In a society that espouses racial purity, you’d think Vigors would be more of an issue. After all, they can turn a person into a demigod regardless of race. But this never comes up. Instead they merely exist as a hold over from the old games to give an excuse for why Booker can shoot lightning from his finger tips instead of feeling like a very tangible element of the narrative like they were in the original game.

*** When I began my second playthrough I made it back to the coin flip scene and took it as your choice doesn't really matter, because this has all happened before in different worlds. The Lutece's aren't recording what the coin landed on, but what Booker's choice was. They most likely visited alternate universe Booker's and Booker's from the past and so far they have all said heads.

* How can anyone ''breath'' in Columbia? The vast majority of places seem to be located above the cloud layer. Shouldn't the air be far to thin to breath? Of course, MST3K mantra is in full effect.

** A much larger, much more complicated airship that required a full crew to operate. The First Lady could be piloted by one person.

* Midway through the game, Elizabeth takes you to a world where Booker died. What happened to the Elizabeth of that world? The autolog you read from Booker implies that he found her and that she survived, at least up until his death. This is a fairly pressing question when you realize that ''the rest of the game takes place in that world'', which means that the fact that there should be two Elizabeths walking around completely screws up the plot.

* In order to get an airship to leave Columbia, you need to get some guns for the anarchists, and, later, help them conquer a factory. At one point in this progression, in order to help them conquer the factory, you need to blow up an airship. Which you do by boarding it, then killing everyone onboard, then ''smashing the engine'', blowing up the ''perfectly serviceable airship'' you had just seized so that you can... get another, different airship, later.