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1[[VideoGame/BioShockInfinite Main Page]] | '''Tropes A-H''' | BioShockInfinite/TropesIToP | BioShockInfinite/TropesQToZ | ''BioShockInfinite/BurialAtSea''
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3!!!''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'' provides examples of the following tropes:
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9* AbilityDepletionPenalty: If Booker's regenerating shield ability is completely broken, he loses it for a short time and becomes very vulnerable to damage. After that time, the bar will refill on its own and it protects him again.
10* ActionFilmQuietDramaScene: Between the various fire fights are optional contemplative scenes between Elizabeth and Booker, often during gondola or elevator rides. One unique instance has Booker silently pick up a guitar and accompany Elizabeth as she sings ''Will the Circle be Unbroken'' and tries to give food to a starving child in the basement of the Graveyard Shift pub.
11* ActionizedSequel: ''[=BioShock=] Infinite'' noticeably simplifies the inventory system (you no longer carry first aid kits or EVE hypos) and does away with minigames entirely. "Hacking" vending machines, turrets, and even Motorized Patriots is still possible, but only requires a cast of the Possession Vigor. The game is also more shoot-em-up focused, as ammo is a lot more common and Elizabeth can toss you extra ammo and salts if you run low.
12* AdjectiveAnimalAlehouse: One area in the game is a bar called the Salty Oyster.
13* AirborneAircraftCarrier: The player can both see Zeppelins capable of carrying the smaller barges and the city of Columbia is itself a massive one.
14* AirJousting: You can use Sky-Lines to rocket through the air at similarly airborne opponents while firing at each other. If you and an enemy are riding directly towards each other, you can make Booker hop off the rail, sideswipe the enemy, and reattach to the same rail.
15* AirVentPassageway: Booker boosts Elizabeth through a vent so that she can [[spoiler:stop Daisy Fitzroy from killing a young boy while Booker distracts her.]]
16* AlasPoorVillain:
17** Captain Slate sets out to kill Booker and Elizabeth from the second they step foot in the Hall of Heroes, but his story distresses even Elizabeth: he was driven mad by a combination of his experiences in the Battle of Wounded Knee and, later, Comstock taking credit for the victory despite never being there. The player has the option to execute him once he's defeated, and should they choose not to, Booker will grumble that there's no point.
18** The Siren, a.k.a. [[spoiler:Lady Comstock.]] Once brought to life, her one and only goal is to slaughter Elizabeth merely for being born. Elizabeth soon realizes that her true suffering stems from [[spoiler:being an amalgamation of different versions of Lady Comstock, horrifyingly aware that she is both dead and alive, the former at the hands of her own husband. The Siren disappears after a heartfelt apology from Elizabeth.]]
19** The Songbird. It's a terrifying creature whose goal is to keep Elizabeth in the tower no matter how miserable she is. However, its goal is still to ''protect'' Elizabeth--the two still have a deep bond that keeps it from ever hurting her. At the end of the game, [[spoiler:Elizabeth effectively puts the Songbird down by transporting it to the bottom of the ocean, cooing to and comforting it as it dies from the pressure.]]
20** There's also the citizens of Columbia in general. It sure is a lot easier to hate them when they're not being executed in the streets and forced to abandon their homes and everything they own to escape the [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized Vox Populi uprising]].
21* AlliterativeName: The Rolston Reciprocating Repeater, or more widely referred to as the "Triple R" Machine Gun.
22* AllohistoricalAllusion: The game has multiple references to the real-life [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Peking_(1900) Battle of Peking]], which in this AlternateHistory was fought entirely by the forces of Columbia, instead of by the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight-Nation_Alliance Eight-Nation Alliance]]. Notably, Slate mentions that the Columbian forces lost thirty men, which is over three times the number of American casualties in the real-life battle.
23* AlternateHistory:
24** ''Infinite'''s history diverged from the real world's when Comstock created the floating city of Columbia, leading to Columbia personally ending the Boxer Rebellion and eventually [[spoiler:destroying New York City in 1984]].
25** Elizabeth opens a tear to the Regent Theatre in Paris showing an AlternateHistory version of the 1983 ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', ''Revenge of the Jedi''.[[note]]''Revenge'' was the WorkingTitle of episode VI before Lucas decided to change it to ''Return''.[[/note]]
26* AlternateUniverse: Columbia is full of "tears" Elizabeth uses multiple times as doorways to different versions of reality. A convenient, spoiler-heavy chart can be found [[http://imgur.com/r/BioShock/MaHNjLo here]].
27** The universe you start in has Comstock slowly wiping out an underground rebellion of minority citizens, the Vox Populi. Booker and Elizabeth are tasked with finding a gunsmith to provide weapons to the Vox, only to find the smith is already dead.
28** Elizabeth then transports herself and Booker into a second universe where the gunsmith is alive, thanks to the fact he married a white woman with ties to Comstock, but his machines have been confiscated, and most of the Vox Populi's members have already been arrested or killed. Elizabeth and Booker quickly realize they have no way to bring the machines back to the gunsmith, leading to a second jump.
29** The third universe where Elizabeth was moved to Comstock House and Booker became [[spoiler:a martyr]] for the Vox trying to save her, leading to a [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized bloody revolution]] in which the gunsmith and his wife are killed.
30** Booker then gets pulled into a fourth universe [[spoiler:set in a distant future where he failed to save Elizabeth, resulting in her taking Comstock's place and eventually [[BadFuture destroying New York]]. Just how far into the future Booker has been taken to is left vague until he meets a very old Elizabeth. This Elizabeth gives him the code to override Songbird's programming, so Booker and Elizabeth can survive the FinalBattle, after which he's sent back to the third universe, just right after Elizabeth's recapture. This being the third universe is evidenced by a well-armed Vox Populi hampering Booker and Elizabeth's attempt to escape Columbia using the ''Hand of the Prophet'']].
31** The fifth universe after the FinalBattle: [[spoiler:Rapture from the original ''VideoGame/BioShock1'']].
32** And then there's the sixth, where Elizabeth has [[spoiler:destroyed all realities where Comstock existed by drowning Booker at his baptism, effectively killing her, Booker, AND Comstock, and ensuring none of the deaths caused by Columbia and its people happen]].
33** [[spoiler:There's a hint of a seventh, where Booker isn't dead, is back in his office, and goes to check on Anna. This may or may not be real, as the vision is gray, like in a tear. Then again, almost all scenes in Booker's office are never rendered in full-color]].
34** [[spoiler:It's hinted that there are also at least 122 other universes you've been through prior to the start of the game, based on the number of times you ring the bells and the coin flip board at the carnival. In other words, the player's Booker is the [=123rd=] Booker that the Luteces have brought to the first universe]].
35* AmbiguouslyChristian: Most players assume that Comstock's cult is Christian, however Jesus is never mentioned or portrayed anywhere in Columbia. Inspiration was clearly taken from various Christian movements, though Jesus is omitted possibly to minimize controversy or in-universe because he would distract from Comstock (as suggested when Booker remarks that Comstock doesn't seem to like the idea of the people bowing to someone ''other'' than himself).
36* AmbiguousSyntax: As the Luteces row Booker to the lighthouse at the beginning of the game in the rain, Rosalind notes that they could ask Booker to row to help get there sooner. Robert says they could, except Booker doesn't row. Rosalind assumes he means that Booker doesn't enjoy rowing. Robert's re-emphasis of what he says clarifies [[spoiler:that Booker not rowing is one of the constants between all of the universes that take him to Columbia]], though that is not something the player would understand at first.
37-->'''Rosalind:''' Perhaps you should ask him. I imagine he has a greater interest in getting there than I do.\
38'''Robert:''' I suppose he does, but there's no point in asking. He doesn't row.\
39'''Rosalind:''' He doesn't ''row''?\
40'''Robert:''' No. He ''doesn't'' row.\
41'''Rosalind:''' Ah, I see what you mean.
42* AnachronismStew: A major plot element of the game, as Columbia has taken numerous pieces of technology and culture from after 1912 using "tears" in space-time, including:
43** Columbia's soldiers wear Brodie Helmets (or perhaps, their identical American counterparts, the M1917 Helmets), patented in 1915. According to the Hall Of Heroes, the Columbians already donned them during the Boxer Rebellion in ''1900''. They also wear strange ones that look like a fusion of French Adrian Helmets and US [=WW2=]-era M1s.
44** A phonograph playing a ragtime-waltz version of Music/TearsForFears' 1985 song, ''Everybody Wants to Rule the World''.
45*** This may also be a double example, as the song can also be heard through Elizabeth's tear into 1983 Paris, two years before the song was released in our world.
46** A barbershop quartet singing the 1966 Music/TheBeachBoys song ''God Only Knows'' and the 1928 ''Makin' Whoopee''.
47** At Battleship Bay, you can hear a carnival version of Cyndi Lauper's 1983 ''Girls Just Want to Have Fun'' being played. And you hear the original version of the song through a rift at one point.
48** The 1969 recording "[[Music/WillyAndThePoorBoys Fortunate Son]]" by Music/CreedenceClearwaterRevival is heard through another tear. That tear, like the one Albert Fink was getting ideas from, had apparently been around a while, as you later come across [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XADErOyjjE8 a young girl singing it as a spiritual]]. It's chillingly apropos.
49** You can hear Ed Cobb's 1965 ''Tainted Love'' in the Graveyard Shift Pub.
50** A swing version of Music/{{REM}}'s 1991 ''Shiny Happy People'' at the Emporia gondola station.
51** Sub-machine guns were post-1914 technology, and multi-chamber grenade launchers post-1983.
52** Rocket-propelled grenades weren't introduced until UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.
53** An ice cream shop selling Soft Serve, which wasn't invented until the 1950s.
54** Elizabeth using the term "flak cannon" to point out soldiers with volley guns. The German word "flak" did not enter the English vocabulary until the late 1930s.
55** An explicit forgery of [[http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_meec96xzLW1qigaa4o1_1280.png a classic WWI-era poster]] has been [[http://images.wikia.com/bioshock/images/f/fe/DaddyPrint-001.jpg recycled as Founder propaganda]].
56** [[invoked]]A host of [[FontAnachronism typefaces that didn’t exist in 1912]] are on all sorts of signage and advertisements.
57** The song "After You've Gone" was not written until 1918.
58** A Voxophone made by Fink implies that Big Daddies were the inspiration for the Songbird (to drive the point home, it's titled "A Child Needs A Protector"). Most likely they were the inspiration for Handymen as well. Not only were Big Daddies not invented until some time in the [=1950s=], but Rapture doesn't even exist in the same universe as Columbia.
59** You can hear "Goodnight, Irene" being sung at the raffle. Although elements of the song existed decades before 1912, the version heard is based upon the well-known 1930s rendition.
60** There are many other examples of songs that post-date 1912 being heard.
61** Radio news broadcasts are heard, and radios are also heard broadcasting music. Although radio broadcasts were feasible in the 1910s, neither of these innovations really became widespread until the 1920s, with the first radio news broadcasts not happening until 1920.
62** Silent films with recorded music soundtracks are seen throughout; this wasn't introduced until the mid-1920s.
63** Neon-style lighting is seen in some locations; such lighting wasn't developed until starting in the 1920s.
64** At a couple of points films are viewed with dialogue soundtracks; "talking pictures" weren't introduced until the 1920s.
65** Virtually the only unexplained anachronism occurs during the end of the game, when a choir sings "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" [[spoiler:at Booker/Comstock's baptism in 1889 or 1890, twenty years before it was even written.]]
66* {{Anticlimax}}: [[spoiler:The final confrontation with Comstock is this. Naturally, being an aged man with cancer, he was never going to put up a fight, but watching Booker beat up and drown an old man who isn't even fighting back while screaming at him is deliberately unsatisfying. However, that isn't the real climax of the story anyway. The real climax is Booker and Elizabeth learning that Comstock was Booker from a different universe.]]
67* AntiFrustrationFeatures:
68** If you fall into one of Columbia's many BottomlessPits, you won't die; instead, you'll be put right back where you fell with only a minor drop in health.
69** With the press of a button, you get an arrow guiding you to your next objective. Although the game map is not exactly a WideOpenSandbox, there are some complex locations with nooks and crannies to explore. In addition to helping guide the way, the arrow also allows players to avoid entering areas that may trigger battles, etc. before exploring.
70** Being killed in battle results in only a nominal financial penalty with no loss of progress. And even if you run out of money you are still revived; the only way to actually trigger a "game over" is to play on the most difficult setting, "1999," and run out of money before being killed. Also, if you died with depleted salts and/or ammo, they are slightly restored upon revival.
71** Vigors can be purchased from vending machines on the off-chance you missed picking them up initially. This [[DevelopersForesight includes]] Vigors like Possession that you can only circumvent through SequenceBreaking.
72** All vigors (except for Charge and Undertow) can be made into traps as soon as the player unlocks them, unlike in ''Bioshock 2'', where the player had to spend their ADAM to purchase and upgrade Cyclone Trap and spend extra EVE activating the trap.
73** The music is a clear indication when danger is near. There is clear, fast-paced melody when enemies are alerted to your presence, and a sharp chord is played to let you know when the last enemy in the immediate area has been killed, so you don't have to wonder if there's still someone waiting to ambush you. Elizabeth's behaviour is also a visual clue when danger has passed; she stops hiding and starts wandering around again.
74** Containers never hold alcohol (which lowers salts) or cigarettes (which lower health). Thus, you can quickly search a group of dead bodies, lockboxes, steamer trunks, etc, without worrying about losing either. There are, however, containers in Shantytown that contain rotten fruit, which lowers health. This makes sense considering you're in the slums. (The trope is inverted slightly in that you cannot pick-and-choose what to take from containers.)
75** Collectible items that go towards achievements (Voxophones, weapon kills, etc.) are cumulative across playthroughs. Even if you only find half of the Voxophones during your first playthrough, when you start a new game the Voxophones you previously found still count, so you don't have to find all 80 of them in one game.
76** Even though Booker takes {{falling damage}} above certain heights, he can jump from any height off a skyline or hook and land safely.
77** When you first start traveling with Elizabeth, the game straight out tells you that she can take care of herself and you don't need to worry about her during combat. Indeed, she is even immune to friendly fire. (Pointing a weapon at her results in a rebuke, too.)
78* AntiHero: Booker is aware that he is not a very good person. He committed atrocities at Wounded Knee, worked for the Pinkertons as a strikebreaker, eventually being kicked out for being too violent even for ''them'', and kills his enemies without hesitation or remorse in unsettlingly violent ways. And yet, he's always fighting someone who's [[BlackAndGrayMorality even worse]], and eventually decides that he owes Elizabeth a bigger debt than the man in New York, resolving to save her no matter the cost.
79* AntiVillain: [[spoiler:BadFuture Elizabeth who, after setting in motion TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, realizes [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone what she has done]] and pulls 1912 Booker into the future to give her past self a message that she hopes will SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong]].
80* AppliedPhlebotinum: Columbia is held up in defiance of classical physics through exploitation of quantum suspension of particles, developed by Rosalind Lutece.
81--> '''Rosalind Lutece:''' If an atom can be suspended indefinitely, why not an apple? If an apple... why not a city?
82** A great many uses of alternate realities within the games qualify; the "tearing" mechanic can do everything from [[spoiler:creating "ghosts" and effective time travel, and impact those affected with everything from nosebleeds to cancer and becoming unrecognizable to their closest associates as well as themselves]], but never predictably, logically, or consistently.
83* ArbitraryMissionRestriction: The ''Clash in the Clouds'' DLC requires the player to defeat 15 waves of enemies on each of the four maps, and each wave has a different specification, such as "Kill all enemies with the shotgun" or "Complete the wave in 60 seconds".
84* ArbitrarySkepticism: PlayedForLaughs in the ending. After spending the entire plot in a giant city built in the clouds, Booker scoffs at [[spoiler:Rapture.]]
85-->'''Booker:''' [[spoiler:[[VideoGame/BioShock1 City at the bottom of the ocean]]? [[SelfDeprecation Ridiculous]]]].
86* ArcWords
87** "Bring us the girl and wipe away the debt." The plot kicks off when Booker is sent on a mission to save Elizabeth from the tower to pay off an unknown debt, with this quote in mind. However, it's later revealed that [[spoiler:this is also a memory from a timeline in which Booker gave away his newborn daughter to pay off gambling debts. His doing so results in Elizabeth going to Zachary Comstock and becoming the "Lamb."]]
88** "The seed of the Prophet shall sit the throne and drown in flame the mountains of man," the so-called destiny of Elizabeth as Comstock's heir.
89** "Lives, lived, will live." "Dies, died, will die." This is the Lutece twins' explanation of [[spoiler:TheMultiverse, and how in them Booker is either himself or Zachary Comstock.]]
90* TheArk: Comstock envisioned Columbia as one, seeing it as a refuge from the corruption of "The Sodom Below". [[spoiler: He eventually plans to ensure that it is the only thing which survives "the flood" as he plans for it to "drown in flame the mountains of man"]].
91-->'''Comstock''': Even the Lord is entitled to [[TheGreatFlood a do-over]], and what is Columbia but another Ark for another time?
92* ArmoredVillainsUnarmoredHeroes: The Firemen are locked inside burning suits of armor. Handymen are put into massive mechanical suits. Motorized Patriots are made of iron, soldiers who use rockets or grenade launchers have metal helmets and armor, even a few normal soldiers have extra thick padding. Booker relies completely on an invisible magnetic shield the Luteces gave him.
93* TheArtifact:
94** Vigors, this game's equivalent of Plasmids, don't factor much into the plot or setting this time. Not only do they barely tie in with the game's central conflict (in contrast to ''Bioshock 1'' and ''2'', where Plasmids were key to Rapture's downfall), virtually nobody outside of Booker uses them, limited elsewhere to only a paltry number of EliteMooks. The game doesn't even give an explanation for how they work until ''Burial At Sea'' reveals [[spoiler:the tech was actually stolen from Rapture]].
95** Related to above are the weapon and vigor vending machines; in Rapture, they made more sense as they were heavily representative of their obsessively open market. Columbia's overly controlling government would want to put a check on weapons being sold, given the looming threat of the Vox Populi. Even weirder is that the game accidentally points this out, since it's actually a major plot point that the Vox ''are'' having a hard time getting weapons despite the weapon vendors on every corner (granted, the machines don't actually supply guns themselves, but the point still stands).
96* ArtifactTitle: The BioPunk aspect that inspires the ''[=BioShock=]'' title isn't nearly as present here (sans maybe the quantum augmnetation of Booker via his vigors and a few enemies like Songbird or the Handymen, but [[TheArtifact see above on the relevance of vigors]]). Given how the AppliedPhlebotinum of the game is instead [[RealityWarping reality-warping]] and {{Alternate Universe}}s, ''[=QuantumShock=]'' or ''[=ChronoShock=]'' would probably be more appropriate.
97* ArtificialStupidity: Enemies with automatic weapons frequently stand in place and fire from beyond their effective range, allowing the player to safely pick them off with more accurate weapons while bullets patter harmlessly around them.
98** Similar to the issue with Big Daddies in the first game, the Vox Populi have an issue with alignment when they start fighting on your side: If one of them stumbles into one of your traps, it will go off, causing all of them (in the immediate area) to turn on you. [[spoiler:Fortunately, you don't have to fight alongside them for very long.]]
99** The security system at Comstock House is an in-universe example, PlayedForLaughs. It cheerfully greets Elizabeth as "Lady Comstock" based solely on how she's dressed even though the latter has been dead for years (which it knows, and mentions) and then expresses confusion when her fingerprints, obviously, don't match -- "Your fingerprints don't appear to be your own today, Lady Comstock!" Regardless, it still dutifully refuses to open the gate.
100* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Columbia floats 15,000 feet above the ground - higher than most cloud cover as we see when Booker initially arrives in sunny Columbia having passed through thunderclouds below. Yet people are shown walking around outside with no indication anywhere of individuals needing oxygen or any other aid for living at such high altitude and no reference to acclimatizing. Booker, for his part, appears to instantly adapt to the altitude upon his arrival.
101* ArtisticLicenseGunSafety: When wielding either the Pistol or the Hand Cannon, Booker and Elizabeth are shown to keep their fingers on the triggers even when idle and outside of combat. This action should never be taken unless you intend to shoot at something, as this could lead to an accidental misfire.
102** Both will also hold both weapons with the barrels pointing upward rather than down at the ground, which is what you are supposed to do in case a misfire actually would occur.
103* ArtisticLicenseHistory: An in-universe example. The citizens of Columbia tend to either idealize or omit portions of both American history and culture to support their own views.
104** The values of forgiveness and racial tolerance that the Protestant Church promoted in the 1900s are conveniently ignored by the Columbians.
105** The Columbians religiously worship UsefulNotes/ThomasJefferson, the guy who coined the phrase "The Separation of Church and State".
106** Creator/BenjaminFranklin was a radical supporter of Egalitarianism: that all humans are equal in fundamental worth or social status. In Columbia social status is rigidly, and sometimes brutally, enforced (incidentally, the zealously monogamous Columbians also stand in sharp contrast with old Ben's [[ReallyGetsAround success with the ladies]]). Worshiping him is even stranger than for Jefferson, since Franklin was an open proponent of {{UsefulNotes/Deism}}.
107** UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington was appalled at the notion of a "King Washington", and yet the people of Columbia made Comstock a PermanentElectedOfficial.
108** UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln despised the American Civil War and was overjoyed when it ended. The Vox Populi treats him as a role model for ''glorifying'' violence and conflict. The Founders, on the other hand, have vilified him for his role in the Civil War. This belief would lead to the formation of the Fraternal Order of the Raven, a cult that depicts Lincoln as a devil and venerates his assassin John Wilkes Booth as a martyr. In the original game, Abraham was still venerated by Columbia... while completely ignoring his attempt to give equal rights to blacks and attempts at peace.
109** Columbia regards itself as the true representation of the United States of America, in spite of the fact that the very name refers to a collection of states united under a common federal government. Columbia, on the other hand, is more like a unitary state, where everything is under the control of a central government.
110* ArtisticLicensePhysics:
111** One wonders how there's liquid water in Columbia. Assuming the altimeter in the rocket at the beginning is correct, the city sits at an altitude of about 15000 ft. The average temperature at that altitude is [[http://meteorologytraining.tpub.com/14269/css/14269_75.htm 5.5 °F (-14.7 °C)]]. The air would also be a bit thin as the pressure is about half an atmosphere, breathable but difficult.
112** Considering Columbia's altitude, the air should be very thin compared to on the ground. Although one could expect the residents of Columbia, including Elizabeth, to have acclimatized to the altitude, at no point does Booker give any indication of discomfort and there is no apparently physical impact on him at all.
113** Residents of Columbia are also able to walk around outside without being impacted by the low temperatures and wind that would be expected at such altitude. Indeed, there is no indication of there being any wind at all.
114** When [[spoiler: you escape the tower with Elizabeth]] and fall into the water, the Songbird dives in after you, but is forced to retreat when the water pressure begins harming it [[spoiler: (foreshadowing the ending.)]] The thing is, it's about ''ten feet'' below the surface -- for practical purposes, there is no water pressure at that shallow a depth, and certainly nothing that would crack its glass eye.
115* AssholeVictim:
116** [[spoiler: While the Vox Populi are equally ruthless and brutal in their own way towards the Founders and their supporters once they launch their revolution]], it's hard to feel too sorry for their victims, after having seen first hand just how vile the Founders are and can be. [[spoiler: Even more so when you learn and see exactly what Comstock and his followers do to Elizabeth, as well as what Comstock has planned for the rest of America. After everything the Founders do, it's hard not to feel the Vox are justified to some extent when they execute Columbian troops]].
117** More specifically, when [[spoiler:Daisy kills Jeremiah Fink with a headshot after hearing him beg]], you'll probably have to resist smiling in that moment.
118* TheAtoner:
119** Booker murdered [[spoiler: women and children in his youth as a soldier at the massacre of Wounded Knee]], and later became a Pinkerton who violently put down strike efforts, actions he's privately ashamed of.
120** Robert Lutece helped Comstock [[spoiler:steal Booker's daughter]]. His insistence at aiding Booker, as well as compelling his sister Rosalind Lutece to do so, over the course of the game is his way of trying to set this right.
121** [[spoiler:Future Elizabeth has shades of this too, going as far as to make sure the Elizabeth we know doesn't become like her]].
122* AttackReflector: Maintaining "Return to Sender" allows Booker to catch enemy bullets, crush them into a lump of metal, and then violently throw it back. This can be seen as the spiritual successor to the ''Telekinesis'' plasmid of previous ''[=BioShock=]'' games. This is also a call back to Suchong's audio recording that stated the Telekinesis plasmid couldn't catch bullets not because the plasmid was imperfect but because human reflexes were imperfect. Columbian scientists fixed the problem by making it a continuous shield.
123* AwardBaitSong: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e4Crth_Hb8 Will The Circle Be Unbroken]].
124** Booker and Elizabeth encounter a lone young woman singing a soulful, a capella version of "Fortunate Son" rather randomly in the middle of an uprising.
125* AwesomeButImpractical: The Crank Gun. It's a hand-powered [[GatlingGood Gatling gun]] that does considerable damage per shot, has good accuracy, and has a higher rate of fire than any other firearm in the game. The latter however, is something of a double-edged sword: the Crank Gun will eat through an entire magazine of 100 rounds in less than 10 seconds and has only another 100 in reserve. Moreover, you can only find the gun (and ammunition) on Motorized Patriots or in tears, and it also takes a full second to spin up before it can fire, which makes it very impractical to carry around between major battles.
126** The HandCannon also qualifies. It does obscene amounts of damage, and has surprisingly good range, but its rate of fire is never really that good, and it has less than twenty rounds of reserve ammunition, so every shot counts. But with the right gear and a lot of practice, [[DifficultButAwesome it can be a powerhouse weapon in its own right.]]
127** Most of the Vox weapons qualify for this - for example, the Heater is essentially a shotgun with a clip of a single bullet but much higher damage, which is usually redundant as few enemies can take a headshot from a shotgun in the first place. In general, all of them except the Repeater and the Hail Fire are generally inferior to their Founder counterparts; ammunition for them also tends to be harder to find as well.
128** The Volley Gun and Hail Fire are highly powered, but very difficult to properly aim and target since their projectiles describe an arc rather than going straight to the target like RPG rockets or bullets.
129** The Hail Fire gets a double dose because of its rate of fire. While each grenade does less damage individually, it fires as quickly as Booker can pull the trigger, effectively ''[[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill obliterating]]'' anything in front of it with a one-man MacrossMissileMassacre, including reducing [[EliteMook Patriots]] to scrap in seconds. But the magazine is 50% smaller than the Volley Gun's and enemies almost never use it, so buying ammo becomes absolutely necessary. It doesn't help it shows up late in the story, [[spoiler: right before Comstock House, where there are next to no ammo drops and zero vending machines.]]
130* AwfulTruth: The truth Comstock believes is so horrible it will turn Elizabeth against you? [[spoiler:''You'' sold her, your own daughter, to Comstock to wipe away your debts. Oh, and "Comstock" is just an AlternateTimeline version of ''you'', with only one decision 20 years ago separating you from being the same monster he is]].
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134[[folder:B]]
135
136* BabyAsPayment: [[spoiler:Booker offhandedly mentions fairly early on that his wife died in childbirth, and it takes until the end of the game for the actual fate of the baby to be revealed. As it turned out, his baby Anna was still alive, but after losing his job and falling into debt, Booker's only resource was selling Anna to a mysterious man who he would presently discover was himself from another dimension]].
137* BackFromTheDead:
138** Sometimes, when Elizabeth uses the Tears to change something significant ([[spoiler:like Chen Lin's death]]), she can accidentally end up bringing back enemies you killed, but they often get stuck in a state of confusion between which version of themselves they are. The result is... [[NightmareFuel disconcerting]], to say the least.
139** [[spoiler:Happens to Fink's head of security only for Booker to kill him again]].
140** [[spoiler:Lady Comstock plays this completely straight, however. And [[MookMaker one of her abilities is to raise the dead.]] In a twist, however, the Luteces describe her in this state as both alive and dead, ''and fully aware of being both''. And there's the fact that she came into existence due to Comstock siphoning Elizabeth's powers]].
141* BadFuture: Booker's vision of a [[The80s 1980s]] New York being destroyed by Columbia. (A billboard [[ShoutOut suggests it's]] Literature/NineteenEightyFour!) [[spoiler:Booker eventually learns this is a future where Comstock stripped away Elizabeth's free will, essentially turning her into a female version of him. Thankfully, future Elizabeth retained enough willpower to bring Booker to her and show him how to prevent it]].
142* BaitAndSwitch: The reveal trailer begins with an underwater shot and a Big Daddy... which turns out to be the inside of a fish tank. Cue the sky.
143* BarbershopQuartetsAreFunny: Early in the game, Booker comes across a barbershop quartet performing a cover version of "[[Music/TheBeachBoys God Only Knows]]". What's even funnier is that the quartet is called "The Bee Sharps," a name almost identical to the quartet from ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', and they're advertised as "Columbia's [[HaveAGayOldTime Gayest]] Quartet."
144* BathroomSearchExcuse: Played with. At one point Elizabeth asks Booker what they'll do if they're caught. He says that they'll say they got lost looking for a bathroom. Elizabeth asks him if that works, and he says "Not usually".
145* BattleshipRaid: Several points in the game require Booker to board and make a mess of an airship that is raining down fire or otherwise being an obstacle. [[spoiler: The penultimate section of the game involves boarding the flagship of the Columbian air fleet, then defending its deck against a different attack]].
146* BedlamHouse: Comstock House has been turned into one [[spoiler: in the BadFuture. Residents of Columbia that defy the Founders' teachings are exposed to ''[[MindRape every version]]'' [[MindRape of their alternate selves]] through tears, driving them insane until they become either BrainwashedAndCrazy or {{Empty Shell}}s. An older Elizabeth devised this method of "reconditioning" after she was recaptured and [[BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil tortured for months on end]] because her Booker failed to rescue her. Aside from being ruler of Columbia, she acts as the house's "warden"]].
147* BigBad: Zachary Hale Comstock, resident EvilOverlord and [[DarkMessiah "Prophet"]] of Columbia.
148** BigBadDuumvirate: He shares the mantle with RebelLeader Daisy Fitzroy. [[spoiler:However, she leaves the picture about half way through and then Comstock takes the mantle of BigBad again]].
149* BilingualBonus: Fink is both the name of the Songbird's inventor and the German name for... a type of songbird.
150* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Booker has Elizabeth drown him in the river, before he can accept his baptism to prevent Comstock's existence. The Elizabeth you know is thus similarly {{Ret Gone}}d -- as a HeroicSacrifice to save all the people Comstock and the BadFuture version of Elizabeth would have gone on to kill. However, TheStinger ends on a high note... or does it?]]
151* BlamedForBeingRailroaded:
152** During the game, your character will betray Elizabeth by trying to take her to New York rather than Paris. She starts crying and ends up hitting you and knocking you out, then flees from you repeatedly. When you finally catch up to her she says she doesn't trust you and only reluctantly agrees to join you again. This is all despite the fact that you had no choice in what happened - it occurred in a CutScene.
153** ''Episode 1'' ends with the player being blamed for the events that took place in a flashback ([[spoiler:accidentally killing an alternate Elizabeth]]), and which weren't even entirely the character's fault ([[spoiler:as it wouldn't have happened if the Elizabeth in this game hadn't distracted you]]).
154* BleakLevel: Shantytown, which as made clear by the name, it's all improvisedpauper households alongside deterioriated and condemned buildings, with the local populace looking as beaten and sick as possible.
155* BlingBlingBang: The Early Bird DLC turns the Pistol and Machine Gun gold, along with free damage upgrades for both. The Columbia's Finest DLC gives the Shotgun and Sniper rifle gold detailing, along with a similar boost to their damage levels.
156* BloodyHorror: [[spoiler: After killing Jeremiah Fink, Daisy Fitzroy deliberately smears his blood across her face.]]
157* BlowYouAway: Downplayed. The Charge Vigor is melee-oriented, but appears to use wind to move Booker from Point A (where he's standing) to Point B (some unlucky Mook's face).
158* BodyHorror:
159** Handymen spend most of their time talking about being in pain. Considering the game establishes that they are simply regular (albeit deathly ill) men tremendously augmented, one wonders what was done to them.
160** Aside from the Handymen and related individuals, we have the physical side effects of most Vigors. [[HeelFaceBrainwashing Possession]], [[DashAttack Ch]][[ChargeAttack ar]][[BlowYouAway ge]], and ''Burial at Sea: Episode 2'''s [[XRayVision Peeping]] [[{{Invisibility}} Tom]] are all tame. Possesion causes ghostly green energy to surround Booker and Elizabeth's hands, Charge causes storm cloud-like wind and electricity to surround Booker's hands, and Peeping Tom causes the skin of Elizabeth's hands to briefly become x-ray screens, showing pitch-black blood vessels. The rest, meanwhile...
161*** Picking up the [[PlayingWithFire Devil's Kiss]] vigor gives Booker a vision of his fingers being burned down to the bone. After that, every so often his hands ignite, small areas blackening then glowing and spreading.
162*** [[TheBeastmaster Murder]] [[FeatheredFiend of]] [[CreepyCrows Crows]] causes Booker's forearms to sprout black feathers while the skin of his forearms and hands becomes a sickly grey and his fingernails lengthen into talons.
163*** [[GravityMaster Bucking Bronco]] causes the skin on Booker's hands to crack apart like clay, hover, and bleed.
164*** [[ShockAndAwe Shock Jockey]] causes dark violet crystals to sprout from Booker's hands, while also causing the skin of his hands to crystallize.
165*** [[MakingASplash Undertow]] gives Booker's arms octopus-like suction cups.
166*** [[DeflectorShields Return to Sender]] strips the skin off Booker's fingers and seemingly causes the bones to become metallic. ''[=BaS:E2=]'''s [[EnergyAbsorption Ironsides]] has the same effect on Elizabeth, being a purely defensive variant of [=RtS=].
167*** ''Burial at Sea'''s [[AnIcePerson Old Man Winter]] has the same effect on Booker and Elizabeth that Winter Blast had on Jack in the first ''Bioshock'' game, turning the skin of their forearms to ice and causing icicles to sprout from the backs of their hands.
168* BookEnds:
169** [[spoiler:Booker returns to the lighthouse where his journey began (''[[ItMakesSenseInContext twice]]!'') and has a baptism that gets him drowned just as he did when he entered the city]].
170** In a more meta-example, [[spoiler:''[=BioShock Infinite=]'' ends where ''[=BioShock=]'' begins - taking the Rapture bathysphere and your character drowning]].
171** Literally the first thing we see of Booker (in 2010 reveal trailer) is [[spoiler: him being drowned in an aquarium]].
172** The first dialogue heard immediately after starting a new game is from [[spoiler:a conversation between Elizabeth and Booker headed to the ''Hand of the Prophet''. The dialogue occurs after Booker has just witnessed Elizabeth destroying the lab she was imprisoned in by opening a tear and letting a ''tornado'' through]].
173--> '''Female voice:''' Booker, are you afraid of God?\
174'''Booker:''' No. But I'm afraid of you.
175** The first piece of music you hear, besides that mad scramble of violins as the rocket ascends, are ''two'' versions of "Will The Circle Be Unbroken": first, six measures of piano, playing the original version; then the arranged version performed by choir as you enter the church. This same song plays over the end of the credits via a FoundFootage recording of Courtnee Draper and Troy Baker practicing the arrangement.\
176\
177Likewise, the next song you hear in the game -- certainly the first piece of music that draws attention to itself -- is the Bee Sharps' Music/{{Barbershop}} cover of "God Only Knows." This is also the first piece of music played over the credits.
178* BoringButPractical: The Broadsider Pistol is kind of bog-standard average when compared to other weapons in-game. However, it is highly accurate, can be fired as fast as its trigger can be pulled, has a high critical damage multiplier, is very cheap to upgrade, and has a near-instantaneous draw speed. With the right gear and upgrades, the pistol can be upgraded to have over 31 rounds by the time you get to Soldier's Field and provide solid performance at all ranges.
179** The Carbine has shades of this as well, functioning well-but-not-spectacularly in engagements at nearly any range (outclassed only by the Sniper Rifle and China Broom at long and close range, respectively) but not being particularly flashy. But then, [[TruthInTelevision this is what carbines were built for]] and [[RuleOfCool it does look cool]]. Once you have headshots down, the Carbine can be just about the only weapon you'll ever need.
180** The Undertow Vigor is one of the few non-offensive Vigors and is relatively simple to use (push enemies away, hold to draw them close). However, pushing enemies away is tremendously effective at killing Mooks given you're in a flying city, and holding enemies in place is excellent at taking out the [[EliteMooks Heavy Hitters]] as it draws in Snipers or enemies with rocket-propelled grenades, and stuns bigger Mooks.
181** Despite the low damage and recoil, the Machine Gun is the most common weapon in the game, easy to use and found on dead enemies easily, meaning ammo is very plentiful for it. It remains accurate when fired in short bursts and does huge damage in close-quarters fighting. Along with that, it's very easy to aim with the iron sights and the reload time is incredibly fast. If you upgrade it and wear the Bullet Boon or Ammo Advantage, you've got a JackOfAllStats primary weapon that does huge amounts of damage at all ranges, can carry 70 rounds and is incredibly easy to find.
182** The first Vigor you gain permanently is Possession, but many players never take it out of their active loadout. It allows you to take over enemy automata like turrets, which provides a brief but major boost in firepower (and ambush value). It can be used on vending machines to make them spit out a ton of cash. It can be upgraded to allow you to possess ''human'' enemies, including those with heavy weapons; this not only doubles the size of your OneManArmy, it's the most effective way of dealing with certain bad guys, because they are DrivenToSuicide at the end of the Vigor's duration. Its one downside is a comparatively high Salt cost, but this partially defrayed by the amount of money you can get from using it on vending machines.
183** Certain gears, like Urgent Care (reduces shield recharge time and delay), Head Master (50% bonus to critical hit damage), and Bullet Boon/Ammo Advantage (50%/75% bonus to all clips) may not be flashy, but can still be invaluably powerful when combined.
184* BorrowedBiometricBypass: Booker and Elizabeth take a detour to Memorial Gardens to acquire late Lady Comstock's hand in order to proceed to the Comstock House. Booker is actually a lot more put off by the fact than Elizabeth is, and tries to dissuade her from it several times before ultimately insisting on doing it himself. Things get a lot more complicated after that. [[spoiler:And it no longer becomes necessary, as the last thing the Siren does is smash through the gate]].
185* BossBattle: The three-part battle with the "Siren" MookMaker FlunkyBoss, [[spoiler:a.k.a. the resurrected Lady Comstock]].
186* BossTease: Subverted three times.
187** After chasing Slate all throughout the Hall of Heroes, with him using the very vigor you’re after, you’d expect a boss battle against him. [[spoiler:When you finally reach him he’s too exhausted to fight back (since he’s an older man that just spent God knows how long running around and spamming Shock Jockey) and he merely asks you to kill him (which you can choose not to).]]
188** Throughout the game you see or have close encounters with the incredibly powerful opponent called [[spoiler:Songbird]], but you don't actually fight it. Near the end it looks like you're finally about to have your long-expected battle with it, but it turns out you can [[spoiler:bring it under your control as a devastating ally by playing a short tune]]. And again, after you [[spoiler:lose the device that controls it]] and it does attack you, [[spoiler:Elizabeth [[DeusExMachina uses her powers to effortlessly defeat it]]]].
189** You see the BigBad Zachary Hale Comstock at least once on the deck of an enemy ship early on and find many other references to him, so you naturally assume that the end of the game will include a huge BossBattle with him. [[spoiler: When you finally meet him, Booker ends up effortlessly bashing his head against a baptismal fountain before drowning him in it. Though to be fair he is a 40 year prematurely aged man with terminal cancer and presumably no vigors so he realistically wouldn’t be able to fend off Booker and Elizabeth.]]
190* BrainsAndBrawn: An interesting version where the brawn (Booker) actually does a fair amount of thinking, makes a lot of the decisions, knows vaguely how to pilot an airship, and even manages to repair an elevator at one point.
191* BreadEggsMilkSquick: In Elizabeth's tower, there are a number of artifacts on display from her childhood and adolescence. Among them are a journal, an old teddy bear, and a small bloody sheet labeled [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menarche menarche]]. Interestingly, they're also a small-scale experiment of the powers siphoned from Elizabeth; pulling the levers in front of them transforms the objects into their alternate-universe equivalents (differently-colored book and bear, and Elizabeth not getting her period at 13).
192* BribingYourWayToVictory: The season pass and Columbia's Finest pack (representing the combined rewards from the Premium edition, Industrial Revolution pack, and store-exclusive preorders) grant the player a fair number of in-game bonuses not long after the action starts (most are granted in the area with the first Shield infusion). They don't offer too much of an advantage in the long-term, but they definitely help in the early stages before you reach Elizabeth. Of particular note is the five infusion upgrades, a gold bar worth 500 Silver Eagles, several pieces of Gear that augment melee attacks (70% chance stun for four seconds and knockback with each hit), and a single upgrade for four different weapons (along with a reskin).
193* BrokenPedestal: Columbia as a whole to America and the world. What was initially hailed as a symbol of American ingenuity and progress turned out to be much, ''much'' worse.
194** Elizabeth has to deal with one of these [[spoiler:when Daisy Fitzroy, whom Elizabeth hoped would lead the oppressed people of Columbia to freedom and equality, proves to be an extremist dedicated solely to destruction and egoism]].
195** Zig-zagged with Elizabeth and the Songbird. Early on, she regarded it as her only friend, bringing her books and other things when she was a child. As she grew older, she came to see it as her warden. By the time Booker rescues her, Elizabeth realizes one of its roles is to find her and bring her back at any cost. Late in the game, she decides she would rather die than let it take her back. [[spoiler:And then once she figures out how to control it, she no longer fears it, going so far as to kill it by teleporting it underwater]].
196** Elizabeth finds herself pushed towards losing her faith and trust in Booker on several occasions.
197* BuildingSwing: The Sky-Hook often serves this purpose for Booker. It has a user-activated magnet which can yank him boldly up to an equally magnetic tram rail, or pull him to a hanging cargo hook. Using this, he can ReversePolarity to launch himself off and then activate the magnet again to pull himself to another one, often leaping from hook to hook to traverse areas.
198* BulletCatch: Return to Sender, the eighth and last Vigor, has the ability to protect Booker from bullets. Upgraded, it also adds the ability to catch bullets and throw them back.
199* ButThouMust:
200** ''Infinite'' makes a point of stating that even though there can be millions upon millions of alternate universes depending on the decisions we make, there are some events that cannot be changed. For example, [[spoiler:the coin flip during the fair will always be Heads, and Booker will always pick ball #77 ''even after explicitly being told not to''. The game also communicates this by offering several multiple choice decisions (like whether to throw your ball at the announcer or the captive couple) that may change subsequent events a ''little'', but ultimately have no effect on Booker's eventual fate]].
201** As in the earlier ''VideoGame/BioShock1'', But Thou Must is heavily deconstructed. When Booker is forced to re[[PensieveFlashback commit]] the most horrible decision of his life ([[spoiler:selling his daughter]]) he's outright told [[spoiler:"You don't leave this room until you do."]]
202** In the endgame sequence in which Booker and Elizabeth find themselves [[spoiler: among an infinite number of lighthouses]] there are multiple paths available, but [[spoiler: the destination ends up the same regardless which is chosen.]]
203** If you have the Season Pass, Columbia's Finest, completed Industrial Revolution, purchased the Premium or Ultimate Songbird Edition, the game outright tells you that you must collect all your infusion rewards in The Blue Ribbon before proceeding, as Rosalind won't move out of the way until you do. This means that you cannot skip them to play the game at the normal difficulty, and is rather odd, considering previous games in the series made getting DLC rewards optional.
204[[/folder]]
205
206[[folder:C]]
207
208* CagedBirdMetaphor: Elizabeth has been locked away in a tower for most of her life, guarded by a large, avian mechanical creature called "Songbird". The Luteces also refer to her as a caged bird, and there comes a point in the game when the player must decide whether she ought to wear [[https://www.google.com/search?q=bioshock+infinite+elizabeth+pendant&safe=active&tbm=isch&tbs=rimg:CcvM7O4aMKXPIjgxo0rMBtPW3lX-oq57Hp-zcPyVR1vYHPTwoPwD3vzeGfuO5qaM5RXdyk5leoZzud2iSlV-6BKBnioSCTGjSswG09beEcjMweOwf2njKhIJVf6irnsen7MRMFp3jyuldf8qEglw_1JVHW9gc9BEHu1cD1umRQioSCfCg_1APe_1N4ZEWJzCfe-0QXsKhIJ-47mpozlFd0RlWrCJ4hEG2gqEgnKTmV6hnO53RFFvAFYHMXs6ioSCaJKVX7oEoGeEdxVNnCG8L9H&tbo=u&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj6mryL5I7iAhVQOKwKHW5oCKkQ9C96BAgBEBs&biw=1307&bih=909&dpr=1#imgrc=y8zs7howpc-Z3M: a pendant]] with an image of an ornate cage or a bird flying free.
209* CallBack: ''VideoGame/BioShock1'' opened with a man in a plane descending to the sea, and going down stairs in a lighthouse to a vehicle which brings him to a city under the sea. ''Infinite'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60zmVrtIBzw opens]] with a man in a boat being rowed to a lighthouse, then climbing up stairs to a vehicle which takes him to a city in the sky. [[spoiler:[[TheConstant Turns out this is actually a plot point]]]].
210** Tons of other callbacks as well: the final part of your elevator ride has words printed on the wall for you to read through the viewport, Booker starts off by opening up a box given to him by somebody, and one of the first things someone says to him when he arrives is, "Is it someone new?"
211** Shortly after arriving in Battleship Bay, Booker comes across an abandoned baby stroller, with a box of pistol bullets inside, referencing how the player character from ''VideoGame/BioShock1'' first came across a firearm.
212** At one point, Elizabeth gets her hands on a solid wrench [[spoiler: which she uses to knock out Booker]]. It is the exact same model of wrench (geometry and textures) that Jack picks up as his first weapon in ''VideoGame/BioShock1''.
213** The "SACKED" sign on Scofield Sansmark's body is similar to the "FIRED" signs on Alex the Great's victims/employees in ''VideoGame/{{BioShock 2}}''.
214** The Boy of Silence that gives the player a JumpScare in Comstock House is very similar to a Doctor Splicer giving a similar JumpScare to the player in the first ''[=BioShock=]''.
215** "Dollar Bill" vending machines will occasionally tell the player to "Return when you've got some currency, fella!", referencing Rapture's "Circus of Value" machines, who would spout the line "Come back when you've got some money, buddy!"
216*** They also advertise themselves as "A carnival of savings", yet another sign of contact between Columbia's planners and Rapture amidst the AnachronismStew.
217* CallForward: [[spoiler:You can hear the Songbird's cries in the background of the original ''[=BioShock=]'' just around the time you [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpmvkZ6TIMk witness Sander Cohen's student play the piano]]. Either Irrational thought so far ahead as to plant his death in that game, or their sound team just really liked that sound and ended up re-using it for ''Infinite'']].
218* CameBackWrong: Any person dead in one universe before Elizabeth opens a tear into another where said person is alive. If they're lucky, they only get a nosebleed; otherwise, the results aren't pretty.
219** [[spoiler:Lady Comstock after Zachary Comstock siphons energy from Elizabeth to revive her; she doesn't really seem to appreciate the thought]].
220* TheCameo:
221** [[spoiler:While in Rapture, you can glance upon a destroyed Bouncer-type Big Daddy and a Little Sister crying over him right after Songbird dies. Coincidence? YOU DECIDE!]]
222** After you have completed all the levels in ''Clash in the Clouds'', a new tear appears in the museum that you can use [[spoiler:to summon a Thuggish Splicer from Rapture]].
223* CanonWelding: [[spoiler:It turns out that ''Infinite'' is actually part of the same multiverse as ''VideoGame/BioShock1'' and ''VideoGame/BioShock2''; not only do Booker and Elizabeth visit Rapture at the end of the game, but it's connected to hundreds of other universes in which a story begins with a man, a lighthouse, and a city]].
224* CastFromHitPoints: If Booker has the Health For Salts gear equipped, when he runs out of Salts he will use Health to cast Vigors instead.
225* CasualDangerDialogue: Between Elizabeth and Booker sometimes, and especially evident during the Siren fight.
226* ChangingClothesIsAFreeAction: At any point, Booker can change the gear he's using to fit his situation. Need more Ammo? Switch to "Scavenger's Vest". Got invincibility from "Sheltered Life"? Change hats and keep the brief boost. This is extremely useful if the player goes into combat before realizing the gear they were using was unsuitable.
227* ChaosArchitecture: Many of the buildings in the city can detach and float independently, allowing the city to reconfigure if need be. One of the nameless citizens Booker passes by shortly after arriving even mentions that he hates it when buildings dock behind schedule, and he has to rely on the rail tram more often than he would prefer.
228* CharacterFocus: For all the hype and assumed importance about Columbia, the game isn't really ''about'' the flying city. It's about Elizabeth, following her relish in new found freedom, charting her growth and maturity, [[spoiler: and her relationship with her father]]. This is emphasized [[spoiler: at the very end of the game; the credits begin to roll the precise moment Elizabeth ceases to exist]].
229* ChekhovsArmory: Everything inside the box you get in the beginning.
230** The card with the symbols of Columbian worship, the scroll, the key, and the sword (and the numbers on how many times you ring the bells to enter). The coin flip tally later reveals your Booker's result of heads as the [=123rd=] instance of its occurrence.
231** The postcard for Monument Island is used for the location of Elizabeth [[spoiler:and the ending when the Siphon is destroyed]]. The reason why it's a postcard is because people used to be funneled through there first upon arriving at Columbia.
232** A large and elaborate key, one side printed with a bird, the other a cage. Not only it is [[spoiler:the key to Elizabeth's tower]], the two brooches the Luteces offer Elizabeth later in the game ("The bird?" "Or the cage?") have identical symbols.
233** There is a handful of Silver Eagles, which tells you Columbia has its own currency.
234** The box itself is labeled as "Booker [=DeWitt=], Seventh Cavalry, Wounded Knee", [[spoiler:which is significant ''three times'' for completely separate reasons due to the timelines being messed up]].
235** A photo of Elizabeth when she was younger, taken without her knowledge. Obvious practical use, but the same photo turns up later [[spoiler:among other photographs of Elizabeth in her tower - also taken without her knowledge. The Luteces are more deeply involved with the job than Booker originally suspects]].
236** [[RedHerring The one thing]] that ''doesn't'' have any later significance is the gun, because Booker almost immediately loses it. Unless you count it as a ContinuityNod to the original ''[=BioShock=]'', [[spoiler: where Jack begins the game by opening a box that contains a note and a gun, for hijacking the plane]].
237* ChekhovsGun:
238** [[spoiler:The {{Psychic Nosebleed}}s, the C-A-G-E jingle used on the Motorized Patriots and Elizabeth's missing pinkie]].
239** Songbird's averse reaction to water pressure on the beach [[spoiler:is used when Elizabeth drowns it outside Rapture]].
240* ChekhovsGunman: The priest that baptizes Booker so he can enter Columbia [[spoiler:is/was the very same one who baptized him 20 years ago and "created" Comstock. He's already blind by the time he's in Columbia, preventing him from recognizing Booker]].
241-->'''Booker:''' That idiot priest needs to learn the difference between baptizing a man and drowning him.
242* ChildrenAsPawns: Daisy Fitzroy is shown using children as couriers.
243-->''Dropped a couple grizzly traps 'round the lines up here. Idea was to...to bleed one of your couriers till he gave you up. 'Cept, of course, you're using kids now.''
244* TheChosenOne / [[spoiler:DarkMessiah]]: Elizabeth is revered by Columbia as "The Lamb of Columbia".
245--> '''Elizabeth:''' So... they call you the False Shepherd.\
246'''Booker:''' And you the Lamb.\
247'''Elizabeth:''' Let's not call each other that.\
248'''Booker:''' Suits me.
249* ChristianityIsCatholic: The Founders have distinctly Catholic overtones at times, especially at the beginning: the church Booker enters is very obviously modelled on a cathedral, with stained-glass windows labelled in Latin. There's also a very memorable scene where a nun immolates herself on Comstock's orders. These are somewhat strange given the very real antipathy the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant American establishment of this era, that the Founders are a part of, had for Roman Catholicism, which in part fuelled discrimination against heavily Catholic ethnic groups like the Irish touched on in the game as well.
250* CigaretteOfAnxiety: Esther's Voxophone mentions she's gone through half a pack waiting for her ambush targets to show up.
251* ClothingDamage: Elizabeth's outfit grows more disheveled, dirty and torn as the story goes on, to the point she eventually changes into a new one... which then gets disheveled, dirty and torn.
252* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: The Founders are all clad in patriotic blue, and the Vox Populi wear revolutionary red. The Vox weapons are also covered with Red tape, which makes them easier to distinguish from their Founder-counterparts.
253* CombatStilettos: Elizabeth and both female Founder and Vox soldiers are wearing high-heeled boots as part of their uniform.
254* CompactInfiltrator: Elizabeth is so skinny that she's easily able to slip through barred gates, allowing her to break into the Hall of Heroes courtyard without even bothering with her usual lockpicking skills. Booker, being much bigger and brawnier, has to wait until Elizabeth can open a Tear that allows him to bypass the gate entirely via a docking hook.
255* CompanyTown: Finkton is clearly one, and a very [[WretchedHive wretched]] example at that. The population who live there are kept on strict company schedules which are enforced by giant clocks and whistle alarms in every public and residence area, residents are only paid in company scrip which is only redeemable at the company store and [[AdamSmithHatesYourGuts at prices fixed to their wages]], and the place booms with frequent {{Canned Orders Over Loudspeaker}}s, usually delivering [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Fink]]'s lines about how grateful they should all be to be exploited by him. You even get to see an auction where, instead of buyers bidding on an item, workers are bidding on a job, using the time they can finish it as bidding ammo. Other bits over the loudspeaker have him talking about things like how they can't have their 16-hour workday halved because that would cause them to waste money on gambling and drink, or how they can't have paid vacations or eight-hour work days because that's "anarchist talk." Not to mention the aforementioned company scrip at company prices in a company town.[[note]]All of these are [[TruthInTelevision historically accurate business practices]].[[/note]]
256* ContinuingIsPainful: More so than the previous ''[=BioShock=]'' games.
257** If you run out of health in this game, you lose some money and the enemies will regain some health. On 1999 Mode the amount you lose is ''100'' Silver Eagles, so dying there is really discouraged (especially as, in 1999 mode, if you die and have run out of money, the game ''ends'' - in other difficulty levels, you still come back, even if you're broke).
258** In the "Clash in the Clouds" DLC, continuing from the current round resets your score to 0, fails the current Blue Ribbon challenge, and fully restores the health of surviving enemies.
259* ContinuityLockout: Generally speaking, players don't need to have any prior knowledge of the ''Bioshock'' series before playing ''Infinite''. However, prior knowledge of the earlier games makes the endgame sequence in which [[spoiler: Elizabeth and Booker briefly visit the underwater city of Rapture, setting of the first two games]] more meaningful. However this exact same thing could also be seen as an inversion because those who ''are'' familiar with the previous games [[spoiler: might actually be distracted slightly because the main game offers no context as to what Rapture has to do with Elizabeth and Booker and the plot of ''Infinite''; one has to play the DLC spin-offs to learn the connection]].
260* ContinuityNod:
261** Right away you start off the game being dropped off at a Lighthouse in the middle of the ocean, which leads to how Booker is transported to Columbia. Just like in ''[=BioShock=]'' when Jack was [[{{Pun}} "dropped off"]] at a lighthouse in the middle of the ocean and leads to transport to Rapture. [[spoiler: This becomes much, much more significant then it initially seems on first playthrough]].
262** The mysterious circumstances of the arrival InMediasRes could be considered a [[ContinuityNod continuity nod]]. [[spoiler: Both Booker and Jack are arranged to be brought to [[TheConstant the Lighthouse]] in order to dismantle the established dystopia by their AnonymousBenefactor; The Lutece Twins and Atlas, respectively]].
263** Even when you touch down on Columbia in a chapel flooded with about two feet of water that is very obviously meant to evoke Rapture's waterlogged environs. Turns out they baptize all new arrivals into their religion before letting them through.
264** [[spoiler:Through Voxophones, one learns that Fink's concept of the Songbird (and possibly Handymen as well) came from observing Big Daddies through a tear]].
265** [[spoiler:As soon as the Siphon is destroyed, Elizabeth transports herself, Booker, and Songbird to the bathysphere station within Rapture, straight out of the first game. Songbird is killed by the water pressure, while Elizabeth takes Booker to the bathysphere, back to the surface to the lighthouse, as to show him that there are an infinite number of worlds]].
266*** Speaking of [[spoiler:Songbird's death - the horrifying scream it makes as it dies can also be heard in the background of the original ''[=BioShock=]'', as Sander Cohen forces Kyle Fitzpatrick to play the piano perfectly]].
267** One of Fink's elevators plays a recording of him where he shares his personal views, a la Ryan.
268** Finkton in general is an alternate version of Fontaine's Home for the Poor. Unlike Frank Fontaine however, who used his personal fief as a recruiting ground for his Atlas persona, Fink is content with just slave-driving his corner of Columbia for profit.
269** In Battleship Bay, a baby carriage can be found containing a box of pistol ammo, likely a reference to the location of the pistol in the first game.
270** When you first come to Columbia, the priest who baptizes you asks "Is it someone new?" -- just like the spider splicer did when Jack first arrived in Rapture.
271* CoolAirship: Several, including technically Columbia itself.
272* CoolVersusAwesome: You can summon a Founders' Motorized Patriot to fight a Vox Populi one, resulting in [[http://static3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20131113024431/bioshock/images/4/44/Patriotfight.jpg robot minigun George Washington vs robot minigun Abraham Lincoln.]]
273* CorruptChurch: The Founders' religion, which has built a North Korean-style cult of personality around Comstock to the point where men and women ignore everything and bow in his presence and [[spoiler:civilians are willing to kill themselves on his orders]], and takes a 50% tithe of everything (or at least everything at the bank... [[{{Egopolis}} which is named after him]]).
274--> '''Booker:''' I gotta get me a job in the [[{{Pun}} prophet]] business.
275* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Jeremiah Fink, with all the nastiness of every single Gilded Age robber baron distilled down into one convenient package.
276* CorruptTheCutie: A major part of Elizabeth's CharacterDevelopment is having her innocence and wide-eyed idealism chipped away one traumatic event at a time. After witnessing Booker kill the police squad that ambushes them at Battleship Bay and calling him a monster, she decides that she'd "best get used to it," and continues to become further compromised, a little at a time, until by the time Booker rescues her from Comstock House, her attitude on killing has gone from a heat of the moment decision when she [[spoiler: killed Daisy Fitzroy because she saw no other option]] to being fully intent on committing premeditated murder. One of the biggest signs of how she's become desensitized to the horrific violence that Booker leaves in his wake is when she plans to [[spoiler: cut off Lady Comstock's hand in Emporia to get past a gate and insist to do it herself, shocking even ''Booker''.]]
277* CoversAlwaysLie: A [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]] example. The cover of the game was blasted by the fandom for "dumbing down" the presentation of the game, and not including any of its expected complex themes and moral questions. However, [[https://web.archive.org/web/20131211195318/https://www.penny-arcade.com/report/article/the-art-of-commerce-why-bioshock-infinites-cover-doesnt-matter Ken Levine has been quite open]] about the cover being targeted at the LowestCommonDenominator.[[note]]Yes, it looks like a generic new action game, but paradoxically the market wants to buy things which are [[FollowTheLeader novel but not innovative]], at least so goes the wisdom of a lot of marketing departments which were [[EnforcedTrope the masters Irrational had to please]] to get the time and funding they needed.[[/note]] The rationalization is that most people who are interested in ''[=BioShock=] Infinite'' for the setting, story, and themes have probably already made up their minds to buy it, and the cover art was calculated to reach as wide an audience as possible and pull in players less invested in checking gaming news. This in turn made publishing executives more willing to accept delays and additional budget needed to ensure the game is released in the best quality possible.
278** That said, they published the game with a double-sided cover so that fans could turn the cover around to give the game a more 1912 look.
279** Related to the above, the cover was also strongly criticised for only featuring Booker on the front, relegating Elizabeth to the back cover; considering that Elizabeth is as important a protagonist as Booker is (and is, arguably, the primary protagonist ahead of Booker), the fact that she doesn't feature on the front of the game box rubbed some people the wrong way. As noted above, this was also a marketing ploy; the fear being that boys would be less likely to pick up a game that has a girl on the front, and would find buff action man Booker a more appealing figure.
280** In fairness, though, [[spoiler: given that the ending reveals Booker to be the cause of everything that happens in the game]] having Booker on the cover might actually be a form of FridgeBrilliance.
281* CrapsaccharineWorld: Columbia. Beautiful sky-high city... under ultra-nationalist,theocratic and imperialist rule with angry robots, gun-toting xenophobes and bloodthirsty anarchists trying to kill you. It's possibly ''worse'' than Rapture, considering that everyone who tried to kill you in Rapture at least had the excuse of being completely insane because of ADAM, and the enemies in Columbia are either punch clock mooks or bloodthirsty terrorists.
282** [[WretchedHive Fink]][[CompanyTown ton]] ''tries'' being this, enticing would-be employees and workers with promises of a bright future for their families. Once Booker actually steps into the place however, it doesn't take much to see the sordid underbelly lying beneath.
283* CrazyPrepared: Comstock. For example he had [[spoiler: Siphons - devices that only work on Elizabeth]] installed at Lady Comstocks crypt just in case Elizabeth managed to appear there.
284* CreepyCrows: One of the Heavy Hitters is [[https://bioshock.fandom.com/wiki/Zealot_of_the_Lady "The Zealot of the Lady"]] (aka "The Crow"), who has a small flock of crows surrounding him and can transform into them to move small distances without damage. The "Murder Of Crows" Vigor you get from the first one you kill lets you summon a flock, and they definitely play up the creepiness. The idle animation when the Vigor is equipped shows Booker's hand covered in feathers, his nails having turned into long black claws. The house of the Zealots of the Lady where you first get the vigor is full of rotting food they leave out to attract crows, giving it a macabre feel. You can even see a Zealot launching Crows on a bound convict, who ends having his back ''torn''.
285* CriticalHit: Like ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'', the "critical" term is used to denote attacks to an enemy's weak point. Headshots, shots to a Handyman's heart, and shots to the gears on the back of the Patriot get you them.
286* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Execution kills with the Sky-Hook are brutal, the ''least brutal'' being a gruesome neck snap and going up from there. Counts as an in-universe example, as well, as performing an execution in front of Elizabeth upsets her.
287* CultOfPersonality: The Founders' religion is one. Those personalities are, nominally, UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington, UsefulNotes/ThomasJefferson, and Creator/BenjaminFranklin. However, those individuals are deceased and no longer there to be venerated in person. (Rather convenient for the Founders, since those three men would ''not'' have appreciated the worship.) Comstock on the other hand, is still present, and he is adored by the masses as a MessianicArchetype as an all-knowing Prophet of the Lord. He has [[OurFounder statues of himself placed everywhere]], museums dedicated to exaggerating his accomplishments, and people in Columbia invoke him in prayers in front of shrines dedicated to him.
288** Overheard dialogue near a 50-ft. statue of Comstock from a Columbia citizen: "I'm not sure this statue truly... captures Comstock's divinity."
289** While touring a bank late in the game, you can discover from Elizabeth's dialogue that Comstock receives a whopping ''fifty percent tithe'' from the people who work there, and there is no indication that they had any qualms.
290* CutsceneBoss:
291** When being dropped into Finkton, there's a cutscene performed where Booker falls and manages to hang onto the side of a blimp created by Elizabeth, similar to the first trailer. This time, he actually hangs on by the ropes, but he states that he's slipping to an angry Elizabeth.
292** [[spoiler:Comstock's death is performed in a cutscene. You start it by interrupting Comstock, but Booker proceeds to attack him and drown him in a baptismal font. Comstock is also Elizabeth's father, which gives rise to how Andrew Ryan is directly related to the protagonist of ''[=BioShock=]'']].
293* {{Cyborg}}: The Handymen are probably the best example, but some of the other Heavy Hitters may also qualify.
294
295[[/folder]]
296
297[[folder:D]]
298
299* DameWithACase: [[DownLoadableContent "Burial at Sea: Chapter 1"]] begins with Booker, now a hard boiled private eye, being paid a visit by Anna, who speaks and walks like a FemmeFatale, to hire him to find missing girl in Rapture.
300* DamnYouMuscleMemory: Using/selecting weapons/Vigors are swapped from ''[=BioShocks=]'' 1 and 2. Jump and crouch are also moved.
301* DarkActionGirl: Daisy Fitzroy shows traits of this -- no racial pun intended -- though she's more of an AntiVillain.
302** As noted in the GenderIsNoObject entry below, women serve in combat roles in both the Police and the Vox Populi.
303* DarkMessiah: Comstock and Fitzroy come in their own flavors: Comstock sees himself a messianic figure who will bring judgement on "The Sodom Below", while Fitzroy wishes to stop oppression against those of different races in Columbia, [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized by any means necessary]].
304** In one of the last alternate universes, [[spoiler:Elizabeth]] has become this.
305* DarkReprise: The first time you hear "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7ogV49WGco God Only Knows]]", it is a mere goofy moment where a barbershop quartet is singing it on a flying barge. However, [[spoiler: it plays over the end credits, by which time the lyrics echo Booker and Elizabeth's story]]. They are, however, still the same song[[AnachronismStew -ish]].
306** When Booker first arrives at the welcome center/chapel parishioners are singing ''Will the Circle Be Unbroken'' with the usual Christian confidence. Later in the game Elizabeth sings a stanza as well, but is much more solemn and sings the original, more questioning version.
307* TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget: Fitzroy ends up thinking she has to kill ''children'' of upper class parents ''on the chance'' they become {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s. [[spoiler:The Tears that Elizabeth and Booker pass through in order to make that part of Daisy's history doesn't seem to help]].
308* DeadAlternateCounterpart: [[spoiler:The second time Booker and Elizabeth enter a new Columbia through a tear, it is one where Booker and Slate, together as members of [[LaResistance the Vox Populi]], helped to get them much more power over Columbia, but that Booker had a HeroicSacrifice. Unfortunately, this version of Daisy Fitzroy, unlike earlier ones, is much more AxCrazy, and, upon learning that Booker is alive suddenly, [[MistakenForAnImpostor immediately believes that Booker is either an impostor]] or [[MistakenForAfterlife a ghost]], and tries to have him killed anyway, turning the group who had been following him against him]].
309--> '''Fitzroy:''' [[spoiler:My Booker was a hero to the cause; a story to tell your children. You? You just confuse the narrative.]]
310* DeadManWriting: Three of the recordings are from [[spoiler: an alternate Booker who died]], funnily enough. It's... [[http://bioshock.wikia.com/wiki/Apology pretty jarring.]]
311* DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist:
312** The slap stings a little more than in the original ''[=BioShock=]'' (the player loses a little money and enemies gain back some health), but dying is still nothing more than a minor inconvenience.
313** Averted in [[HarderThanHard 1999 Mode]]. Not only does dying now cost you $100, but dying with less than $100 results in a GameOver and a trip back to the main menu. When combined with the mode's increased difficulty, higher enemy damage and reduced money and respawn points, death is significantly more deterimental.
314* DeathIsTheOnlyOption: [[spoiler:At the end, Booker must allow Elizabeth - [[ExpendableALternateUniverse and all the other Elizabeths from all the other timelines]] -- to drown him before he can make the choice that would, in an alternate timeline, lead to him becoming [[BigBad Comstock]] and setting the events of the story in motion]].
315* DeathSeeker: Slate and his men, who want to die fighting instead of retreating from Columbia, like any sane soldier would.
316* DecapitatedArmy: [[spoiler:Averted. Killing Fitzroy does ''nothing'' to stop the Vox Populi. All the way up to the end of the game, they remain very much a threat if not more now that Fitzroy is no longer there controlling them]].
317* {{Deconstruction}}:
318** The game seems to be a deconstruction of American Exceptionalism, as well as the nationalism and imperialism that come along with it. Also falling under Levine's deconstructive eye is the concept of LaResistance, as seen with Vox Populi.
319*** To go one step further, it could be seen as both a deconstruction of extremism and blind faith. Both the Vox and the Columbians follow unquestioningly leaders that are quite obviously raging extremists of their respective ideologies, and the consequences of this are abundantly clear.
320** There also seems to be a deconstruction of the whole {{Steampunk}} aesthetic going on -- or at least of the nifty, flashy, LighterAndSofter [[TheThemeParkVersion Theme Park Version]] aspects of steampunk that have come into vogue. It all looks very promising and optimistic from the start with a flying city made from late-nineteenth/early-twentieth century technology, but add in the less-savory aspects of the era (such as contemporary political extremism, imperialism and Exceptionalism as mentioned above) and a generous heaping of Steampunk BodyHorror and it starts to look rather more sinister...
321** On a more meta-level near the end game: [[spoiler: it functions as a deconstruction of story-telling itself, specifically within the ''VideoGame/BioShock'' franchise but also generally in any series of stories which shares themes internally but have ostensibly separate canon. Everything is an AlternateUniverse, every choice the story-teller makes literally creates a new universe and a new story to tell. Sometimes they are connected by a few common starting points, other times they are less obvious, but each one is just another facet of the creator's imagination and choices]]. This is itself deconstructed [[spoiler:and [[DeconReconSwitch reconstructed]] by the ending undoing each and every one of those realities and the player's own]].
322** Another take on that plot point is that it is deconstructing sequels that rehash plot points from the original, like ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' did. Why are the writers simply giving us the same basic plot, with all the names changed and a superficially different setting? [[spoiler:Because you're stuck in a gaggle of parallel universes spawned from your own flaws and mistakes, and in the end, each and every story has its similarities]].
323* DeflectorShields:
324** The Lutece twins give Booker a Shield Infusion, which causes his body to generate an intrinsic magnetic field that can absorb damage for short periods of time.
325---> '''Rosalind:''' Surprising...\
326'''Robert:''' Surprising that it worked?\
327'''Rosalind:''' Surprising that it didn't kill him.
328** The "Return to Sender" Vigor [=DeWitt=] picks up late in the game. It functions in one of two flavors, the first of which simply generates a magnetic bubble to swat bullets and projectiles away. The other function catches incoming projectiles and crushes them into a lump of semi-molten metal which Booker can then throw back.
329* DeliberateValuesDissonance: ''The entire game'' to the point where the Columbia propaganda poster is the trope's main page image for a reason. For starters, it's 1912; you either get this or PoliticallyCorrectHistory. The most striking part is the militant xenophobia of Columbia's inhabitants.
330** Levine claims that the game was partially inspired by [[http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5575/ this]] speech supposedly given by UsefulNotes/WilliamMcKinley regarding the annexation of the Philippines, which is definitely ValuesDissonance at its finest.
331** Another noticeable example is children smoking fairly openly -- they're kind of trying to stay out of the way of adults, but not too hard since back then it would have been treated like sneaking a sip of dad's beer. Then you find an ad that proudly touts a brand of cigarettes ''developed'' for children.
332** As mentioned above, Columbia is an in-universe example of this trope to the time period itself. On the one hand, its norms, beliefs and standards are what many Americans in 1912 would have found quite unexceptional. On the other hand, its oddly modern progressiveness in gender equality (there's the whole thing with Elizabeth, you fight and kill women soldiers on both sides, Fitzroy is the leader of the Vox Populi and Columbia's top scientist is a woman) stands in contrast to a wider society where women still did not have a federally guaranteed right to vote. Scattered commentary throughout still suggests more period appropriate attitudes on gender in certain people, however, such as a pair of women voicing their disapproval of another woman they know having gotten a job.
333* DestinationRuse: Booker [=DeWitt=] is on a mission to retrieve Elizabeth Comstock from Columbia in order to wipe away an unspecified debt. Elizabeth is a young and naive woman who has spent her whole life stuck in a GildedCage where her only knowledge of the outside world comes from books; she develops a particularly strong desire to visit Paris. Booker manages to coax her into coming along with him by promising to take her there in an airship. She eventually sees through the deception when she realizes that the coordinates he sets in the airship aren't for Paris.
334%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * {{Demonization}}: Done to UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln in Columbian propaganda.
335* DevelopersForesight:
336** It's possible, through SequenceBreaking, to intentionally miss Possession, which you'd normally have to use to open a gate at the beginning of the game. If you do somehow manage to get past the gate without Possession, you can find it for sale in a vending machine later.
337** When you first get the Shield Upgrade from Rosalind and Robert, you have the option of shooting at them. Not only do you miss, Rosalind makes several quick remarks about missing again and again as Robert points out that they have all the time in the world while you don't. You can also do this with melee attacks, so as not to waste ammo on a minor gag. Starts at :30 [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=dbum3sgdtOc#t=30s]].
338** Staying too long in a place near where the Luteces are found would have them quip lines at how Booker (and the ''player'') ought to get moving. Even better, when you meet them outside of Port Prosperity, Robert offers you a card. If you don't take it, Rosalind asks if he'd like to hear a waltz on the piano ''and then plays one and hums along''.
339** Towards the end of the Asylum Level, when you get access to the warden's office you turn around to see [[spoiler: a Boy of Silence as he alerts the guards to your presence]]. On a second playthrough, or having knowledge of what will happen, you can try to avoid it. Only your controls are locked until [[spoiler: you look him in the face]]. You ''can'' try strafing, but [[spoiler:he doesn't move from his original position, so all you get is him opening a tear without you even seeing him do so]].
340* DialogDuringGameplay: Not just during quiet, non-battle moments.
341* DidntThinkThisThrough: As the whole mission to rescue Elizabeth and escape becomes more tangled, Booker has to improvise quite a lot through the mid-point of the game, and some plans are a lot less complete than others.
342** After the Vox Populi commandeer their intended escape ship, Booker ends up being sent on a mission by Fitzroy to contact a gunsmith at Finkton to arm their revolution. Seems simple enough... until he ends up needing to make up with Elizabeth and [[ExplainExplainOhCrap realizing mid-explanation]] just how big of an ask that is.
343** During the same venture, they're set into retrieving Chen Lin's gunsmithing tools at the police impound. Once they locate them, only then do they realize that said tools are enormous machines they have no way in hell of carrying back to the shop -- even Booker himself realizes "we didn't think this all the way through..."
344** The conclusion of this whole mission involves Booker and Elizabeth [[spoiler:merging their universe with another where the Vox Populi already have their guns, and thus the revolution is off to an explosive start. Unfortunately, not only does that mean Fitzroy doesn't know of the deal Booker made with her, this AlternateUniverse was one [[DeadAlternateCounterpart where Booker died]] and became a martyr for the revolution she's spearheading, so when she learns he's alive and well, she [[MistakenForAnImposter assumes him to be an impostor]] and thus turns the Vox Populi on him.]]
345* DifferentWorldDifferentMovies: The theater showing ''La Revanche du Jedi'' (''Revenge of the Jedi''). Currently the page image.
346* DifficultButAwesome: The Return to Sender Vigor, which projects a shield that absorbs damage, which can be released back at the enemy as a projectile. However, the shield's activation window (when the casting button is pressed) is very brief and only takes effect when Booker is taking hits from the front. It's also very tricky to use offensively, especially as the projectile is very short-ranged and has a smaller area of effect than most Vigors. However, with enough practice and the right timing, Return to Sender can be a life-saver on higher difficulty levels, especially against Snipers. It's also a godsend against Handymen and the Siren, as their powerful attacks are completely negated by the Return to Sender shield and can quickly charge the projectile up to its maximum damage cap. With the right Gear, it also has the potential to be by far the most damaging and efficient Vigor of all.
347* DigYourOwnGrave: The Lutece twins are seen digging their own graves while calmly giving a bit of exposition to what's going on after [[spoiler:Lady Comstock has been "resurrected" as the Siren]].
348* DisgustingPublicToilet: Subverted. One of the toilets in the Salty Oyster restaurant has flies all around it and two brown lumps in it, setting up this trope... but the lumps turn out to be potatoes. Which you can eat.
349* {{Disneyesque}}: Elizabeth Comstock bears a strong resemblance to Belle from ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'', including her design at the start of the game (her blue and white outfit with brunette hair tied back in a ponytail), a love of literature and intellectualism in a time period that frowns upon such things from women out of a means of escaping their provincial lives. She also has a few similarities to [[spoiler:Rapunzel from ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'']]; she was locked in a tower to keep an eye on her supernatural powers by her foster-parent/kidnapper and is rescued by a brown-haired, chiseled rogue who grows to care for her as the story progresses. [[spoiler:WordOfGod states that this was no coincidence, as Elizabeth's design was based off of various Disney princesses.]]
350* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything:
351** The relationship between Elizabeth and Songbird mirrors an abusive romantic relationship, which WordOfGod confirms is deliberate.
352** In the BackStory: A charismatic nineteenth-century man with an impressive beard takes control of a religion which was allegedly inspired by an angelic visitation and takes it to an uncharted territory, leading to tension with the US government. [[UsefulNotes/{{Mormonism}} You figure it out]].
353** The Vox Populi, meanwhile, seem to take considerable influence from turn-of-the-century Anarchist movements, Communism and even the Occupy Wall Street movement to a degree.
354---> '''Elizabeth:''' It seems the Vox Populi have adopted their favorite color.\
355'''Booker:''' Sounds about right.
356** The whole premise of a man rescuing a girl from a tower that is guarded by a a nightmarish flying beast who functions both as a protector and a jailer is reminiscent of a common FairyTale setup. However, it goes way beyond that; Elizabeth bears more than a passing resemblance to Belle from Beauty and the Beast, and Lady Comstock's glass coffin brings to mind Snow White's coffin.
357** The Lutece machine looks kind of like ovaries.
358** Columbian rhetoric also has a lot of similarities to Nazi Germany: obviously, they share white supremacy and the leader principle--Comstock could easily be considered an analogue to Hitler--but then there's the more subtle militant ideology encouraging early enlistment, complete with the junior wing of future soldiers as the Comstock Cadets (Hitler Youth, anyone?)--and singing models of cadets at Soldier's Field are even goose-stepping--and a Voxophone you can find in the Fraternal Order of the Raven's building has Comstock monologue about the emancipation of African-Americans only freeing them to become lazy and impoverished where they had "honest work" as slaves before, which smacks of Nazis propaganda showing Jews in their "natural habitat" of ghettos, conveniently ignoring that the Nazis forced them to live there in the first place, much like the Columbians force the non-white working class to live in Finkton, itself a ghetto.
359** Speaking of African-Americans within the game, one Voxophone recorded by Fink subtly recounts the justification of the African slave trade with religious scripture. The Voxophone recording has Fink recalling a conversation he had with Comstock. Fink tells him that the people who came to populate Columbia expected every menial task to be done for them, for which he suggests to Comstock to get in touch with an overseer in a Georgia prison that would allow him "to lease as many negro convicts" as he wanted. He also tells Comstock, that if any of Columbia's residents question the servants' forced labor, he should justify it by saying they are trying to achieve penance for atempting to rise above their social standing.
360* TheDogBitesBack: Anyone who is white, but neither Irish or Jewish, can live comfortably in Columbia, so long as they adhere to [[DarkMessiah Comstock's biblical interpretation,]] and [[MadeASlave anyone else can stay but has to serve their social betters without question.]] Then there's the Vox Populi, who seek to fight this injustice by recruiting downtrodden minorities into their cause, but at the beginning of the game aren't much of a threat. By the second half, [[AlternateTimeline Elizabeth has opened a tear]] that shows Columbia fighting a massive race war between the ruling elite and the oppressed minorities who finally got fed up with all the abuse they were forced to willingly put up with.
361* TheDragon: Comstock has several Dragons, but the most literal example is Songbird -- a [[ClockworkCreature clockwork]] cross between a Big Daddy and a [[WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon Night Fury]] -- with '''''every bit''''' of the nastiness that implies. [[spoiler:You never actually fight him, however, when Old Elizabeth gives you his passcode - the musical notes C-A-G-E - he fights for ''you'' in the climactic battle with the Vox airfleet]].
362* DramaticIrony: Lots of it on a second playthrough, starting with the Beast trailer. [[spoiler: "Bring us the girl and wipe away the debt. That was the deal. The details elude me now, but the details wouldn't change a goddamn thing." Oh, how they would]].
363* DramaticallyMissingThePoint: Comstock's approach to baptism. [[spoiler: While being baptized would absolve him of his sins at Wounded Knee, it does so by removing his responsibility for his actions, ''not'' by making the sins themselves admirable, and ''definitely'' does not make them worthy of being enshrined in a museum]].
364* DynamicEntry: Booker has a gameplay maneuver for this, where he can let himself launch off of a hook or skyrail and GoombaStomp an enemy below, catching them by surprise if they were not aware of him already. Some varieties of Gear add fire, lightning or knockback to his landing.
365** Also, the Charge vigor. Given the size of most battle maps in Columbia, Booker can charge up force then blast across the space to the enemy, usually perfoming an instant kill while knocking anything lighter than a Handyman or Patriot flying.
366
367[[/folder]]
368
369[[folder:E]]
370
371* {{Eagleland}}: Boorish. To a horrifying degree. The city of Columbia was created by the United States as a showcase of American ingenuity, just in time for the 1893 World's Fair. Then there was a hostage situation in China due to the Boxer's Rebellion, and Columbia went against orders, bombarded cities and killed a lot of innocent people, and then it seceded from the Union and went crazy nativist. Comstock's regime believes that Columbia represents the true society envisioned by the Founding Fathers and most of it's citizens view the rest of the world below, America included, with great contempt. Institutionalized racism and notions of WASP racial superiority are common in Columbia and minorities are treated as second-class citizens, forced into menial labor with no chance of upward mobility, interracial couples risk public stoning, and speaking out for racial equality can lead to jail time or even execution. The Founding Fathers, Washington, Jefferson and Franklin are worshipped as divine figures along with Comstock (while Abraham Lincoln is widely reviled as a traitor), and Columbia's society has very militant overtones.
372* EarlyBirdCameo: Columbia stages were first featured in ''VideoGame/PlaystationAllStarsBattleRoyale'' before the main game debuted. It has two within the game, one on its own where it's invaded by a [[VideoGame/TwistedMetal Dollface mech]] and another where the cargo plane from ''VideoGame/Uncharted3DrakesDeception'' flies by the city with a blimp and Songbird flying alongside and occasionally attacking it.
373* EarlyGameHell: Without Elizabeth's help, Booker is constantly outgunned during the first few levels of the game and needs to constantly move, flank, search corpses and hope he doesn't die.
374** [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] if you bought the game with the included pre-order bonuses, which after the first few sparse combat encounters (shortly after defeating the first [[EliteMook Fireman]]) the game gives you several bonus [[HeartContainer Infusions]] in a row and some nice gear. These make Booker almost overpowered, until the enemy threat level gradually creeps back up.
375* EarnYourHappyEnding: TheStinger suggests that [[spoiler:[[NegateYourOwnSacrifice only the versions that would have become Comstock were killed]], while the Booker that decided not to persists. With no Comstock, Booker would never be put in the position to give up his daughter to clear his debts, presumably allowing him to finally have a normal life with his daughter Anna. Note that the whole scene ends right before Anna can be seen in the crib, to maintain ambiguity]].
376* EasilyForgiven: You can throw the ball at Fink. You can massacre his staff and security. You can kill his slaves for fun. You can even set fire to his assistant due to a bug. None of this will change his mind about trying to hire you as head of security.
377* EasterEgg: The note [[spoiler:old Elizabeth]] gives Booker decodes as [[http://www.reddit.com/r/Bioshock/comments/1bjc8y/spoilers_i_solved_a_ciphertext_handed_to_you_in/ "I AM A CODE: I SHOULD PROBABLY BE CHANGED OVER FOR SOMETHING MUCH MORE OFFICIAL IN THE FUTURE, BUT I'LL DO AS A STAND-IN FOR NOW I SUPPOSE."]] with the substitution cipher Elizabeth has on her [[http://i.imgur.com/jEtHZCa.jpg chalkboard]] earlier in the game.
378** Booker comes across an incredibly disgusting toilet apparently filled with crap, buzzing with flies. If any player is brave enough to look in... it's actually full of ''[[GrossoutFakeout potatoes]] -- edible potatoes.''
379** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlVuqJoPSyY Speed up the music played in certain sections and you may hear some interesting vocals]].
380* EasyLevelTrick: In the Hall of Heroes, when entering both the Beijing and Wounded Knee fights, the doors lock upon entering, trapping you with little cover and a bunch of enemies. Since they lock behind you when you enter, however, there's nothing stopping you opening the door, throwing down several Vigor traps, before backtracking for salt refills and ''then'' entering.
381** You can plant a ton of Devil's Kiss traps in the spots where the Siren will spawn, killing her instantly each time. Fully upgraded Devil's Kiss mixed with Shock Jockey will wipe out her zombies instantly and deal a ton of damage and stunning to survivors.
382** If you stick Return to Sender traps on the core during the last battle, they'll block most incoming bullets, making your job that much easier.
383* {{Egopolis}}: Jeremiah Fink's Finkton. Interestingly, it's a hellhole, but he's quite proud of it.
384* The80s: The setting of the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tMjyGJdzwk Truth From]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zin6aKnJM5Q Legend]] {{Mockumentary}} trailers.
385** [[spoiler:Columbia attacks New York on December 31, 1983 -- transitioning into January 1, 1984]].
386** [[spoiler:Meanwhile, a songwriter is ripping off 80's tunes like "[[Music/TearsForFears Everybody Wants to Rule the World]]" and "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" and turning them into 1910's standards]].
387** An AlternateUniverse [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsJDrsKNYxI version]] of the ''Truth From Legend'' trailers focuses on [[spoiler:Rapture, as well as someone in Upstate New York who may have once been a Little Sister]].
388* ElectricTorture [[spoiler: Elizabeth]] has an electrified rod stabbed into her lower back to stop her from [[spoiler: creating tears.]]
389* EleventhHourSuperpower: For the last combat in the game, you have [[spoiler:the power to periodically summon Songbird, who can either divebomb the battlefield or eviscerate attacking airships.]]
390* EliteMooks:
391** A series of videos previewed so-called "Heavy Hitters," but it turned out most of them played little role in the game. There's one "Siren," you see her in one level, encounter her three times and then she's done. The "Boys of Silence" also appear in only one level, and they're different than advertised, acting more like the cameras in the previous games. "Handymen," this game's equivalent of Big Daddies, show up four times during the game to be fought. Only the Motorized Patriot is a frequent enemy.
392** The armored enemies who tend to use the Hail Fire, RPG, or Volley Guns, the Firemen, and the Zealots of the Lady fit this role much better.
393* EmbeddedPrecursor: The [=PS3=] Blu-ray copy of the game includes the first ''VideoGame/BioShock1'' free of charge - but only if you're in North America.
394* EmergencyTransformation: After contracting stomach cancer, a worker in one Voxophone recording was turned into a Handyman.
395* EmpathicEnvironment: The weather reflects both Elizabeth's mood and the overall state of Columbia. The first half of the game, when Elizabeth is still a WideEyedIdealist, takes place in mostly sunny and warm environments. After she [[spoiler:kills Daisy Fitzroy]] and grows more shell-shocked and steely, the weather takes a turn for the worse. This is also the point when Columbia stops being such a civilized place, on the surface at least, and as [[spoiler:the Vox uprising]] gains more and more momentum, the weather becomes more hostile as well, ending in a thunderstorm for their final assault on [[spoiler:Comstock's zeppelin.]]
396* TheEmpire: Columbia serves as a military powerhouse, likened to the [[Franchise/StarWars Death Star]], to conquer other nations for an expansionist despot, in keeping with the theme of imperialism. Given that it's also "seceded" from the US, Columbia pretty much sees itself as an Empire-in-the-making.
397* TheEndingChangesEverything: For starters, [[spoiler:Elizabeth takes Booker and herself to Rapture and they find themselves seeing multiple identical lighthouses.]] It continues from there.
398* EqualOpportunityEvil: Despite having some period appropriate stereotypes (talk of men protecting their womenfolk and such), Columbia seems to generally allow for men and women to have equal opportunities, especially when it comes to military service. This makes sense considering Comstock plans for Elizabeth, a woman, to ultimately lead Columbia to war, so a StayInTheKitchen attitude would presumably hurt her ability to lead if that's expected of all other women.
399* EscortMission:
400** {{Averted}}, with Levine noting they made sure that working with Elizabeth was the farthest thing from an escort mission, after the criticism of the escort mission with a Little Sister in the original ''[=BioShock=]''. Elizabeth may not be in the midst of a battle, but she's not hiding either, helping to resupply Booker with ammo and Vigors, or being there to use her own powers.
401** Having spent the first twenty years of her life in near isolation, Elizabeth's picked up a number of other useful skills -- like cryptography and lock-picking.
402** According to one internet wit, Elizabeth is actually escorting ''Booker''; he's the one who keeps running out of ammo, money, and Salts, asking her to help, and having to be revived.
403** Near the end, there's a mission that involves escorting an airship. This is another interesting {{Aversion}}; during that mission, [[spoiler: Songbird is the one escorting ''you''! Of course, that would only be true if the Songbird could actually fight without Booker telling him where to go...]]
404** Similar to the idea of Elizabeth escorting Booker, FromACertainPointOfView the entire game is an escort mission for [[spoiler:the Luteces, who are guiding Booker and Elizabeth through the story from the very beginning.]]
405* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Daisy Fitzroy gets one in her first interaction with Booker. Dangling him head-first from an airship -- after one of her goons smashes him in the face [[ForTheEvulz for no reason]], she informs him there is a war beginning and he needs to choose a side, and then drops him to fall a very long way. Everything in her demeanour makes it clear Booker does not have the option of refusing to help. It's her character in a nutshell -- forceful, charismatic, and deeply ruthless with no room in her mind for peaceful resolutions or abstaining from the conflict. She has a legitimate grievance, but her revolution won't be bloodless.
406* EternalRecurrence: [[spoiler:An inter-dimensional example -- the Luteces have managed to kill Comstock before, but other parallel versions were found to exist in an infinite amount of other realities. Thus, in order to end the circle, they decide to cut it with utmost certainty; "smothering him in the crib" (so to speak) and preventing his existence]].
407* EvenEvilHasStandards:
408** Preston E. Downs is a ruthless hunter who takes pride in killing non-whites (and whites who "mix in with the local color"). However, he has a MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment when he sets up traps to bleed out one of Daisy Fitzroy's couriers for information and instead catches a Sioux child she sent, ''and'' finds out that Comstock was lying about his involvement in Wounded Knee.
409*** He actually joins the Vox in assaulting Olympia and is almost certainly the one that inspired the display of Founder scalps Booker and Elizabeth come across. This is more understandable when you realize he spoke with Vox Booker and found out what the Wounded Knee Massacre was from the '''Sioux''' point of view.
410** The PinkertonDetective agency did a lot of bad things, but they kicked out Booker because he was ''too violent for them''.
411* EverybodySmokes: Children get the "Minor Victory" brand of cigarettes.
412* EveryoneHasStandards:
413** Columbia and Comstock's ideals are so excessive that even the very jingoistic President UsefulNotes/WilliamMcKinley considers them far beyond the pale.
414** The US Government and America in general had a MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment upon realizing what happened in Beijing and what Columbia really was.
415** By the final levels, Elizabeth has been dragged through Columbia by a man who shoots everything in his path. She's watched him eat garbage, she's barely avoided Songbird, she's [[spoiler:been tortured, she's even come close to planning to kill Comstock]], and yet she still occasionally screams when Booker performs a melee execution.
416** As mentioned above, Booker was considered ''too violent for the Pinkertons''.
417* EverytownAmerica: As part of its CrapsaccharineWorld facade, Columbia deliberately evokes an idealized image of turn-of-the-century Americana that wouldn't look too out of place from ''Theatre/HelloDolly'' or Creator/WaltDisney's "Main Street USA." This is soon shattered the more Booker delves into the city, and that's not even getting to [[WretchedHive Finkton]].
418* TheEvilsOfFreeWill: [[spoiler:Elizabeth in an alternate timeline where she becomes the successor of]] Zachary Comstock declares in a Voxophone message that free will must be eradicated from true disciples. "For what is the value of will when the spirit is found wanting?"
419* EvilVersusEvil: Zachary Comstock's Founders (Bible-thumping, jingoistic bigots) against Daisy Fitzroy's Vox Populi (destructive, lawless thugs in it to destroy the Founders, whatever the cost - and that's if they're not just completely focused on raping, robbing, and murdering the local populace ForTheEvulz). This is also why neither Booker nor Elizabeth are all that eager to get involved in their civil war.
420* ExactlyExtyYearsAgo: Booker says that it "must have been 20 years" since he [[spoiler:attended the baptism after wounded knee]].
421* ExactWords: "Bring us the girl and wipe away the debt." Booker's interpretation doesn't quite match the original intent of the order. [[spoiler:He thinks that he's looking for Elizabeth, a girl he doesn't know, to hand her over to his creditors. Actually, he already did that years ago with his own daughter, drunk himself into oblivion out of guilt and has now been given a chance to make things right again by saving said daughter. Unfortunately, by traversing into the parallel universe, he suppressed his memories of what truly happened.]]
422* ExpendableAlternateUniverse: Inverted, as Booker and Elizabeth abandon multiple {{Alternate Universe}}s for ones that better suit their needs at the moment, with little concern about the "old" realities that still exist, including their own home reality. [[spoiler: Though as it turns out, technically the reality at the beginning of the game wasn't their home reality anyway]].
423* ExplainExplainOhCrap: In a classic case of [[TheComicallySerious Booker's]] funniest moments being entirely unintentional on his part:
424-->'''Booker:''' Elizabeth, I've made an arrangement to get our airship back!\
425'''Elizabeth:''' ''[skeptical]'' ''You'' can get us out of here?\
426'''Booker:''' Yes! I just need to... supply enough weapons to arm an entire uprising.
427* ExplodingBarrels: [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that they're barrels of fireworks for the celebration.
428* ExpositoryGameplayLimitation: Uses this frequently, to the point that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish these sequences from normal cutscenes (the player can often move the camera around a bit but cannot walk or do anything else). The endgame (and those in the DLC campaigns) also feature this to a large extent. In fact, in some of the interruptible peaceful city levels, it is easy to accidentally fire your gun and turn all the guards hostile simply because you aren't expecting it to work.
429* {{Expy}}:
430** Columbia is pretty much what would happen if [[Anime/CastleInTheSky Laputa]] was created by America. In fact, the description is effectively identical to the [[OlderThanYouThink original]] in ''Literature/GulliversTravels''.
431** [[TheKlan The Order of the Raven]], with their [[TheFaceless face-concealing]] robes (blue robes in their case,) [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain pledge to safeguard the white race from "inferiors"]], and veneration of John Wilkes Booth as the man who shot the [[UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln Great Emancipator]], is one for the Ku Klux Klan.
432** Jeremiah Fink is a jovial but much more ruthless version of Daniel Plainview from ''Film/ThereWillBeBlood''.
433** The "official" story of Columbia's rise and subsequent seccession from the USA is reminiscent of the Mormon experience. The truth turns out to be a tad different.
434** Fink's assistant, Flambeau, bears an uncanny resemblance to Creator/OscarWilde.
435** Columbia's CrapsaccharineWorld facade also calls to mind Disneyland's "Main Street USA," which is based on Creator/WaltDisney's idealized memories of turn-of-the-century Americana.
436** Speaking of Disney, a lot of people have described Elizabeth as "a Disney princess" pretty often. Not surprisingly, considering that at the beginning of the game her looks are very close to [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast Belle]] and her back story and personality have quite a lot of things in common with [[WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}} Rapunzel]]. WordOfGod is that animation principles were referenced to ensure she was expressive, appealing and distinctive - meaning large eyes, a rounded face, a fairly simple set of clothing making use of strong contrasts, and a distinctive silhouette. All of which are characteristics shared by the Disney princesses (the studio ''did'' spend several decades refining the formula).
437** Much like in the classic film Film/{{Metropolis}}, all of Columbia's wealthy citizens reside comfortably on the surface, while the working class are forced to live underneath along the lower levels and operate the machinery that keeps the city running.
438** The [[DirtyCommunists Vox Populi]] were directly inspired by Occupy Wall Street and the Red Army Faction. They're also an early 1910s stand-in for other communist terrorist groups such as the Weather Underground. Their leader Daisy Fitzroy is basically Angela Davis with a dash of Nat Turner.
439* ExtradimensionalEmergencyExit: Elizabeth's ability to open Tears has been constrained by the Siphon on Monument Island and can only be used on Tears that already exist, hence why she was having such trouble escaping her tower. However, after Monument Island is destroyed in the finale, Elizabeth gains the power to create her own Tears at will - allowing her to escape Songbird's final assault by instantaneously zapping herself and Booker into another dimension. [[spoiler: More specifically, Rapture.]]
440
441[[/folder]]
442
443[[folder:F]]
444
445* FaceDeathWithDignity:
446** [[spoiler: The Songbird's eyes switch to green just before dying, as Elizabeth comforts it as it drowns. Green indicates a peaceful state]].
447** [[spoiler:Comstock does this also, having foreseen his death at [=DeWitt's=] hands. His last words are [[Literature/TheBible "It is finished."]]]]
448*** His well-documented Messiah Complex aside, there are multiple signs [[spoiler:Comstock took his eventual end into account all along, from reassuring his biographer that he wouldn't need any additional pages for his life story to the murals depicting the major events of Booker's trek directly before the baptismal room the final confrontation takes place in. The last image is Comstock [[FaceDeathWithDignity standing before the font, welcoming what must be]].]]
449** [[spoiler:Booker simply [[HeroicSacrifice allows his own daughter to drown him]] when he finds out that's exactly what needs to happen to save her]].
450* FaceHeelTurn: The Vox Populi are your allies initially when you first meet them as an armed resistance against the Founders, whom Booker has no love for. However, they quickly turn against you once Daisy Fitzroy reveals that the Booker she knew died a martyr, and is convinced you're either an imposter, or a ghost. They then become the main antagonists in the second half of the game.
451* FacialCompositeFailure: It pegs Booker as either a mulatto dwarf or a Frenchman with one eye; an eyewitness tells an actual sketch artist that he looks Irish, with red, curly hair. Not even close.
452** This seems to be less a case of simple mistakes, however, and more to do with the witnesses (being the typical Columbia citizens) feeling that [[NoTrueScotsman there's no way the criminal in question could possibly be a white American.]]
453* FakeUltimateHero: The "Hall of Heroes" is a monument to Comstock's supposed great accomplishments in the field of battle. According to Cornelius Slate, however, Comstock was never there at all, unlike [=DeWitt=] (whom Slate remembers). [[spoiler: Since Comstock ''is'' [=DeWitt=], he really ''was'' there, but the heroics "documented" in the Hall of Heroes are still a total fiction]].
454* FallingDamage: Jumping off of a high location will cause Booker to lose health, but jumping from skylines causes no harm, and jumping off Columbia itself simply puts Booker back up.
455* FalseProphet: Father Zachary Hale Comstock passes himself as a prophet, using the Lutece twins' research about using tears in the space-time to predict the future and create advanced technology from other universes.
456* FalseReassurance:
457** As Elizabeth muses on how Daisy Fitzroy might be able to give the downtrodden lower classes a better life, Booker can only mutter variations on "Yeah" in a tone that clearly expresses [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized how things are really going to turn out]].
458** As a former strikebreaker for the Pinkerton Agency who wound up living in Five Points, Booker knows all too well how it is in the slums.
459* FantasticNoir: The basic plot's about a washed up HardboiledDetective doing OneLastJob: finding a missing girl in a TownWithADarkSecret. Add in SteamPunk technology, [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized political extremism on both sides]], and [[EagleLand a savage deconstruction of American Exceptionalism]] to get ''[=BioShock Infinite=]''.
460* FateWorseThanDeath: According to Elizabeth, getting caught by Songbird and being dragged to Comstock House is either death, or something a ''lot'' like it. [[spoiler:In the glimpse of the future where that happened, it's hard to disagree with her, as she's subjected to extensive torture and brainwashing (textbook example of a {{mind rape}}), until she's the spitting image of Comstock: a misanthropic shell of a woman]].
461** If Booker spares Slate, he claims that Slate will suffer this when Elizabeth comments on it. [[spoiler: When Slate is seen again, in a catatonic state, Elizabeth agrees]].
462** The Handymen. According to their quotes, they live in ''constant'' agony because of their exoskeleton.
463* FauxAffablyEvil:
464** Jeremiah Fink's sickeningly cheerful demeanor belies a ruthless sociopathic capitalist.
465** Comstock: one of the really frightening things about him is the fact that you could find him to be a kind and pious man if you didn't know he was a racist, megalomaniacal dictator who'd [[spoiler: torture his own "daughter"]].
466* FictionalCurrency: Silver Eagles. There is a real life coin minted by the United States in 1986 called the Silver Eagle, but it's not the same thing.
467* FightingAcrossTimeAndSpace: Booker and Elizabeth have to make their way through Columbia through tears that Elizabeth conjures. The game begins with Columbia being in relative peace, just with the authorities looking for Booker, a wanted felon, and Elizabeth, his kidnapping victim, as well as dealing with bandits in the form of the Vox Populi. [[spoiler:Then they go into a tear with the Vox Populi fighting what looks like a losing war against the authorities, and the final tear they go into shows a reality where Columbia is going through [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized a bloody race war]], and Booker and Elizabeth have to dodge fire from both the authorities and the Vox Populi.]]
468* FireForgedFriends: Booker and Elizabeth.
469* {{Fingore}}: Elizabeth wears a thimble on an obviously stumped pinky finger. Her finger has been that way for as long as she can remember. [[spoiler: The ending shows her losing it when an [[PortalCut interdimensional portal closes onto it]]. When she was a ''baby'']].
470* FinishingEachOthersSentences: The Lutece twins are fond of this whenever they are not arguing. They do it even while they are lampshading it. [[spoiler: Turns out they're the same person from different realities, only separated "by a single chromosome."]]
471** [[spoiler: May also be a result of them being implied to have been through the same basic scenario more than a hundred times before; presumably, they've gotten very familiar with whatever the other plans to say under the circumstances]].
472* FinishingMove: The Sky-Hook lets you perform a murderous execution on any weakened enemy with a skull icon above their heads. There are sometimes advantages to this: it gives you some invincibility frames and some Gears let you gain health from executions. Just don't be surprised if Elizabeth is appropriately horrified by the sight of you snapping necks or possibly even decapitating enemies.
473* FiringOneHanded: Booker fires and reloads all weapons one-handed while on Sky-Lines by necessity. It's relatively plausible with some of the guns, but gets just plain silly when the Pepper Mill cranks itself, and when he's perfectly capable of aiming through a sniper rifle scope without it swaying all over the place.
474* FirstNameBasis: Booker constantly tells Elizabeth to call him "Booker" instead of "Mr. [=DeWitt=]". She lapses back and forth between the names, usually depending on her trust and familiarity at any given moment. "Booker" is close; "Mr. [=DeWitt=]" is more distant and formal.
475* FloatingContinent: Downplayed to Floating City with Columbia.
476* FluffyTheTerrible. That enormous, flying, screeching steampunk cyborg with giant claws, who is Elizabeth's jailer, who was inspired by abusive relationships, who hunts you the entire game? His name is Songbird.
477* FollowingInRelativesFootsteps: Vivian Monroe saw his father fighting under Cornelius Slate and herself accepted to fight for him, first for Columbia and then [[DefectorFromDecadence against it]] under Slate.
478* ForegoneConclusion: A rare subverted example, as the Mockumentary made by Irrational Games talks about Columbia slowly decaying in the mid-80s, [[spoiler:but that is because the Mockumentary is an alternate universe before Comstock and Booker are killed to stop Columbia from existing in the first place]].
479* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[Foreshadowing/BioShockInfinite Has its own page]].
480* FromACertainPointOfView:
481** Both the Founders and Vox Populi aren't above twisting history, so long as it serves their respective beliefs and goals.
482* FromBadToWorse: The setting of Columbia gets more and more chaotic as you go through the game, until in the end it's virtually a ghost town from all the infighting. However, part of this is due to [[spoiler:entering two tears to go into different, worse versions of Columbia]], so the chaos can partly be attributed to that, and may not have been in place [[spoiler:in the first Columbia visited]].
483* FromDressToDressing: If you fail to spot [[spoiler:the Founders' ambush in the airship station and end up [[ImpaledPalm stabbed with the letter-opener]]]], Elizabeth uses her scarf to dress the injury. The scarf remains in place for the remainder of the game.
484* FromNobodyToNightmare: According to the audio logs, Daisy Fitzroy was [[spoiler: just a poor servant who was the scapegoat for Lady Comstock's death]]. There was literally nothing about her early on which would have suggested what she would later become in many of those timelines. Father Comstock himself qualifies, due to his origin story as revealed on these pages.
485* FullConversionCyborg: The Handymen retain only a few of their original organs in their massive steampunk bodies, most prominently their heads and hearts - which can be seen via a porthole in their torsos and [[AttackItsWeakPoint shot by wily players]]. Given the powerful-but-clumsy tech that was used to [[WeCanRebuildHim remake them]], Handymen find this condition ''agonizing.''
486* FutileHandReach: When she's captured [[spoiler:by Songbird as you approach Comstock House]], Elizabeth silently reaches out for Booker's hand as she's taken away, and the two miss before she disappears. What makes this moment [[RewatchBonus more powerful in hindsight]] is that the next time you see her, [[spoiler:she's [[BadFuture an old, villainous, and broken version of herself]] who never saw Booker again. Had she not then returned him to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong, we would never see our version of Elizabeth ever again either.]]
487[[/folder]]
488
489[[folder:G]]
490
491* GameplayAllyImmortality: Elizabeth can't be shot at by the player, nor do enemies attack her, though she will hide behind cover as if being attacked. If you aim your gun at her, she will warn you about watching where you're aiming and will try to get out of your sights (which is a good thing since you're probably aiming at bad guys in that direction). Additionally, the crosshair turns into a small dot and even if you try to fire at her, the game won't let you. Firing rockets and flak close enough to kill her is fine, but she's invulnerable to those, too.
492* GameplayAndStoryIntegration: Elizabeth's ability to create a tear to an AlternateUniverse is a core gameplay mechanic. And, like Elizabeth says, it can be a form of wish fulfillment for the player as they are allowed to choose what aid they get from that other reality: some extra ammo, cover, an ally, or a hook to allow access to the high ground.
493* GameplayAndStorySegregation:
494** The hidden rooms cannot be opened until you find something that tells of its location (i.e. hearing a recording of where the button is or finding the secret code). This is made pretty clear when the button for the door under the cash register won't even appear until you listen to the Voxophone telling of its existence.
495** It's never explained exactly how Booker's magnetic shield works, but it'll stop bullets, bats, fire, and electricity, without the slightest bit of damage getting through. But when [[spoiler:Elizabeth hits you with a wrench]], it's an instant knock-out.
496** Vigors really aren't hard to find. One is part of a component of a game at the Columbia Raffle and Fair, another was being given out for ''free'', and they're scattered all over the place, some in the hands of corpses. And yet of the eight Vigors you obtain, only three of them are used by your enemies, and one of those enemies was Slate, a UniqueEnemy.
497** One radio announcement heard early in the game describes your combat in the introduction. It states the death toll at 8 people. By that point, you will have gunned down about 50 Columbian police and soldiers, and in the scene described alone, the death toll was over 20. This was probably because of the sheer impact that many police deaths would have made in real life. It may have also represented an earlier design of the game that relied less on gunplay.
498*** A third, and likely possibility - considering the nature of Columbia, is the tendency of governments to use the media for propaganda purposes. By lowballing casualties, it not only reduces the chance of the general public panicking, but also provides the illusion that said government is still fully in control - thus reducing the chance of other rebellions popping up.
499** A major subplot is based around the difficulty the Vox Populi have in securing weapons. Vending machines full of inexpensive firearms are available for use on seemingly every street corner.
500* GatlingGood: The "Pepper-Mill" Crank Gun wielded by the [[MechaMooks Motorized Patriots]]. You can use it as well.
501* TheGay90s: The general atmosphere of Columbia, which was launched a good fifteen years before the events of the game. A number of scenes are also set around 1893. [[spoiler:Including Anna's capture and the PlayableEpilogue]].
502* GenderIsNoObject: The Columbia police force employs several female officers alongside the male ones. One of the male officers even mentions his hatred of misogynists alongside his hatred of unions and the Vox. Given how [[DeliberateValuesDissonance regressive the Founders are in a lot of other areas]], this bit of extreme progressive gender views for the time (this was an era where in most of the western world women were still struggling to get the right to ''vote'') might count as a PetTheDog bit on their part. However, since Comstock wanted to install his daughter as his successor, squashing the misogynist views of the time was probably a deliberate attempt at paving the way for her. May also be caused by Lutece's influence: when a female is responsible for the existence of "paradise," sexism becomes a bit silly.
503** Lampshaded by the record logs of Constance, a young girl whose sadly unfulfilled dream of meeting Elizabeth comes from Constance being a intellectual, progressive child of a traditionalist mother.
504* GiantMook: There's an entire range of these, dubbed "Heavy Hitters". They range from the previously-seen Handymen to Devil's Kiss flinging Fireman to heavily-armed robots such as the Motorized Patriot and others that are significantly weirder. They're all designed not only to give Booker a bigger challenge than the regular mooks of Columbia, but also to look as creepy as fuck.
505* TheGildedAge: An undercurrent theme running through parts of the game. You have happy Columbian citizens, but they are supported by a vast underclass made up of "undesirable" immigrants kept in UrbanSegregation from the rest of the city. You have characters like Fink, who acts like a [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Robber Baron]] to an even more excessive degree (with Finkton being a glorified CompanyTown that ''literally'' has gold gilding in public avenues just to stress this), and a society which cracks down on this so hard that, absent any attempt at reforms, [[BombThrowingAnarchists uprising becomes inevitable]].
506* GirlInTheTower: The plot starts out like this, with Booker sent to find a girl imprisoned in a tower atop a city floating several thousand feet in the air. It gets a little more complicated than that when it's revealed the girl has RealityWarper powers[[spoiler:, and even more complicated when you figure out that that isn't where the plot actually started]].
507* GoingCosmic: The [[VideoGame/BioShock1 first game]] was a deconstruction of objectivism and utopianism in general, wrapped up in an [[DieselPunk Art Deco undersea metropolis]] and BioPunk technology. The [[VideoGame/BioShock2 second game]] was pretty much the same thing, 'cept with altruism and collectivism. The third ''[=BioShock=]'' game? It turns the ''[=BioShock=]'' Multiverse into [[spoiler: an endless list of alternate realities filled with three constants: a man, a city, and a lighthouse. Rapture was just one of the alternate universes]].
508* GoodNeedsEvil: One of the early audio logs asserts that without sin, Columbia would have no reason to exist.
509* GoodScarsEvilScars: Booker has the initials "A.D." etched into his skin of his right hand, which he explains came from a past transgression and serve as a reminder to him. [[spoiler:It turns out to be the initials of his daughter's name: Anna [=DeWitt=], as penitence for giving her away as an infant to wipe away his gambling debt. Comstock knew of both Booker's brand and Booker's eventual arrival in Columbia through Elizabeth's rifts, which is why he knew how to warn the others of the "False Shepherd."]]
510* GoryDiscretionShot: When you deliver the MercyKill to [[spoiler:Cornelius Slate]], the camera shows him guiding your gun to his forehead, but then moves upwards, instead focusing on Elizabeth's reaction, who was standing in the background. Averted with melee executions.
511* GratuitousLatin: The Vox Populi (Voice of the People). Also, when first entering Columbia, there are three stained glass windows displaying the Latin names of the three symbols (Sword = Gladium; Key = Clavem; Scroll = Volumen).
512* GraveRobbing: When you reach the cemetery, some Vox are digging up the graves in search of gold.
513* GravityMaster: Bucking Bronco casts a wave of gravity-screwing shockwaves that leave enemies helplessly floating in the air.
514* GrenadeLauncher: The game has the Pig Flak Volley Gun and the Vox Hail Fire; both have more ammo than most examples, and the Hail Fire has the option to detonate its ammo manually. For these reasons, both weapons are recommended for taking down many of the game's Heavy Hitters.
515* GreyAndGreyMorality: You play as a disgraced PinkertonDetective, and as noted above both of the enemy factions are {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s ''at best'' by the time you arrive. As the game progresses however, it soon becomes a case of BlackAndGrayMorality.
516* GroinAttack: Elizabeth does this to an undercover police officer in an ambush early in the game.
517* GroundhogDayLoop: By the time Booker encounters the Lutece twins for the first time aboard the floating city of Columbia during the fair, he had already tried [[spoiler: to get to Elizabeth]] one hundred and twenty-two times.
518* GuideDangIt:
519** In the ''Clash in the Clouds'' DLC, each level's ArbitraryMissionRestriction is given with a single sentence, making it often unclear as to whether or not a certain action will make you fail the level. For example, "Kill all enemies with X" can mean deal each killing blow with X, or only damage your opponents with X, or defeat him without tears, Return to Sender, unintentional friendly fire, or anything else that is not X.
520** Some of the weapons only appear in the area you first encounter them, especially the variant machine guns. Hope you didn't put upgrade points in them.
521* GunsDoNotWorkThatWay: Weapon barrels have a tendency to get extremely hot much faster in the game than they will in reality, but no example is more absurd than the Rolston Reciprocating Repeater, whose '''heat shield''' starts glowing bright red even before a full magazine is spent while the barrel underneath mysteriously remains cool throughout. Right behind that is the Vox Heater, which also produces a glowing barrel despite being a ''single-shot'' weapon, and thus impossible to fire fast enough to generate enough heat through barrel friction.
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524
525[[folder:H]]
526* HairpinLockpick: Elizabeth. The only reason she wasn't picking the locked door to her prison apartment is that it was a vault door. And she was trying, there's even an instance of it in the surveillance film found on the ground floor of the Tower. Whenever there's a lock she picks as part of continuing the main story, this is lampshaded (and your lockpick supply is not lessened) as she actually uses a hairpin to open those doors.
527* HandCannon: There's a revolver in game that is called the Hand Cannon.
528** As another reflection of the deeply ingrained racism of Columbia, it's also called the Paddywhacker. And at least some residents of Columbia refer to Irishmen as "Paddies".
529* HandsLookingWrong: Whenever Booker drinks a new [[SuperSerum Vigor]], he is left staring at the various changes his hands undergo, often turning them over in fascination. This follows other transformations as well. [[PlayingWithFire Devil's Kiss]] burns his hands all the way down to the bone, [[ShockAndAwe Shock Jockey]] makes him sprout glowing crystals, [[MakingASplash Undertow]] causes Booker to develop octopus-like suckers, and [[CatchAndReturn Return To Sender]] converts his flesh to metal... and in all cases, Booker will be staring at his hands with a mixture of horror and fascination.
530* HandWave: The outrageous impossibility of the Sky-Lines is handwaved by Booker mumbling something about magnets when he first uses them (or so he assumes, but it's never really explained).
531** The city floats from "quantum mechanics". Elizabeth ''does'' state the principle that enables the city to fly, sort of, but it's still kind of ludicrous. Rosalind Lutece's vague Voxophone recordings don't help much in the way of explanation either.
532* HarderThanHard: 1999 Mode. When you die, it costs 100 Silver Eagles to revive. If you don't have 100 Silver Eagles, then it's [[KilledOffForReal game over]]. Enemies also have a lot more health while Booker has a lot less. Also, Navigation Mode is disabled. Hopefully you went through the game on Hard first...
533* HardTruthAesop: Intentionally invoked with [[RightWayWrongWayPair Duke & Dimwit]], a marionette show that instills in children the values that made Columbia what it is today, such as white supremacy, religious zealotry, copious weapons training, unquestioning loyalty to the government, and courage in the face of the YellowPeril.
534* HaveAGayOldTime:
535** Very early on, you come across a barbershop quartet performing ''God Only Knows'' in front of a sign that, among other things, proclaims them to be "Columbia's Gayest Quartet".
536** "Faggots were stacked in a courtyard..." He means the bundles of sticks used for building fires... meant for putting people to the torch.
537* HeartContainer: Infusions give you the option of increasing your health, shield, or [[{{Mana}} Salts]] when collected.
538* HelicopterBlender: While on Comstock's airship, your inner sadist can use Undertow to push enemies into the active rotors.
539* HelloSailor: Booker gets chatted up at the fair with this line, by a naval gentleman who then chuckles "any port in a storm, if you get my meaning".
540* TheHeroDies: [[spoiler:At the end of the game Booker/Comstock is drowned by multiple versions of Elizabeth so Comstock will never exist. Fortunately, this causes the TemporalParadox to collapse to a state where he couldn't have possibly sold Anna and caused the entire story to happen, so he ends up having [[EarnYourHappyEnding earned his happy ending]]]].
541* HeroicMime: Averted by Booker [=DeWitt=], who, in contrast to the previous two protagonists in ''[=BioShock=]'' games, speaks freely in gameplay, and not only cutscenes. FirstPersonGhost, is, curiously, not averted, however.
542* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Aside from the ending, apparently in one reality, Booker became a Vox Populi and died, becoming a martyr that the faction rallied around]].
543* HiddenElfVillage: Subverted. Booker had no previous knowledge of Columbia, telling Elizabeth he only heard of it once he got there. Elizabeth mentions that she assumed it was common knowledge below, and a kinetoscope confirms that Columbia was in fact once part of the USA until it seceded. [[spoiler:It's because Columbia didn't exist in the universe Booker came from.]]
544* HideYourChildren: Technically averted, children are running around and it ''is'' possible to shoot at them. However, when violence starts civilians clear out seemingly way quicker than would be humanly possible -- the game probably literally hides their models as soon as your camera can't see them. And should you attempt to kill them anyway, you'll quickly find out [[ImprobableInfantSurvival they can't be harmed or killed]].
545* HoldTheLine: The last mission.
546* HonestJohnsDealership: The vending machines have an element of this.
547-->"A guarantee? Who has time for all that paperwork?"\
548"Who needs competition when you have ''quality?''"
549* HopeSpot: Constantly, whenever it seems Booker and Elizabeth are on the verge of leaving Columbia. [[spoiler: The first time, Elizabeth knocks out Booker when he reveals he's trying to deliver her to someone. She tries to commandeer the ship but is forced to flee when the Vox Populi invade, leaving Booker to deal with them. The second time is shortly after they kill Daisy and once more are on the verge of leaving, only for Songbird to crash their ship. The two then realize they won't be able to leave unless they deal with him and Comstock first]].
550* HugeGuyTinyGirl:
551** Elizabeth and Songbird. (Assuming Songbird is/was a guy, it is referred to with masculine pronouns by Elizabeth.)
552** Booker and Elizabeth. While Booker isn't as big as songbird, he ''is'' 6'1".
553** Samuel and Hattie Gerst. Samuel's wife stayed by his side as best she could after he was made a Handyman, to the point of leaving him a message of love for when the pain and trauma of it all was too much for him, said message found by his remains in the third Columbia before you storm the Factory.
554* HyperactiveMetabolism: As with the earlier games, eating restores health, and you're much more likely to rely on the food since you can't store medkits any more. Some drinks restore [[{{Mana}} Salt]], smoking restores some Salt at the cost of health, drinking alcohol has the opposite effect. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXv4vsbIMts And of course]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4sTH2SSlxk there's absolutely no limit]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3DHGGBCSdw to how much you can eat or drink.]]
555* HyperspaceArsenal: Averted; unlike previous games, Booker can only carry two weapons at a time. Played straight however with the gear.
556* {{Hypocrite}}:
557** The Vox Populi. In the Flash game, they give you missions because they want you to get the weapons off the street, only for the next mission to show they actually want the weapons to use themselves.
558** There's also Comstock, for a multitude of reasons. [[spoiler: The most readily apparent, in retrospect, is how he claims unbelievably egotistical glory for his service at the Battle of Wounded Knee (as seen in the Hall of Heroes), despite getting baptized specifically because of unbearable guilt from taking part in the campaign. Compared to Booker, who refused baptism, and was very firm in refusing being called a hero for his actions there in his dealings with Slate]].
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