Bioshock

Personally I like to set a good example for my fictional daughter and callously murder anyone and anything that ever dares to threaten either of us.

but to each their own

The only one that should have been an evil option is killing Grace. She's the victim of manipulation and cult brainwashing and she even comes around to you if you let her go. Poole is a backstabbing bastard and mass murderer and Gilbert Alexander begged to be mercy killed.

The Gamer posted a rather interesting look at Bioshock's legacy 16 years later.

Mostly, they found it wanting; this groundbreaking game resulting in a plethora of copycats that try to ape its style while not actually committing to the in-depth look at its themes like the first game did. Unfortunately, this also includes Bioshock's own sequels, Infinite especially being singled out for having gameplay at odds with its actual themes and for being overly convoluted.

Edited by Dracoblade on Mar 8th 2023 at 1:10:44 AM

Has it been 16 years already?

Fuck.

Holloway is the only character whose fate is different in my playthroughs. I spare her, but Sofia Lamb becomes a Karma Houdini. I kill her to prevent that, but that means killing Holloway. Hell, Holloway is the only one who actually has material rewards for sparing her (you can loot Poole's corpse).

I have no problems killing the other two people though. I only spare them for the achievement, one that I've actually cheated for the Remaster because I couldn't be half-assed to go through that again.

Edited by RainingMetal on Mar 8th 2023 at 8:34:51 AM

I wouldn’t count Sofia as a Karma Houdini since her plans have all fallen through, she lost Rapture, and though we don’t see her fate after being saved, it can be presumed she faced serious consequences afterwards (probably for all of the children she kidnapped). It’s also the more fitting ending to let her live since it proved her wrong. It proves to her that good and true selflessness do exist in the world.

Edited by TheLivingDrawing on Mar 8th 2023 at 11:36:12 AM

My issue with letting her live is Sofia is clearly one of those cockroach types of people who probably can deal a lot more damage if left alive. Prison never stopped her before. Who's to say she wouldn't create another cult on the surface?

That's assuming she faced consequences at all. The kidnappings were done by Big Sisters, they likely wouldn't get traced back to her unless Eleanor dumped her off at a police station, and even then there would be a hell of a lot of questions.

I mean, Lamb has lost everything. Decades of her life was devoted to building her cult in Rapture and building her Adam-based apotheosis/Borg collective. Her cult is now gone and she's lost all chance at it.

Now total forgiveness means her daughter wants to redeem her but she's penniless and alone now.

Edited by CharlesPhipps on Mar 9th 2023 at 12:41:05 PM

Frankly I think Sofia has done so much evil that she wasn't worth saving at all. Plus, the logic behind Eleanor sparing her mother falls flat when you only spare one person in the good ending (she claims that Delta always showed mercy. That "always" being one time as I butchered Stanley and euthanized Gilbert without a second thought). If the programming behind that ending relied on a majority vote as opposed to an absolute unanimous decision against what you would do with the Little Sisters things would be a lot better.

It's unlikely that Sofia Lamb would be punished legally. The existence of Rapture itself is unknown and the Big Sisters she was having kidnap people are probably what amount to Cryptids.

Essentially, you'd be trying to prove that all of those children disappearing were kidnappings, done by bigfoot, because your mother was mind-controlling bigfoot.

In fairness, Eleanor could prove that there's something paranormal going on pretty easily, but not sure if she could prove the specifics.

There's a very good argument that sparing Sofia is something most Big Daddies (and their players) wouldn't do on their own but are okay with because you don't want ELEANOR to become a murderer or the kind of person who "I'm not going to kill you but I'm not going to save you either."

I'm still mad that Bioshock 2 didn't include that element of "scaring the Splicers" you saw in the Bioshock 2 demo.

The idea of being the biggest fish in Rapture only to encounter the Big Sister had me so pumped for Bioshock 2. Granted, the game still scared the piss out of me as a teenager, but after the first 1 or 2 Big Sister moments she stopped being scary or threatening.

And because of Delta's final design he's less intimidating than the regular Big Daddies. Splicers are more than willing to run up to him and punch him in the face. Yes, they're all crazy, but still, a giant armored diver man with a drill on his hand would scare a few people.

Edited by FOFD on Mar 13th 2023 at 3:25:01 PM

they probably took out scaring the spilicers because it diminished their threat,or something

I beat Bioshock 2 again. Still my favorite of the trilogy. While the first game does still edge it out in terms of story, I think the game’s final act (starting from around Dionysus Park) is the best part of the main trilogy, though I have yet to play any of the DL Cs. Especially the final level.

Edited by TheLivingDrawing on Mar 14th 2023 at 9:55:53 AM

I think Bioshock 2 was hurt by the fact it took place in Rapture when it needed it's own game to talk about collectivism and the toxicity of selflessness.

Which it arguably did in Columbia.

But it was really good as a spin off too.

If you intend to go through Minerva's Den for the first time, I would strongly suggest getting all the stars in the Protector Trials first, as this nets you a gene tonic that will greatly increase the ADAM you get in that game. Given its short length, you'll need it all.

I actually remember starting Bioshock 2, but never finishing it. I don't know why, I didn't dislike it or anything and I've played both 1 and Infinite to completion and loved them. I should get around to that sometime.

I seriously don’t want to burn myself out on the game, especially since I’m gonna absolutely hate the Protector Trials if they’re what I think they are (a tedious set of missions where getting all of the stars is an obnoxious chore because there is almost no margin for error). I’d rather put up with the ADAM penalty and only use a few plasmids than to force myself to do the Protector Trials for the sake of making Minerva’s Den slightly easier.

On a side note I like how Sophia Lamb (a pseudo-intellectual with a self-righteous dedication to a collectivist ideology, who decries all “selfishness” except her own, and would never actually commit to it when the chips are down) is basically a tankie before tankies were a thing, minus being a communist and bootlicking for communist regimes and downplaying every atrocity they were involved with.

Edited by TheLivingDrawing on Mar 14th 2023 at 12:21:27 PM

Worry not; it's really easy to get the three-star score in every one of those missions (even the hardest one where you don't have any weapons), as the margin for error is extremely generous. It is tedious, I won't argue with that, but it's worth the trouble for that ADAM boost, which is substantial.

I brought bioshock 2 + Infinite in a steam sale yesterday

One thing that's always surprised me is how Bioshock 1 never received Downloadable content the way the sequel did

I'm talking about expansion pack style content and not the Plasmids pack they released later

I would have liked to see more traditional levels akin to what 2 did with Minerva's Den and give us a new weapon, use underused splicer models (ie Pigskin), and give us more flexibility in what Plasmids to use instead of just relying on Electro Bolt all the time.

I dislike how the difficulty settings had no 'normal' setting

very confusing at first

• Taught'em how to topple corruption - find you a lighter. Ignite a revolution, you can fight fire with fire. Why would I try and build an empire for myself when I can just take one away from someone else?
• “Who told you that you’re special? Born to do great things? Tattooed your brain with memories, then ripped away your wings? Who told you what you was and all the wonders you’d accomplish? If you don’t call that family, I don’t know what is.”

• "I asked who Fontaine was and atlas shrugged"

• "You promised pretty Stein, then why did I get this?"
• "I treated your ugliness LIKE AN INFECTION."

These music videos are great.

Edited by FOFD on Jul 25th 2023 at 4:14:01 AM

Not quite. Jack actually starts making meaningful choices before his puppetmaster croaks. The one choice Fontaine allows him is whether or not to harvest Little Sisters, since Fontaine doesn't give a shit one way or another as long as Jack completes his task.

You know the "Kill/Save Little Sisters" choice is something that a lot of people have read a lot into and the greater themes of Bioshock (altruism vs. selfishness). However, it's apparently something Ken Levine put in as a joke.

"The Execs want choices in the story-driven game. I know, HOW ABOUT MURDER LITTLE GIRL OR NOT."

Which was meant to be an almost Dark vs. Light parody.