Bioshock infinite spoiler thread. Free discussion about the plot and ending.

[cmdrdredd]

I just wondered if I missed some explanation along the lines.

 

[Iron Woode]

We know very little about songbird ultimately. It was manufactured by Fink probably. The technology behind it was first glimpsed by Fink through a tear. What he saw was probably the manufacturing of a Big Daddy from Rapture. Extrapolating from that, the Songbird probably has a human component like a Big Daddy, and it seems to have a link with Elizabeth similar to the one Big Daddies shared with Little Sisters in Rapture. Who knows who it is that was made into SongBird. I've heard theories that ranged from Constance Field, the little girl who doesn't seem to play much role in the game other than a few Voxophones you find, to an alternate reality Booker Dewitt. One seems as likely as the other to me.

from Bioshock Infinite Wiki:

Voxophone recordings and blueprints found at Fink Factory show that Songbird was created by Fink Industries. As with most of Fink's technology, it was based off designs discovered through a tear. The blueprints were described as showing "a merger of machine and man, that was the lesser of man yet the greater of both parties", suggesting Fink had witnessed a design sheet for a Big Daddy. The subject used for Songbird's creation followed a process similar to the Big Daddies' bonding procedure, as it was engineered to be fiercely protective of its ward. However, it was also excessively possessive of Elizabeth, and if wronged would act out in a manner not unlike that of an abusive spouse, destroying anything in sight.

Songbird's mechanical features are similar to that of the Big Daddy, with color-changing eyes to indicate its mood. Green eyes indicate friendliness toward a person or object of focus, most namely Elizabeth; yellow indicates awareness but indifference to Songbird's surroundings; and red to indicate heavy hostility, chiefly toward Booker.

 

[Iron Woode]

here's something fascinating:

* In BioShock, an ambient noise occurring prior to Kyle Fitzpatrick's death bears a strong resemblance to Songbird's screams.[4][03:35, April 3, 2013 (UTC)]

Critics have stated that this sound happens as an ambient noise in Fort Frolic. It can be heard during the the death scene of Fitzpatrick and then later in the same level after this scene.

* As Songbird dies, a Little Sister can be seen in the background weeping over the body of her protector, a Bouncer Big Daddy, mirroring Elizabeth's own relation to her guardian.

 

[thejunglegod]

Does Comstock know that it is actually himself coming to get him?


Posted from Anandtech.com App for Android

 

[Iron Woode]

Does Comstock know that it is actually himself coming to get him?


Posted from Anandtech.com App for Android

Yes.

That is a huge part of the game. He summons the people to stop you because he knows who you are and why you are there.

 

[Kindjal]

The ending was reminiscent of the ST:TNG episode "Parallels"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallels_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)

 

[Alienwho]

This game is better than good but not quite great for me.

The general gameplay/gunplay/vigors were completely mediocre. There is no satisfaction in using the weapons or the vigors. It just feels shallow. I wished the vigors were more fun and satisfying to use but they are not. I can't exactly put my finger on why that is. The gun play feels the same. To me the actual need to "play" the game was a necessary evil to get what this game was all about: The art and the story. I did enjoy the co-op style play with Elizabeth and the mechanic of riding those rails around was very cool as well.

The story was very cool. I didn't read or know anything at all about bioshock infinite going in so every twist and turn was fun to live through. I spent the first half of the game wondering if this was some kind of prequel to the Original bioshock and was maybe rapture before it fell into the ocean or something. That didn't make sense and eventually I figured it out.

Maybe I'm just getting older am more picky but I didn't care to play the game and only did so to watch the game as if it was a movie. It just feels like they spent so much time on the art and story that gameplay became second fiddle. I haven't seen anybody else mention this in the thread but do you feel the same way? The fighting was just severely lacking.

 

[Attic]

This game is better than good but not quite great for me.

The general gameplay/gunplay/vigors were completely mediocre. There is no satisfaction in using the weapons or the vigors. It just feels shallow. I wished the vigors were more fun and satisfying to use but they are not. I can't exactly put my finger on why that is. The gun play feels the same. To me the actual need to "play" the game was a necessary evil to get what this game was all about: The art and the story. I did enjoy the co-op style play with Elizabeth and the mechanic of riding those rails around was very cool as well.

The story was very cool. I didn't read or know anything at all about bioshock infinite going in so every twist and turn was fun to live through. I spent the first half of the game wondering if this was some kind of prequel to the Original bioshock and was maybe rapture before it fell into the ocean or something. That didn't make sense and eventually I figured it out.

Maybe I'm just getting older am more picky but I didn't care to play the game and only did so to watch the game as if it was a movie. It just feels like they spent so much time on the art and story that gameplay became second fiddle. I haven't seen anybody else mention this in the thread but do you feel the same way? The fighting was just severely lacking.

This, and absolutely agree with bolder.

I haven't had such a strong experience in a game (drawn into the game world with wonder/awe/fear/fascination) since Amnesia Dark Descent. I absolutely love games that accomplish that level of "entertainment" when I play them. Crysis 3?, yea forget about it not even in the same stratosphere as the games I actually love, though I did enjoy Crysis 3.

Mainly, the biggest fault with Bioshock: Infinite was meaningless and excessively gory combat (a result of too many enemies not necessarily the actual level of gore in an individual encounter). I got tired plowing through weak and meaningless enemies, it detracted from the scope of the game and made my own character development in terms of combat feel vapid. I'd have preferred the number of enemies drastically scaled down, but interaction in environment and AI of enemies drastically scaled up. Vigors felt weak because I rarely saw enemies use them against me, it felt isolated but important given all the vending stations and nature of vigors themselves. Where are the enemies/characters that can't quite handle vigors, or those who excel at their se?

The patriots were the worse, the idea of a tough guy in this game was a high hit point walking rail gun? Damnit. Irrational the game proves you are better thn that, why? And the final encounter fight was literally droves of enemies,..... Aggggggggg.

Love the game, combat got in the way instead of making it better.

 

[thejunglegod]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NRQNit7nmI

This guy provides a pretty decent analogy.

 

[zaydq]

The end of the game totally reminded me of the ending of Looper.

 

[aigomorla]

WOW...

i dont think i have ever been so emotional about an ending in game since Final Fantasy on console days.

i have a question...
At the very end... like after the credits we see that baby scene all over again... however the date is 1893 and not 1913 the date when anna was taken?

So are we to assume tempist fugit has taken place as in no matter how hard one tries to change time, time will always fix itself?

 

[sze5003]

WOW...

i dont think i have ever been so emotional about an ending in game since Final Fantasy on console days.

i have a question...
At the very end... like after the credits we see that baby scene all over again... however the date is 1893 and not 1913 the date when anna was taken?

So are we to assume tempist fugit has taken place as in no matter how hard one tries to change time, time will always fix itself?

In that scene Anna is not taken since the elizabeths drown Booker in the second baptism. Hence he never became comstock. In the first baptism he refuses and becomes Booker where he sells Anna. The way I understood it was that there are different universes each within a set time where things happened simultaneously. Very confusing story I'll need to play it again.

 

[Iron Woode]

In that scene Anna is not taken since the elizabeths drown Booker in the second baptism. Hence he never became comstock. In the first baptism he refuses and becomes Booker where he sells Anna. The way I understood it was that there are different universes each within a set time where things happened simultaneously. Very confusing story I'll need to play it again.

its confusing because of the Multiverse Hypothesis:

In lay terms, there is a very large—perhaps infinite—number of universes, and everything that could possibly have happened in our past, but did not, has occurred in the past of some other universe or universes.

This was a very ambitious concept for a game. Most games exist in a set universe and not one where you can switch from one universe to another.

 

[sze5003]

Yes perhaps the opening of the tears meant you were switching back and forth.

 

[Alienwho]

Did anybody notice a vox by Ed Geines (skin wearing murderer)? I could have sworn I listened to a vox by him.

 

[ImpulsE69]

Did anybody notice a vox by Ed Geines (skin wearing murderer)? I could have sworn I listened to a vox by him.

I recall that...but it wasn't "that" guy.

 

[Rhezuss]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NRQNit7nmI

This guy provides a pretty decent analogy.

Good video.

 

[scooterlibby]

****Spoiler for the Dark Tower novels****





I kept thinking 'The Dark Tower' at the end. Not that it is the only multiverse type story out there, but there were towers and the loop was kind of like like Roland's loop when he reaches the tower, but then resets, with a slightly different detail (Cuthbert's horn). Eventually the hope is he eventually re-claims his humanity after multiple iterations of this quest.

There are other worlds than these...

 

[KentState]

This game is better than good but not quite great for me.

The general gameplay/gunplay/vigors were completely mediocre. There is no satisfaction in using the weapons or the vigors. It just feels shallow. I wished the vigors were more fun and satisfying to use but they are not. I can't exactly put my finger on why that is. The gun play feels the same. To me the actual need to "play" the game was a necessary evil to get what this game was all about: The art and the story. I did enjoy the co-op style play with Elizabeth and the mechanic of riding those rails around was very cool as well.

The story was very cool. I didn't read or know anything at all about bioshock infinite going in so every twist and turn was fun to live through. I spent the first half of the game wondering if this was some kind of prequel to the Original bioshock and was maybe rapture before it fell into the ocean or something. That didn't make sense and eventually I figured it out.

Maybe I'm just getting older am more picky but I didn't care to play the game and only did so to watch the game as if it was a movie. It just feels like they spent so much time on the art and story that gameplay became second fiddle. I haven't seen anybody else mention this in the thread but do you feel the same way? The fighting was just severely lacking.

This is a very good summary of how I feel about the game. It was a 9.5/10 story and a 5/10 for game play/mechanics. The weapons and vigors are too shallow and I was able to easily get by with just using one. I remember playing the first one and dreading certain enemies and the random encounters. In this game, it was just waves of easy to kill mobs along with plenty of environmental help.

 

[BlueWeasel]

This is a very good summary of how I feel about the game. It was a 9.5/10 story and a 5/10 for game play/mechanics. The weapons and vigors are too shallow and I was able to easily get by with just using one. I remember playing the first one and dreading certain enemies and the random encounters. In this game, it was just waves of easy to kill mobs along with plenty of environmental help.

Same here. Amazing story/plot, mediocre gameplay. I got so frustrated with the final fight (the wave of enemies) that I just stopped playing and watched the ending on Youtube.

 

[Lazlo Panaflex]

Same here. Amazing story/plot, mediocre gameplay. I got so frustrated with the final fight (the wave of enemies) that I just stopped playing and watched the ending on Youtube.

You can adjust the difficulty on the fly (medium made it way too easy to finish, IMO). I used upgraded shock jockey and bronco exclusively throughout the game. Fantastic ending, but christ, my head was spinning

 

[Skel]

You can adjust the difficulty on the fly (medium made it way too easy to finish, IMO). I used upgraded shock jockey and bronco exclusively throughout the game. Fantastic ending, but christ, my head was spinning

I used the water one, as upgraded it could knock a lot of the grunts off the ship and still damage the patriots. It wasn't that hard once you found the beat of the battle and used that vigor.

 

[tacosrcool]

Spoiler

You're assuming it's only at most two timelines/universes being affected here. It's more like a long, winding chain with a infinite number of Comstocks buying Anna an infinite number of times, thus having an infinite number of Bookers on hand to retrieve her. And technically Booker/Comstock have the same chronological age. Comstock looks older because of excessive use of the tears causing premature aging.

Anna can manipulate time and space freely at the end, and thus placed Booker back at the original Baptism scene as he went through as if for the first time. When Baptised!Booker was drowned, that overwrote any instance of Booker becoming Comstock. Timelines now collapse into two root instances: Either he drowned after Wounded Knee with no kid, or he walked away as normal and had a kid a couple years later and never sold her. There's also the possible timeline(s) that he never had his experience with Wounded Knee, thus avoiding the whole thing altogether. That could be the Booker in the post-credits section.

This makes sense. this is the same conclusion that I came to

 

[mistercrabby]

Truthslayer - what he said. ^^^

 

[pontifex]

1st game i've finished in a long time

did anyone find a hailfire weapon? I kept seeing upgrades for it but never saw one myself.