Lansing on 4/11/2008 at 23:02
The Ryan scene was definitely memorable but I found it frustrating that the game decided for me what I would do. Of course, that's largely the point but the illusion of choice was broken.
Memories for me:
* Entering the blackrock gem in UW2 - a great game became a classic at that point
* Anacronox's "emergency parole button"
* Taking down my first star destroyer in X-Wing
Of course, not all moments are good. The 'meat circus' level in psychonauts will stay with me but my computer is lucky not to have taken a drop from a great height onto hard concrete.
Gaph on 4/11/2008 at 23:25
I'm starting to think I was half-asleep when I played BioShock because nothing really stands out. Incidentally today I came across this entry on (
http://dubiousquality.blogspot.com/2008/10/fallout-3-360-early-impressions.html) Dubious Quality about Fallout 3:
Quote:
Many of you have read Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics. At some point, he mentions that the less detail there is in a character visually, the more universal it becomes, because our brains can fill in the gaps any way we want (thereby adding our own meaning). In 1997, when Fallout was released, developers were constrained in terms of what they could put on the screen. Fallout had appealing graphics, but they were simple, and the detail of the world was limited. It was the suggestion of a world, but that suggestion was so expertly done that I filled in all the gaps with my imagination.
Fallout 3 isn't like that. It's the Fallout universe made flesh. In many ways, there's more detail in the first settlement you visit than in the entire world in the original Fallout. Instead of being suggestive, it was incredibly specific, and that specificity freaked me out.
At first.
Then I slowed down. I stopped trying to rush past the detail, and instead, I started absorbing as much as I could. I started trying to live inside the game instead of inside my head.
That's when I started finding the irony, started seeing moments of poignance that took my breath away.
That's something I think I could apply to BioShock. I definitely skimmed past a lot of detail. I can go back and really try to absorb as much detail as possible and it does give it some of that atmosphere I found lacking initially. But honestly, for some reason, it's really hard for me to focus like that. Like way too much visual noise, I just tune it out.
heywood on 4/11/2008 at 23:29
Quote Posted by Angel Dust
It's undoubtedly because you played Bioshock first. Not just because the plot twist is exactly the same but because you would have played a lot of games since SS2 came out that probably also have big twists and are more aware of the conventions. I'm not saying SS2 was the first to do this, because of course it wasn't, but for a lot here it was probably the first time they experienced a twist like that especially in a FPP game. Also if you had played SS1 than the twist and the subsequent partnership takes on a more complex emotional significance. It was so much more than just a 'gotcha' twist, it was complete mind fuck for all that had played SS1.
It's hard to say it's a twist when Xerxes pretty much tells you that SHODAN is posing as Polito back in Med/Sci. The game drops other hints as well. If you got to Polito's office and didn't expect SHODAN, you could not have been paying much attention.
Quote:
Bioshock left me cold as far as story went and it was mostly very predictable. The 'A MAN CHOOSES' scene was clever but had no emotional impact on me and the mind fuck possibilities of it were not as fully realised as they could have been due to the limp third act. Of course my indifference to 'A MAN CHOOSES' is not really the stories fault but more the fact that I simply was bored of the gameplay by that stage and hence rather disengaged from the whole experience. Your mileage may vary of course!
Totally agree. Great scene spoiled by lame game.
Aja on 4/11/2008 at 23:35
Quote Posted by Lansing
The Ryan scene was definitely memorable but I found it frustrating that the game decided for me what I would do. Of course, that's largely the point but the illusion of choice was broken.
It just shifted gears into a higher meta-level at that point. Levine himself admitted that they did it that way as a giant "fuck you" to the player. Sure, it's the easy way out, but it's still hilariously awesome.
Angel Dust on 5/11/2008 at 00:02
Quote Posted by heywood
It's hard to say it's a twist when Xerxes pretty much tells you that SHODAN is posing as Polito back in Med/Sci. The game drops other hints as well. If you got to Polito's office and didn't expect SHODAN, you could not have been paying much attention.
I don't remember the Xerxes hint, maybe I missed it the first time, but I certainly picked up on Polito's increasing irritability. I was however so absorbed in the game and other character's plot arcs that I never gave much thought to it. Maybe I was being dense at the time, who knows, but it doesn't matter anyway since my main point is that SS2's twist is not just a mere twist. It has reverberations through the rest of the story and the game experience and that is what was seriously lacking from Bioshock's main twist. If they had followed through on it it would have been amazing.
june gloom on 5/11/2008 at 00:30
Quote Posted by Lansing
Anacronox's "emergency parole button"
HAHA fuck yes
Zygoptera on 5/11/2008 at 00:48
Quote Posted by Angel Dust
I don't remember the Xerxes hint..
There's also an email from Polito in Hydro where you can hear some "suggestive" fx in the background.
They're both easy enough to miss.
The_Raven on 5/11/2008 at 00:55
Xerxes also says something about serving the "metal mother" in engineering.
Aja on 5/11/2008 at 01:04
Yeah, even I noticed that one.
And actually, now that I think about it, I played Bioshock with part of the plot twist already spoiled, since that jerk came in the Bioshock forum and posted without warning. Didn't really affect my enjoyment of that moment (nor, honestly, did it affect my enjoyment of SS2's moment).
heywood on 5/11/2008 at 01:45
In Med/Sci:
Xerces announcement: "Intruder detected in cryo recovery B. Intruder, the Many demands to know your intentions. Are you aligned with her? Do you not know of her past? Of her history? She once tried to destroy your species, and now you do her bidding. Intruder detected in cryo recovery B."
For anyone that played SS1, hearing that Xerces quote in the sequel should have been enough to spoil the surprise. But if not, there's more:
Log: POLITO 25.JUN.14
re: Strange AI
To: Delacroix, Dr. Marie
Marie... I'm sorry I've been out of touch, but I've been working on that artifact Bayliss brought back from Tau Ceti 5. I've done a level 3 analysis on it... I think it's some kind of Artificial Intelligence. I've managed to pull an audio tag file out of its memory... I'll let you be the judge... Marie... I think it's speaking English...
In Engineering:
Many cutscene: "Do you not trust the feelings of the flesh? Our biology yearns to join with yours. We welcome you to our mass. But you puzzle us. Why do you serve our mother? How can you choose cold metal over the splendor of the flesh? But you fear us. We hear your thoughts, and they rage for your brothers who you believe dead. But they are not. They sing in our symphony of life. We offer another chance to join us. If you choose to lie down with the machine, we will rend you apart, and put you separate from the joys of the mass."
Log: DELACROIX 11.JUL.14
re: A new friend?
I've been contacted by some kind of artificial intelligence that wants to help me reclaim control of the Von Braun from whomever... or whatever is now in charge. I don't know where it came from, but I must confess I'm happy it is here.
In Hydroponics:
Log: POLITO 04.JUL.14
re: AI voice fragment
To: Delacroix, Dr. Marie\nMarie, this is urgent... It seems the AI from Tau Ceti has integrated itself into the ship's computer... I picked up this fragment today... Not only that, but after I found the fragment, I returned to my lab to find it ransacked. I must see you... you're the only one I trust now. I have a theory about this AI. I tried to find information about the various rumors regarding the events on Citadel Station. I think I'm on to something... <<MESSAGE INTERRUPTED>>
If there was any doubt left, that log should have settled it.
