Sure it had things to "find", but they required very little effort to do so. I tend to be a very thorough gamer which is why my playtime is usually higher than the norm, and Bioshock Infinite didn't have much in the way of hidden goodies. And by "hidden", I don't mean simply looking around and seeing that other corridor you can go down.
I think we simply have different concepts of what constitutes great exploration.
Well, in Bioshock Infinite - you had several optional and secret areas that required paying attention - like using the right spell, finding a code, backtracking to some chest, and gathering lockpicks - etc.
Ok, so maybe it wasn't particularly hard - but then again, almost no games are hard in that way.
I'm not quite sure I understand what you're looking for, but it's obvious that we have different ways of looking at great exploration.
I do enjoy all kinds of exploration - and in games like Fallout 3, I enjoy the sensation of finding something because I went off exploring.
But if you think about it, it's basically the same thing. You don't follow a straight path and you do what you can to find what's not immediately obvious.
Fallout 3 just has a LOT more areas to find - but most of those areas feel quite similar. Bioshock Infinite has SO much detail to the levels - and that's what impressed me so much.
You don't seem to know as much as you think you do, but that's nothing new.
I'm just kidding around with you - as you are with me. At least, I hope you're not being serious.
The Bioshocks, and even the System Shock games as well, were all about "shooting things" to a large degree. They had fantastic stories and level design for the most part, but when you really think about it, you spent more time in combat or preparing for it than anything else.
Well, I never cared for shooting in those games. I consider shooting in the Shock games to be sort of a concession to traditional gameplay because they have to fill out the void with something - but I've never found System Shock or System Shock 2 to be about shooting. Just like I don't find Deus Ex to be about shooting or killing people. I find it to be about exploration as well.
The exception being Bioshock and Bioshock 2 - both of which seemed to emphasize the shooting over everything else, which is why I didn't enjoy those games all that much.
Bioshock Infinite has much more shooting than I'd prefer, but I found the feel to be very superior - and I'm a big fan of long range stuff, as I find it becomes more cerebral and tactical, rather than frantic and chaotic.
As far as TLoU is concerned, I might give it a shot later on, but I'm not getting the feeling that it's more worthy than a lot of other games I currently have my sights set on.
I think we agree on that. It seems pretty run of the mill to me - and I find "end of days" scenarios pretty boring these days. Overdone, if you will.