Finally Started Bioshock

I've had this game for maybe 2 years and tried once to start playing it but for whatever reason I never even got past the initial intro stuff.

I picked it back up yesterday and started again and am liking it quite a bit.

What an interesting game! Great story and really great environment! It helps that its linear as I'm just not in the mood for an open world game. I'll get my fill of that when Skyrim comes out.

I'm finding the Big Daddys is be really hard on Normal Difficulty. I'm finally learned how rare ammo is. The doctor in the first part was pretty creepy with all the audio tapes he was in and then him stabbing the woman on the operating table at the end.

The game is definitely doing its job at immersing me into it. I looked at the Wiki last night for it just to see what it said and I shouldn't have. Now I know about the plot twist that I had no clue about before. Bah!

How was Bioshock 2 compared to this one?

Sheesh, Bioshock 2 for $11 on Amazon w/free shipping.

Yet another one to stick in the Games To Be Played stack.

I finished the game recently and I have to say it was a fine game indeed. A bit overpraised though.

I'm finding the Big Daddys is be really hard on Normal Difficulty.

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A word of advice. Always buy Electric bucks for shotgun whenever you find them. ( can't say look for them, because they are very rare. ) They're the best tool for killing the big daddies. It prevents them to move for a short period of time. After you get the chemical thrower later in the game, make sure you get your hands on some electric gels for it. Big daddies can't do anything against it. Also when you find some power of the people stations, make sure you upgrade your shotgun ( less reload time ) and chemical thrower ( less consumption rate )

How was Bioshock 2 compared to this one?

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I haven't played Bioshock 2 yet, but I have heard some people say that Bioshock 2's game-play is a bit better than the first, but its story is weaker.

Frozen Fireball said:

I haven't played Bioshock 2 yet, but I have heard some people say that Bioshock 2's game-play is a bit better than the first, but its story is weaker.

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Finished Bioshock2 about a month ago. I'd have to say that your statement is fairly accurate. I didn't find the atmosphere of the game quite as engrossing as the first one, probably because I was already familiar with it. Unfortunate, because the immersion was definitely the most appealling part of both games for me (and I don't usually get overly excited about immersion). That said, I had a good time with the game. If you enjoy Bioshock1, you'll most likely enjoy Bioshock2 about the same.

Personally, I finished both of'em and I too have found a more interesting story in the first game, but a better gameplay in the second.
Anyway, in the end I didn't enjoy them too much, maybe 'cause i'm not a fan of FPS in general, even if they are quite "unique".

Toff said:

I looked at the Wiki last night for it just to see what it said and I shouldn't have. Now I know about the plot twist that I had no clue about before. Bah!

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I always try to resist the temptation to read anything on the web about a game that I'm currently playing. There's always a chance you're going to stumble across something you didn't want to know.

I enjoyed Bioshock for what it was, and I'm looking forward to BioShock Infinite.

I seem to be one of the few people that enjoyed previous RPG/FPS hybrids such as Deus Ex and System Shock that didn't enjoy Bioshock. I can't put my finger on it, but for some reason the game just didn't click for me. I was a little disappointed with the relatively small maps to explore, but that was probably an intentional design choice to enhance the claustrophobic atmosphere that the developers were trying to create (which they accomplished quite well, I must admit). Also, the gameplay was quite underwhelming to me, and once again, I can't seem to pinpoint the reason why it felt that way. It just felt sort of...clunky and underdeveloped for some reason. Then again, Deus Ex could be accused of being clunky and that never hampered my enjoyment of that game, so that's probably not it either.

Maybe I should try to play through Bioshock again... maybe I just wasn't in the right mindset coming into the game when I first played it, or perhaps I was expecting it to be something that it wasn't, but I just can't figure out why I didn't like it.

Nerevarine said:

I seem to be one of the few people that enjoyed previous RPG/FPS hybrids such as Deus Ex and System Shock that didn't enjoy Bioshock.

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You have to forget about games like System Shock or Deus Ex when playing Bioshock. You were probably trying to compare them in the back of your mind, and that's why it fell short. Bioshock is a good game, but it's not on the same level as those classics.

JDR13 said:

You have to forget about games like System Shock or Deus Ex when playing Bioshock. You were probably trying to compare them in the back of your mind, and that's why it fell short. Bioshock is a good game, but it's not on the same level as those classics.

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Perhaps there is some truth to that. Although I always try to avoid such comparisons and keep an open-mind to new games/ideas, in this case, the comparison to classics that are so similar in nature are hard to avoid at times and seem almost inevitable. I certainly didn't intentionally compare it to Deus Ex or System Shock, but perhaps on somewhat of a subconscious level I was hoping for a similar experience. That's really the best explanation I can think of anyway as to why I just couldn't get into Bioshock and left it unfinished.

You were probably disappointed because Levine and crew made their game seem like a true spiritual successor to System Shock 2 in every preview - but utterly failed to grasp (or follow) the nuances of the gameplay.

The premise was fantastic and the atmosphere/setting brilliant.

Everything else was inferior to the Shocks.

I have played both and waiting for Infinity to get out of its shell!

Bioshock is an amazing game, and its specialities were the underwater world and the graphic details of the water. The story is very interesting. You'll find out that it also includes some boss fights, along with the zombie waves. Indeed, the Big Daddies are so hard to beat, but you'll need a good strategy to beat them down in order to free those little tits(I hate them so much with their ignorance). First find a very strong weapon and a VERY safe place before confronting the Big Daddy, because this guy can deal you a massive attack and with 2 shots you're fried toast.

Compared of the previous, the second is a revelation of those incidents behind the first, but it lacks a good storytelling there and it's quite smaller than its predecessor. There you'll find a good similarity with another game(I won't spoil you, so find it yourself).

Take care.

I found the first game very unmemorable. You mostly walk around in tight corridors while facing nothing but crazy people who all want to just kill you the moment they see you. I think its a bit boring enviroment. I liked the water effects and interior decorating though.

Didn´t like the first one (with the exception of setting and art direction), haven´t bothered with the second.
Iirc, my main issue with Bioshock was that I´ve found it very repetitive.

zakhal said:

I found the first game very unmemorable. You mostly walk around in tight corridors while facing nothing but crazy people who all want to just kill you the moment they see you. I think its a bit boring enviroment. I liked the water effects and interior decorating though.

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That certainly played a part in my troubles with staying interested in the game - and part of that is my fault too. After the initial exposition of the game and seeing Rapture for the first time, I was hoping for the story to be more about survival and philosophical struggles, set in a broken utopia destroyed by civil war between factions who each have their own agendas and goals. How cool would it be to experience Rapture before everyone caught a major case of the crazies, along with conflicts that actually have meaning beyond "If I lose this battle, that Big-Daddy is going to stick that drill-arm of his in a very unpleasant place, and then he'll dump me into the nearest re-spawn chamber and we'll do it all over again until he's dead." A game world like Rapture that actually felt alive and intelligent with good and interesting characters to interact with would be nothing short of incredible.

In the end, it was nothing like that. Looking back, i think that literally everyone in the game world is utterly insane, with no depth of character or reason to exist other than to kill and torture everything that moves. This type of disturbing horror atmosphere doesn't do much for me (I'm not a fan of horror games at all with a couple of exceptions) and turned me off to the setting, and the clunky gameplay and small, linear levels didn't make up for my lack of interest in the story.

But this is why being turned off by the story is partially my own fault: I wanted the story and characters to be something they weren't and never intended to be. Still, when I think about how unique and creative the atmosphere was, I can't help but wish for a more interesting story and setting with far less horror elements and more philosophical faction conflicts with choice and consequence, but that's not what Bioshock is about. So I don't think my expectations let me down, but rather my own imagination and ideas for what I would personally do with Bioshock's setting let me down. That, and it wasn't as good as System Shock or Deus Ex

I found Bioshock to be mediocre shooter, but playable mostly due to the setting and partly due to the first 2/3 of the story. Even then, I had to play it on easy just to get through it. Not because it was overly difficult, just that they seemed to give up on any real sort of challenge and just turn every enemy into a damage sponge to pad things out, which is something I just can't stand in a game.

I picked the second one up on one of Steam's cheaper than Starbucks sales, but still haven't gotten around to playing it. Unless they've made the gameplay much, much better, I can't see myself really liking it, but I figured it's worth a shot.

Menigal said:

I picked the second one up on one of Steam's cheaper than Starbucks sales, but still haven't gotten around to playing it. Unless they've made the gameplay much, much better, I can't see myself really liking it, but I figured it's worth a shot.

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Probably the same sale that got me to take the plunge. If you're expecting something new and exciting, you'll be disappointed. If you're wanting more of the same (gameplay is a little deeper and there's finally many more tonics than slots to install them, but still nothing world-shaking), you'll certainly get your money's worth and probably have a fairly good time with it.