#you got me rambling about bioshock infinite | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

edgypea · 4 years

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Ehhh I don’t really like any of those Q’s for the Bioshock AU, so maybe just tell us a little about it? Is it based on one of the games (settings) in particular? What roles do the various Kuro characters slot into? (And anything else you want to add.)

Yeah!

So basically this is my excuse to try rewriting Bioshock Infinite, a game I absolutely adore but also really hate (if you’ve played it, you probably know why lol).

My biggest gripe(s) with it is that it tries to dip its toes into too deep in too many pools. I want to love how it ends because it’s such an interesting note that they try to surprise you with. Because it delves too deep into so many other themes though, it makes the ending feel like it came out of literally nowhere. It felt as though it had literally nothing to do with what we, the player, Booker and Elizabeth, were doing the entire time.

Another issue I had was that they tried to have interesting characters and meaningful relationships between them, but they didn’t... try that hard. Character interactions are too rushed and sudden for the most part after those first two-ish hours of gameplay.

Yet ANOTHER ISSUE, but this one’s a SPOILER (so please skip this paragraph if you haven’t gone through Bioshock Infinite yet, please): The weird message about how the world isn’t just black and white they were doing to give Elizabeth some ‘character development’. It could’ve worked, but they wanted to compare genocidal racism/classism/ableism/etc with the attempted murder of one (1) white, upper-class child and say that both sides were in the wrong. That could’ve been done... a lot better.

I also recently reblogged a post that explains another reason why the game is disappointing way better than I ever could here if you don’t mind spoilers.

So really, this is a rewrite of Bioshock Infinite attempting to fix what could’ve been a really amazing story, in my personal opinion. I could have very easily done this while using the same characters, but I wanted to also give myself a challenge and throw in completely different characters to fill in the roles of the main cast (+ I’m a kuro blog that hasn’t done a very good job contributing to the fandom so far). So, this is a crossover au.

Roles:

Sebastian: Booker Dewitt

Main character #1.

He’s launched into this situation because he was paid to do it. Or, at least he was promised payment to do this. Go to Columbia, find the boy, and bring him back to wipe away the rest of his crippling debt.

Depressed, impatient, streetsmart, and a former alcoholic. He’s been around the block and knows his way around conflict.

Also an absolute badass, as to be expected. Plus, look, they have suspicious marks on the back of same hand ;)

Ciel: Elizabeth

Main character #2

Coy, sarcastic, and booksmart.

The boy trapped in the tower all his life, being observed without consent because he has something nobody else has. He’s dangerous, but he doesn’t know that yet. He doesn’t do much in terms of socializing anyways, so of course he’s going to freak out when this random man breaks through the roof right in front of him.

He just wants to go to Paris, man.

Circus crew, the servants, and mayybbeee Lau and Ran-Mao: members of the Vox Populi

They all have their reasons to fight for what’s right. Forced to go into hiding or work in inhumane conditions just to survive in the floating city of Colubia, everyone here has the motivation to throw a stone at the 1%.

Agni and Soma: Daisy Fitzroy

Because they come in later, I’m still contemplating a bit on this. Daisy Fitzroy is probably still going to be in this au, but Soma and Agni are going to fill in her story role for the most part (in terms of interacting directly with Ciel and Sebastian).

Reaper GANG: The Luteces

Kinda like how they are in the manga, they’re oddballs that only pop up when they’re needed and typically leave Sebastian and Ciel with more questions than answers. They obviously know more than they’re letting on.

Vincent: Zachary Comstock

A self-proclaimed profit and founder of Columbia. He leads what looks to be a paradise from an outside perspective and he is a man looked up to by all.

Totally not a cult leader.

Undertaker: Jeremiah Fink

Vincent’s right-hand man. He’s the one behind most, if not all of the technological advancements here on Columbia. To add the cherry on top, he’s a job giver to those poor, unfortunate souls who don’t belong in the floating city.

This is an au that I want to try getting people who are both familiar and unfaliar with the game to be interested in, so I’m kinda excited to see who reads this. I’m excited about the feedback I can get from this, so I can improve my writing.

Because it’s been a while since I put this au aside, I’m currently going back over the first chapter or so and trying to clean it up. This is the first fic I’ll be posting in probably 5-6 years. I’m rusty. Please be patient with me. ;u;

pspsps I commissioned the lovely @luci-on-the-moon quite a while ago to get a feel on what Ciel and Sebby would look like in this au. Find it here, check it out, and give them the attention they deserve. <3

#long post #kjfdjlagjl it's so LONG ahjkagsjk sorry sorry #i probably didn't even answer this right #you sly dog #you got me rambling about bioshock infinite

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lulusoblue · 2 years

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What would you say is your favorite thing about Bioshock infinite? I beat it for the first time recently; real mixed bag there for me, and I’m interested in what draws other people to it.

(ok sorry for the delay on this but I really had to think on this)

I guess my favourite thing overall about it is the nostalgia? Weird to say but whenever I play it I just feel comfortable because it reminds me of when it first came out and I was only just on tumblr and how talking about it lead me to my closest friends in my social circles? It's also a semi-collectathon like the other BioShocks or Dishonored, just looking around in corners for lockpicks, money, audio diaries, little setups of props that tell a story you could easily miss. Y'know, the lore.

And so that I don't clog anyone's dashboard, here's a read more as I ramble (I'm sorry I can't help it this is an ask that genuinely got the hamster in my head to start working the wheel thank you), because I can't speak for sure what draws other people to it but I can speculate on what drew us all in around the time of release.

So it's been nearly a decade and pretty much everyone has agreed there are aspects about Infinite that did not age well up to today. How the Vox Populi were handled, the combat system, how they tried to create a BioShock framework to link the alternate universes, Burial at Sea... plenty was not implemented to the greatest potential, and since then we've learned more about what happened behind the scenes and it's no surprise some things were so messy.

However, at the time, Infinite was a bit of a breakthrough for a Triple A title. Your mileage may have varied, but there were just things about it that made it differ from other Triple A games at the time.

Introducing the Multiverse

Main thing was how the story went into things like multiverse theory and the idea of constants and variables, which was a great jumping-off point for future Shock titles and helped connect back to System Shock, what BioShock spiritually succeeded. It wasn't the best use of multiverse theory and certainly wasn't the first, when we had things like Fringe or His Dark Materials, and not everyone liked how Infinite handled it.

On the other hand, I think it's one of the alternate-history timeline pieces of media that helped popularise the idea, and fit with BioShock's previous alternate-history stories with how the first two games had some subtle hints of it with certain characters being involved in historical events. And, again, before the DLC episodes came out, it really opened up potential for how the series could go forward with the idea that a BioShock game didn't need to continue directly from Rapture or Columbia, but an entirely new "impossible" city with similar elements.

People got excited and connected the roles of characters between games - Jack, Eleanor and Elizabeth being key characters raised by antagonists to fulfill their wishes/legacies; if the Man could be the role of the protagonist of titles or the founders of these fantastic cities; the cities both having people in charge abusing their power and acting on ideals warped by going into the extreme, leading to the populace falling into chaos as they tear the city from the inside out; how when certain people get given a power that goes against nature to do whatever they want, they use it how they want to devastating effect - it was the idea of all these possibilites and connections, similarities and differences that I think really buzzed about in the fandom early on.

I think when Burial at Sea was finished it put a damper on things like the theorising, because at first it was sort of railroading not just Elizabeth's character and ambiguous future, but both 1 and Infinite's overall fates. Infinite was no longer a flawed standalone, it was now a prequel to BioShock... but also ran alongside it? Rapture in BaS is the primary timeline... but the bond between Big Daddies and Little Sisters are completely different now? Fink had people fishing for ADAM slugs from the sky?? Drinkable ADAM took 10 times the amount of injectables, and Fink and Suchong still make a limited resource drinkable???

Needless to say, the whole multiverse vibe of Infinite getting dropped in Burial at Sea left a negative impression on a lot of people, I noticed it a lot on here because I was the deepest in the salt mines and yet plenty were still fond of Infinite so... Burial at Sea just got disowned. I remember someone saying Levine had said BaS wasn't canonical, and to this day I cannot for the life of me find real evidence that he ever stated this, but a bunch of us clung to that and the fact that whatever Levine didn't understand in the original game he either still didn't understand or just didn't care about with the DLCs.

We also viserally hated BaS for pretending 2 never happened.

It's Just So Goddamn Pretty and Charming

Weird thing to say for a BioShock game, I know, but Infinite was pretty much tumblr gifset gold, and its graphics are probably what aged the best of everything in the game.

Not to say Rapture didn't have any beauty to it, but it was very much leaning into a haunting and deteriorating aesthetic, 1 having the immediate aftermath of a city gone to ruin and 2 showing the ocean slowly seeping in to reclaim its space. You could soak in (haha) the environment of a city long since dead, come across props placed deliberately to tell a story without words, with that little hint of survival horror where a splicer might walk in and catch you off-guard.

Columbia was a very different experience, there was sunlight and sky and clouds and floating buildings and people walking about going on with their day. The levels where you get to put your weapons down and just play walking simulator for however long you want are probably the better levels. In general, Columbia has a lot of well-done atmosphere and moments where a player can just stop and take a screenshot for their desktop later. It was an still is a visual treat, and the general artstyle of BioShock as a franchise not being super realistic and being somewhat stylised really helped the games age well. Even the massive hands of NPCs and the horrifying children of Columbia have their own charm to them.

And on that note of charming, the characters themselves had charm to them, be it in short audio logs or through the story with recurring characters. All the games get their charm from the audio diaries because they inform the overall story in some small aspect and add to putting you in the time period and setting of the story, as well as the attitudes of characters then. Honestly I never get enough of walking through the welcoming level and overhearing people talking in this cheery tone where the subject matter of conversations starts to become slowly off, or how an NPC will comment on finding Booker attractive when it's entirely possible that not 30 seconds ago Booker was rummaging in the trash and found loose change and a pineapple.

And you might be wondering if things like these were really that great, and in 2013? Yes. Yes, they were great. Why? Because it was 2013 and everything was brown. (or at least it felt like it) Mainstream games were varying shades of sepia tone and mud-brown because war or something, it wasn't ALL games but for triple A titles it felt like they thought spilling coffee on the camera was a style choice. Characters as well, they were either bland or assholes, I could articulate better if my brain wasn't white noise surrounding the before times, but it felt like western-made games like Calladuty Shootaman were just devoid of colour or charisma unless you were a BioWare game.

With Infinite, its bright colours and characters with... well, character (for better or worse put a pin in that), were a breath of fresh air for those generally playing it, even if some of the charm came from NPCs being blatantly bigoted in that old-timey voice (which really Infinite is not the only piece of media to do that).

And you're going to sigh for me saying it, because it makes me sound like a stan again, but another big factor in making it Infinite charming and different was... Elizabeth.

Yes, Elizabeth

Women in games weren't really treated as characters in the early 2010s, particularly in Triple As. It was a particularly misogynistic time in gaming in pretty much all areas; within the game narrative, behind the scenes in a game's development, and ESPECIALLY in fandom.

If a character was female and feminine, then she was either going to be a useless damsel just there to be a nuisance or to serve as a slutty mcslutterson just there to be sexy and/or bang the main character (or for bonus points, be punished for her sexy, slutty crimes). Like, any instance of a female character where her boobs were just existing meant some kind of misogyny was heading her way. It all just lead to pushback of being a girl and girly, like the only way to make a female character feel like she had a point or had worth was to make her a hardass and just as misogynistic "I'm not like other girls" as the men.

so Elizabeth being the emotional core of Infinite was pretty 'groundbreaking' at the time, for lack of a better term. She was feminine, she was girly, but she wasn't a useless damsel because of her gameplay design to assist the player, and she wasn't a slutty mcslutterson because she's never sexually available to the main character. Hell, she IS the main character in a way, Booker's just her bodyguard.

Escort missions were treated with the utmost disdain (a big reason why people chose to shit on BioShock 2 when it's entirely optional after one tutorial), and women were treated like eye candy, sexy lamps, or romantic interests/sex objects for the player character in more linear titles. So in terms of a giiiirl in a main role, Elizabeth was something new people into games and gaming culture; her escort mission didn't have annoying mechanics leading to fail states, and she was treated as her own character first and not as a romantic or sexual interest for the main character. She was allowed to just be, with interests and skills and agency in the story.

Triple A titles and the developers behind them just didn't seem to know how to write or design female characters beyond what would entertain what they believed was the main demographic; horny dudebros. If you want a quick example, the Mass Effect series was a big hit with its first two installments, being a space opera with some horny-on-main showing *cough*Asari*cough,* but nothing too egregious for games at the time and nothing as bad as other stuff out there. Then we had Mass Effect 3, a game that like Infinite was the third game in a surprise hit franchise given the Triple A treatment, and released not a year before. And returning female characters had designs that... well... choices were made, some more egregiously boggling than others. Biggest example would be Ashley Williams, whose new wardrobe didn't fit her established character in previous games.

Fans weren't fooled, because Ashley is a character who went on record to say she was comfortable with her femininity as she was while dressing appropriately as a soldier. While not stated, the obvious reason for the redesign was to make her look more like Miranda Lawson from the previous game, whose sexy appearance is actually part of her character and comfort in her sexuality. They literally changed Ashley's appearance from wearing practical uniform to a catsuit with a miniskirt for the sake of titillation for a potential new audience. And to be clear, it isn't that sexy characters are inherently bad or badly written. It's that developers and writers usually picked the wrong time to sexualise said characters, i.e. "there's a time and a place for a butt shot, and a scene where this woman is asking for help on a personal matter isn't it."

But anyway without going further off-topic, Game companies wanted to sell games and when it came to women in games, they believed that sex sold, hence female characters in games being sexualised with it rarely informing their characters or serving anything beyond titillation for a presumed male demographic.

Infinite seemed to be on that track with Elizabeth's demo appearance, where her bust was much bigger and she sounded a lot older, but looking at iterations of Elizabeth over time up to the final game, it becomes clear that the people behind Elizabeth were actively trying to avoid having her fall into that sexualisation, or at least any further than she already was. They made her breasts smaller and changed the bodice of her dress to her corset, keeping the blue dress that was by that point iconic while also modifying it to something that Elizabeth clearly would not wear by choice. They gave her her sailor-style dress for two thirds of the game so that players could connect with her more for her personality and story.

And, to top it off, the game is actively laughing at you for trying to ogle Elizabeth, after an age of games where the male gaze was encouraged. When there's a scripted scene, the camera keeps focus on Elizabeth's face and not her body. A player can't walk up flush to her to stare at her chest or her butt because her hitbox is pretty big and she will keep moving out of the way. You can't look up her skirt because it's too long, you can't get a view as she jumps off a skyline because she's too quick and even if you get it glitching out, Elizabeth's character models don't even have any legs above her knees (which for saving polygons is common in most games but that's not the topic). Hell, the ONE time a player can "successfully" try to be a perv to her exposed skin is when she's tied to the operating table at Comstock House, and aside from not being able to get too close, you know what the devs did? They defocus Elizabeth if you try to use your sights on her.

youtube

(from 08:23 to 08:57)

Most games at the time would not bother to put up this much resistance to players being gross horndogs, even as a joke like in the playthrough above. At first with Infinite and Elizabeth it was like "haha they cockblocked us lol", but in hindsight it feels more and more like it was pushing back against objectifying the emotional core of Infinite wherever possible, like the devs wanted people to view Elizabeth as a character first.

Honestly? Elizabeth wasn't the greatest example of how to treat a main character who was a woman in games, but she was one of the characters that at least pushed people in the direction of handling women and their writing better in future. Most people, anyway.

I'm gonna cover this separately in another post on the topic, but my friends and I are usually just baffled at how much the attitude towards Elizabeth has changed today, because while there are instances of dodgey writing with her story, Elizabeth is one of the characters that helped push narratives in gaming towards drinking their Respect Women Juice, because for all the "critiques" about her appearance and her role in the story... I can only think of what games were like around the time and I just

And just to cover my bases...

Yeah, the Narrative About Racism Was Pretty Racist Itself

With the subject of the Vox Populi and Daisy and the "both sides can be monstrous" way that plotline got ended unceremoniously, I don't believe it was written with any malicious intent (though I wouldn't argue if I was proven wrong on that, who knows what else we're missing behind the scenes). How the racism is handled has aged the poorest and is very much a deal-breaker for some players today, but with the context of when the game was made and released, I think they were trying to be sincere without completely understanding what they were getting into. Unfortunately with most media by white people, it's down to ignorance.

It did not help Infinite's case either that later that year, Black Lives Matter started, and with that movement more attention was given to black voices speaking out about stereotypes and portrayals of black characters in media, including in BioShock Infinite. I don't believe the people behind Infinite meant any harm in their portrayals of Daisy and the Vox. It doesn't mean it wasn't wrong or justifiable, but given the general lack of diversity in game companies at the time it's at best understandable how they and some players of Infinite would have missed the mark on a subject like racism. When it comes to racism, it's a lot deeper and a lot less PC than a white writer would want to get into if they weren't genuinely dedicated to showing the truth and ugliness of the topic, which Levine was not, because Infinite was not a story meant to be about racism at the end of the day.

I think with the demos, while the Vox were clearly antagonists, the reason for them being antagonists was a lot better than what we got. It's how they were always intended if we believe what was shown, and we might not know exactly how they went from that to being "the good guys get the means to fight the bad guys, but in doing so they become the bad guys". It was a mistake, and on some level we KNOW Levine knows it was a mistake by Burial at Sea Episode Two's development at latest, given how he tries to retcon Daisy's reasons for holding a child at gun point (which isn't better it's just. another flavour of "bad").

tl;dr, In Conclusion, yada yada

Overall, I feel so many people still like BioShock Infinite today because of what it kind of did for gaming along with other titles released back in 2013. It got lots of mainstream attention for a game that wasn't Call of Warfare or Modern Duty, which was what people expected from first-person-shooters a lot of the time. It was also one of the titles out there pushing for the argument that video games could be artistic and hold deeper meaning and stories, even if with Infinite your mileage may vary. It was part of the "you HAVE to try this game" list of experiences, and it's stuck to those people even if it hasn't gotten on too graceful with time.

I feel like it was a net positive at least with how it treated the main girl of the game and how fans reacted. Yes, there were plenty of horny dudebroes and creeps drawing fanart because the internet never ceases to surprise, but a lot of people fell in love with her for being a female character that got better treatment than most, both in-story and in fandom. Plenty of other women in games may have had better stories and characters and mechanics than Elizabeth, I won't argue that, but again, this was a woman in a game for a mainstream audience at a time where women were either a sex object or a punchline in popularly consumed media, particularly online.

You know what, I'm changing my favourite thing about Infinite. My favourite thing about it was that it shone a spotlight on the whole series. Something that was an ironic positive was how, after Infinite came out, people started viewing BioShock 2 a lot more favourably, either by comparison to Infinite because it felt weaker in certain elements, or by revisiting / first-time-playing the games, especially when the remastered version in the BioShock Collection was released. Infinite being such a big success financially prompted 2K to try and make more money by bringing the older games to the next console generation, which brought the whole series to a wider audience. And it was damn good to see BioShock 2 get a new perspective that was heaps more positive than when it was released, it was always a shame to me that online circles treated it like trash since it was the first game in the series I played until completion (I just couldn't get into combat for BioShock 1 at the time).

I'm sorry for making this so long and sorry if there are points that don't seem clear or make sense, it was too fun and brain-excercising to not go into why so many people still like this game. Well at least the reasons that wouldn't require me to retire at 30 from exhaustion and mental breakdowns anyway.

#bioshock #bioshock infinite #long post #theluckoftheclaws #just me sitting here praying i didn't go too off-the-rails with this one #i get incoherent when i rant or infodump

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geekgemsspooksandtoons · 3 years

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I watched most of Burial At Sea episode 2

...I’m going to admit. I was gonna title this, “Burial At Sea is the worst thing that happened to Bioshock” or something like that...and I think it still is. Because I just watched most of it...I think the title will get people’s attention.

I will also admit, despite agreeing with all the criticisms about the DLC and Infinite. But I’ve only played episode 1, and I refused to watch playthroughs of episode 2, and only seen some gifs and shots...but I wanted to finally check it out because I wanted to check out the environments and Rapture itself. Along with whatever else...

I’m gonna add a keep reading option about the things I want to talk about. But I think I...somewhat accidently got through the infamous lobotomy scene and just seconds before Atlas tries to do that with Sally.

I’d just like to say this. And from watching this firsthand. Burial At Sea was truly Ken’s attempt to decanonize Bioshock 2. It straight up is an attempt to make sure no other Bioshock game ever gets made without him possibly. Because everything that is shown and happens in Burial At Sea...doesn’t make sense with Bioshock 2. And it doesn’t even make sense with Bioshock 1. If you love 1, or 2, or both...or even don’t mind Infinite...but this DLC...

HOLY SHIT.

They were right, you think it’s an overexaggerated of how bad BAS is...until you play it. Or at least, you watch it. This is my case with episode 2. The bastard did it...Ken Levine straight up destroyed his franchise. And I genuinely feel bad for Cloud Chamber who are making the next Bioshock game. Listen, I totally get the concerns over the upcoming game, and I completely understand. But honestly...with the shit that happened with Infinite...oh my God.

To be honest, I REALLY want the developers or 2K to somehow say, “Burial At Sea isn’t canon...it broke the multiverse”...I DON’T CARE if it means it’s being acknowledged. Because oh my lord.

I wanna post some reactions concerning my mood. Despite I’m not physically overreacting. But these are the moods.

When GeekGem seriously watches footage of Burial At Sea episode 2:

Now...it’s time I talk more in spoilers under the keep reading option of certain moments and things.

- Something I kept forgetting to talk about. I’m sorry, why the Hell do the Splicers wear boxes over their heads? What’s the point of that? I get it, to hide their faces and all that. But it doesn’t make sense because wouldn’t it be hard to see out of it? Even when I replayed episode 1 in 2020...just why? How would that help them in battle? I know it’s not all of them. But it’s just so stupid.

- This is a talk about gameplay. I have no problem with stealth games, that’s okay. And I understand of stealth being encouraged. Yet I’m sorry, I honestly hate this.

Elizabeth can’t fucking kill anyone with her Air Grabber head on? And just not given the choice to directly to head into combat? I mean, you can it seems like it. But it’s highly recommended you don’t. Yet I’d rather be given the choice to fucking clear enemies out of my way easily. And with Infinite’s engine. This game like whatever Jazzmine/Something-In-The-Sea’s said, THIS GAME WASN’T MADE FOR STEALTH.

I’m not trying to sound like a psychopath or anything. But as someone who plays Bioshock I guess...differently to some people. I just find this to be bullshit.

Another reason why I hate it because of Ken’s...reasoning and the way he talks about Elizabeth. And seriously, he’s a sexist. Please, why couldn’t I just kill some Splicers with that Air Grabber head on, use my guns more head on?

I’m rambling on. Besides, why reduce Elizabeth to mainly stealth and that whole, “Killer” bullshit if you can’t just let me go apeshit?

I first talked about it here. Where I was shocked by this. https://geekgemsspooksandtoons.tumblr.com/post/673685987063398400/youre-only-gonna-do-real-damage-that-way-if-they

- A nitpick of mine. Listen, I don’t mind heels, if anyone wants to wear them, that’s completely fine. But I seriously feel like that’s a burden to Elizabeth who is jumping around, using that Air Grabber to hold on to shit, and whatever else.

I totally get the whole noir shit, especially in episode 1. But give this woman boots again. Seriously, I think those heels would fucking break by then.

- Gonna admit, I like that the weapon wheel is back. That was really cool to see again. While I at times I wouldn’t mind two slots. It makes things easier and to have some sort of weapon wheel.

- You know...while I dislike those...lockpick minigames...they seem fine I guess. I’m not too big on them.

- I liked seeing more of Songbird again. I always did like Songbird. But I fucking hate Elizabeth’s comments on him.

- I liked the whole ‘Shark’ thing Ryan talked about. I know this sounds weird. But I seriously liked that.

- Why is Suchong’s voice like that? Listen, I know in the first game there were issues with him already. But can’t these games just let him speak normal? Why call Elizabeth a, “Pretty lady”? That’s not how Suchong acts. This dude’s a smart guy. They could’ve had him speak normally or whatever. I’m not trying to sound rude. I just don’t like how his English is even more broken now.

- The whole department store and...seriously, this doesn’t line up with Bioshock 2.

- Let me talk about Atlas. Listen, I totally get that this is Fontaine, he’s an evil dude. But why act hostile with Elizabeth? Even if he’s in some sort of prison. But the dude is supposed to be keeping up a con.

I get Atlas isn’t some superhero. He’s not perfect, but the point is Fontaine played what seemed to be a genuine good guy. And here, Atlas acts...clearly like a villain.

I’d feel like it would’ve been more interesting if Atlas was tricking Elizabeth and getting her to trust him. And kind of like the original game, he betrays us. Despite we fans know it would be him. Also yes, the whole thing with Sally...

I’m sounding kind of stupid...I don’t mind the idea of him having a secret room to interrogate people. I just hate the idea that he’s acting more like a villain. When he’s clearing trying to act like a good guy.

- The moment with Daisy and the Lutece twins...it’s worse seeing it in action...it makes the scene with her in Infinite so much worse.

- Now...the Big Daddy...and even before the scene with Suchong being killed. Which I didn’t watch...I already noticed something was wrong.

This makes no damn sense with Bioshock 2, and possibly 1. They basically turned the Big Daddy into an enemy that you can’t let see you. When they are not supposed to give a shit. They’re supposed to have Little Sisters with them already. Unless you bother them or their Little Sister. They don’t give a shit about you. If you’re in their way, they just slap out of the way. Yet...this was the Big Daddy that killed Elizabeth. But my point still stands.

- I did like the Atlas propaganda you watch in his lair or whatever.

- Gonna admit, I do think it was maybe for the best Tenenbaum wasn’t in this. Because Ken would’ve done something bad with her. Yet it still feels awful there’s hardly anything with her. I genuinely believe Ken does not give a shit about her character.

I mean, he did say her Autism made her evil...and other shit he said.

- Now this is one of the big ones to me personally. It’s already been talked about before. But I want to speak about it myself. In the original, however you think of Fontaine. He’s a smart motherfucker. And Jack was part of a very complicated plan that would’ve gone so very wrong. He made sure that he was secret, and he was so important. Jack was literally his, “Ace In The Hole”. His backup plan.

Frank literally commissioned Suchong and Tenenbaum to work on him. And there’s this whole thing like...Suchong won’t give him Jack and other shit.

Yet Frank and Brigid were able to send him to the surface until he was needed.

I am starting to believe that this isn’t Rapture Prime. Despite I heard it’s meant to be. HOW DOES FONTAINE LOSE THIS SHIT? HE MADE SURE HE HAD THAT SHIT DOWN...

- I will admit, I was surprised to see unless there is more...that’s the lobotomy scene? ....there’s more huh? I mean...I think I may have been uncomfortable. But it seemed weird...

But I was expecting something along the lines of Dead Space 2...not a needle in the forehead...I think I stopped the video before it got even worse.

- Edit update forgot to talk about the...Plasmids...they are Vigors, I’m sorry. WHY ARE VIGORS THERE? Maybe they could’ve just programmed them a bit to work like Plasmids. I’m sounding stupid. Like holy shit, when you think about it, it makes no damn sense. I meant like you could rename Shock Jockey Electro Bolt. But that’s a whole discussion. When I think more about it. I hate that it’s like that. This also breaks the canon.

I think I’ve said enough. Many folks talked about the ending and the problems with it. And I hate the whole, “Cycle” bullshit. You know, I understand all the criticisms. While I didn’t mind seeing Rapture again, and I don’t mind the Infinite models for them. Despite they could be better.

It’s such bullshit that this is a thing. Burial At Sea is a thing. This DLC is the worst thing to happen to the series. I took way too long to write this down.

#GeekGem Rambles #bioshock #bioshock infinite #burial at sea

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randomslasher · 4 years

Text

Let’s talk about unsolicited ‘constructive’ criticism on fanfiction

Hi there!

If you’ve followed me for any amount of time at all (hell, even if you don’t) you may already be fairly familiar with my stance on this topic. But since I pretty much only talk about it when I’m furiously angry, I thought maybe I might make more progress if I sat down and typed out my thoughts when I wasn’t coming from a place of such strong emotion. I’m going to try to explain my stance on this, and why I feel so strongly the way I do about it. Be prepared for a lot of rambling. :)

So here’s my thesis statement:

Constructive criticism on free fanfiction is often far more destructive than it is helpful when offered without the author’s consent to receive it.

Now, I know a lot of people out there may be upset or at least confused by that statement, so I’m going to take a few minutes to talk about why I think this, and why it’s not, in fact, that radical of a concept. I’m going to do this by breaking down the primary arguments I see about this topic and addressing them one at a time.

1) Constructive criticism helps writers get better!

This, as with most blanket statements, is not going to be true in every case. People respond to criticism in vastly different ways, and for many, criticism actually hurts them. Individuals with RSD, or individuals who have been consistently picked on for their hobbies or have massive insecurities about sharing them, may not take criticism in the ‘constructive’ spirit in which it is intended. Without knowing the individual, it is nearly impossible to know how they best receive criticism, or if they even want it. It’d be like writing a prescription medication without knowing the patient’s symptoms. Sure, maybe an antibiotic would make them better, but only if they have a specific type of illness. But without the details, you’re actually more likely to cause them harm.

But there’s more to this one than just the blanket assumption that unsolicited concrit always helps people improve, so we’re going to break it down even further.

2) People should always want to improve their writing!

Why? No, really--why?

This is one I see people struggle with sometimes. There’s this really pervasive idea that certain pursuits--musical, artistic, literary, athletic, hell, even gaming--should always be undertaken with the intent of improvement.

But that’s another false assumption, and one I think more people might be happier if they could break free of.

Take gaming, for instance. I am not much of a gamer, but I enjoy the occasional first person shooter if it’s got an interesting plot. Bioshock Infinite, Mass Effect, Dragon Age--I had a blast playing those. But I wasn’t very good at them, and playing them on hard would’ve left me frustrated and dissatisfied.

Playing them on easy, though? I had a freaking blast. And since I wasn’t planning to go into competitive gaming or anything like that, wasn’t that just as valid a way to enjoy the games as playing them on expert mode?

Artistic pursuits are no different. If the artist is not doing it for a living, if they’re offering it for free and just doing it in their spare time for fun and they enjoy the way they do it--then why must they want to improve? What horrible fate befalls us if a few random fanfic writers never get much better? What terrible tragedy is it, really, if Susie Ann Fanfic is creating things that make her happy and is happy sharing them with her small circle of friends/fans who also enjoy her work exactly as she’s creating it? What insurmountable catastrophe unfolds before us if Bobby Joe Just-For-Fun still uses comma splices or odd pacing? The reality is, I hope, obvious: nothing. Nothing bad happens, other than maybe you don’t enjoy their writing.

And hey, if you can’t tolerate someone’s writing style, that’s totally fine. I get it. I turn away from fanfic all the time because of small writer foibles that bug me.

But that doesn’t mean I have the right to impose my preferences onto the person out there creating fic for free. If an artist wants to improve, that is their decision, and they will find ways to do so. I promise you they will.

3) But I can help, so I should!

No. You shouldn’t.

Listen. Maybe you are qualified. Maybe you, like me, have degrees in writing, and have done professional editing and tutor work. Maybe you’re really, really good at feedback, and you see one or two quick changes that someone could make that would cause instant improvement in their writing.

You should still keep it to yourself if the writer didn’t ask for it. Why?

Well, first of all, your credentials are unknown. People who don’t know you won’t trust them anyway. As far as anyone knows, you are just another internet rando, so why should anyone be taking advice from you? Unsolicited advice puts people on the defensive, and any well-meaning advice you may have had, even if it was good advice, may end up going unheeded.

But the reality is we are not usually as qualified as we think we are. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve seen constructive crit that was just flat-out wrong--grammar corrections that were actually incorrect, word choice corrections that boiled down to preference rather than propriety. (Those long lists of ‘words you should use instead of ‘said’’, for example--don’t even get me started on those things.)

A ton of writing advice boils down to subjective preference. There are qualified professionals whose advice I’ve eschewed, because I personally disagree with it, and prefer the cadence and flow of my own writing choices over theirs. That doesn’t mean they’re right or I’m wrong (or vice-versa), it means artistic prose is often comprised of many individual and personal choices, and preferring one doesn’t mean another is wrong.

4) No but really, I can help so I should!

Please do not make the mistake of thinking what you are offering is going to be universally perceived as help. As I mentioned before, receptiveness to criticism is an enormously personal thing. What one person may appreciate may send another into a shame spiral where they are incapable of creating anything new because their confidence has been shattered by your “help.” Even the most well-meaning help can end up stripping someone of their confidence and will to create, and if that’s the end result, then how has that helped them? What good does it do to know where a comma goes if you’re never going to write again?

If someone has asked for your help, that’s one thing. It is then on them to ensure they have specified the means by which they can and will accept help, and from whom.

But if they haven’t? It is an enormous assumption to think that you are helping when you may well be destroying a young artist’s will to create.

5) People are putting up their works in a public forum so they should expect to receive criticism.

I’ll admit I’m a little less patient with this one. This is like saying, “People know that other people have hands so eventually they should expect someone to push them down.” The inevitability of someone else being cruel does not excuse your preemptive cruelty, even if it was unintended. But as established, without knowing what a specific writer needs in terms of feedback and concrit, the odds of doing damage are too high not to consider it a good possibility. And the attitude that ‘well their work is out there so it’s free to be critiqued’ is also incredibly flawed.

So what works are available for critique?

- Works you’ve paid for (ie published or commissioned works) - Works where the writer has specifically requested critique - Works that misrepresent a demographic in a harmful way*

Honestly? That’s about it. Unless you commissioned this piece of writing or you have permission from the writer, then you are not in the right to openly criticize just because the work is there. Sure, you can do it, but again--the possibility of causing harm is still very real. If your real end goal is to help, why take that chance?

6) If they don’t like what I’m saying or disagree with me they can always just ignore my advice.

Perhaps, but by then, the damage is done. If someone suffers RSD or is similarly insecure about their writing, a deconstruction tempered with “this is just my opinion” can be just as damaging to the ego and self-confidence as one that purports to be gospel. You are still pointing out perceived errors, and that can still hurt.

7) People who can’t take constructive criticism have fragile egos

Yeah. Maybe they do. Again, so what? If you push someone with brittle bone disease do you blame them for the injury you caused just because it wouldn’t have hurt you?

If you are blaming someone else for the fact that you hurt them, then you are basically either aware that you are in the wrong and are attempting to hide your guilt behind rationalization, OR you have decided that your so-called right to criticize someone on something they did for fun and for free is more important than their feelings. And frankly, if you’ve somehow decided that, then we’ll get no further here, so you might as well quit reading.

8) I really like constructive criticism for my own stuff. It helps me a lot.

That’s awesome! I’m really glad to hear that! Do not let this essay make you think I’m saying “all constructive criticism is bad!” That has never been my point, and only a very bad-faith reading of what I’ve said here could lead someone to that conclusion.

What I and so many others have always been rallying against is unsolicited constructive criticism. The key difference here is consent.

Bottom line is, criticism should default to “only if explicitly requested,” not “whenever I personally want to offer it.” And people who do want it should make it known rather than expecting others to automatically know. But you wanting it doesn’t mean anyone else does, or should. What helps you may harm someone else.

9) So you’re saying people should only say good things? Isn’t that a little dishonest?

If your best friend bought a new outfit and you really thought a lot of it looked awesome but you didn’t really care for the shoes, is it dishonest to compliment the rest of it and just not mention the shoes?

If your family member prepared a meal and you genuinely enjoyed almost all of it but didn’t care for their macaroni salad, is it dishonest to compliment the rest of it and politely decline the macaroni salad?

The idea that you can only be truly “honest” if you insult as well as compliment is, frankly, bullshit. And I think most people who use this argument actually do know that. Again, many people fighting tooth and claw for the “right to criticize” aren’t really looking to help people. They’re looking for an excuse to tear people down.

How do I know this?

Well, the reality is, fanfic is free and plentiful. If you don’t like something, you can walk away. If you only like parts of something, you can chose to compliment those parts or you can still chose to walk away. It isn’t for lack of other things to read that you feel you must help this one individual improve, because there is plenty out there to read.

But if you insist--absolutely insist--on coming in and tearing someone down, what are you really doing? Satisfying your own needs to be right, not your desire to help someone improve. Because the best, most tried-and-true method of improvement (if someone wants to improve--which again, is NOT A REQUIREMENT) is to continue to write.

If you want someone to get better? If that’s genuinely your deep down heart’s desire? Then you should only give them positive, glowing feedback.

Why?

Because that, more than anything else, will encourage them to keep going. It will encourage them to write more.

Tell them what they did well so they can build on it. Tell them what you loved so they’ll keep doing it.

And then, whether they intended to or not, whether it was their goal or not, they will improve.

Hell, they MIGHT even start thinking of you as a trusted, kind source of feedback--to the point that if they DO decide they want critique, they may actually come and ask you for it specifically.

But if your goal is to help, the best, kindest, and most effective way to do that is to show your support. If you feel you can’t do that without dishonesty, then just walk away. Maybe that particular piece of work just isn’t for you.

Absolute bottom line: you have been told, by multiple people, time and time again, that your unsolicited criticism is likely to be causing harm. At the very least, you must now see it as a very real risk of offering that criticism. So now you have to decide if that risk of causing someone real harm is worth it, all in the name of purportedly wanting to offer help for which no one asked. If you’ve been told, repeatedly, that your criticism is hurting people, and you still think it is your right, job, or duty to continue to offer it unsolicited, it may be time to take a good long look inside and ask yourself why.

Phew, okay, I think that wraps things up for me. Thank you for reading this far, and just know that having a desire to help someone through criticism is not a bad thing. It’s literally what we’re taught to do in most school systems, so it’s something that does have to be unlearned in a lot of cases. But I hope I’ve made my case here for the potential damage of offering unsolicited criticism, and how you can do far more good for a writer by offering your support and encouragement anyway! :)

*This is a trickier subject, and not really the purpose of this post. I won’t tell individuals how to react to someone misrepresenting their demographic; if someone is being racist, transphobic, homophobic, abelist, etc. in their writing, that is an entirely different conversation. I will not be telling anyone how they should respond to someone who has transgressed on these topics, though I will speak about the one I am personally familiar with as a disabled person (abelism) and say that in my experience, approaching an individual privately and under an assumption of benign ignorance on the topic is generally the approach that gets me the best results. But again, that is not a topic on which I can speak for everyone or every group. I’m aware of my privilege, and I will not be addressing that topic in this essay.

#long post #lj essay

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cardboard-aliens · 4 years

Note

You always think people are over exaggerating about how bad BaS is. And then you play it.

Its so hard to accurately describe and tell people how badly BaS fails because it so nuanced and intentional it sounds absurd.

You wouldn’t think a creator of a series would take every detail and part of an established game and retcon it all so his new favorite places and characters are now the forefront and center of the entire series. You wouldn’t think a creator would unwrite all the themes of the series and the characters that held those standards up to force in a new moral that was never represented before in favor of characters he likes more. But Ken did- he tore this series into shreds and then glued it back together so it was shaped like Elizabeth- and then proceeded to burn his new creation so no one could come in later to try and fix the damage he did.

In some backwards sense BioShock 2 might have actually gotten the best treatment in BaS because it is ignored the whole time. Like yeah that’s lame and sucks because 2 is actually a good game unlike Infinite- but this also means when you go back to replay BS2 the context is the same. The characters, their interactions, motivations and the game’s themes are all untouched from BaS- Where as if you go back to BioShock 1 or Infinite everything has a new context because of BaS.

BS1 is completely trashed because now all the characters are confirmed to be idiots and the only reason anything happens is because of Elizabeth- and having the ending to the game ~destined~ to happen ruins the entire experience because the whole point of BS1 is that Jack finally got to make a single choice for himself and the importance of his freewill and becoming an active player in his own life- Now BaS has recontextualized it so that, no, Jack never had any choice he was always just a means to an end. A tool to be used. (Which is so frustrating- but I could go on and on about how BaS ruins BS1 in every way. Just ignore it, if Ken gets to pretend good content doesn’t exist we can ignore his trash fan fic)

But even if you go back to Infinite a lot of the context makes characters more dubious (though to a lesser extent because Infinite was way more flawed from the get-go). They somehow managed to make Daisy’s death worse, and drag the Luteces down with it by having two white people tell a black slave her life and the rights of her people aren’t as important another white girl they care more about and like sdfjskfdl EXCUSE ME???? (It’s a very Infinite/BaS thing to do tbh- when we also have “booker gets child in trouble -> tires to save child -> gets a lot of people killed along the way and doesn’t really save the child” and the SAME thing with Elizabeth and Sally, and now we have a THIRD time with the Luteces and Elizabeth…) and Elizabeth’s characterization overall just changing to match whatever point Ken was trying to make in the moment- making her feel like a very shallow character because she’s not very grounded in the events of the games. (BaS takes her character arc and spikes it into the ground- I don’t even care about her character that much in Infinite but BaS treatment of her is very disappointing)

And its one thing to hear someone ramble on and on about something- and then an entirely different thing to see it all play out in real time. Like car crashes, it’s much more disturbing with movement.

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misscryptickittysblog · 4 years

Text

Alright so I have some brain droppings about the 4th Bioshock game. (Keep in mind I haven't fully fleshed out the exact ideas on how the game should go. I am merely basing it on some fanfics and other Bioshock theories people in the community have shared.)

I think the time period will be based between Bioshock 1 and 2 (soo, maybe between the years 1961-1967). The setting would be, of course, in Rapture.

Despite what Ken has done to Elizabeth, I think the people at Cloud Chamber would be willing to rewrite her arc by bringing her back via the prototype Vita Chamber in Suchong's Lab (how, who, and why she was brought back to life would be a mystery up until we get to the end of the game).

I'll admit, the main reason why I wanted Elizabeth to be raised back from the dead was for jackabeth shipping reasons (since I've read some fanfics and currently reading one now called: The Lion and the Lamb on AO3), but after a few months of replaying the bioshock collection, doing some more research on the franchise, and reading other people's opinions on here, my reasoning has gone deeper than that.

I don't think it's right how Ken Levine wrote off Elizabeth as a martyr at the end of Burial at Sea since 1. She let's Atlas and his bandits go and start a civil war. 2. She didn't even try to save Sally from Atlas's clutches. She literally just stood there and let Atlas kill her without even trying to get Sally away from him because reasons. And finally, 3. SHE DESTROYED AN ENTIRE CITY AND WAS THE CAUSE OF THE MANY DEATHS IN RAPTURE. All for one little sister, which in turn, killed other little sisters in the process (that is, if they didn't die or get rescued, waited until they get turned into Big Sisters). She doesn't deserve to die a martyr, unless, she is forced to face the consequences of her actions.

I think Elizabeth should go back to being the main character in the game so that she can explore Rapture in its post-civil war state, so that she can truly see what she has done to all the innocents that were turned into splicers, so that she could see the pain she has caused Jack and the other little sisters, so that she can truly try to reconcile with them and make things right.

I saw a couple of posts by @ something-in-the-seas about how Burial at Sea should've ended, like how Elizabeth and Eleanor's story should've intertwined with each other, and I thought, "Hey why don't we do that, but with Bioshock 4!" Cloud Chamber could make a story about how Jack and Elizabeth could try and save the rest of the innocents in Rapture and try to help a young Eleanor bring Subject Delta back to life. I know it has been stated near the end of Bioshock 2 that Eleanor was able to bring Subject Delta via his DNA (hair samples), but they never really explained how the Vita Chambers were able to reverse from Jack's DNA to Delta's, so maybe in the next game they will touch upon that.

If something-in-the-seas sees this/reads this post, I just wanted to let you know that I'm not trying to steal/take credit for your ideas. I simply got inspired by them and wanted to expand upon them.

Despite Infinite and Burial at Sea being a royal mess to the franchise, I still enjoyed Elizabeth as a character; she wasn't by all means perfect, but she was still a fun character to explore and grow fond with, and I absolutely hate how Ken destroyed all of her interesting character traits and turned her into a former shell of herself. All because he got salty with the fact that 2k wanted to expand upon her story after Infinite was done.

Anyways I'm done rambling, what do y'all think about the next Bioshock coming out soon. Do you agree with what I have said or do you think that my ideas are stupid? Let me know y'all's thoughts since I like to interact with the fandom.

One more thing to add: Cloud Chamber, please redesign Jack's character model. No one wants to reference that wrinkly-ass, disproportionate model that the designers had lazily created in blender 3d a few years ago.

#bioshock #give elizabeth a second chance 2k #bioshock jack #bioshock jackabeth #bioshock elizabeth #bioshock 2 #bioshock infinite #bioshock 2 subject delta #bioshock 2 eleanor #jackabeth

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inkspottie · 6 years

Text

Infinite Doors, Infinite Possiblities

@trashboatprince

Decided to write a little drabble about the bioshock au me and trashboatprince been talking about. It was really fun to write.

—

The large room was basically empty, the sound of dripping water and the smell of mold and ink was prominent in the air.

Henry was used to it by now, the dark was no longer jarring to him. Thankfully his new plasmid helped shine light through the abyss of this place. The soft jingle of light as he clenched his hand watching the feathery lights flicker as the angelic wings flexed. It was a helpful plasmid, Angel’s Grace, but most were.

He sighed gripping the wrench tightly as he searched a small counter looking for anything useful. Audio diary, ammunition, anything.

So far he found nothing but money, he supposed it would be useful for the little vending machines. Sighing he stands to full height wondering why this place was so quiet.

Usually there were loads of enemies crawling around, attacking him on every corner. Their eyes would drip ink, and ramble in their madness. Ink was some sort of substance that could fuck with your brain or grant you abilities. He supposed if you took too much like any drug it could send you into the dark pit of madness.

Henry made sure he wouldn’t depend on plasmids. Or ink for that matter. He didn’t want to end up like them. If so much as a droplet of ink escaped him he was never using a plasmid again. Even if it killed him.

Sweeping his gaze across the torn ballroom of sorts, tables upturned, broken dishes and other items scattered across the floor. It looked as if to be some sort of party.

Geez this place had a rough time, everything was absolutely destroyed. Ink and water was everywhere and everyone he had met was batshit insane. Henry purses his lips deciding to leave the room.

The hallways were just as quiet, he traveled down them gripping his wrench eyes out for any cameras or anything out of the ordinary. His plasmid flared to life as he pulled his palm out, it made for a really good flashlight.

After a good moment of walking he stopped, hearing large footsteps. Pausing he leaned against the wall feeling his heart pick up its pace. He was exhausted already, haven’t had a wink of sleep since he got here. Nor anytime to rest either.

But Henry had to press on. Move forward. At least that was what he had told him.

The footsteps get louder and Henry pulls his axe from his back and rushes back to the ballroom. It would be easier to fight in a much wider space.

Okay, okay. You got this. Henry takes a deep breath watching the wings unfurl as he charges his attack. One hit would definitely disarm them, especially with how bright it was.

The doors slammed open and a large figure, slammed its way into the room. It was huge, with a large dog-like mask on its face. It’s body was twitching, ink sputtering out of the metal casing, what looked to be ribcage was peeking out of the large body and Henry swallowed.

Shit.

The thing roads and Henry stumbles back firing a large beam of light getting the monster to shriek in pain swatting at the light. Henry switched from his axe to his pistol, pulling the weapon out of his back pocket and fired a couple shots, but the bullets didn’t seem effective by it.

Henry rolled to the side as the beast slammed into the wall next to him firing another blast from his plasmid. He held his hand out placing what looked like a golden halo floating on the ground and then another close by. If the beast wanted to come closer these would go off.

The large creature slams its meaty hand into the floor causing the earth to quake and his balance wobbles sending him to the floor. He lets out a panicked noise as the thing launches itself onto Henry, somehow avoiding the trap, and hit him in the chest sending Henry flying.

“There’s an angel nearby!” He hears a voice as Henry hits the wall closest to the door that the Brute had entered. Henry spits out a glob of blood wiping his mouth as he moves to stand, flaring his plasmid once more. “Somethings wrong with Boris hurry Dad!”

Who was this— He doesn’t have time to even question it as the Brute hits him again, this time he hears a large crack. There goes one of his ribs. Henry cries out as he tumbled to the floor, blood splattering out of his mouth as he attempts to push himself up.

The Brute snarls but a large whirring noise can be heard as heavy footsteps stomp into the room. Attention is diverted to the newcomer as Henry struggles to stand gripping his injured chest. God t hurt. He reaches into his pocket and shoves a hypo into his veins feeling the warm sensation travel down his body. It would heal, he was fine.

Just extremely exhausted.

With a struggling noise the Brute tries to overpower the large figure. A drill like noise is heard as Henry stumbles to stand watching it drip into the Brute with such force. The thing screams in agony but falls down with a painful this.

Henry stands there panting gripping his axe that had fallen to the floor and looked up at the stranger that saved him. He was very tall, wearing what looked to be a diver’s suit. One of his arm had a very large drill and the other held a small creature in his hand. The thing climbed up the stranger’s arm. It was black as ink, with two curved horns and eyes that could bore into your soul. It pointed its gloved hand at Henry who tended immediately. “There’s the Angel Dad! There he is.” It says patting the large man on the shoulder.

Henry felt his heart just about turn into ice as the multicolored eyes looked to him, one a bright yellow and the other a pale green staring right through him. This is it, he was going to die here.

He doesn’t move, nor does he try to. He could feel his vision starting to wobble and his legs started to shake. The man takes a step forward and Henry panicked making a small noise of fright. His body just suddenly collapses and he falls to the ground with a small thump axe flying to the floor, his palm dimming as he passed out.

“Let’s get him.” The creature giggles moving to sit on the large man’s shoulders.

The man tilts his head quietly, scanning the fallen Henry before him. He then bends down placing his hand on the man’s face tilting it slightly. “Maybe next time Bendy.” He finally says as he moves to pick Henry up, putting him on his other shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

“Okay we can take this angel home.” Bendy chirps as he looks at the fallen man.

#forgive me but i couldnt resist #and i really didnt want to post it on ao3 cuz its kinda like #hard to understand if you dont know the context of it #¯\_(ツ)_/¯#forgive me guys #i know you want the next chapter #but im still editing it #ill tell you know its 17 pages long okay #bioshock crossover #delta!henry #jack!Henry #spottie writes #long post

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wanderingtycho · 7 years

Text

An excerpt of Tycho rambling about Wolfenstein II

Okay so for the past couple weeks, I’ve been playing through all of the new generation Wolfenstein games from Bethesda and Machine Games, having platinumed both Old Blood and New Order. I’m currently one trophy away from platinuming New Colossus(take a wild guess as to what trophy it is), and I was discussing some of the games themes with two friends of mine over Telegram.

This isn’t going to be me doing a proper review or evaluation of the game, this is just a sampling from that conversation, keep in mind one of my friends chose to omit their contributions so the context is a little skewed.

Hope you enjoy my inflammatory ramblings, I’m half tempted to muster a proper critique of New Colossus because I’ve been spending so much time with it, but I’m really lazy so here’s my off the cuff ranting.

Me: New Colossus is fucking nuts man. I’ve made it halfway through the game thinking “I wonder how BJ is gonna get the outfit he’s wearing on the cover?” and then they answered that question in the most what the fuck manner possible.

My Friend(who shall be referred to as “E”): I heard it was nuts. The one clip I saw was so nuts that I decided to not buy the game lol Eh, maybe I'm just being a picky asshole again lol.

Me: It's worth picking up, I love any game that takes the risk of mixing disturbing subject material with absurdist comical elements. Having played both back to back, I can say there was a definite retooling and redesigning of a lot of stuff between New Order and New Colossus, and I think NC is the superior game overall as a result.

Me: is that an unpopular one? I knew some douchebags were butthurt about the marketing campaigns, but I dont think anyones gonna throw a fit over me saying its better than New Order.

Me: I mean, I'm not saying I dont fancy the position of unpopularity, it seems to me a lot of negative attention towards New Colossus is from people who're either A. racist scumbags in their own right who dont appreciate a video game portraying people who share their ideologies(Nazi's, the Klan)as the bad/incompetent guys. Or B. standard run of the mill privileged white male gamers who just dont get the humoristic overtones and satire that the narrative is presenting.

Me: The ignorance part is true, but I'm of the opinion that ignorance is held and espoused by that particular subset, hence why the biggest "criticism" of the game I've seen goes along the lines of accusing the story and narrative of being "SJW, liberal pandering power fantasies" because the main cast consists of Jewish characters, many black character who're also members of the Black Revolutionary Front(1960's civil rights group), neurodivergent characters, gay characters basically all the groups of people the Nazi's tried to exterminate. The main character, however, William Joseph Blazkowicz, is a stereotypical all American square jawed Aryan white male soldier that comprises a vast majority of video game protagonists because again, game companies are encouraged to appeal to that repeating demographic(hence why Booker DeWitt is on the cover of Bioshock Infinite, and Elizabeth is not). And William’s features and status as that stereotype are brought up frequently over the course of both games, its a plot point, when this white westerner warrior is forced to confront the reality that before the Nazi's took over in this fictional world, minority groups were already being oppressed by the American government and people, not just the Germans.(In the words of J, "Before Hitler, before the Germans, YOU were the Nazi's.") and the second revelation: while the war was going on, there were plenty of Americans back home saying they should just let Germany win and take over the world, that America and Germany should fight together to ensure the white mans superiority, hence why when America surrendered to the Nazi's their transition of power went so smoothly(For real life historical context, 50,000 American Nazi's gathered in Madison Square Garden in New York to express their support for Hitler and the Third Reich in 1940, so American Neo-Nazi's isnt an outlandish concept.) These shocking realizations are shocking to William and most likely to the white members of the audience base, who have been told their entire lives that all Americans are and were totally opposed to Nazism, because America is always the hero and never to the antagonist. While William grapples with this internal and external conflict, the brainless saps who lob accusations of pandering and SJW agendas get pissed, because their natural knee jerk defensive reaction whenever these subjects are brought up is to shout it down and decry it as attempts to exploit "white guilt". So yes, Wolfenstein is a power fantasy game, but it includes themes and ideas that spoil the already existing fantasies of pasty, privileged white gamers who've grown used to getting exactly the message they want out of their consumed media, and throw a hissy fit whenever elements they dont approve of are included in a mainstream product.

Me: Exactly, BJ is a great character because he's a stereotype, but the creators are self aware enough to understand that he's a stereotype and that lets them invert a lot of things to make him interesting and engaging rather than a milquetoast slab of boring white bread. Also as an aside, this really tripped me out because at one point BJ goes back to his childhood home in Mesquite Texas, which is where I grew up to.

Me: Also, didnt include this in my massive paragraph, but I wanted to mention how at the beginning of the game William is wheelchair bound because he was blown up by a grenade at the end of New Order. You get a suit of powered armor that lets you walk again, but your health is halved and they make it a point to say that his legs wont work again and he is now impotent. So again, you have this character who's an embodiment of white American masculinity not only physically disabled, but his dick doesnt work. Two themes that likely interfere with the power fantasy the aforementioned pissed off douches were trying to have, rather than appreciating the game as a parody of power fantasies, again people missing the entire point.

E: Also, I watched a clip of the game and it was stupid ridiculous and over the top that it just shattered my suspension of disbelief for the game.

Like how do the nazis take over if they're so incompetent that 20 of them and their 2 war machines can be murdered by one pregnant woman?

And how does the rebellion still talking like they're taking risks when the one dude they send out comes back with a billion nazi scalps?

But like I said, stingy asshole. Maybe I'll pick it up when it goes on sale for cheap.

Plus I could also be just mad at Bethesda.

But then again I did really like Prey.

Also, I heard the game was short.

Like shorter then New Order.

Me: Like I said, I think it's worth buying, and I got it cheap at 30 bucks. As for the realism factor, it's an Id game, gritty STALKER esque accuracy and believability isn't what I expect from them. Short? Not that I've experienced, it's structured and progresses differently but I'd say both games are of comparable length and content.

#wolfenstein II #Wolfenstein the new colossus #tycho rants #telegram talk #anonymous friends who shall remain anonymous

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geekgemsspooksandtoons · 4 years

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I just finished Bioshock Infinite

I completed it once as a teenager....I wanted to play it on my main computer after a long time. So I decided to just finish it. Finally finished all three Bioshock’s on PC.

You know.....to be in all seriousness I don’t seem to mind the gameplay of Bioshock Infinite. Will admit the Hand Canon and Sniper Rifle are awesome to use during the final showdown. Spoilers a bit. It’s great to have Songbird as support......

I just wanna say Bioshock Infinite is a weird game.....

It’s just interesting to finish this game as a adult now. Including I’ve talked about it quite a bit. Or mainly it’s DLC.

I don’t wanna say the story is confusing but....okay it is confusing in a way.

Again the gameplay can be fun yet it’s chaotic. While I prefer the gameplay of the first two games. Gunplay isn’t bad in Infinite. Including the vigor's are nice to use. But I mainly use Murder Of Crows. Mainly the first four vigor’s you get in the game.

Also I got a jump scare by this enemy with weird horns on it’s head.

I also wanna say it was fun being in Rapture for a little bit. But right now I just feel weird. It feels weird completing this game after many years.

You know despite I shit on it or me making jokes about it. I don’t mind playing the game and I have thought about it. It’s the DLC I seem to dislike the most. Which as a teenager I’ve completed episode 1....I have never played episode 2. I’m wondering if I should just watch videos. Even though I wouldn’t mind trying out Infinite’s gameplay again in Rapture.

God again it feels weird. And I still haven’t played Minerva’s Den damn it. I think I’ll just say and yeah I’m rambling. I don’t think Infinite deserved as much as the praise it got in 2013. It could of been because of hype. While I get Ken wanted to go for a different experience. But considering what I’ve heard about the development of this game.

Including the shit we got after this game. Along with....multiverse crap is confusing....you could just call that sea of doors the multiverse. Yet someone might try to explain it to me. Again I’m rambling.

In a nutshell I don’t mind a reboot of this series. Including also I don’t mind the gameplay honestly. Yet it’s the story that bothers me the most. So I have 11.1 hours in the game. Which is quite nice......

What a weird game I’ll say. Also I didn’t watch the whole credits. Despite I just remember there is a post credits scene. I mainly skipped it after a new song started after Elizabeth’s theme. Which is beautiful to listen to. Including when writing this I forgot I never got to experience that little scene where Booker plays a guitar and Elizabeth is walking around.

Basically I felt saddened that I recall I didn’t get to do that. Time to tag this.

#bioshock #bioshock infinite

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geekgemsspooksandtoons · 4 years

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My thoughts on Bioshock 1

I just wanna put this out there. It’s 12:01 am and I find it nice that I finished it before Sunday popped up. This post is gonna have major spoilers. I’ll post the screenshots in a different post. I don’t know if I should call this a review. But yeah I didn’t wanna make this quickly. Took time making some popcorn(two bags for a bowl) and getting a Diet Dr. Pepper.

But my thoughts on the game itself. A game that gamers have considered one of the greatest video games ever made.

I want you all to know. The reason I went back to playing it because I was looking up the terrible voice acting of the original RE game. That it got me to wanting to play a older game...which is the first Bioshock on my main computer.

But in a nutshell I thought it was a pretty nice game. The gameplay is pretty stellar. Especially the combat. But I will admit, the game didn’t really scare me. Because it was considered horror by some folks. But the way I was playing I think a way how you would describe....something out of the Doom series.

Yet this is because I was playing on easy mode. Because I wanted to experience the story. Especially when I upgraded my weapons. I was basically a walking powerhouse. Along with the fact I didn’t use my plasmids a whole lot. But I did use them when they seem needed or when I wanted to try them out. I was mainly a weapons guy.

But yeah upgraded weapons made the journey easier. Even during the final boss with Frank.

The story is pretty alright. Even though some of the audio diaries I decided not to listen to except for some. Especially when the big reveal was coming.

I will admit and I think people may know of this. But I knew of the big twist and read stuff about how Jack was basically controlled through most of the game. Where the phrase, “Would You Kindly” Atlas was saying to control him. Where this becomes more clear when you enter a room that has, “Would You Kindly’ on the wall and...those diaries crap....a dog getting it’s neck snapped....to be honest I feel like the moment Jack see’s that. I feel like he was probably confused or just wondering, “What the fuck?”.

But basically where Andrew Ryan exposes this by saying the phrase a couple of times, and asking Jack to kill him with the golf club. Gonna admit to watch that twist in motion, for some reason I wasn’t expecting it to be that dramatic. Because I was expecting it to be simply casual with Andrew explaining what Jack is actually. Where Jack realizes when Andrew asks Jack to kill him, he was telling the truth. Yet I strangely like it how Andrew was trying to showcase more that using the phrase a few time to really showcase Jack was never in control.

Yet it was nice to finally see the scene in full motion in the original game. Since I’m not playing the remastered version.

To be honest I think the most shocking thing was the fact when I went on the Bioshock wiki. That Jack is literally 4 years old. 0_0 Just....I actually found that to be the most surprising.

Including just the whole set up of why Jack is there isn’t by chance. Honestly despite the dimension hopping that surprised me a lot. Just Jack growing up and all that...surprised me the most.

But I find it nice how Andrew during the game as you get closer to him. He’s alluding to the fact that it seems like such a coincidence that Jack crashed near that lighthouse above Rapture. As if it was some sort of miracle.

I’ll stop talking about the twist sorry. So I was right, Atlas who is Frank didn’t really have a family. I will admit Frank’s a pretty damn good actor. Because I feel like people who first played this and if I didn’t look into certain stuff. It would of been more of a surprise. Because I find it amazing he can change his voice.

Including the fact when you get closer to him. He’s just talking about you and him tricking you. Including why are you even still trying to get him. When Jack doesn’t have a family. I guess I can say he didn’t disappoint me as a villain.

Again the gameplay is wonderful, Rapture was a interesting place. Both to look at and I guess to explore. I will admit I sometimes couldn’t find some stuff right away. Such as a Big Daddy helmet after a while.

The Splicer are cool and have some variety, the Big Daddies are pretty nice too. Yet what I’m amazed by and I’m glad I couldn’t find that Big Daddy helmet right away because the last two Little Sisters that were with Big Daddies were near by.

I actually got all the Little Sisters that I recall. Basically rescuing all of them. Meaning I got the best and what I know canon ending. Gonna admit that last scene and just watching that cutscene. Despite it’s actually very quick. I can’t believe I had tears or so....despite I don’t seem to build a connection with these girls.

There is just something beautiful about that ending. Including to see they offered Jack the key to Rapture but he denies it.

Also there is something of just seeing all these Little Sisters just literally murder Frank and I got a shot of that actually. I saw that in a video once and it’s just intriguing. It seems kind of ridiculous but once you play the game, you understand how they are overpowering him.

The soundtrack....I’ll be honest I didn’t think about it much. Mainly because I was so focused on gameplay and getting through the game. Also weird thing this didn’t happen a lot. But I remember one time one of Franks line was up and he wasn’t talking.

Listen to any fans of Bioshock, sorry that I’m rambling. But I’m sorry I’m not praising it to the heavens. But I felt like I did myself a favor because this is a very loved game. It was nice to finally play it and finish it. I think it’s because I’m still processing some stuff. Including during a time in my life I thought gameplay is more important than story. Which was a thought I started having when I became a fan of Doom. But then loving Resident Evil again got me to realize liking video game stories. Considering before the gameplay thing, I would always prefer a single player over multiplayer.

But now I like both. It’s just I was I guess annoyed by how much praised Bioshock gets and it makes it seem like 2 and Infinite are hated on a lot. Including it just...bothered me and that I’d felt rebellious to not play the original. Because people made it seem like what I like to call it, “The Citizen Kane Of Gaming”. It was a game changer and I should understand that.

Yet you can thank my good bro and buddy @pikablob for being the reason why I got into this series more. All because I was wondering why does Elizabeth in Burial At Sea look so young but in the timeline she would be 66. Until he explained to me things about dimension hopping and after my surprise and shock of what he told me. That got me basically be like, “Okay I need to play these games because holy shit”. Even though I’ve played 2 before and finished Infinite and Burial At Sea episode 1 before.

It was just so insane to learn that I needed to experience these games myself as I’m older now.

I feel like overtime I’ll like Bioshock more. Because I had predicted this could become one of my all time favorites. But I don’t think so right now. Maybe when I ever replay it again and maybe even the remastered version. I may love it more. But I felt like compared to games like the original Doom, Doom 2016, Halo Combat Evolved(Because I recall from my experience that game is a classic), and even the Call Of Duty Modern Warfare trilogy. Especially 1 and 2, with 3 being a fitting conclusion to it. I got more out of those games.

Which I sound stupid for mentioning. Bioshock is a whole different beast. I’m talking about a game where someone like Andrew Ryan literally made a city underwater that wouldn’t be affected by what he considered, “Petty morality” and look where Rapture ended up as....a fucking shit hole.

That I recall I don’t feel terrible seeing Andrew Ryan die. Yet it’s probably because he wants to die and he accepts it. Including his final words and the way the scene went. Yet I was surprised that golf club got stuck in his head when Jack did the final blow.

But I think that’s just my mind set. Including on a silly note and I’m finally gonna say something I’ve had in my head. I just miss Elizabeth. Again I may enjoy it more as time goes all. Because it is a excellent game.

Because even though I haven’t played the remastered versions of Bioshock 1 and 2. I feel like if you want to. I’d recommend checking out the original Bioshock if you want to. It’s a well made game and I hope I think it’s genius about the fact The Bioshock Collection exists and it’s on 8th gen consoles now(Especially it got released on Nintendo Switch last month) and for PC’s if you want remastered versions of the first 2.

Basically was looking at trailers for the collection. I think it’s genius because that package seems perfect for any new fan who wants to experience the complete saga as of now.

I think I’ve said enough on my piece on the original Bioshock.

Anyway during the making of this post. I was listening to this kick ass rap. I find it awesome I finished the game and got to experience it for my own. Here’s JT Music’s Bioshock 1 rap, “Rapture Rising”. Been listening to this when making this. Warning in case even though I talked about spoilers in here, you have spoilers in this rap. Again well done rap.

youtube

#bioshock

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geekgemsspooksandtoons · 4 years

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Played some more Bioshock Infinite

So I finally got to Elizabeth. Which I’m glad about, I’ve been trying to get to her. I stopped after well I mean the game has been out for years but spoilers. After Elizabeth opens a tear in the elevator, I think we arrived at the Hall Of Heroes. So some things I wanna say. Also only died once because I was stupid by not pressing space to get out of the burning ship.

Also I guess for dramatic effect, I was shooting at the Songbird when we first meet him with my pistol...despite it has no effect.

But also I decided to turn down my main volume to 60 and the audio is much better. I think I just had it too loud. If I recall I had it at 89 but I forgot. But it seems like I don’t really have anything wrong with my audio.

1. So I found out when you get drunk(Or just drink beer in general in this game), you lose salt....well that’s something...because I’ve been grabbing a shit ton of stuff.

2. So after finding out we need this jockey stuff. I realized I am holding my machine gun with my shotgun.....

To me this is amazing. I mean I can’t believe I didn’t notice it. While I am bummed by their being no weapon wheel. But the fact I don’t have to have the pistol is just beautiful.

Okay it’s been years since I played the game. I remembered I think why I thought the pistol was a gun I had to keep was because of Killzone 2. Because you can never get rid of the pistol. But even with a two weapon limit, to hold two primary guns like that feels like a blessing to me. Still would of liked it if I can have more. The two weapon limit is something that annoys people.

3. Elizabeth is precious...that is all.

4. You know despite I always go for the good choices(Such as not wanting to draw out my weapon but demanding for tickets), Booker is such a stubborn mother fucker. While I recall he does develop. Again it’s just intriguing to see his interactions with Elizabeth.

Honestly even though I don’t wanna shit on him. Despite I know this story....but just playing as him. Even if you didn’t some things he did....he’s not my kind of character. I don’t mind playing as a older experienced character. But I can see why some people don’t like him.

He’s such a contrast to Elizabeth. Who’s basically been living in this tower for nearly her whole life if I’m being correct.

Here’s a humorous way of looking at his stubbornness. Even though yeah this is after she opened a tear in a elevator.

Elizabeth: I can help.

Possibly any other protagonist. Whether younger or understanding the situation they are in: Thanks I appreciate it. But just be careful if you can.

Booker at first: Nah fuck that. I can handle myself. *Pulls out his two big guns*

I’m just rambling, but yeah it was nice playing it again. Especially without this audio thing I talked about. I simply had to turn down the main volume for my computer.

I’ll admit I felt weird finally having Elizabeth with me. Yet it’s a nice weird....just nice to have a friendly face with me.

#bioshock #bioshock infinite

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geekgemsspooksandtoons · 4 years

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You know I joked about with my good buddy @pikablob making a Bioshock 3 AU before like...finishing the first and second game. I’ve completed Infinite and Burial At Sea part 1 years back.

Mainly when discovering certain things in the Bioshock lore. I had this weird funny idea of...I’m gonna copy what I said. This is what I typed.

Beware I make no sense....I’m literally a noob....I am just rambling in here.

GeekGem: Man Bioshock is honestly a deep and I guess pretty layered series of games. With it's concepts of morality and seeing what some folks or so said in the tag I searched up and whatever. I was rebellious at first because this talk of it being so great annoyed me. But this is intriguing.

Pikablob: Yes that's correct. :)

GeekGem: To be honest before I forgot before playing the original...I did think of a Bioshock 3 AU...it sounds stupid...but I'm intrigued.

Pikablob: That's really sweet man, go ahead.

GeekGem: After thinking about and reading some crap....I'm gonna destroy the Bioshock timeline. :)

Pikablob: What? 0_0

*GeekGem grabs a jar that just says Bioshock 3 and he throws it at the timeline*

Pikablob: *Does Homer Simpsons scream* NOOOOOOOO!!!!

Honestly Bioshock is a series I haven’t gotten huge in. Including I was surprised to hear a new game is in developer because I thought the game series is dead.

Yet yeah I was strangely rebellious against playing the original because all this talk about it being like the Citizen Kane of video gaming annoyed me. Including it felt like and I made a joke about it. But I don’t know if I should share it. Mainly about it seemed like the fanbase despised 2 and Infinite. Especially after Burial At Sea did some things to canon.

Including I recall one friend. He’s not a bad guy. But he’s like a critical movie critic. He’s a Bioshock fan and I remember reading a journal about how he wasn’t gonna get Infinite. Including that Bioshock 2 was like I think worse and one of those reasons that you play as a Big Daddy. He’s a smart fellow but I was young and I didn’t understand him because he talked a lot.

The point is it made it seem like the original was so good. That the follow ups were just seen as inferior. Including I was surprised Bioshock 3 didn't became a meme. But my friend Pikablob it didn’t became a meme because not a lot of people like 2.

Yet now that I’ve older since I have played some of 2. Since I’m experiencing the original game on my computer. I wanna make my own opinions. Because now that I’m older, I can understand why people like these games, playing them myself......

But what I also found out.....I seem to understand some actual criticism towards Bioshock Infinite now I think. Not just, “It’s a different game compared to the first game”.....but mainly about it’s themes......the racism, how some characters are portrayed and treated....I get it now. Because of today’s state of mind.

I’ll just reveal the Bioshock 3 AU thing isn’t a serious thing I’m gonna make. But the idea was of me thinking about, “You know...what if we destroy the timeline because someone fucked up the timeline by using time travel and the events of the first three games got messed up. Meaning some events never happened. While some characters were born later”......

With me joking to my friend about people saying how can you lower the bar after 2 and Infinite. While I’m like, “Hold my Diet Dr. Pepper” because of just the ideas of it......

I’m rambling and I’m trying to remember what else. Basically now people seem to look badly at Infinite now. I’m surprised a new game is happening because I thought the series was dead. Including people seem to despise the writers.....

You know to be honest considering I saw a post. I don’t seem to feel bad about killing villains or just....this is so random. I was just looking at someone’s blog and saw, “Okay....I get more of the dislike towards Infinite now it seems like”.

Edit so I read more posts....it’s basically the fault of this guy named Ken who wrote Burial At Sea......honestly reading some posts makes me want to do this Bioshock 3 AU more....unless the new game is Bioshock 3.

Also I mean...from what I learned...my ideas may seem possible considering there is dimension hopping that was introduced into these games......I’m rambling again.

#bioshock

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