Not fully understanding the story is one of the things I love about Infinite. And it's also why I'm watching a story explanation several years and several playthroughs later.
I enjoyed your guided analysis, especially since you didn't try to force the crown of cleverness and writing excellence onto your own head. Probably unintentional and/or misunderstood by me, but other YT analysts seem to do this at times. Like you said, "Would you kindly" is an immensely difficult act to follow. BS2 intentionally didn't try, and BSI sorta did, but they so carefully avoided bread crumbs on the path.. an intention of sparse hints ended up functionally barren. The whole series was really a treat overall and you covered it well!
Thx for the great and professional deconstruction of all these materials of the Bioshock games. I deeply enjoyed the three videos till now and will come back once I finished the burial at sea DLC. I enjoyed your different perspectives between „playing for fun“ and „playing for a good story“ (and everything between). Looking forward for more great content!
Great points about Booker’s characterization lending to Infinite’s lack of LUDONARRATIVE DISSONANCE while also making the voxophone scrounging a little strange and how that ties into player agency. Also the moments of choice in the game that feel half-committal. Though I love the audiologs in this series, they indeed make the least sense here and are way more essential to understanding the actual plot of the game imo. Perhaps Infinite would have benefited from being even shorter and more direct in it’s storytelling, turning those moments of choice into something deeper that shed more light on the intentions of the developers upon repeated playthroughs. Regardless a great game and great video :)
thank you this was such good and simple to understand video now i don't feel lost about the ending,also i love how in a way the luteces were both victims and the real Villains of the story at the same time, tampering with things they dont really understand with no regard for the consequences.
This game made a profound impact on my life at the time. I was at a crossroads and idk know what to do. I realized that life is all about constants and variables and even those most insignificant choice can change your future slightly. It made me realize how little and also how much control we have on outcome. And in that regard calmed my worries about the future.
This game now holds a special place in my heart had to watch this. The other 2 just don’t give me the same warm happy feeling this does playing it was so fun I can replay this game over an over. I haven’t tried the other 2 yet but they look too scary imo… I don’t do well in loud scary games lol 😂
The Bioshock ‘Saga’ is one of the best written series of ‘immersive movies’ ever. To answer your question: Yes. I did completely understand the end and it blew my mind. I did explore as much of Columbia as possible and there were so many tiny, easy to miss subtle clues throughout (in the unassuming ‘Would you kindly’ way, as an example) as to what was coming … and all along the way. The effectiveness of the clues, in a manner which imitates real-life everyday warning signs we ignore or dismiss in our day to day real-world lives, cannot be emphasized as pure, unadulterated brilliant story telling. What didn’t work was the ‘sequel’ to the trilogy which wasn’t needed and was pretty much an ‘Irrational’ cash grab, the unnecessary ’Burial at Sea’. The series would have ended just fine had the last one just been left as a bad idea. The trilogy taken as a whole is a work of game story telling genius. Bioshock isn’t an FPS, really: It’s a three chapter miniseries that just lets you immerse yourself in the world and take part - and all with an illusion of choice and consequences. The whole idea that the choices the player makes in ‘Infinite’ is a diabolically clever way the writers let you realize that whatever the choice you make is, ultimately the result will be the same. Choice is … cosmetic. Genius. And completely enjoyable when all three pieces are ‘chosen’ as a whole.
Theirs a moment when passing through a turnstile when a woman turns and looks at Elizabeth asking her if she was anabell and when I found out that was her moms name I was like ohhhhhhh that makes sense
The choice to throw the baseball does result in a game play and slight narrative difference, but it ultimately doesn't impact any ending. You are just acknowlaged significantly later by the couple who you spared if you choose to do so and will get a minor reward from them. You aren't wrong, but it was something I almost missed on my playthrough because people kept saying the choices didn't result in anything. You can only get the reward at a specific point in the game by conversing with the couple so despite sparring them I would have missed it had I not been talking to every NPC anyway for lore. It was only after I realized they gave me something for that choice that I looked it up online and realized this was the result. Not impressive compared to the other games but worth collecting anyway since you could. I think people reviewing games tend to lean into the black and white extremes for marketing sake (sounds like all the bioshock villains actually..) and it can result in players losing out. They do have decisions that can alter your game play experience slightly but it's not the endgame results we've come to expect from the series.
Yes! I also saw somewhere online that if the choice is made to throw at the couple, Mr. Fink rewards you (either choice gets you a randomized piece of gear)
Most things come down to graphics to me, if you could go through all the challenges having some idea of what needs to be done and be distracted by things other then whats horrible like constant murder, then there's no need to build up fear and hate, imagine mastered guiding people from any position in a company towards success and then use that in some sort of reverse to guide yourself, and you probably know how this works, the faster you break a loop of picking yourself back up, the sooner you reach the end and that seemingly elusive "platinum" trophy which is boring and pointless to get by the way, its just to show off to other people just like everything in life basically. Except money, money can get you anything as of now. Well probably almost anything because people love to let you down, and i can continue all day with this and all night without actually upsetting anyone other then them upsetting themselves by putting themselves as the superior in their life, that kind of breaks them down, too bad they don't even notice it. They think that everything that works "indefinitely" is because of success, money, influence, and like i said, you already know everything, you just can't keep this whole thought in your head all the time and when a lie comes up ... Ok bye
By the end of my first play through I was considering that I (booker) was dead or killed myself somewhere in the story and considered that I was Comstock for his future telling ability but I just assumed I was a younger version of myself hence the voice difference between them and he knew he was going to kill himself but I never did see the brand on Comstocks hand so i didnt connect them as the one and very same until the end but looked up the explanation to clear it up, nicely done thank you
One thing I liked about the og Bioshock is there is no good or bad side. Sure bad guy no. 3 fighted you but he was corrupted, his work could be opened up due to the capabilities from the glowing worm goo and he genuinely thought he was doing the right thing, the glowing worm goo drove him into madness so he blah blah blah blah. So my point is even if they do bad stuff, the more you learn, the more you notice that their plans were with good intentions.
@@samg0 It was great man! The time flew by and I can't wait for the next one. I think I finally understand this game, and I definitely appreciate it alot more after this vid.
Over the years i figure the dichotomy between Comstock and DeWitt is ultimately the good and evil choice. Though we are presented with opportunities to give in to our worse half along the way. Hence we are killed at the nexus of our creation ceasing any of it to exist due to our fate whether it's in our nature or not to be like one or the other.
Hi great video which I enjoyed. Just to say re: player choice. There are some minor in-game consequences for opting to throw the baseball at Fink instead of the couple. If you attempt to throw at Fink the couple will appear later after Battleship Bay right before the Duke & Dimwit arcade to thank you, and leave a piece of gear. In addition, if you spare Slate he will show up in one of the cells in Finkton. Also was surprised you didn’t touch on the Duke (Comstock) & Dimwit (DeWitt) parrallels - both pairs of puppets pulled around on strings with no real agency- reenacting the same show over and over again…multiple arcade machines/ multiple universes, puppet strings/strings of fate and another tease for the ending reveal “I’m both” etc Anyway going to check out your video on Bioshock 2 my favourite on the series . Hope you’re kind!
Great video bro, i can tell you have a passion for videogames. I love that you put a lot of effort in sharing that passion. Looking forward to more of your content.
Just finished my 1st playthrough of the game and I'm astonished with the ending. Hell, I think it even surpassed the twist from Bioshock 1 and that was just amazing to me
The bird and the cage help to illustrate the lack of choice in this game. To Elizabeth, they're one and the same. She lives in a cage, but the bird isn't freedom. The bird keeps her imprisoned there.
The million dollar question... does this mean booker ceases to exist? In all worlds or just "that" one? Does Elizabeth cease to exist in all worlds (inferred from the ending scene where they vanish), except the all powerful one? Not even sure if that makes sense.
"Be honest. Did you truly understand infinite the first time you played it." No. And thanks for making me feel better about it! It hadnt occured to me that might be normal.
The point about dissonance makes no sense. Booker is a military man. Not only would he be looking for supplies to survive the hostile environment he's in as the player does, he would absolutely be wanting to understand the environment as much as possible in order to navigate through it efficiently. He would have zero reason to not listen to the voxophones as he scrounges for supplies. Edit: I'm specifically referring to your point leading into the topic, not the meat of it.
This is a beautiful game for its meta acknowlagement. Variables and constants. A lighthouse, a city, a tryant ruling it, a neglected prodigy, a parent figure seeking redemption. All biosock games start with a similar premise and elements but shift them slightly. Elizabeth, Jack and Elenor are all children prodigies of the tyrant. Comstock, Lamb and Ryan are all narcissist tyrants pushing a different philosophy. They are all hypocrits and all claiming to be reaching for a utopia through different extremis means be it a religious cult, socialist idealism or competitive capitalist industrialism. Delta is a parent figure who failed at his one goal to protect Elenor. Booker made the most desperate and regrettable deal of his life. Bridget Tennenbuam sentences Jack and the little sisters to their fate by creating them as such. All three wind up either feeling a surrogate parental responsibility or having a direct one that they seek redemption for failing at. Sinclair, Fink and Fontaine are all buisnessmided side characters. In BS 1 Fontiane is in direct competition with the Tryrant and thus becomes the greater enemy as he meets his potential battling him. In BS 2 Sinclair has SOME more morals than Fontaine and only prices to benefit from Lamb temporarily. He is not at odds with her neforr the game but helps you defy her once the opportunity presents itself and it is clearly the better path for him. As a result of his more passive role, things are flipped and he becomes a tool/victim of the tyrant rather than the other way around. Due to Comstocks strictly religious goals, Fink has no qualms with him and soley benefits by being in league. You also have a plethora of side characters in all three games who can be viewed as counterparts or partial conterparts with slightly different triats or importance based on the other elements of the story. In all reality, all three games are mismatches and reimaginings of the same base story with all the same basic pieces but just jumbled and rearranged a bit. Comstock realistically is a bit of both Lamb and Ryan from the first two games when it comes to his personality and goals. The character can shift around like Tennenbaum being the assistor in the first game to her surrogate offspring (Jack the prodigy child) and the reverse in the second game with Elenor taking the supporter role to her redemption seeking big Daddy, Delta. Thanks to the DLC we get a little of both I'm Infinate as well as getting to play (sort of) as the tyrant since Comstock is an alternate form of Booker. Even Comstock and Ryan cause the death of their lover due to the drama surrounding their iligitament children. It's flipped so that Ryan does the violent act while remaining mostly in the dark about the conspiracy where Comstock does it keep the still somewhat nieve Lady Comstock quite about it. It isn't until after the deaths of the respective ladies that the one in the dark on both sides learned the truth. Ryan discovers Jack was his child turned slave by science as a weapon agaisnt him and the echos of Lady Comstocks mental patterns learns her adopted child was also not natural but technically of Comstocks lineage and planned to be his greatest weopin against the world. It was clever to bring in the multiverse concept in this game because you can only expeexr such similar events to play out in succession to the same underwater city so many times. BS 2 can get away with it as those events already started during the first, were influenced by them amd the power vacuum landed itself to them reoccurring with the remaining competative superpower left in its wake. Elenor and Ryan two two sides of the same coin so once the one with more control was gone the second was allowed to play out very simialry with her own story stemming out. After that it's hard to expect someone else to come out if the woodwork and do the dance again with what little is left (nothing really at the end of the game) so making it a different story but tied to Rapture through multiverse tears and fate was a way to create a believable new setting but related enough to the world of the first game. It was the tears that allowed some of the simialr mechanics to cross over and even some loose ends from the other world to be tied off. For such gratuitous repeat of recycled use from the first time around, it's great storytelling. We see this all the time with assets in games like Legend of Zellda where the same base narrative and characters are reused but Bioshock took it in a more literary level and made it somehow a lot more subtle. Most people I know who are familiar with the games never realized how much they borrowed from each other. It's so present in LoZ that it's basically an in joke but in BS it's easy to not even recognize it. Balancing the skeletal structures of elements pre-established for greater effect on the audience but presenting them unique enough that only the subvonsious is aware, is a perfect indication if successful storytelling. When Elizabeth mentions the minor variables and common constants she isn't just tlaking about the realities in her universe but the BS games themselves. A clever little wink to the audience from thw developers thta went over a lot of people's heads.
True I still liked Infinite tho. But the first Bioshock is the best hands down. But playing this makes you appreciate the first and second one that much more tbh
@@rozaygraves9224 Sure, but it makes you appreciate them because it shows you how it just doesn’t live up to the first two, imho. The infinite worlds theory crap just stripped any and all worlds of their meaning, making it just as pointless as a game that ends with “it was all just a dream”. Bioshock 1 said you’re a slave that can easily be programmed and your actions aren’t yours, no free will, through masterfully crafted experiential storytelling. 2 takes a more positive approach and says even if you look at free will like you have none, you can still see that your actions can and do effect others in largely significant ways. Infinite just tries to say some shit on how no matter how many quantum realities are possible, they’ll all collapse into however the one that it does collapse into ends up going. It’s trying too hard to make the comstock twist what it was and it just doesn’t work out for anything more than initial shock value. I enjoyed infinite when first playing it and first trying to understand it. In retrospect tho, it has absolutely zero lasting effect for me.
Yeah I feel like the world of Columbia being in the sky making it a bit more open and three dimensional to traverse made the voxaphone stuff a lot more annoying
You say that Bioshock is about the lack of players choice with is absolutely incorrect. The ending of the game changes depending on choices that you make throught it long before Tennenbaum gives the protagonist full control over his decisions. Oh, yeah, also the last 1-2 hours of the game is all about what Jack does when he gets his agency back. You get the good ending in Bioshock by disobeying Atlas and saving the sisters, dude
11:06 OMG I didn't realize Chen Lin's wife being white had anything to do with him being alive 😳 12:18 how did i not realize Fink was at the raffle? Lol 27:08 what voxophone recording is this, and where is it found??? And 27:30 ? My first introduction to Infinite was watching my ex play through it (she had played it before we met too) and then she explained everything... So i never had to be confused lol - sad but also saved my brain from exploding ☺️❤ 32:47 my third playthrough i was encouraged to find all of the voxophones (tho i failed at that) because i had the piece of gear that gave you a bunch of money each time you picked up a new voxophone 😊 34:43 LOL and then i looooove your inclusion of Waltz of the Flowers from Tschaikovsky 35:09 LOL "cool" 😆 39:20 yes Kingdome Hearts 😊 i really love 2.8 the Final Chapter Prologue for how deep it is
A good recap of the BS Infinite and I really like the first person narration, however there is one thing I'd like to see corected. When people criticize Infinite for ludonarrative dissonance they refer to what you cover in your "choices, consequences and conclusions". They say that despite the game saying that there are infinite posibillities you only have few choices without any substantial consequences. It doesn't feel as if though there were many posibilities because we play as nearly the same Booker every time. This all is made worse by the ending that hinges on the convergence of the different worlds, if all of them are nearly the same it doesn't have that much impact. I say this as a huge fan of the third game (I would even put it above the previous ones) but that means that I myself should familiarize with the arguments against it. That's why I wanted to correct this missunderstanding of the argument. I wish there were more choices that made impact but ultimately ended tragically in the same way, it would have been much more impactfull. But of course ambitious Ken Levine had to be rushed and the game we got was severely cut down from his original idea, this I believe is the reason why the game has this admitably huge flaw amongst so many good parts.
Another thing ive thought about is how Booker wouldn't know he's done any of this before, so it kind of makes sense that he makes mostly the same choices throughout the story Unlike us, the players, who remember everything from our previous playthroughs
My native American title is: Chunky Hibernating Bear That Likes Munchies & Opium. Premature load blowing is a myth. There is no such thing. Same as the name Cornelius. Not true.
Mhm... But the whole story falls apart when you say "infinite universes". Stops making any sense. But what I wanted to comment is this, a little outside the box: Why there's has to be this fake notion of "what makes a Bioshock game a Bioshock game". Where are "the laws" that say a Bioshock 2 has to be AT LEAST as good as the first one and has to have this and that, and a compelling story made it this particular way, and plasmasdgfsd;lkj stuff..? One game is one game, and even if another one shares the IP, is just that, ANOTHER game. This doesn't happen with books, you will never find a person that goes "well, Rayuela 2 definitely is worst that Rayuela 1 because doesn't have this and that". Why do we say "from a market perspective is ok"? Like seriously, we should be more clever persons that simply enjoy, reflect and get inspired by art, games, literature, music, whatever, and in my opinion, we should stop expecting things out a work/game. And simply enjoy them, we should be critical, but in my point of view, been critique under this premise is kinda steril.
We needed SJW to realize that this game was an anti-Americam, anti-European game. Now we can understand all this propaganda and be just passive victims. The classic one side of the story point of view. For instance American indians were literally brutal exterminators, ereasing entire enemy tribes and butchering children on their way with no care, but somehow they when they found a stronger enemy, they magically became the good poor victims in the narrative, while the Europeans were more civilized and more morally good on everything even in warfare, but now we are rewriting all history with a woke ideology that is fundamentally not correct on anything. The "good savage" is another nonsensical historic trope you can find on Wikipedia. Foundamentally a classic anti-European story from one of them, a bourgeoisie trying to clean his sins, a multimillionaire game director that burned out his employees so much he had to completely restructure his company.
Reminds me of the saying, "history is written by the victors" or something like that - which a lot of the time either distorts or changes the truth of reality
Not fully understanding the story is one of the things I love about Infinite. And it's also why I'm watching a story explanation several years and several playthroughs later.
It's all about Schrödinger's cat. If you understand that theorum it is easier to comprehend.
Mee toooo
The ending of this game was one of the greatest ending to any single player story based games I’ve ever played.
I enjoyed your guided analysis, especially since you didn't try to force the crown of cleverness and writing excellence onto your own head. Probably unintentional and/or misunderstood by me, but other YT analysts seem to do this at times.
Like you said, "Would you kindly" is an immensely difficult act to follow. BS2 intentionally didn't try, and BSI sorta did, but they so carefully avoided bread crumbs on the path.. an intention of sparse hints ended up functionally barren.
The whole series was really a treat overall and you covered it well!
Thx for the great and professional deconstruction of all these materials of the Bioshock games. I deeply enjoyed the three videos till now and will come back once I finished the burial at sea DLC. I enjoyed your different perspectives between „playing for fun“ and „playing for a good story“ (and everything between). Looking forward for more great content!
That ending was... it just was I have no words
Facts, I stayed up night after night grinding just too be drowned.😑😑😑
Too make it more sad it was 3 AM and I went to bed with disappointment.
@@outlaw._.lazinesLMAO
The game play was freaking awesome. The story kinda sucked tho
@@outlaw._.lazinesI also finished at 3AM 😭 😭😭😭 it’s literally 3:07 rn.
Great points about Booker’s characterization lending to Infinite’s lack of LUDONARRATIVE DISSONANCE while also making the voxophone scrounging a little strange and how that ties into player agency. Also the moments of choice in the game that feel half-committal.
Though I love the audiologs in this series, they indeed make the least sense here and are way more essential to understanding the actual plot of the game imo. Perhaps Infinite would have benefited from being even shorter and more direct in it’s storytelling, turning those moments of choice into something deeper that shed more light on the intentions of the developers upon repeated playthroughs. Regardless a great game and great video :)
I have grown a lot since I first played Infinite, and I'm ready to experience it again. Thank you for your impressions.
thank you this was such good and simple to understand video now i don't feel lost about the ending,also i love how in a way the luteces were both victims and the real Villains of the story at the same time, tampering with things they dont really understand with no regard for the consequences.
Yes! Awesome revelation
This game made a profound impact on my life at the time. I was at a crossroads and idk know what to do. I realized that life is all about constants and variables and even those most insignificant choice can change your future slightly. It made me realize how little and also how much control we have on outcome. And in that regard calmed my worries about the future.
Same here
Excellent video, couldn't believe how fast 45 minutes passed. Thank you for the time and effort you put into this.
This game now holds a special place in my heart had to watch this. The other 2 just don’t give me the same warm happy feeling this does playing it was so fun I can replay this game over an over. I haven’t tried the other 2 yet but they look too scary imo… I don’t do well in loud scary games lol 😂
Bioshock 1 and 2 is also a great game, but it was more suspense lol
Dude both Bioshock 1 and 2 are waay better. Still, infinite is awesome.
Omg me too, same here i did finish #1 (i credit to Levine's mastery of storytelling) but i couldn't handle #2 - terrifying af
Awesome and complex video. Now i finally get it ! Thanks a lot ! 😊
The Bioshock ‘Saga’ is one of the best written series of ‘immersive movies’ ever. To answer your question: Yes. I did completely understand the end and it blew my mind.
I did explore as much of Columbia as possible and there were so many tiny, easy to miss subtle clues throughout (in the unassuming ‘Would you kindly’ way, as an example) as to what was coming … and all along the way. The effectiveness of the clues, in a manner which imitates real-life everyday warning signs we ignore or dismiss in our day to day real-world lives, cannot be emphasized as pure, unadulterated brilliant story telling.
What didn’t work was the ‘sequel’ to the trilogy which wasn’t needed and was pretty much an ‘Irrational’ cash grab, the unnecessary ’Burial at Sea’. The series would have ended just fine had the last one just been left as a bad idea.
The trilogy taken as a whole is a work of game story telling genius. Bioshock isn’t an FPS, really: It’s a three chapter miniseries that just lets you immerse yourself in the world and take part - and all with an illusion of choice and consequences. The whole idea that the choices the player makes in ‘Infinite’ is a diabolically clever way the writers let you realize that whatever the choice you make is, ultimately the result will be the same. Choice is … cosmetic. Genius. And completely enjoyable when all three pieces are ‘chosen’ as a whole.
just finished my re-play, and damn this game is good and gives me chills every time. loved the video, thank you✨✨✨
Theirs a moment when passing through a turnstile when a woman turns and looks at Elizabeth asking her if she was anabell and when I found out that was her moms name I was like ohhhhhhh that makes sense
The choice to throw the baseball does result in a game play and slight narrative difference, but it ultimately doesn't impact any ending. You are just acknowlaged significantly later by the couple who you spared if you choose to do so and will get a minor reward from them. You aren't wrong, but it was something I almost missed on my playthrough because people kept saying the choices didn't result in anything. You can only get the reward at a specific point in the game by conversing with the couple so despite sparring them I would have missed it had I not been talking to every NPC anyway for lore. It was only after I realized they gave me something for that choice that I looked it up online and realized this was the result. Not impressive compared to the other games but worth collecting anyway since you could. I think people reviewing games tend to lean into the black and white extremes for marketing sake (sounds like all the bioshock villains actually..) and it can result in players losing out. They do have decisions that can alter your game play experience slightly but it's not the endgame results we've come to expect from the series.
Yes! I also saw somewhere online that if the choice is made to throw at the couple, Mr. Fink rewards you (either choice gets you a randomized piece of gear)
Most things come down to graphics to me, if you could go through all the challenges having some idea of what needs to be done and be distracted by things other then whats horrible like constant murder, then there's no need to build up fear and hate, imagine mastered guiding people from any position in a company towards success and then use that in some sort of reverse to guide yourself, and you probably know how this works, the faster you break a loop of picking yourself back up, the sooner you reach the end and that seemingly elusive "platinum" trophy which is boring and pointless to get by the way, its just to show off to other people just like everything in life basically. Except money, money can get you anything as of now. Well probably almost anything because people love to let you down, and i can continue all day with this and all night without actually upsetting anyone other then them upsetting themselves by putting themselves as the superior in their life, that kind of breaks them down, too bad they don't even notice it. They think that everything that works "indefinitely" is because of success, money, influence, and like i said, you already know everything, you just can't keep this whole thought in your head all the time and when a lie comes up ... Ok bye
By the end of my first play through I was considering that I (booker) was dead or killed myself somewhere in the story and considered that I was Comstock for his future telling ability but I just assumed I was a younger version of myself hence the voice difference between them and he knew he was going to kill himself but I never did see the brand on Comstocks hand so i didnt connect them as the one and very same until the end but looked up the explanation to clear it up, nicely done thank you
When you need to watch such a long explanation you know the game developers did not do a good job of storytelling.
One thing I liked about the og Bioshock is there is no good or bad side. Sure bad guy no. 3 fighted you but he was corrupted, his work could be opened up due to the capabilities from the glowing worm goo and he genuinely thought he was doing the right thing, the glowing worm goo drove him into madness so he blah blah blah blah. So my point is even if they do bad stuff, the more you learn, the more you notice that their plans were with good intentions.
Right!!!
I couldn't watch the outer wilds vid because I hadn't finished the game myself but ooooooh baby I'm excited for this one
It's a chunky video this one 😅 hope you enjoy
@@samg0 It was great man! The time flew by and I can't wait for the next one. I think I finally understand this game, and I definitely appreciate it alot more after this vid.
Over the years i figure the dichotomy between Comstock and DeWitt is ultimately the good and evil choice. Though we are presented with opportunities to give in to our worse half along the way. Hence we are killed at the nexus of our creation ceasing any of it to exist due to our fate whether it's in our nature or not to be like one or the other.
Hi great video which I enjoyed. Just to say re: player choice. There are some minor in-game consequences for opting to throw the baseball at Fink instead of the couple. If you attempt to throw at Fink the couple will appear later after Battleship Bay right before the Duke & Dimwit arcade to thank you, and leave a piece of gear. In addition, if you spare Slate he will show up in one of the cells in Finkton. Also was surprised you didn’t touch on the Duke (Comstock) & Dimwit (DeWitt) parrallels - both pairs of puppets pulled around on strings with no real agency- reenacting the same show over and over again…multiple arcade machines/ multiple universes, puppet strings/strings of fate and another tease for the ending reveal “I’m both” etc
Anyway going to check out your video on Bioshock 2 my favourite on the series . Hope you’re kind!
Thanks for this dude. New subscriber here! Infinite is my favorite game!
The whole video was perfect, but that ending was the ultimate cherry on top, w video
I appreciate the detail and hard work you put into this video, I thoroughly enjoyed your breakdown and how you delve into infinite.
Great video bro, i can tell you have a passion for videogames. I love that you put a lot of effort in sharing that passion. Looking forward to more of your content.
Finally! Love your stuff man
long time coming! Burial at Sea is up next 🔥
Just finished my 1st playthrough of the game and I'm astonished with the ending. Hell, I think it even surpassed the twist from Bioshock 1 and that was just amazing to me
The bird and the cage help to illustrate the lack of choice in this game.
To Elizabeth, they're one and the same. She lives in a cage, but the bird isn't freedom. The bird keeps her imprisoned there.
The million dollar question... does this mean booker ceases to exist? In all worlds or just "that" one? Does Elizabeth cease to exist in all worlds (inferred from the ending scene where they vanish), except the all powerful one? Not even sure if that makes sense.
Hey Sam, I like your style, irony and pertinent sense of humor. All your Bioshock videos are really great and distinctive =)
Another epic video! i finally understand Infinite :D
Found you through the Immortality breakdown. I guess I have a new favourite channel!
You are the man, man.
"Be honest. Did you truly understand infinite the first time you played it." No. And thanks for making me feel better about it! It hadnt occured to me that might be normal.
The point about dissonance makes no sense. Booker is a military man. Not only would he be looking for supplies to survive the hostile environment he's in as the player does, he would absolutely be wanting to understand the environment as much as possible in order to navigate through it efficiently. He would have zero reason to not listen to the voxophones as he scrounges for supplies.
Edit: I'm specifically referring to your point leading into the topic, not the meat of it.
Great points; totally felt that and agree
@@leilaniaileenlove much appreciated :)
why are subtitles turned off? I cannot watch it without them :((
Yes! I always have to rewind cuz i miss stuff
Time travel and quantum theory is way to complex.
If there is no Booker/Comstock there is no Elizabeth. So it ends itself. Before it ever begins.
Amazing channel 🙏
This is a beautiful game for its meta acknowlagement. Variables and constants. A lighthouse, a city, a tryant ruling it, a neglected prodigy, a parent figure seeking redemption. All biosock games start with a similar premise and elements but shift them slightly. Elizabeth, Jack and Elenor are all children prodigies of the tyrant. Comstock, Lamb and Ryan are all narcissist tyrants pushing a different philosophy. They are all hypocrits and all claiming to be reaching for a utopia through different extremis means be it a religious cult, socialist idealism or competitive capitalist industrialism. Delta is a parent figure who failed at his one goal to protect Elenor. Booker made the most desperate and regrettable deal of his life. Bridget Tennenbuam sentences Jack and the little sisters to their fate by creating them as such. All three wind up either feeling a surrogate parental responsibility or having a direct one that they seek redemption for failing at. Sinclair, Fink and Fontaine are all buisnessmided side characters. In BS 1 Fontiane is in direct competition with the Tryrant and thus becomes the greater enemy as he meets his potential battling him. In BS 2 Sinclair has SOME more morals than Fontaine and only prices to benefit from Lamb temporarily. He is not at odds with her neforr the game but helps you defy her once the opportunity presents itself and it is clearly the better path for him. As a result of his more passive role, things are flipped and he becomes a tool/victim of the tyrant rather than the other way around. Due to Comstocks strictly religious goals, Fink has no qualms with him and soley benefits by being in league. You also have a plethora of side characters in all three games who can be viewed as counterparts or partial conterparts with slightly different triats or importance based on the other elements of the story. In all reality, all three games are mismatches and reimaginings of the same base story with all the same basic pieces but just jumbled and rearranged a bit. Comstock realistically is a bit of both Lamb and Ryan from the first two games when it comes to his personality and goals. The character can shift around like Tennenbaum being the assistor in the first game to her surrogate offspring (Jack the prodigy child) and the reverse in the second game with Elenor taking the supporter role to her redemption seeking big Daddy, Delta. Thanks to the DLC we get a little of both I'm Infinate as well as getting to play (sort of) as the tyrant since Comstock is an alternate form of Booker. Even Comstock and Ryan cause the death of their lover due to the drama surrounding their iligitament children. It's flipped so that Ryan does the violent act while remaining mostly in the dark about the conspiracy where Comstock does it keep the still somewhat nieve Lady Comstock quite about it. It isn't until after the deaths of the respective ladies that the one in the dark on both sides learned the truth. Ryan discovers Jack was his child turned slave by science as a weapon agaisnt him and the echos of Lady Comstocks mental patterns learns her adopted child was also not natural but technically of Comstocks lineage and planned to be his greatest weopin against the world. It was clever to bring in the multiverse concept in this game because you can only expeexr such similar events to play out in succession to the same underwater city so many times. BS 2 can get away with it as those events already started during the first, were influenced by them amd the power vacuum landed itself to them reoccurring with the remaining competative superpower left in its wake. Elenor and Ryan two two sides of the same coin so once the one with more control was gone the second was allowed to play out very simialry with her own story stemming out. After that it's hard to expect someone else to come out if the woodwork and do the dance again with what little is left (nothing really at the end of the game) so making it a different story but tied to Rapture through multiverse tears and fate was a way to create a believable new setting but related enough to the world of the first game. It was the tears that allowed some of the simialr mechanics to cross over and even some loose ends from the other world to be tied off. For such gratuitous repeat of recycled use from the first time around, it's great storytelling. We see this all the time with assets in games like Legend of Zellda where the same base narrative and characters are reused but Bioshock took it in a more literary level and made it somehow a lot more subtle. Most people I know who are familiar with the games never realized how much they borrowed from each other. It's so present in LoZ that it's basically an in joke but in BS it's easy to not even recognize it. Balancing the skeletal structures of elements pre-established for greater effect on the audience but presenting them unique enough that only the subvonsious is aware, is a perfect indication if successful storytelling. When Elizabeth mentions the minor variables and common constants she isn't just tlaking about the realities in her universe but the BS games themselves. A clever little wink to the audience from thw developers thta went over a lot of people's heads.
Wow, great and beautifully said!
Nothing in the series even comes close to comparing itself to the original Bioshock
True I still liked Infinite tho. But the first Bioshock is the best hands down. But playing this makes you appreciate the first and second one that much more tbh
@@rozaygraves9224 Sure, but it makes you appreciate them because it shows you how it just doesn’t live up to the first two, imho. The infinite worlds theory crap just stripped any and all worlds of their meaning, making it just as pointless as a game that ends with “it was all just a dream”.
Bioshock 1 said you’re a slave that can easily be programmed and your actions aren’t yours, no free will, through masterfully crafted experiential storytelling. 2 takes a more positive approach and says even if you look at free will like you have none, you can still see that your actions can and do effect others in largely significant ways. Infinite just tries to say some shit on how no matter how many quantum realities are possible, they’ll all collapse into however the one that it does collapse into ends up going. It’s trying too hard to make the comstock twist what it was and it just doesn’t work out for anything more than initial shock value.
I enjoyed infinite when first playing it and first trying to understand it. In retrospect tho, it has absolutely zero lasting effect for me.
Thanks for making the video. The game sound is a bit too loud for the volume of your voice though. I can't hear you on my bag speakers at times.
Wouldn't elezabeth also die
Exactly with no Booker there is no Child nonmatter the tears or timeliness that is why they ended Booker to end it all. Thus Elizabeth too.
Great channel! Just subscribed!
beautiful!
Yeah I feel like the world of Columbia being in the sky making it a bit more open and three dimensional to traverse made the voxaphone stuff a lot more annoying
The story has more plot holes than Swiss cheese.
Lmao
is this why you can't stream it on UA-cam? I tried today on my PS4
You say that Bioshock is about the lack of players choice with is absolutely incorrect. The ending of the game changes depending on choices that you make throught it long before Tennenbaum gives the protagonist full control over his decisions. Oh, yeah, also the last 1-2 hours of the game is all about what Jack does when he gets his agency back. You get the good ending in Bioshock by disobeying Atlas and saving the sisters, dude
Infinite's the one with no difference in outcome
11:06 OMG I didn't realize Chen Lin's wife being white had anything to do with him being alive 😳
12:18 how did i not realize Fink was at the raffle? Lol
27:08 what voxophone recording is this, and where is it found??? And 27:30 ?
My first introduction to Infinite was watching my ex play through it (she had played it before we met too) and then she explained everything... So i never had to be confused lol - sad but also saved my brain from exploding ☺️❤
32:47 my third playthrough i was encouraged to find all of the voxophones (tho i failed at that) because i had the piece of gear that gave you a bunch of money each time you picked up a new voxophone 😊
34:43 LOL and then i looooove your inclusion of Waltz of the Flowers from Tschaikovsky
35:09 LOL "cool" 😆
39:20 yes Kingdome Hearts 😊 i really love 2.8 the Final Chapter Prologue for how deep it is
A good recap of the BS Infinite and I really like the first person narration, however there is one thing I'd like to see corected.
When people criticize Infinite for ludonarrative dissonance they refer to what you cover in your "choices, consequences and conclusions".
They say that despite the game saying that there are infinite posibillities you only have few choices without any substantial consequences.
It doesn't feel as if though there were many posibilities because we play as nearly the same Booker every time.
This all is made worse by the ending that hinges on the convergence of the different worlds, if all of them are nearly the same it doesn't have that much impact.
I say this as a huge fan of the third game (I would even put it above the previous ones) but that means that I myself should familiarize with the arguments against it. That's why I wanted to correct this missunderstanding of the argument.
I wish there were more choices that made impact but ultimately ended tragically in the same way, it would have been much more impactfull.
But of course ambitious Ken Levine had to be rushed and the game we got was severely cut down from his original idea, this I believe is the reason why the game has this admitably huge flaw amongst so many good parts.
Another thing ive thought about is how Booker wouldn't know he's done any of this before, so it kind of makes sense that he makes mostly the same choices throughout the story
Unlike us, the players, who remember everything from our previous playthroughs
I kinda did because I read comics and multiverse theory has been a thing for years but this story isn't that good told
My native American title is: Chunky Hibernating Bear That Likes Munchies & Opium.
Premature load blowing is a myth. There is no such thing. Same as the name Cornelius. Not true.
what
10min in And nothing still makes any sense.
Mhm... But the whole story falls apart when you say "infinite universes". Stops making any sense.
But what I wanted to comment is this, a little outside the box:
Why there's has to be this fake notion of "what makes a Bioshock game a Bioshock game". Where are "the laws" that say a Bioshock 2 has to be AT LEAST as good as the first one and has to have this and that, and a compelling story made it this particular way, and plasmasdgfsd;lkj stuff..? One game is one game, and even if another one shares the IP, is just that, ANOTHER game. This doesn't happen with books, you will never find a person that goes "well, Rayuela 2 definitely is worst that Rayuela 1 because doesn't have this and that". Why do we say "from a market perspective is ok"? Like seriously, we should be more clever persons that simply enjoy, reflect and get inspired by art, games, literature, music, whatever, and in my opinion, we should stop expecting things out a work/game. And simply enjoy them, we should be critical, but in my point of view, been critique under this premise is kinda steril.
YES! It lessens the value of each individual game to be compared like that. Just value each one for exactly what it is ❤
Bioshock 2 has a amazing story and characters, Infinite is NOT the “true sequel”
You didn’t understand what made 2 great at all did you?
I meant true sequel in the sense Infinite was made by the same development team as Bioshock 1
bioshock 2 is mid ( only the dlc is good tho)
We needed SJW to realize that this game was an anti-Americam, anti-European game. Now we can understand all this propaganda and be just passive victims.
The classic one side of the story point of view. For instance American indians were literally brutal exterminators, ereasing entire enemy tribes and butchering children on their way with no care, but somehow they when they found a stronger enemy, they magically became the good poor victims in the narrative, while the Europeans were more civilized and more morally good on everything even in warfare, but now we are rewriting all history with a woke ideology that is fundamentally not correct on anything. The "good savage" is another nonsensical historic trope you can find on Wikipedia. Foundamentally a classic anti-European story from one of them, a bourgeoisie trying to clean his sins, a multimillionaire game director that burned out his employees so much he had to completely restructure his company.
Reminds me of the saying, "history is written by the victors" or something like that - which a lot of the time either distorts or changes the truth of reality