Critiquing the BioShock Experience
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 17 ต.ค. 2024
- Is a man not entitled to the death of his comment section?
BioShock is a franchise I knew almost nothing about until this year, except that it's a shooter with adventure elements and came from the developers of System Shock. Now I could probably give a seminar on the franchise.
BioShock was interesting to get in to, going through it's ups and downs, and hearing the vast array of perspectives in its fan community. In particular, I'd like to link to a number of other videos that I've watched and considered while forming opinions about this franchise.
The Rise and Fall of Dishonored: • The Rise and Fall of D...
Eldritch Augur (check him out!!): • How Bioshock Changed E...
Noah Caldwell-Gervais: • Video
Matthewmatosis: • Bioshock Infinite Crit...
Gameological Dig: • Bioshock Series - Retr...
#BioShock #Retrospective #Critique
"they were all written by the same guys, so how'd [Infinite's story] happen?"
It got rewritten 6 months before the game launched. That whole game's development is so crazy it's worth it's own video.
The original draft(demons from 2010) look way more enticing and intricate than the unfocused pretentious gargle that was the final product. I played it, in less than 6 HS completed it at launch. Made me feel empty, because it was less than medicore.
The Black Baron I enjoyed it. But I never got around to the first 2 games which is what lead me to play Infinite
The Black Baron I liked Infinite at the beginning but the more I look back and replay it, the more problems I find with them. Ironically, the more I play the second(the one which I saw as the worst of the three) the more I appreciate it.
Der Kaffeenator I used to be at that point, then I replayed Infinite, re-experienced how much fun the skylines were and reminded myself of how awesome the art direction was, and now Infinite’s my favorite again. None of them are perfect, but they all accomplished what they set out to do and were genuinely well designed. It’s a series I’d strongly recommend revisiting every 5ish years.
@@thrawncaedusl717 Bruh I'm revisiting it every 1 or 2 years hahaha😂😂😂
True story: The first time I played Bioshock it took a minute for me to even start moving. The game looked so good at the time I couldn't tell that the intro cutscene had actually ended.
I played it for the first time a few months ago....a 13 year old game. And yep, same exact thing happened to me. I had no idea I had to start moving. The fire and the way it reflected on the water was like I was still in a cutscene.
Haha i remember rich of review tech usa say the exact same thing
Watched my buddy play it for the first time, he did the same
It still does
Finally a review that praised Bioshock 2. Easily my favorite in the series for gameplay, but I always see the internet bash it.
Wait, really? As far as I see (and have heard other people say) only the plot was questionable. I've never heard anyone say the gameplay was bad.
Right on, the first BioShock may be the better package overall, but 2 is the better GAME, no question.
@@aldebaran2643 that's cause the haters conveniently ignore the gameplay because they are psuedo intellectuals who only care about story. There's nothing inherently wrong with preferring story in games especially in something like Bioshock that has a story that can only work in a video game, but many of the people who just hate on Bioshock 2 take it to ridiculous extremes and fetishize things like walking simulators which aside from the absolute best of the genre barely qualify as games and could and should've just been books or short films!
Bioshock 2 only lacks a great story.
@Madalin Grama and yet you like Infinite....
Rescuing actually results in more Adam in the long run. You spend a short period underpowered but by a few levels in you're FAR more powerful than a harvester actually manages to get
Andy Cico But it's not exactly fun to be underpowered even IF it's supposedly worth it, a fact I figured out when playing Bioshock 1 on the Bioshock Collection as I only managed to max out Incinerate, which is why it felt so relieving when I decided to just adopt and harvest while playing Bioshock 2.
Not really. Harvester overall nets you like 40 more Adam overall than Savior (which is null in the grand scheme of things), but you indeed get powered up sooner in the game than later.
As far as I know you get a few more upgrades worth of ADAM as a harvester in bs1, but you don't get armoured shell two or any of the hypnotize big daddy plasmids (which are super good)
@@Shinigami13133 See I never used Hypnotize Big Daddy as I had no use for it, and I've managed to do just fine with Armored Shell, so I'm not losing out on much in regards to being a Harvester in bs1 (at least in my opinion anyways)
@@ZanaTheBatPony I didn't use hypnotize much either till I learned that the big daddy follows you around.
There's an audio log fairly early on that says Rapture is biometricly locked to Ryan and his close family and if that's not just outright telling the player the twist early nothing is
Even after being told the would you kindly twist I still hadn't guessed the Ryan stuff, so I'd call that a successful twist that enriches the whole narrative.
It's not early on? It's halfway through the game during the section where you are trying to open Ryan's Panic Room
I even know where you found that too
in the second game you still use those things, the chambers in the first game could just be hacked
It should, if video games haven't trained us to accept and ignore any and every inconsistency.
"One of gaming's first female characters that doesn't exist entirely for you"
>Disregarding Samus, Bayonetta, Lara Croft, Claire Redfield, Jill Valentine, Ada Wong, Trish/Lady from DMC, several Fire Emblem/Final Fantasy characters (take your pick), EVA and Meryl from MGS, Ashelin from Jak II, Cortana, Alyx Vance, Heather Mason, the list goes on. And that's PRE-Infinite.
Heather Mason is still, to this day, my favorite female lead in a video game.
"C'mon. How powerful can a god from a dump like this be? I'm sure it'll be no big deal." ~ Heather Mason, hours before killing God with nothing but teen angst and a sub-machine gun
Litterly all of the leauge chicks
Half of these girls are playable characters, but we got your point.
Lol I don't think he was alive for any of them
Bayonetta?
>You already know the story beats of Bioshock 1, so there's no point in replaying it
But didn't you earlier talk about how the plot twist with Andrew Ryan recontextualizes a lot of the game mechanics, such as with the Vita-Chamber? Wouldn't a player want to replay the game with that context in mind, so they can see certain parts of the game in a new light, and see how they foreshadowed the twist beforehand? Surely that's worth at least one more replay?
I played it at least 3 times and Infinite about 10 lol, Bioshock 2 i've only played it once though
Oh yeah, you know when a movie has a twist, you can only really appreciate that once. It's not like you could find enjoyment in anything else. That's why everyone hates The Usual Suspects, what a horrible _drag_ of a plot, that movie. fuckin _YAWN_
BioShock 2 is the least replayable because absolutely nothing changes there's no profound message there's no twist to change your understanding of previous events toward any sort of Replay outside of the game play
Been on fire with these videos lately man
Purposeless Rabbitholes hey I know you
Nice to see ya here.
Sandor Cohen isn't necessarily a boss, since he won't attack unless you provoke him to do so
he's just a character in the game really, the "insane artistic genius" of rapture.
I didn't even kill him, because at the time I didn't even know you could
I didn’t even know he was a boss fight, I didn’t attack him
Bill Zevgitis same
Yeah, you don't face FPS drops on PC. Rather your game crashes every 5 minutes*
*based on my experience with the game, but it depends on the rig as well
LOL unlucky
BioShock Infinite is the only game I finished because it seems like the only port with any semblance of stability.
neteher Wait where you playing the original or the remaster? Because the originals are great and run fine but the remaster is broken.
@@SurgicalSituation the original
I find it rather disconcerting that PC gamers always talk about games crashing without talking about their relatively simple fixes. While it's certainly true that PC is plagued by bad ports (especially from older consoles) I've never had a problem finding a solution for these things with a quick google search especially something with a massive following like Bioshock.
steamcommunity.com/app/8870/discussions/0/828934724090557861/
It's not okay that the community generally has to fix these issues. However, I also think it's partly our responsibility to help spread those fixes for other players experiencing the same issues.
Bioshock 2 was the most fun to play one and Minerva's Den is probably the best Bioshock content ever
the Bioshock remastered trilogy is great.
@@mamaluigi0631 the collection has new game plus, its remastered, and it's in 1080p. Ps3 only had 720
I got it for 15 bucks and played the first two, came broke for infinite and crashed every 15 minutes on the dot and wouldn't let me leave the carnival section because of a game breaking glitch.
This review makes me think that might've been a good thing as to not tarnish my view on the series lol, otherwise outstanding and would play again for sure.
@@22slice for me BS2 was broken beyond hell. it would crash every 10 mins, and got to the point i gave up on the game
@Ned Flanders I play the remastered on PS4 no crashes and 60fps
@@DSkulle1 BioShock 2 has a significantly worse frame rate and graphical Fidelity than Bioshock 1 on PS4
19:18 I don't know if this was intended to be as smug as it sounds, but imma try to counter it anyways.
Bioshock 1 is timeless, but I'll agree it's not for its gameplay elements. Kind of like half-life 2 (which I'm sure some people will take exception at me for saying) the gameplay is rough, with creative elements (plasmids/gravity gun). What really makes those games timeless to me is the level of detail with which they regarded the world they were making. I can go back to Bioshock 1 multiple times because I enjoy the city of rapture, I like exploring it, same with HL2's City 17 though to a lesser extent. Bioshock 2 is a mechanically superior game, but the exploration aspects really just hit the same beats that Bioshock 1 (and system shock before it) already hit, which made it less appealing as it felt like I was playing a really long expansion pack more than an actual game.
Also, while it's nice that you'd heard of Objectivism in 2019, I'd guess given your apparent age that in 2007 you probably hadn't read much in the way of Ayn Rand, because the target demographic of this game, and games in general, is not the well-read adult (despite the game's rating). Even if by some chance you had, I'm going to give Levine a break and say that the "bash you over the head" symbolism approach was necessary for those of us who were all of 14 in 2007, and not well-versed in philosophical literature. Also true to form, Ayn Rand was also the kind of writer to bash you over the head with her messages, so kudos to Levine for keeping to the source material.
@Leon Coombes glad to hear it. Bioshock 1 is probably my favorite western game from the 360/ps3 era (and maybe overall except for Demon's and Dark Souls), and that moment in the review really struck me as a "OOH LOOK AT THIS HOT TAKE GUUUUYYS" kind of moment. A game can be both flawed and timeless, I don't feel they're mutually exclusive.
You summed up well how I feel about the games. I still think the gameplay isn’t important because the environment is why you play Bioshock
Agree with all of this. The other thing that made Bioshock 1 special was the graphics were stunningly beautiful for 2007. The water effects were unheard of in that time. Talking about this game and not mentioning its technical achievements would be like me talking about DOOM and ignoring the advances it made for 3D gaming and just talking about how predictable the imps were. The game wasn't trying to teach you anything - the Ayn Randian themes were a backdrop for an adventure. Calling it reductive seems pretentious. Compared to what? Halo 3? Assassin's Creed? It was different and cool and fun and that was good enough, and the fact that you had some great twists and interesting characters was icing on the top.
I'm so glad you wrote this comment because I wouldn't have been able to find the words but you wrote everything so well. I agree very much with your words and honestly I almost gave the dude a dislike on this video for certain "hot takes" and the way he said them, but I stuck it through till the end and realized it was overall a good video. But yeah, again, I'm glad you wrote this comment cause everything you said is an important rebuttal, even if he was just being lighthearted. I love Bioshock, flawed and all.
@@Alby-sky personally, i felt bioshock 1 had the best world building and enviormental storytelling, bioshoc 2 was the best mechanically EXCEPT for the shitty adoption system for little sisters, which made me wanna throw up, and infinte had the most emotion and narrative behind it. He claims a lot about how the ending feels out of place and the lutece twins seem cheap, but imo the ending actually felt mostly satisfying and the lutece twins provided an interesting dynamic
Finally someone who didn't fall for the "Bioshock 2 bad. Infinite good." meme. Nice.
@Jay Bee It's just an opinion
I agree. Infinite is really overrated
I really don't understand why anyone likes infinite, it was boring as shit and I never even finished it. Got very close to the end but I saw someone else play it and just didn't feel like doing it myself.
@@splash_067Because the game was fantastic and looked incredible.
I think of Infinite as a seperate game from the Bioshock series. I don't compare it to Bioshock 1 and 2 mainly because it wasn't in Rapture and with that has a completely different narrative as far as scenery and world-building. There was a narrative reason why the first 2 games were horror -esque. Infinite is its own game; no little sisters, no big daddies, no splicers, no Rapture. I think it tells a great story that gave me a very similar twist ending like the first game. A twist that you can go back and play the game again and see things in a new way. Gameplay-wise I like not being crunched in tight hallways throughout the whole game and with all the Vigors and weapons this game is very similar to Doom 2016, as far as being able to travel around quickly and decimate nearly everything. That's my unpopular opinion. I love all 3 Bioshocks, but 3 is my favorite.
@80s Freak Yeah but not to trash Ken, he kind of sucks. I love Bioshock, all of it, but Ken Levine feels kind of like a child with his approach to games and development. Also regardless of his plan, he never could stick to one after the release of Bioshock 1.
Jace Mullins I thought Bioshock Infinite’s DLC kinda connected all of them together! I loved it.
The Huffmanator lol what? Nothing I’m saying is about a personal connection. His work ethic is absolutely inconsistent, not to mention his constant abandonment of projects. His interviews also project slightly childish work ethic. It’s nothing to do with his personal life, but the work he produces and how he addresses it.
Jace Mullins I also like Infinite, my only problem is that the more I play it, the more I start to notice plot holes in its story.
" this game is very similar to Doom 2016"
Are you stupid?
Anyone: criticizes bioshock
Me: *REEEEEEEEEEEE*
Saint Petru same
WRRRRRRRRRRYYYY!!!!!
JohnTheGreat7822 I feel like most of his points were invalid. You really have to have a lot of experience with a game to critique it.
@@nooneofimportantsgrit8369 Yes, in fact Bioshock 1 and 2 (and Minerva's Den) are some of my favorite games of all time, I highly disliked Infinite and Burial at Sea.
@@kentuckyfriedchildren5385 Infinite is a masterpiece
*begins video by discussing why BioShock is, in his eyes, good yet flawed*
Urge to enter nerd rage mode... rrriiissssiiiiinnnnng~
*continues by praising BioShock 2 as an even better sequel*
...Holy shit, this is great! A guy who considers BioShock 2 to be one of the best sequels in gaming!
And yes, I'm a fan of BioShock 1, in fact it's my personal favourite game (I played the PC version which makes certain aspects a bit easier), but even I can't deny that BioShock 2 is an underrated gem that has _earned_ its cult following over the past years. INFINITE, on the other hand...
Dude thank you for giving 2 credit, the relationships and story telling aren't bad, theyre just super different from the first as two is just a more personal story of redemption and parentage, well worth the exploration.
My man, 2 was always and always will be my favorite of the series.
Two hit me in the feels with the little sisters like no other game has before
Bioshock 2 is my favorite in the series. Inifinite would have been my favorite because even though it was delayed and i noticed it to be alot different from its original trailer I still really enjoyed the game's story and the game's combat felt alot more fluid to me compared to 1 and 2, the ending however totally mind fucked me and left me confused and pissed off so I went to watch a long video explaining the ending to me.
Why can't we love all Bioshock games? 1,2,infinite both had their awesome shit and i personally love every bioshock game
MY MAN! Bioshock 2 is by far the best in my opinion and I love that there are people who appreciate the improved gameplay aswell.
Same, even though I prefer the story in the first game.
Bioshock 2 was my favorite as well I can see why people say Bioshock one was the best as far as story telling and level design but the reason I play fps games is the shooting and Bioshock is a bit lacking in that department it's more of a sim like System Shock at the en of the game I found myself using nothing but the wrench cause ammo was not only scarce but less effective then my fucking wrench lol
@@erixrodriguez8 what fucking game were you even playing
@@oh-not-the-bees7872 FREEZE and wrench op
@@oh-not-the-bees7872 Bioshock 1
Dude I love your critique. You focus on ideas and concepts presented in a story then dive into how well they are presented and communicated rather than "do get the feels" and "is this game pretty" also the challenges of balancing entertainment and artistic vision. You have earned my sub.
this is actually fairly accurate to my outlook on the series, though through a different lens. overall, the bioshock series is brilliant.
1 is more about the city and the ideology of the city than the player, it just so happens that the player has a major effect on the city. though the gameplay is abit clunky, but easily adapted to once you get into the swing on it. i often do a little bit of keybinding adjusting to make it alittle more 2 like in play, i feel like it helps abit.
2 is about the player and his daughter, a far more relatable story, though less socially impracticable. the gameplay is minorly changed but in such a way that it impacts it heavily in a very good way and arguably makes it a better game than the first and infinite. and minerva's den is just a masterpiece of a DCL with some nice new weapons and a really, really good story
infinite is a brilliant game, but a bad bioshock. i never thought it deserve the connection to the previous games with how many tenants of the series it got rid of, gameplay and story wise. both parts of burial at sea feel shoehorned in, to make it properly connect to the previous games, and it doesn't work for me.
honestly Burial At Sea Part 2 really hit the right emotional notes for me. Playing as elizabeth truly felt lonely as there were literally 0 friendly npcs, not to mention the amazing dialogue delivery and the fantastic world building
BioShock 2 is not more relatable. You the player never get a chance to interact with Eleanor ever she only calls you to save her there's no surprise twist like the first game
You're also playing as an established character you wont find out new information about yourself as you play
"Infinite is a brilliant game, but a bad BioShock". Reminds me of NeverKnowsBest's comment about Dragon Age Inquisition and how just b/c a game is a great game, doesn't mean it's a good sequel. And I always sorta thought Infinite was its own game, and how that was intentional hence the lack of #, but you saying it just sorta makes me think even more about it and how I should view Infinite, perhaps.
You know, Infinite is actually my favorite video game of all time (to put it in perspective, I've probably played close to 500 video games in my 30+ years of gaming, including the first 2 BioShocks on their release). I absolutely loved the story and setting, and don't remember really complaining about the gameplay. And it came out during my peak university study of philosophy and metaphysics, so some of the subject matter (metaphysics) really resonated w/ me. While other subject matter (racism, classism, parenthood, etc) was timeless and universal, regardless of what I was studying, so those topics still resonated strongly. I know fans mostly give 1 the highest praise, but I've actually never really seen so much shitting on Infinite until I came here. Granted, it's pretty tame shitting on, but still!
I think the reason everyone talks about 1 and Infinite are because of their memorability. They both have unique settings and twists that stick with you (regardless if they're good or bad). BioShock 2 has great gameplay, but nothing else stands out after not playing it for years.
Bioshock 1 has better gameplay since it has more of a survival horror elements you have to strategize your move instead of just running and shooting
Lol I end up replaying bioshock 2 out of all of them bc it’s the most fun bc who cares about the story when I replay it . If anything 2 is better story when replaying bc it’s simple save your daughter
I honestly really liked Infinite even though I realize that it does have some flaws and shortcomings. But I still love the story and characters, especially Elizabeth.
Agreed, the ending doesn't make a lot of sense but it's my favorite of the 3, maybe because I played it before the other 2 idk
The pure style and Variety in environments and combat are too good to call the game bad.
It has just as much visual variety as the first two games it's just a different aesthetic and in my opinion more haunting because it's a utopian gone dystopian instead of just a straight-up dystopian.
The Voice protagonist and the sidekick Dynamic our objective improvements adding relatability to the protagonist for once and not just the characters you interact with. My only complaint is that is extremely linear there's no revisiting previous areas there is not as much Variety in weapons or plasmids but it still a perfect game on its own for trying to be a more linear experience
@@eziospaghettiauditore8369 nobody says it's a bad game, it's just a bad bioshock game, it relies entirely too much on pre-established lore to even exist, and too many retcons really just giving the impression that it doesn't really have its own narrative, beyond the stupid tear bullshit. As for the variety, that's just straight up untrue, infinite's environments felt very linear and simplistic compared to the environments of bioshock 1 and 2, as for the sidekick thing, that's really just personal preference, I don't personally enjoy having an endless chatterbox following me around, and the whole game all in all feels kinda hollow, especially in the later segments, had they gone with what was originally conceived people might've been more receptive to it, but as is, it can't really compare to it's predecessors, and burial at sea, ooooo boy, let's just say that isn't cannon, biggest piece of retconning trash I've ever seen, all for the sake of shoehorning infinite and it's stupid characters into rapture, and trying to give them credit for shit they didn't do. This is why most Bioshock fans hate infinite and always will.
Elizabeth really carried the game. She was the only thing I found myself caring about and being invested in. I found Booker bland, The Vox were lame and hypocrites, and Comstock was nonexistent to the point I half-expected him not even being real until we bump into him.
R34.
I like the use of the Dishonored soundtrack to the background music
A newer video of yours popped on my Home screen recently and I'm on a binge of all your videos. I subscribed to you months ago but I guess now is the time you really leave an imprint on my brain.
"The bosses in bioshock 1 barley have any character"
So you didn't listen to there audio logs then??
Ya know the things that give them a back story that the player can choose to ignore if they please?
Shhhh! Don't say that! You'll be downvoted to hell.
Tbh that doesn't stop them from being any less shallower bosses in gameplay.
Well you can tell he just played the game to make this video the moment he says Cohen is a bad boss fight when he’s not even a boss
facts dude he complains alot and sometimes ignores the challenge imo
4:03 Shock, JUMP and then falling strike to the head for max wrench damage. The momentum adds to damage.
Got a hunch from seeing the splicers do the same.
Finding this out changed early game, especially on hard difficulty.
Damn I had no idea you could do that
Does it really? I can't find any confirmation of that anywhere else
@@theotherbeatle707 I found it out by testing personally, you can really tell the difference on Hard difficulty.
Save, kill a splicer, shock then wrench only, head hits only for the wrench, then load and kill the same splicer, same method but jump before hits, waiting for peak height to swing. It'll take less hits to kill.
@@UNFETTER3D huh cool. So while you are jumping, at height or when landing do you strike?
@@theotherbeatle707 swing at peak height so you hit the enemy while falling.
You're the only youtuber I've seen reference Noah Caldwell-Gervais, nice!
using the dishonored music in the part where you talk about multiple ending eyyyy
i mean the whole video uses dishonored music but i get what u mean
Hmmm...you kinda picked apart boss fights as "These feel like just some suped up normal enemy" Yeah. Thats kind of the point. While the world is filled with "Powered people" Its not like crazy super hero stuff. Its way more focused on the it being an actual drug that makes people crazy and do crazy things. Often stupid things. Enemies are jumpy, react in ways that aren't normal. The way enemies moves speaks to the lore of the game. Now if you don't like that aspect, thats okay. But it felt like you missed the point entirely.
The world doesn't have great fighting arenas? I don't agree with that at all. The world design is pretty amazing and allows for a lot more creativity when using different plasmids and different weapons. Setting different kinds of traps, forcing enemies to fight a big daddy you enraged so you don't have to fight. Stuff like that.
That’s great and all from a story standpoint, but it doesn’t make for interesting gameplay
@@_vibe_check_ and if you don't like it then thats too bad. Simple as that. It fulfills the narrative that the game wants. If thats not something you like in games thats okay too.
BlueEchoos I like when narrative and gameplay fulfill each other, it’s nice to experience the story through the gameplay instead of just being told about stuff. That said gameplay is definitely just as if not more important than the story so if a gameplay element isn’t interesting or fun, then I think it’s 100% fair to critique those elements regardless of how they impact the story.
If the game having interesting and unique boss fights goes against the tone and narrative, then it probably shouldn’t have boss fights to begin with, or at least not be a straight up “fight” in the traditional sense. I hope this made sense and didn’t come off as argumentative or rambly, those are just my thoughts on the matter
@@_vibe_check_ Being Argumentative is okay haha. Its better to get your opinion out just as it was mine. :P. I see where you're coming from. Its just not how i personally see it. Cause we label these enemies as "Boss fights" when really they aren't meant to be. The big daddies are meant to be that. Which they are since you can tackle them anyway you please.
To me the "Bosses" are just normal people who got fucked up by Eve by the weird slug. Some crazy drug gave them powers and abilities and yet they became addicted to it because they needed a constant stream of adam to keep using it. The game doesn't try to play them as some super different boss. It plays up their personality more then them being all powerful. Its who they are as people and how they treated others that made me scary within the games world. But by beating them as we beat normal enemies it tells us the player they while they may seem all scary and powerful they are nothing but normal people fucked up by these powers. No greater then we are. Which the entire game is based around that idea. That no one man is greater than the other. Reguardless if you have powers or not. Which in that sense i think the game nails it perfectly.
but the hacking mini game? Fuck those minigames. Suck ass. Lets all agree. Bioshock 2 did it so much better and was much faster.
Yeah, but aside from that I thought the video was very well put
Edit: I just realized the kind of argument going on here....
I'll see myself out
*sees new kbash video while at work
"I'm saving you, for later :)"
saving work for later?
I generally really liked infinite because of the whole change in atmosphere. the first 2 games were so dark and oppressive and the free-flying new location finally got me on board and i loved the story. i like rapture to a point, but can't get myself to want to spend more than a few mins there. columbia is nice on several levels, even when its dark. Its convoluted, but it felt like i was able to come in at the end just fine.
Most of the vid was great. I do feel as if the Elizabeth part was a bit.. odd. Kinda felt like you went on a tangent on how “women aren’t treated well in video games” and yeah a fair amount aren’t, but a tonne of them are. Elizabeth was far from the first and the rant’s inclusion just felt so jarring; if Elizabeth was one of the first female characters you considered wasn’t just “for the players” then how high are your standards for characters?
It was weird. I agree. It kind of upset me, it sounded like weird white knighting, the kind where really they're actually a part of the problem, and extremely sexist.
i really couldnt see where this criticism of elizabeth was coming from. the biggest thing about her for me was the fact that she seemed like she didnt exist solely for the purpose of being a character. to me she felt like a part of the world and thats something many npcs fail to achieve.
I thought we just all liked Elizabeth because she was cool, acted like an actual human being, and it was refreshing to have a partner character that wasn't hindering the gameplay? And her powers managed to tie in gameplay and story, which to me is an added bonus. Was it perfect? i don't think anything is perfect. And even Elizabeth is probably not above criticism. But this wasn't the right take.
With Bioshock 1, I would recommend to turn off the Vita chamber in the options menu.
For those who don't know. Vita chambers make it so when you die, you respawn at a Vita chamber (this game's explanation of checkpoints), but enemies you killed stay dead and enemies health stay exactly the same when you die. Vita chambers just break the game. Granted I finished the game before I knew you could turn off these.
Edit: I was wrong, don't turn off the vita chamebers. They punishment is too steep. When they are turned off, there are no checkpoints in the game. So when you die, you start at the very beginning of the level
Really? I only died once throughout the whole game, so it didn't really ruin my experience.
alexander bloom Check out this guy
@@thelonesomedrifter5884 Didn't know there was a super easy mode
There is a trophy where you do turn off the vita chambers and play on survivor mode
I did survival without vita chambers, you save the game, that's all lol
4:29 I know this doesn't have a lot to do with the critique but god damn that was so funny, the guy floating into the ceiling while on fire and then falling down with that scream LOL
I think the reason for "weak" bosses was that they represented the elites, the intelligentsia of Rupture, while Big Daddies and the like were brutes. In other words, Rupture is a world where smart bois rule, muscle bois do the work.
If you'd actually played this game (Bio1), you'd know that saving little sisters gives you more Adam in the long run; harvesting sisters only grants you more Adam in the short run, i.e. right fucking now.
Other than that, spot-on, man.
17:55 is that Dishonored music in a Bioshock video??? My man, YES
Can you tell me what that particular track is called?
Thanks for mentioning my video in the description. Your content's pretty good. Your editing, pacing, and humor are really distinct. I'm currently almost done editing my Bioshock 2 video and I'm pretty much with you on everything. Love the combat, it's great, but a significant part of my script hinges on it's narrative failings and they are many. So I go pretty in-depth on Sofia Lamb and Bioshock 2's obsession with retcons and meddling with the first game's backstory.
Infinite though....
I'm not with you on that. Not at all.... I'm doing Infinite after Bioshock 2 and I hope I can put a put a compelling case forward as to why Infinite is fantastic.
Eldritch Augur are you still planning on releasing an Infinite video because I’m tired of seeing it being trashed on lately. I think it’s a fantastic game for different reasons. All 3 have their own strengths.
Just went into bioshock 1, set deifficulty to hard and never had any ammo availability issues. I felt like the game perfectly allocated resources and it honestly shocked me
I dont know if you're aware but there's an awesome novel "Bioshock: Rapture" that greatly incorporates the characters of Bioshock 1 and 2, it'a good read and even better if you enjoyed Bioshock 2.
This Novel never gets enough credit.
that novel is great, it really puts the concept of people will break down if there is no official governmental body in charge, but I do not remember if subject delta/topsidetommy ever gets mentioned much, but overall Bioshock: Rapture is something is if society with no real government are left alone, its not seen in upper parts of rapture but its still there
Tucher97 It doesn’t involve SubjectDelta. But it involves all the characters Bioshock 2 introduces, like Lamb, Gill, the reporter etc.
@@Tucher97 Topside gets a cameo. B2 pretty much tells his whole story.
@@0rderSol ok now i remember, you are right which I am atleast glad those characters get a spot light as for a lon while they are mentioned quite a bit in bioshock 1 and 2
thank you for being so excited and funny. my mom died recently and i needed something light and enjoyable and you are exactly that kbash
You are so correct.
Certain games pander "feelings" to an impressionable audience and they'll lap on to out like crazy, not even stopping and thinking about the actual quality and construction it's going through.
Not to say pure feels games are bad, but something like What Remains Of Edith Finch is still very well designed and has quality/ideas/creativity to back that up.
Damm, just found this channel and love the humor and depth you go to in these reviews. Keep it up!
I'm a simple man, I see KBash uploads, I watch how ever many ads on are on it, in their entirety, to make sure he gets that ad revenue.
Ah....a fellow man of culture i see
100% I do the same, give him the pennies!
Please give me pennies
KBash virgin
The original bioshock infinite was supposed to use a whole bunch of new concepts and an entirely different concept story and bosses and it basically was an entirely different game originally even having a different voice actor for Booker it could have been utterly astounding that could have blown the previous games out of the water but do to poor finances and schedules and all around poor management was dumbed down to what it was an unfortunate loss for the industry
One of my favorite videos on the Bioshock series. Great work my dude.
Cant tell if old looking 16 year old or adult who needs a new hair style.
He's a man child 😂 he definitely needs a haircut
That haircut is probably as outdated as Bioshock 1's mechanics
Your channel is so undderated! I love your sense of humour and your thumbnails are great! I really don’t have any critiques of your channel.
Lol your reaction to the first game, especially during Andrew Ryan's scene, was the same as mine :^)
"-at times she'll have nothing for you, leaving you dead and pissed off."
just love the way you articulate and pontificate
I honestly enjoyed all of them in their own way, I would consider bio shock 1 one of the best games I have ever played and infinite was one of the only games where I felt satisfied with the end. As for Bioshock 2 I think that it’s the most technically sound game with good gameplay but the story isn’t as good. Overall it’s a great series
Big agree with this. I don't have strong nostalgia as I'm currently playing through Burial at Sea (so I've played 1, 2, Minerva's Den, and Infinite). I honestly think the games are underrated these days, yes all of them. I do agree they're flawed but still well-made, easy to like, and fun and are some of my favorite games of all time. Also based T2 enjoyer let's go.
This resource draught you talk about never plagued me. I vaguely remember having 2 or three encounters that could kill me, but hey, there’s 0 repercussions for dying and you can chip down big daddies by dying and charging in their face. It’s not fun so I didn’t do it after the first time, but it’s an option. The game can be hard at few points if you use the ice plasmid (I never even touched it) and waste your loot but it’s hard an unpunishing.
same. bioshlock 1 is baby-tier easy
As he was hating on infinite i just kept thinking
man, i love infinite so much
Why did you liked it?
I liked it, even if it was a prequel, ITS FUCKING BEAUTIFUL!
@@dendae3217 So you're a graphics pleb with shit taste? Yep, makes sense you like infinite.
i liked all Bioshock games despite its flaw, all of them are leaves a very strong impression for me
Same.
Fell asleep lastnight with youtube running, and woke up to this video, its 7:30AM this is my 3rd video ive watched you made and LOL im a fucking fan dude haha. Im glad the algorithm led me to this channel
Excellent take on the series. One was mechanically crippled but captivating with its story and twist, two was actually fun and largely panned because it wasn’t the first game, and Infinite’s just not really a Bioshock game, and largely soulless besides.
Keep them uploads coming, I hunger for your content.
Totally agree.
I gave up on BioShock because I just wasn't enjoying the mechanics all that much, especially since there was no penalty for death on original release.
I understand why people would enjoy it, because the setting and visual design is very compelling, but I just didn't find playing it gratifying at all.
@@casanovafunkenstein5090 i find Bioshock Infinite more entertaining on the hardest diffiuilty, on medium it´s just a generic FPS shooter... you don´t really need to use anything besides guns
Infinite is interesting only in that it's the fastest a games ever went fron beloved by all to despised by all
Mild Monster it really only depends, most people loved it and most people hated. Not everyone hates it. I thought it was the best, the DLC tied everything together.
I have all the Bioshock games. I played probably half of the first one's remaster. It was affected by numerous glitches which were too tedious to continue with,. Thanks to this video, I no longer feel like I should finish the series! Thanks, KBash!
What glitches exactly? As far as I know there was only the intro vid fucking up (just add to -nointro to the executable) and the possibility of dying in the first few minutes (lower graph settings at least for that part)
I'm stoked to see someone actually giving Bioshock 2 a fair shake for once. I though I was the only person on Earth who actually appreciated it. That said, when you were talking about the various reasons why people didn't like the game, you just brushed past the criticism that it was still in Rapture. I don't know how nobody seems to catch it, but that's the single most asinine statement in the entire discussion surrounding this series. Rapture is one of the most iconic, well-realized settings in all of fiction and the concept of a Bioshock sequel taking place anywhere else would have been heresy. The thought hadn't even crossed anyone's mind until Infinite was announced and that was seven full months _after_ Bioshock 2 was released. To say that being in Rapture was a weakness of the game is an utterly worthless statement and an open declaration of ignorance.
Honestly, Bioshock Infinite was super well received at launch, and I kinda feel like it was only so well received because it was a Bioshock game. A lot of people are way more critical of Infinite now than they were when it came out.
I can’t help but love infinite. The fact that it doesn’t follow any serialization like bioshock 2 is a hint that this is a departure from the first, and that should be okay. There will always be a city, a lighthouse, and a man, but they can all differ from each other as long as the basic elements can be linked together
Gavyn Coble completely agree, never understood people’s problems with this.
It's so trippy yesterday I finished playing dishonored 2 so I'm sitting here right now, watching this video about bioshock and suddenly hear dishonored soundtrack playing in the background???? I was genuinely confused. Nonetheless amazing video, love it.
Basically complain that one of the most unfair gripes about Bioshock 2 was that people were mad it wasn't Bioshock 1 or System Shock, then immediately gripes that Bioshock Infinite isn't Bioshock 1 or Bioshock 2
Forest Armstrong yeah agreed I’m tired of hearing this take on the internet lol
Hahaha. To be fair I grip that Infinte wasn't it's prequels or even the original vision
Okay, you got the right opinion about Bioshock 2. 98 good options to go till the compensation is complete.
I disagree on a few points but find these reviews pretty nice.
Although I think the comment about the women in gaming thing is a bit misinformed. This song and dance has gone on and on already and its frustrating to see people wave off the great female characters in gaming from yesteryear and present. Great review otherwise dude
Although I have many gripes with the content, this was really well made!
Just played bioshock infinite about a month a go and think it's great. Honestly don't get the hate for it. I thought people would be more open minded going into playing it. I think Irrational games and Ken Levine deserved that much.
Even tho I really like the game I can totally see the hate for it tbh. Although I do think some people go a bit hyperbole saying it is absolute trash when it is nowhere near a bad game cause a bad game doesn't stay in the top 100 best games on steam for 8 years long.
@@letsBrn not a bad game, bad bioshock game
@@letsBrn bad games like infinite usually throw words like “racism bad” at the player and then people praise it for being deep. It’s a pretty bad game
My biggest problem with this franchise is how repetitive it feels. Get a new ability, go ahead and shoot through the same room again; get another ability, go and shoot through the same room again... Compared to games like Dishonored, I never had a sense of "leveling" since every location was pretty much more of the same.
That’s your fault
>"i recently played the séries back to back"
>No mention of system shock
More like systemCOCK
KBash got em
@@KBash After viewing this absolute display of savagery I've subscribed.
He actually mentioned it several times?
5:40 Oh that was definitely a Harry Potter Puppet Pals reference! 🤣🤣
harvesting is always bad you get more adam and resources by saving in the end so optimally always save.
Bioshock 2 is my favorite in the series. I also really loved infinite. The sky setting was even more beautiful then rapture and the world was beautiful. Flying around on those rails and leaping off to air attack people was baddass. I loved the combat and I like having a shield etc
How are you meant to dual wield if you have to hold a weapon with two hands?
Lmao he expects Jack from the first game to be able to hold grenade launcher with one hand like Delta
Great video, KBash. On an unrelated note, has anyone told you your voice sounds a tiny bit like Chris Ray Gun’s?
I loved Jack and Andrew Ryan as a character, I loved the twist, and I loved Rapture! That's all I loved about Bioshock!
Bioshock 2? The gameplay was AMAZING! It still had some pretty good characters and the bond between Delta and Eleanor and Delta and Sinclair felt compelling and interesting enough. Minerva's Den was also very good! I agree with 2 being the favorite.
I absolutely hate Bioshock Infinite for... A LOT of reasons.
Speaking as someone who genuinely enjoyed BioShock 2, I can tell you that for most people it's much easier to find a game with stand out, truly fun gameplay then it is to find a game with at least decent gameplay and a very good narrative.
BioShock 2 is my favorite of the series, which I know is a nuclear take. Sure, BioShock was a groundbreaking spiritual successor designed for big-brained, 2000 IQ gamers of 2008 (I think it was, anyways). But people see 2 as "They just tossed a Big Daddy in as the player character and it was a cash grab" rather than a BioShock game that didn't need a twist to wedge itself in our brains for decades to come.
I also think Infinite gets a bad wrap in general and it totally nails my aesthetic: dystopian idealistic nationstate in the sky where the white man is in char-
Sure, the system is streamlined to hell (which is almost never a good thing) and it lacked the wrinkly-brained twist of the 1st game, so of course it can't live up to the first game's shadow (not like anything else on the planet can). It honestly should have been a spiritual successor to the spiritual successor of System Shock. Don't even get me started on how much I love Burial at Sea and the narrative of Infinite (no matter how it's often chastised)
REALLY glad you made this video
2 was the only one i actually wanted to play more than once
Totally agree on infinite. Sure I far prefer b2 but for all it’s faults, infinite is just really fun
the bioshock games are special to me. not because i played them myself, but when i was little and visiting my dad for the two weeks out of the year i could, he'd play bioshock whenever my brothers weren't playing anything.
its very strange considering how little i was and how mildly horrifying these games are, but seeing the city underwater and all the blood and the big daddies are weirdly comforting to me. i should play it myself sometime.
maybe this is why i feel like. a connection with the big daddies ig. cause the whole dad and little daughter thing. idk.
The second's gameplay and narrative are superior. The characters are not when compared to Ryan. Overall the better game. Belief in the collective is far more easily abused than belief in the individual. Ryan betrays his belief in individual freedoms when he begins banning books. Lamb sticks to her principles through and through.
I'd love to see a Bioshock sequel where Lamb is in the Rosenbaum role or an approximation, where she still hasn't given up on her beliefs but isn't militant about it anymore.
Gameplay is more thoughtless and easier running gun shooter and the narrative has no twists or foreshadowing
Im about to drop one of the most flaming takes in gaming...
The andrew ryan twist falls short due to the underdevelopment of motivation early on in the game.
As much as i want to agree and say its the most amazing twist in gaming, i cant say i even felt invested in the story in the first place. Why, all of a sudden, am I, a random plane crash survivor, taking plasmids and obeying every whim from this random Scottish guy? If anything, i felt like a slave from he beginning. Nothing made sense UNTIL i learned i was a conditioned murder robot. Until then, nothing made sense to me. Everything was a huge build up to a twist that only explained my characters motivation for going from SURVIVING A PLANE CRASH, to trying to, immediately thereafter, FREE AN UNDERWATER CITY SINGLEHANDEDLY. Idk. Maybe im off my hinges but this is just my own, current opinion.
The game had tons of cut content and sequences, the way bioshock 1 ended was kind of lackluster, didnt enjoy the mind control aspect, a choice would have been better, the final "boss" battle was also a letdown, the same can be said for infinite, the sweet spot for me is Bioshock 2
You know you can let Sander Cohen live right?
you get presents for killing him tho
@@taterc229 you also got presents for not killing him later
I tried picking up and playing Bioshock one and I was really bored with the gameplay but loved the aesthetic and narrative so I just ended up watching a play through but after watching this I’m going to consider playing bioshock 2 because I’m more of a gameplay guy.
Starved for ammo or cash? What? Even on the survivor difficulty I found myself maxed on ammo and cash constantly
Lmao same here currently playing on survivor difficulty upto Olympus heights and have max ammo for all weapons and Max money
Gavin Dixon
Yeah my recall of the game is picking a weapon, using it extensively ‘till I’d run out of ammo for it, then pick my next weapon to use exclusively. Rinse and repeat. Never in my many playthroughs did I ever find myself truly out of ammo for any particularly memorable period.
I fucking love the dishonoured music in the background
I literally beat the first bioshock yesterday! Still need to play infinite and 2... so i cant watch yet. Sad
Play infinite then 2
And definitely don't miss the Bioshock 2 DLC, Minerva's Den.
Probably the best part of Bioshock in terms of gameplay, and the plot is great as well.
Or just skip that garbage called infinite
The WahMaster Absolutely play the Remaster version! Vastly superior to the normal version.
The WahMaster you should play Bioshock 2, then Infinite and then Buried at Sea (DLC) right after. It ties everything together. Frankly Infinite was the best and most enjoyable one but that’s my opinion.
With Sander Cohen, you don't have to kill him right away, you can let him go and see him later, you get a power to the people station for doing it :)
"There's the dislikes!" Actually liked and subbed at this spot. Great content.
The fact that he called out which criticisms were going to get him dislikes, and then the comments are littered with complaints about those parts, tells me how predictable a lot of bioshock fanboys are.
Bioshock 2’s story is just as good as the other two.
No, it's worse than Bioshock 1 but 100 times better than Infinite
@@gamefan987 no, actually it's better cause it's less contrived
I personally like 2's story better. I felt more emotionally attached to Delta and Eleanor than I ever did with jack. I liked Booker and Elizabeth but the game play was so tedious.
Bioshock 1 is my favorite game of all time. I think its fantastic, so I dont quite agree with your review but you did make some fantastic points that cannot be denied. But i totally agree with your views on Infinite. If Infinite was more like Myst or hell even a tad more along the lines of Dishonoured I think the game would have been so much better.
Ah yes, the Eve refill animation, a mechanic to punish plasmid abuse in a game which emphasizes resource management (similarly to how reload animations work in most modern shooters), is annoying when you abuse plasmids. I'm shocked.
not to mention u can manually trigger the animation with the reload button XD
Appreciate the lip service to Bio2, Recently replayed it to get a more fair evaluation of the game and found it to be honestly a lot better than my former self ever gave it credit. It improves on a lot of the formula that made the first enjoyable, and added some flair that was missing in the original. As for villains, while Sophia Lamb couldn't possibly live up to Ryan's stage presence, I did feel like she was a much more intimately involved antagonist, and her regular chimings to insult Delta made her memorable enough for me. Also loved the whole bit with Eleanor working with your player decisions.
Bio 1 is still a classic in my eyes, and while it has a litany of issues in and of itself, I honestly still enjoy replaying this game over and over, and generally pick it up every few years for a refresher. It had a fun world and while the "would you kindly" plot can't hit as strong as it did the first time, I still enjoy the world and the side-stories enough to keep playing through it. I'm also one of those weird people who was only rarely bothered by constant hacking, so I guess I must have been the demographic there.
Infinite.....Well I enjoyed it when I first played it, but I find it critically difficult to go back to. I didn't find the gun-play nearly entertaining enough and honestly didn't care for Vigors nearly as much as I'd have liked to, and while the game is incredibly pretty, it really lacks substance. Not going to lie, for most of my playthrough I forgot that there was even gear to gather, and didn't feel particularly hampered because of it. The linear map-design and especially the progression system (as plasmids were location locked, not even really giving me the ability to meaningfully adapt my playstyle earlier on), and the limited guns were obnoxious to deal with especially when ammo was running tight for my primaries. Elizabeth was a rather enjoyable character I think, but My hesitation to even boot up Bioshock Infinite stops me from getting a real second look into her in the ways I'd like to. Booker was kind of obnoxious as a protag and honestly I preferred our mute friends Jack and Delta.
I like infinites story the most and the second game's gameplay the most
You hold my exact thoughts on the Bioshock franchise. So you just earned a subscriber
This is an amazing review, liked and subbed!
I've watched several of your videos so far. & you seem like a pretty cool sir. Thanks for the good content, subbed.
Have to disagree, I adore Bioshock Infinite, favorite in the series; especially the narrative, while convoluted and nonsensical at times I still think it's brilliantly emotional once you understand it.
While I also love Bioshock 1, once you know the twist, the story becomes less interesting. And the game takes a huge nose dive in quaility in the last act.
Bioshock infinite, the core gameplay to me, while simpler, is more fun and the character story is still impactful om subsequent playthroughs.
But it really seems to be a game you either love or hate. I think a big thing that sums up the difference in our tastes is that you may have preferred Infinite to be a walking simulator, while I would have found that incredibly boring.
To each their own I guess
Great vid as always kbash
Sooo good Kbash!🙏🏿🙏🏿
Subscribed my dude, can’t believe I’ve never heard of your channel before!
We played bioshock in utterly different ways lmfao.
Yeah he whines about just using winter blast and the wrench and chooses to ignore all the other game mechanics LOL
Infinite still sucks so....
@@billyboleson2830 how does it suck?
This guy played Bioshock 1 and 2 back to back, and shortly after played Infinite, and is already outraged and defending the name of Bioshock by saying what is and isn't Bioshock.
I love you.
Oh, and he accurately gave Bioshock 2 the praise it deserves.
I’ve watched your channel a week ago and I’m already in love with your content keep it up dude
Also regrow your beard