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BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea |OT| Episode One

I

Intheflorsh

Banned
I'm not sure I want to experience four hours of irrational retconning Elizabeth and blandy bland-man into Rapture's back-story, but if the gameplay is more like the original I'll consider it.
 
B

B33

Banned
Excellent work, Elzar! You kept the flame going and I couldn't have done it better myself.

Now I just need to get my copy of BioShock Infinite back from a friend before November 12th.
 
D

Deputy Dangle

Member
Whoa, that FAQ info. I had no idea about the hubspace environments. I only knew there would be less combat. I'm so damn ready for this!
 
S

SoraanTribal

Member
There any good deals for Bioshock Infinite's Season Pass? or any coupons that will work on like GMG? I really want to pick it up soon before the DLC releases. :x
 
S

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
Here's FartOfWar describing BioShock Infinite's DLC in the Season Pass announcement thread:

FartOfWar said:
Three entirely new missions with all new content and self contained stories. Thanks!
Click to expand...

This did not happen. It's one two-part DLC that returns to old areas with no doubt quite a bit of asset reuse and one self-contained story, and one one-part DLC that's combat arenas with little new content or story.

It's clear from that thread that Burial At Sea was already planned out based on the way Levine talked about it at the time. So I believe Burial at Sea was planned to be the second or third piece of DLC. I don't think FartOfWar is a lying jerk (actually I think he's a great, smart, very articulate guy who voluntarily participated in the thread and had no alterior motive at all). Here's what I think happened: The first piece of DLC scheduled got cut down due to production difficulties resulting in the Clash in the Clouds DLC. Levine's DLC, Burial at Sea, got expanded to be the second and third DLCs. Whatever they had planned as the other DLC got cancelled altogether.

We also have an employee resume suggesting the first DLC was supposed to have a brand new AI companion character. Irrational in general has a good deal of difficulty working on stuff as evidenced by the brutal slog that led to BI and BioShock (I don't mean this as a criticism, I am sure everyone is hard working and talented, but the production challenges are no doubt greater than ordinary even for a project of this scope).

Perhaps this should be a warning about season passes, though. If you're going to advertise a season pass, and you're going to take people's money, and you're going to answer questions about what you're giving them in return, you had better deliver. I do suspect people will feel happy with what they get in the end, but I don't think what they're going to get in the end is accurately described by the comments made in that thread at the time.
 
D

Deleted member 80556

Unconfirmed Member
It's a shame, Stump, I was hoping for 2 self-contained stories. And while Burial at Sea looks amazing, it's a shame that we'll never know what they wanted to do.

Wonder what's going on with the guys in Irrational, their plans always seem to change so quickly.

EDIT: Oh, and nice OT too, Elzar!
 
N

Nimajneb

Member
I'm glad to hear they're going back toward Bioshock level design. I was pretty disappointed when I played Infinite and found out it was even more streamlined/dumbed down than Bioshock was. The shorter game length sounds like a plus too. Infinite lasted way too long for what it was, and the repetitive combat encounters got super tedious about half way through. I'll probably pick this up eventually.
 
B

BIONIC-ARRRMMM!!

Member
The simple answer is no, Irrational have identified that BI's level design was detrimental in comparison to BS1's. BAS will see the return of a central hub connecting to other areas, which was sadly missing/limited throughout BI. The intricate layout of the levels will also return in BAS as Ken Levine identified (in Destructoid):

"I look at levels like the medical level in BioShock and Fort Frolick as sort of the right structural layout of things because they’re less linear, they’re more sort of the center. They feel organic to me, [but] buildings are designed in a hierarchical fashion […] where the more big action stuff tends to push you down a single corridor. It is a constant struggle to get the team around that non-linearity. We’ve definitely done a better job I think in this DLC than we did in Infinite."
Click to expand...

It's funny how they made this observation after the game is released and not, you know, during the five fucking years it took to make Infinite. What a crock of shit.
 
F

freshmendontod

Member
Despite how much I hated Infinite, I'm really excited about this. Elizabeth seems like a much better character this time around, and I'm always up for revisiting Rapture.
 
B

B33

Banned
BIONIC-ARRRMMM!! said:
It's funny how they made this observation after the game is released and not, you know, during the five fucking years it took to make Infinite. What a crock of shit.
Click to expand...

It's just a facet of the creative process. It's hard to see the flaws of a piece of work when you've spent so much time with it. In the thick of it, you're just trying to make the best decisions on both a fiscal and artistic level without compromising either. With a bit of time and hindsight, it's easier to critique a product.
 
M

Marjar

Banned
BIONIC-ARRRMMM!! said:
It's funny how they made this observation after the game is released and not, you know, during the five fucking years it took to make Infinite. What a crock of shit.
Click to expand...

Um no?

Sometimes it takes a bit of hindsight to see where the problem lies. Personally though, I didn't think this was an issue in Infinite, and the linearity didn't hinder the game for me at all. But hey, if that means more abstract level design, then by all means, go for it.
 
G

Grief.exe

Member
Stumpokapow said:
and one one-part DLC that's combat arenas with little new content or story.
Click to expand...

It would seem almost no one has played Clash of the Clouds.

These achievements seem fairly rudimentary to get, though I can't blame people. Focusing an entire DLC on Bisohock Infinite's boring combat isn't exactly a genius move.
As Stump said, it was probably done out of desperation more than anything.

cFjGJst.png


EDIT: A similar achievement from the base game for 'The Ol' One-Two' has 3%, while a similar achievement for 'Sergeant-At-Arms' has almost 40%.
 
P

psykomyko

Member
I am actually pretty excited about this, even with being very lukewarm on Infinite. Hopefully this turns out pretty good.
 
X

x-Lundz-x

Member
If they every release a GOTY version on PS4 I'm there day 1, I'll play the game a third time. One of the best games I have ever played.

Really looking forward to next week. Season pass is finally paying off.
 
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