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scarycave posted:So I complained a bit about it yesterday. And there are amazing QoL deeds that get you +20 to booster capacity, and later like +30 to the capacity of every buyable consumable.
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Mar 30, 2018 03:34
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flatluigi posted:Far Cry 4 was fine, 3 was horrible and 5 ranges from toothless satire to absolutely godawful. Nobody expected something groundbreaking, but they certainly wanted something tolerable. It really shows that they pulled in the fuckin Bioshock Infinite writer for 5. Maxwell Lord posted:I mean I haven't heard of anything as bad as "maybe the anti-racists are JUST AS BAD!" but it's early I'm actually replaying Infinite right now, and I'm enjoying it. I remember that turn, but something I realized is that I don't think the intended message was "Anti-Racists are as bad as Racists" but the fact that, like Trump, everything Booker DeWitt touches becomes corrupt and awful. It really was supposed to help sell the twist reveal and ending, it was just not well done in doing so. Hirsute posted:I'm playing through the Metal Gear series for the first time (!), and it is goddamn hilarious when you save in the Tanker chapter in MGS2 and Otacon gives you a pithy quote like Mei Ling did in MGS1, but hasn't actually thought about why he's using the quote and totally fucks up his advice. Snake's reactions to it are great. Oh my god, please keep us posted on your reactions. They're all great (for various values of great) but I love that MGS2 is a game that straight-up repeatedly trolls the player. MGS2 is one of my favorite games of all time.
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Mar 30, 2018 04:50
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Agents are GO! posted:I'm actually replaying Infinite right now, and I'm enjoying it. I remember that turn, but something I realized is that I don't think the intended message was "Anti-Racists are as bad as Racists" but the fact that, like Trump, everything Booker DeWitt touches becomes corrupt and awful. It really was supposed to help sell the twist reveal and ending, it was just not well done in doing so. The intended message was "extremism is bad no matter what the cause." It functionally became "anti-racists are just as bad as actual racists" because Ken Levine is an idiot and the intended message was trash to begin with.
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Mar 30, 2018 04:56
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My favorite thing about Bioshock Infinite is that by the end of the game it was clear that none of the writers had ever really thought about what the word "infinite" means.
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Mar 30, 2018 04:59
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Amnesia is really really good at making you think you’re in great danger when you’re actually not
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Mar 30, 2018 05:16
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The Silent Hill games also did that rather well. Another thing is in Silent Hill 2, they made a linear game feel open world. I have to replay that game sometime because often times I would be playing, stop, and go how the hell did I get here? It was very dream-like quality.
Nude has a new favorite as of 06:21 on Mar 30, 2018 |
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Mar 30, 2018 06:01
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RBA Starblade posted:My favorite thing about Bioshock Infinite is that by the end of the game it was clear that none of the writers had ever really thought about what the word "infinite" means. I liked the part where they designed a pretty decent FPS game for making short, interesting skirmishes with human-level enemies, and then squandered that in every way at every opportunity.
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Mar 30, 2018 06:22
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Cleretic posted:It's basically the same way they hosed up the story of the first Watch_Dogs.
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Mar 30, 2018 06:42
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oldpainless posted:Amnesia is really really good at making you think you’re in great danger when you’re actually not This gets ruined when you figure out monster cue mechanics, but then it relies on Amnesia's existence as an adventure game with fantastic atmosphere outside of the monsters and it's like suddenly discovering a game hidden in a game that is just as beautifully crafted. it's got its flaws but amnesia without monsters is a pseudo-Dear Esther with a pretty nice story and atmosphere.
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Mar 30, 2018 07:12
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U.T. Raptor posted:I'm pretty sure what hosed up the story of Watch_Dogs was that it was rewritten and rewritten so many times (possibly by multiple writers who didn't really agree on Aiden's characterization) that it ended up a jumbled mess. I feel like it's two different ways to the same problem. FC5 it feels like didn't really have the courage to say anything, while W_D didn't have the direction to be able to say anything, either way you're getting a game with ideas but no follow-through.
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Mar 30, 2018 07:41
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RBA Starblade posted:My favorite thing about Bioshock Infinite is that by the end of the game it was clear that none of the writers had ever really thought about what the word "infinite" means. I'd dispute this point. They managed to craft the first truly great, complicated, watertight time loop puzzle box plot in a triple-A video game, and they squandered it telling a story about how racism and resistance are really the same thing I mean uh whoops they were just acting lol. I mean it's kind of not quite that bad because Booker is still the loving bad guy and is no-question the reason that the resistance became what it was, but that wasn't shown in the loving plot and it was mostly just hidden away in a side story and goddamn it Levine you had a good loving core about how no matter what side they're on white male hero bastards always gently caress things up how did you miss that
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Mar 30, 2018 11:56
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Somfin posted:I'd dispute this point. They managed to craft the first truly great, complicated, watertight time loop puzzle box plot in a triple-A video game, and they squandered it telling a story about how racism and resistance are really the same thing I mean uh whoops they were just acting lol. You're not taking into account the fact that Bioshock Infinite is multiple disparate script drafts stapled together with "DIMENSION JUMPING" scrawled in the margin to make it semi-coherent.
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Mar 30, 2018 12:34
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Ashsaber posted:And there are amazing QoL deeds that get you +20 to booster capacity, and later like +30 to the capacity of every buyable consumable. Oh yeah, I've been buying them all now - finally found the faster walking speed I've been searching for so now its just fun to zip around the map, and god I wish this showed up sooner. I also have really been neglecting a lot of the "consumable" bonuses too. They are good.
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Mar 30, 2018 14:08
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Somfin posted:I'd dispute this point. They managed to craft the first truly great, complicated, watertight time loop puzzle box plot in a triple-A video game, and they squandered it telling a story about how racism and resistance are really the same thing I mean uh whoops they were just acting lol. Are you forgetting the ending which made no loving sense? “Time jump” or whatever? Universe jump? What the gently caress? I really, really liked the gameplay but the story is just.... nonexistent because it’s like a bag of garbage filled with an assortment of random literal crap garbage, some rotting, and a few pieces of fancy jewelry. Oh and also creepy poo poo about little girls, as usual, because Ken Levine is hosed up (remember the display of Emily’s first menstrual pad—why????) E: since this is the positive thread, I really liked Washington/Lincoln/etc trying to mow me down with a big rear end, old timey, rotarized machine gun. Thin Privilege has a new favorite as of 15:32 on Mar 30, 2018 |
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Mar 30, 2018 15:23
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Thin Privilege posted:Are you forgetting the ending which made no loving sense? “Time jump” or whatever? Universe jump? What the gently caress? I really, really liked the gameplay but the story is just.... nonexistent because it’s like a bag of garbage filled with an assortment of random literal crap garbage, some rotting, and a few pieces of fancy jewelry. Oh and also creepy poo poo about little girls, as usual, because Ken Levine is hosed up (remember the display of Emily’s first menstrual pad—why????) The ending made sense: Booker DeWitt/Zachary Hale is a monster. In every timeline that followed from his baptism, his existence was a net negative for the world. Where he remained DeWitt, he lived a lovely dissolute life where he ended up selling his daughter for gambling debts. Where he became Hale, he wants to destroy the world because it doesn't meet his standards. In addition, killing the one Hale you do near the end of the game is literally meaningless, because there are countless more versions across the timelines ready to unleash Armageddon. The only way to prevent this was to go back to the point in time where Zachary Hale was "born" - the baptism - and prevent it by drowning DeWitt. I really liked the symbolism of the intro with the raffle. You are literally offered the chance to cast the first stone to kill an interracial couple with baseballs (America's Pasttime!) No matter if you choose to participate or not, it doesn't happen.
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Mar 30, 2018 17:04
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U.T. Raptor posted:I'm pretty sure what hosed up the story of Watch_Dogs was that it was rewritten and rewritten so many times (possibly by multiple writers who didn't really agree on Aiden's characterization) that it ended up a jumbled mess. The best part about all the rewrites is that you get a weird gross incest vibe between Aiden and his sister, because she was originally supposed to be his wife.
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Mar 30, 2018 17:31
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I'm just glad his iconic cap survived the process, it was really the core of his character.
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Mar 30, 2018 17:36
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haveblue posted:I'm just glad his iconic cap survived the process, it was really the core of his character. 
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Mar 30, 2018 17:44
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Agents are GO! posted:The ending made sense: Booker DeWitt/Zachary Hale is a monster. In every timeline that followed from his baptism, his existence was a net negative for the world. Where he remained DeWitt, he lived a lovely dissolute life where he ended up selling his daughter for gambling debts. Where he became Hale, he wants to destroy the world because it doesn't meet his standards. In addition, killing the one Hale you do near the end of the game is literally meaningless, because there are countless more versions across the timelines ready to unleash Armageddon. The only way to prevent this was to go back to the point in time where Zachary Hale was "born" - the baptism - and prevent it by drowning DeWitt. Yeah I didn't have too much of a problem either.
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Mar 30, 2018 17:50
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Thin Privilege posted:because Ken Levine is hosed up (remember the display of Emily’s first menstrual pad—why????) People keep bringing this up as some devastating criticism but it's actually super effective in showing how much Emily is exploited and fetishised. It's also exactly the kind of weird, disgusting relic that real life cults and religions tend to venerate and preserve. The rest of the game was trashola, but that bit is good.
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Mar 30, 2018 17:57
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Agents are GO! posted:The ending made sense: Booker DeWitt/Zachary Hale is a monster. In every timeline that followed from his baptism, his existence was a net negative for the world. Where he remained DeWitt, he lived a lovely dissolute life where he ended up selling his daughter for gambling debts. Where he became Hale, he wants to destroy the world because it doesn't meet his standards. In addition, killing the one Hale you do near the end of the game is literally meaningless, because there are countless more versions across the timelines ready to unleash Armageddon. The only way to prevent this was to go back to the point in time where Zachary Hale was "born" - the baptism - and prevent it by drowning DeWitt. I loved how dumb it was. "You want to go back in time to kill Hitler? Well, you're Hitler!"
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Mar 30, 2018 17:58
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Speaking of Bioshock, I have lots of favourite things in Bioshock 2. One thing I like is that its best level, Fontaine Futuristics, is right near the end of the game and leads right into the finale, whereas Fort Frolic in the original is around the halfway mark and the levels that follow, of which there are several, cannot match up. I literally forgot all about the level where you get the parts for the Big Daddy suit until I was typing this post.
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Mar 30, 2018 18:19
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Dr Snofeld posted:Speaking of Bioshock, I have lots of favourite things in Bioshock 2. One thing I like is that its best level, Fontaine Futuristics, is right near the end of the game and leads right into the finale, whereas Fort Frolic in the original is around the halfway mark and the levels that follow, of which there are several, cannot match up. I literally forgot all about the level where you get the parts for the Big Daddy suit until I was typing this post. Continuing Bioshock 1 for several hours after the big twist is one of the biggest mistakes in game design history.
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Mar 30, 2018 18:30
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I liked Bioshock infinite when I was zooming around on high speed on the skyrail lines, shooting racists in the face while some George Washington robot was trying to machine gun me down. More games should let me play by zooming around at extremely high speeds. I didn't like it when it tried to do anything else.
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Mar 30, 2018 18:35
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Samuringa posted:I loved how dumb it was. "You want to go back in time to kill Hitler? Well, you're Hitler!" Considering that the first thing the game throws at you is your poo poo in a box labeled "7th Calvary Wounded Knee," though, it's not a huge surprise. I don't know, I liked Infinite. But I also have had zero urge to play it a second time. 
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Mar 30, 2018 19:28
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RoboRodent posted:Considering that the first thing the game throws at you is your poo poo in a box labeled "7th Calvary Wounded Knee," though, it's not a huge surprise. Fus Ro Dah, amirite, gamers?
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Mar 30, 2018 19:34
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It's really funny to me how "no John, you ARE the demons" was supposed to be an obvious parody of bad last-minute plot twists yet so many video games even now still do this exact thing.
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Mar 30, 2018 19:41
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Cleretic posted:I feel like it's two different ways to the same problem. FC5 it feels like didn't really have the courage to say anything, while W_D didn't have the direction to be able to say anything, either way you're getting a game with ideas but no follow-through. The final product of Watchdogs 1 does have a (mostly) coherent throughline, the problem is that it's literally just "should angry white guy give up his obsessive quest for vengeance that's just making everything worse?" and has basically nothing at all to do with the cyberpunk magical hacker poo poo. It's also buried under a lot of conflicting nonsense where you can see the seams of the different rewrites and plot threads, so it's incredibly easy for brooding idiot Aiden Pearce to be loved and adored by the public, who isn't supposed to know who he is, but totally does, but doesn't, and it's also bad when this information is made public 85% of the way through the game. Whole thing would've made more sense with T-Bone as the protagonist and Aiden's stuff as a DLC campaign. John Murdoch has a new favorite as of 20:17 on Mar 30, 2018 |
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Mar 30, 2018 20:14
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John Murdoch posted:"should angry white guy give up his obsessive quest for vengeance that's just making everything worse?" Speaking of the God of War series, I really like its final twist - it wouldn't even matter if Kratos did, the world has been irrevocably hosed ever since the first game when you opened Pandora's Box.
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Mar 31, 2018 01:41
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John Murdoch posted:The final product of Watchdogs 1 does have a (mostly) coherent throughline, the problem is that it's literally just "should angry white guy give up his obsessive quest for vengeance that's just making everything worse?" and has basically nothing at all to do with the cyberpunk magical hacker poo poo. It's also buried under a lot of conflicting nonsense where you can see the seams of the different rewrites and plot threads, so it's incredibly easy for brooding idiot Aiden Pearce to be loved and adored by the public, who isn't supposed to know who he is, but totally does, but doesn't, and it's also bad when this information is made public 85% of the way through the game. You're forgetting the time he goes to confront a man in prison who knows his identity by getting himself thrown in prison. Sure he edits his name with his magic phone, but I'm pretty sure that doesn't change the fact that multiple guards all know his face and name now. Also I'm pretty sure his pseudonym of "The Fox" doesn't get mentioned up until he gets outed. He's just a random vigilante before then.
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Mar 31, 2018 03:00
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The completion list in the Yakuza games is a really good mechanic and its really nice to have both tangible rewards for Achievements and doing everything there is to do in the game besides a ping and an icon and to have a clearly defined list of what to do to get them with tracking of how far I am to there
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Mar 31, 2018 03:49
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poptart_fairy posted:FC4 had the strongest themes, at least, and knew what it was saying. Having a sob story doesn't excuse you from being a monster, and being a revolutionary doesn't mean you're squeaky clean. Basic, basic stuff, but was entertainingly written. Completely agree, except that Blood Dragon had even stronger, mark IV style themes. Also FC4's background the PC is from an immigrant American family, returning to his ancestral home is a huge improvement over being a bro that lands on a foreign country.
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Mar 31, 2018 04:09
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I always find it neat what terrible licensed games will rip off for their mechanics, and one really surprised me a few years ago - a terrible Action Man game on Gameboy called Action Man: Search for Base X. It surpised me because it seemed to be going for a sort of Metroidvania idea but waaaaaay limited. You needed to select which level you went to, and if you chose poorly you'd just get stuck as the game was super linear, but each level had 2 or 3 sub-objectives that required going down different paths, and each completed objective would give either a new outfit (like a scuba suit to take underwater tunnels), a new tool or clear a path that was previously too dangerous to traverse. The enemy placement was bullshit though and I had to abuse savestates pretty badly to get through it and the controls were a trainwreck. It was trying to be interesting though, so I beat it because of that.
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Mar 31, 2018 06:36
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Agents are GO! posted:The ending made sense: Booker DeWitt/Zachary Hale is a monster. In every timeline that followed from his baptism, his existence was a net negative for the world. Where he remained DeWitt, he lived a lovely dissolute life where he ended up selling his daughter for gambling debts. Where he became Hale, he wants to destroy the world because it doesn't meet his standards. In addition, killing the one Hale you do near the end of the game is literally meaningless, because there are countless more versions across the timelines ready to unleash Armageddon. The only way to prevent this was to go back to the point in time where Zachary Hale was "born" - the baptism - and prevent it by drowning DeWitt. Yeah, Bioshock: Infinite is widely disliked and I understand why, but I fully agree with this interpretation. It’s a pulpy sci-fi twist in a game series that thrives on those. My favorite little thing about Infinite, though, is the costume work. An artist whose work I like worked on the costumes specifically of the Luteces and Elizabeth. She’s posted her concept art for both and it’s nice stuff. The Luteces. Elizabeth.
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Mar 31, 2018 08:07
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I never disliked Pagan Min.
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Mar 31, 2018 10:57
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Pagan Min was the same as Handsome Jack - boring and tired concept absolutely loving sold by the voice actor. The stuff they're remembered for was also improv and not scripted, ha.
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Mar 31, 2018 11:47
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poptart_fairy posted:Pagan Min was the same as Handsome Jack - boring and tired concept absolutely loving sold by the voice actor. I don't think there's a way to make that sort of character work without a stellar performance to sell it. Like, I literally cannot picture that character working in an actor-less medium.
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Mar 31, 2018 14:56
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I mean there's always the secret ending in FC4 which is pretty great. I think I heard they might have repeated the same trick in 5 which would make me sad if true
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Mar 31, 2018 16:23
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Glagha posted:I mean there's always the secret ending in FC4 which is pretty great. I think I heard they might have repeated the same trick in 5 which would make me sad if true In the prologue when you first go to arrest the head of the cult, you can choose to not slap the cuffs on him. You just leave, with the sherrif commenting that you'll all be back and the game ends. Kind of lame compared to FC4 where the villain just lets you intern your mother's ashes, explains that your real dad was a murdering dick and he's always thought of you as his son, then going off together to shoot guns
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Mar 31, 2018 16:31
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Dr Snofeld posted:Speaking of Bioshock, I have lots of favourite things in Bioshock 2. One thing I like is that its best level, Fontaine Futuristics, is right near the end of the game and leads right into the finale, whereas Fort Frolic in the original is around the halfway mark and the levels that follow, of which there are several, cannot match up. I literally forgot all about the level where you get the parts for the Big Daddy suit until I was typing this post. I had never really thought about that, it really is a stark difference from Bioshock 1. That level and the finale still remain one of my favorite video game sequences, with the best little thing being the description of the overpowered plasmid you're given near the end: It's Bring Your Daughter to Work Day!
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