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Shitenshi posted:And frickin lawl at Ryan's real name. The real name of his actual counterpart, Ayn Rand, was Alisa Rosenbaum, but who knows what the hell actually possessed her to take on a supervillain name that sounds like something spoken by the minions of Cthulhu. Reality is stranger than fiction. As for the name choice, yeah, weird. Andrew Ryan, however, seems to have gone through exactly that process.
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Jul 25, 2020 08:44
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anilEhilated posted:I think the Andrei part is a reference to Ayn Rand coming from Russia. Changing (or rather anglicizing) your name to fit in better in society wasn't exactly uncommon among European expats in America. I figured that. I'm just saying that Andrew Ryan is actually a normal name for a person to take up, whereas Ayn Rand doesn't sound anything American or anything else in the real world for that matter. In an underwater city filled with people toking off on superhuman enhancements, they still haven't quite captured the exquisite batshit levels that Objectivism is capable of, though that is not a complaint. A video game actually portraying Objectivism and its "heroes" in any capacity would probably be mistaken for some gritty antihero stuff in today's world given all that it entails.
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Jul 25, 2020 09:05
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Chatrapati posted:Is there more story in the instruction manual or something? As far as I can see, the main character survives a plane crash, swims to an island with shelter, and then decides to get in a weird bathysphere and and start playing with its controls. Why wouldn't you just wait for help? His first instinct to beat up a man rather than talk him down is really weird too, and then as soon as he sees a needle full of unknown fluid he injects himself!
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Jul 25, 2020 17:14
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I really feel like there's something missing in the beginning of the story that we've missed.
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Tiggum posted:This is 100% why I never played more than about 5 minutes of this game. I've played games that make less sense than this, but they at least gave a justification for why the protagonist was doing what they were doing. This game gives you loving nothing. Right from the start it's "you're doing random poo poo for no reason". Even after all these years and hearing about the "themes" and whatever, this game makes no loving sense at all. It's in this bizarre no-man's-land between games with no story where you just do what you do because it's all you can do and games where your character is defined and your actions are supposed to make sense; in this game you have a character and there is a story but you just do the thing because it's all the game mechanics let you do. It's literally the worst of both worlds and it's juts... loving... nothing? What the gently caress? I'll suggest continuing to watch more than anything. The game earned high praise and from my perspective it's for good reason.
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Jul 25, 2020 18:05
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I do remember gamely going along with Atlas without questioning why I should give a poo poo about this man I've just met. It was like, "what's that? There are people in trouble you say?! Well it's a good thing that I the protaganist just turned up!" My reaction to starting the game in the sea surrounded by flaming wreckage was wanting to press on to find out the why. To that end, Atlas is someone who knows what's going on so as the player rather than player character I was happy to follow his lead to hopefully get that understanding. I'd probably be a bit more discerning these days about this kind of narative but then that's partly because I've played this specific game. I can see how someone with a more questioning approach would be less impressed and if it was made today, I reckon more effort would be put in to the initial exchanges. I mean for all it's faults, Bioshock Infinite starts out with a much more solid and direct reason why you need to go to Disneyland. However I think the way this game relates itself to the player was a very deliberate choice in the context of what story telling was like in games at the time.
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Jul 25, 2020 19:37
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The beginning makes sense to me. You survive a plane crash, and you happen to land at the entrance to some sort of sea base; it makes sense to go in and see if anyone can help you. Then you find some sort of voilent apocalypse going on in there and a guy on the radio is giving you guidance to stay alive, so you're going to listen. I still think survival is our protagonist's main motivation here, it's not like he can turn back. He's not got any personality though, so it's hard to say if this is meant to have become a mission of curiosity and/or saving whatever sane citizens of Rapture are left.
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Jul 25, 2020 20:19
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Tiggum posted:This is 100% why I never played more than about 5 minutes of this game. I've played games that make less sense than this, but they at least gave a justification for why the protagonist was doing what they were doing. This game gives you loving nothing. Right from the start it's "you're doing random poo poo for no reason". Even after all these years and hearing about the "themes" and whatever, this game makes no loving sense at all. It's in this bizarre no-man's-land between games with no story where you just do what you do because it's all you can do and games where your character is defined and your actions are supposed to make sense; in this game you have a character and there is a story but you just do the thing because it's all the game mechanics let you do. It's literally the worst of both worlds and it's juts... loving... nothing? What the gently caress? This is addressed, believe it or not.
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Jul 25, 2020 21:18
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Ghost Stromboli posted:Just a heads up, Big Daddies may actually respawn whereas the Little Sisters are unique. IIRC you can often run across a BD stomping up to one of those hide-y holes, knocking on it, and stomping off in resignation because there's no Little Sister to pop out. This is correct. Big Daddies and splicers will respawn, so there's always a threat. Tiggum posted:This is 100% why I never played more than about 5 minutes of this game. I've played games that make less sense than this, but they at least gave a justification for why the protagonist was doing what they were doing. This game gives you loving nothing. Right from the start it's "you're doing random poo poo for no reason". Even after all these years and hearing about the "themes" and whatever, this game makes no loving sense at all. It's in this bizarre no-man's-land between games with no story where you just do what you do because it's all you can do and games where your character is defined and your actions are supposed to make sense; in this game you have a character and there is a story but you just do the thing because it's all the game mechanics let you do. It's literally the worst of both worlds and it's juts... loving... nothing? What the gently caress? "I never played more than 5 minutes because it didn't justify what I was doing" is possibly the single stupidest take on BioShock that has ever been made. Like that is honestly spectacular. The unicorn of bad takes.
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Jul 26, 2020 00:37
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"I put on what's supposed to be this loving slasher film, Psycho, and it's 30 minutes in and it's just a boring road trip drama? What the gently caress? I'm taking it back to Blockbuster."
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Jul 26, 2020 00:44
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Just found this LP. I haven't fully caught up yet, but in the first few videos at least, you made Tea's life way harder than it needed to be by talking him out of using guns. Like yeah, the wrench can do the highest DPS in the game when you build for it, but especially this early on, the unnecessary damage he took by not using terrain in large fights, and the struggle to keep Eve up because he never took the easy headshots on unaware enemies made life way more difficult than it would have been if you varied your weapon depending on the situation.
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Jul 26, 2020 01:13
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chitoryu12 posted:"I never played more than 5 minutes because it didn't justify what I was doing" is possibly the single stupidest take on BioShock that has ever been made. Like that is honestly spectacular. The unicorn of bad takes. Chill on this. People are allowed to comment on how much or little they played and whatever their experience is is legit. If someone didn't buy in in the first five minutes that's a fair experience, I know I've given up on some games in that time as well.
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Jul 26, 2020 02:11
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The Security Decoy plasmid, or whatever the one that makes enemies trigger cameras, was my favorite way of dealing with Big Daddies. They don't notice it, so they don't turn hostile on you when you hit them with it, and even the Rosies will be whittled down by the constant swarm of security bots attacking them. Plus, if you haven't hacked the camera, the security bots don't count as friendly to you, so it's a good chance to get high-quality photos of a Big Daddy and Security Bots. My other favorite method of fighting them is to use the Hypnotize Big Daddy plasmid to drag one of them over to fight another and watch the Daddy on Daddy brawl.
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Jul 26, 2020 03:16
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Did the first Bioshock not have a weapon radial pop up if you held the swap button? Watching Tea cycle through every weapon every time is driving me up a wall.
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Jul 26, 2020 04:09
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I love that the model of the main character makes him look like the biggest goober.
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Jul 26, 2020 04:11
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Natural 20 posted:Chill on this. People are allowed to comment on how much or little they played and whatever their experience is is legit. "Bioshock didn't explain the character's motivations and why he's doing everything he's doing in the first 5 minutes" is the least legit experience possible for Bioshock because that's literally what the entire twist is about.
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Jul 26, 2020 04:22
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Gothsheep posted:I haven't fully caught up yet, but in the first few videos at least, you made Tea's life way harder than it needed to be by talking him out of using guns. That's what co commentators are for!
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Jul 26, 2020 07:27
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"No you shut up derek, god you suck at this. no the pink one derek THE PINK ONE"
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Jul 26, 2020 07:30
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chitoryu12 posted:"I never played more than 5 minutes because it didn't justify what I was doing" is possibly the single stupidest take on BioShock that has ever been made. Like that is honestly spectacular. The unicorn of bad takes. chitoryu12 posted:"I put on what's supposed to be this loving slasher film, Psycho, and it's 30 minutes in and it's just a boring road trip drama? What the gently caress? I'm taking it back to Blockbuster."
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Jul 26, 2020 12:49
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Jul 27, 2020 22:59
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You have a much different playstyle than I did when I played this. I would go through hacking everything, especially cameras to watch my back. When I got the research camera, I went hard on research, approaching every fight with the idea of getting as many research points as possible first so I'd get the combat bonuses as fast as possible. Also you skipped a Sister or two back in the FIshery. You really don't want to do that if you can.
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Jul 28, 2020 00:08
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I cannot help but yell at my screen constantly because of all the things you're missing. SO. MANY. THINGS.
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Jul 28, 2020 03:14
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I don't know if I missed something but those alarms do seem to go off way too often. Is there some way to anticipate them or some trigger that's extremely obvious which Tea is missing? If not, I can definitely understand getting sick of that sort of nonsense, especially after getting through some tight spots and then going to a new area, only to deal with the same trouble and loud mouthed genetic druggies coming at you no holds barred. Also, "this game is trying to make a point, but I don't know what." Objectivism in a nutshell. I'm am surprised to see that Ryan is both actually alive, and he took the trouble to contact the protag or even knows of his existence. I figured a high and mighty rear end in a top hat like that would be the first to go when civilization goes all Darwin on each other. Shitenshi fucked around with this message at 06:17 on Jul 28, 2020 |
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Jul 28, 2020 04:02
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Shitenshi posted:I don't know if I missed something but those alarms do seem to go off way too often. Is there some way to anticipate them or some trigger that's extremely obvious which Tea is missing? If not, I can definitely understand getting sick of that sort of nonsense, especially after getting through some tight spots and then going to a new area, only to deal with the same trouble and loud mouthed genetic druggies coming at you no holds barred. The alarms are triggered by cameras, which have visible fields of view that you can avoid. Or you could hack them or shoot them. There are also several plasmids that interact with them, one of which I believe they currently have equipped which will mark an enemy as a target for the cameras.
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Jul 28, 2020 04:46
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Its mentioned in a sort of throw away line, that he's got some sort of pheromones that allows him to control the splicers.
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Jul 28, 2020 05:48
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Shitenshi posted:I don't know if I missed something but those alarms do seem to go off way too often. Is there some way to anticipate them or some trigger that's extremely obvious which Tea is missing? If not, I can definitely understand getting sick of that sort of nonsense, especially after getting through some tight spots and then going to a new area, only to deal with the same trouble and loud mouthed genetic druggies coming at you no holds barred. Other than the aforementioned control pheromones Ryan uses to subdue the splicers of Rapture, he always controlled any and all security apparatus that was built and recruited.
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Jul 28, 2020 09:27
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So, those spider splicer hooks? A pretty good TK projectile. I love the timing of the arrow disappearing just as Tea was trashtalking it. You hurt its feelings, man.
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Jul 28, 2020 10:12
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Wow Tea sounded utterly dejected at times. That and the minute or two where Nat's offering help to complete silence. It is odd seeing how much trouble he's been having and it seems to be that as well as the controls he's not internalising the different mechanics much. Maybe the first is creating the second or it's just another thing that the spaced LP format is exasperating. I just tried looking up if there's a weapon/plasmid radial wheel and it seems like there is one on a 360 controller. Haven't found a specific mention for the Switch yet which I think this is being played on? A radial wheel would vastly improve someone's playing experience of this game.
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Jul 28, 2020 13:59
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Honestly one of the most interesting things we've observed through our LPs is how LPing itself changes a game. It's a double edged sword in a lot of ways. With XCOM 2 we very rapidly got better at the game because internalising turn based mechanics and ideas is easier when you have a week to think about it. But equally internalising controls is much harder because you're just not playing frequently enough. And you're correct in that if you're having difficulty with basic control, it's often really difficult to absorb other information. If you go back and look at Super Metroid, the moment I start struggling with the screw attack I get just noticeably worse at all other aspects of the game.
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Jul 28, 2020 15:42
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Natural 20 posted:Honestly one of the most interesting things we've observed through our LPs is how LPing itself changes a game. I've noticed that Tea really does seem to be rushing through the game. I figured that was because a slower pace was generally worse for an LP, but I do think it's hurting him to not take his time, play with new weapons and plasmids and try different tactics. I mentioned earlier, but I'm constantly surprised by how little time he spends hacking cameras. For me cameras were the most important hack in the game, and not hacking that one camera caused nearly all the difficulty he had in that Peach fight. Oh, also something you might not have noticed: Splicers will run to nearby med stations to heal when they're damaged enough. If you've hacked that med station, that might not work out for them.
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Jul 28, 2020 22:39
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Jul 29, 2020 23:11
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Atlas was sorta kinda encouraging you to harvest literal children so you can become stronger, and there's posters around town comparing him to John Galt, Ayn Rand's most obnoxious author avatar. If he is full of it, whatever good that comes from killing Ryan is offset that this is probably a competition between two rear end in a top hat Sith Lords. Even that guy who wanted to take that girl to Arcadia joked in his own little way that she probably had STDs, and that woman who confronted Ryan showed complete subservience to the guy despite this being a place for freethinkers, because horror of horrors, she didn't have a job. Those Little Sisters are the only decent people around here. Also, minor point of trivia, this game definitely came out before Portal. I remember seeing the Orange Box on commercials in late 07, and that was when I started to hear about Portal. Bioshock on the other hand had been the high talk all over before that.
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Jul 30, 2020 06:21
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"The Internet Never Forgets" isn't JUST a meme. BioShock First release August 21, 2007 Portal Release October 10, 2007
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Jul 30, 2020 18:35
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I'm pretty sure you missed a weapon upgrade station when you were looking for that Houdini Splicer near the end there.
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Jul 30, 2020 21:38
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Jul 31, 2020 23:22
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That splicer at the beginning is the most realistic enemy so far. She's not teleporting around with magic or a damage sponge, she went down in two shots and was carrying potato chips and a screwdriver, though I am surprised that guy in a suit actually went down to a headshot just because of video game rules and all that. And Atlas is still inconsistent and shady, but now I don't think I'd object to going out of your way to kill Ryan if only because the guy has proven himself to be an abject son of a bitch, as opposed to anything the untrustworthy tutorial fairy is saying.
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Aug 1, 2020 03:50
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You should probably consider using a health station before destroying it if you're not at full health. And also not destroying them until you're sure you won't need them later. A lot of your headaches towards the end of that video were from destroying first aid stations you ended up needing later.
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Aug 1, 2020 05:30
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Watching a splicer get killed by a hacked health station is also fun.
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Aug 1, 2020 05:54
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Aug 3, 2020 23:11
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It's good to see Tea feeling more comfortable with the game-abandoning the one two punch in favour of shotgunning everything that moves seems to be helping. One thing that does bug me is the amount of money that Tea is lugging around-spend that stuff! The ammo vending machines have special ammo for purchase that could really help.
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Aug 4, 2020 01:45
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The writers really did their research on an Ayn Rand themed game, mentioning "engraved invitation." Boy howdy, is that a horrifying little subject about Ayn Rand's work, although nowhere near that time she lionized a real life serial killer who tortured and dismembered a little girl. Makes me realize that latter bit is the inspiration for the Little Sisters.
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Aug 4, 2020 05:19
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