RF Generation.  The Classic and Modern Gaming Databases.RF Generation.  The Classic and Modern Gaming Databases.

New on the Blogs
Hot Community Blog Entries
Nielsen's Favorites on Channel 4
RF Generation Message Board Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?
March 29, 2024, 07:22:47 AM
Home Help Search Calendar Member Map Arcade Login Register
News: RF Generation: Hey, you're finally aw- NO TODD HOWARD! NOT HERE!

RF Generation Message Board | Gaming | Community Playthroughs (Moderators: techwizard, singlebanana, wildbil52, GrayGhost81, Disposed Hero, MetalFRO) | November 2018 Playthrough - Bioshock 0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic. « previous next »
Pages: 1 2 3 [4] 5 Print
Author Topic: November 2018 Playthrough - Bioshock  (Read 21004 times)
BuriedOnMars
N-Gage
*
Posts: 35


WWW Stats
« Reply #45 on: November 15, 2018, 09:01:14 PM »

Very interesting thread guys!  Having played through this game a few times in the past it was interesting to read how some of you are experiencing it for the first time in 2018.  I guess Bioshock's gameplay would be a bit jarring after coming from Doom 2016. It's a reminder that not all FPSes are cut from the same cloth.  Just like platformers or RPGs, the have different flavor's and styles.  I feel too often that the genre gets a raw deal because of the popularity of the "bro" online shooters like Call of Duty or Battlefield. (And I don't mind some games in those franchises.)

Bio is definitely a slower paced game, that needs to be savored at times.  It is after all, the type of shooter Doom 2016 was giving the middle finger too when the marine smashed the "story telling" console at the beginning of the game. 
Logged

Check out my youtube channel - https://www.youtube.com/buriedonmars
singlebanana
Director
*****
United States
Posts: 7082


 Stats
« Reply #46 on: November 16, 2018, 08:47:32 AM »

Great point Kevin re: the pace and comparison to Doom.  Yeah, I for one am actually enjoying the slower pace and scavenging nature of this game. It's fun to explore and find goodies that you've passed several times. The passcodes for the doors are a neat feature and it's so great the way you might find them written down or in a message on one of the voice recorders.  Certainly, this game is not for everyone and especially those who want to take a quicker pace to hurriedly finish the game.  

I have played several of the CoD games and actually enjoy the campaigns quite a lot. I think those get more of a "bro" label due to the interactive content, but outside of that, most of the campaigns are solid.

I passed the first checkpoint last night. I had to replay an area and it set me back about an hour and a half........more on that in the next Playcast.......Currently in the Smuggler's Hideout
« Last Edit: November 16, 2018, 09:08:34 AM by singlebanana » Logged

RFGen Co-Director; pinball, 2600 & NES nutjob, co-host of the RFGen
 Community Playthrough and the RFGen Playcast. Listen/Download on iTunes and Podbean: www.rfgplaycast.com

Complete licensed NA NES, U.S. SMS, NA Vectrex, and Microvision sets!, 11 left for 7800, 25 for 5200, 42 for Colecovision
Disposed Hero
RFG Moderator
*****
United States
Posts: 1852
Awards: 2013 RFGeneration KING OF RAGE



 Stats
« Reply #47 on: November 16, 2018, 09:17:27 AM »

I spent a couple of hours with the game last night and was thankfully able to get past Fort Frolic, and I eventually made it a little past the Week 3 checkpoint. There's a really cool moment that occurs during that stretch, and anybody who has played the game before will know what I'm talking about, but it's probably too early to talk about that now.

I found that using the Chemical Thrower with Electric Gel on the Big Daddies is a very effective way of taking them down. They remain stun locked from the electricity the entire time, and even if they don't die before you need to reload, they should be weakened enough to finish them off easily with a different weapon.
Logged

Check out my YouTube Channel for VGM covers! https://www.youtube.com/disposedherovgm

Check out my Twitch Channel! https://www.twitch.tv/disposed_hero

Disposed Hero
RFG Moderator
*****
United States
Posts: 1852
Awards: 2013 RFGeneration KING OF RAGE



 Stats
« Reply #48 on: November 17, 2018, 03:45:19 PM »

I finished the game last night. I have some thoughts about some of the game's later events, but I'll save that for later.

Great pick, I really had fun revisiting this one!
Logged

Check out my YouTube Channel for VGM covers! https://www.youtube.com/disposedherovgm

Check out my Twitch Channel! https://www.twitch.tv/disposed_hero

singlebanana
Director
*****
United States
Posts: 7082


 Stats
« Reply #49 on: November 17, 2018, 05:33:12 PM »

Alright, I'm caught up now. Finished checkpoint 2 and probably about halfway into checkpoint 3. Enjoying it, but I feel like every new area is a fetch quest. I kind of wish they would mix it up with some more straight forward levels.

The camera is okay. Nice to be able to do more damage to certain species, but having to take damage just to get photos as a little irritating.
Logged

RFGen Co-Director; pinball, 2600 & NES nutjob, co-host of the RFGen
 Community Playthrough and the RFGen Playcast. Listen/Download on iTunes and Podbean: www.rfgplaycast.com

Complete licensed NA NES, U.S. SMS, NA Vectrex, and Microvision sets!, 11 left for 7800, 25 for 5200, 42 for Colecovision
singlebanana
Director
*****
United States
Posts: 7082


 Stats
« Reply #50 on: November 18, 2018, 09:12:34 PM »

Finished the game at around 3:00 AM last night!  Wanted to go ahead and push through, since I have a very busy Thanksgiving and end of the month.  Had a lot of fun with this one and can't wait to discuss it up to the end of the 3rd checkpoint.
Logged

RFGen Co-Director; pinball, 2600 & NES nutjob, co-host of the RFGen
 Community Playthrough and the RFGen Playcast. Listen/Download on iTunes and Podbean: www.rfgplaycast.com

Complete licensed NA NES, U.S. SMS, NA Vectrex, and Microvision sets!, 11 left for 7800, 25 for 5200, 42 for Colecovision
Crabmaster2000
Podcast Crew
****
Canada
Posts: 13564


 Stats
« Reply #51 on: November 19, 2018, 08:31:57 AM »

I reached the Olympus Heights checkpoint yesterday. The whole Sander Cohen part just seemed like more busy work to open a door. Why would we blindly kill and help him create his "art" anyway? He didn't use the "magic words" as far as I heard. Plus you find the room he is hiding out in fairly early on and you're a person who is extremely well equipped. You'd think your Frag Grenade or even a shotgun could take down that flimsy mall security gate he was guarded by Wink Anyone else find the crossbow an extremely lame final weapon? They could have just stopped at the Chemical Launcher since it is pretty cool, versatile and unique. I assume if you kill Sander you'd get the key to the chest he had locked up, but I just had no interest in killing another thing after all the murders I have already committed in this game.

There was a stairway though that led down to a basement that I wasn't able to figure out how to open even though I had explored every other visible area on the map. Anyone figure out how to open up that stairway?

The Ryan Industries area is my favorite since the start of the game. Things finally felt fresh, intimidating and interesting once again. The puzzles are all still super simple and the combat at this point is just going through the motions to the point that taking down Big Daddies is not any harder than taking down splicers so gameplay wise I'm finding it stale. But visually I'm pulled back in and this area seems to have the most story progress by far. My memories were of this area and the confrontation with Andrew Ryan being the end of the game. I cannot remember what I'm going to come across in the final chapter at all unless I'm blurring my memories of the sequels together with this game. I'm assuming some of my questions about the "Big Reveal" are going to be answered in the next checkpoint so I'll refrain from most of them here, but I can't figure out a big thing so if it was answered in the game already and I missed it please help me out. Why would Andrew Ryan want us to kill him (and specifically in such a personal and violent method)? Is that something that is going to still get answered or did I miss something?

PS - The game did something that I absolutely hate. When I was leaving the theater and heading to Ryan Industries the game pulled up a menu to let me know that I hadn't found all the little sisters in the area yet and it strongly suggested I go find them before I move on. I wish it would have not told me that. Let me make mistakes, and not hold my hand.

PPS - How did I lug that 4' EMP around and still have 2 hands for my shotgun! Oh video games!

PPPS - I got a ton of achievements in this last chapter. Havn't looked at the list of them yet, but I'm curious as to what will be left when I'm done playing because it seems like I've got a fair amount just by playing without knowing what's on the list.

That's a good idea about hacking the health stations. Typically I just destroy them. When you do that they drop two medkits, so you can heal up without spending money and get an extra one for your stash. Course, you can't use those stations again obviously, but I consider the double medkits a better payoff.

What difficulty are you playing on? When I read this post I was surprised that you'd get two med kits and thought that did sound worth destroying some med stations for. I only get 1 kit when I take them out though. Tried it on a few in different areas and never got two. Does it scale the drops depending on your difficulty perhaps? I'm playing on Normal.
« Last Edit: November 19, 2018, 08:34:10 AM by Crabmaster2000 » Logged

Want to see someone barely eke through a whole pile of NES games? Check out my youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/us...00Crabmaster?feature=mhee

300+ NES games beaten since October 2011

Co-Host of the Rfgeneration Collectorcast:
http://rfgenerationcollectorcast.podomatic.com/
singlebanana
Director
*****
United States
Posts: 7082


 Stats
« Reply #52 on: November 19, 2018, 09:52:06 AM »

Agreed, the crossbow was useless. I used it one time to try it out and was like, "Nope!" I also never used the chemical launcher. I dunno, I'm just a fan of guns and wrenches I guess.

I'm with you Crabby, the Sander Cohen part of the story was rather flimsy. Like you said, why would you be doing this guys bidding?  Perhaps another way that this could have been approached would be to make the guys you have to track down mini-bosses and you then have your confrontation with Cohen.

I'm not sure that the Ryan question is ever answered fully, but you do learn more about your character later than shines a bit of a light on it. I just figure that Ryan knows he is going to die and after everything you've been through, everything he has sent to kill you, you feel he needs to be brutalized.

Understand your comments about the little sisters and the funny thing is that I never knew you could use the start menu to see how many were left until I has at least halfway through the game. Not sure if I got the "good ending" or not. Are you playing on PS4 Crabby?  I played on PS3 and ever got that message. Perhaps I got them all anyway. I'll have to check the endings on YouTube to see.

As far as lugging weapons around. Yeah, almost every 1st person shooter I've ever played does this, so I don't find any issue with it. Like you said, it's a video game. I feel that way about most things when it comes to gameplay, but it's harder for me to give flawed story elements/plot holes a pass.

Achievements...no idea. I'm not an achievement hoochie mama like you. Wink

As far as the med kits go, I've found that when you destroy them, the number of kits they drop vary.  I typically got 1-3 kits.

     
Logged

RFGen Co-Director; pinball, 2600 & NES nutjob, co-host of the RFGen
 Community Playthrough and the RFGen Playcast. Listen/Download on iTunes and Podbean: www.rfgplaycast.com

Complete licensed NA NES, U.S. SMS, NA Vectrex, and Microvision sets!, 11 left for 7800, 25 for 5200, 42 for Colecovision
MetalFRO
RFG Moderator
*****
United States
Posts: 2999
Awards: 2014 RFGen Top Shmuper



WWW Stats
« Reply #53 on: November 19, 2018, 10:43:08 AM »

I have found the crossbow useful, but mostly only for enemies with less health. If you can manage to snipe one from a distance, in the face, the steel-tipped bolts can often give you a one-hit kill, even on splicers with more HP. Also, if you stock up on the trap bolts, you can set up a series of stops in a long corridor, so when you attack a Big Daddy, you can keep them from advancing while you pelt them with Frag Grenades or similar things. That and Proximity Mines are a good way to take them out, or severely curtail their health, so they're easier to deal with. I've been at least marginally successful with this strategy.

There's a case to be made for destroying the health stations, because the splicers can freaking use them! I was kinda flabbergasted yesterday when I was playing, and had an enemy down to a sliver of health, and suddenly, their health bar refilled, because they used the health station. It makes total sense, but I kinda couldn't believe it when I saw it the first time. But then in the same area, I was using the Napalm and the Incinerate plasmid on splicers, and in one corridor where there's water, they would run quickly to that and dive in the water to douse themselves and dispense with the fire. I thought that was a pretty nice touch, and made me more positive on the game's elemental engine than I had previously been. Certainly, they put more thought into it than I thought.

Despite my frustrations with the game, and the difficulty I'm having, I'm still enjoying it, and have found that the game's atmosphere, period setting and trappings, and overall presentation is strong enough to keep me moving forward. The story, though it has issues which many of you have touched on, is still interesting enough to consider the ramifications of such a scenario. One thing I'm unclear of is why little girls were used for cultivating and/or harvesting ADAM, and whether or not the Big Daddies are actual people. You don't ever get to unmask one, and because their HP is so high, if they are human, they've definitely been enhanced far beyond even the normal splicers. It's my understanding that BioShock 2 focuses more on the Little Sisters and Big Daddies, so perhaps that's expounded upon in the sequel? It's hard to say, but it's an element of mystery that is intriguing. Is it possible I missed an audio log somewhere that provides more insight into these questions?

I pushed ahead yesterday, and made it to the 3rd checkpoint area and beyond, so if I can swing it, I'll probably finish the game by mid-week. I'm close enough now that I want to see the end, especially after the major story twist that happens around the 2/3 point, or thereabouts.
Logged

Disposed Hero
RFG Moderator
*****
United States
Posts: 1852
Awards: 2013 RFGeneration KING OF RAGE



 Stats
« Reply #54 on: November 19, 2018, 01:06:24 PM »

Sander Cohen submerged the bathysphere that led to Andrew Ryan, so doing his bidding and playing his sick games was presumably the only way to proceed. He will also open that locked box when he walks down the stairs after you put the last photo on his sculpture.

The crossbow was absolutely NOT useless. It's possibly the most powerful weapon in the game and was my weapon of choice for the final segments, although for most of the game I rotated through all of my weapons pretty evenly.

I only ever found 1 medkit in destroyed health stations, although I usually hacked them when given the chance. I was playing on Hard, and also wondered if the difficulty setting had an effect on how many dropped.

@MetalFro: There is an audio log left by Tenenbaum where she asks the same question about the Little Sisters. I don't think the game ever gives an explanation for why they are all girls. As for your question about the Big Daddies, you'll find out about that soon enough. Wink

There was a stairway though that led down to a basement that I wasn't able to figure out how to open even though I had explored every other visible area on the map. Anyone figure out how to open up that stairway?

Do you mean the stairway in Fort Frolic? If so, it opened for me at some point, but I didn't know what triggered it. I looked it up just now, and apparently there is a switch/button located behind the bar in Sinclair Spirits that opens it.
Logged

Check out my YouTube Channel for VGM covers! https://www.youtube.com/disposedherovgm

Check out my Twitch Channel! https://www.twitch.tv/disposed_hero

singlebanana
Director
*****
United States
Posts: 7082


 Stats
« Reply #55 on: November 19, 2018, 01:13:30 PM »

Yep, switch on the side of the  ar opens it. I remember doing that. Just pure luck that I saw it.
Logged

RFGen Co-Director; pinball, 2600 & NES nutjob, co-host of the RFGen
 Community Playthrough and the RFGen Playcast. Listen/Download on iTunes and Podbean: www.rfgplaycast.com

Complete licensed NA NES, U.S. SMS, NA Vectrex, and Microvision sets!, 11 left for 7800, 25 for 5200, 42 for Colecovision
MetalFRO
RFG Moderator
*****
United States
Posts: 2999
Awards: 2014 RFGen Top Shmuper



WWW Stats
« Reply #56 on: November 19, 2018, 02:16:36 PM »

Before you guys record the next episode, you should check out the recent Retronauts episode where they talk about Bioshock. Might be interesting to compare and contrast.
Logged

singlebanana
Director
*****
United States
Posts: 7082


 Stats
« Reply #57 on: November 19, 2018, 03:53:56 PM »

Before you guys record the next episode, you should check out the recent Retronauts episode where they talk about Bioshock. Might be interesting to compare and contrast.

I can't speak for Shawn, but I try to stay away from other reviews and commentary on games before podcasting. I feel like even though it is unintentional, their ideas or thoughts might influence my own.  Sure, we sometimes do some background research beforehand, but it tends to be more factual than opinion based. However, I will definitely listen to it after we record.
Logged

RFGen Co-Director; pinball, 2600 & NES nutjob, co-host of the RFGen
 Community Playthrough and the RFGen Playcast. Listen/Download on iTunes and Podbean: www.rfgplaycast.com

Complete licensed NA NES, U.S. SMS, NA Vectrex, and Microvision sets!, 11 left for 7800, 25 for 5200, 42 for Colecovision
Crabmaster2000
Podcast Crew
****
Canada
Posts: 13564


 Stats
« Reply #58 on: November 20, 2018, 08:48:52 AM »

I used the Crossbow for the Sander Cohen missions as it did quite a bit of damage to splicers, that reload is just too brutal though. I'm sure it's a bit better if you can mod it to increase the rate of fire, but at that point in the game I had a maxed out Shotgun and several other partially upgraded weapons so it seemed far too late to invest in the crossbow.

Understand your comments about the little sisters and the funny thing is that I never knew you could use the start menu to see how many were left until I has at least halfway through the game. Not sure if I got the "good ending" or not. Are you playing on PS4 Crabby?  I played on PS3 and ever got that message. Perhaps I got them all anyway. I'll have to check the endings on YouTube to see.

As far as lugging weapons around. Yeah, almost every 1st person shooter I've ever played does this, so I don't find any issue with it. Like you said, it's a video game. I feel that way about most things when it comes to gameplay, but it's harder for me to give flawed story elements/plot holes a pass.

As far as the med kits go, I've found that when you destroy them, the number of kits they drop vary.  I typically got 1-3 kits.

     

I'm playing the Xbox 360 version. My first play was on the PS3 so I thought I'd try out the original console release this time around.

My lugging weapons around comment wasn't a dig at Bioshock, but at video games in general. One of my favorite gaming moments was as a child playing through Space Quest 3 and finding a ladder to collect and you type "pick up ladder" and the game makes a comment like "you shoved the ladder in your pocket.....ouch!". While the game was using it humorously it really pointed out to me that basically any video game has silly inventory systems with very few exceptions.

I must just have terrible luck with the Med Kit drops then because I destroyed 5 stations and they all gave me 1 kit Sad

Thanks for the button location to open the stairs in Fort Frolic @Disposed Hero!! Next Bathysphpere I may back track and check it out.

Before you guys record the next episode, you should check out the recent Retronauts episode where they talk about Bioshock. Might be interesting to compare and contrast.

I absolutely LOVE retronauts and listen to them very often and have heard probably close to 100% of their stuff. That Bioshock episode is bad though. They spend over half the episode just crapping on Ken Levine and Bioshock Infinite instead of discussing the actual game the episode is about. Then when they get to the discussion it's pretty shallow compared to their usual stuff. It's not often one of their shows is a miss for me, but I wouldn't recommend that episode. It actually makes me excited to hear a proper discussion about the game via the playcast when we are done.
Logged

Want to see someone barely eke through a whole pile of NES games? Check out my youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/us...00Crabmaster?feature=mhee

300+ NES games beaten since October 2011

Co-Host of the Rfgeneration Collectorcast:
http://rfgenerationcollectorcast.podomatic.com/
singlebanana
Director
*****
United States
Posts: 7082


 Stats
« Reply #59 on: November 20, 2018, 09:11:58 AM »

Thanks for the compliment Crabby!  Shawn and I are really excited about the upcoming recording. Should be a good one.
Logged

RFGen Co-Director; pinball, 2600 & NES nutjob, co-host of the RFGen
 Community Playthrough and the RFGen Playcast. Listen/Download on iTunes and Podbean: www.rfgplaycast.com

Complete licensed NA NES, U.S. SMS, NA Vectrex, and Microvision sets!, 11 left for 7800, 25 for 5200, 42 for Colecovision
Pages: 1 2 3 [4] 5 Print 
« previous next »
Jump to:  


Login with username, password and session length

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.21 | SMF © 2015, Simple Machines
Simple Audio Video Embedder

RF Generation Theme derived from YabbGrey By Nesianstyles | Buttons by A.M.A
Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!
Page created in 0.127 seconds with 25 queries.
Site content Copyright © rfgeneration.com unless otherwise noted. Oh, and keep it on channel three.