Bioshock Infinite is the third game of the Bioshock franchise. The game was hyped up delayed and many people left the company. There was also the whole ending fiasco.
"There was a scene in the game at the end where . . . one of our artists--who got to a point in the game, played it, turned off BioShock, opened up his computer, opened Microsoft Word, and wrote a resignation letter; it had offended him so much," said lead designer Ken Levine in an interview with GameSpot.
Really? Because the ending sucked about as much if not more ass than mass effect 3's ending. Only difference was Mass Effect spanned three games so the build up was bigger before the fall.
Bioshock Infinite takes place in SURPRISE another dystopian city, this time Columbia that flies over America led by the prophet Comstock. The game starts with you, a man named Booker DeWitt who to pay off gambling debts have to kidnap a girl called Elizabeth. As you do this you get dragged along different factions. The rich white folk the Founders, and the Chinese, Native, Black, Irish folk, the Vox . Basically the game is a social commentary of the 1900's except it suddenly changes halfway through the game and focuses solely on Elizabeth.
Now Elizabeth is a pretty useless character. She points out stuff, like explaining about the military and other things. What I found confusing was how she even know all this being locked away in a tower. Other than that she is used as a portable lockpick. Walk up to a locked door and click F. She will walk over and unlock it for you. Other than that she doesn't do anything other than throwing you an occasional item. Although she does give conversations sometimes which makes the game a little less lonely. However, the first two Bioshock games had people radio you so there is really no difference in her being there or not.
She also whines and cries. When things doesn't go her way she cries and runs away in a tantrum. When she runs off she is immediately captured and requires you to rescue her. Isn't that a great thing to teach women? A battered woman running away from the man and then get punished for doing so! This happens a lot in the game actually. Pretty much the whole game revolves around her getting captured again and again and requires your rescue. One thing I noticed in the game is she gets more and more battered as the game goes on. There is even a long torture scene where you can hear the sounds of her screams. Then you rescue her half unclothed 17 year old body from the chair and "help her." In the end of the game she is covered with cuts and bruises everywhere.
What I find annoying as hell is how powerful she is. She is able to bend space and time yet she has to be "protected." You are constantly telling her to stay behind and leave everything to you. She never joins you in battle. Like what the fuck? Shes a fucking God, let her do some work too. Its not like your guns or vigor powers are any good either. Compared to the other games it feels lacking.
Near the second half of the game, everything falls to shit. There was already a huge shortage of character compared to the first two games. Having killed off the few major characters like 25% of the way into the game wasn't really much help either. It ended up with just the two of you versus Comstock. The story became weird and haphazard as if it was suddenly rushed to meet a deadline. The two factions as said above were claimed to be "equal." The Vox is just the Founders with a different name was what Booker pretty much said. I found that to be quite bullshit because the Founders pretty much have government sanctioned stoning to death for interracial couples, while the Vox is trying to change things albeit a bit violently but what other way could they have done it?
Either way the factions merely exist as fodder. The game isn't about Columbia, it isn't about the factions, it all about you and Elizabeth and Comstock. The ending doesn't really explain everything either. Its filled with plot holes and pretty much ruins everything you've done in the game. Its also a 15 min long exposition from Elizabeth. But don't worry, all this can be solved with the season pass! The season pass is basically another name for the DLCs.
They're now selling DLCs before they even come out.
Friday, March 29, 2013
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Digital: A love story & its sequels
So I was browsing around the forums learning what people thought were the best indie games they ever played. Going on an indie gaming spree I managed to try this game out. Its completely free and you can download it from here. What is it exactly? Well its a visual novel of some sort made by some writer called Christine Love. Who dropped out of school being supported financially by the proceeds of her latest project.
So we can assume this game is pretty good right? Well to be honest. It surprised me a lot, it was pretty good. The writing was good but the best part of it was the interface. Having to type in numbers in your modem and hearing the screeching sound of death and then logging/hacking your way into a BBS board then sorting through the trolls and the useful information to solve a mystery.
There really is not much choice in the story you just keep following it. Some parts you have to read posts and emails and think but you can honestly finish it in a couple of hours.
The spiritual sequel to that game is don't take it personally, babe, it just ain't your story. This was created in a span of a month for a contest. This game you play as a literature teacher in a school set in the future. The students all have handheld computers they can send messages, post stuff, and start topics for. You as the teacher have the ability to read anything they post at any time. The entirety of the game revolves around you invading their privacy and reading everything.
What I find annoying, but at the same time brilliant is the use of slang and internet speak. Bro, lol, and others are used very commonly and while it grates on your nerves it is sort of believable as students barely talk to each other and spend most of their time talking through the computer instead. Their essays which you mark are barely literate and you have to constantly raise the marks so that everyone can pass. It is mandatory that they pass. Its filled with drama, homosexuality, bullying, invasion of privacy, suicide, and other stuff. Even the "bullies" you have a chance to yell at, you can't help feeling sympathetic for. They are human after all. Everyone of them feels like they could be real people.
The current latest sequel is Analogue: A hate story. The only one that isn't free. Like the other two, it has a lot to do with technology. Set many years into the future on a generation spaceship called the "Mugunghwa" that mysteriously disappeared. It has now reappeared and you are an investigator on the ship looking through the logs and sorting out what happened. The writing in this game is much better than the previous two. For example this is just one of many letters exchanged by the crew.
Oh So-jin
When I first saw you, bringing my husband home in the late hours of the night, I was jealous. All I could think of was my daughter, and the first courtesan he'd had an affair with, nine years ago.
With every brief glimpse of you that I saw as you passed through our home, my heart burned a little, as if you embodied every single fault of my farce of a marriage.
I will never send this letter, because I know how ridiculous it sounds: for weeks, I, a noble wife, could be jealous of a poor courtesan? But you are young and beautiful, full of energy and grace; I am none of these things.
Only after you have been entertaining him for months did I start to realize what I was feeling: true, I was jealous, but not of you, for having my husband. I was jealous of my husband, for having the affections of a girl so pretty as you!
These are such ridiculous thoughts for a woman to have, I know, and even more ridiculous still is the way they have overwhelmed me. I used to dread my husband bringing his courtesans home with him; now I look forward to your nights together.
How could I not, when it means that I am treated to the sight of your bashful face in the morning? When we exchange glances, you hide behind your long hair, with so much cuteness and grace, my eyes can't help but wander, to admire the way it rests on your breasts. to see your clothes draped loosely over your hips; I cannot help myself from admiring your body as you try to hide from me.
It is ridiculous, to be so preoccupied with such thoughts, and perhaps I was better off having not ever realized them. Nevertheless, even though I may be as much of a woman as you are, I find myself longing for the same affections you shower my husband with. There is more to it than that: I would like to truly get to know you better. I like to imagine that we have much in common, aside from the obvious.
When I see you hiding in the corridor on those mornings, I imagine wrapping my own arms around those lovely hips, sharing long conversations about our tribulations in life, discovering just how much alike we are. And perhaps... I like to imagine we could share more than that.
I have been married for ten years to a man who has never paid any attention for nine of them. Perhaps my old age has made me bold, but I want more.
The next time I see you, I promise I will say something. For in all my twenty-six years, I have never felt a longing for anything this intensely. I don't care how wrong it is, as a wife and as a woman; I want you, Hana
And the reply
Hana
To my lovely So-jin,
You made it so easy, you know that?
I've always wanted to be seduced. The more I learned about it, the better I got at it, the more I thought about how lucky men are, that they'll get to be on the receiving end of it. It's always seemed like it would be so much fun.
But that wasn't why I dropped my guard in front of you, by the way. I was actually really wary the whole time you were serving my breakfast; do you know what I first thought? I thought maybe you were trying to poison me!
I mean, not seriously, of course. But it crossed my mind.
So no, I was guarded, until you started talking. You know what it was that got me? "Do tell me, how hard is it, studying to be a courtesan?" I answered modestly, "Oh you know, there's nothing to learn, you just have it or you don't"; the answer that any man would expect. But you?
You wouldn't have any of that. You said, "Please, don't lie. I actually want to know. It takes years, does it not? That must be intense for a girl of your age."
Then you leaned in, I started to blab about how it kind of is pretty intense, and I only realized an hour later that I was staring into your eyes, telling you - proudly, no less - about my whole life story. Our faces were barely a foot apart by the time I noticed what you'd done.
And that was how you caught me totally off guard. I had no idea what to do! Should I touch you? What's the right body language in that situation? Was I interpreting you right, or was it all in my head? Not even the slightest clue! You had me good.
And you played it so well! You know just the right moment to pull back, and tell me to go on my way, but in a way that left me wondering.
So-jin, you made it so easy. Returning home, my heart was so a fluttered, my feelings so confused, and all I could think about was you. You, the bored old wife of my patron, actually managed to seduce me, just like that.
I'd always wanted to know that feeling, and you know? It was everything I dreamed it'd be.
Its a story about two families, the Smith's, and the Kim's. These are the two noble families fighting to put their own family ahead and gain recognition from the Ryu family, the emperor and captain of the ship. However that has changed since many generations on the ship and society has regressed. They have no idea why they are even in space or care. Women are treated as if they don't exist. Their names doesn't matter and they are only referred to as the husband's wife. Some doesn't even have names like "the pale bride." They are raised to serve men, have their own women's quarters where they live and are married off like property at the age of 16. Like the other games and the letter exchanged above, it also have themes of homosexuality. However unlike the other two the story of this one is dark. Its based on the Korean Joseon dynasty which is one of the most brutally opressive ears for women in Korean history. Expect to read about patriarchy, sexual abuse, incest, rape, and more.
Its a fucked up place on the ship and the only thing you have to remember is:
Namjon yeobi.
Men are honoured, women are abased.
The writing is extremely well done and the interface is fun to play with. Typing in commands trying to find passwords and logging into admin and typing decrypt block3 to open new things in the game. Be warned though you might want to throw up from reading this but you will keep reading on because its interesting enough.
So we can assume this game is pretty good right? Well to be honest. It surprised me a lot, it was pretty good. The writing was good but the best part of it was the interface. Having to type in numbers in your modem and hearing the screeching sound of death and then logging/hacking your way into a BBS board then sorting through the trolls and the useful information to solve a mystery.
There really is not much choice in the story you just keep following it. Some parts you have to read posts and emails and think but you can honestly finish it in a couple of hours.
The spiritual sequel to that game is don't take it personally, babe, it just ain't your story. This was created in a span of a month for a contest. This game you play as a literature teacher in a school set in the future. The students all have handheld computers they can send messages, post stuff, and start topics for. You as the teacher have the ability to read anything they post at any time. The entirety of the game revolves around you invading their privacy and reading everything.
What I find annoying, but at the same time brilliant is the use of slang and internet speak. Bro, lol, and others are used very commonly and while it grates on your nerves it is sort of believable as students barely talk to each other and spend most of their time talking through the computer instead. Their essays which you mark are barely literate and you have to constantly raise the marks so that everyone can pass. It is mandatory that they pass. Its filled with drama, homosexuality, bullying, invasion of privacy, suicide, and other stuff. Even the "bullies" you have a chance to yell at, you can't help feeling sympathetic for. They are human after all. Everyone of them feels like they could be real people.
The current latest sequel is Analogue: A hate story. The only one that isn't free. Like the other two, it has a lot to do with technology. Set many years into the future on a generation spaceship called the "Mugunghwa" that mysteriously disappeared. It has now reappeared and you are an investigator on the ship looking through the logs and sorting out what happened. The writing in this game is much better than the previous two. For example this is just one of many letters exchanged by the crew.
Oh So-jin
When I first saw you, bringing my husband home in the late hours of the night, I was jealous. All I could think of was my daughter, and the first courtesan he'd had an affair with, nine years ago.
With every brief glimpse of you that I saw as you passed through our home, my heart burned a little, as if you embodied every single fault of my farce of a marriage.
I will never send this letter, because I know how ridiculous it sounds: for weeks, I, a noble wife, could be jealous of a poor courtesan? But you are young and beautiful, full of energy and grace; I am none of these things.
Only after you have been entertaining him for months did I start to realize what I was feeling: true, I was jealous, but not of you, for having my husband. I was jealous of my husband, for having the affections of a girl so pretty as you!
These are such ridiculous thoughts for a woman to have, I know, and even more ridiculous still is the way they have overwhelmed me. I used to dread my husband bringing his courtesans home with him; now I look forward to your nights together.
How could I not, when it means that I am treated to the sight of your bashful face in the morning? When we exchange glances, you hide behind your long hair, with so much cuteness and grace, my eyes can't help but wander, to admire the way it rests on your breasts. to see your clothes draped loosely over your hips; I cannot help myself from admiring your body as you try to hide from me.
It is ridiculous, to be so preoccupied with such thoughts, and perhaps I was better off having not ever realized them. Nevertheless, even though I may be as much of a woman as you are, I find myself longing for the same affections you shower my husband with. There is more to it than that: I would like to truly get to know you better. I like to imagine that we have much in common, aside from the obvious.
When I see you hiding in the corridor on those mornings, I imagine wrapping my own arms around those lovely hips, sharing long conversations about our tribulations in life, discovering just how much alike we are. And perhaps... I like to imagine we could share more than that.
I have been married for ten years to a man who has never paid any attention for nine of them. Perhaps my old age has made me bold, but I want more.
The next time I see you, I promise I will say something. For in all my twenty-six years, I have never felt a longing for anything this intensely. I don't care how wrong it is, as a wife and as a woman; I want you, Hana
And the reply
Hana
To my lovely So-jin,
You made it so easy, you know that?
I've always wanted to be seduced. The more I learned about it, the better I got at it, the more I thought about how lucky men are, that they'll get to be on the receiving end of it. It's always seemed like it would be so much fun.
But that wasn't why I dropped my guard in front of you, by the way. I was actually really wary the whole time you were serving my breakfast; do you know what I first thought? I thought maybe you were trying to poison me!
I mean, not seriously, of course. But it crossed my mind.
So no, I was guarded, until you started talking. You know what it was that got me? "Do tell me, how hard is it, studying to be a courtesan?" I answered modestly, "Oh you know, there's nothing to learn, you just have it or you don't"; the answer that any man would expect. But you?
You wouldn't have any of that. You said, "Please, don't lie. I actually want to know. It takes years, does it not? That must be intense for a girl of your age."
Then you leaned in, I started to blab about how it kind of is pretty intense, and I only realized an hour later that I was staring into your eyes, telling you - proudly, no less - about my whole life story. Our faces were barely a foot apart by the time I noticed what you'd done.
And that was how you caught me totally off guard. I had no idea what to do! Should I touch you? What's the right body language in that situation? Was I interpreting you right, or was it all in my head? Not even the slightest clue! You had me good.
And you played it so well! You know just the right moment to pull back, and tell me to go on my way, but in a way that left me wondering.
So-jin, you made it so easy. Returning home, my heart was so a fluttered, my feelings so confused, and all I could think about was you. You, the bored old wife of my patron, actually managed to seduce me, just like that.
I'd always wanted to know that feeling, and you know? It was everything I dreamed it'd be.
Its a story about two families, the Smith's, and the Kim's. These are the two noble families fighting to put their own family ahead and gain recognition from the Ryu family, the emperor and captain of the ship. However that has changed since many generations on the ship and society has regressed. They have no idea why they are even in space or care. Women are treated as if they don't exist. Their names doesn't matter and they are only referred to as the husband's wife. Some doesn't even have names like "the pale bride." They are raised to serve men, have their own women's quarters where they live and are married off like property at the age of 16. Like the other games and the letter exchanged above, it also have themes of homosexuality. However unlike the other two the story of this one is dark. Its based on the Korean Joseon dynasty which is one of the most brutally opressive ears for women in Korean history. Expect to read about patriarchy, sexual abuse, incest, rape, and more.
Its a fucked up place on the ship and the only thing you have to remember is:
Namjon yeobi.
Men are honoured, women are abased.
The writing is extremely well done and the interface is fun to play with. Typing in commands trying to find passwords and logging into admin and typing decrypt block3 to open new things in the game. Be warned though you might want to throw up from reading this but you will keep reading on because its interesting enough.
Monday, March 11, 2013
SimControversy (updated Mar 23/13)
Everyone is jumping in on the SimCity bandwagon. It's been a week now, and still the reports are ceaseless. If you haven't heard, or would like a recap, go here.
What bothers me isn't that yet another DRM game failed. What a surprise. Such a problem is easily forseen, and people are fools to have put faith in DRM yet again.
The beloved SimCity franchise crippled with a tacked on DRM that no one asked for is also not a source of my ails. Such a matter was announced early on in development, much to the chagrin of the fans, but this isn't anything surprising within the last week when the game garnered so much criticism.
The problem is that EA lies. Or more precisely, everything or everyone EA touches becomes corrupted or a liar. Lucy Bradshaw, Maxis' general manager said, "SimCity is an online game and critics and consumers have every right to expect a smooth experience from beginning to end. I and the Maxis team take full responsibility to deliver on our promise."
Well, if the game tanks, it's on you. If the customers are not getting a smooth experience, it's coming out of your wallet. So then what happened when people asked for refunds when the game didn't work, then had features removed, then still didn't work? Did Lucy Bradshaw step in and make good on her promise of 'respnsibility'? No, EA customer support instead turned away customers requesting refunds, and threatened to close their Origin account (effectively banning them from all the games they've purchased on that account).
It's really easy to make promises before you're asked to make good on them.
I really don't care about EA, as I never buy games from them anymore, I've had my fair share of listening to the PR spin of liars in their employment, and I'm not stupid enough to put faith in their games. But EA didn't force Lucy Bradshaw to write that damage-control bullshit. She wrote that. She wrote that without truly understanding the weight of her words. And sure enough, people put faith not in EA, but in her. I guess it works. You work for EA, you learn the ways of a liar, no matter how respectable you once were.
We can all learn from EA. Publish that you are offering refunds, and that you're taking full responsibility, but ensure the fine print policy specifies the possibility of rejecting refunds offered, and that no responsibility may actually be taken. Where in normal scenarios these stipulations apply to the corner case scenarios, EA applies them to all scenarios.
Many games have problems at launch (not that this is an excuse), but EA... You're trying your hardest to dig your own grave. I hope in the future, you will accept consumer apologies as payment for your games, as you seem to think apologies are sufficient in lieu of refunds. Oops, sorry I just accidentally pirated Dead Space 3.
Update:
I stopped following the SimCity scandal because I didn't think it could get much worse. But then it did, as the lies continued.
What bothers me isn't that yet another DRM game failed. What a surprise. Such a problem is easily forseen, and people are fools to have put faith in DRM yet again.
The beloved SimCity franchise crippled with a tacked on DRM that no one asked for is also not a source of my ails. Such a matter was announced early on in development, much to the chagrin of the fans, but this isn't anything surprising within the last week when the game garnered so much criticism.
The problem is that EA lies. Or more precisely, everything or everyone EA touches becomes corrupted or a liar. Lucy Bradshaw, Maxis' general manager said, "SimCity is an online game and critics and consumers have every right to expect a smooth experience from beginning to end. I and the Maxis team take full responsibility to deliver on our promise."
Well, if the game tanks, it's on you. If the customers are not getting a smooth experience, it's coming out of your wallet. So then what happened when people asked for refunds when the game didn't work, then had features removed, then still didn't work? Did Lucy Bradshaw step in and make good on her promise of 'respnsibility'? No, EA customer support instead turned away customers requesting refunds, and threatened to close their Origin account (effectively banning them from all the games they've purchased on that account).
It's really easy to make promises before you're asked to make good on them.
I really don't care about EA, as I never buy games from them anymore, I've had my fair share of listening to the PR spin of liars in their employment, and I'm not stupid enough to put faith in their games. But EA didn't force Lucy Bradshaw to write that damage-control bullshit. She wrote that. She wrote that without truly understanding the weight of her words. And sure enough, people put faith not in EA, but in her. I guess it works. You work for EA, you learn the ways of a liar, no matter how respectable you once were.
We can all learn from EA. Publish that you are offering refunds, and that you're taking full responsibility, but ensure the fine print policy specifies the possibility of rejecting refunds offered, and that no responsibility may actually be taken. Where in normal scenarios these stipulations apply to the corner case scenarios, EA applies them to all scenarios.
Many games have problems at launch (not that this is an excuse), but EA... You're trying your hardest to dig your own grave. I hope in the future, you will accept consumer apologies as payment for your games, as you seem to think apologies are sufficient in lieu of refunds. Oops, sorry I just accidentally pirated Dead Space 3.
Update:
I stopped following the SimCity scandal because I didn't think it could get much worse. But then it did, as the lies continued.
It was then quickly discovered that a modder by the handle UKAzzer cracked the game, removing the online requirement and fixing the majority of bugs and problems in one fell swoop which has poured more fuel onto the fire. Naturally the ability to play the game offline with no repercussions, other then the ability not to be able to go online, directly contradicted statements from Lucy Bradshaw, General Manager at Maxis who stated “It wouldn’t be possible to make the game offline without a significant amount of engineering work by our team.” Her evidence was that the entire region was simulated server side, but that claim itself was debunked by a Maxis Developer.Free games are being given out as compensation, and the CEO of EA resigned. Refunds are 'being honored' but who knows if that actually means you'll get your money back.
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