"City at the bottom of the ocean? Ridiculous."
Thread Rules:
This thread will contain spoilers for BioShock Infinite. However, anything related to Burial At Sea in regards to major plot points will need to abide by the rules below.
The standard rules of NeoGAF apply. Use your judgment. For the foreseeable future, NO SPOILERS will be permitted without the proper formatting.
Here are the tags:
What constitutes a spoiler?: Major events, character deaths, plot twists, the game’s ending, speculation following your playthrough, and so forth.
Err on the side of caution. Again, use your acumen. Most of this is common sense: be respectful, be mindful, and don’t do anything cretinous.
Disagreements are going happen, and that’s fine, as long as they don’t escalate into being belligerent.
Below contains links to the original BI OT, the BI spoiler OT and I guess the topic for views on the first piece of DLC for BI, Clash in the Clouds (CitC).
The BI spoiler OT is especially useful as a guide and refresher into the themes, understanding and general discussion on BI’s story. It is advisable that you look at it to get the most out of the story line in BAS. Just pick a door.
Glossary of terms.
BAS = Burial at Sea.
BI = BioShock Infinite.
CitC = Clash in the Clouds.
Ken = Kevin.
"There's two ways to deal with mystery: uncover it, or eliminate it."
Title: BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea - Episode One.
Developer: Irrational Games
Publisher: 2K Games
Worldwide Release date: Available starting November 12th, 2013.
ESRB: M; PEGI: 18.
The premise.
Come back to Rapture in a story that finds Booker and Elizabeth on the eve of the underwater city's fall from grace. Developed by Irrational Games, the developer of the original BioShock and BioShock Infinite, this DLC features Rapture as you’ve never seen it before—a shining jewel at the bottom of the ocean, built almost entirely from scratch in the BioShock Infinite engine.
- Will be available on XBL marketplace, PSN network and Steam.
- Pricing:
- Set at $14.99/9.99 pounds/1,200 Microsoft points each episode, both episodes will cost $30. Alternatively, the season pass is $19.99/15.99 pounds; representing great value. More details are available on the Irrational store. As part of the season pass, owners also get access to CitC as well as the Early Bird Special Pack (this pack includes four exclusive gears, Machine Gun and Pistol Damage Upgrades, gold skins for each weapon, and five Infusion bottles for the main campaign).
- As of the 07/09/13, The Xbox's move to real currency equates to following prices for the season pass; $19.99/15.99 pounds/18. 99 Euros/2,000 Yen.
- 1.69 GB DL on 360/PS3.
- Single player only.
- Not stand alone DLC, will require either the BI disc or install to run.
- The average length of BAS is 2-3 hours according to Ken Levine, some people have finished it in less time, some have taken considerably more time.
- Gameplay is a mixture of BS1 and Infinite (details in FAQ).
- Is tied directly to the events in BI.
- Noir style storytelling.
- One new Vigor, Old Man Winter; Old Man Winter allows the player to freeze Splicers much like Winter Blast, it can also create ice traps, as well as freezing gushing water to create an icy bridge.
- One new weapon, the Radar Range; This is a concentrated laser that can chain between targets and make them implode.
- FPS/Ken Levine dream simulator/NeoGaf’s salvation.
At a glance- Comparison of the mechanics found in BAS (a more detailed text version in FAQ).
Will my PC be able to play BioShock Infinite?
- BioShock Infinite Minimum PC requirements:
- OS: Windows Vista Service Pack 2 32-bit
- Processor: Intel Core 2 DUO 2.4 GHz / AMD Athlon X2 2.7 GHz
- Memory: 2 GB
- Hard Drive: 20 GB free
- Video Card: DirectX10 Compatible ATI Radeon HD 3870 / NVIDIA 8800 GT / Intel HD 3000 Integrated Graphics
- Video Card Memory: 512 MB
- Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
- BioShock Infinite Recommended PC requirements:
- OS: Windows 7 Service Pack 1 64-bit
- Processor: Quad Core Processor
- Memory: 4 GB
- Hard Drive: 30 GB free
- Video Card: DirectX11 Compatible, AMD Radeon HD 6950 / NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560
- Video Card Memory: 1024 MB
- Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
For further reading: Bioshock Infinite PC performance thread
Achievements/Trophies (contains minimal spoilers)
Down in the Briney: 25G/Bronze - Took a Bathysphere ride in Burial at Sea - Episode One.
Burial at Sea: 50G/Silver - Completed Burial at Sea - Episode One.
Audio Enthusiast: 50G/Silver - Collected all Audio Diaries in Burial at Sea - Episode One.
Fully Equipped: 10G/Bronze - Purchased any two upgrades for Old Man Winter or Radar Range in Burial at Sea - Episode One.
Confirmed Luddite: 10G/Bronze - Destroyed ten Turrets in Burial at Sea - Episode One.
Cook and Serve: 10G/Bronze - Made 5 enemies explode with the Radar Range in Burial at Sea - Episode One.
Chain Reaction: 50G/Silver - Damaged fifteen foes with an exploding enemy, using the Radar Range in Burial at Sea - Episode One.
Break the Ice: 10G/Bronze - Shattered 5 enemies who had been frozen with Old Man Winter.
Snowball Effect: 10G/Bronze - Froze 2 enemies with the same Old Man Winter trap.
Going Places: 25G/Bronze - Rode the tram in Burial at Sea - Episode One.
Peviews and Reviews
The Preview thread can be found here..
"It was not impossible to build Rapture at the bottom of the sea. It was impossible to build it anywhere else."
" Season for all things! A time to live and a time to die, a time to build... and a time to destroy!"
Video Guide: From left to right: The Reveal Trailer | BAS First 5 Minutes | Fact from Myth documentary | Gamespot's The Music of BAS | IGN's Old man winter Video | Gamespot's Ruibuilding BioShock's past.
"We all make choices, but in the end our choices make us".
When is the story set?
The story takes place on New Year's Eve, 1958, which is the night that the bombing happened in the original Rapture and the revolution started.
Initially the story revolves around a young girl who went missing named Sally. Elizabeth wants Booker to solve the mystery surrounding the disappearance. The last time Booker heard about the kid, he presumed her to be dead.
Who is Sally?
It is unknown who Sally is beyond the fact that she disappeared at the Sir Prize Casino.
However, The One Who Knocks put down a great bit of speculation:
The Voxophone and Booker's reaction to Sally can be found in this video.To further expand on this answer, there actually is a (potential) direct connection to this DLC already existing in this game (Talking about Infinite):
In the original game there is a short Voxophone storyline involving a woman named "Sally" which culminates in the Salty Oyster Bar's backroom (you'll remember this as the place with the button under the register. There is a poster with a woman named "Sally" and Booker comments that he thinks he knew her, that she worked on bar on Houston street. In this DLC, you're looking for a woman named Sally.
It could be related, perhaps it is not.
Why are we going back to Rapture?
Ken Levine mentioned to Eurogamer that:
"We were really excited, having done all the work on the population - a living, breathing population in Columbia - because Rapture was a tomb, y'know? Originally we wanted to show Rapture when it was fully alive, but do it in the context of an interesting story, not just to go back and talk about Midi-chlorians, you know? To do it in a sort of integrated way, but to tell a story we thought was important to tell with these characters as well."
Will it tie up with the events that happened in BI?
Yes, BAS will eventually integrate everything.
If it's connected to BI, is that BI's Elizabeth?
Yes, It is BI's Elizabeth.
Does Elizabeth recognise Booker?
In the Eurogamer interview, Ken mentions that:
"A woman comes into your office and offers you a job. And she's got the femme fatale kind of look, and you two don't seem to know each other, or you don't seem to know her..."
Why isn't Elizabeth older looking in BAS?
Destroying the syphon meant that Elizabeth in BI now posses almost unlimited powers to travel anywhere freely without it having any physical/ageing effect on her.
Why does Booker still have AD printed on his hands? Does that mean Comstock is still alive?
I will refer to the OXM article for the interpretation of this:
"The problem with this possibility, of course, is that at the end of BioShock Infinite, Elizabeth drowns the Booker that would go on to become Zachary Comstock at the precise moment he set himself on that path, suggesting that she effectively erased the possibility of Comstock (but not the 'good' Booker or indeed herself) from time and space.
If she somehow survived, the single Elizabeth that is left in the river at Wounded Knee at the close of Infinite, after the others gradually disappear, would be the only version of Elizabeth across the multiverse that would still have her pinkie severed (owing to the involvement of Comstock in that scenario), and thus the only one with the power to create tears.
As Liz herself explains, the worlds behind each lighthouse door are all different and yet the same in different ways, and there are constants and variables to all of them. There are "a million, million" Comstocks, and within those parameters, it doesn't make sense that these all sprung from one, singular decision. If Irrational is following its own narrative logic and the many worlds interpretation of multiverse theory, and there IS indeed a universe that exists for every possible variable, then there must, MUST be a universe somewhere where Booker later reconsiders his decision to turn down his baptism at Wounded Knee and is reborn as Comstock. It's possible we haven't seen the last of the prophet.
Is it the same Rapture as the one in BS1?
No, both technically and story wise. In regards to technically, Ken Levine made clear in Eurogamer that:
"From a resource and work standpoint, it's effectively like making a small part of a new game. Almost all the Rapture elements are newly created for the engine. The city outside you saw is actually a 3D structure, whereas in the original game it's 2D images. I think every single environment is created from scratch."
Is BAS going to play like BS1?
It is important to state that BAS is not seeking to recreate BS1 systems, but rather tweaking Infinite's system to bring you something that reminds you of it. In the Eurogamerarticle, Ken said:
“I think we really tried to modify the gameplay so it felt more like a Rapture experience.”
What mechanics of BS1 and Infinite will be present in BAS?
Below shows a comparison of the different mechanics that will be found in BAS.
- ‘Similiar to BS1 mechanics':
- Level Design (more details below in FAQ).
- Combat (more details below in FAQ).
- The Circus of Values machine(s) and Ammo Bandito machines.
- The weapon system from BS1/2, carry an armory!
- Audio Diaries.
- Eve.
- Infinite mechanics:
- Vigors.
- Elizabeth’s tear ability/mechanic .
- Elizabeth ability to throw you ammo and aid when needed.
- The sky-hook mechanic, now called the air grabber in BAS.
- Gear(s).
- Hidden infusions.
- Lockpick system.
- 1999 mode.
- Kinetoscopes, now called need-to-know machines in BAS.
How will the combat mechanic differ in BAS compared to BI?
Well, the most important thing to state is that Ken Levine mentioned that the first half of episode one will contain zero combat. which would mean it would be similar to the first 30-60 mins of BI.
During an IGN interview, Ken said:
“One of the things I’m most excited for in the first DLC is that the first half of it has no combat,” Levine teased. It’s just playing in that world, you know, the Rapture you’d never really seen before, and watching Booker and Elizabeth use their wits to solve a problem and just soak in the atmosphere."
However, when the combat does begin, it differentiates itself from BI's quite substantively leaning towards BS1's combat scenario) (use of traps, scouting an area before attacking mixed in with the refinements found in BI (as compared to the clunkiness of everything in BS1). BAS aims at providing smaller scale combat scenarios compared to BI's bombardment of enemies.
Will we any see characters from BS1 back in BAS?
Yes, there will be a host of characters from BS1, but they won’t be same as you encountered them originally.
"You know, this is about a year before the events of BioShock 1, and so you'll meet some characters before they've gone as deeply crazy as they have [in Shock]. Some fan favourites, but they're not just cameos - they're deeply integrated into the story."
Will the Lutece twins be featured in BAS?
Unknown at this point, but Levine did have this to say (from OXM):
"I'm not only a huge fan of writing them but I'm a huge fan of working with Oliver [Vaquer] and Jennifer [Hale] on them, and I'll leave it at that."
Will BS2 be referenced?
Unknown, depends on whether Ken/Irrational consider BS2 to be important to the integration of the story in BAS.
Interestingly, the night that she had Delta shoot himself was also New Year's Eve of 1958.
Will the level design in BAS be as linear as it was in BI?
The simple answer is no, Irrational have identified that BI's level design was detrimental in comparison to BS1's. BAS will see the return of a central hub connecting to other areas, which was sadly missing/limited throughout BI. The intricate layout of the levels will also return in BAS as Ken Levine identified (in Destructoid):
"It’s basically two parts -- [the first episode] takes place in sort of the pristine Rapture, and that’s very much like being in Columbia at the beginning. There’s a hubspace that’s pretty…I think actually one of the best BioShock spaces that the team has ever built in terms of what I like to see."
"I look at levels like the medical level in BioShock and Fort Frolick as sort of the right structural layout of things because they’re less linear, they’re more sort of the center. They feel organic to me, [but] buildings are designed in a hierarchical fashion […] where the more big action stuff tends to push you down a single corridor. It is a constant struggle to get the team around that non-linearity. We’ve definitely done a better job I think in this DLC than we did in Infinite."
What was the song for the first BAS trailer?
It was Wonderful Wonderful, by Johnny Mathis.
No Gods. No Kings. Only Man.
Andrew (For his contribution on the BI OT) | Blue Ninja (For providing those sexy ass banner assets and feedback on the OT) | BruceLeeRoy (For his contribution on the amazing BI spoiler OT) | B33 (For incredible feedback and critiques whilst on a busy schedule) | Cystm (For his contribution to the BI OT thread, and general guidance) | OneLetter (For his invaluable clarifications on the content of the thread and general feedback) | Overdoziz (For feedback on the F.A.Q and providing the Booker door assets) | TheOddOne (On showing me how NOT to create a thread <3) | The One Who Knocks (For allowing me to use his fascinating Sally theory) | Sotto Voce (For his silent support) | Xand (For keeping it real) | Zakislam (For his CitC thread).Many thanks to the following people for their indispensable help. In alphabetical order.
And lastly, thank you my dear readers.
