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[Zeliard]

Heh I just looked back at a PM I sent beastmode pre-release. I'd been spoiled on a couple things (Booker is Comstock, Liz kills him at the end) and took a guess at what was happening.

What I'm just hoping for at this point if this is all true is that they aren't pulling some silly time loop shenanigans.

If it's the case that Booker and Elizabeth are stuck in some time loop where Booker has been going to Columbia to rescue her countless times, but it all loops back around, and that Liz killing Booker finally "closes" the loop - I'm gonna be annoyed.

Even though that's basically what happened, I wasn't annoyed at all. In fact I found it moving and elegant. Just goes to show you that execution is everything, and that being spoiled may not be as significant as you think to your enjoyment.

 

[SpacePirate Ridley]

Sup gaf, I'm looking for a good quality screenshot of the final scene right after Elizabeth drowns Booker. Basically right before all the Elizabeth incarnations start disappearing.

Many thanks

I only have this (still drwoning booker), hope it helps:

 

[The One Who Knocks]

I was under the impressions that Comstock could not see any futures and it was the Archangel (older Elizabeth) that gave him his "prophecies."

No, Comstock saw timelines (probabilities) using the Luteces machine and he based his prophecies off of these probabilities. The 'archangel' figure is just propoganda to feed into his own cult of personality. Old Elizabeth cannot create tears for Comstock because Old Elizabeth's ability to create tears was severely removed. The operation that would be incurred on her if Booker didn't succeed would make it extremely painful for her to open tears (this is in a Voxophone). The pain-tear association stops her opening tears and she never destroys the siphon, which presumably draws almost all of her power away. When she meets Booker in 1983, she says it basically took everything she had to bring him there.

EDIT: As for why he didn't see his own downfall, that wasn't a probability until he sabotaged the Luteces' machine.

EDIT: As for the origin of Columbia, he founds it in 1893 if I remember correctly, this is the exact same year that the Luteces figure out how to make a particle float and the same year they can create tears.

EDIT: Ignore that, I need to confirm that this occured before the founding date.

Ok, so:
A City, Suspended
August the 10th, 1890
Location: Financial District
I had trapped the atom in mid-air. Colleagues called my Lutece Field quantum levitation, but in fact, it was nothing of the sort. Magicians levitate -- my atom simply failed to fall. If an atom could be suspended indefinitely, well -- why not an apple? If an apple, why not a city?

So that date is when she manages to make things float. Do we know precisely when she began experimenting with tears?

Whispers Through The Wall
October the 15th, 1893
Location: Grand Central Depot
The Lutece Field entangled my quantum atom with waves of light, allowing for safe measurement. Sound familiar, brother? That's because you were measuring precisely the same atom from a neighboring world. We used the universe as a telegraph. Switching the field on or off became dots and dashes. Dreadfully slow -- but now, you and I could whisper through the wall ...

A Window
October the 15th, 1893
Location: Founder's Books
Brother, what Comstock failed to understand is that our contraption is a window not into prophecy, but probability. But his money means the Lutece Field could become the Lutece Tear - a window between worlds. A window through which you and I might finally be together.

One And The Same
October the 15th, 1893
Location: Salty Oyster Bar
You have been transfused, brother, into a new reality, but your body rejects the cognitive dissonance through confusion and hemorrhage. But we are together, and I will mend you. For what separates us now, but a single chromosome?

The propoganda states that Elizabeth was conceived in seven days during which Comstock was caring to Lady Comstock. Seven days before that is October 8th, the day Elizabeth was taken and when the male Lutece seemingly crossed over, the same date as the ending. These diaries are for him, so he can be 'mended' by female Lutece, so he can get his memory fixed.

EDIT: Actually, perhaps the reason Comstock was absent was because they were trying to prevent the cognitive dissonance from killing the child.

EDIT: Also, I love how the priest echoed the first thing directly said to you in Rapture "Is it someone new" as the splicer asks you when you rise in the bathysphere.

 

[EatChildren]

I was under the impression that Comstock could not see any futures and it was the Archangel (older Elizabeth) that gave him his "prophecies."

This was my impression. Doesn't he claim to have seen his prophecies before meeting the Luteces? In fact, around the time of his baptism? That an archangel appeared and gave to him visions of a city in the sky, the false shepard, and Columbia bombarding NYC.

This was another element I felt was circular. Booker's experience with Elizabeth throughout the game, seeing Columbia, being the false shepard, and having Old Elizabeth show him NYC on fire, were imprinted on young Booker/Comstock at the baptism when Elizabeth (literally or symbolically) takes him back. It's a memory, contradictory and paradoxal at that, but wouldn't necessarily be perceived as one by Comstock. Instead a weird fragmentation of visions delivered to him by an archangel.

He "remembers" events that have "happened" from the player's perspective, and interprets them as visions, allowing the events to happen in the first place.

 

[Metroidvania]

I was under the impressions that Comstock could not see any futures and it was the Archangel (older Elizabeth) that gave him his "prophecies."

I don't think it's ever clearly defined who the archangel is, but I think Comstock got his initial 'prophecy' to build Columbia through insane delusions and a refusal to come to terms with his guilt and/or the things he'd done, unless I missed a voxophone describing it. I think the 'angel' just told him to build columbia as a way to create a community who operated under his beliefs, not that it was some other Liz.

The way I see it, Comstock builds a following/gains a lot of funds, meets Lutece, sees the tears that female Lutece shows him because she wants to meet her brother, takes it as divine fate through seeing what he wanted to see (and more specifically, not going out of his way to see other probabilities, as lady Lutece comments on how the tear machine actually operates versus how Comstock thinks it operates).

edit: It could also be some sort of memory overlap, since putting his plans into motion acts as a giant loop that draws non-Comstock bookers in.

edit 2: It could also be something along the lines of what Eatchildren said, though I'm not sure that the baptism is where the bleedover occurs, as opposed to some other event.

So what we saw is a Booker DeWitt who didn't sell Anna, one that did not set the events of Infinite in motion.

This is certainly possible, but to me, seems less too much of a throwaway nod to a 'hey, other Bookers exist too, and they didn't have to go through any of the shit you just did' kind of happy ending that Ken doesn't really seem to like

 

[SpacePirate Ridley]

Heh I just looked back at a PM I sent beastmode pre-release. I'd been spoiled on a couple things (Booker is Comstock, Liz kills him at the end) and took a guess at what was happening.



Even though that's basically what happened, I wasn't annoyed at all. In fact I found it moving and elegant. Just goes to show you that execution is everything, and that being spoiled may not be as significant as you think to your enjoyment.

That pretty interesting that becuase of the execution, and idea you already had in your mind you were going to hate, you now dont mind it.

 

[Continuity]

I only have this (still drwoning booker), hope it helps:

Much obliged

 

[ViewtifulJC]

I really liked how it's same priest at the gate of Columbia who's at the baptism, just much younger, and he's blind so he can't be like, "wtf, Booker again!?". Comstock would bring along the man who helped become who he is now.

 

[Sanctuary]

Finish the damn game before complaining about the story being disjointed. The ending satisfies a number of your complaints re: Booker not being surprised at certain developments / knowing where to go.

Actually, it doesn't explain enough. I just finished it, and much of the ending was rather obvious, but they still never explained:

1. Why we are Booker, going through the motions of rescuing Elizabeth.

Spoiler

It's as though we are to assume that Elizabeth simply created a reality (or rather, pulled Booker through from another universe) to rescue her. The game never explicity states this is what happened anywhere.

2. Booker is actually surprised at many of the events taking place, and he doesn't actually know what vigors are. Or rather,

Spoiler

the memories from the "other" Bookers has not surfaced yet and neither the player, nor Booker know what the hell is going on until MUCH later in the game. They also didn't really make it clear on whether or not the people having memories of multiple realities/universes/selves was only when Elizabeth pulled them through (or walked through herself) a tear.

Pretty much everything in the OP is accurate. Even if some of it is cleared up as the game is ending, the narrative is still rather vague most of the way through. You really shouldn't have to wonder the entire time you're playing the game when it's actually going to reveal to you something to make sense of even a small part of your entire reason for even existing. Because of the constant waves of enemies, as well as how the NPCs would react to you, I was wondering if they were going to reveal that

Spoiler

they were all just robots, and you're in Murderworld, or it's all just one big head-trip and you're living inside your head; or Elizabeth's.

The extremely boring combat (until you get Ram, but then the game is already 3/4ths of the way through) and the not so interesting narrative is why it took me close to five days to finish. I also absolutely hated the whole voxophone thing. It made sense in System Shock 2 and was bordering on plausibility in Bioshock, but in Infinite...yeah, sure. You just happened to find giant record players that were audio logs all over the place. Okay...just like every twenty feet there was a vending machine.

It's pretty funny reading some of the replies on the first page.

 

[Neiteio]

I really liked how it's same priest at the gate of Columbia who's at the baptism, just much younger, and he's blind so he can't be like, "wtf, Booker again!?". Comstock would bring along the man who helped become who he is now.

Nice observation, and lol, I just pictured the priest actually saying, "What the fuck."

 

[lastplayed]

I really liked how it's same priest at the gate of Columbia who's at the baptism, just much younger, and he's blind so he can't be like, "wtf, Booker again!?". Comstock would bring along the man who helped become who he is now.

Yeah it was a nice touch.

 

[Zeliard]

I really liked how it's same priest at the gate of Columbia who's at the baptism, just much younger, and he's blind so he can't be like, "wtf, Booker again!?". Comstock would bring along the man who helped become who he is now.

Take a baptism from this guy at your own metaphysical peril.

 

[Neiteio]

Zeliard, keep sharing them screenshots! Love 'em!

(Also, you're helping me stop myself from going on an immediate second playthrough just to play photo safari!)

 

[Zeliard]

I think my favorite part of the game from a visual standpoint was going through the Boxer Rebellion and Battle of Wounded Knee exhibits at the Hall of Heroes.

Don't think I picked my jaw off the floor for that entire portion of the game. I was literally mesmerized.

 

[sn00zer]

Just finished.....that was some serious Dark Tower shit.......

did they hint that Booker was also Andrew Ryan?

 

[XANDER CAGE]

Just finished.....that was some serious Dark Tower shit.......

did they hint that Booker was also Andrew Ryan?

No. That's some fankwank wishful thinking.

 

[Sanctuary]

The ending reminded me of LOST so much!

Lost, Looper, Fringe, Dark City, Terminator, Inception; take your pick.

 

[brian!]

I decided to try and compare the two baptism scenes (The first, where Booker flees against the second, where the Elizabeths drowns Booker) more carefully, specifically the Preacher's sermon and the point at which Booker takes action.

Here's the first:

Preacher: "Are you ready to be born again?"
Booker: "I am."
Preacher: "Do you hate your sins?"
Booker: "I do."
Preacher: "Do you hate your wickedness?"
Booker: "Yes."
Preacher: "Do you want to clean the slate, leave behind all you were before and be born again in the blood of the lamb?"
Booker: "Yes."
Preacher: "Jesus, wash this man clean!"
Booker: "Wait."
Preacher: "Father, make him born again-"
Booker: "Stop it!"
Preacher: "Lord- *to Booker* What are you doing?"
Booker: "S-Stop it! Get... Get off me! Get off!"

And here's the second:

Preacher: "Booker DeWitt, are you ready to be born again? Are you ready to be cleansed of your sins? Are you ready to leave behind all that has gone before, wipe the slate clean and start anew, washed in the blood of the lamb? Do you hate your sins? Do you hate your wickedness? Jesus, wash this man clean! Make him born again... *indistinct* And what name will you take, my son?"
Elizabeth (to Booker's right): "He's Zachary Comstock."
Elizabeth (to Booker's left): "He's Booker DeWitt."
Booker: "No. ...I'm both."
*The Elizabeths push Booker under the water. He drowns.*

The problem is that the two scenes are slightly different right from the get-go. The Preacher's sermon is completely jumbled the second time around, and we don't get any of Booker's interaction either.

If the speech was the same both times, I'd probably have said that the drowning happened *after* Booker's choice, simply because based on the way the speech plays out, he'd already have fled before it could happen (Booker's turning point occurs immediately after the line "Jesus, wash this man clean!", which passes Booker by with no reaction in the second scenario).

The changes to the speech just make things more confusing.

i mean in the second one he is getting drowned by multiple versions of the same person and no one cares

 

[sn00zer]

No. That's some fankwank wishful thinking.

sheesh...I dont think so...they were talking about the same person being in all these other universes where things happening a little differen every time

 

[EliteArtist]

Just finished.....that was some serious Dark Tower shit.......

did they hint that Booker was also Andrew Ryan?

Some people are saying that theres a little easter egg early in the game of a police sketch artist having drawn a picture that looks like Ryan. Theres also reports of a different picture with the sketch having a beard. Personally, I had the Andrew Ryan looking one.

 

[Guevara]

Why does the key appear in Elizabeth's hand before the Rapture Lighthouse?

 

[PaulloDEC]

i mean in the second one he is getting drowned by multiple versions of the same person and no one cares

Yeah, there's so much weird stuff going on that it's next to impossible to give a definitive answer on any of this. We've seen some pretty great theories all the same, though.

 

[Deleted member 22576]

So I quite liked this game. But I feel almost like its the last shooter campaign I'll ever play. By the end I was literally suffering through the shooting arenas. I wasn't being tacticle, I wasn't enjoying myself I was just shooting my shotgun at the ghost over and over until it played the next cutscene. Yes, I'm at fault for being impatient, but the story was so engrossing and interesting that Everytime the game transitioned out of story time and into combat mode I was super frustrated. I died like 500 times playing this game on medium. Multiplayer things like Destiny have me excited and I'm sure ill play Half Life3, but I have absolutely no desire to play another story driven single player shoot'em ever again.


Infinite seems to be one of the best pieces of pop-fiction I've ever experienced, the way it had and has and will have my imagination reeling is something very special. Something only the best of the best media can has accomplished. I hold this game up there with LOST and Jurassic Park in terms of just how absorbed into the fiction I became.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

I think the shooting made the game really drag during the Fitzroy segments

I rolled my eyes every time I went out to the clocktower area and another group of guards was there.

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

Just finished.....that was some serious Dark Tower shit.......

did they hint that Booker was also Andrew Ryan?

I don't think it's Booker = Ryan, but archetype = archetype.

There's always a man, a city, a lighthouse, and a rescue.

The Man: Jack = Booker = Subject Delta
The Villain: Ryan = Comstock = Sophia Lamb
The City: Rapture = Columbia
The Scientist: Lutece = Tennenbaum
The Girl: Elizabeth = Little Sisters/Eleanor Lamb

and the Lighthouse, a gateway.


The story's always the same, but the details are always different. Throughout all universes throughout time.

 

[The One Who Knocks]

Why does the key appear in Elizabeth's hand before the Rapture Lighthouse?

I think it's to symbolise her having the ability to perceive and manipulate the entire probability space. Basically, it's a representation of how she can open any door, to any universe.

EDIT:

I decided to try and compare the two baptism scenes (The first, where Booker flees against the second, where the Elizabeths drowns Booker) more carefully, specifically the Preacher's sermon and the point at which Booker takes action.

Here's the first:

Preacher: "Are you ready to be born again?"
Booker: "I am."
Preacher: "Do you hate your sins?"
Booker: "I do."
Preacher: "Do you hate your wickedness?"
Booker: "Yes."
Preacher: "Do you want to clean the slate, leave behind all you were before and be born again in the blood of the lamb?"
Booker: "Yes."
Preacher: "Jesus, wash this man clean!"
Booker: "Wait."
Preacher: "Father, make him born again-"
Booker: "Stop it!"
Preacher: "Lord- *to Booker* What are you doing?"
Booker: "S-Stop it! Get... Get off me! Get off!"

And here's the second:

Preacher: "Booker DeWitt, are you ready to be born again? Are you ready to be cleansed of your sins? Are you ready to leave behind all that has gone before, wipe the slate clean and start anew, washed in the blood of the lamb? Do you hate your sins? Do you hate your wickedness? Jesus, wash this man clean! Make him born again... *indistinct* And what name will you take, my son?"
Elizabeth (to Booker's right): "He's Zachary Comstock."
Elizabeth (to Booker's left): "He's Booker DeWitt."
Booker: "No. ...I'm both."
*The Elizabeths push Booker under the water. He drowns.*

The problem is that the two scenes are slightly different right from the get-go. The Preacher's sermon is completely jumbled the second time around, and we don't get any of Booker's interaction either.

If the speech was the same both times, I'd probably have said that the drowning happened *after* Booker's choice, simply because based on the way the speech plays out, he'd already have fled before it could happen (Booker's turning point occurs immediately after the line "Jesus, wash this man clean!", which passes Booker by with no reaction in the second scenario).

The changes to the speech just make things more confusing.

This is interesting. I think this might be why it has to occur before he makes the choice as you've suggested.

 

[lastplayed]

Lost, Looper, Fringe, Dark City, Terminator, Inception; take your pick.

Donnie Darko comes to mind. Especially the ending.

 

[Rlan]

Finish this last night. What a headfuck.

Going back to the previous trailers, it's fascinating what's changed. Not just level designs, but also functionality -- clearly the demo Elizabeth also had some telekinesis powers while in the end she just has the tear ability. Telekenesis doesn't really fit with the resulting reasoning for her tear ability. Also the fact that only one and a half years ago Comstock looked like this:

Which would have probably made the whole Comstock / DeWitt connection a bit clearer.

People have said the game's easy but I had a real shit of a time during the ghostly fights and the final battle on the airship. I must have missed a million bloody red / blue / green upgrade things too.

Game was pretty good, but I still prefer the original Bioshock. Some of the changes were kind of for the worst -- like the change to having the circus of values stuff have anamatronic flailing robo men sitting on the top, which were more of a distraction during battle because they looked human like. Additionally the constant tutorials popping up during battle ("Elizabeth can take care of herself!") were large and way too long, getting in the way of me shooting stuff for the most part.

 

[Neiteio]

I think the shooting made the game really drag during the Fitzroy segments

I rolled my eyes every time I went out to the clocktower area and another group of guards was there.

For me, the only part where the shooting wore on my patience was the very beginning, when you're making your way across the rooftops after the incident in Raffle Square. I guess I was still acclimating to the fact it is a shooter, having just wandered the streets of Disneyland's Main Street in peaceful, starry-eyed wonderment, lol.

At the end of the day, though, I love BioShock's brand of combat. I only wish the enemies lent themselves better to the type of elaborate death traps I set in BioShock 1 and 2. As it is, they tend to stick to positions of cover unless you flush them out (or drag them with Undertow).

What part did you like best, dear Albert?

 

[Arch Stanton]

The Vigors feel like a massive blindspot in the story, and that's the problem with this game to me; it feels like they designed the game around the location and the "tear" concept, then Ken figured out the ending and they wrote backward from there. BioShock took painstaking measures to make the world feel believable, where Columbia falls short on so many aspects of vital basic elements of how the world works. And if anyone believes that those details were "pointless" in the first game and unneeded in this, then I wish I could be in your shoes because those details were what made the first game such an incredibly immersive experience, and when those key details about how this world works, especially when you include a Multiverse, aren't explained to a satisfactory level, then the immersion and the story fall apart for me. And don't say they've been left open to interpretation because some story elements like Vigors shouldn't be left open, it's just lazy writing.

The devil's in the details and this is an excellent point. The world-building in Infinite, while impressive, is not at the same level of detail as in the original Bioshock. I was disappointed by that. I know some don't care about that stuff because, on the surface, it appears to be such a minor thing that why bother making a fuss about it. But when you take the Vigors thing into account with the game's other narrative shortcomings, it adds up.

I still like the game a lot and will be there for the DLC, but multiverse stuff didn't do it for me, nor did the undercooked Elizabeth-Booker father-daughter relationship stuff. The ending, and ultimately, the game itself, tried to be both intellectually stimulating and emotionally rewarding. But for me, it missed the mark on both counts (though I think it was more successful from an intellectual standpoint).

Nevertheless, I'll see if a second play-through enhances my experience of the game's narrative, and, as stated above, I await the DLC with some anticipation. I still like visiting Ken Levine's worlds!

 

[Red]

I loved Infinite's combat. Tons of options. Every battle felt like an improvised dance. The skylines were especially great, absolutely loved them. In my dreams the scale of battles matches the 2011 E3 demo, but I wasn't thinking about that while playing. It was a ton of fun. Great sense of movement and speed.

The only times things slowed down was when heavy hitter enemies were involved. Motorized patriots had me playing stop and pop, and I never cracked the pattern for dealing with handymen. Basically was the old "shoot at it till it dies." The only handyman fight I enjoyed was the one right before finishing Fitzroy. I liked the design of that area.

What happened to the first handyman of the game? He's coming to get Liz, he chucks you off a platform, and then... Vanishes?

I had a bug during the Zeppelin bridge fight that bugged me for a while. After damaging the engine, I fell off the ship and respawned on the bridge platform. Nothing happened for a while, then the Zeppelin fell out of the sky and Liz proclaimed "Booker, that was amazing." I'm not sure what's supposed to actually happen there.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

For me, the only part where the shooting wore on my patience was the very beginning, when you're making your way across the rooftops after the incident in Raffle Square. I guess I was still acclimating to the fact it is a shooter, having just wandered the streets of Disneyland's Main Street in peaceful, starry-eyed wonderment, lol.

At the end of the day, though, I love BioShock's brand of combat. I only wish the enemies lent themselves better to the type of elaborate death traps I set in BioShock 1 and 2. As it is, they tend to stick to positions of cover unless you flush them out (or drag them with Undertow).

What part did you like best, dear Albert?

Of the entire game? I enjoyed most of it, but if I am going to point out one thing that I felt was really brilliant...the tutorial.

That may sound weird, but from a game design perspective, it is probably the smartest tutorial I have ever seen. Having you optionally engage in thematically appropriate and easily explained carnival games to give the player basic handles on the types of weapons and vigors was expertly designed.

When your player gets through the tutorial without having felt like they wasted their time (you even get rewarded for doing it well!) or even that they had fun doing it, you did something incredibly well.

 

[EliteArtist]

Finish this last night. What a headfuck.

Going back to the previous trailers, it's fascinating what's changed. Not just level designs, but also functionality -- clearly the demo Elizabeth also had some telekinesis powers while in the end she just has the tear ability. Telekenesis doesn't really fit with the resulting reasoning for her tear ability. Also the fact that only one and a half years ago Comstock looked like this:

Which would have probably made the whole Comstock / DeWitt connection a bit clearer.

Actually, I'm fine with it not looking like Booker. Though I liked that younger Comstock looked a bit like Booker. Helped the realization sink in more.

 

[XANDER CAGE]

I do wonder if the Air on the G String playing while that guy is getting pulled apart by birds is an intentional Evangelion reference by whoever placed it there.

 

[Sanctuary]

Donnie Darko comes to mind. Especially the ending.

I knew there was another show or two that I was forgetting.

The devil's in the details and this is an excellent point. The world-building in Infinite, while impressive, is not at the same level of detail as in the original Bioshock. I was disappointed by that. I know some don't care about that stuff because, on the surface, it appears to be such a minor thing that why bother making a fuss about it. But when you take the Vigors thing into account with the game's other narrative shortcomings, it adds up.

I still like the game a lot and will be there for the DLC, but multiverse stuff didn't do it for me, nor did the undercooked Elizabeth-Booker father-daughter relationship stuff. The ending, and ultimately, the game itself, tried to be both intellectually stimulating and emotionally rewarding. But for me, it missed the mark on both counts (though I think it was more successful from an intellectual standpoint).

Nevertheless, I'll see if a second play-through enhances my experience of the game's narrative, and, as stated above, I await the DLC with some anticipation. I still like visiting Ken Levine's worlds!

Felt this way as well. Bioshock just had a much more believable premise. Not everything has to be explained all at once, but Bioshock was simply a whole lot smarter on it's setup.

 

[BHK3]

I do wonder if the Air on the G String playing while that guy is getting pulled apart by birds is an intentional Evangelion reference by whoever placed it there.

when was this

 

[ViewtifulJC]

Of the entire game? I enjoyed most of it, but if I am going to point out one thing that I felt was really brilliant...the tutorial.

That may sound weird, but from a game design perspective, it is probably the smartest tutorial I have ever seen. Having you optionally engage in thematically appropriate and easily explained carnival games to give the player basic handles on the types of weapons and vigors was expertly designed.

When your player gets through the tutorial without having felt like they wasted their time (you even get rewarded for doing it well!) or even that they had fun doing it, you did something incredibly well.

I love that section too, and was instantly reminded of a similar set-up to what is maybe my favorite game ever, Chrono Trigger. An opening fair that teaches you how to play without you even noticing, doubles as thematic world-building for the epic quest you're about to embark on, AND it's all totally optional

 

[XANDER CAGE]

when was this

Towards the beginning, in the Order of the Raven hall.

 

[Neiteio]

Of the entire game? I enjoyed most of it, but if I am going to point out one thing that I felt was really brilliant...the tutorial.

That may sound weird, but from a game design perspective, it is probably the smartest tutorial I have ever seen. Having you optionally engage in thematically appropriate and easily explained carnival games to give the player basic handles on the types of weapons and vigors was expertly designed.

When your player gets through the tutorial without having felt like they wasted their time (you even get rewarded for doing it well!) or even that they had fun doing it, you did something incredibly well.

Yeah, I agree, the tutorial was very well-done. There was also a lot of spectacle mixed in to maintain the sense of wonder, like the bit where you see the Handyman flinching at the flash of cameras (I wanted to hug him), or the vigor salesman with the dancers in devil costumes.

(At this point, I restrain myself from postponing work and booting up the game to take screenshots of that section.)

For me, I'm not sure if it was my favorite part of the game, but the bit I keep thinking about is Comstock House. The exterior, the mental ward, etc. That whole sequence was amazing, and in my mind the flowchart of amazing went something like this:

After battling the ghost of Lady Comstock, you get to the gondola, and see the house surrounded by stormy clouds, with a veritable Mount Rushmore beneath it. --> Songbird throws you through a building and nearly kills you before Elizabeth pleads him down and he flees with the girl. --> You go through the clouds and enter Comstock House amid candles and swirling snow, like a Tibetan monastary in the Himalayas or something. --> Inside, the building has been turned into a mental ward full of deranged lunatics in presidential masks, with the Boys of Silence posted as lookouts. You hear the screams of Elizabeth through the many tears... The whole experience is chilling.

Then you meet future Elizabeth, and see NYC being razed to the ground in the 1980s, and you get warped back in time. The feeling when the room is warm and inviting again... You feel like how Scrooge must've felt in "A Chrismas Carol" when he woke up the morning after meeting the Ghost of Christmas Future. You still have a chance... Elizabeth is being tortured mere rooms away... You rush to her aid. And then you top it all off with the tornado from the "Wizard of Oz."

Basically, I like how the game created a sense of urgency without resorting to timers or anything cheap. Simply hearing Elizabeth suffering, and hearing her wonder whether you abandoned her, was unbearable. Seeing Elizabeth turn evil made my heart sank. But then going back in time (or to another reality, rather) to set things right... Total rush, man!

 

[Elios83]

There's something I don't get about the ending.
If Elizabeth kills Booker in every possible world where he became Comstock and created Columbia, the result would be that Booker would be dead after Wounded Knee, Elizabeth never born, Columbia never born.
Problem is that the post credits cut scene hints that all the possibilities of Columbia being created are erased, Booker becomes a detective and lives with Anna.
But that is impossible if he gets killed, for that to happen Booker must be convinced not to become Comstock in every possible world, but he still has to live.

 

[SammiiDoogles]

There's something I don't get about the ending.
If Elizabeth kills Booker in every possible world where he became Comstock and created Columbia, the result would be that Booker would be dead after Wounded Knee, Elizabeth never born, Columbia never born.
Problem is that the post credits cut scene hints that all the possibilities of Columbia being created are erased, Booker becomes a detective and lives with Anna.
But that is impossible if he gets killed, for that to happen Booker must be convinced not to become Comstock in every possible world, but he still has to live.

No the baptism is the branching point, either Booker accepts it and becomes Comstock or he walks away and lives life in debt etc. Elizabeth eliminates the Comstock branch.

 

[SpartanForce]

Holy shit my mind is full of fuck. Could someone try to explain the ending to me please

 

[B33]

Additionally the constant tutorials popping up during battle ("Elizabeth can take care of herself!") were large and way too long, getting in the way of me shooting stuff for the most part.

Those messages can be toggled "off," as well as the "icons" that point to the Heavy Hitters and enemy health bars. Look under the options menu.

Holy shit my mind is full of fuck. Could someone try to explain the ending to me please

Quick, someone grab the diagram!

 

[RoKKeR]

Holy shit my mind is full of fuck. Could someone try to explain the ending to me please

Page 88. Just came out of the ending a few hours ago and it helped a ton. A lot of my initial thoughts were correct, but elaborated on.

And the timeline needs to be on every page.

 

[SammiiDoogles]

Playing this through again on 1999 mode, it's crazy how many little details they put in early on. It's a lot of fun picking up on all these little hints they basically lay out for you right at the start.

I totally forgot the fact that Booker has a nosebleed right in the first chunk of the game, before he's even met Elizabeth. (The part after everyone stops firing and Comstock does his speech to Booker on the lift, just before The Prophet's Zeppelin). By the time the nosebleeds are explained I had completely forgotten about it because it's such a small odd thing first time around, but it's in fact a huge hint.

Also one of the very first Voxophones (the third one in fact) pretty much explains the Booker/Comstock thing. "One man goes into the waters of baptism. Another man comes out. Born again" "Perhaps that swimmer is both sinner and saint"

Then of course there's the 122 connections, the anachronistic music (although I picked up on this first time around, it's funny how blatant it is but goes unnoticed by a surprising amount of people) and a bunch of other stuff.

 

[Incendiary]

Why does the key appear in Elizabeth's hand before the Rapture Lighthouse?

I figured it was the key that Booker gave her to escape from Monument Island way back when, and she remembers it and kind of...conjures it up. But I'm not sure.

 

[The Xtortionist]

For me, I'm not sure if it was my favorite part of the game, but the bit I keep thinking about is Comstock House. The exterior, the mental ward, etc. That whole sequence was amazing, and in my mind the flowchart of amazing went something like this:

I need a gif of looking up at Comstock House from the switch to activate the bridge. A screenshot wouldn't even do it justice - the moving clouds and lightning elevated that image to one I'll probably never forget.

Then there's running headfirst into the maelstrom while the bridge violently falls into place, piece by piece, desperate to rescue Elizabeth.

Goddamn.

 

[sn00zer]

fuck there was a post credit scene?

 

[Elios83]

No the baptism is the branching point, either Booker accepts it and becomes Comstock or he walks away and lives life in debt etc. Elizabeth eliminates the Comstock branch.

That's my doubt, Elizabeth wants to erase all the possibilities of him becoming Comstock, but if he kills him....he dies in that moment in every world, it's just over for him.

 

[Neiteio]

I need a gif of looking up at Comstock House from the switch to activate the bridge. A screenshot wouldn't even do it justice - the moving clouds and lightning elevated that image to one I'll probably never forget.

Then there's running headfirst into the maelstrom while the bridge violently falls into place, piece by piece, desperate to rescue Elizabeth.

Goddamn.

YES. HELL YES.

Seriously, a high-res GIF of the Comstock House exterior would be amazing.

I also PM'd Zeliard asking him to take some super-hi-res shots of the place.

No pressure, buddy!