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Levine: The first half of Bioshock Infinite's Burial at Sea will not have any combat

Courage

Member
Here's a piece IGN had with him, but there was a quote that caught me off guard.

“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.”

I know a lot of you will be pleased by this since you thought Infinite stuttered with its combat. I think fuck that, what else am I gonna do instead? Bioshock isn't the type of game that relies on any other mechanics other than exploring and interacting with characters, but I don't think that's enough.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/08/09/recreating-rapture-in-bioshock-infinite
 

RoboPlato

I'd be in the dick
That's really surprising. Does that mean the Elizabeth chapter will be the one with combat? That'll be different.

And to what I know the majority of posts in here will be, combat was awesome in Infinite.
 

RoKKeR

Member
^^^ Yes. (though I don't think it was shit)

Fantastic. Makes the first half much less of a boring shootfest.
 
Great! I would love to explore Rapture, and interact with the 3D world like in a old school adventure game. Minus the pixel hunts.
 

Courage

Member
As much as I loved Infinite's exploring, I only loved it so much because it was perfectly paced and balanced with the combat of the game. A 2-3 hour exploration session won't be anything amazing.
 

RoboPlato

I'd be in the dick
As much as I loved Infinite's exploring, I only loved it so much because it was perfectly paced and balanced with the combat of the game. A 2-3 hour exploration session won't be anything amazing.

Same here. I hope there's puzzles or some kind of dialogue system to make it more interactive. I loved exploring both games because there was a sense of danger and tension at all times. Knowing there's no combat will kind of ruin the tension.
 

Zeliard

Member
It's like they read my mind!

What there should have ideally been is a much more significant investigative element to the game. It's already built in given how the story is essentially mystery layered on top of mystery. Booker as a detective type would have been perfect, with various gameplay stretches where you and Elizabeth search for clues, interrogate NPCs (it would be nice to actually talk to them), solve puzzles, etc, while also engaging in combat when appropriate to the pacing and storyline.

Loved the combat, though. I still need to get into the Clash in the Clouds DLC.
 

Violet_0

Banned
Good, the combat in Infinite got boring fast
They really should just start making adventure games, but of course nobody buys these
 
Interesting. I remember Levine said the combat will be more like BioShock than Infinite, and if there is no combat in the first part, that means all the combat happens in the second part when you play as Elizabeth. Very curious to see how the tackle this and how they'll engage the player without any combat in part 1. Hopefully there are some game-y elements in there, otherwise I might get bored. I've never been a fan of "narrative experiences." I don't want to be just talking to people and whatnot.
 
Wow, sounds awful. The problem with infinite was that it never stopped to take a breather and let you explore the world, not that there was combat at all. Exploration and combat should balance each other out. All exploration or all combat is shit.

When is levine going to learn pacing?
 
That's fantastic news! I mean sure I'm wondering what the hell we're going to be doing, but I have full trust in Irrational to make it fun.
This DLC is sizing up to be everything I've wanted out of a Bioshock 1 sequel. Excite.
 

Meier

Member
The combat isn't very good in Infinite so this is a good thing for multiple reasons. I like that they were willing to take a chance on this but then again, the best parts of Infinite have no combat as is (beginning part when first arriving) so we know they can do it effectively.
 

RoboPlato

I'd be in the dick
I don't think moving a camera from point A to point B and watching some dialog or staged set pieces makes for a good game either. :p

I'm nervous two but since it's a detective story investigations, puzzles, and dialogue stuff could be very cool. Make it like some of the extended conversations in Deus Ex: HR.
 

RoKKeR

Member
Why not just make it a fucking movie, Levine?

Just because there's no combat doesn't mean you are just standing around whirling through the world like you're on a Disneyland ride. I'd say half of The Last of Us is exploration/moving through spaces without a fight and those are some of my favorite moments from that game. The reason being that there was not only meaningful exploration, but things useful and relevant to your survival to find, fantastic contextual conversations to have with Ellie or others, simple puzzles to solve, etc., it kept the player engaged while escorting them through a beautiful world.

If Infinite's DLC can provide something like that, I'd be more than happy to play it.
 

Muitnorts

Member
I don't think this is particularly surprising. He's talking about the first half of the first Burial at Sea DLC. So the first quarter of the whole thing.

Both of their Bioshock games have had plenty of time at the beginning purely for scene setting and exploration.

A noir thriller set in Rapture before the fall wouldn't really work with combat straight out of the gate.
 
Just because there's no combat doesn't mean you are just standing around whirling through the world like you're on a Disneyland ride.

This is pretty much what Infinite was in it's non combat moments, all the way down to the folk song sing along. The only way it could have gotten more Disneyland Ride/rails like is if the pretty princess sang "It's a Small World" instead.



I'm not dissing it because I'm rah rah gunplay, I'm dissing it because the gunplay was all there was to Infinite and without it, what's left?
 
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