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You should definitely pay attention. Combat's fun, but the story is the star. Don't rush it.

OK here goes, I have 2-3 hours before I go to bed, that will be 2-3 hours being poured into playing this game, I really hope it lives up to rave reviews. I won't go for painful trophies and won't play the game on hard, I'll go for normal difficulty and focus on enjoying this game, somehow I know I will, I'll post my first impressions after my first session ! .

The only trophies that might be "painful" would be 1999 mode and Scavenger Hunt (1999 mode that must be played without using anything from one specific type of vendor that supplies ammo/health/salts). The others are mostly kill and collection trophies. The former come naturally, and the latter add to the experience. Particularly the audio logs which provide a huge amount of backstory and world info.

BioShock Infinite, what an incredible achievement. I intended to play until midnight, instead I played until 2am. I might have to re-listen to a bunch of the audiologs so I am up to date with the story before I proceed any further but I am extremely impressed.

This is what a gaming experience should be, everything is here, unforgettable setting, wonderful art design, amazing voice acting and deep, engaging game-play. Columbia is so well crafted and it's staggering to think of the time and effort that must have been put into creating the world, there is just so much detail everywhere. Elizabeth is definitely one of, if not the best AI character in any game I have played, both in terms of her affect on gameplay and her animation/voice acting. Combat is so much fun, swinging around the skyline as bullets fly around you, brutally murdering enemies with the skyhook is awesome, guns feel powerful and the you aren't starved of supplies like I was in BioShock 2 (on medium difficulty).

I'm only 3-4 hours in but this is the game to beat this year. As long as I can catch up and subsequently keep pace with the story it will take something really special to outdo this game. Can't wait to play more tomorrow but now I must sleep....

I love that Elizabeth looks like a Disney character.
I had some issues at first with hard difficulty and kept dying. But once I got used to the combat it became very enjoyable and i love the challenge. I love that when I duck down and try to let my shield recharge I still have to warch for enemies on either side sneaking arouns

Don't know what I do wrong, but Handymen kick my butt pretty hard. Just can't get away from them, and it seems like strafing is too slow to dodge their close range electric blasts. And they move around and move their hands in front of themselves so much that getting a bead on their hearts and only shooting them there is going to be a royal pain.

Fun Facts: Motorized Patriots are vulnerable to Shock, which isn't surprising. However, they also suffer a shock effect from Undertow. Makes perfect sense, of course. They're machines getting wet. Just didn't expect it. Haven't tried it on Handymen.

Had another huge 4 hour session tonight, I still think I have a few hours to go, this is a nice long game ! .

I fully upgraded murder of crows and devil's kiss, going for shock jockey now. I rarely use the more unique vigors, maybe I will leave that for another playthrough.

I really love the more open battles involving skylines, so many options open to you, skyline takedowns ftw. The indoor battles are more of a slog in comparison but they manage to not become stale due to the great combat and the sweet vigor effects.

Motorized patriots are actually much less of a hassle then I thought they would be, Handymen, however are really tough buggers ! .

I highly recommend Undertow. I didn't even get the range upgrade for it, though I think I should have now.
If you've already upgraded Devil's Kiss, then you don't really need Shock Jockey. One form of crowd control is much like another. Had a good combo myself towards the end with DK and a Volley Gun/RPG. Worked wonders against crowds.

Apparently the Charge Vigor is godly on 1999 Mode with a supporting gear setup and a shotgun/Heater. I intend to try out the combo.

rrwatch wrote:

. I hope they tell us why Elizabeth's right pinky is a nub with a sewing thimble on it. Did the songbird bite it off ?? Gamespot gives it a 9/10.....

I guess they do......

How have you been using undertow Monkey ?, I only got the cheap upgrade for shock jockey so i can still go for something else .

It works well for crowd control and giving you space when you need it, in several places it's a great way to remove opponents completely--by kicking them off of Columbia.
I also use its alternate fire to rope in single enemies at a time to a place where I have a tear/possessed turret or Tesla coil. Easy way to get three different trophies, actually. The one for so many kills by tear allies, the one for kills by possessed machines, and the one for Environmental Hazards.
And lastly, as I said before, you can use it on motorized patriots to produce the same stun effect as Shock Jockey's unupgraded version.

Thanks, I might try using the other vigors a little more in my next session. I must say, I do like the devil's kiss/crows combo !

Well I just finished the game mere minutes ago and let me tell you, that was one of the best games I have ever played, the ending was amazing both from a gameplay and story perspective.

Unfortunately I didn't get the last few unmissable trophies for beating the game, I found out that you have to be online to get them so I redid the final fight onwards to grab them. The "glitch" allowed me to see the game's final moments again and this, coupled with a couple of reads of the in depth plot-line on the BioShock Infinite wiki, has made the ending much more understandable and clearer to me. Wow it's very clever but it makes sense once you give it some thought, very satisfying closure.

I got nearly half the trophies without going out of my way at all, I missed out on maximizing my salts by one as I barely found any infusions in the last quarter of the game, I always seemed to be one lockpick short when I reached a locked room containing one.

A couple of quick notes......
I wish there were more handymen in the game, those fights were always great fun !! .I still think the open fights with skylines are where the game's combat is at it's best, in fact, the skylines/hooks in general are a genius idea and so well implemented. Finally, the undertow vigor proved very useful in the final chapters, those who have beaten the game will know what I am talking about, I ended up switching to Undertow and crows as my main vigors, sometimes using shock jockey for the patriots.

I agree with Monkey that the tonic system was better, however I like the idea of gear and believe that the lack of standout items was purposeful as you can change it anytime to suit the situation, whereas in the previous games you had to go to a tonic station to switch stuff around. I did find a few nice pieces though, such as some boots that halved both my shield recharge time and the time I have to avoid damage before it recharges, very nice and useful. However what's with all the melee gear ?, I picked up atleast 4 pieces that gave extra effects to the skyhook melee attacks, I guess it's to counteract how weak melee becomes in the second half of the game.

I did like the sense of reward in the game, every area I was finding either a nice rainbow infusion bottle, new vigors, new gear, vending machines for upgrading weapons, money bags etc.


It was sort of expected but the game's story and world are so rich and fleshed out. I never expected the final twist to play out how it did, but as I said earlier it makes sense and helps elevate an already very good story to one of the best I have experienced in a video game. However I have one question.

Spoiler:

For anyone who hasn't played this yet, I know it's basically launch week but you owe it to yourself to pick up a copy it's that good !


EDIT: just as an extra, my medium playthrough took me about 12-13 hours and I spent a decent amount of time exploring and enjoying the setting.

And yet you ran short of lockpicks.
Seriously, I finished the game with 30+ spare lockpicks, and I picked if not every single lock, then very close to it. The first several areas that have them all have just enough to pick the locks in the area and maybe a spare, but after that they're all over the place. Often dropped by Firemen too.

A note on the gear, it's apparently random. Either it's decided like Dishonored's Bone Charms are, ie whenever you start a game, or it's decided when you open the box. I think I've seen it said that you can reset from a checkpoint after picking up a piece of gear and it will be different when you go to pick it up. Gear's usually too far from a checkpoint for me to care though, and it doesn't always make that much difference anyway.


Regarding your spoiler question, I'm not really sure. I'll have to think about it some.

The gear you find is Random for sure. When I've searched boxes, desks ect. a second time after restarting a checkpoint it was ALWAYS different.

Fun Fact: You can use the crank gun while on a skyline.

Oh yes that was awesome if slightly impossible lol

I am just crazy about this game, it's just so brilliant, very well developed and comes with very few flaws imo. I am going for the platinum and currently mopping up silver trophies on easy, next playthrough I will go for the collectibles, then finally 1999 mode.

I would encourage everyone to buy this game, firstly because it's amazing. secondly, as an extension, to show appreciation for quality fps singleplayer experiences, after a couple of years of military shooters, this game is such a breath of fresh air and a far superior singleplayer game. Ken Levine and his team deserve all the appreciation and revenue, they made a fantastic game in a stale shooter market. It would be really great to see BioShock Infinite sell well, show the industry that making unique, quality games is the way to go.

"Why make great and unique with good and more of the same sells better."

That's sadly the truth, I get it, COD and Battlefield are good games, are super popular and therefore sell millions upon millions of copies, what I don't get is when real gems fail to sell anywhere near as well. Are the consumers too mainstream or something ?.

I really like it when games like Borderlands 2 and Far Cry 3 sell well (which they did), because those games are what push the industry forward imo.

I really hope BioShock Infinite shifts a few million units too, it's just unfortunate that popularity wins out and the most popular games are not always the best.

Platinum is done. I know I said I wasn't going to do the 1999 run yet, but...um...I did.

I regret nothing.

Undertow does indeed damage Handymen and Turrets as well as Patriots, I can confirm now. Nothing stuns the Handymen though, darn the luck.

Some suggestions for anyone attempting 1999 mode.

I got every Infusion upgrade and split them between Shields and Health until I maxed both, then tossed the other 4 into Salts. I could easily have done with more salts and less of the others without much difference though with a little of the proper gear. The hat "Sheltered Life" is invaluable. It gives you a few seconds of invulnerability any time you eat something or pick up a med kit. That can be all the time you need in most cases to put your attackers down before they can hurt you again.
The only other really standout gear is the shirt "Blood to Salt" which gives you salts for a kill 40% of the time. Lucked into getting it early this time and it was a huge help.
Honorable mention goes to Urgent Care pants which help you get shields back much faster.

Sniping is your friend. I upgraded the Sniper Rifle's damage as high as I could and got whatever the third upgrade for it is that wasn't for rate of fire (reload speed?). Didn't miss the increased RoF anyway because it's not like you can snipe that quickly. The $600+ was worth more to me than that.
Other than the Sniper Rifle, I upgraded the Shotgun fully and mostly used it or the Carbine for which I upgraded its damage only.

For Vigors I upgraded Possession completely and abused it maliciously throughout the game. It was probably my MVP as far as Vigors are concerned.
Undertow's range upgrade was great in the later part of the game again.
I upgraded Devil's Kiss' damage, but rarely used it at all. The one mandatory fight with the first Boy of Silence made me wish I had upgraded it fully though. It's what I'd used the first time against them and it worked very well. This time I went into it low on ammo and it was a huge pain. They only seem to take damage from Vigors and crits, and even my sniper was barely putting dents into them. Ended up having to switch to the Burning Halo hat and Deadly Lunger (I think) boots and slowly beat them all to death. Not fun.
Got the stun duration upgrade for Shock Jockey, and that was a good call. It keeps Patriots down for a little longer than Undertow and it's cheaper. Really makes a difference near the end.
I did get the upgrade for Return to Sender's damage/salt use, but I ended up not using it. It is a good vigor, and I can definitely think of some places it would help if I had thought of it. Just came too late in the game, I suppose. I already had my playstyle down on this difficulty.

Ended up with 3000+ spare cash going into the last series of fights, so I could have sprung for some more weapon or vigor upgrades and still not been in bad shape. Just in case, I would recommend keeping 1000 on hand whenever you can. Only splurge for key upgrades like Possession's cost reduction if it'll take you below that.
Throughout the game, I would say I died less than a dozen times, so with a bit more care you could manage to squeeze in another upgrade or two to something.
As I was going for the Scavenger Hunt trophy as well, I also spent no money on health, ammo, or anything else from a Dollar Bill machine throughout the game.

A few tactics to use against enemies:

Fighting the Siren was annoying, but not as hard as people make it out to be. The trick is in Undertow or Shock Jockey. Either deprives it of its minions either by knocking them off the city, or by reducing them to ash on death. Combos very, very well with the sniper/shotgun in every phase of the fight.

Handymen suck. Try to get them into a loop of jumping over something to get to you. It's slow going to whittle them down, but it works and keeps you alive.

Everything else, snipe it in the head from a distance or shotgun it in the face. However you fight things, aim for crits and you'll be good.

Wow that was quick Monkey, nicely done

Going for the platinum myself so those 1999 mode tips will prove helpful. I am on my second playthrough just entered the Good Time Club. Getting the trophy for killing a handymen by shooting only it's heart was super easy using a nice glitch for your first fight with one. One more decent session and I could knock off all those nice miscellaneous silver trophies. I am then thinking of doing a playthrough on hard to both get better at the game and find all collectibles. Last but not least, 1999 mode.

I keep playing this game and it's still so much fun and so engrossing. It might even pip Uncharted 2 for my favorite ever video game, but it's tight.

Funny article from IGN. I agree, Elizabeth is a pretty hot AI character, but I wouldn't go this overboard

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Nearing the end of my second playthrough now, only 2 miscellaneous silver trophies to go and then onto collectibles. I am doing a lot more exploring this playthrough, found over 50 voxophones now (without a guide) and have over 15 lockpicks despite unlocking all of the doors/safes i have come across. I am also doing all the optional tasks, only one of those left to finish !!

Fun little Easter egg, the first appearance of the Lutece's isn't the coin flip. When you get the telegram from them at the beginning, go to the right and look through the telescope. Look all the way down, and they will be standkmg there, with Robert juggling, the second you leave the telescope, they are gone.

Actually, the first appearance is before that.

Spoiler: