So I started playing last night. My main concern was how would they continue the story of rapture with Fontaine AND Ryan both dead. So far, I've started out as the very first big daddy. Delta series. The main issues originally was that the big daddies didnt really give a shit about the little sisters unless they were attacked directly. This led to some daddys not making it back in time to save them and so they would wander around or even away from the sisters. So, the idea was to connect the little sister's and big daddy's on a genetic level so that the daddy would never leave the sisters side while she was out and about gathering adam.

Fair enough. The beginning shows you, the first big daddy, following your little sister. As you lose sight of her through a crowd you hear her scream to find she is being attacked by splicers so in you go and just pwn everybody. At this point a woman, Dr. Sophia Lamb comes in accusing you of turning her daughter "Eleanor", into something she should not be. You are NOT her father and Eleanor is in fact Dr. Lamb's biological daughter. She, somehow, orders you to kneel, take off your helmet, put a gun to your exposed cranium and blow your grey matter everywhere much to the horror of the onlooking little sister (aka Eleanor). Sophia Lamb is a Psychiatrist. She was brought to Rapture from the surface because Andrew Ryan was aware that many rapture residents were starting to get depressed and unhappy due to being away from the sun and so far underwater. Once you're in rapture you don't go back it seems. This makes sense since Ryan and the main rapture people wouldn't want rapture to become known to the world. So, they get Dr. Lamb to come from the surface to provide counselling to the troubled residents of rapture. As she gains followers and influence she also gains ambitions and feels that Ryan built rapture with ideals that focussed on the self. As in self serving. Rapture was built so that someone couldn't be held down by governments, laws or religion so that a man could become successful on his own without being held down. As Dr. Lamb saw how this was affecting rapture she started to gain influence over the hearts and minds of the citizens who were slowly going mad by overdosing on adam via splicing. After the murder of Ryan and the subsequent fall of Fontaine, she took over rapture. After the fall of rapture and the loss of both main figureheads, Tenenbaum and Jack rescued the little sisters. At this point adam could notbe collected. And so I believe that somehow, Lamb uses her mind control (however she did that....) to abduct real girls to the sea so they can be turned into little sisters. She was adored by those she helped and focussed on turning rapture into a "family" unit. While so far it seems she is simply like ryan and fontaine - using rapture for her own designs since in no way does it seem she has made rapture better. In fact it continues to deteriorate further by the minute.

Skip 10 years later and you wake up. Wha!? Seriously, you blew your brains out, but 10 years later you just wake up as if it was just a serious concussion. Color me confused. Also, your helmet is back on, you don't have to do it. Odd.... Anyhow, as soon as you're up and back online Tenenbaum contacts you since your signal is up and running again. She has info to fill you in. (Thankfully). It turns out that after the fall of rapture, she was able to rescue the little sisters that Jack had freed and returned them to the surface (see the good ending of bioshock 1). Tenenbaum is visibly older and not as young and put together looking as she did in bio 1. Tenenbaum, you see, heard about little girls going missing into the sea. And she knew that they were being taken to rapture to be turned back into little sisters. She, of course, feels guilty because she was the one who created the little sisters in the beginning. So she came back to save them. You can help as you are looking to be re-united with your little sister. (eleanor). Up to this point there was some amazing set pieces especially when you first walk outside of rapture on the ocean floor and come across the city of rapture proper. Holy fudgesticks the place is huge. Pretty much was almost a jaw drop moment.

To get knocked outside of the city into the ocean, you were confronted by a big sister. Now, Its been made clear at this point that Sophia Lamb is the main antagonist. She made you shoot yourself, took away your lil sis and wants you offline. From what I've understood so far the big sisters are there to make sure that the little sister's stay on task. Which is to collect adam. But....isn't that what the daddy's are for? Protection. The sisters are drawn do collecting adam anyway. So why have the big sisters? What is their purpose? They only attack if YOU adopt a little sister and help protect them (which is what the other daddy's do) and then rescue or harvest them (turn them back into regular little girls or kill them for their adam). At this point I would believe that they are devices or creations willed on by Lamb. But I'm not sure yet since there isn't a why to this. They are fracking annoying to fight and powerful as much as they are fast. The other big daddy's are still a handful on their own as well. So just because you are THE daddy doesn't mean the other rosies and bouncers aren't tough.

So far the story has been progressing through recordings just like in bio 1. And I can't get enough. 2 side stories have really caught me so far. The first is the audio journal of Mark Meltzer. He is a father looking for his captured daughter who was stolen to rapture to become a little sister. His experiences in what he discovers as he goes through rapture are very well scripted and throws insight into the plot that regular girls from the surface are being used to be turned into little sisters to gather adam. His story is still ongoing.

The other one for me is Of Nina Carnegie. Unfortunately her story has been closed and it tugged at my heartstrings. In one of the first levels she is a cgroup leader for children. On New Years Eve 1959 she tells a tale of how she is taken care of a group of children at the museum for the night while the parents get to enjoy new years. Typical situation. However something happens new years eve 1959. As you find her recordings the museum gets locked off. Maybe it was the revolution where lamb took over, or splicers went out of control. At this point I'm not sure of where NYE 1959 plays in the overall timeline of the rapture chronicles. But her and the children are locked/trapped in the museum with absolute chaos going on all over rapture. As I randomly looked about I found a well concealed path that led up to a large group of candles surrounding a corpse. Corpses are definitely not out of the ordinary in rapture. There was a recording beside it. Its another input from Nina. Her voice is much weak. She explains that they are locked/trapped in the museum and she is scared for the children because she is getting weaker. Weaker because supplies are running short and she is passing up food etc so that the kids can eat/survive. She notes how the kids can see her getting worse. Her final words were that she was so scared because of what could happen to them once she passes. At that point the recording ends and you look again at the corpse to see that it was laid on a small carpet with her hands folded on her breast. Treatedmuch more respectfully than any other corpses you find randomly in rapture. That is the body of Nina Carnegie. Having been a youth worker for many years - I love kids. I enjoy working with them. So of course this scenario just killed me inside. Such a well done side story. So sad.....

From there we have also met Sinclair who seems to be a friend who is aware of where Eleanor is, and is giving you the info to move forward to get there. Now A gut feeling is telling me he's not doing this out of the goodness of his heart. He's in it for himself as well based on recordings I've heard from other people about him. So he's fine for now. But I still don't know....

At this point I'm in Pauper's Pit....or Pad....or something that starts with a P. Through recordings and over the loudspeaker I've now met Grace Holloway. Grace doesnt like you. She seems to be firmly in Sophia Lamb's camp as Grace is very jaded as to how she and rapture were treated by Andrew Ryan and Fontaine. Lamb held free counselling sessions for people like her and had the good of rapture in her heart. Grace claims that you stole Eleanor from her. Wait, wha? But....Lamb also said the same thing. So....how did I steal her from Holloway? At this point I saved my game since I have to work tomorrow. But there are some questions that have me sitting there like....wtf? And I want to know more. So the game is definitely doing a good job because it makes me want to continue to find out what in the hell is going on.

The atmosphere is dark and creepy. 2K did a damn good job the first time and they continue it. Dark, creepy but also with an otherworldy feeling of sadness. Sadness for what was and what used to be. And that tells me my money was well spent. If they can get me emotionally invested, they win. And I'm happy wih my purchase so far. Here's to a loooong weekend.!

Most importantly, WTF about the big Sisters. It turned out that the little sisters that Jack could not save or take with him were growing up. As they grew, all of the adam they had ingested or taken increasingly increased their feral and aggressive nature. Also, more big daddys were being gang raped by splicers and were getting killed much more regularly. So, it was the idea of one of the scientists (I can't remember his name...gill I think?) to change them into what the big sisters are. Big Sisters are like big daddys but can draw adam directly from corpses without need of protection. The big daddys still go with the little sisters. But once they get too big and start exhibiting uncontrollable behaviour, they then get converted into big sisters. Big Sisters go about collecting adam but if you harvest or save a little one enough so that it no longer will be colecting adam, the bib sister will respond to take the adam that you took from the little sister, from your rotten corpse. Fun!

When I left off, I was going after Grace since she had a key that would allow me to continue on my journey to find eleanor. As I met with grace who expected me to kill her since I was a "monster" Lamb had originally given Eleanor to Grace as Lamb was going away for a time ( I believe to the surface to get more girls or something of the sort. This is not confirmed). However, being the first big daddy to be connected to his little sister by DNA, pheromones and the like (remember the project to keep daddys from abandoning the sisters) I went and took her from grace by force. Actually breaking her jaw. So, when I went to get the key to the railway from her, she expected me to murder her. Moral choice time. I'm doing a good playthrough right now and finding that it isn't a detriment to do the right thing as much as it may have been in bio 1. So, being surprised that I am actually not a monster (more like a thinking man based on my actions) she assists me in leaving the hotel where she can.

Once being able to move forward again, we move now to Siren Alley. Turns out exactly what it sounds like. In this area of rapture resides Daniel Wales. Originally he, and his brother Simon owned their own archistecture firm. It was Andrew Ryan that comissioned them to start the building designs etc of rapture. And boy did they deliver. However, Simon at one point went to speak with Dr. Lamb. From that point forth he became "Father" Wales - seemingly a devout religious zealot with beliefs anchored in part catholicism and in the teachings of Sofia Lamb. Daniel thinks its absolute BS and would love to spank the bitch up for changing his brother as now, to get by he was a glorified pimp in siren alley instead of an architect in the high society of rapture. After getting access to father wales area by killing daniel, the recordings from simon make it clear that this one Eleanor is believed to be the "key" to a new birth for everyone. In order for this to happen, rapture must die according to lamb. Each main character is in the belief that this Eleanor will save them or change everything. our character just wants to be with her.

To make this interesting, Eleanor speaks to you telepathically from time to tim.e Sometimes leaving gifts and tonics to assist you. Her voice is older so she is no longer little. I would say late teens if not older. She is begging to be rescued. So she doesn't agree with what others believe her purpose is. She made an interesting comment regarding the heart of the big daddy. That it will be giving out soon. Maybe Big Daddy;s expire after a certain time? Depending on the process to turn a human into a big daddy, I'm sure it would shorten one's life span. But hey, a bullet to the head didnt kill us so I'm not sure if this scares me yet. But it is an interesting statement.

Sinclair is still a good guy. Though I'm feeling that he is like Atlas was before he got you to do his dirty work and then could dispose of you after. It still isn't clear as to what his motives are and why he wants to get to where we're going. He just knows what we want and how to get there. Based on all of the radio diaries, he deals in ways where he comes out on top. Sometimes double dealing to get the best profit. Not necessarily leaving anyone in a bad place though. But whether he cares or not, remains to be seen.

I'm currently stuck in Dionysus park. On the way through, Father Wales shot a torpedo at the train effectively fracking everything up. After dealing with the situation and curb stomping the religious cock bite and draining the flooded Dionysus park I could get back to a new train car that would take sinclair and myself onward. However, Stanley Poole holds the key to moving forward. He's not looking to stop us, but just get our help in return for him allowing us to move on. Stan was a spy for Andrew Ryan who was trying to shut up Lamb who was growing in popularity. Ryan had Stanley join up with Lambs underground cause to get evidence that she was starting her own religious commune. He succeeded. And Lamb was taken to prison. however, she escaped before she could be locked up. At this point, Rapture started going ape shit and Jack came to town to practice his golfing with ryans head and take out a power crazy fontaine. This left lamb who, according to Poole, can read the DNA and information in the ADAM garnered by the big and little sisters. This will tell her where he is and how he betrayed her. So naturally he's scared shitless. He wants us to take out the little sisters in Dionysus park however we want, as long as the ADAM they take from the corpses there don't get to Lamb.

All you worked for - ie: saving eleanor/being with her was trashed when you escaped with her to the surface because SHE KILLS YOU! WTF? If the game explained better that your heart was going to fail or pretty much said you took too much damage and you were going to die, then sure that would make pretty good sense with how she drained you of adam to keep you in her mind/soul. But all you got was a fading screen a little bit. No other explanation. the screen faded multiple times while playing through the game. Why is this different? Did I meet my life cycle? Was the time up? More clarity would have been nice.

I did like how they tied everything together. Why lamb hated you, (via Gil Alexanders mistake which was completely innocent), how eleanors journey from lamb to grace to stanley to the orphanage to Gil Alexander to being turned into a llittle sister to Us, to being cured, to Big Sister....holy *!xk. One helluva journey. My main question is, who is Eleanor's real father? Who did the deed? Or did Lamb adopt her from an orphanage before she would have been switched to a little sister?

I love how they wrapped up Fontaine turning himself into Atlas as well. And one thing I was surprised about was Sinclair. I really had my money on him turning out to be running the whole deal a la Atlas/fontaine in Bio 1. Turns out he was guilty as *!xk for turning us into a big daddy and was helping us out to ease his conscience. Did not see that coming.

I Believe she gave birth, think it was in one of the audio tapes. Did you kill any NPC's or extract rather than save any little sisters?