BioShock

[Tom_McNamara]

I’m about 4 levels in, and the charm is wearing off abit. The controls are the biggest issue for me, I’m having a hard time switching from weapons to plasmids and back again in quick succession. I’ve died more times then I can remember at this point and I found some great ways to exploit it to kill big daddies. . The problem with the controls is keeping me from performing most strategies since by the time I switch to the attack I want it’s too late to do anything.

Are we talking 360 or PC version? Because with the 360 controller, you can just hold down a bumper and access a radial menu with one of the analog sticks – and the game pauses while you do this. Left bumper for plasmids, right bumper for weapons.

[Equis]

And in the PC version, you can hit shift and it’ll bring you to the weapons menu where you can select plasmids or weapons.

Granted, the PC version takes you to a new screen which might break the flow of combat.

[tomchick]

Well, sometimes you don’t want the food that drains your health, for instance.

Mike, there isn’t any food that drains your health. I’m pretty sure the only consumables with a negative side-effect are booze and cigarettes.

-Tom

[delirium]

I’m not really loving the respawns without consequence. It just feels like there’s very little sense of danger. Why should I fear a Big Daddy when I can take down half his health and then finish him off the 2nd time around with no repercussions? On the other hand, I suppose I could just reload saves every time I die if it makes me feel better.

[Charles]

FUCKING DENTISTS

[Wobbo]

There’s nowhere safe now!

Onion article : “New Harry Potter book contains spoilers”.

My point was that nobody noticed. Not console players, not PC players who checked the game out first on the 360 simply because that’s where the demo hit first. Nobody had any complaints about the playability of the demo, or about the field of view, until they were able to see that the 4:3 field of view is different. So I really have to wonder whether these particular “shackles” are mostly imaginary. The game obviously plays fine the way it is. If you want to lobby for a patch, more power to you. But this issue really seems like a tempest in a teapot to me, and the dramatic boycott declarations are just plain silly.

Actually, I some people on forums I visit did note that the fov was a little to small in general, but most of us probably assumed that Irrational was going for a deliberately cinematic style. (Half Life also has a smaller fov approx 80 degrees instead of the standard 90-100).

[Vesper]

Mike, there isn’t any food that drains your health. I’m pretty sure the only consumables with a negative side-effect are booze and cigarettes.

My initial question was the booze. For example, lets say I find a crate with some booze and an eve hypo. I want the hypo, and not the booze because I’m trying to maximize my EVE. I was hoping I could leave the booze there.

[jim_crawford]

I can’t select the diagonal options in the radial menus. Presumably, my 3rd-party 360 controller is scaling the axis ranges differently from the standard one. I can still choose a diagonal option by tapping the bumper to cycle through the whole list, so it’s not like I’m completely stuck, but is there a way to remap the usable slots to the most important items?

[deepruntramp]

So I had a totally awesome moment. Don’t worry it’s not spoiler related.

That’s definitely a spoiler moment. I wanted to gush about it too, but then I realized if you knew it was coming, it wouldn’t be freaky.

I suggest you edit your post. Immediately.

[forgeforsaken]

That’s definitely a spoiler moment. I wanted to gush about it too, but then I realized if you knew it was coming, it wouldn’t be freaky.

I suggest you edit your post. Immediately.

Removed it, thought it was random and not scripted.

[JMR]

Picked up the 360 version today. I don’t play that many 360 games but I have to say Bioshock has got to be the only game I’ve encountered so far where saving/loading is painlessly quick. Other 360 have me sitting there sighing and rolling my eyes as the progress bar crawls across the screen waiting for a game to load. But Bioshock does it in a snap.

Major kudos to the devs for giving us the ability to save anywhere. Checkpoints be damned.

[deepruntramp]

Also, I’m playing on Hard, see, and the first scuffle I had with a Big Daddy cost me 8 first aid kits (one hit from a Big Daddy costs about 85% of your HP on Hard). And their HP is mega stacked too.

Anyway, a question: are the plasmids you can buy from ADAM vendors purchasable-only, or can they potentially be found in the game world as well? I’m kind of at a loss whether I should be focusing on buying passive upgrades or new active skills.

[Ben_Sones]

Major kudos to the devs for giving us the ability to save anywhere. Checkpoints be damned.

It’s sort of ironic, because they put in the ability to save anywhere, and then designed a reviving mechanic that makes constant saving totally unnecessary. I’m not complaining, mind you–it’s just sort of funny.

[deepruntramp]

Removed it, thought it was random and not scripted.

<3 u!

[Zylon]

It’s sort of ironic, because they put in the ability to save anywhere, and then designed a reviving mechanic that makes constant saving totally unnecessary. I’m not complaining, mind you–it’s just sort of funny.

Considering this is exactly the way both System Shock games worked, I’m not really seeing the funny.

[ElGuapo]

Anyone else found any impossible hacks? I just had one where the outflow valve was blocked by three adjacent overload circuits. That is, it was impossible to hack. I decided that was enough for tonight and quit the game.

Bug!

[Vesper]

Anyone else found any impossible hacks? I just had one where the outflow valve was blocked by three adjacent overload circuits. That is, it was impossible to hack. I decided that was enough for tonight and quit the game.

System Shock 2 had impossible hacks, often. You just had to retry. In that game though, the chances of it being impossible were based on your hacking skill. Not sure how that works in Bioshock. Was the difficulty meter way to the right, perchance?

[Ephraim]

Anyone else found any impossible hacks? I just had one where the outflow valve was blocked by three adjacent overload circuits. That is, it was impossible to hack. I decided that was enough for tonight and quit the game.

Bug!

Sure, multiple times. I don’t think it’s a bug. It’s deliberate.

[slight spoiler about a tonic]

There’s a hacking tonic that reduces alarms and short circuits, so that probably helps prevent this from happening too often.

[Gendal]

Anyway, a question: are the plasmids you can buy from ADAM vendors purchasable-only, or can they potentially be found in the game world as well? I’m kind of at a loss whether I should be focusing on buying passive upgrades or new active skills.

Was wondering this myself. Just got a boat load of ADAM and I didn’t want to blow it all on stuff I am going to find soon. Don’t really want to spoiler myself, but in general, is it a good idea to wait on buying plasmids and focus on slots, etc or just go ahead and buy?

[Chuck_Jordan]

Picked up my limited. The Big Daddy figurine looks cheap through the little window, the “soundtrack” is a Mini-CD of fuckin MOBY songs, and I’m probably never going to watch the making of DVD.

Yeah, I gotta call foul on the collector’s edition. The Big Daddy figure is a lot better than I expected, so I guess it comes out even. But I was actually most looking forward to the soundtrack. “Beyond the Sea” is my favorite song ever, and hearing the creepy 40s jazz version of it in the demo sold me on the limited edition. But calling 3 Moby songs – especially ones which suck to such a substantial degree – a “soundtrack” is a real bait-and-switch.

It’s not even a stupid “I paid my $10 I deserve better merchandise!” argument; I figure the toy is worth $10. I’m just genuinely disappointed not to get the music.