hello everyone today we would like to
talk about BioShock Infinite now there
are all manner of great topics to dig
into with this game but there was one
aspect in particular that we really
wanted to discuss it always really
bothers me when I see a sequel even a
really good sequel that could be so much
more but was held back by the fact that
somebody somewhere in production
slavishly included elements from
previous outings that have no place in
the new games world or design now there
is a lot that is fantastic about
BioShock Infinite but there's also a lot
wrong with it and almost all of what's
wrong with it is in service to the brand
now I won't be talking a lot about the
game's plot because why would can be a
little all over the place touching on a
lot of important topics without ever
giving them any of the depth and
attention that Bioshock 1 showed its
central theme that can probably be
chalked up to the major reworkings the
game underwent and maybe a bit of over
ambition instead I want to talk about
the places where the narrative and the
play are at odds and why almost all of
these problems come from attempts to
remind you that this is a Bioshock game
and I can think of no better place to
start than Viggers obviously these were
meant to be a surrogate for plasmids but
where plasmids were endogenous to the
world of Rapture Viggers just make no
sense in colombia on a most literal
level the original bioshock was all
about the effect of plasmids on society
we could see what giving near magical
powers to the people of rapture did to
that place plasmids were a cool gameplay
mechanic yes but a great deal of effort
was made to make sure that they were a
gameplay mechanic which made the world
more real and more alive with Vigors the
opposite is true throughout the game you
see people doing tasks that would
clearly be much easier with Vigors but
why aren't they using them why isn't
anybody using them except for the crazy
Pyro's and crow guys it can't be because
they're too expensive because at the
very beginning we see they're cheap
enough to give away at the county fair
why aren't they given to the police who
are dying by the truckload trying to
stop you why hasn't the creation of
magical powers in a bottle had any
impact on the society in this otherwise
well crafted world it's because Viggers
were shoehorned in in service of the
brand someone's somewhere in the design
process thought that you can't have
Bioshock without plasmids because that's
what Bioshock is all about
I think players are smarter than that
though we can still know a Final Fantasy
game as a Final Fantasy game without
needing to have cloud sword in every
single one of them because in the end
it's not those familiar series trappings
that define the series you can pack your
JRPG with all the chocobos Mughals and
Marlboros you want but if
game doesn't have vibrant characters and
an emotive story then it out early fails
as a Final Fantasy game and players know
it it's the same with bioshock's magical
plasmids and Viggers but this isn't the
only place it's done the old scavenging
mechanics feel very out of place in
Colombia as well the folks at irrational
even went out of their way in the
beginning of the game to have an empty
store with a sign that says you are on
your honor and a place where you can pay
for anything you loot they're all in an
attempt to rationalize just how strange
looting is in this world but then
throughout the game you just plunder
everything looting as a mechanic makes
complete sense in a fallen society like
rapture the city is falling apart the
only surviving inhabitants are violent
plasmid addled splicers everyone
scrounging for resources to survive and
the remains of this once great city but
Colombia is still a functional place
more than that it's a prim and proper
City a society with decorum stealing
everything you see makes no sense and
takes away from your ability to simply
explore the world uninhibited by the
need to see if there's maybe a piece of
cake in that hat box over there I mean
how many times did you find yourself
digging through a trash can right in
front of the socially conscious citizens
of Colombia it doesn't really fit does
it and I don't for a moment believe that
with all of the brilliant people they
have working at irrational no one could
come up with a system to reward the
player that fits better into this world
than just reusing the system from the
last one but that's what we ended up
with why again to make it feel like
Bioshock to establish a brand so that
every time we as consumers saw those
mechanics we would instantly know oh
it's Bioshock plasmids and looting are
apparently 2 Bioshock what square
hamburgers are to Wendy's but you know
it disappointed me the most the extent
of the violence in BioShock Infinite not
the level of the violence mind you that
first moment of violence in the game is
probably the most extreme and yet at the
same time the most effective that
display of horrid violence has meaning
it rips away the veil of idyllic
civility and kicks us emotionally into
understanding that we're now going to be
exploring the darker side of the world
we've entered it's fantastic this is
violence used for a purpose its violence
not simply for violence's sake but then
we hit the rest of the game where we're
just killing hundreds if not thousands
of policemen this saps all meaning out
of the violence it makes it almost
comical in this world here's a city a
normal 20th century city much like the
ones many of us live in except you know
flying and here's a man slaughtering
thousands of cops now imagine if that
happened in your city imagine if one man
just started shooting police imagine how
the popular
would react imagine how the police would
react is it anything at all like what
happens in the world of Colombia of
course not again it makes sense to shoot
your way through rapture it makes sense
that in a lawless world filled with a
half-insane you'd end up shooting first
and asking questions later it makes
sense in the individualist world of
rapture that no greater collaborative
effort would occur to stop you and it
makes sense in a narrative about the
power of the individual that a soul man
could fight his way through the entire
city none of that really works in
infinite if they had had as they hint at
with the beginning moments of intense
violence punctuated by that tense calm
of trying to get through the city the
game would have been a much more
powerful experience but here instead
we're just running around shooting
everybody because someone decided that
Bioshock was about shooting the brand of
Bioshock is now firmly about the barrel
of a gun
please developers we know what pressure
you're under James has been through this
sort of situation too and we know this
is a fight you can't always win but your
brand isn't about specific individual
things it's about the ethos the idea
behind the game and why someone comes
specifically to have the type of
experience you're presenting I think
about it even Mario isn't the Mario
brand imagine a dark gritty Mario
shooter where the plumbers on the wrong
side of the law that's not a Mario game
even though it has Mario and probably
jumping in mushrooms and Koopas just
trust your players they want to play the
game you want to make not to replay the
game you already made be true to the
spirit of your previous games and we'll
all stick with you even if the mechanics
change or the characters or even the
name the Bioshock incident received
almost universal praise and high scores
but you'll notice the few critical lines
in every review of BioShock Infinite
were about the combat even if reviewers
couldn't articulate exactly what was
wrong with it almost every review I've
read talked about how the combat was too
long or too drawn out or how they'd
rather have gotten to explore the world
some more that feeling of dissonance
created by chasing the brand undercut
the brand and undercut the experience so
even though it's really unlikely it is
our highest hope that this video helps
one of you out there to convince someone
to let you make a better game even if on
the surface that game may not seem to
totally fit with your conception of your
brand thank you for watching we'll see
you all next week