Bioshock 2: Sea of Dreams - Page 10

I'm about five hours in, which probably puts me at the halfway point, given the hundreds of times I've died protecting little sisters from splicers. Jesus, besides making the game feel like a trial-and-error walkthrough, vita-chambers are the most ludicrous thing in the game. Why the hell doesn't anyone else in Rapture use them? Shouldn't I be seeing hordes of splicers just pouring out of them?

And you know, now that I've resigned myself to this being a silly FPS/RPG rather than any kind of creepy narrative experience, I'm actually liking it. There's an addictive quality to harvesting Adam and pumping it into upgrades that the first game lacked. The fighting is better, and I like the level design more, too. Rapture seems like a facade this time, sort of like a BioShock Six Flags pavilion, which blends well with the lighter tone of the game.

Weren't the Vita chambers tuned to Andrew Ryan's DNA in the first game? Maybe they explain it further in the sequel.

Just finished. It's fun. Definitely worth a rental, and feels twice as short as the first game.

There's no "twist," at least as far as I could tell. The ending was a breeze, but maybe that's because the hypnotize/winter blast plasmids are close to overpowered. Not as atmospheric or interesting as the first game, but more fun.

I think its pretty awesome. Bioshock is one of my favorite games of all time and this is more of it. All the changes are positive. I love planning out the battles before hand and the Big Sister fights are definitely nail biters.

Knowing I had some free time on the way, I rented this a couple days ago. Just beat it now. Definitely a fun rental but it really is Bioshock 1.5. While there are some fun moments it just felt like more of the same. None of the environments really stood out from anything else and a lot of it was just rehashed from the first game. Would have like to have seen it mixed up a bit.

It was fun to blast my way through Rapture with friendly security bots named Phineas and Garth, though. Loved the random names they came up with for the various bots you summoned.

Traps are awesome too. Lots of fun to use, but man do they turn you into a powerhouse. Makes a lot of fights a breeze.

A few thoughts from SPOILER territory:

The Big Sisters don't really add up to much, huh? It's neat the first time one shows up but after that it's just kinda dull. It isn't hard at all to guess when they're gonna show up and they are damn easy to take out (Maybe not using vita-chambers makes you work a bit harder. They were such a crutch when I played the first game I never really tried. Really liked playing without them). Hell, once the Alpha series shows up that's pretty much all she wrote for the Big Sisters. And those guys are huge pushovers. Felt like a weird switch. You do fight those two sisters toward the end, but none of them even factor into the finale.

A finale that doesn't even include a boss, which is kinda par for the course with this game. I guess the Big Sisters were supposed to be considered bosses, but the only real boss-type I can remember was the preacher.

Upto the third level and so far I'm really digging it. This game makes me realise that I really missed the world of rapture and I'm glad to be back in it for the sequel. The tweaks to hacking and using plasmids feels great and the big sisters add another layer to the combat. Lets see how the rest of the play through goes.

Re: Coombs spoiler: Yeah, the Big Sisters were only marginally more difficult than the Big Daddies. Maybe less so than the Big Daddy Alphas. Not worth building the game's marketing around, although it's fun to have one fight with you at the end.

Hmm. I'm finding hard difficulty too hard and normal too easy...

Beat the game a couple of days ago. I was expecting this to be a little more better than it was. Fun, but I enjoyed the first Bioshock a whole lot more. Bioshock 2 felt a lot shorter too. Maybe it's just me. Started Assassin's Creed 2 and Uncharted 2. Gotta say I'm enjoying these a whole lot more.

Just rented this today for the PS3...so far I've been having a blast playing it. The levels are just incredible looking.

Just beat it today. Way to short to be worth buying in my opinion...but definitely worth the rental. I had a great time playing through the game and would definitely recommend others do the same.

I'm not a big fan of the guy, but Yatzee's review was spot on.

Well, done playing this. Haven't beat it mind you, but I'm done. I'm on the crazy religion guy level. On the boss in the chapel. Was in the hallway leading into the Chapel fighting one of those splicers with their own flying robot guy and died (maybe he was the final guy. Not sure) Shouldn't be a problem. Just gotta respawn and finish him off... Except I respawn in the room and I can only assume he's still in the hallway...which is behind a door...which wont open. So basically I'm fucked. No way to get the door open, no way to get the "key", and if I kill myself or reload it solves nothing. My last save was more than a couple hours (and a couple of ADAM drainings and Big Sister killings) before. So...I'm done. Fuck this game.

Ugh.. feeling really awful with myself right now. I was out buying art supplies with my mom when I blew 60$ to get this. I owe my dad so much money I'm basically totally evil to blow it on a videogame that, truth be told, I could have waited to play

We've all done the impulse thing, man.

I'm waiting on this one too. I've heard it's more of the same, which is fine, and that it's rather short. It's already $30ish on ebay.

I've had this from GameFly for a couple of weeks and I just can't press through it, I'm maybe a couple of hours in.

There's nothing inherently wrong with it so far, it's just so much like the original that I've already had my fill of it. It also doesn't seem to even gesture in the direction of "System Shock"-style horror, which the original at least attempted for the first level or so.

Fuuuudge..

What's done is done PK, enjoy your game. It's pretty good, if really similar to the first.

Finished it last night.
Bioshock 1.5

No new element introduced, it's basically an expansion pack. Fun to play around with. But not essential at all.

I'll play and probably enjoy the game, it's just endemic of my problems with impulse control


Sitting here at work now with the box in front of me, I just noticed that there is no 'Sea of Dreams' subtitle. Did they nix it entirely or did it just not make the cover art?

I tried at a friend's last weekend. Zero Punctuation's review is right on the money, Bioshock 2 is the worst part of Bioshock expanded into a full game. The part that made me quit the first time.

I'm very happy I didn't shell any money for this.

Well, enjoying it alright so far. Didn't play too much last night though as it was late before I started

I'm certainly less engaged in the story and there is less of a sense of menace and reverence at the grandeur and folly of rapture (maybe because I've been there before now?) than I got from the first one.. but it's still good fun. The crash to the lighthouse to Rapture stands tip toe among the finest minutes of game play I've ever experienced. I felt this almost religious terror when I first caught sight of that great, sunken, ruined city.

This time, I knew it there so maybe the impact was lessened. Plus, it just kind of starts, with no big opening. I was hoping it would let me hang out at the Christmas Party or something*, but it was on rails and I wasn't in control of the character.

Moving on..

One of my big concerns was that it would be too scary. I barely made it through the first game, and BS remains the only horror game I've ever played to completion. I made that effort to get through the scary stuff just because the environment and story had me... enraptured. You see, for years I've been having dreams about the sea and environments like Rapture. Some of my most vivid and intense dreams take place in sunken complexes on the bottom of the ocean. When I saw the BIOSHOCK game, I stood awed that what I'd pictured in my head had now been realized through polygons and pixels.

This sequel though has less of a sense of menace (so far at least), and that's very much appreciated. It feels kind of like the sad, mournful last chapter in Rapture's history. The city is in the final stages of crumbling and being given back to the sea, and the kind of scary stuff seems to be in the past.

I also very much enjoyed the section where you walk on the bottom of the ocean! That blew my mind. The shot of the giant squid was absolutely awe inspiring, and was a great call back to the squid reveal in the bathyspeah from BS1. Giant squid have pretty much been my most out sized aquatic fear since I was a little girl, and they both astonish and terrify me. The cover of Peter Benchley's THE BEAST is what did it. Something about that painting struck a nerve and the result so shook me that I still get uneasy in the bathtub sometimes (I wish I were kidding, but my imagination starts to run wild and I think about a squid coming up from the black ocean depths to get me). Getting to see one in the game, (from the safety of the dive suit!) was a big thrill (as was seeing the plane's tail from the first game)

I sure hope there are more underwater sections to come. Also, I prefer ones in the open ocean to like underwater tunnels or something

*I want to experience Rapture before the war! As in, before it was pants wettingly frightening

PS: This is what gave me my fear of squid:


PPS: I just wanted to add: I appreciated the scary aspects of the first one. I think it was appropriate given the game's story. I'm just saying I was not necessarily prepared to get that scared again, so I'm glad the sequel has toned it down

Wow man. Sounds like the games were made with you in mind. Enjoy.

Ok just got done with Ryan's Amusement Park (or whatever it's called)

Are there more big under water sections coming up? I think it would be cool to encounter (battle?) a squid

Kate I can tell you in no uncertain terms that'll never happen. The squid thing is just a fun thing, much like seeing the Whale in the first game.

As for the underwater sections I really can't remember now. I'm sure you still have nearly half the game to go though.

That's kind of crushing to hear...

I think that players should be forced to confront the reality of Ryan's folly. Building on the bottom of the sea means that eventually sea life will push back against humans. A squid related conflict would be inevitable in the real world

PS Wouldn't it be cool if you were in one of those glass walkways when all of a sudden the water starts to go cloudy black*? It becomes hard to see and you're wondering what's going on until *blammo!* a giant eye the size of a dinner plate is on the other side peering in at you. The squid wraps it's massive tentacles around the walkway, the glass cracking.. you run for your life.

That would be great!

*The squid deployed ink, that's why the water got black

PS Still in PAUPER'S DROP

Priceless. New sig.

The game couldn't hold my interest. I don't count because, while I enjoyed BioShock quite a bit, video games usually disappoint me. And this sequel wasn't different enough from its original, which I had only just completed beforehand. So maybe later in the year I'll want to try playing this again, and it won't seem so done before.

DL,

I have not played it in weeks, and in fact gave up on it partly through "Paupers Drop". I guess my issues with it were the same as yours, though perhaps I am just not in the mood for it right now. I think searching all those drawers and desks and trash cans takes more mental energy than I am able to summon these days

I pulled STRANGLEHOLD out for the first time in a long time and have been having a blast with it. Somethings never get old*

*like Chow Yun Fat.. There is no such thing as too much Chow Yun Fat. To this very day I still quote lines from A BETTER TOMORROW 2 in casual conversation. Some of my friends get it, but most people are perplexed when I'll declare in a put on accent "I am very hurt about it! I feel sorry with my rice!". Thats ok though , I wouldnt want to live a life where I was not free to quote from films few people have seen

Minerva's Den

Exceptional DLC and a bargain at $10. Not short, either. Runs between 5-6 hours (on Normal), with a very solid story as well.

This game is also hovering around the $20 mark a lot of places. It's worth that price point in spades. Just, you know, not $60.

Hell, I need to play the first one. If I can find it for $10 or $15 I'll give it a go, and then check this one out.

Just bought the limited edition of this thing brand new on e-bay for $16 (including shipping).  I really didn't like the game and sold it back the same week after I got it and beat it.  Got back what I paid for it though(Thanks Amazon pre-order credits!)

 

But this comes with some neat goodies.  I got it so I could play through Minerva's Den which my friends say is much better than the actual game itself.  Figured $16 bucks is a steal, mostly for the 12" vinyl score/soundtrack, which I love.

 

Anyway, I actually came here to share this monstrosity:  The Bioshock 2 rap.  It's actually more terrifying than Bioshock 2.

 

UPDATE:  Music Video

 

 

Official lyrics: (unedited or corrected)

 

Its Friday night, aint got shit to do
So I sit in my room playing Bioshock 2

All cracked out on this mountain dew

Couple slices of the pizza and some funions too, dude

 

The game is sick,the graphics are fantastic

Multiplayer, you know youll get your ass kicked

But bring it on, Im dishin the pain

And when Im done with your ass, Ill play the campaign

 

Got more weapons than a guy from Beirut

Dont need no extra armor cause I got a dive suit

Racking up kills takes tons of skill, Impaling mother fuckers with the tip of my drill

For real, dont you mess with my daughter

Electrify your ass if you stand in the waterInc

Inerate you quick, leave you in flames

Whip the shottie out, then explode your brains

 

Im A man on mission and I never stop

1 2 3, This is BioshockI

 

Got a big beer gut, but dont call me a fatty,

Aiming straight for your grill, here comes the big daddy

The gun Im blastin be shooting out rivets

Cut you in half, leave you lookin like a midgetI

 

could rescue my girl, but instead I broke herI

got more Hacks than a 30 year smoker

Eating Canned beans like reeses pieces,

Toss shit around with the telekinesis

 

Trying out the pistol, but I think that I missed herI

need a Machine Gun to kill big sister

Its hard to hit her, cause she moves too fast

So I freeze her face off with the Winter Blast

 

Quick, I need a med kit to heal these wounds

My EVE is running low, find some more to consume

Crazy gun totin, no floatin deep diver,

Building weapons out of nothing like I was MacGuyver

 

Im a man on a mission and I never stop

1 2 3, This is Bioshock

 

Harvest little Sister, and watch her scream

Buy all kinds of Ammo out the Vending Machines

Im mean, shooting splicers in the head two times

Ripping body parts off with Proximity Mines

 

Im the King of Rapture, is that all that youve got

Mad cover fire comin from hacking those bots

Headshots, are leaving you as a corpse

Will I loot the money off your dead body?, of course

 

Im a man on a mission and I never stop

1 2 3, This is Bioshock

 

I felt more terror reading these lyrics than playing through Dead Space.

Edited by TonyRockyHorror - 3/27/11 at 11:25am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HahZprrYXnA