my life would still go on, believe me

[muladhara]

I have spent the last two days watching Bioshock Infinite and the Burial at Sea DLC. I have ~feelings~ They are mostly "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" and lots of arm waving.

I got interested in this game a few years back. I forget exactly why, but it probably had something to do with TVT, and it was because of reading about the Lutece twins. So I went and looked at the page for it, and was all, "oh it's an FPS, NOPE", and gave it not much thought after that, apart from maybe occasionally pining if I saw a second-hand copy.

Because this game was so much my jam and I was so mad I couldn't/didn't want to play it because it's a first person shooter. (I can't really play them, as they make me nauseous/give me headaches. This is why I'll never play Halo, despite being massively invested in the story).

Also the other thing I'd found off-putting about it was Elizabeth's design, because she's way more cartoony looking than any other person in the game. If the entire style were like that, I wouldn't mind so much, but it kind of sticks out like a sore thumb. Also most of the caps I'd ever seen of her were from Burial at Sea, for whatever reason, and I like her design in that even less (I get she's meant to be older, but IDK, it just doesn't work for me).

Aaaanyway, then I mostly forgot about it. Then earlier this year, I saw a tweet from the lady who designed what the Lutece twins looked like (it's an artist I've heard of! Her name is Claire Hummel!), and she'd mentioned her influences for their designs, and it was awesome! And I was all, "OK, this is cool, but I still can't/don't want to play this game".

AND THEN. I was noodling around on Youtube one day, and I watched a Skyrim video about stuff you might not know. And YT was like, "hey, if you like that, you'll love this!" and it recommended me a video by a channel called Outside Xbox. So I started watching their videos. And it turns out Bioshock (the entire series) came up a fair bit in the month I spent watching them and their sister channel (Outside Xtra). Eventually, I got to a point where I thought perhaps I should just watch someone else play it, so that's what I did.

I have thoughts. I'm going to say they're spoilery from the outset, although I suppose that depends on how much you know about the game anyway?

So OMG THIS GAME IS SO MUCH MY JAM I CAN'T EVEN WITH IT.

It has multiple dimensions and a dad-daughter relationship???? It has time travel as well, but that's conflated with the multiple dimensions to some extent. But it focusses more on the other two things.

Booker is a shit dad (though Comstock is NINE THOUSAND BILLION times worse), which makes Elizabeth a member of the Shit Dads Club (TWICE OVER!), but at least during the game he's trying to make up for it? Although then again, that making up for it isn't his choice. The Luteces force him to do it (and it's implied that the Booker we play as is not even their first attempt. Which is also one of the things that is so much my jam I can't even with this game).

And that Comstock is actually Booker, but they diverged at some point in the past! OMFG GIMME. I love stuff where it's like, oh, this small decision changed EVERYTHING. And in this case, it really did.

I wish so badly I'd written a story like this because I'm really not joking when I say it has all these things I really like in it.

AND THE ENDING! I would like to ding everybody on the head who says that the ending is trippy or confusing, because I don't think it is. But I guess that's because I love stuff like this, and am familiar with it. I suppose if it's the first time you've come across multiverse theory, then it's not going to make as much sense? *shrugs*

I love part with the lighthouses, and that there are infinite numbers of them and you can see them all. And I like the bit where Booker can see another version of himself talking to another version of Elizabeth, and it made me think about that thing about doughnut shaped universes, and how you'd be able to see yourself if you stood at a certain point (at least, I think that's how that works; it's been a long time since I've looked up stuff like that).

So yeah, the main game: OMG GIMME THIS IS GREAT!

I am less taken with Burial at Sea, but that's mostly because I don't care about Rapture (I have zero interest in the first two Bioshock games). THAT SAID, it did what I think it was partly meant to do, and twisted the knife HARD. But mostly I wasn't that bothered by it (I mean it was sad, and I still enjoyed Elizabeth and Booker's interactions, but it wasn't the same as the main game, and I guess it isn't meant to be).

I also felt like it took way too long to get where it was going, which was kind of a problem I had with the main game in some respects. Which is weird, given the main game is five to seven hours long, and the DLC is roughly the same. But that's a minor niggle, really. It felt worse in Burial at Sea, like it was strung out to get more gameplay time out of it. Also I didn't like that Elizabeth's section was relegated to her stealthing and having less ammo, when that wasn't really a thing in the main game. Presumably it's because she's a ~woman~ and less inclined to violence but blergh. It felt very gender stereotyped to me, but that's probably just me being nitpicky.

I don't know what else to say, so I shall say this in conclusion: I, much like Andy from Outside Xbox, am clinging to the thought that in some universe, Booker never sold Anna because he never had gambling debts to repay, and they got to live together happily ever after. *gross sobbing*

(I mean technically this should be possible if all universes exist and so on. In fact, there should even be a universe where Anna's mother didn't die in childbirth, and all three of them got to live together as a happy family! *even more gross sobbing*)

So yeah, all in all, I enjoyed it, and it stomped all over my heart. Which apparently is how I know I like something.

Now back to FFXIII, I guess!