Bioshock

[TheDarkArchon]

Captain Red said:

Bah, you jerks aren't taking the fun out of this one. I'm riding that hype train (first class) all the way to hype city.

Hello, fellow trainrider.

[EllipsusD]

Well, I picked up the game earlier today and started playing it. I've got a few gripes about it, but honestly most of that comes from comparing it to System Shock 2. Unlike in SS2, it doesn't really seem like you can avoid battles, and knowing if there is a fight that you'll have to face it really detracts from the tension. Also, the way that the deal with researching enemies is much more annoying. In SS2 you would take parts of defeated enemies, combine them with certain chemicals for research and then you would find out weaknesses or uses for certain things. In Bioshock you get a camera. That's right, you have to take pictures of your enemies... as they are attacking you, btw, and you will get points that count towards levels of research. Of course you can electrify an enemy and take the picture to get full points, but the attack will wear off by the time you finish getting the shot.

On the bright side, however, the game looks amazing. I'm shocked, personally that it runs so well on my machine, as I've barely got the minimum requirements, but damn... I haven't played anything recently that looks this good. And the game really can be a lot of fun. There are a few frustrating moments... like almost any time you have to fight a Big Daddy, but if you try to lure enemies to certain spots, sneak in for a stealth attack, or actually try to plan out how you want to deal with certain encounters the game becomes much more entertaining. One thing you begin to realize, and one of the reasons, I'm sure, the game is getting such high reviews, is that you really can go about any situation in a number of different ways. This is most apparent in boss fights. With the last boss I faced, there was the option of throwing explosive barrels using telekinesis, setting oil spills on fire which would light the boss on fire, waiting till the boss was in a puddle then electrocuting him, reprogramming the defence system and gun turrets to attack the boss, reprogram the health dispenser to poison the boss when he tried to heal, freezing him and trying to break the ice, as well as melting the ice on the ground to reveal weapons that were frozen (your weapons are taken before the fight).

Anyway... I personally prefer SS2 so far... however if Bioshock doesn't crap out at the end like SS2 did then I might chance my opinion. And the Big Daddy figurine that came with the special edition is pretty cool. I recomend that you guys at least try the demo... and even if it doesn't live up to the hype, well... it's still a good enough game to be worth playing.

[Doom_master1122]

lol requirements are like 4.0 GHZ and im 2.0 ghz

ARGGGGG.

I got everything else but that
1 gig ram,
80gb HD
ATI Radeon 9600 256MB


darn....... im not payigng $300 more for a CPU upgrade now.......
lol

[exp(x)]

Heh, I got the demo to work on win2k by copying xp versions of dbghelp.dll and xinput1_3.dll to the binary directory, and changing the TraceMessage call in the latter to GetUserNameA with a hex editor. Too bad my computer is at the minimum spec line; I have to turn off all the fancy options and lower the resolution to make it run.

[SYS]

I got the 2 gigs of RAM but I think my Nvidia 256mb 7600GT, and my AMD 2.21 GHZ is kinda pushin it. I'll have to try it either way. Hopefully it won't run like molasses.

[Kirby]

Hmm, I never played any of the System Shock games, so I don't know what it's about. However, from the ads I've seen, Bioshock seems, well, strange for lack of a better word. It takes place under water? I mean, the ads don't even hint to the plot/storyline at all, which sort of boggles me. Does System Shock sort of hint you to what Bioshock is about?

[SYS]

It's a "spiritual successor" to the SS games. They don't really elude to the storyline of Bioshock game at all. They took place aboard spaceships.

They all involve shit going disastrously wrong and mutants. They play like a FPS but they incorporate certain RPG elements like an inventory and skill system etc.

[Larzuk]

POTGIESSER said:

I got the 2 gigs of RAM but I think my Nvidia 256mb 7600GT, and my AMD 2.21 GHZ is kinda pushin it. I'll have to try it either way. Hopefully it won't run like molasses.

I have a AMD 2.17 GHz processor and only 1 gig of ram. My video card is a Nvidia GeForce 7800 SE, thats a 256MB.The game runs fine though. Just make sure the game is on 800x600 and the details set to medium. It should play fine after that with little to no lag.

Only draw back is, if your details are way to high when you exit the level, it will boot to the desktop (seems to happen if under minimum requirments only). Only way to fix that is to lower the details. That was one of the simple fixes that happened in Dark Messiah of Might and Magic.

Other than that make sure you get the july video drivers if you havent yet.

[skadoomer]

Larzuk said:

Only draw back is, if your details are way to high when you exit the level, it will boot to the desktop (seems to happen if under minimum requirments only). Only way to fix that is to lower the details. That was one of the simple fixes that happened in Dark Messiah of Might and Magic.

Thanks for pointing that out. My system restarted completely on the second level loading screen after i thought my system (with similar specs) was bad ass for getting a pretty decent framerate on the highest settings.

[Dr. Zin]

Kirby said:

Hmm, I never played any of the System Shock games, so I don't know what it's about. However, from the ads I've seen, Bioshock seems, well, strange for lack of a better word. It takes place under water? I mean, the ads don't even hint to the plot/storyline at all, which sort of boggles me. Does System Shock sort of hint you to what Bioshock is about?

Ever played Deus Ex? That game is essentially a spiritual prequel to the System Shock series.

[Zaldron]

Larzuk said:

Only draw back is, if your details are way to high when you exit the level, it will boot to the desktop (seems to happen if under minimum requirments only). Only way to fix that is to lower the details. That was one of the simple fixes that happened in Dark Messiah of Might and Magic.

I had the same problem, but since I was expecting the Unreal engine to crap out due RAM/VRAM issues a bit more gracefully I used Driver Cleaner to get rid of my video drivers and put the latest version in. Worked like a charm.

[Coopersville]

Captain Red said:

Bah, you jerks aren't taking the fun out of this one. I'm riding that hype train (first class) all the way to hype city.

Me, too. The effort put into this game is mind-bloggling.

[Johnatone]

Bucket said:

...or even Steam if the 1MB/s down speeds aren't too EVIL and FASCIST for you.

[sarcasm]Wait, people can download at speeds faster than 5KB/sec? Since when? Why didn't anybody tell me?[/sarcasm]


I've gotta stopping burning myself.


All kidding aside, the gameplay demos look pretty good and I look foreward to being able to play this in five years. I guess now's the time to go back and see what the hype with SS was all about.

[Larzuk]

I never liked SS. I dont even see why people are comparing this game to SS either. Its not even the same thing.

[EllipsusD]

Larzuk said:
I never liked SS. I dont even see why people are comparing this game to SS either. Its not even the same thing.

Well, it was touted as the spiritual sequal to SS2, and if you've played SS2 then a lot of things will stand out as being the same, or at least very similar. Not saying that's a bad thing, though.

[Zaldron]

This is more of an FPS rather than an RPG like System Shock. It's been called "the evolution of shooters" due to its incorporation of elements that I've always wished were mandatory in all FPSs.

It doesn't even have an inventory, but man, I feel so god damn -inmersed- I don't give a damn.

[Ralphis]

Speaking of System Shock 2 being boring, Bioshock more than made up for it in the short time I played it at my friends. Dear lord it is sexy

[Captain Red]

Zaldron said:
This is more of an FPS rather than an RPG like System Shock. It's been called "the evolution of shooters" due to its incorporation of elements that I've always wished were mandatory in all FPSs.

It doesn't even have an inventory, but man, I feel so god damn -inmersed- I don't give a damn.

It's system shock 2 but with more ACTION!!

I do kind of miss being able to sneak around and peek around corners, but man this game is awesome in so many ways!

I just wish I hadn't watched every demo and read every piece of news about it I could find, so I could have discovered all the wacky ways I could dispatch my enemies on my own :(

[Nick Perrin]

Luckily I was able to try out the demo at a friend's place, because even though ATI's special "Bioshock fix" supposedly helps, everything in the game still looks like black space with white squares to me.

My only worry with games like this is that they usually don't keep up the level of drama and theatrics all the way through. I hope Bioshock does that. My first REAL problem with the game, or at least the appearance of it since I have only played the PC Demo, is that there seems to be no face-to-face interaction with characters (save for enemies). Everything is on projectors, tapes, or short-wave radio or whatever. That seems kinda lame to me, maybe it changes through the full game.

[david_a]

Nick Perrin said:

My first REAL problem with the game, or at least the appearance of it since I have only played the PC Demo, is that there seems to be no face-to-face interaction with characters (save for enemies). Everything is on projectors, tapes, or short-wave radio or whatever. That seems kinda lame to me, maybe it changes through the full game.

Never played System Shock 1 or 2? :) Don't count on seeing anybody else.

[Dr. Zin]

You do meet Dr. Watts in System Shock 2, but he dies like ten seconds later.

[Zaldron]

Nick Perrin said:

My only worry with games like this is that they usually don't keep up the level of drama and theatrics all the way through. I hope Bioshock does that. My first REAL problem with the game, or at least the appearance of it since I have only played the PC Demo, is that there seems to be no face-to-face interaction with characters (save for enemies). Everything is on projectors, tapes, or short-wave radio or whatever. That seems kinda lame to me, maybe it changes through the full game.

They did the same in System Shock, they don't feel character interaction is up to the task just yet. I tend to agree, philosophically speaking, but only attempts will ever get the problem fixed.

[Scet]

Since no one's mentioned it, I take it you guys are unaware that the game(even the demo) comes packaged with SecuROM. Basically some copy protection thing that installs rootkit-like software on your PC and only allows you to install the game twice by "phoning home" every install. You can install more then twice if you uninstall, but people are complaining that the uninstall doesn't work properly and they now have a $50 doorstop. The demo also counts as an install, so be careful when installing the full version and uninstalling the demo.

More here.

[Searcher]

I stopped buying Sony cd's because of this rootkit crap.

Any product that tries to install a rootkit on my system will be eliminated with great prejudice.

It won't apparently even let you upgrade your own system after install since it is tied to the hardware. That is more than just a little ridiculous. I had hoped that Sony had learned from their last foray into this realm but apparently not.

This is another product that I won't be buying for sure.

[Larzuk]

Scet said:

Since no one's mentioned it, I take it you guys are unaware that the game(even the demo) comes packaged with SecuROM. Basically some copy protection thing that installs rootkit-like software on your PC and only allows you to install the game twice by "phoning home" every install. You can install more then twice if you uninstall, but people are complaining that the uninstall doesn't work properly and they now have a $50 doorstop. The demo also counts as an install, so be careful when installing the full version and uninstalling the demo.

More here.

Its now at 5 installs.

[david_a]

For some reason the Steam version also uses SecuRom, which is really bizarre.

[doom2day]

FRY THE BASTARDS

[doom2day]

O_o?? I posted after captain red....

...Doom2day pukes

[Captain Red]

what the fuck? I REALLY hope that isn't true. :(

[Larzuk]

Sadly it is true.