Bioshock... Tuesday!

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2007-08-22 01:07pm

Played for an additional few hours, two big-daddy's down, three little sisters "saved", I think I'll save and "harvest" one to see the diffrence.

FYI- When you save one, you use a Plasmid the good doctor gave you, go all glowingly hands of healing on her and somehow extract the parasite slug in her intestines.

And gripe, thank you... yet ANOTHER game that thing's .38 pistol rounds are magically better than .45ACP rounds, you know? Guns should be better than the ones before them, not "balanced" Make a Tommygun balanced by having hard rare to find ammo, and give it a real-life ROF, meaning 3 seconds of firing is enough to empty a clip or most of your drum. Don't give me this, .38 rounds do 20 damage, but 45ACP bullets which are larger and higher velocity will only do 10 because they are in an SMG!

InnocentBystander · Post by **InnocentBystander** » 2007-08-22 01:38pm

You know, I found myself going from too much tommy gun ammo to basically none in very short order.

SiN · Post by **SiN** » 2007-08-22 03:57pm

Vympel wrote:There's supposed to be narration in the game - so says a review, where your character muses to himself why the splicers wear masks.

Atlas is the one who asks you this in a kinda one-sided conversation at one point.

Darwin · Post by **Darwin** » 2007-08-22 04:35pm

Mr Bean wrote: And gripe, thank you... yet ANOTHER game that thing's .38 pistol rounds are magically better than .45ACP rounds, you know? Guns should be better than the ones before them, not "balanced" Make a Tommygun balanced by having hard rare to find ammo, and give it a real-life ROF, meaning 3 seconds of firing is enough to empty a clip or most of your drum. Don't give me this, .38 rounds do 20 damage, but 45ACP bullets which are larger and higher velocity will only do 10 because they are in an SMG!

Actually the pistol looks like a Webley .455 MarkVI, which would have fairly considerable power.

Still, the tommygun is way underpowered. =( stupid game balance. I expect someone will make a mod (The unreal3 engine is very moddable) to bring the tommygun in line with real world.

nickolay1 · Post by **nickolay1** » 2007-08-22 04:46pm

Darwin wrote:snip

Why the fuck is there a flash from the rear of the revolver cylinder?

Darwin · Post by **Darwin** » 2007-08-22 04:51pm

nickolay1 wrote:
Darwin wrote:snip
Why the fuck is there a flash from the rear of the revolver cylinder?

you aren't going to ask why the hammer's back, or why the revolver is recoiling while the flash is still visible?

for shame.

This was a beta screenshot, and they may not have had the animations nailed down quite right yet, or it could be an exaggerated effect that looks fine in motion but stupid when frozen.

Laughing Mechanicus · Post by **Laughing Mechanicus** » 2007-08-22 04:51pm

nickolay1 wrote:
Darwin wrote:snip
Why the fuck is there a flash from the rear of the revolver cylinder?

Gas leakage from a poorly maintained weapon perhaps?

nickolay1 · Post by **nickolay1** » 2007-08-22 05:07pm

Ok, so revolver = shitty animation.

What much more stupid though is the lightning plasmid and its associated loading screen messages in the demo.

Dry air has a dielectric strength of approximately 1kV/mm. To create 2 meter-long arcs, 2000000V is required, not the mere 1000 as indicated.

Assuming a very conservative 30mA to induce fibrillation (for AC), that's a power output of the character of 60kW. However, a potential problem with AC is the skin effect, thus DC output is more likely.

For DC, the current required for fibrillation is somewhat higher, at 300mA. That's a power output of 600kW!

Just how the fuck do the developers explain that with "rewritten genetic code?" That's a phenomenal insult to the intelligence of players.

DarkSilver · Post by **DarkSilver** » 2007-08-22 06:11pm

nickolay1 wrote:Ok, so revolver = shitty animation.

What much more stupid though is the lightning plasmid and its associated loading screen messages in the demo.

Dry air has a dielectric strength of approximately 1kV/mm. To create 2 meter-long arcs, 2000000V is required, not the mere 1000 as indicated.

Assuming a very conservative 30mA to induce fibrillation (for AC), that's a power output of the character of 60kW. However, a potential problem with AC is the skin effect, thus DC output is more likely.

For DC, the current required for fibrillation is somewhat higher, at 300mA. That's a power output of 600kW!

Just how the fuck do the developers explain that with "rewritten genetic code?" That's a phenomenal insult to the intelligence of players.

because it's a fucking game and they are not expecting to have the players go ahead and do the math to figure out exactly how much electricity the body is generating in order to create the effects showcased in the game engine?

I mean, fuck, there's harping on a game for bad story, or abominal control schemes, or just plain being fucked up - but saying the science behind a game ability is wrong, thus a insult to player intellegence?

Come off the fucking high horse man. Enjoy the fucking game without dissecting it.

Nephtys · Post by **Nephtys** » 2007-08-22 06:29pm

You're a guy with genetic alterations developed in the 1960s to throw lightning bolts from your fingertips, that you gained after injecting yourself with some random crap.

... Science? It doesn't even come within shouting distance of this.

nickolay1 · Post by **nickolay1** » 2007-08-22 07:52pm

DarkSilver wrote:because it's a fucking game and they are not expecting to have the players go ahead and do the math to figure out exactly how much electricity the body is generating in order to create the effects showcased in the game engine?

Been living in a cave all your life? ~20 cm arcs are not generated by 120V mains. It doesn't take a goddamned theoretical physicist to figure out that 1000V two-meter arcs are bullshit.

Hotfoot · Post by **Hotfoot** » 2007-08-22 07:57pm

nickolay1 wrote:
DarkSilver wrote:because it's a fucking game and they are not expecting to have the players go ahead and do the math to figure out exactly how much electricity the body is generating in order to create the effects showcased in the game engine?

Been living in a cave all your life? ~20 cm arcs are not generated by 120V mains. It doesn't take a goddamned genius to figure out that 1000V two-meter arcs are bullshit.

Okay, seriously, little Nicky? Calm down. Jesus, we're talking about a game in which you rewrite your genetic code in a matter of minutes to shoot fucking electricity. What you're saying is that it's perfectly okay to accept the first two concepts, BUT NOT THE POWER LEVEL OF THE BLAST DOING WHAT THEY SAY IN GAME.

Seriously, we know the game is flawed, I've pointed out some of the glaring ones. All you're doing is look like a whiny little prick. What matters is not that the game is super realistic, but that it is internally consistant.

Short version, calm the fuck down. Christ.

Gaidin · Post by **Gaidin** » 2007-08-22 09:08pm

I've gotten to the medical wing, and so far this has to be the coolest game environment I've played in yet. The entry was a little bit funky with its "wow I have nowhere else to go, I'll go down instead of wait for rescue", but everybody knows that already.

After the injection everything seems to have a reason in the fashion that I'm walking down a corridor, though there are a few explorable places in the medical wing I don't think I had to visit(Cremation chamber?). The weapons also seem to be a lot better than the typical wolfensteinish mock up we get for games of this era. Good fun to have a pistol that size with recoil.

Also note to self: do not set nearby enemies on fire when standing in flammable liquid. I swear to god I didn't know that's what it was...

InnocentBystander · Post by **InnocentBystander** » 2007-08-23 02:00am

nickolay1 wrote:
DarkSilver wrote:because it's a fucking game and they are not expecting to have the players go ahead and do the math to figure out exactly how much electricity the body is generating in order to create the effects showcased in the game engine?

Been living in a cave all your life? ~20 cm arcs are not generated by 120V mains. It doesn't take a goddamned theoretical physicist to figure out that 1000V two-meter arcs are bullshit.

Is this really something I was supposed to know?

Fingolfin_Noldor · Post by **Fingolfin_Noldor** » 2007-08-23 05:57am

Ok.. I got the game.. but is it really necessary to patch the game the minute you start it? Somehow I can't connect to the server and patch it and the game refuses to install...

I will loathe to wait a bloody week and a half when I return to the US just to start the game and the term is starting.

Post by **Lagmonster** » 2007-08-23 08:01am

I just got it, and there was a texture problem I noticed where most surfaces were black and there were errors here and there.

If you see similar problems, ATI's website has already released a hotfix for Vista users with their new DX10 card that solves the problem and makes the game look great.

Shogoki · Post by **Shogoki** » 2007-08-23 01:04pm

On the level with the wharf, where you need to take pics of the spider splicers, I went sister hunting, I counted 3 big daddy spawn points and got 4 sisters, then they stopped showing up, anyway, i got the photos and when i was going back to the guy that wanted them the game told me I didn't get all the little sisters, so i went back and checked on the 3 daddies several times, and all they did was bang on the vents but no sister came out, has anyone gotten something similar? Is there a hidden big daddy or something?

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2007-08-23 01:55pm

nickolay1 wrote:Ok, so revolver = shitty animation.

What much more stupid though is the lightning plasmid and its associated loading screen messages in the demo.

Dry air has a dielectric strength of approximately 1kV/mm. To create 2 meter-long arcs, 2000000V is required, not the mere 1000 as indicated.

Assuming a very conservative 30mA to induce fibrillation (for AC), that's a power output of the character of 60kW. However, a potential problem with AC is the skin effect, thus DC output is more likely.

For DC, the current required for fibrillation is somewhat higher, at 300mA. That's a power output of 600kW!

Just how the fuck do the developers explain that with "rewritten genetic code?" That's a phenomenal insult to the intelligence of players.

I'm sure their calculations they provide for the biomechanical insect swarms the player can generate from their arms are entirely inaccurate as well.

SiN · Post by **SiN** » 2007-08-23 02:09pm

Shogoki wrote:On the level with the wharf, where you need to take pics of the spider splicers, I went sister hunting, I counted 3 big daddy spawn points and got 4 sisters, then they stopped showing up, anyway, i got the photos and when i was going back to the guy that wanted them the game told me I didn't get all the little sisters, so i went back and checked on the 3 daddies several times, and all they did was bang on the vents but no sister came out, has anyone gotten something similar? Is there a hidden big daddy or something?

Did you use the enslave big daddy plasmid? Sometimes i find that when i enslave one their little sister runs for the nearest spawn point and never comes back, even if you release the big daddy and kill it.

Darwin · Post by **Darwin** » 2007-08-23 03:28pm

Fingolfin_Noldor wrote:Ok.. I got the game.. but is it really necessary to patch the game the minute you start it? Somehow I can't connect to the server and patch it and the game refuses to install...

I will loathe to wait a bloody week and a half when I return to the US just to start the game and the term is starting.

The game must activate online, it says that clearly on the box. What it's actually doing is downloading a bit of SecuROM to make sure you're a good little citizen.

Darwin · Post by **Darwin** » 2007-08-23 07:44pm

how to get AA working in Bioshock

InnocentBystander · Post by **InnocentBystander** » 2007-08-23 09:14pm

You know it looks damn in DX10 even without the AA.

Shogoki · Post by **Shogoki** » 2007-08-23 09:37pm

I didn't find AA much helpful in this game, I have an 8800 and it's almost unnoticeable, AA works best on environments with lots of contrast, and so far Bioshock is very very dark and greenish, in quite a uniform way, so AA doesn't really show much, i opted for a the wee bit more FPS over AA.

Shogoki · Post by **Shogoki** » 2007-08-23 09:40pm

SiN wrote:
Did you use the enslave big daddy plasmid? Sometimes i find that when i enslave one their little sister runs for the nearest spawn point and never comes back, even if you release the big daddy and kill it.

No, I've harvested every one of them.

Perhaps they were too scared to come out even with their Big Daddies after they saw me massacring them. The Rosies are so easy to kill, you just run circles around them and shoot them in the face at point blank.

Post by **Vympel** » 2007-08-23 09:44pm

Darwin wrote:
The game must activate online, it says that clearly on the box. What it's actually doing is downloading a bit of SecuROM to make sure you're a good little citizen.

WTF? Does that mean if I have some piece of unsavory software on my system, it'll refuse to run the game? (I have Daemon ... thingy. Whatever its called. The image mount thingo).