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Played a little bit more. Oh my god, there is a literal ammunition vending machine in one of the storage closets. No, not a hacked replicator. An actual dedicated machine whose sole functional purpose is exchanging money for bullets.This sort of thing was stupid in Bioshock, where it could barely be handwaved with "Well they're a bunch of insane libertarians", but HERE? On a corporate owned and operated space station? How in the everloving fuck do you even begin to justify the existence of these things? Does the security staff have to buy their own ammo? Does the Medical deck have a shooting range I don't know about?
The way it was done in SS2 never really bothered me but it was a mechanic I could have easily done without. There's too much ammo in the game as it is. Bioshock was literally a carnival (the circus of values? wtf) and I hated everything about its goofy stupid gimmicks and the horrible paper mache artwork. If it wasn't for some of the redeeming parts of the gameplay I would not have considered it worth my time to play. SS1 wasn't perfect either but like SS2 I didn't notice its flaws, the game was that good. There's no point in adding vending machines that were never there and having this whole currency system to support it. Patches and items laying on the ground or in corpses and crates is fine. There are other ways to improve the game... like what they mostly did with cyberspace.
Bioshock is not a great game. Bioshock is a mediocre FPS that people lose their shit over because it had a somewhat interesting setting and really marketable character designs.As for ammo vending machines, there are none in SS2. What SS2 has is replicators, which by definition can make almost anything. That's the difference between SS2 and this remake-- a plausible explanation for why you can buy ammo. There's nothing to "look past".Remember, we're talking about a game where the entire R-grade implant conceit exists for the sole purpose of providing an in-game explanation for your HUD. Looking Glass understood how important it is to build a world that, no matter how fantastical, is logically self-consistent. A logical world world is an immersive world.Sadly, Night Dive doesn't seem to get this at all.
Yes but why do repilcators have ammo?
They sell ammo because they've been hacked. When you hack a replicator Xerxes announces "Replicator database reinitialized."The first replicator you find that sells ammo even has a psychic vision of a guy saying "God damn, somebody's hacked into this thing again."
I mean I never thought SS2 had too much ammo. Bioshock, I mean there isn't anything wrong with a clown themed vending machine, and what gimmicks?, it didn't have any, it had gameplay mechanics, good ones. Also what paper mache artwork? it didn't have any and the art there was there was/is great. I get it, you hate Bioshock for some reason and have odd complaints, well I love it, but let's agree to disagree and stay on track.If you can look past it in SS2, I'd say you can do the same for SSR and Bioshock. Bioshock is good, SSR is well it's a mixed bag imoFor cyberspace there are aspects of the original I actually prefer. I don't want this to get taken off topic, but Bioshock is a great game, and for stuff like this I guess it helps not to think of it and plus it is a small thing that doesn't affect the game much, tho an explanation would have been nice
frankly I never cared enough to wonder or ask the question
I get it, you hate Bioshock for some reason and have odd complaints, well I love it, but let's agree to disagree and stay on track.
I don't hate it and I wouldn't go so far as to say it's a bad game. I replay it from time to time. As I said, it has some redeeming qualities to it. But you have to look past a lot and forgive its many fuckups.SS2 having too much ammo depends on whether you play the game carefully or recklessly. If you're careful, you end up with a ton of everything later in the game, to the point where there's no fear of wasting it. This is contrary to how the game starts, which I particularly enjoy.public rant() {There is definitely something wrong with having clown vending machines. It's almost like the game is laughing at itself. Was there any reason to totally obliterate the atmosphere every time you get within 50 meters of one of these things? I consider the way it employs all the various vending machines and vita chambers and plumb-hacking to be gimmicky compared to how SS1 and 2 did it because it's very unrealistic and not within your normal tolerance of realism for an unrealistic fiction. Paper mache is how I describe the shiny mannequin, candle-wax looking, sewn on goddamn luncheon meat masks that every character has, the super saturated glowy colours, grape pie-filling blood and the awkward as fuck animations that look like Geppetto made balsa wood puppets running for the toilet. But that's me.}The only element of SS1 that was lacking, and completely missing from SS2 was cyberspace, although they had their charm. SSR has done a faithful enough job retooling that. They also get the artistry right in places. But I think all the things they've gotten wrong and continue to get wrong has been beaten to death.
People can love games which are objectively bad.I do it all the time. Doesn't change that at least parts of those games are objectively bad.
You uh… do know where you are, right? He’s right on the money. I’d venture to guess that most of us here share similar sentiments. I was an impressionable 13 year old when Bioshock was released, and even then, it was one of the most disappointing games I’ve ever played. I didn’t buy the spiritual successor to SS2 just to be met with a pretentious action game. Bioshock 2 was more of the same, and Infinite is one of the saddest excuses for a video game that I’ve ever had the misfortune of sitting through. So yeah. Forgive us for being a bit peeved that this fanbase is being ignored for “mass market appeal”, again.
Suddenly I'm able to understand why you think so highly of Bioshock.
Plus BS is a deep game
It isn't "mass market appeal", they tried to make BS more RPG heavy
LOLWUT. BS doesn't have half the RPG mechanics that SS2 did.
"One of the central themes of BioShock's development was the tension between our initial aim to make a spiritual sequel to System Shock 2 and the need to make a very successful mass-market console game," recalls LeBreton. "Shortly after the game's strong showing at E3 2006, Ken emerged from discussions with 2K marketing and announced to the team that we would be marketing the game as a shooter - but not to worry, we were still making the same smart FPS/RPG hybrid, we might just make a few small design adjustments here and there to make it accessible to the Halo crowd."
Bioshock was initially pitched as a blockbuster game, and the publisher gave them $25M to work on it. After the commercial failure of System Shock 2, they wanted a massive hit.https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-04-17-the-true-story-of-bioshockYou can see the result of those supposed "small design adjustments" in the final game.For the record, I played Bioshock before I played any of the System Shock games, and it still bored me to tears (in fact, it probably delayed me playing System Shock for fear it would be similar, even though I had become a big fan of Deus Ex). It's just not particularly good as an FPS (RPG lite hybrid) on its own merits, regardless of any comparisons to SS2. It's just that after playing SS2 I understood why there were all these vestigial systems that seemed pointless without context. Like yeah, there's psionics, hacking, research, ammo types, vending machines but... why? None of it serves a purpose.You don't make any character building choices since you're forced to have X number of tonics of each type and plasmids are mostly a linear progression, and you get enough Adam to purchase most everything. So where is there an RPG layer? Because SS2 had it, idk.The whole medkit/ammo type/looting situation is pointless since there's no meaningful scarcity, you're more likely to hit stack limits on everything than you are to find yourself low on any particular resource. So why is there this fake survival element? Because SS2 had it, idk.Hacking is a tedious minigame that pauses the world around you, removing all tension with it. You win as long as you slot the correct engineering tonics, making security systems a nuisance. So why is there hacking? Because SS2 had it, idk.Research is just a matter of pointing and clicking at an enemy while unseen. It's boring but mandatory because enemy health skyrockets in the second half of the game and you need the damage bonuses to keep up... a total wash. So why is there research? Because SS2 had it, idk.You can go on and on with every mechanic and system in Bioshock (don't get me started on Vita chambers -- how far Ultima Underworld's Silver Sapling hath fallen!). There's maybe a tiny bit more environmental interactivity but it doesn't mean anything if the fundamentals are junk.
many things...