Bioshock Infinite - *Spoiler warning*

[Actana]

Remember to use spoiler tags and mark them clearly!

Didn't find a thread for the game, and was curious about the opinions on the game. Anyone else played it yet?

Personally, I enjoyed the heck out of the entire game. Columbia was an amazing setting, both Booker and Elizabeth were great characters, Comstock were well done, and the Luteces were both funny and compelling at the same time. The combat felt a bit stiff though, but it was still quite enjoyable.

And then there's the ending. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it.

*MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD* Don't open the spoiler unless you've finished the game. Really, just don't.

Spoiler

So Booker is Elizabeth's dad and became Comstock to get Elizabeth back from Booker who took Elizabeth from Comstock who...

The ending chapter was really cool and well done with all the lighthouses and doors. The cameo of Rapture was fun albeit slightly random (though given Elizabeth's powers I found it quite amusing).

Mindscrewy, but I suppose that's just quantum physics for you.

Minor spoilers and WMGing about the Luteces below:

Spoiler

The Luteces are Time Lords.

[Avilan the Grey]

On one hand the game gets sky-shattering reveiw scores, but on the other hand I was only mildly entertained by the first and hated the second game... I keep going back and forth regarding buying this...!

[Actana]

The mechanics are still very similar (though you can now fire your "vigors" without separately equipping them, which is a huge improvement) to the first Bioshock. The setting has quite a few parallels with Rapture with the whole idyllic closed community going to hell and clashing ideologies of the time with each other.

The story, however, is entirely its own and is excellent with great characters all around. But if you couldn't stomach the mechanics of the first Bioshock (I haven't played the second, so can't comment on that), you probably won't enjoy Infinite.

[Avilan the Grey]

Originally Posted by Actana

The mechanics are still very similar (though you can now fire your "vigors" without separately equipping them, which is a huge improvement) to the first Bioshock. The setting has quite a few parallels with Rapture with the whole idyllic closed community going to hell and clashing ideologies of the time with each other.

The story, however, is entirely its own and is excellent with great characters all around. But if you couldn't stomach the mechanics of the first Bioshock (I haven't played the second, so can't comment on that), you probably won't enjoy Infinite.

It has more to do with the fact that I am not a shooter person. The last "pure" shooter I installed was Quake 3 Arena, so that was a while ago.

[Shovah]

Originally Posted by Avilan the Grey

It has more to do with the fact that I am not a shooter person. The last "pure" shooter I installed was Quake 3 Arena, so that was a while ago.

If it helps, I played through the game with very minimal shooting.

I took some nice big-damage weapons

Spoiler

RPG and Heat gun in my case

for when big scary enemies needed taken out quickly, but the vast majority of my combat experience consisted of melee-ing people to death occasionally augmented with some vigors

Spoiler

particularly the Charge vigor which fitted my play style perfectly

, and judicious abuse of Sky-hooking all over the place.

Spoilers just mentioning available weapons/vigors, I know some people who don't like to know what's available before playing.

[Gamerlord]

From what I've played of the game, it's pretty good. But I'm stuck on what I'm pretty sure is the last section of the game, the part where you

Spoiler

defend the airship power thingy from what is left of the Vox. They seem to keep on coming no matter how many Zeppelins I tell Songbird to destroy. I can get up to the third big one before the power source takes too much damage and I have to start all over again.

For those of you that have managed to complete the game, how did you get past this part? There just seems to be too much ground to cover and not enough firepower or backup to help.

[Avilan the Grey]

Thanks

I am also not a fan of mind screws. I just read the ending spoiler and Meh.

[Calemyr]

Haven't gotten too far into the game, but I like how it's shaping up. Maybe it's just been a while since I played a Bioshock, but the aiming is a bit frustrating - I used to be a lot better with a pistol.

Question, though. What I read about the game and what I've experienced regarding vigors are rather different. I thought you couldn't have them all and you had to be very judicious when selecting which ones to take, but instead I've just automatically taken each one I've found and the only limiting factor on upgrades is the absurd costs. Does this change as the game goes on?

Also curious about the morality in the game, such as it is. I've noticed outcomes of choices, particularly in terms of one specific baseball of justice. Is the morality of this game as black and white as the previous two, or is it more gray and gray (or, as seems the case, black and black)?

[Gamerlord]

Originally Posted by Calemyr

Also curious about the morality in the game, such as it is. I've noticed outcomes of choices, particularly in terms of one specific baseball of justice. Is the morality of this game as black and white as the previous two, or is it more gray and gray (or, as seems the case, black and black)?

From what I've seen, at first it looks like a case of black and a slightly lighter shade of black, but then it nosedives into full on black and black, with the main characters caught in the middle of the chaos.

[Actana]

Originally Posted by Gamerlord

From what I've played of the game, it's pretty good. But I'm stuck on what I'm pretty sure is the last section of the game, the part where you

Spoiler

defend the airship power thingy from what is left of the Vox. They seem to keep on coming no matter how many Zeppelins I tell Songbird to destroy. I can get up to the third big one before the power source takes too much damage and I have to start all over again.

For those of you that have managed to complete the game, how did you get past this part? There just seems to be too much ground to cover and not enough firepower or backup to help.

Spoiler

Did you take out the big white ballooned zeppelins on both sides? I was fighting for my life (more likely lives, since I was pretty much zerging the enemies at the latter points), until I noticed them and promptly destroyed the two large ones, and then the fight ended.

Originally Posted by Avilan the Grey

Thanks

I am also not a fan of mind screws. I just read the ending spoiler and Meh.

It's explained much better in context. Again, major spoilers on the plot below, where I try to piece things together:

Spoiler

It has to do with the quantum physics and the idea of multiple universes which are created with each decision we make. Every time you choose to do something another reality is created where you chose not to do it. The game plays around with that idea, and two of the characters you encounter in the game can apparently freely travel between the dimensions.

After the battle of Wounded Knee, Booker felt so much guilt that he went to be baptised and "reborn". He then took the name of Zachary Hale Comstock.

As Comstock, he meets the Luteces, who invent a way to affect these other realities. Comstock tries it and become sterile due to the exposure. He is also quite angry at people, and decides to help the Luteces in their experiments with quantum physics, which makes Columbia, the flying city, possible. Comstock gains a fortune due to acquiring new technology from the future realities and things like that. They go to another reality where Booker never became Comstock, instead getting heavily alcoholic and gains lots of gambling debts. Booker has a daughter, Anna Dewitt in that reality. Robert Lutece offers Booker to "give us the girl, and wipe away the debt". Booker accepts and gives Anna to the Luteces. However, Booker then regrets the decision and tries to cancel the deal at the last minute. Comstock and the Luteces are just on the verge of going through a reality portal into their world when Booker arrives, managing almost to get Anna from Comstock's hands. He fails.

Due to Anna's exposure to the Luteces' experiments, she is able to manipulate the "tears" between realities, and Comstock raises her for his own goals. Later on, Robert Lutece grows a conscience, and feels bad about using Booker and his child to further their own goals. Rosalind Lutece doesn't care, but Robert insists, so they draw Booker into their world through a tear and give him the chance to get Anna, who is now called Elizabeth back. Booker is quite confused, to understate things, and his mind subconsciously fills in the blank spots in the story, creating some sort of patron who will wipe away his gambling debts if he brings them Elizabeth. And that's where the game starts.

Comstock tried to kill the Luteces by sabotaging their quantum machines to protect the secret of the tears and keep them to himself. He partially failed, making the Luteces able to travel through time and space. He then manipulates the tears to get a sense of prophecy (which is described by the Luteces as more like probability), which is why he knows everything he does. He foresees Booker coming, so he locks Elizabeth into a tower in order to prevent Booker from arriving.

So yeah. That's my take on the game's plot. I might be wrong on more than a few accounts, but that's how I see it.

[Gamerlord]

Originally Posted by Actana

Spoiler

Did you take out the big white ballooned zeppelins on both sides? I was fighting for my life (more likely lives, since I was pretty much zerging the enemies at the latter points), until I noticed them and promptly destroyed the two large ones, and then the fight ended.

Spoiler

That's what I meant by "big ones". Maybe I'm supposed to let them get a little bit closer, because I just ordered Songbird to trash them the moment they spawned.

[Avilan the Grey]

Originally Posted by Gamerlord

From what I've seen, at first it looks like a case of black and a slightly lighter shade of black, but then it nosedives into full on black and black, with the main characters caught in the middle of the chaos.

BIG ENDING SPOILER:

Spoiler

The ending is the same no matter what "morality" you choose, and since the ending twist is that you are killed to prevent everything from happening, it doesn't matter!

[BRC]

Some general, not-really-spoilery thoughts

Spoiler

First of all: so Elizabeth has spent her life in the Tower, with Songbird as her only companion. If this is the case, she has remarkably well developed language and social skills. I'm not an expert on child development, but I find that a little weird.

Secondly: The trigger-happy nature of everybody made sense in Bioshock, since everybody was an insane drug-addicted mutant. Here it makes less sense. It makes sense within the logic of video-games, but it's a little jarring.

Third: There seem to be Vigors just lying around all the time. Why is it that only Firemen and Crows ever seem to be using them? In Rapture the idea was that everybody bought cosmetic plasmids, and by the time combat plasmids became much more useful everybody was crazy and ADAM was scarce.

In Columbia they literally hand the things out as free samples. Why am I not fighting Shock-Jockey Policemen, or Charging Vox.

Also, The Skylines havn't been seeing that much use on my end, which is kind of a shame because it's a really cool mechanic.

That said, it is an Amazing game. I have not beaten it yet, but it's better IMO than the original Bioshock. The characters of Booker and Elizabeth add so much to the experience, and the two-weapon limit is actually a bonus in my book since it encourages you to change up which weapons you are using.

Alright, now Plot talk. Actual Spoilers.
I'm just about to enter Comstock House, to give you an idea of where I am.

Spoiler

First of all, that whole "Jumping between Universes" thing was kind of...underexplored.
The Gunsmith is dead, Jump to a universe where he is alive. He needs his tools, they jump to a universe where the Vox already have guns.

I mean, I get that Booker and Elizabeth didn't exactly have control over things, but they act relatively casually about the whole thing. They are trying to get the guns because of a deal with Daisy Fitzroy. It never seems to occur to them that they just jumped to a different universe, with a different Daisy, and Booker is acting like they'll just walk up and say "We got you the guns!"
But they didn't. They just jumped to a universe where the Vox already had guns. Daisy is probably sitting on her airship in Universe 1 wondering where her guns are.

That said, what's so important about the Airship. Booker talks like the First Lady is the only way off Columbia.

The entire city is literally made out of airships. There is one moment where you're trying to get to Daisy and the Airship, and in the process you need to destroy a Founder airship that is bombarding Vox positions.
There you are, standing on an Airship you just cleared out. And at no point does anybody say "Hey, this is a fully functional Airship. Let's just take this one". Instead you destroy it and push on in order to get the Extra Mega Shiny airship.

Heck, people are apparently able to fly their houses around, "Docking" at various parts of Columbia. You see such Docking schedules posted occasionally. Why don't they take one of those? Fly a barbershop home.

Mind you, you later learn that you can't leave because of the Songbird, but before then Booker is like "We need to get out of this city. We better steal The President's Personal Airship".

[LordShotGun]

I feel that they wanted a "shock" ending similar to what bioware wanted with mass effect 3. I think it kinda worked since I am nowhere near as disappointed with this ending as with ME3 probably because it isn't the ending of a trilogy and I have little character attachment.

However it has neutered any desire to replay this since as the great drew carry said

Spoiler

"Welcome to bioshock infinite, where the time lines are made up and the choices don't matter!".

Also, they really lost a bunch of RPG element in the game. Sure you have limited money and have to pick your upgrades, but as far as I can tell all "spell upgrades" are bought from the store. No more different types of tonics to manage, no more limited "spell" slots, no more ammo management since you can only carry 2 weapons at a time and you are better off emptying them on random mooks and picking up new ones.


@OP. Perhaps you should add a spoilers tag in the thread name so we don't have to spoiler everything.

[Reverent-One]

Originally Posted by LordShotGun

snip

*turns around and leaves thread, while covering his ears saying "don't think too much about the implications of the statement in order to avoid spoiling the ending for myself" *

EDIT: Seriously though, spoil the "as Drew Carey says" comment. While vague, it gives a nod in the direction the game is apparently going that can be enough to spoiler it for someone. Thus far there is no spoiler tag in the title and anything else plot related has been in spoiler tags.

[LordShotGun]

Originally Posted by Reverent-One

*turns around and leaves thread, while covering his ears saying "don't think too much about the implications of the statement in order to avoid spoiling the ending for myself" *

EDIT: Seriously though, spoil the "as Drew Carey says" comment. While vague, it gives a nod in the direction the game is apparently going that can be enough to spoiler it for someone. Thus far there is no spoiler tag in the title and anything else plot related has been in spoiler tags.

While I agree in principle (and I edited my post) I must ask why on earth would you come to the thread unless you wanted to learn more? If it was just for gameplay and such and people general options of the game then go watch some gameplay videos or professional reviews where they try not to spoil anything.

I am just curious what you were expecting in this thread if not discussion of the game. Also the reason I wanted a spoiler tag in the title.

Cmon guys its already been a day and a half since the game came out! YOU SHOULD BE DONE ALREADY!!! /notseriousatall

[Reverent-One]

Originally Posted by LordShotGun

While I agree in principle (and I edited my post) I must ask why in the heck you would come to the thread unless you wanted to learn more? If it was just for gameplay and such and people general options of the game then go watch some gameplay videos or professional reviews where they try not to spoil anything.

General gameplay discussion and impressions, not any non-obvious plot discussion. Had the thread had a spoiler tag in the title, or people hadn't been very clear about putting plot stuff in spoiler tags, I would have never come in/turned around immediately. The game's been out less than 48 hours, fair assumption is that a lot of people haven't beaten it yet.

[Actana]

Originally Posted by Reverent-One

General gameplay discussion and impressions, not any non-obvious plot discussion. Had the thread had a spoiler tag in the title, or people hadn't been very clear about putting plot stuff in spoiler tags, I would have never come in/turned around immediately. The game's been out less than 48 hours, fair assumption is that a lot of people haven't beaten it yet.

That was my general idea as well. People might still be on the fence whether or not to buy it, and I had imagined non-spoilery discussions to be far more common at this point of time. I'll add a potential spoiler warning to the thread regardless.

However...

Cmon guys its already been a day and a half since the game came out! YOU SHOULD BE DONE ALREADY!!! /notseriousatall

This.

[Gamerlord]

So,uh, it turns out that fight I was complaining about is actually surprisingly easy if you equip the Overkill item that I had forgotten I had.

EDIT: Just saw the ending.....well, when Ken Levine said he wanted an ending like no other game before, he certainly meant it. 0_0 Did anyone else catch the scene after the credits?

[Leliel]

Originally Posted by Avilan the Grey

BIG ENDING SPOILER:

Spoiler

The ending is the same no matter what "morality" you choose, and since the ending twist is that you are killed to prevent everything from happening, it doesn't matter!

Spoiler

Yeah. In some alternate universe where Ken Levine was a complete idiot.

Did you not see the ending scene where it's revealed the new timeline Booker DeWitt is still very much alive and now gets the chance to actually raise his daughter? Because that seems like agency to me, not to mention he probably saved the multiverse since the now non-existent Comstock could never corrupt her into a Dragonball Z archvillain that made Omega Shenron look like a wheelchair-bound pacifist.

And just because Ryan was inspired to create Rapture from Columbia's example in the now-deleted timeline does not mean that he didn't build it in the new one. He just found a different motivation.

Also, the violence of the citizens is explained by repeated Tear resurrection-they don't know what's real anymore, and a bit of Liz's repressed anger at the universe influences them. See-Lady Comstock, the Siren.

[Avilan the Grey]

Originally Posted by Leliel

Spoiler

Yeah. In some alternate universe where Ken Levine was a complete idiot.

Did you not see the ending scene where it's revealed the new timeline Booker DeWitt is still very much alive and now gets the chance to actually raise his daughter? Because that seems like agency to me, not to mention he probably saved the multiverse since the now non-existent Comstock could never corrupt her into a Dragonball Z archvillain that made Omega Shenron look like a wheelchair-bound pacifist.

And just because Ryan was inspired to create Rapture from Columbia's example in the now-deleted timeline does not mean that he didn't build it in the new one. He just found a different motivation.

Also, the violence of the citizens is explained by repeated Tear resurrection-they don't know what's real anymore, and a bit of Liz's repressed anger at the universe influences them. See-Lady Comstock, the Siren.

Methinks you argue well, but not about anything I said...

Spoiler

My point is that the moral choices you make in the game are irrelevant, since you die at the end and none of your choices matter since they will retroactively have never happened.
You know, basic time-travel crap.

[Leliel]

Originally Posted by Avilan the Grey

Methinks you argue well, but not about anything I said...

Spoiler

My point is that the moral choices you make in the game are irrelevant, since you die at the end and none of your choices matter since they will retroactively have never happened.
You know, basic time-travel crap.

Ah. Misread it.

Spoiler

I still don't agree, but that's a valid criticism. Here, we can chalk it up to personal taste.

And that last bit wasn't directed at you, but the idea the Citizens had no reason to go nuts.

[NeoVid]

I would have liked more development for the enemies, both the major NPCs and the different types, like the Handymen and Crows. Still, despite going searching for things to complain about, I liked the game a lot. I was particularly impressed that it turned out to revolve around one of my favorite science fiction concepts,

Spoiler

Bryce DeWitt's Many Worlds Theory. The illusion of choice taking away free will has been a central concept to the Bioshock series since the beginning, and I couldn't help but get a laugh out of the scene near the end that specifically brings up video game non-choices:

"It will happen. You can't leave this room until you agree."

There were things I disliked about the game, but the fact that I'm glad to have played it says what I really think.

Originally Posted by BRC

Spoiler

Third: There seem to be Vigors just lying around all the time. Why is it that only Firemen and Crows ever seem to be using them? In Rapture the idea was that everybody bought cosmetic plasmids, and by the time combat plasmids became much more useful everybody was crazy and ADAM was scarce.

In Columbia they literally hand the things out as free samples. Why am I not fighting Shock-Jockey Policemen, or Charging Vox.

Well, damn, I didn't think of that. It would have added a ton of variety to the fights, which I thought didn't have nearly enough as it was.

[t209]

After seeing the ending,

Spoiler

I think I understand the references now.
Infinite= First meaning would be Infinite sky but it became infinite realities.
Dewitt= Dewitt's man world theory.
edit: more confusing than singularity. except it started with a rescue of one man that changed it.

P.S-

Spoiler

During the baseball scene, which one do you roleplay as?
- 19th or 20th Century man (at Interracial couple)
- 21st Century man (at the racist announcer)

[BRC]

So...I just beat it

Spoiler

I thought I had gotten Spoilered. I accidentally saw something saying Elizabeth was Anna ( I had already kind of guessed that though).

But...Wow. Also, the Rapture Cameo had me jumping like a giddy schoolgirl.

And that bit about "There's always a Man, there's always a Lighthouse". Arc Words for the next Bioshock Game? You know there is going to be one.

So wait, what exactly is the Timeline here?

1890: Booker fights at Wounded Knee. Shortly Afterwards he attends the Baptism. Timeline Splits.

Timeline 1: Booker accepts the Baptism, becomes Zachariah Comstock, gets involved with the Luteces, Builds Columbia, Buys/Steals Elizabeth from an Alternate Booker DeWitt and locks her in the tower. Exposure to the Experiments gives Comstock his fortune and "Prophecies", but also accelerates his aging.

Timeline 2: Booker Dewitt Refuses Baptism, joins the Pinkertons (the Loading Screen shows that he got his Pinkerton License in 1892, two years after Wounded Knee. If the Baptism occurred "Right After Wounded Knee". It is after 1892 that he presumably meets his wife, gets into debt, and sells Anna to the Luteces/Comstock from Timeline 2.
Luteces steal Booker from Timeline 2, Pull him into Timeline 1. Booker concocts this story about being hired to rescue her from the Monument (so the box with the picture was a hallucination?)


The question is, Why did Comstock buy/steal Elizabeth? She gained her powers from being transported, so it wasn't for that. He never had her in his timeline (Dewitt's office shows him as a PI, which means this must be after 1892). Did he just really want an Heir, so he and the Luteces looked through the universes to find one where 1) DeWitt had a child, and 2) He was a thoroughly unsuitable parent.


Of course, this raises the question of Why Drown Booker? I get that it stopped Booker from becoming Comstock, raising Columbia, and starting the whole mess. But even then, wouldn't they have just killed one version of Booker? Isn't that pointless for the same reason killing Comstock wasn't enough?

So what actually happened anyway. Timeline 2 Booker got transported back to timeline 1 at the Baptism, was drowned by a bunch of Elizabeths. Timeline 2 Booker just ends up depressed and in debt forever.

Edit: Oh, Also

Spoiler

They close the Loop by killing Dewitt at the baptism.

What's the gospel song that shows up again and again, "Will the Circle be Unbroken".

They Broke The Circle.

[huttj509]

Originally Posted by BRC

So...I just beat it

Spoiler

Timeline 1: Booker accepts the Baptism, becomes Zachariah Comstock, gets involved with the Luteces, Builds Columbia, Buys/Steals Elizabeth from an Alternate Booker DeWitt and locks her in the tower. Exposure to the Experiments gives Comstock his fortune and "Prophecies", but also accelerates his aging.

Timeline 2: Booker Dewitt Refuses Baptism, joins the Pinkertons (the Loading Screen shows that he got his Pinkerton License in 1892, two years after Wounded Knee. If the Baptism occurred "Right After Wounded Knee". It is after 1892 that he presumably meets his wife, gets into debt, and sells Anna to the Luteces/Comstock from Timeline 2.
Luteces steal Booker from Timeline 2, Pull him into Timeline 1. Booker concocts this story about being hired to rescue her from the Monument (so the box with the picture was a hallucination?)


The question is, Why did Comstock buy/steal Elizabeth? She gained her powers from being transported, so it wasn't for that. He never had her in his timeline (Dewitt's office shows him as a PI, which means this must be after 1892). Did he just really want an Heir, so he and the Luteces looked through the universes to find one where 1) DeWitt had a child, and 2) He was a thoroughly unsuitable parent.

Spoiler

Ok, regarding "why take the child?"

Comstock wanted "Sodom" punished. He had seen in the "prophecy" that his seed on the throne would bring that about.

Problem: He's sterile, due to proximity to the Luteces' experiments. Also caused his rapid aging (vox in one of the rooms at the end, after Comstock events, before reaching bridge. Sterility was referenced elsewhere).

You also find his musings on what happens when someone is born again. Do es the 'sinner' continue on in one reality while the 'cleansed' go in another?

So he goes to take his child from a parent he considers unsuitable. He needs his seed, and the 'sinner' is given a chance to redeem himself by serving a holy purpose ("Father Comstock absolves your sins" when you hand Anna to MaLutece).

BTW, the circle thing struck me about 10 minutes ago. Someone commented on a thread about the plot being a mobius strip, and my eyes got wide as I scavenged to check I wasn't misremembering the song. I asked my brother the name (He's actually named after Bryce DeWitt, for coincidence sake), and right after he told me, his eyes got wide as he made the connection.

Those sorts of realizations are always fun.

[BRC]

Also, is it just me or

Spoiler

Was it Implied (if not outright Stated) that the Lutece twins were, in fact, the same person. The Vox about "Only a single chromosome separates us", and the Kinetoscope about how Columbia's greatest scientist suddenly had a brother who was an EQUALLY great scientist.

Plus one of their conversations is about "Finishing each other's sentences" and how it would be weird if they didn't.
I think what happened was that Female Lutece, while doing her experiments, ran into her "Brother" Who was doing the same experiments in another reality. She pulled him into this reality, and they worked together, collectively helping Comstock steal the baby and all that.

Originally Posted by Leliel

Spoiler

Yeah. In some alternate universe where Ken Levine was a complete idiot.

Did you not see the ending scene where it's revealed the new timeline Booker DeWitt is still very much alive and now gets the chance to actually raise his daughter? Because that seems like agency to me, not to mention he probably saved the multiverse since the now non-existent Comstock could never corrupt her into a Dragonball Z archvillain that made Omega Shenron look like a wheelchair-bound pacifist.

And just because Ryan was inspired to create Rapture from Columbia's example in the now-deleted timeline does not mean that he didn't build it in the new one. He just found a different motivation.

Also, the violence of the citizens is explained by repeated Tear resurrection-they don't know what's real anymore, and a bit of Liz's repressed anger at the universe influences them. See-Lady Comstock, the Siren.

Spoiler

I did not see this scene, how does one do so?

[t209]

So, this year,

Spoiler

We now have 2 games about or have elements of Time Travel (Fire Emblem: Awakening and Bioshock: Infinite.

[Avilan the Grey]

On a deep personal level the whole game series bothers me a great deal,

Spoiler

The writer seems to go to great lengths arguing against the existence of free will in general, which I find extremely disturbing.

[NeoVid]

As it should, Bioshock's underlying messages about loss of free will are really disturbing.

Spoiler

Many physicists hate the Many Worlds theory, because it's right up there with predestination for making all of our decisions pointless. But as far as I know, it hasn't been disproven yet.