Bioshock Infinity - Plot -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BIOSHOCK INFINITE PLOTNARRATIVE ANALYSIS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Written and Compiled by Wesley D. Young in 2013 with the assistance of numerous other helpful gamers. (Want a better format for this? This is also a nice PDF document over at www.mediafire.com/view/?mz61kbyk1s7vgdb) I keep the two synched. Until new DLC arrives for this game I consider this analysis pretty much finalized/complete. If you spot any errors, or have a legit addition to make to it, feel free to contact me. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Section 1. Note about Easter Eggs Section 2. What this analysis is NOT Section 3. Commentary on the final release of the game Section 4. Funny/True Easter Eggs/Misc items Section 5. Culture of Columbia Section 6. Booker Section 7. Booker as Andrew Ryan Section 8. Elizabeth Section 9. The Lutece "twins" Section 10. Fink Section 11. Comstock Section 12. Things at the beginning of the game (Pre-Elizabeth) Section 13. Things at the middle of the game (Elizabeth) Section 14. Things at the end of the game (Rescue of Elizabeth) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This contains MASSIVE spoilers, and not really concerning the actual gameplay. Do NOT read this until you have finished the game. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE ABOUT EASTER EGGS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This term has become corrupted in the past few years, with people applying it to anything and everything odd or funny that is right out in the open in a video game. Wikipedia has a solid article on the first Easter Egg to appear in a game (Atari 2600 Adventure). For instance, a lot of gamers have said that the anachronistic music in the game is a bunch of Easter Eggs - um, no it most certainly isn't. How is the Cindi Lauper ditty playing on Battleship Beach an Easter Egg?! Other people have said the final bit with Rapture is one as well. There actually aren't that many true Easter Eggs in the game. But as I've slowly explored and looked in every nook and cranny of the game a handful have indeed come to light. A true Easter Egg is something hidden within the game that includes a hidden message, inside joke, etc. Like if you use a cheat code in the game, fly off to one of those distantly-floating city blocks in Columbia and see a picture of one of the programmers plastered on it, totally hidden from view, THAT is an Easter Egg (that's just an example, don't get excited - I've yet to figure out how to activate the console in the game because the base Unreal UI is de-activated all throughout the config files). Inside jokes told by Elizabeth count as well, because the real meaning of her comments is indeed hidden. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WHAT THIS ANALYSIS IS NOT -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is not a strategy guide, nor even a game guide. I fully assume you have played the game to it's final moments. I will not, for example, be giving details on the difference between the shotgun and the heater. Go to Gamefaqs.com for somebody else's write-up on that. I will also not be adding screenshots or anything else to this: If you want to see for yourself what I've detailed here, then play this fantastic game and discover it for yourself! =) Though for the music I have added Youtube clips. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- COMMENTARY ON THE FINAL RELEASE OF THE GAME -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I am not some Ken Levine cultist. I do not think Infinite is 'the best game ever made' even. Truth be told, Ken Levine sounds like a very difficult man to work with - see the below link to a good interview with him, and his quirks. www.polygon.com/features/2013/1/10/3853198/ken-levine-bioshock-infinite-vgas This is a guy who will literally let people work, blood sweat and tears, on a huge section of a game, and then he'll decide one day that 'it's all wrong: scrap it". I mean, that must vex the stockholders, his employees ... it must be very stressful. What appeals to me about this game isn't even fully the gameplay. Truth be told: It's a solid FPS. It's the characters ... the narrative ... the story ... The art, which is the glue that holds it all together, is just icing on the cake. If this had been a well-done piece of Interactive Fiction I would've loved it just as much. Personally, if I were to give it a review ... I'd give it an 8 out of 10. (Gameplay is solid, but not hugely original or innovative; and a lack of real replay value, outside of discovering plot points - though the 2 extra DLC packs will help allieviate this somewhat.) Modern video games are *phenominally* complex affairs, and it is just so utterly easy for many gamers to get pissed-off at a game without even realizing the utter hardships involved in their creation. This game is not unlike many, many other games in that endless droves of ideas are literally talked about, sketched, developed a bit to see if it plays well, and then scrapped. Case in point: Half-Life 2 has so many notes, concept pieces, scrapped ideas, and even fully-developed scenes that were just pulled from the game because despite what you may think NO it would NOT have been as cool as it looked. The hardcover book "Raising the Bar" that shows the entire development of Half-Life 2 is a great lesson in this. There was even a creature that one programmer worked really hard on, and entire levels were eventually built-around. Scrapped. The monster had a couple of fundamental flaws that just couldn't be resolved. After developing Bioshock 1 - a masterpiece of a game - Ken Levine actually went into a deep depression. He personally didn't see how he could possibly top that game in his lifetime, and was left feeling empty and without knowing "what to do next?" (paraphrased from interviews). He also requested to not be involved in Bioshock 2 for a number of - and I'm glad he stood by his decision on this - reasons. One, it was a very derivative game (it's like trying to do a sequel to a piece of music or art - I mean, he did what he wanted to do and wants to do something else). And two, the only reason why anybody wanted (meaning the shareholders) a sequel is because "sequels sell" and players were demanding a multiplayer Bioshock. Ken Levin has said that they came-up with so many ideas, modeled them, tested them, even had the voice actors do work on it all, but it just never came together fully, so they had to scrap almost everything and go back to the start - and eventually they had enough scrapped art and stuff that 2 whole extra games could've been cobbled together from it all. This sounds remarkable, until you learn that a LOT of other high-budget games have also done this (Half-Life 2 again...) This clip here (http://youtu.be/d8DomvUSV_o) shows one of those demos that they did for people about 2 years ago - it's all cobbled-together stuff to try show what they had at the time - the opening moments in the lighthouse are exactly the same so you can fast-forward through that. A lot of people are pissed because none of it (except of course the opening bit as he goes to the lighthouse, that was always figured out - they knew the basic concepts of what the story was going to be about, but it is VERY difficult to transform ideas into a smoothly-polished game) made it to the final game - it never was really expected to, and I personally *hate* how it all looks - though the Liberty Bell crashing was a cool moment, but I can see problems with that right there - Columbia doesn't look like this AMAZING city just bathed in golden sunlight, it looks like some back alleyway in a nasty part of New York City! And what the HELL is up with Elizabeth?! Booker sounds dumb ... and Songbird was supposed to hunt you down and you had to avoid him ... I can see problems with that - I mean, if you fail to hide from him properly do you just abruptly die and have to reload - that's kinda lame. You can see all these elements scattered all over the place, but none of them are really where the final game got to be (you had to reload after EVERY shotgun and sniper rifle firing?! Falling off the city is, of course, logical, but also would've been VERY annoying to just have it abruptly happen, over and over, in the midst of fights and crap). The island that they used for this demo is actually still visible way off in the distance, with the bridge and all. The original plot wasn't anywhere as interesting as the final one as well. Also, playing a game on the Easy and Medium levels of difficulty, and then criticizing the final game as being "too easy" or "too short" - among various other complaints - seems to be a bit of a recurring issue with some gamers nowadays. A friend of mine bought Infinite, rushed through it in 20 hours flat, but missed over half of what the game had to offer. To make my point I did a video that shows how the same fight scene in Infinite can literally be shaped by the level of difficulty https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPuFPcEHRa8 --- slow the heck down and savor the game. What the hell is the big rush?! I mean, I'm reading a comment here from somebody who said they finished it in 12 hours?! Did you even stop to smell the roses?! There is just no way you could rush through a game like that and possibly soak-in the full experience! Take this for an example: Did you see the giant clock that Fink uses? I mean: REALLY see it? The floating "prayer" panel? No? Then you're missing parts of the very game you paid good cash for! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FUNNY/TRUE EASTER EGGS/MISC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - It just occured to me the other day: Above 10,000' MSL altitude, if you do not use supplemental air to breath, a thing called Hypoxia will occur in humans. It basically makes you act like you are drunk (in fact Naval pilots going in the Top Gun program are subjected to the effects of this dangerous condition so that they know what it feels like). So, Columbia is like way over 10,000'! Nothing in the game is ever even given - not even a tiny clue - as to just how the entire city has overcome this problem. Probably just a writing oversight. I mean, Rosalind Lutece was able to hold the city aloft by "atoms that do not fall" - but that doesn't explain anything else that I can tell. - Frequently mistaken as an Easter Egg: The black man who viciously punches the white guy in front of the Fink Job Auction area yells "Nine nine nine" during the job auction. Many people have insisted that this is part of an egg that refers to failed Republican Herman Cain's "9-9-9" tax plan. If you want to see a Youtube clip of Cain himself explaining the plan here's a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9LFwX7YfKg So, the question is this: Is the black man's quote of "Nine nine nine" a true Easter Egg? To cut a long explaination short: In my opinion, no, it isn't. And here's why: It should be noted that a common form of logical fallicy is what I personally call the 'Nothing Came Before This' problem. This problem involves somebody stating something like "Oh, that is SUCH a rip-off of!" When in fact there is zero evidence to support this claim. Take the Strider creatures from Half-Life 2. A lot of people have commented, and insisted, that the designers of this creature "clearly" took inspiration from H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds", because the alien invaders attack Earth in tripod-like machines that walk. Here's the problem: Just because somebody comes up with a idea like this, it does NOT mean that everybody else for the entire rest of time was indeed either inspired by H.G. Wells, or that they are ripping-off that concept. Indeed, going back to Half-Life 2, in the excellent "Raising the Bar" book that shows the game's development, the Striders were inspired by blending together a Giraffe and Gorilla. It's two independant forms of imagination here with only the tripod element in common. So, getting back on track: Just because a black man now yells "9 9 9" in any situation does NOT mean it MUST be a reference to Herman Cain. If you stand there and watch the entire scene in the game unfold, his shouting is merely a part of the bidding. It's not even a funny scene - it's a display of how desperate these people are for work. Now, if it had been a black politican in the game who had yelled that line, then yes, that clearly would've been an Easter Egg. Ironically, it was rather well pointed out that Cain's plan does bear a rather striking resemblance to the tax system that players employ in the Maxis SimCity game series (you can specify three taxes on Residental, Industrial, and Commercial properties). Here's a link talking about this comparison over at the Huffington Post: www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/13/herman-cain-999-sim-city_n_1008952.html But, again: Just because a notable game had this idea, that doesn't mean that it's now a solid fact that Cain's idea came from Simcity. - True Easter Egg: While taking various clips of the game, the video editor over at Gamesrader was fast-forwarding through the gameplay footage and during the initial scenes where you first fight the Crow Assasins, he heard a really slowed-down audio track (a song actually) being used to create a part of the audio envionment. I have doubts that this is some sort of secret message, but is probably just the audio guys having used that song to create a uniquely-deep sort of envionmental ambiance (sound effects guy do weird stuff like this all the time!). I mean, it *might* have some sort of meaning, but I'm not actually going to actively seek such a thing out. The clip they made is here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=keEJUfuDDQE&feature=player_embedded#! - The Devil's Aid boost costs 666 cash. I had that right in front of me before really noticing it. Cute. - Is the Motorized Patriot's weak spot on his backside a reference to cowardice? - True Easter Egg (with a clarification prompted by Martin Mayer): There's only one door in the entire game that asks for a combination lock. The combo is revealed to be 0451. This is a thing that Irrational games does, going back to its first game (System Shock 2), and is a reference to the classic Ray Bradbury novel Fahrenheit 451 (in fact, the first door lock you encounter in all of their games has a combo of 451, going way back to the original System Shock game that they weren't even involved with). The number 451 has had other connections with Looking Glass and Irrational Games, including the time when the keypad code for employees to enter the Looking Glass offices being set to 0451 (Looking Glass is a long-defunct company with a cult following that did the original System Shock. You wouldn't be playing any Bioshock games without their influence.) - System Shock 2 also came out in 1999, thus Infinite's 1999 Mode. System Shock was a very ground-breaking and influential game. You can purchase the highly acclaimed sequel on GOG.com for just $10. The original DOS game, while historically ground-breaking as it was is quite the unpolished DOS game, and there doesn't seem to be any valid means to purchase it for today's gamers. - The 1999 mode does not unlock anything new in the game: It is only a mode of difficulty. You can unlock it by either completing the game fully, or - and this is what I did - use the classic Konami code to unlock it. Beware: It seriously takes the "choices cannot be undone" motif to a new level - you cannot even turn the 1999 mode off unless you start a new game! - True Easter Egg: The game was released on the first day of Passover, and when I first started playing it there was a different bit of music playing. - Oh, and the mechanical horses are all called Easter. - You can rather viciously murder the few citizens who stand around, without penalty that I can tell. You can also slaughter the entire mass of soldiers who are told to 'stand down' right before you first hear Comstock talk to you. You rarely obtain anything from them. - The theme of Constants and Variables is also in the game. You don't get an option to select any random events, since it is really (according to the game) the immutable laws of the reality that determine those "random" occurrences. You do get to choose really big choices that Booker has to make (kill that solider, or let him live? etc). The Lutece "twins" ramble about this a lot as well. There are other small things in the game that dealt with this, - Bug/Glitch: When you first see a Crow assassin, and he brutally kills that one guy with all the crows and fire, if you look closely at the (rather gruesomely) and clearly-dead body there is an oversight from the animators: It still has breathing animation tied to it. Pretty damn tough guy to still be alive after that. =) - True Easter Egg: In the Duke and Dimwit Arcade Elizabeth gets excited about a certain game having been released, saying it was "delayed three times" - Bioshock Infinite was delayed three times as well. This qualifies as an in-joke Easter Egg. =) - The delays were the result of the game's seriously-ambitious plot. I mean, the writing in this game is so utterly good that I have written a serious analysis of it here! How many video games can you honestly say that about? - There are a handful of fairly clear thematic allusions to the original Bioshock: 1.They both start at a lighthouse 2.The priest at the start asks "Is it somebody new?", which matches-up with the Splicer in Bioshock 1 asking the same thing 3.There is a baby carriage at one point that has a pistol in place of the baby - in Bioshock 1 there was a Splicer talking to her 'baby' which was revealed to just be a pistol. 4. You could, in true System Shock style, play a mini-game to hack and repair consoles and vending machines in Bioshock 1. In this third game, you'll notice that all of the broken vending machines are quite permanently broken, with tools laying around or engineers trying to fix them. This is a visual key to the player that "no,there is no hacking or repairs in this one: What's broke stays broke" There is, however a minigame tied-in withInfinite, but it is a separate DLC purchase (The Industrial Revolution), which also gifts you with exclusive in-game equipment. And, in keeping with the theme of "your choices cannot be undone", the decisions of what faction you side with in the DLC are also permanent. - The Autosave system, while annoying to some players, was actually very carefully considered and chosen for the game. There is a big theme in the game of choices, and living with those choices, and the Autosave system plays on that as well (no going back). Heck, even the gold-plated guns that are unlocked via the DLC purchases can fall victim to this: If you drop those weapons and fail to pick them back up, they are gone. (Special thanks to Connor Nacov for a correction that was made to this note.) - True Easter Egg: When you are first observing Elizabeth, opening the view windows, she opens a tear to Paris and closes it really quick because a bus is about to come rushing out of it. There is a movie theater in the background that has the French words for Revenge of the Jedi on the marquee (not a typo, it fits the game). It's an Egg because it occurs quickly, and the writing is in a foreign language (Jedi was originally called that, but Lucas later changed it because revenge was thought unbecoming of a Jedi. But, clearly in that alternate reality that she opened the movie was released that way.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CULTURE OF COLUMBIA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - There is a Hotel visible in a few areas, as well as several floating islands of considerable size that you never are able to visit during the game. Since it *appears* that the only means of getting to Columbia is via the initial rocketship ride, why would a Hotel be needed? Well, it looks like Columbia is a fairly huge place. There is a rather large island, complete with a suspension bridge, that you never go to, an entire amusement park, and several others. You even can hear train whistles off in the distance, and Fink has rails and boxcars sitting around - it must REALLY be a huge place! The game only covers a small portion of the whole it would seem. - This is just twisted, but during the carnival you can spot one or two ads for a Little Victory cigarette, designed specifically for child smokers. Near the back of one of the stalls there are indeed two boys sitting on the ground smoking away at them. - I noticed that some of the guards that *look* like they are just standing there, with their back to you, are probably peeing off the side of Columbia (you also catch two guards in a restroom in one part). LOL - Those nasty Handyman brutes are converted Columbia citizens. An audiolog confirms this: "Samuel always thought that the pew on Sunday went hand in hand with the desk on Monday. "Science is the slow revelation of God's blueprint." After two years in the Lamb's tower on the Monument Island, he took ill with cancer of the stomach. I prayed to the Prophet, and the Prophet delivered unto us a miracle through his servant. Fink. I do not know if I will ever get used to a husband bound in a skeleton of metal, but...better a Handyman than a dead one." - They also are NOT happy with their lot when it comes to you, if you can manage to get one of these Heavy Hitters off out of sight from you, but it still knows you are there, it will actually implore you to "just leave" and "why are you doing this?" It says something else about how it is being forced to attack you and "blocks of ice". - When the tears first started being observed in Columbia the citizens marveled at them, but after a while I found sufficient proof exists that they eventually fully knew what they were: Openings to other realities and times. In fact, they took advantage of this on one particular level: Listening to music from other times and then re-mixing the music for their own era. This explains the Barber Shop quartet singing a Beach Boys song at the start. - In order to set the above as fact, and not just speculation, and to show that pretty much the entire city is quite aware that their favorite music is from the future, look at the signage for the Barbershop singers: 'music of the future for today' (paraphrased). - Oddly, Elizabeth has this exact same poster in her bedroom! - A recording that also goes along with this is found in Finkton Proper/Good Times Club. "I had thought you a fool, dear brother. When you told me that you heard wonderful music trumpeting from holes in the thin air. I began to doubt your mental integrity. But not only have you made your fortune from these doodads, you have lit the path for me as well. " - Going further into this, they were also able to see a lot of technology from other places and eras, which is why Columbia is so utterly advanced for the time. Specifically, the underwater city of Rapture was the spark of inspiration for huge chunks of technology (the plasmids, Songbird etc). - The audiolog that backs this up is this: "These holes have shown me yet another wonder, though I've yet to see the application for it. They illuminate a merger of machine and man that is somehow the lesser, yet the greater, of both parties. The process seems to be irreversible. Perhaps, though, Comstock will have some need of this kind of thing to keep watch in that tower of his." - And another, which seems to darkly imply the dystopian biology of Rapture: "Dear brother, these holes in the thin air continue to pay dividends. I know not which musician you borrow your notes from, but if he has half the genius of the biologist I now observe, well...then you are to be the Mozart of Columbia." - It took me a while, being un-musically oriented that I am, but here are the specific locations for all the major songs (note that a lot of them have a re-mixed version that the citizens of Columbia listen to, and even hum or whistle, while there is also the original tear that the song was heard from): 1. "Tainted Love" by Ed Cobb and Gloria Jones --- This is playing on a Gramaphone in the bar in Shanty Town. No tear that I know of. A Youtube clip of the full phonograph playing is here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaV_u-owDtk 2. "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" by Cindi Lauper --- The re-mixed version that the musicians of Columbia composed is clearly, and endlessly, playing at the artificial beach on Battleship Bay (you must get Elizabeth to stop dancing first, because the dance music drowns it out). The original version of the song is also heard to be playing from a tear that is inside of a sinking house right near to where you fight Lady Comstock for the second time(Memorial Gardens). A totally clean rip of the re-mix is here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQheaCpjH0I A clip of the original tear, with the original song faintly heard: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpfDjHL1x9s 3. "God Only Knows" by the Beach Boys --- the Barbershop Quartet singers right at the starting segement of the game, you can't even miss this one. No tear that I know of. Youtube clip: www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrUILgdhw_k 4. "Forunate Son" by Creedence Clearwater Revival --- Shortly after arriving in Finktown, there is a tear in a building to the left sideof town. Later on, in the Bull Yard chapter, when passing back by the stocks there is a woman singing this song. I'm pretty sure that there is also another woman singing this same tune shortly after you hop through the tear where the Vox Populi are now winning. Also, the girl on the gallows. Youtube clip is here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcW-1Tvzf58 5. "Goodnight, Irene" by Huddie 'Lead Belly' Ledbetter --- This wasn't released until 1933 (game is set many years before that). This is quite loudly, and very clearly, sung by the crowd right before the raffle. There doesn't seem to be a tear that has it, and I didn't even know that this song was anachronistic until somebody else pointed-out the original composition date. No tear that I know of. A clean rip of the full track is here (it takes 47 seconds, since the raffle is way off in the distance from the player): www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM-oWbsbcdk 6. "Shiny Happy People" by REM --- Port Prosperity, exiting the gondola to Comstock's house. Youtube clip of the song being played in the game so you can actually hear it: 7. "Shake Sugartree" by Elizabeth Cotten --- Shanty Town, girl singing. Youtube clip: www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_DbOThWKi4 8. "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" --- Tears for Fears. The speakers in the Siphon, being hummed by Elizabeth, and distorted as well. The tear is the one that she herself actually opens just a bit later on (and has the Star Wars Jedi reference). The re-mix is playing on a phonograph. The distorted humming via the Siphon is here (my own video in this case): www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPFeQrqNUKg The Youtube clip of Elizabeth is here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ro7agnfOqqw The phonograph is here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tpc3AQLFUE0 - The heavily-distorted humming of her singing was in the 2011 gameplay demo that people got to play at E3, and Ken Levine says that nobody recognized it (it really does sound like just weird distorted sounds unless you just stand there and listen for some time, which most gamers are not going to do, especially at a trade show.) 9. "Makin' Whoopee" by Eddie Cantor --- Played rather clearly on a phonograph www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfKeSbWIbMY 10. "Button Up Your Overcoat" by Helen Kane --- Emporia Towers, abandoned bar. Clean Youtube clip: www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGaLqarfmCw ... the rest of the music is classical (and thus well within the normal timeframe), or actually belongs in the era (the guitar scene with Booker and Elizabeth uses a 1907 song, so it's normal). Mozart's Requiem Mass in D minor, Lacrimosa, Agnus Del, Rex Tremendae, and Confutatis all play very prominently in the Hall of Heroes. "Sub Ace" also pointed out to me that Bach's Air on the G String is played on a phonograph. - There is also quite a bit of music that was only used in the teaser trailers and promotions for the game, such as "You're a Grand Old Flag" in the 2010 trailer. Nothing odd about that song, though, since it came out in 1906. They weren't going to tip-off players. It should be noted that this 'trailer' was the first time future players would see anything of Columbia, and it is just a render from work-in-progress. Youtube clip of the original teaser: www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOhWRFWEEB4 - The telescopes are ... odd. The first one that you come across will let you see the two Lutece "twins" off just a ways from you, down on another road section. The brother is juggling what appear to be baseballs? As soon as you stop using the telescope, though, they will have vanished. Not all of them are available for you to view through, either. - Outside of that first one, I cannot see any significance to them, outside of being appropriate props for the citizens of Columbia to use to get a great view. - No: They were not "just put in the game as part of the collectibles achievement" - Ken Levin does NOT do achievements, those are actually 3rd-party tie-ins with the game (same with the DLC packs, which Ken Levin actually denied initially were going to even happen because the design team had no time, or resources, to do such things). They were put into the game for a specific reason, and I think the first one is just to see if you were paying attention. Ultimately they just seem to logically connect with them being there so the citizens can enjoy beautiful views. - A few of the citizens of Columbia seem to be quite aware that they are all in a time-loop of different realities, but I'm not sure about the others. There are a few mentions of this, notably on Battleship Bay where a guy says to a gal: "this time it'll be different, I swear" and the girl replies, "it surprises me how many men I've met who don't really know who they are" --- this has disastrous effects on those guys who you kill, as you can see: They know they have died, and are now stuck in rifts in time and space, and they cannot rectify it in their minds. This means that the Possession Vigor actually pulls a version of that person/machine in from another reality - a version that is on your side - and is why they kill themselves after: They cannot understand what is going on, and it is a horrible nightmare to them (if you listen to them you can hear them saying stuff to that effect). - Some have disagreed with this, since the Possession Vigor does indeed have a ghostly spirit wrapped around the person and 'hypnotizing' them into working for you. - You can kill them and put them out of their misery to no ill effect. - After the ambush scene in Battleship Bay, and after the gondola ride up, to one of the two sides that you can exit it from there is a chair with a shotgun resting on it near a corner overlooking the falls. There are a number of seagulls tied to strings situated around it. This is odd... but since there's no way to actually go fishing in Columbia perhaps shooting seagulls is a sport?! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BOOKER -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Booker's tattoo on his hand stands for Anna DeWitt. The Lutece "twins" observe it on him when they first pull him into their infinity experiment, and comment on why he did such a thing to himself. - During the scenes where Booker is back in his PI office, and the people he owes money to are pounding on the door, you can see a bunch of losing bet tickets on his desk. Also, if you go to the nursery door (which you cannot open) you can faintly hear a baby's sounds and musical notes that allude to Anna. - Dying in the game actually ties-in with the whole plot of the game in a huge way: Each time you die, if you're alone, you'll wind up back at the door to his PI office. If Elizabeth is with you she'll frantically heal you. Each one of these is a fork in choices and actions: In one reality you did die (in fact, most of them, because Booker keeps trying to get Anna back and fails), but in another reality you didn't die, or Elizabeth kept you alive just barely in time. This is reflected in the game's mechanics as well: The enemies who killed you will not only be healed back up a bit, but some of the enemies might be missing, or in new locations, etc. That's because the reality that you're now in is slightly different. So: Dying is actually a plot-point! - The precise fork in Booker's realities is the baptism. - A lot of players are under the incorrect assumption that Booker is dead: It is Elizabeth who is dead. Booker is quite alive and well - the entire game was about how she is the crux for everything that is going wrong, and Booker is merely the part that creates the endless loop. At the very end of the credits there is one final piece of gameplay, back in his PI office, and you open the door to see a crib there and he says, "Anna?" - Elizabeth has been erased completely from all realities, resulting in the loop being broken, and Anna being back with him, never being sold. - No: That does NOT mean that "everything in the game was a dream". You played it, didn't you? It really happened. - Tad Chapman, a friend of mine over on Facebook, posted this to me: Are you afraid of God? asks Elizabeth. No, responds Booker, But Im afraid of you. Afraid of what she thinks of him, afraid to let her down, or just afraid? This is a very good question, and it says a lot about Booker's character. I can see how he might be afraid of what she thinks of him, since she can see a lot of him that he doesn't see himself - but I think there's more to it that just judgment. He doesn't seem to be a very God-fearing man, in many ways. He doesn't seem to see God pulling too many strings in life, especially his own. So why would he fear God? Her, on the the hand: She can rip open the fabric of reality, and they can step through it - changing the very nature of the world all around them! This would be mind-blowing even for the best of us. So, while he doesn't see to much of God in his life: He *does* see the power of God, in a sense, in her, and it honestly does bring fear into him. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BOOKER AS ANDREW RYAN -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It's pretty clear to me now that this is a hotly contested issue and I can understand why (I'm not so ignorant as to believe that my thinking is law in this FAQ). In my details of the story (in the ending parts) I've stated that Booker, in some realities, didn't build Columbia, but instead built Rapture. For me, personally, this is an easy thing to see, and a very logical extension of the story. On the versus side, a lot of people see this as an impossibility (and I'm fine with that: Different sides to the coin.) Evidence that supports him as being Andrew Ryan: - Both Booker and Elizabeth literally go to Rapture at the end of Infinite! - Booker then gets into the bathysphere and activates it. In Bioshock 1, the bathyspheres had ALL been-shut down, preventing anybody from using them that wasn't either Andrew Ryan himself, or a relation of his (that right there seals the deal for me). - Songbird is just a Big Daddy who can't stand the pressure of deep water, but he can fly (sort of an inverse Big Daddy). Evidence that supports him as NOT being Andrew Ryan: - Andrew Ryan was born in Russia. (Counterpoint, though: The Lutece "twins" are both male and female - does place of birth even matter either? Remember: INFINITE possibilities. Booker could've been born in a shed in Alaska in another dimension - doesn't really matter: He still winds-up with Anna, and then sells her, regrets it, etc.) - The dates don't match-up. Bioshock 1 takes place in the 1950s. (Counterpoint: Yeah, but again: Infinite possibilities. All it takes is one of those infinite dimensions to match-up exactly with the Bioshock 1 game and you have it. Andrew Ryan/Booker was born on a different date or something. I mean, with infinite variables to work with you kinda can come up with any scenario imaginable, just so long as it involves 'Booker' and a girl.) - bladexdsl, over on the Gamefaqs.com forums posted this rather funny paradox: "Booker in an alternate verse created Rapture after losing Anna. After getting killed at his baptism he now no longer does this since he has Anna. Rapture was never created so bioshock 1-2 don't exist now. So there is only 1 bioshock game which is bioshock infinity :P This is the 1st Bioshock game made the other were never created :P" (Warning: Playing Bioshock 1 or 2 may cause your nose to bleed! LOL) This rather reminds me of the original Total Recall movie, and of how there is equal supporting evidence for the two viewpoints of the viewer of the movie to have: The events really happened, or they were all a dream. Perhaps this is a similiar situation? - Paul Briggs wrote to me, via email, and said: "Great work on your FAQ/analysis of Bioshock Infinite. I noticed in your discussion about Booker being Andrew Ryan, you did not mention the possibility of him being Atlas/Fontaine as well. Atlas was the rebel leader against Ryan, in the same way that a version of Booker was the resistance leader against Comstock. The way I see it is that Fontaine was a version of Booker that turned to ultimate power in the end instead of making the sacrifice. What are your thoughts on this?" I think this is a good idea, and actually has some big pros to it. =) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ELIZABETH -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Where does Elizabeth get her powers from? A conversation I had, via email with Martin Mayer revealed that the most likely source for all her powers stems from a very simple thing: Her missing pinky fingertip! Rosalind Lutece comments in a recording of how "...it isn't what she is, but what she isn't..." (paraphrased), and of how "...the universe, it seems, doesn't like its peas mixed with its carrots." So, when she had that tiny tip of her finger left in her original dimension, not only did the tears start, but also that the entire mix-up of it all bestowed upon her this massive ability. She is, on some level, existing in two different dimensions simultaneously. - She is *very* book-smart, but has zero practical applications outside of the obvious things of lock-picking and ciphers. - There is only one lock she cannot pick in the entire game: The door to Fink's factory. She'll even comment on how it is the most overly-secure and impossible lock that she's ever seen. Later on, in fact, the Vox have to literally use explosives to blow the lock off. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE LUTECE TWINS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - These two slightly irritating and sarcastic individuals are actually the same person, but from two different dimensions (in one he is a he - the guy who makes Columbia fly. In the other he is a SHE - the girl who makes Columbia fly). They actually discover each other during experiments and cross over into the same reality. - Yes, that is screwed-up, but also quite hilarious, from a scientific view. This explains their mannerisms and speech completely, even down to little lines like "Is it odd that ... we sometimes ... finish ... each other's sentences?" During the Mrs. Comstock battle sequence they even dance with each other, clearly enjoying their entire situation. - The first audio log to reference this is found in Soldier's Field, and goes: "When I was a girl, I dreamt of standing in a room looking at a girl who was and was not myself, who stood looking at another girl, who was and was not myself. My mother took this for a nightmare. I saw it as the beginning of a career in physics." - The next log talks about how she has found her "brother" - basically, both versions of her were working on the same experiment and stumbled across each other. The log is: "The Lutece Field entangled my quantum atom with waves of light, allowing for safe measurement. Sound familiar, brother? That's because you were measuring precisely the same atom from a neighboring world. We used the universe as a telegraph. Switching the field on or off became dots and ashes. Dreadfully slow-- but now, you and I could whisper through the wall..." - The next log to talk about this clearly implies that when Robert came over he was gravely ill from the experience, which obviously later leads him into wanting to study the effects that the gateways have on memories and such. The log is: "You have been transfused, brother, into a new reality, but your body rejects the cognitive dissonance through confusion and hemorrhage. But we are together, and I will mend you. For what separates us now, but a single chromosome?" - The first tear you observe is, notably, right on the statue of Robert Lutece, who is posed holding a sort of cloud-borne city in his hand. As soon as the tear is gone the statue has subtly changed to Rosalind Lutece. - If you loiter near the second appearance of the Lutece "twins" (the coin flip), you'll notice just how many times Booker has been to Columbia: On the back of the chalkboard are dozens of marks all in the same side (this also shows that his loop doesn't always take him back to Columbia, but off in infinite other directions as well). - The "twins" will eventually say that "we're not going anywhere until YOU go somewhere: Promise you that." (paraphrased) Indeed, they will just stand there. I edged around a corner real quick, and then zipped right back to look where they had stood: Yup, they were gone in a split second. - Also, in this scene Booker will randomly choose either Heads or Tails. - As you leave this scene, and go around the corner, at some undetermined distance they are clearly rigged to vanish. If you are careful, you can cause just the "brother" to vanish, leaving the "sister" standing there. Fun, but insignificant. - The third encounter with them, in the Blue Ribbon tavern, which is where all the DLC is triggered, he's wiping the bar down and she has the shield powerup for you, if you try and attack her you'll miss every time and she'll mock you for it ("Missed. Missed again. Not even close. Perhaps four out of five?") - The fourth encounter, the Cage or Bird at Battleship Bay, is actually just an interesting psychological point (either way Elizabeth will find random coins for you, but the appearance of the coins will be different depending on your choice). BUT, during playtests almost everybody selected the bird (as opposed to a cage, because most people, when given the choice between the two will take the symbol of freedom over a cage). This is set up and reinforced earlier in the game, during the first battle with the Murder of Crows assassins: They have two golden cages dangling from the ceiling, with rotting corpses locked inside. - Also, the "twins" vanish instantly after this encounter, exiting right off-camera to the left, where a guardrail is. - If you've ever seen a Rosecrantz and Guildenstern play, this game borrows a lot from them - especially the Lutece "twins", who basically ARE Rosecrantz and Guildenstern. - The two "twins" are actually sorry for the pain that they've caused, they are just doing science at the same time (and the "sister" believes that the whole exercise of trying to undo the damage and endless loops is pointless, per the very first game scene in the row boat). This is strongly hinted at in several ways, notably when they first pull Booker over into another dimension, and they observe the AD scar on him. They ponder why he did so, saying that perhaps (and this is paraphrased) "he did it as punishment to himself, as he is a punishment to us". They have figured that if enough time-loops and versions of reality are done, eventually some good will come out of it. - This log shows how it was the 'brother' that demands that things be set right: "My brother has presented me with an ultimatum: if we do not send the girl back from where we brought her, he and I must part. Where he sees an empty page, I see King Lear. But he is my brother, so I shall play my part, knowing it shall all end in tears." - What started them with helping Booker, and how'd they get trapped in the infinity of everything? Comstock, after acquiring Elizabeth, betrayed them and destroyed their machine, trapping them in infinity. The log goes: "Comstock has sabotaged our contraption. Yet, we are not dead. A theory: we are scattered amongst the possibility space. But my brother and I are together, and so, I am content. He is not. The business with the girl lies unresolved. But perhaps there is one who can finish it in our stead." (what she doesn't realize at this point is that she has been murdered by Comstock as well, yet an alternate reality version of her is what is making this log.) - The log that talks about their murder: "Estelle: "That's insanity. What proof would you have that Mr. Fink would hurt the Luteces?" Rupert: "The Luteces told me." Estelle: "The Luteces? When?" Rupert: "Yesterday. Yesterday morning." Estelle: "Rupert...they've been dead for these seven days..." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FINK -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - This man is the world's ultimate penny-pincher, so there's not much depth to his character. To show how much he worships the Almighty Dollar though, take a good look at the giant clock that he uses to keep running his workers literally into their very graves: A little more than half of it is just the big word WORK, and there are a few other smaller panels for Sleep, Training (Nice try, Fink: That's just more work!) and Leisure. Prayer is hidden behind all the other panels, not really fully visible. In other words: You can squeeze prayer in whenever he actually makes time for it, but it's clearly not a priority to him (an audiolog of his backs this up as well, calling religion "a commodity". - To show how utterly awful it must really be to work for this man, take a look a the people waiting outside his "Employee Indoctrination" building: One lady is wearing a US Mail bag as a skirt, and NONE of them are anything less than utterly depressed to be forced to beg a days work from him. - Shantytown used to be the "Employee and Family Housing Area". This is barely readable behind a thick black cross-out on the sign, and the "Shanty Town" is replaced on top. There is a video in the game that shows "Crime comes to housing", depicting the decline of the housing into slums due to this jerk's work ethics. - People actually bid auction-style on how much time they'll be paid for to do their jobs - so during that auction scene they are actually bidding on hauling a ton of coal down to just a pittance of pay. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- COMSTOCK -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Pretty classical villian, who gets to use awesome lines like "The Lord forgives, but I don't have to: I'm just a prophet". - The dude is literally wearing a beard to hide his true self. - The biggest colorations we get to see of his character occur at the Hall of Heroes, the very first thing we see being a giant eagle with four little boys goose-stepping around it like Nazis. And, in classic Hitler fashion he is grooming the entire population of children for a life of military service to him (Elizabeth, being the super well-read lady that she is quickly interprets this situation for Booker, and even quotes from the Bible.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THINGS NEAR THE START OF THE GAME (PRE-ELIZABETH) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - The rowing scene with the Lutece "twins" is explained by the emphasis he places on his words: He *doesn't* row - meaning that Booker, in all of infinity, never actually rows the boat (he certainly has the skills to do such a task, but he just never does). You can also hear implications of Robert's interest in how trans-dimensional travel affects people's minds (such as he himself experienced), and Rosalinds disapproval of the experiment with the knowledge that Booker always fails to close the loop - at least until you finish the game. =) - The dead man in the lighthouse is almost certainly the very man that Booker owes his gambling debts to. There is a map of the US with a path marked on it, and a tacked-on yellow note that reads: "Be prepared. He's on his way. You must stop him -C". The C. being Comstock? There are also photos of Booker's PI office, with some notes, and another of the lighthouse with a note in red on it that reads: "Only one obstacle". So it looks like they killed the very man that Booker owed his debts to and made his death a bit of intimidation to Booker at the same time (which is ironic). Thanks to Martin Mayer for showing me screen captures of this. - The signage, in the lighthouse, though it certainly reflects on Booker's guilt, is more generic in nature: Pilgrims seeking to renew themselves in Columbia started here as this rocket ship disguised lighthouse, and could only launch it with the proper code. The light show that then occurs, along with the deep-bass horn music, is all part of the "pilgrim's" journey out of the "Sodom" of the ground below and up into Columbia (it's like the trumpets of Heaven blasting). - Question: Since you can see how close Columbia actually is to some land, right before you board the Lady Comstock's airship, wouldn't such a loud and bright light show just reveal Columbia's hidden location?! - In regards to this 'bejamin' wrote to me via email and said: "I believe the map on the wall in the lighthouse with multiple pins all around the US is the path that the city follows around the country, with each pin representing an entry point that the place perhaps stops over for a period of time (You can see a pin around the coast of Maine). Perhaps the location isn't super secret either, Columbia's technology is decades ahead of the rest of the world so there would be no way anyone could take it by force, shooting it down would kill plenty of innocents both on Columbia and on the ground below where it lands (I don't know if there are in game references stating that the location is hidden sorry). The path also sort of resembles a bird to me dunno if that is coincidental or not. Anyways just thought I might respond, thank you very much for writing the analysis." I see validity in this viewpoint. The path on the map is indeed a loop of sorts, so it is kinda odd that the man Booker owes money to would keep making such a pattern of travel. Columbia does have numerous huge windmill-like fans hanging from it, so perhaps they are some form of propulsion? And also, Columbia was originally constructed to be a part of the World's Fair, but also had rather sizable armaments built into it for military reasons. To have it just hanging, stationary-like, in the air would rather reduce the effectiveness of the weapons. Oh, and it is given in-game that Columbia was basically stolen and the location is hard to discover down below - this, however, is pretty much because of the state of technology back in 1912 (you wouldn't even be able to take an airplane up to try and find the city!) - The priest at the start of the game, at the baptism, IS the same one from the baptism scene at the end (the first priest is blind, though, so he could not tell it was Booker). Also, when he baptizes Booker, and Booker passes-out, there is enough room for play to imagine that the priest really did drown Booker (after all, Booker did speak to the man, so *maybe* he recognized his voice. Notice that the priest does become a little more determined sounding for Booker's second dunk). But, at the same time, Booker does re-awaken near a water drain, and a nearby "pilgrim" says that their lungs are filled with water to better appreciate the air - so, I think that two realities exist at that point right there: Booker was drowned, or he wasn't. (Further proof that it's the same preacher: Both use the same voice actor, and both credited as Preacher Witting). - There are actually three choices when it comes to the inter-racial couple being dragged out onto the stage: Throw the ball at them, at the announcer, or wait for the timer to expire. All three actions have a differing effect on how they will react to you (mostly equipment-wise) later in the game. - When you get your first melee upgrade there is a red wrench on the floor - it's the Bioshock 1 wrench. Elizabeth later clubs you with another red wrench. This is hardly a coincidence, considering how much of Rapture was observed and copied - somebody, for some odd reason, actually SAW the wrench and made a copy (perhaps it is just a very well-designed hunk of metal? LOL No clue.) - This is the oddest part of the early game: On your way to the gondola station, there is this one building that - as you exit - a female voice over the PA says that you are "either a Mulatto (sp?) dwarf, or a French man with one eye missing" - and then she gives a height range. Just a bit further on, right off of one of the hooks you are leaping onto (and I completely disagree with some who've said that this next part is an Easter Egg - it's completely in the open, you actually enter into combat, and it is very specifically done. It is not an Egg therefore) you can enter a house and head downstairs. A police officer is taking a sketch from a lady who is describing what she "swears" is a "anarchist - you can always spot them, you know?" The sketch is very clearly that of Andrew Ryan, from the first Bioshock game! This gets a bit muddied here, because she never says anything about this sketch supposed to have been you - but the bizarre PA announcement about how you're either a dwarf or a Frenchman seriously seems to imply that it is. My conclusion is this: Since it is established fact that most citizens see and hear things through the tears, it is also easily conceivable that a lot of them have 'sworn' that they saw The False Shephard through the tears as well, and - as we can see - their description of what you are supposed to look like is wildly inaccurate. Except for Andrew Ryan: That is indeed Booker, but from a whole other dimension. It is kinda funny after all. =) - There seems to be a split on the thinking of this: Quite a few disgaree that the sketch is Andrew Ryan. It does look like a rather shoddy sketch of him. So, just to balance things out: Assume that the sketch isn't him. It all still works: It's just that she is describing somebody other than him, perhaps somebody else she saw in a tear. - Another suggestion has been, and this has no supporting evidence thus far: The Vox are feeding false information around. Possible. - Another suggestion (from David Rebarchak): I always took this part as some humor from the game devs to poke fun at the bigotry that most citizens of upper Columbia hold. Since the False Prophet is said to be evil from the teachings of Comstock, then it would be natural for the racist White Pride types of Columbia to picture him as inherently (i.e. racially, genetically, and unable to be redeemed) evil. Hence, the False Prophet is described as sinister stereotypes: mulatto (miscegenation), dwarf (a "freak"), French (never like much by the typical American), or have an eye patch (typical trademark of a villain). Made me laugh, anyway. Just a thought. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MIDDLE SECTIONS OF THE GAME (WITH ELIZABETH) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - At Battleship Bay: That lady called her Anna, which is short for Annabelle. It was at this point that I, and some other gamers, noticed that Elizabeth is REALLY similar to Belle from Disney's Beauty and the Beast. If you take the two names even "Anna" and "Belle" you get Annabelle. - Also, at Battleship Bay, Elizabeth really has fun doing all sorts of things if you just linger around: She'll skip stones across the water, try and lift a heavy ball, sand castles, etc. - In fact, the Beauty and the Beast motif is really obvious. They kept her locked in a tower, and Songbird protected her even. Also, the core engine technology is the Unreal Tech 3 engine, from Epic Games, but after modifications were done to it Ken Levine and the other programmers dubbed it the BEAST engine. Also, Songbird seems a scary creature at the start, but his true self is revealed at the end. The motif probably has other points in the game, but you get the idea. - The ambush scene right after Booker and Elizabeth both escape has a number of pretty obvious tells on it, the least of which is the conversation the guy has on the phone (it also becomes deathly quiet in the room at this moment, with only the loudly ticking clock). There is also a guy with a very obvious German accent near an ice cream vendor who tries to order Sauerkraut/hot dogs - the two later pull guns and attack you, and were clearly very poorly trying to remain hidden. There are all kinds of other "odd" characters hanging around as well, such as the clearly out-of-place gentleman sweeping the floor and barking at you to "watch where you're walking, I just cleaned that" (um, the racism in this world very clearly demands that a white gentleman would NEVER be sweeping the floor - he is so goofily out of place.) - The effects of your reaction to the man on the phone are all cosmetic. - In fact, the effect of having the ordinary citizens abruptly, and rather silently, vanish from the scene right before an attack is done several times - the Boardwalk attack being another that springs to mind. The Boardwalk one is in fact first triggered by the loud PA announcement saying that "the False Shepard is in your midst" and imploring a call to action. Several seconds after that the game waits for your view and position to turn completely away from the citizens, at which point it whisks them away, places the police barricades around, as well as the attackers. It's a very nice effect - lends a deathly calm to the scene right before hot lead starts flying around. - Right before you board the Lady Comstock airship, and then Elizabeth gets seriously pissed-off at you because you are a liar, and are not going to Paris - if you stop right outside the airship hatch and look around there is actually a fairly clear view of not only Columbia itself (and it's not exactly the best art example in the game: Very obvious 2D pieces that look kinda flat and lifeless), but you can also pretty clearly see the Earth down below! Turns out Columbia isn't that far from off shore of ... well, wherever that is. I see a peninsula down there, with a river cutting through it, mostly patchwork farmland ... rather nice and green in face. Columbia is right out over the ocean, you can clearly tell that. Anyways, the citizens of Columbia seem to be really out of touch of what is going on down there, because a lot of them seem to think that "the Sodom below" is engulfed in flames, and the entire landmass should be obscured with black smoke. - This one bit is nice, and a lot of players totally missed it: In the Graveyard Shift bar in Shantytown, in the basement there is a guitar. Booker can play it, and Elizabeth will sing along (there's also a kid hiding nearby). Somebody made a clip here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kld0TQSgYDQ&feature=youtu.be&t=35s (If you watch all of the credits, there is a video that eventually appears that shows the two singers who did this piece trying to figure its lyrics and rythm out. The lyrics are really important, because they talk about breaking a circle, a better place in the cloud, etc. - This same song is also re-mixed for the opening: www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYpAOY-Cy8s - In the various graveyards, during the battle sequences with Lady Comstock, a few of the torches can be lit by using the Devil's Kiss - the tombs themselves will then open-up to reveal some goodies. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE END SECTIONS OF THE GAME (RESCUE OF ELIZABETH AND FINALE) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - In the end sequence, in Rapture, if you look out into the other tunnels and walkways in the water long enough you can indeed see a dead Big Daddy (Mr. Bubbles specifically) with a little sister crying over him. - In case you didn't understand this: It *could* be viewed that Booker, in some realities, became Andrew Ryan and built not Columbia but Rapture. In fact, some citizens of Columbia had seen Rapture via tears and were really fascinated by it (a recording hints at this, because it was said that Songbird was constructed along the lines of an "irreversible process observed through a tear" - the Big Daddies were also created via an "irreversible process". Clearly they could've also have seen Plasmids in Rapture and worked out the technology for Vigors as well. As I previously talked about, though, in the Booker as Andrew Ryan section above: This is open for debate/perspective.
Amazing Games. Many Cheats. Such Wow.
