- https://the-mad-pirate-prints.teemill.com/
image.png
💀
@TheMadPirate
You didn't get the story of Bioshock. You can't decide in that moment because the story is literally about the guy you're playing NOT HAVING free will.
You might not like the revelation that you didn't have free will and might feel tricked and pissed about it, and that's good, cause that's exactly what the game is trying to achieve.
@TheMadPirate
I'm pretty sure realizing that you've been mind controlled would piss anyone off, whether or not they supported Andrew Ryan.
If anything, I was more open to considering his ideology after I realized I've been tricked and lied to about him. My mindset was "fuck, did I actually kill the good guy?".
The way I see it, the game is self aware in that the player doesn't actually have a choice. Instead of trying to trick the player into thinking he's making decisions, like most video games do, it's embracing that it's not real life, it's just a game, there are no real choices you can do, and you're just going down a roller coaster ride.
The Andrew Ryan scene is the pivotal point of the game, if it gave you control at that point, it would only have ruined this crucial message. The only path the game could have taken is the same one of hunting down Fontaine, only you'd have had another voice talking to you over the radio. There would have been no meaningful difference between killing Ryan or sparring him. So instead of doing another illusion of choice, it's embracing that there is no choice. Your character doesn't kill Ryan because he disagrees with his ideology, or because he wants to escape Rapture, he kills him simply because he was controlled the entire time.
I don't think the game is about ideologies. The second it reveals you had no choice, it tosses all of that out.
I don’t think the game is about ideologies. The second it reveals you had no choice, it tosses all of that out.
Excellent point, I never thought it that way. I was more caught up in the ideological aspect of it ( which begs the question : why didn’t they allowed branching if it didn’t change anything in terms of gameplay? ). I guess they tried to make that point so subtle on the narrative that it got “lost in translation” to put in a way. I guess, as you said, they tried to “subvert expectations” about game design in the sense that the expectation is that of allowing the player to influence the path of the character instead of the other way around ( like they did ).
@TheMadPirate
I try to avoid the phrase "subvert expectations", but yes.
The expectation for a shooter like Bioshock is usually to have the illusion of choice, since shooters aren't the best mediums to implement actual choice. That works better in an open world RPG. And the illusion of choice could have easily been achieved since so many people would easily changed their mind on killing Ryan once they found out they were tricked. Even if they changed the cutscene of you killing Ryan, with a cutscene of you doing a deal with him, it would have been much closer to what most players would have wanted in that moment and maintain the illusion of choice.
