Ben, you're right about the Bioshock thing. Here's a line from the article I'm writing that sums it up: 

 "Wow Bioshock Infinite is boring on the second playthrough. Once you know what happens, the awesome – and I do mean awesome – story isn't enough to hook you. The world isn't as magical as it once was and you've explored it to your hearts content. All that's left is the gameplay, and may god have mercy on our souls.

The problem with Bioshock Infinite is that, with a few exceptions, your fighting the same enemy over and over again. Sure, there are a few different enemies, like plasmid guys, discount big daddies, and a ghost that made me uninstall the game for a month and only reinstalled it because my girlfriend wanted to know how It ended – but mostly your fighting police officers, and later on in the game, black people."

 Anyway, gaming in general is on a lull. Fuck all has come out, and from the looks of it, fuck all is coming out until October.

It's strange but something about Infinite simply echoes your post in my head everytime I look at footage of it. I mean I want to be swept up in "the grandeur" but in this case perhaps I'm too adept at seeing the real Oz behind the curtain,Blake.  Sometimes I wish I wasn't such a jaded asshole. lol.

I agree with a lot of that, Blake. I wrote a pretty glowing review of the gameplay and level design of Infinite back when it came out. I didn't really touch on the story when I blogged about it, but I enjoyed it a lot. After a few months had gone by I went back to replay it for a few hours and I got pretty bored as well. Once you know everything it doesn't work again.

The thing is, I'll never forget how magical that game was the first time around. The game felt great, made me think, and I even shed a tear when I found out how Elizabeth lost her pinky finger. Right in that moment everything felt amazing and Infinite moved me like art should. I haven't had a video game make me feel "in the moment" ever since. In that moment it wasn't a product, or a checklist of features, and replayability didn't matter. One thing I'd say to Ben is, just because it doesn't have any replay value doesn't mean it doesn't have tremendous value. The game's quite an amazing piece of work and I don't want to rewrite history and erase the fact that I had such a fantastic time with it, and the fact that it's a great game.

To Ben, playing Bioshock Infinite is a must if you like FPSs to any degree, and if you like good stories, but playing it once is all you'll ever need. You should be able to find it cheap anymore, it's more than worth whatever it's priced at now. Give it a shot sometime if you feel that allure

I empathize,Michael. I remember getting pretty teary eyed watching the "good endings" in both Bioshock 1 & 2. My first time through both of them was a wonderful ride. I just wish these types of "artsy shooters" would give us more incentive to play again. In other words, maybe have scenarios as unlockables as opposed to harvesting the wretched remains of our wallets with pre-planned dlc. It just seems as if older shooters like Time-Splitters while being rather silly had a lot more free content as well. 

Lol I loved that first Bioshock 2 playthrough as well, I'm not alone then. *internet hug* I'm glad I'm not the only person who didn't hate that game. I thought it was the best sequel set in Rapture I could've ever asked for. Bioshock 2 didn't need to exist, but all-things-considered it turned out amazing. Just like how Portal 2 technically didn't need to exist, but that ended up being the best sequel I could ever imagine. I really enjoyed the faster combat and duel wielding in Bioshock 2. I loved the story. That game had a much better ending than Bioshock 1, and the stand-alone story DLC Minerva's Den is the best piece of DLC I've played for any game ever.

Anyways, I love Bioshock 2, don't get me started I could go on and on about that thing.

Personally I liked Bioshock II a tad more than the first one. Not by leaps and bounds but enough for my bias to exist. In a way Bioshock II was more of a tragic love story and I grew very attached to Eleanor. It was neat how Delta sort of got to live on through her.

Ben, I still recommend Bioshock Infinite. It is still an amazing experience the first time, and the story and world are more than enough to make up for it's shortcomings. You're just not going to get much out of it on subsequent playthroughs.

Ah, I'll end up snatching it,Blake! At this point I own the other two Bioshocks and though they didn't exactly beckon me back for second playthrus they did manage to emotionally touch me in ways most other games have not. (I felt the same about Nier too. These are games that literally made me "cry". lol.)

I'm a few hours into The Witcher 2 but it's really obtuse. The combat isn't very good or intuitive, you have to scratch your head simply trying to get blocks and parrys to work. I really love the story so far though and Triss is pretty great, so I'm going to hop back in sometime and try to suffer through all the gameplay to see the rest of the story.

The good news is that tons of people have had the same gripes as me about the design of the gameplay in 2 and CDProjeckt Red said that they're taking that into account for Witcher 3. From what I've seen, Witcher 3 looks to be on the right track and the combat seems like they're making good improvements. Their griffon hunt they showed at E3 looked pretty neat.

You're right,Michael. Learning exactly how Witcher II works to the point you benefit from it's arcane mechanics takes awhile. I got to the point I was "decent" at fighting but the second main town I visited was way to labyrintine for me. I don't mind maze-like catacombs in rpgs but I prefer it when the cities/villages themselves are convenient and hassle-free to navigate.  

Idk. I really dig the combat in The Witcher 2. It's like a mix of Dark Souls and Ultima Underworld. I love how you have to prepare for each fight. I love how each sign is useful in certain circumstances. I also love how towns feel like towns, and what would arguably constitute a backyard.

Yeah,once you get accustomed to all the little nuances in the combat it becomes addictive as hell! Certain people seem to not be fond of the fact you drink potions prior to battle but making potions and strategically drinking them before fights is a feature I ended up being very fond of!

The big difference I guess is that Dark Souls' combat is actually good lol. First time I ever played Dark Souls I didn't need a tutorial, I just experimented, died a bit, and got better. By the time I got to Undead Burg I was finally understanding the versatility and depth in the systems without ever being told what to do or how to play.

Witcher 2 has a certain style that limits you to a few spells and a stupid two handed sword scheme I prefer to never use in rpgs. So already the game isn't letting me role-play and fight how I want. In the Witcher 2 they have an entire hamfisted tutorial and by the end of it I still didn't understand the way they expect you to play. Parries are something you have to unlock once you get a few levels in, and once you get them they don't seem to work the way they were presented in the tutorial. None of it feels sharp.

I picked up Dark Souls and it made sense, it's well designed and works great. Witcher 2 doesn't compare very well. Not a terrible game, just obtuse. Great story, very pretty, it just seems like you have to cave into how the game expects you to play it, and then once you start getting a hang of it, it's still kinda boring.

Dark Souls is too good, once you've played it, most other games feels wrong. It has an acerbic quality to it, but it's incredibly satisfying from the first slash you give to an undead in Undead Asylum to the last hit you give to Gwyn. I'm several hours into Witcher 2 and have yet to find a single satisfying piece of gameplay, I'm just chugging through to see more of the story at this point. Story's fantastic.

I feel ya. I think that because Witcher tailors itself to a specific fictional character and how said fictional character would do things in the books it limits how creative you can be to some extent.

I remember the scenario in which Geralt lost his silver sword (Which is better against monsters) and at first I did not know what to do to get another one. I died on a quest because I did not have the proper blade on me at the time. Those little eccentricies of The Witcher are neat once you appreciate them but very cumbersome when you are trying to get used to them.

Dark souls is more of a "Make your own character and play the way YOU want!" rogue-alike rpg.

Bioshock Infinite is good for a single playthrough.  That's about it, just as you suspected.  The only real challenge in the game comes in the form of a very unbalanced fight toward the end of the game....that's all the detail I'll go into for now, bro-sephus!

Thanks for the heads up,Dan! I figured as much. Not there's wrong with "one play-thru wonders" when the price is right. I just wanted something with a tad more "ompth" in the replay department.

I hear you.

I myself went from being able to afford most willy-nilly purchases to having to really think through what I'm willing to spend money on as far as gaming goes.  I may...may end up re-purchasing Dark Souls 2 to play through the DLC that's being released....but I'm learning more toward purchasing a Wii U within the coming months...maybe a little K-Mart layaway action, you know?  That way, I can run through my PS3/PS2/PS1 backlog, and end up with 2 systems eventually.

My son's been coming up to me and saying "Oh, you're playing games again...(with his little-guy smile)...I wish I had a game to play"

LoL....subtlety isn't his strong suit yet!

Ha ha ha! You're son might be hinting at something there,Dan. lol. I'm none too subtle either.

But yeah,my money is tight so I prefer to pick up games that offer more in the longevity and re-play departments. It's my strategic way of making sure I get plenty of bang for my buck.

Im curious to know what you found difficult about Witcher 2? I myself stopped playing at Flotsam, then restarted again and finished-- easily one of my fav games ever. I tended to use magic shield spell for defense and buffed it up. That, and swallow  potion, which gives you faster health regen as well I think? So Shield Magic, and Swallow potion, yup!

I got to the dwarven stronghold city pretty much. The present plot deals with finding a cure for one of the female heroine characters who is pretty much a combination of nordic style and Jeanne D'arch. Navigating that village built into the mountains was difficult for me and the npcs didn't seem as helpful with the information they gave as they were in Flotsam.  

However, I put down Lollipop Chainsaw at one point due to frustration and managed to get over that lump when I picked it up again. Regardless, I have not given up on Witcher 2 entirely! I was having a lot of fun with it up until the current point in the adventure.

Oh! Okay! I do remember the quest givers being a bit vague and obtuse. Just pop open a guide some time instead of giving up.

Will do,man! It was spectacular up until that point so I will not give up on it! Good rpgs deserve to be played! 

If I don't get impatient I will get Bioshock Infinite, but my plan is to actually finish the two Bioshock games before Infinite. As for everything else, I just have to play the game and form my own opinion and try to avoid Blake regarding opinions :P (no offense bro).

THe first two Bioshock games are awesome your first time through. Rapture is an eerie,decadent,and very atmospheric setting. That's probably what I'm missing with Infinite. The past Bioshocks could be claustrophobic,dark, and frightening at times whereas Infinite looks bright and very open.  

Aqua is awesome in Birth By Sleep.  At least I think so.  But then, I don't pay much attention to the story in those games, I just thought she was cool.

Thanks for reading my blogs.  I have another one up you can look at if you're interested.

I'll drop in,Cary! Sorry I scampered off a bit. Sometimes I feel as if life grabs me by my shirt collar without my consent. lol. 

You haven't beat the Witcher 2?  My wife just finished it a 2nd time a week or so ago.  I want to play it again after watching her play, but I have too many other games to play.

I enjoyed Bioshock Infinite.  I thought it was good.  I wanted to play through it again, but.... too many other games to play. 

Yup, I own Witcher 2 but haven't beaten it,James. I iz terrible. lol. I still want to play Infinite it's just not at the very top of my list.

Now that I think of it, Infinite might be a good piece of media to look at for my research.

For research? Heck yes! It actually deals a lot with American history,our founding fathers,slavery,nationalist xenophobia,and the warring idealisms during the colinization periods up to the Civil War periods.

I'm kinda having a hard time with Bioshock Infinite itself even though I couldn't wait to play this game when it came out. The story is good and setting is fasinating but there is something about it that pulls me out of the game. I know it's not the original Bioshock but there are some set pieces in this game that make no sense, along with certain actions, and the itneraction between Elizabeth and Booker almost borders as a distraction to me in the killing sections.

I can see why certain gamers love Infinite. It's not a bad looking game by any stretch. However to me it just seems like a fun amusement park ride that's awe inspiring when you first go through it but rather "meh" the second time on account you can already guess what is coming.

Bioshock Infinite is a nice virutal museum tour. That's as much as I can say about that piece of software.

Heh,more or less that's how it comes off to me too,Chris. I'll still probably buy it and play it once but as I've already mentioned,it's not on my top list of things to do. 

I really have enjoyed the Bioshock franchise for what it is and my first play-thrus are always memorable. My problem stems from the fact I usually don't feel much of an incentive to go back. 

That was my first impression as well. I thought the world, with all it's crazy amount of detail, would be more interactive, but it's like they left the plastic on the couch and you couldn't feel the cushiony goodness underneath.

That's an apt analogy,Knight! Yeah, it's like a wax mueseum pretty much. You admire the painstaking detail of the sculptures but the tour guide is too persistent to walk you from point A to point B without you being able to soak up more atmosphere. That and it gets annoying to be told you cannot touch or interact with most of what's on display.

The detail is what got me so excited from the early trailers of the game. I was so disappointed to find it was mostly noninteractive. 

I remember originally it suggested Elizabeth would become taxed by overusing her powers and that there would be a moral dilehma mechanic related to pushing her too hard. They seemed to drop that though.

Well Ben, you def have an amazing art skill. I must be just has sick and demented as you.....lol!!! JK! Seriously though, good art!

Im currently trying to finish the last part in the second city in Witcher 2 and ooh is it making me wanna tear my hair out. I have since taken a break to see if maybe once I jump back ill get passed it. Normally if im stuck in a game and I stop playing it for a time Ill jump back on and get passed the difficult part. Im soo excited for Witcher 3!!!

We've had many of the same ups and downs with Witcher 2, Nicole. However, the stubborn gamer in me will probably keep experimenting until I figure it out! 

Glad my art didn't make you want to hurl knives at my head. lol.

Nightsavior and Nocturna pic you did is really cool. 

Thanks,Knight. Horny shadow tentacle monsters 4 the win? 

I haven't played Bioshock Infinite, it seems like the type of game I'd get more enjoyment from watching other people play it that from playing it myself.

Yeah,like a good movie pretty much. It's the symptom many modern fpses suffer from,mate. Big on spectacle,story,and decent voice overs but lacking in the "shameless fun" and "replayability" departments.