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After finishing Mass Effect 2 I was in need to play another game. Interesting enough, one of my real life buddies bought the game last week but his old video card finally died. He's out for at least the next month and I managed to borrow his game in the meanwhile as I don't have any plans to purchase Bioshock 2 knowing full well it wasn't the same team who worked on this game (nor did they had Ken Levine on board).

I installed the game and tried to launch it..... and it crashed to desktop. I spent an hour to try to fix the problem (without trying to un-install in case I get fubared by the DRM) and with the support of the 2K Forums with a multitude of PC gamers in the same situation, I fixed the issue. I start the game and immediately notice another pair of issues. Firstly, the game ONCE AGAIN isn't set for widescreen support (which was fixed by installing installing a patch and some guy's fix to the game) and I notice there are glaring issues with the audio cutting in and out (which was fixed by changing the audio settings). It's been almost three hours after the install and I still didn't get beyond 5 minutes into the game. Once the audio and video settings have been fixed, I start playing the game. It's the same engine and the same place... but it handles like a dutch whore. For some reason, even when Idle the CPU is used at 100%, the menus are somewhat laggy and the screen tears when I move too quickly or too much water is flowing the screen. VSync is already off and I go down the list to remove checkmarks in all the video settings to finally play the game to a more acceptable level.... but it's ugly as shit now. I re-enable everything other than vsync and try to patiently play the game. It's enjoyable but the video sync issues are ruining my immersion.

I step back and close the game, I open up the first Bioshock and start playing the game (with a saved game halfway into the game) for an hour. It's incredibly stable and there's no video lag, even when many things are happening on screen at the same time. I close and reopen Bioshock 2... my eyes start bleeding at the weak port of the game and I start fuming. I check the clock and it's 11PM and decide to shut down for the night, made myself some hot chocolate and opened up Forgotten Realms book and read until bedtime.

The last thought on my mind was.... what did I do to deserve such a shitty title? And why am I not surprised Bioshock 2 plays so poorly? I dreamt about stabbing someone, I woke up this morning feeling refreshed.

Today I shall scour their support forums some more in hopes of a cure to crapportitis. I also wonder if this game killed my friend's video card, I'll call him at lunch.

Oh, how the tables have turned....well, not really. The God damn game gave me nightmares to get running too, even after I managed to sort of fix the hideous stuttering problems it still slows down to a crawl at the most inexplicable of places. It's a fucking mess of a game and if how Bioshock was supported is any indication, not about to get any better.

Worst part is is it's not even nearly as good as Bioshock.

Isn't this the same damn engine as the first? How does a game go from Bioshock to this mess? I rarely have issues with games with my PC and usually whatever issues I find can be fixed quickly enough not to be a problem and I take badly created games with a grain of salt that don't phase me... even though I didn't expect Bioshock 2 to be as GOOD as Bioshock... I didn't expect the game engine to perform so bad. This port is almost as bad as Scarface... but at least I can remap controls this time around.

BTW, I got a PM requesting where I got the FOV fix, here it is : http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=18374&p=183993#p183993

Was going to pick it up but seeing as how it isn't as great as the first one I'll wait for a used cheaper copy to get instead.

Ironically, I torrented it and had not a single problem with it from install, launch, to beating it. I actually like it better than bioshock 1.

Isn't this the same damn engine as the first?

Click to expand...

Sort of. Both were based on the Unreal 2.5 engine with additions from the Havok physics engine, but 2 threw in some features from the Unreal 3 engine.

:O Hey Gas, how big was the torrent? Bitlord and such don't really work on my campus connection, but I could probably handle a RAR of it if you have a link

GasBandit said:

Ironically, I torrented it and had not a single problem with it from install, launch, to beating it. I actually like it better than bioshock 1.

Isn't this the same damn engine as the first?

Click to expand...

Sort of. Both were based on the Unreal 2.5 engine with additions from the Havok physics engine, but 2 threw in some features from the Unreal 3 engine.

Click to expand...

I bet it's the fucken DRM in this piece of shit. I'm not surprised. I might have to torrent this shit as well. Do you have widescreen btw?

SeriousJay;341553][QUOTE=GasBandit said:

Ironically, I torrented it and had not a single problem with it from install, launch, to beating it. I actually like it better than bioshock 1.

Isn't this the same damn engine as the first?

Click to expand...

Sort of. Both were based on the Unreal 2.5 engine with additions from the Havok physics engine, but 2 threw in some features from the Unreal 3 engine.

Click to expand...

I bet it's the fucken DRM in this piece of shit. I'm not surprised. I might have to torrent this shit as well. Do you have widescreen btw?[/QUOTE]

Yep. 1680x1050

---------- Post added at 10:17 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:15 AM ----------

WolfOfOdin said:

:O Hey Gas, how big was the torrent? Bitlord and such don't really work on my campus connection, but I could probably handle a RAR of it if you have a link

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7.35 gigs. Sorry mate. If you want to try non-torrent alternatives, you could take your chances with the links in this thread... but I would be careful if I were you.

I had absolutely no problems at all with Bioshock 2. My husband and his friend complained about the mouse acceleration being too fast, which I didn't have a problem with (but they are more into shooters than I am so that might be why ). Maybe it's because I had a Steam copy? I dunno.

Tell your husband you have the option to turn mouse acceleration off in the control options.

Pretty sure he did and he was still bitching about it.

Well, in that case, tell your husband to dry his tears and put on his big boy pants. :laugh:

GasBandit said:

Ironically, I torrented it and had not a single problem with it from install, launch, to beating it. I actually like it better than bioshock 1.

Click to expand...

I had problems with the sound going off at random times... seems fixed when i set the audio acceleration for the PC to Basic. Who's release are you using?

Razor1911's, with the missing file torrent as well.

Razor1911... they've been around forever... first game i installed myself was from them (my first PC came with Unreal already on it).

But it looks like the sound thing happens to people with the original so it'll just have to do.

@Li3n said:

Razor1911... they've been around forever... first game i installed myself was from them (my first PC came with Unreal already on it).

But it looks like the sound thing happens to people with the original so it'll just have to do.

Click to expand...

Yeah, word has it this isn't the same people, nor even people who knew the original people... just other people who took the name. Usually, whenever Razor1911 or Reloaded issues a release, you can pretty much just wait for the fix or proper from Vitality, but this time they did ok.

Actually even in the 90's word was that they're all just names, with no actual fixed team but whoever was available.

I continued playing despite the game playing badly with the graphic issues to see how this game truly compares to the original got about 5-6 hours in the last two days. Needless to state, thus far, it’s not that bad. There are some changes (especially with dealing the little sisters) that are REALLY neat! However, even though I’m playing on the hardest setting… there is SOOO much money and items/weapons lying around it’s ridiculously easy. There’s no…. desperate salvaging to get by… Bioshock had this issue as well but the 2nd one is even worse. I remember cherishing having ONE full clip of ammo in System Shock 2 at times… right now I’m hacking things I don’t need and making “Resource piles using telekinesis”. Ever knocked someone out with a Surprise Box? I did. It’s AWESOME. I did a RL… “BOOM HEADSHOT! Dick in a Box! Yeeeah!”

Overall I feel this game was rushed or is shoddy port. The graphics engine is sluggish. The textures look 2nd rate compared to the first there are audio glitches. For example, I just finished Pauper’s Drop and at some point in the level an intense violin tune comes on… usually when you meet “special” creatures which I won’t spoil for anyone… but the music WON’T STOP. It was extremely annoying and ruined my immersion to the point I had to turn off the music entirely for the rest of the level. At one point my Primid hand stopped working. It literally disappeared from my screen and I couldn’t make it work unless I closed/reopened the game. Its things like this that make me wonder why this game could have been GOOD but will remain in my books as slightly above average.

RUSHED.

It just seems odd to me that I experienced none of these technical issues that everybody else is, when the version I used supposedly needed a "proper" rerelease.

Yup, I agree totally.

I'll add this though, I think the main villain is weak. She lacks something both Ryan and Fontaine had, I don't know what exactly, and makes up whatever she's missing with heaps of being an annoying cow.

A few other things came into mind, even on the game’s hardest setting… big daddies are incredibly easy to kill. In the original they were a much bigger threat (especially in the beginning of the game) and required a lot of preparation. I own them outright with little damage in most situations. Also, I miss the random acts of violence in the game. For example, the splicers used to attack Big Daddies in non scripted events. In this game, it’s scripted and once you see it, it won’t happen again with the respawns. At closest I saw was a Big Daddy shoving a Splicer away from him and the Little Sister, in a loop. After 10 minutes of hearing the same 2 sounds, I had enough and put one in the head of the splicer.

Can’t wait to post more bugs. Just started the next level last night, gonna play some more tonight.

SeriousJay said:

A few other things came into mind, even on the game’s hardest setting… big daddies are incredibly easy to kill.

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Could that have something to do with the fact that you, the protagonist, are a big daddy?

Good point but still... there's a lack of challenge. I remember intense battles against Big Daddies, right now... without even using the more advanced weapons, I melt their faces. I can't wait till I get nade launchers. Did notice a new "type" of Big Daddy... so here's to hoping.

SeriousJay said:

Good point but still... there's a lack of challenge. I remember intense battles against Big Daddies, right now... without even using the more advanced weapons, I melt their faces. I can't wait till I get nade launchers. Did notice a new "type" of Big Daddy... so here's to hoping.

Click to expand...

Yeah, the rumbler daddies are a bit heftier than the bouncers and rosies, and the other Alpha series daddies can use plasmids and grenade launchers.

Honestly I didn't even bother with the grenade launcher the entire game. I mostly used the drill, the machine gun and the rivet gun. I found that with the gene tonics for freeze drill and drill specialist, even big sisters are a snap if you drill charge and then keep drilling them in the head.

For me, the most fun however was setting up a killing zone around a body before putting the little sister down on it. A couple turrets, some trap rivets and trap spears, then the machine gun and ignite plasmid can mop up whatever gets through that. But I've always been a sucker for games that let me set up traps and defenses. I love that sort of thing.

Frankie said:

Yup, I agree totally.

I'll add this though, I think the main villain is weak. She lacks something both Ryan and Fontaine had, I don't know what exactly, and makes up whatever she's missing with heaps of being an annoying cow.

Click to expand...

Fontaine used and manipulated you the entire game before he finally fucked you over, using trickery and brute force to deal with you when the time came. Ryan used ever tool he had at his disposal to try and kill you from the moment you arrived in Rapture, even going so far as to destroy the forest that was producing the oxygen for half of Rapture, and became emotionally involved in trying to kill you near the end. These two are great villains because they are proactive in trying to stop you and because they don't preach to you while they are trying to do it.

That's the problem with Lamb: Even as she "tries" to stop you (she basically does nothing the entire game), she honestly seems more interested in trying to psycho analyze you and in getting you to agree with her point of view. Andrew Ryan didn't care if you believed in The Great Chain; he was confident enough that his philosophy was correct that he really didn't need you to believe it too and even if you didn't, he still had complete control of Rapture. However, that's the thing with Lamb... her entire power base comes from getting people to believe in her philosophy. She NEEDS you to believe in her viewpoint or she has no power over you. This doesn't work in a game where you aren't even given the option of siding with the villain. So instead of her psycho analysis seeming like a legitimate viewpoint, it comes across as annoying noise that is simply there to make you want to kill her even more.

Also, why the fuck was Tenebaum in this game? She sends you like 3 radio messages, you see her for 30 seconds, and then she runs off... never to be seen again. Why'd they bring her back, just to put her on a fucking bus?

Ha ha, yeah, Tanenbaum's completely worthless cameo. HEY, I WAS IN THE FIRST GAME! BYE!

Another thing I didn't get was in the first game, Rapture was falling apart. A complete mess. This was after only a year of neglect. Now, in Bioshock 2, we're here 10 years later and Rapture is in exactly the same condition it was in the first game? Really? Kind of bullshit.

GasBandit said:

For me, the most fun however was setting up a killing zone around a body before putting the little sister down on it. A couple turrets, some trap rivets and trap spears, then the machine gun and ignite plasmid can mop up whatever gets through that. But I've always been a sucker for games that let me set up traps and defenses. I love that sort of thing.

Click to expand...

Done this a few times, it was pretty fun, that fell in my PROs with "stuff with little sisters" without sounding sexual. Whatever DEV they did here was awesome. I love when I hear them cheer and comment in favor of you as you own enemies. Love it.

AshburnerX said:

That's the problem with Lamb: Even as she "tries" to stop you (she basically does nothing the entire game), she honestly seems more interested in trying to psycho analyze you and in getting you to agree with her point of view. Andrew Ryan didn't care if you believed in The Great Chain; he was confident enough...

Click to expand...

So far, I'm unimpressed with lamb. But I'm paying attention to every word trying to see if they are using any swerves on me again.

SeriousJay said:

Spoiler

And I don't trust Sinclair for shit. I let Grace live, I loved the reaction and help.

Click to expand...

AshburnerX said:

That's the problem with Lamb: Even as she "tries" to stop you (she basically does nothing the entire game), she honestly seems more interested in trying to psycho analyze you and in getting you to agree with her point of view. Andrew Ryan didn't care if you believed in The Great Chain; he was confident enough that his philosophy was correct that he really didn't need you to believe it too and even if you didn't, he still had complete control of Rapture. However, that's the thing with Lamb... her entire power base comes from getting people to believe in her philosophy. She NEEDS you to believe in her viewpoint or she has no power over you. This doesn't work in a game where you aren't even given the option of siding with the villain. So instead of her psycho analysis seeming like a legitimate viewpoint, it comes across as annoying noise that is simply there to make you want to kill her even more.

Click to expand...

Heh, that's what most collectivists sound like to me even outside the game

AshburnerX said:

Also, why the fuck was Tenebaum in this game? She sends you like 3 radio messages, you see her for 30 seconds, and then she runs off... never to be seen again. Why'd they bring her back, just to put her on a fucking bus?

Click to expand...

So that was it for her... i knew it when they switched you to someone else... but i was still hoping he'd get killed trying to screw you over and you'd get her again...

Just finished it...
THERE YOU WHINY LITTLE.... but they where hardly big spoilers... i was actually very annoyed at the obvious fate heaped upon you.

Spoilers tag, damnit.

Frankie said:

I'll add this though, I think the main villain is weak. She lacks something both Ryan and Fontaine had, I don't know what exactly, and makes up whatever she's missing with heaps of being an annoying cow.

Click to expand...

Ryan more or less slowly betrayed every one of his convictions as Rapture started to slip out of his fingers and Fontaine played everyone with a great Long Con while being the ultimate example of self-interest. Lamb just let her ideology take her past the Moral Event Horizon into Knight Templar territory, though she was a manipulative b*tch from the get-go. The audio diaries in #2 for each of them make that very clear too.

That's why they where better villains, there was a more complex story unfolding with them. Lamb just had brainwashing and child abuse on the brain. (taking over the Little Sisters and experimenting some more fit in just fine with her "for teh greater good" ideas).

It's kinda of sad when the ARG set up to promote the game has a better storyline than the game itself. I'd have rather played THAT story as a game instead of this one.

AshburnerX said:

Spoiler

Poor Mark Meltzer. Went through all that trouble to find his daughter, only to find out she's been turned into a Little Sister. Then Lamb turns him into a Big Daddy, so he could always protect her... at his request. Damn man... that's better than all of this crap about Johnny Topside.

Click to expand...

Best part of the game. That and the new spear weapon. Good god did I played trophy kills over and over again with that fantastic new weapon.

AshburnerX said:

It's kinda of sad when the ARG set up to promote the game has a better storyline than the game itself. I'd have rather played THAT story as a game instead of this one.

Spoiler

Poor Mark Meltzer. Went through all that trouble to find his daughter, only to find out she's been turned into a Little Sister. Then Lamb turns him into a Big Daddy, so he could always protect her... at his request. Damn man... that's better than all of this crap about Johnny Topside.

Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure she gave him the choice...

But i was disappointed that you didn't get to meet him except as a corpse...

Yeah I liked BS2. I liked the traps and stuff, and I think the nerfing of big daddies was on purpose, because the real challenge is dealing with the little sisters. I had the problem with overloads of resources but I was playing on medium, so that I'd get something out of playing it again on the harder difficulty.

Played on ps3, ran like silk.

The biggest challenge of Big Daddies was finding ways to get MAX XP for them... which because useless when they auto-spawned. On the game's hardest setting they were literally easier to deal with over say, the normal splicers. Time and time again I would take them down without getting any damage. I felt Bioshock 2 was a poor man's version of the first, there were interesting things done and i LOVED the spear weapon, headshot kills flying into distant walls, was beyond words of awesome to the point i forgot all other weapons. I already discussed what I hated about the game.

It was decent... but nothing overly memorable.

Well anyone saying it's bad is wrong... but having a villain that's exactly what she seems was a step down... especially since everything she did was well within the boundaries of her philosophy.

And the Big Daddies could have stayed as tough if they only made Delta stronger the Jack, he's a BD's too after all... and the Big Sisters could be even more powerful too.

Big Sister's were nothing with any sort of buff to your drill. Drill charge and pin her against something and it's over in like 5 seconds.

Frankie said:

Drill charge and pin her against something and it's over in like 5 seconds.

Click to expand...

Giggity.

I knew i should have gone for the drill... but i am in my 2nd playthrough... which i haven't continued for a few weeks now...

It did never seem right to me that even with the upgrades, your drill carries enough fuel for only about 15 seconds

Well if they only need 5 that's 3 whole times...

Fuel for it is literally every anyway, and is cheap to buy.

Zonker said:

Yeah I liked BS2. I liked the traps and stuff, and I think the nerfing of big daddies was on purpose, because the real challenge is dealing with the little sisters. I had the problem with overloads of resources but I was playing on medium, so that I'd get something out of playing it again on the harder difficulty.

Played on ps3, ran like silk.

Click to expand...

But you hate shooting games.

Yeah, it's a shooting game where you can avoid the really hard shooting by setting traps. Pretty sweet. As opposed to Batman which is not only a twitch game but you really only can maximize your xp if you are a master twitcher. For chrissake, you know? I'm not a nerdy potato chip munching troglodyte who does nothing but sit around in the basement for days at a time practicing twitch moves on his fricking console. I have a life.

The more you talk about it, the less I actually believe that you played Arkham Asylum...

Bowielee said:

The more you talk about it, the less I actually believe that you played Arkham Asylum...

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^This^

Arkham Asylum is not a hard game by any measure, nor is it a twitch game... and considering we all seem to agree that you have NO idea what your talking about, maybe you should just find an easy game somewhere else?

Like Harvest Moon.

Whatever you guys. Enjoy losing your virginity at thirty.

I dub you Chazwannabe. One-sixth the charisma, and no PHD.

Lol! I love unintentional comedy.

lol

woot pokemon

I do believe that escushion has delivered the most win this forum has ever seen. Well done sir!

AshburnerX;354095][QUOTE=Bowielee said:

The more you talk about it, the less I actually believe that you played Arkham Asylum...

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^This^
[/QUOTE]

No kidding. Not to mention the outright rabid anger when anyone dares to disagree. Seriously Zonk, take a chill pill.


@ escushion, did you make that video? It's amazing.

Espy;354197][QUOTE=AshburnerX;354095][QUOTE=Bowielee said:

The more you talk about it, the less I actually believe that you played Arkham Asylum...

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^This^
[/QUOTE]

No kidding. Not to mention the outright rabid virility when anyone dares to disagree. Seriously Zonk, take a chill pill.
[/QUOTE]

Virility??

I have no idea what you are talking about

But really, I've been drinking. Thats my excuse. I honestly have no idea what word I was trying to use there.:wtf:

Espy said:

@ escushion, did you make that video? It's amazing.

Click to expand...

It was my personal tragedy.

Should have had Julie make you the sammich. LRN 2 train the womenz!

escushion;354205][QUOTE=Espy said:

@ escushion, did you make that video? It's amazing.

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It was my personal tragedy.[/QUOTE]


Seriously? It's really damn good. Consider me impressed.

Espy;354266][QUOTE=escushion;354205][QUOTE=Espy said:

@ escushion, did you make that video? It's amazing.

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It was my personal tragedy.[/QUOTE]


Seriously? It's really damn good. Consider me impressed.[/QUOTE]

Thanks, Espy. We all have to do our part in the good fight here at Halforums.

I've watched it like 3 times now. It's just stinking hilarious.

Well, as mom always said, fight fire with fire...

Well, let's see. What would take longer to master, which by your logic is what defines making someone a basement dwelling virgin. Mastering a twich game, which takes a few hours at most, or playing through Ultima, which is a game that you said that you loved? I get it, you don't like twich games. that doesn't mean that you have to be a raging douche to anyone who disagrees.

Also, Bioshock is about as twich oriented as you can get, so all around, you're not using any sort of earth logic to back up your statements.

It can be done!

Owned.

Zonker said:

Well, as mom always said, fight fire with fire...

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If by Escushion's "fire" you mean awesome sauce, and if by your "fire" you mean some random clip from Southpark that has nothing to do with the topic at hand or has any merit/entertainment value, allowing you to "fight back"...then yes. Utterly and completely.

I always fondle the bread too. It's irresistible when it is all soft and yummies.