tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7876216494183628999.post4764229049379875211..comments2023-10-31T00:31:59.277-07:00Comments on The United Federation of Charles: Bioshock 2 reviewCTPhippshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04226189019351004118noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7876216494183628999.post-14925676670009944072016-02-09T11:19:01.867-08:002016-02-09T11:19:01.867-08:00Yeah, I appreciated that bit of gameplay and story...Yeah, I appreciated that bit of gameplay and story integration.CTPhippshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04226189019351004118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7876216494183628999.post-49485317104853952952016-02-09T00:46:00.312-08:002016-02-09T00:46:00.312-08:00Oh, by the way, the reason why Delta wakes up afte...Oh, by the way, the reason why Delta wakes up after 10 years after taking a bullet to the head:<br /><br />Eleanor spent 10 years trying to get the little sisters to reprogram the Vita-Chambers to resurrect Subject Delta. So, Delta's dead-dead, but he's brought back to life by the in-game respawn points.Matthew Campbellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06887788945033210212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7876216494183628999.post-51451508088718578142016-02-06T14:48:29.748-08:002016-02-06T14:48:29.748-08:00True. I actually had an interesting theory which I...True. I actually had an interesting theory which I would have made an essay about Eleanor/Sofia and Elizabeth/Comstock that the characters with the most single minded devotion to Collectivism/Christianity are the two characters with the absolute least amount of faith in people to abide by those principles.<br /><br />Sofia Lamb doesn't believe people can act in a altruistic manner so she feels the need to destroy humanity with what amounts to Instrumentality while Comstock doesn't believe in God, no matter his pretensions, since he feels the need to create his own scientific-version of Christ.<br /><br />Andrew Ryan for all of the fact he was unwilling or unable to trust his principles would actually work (or at least work for him), did honestly believe people would want to live by his principles.<br /><br />Which plays into the fact Booker becomes a Christ figure in the Baptism ending while Eleanor and Delta nicely show a proper display of collectivism by working as a true family or mutual good will as well as abandoning personal vengeance. Jack is a harder character to show Objectivist ideals too but he is, at the end, a man who chooses and pursues personal happiness by his own merit rather than trying to inherit or steal Rapture.CTPhippshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04226189019351004118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7876216494183628999.post-2368440395676853342016-02-06T13:45:37.440-08:002016-02-06T13:45:37.440-08:00It makes sense. Cults try to cut off members from ...It makes sense. Cults try to cut off members from any outside influence including more moderate religions. Purges are not exactly unknown among the collectivist ideologies either. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11726420485855554703noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7876216494183628999.post-64500460376507555222016-02-06T11:42:09.949-08:002016-02-06T11:42:09.949-08:00If I had to make any sort of commentary, I really ...If I had to make any sort of commentary, I really like how the game shows that Andrew Ryan created the culture from which Sofia Lamb's cult was able to grow. The desperate, poor, and fanatical which we see in the game come entirely from the result of Andrew Ryan's depredations. If you buy into the 'religion is the opiate of the masses' then, ironically, the revolutionary cult-like atmosphere of Sofia Lamb's cult is the result of Andrew Ryan acting like a villain from a Marxist work.<br /><br />One of my favorite audio diaries in Bioshock 2 is where you're exploring an apartment in Sinclair's Slums (which should have been its actual name) and find out about a guy who doesn't care one bit about religion but decides to join Sofia's cult simply because it offers relief against the horrors he's endured as a man who can't keep up with Rapture's dog-eat-dog reality.<br /><br />We also find out Sofia Lamb is murdering actually religious folk which I found to be a bit annoying, though, as I was hoping she'd co-opt all of Rapture's religious.CTPhippshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04226189019351004118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7876216494183628999.post-5854074684488300282016-02-06T08:48:29.075-08:002016-02-06T08:48:29.075-08:00Its not like collectivism hasn't used cults be...Its not like collectivism hasn't used cults before. See Jim Jones and Jonestown who certainly was a collectivist that used cult like methods on his followers. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11726420485855554703noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7876216494183628999.post-46021465832521678122016-02-05T15:40:48.747-08:002016-02-05T15:40:48.747-08:00Oh, I enjoyed the game and actually adjusted my sc...Oh, I enjoyed the game and actually adjusted my score from 7.5/10 to 8/10 because it really does capture most of what was good about Bioshock even if it lacks an in-depth exploration of the ideals of its premise. Part of the problem is the Objectivist nature of Rapture is built into so much of the place that you can't explore Collectivist ideals in the setting without overhauling it completely.<br /><br />Sofia Lamb is arguably an even more ****y Collectivist than Andrew Ryan is a ****y Objectivist too as the height of her achievement is creating what amounts to a literal cult with the majority of the followers (if not all of them) being the equivalent of meth-heads. It's not exactly an overwhelming achievement to make a society of those since plenty of people in the real world do it without benefit of supernatural powers.<br /><br />I really think this game is actually a template for Bioshock: Infinite as so much of it seems to have been rehashed for B:I. We've got the father/daughter bond, the evil parent figure who wants to take you away from her and turn her into a Dark Messiah, the Collectivist vision (except with racism and religion versus group identity), and the minor moral decisions scattered throughout the game.<br /><br />I also note Bioshock: Infinite also made use of the human experimentation on a daughter-figure of the villain in the same way Bioshock: Infinite made use of the same ideals. CTPhippshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04226189019351004118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7876216494183628999.post-23493218506848608792016-02-05T14:48:49.577-08:002016-02-05T14:48:49.577-08:00As for the rest of the game:
I feel like this is a...As for the rest of the game:<br />I feel like this is a very underrated game.<br /><br />Gameplay-wise, I'd argue it's the best, but it does have one major problem of having you play a big-daddy, which kills half the horror element (you don't feel vulnerable enough).<br /><br />The world-building's a very good expansion on Rapture. While having Lamb be the Anti-Ryan is obvious, I would argue that it's logical-anyone left in Rapture would probably be very sick of individuality. Also, I'd argue that Rapture's technology (perhaps ironically) lends itself well to such a collectivist dystopia, since it allows a person to destroy the individual on a biological level.<br /><br />Also, the perspective flip is kind of interesting-Bioshock 2 really casts Rapture in this weird light that's both kind of pretty and creepy all at once.<br /><br />However, you're correct in that they really don't do a good enough job in talking about the details of this dystopia. I suppose the problem is that nearly everyone's a splicer already.Matthew Campbellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06887788945033210212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7876216494183628999.post-31652010505356356352016-02-05T10:55:27.316-08:002016-02-05T10:55:27.316-08:00Well, with the big sisters, they probably should h...Well, with the big sisters, they probably should have said "yeah, Jack didn't save all the little sisters", though it makes sesne. Rapture's a city, and quite possibly a very big one. Game worlds tend to be surprisingly small. There's possibly hundreds of little sisters in Rapture Jack never even saw.Matthew Campbellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06887788945033210212noreply@blogger.com