Extremely Small A. Alces Sighting (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
nano_moose) wrote2009-01-22 06:29 pm
nano_moose) wrote2009-01-22 06:29 pm
Entry tags:
"Bacteria are microscopic. Yes, that's what they want you to think."
I've resolved to not mention or research or obsess over 9 until it is released (oh god eight months why). TO THAT END, I have decided to research/obsess over Bioshock instead! Apart from the amusing fact that the developers admitted they just did their best to remake System Shock 2, the trailer for the sequel (which I admit to being deeply skeptical about) and the discovery that they're going to try and adapt it as a movie (because once they plunder the depths of the comic industry, Hollywood'll need a new source of ideas, clearly), I found something rather neat.
One common complaint about the game – from the sane people, anyway – is that the enemies aren't really varied enough. I think I agree, but only in the sense that there aren't enough combat variations. The Thuggish, Leadhead, Spider, Nitro and Houdini Splicers, along with the Little Sisters and Big Daddies, really don't require a whole of experimentation to find combat styles to suit the different types. You can improvise if you want to, but the game doesn't really encourage it the way, say, any Valve product does.
That's kind of a pity, because in the personality aspects, there's variation aplenty. And somebody decided to demonstrate just how much by making compilations of each of the Splicer model variants, so I'm posting them here for anyone on my flist whose played the game (or doesn't mind spoilers).
There's a lot of the 'junk' noises – coughing and screaming and so forth – but also a lot of the lines I hadn't been able to make out before due to our television's sound sucking. Some of them have odd names that don't immediately call up the images of the people they belong to, so I've put a physical description beside each one. Also, be warned: Spoilers, disturbing content, and a lot of swearing.
Toasty (Weasely man in a vest with a bandage over one eye) This one might actually be the one that disturbs me the most. The level of entitlement rings all my alarm bells at once.
Doctor Grossman (Doctor Splicers in white coats) These guys, on the other hand, I thought were pretty funny; just ridiculous enough to be absurd rather than terrifying. Take Two seemed to have a talent for writing mad doctors - Steinman was probably the most entertaining character in the game after Andrew Ryan and Sander Cohen.
Mobster (Guy in a sweet hat and pinstriped suit, sideburns) My oldest brother's favourite Splicer because he reminds him of Al Swearangen from Deadwood, only not as cool. Me, I just like his hat.
Wader (Overalls and caps, usually hang around the docks) Everyone remembers these guys, mostly because the Jesus Love Me song sets up camp in your brain for days after hearing it.
Pigskin (Ones in the sports gear) Another kind that disturbs me a lot, because they sound incredibly young. Like kids who spliced themselves into improving their sporting performance. And they sob helplessly about how angry they are now. It's so sad.
Ducky (Big coats and weird hats with badges on them) The guy who posted this points out that these guys might have been Rapture's law enforcement once, the ones who strung up the smugglers and fought the rebels. That's a detail I missed on my playthroughs.
Rose (Lady in a jumpsuit) She seems to be one of the women whose girls got taken away to be made into Little Sisters. I'm kind of disappointed that it's her instead of the starlet girls or the snobby ladies; I always they were much more interesting.
And a bonus! PA Announcements. It includes the female voice spouting some of Ryan's catchphrases, the hilariously disturbing John and Mary exchanges, and Ryan himself going on and on and on, as is his wont.
One common complaint about the game – from the sane people, anyway – is that the enemies aren't really varied enough. I think I agree, but only in the sense that there aren't enough combat variations. The Thuggish, Leadhead, Spider, Nitro and Houdini Splicers, along with the Little Sisters and Big Daddies, really don't require a whole of experimentation to find combat styles to suit the different types. You can improvise if you want to, but the game doesn't really encourage it the way, say, any Valve product does.
That's kind of a pity, because in the personality aspects, there's variation aplenty. And somebody decided to demonstrate just how much by making compilations of each of the Splicer model variants, so I'm posting them here for anyone on my flist whose played the game (or doesn't mind spoilers).
There's a lot of the 'junk' noises – coughing and screaming and so forth – but also a lot of the lines I hadn't been able to make out before due to our television's sound sucking. Some of them have odd names that don't immediately call up the images of the people they belong to, so I've put a physical description beside each one. Also, be warned: Spoilers, disturbing content, and a lot of swearing.
Toasty (Weasely man in a vest with a bandage over one eye) This one might actually be the one that disturbs me the most. The level of entitlement rings all my alarm bells at once.
Doctor Grossman (Doctor Splicers in white coats) These guys, on the other hand, I thought were pretty funny; just ridiculous enough to be absurd rather than terrifying. Take Two seemed to have a talent for writing mad doctors - Steinman was probably the most entertaining character in the game after Andrew Ryan and Sander Cohen.
Mobster (Guy in a sweet hat and pinstriped suit, sideburns) My oldest brother's favourite Splicer because he reminds him of Al Swearangen from Deadwood, only not as cool. Me, I just like his hat.
Wader (Overalls and caps, usually hang around the docks) Everyone remembers these guys, mostly because the Jesus Love Me song sets up camp in your brain for days after hearing it.
Pigskin (Ones in the sports gear) Another kind that disturbs me a lot, because they sound incredibly young. Like kids who spliced themselves into improving their sporting performance. And they sob helplessly about how angry they are now. It's so sad.
Ducky (Big coats and weird hats with badges on them) The guy who posted this points out that these guys might have been Rapture's law enforcement once, the ones who strung up the smugglers and fought the rebels. That's a detail I missed on my playthroughs.
Rose (Lady in a jumpsuit) She seems to be one of the women whose girls got taken away to be made into Little Sisters. I'm kind of disappointed that it's her instead of the starlet girls or the snobby ladies; I always they were much more interesting.
And a bonus! PA Announcements. It includes the female voice spouting some of Ryan's catchphrases, the hilariously disturbing John and Mary exchanges, and Ryan himself going on and on and on, as is his wont.
no subject
Well, no, now that I've read all the way to the end, it was the John and Mary exchanges.
MARY: I have a perfectly legitimate fear about...
JOHN: Perhaps you have not considered that ANDREW RYAN!
MARY: My fears are immediately, entirely, and completely mollified by that one sentence!
It's, like, the condensed essence of propaganda right there.
no subject