After so many months of waiting, Bioshock Infinite has made
its way to the lives of many gamers all over the world. Bioshock has always
been one of my most favorite games in gaming history because of the amazing
world you get to immerse yourself into. You get to explore something
extraordinary and it really does stick with you even after you’ve played it.
You can tell that I am indeed a big Bioshock fan, because I have named my blog
[almost] after the city underwater: Ranture. And even though there are no Big
Daddies or Little Sisters in my blog, it’s filled with profanities and rants
that some people hate and love all at the same time.
After a month of sitting here and watching many others play
the game on Youtube, I decided maybe it’s time for me to write something about
Bioshock Infinite! Seeing as to how many gamers were confused by the games
ending, [as was I because there was just so much to take in a few minutes!] I
decided to write down a few things – just to make it easier for others to
understand. I might also find myself blabbering on about something so feel free
to look over and ignore it.
BIOSHOCK INFINITE: Where are we and what have you done to RAPTURE?!
It was a year ago when I first came across the new Bioshock
trailer. After having played the first two games, I was eager to know what
Irrational Games [with a spiky chess piece behind itttt] had in store for us.
Another trip down Rapture, maybe? I wouldn't mind that!
But lo and behold, my jaw dropped like a trap door at the
sight of something unexpected! As the main character gets throw out the window,
we see a city – not underwater – but floating in the sky!
At first I was like “WHOA!
That is so fucking cool!” and then I was like, “WHOA! That is so fucking cool!”. I literally couldn’t get over it.
Rapture was no more and here we were, in the City of Columbia floating in the
motherfucking sky, being thrown out the window, flailing and grabbing onto a
blimp, meeting a busty babe and falling to our end as the trailer goes to its
classic [yet, still very dramatic] black screen.
Two things came into my mind after I watched it for over 5
times:
· What happened to Rapture?
·
I’m going to hyperventilate when I play this
game because I’m not good with heights.
Basically, the trailer was just a sneak peek to what we had
in store for the new Bioshock game and it introduced to us the City of
Columbia, Elizabeth and the goddamn Handyman. Aside from that, we also see a
few things during the trailer as our character clings to a blimp that was
luckily there to catch us before we plummeted to the ground. Posters were
everywhere. One of which was a woman, dressed up like Wonder Woman, one arm
holding a baby and the other extended to the side – towards another in a
obvious act of rejection. This will make more sense in the game.
No more Rapture. Hello, Columbia! Some people weren’t so
happy about this change. I came across a friend of mine who said that he felt
like the game was no longer Bioshock because so much was taken away! Rapture,
being one of em’. Posting a status about how beautiful Columbia was, he stated:
“Not Rapture, not Bioshock.” and instantly my eyebrows shot UP so high I
thought it disappeared under my hairline.
No matter how good your idea might be, there will always be
people who’d go against it. Unlike my friend, I love change. Not being able to
accept change stops your mind from ever expanding, growing, learning. Do I miss
Rapture? Actually, no. We’ve had enough of Sebastian and his ghostly tunes of
‘Under the Sea’ for two games! I think it was wise that Columbia was made
because now, I wasn’t scared of drowning – I was terrified of falling.
When I first watched a walkthrough on YouTube, I decided to
settle for something without commentary [You can watch one on HassanAlHajry’s channel if
commentary gaming annoy you.] so I could merge myself in the game without
actually playing since my Xbox was busted. Now, because I already knew that the
game takes place in Columbia and up the skies I wasn’t that amazed of the
opening sequence to Columbia. I was, however, enchanted by mostly everything in
Columbia. There’s just so much splendor in the new Bioshock game. The graphics,
the design, the characters. I don’t know where to start! Of course, Ranture was
a beautiful place even with its debris and its corpses – but Columbia? Columbia
had taken the beauty of heaven and turned it into something that the living
could reach. I have to say right now
that I am a sucker for details. Either it be in the literary or visual arts, I
instantly ogle at detail that ignorant people usually miss. Columbia and
Rapture are two different places with two different themes and two very
different worlds. A city in the sky and a city underwater. Where would you
rather be?
THE ENDING: A Major WTF Explained
Many gamers whom had played Bioshock Infinite was left with
their brains in mush when the game ended. “What the FUCK just happened?!” and
believe me, I was left that way as well! However, after watching the ending
twice and taking note of everything Elizabeth had been saying – I finally
[FINALLY] understood what went down. The thing is, when you’re playing the game
such as the Bioshock series, you have to pay attention to the story lines detail.
Every little thing counts! Some gamers who pick up a voxophones in the game,
never listen it because ‘OH fuck it’s too long!’ like Fatal Frame 3: The
Tormented’s notes and its long ass paragraphs as well as story telling. This is
definitely one thing you shouldn’t do in a game, because then – after you’ve
gone through the game and have ended it, you sit there like a dumbass trying to
figure out what in the world just happened.
I wish I could have went on with Snake’s [Lee Baker] Let’s
Play because he pays so much attention to detail and gives out theories along
with you. That’s one of the reasons why I’m a huge fan of the guy so check him
out for his Commentaries [complete with screaming and theories and whatnots]
and I have not once, ever been disappointed after years of watching him.
Check out his Let's Play with Crazy Commentary [SON]! Here:
Playlist: HERE
Here’s a quick run through to Bioshock Infinite’s story:
Booker Dewitt, the main protagonist of the story, is
instructed to retrieve a girl named Elizabeth in order to settle his debt. He
finds himself in Columbia after having been transported in the skies via
Lighthouse Rocket and fights his way into the tower [after being marked the
False Shepherd because of the brand “AD” on the back of his right hand] he
finds Elizabeth [The Lamb]. This is where Booker finds out that Elizabeth is a
special being as she has the power to create tears, which are doors to other
worlds. The whole game moves around the escape of the two characters from
Columbia to New York from the Song Bird [Elizabeth’s guardian] and the hands of
Comstock [The Prophet] who cannot let go of Elizabeth as she is to be next in
line to watch over Columbia and is said to be Comstock’s daughter.
After the death of Comstock in Booker’s hands, they fight
their way through the rebellious Vox Populi [meaning 'Voice of the People'] army with the help of the Song Bird
and destroys Elizabeth’s tower which gives her the power to create tears
freely. Having lost control of the Song Bird, Elizabeth opens a tear to
Rapture, killing the Song Bird in the process. This is where the truth is told
to Booker Dewitt and in the end, chooses to be killed by the many Elizabeth’s
of the many dimensions’ – thus ending the circle of Booker’s mission to
retrieve his lost daughter, Anna from himself, Zachary Comstock.
It’s the ending that makes them wonder what the fuck just happened. If
you can’t understand the ending, you can’t find yourself to love the game. So
here are things I have taken note of to make it easier for confused Bioshock
Infinite gamers.
Understanding the Ending of Bioshock Infinite:
Let’s first go to the ending of Bioshock Infinite. The very moment
Elizabeth opens the tear that leads them to Rapture, [a great way to blow
gamers minds!] she takes Booker down to the bathesphere – up to the surface
where we see the familiar Lighthouse that leads us back down to Rapture: The
City Underwater. However, when she opens to the lighthouse Door, we are greeted
by the sight of many MANY lighthouses in the sea.
All these doors lead to a different dimension and in each dimension, there
are Bookers and Elizabeths; all the same but different. Booker himself asks:
“What are all these lighthouses?” and Elizabeth explains that there are ‘million and million of worlds. All different, all
similar. Constants and Variables.
There’s always a lighthouse, there’s
always a man, there’s always a city.’ Now, I know this is confusing – but
don’t worry – I’ll get to that in a bit!
Elizabeth leads Booker to a door and finds himself in a place where he
was once was, washing him away from sin ’20
years ago right after the Battle of Wounded Knee’. However, when the priest
tries to baptize him – he fights his way out of the hands of the priest –
denying it. After trying to get Elizabeth to take them to Paris and end the
nightmare that rages through Bookers mind, Elizabeth refuses saying “Not until
we find Comstock.” and with that, Booker reminds her that Comstock was killed
however she corrects him saying that ‘He
was here.’ and points to a door that leads to his old apartment.
This is where we meet a face we’ve seen in Columbia many many times
before. Booker tells Elizabeth that Robert Lutece [‘Twin’ to Rosalind Lutece] was
the man who hired him to take Elizabeth back to New York so he could wipe away
the debt. But, when Robert had said ‘Bring us the girl and wipe away the debt’
Booker never realized that he wasn’t asking Booker to take Elizabeth from
Columbia but was asking for Bookers baby girl, Anna. Without a choice, Booker
gives Anna to Robert and disappears saying “The debts paid. Mr. Comstock washes
you of all your sins.” and when Booker tries to follow, he finds himself in a
boat with Elizabeth and the Lutece Twins [the very same man and woman who leads
you to the lighthouse from the beginning of the game]. He further explains that
he doesn’t remember giving away a baby to get rid of his debt and that he was
asked to take Elizabeth back to New York as his mission in Columbia.
As she leads Booker up the very same lighthouse that Booker had gone to
for his journey to Columbia, he asks her ‘What are we doing here? Comstocks
dead.’ and Elizabeth tells him that Comstock isn’t dead, but is still alive in
many different worlds. That the only way to kill Comstock is to kill him before
he even existed. The door to the lighthouse is opened and we find Booker in an
alley where a tear is open and Comstock holds baby Ana in his arms alongside Robert
Lutece. When Booker tries to take Ana, Comstock refuses and there is a moment
where a tug of war happens. Just as the door closes, Ana’s pinky finger gets
caught and cut. This is where we realize that Elizabeth, is Anna; Booker
Dewitts daughter.
Booker doesn’t remember this because as he was given a
chance to redeem himself, Robert and Rosalind Lutece comes to Booker and gives
him a chance for redemption. There’s a part in the game that goes ‘The mind of
the subject will desperately struggle to create memories where none exist.’ a
theory created by Rosalind Lutece herself. This is exactly what Booker’s mind
does to him. There was no man who ever told him to go to Columbia and take back
Elizabeth. It was his mind that had created that very memory. After the scene
in which he was taken by the Lutece twins and figures out he had created the
memory himself [“The brain adapts.” Says Rosalind Lutece as she and her brother
drag Booker to a boat that leads to the lighthouse for Columbia.] he awakens
and states that they should kill Comstock, ‘Smother him in his crib.’ he tells
Elizabeth so that the nightmare finally ends.
Before he opens the door to the dimension in which they were
to find Comstock, Elizabeth asks him: “Are you sure this is what you want?” in
reply, Booker replies ‘I have to. It’s the only way I can undo what I’ve done
to you.’ and in surprise, he finds himself in front of a priest back 20 years
ago when he ALMOST had a baptismal. When he asks Elizabeth ‘Why are we back
here’ Elizabeth tells him that it wasn’t the same place as before. THEN many
Elizabeths appear before him, all the same but somehow different. In one world,
Booker comes and in others, he never returns.
If you don’t pay close attention to what the Elizabeth’s are
saying, you will never understand this ending.
Elizabeth: “You chose to walk away. But in other oceans, you didn’t. You took the baptism. You were born again as a different man.”
Booker: “Comstock.”
Elizabeth: “It all has to end. To have never started. Not just in this world, but in ours.”
Booker: “Smother him in the crib.”
Elizabeth: “Smother. Before the choice is made. Before you are reborn.”
Preacher: “And what name shall you take, my son?”
Elizabeth: “He’s Zachary Comstock.”
Other Elizabeth: “He’s Booker DeWitt.”Booker: “No… I’m both.”
And this is where the Elizabeth’s drown him. In his death,
the Elizabeth’s disappear one by one; ending the game.
Hey. You still with me? GOOD. Now to the explaining:
- What are Dimensions?
The dimensions play such a big role in the game. Dimensions
are many places. The same world but with differences. There is more than just
one world but there are million others and this other worlds are your
dimensions. In each dimension, there is another YOU. Let’s say for example, in
this world I chose to write this long Ranture update. But in another, I choose
not to write it and spend it watching a movie instead. There might also be
another dimension where Ranture doesn’t even exist! So many worlds, so many
choices, so many chances and change. In this world, I might be a pottymouth but
in another world, I’m like a hallmark card. In this world, you might be a man –
but in another world, you might be a woman. Which comes to another idea of
mine.
- The Lutece Twins
Do you remember Rosalind Lutece? The woman who made the
floating city possible? Now, do you remember Robert Lutece? Her ‘Twin’ brother?
Nope. They’re not actually twins, but rather, each other from another world.
They end each other’s sentences, they have the same ideas and of course twins
can do this, but THIS is a game in which you can travel from one dimension to
another.
Rosalind Lutece never had a brother. She didn’t have a
sibling. She had thought of the possibility of another world and it was her
intelligence that had allowed Columbia to float in the sky. With her brains and
Comstock’s cash, Columbia was made. Robert is Rosalind from another dimension.
Everything is possible in this game. Constants and Variables, remember?
- The Mark of the False Shepherd
On your way to the tower where Elizabeth is held captive,
you notice a sign that warns people of the false shepherd. A mark, that allows
them to know who is the man that leads the Lamb astray. The AD on Booker’s hand
is the mark itself. This was done right after Booker had lost his child as
payment for his debt, his conscience eating him up inside and leaving him in
ruins before the Lutece twins came and offered him a chance to redeem himself.
AD stands for Anna DeWitt.
- Elizabeth
Before we even get to her in the game, she is locked up in
the tower with a lot of warning signs to the workers. She’s being observed and
hidden because she is a dangerous ‘specimen’ due to her ability to open tears.
She can literally shove you in a different world in a middle of a war and get
you killed. But who is Elizabeth, really? Is she Comstocks or Bookers daughter?
Why did Comstock have to steal her away from Booker? How did she get the
ability to open these doors to other worlds?
- First, let’s tackle the question on how she’s able to open these tears. Only Rosalind Lutece has the answer to this and this has something to do with the pinky she had lost when Booker and Comstock were fighting over Anna in a open tear. She says:
"What makes the girl different? I suspect it has less to do with what she is and more to do with what she's not. A small part of her remains from where she came. It would seem the universe does not like its peas with its porridge."
Another part of her
remains from where she came.
It was that one accident that
made Elizabeth great.
- Why did Comstock steal Anna from Booker? Well, this is because Comstock couldn’t produce a child. It was caused by the many times he had come in contact with the many technologies created by Rosalind Lutece that made him sterile as well as the fast aging that came down upon him.
But of all the children, why
Anna/Elizabeth? Because technically, Anna is HIS daughter but from another
universe where he isn’t sterile. He needed someone of his blood to take over
once he had parted from the world to make sure that Columbia was in safe hands
and because Booker and Comstock are the same person, but from different worlds
who made different choices, Anna/Elizabeth was the only one who could take over
when Comstock died. This answers the question “Is she Comstock or Bookers
daughter?” so there’s no need to go into detail with that one.
- Who is Elizabeth? Elizabeth is Anna, Booker DeWitts daughter, whom he had sold to Comstock to wipe away his debt. Elizabeth is both Booker and Comstocks daughter. She is the Lamb of Columbia who [after DeWitt fails to bring her back in another world] reigns over the floating city in the sky. She can open/create tears to different worlds.
- Comstock and Booker: How are they the same person?
This is the one question that many have asked. How can
Comstock and Booker DeWitt be one person? Well, the answer was already given by
Elizabeth during the ending sequence of Bioshock Infinite. It was also Booker
who verified it.
Elizabeth: “You chose to walk away. But in other oceans, you didn’t. You took the baptism. You were born again as a different man.”
Booker: “Comstock.”
You might think that the baptismal was nothing important,
but to be honest and in respect to the story line of Bioshock Infinite; it was
the most important part in the game because this is where Booker and Comstock
became who they were.
Booker DeWitt
When Booker DeWitt walked away from the baptism to wash away
all his sins from the Battle of Wounded Knee 20 years back, he remained as
Booker. He had a child named Anna and had suffered because of all the memories
of that war. He killed many innocent lives and he couldn’t cope with the
feeling of regret. He became a Pinkerton Agent and soon [because of his extreme
methods that the agency did not appreciate] became a private investigator. He
was addicted to alcohol and gambling and states that because of this, he was
indebted to people no one should mess with.
Because of the promise of washing away his debt, he hands
over Anna DeWitt to Robert Lutece. This is where the circle begins.
Zachary Hale Comstock
In another universe, Booker DeWitt accepts the baptism and
is born a new man. This man chose the name Zachary Hale Comstock. He became a
religious man and became an important part in the United States Government.
When he met Rosalind Lutece and held such an interest in her study of
manipulating atoms through the Lutece Field and allowed the atom to float that
he supported her. It was her intelligence as a physicist and his dream of a
floating city in the sky that made Columbia possible.
Comstock saw only the Caucasians as the only race that was
free [thus the reason why there is a great racial problem in Columbia. Made me
sick to my stomach, actually.] and has even declared Abraham Lincoln a man whom
had brought nothing to but death and war in America. He married Lady Comstock,
one of his devotees but because of Zachary’s contact with the Luteces’ device
he became sterile and was unable to have a child. This became a real problem
because he believed that Columbia was only to fall into the hands of his
bloodline. That’s where he chose to take the child of his alternate self from
another dimension, which was Anna.
To cut the story short: The man who refused the baptism remained as Booker DeWitt. The man who accepted the baptismal was Booker DeWitt who became Zachary Hale Comstock. The same man who made two different choices in two different worlds.
- How did killing Booker, kill Zachary Comstock?
You have to understand that Booker and Comstock, is one
person. The only way Zachary Comstock could be killed was to have Booker die before
he turned into Comstock which is why he had agreed to be ‘smothered’ in the
waters when he accepted the baptismal in the hands of Elizabeth[s].
- What happened to Elizabeth?
When she disappeared at the death of Booker the alternate
Elizabeth’s died. Well, not really ‘Die’. More of like ‘She never existed’.
HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?!
Do the math! If Zachary Comstock never existed, then there
would be no one to support Rosalind/Ronald Lutece with their idea of a floating
city. If no one supported Rosalind in her beliefs of a flying city, Columbia
was never made. If Columbia was never made, Anna would have never been taken.
And if Anna was never taken, she would have never turned into Elizabeth!
It’s a sad thought to think of. That the young lady who ran
around Columbia with you, who dreamed of Paris, who danced in the beach and who’s
personality was radiant and genuine – vanished. Gone. No more. When all the
Comstock’s disappeared, so did Elizabeth and everything else that was connected
to them both.
Instead, we have Anna. Anna who will never open tears, never
experience Columbia and will never suffer in a tower alone. The ending clip
where Booker walks into the nursery before the game completely finishes is the
one hint that gamers are left with. We don’t hear a crying of a baby but we
hear Booker calling out to Anna and before we can even see if she is indeed in
the crib, the screen goes black.
Classic. Like Inception all over again.
So, summing
it all up:
Booker and Comstock = same man, different choices and
different worlds.
Anna and Elizabeth = same woman stolen from the same world
where Booker dwells, just different names.
Rosalind and Robert Lutece = same people, different gender.
Booker = refused the baptismal and had Anna, gave her up to
Comstock to settle his debt.
Comstock = took the baptismal, renamed himself from Booker
DeWitt to Zachary Hale Comstock, cannot produce a child thus steals Anna and
renames her as Elizabeth.
- Killing Booker before he could emerge from the waters in the baptism, killed Comstock.
- Killing Booker before he became Comstock, kills Elizabeth.
- Killing Comstock, killed Columbia.
All in all, Bioshock: Infinite rocked my many worlds!
Hopefully, it rocked your many worlds, too!
[I do NOT own any of the photo's presented in this blog entry! All photo's belong to its rightful owners.]
