Duuuh.

Bioshock's ending was the most anticlimactic ending they could have given a game with such a fantastically written story.

I felt like crying. Or breaking something.

Well, most artists are never 100% satisfied with their finish product.

I never get tired of that picture.

I read somewhere that this guy's a dick and his team on Bioshock hated working for him, and yet everything I've read (like this post) leads me to believe he's a standup dude. Hmm...

He admitted this and much more in the Game Developer Magazine article where he reviewed his successes and failures. Great stuff.

Love that man.

You confront RYAN, Rand has been dead and, as far as I know, doesn't appear in the game.

"I didn't realize it would change people's perspective on what to expect from gameplay."

get over yourself. Bioshock was ok but it wasn't that good.

Well, he is admitting to it which I think speaks quite well about him. To be honest, what I liked about BioShock (Played the PC Version) was the setting and the mood, what I didn't like that much is that I felt I was playing a steampunk version of System Shock.

It'd be great if for BioShock 2 they were to revise the playing mechanics as well as trying to give a broader spectrum of actions and consequences, the 100% goodie two shoes vs. 100% evil incarnate paths aren't fun anymore.

Wait, how do you figure?

I mean, sure the actual ending ending with the little sisters growing up, as in the ending cinematics, yeah, that sure did suck on ice.

But the game all got wrapped up quite nicely. It had a minute cinematic just to wrap up what happened to your guy. But the entire ending started from the moment you met Andrew Ryan. It was an interactive ending.

@Manny:

...but System Shock 2 was! :D

While the last section of gameplay might have been kind of a let down, I thought the 'good' ending was actually quite touching.

@pylon_trooper: Sure. But Bioshock was like it's retarded cousin.

@Manny: Thank you someone who doesn't think this was the next big thing. It was an amazing story with shit game play.

Does it make sense that I forgot the ending entirely? I remember there was some sort of ridiculous Fire/Ice boss battle or something...

@Manny:

I just wish System Shock 2 got a fraction of the same recognition as Bioshock. I mean, we've come a long way since then, but it really was a murderously hard and wonderful experience.

I think the ending didn't really justify the gameplay, yes it felt dragged on and maybe it should've ended with Ryan's meeting. But you know what? It was still a great game, with a great story. People are led to believe that it should've been this perfect game with a perfect ending, which is never the case with any game really. Just take it for what it was: A great video gaming experience.

Yeah, the ending was anticlimactic and way too short (both endings that is). I still enjoyed the experience but was left just a tad unsatisfied at the tail. It wasn't like I really needed a long ending filled with closure since we never really got to know Jack but just a little more would have rounded out the whole story a bit better.

@Philonious: rand is ryan you shmuck

ayn rand = and. ryan

He's said this a couple times, and it consistently amazes me. Like when he said he never considered people might sympathize with the Big Daddies as much as the Little Sisters. I mean, he wrote the story -- he wrote all this narrative in the radio clips about how desperate people were pressed into Big Daddy service, and how it was a horrible, dehumanizing process -- and then he never considered them sympathetic in the least? Even after he makes the player go through the same horrible process, and makes a real big deal about it? To be fair, he dropped the ball on that, too, making the transformation 100% consequence-free in terms of story. The big daddy helmet view even disappears for the final battle. I'm just disappointed he didn't realize how intriguing a story he'd created, and never followed through on its narrative promise.

I had to go look up the ending on Wikipedia. I never made it past the night-club level on BioShock. Got bored of it like no tomorrow by that point.

I disagree completely. I thought the ending of Bioshock was perfect, and it did not go on too long. It offered a lot more goodness. It was a good thing. I wouldn't change one thing about it.

deneumont = denoument

Just an FYI.

(SPOILER) Should have ended at Ryan? No, it shouldn't have. What should have been done, is an actual in game cinematic, not just some narrated ending using prerendered cinematics. The whole after ryan thing was a great addition to the story, a big twist when you find out who Atlas is. We needed to finish with Rapture, a sequel in there would have made the game dry, I felt like they've explored the possibilities of an underwater city as much as was needed, and any more would have felt repetitive.

I think they could have done a better job setting up a sequel with an ingame cinematic or something.

The confrontation with Rand? Granted, ANdrew RyAN was suppose to be just AyN RANd in a suit, but still, can't he keep his characters straight? Besides, who is this guy and why do we care? Did he make Bioshock by himself? Why does one person always get the glory when a project goes well, and when a project fails the entire team and the company shares the blame? The only time I can think that the main guy in charge gets the blame is when he's already industry-famous, i.e. he's already got the glory from a previous project.

after reading your article i decided to give bioshock a 2nd go, and I did go "whoaoaoa" at the climax with ryan.. But that moment left me with a lot of questions

like "why fake the irish family" if i was just told to go kill ryan I would've, without question.. so the whole first chapter is kind of a plot hole.

also, the radios.. can the people in contact with you hear eachother, and if that is the case, can they speak to eachother?

if they can, why didn't ryan say word 1 to atlas?

or for that matter if Ryan ran the city on every level, he should've been aware that there was no irishman named atlas in his city.

oh and if "atlas felt that I would need all the adam i could get.. why not just "would you kindly" force me to kill them.

The ending was what it was, rising up against a ruthless puppet master determined to not only destroy you but everything that made Rapture great.

There was no other way the game could have gone except to have had Atlas escape.

But, I'm sure Ryan's plans weren't exclusive to Rapture, we'll see in Bioshock 2.

I actually stopped playing after the confrontation with Ryan. For me that was the climax of the game, and I just wasn't interested after that point because the idea of arbitrarily doing someone else's bidding in a game was dragged out into the street, and shot by that revelation, but right after the gameplay goes right back to having you do exactly that; just with a different person telling you what to do.

I might be in the minority but I liked the "good" ending. I found it very touching.

The pacing of the plot iself kind of uneven, though. Killing Ryan and learning about your past was the climax of the story and it occurs about 2/3rds of the way through.

It couldn't have ended with Andrew Ryan, since you would still need closure with Fontaine, but it certainly should have ended differently.

"A man chooses, a slave obeys" would have been a great spot to begint he struggle against Fontaine, rather than waiting for Tenenbaum to help you (regardless of whether you've slayed tens of Little Sisters).

That would have given the option to end by siding with Ryan and Rapture's rebirth (by sparing his life), Tenebaum and the Little Sisters (by killing Ryan and saving them), Fontaine (willingly) (by killing Ryan, saving the Little Sisters, but killing Tenebaum), or Fontaine (unwillingly) (by killing Ryan and the Little Sisters).

I love Bioshock a little more even just imagining those possibilies. It's never too late with DLC, either.

The ending just felt very rushed. The last third of the game didn't fit the pacing of the rest of the game, and certainly the final battle was like a crop duster on an aircraft carrier: totally out of place.

I disagree with Levine that the story ended when the mystery of the protagonist's identity was solved; he still had the human drive to seek revenge on those who wronged him.There was a need to complete the story; it just needed to be done better.

@Gouki4u: I don't remember anyone telling me what to do after Atlas loses his power over me. All he has the power to do is shorten my life bar and I can't control which plasmid I have equipped until I do certain things to fix myself. Tenenbaum doesn't really instruct you or command you in any way, at least I never felt like she was. I was doing what I was doing so I could wreck that motherfucker, because he campaigned to destroy Rapture, succeeded, hyptonized me, had me kill a good man, and then I find out the truth, and what am I gonna do? I'm gonna go bust his head, that's what I'm gonna do.

While I agree that the end of the game dragged on and the final confrontation was bad(really bad). Ending the story after the Rand confrontation truncates one of the main themes, which is redemption(saving the sisters).

I think a better ending would have been a choice for the player right after you break the conditioning: harvest the remaining little sisters in order to confront Atlas(final battle and "bad" ending) or save the remaining little sisters, which would get you the "good" ending, but allow Atlas to live and gain control of Rapture.

I thought the endings where perfect. A lot of people whine and that's all it is really WHINE!

If it hadn't been that way they would of said what the game is over already!

Get over yourselves. Ken did a great job with the game and the endings where awesome!

@MehGinla:

Denouement, actually ;)

@relax_guy:

like "why fake the irish family" if i was just told to go kill ryan I would've, without question.. so the whole first chapter is kind of a plot hole.

The family was a fabrication to fool Ryan, not the protagonist. Ryan was under the impression that Fontaine was deceased. I doubt the player character could've just waltzed in minute one and confronted Ryan without gaining and mastering abilities along the way.

also, the radios.. can the people in contact with you hear eachother, and if that is the case, can they speak to eachother?

That is a very good question.

if they can, why didn't ryan say word 1 to atlas?

I doubt he'd have a whole lot to say to Atlas after the uprising he led against him.

Ryan: Hey Atlas
Atlas: What up, buddy?
Ryan: Hey, remember that whole uprising you led agianst me? We cool.
Atlas: Word.

or for that matter if Ryan ran the city on every level, he should've been aware that there was no irishman named atlas in his city.

Atlas' alter ego was a thorough con man. He surely forged all of the documents and bribed all of the right people so the records would indicate he existed. I doubt Ryan knew every inhabitant of the city intimately.

oh and if "atlas felt that I would need all the adam i could get.. why not just "would you kindly" force me to kill them.

I felt like it was all a test and preparation. You couldn't just walk in and confront Ryan without learning to use weapons and abilities you hadn't used before.

In BioShock "you have this great mystery of your own identity and once it is solved the story is over."

Yeah, except the mystery behind the main character's identity has so many flaws that it would also be a horrible end to the story.

Yea! for him acknowlegding that the ending wasn't what it could have been! I don't understand why alot of devs don't really put any thought into endings for games these days,as if it's an after thought and not really important. They build up this big story but always fizzle in the end.

@Gouki4u:

I actually stopped playing after the confrontation with Ryan. For me that was the climax of the game...

I'm glad Shakespeare didn't stop writing all of his plays at the climax.

I happen to enjoy resolution.

I agree Mr. Crecente, the last hour or 2 of Bioshock seemed to drag on. The levels seamed boring, the boss fight was kinda lame. The game should have only gone another 30 minutes or so after the Ryan "fight".

Oh and no huge mutant ADAM enhanced boss fight either.

I'm glad to see I'm not alone in this - whenever I replay Bioshock I just stop after that scene.

@doubtful:
Spoiler alert.

How about the plot hole where they make a clone, brainwash it, create a false identity, then send that clone outside of the facility, have him hijack a plan, crash it, hopes he survives the crash, then hopes he survives through Rapture's traps and mutants to kill one guy?

I mean they're in a giant fishtank with weapons and enhanced abilities and that was plan the best assassination this intellegent con artist could think of?

The whole plot has more holes than my underwear after wearing it for a month straight.

i really enjoyed the actual end cutscene (where u save the girls), but thought it was too short. It was literally about a minute at most then just cut to the title screen, no credits, no nothing.

I agree though that it did drag a little bit at the end, I didnt mind the final confrontation the games last boss, but I wish it got there a little quicker (from confronting ryan up to the final boss, that is).

Also I REALLLY wish they made a multiplayer mode for this game, they really could have done some creative things with all the plasmid weapons, they could have incorporated collecting Adam into a fun territories/zones game. Maybe even a take down the big daddy multiplayer game where a bunch of people go against one super big daddy (sorta like juggernaut from Halo). Lack of multiplayer was the reason I didnt think this game was a "perfect 10" like so many people and reviewers said.

@ajefferism: Multiplayer balancing would've been a pain in the ass though. Hell, in the single player game throwing a corpse was more powerful than most of the weapons.

I remember him blaming the ending on the suits' intervention. Has he changed his story now?

@Heliophage: That is exactly what Bioshock needed. The game was promoted for the choices a player could make which was pretty limited but when the struggle with Ryan happened I couldn't believe choices weren't presented to see the story and players beliefs taken to conclusion instead of forcing it upon us.

@whiptcracker:

How about the plot hole where they make a clone, brainwash it, create a false identity, then send that clone outside of the facility, have him hijack a plan, crash it, hopes he survives the crash, then hopes he survives through Rapture's traps and mutants to kill one guy?

I didn't get that they made a clone. I was under the impression that they a stripper to seduce Ryan to make a baby in that down-home old-fashioned bow-chica-wa-wa way. Good times, plus it shows the human and flawed side of Ryan, despite his desire to be seen as perfect.

People can shoot lighting out of their fingers, and you're questioning brainwashing? Okay, here goes: the brainwashing technique was developed to turn regular men into Big Daddies. Atlas just co-opted it for another purpose. It makes what happens in the end of the game ironic, to say the least. Makes me feel like pushing a button for a bag of chips and all that.

The false identity was created to mask a death that didn't happen; already covered that.

I'll give you the plane crash. Not exactly the most efficient way of arriving when one wants to ensure survival, but damn if it wasn't dramatic. Certainly the protagonist wouldn't have any reason to suspect that someone would deliver him in that fashion, so if anything, it served to fool the weapon.

Atlas didn't hope the player would survive: Vitachambers. He can't die in Rapture. Which is why Ryan was chosen as the baby juice donor in the first place.* Atlas couldn't possibly know about the 100 point achievements for not using them, could he?

* This ultimately makes me wonder if we haven't seen the last of dear old Ryan.

Its always great when a creator isn't so married to his creation that he can objectively look at it and not only hear criticism but agree...

I've consistently been impressed with Levine and also can't wait to hear his talk later this morning. </