Bioshock Infinity: Burial at Sea

[Part of the Wasted Land story]

Booker wakes up in the underwater city of Rapture with little memory of what happened before and Elizabeth doesn't give him many hints, pushing him to help her on a case to find a missing girl - the latest in a string of disappearances, which has really upset Liz. Their investigation leads them to take a bathysphere down to an even deeper part of the city below, separated due to political rivalry. They catch sight of the missing girl early on but she quickly scampers into a vent to hide from them and the crazed, DNA altering addicts known as splicers that dwell down here. Fortunately a revolver bullet is still just as effective on them as on anyone else, but their attempt to secure the girl now transformed into a "little sister", angers a "Big Daddy" (scary diving suite brute) who drills through Booker's chest and smashes Liz through a wall.

She survives thanks to expending the last of her gift but wakes up a powerless captive of the gang leader Atlas who has also captured the little girl, and in exchange for their freedom Liz offers to refloat this section of the city. Atlas lets her try at least, and unlike Booker she has to be stealthy around foes - especially the patrolling Big Daddy in the main plaza. The silent crossbow that fires tranq and sleeping gas bolts is very handy as she ninjas around to find a lab and scavenge gear to repair the devices she needs. Good thing she was a studious prisoner!

Her contraption works and brings the deeper section back in line with the rest of Rapture which erupts into civil war. Obviously Atlas does not keep his word about setting her or the kidnapped girl free so he and his goons keep Liz around as a captive for a few weeks for their own amusement before growing too violent one night and leaving her to die forgotten and alone in the deep.

Safe to say that if you don't like downer endings, Bioshock Infinity (and its DLCs) aren't for you. It did do a good job of making me want to play the original Bioshock again though. :P

Bioshock Infinity: The Drownings

[Part of the Wasted Land story]

Despite the gunsmith being deceased from a police interrogation, Booker and Liz manage to find the hidden weapon stash for the Vox - with Booker gaining a nice sniper rifle and RPG out of it which he uses to take down the pursuing Handyman. With the weapons quickly distributed the Vox start a very violent revolution across the city and predictably, they are just as traitorous, violent and evil as their oppressors - reneging on their airship deal to start hunting them too as Liz is the prophet's "chosen one". After exploding a lot of them, they take the airship anyway but are then stopped by the monstrous metal bird who crashes their ride into a building - and somehow they survive again? [Note: there's a stupid part where you already get an airship but decide to sabotage it because the protagonists are idiots]

Figuring that the only way to get past the bird is to control it, the pair head to the prophet's house but find the door locked by a scanner which will only accept the hand of the prophet's dead wife. She isn't as dead as they would like though, and must spend a decent chunk of time chasing the evil spirit around the market place as she raises the plentiful supply of dead bodies in her wake. They eventually get the gate open but Liz is captured by the metal bird as they are crossing the bridge to the estate. Fortunately, it only takes her somewhere inside so Booker goes in guns blazing against the prophet's elite until he can rescue the girl again and kill the prophet himself via drowning.

Curious that the bad guy didn't just do this prior to the rescue attempt.

Hijacking the prophet's airship, Elizabeth works out how to control the metal bird using the power of music and gets it to destroy the numerous Vox dirigibles that give chase. Ultimately, she also uses it to destroy the remainder of the statue she was housed in after the prophet revealed it to be a siphon of some sort. Sure enough, with it gone her full powers manifest and the steel bird becomes hostile once again. It is too late however as with a snap of her fingers she transports herself and Booker into some deep underwater city with the great beast outside in the water. There is nothing it can do but die. She then turns to Booker and tells him a truth he doesn't want to hear before drowning his mind in darkness.

Bioshock Infinity: Columbian Baptism

[Part of the Wasted Land story]

 

These guys are the best part of the early game.

Being launched from a lighthouse into the city of Columbia floating on the clouds caught Booker by surprise, but if that's what it took to do the job of getting the girl to clear his debt so be it. Mingling with the crowds during some sort of festival, his status as an outsider is discovered which puts him at violent odds against the local police force and "firemen", who actually start fires in this place. Luckily their guns aren't too different from those on the ground and he uses a machine gun to cut down all opposition while making his way toward a giant statue of an angel which ironically is also the prison of his target - a young lady named Elizabeth.

While she is hesitant to trust him, she has no qualms about getting out of there via a nearby airship. Alas, on board is also a most zealous nun (most of the populace are zealots believing in their local "prophet") who self detonates and sends Booker and Liz into the man made floating sea below. They somehow survive this and the armed forces that pursue them soon after with Booker needing to get creative with a shotgun since he lost his previous weapon in the crash, but the girl is unhappy to be with a murderer so she blindsides Booker and knocks him out to make her escape alone.

Booker awakes as a hostage of the Vox, the rebellious faction group of non-white Americans who are used and treated like slaves. Due to his appearance he is given a chance to "buy" a stolen airship from them, in exchange he just needs to get them a whole bunch of weapons from their Chinese gunsmith contact in Finktown. En route, Booker encounters a monstrous cyborg "Handyman" but escapes thanks to Elizabeth's intervention. She might not like him, but she admits that she will need his help to escape as there's a giant metal bird that keeps preventing her in doing so.

The Cursed: Being Drow

[Part of the Cursed story line]

It's not all fun and games in Ust Natha as the team is soon tasked to assist the Drow warrior, Solaufein, to rescue the matron mother's daughter, Phaere, from some mind flayers. A perimeter of skull traps greatly helps this endeavor.

Unfortunately Phaere is quite the ungrateful bitch, promptly sending the group off to kill a spell jamming beholder smuggler (lol what?) followed by killing both the Svirfneblin and Solaufein. Those last two tasks are easily faked with the "victims" agreeing just to hand over proof that "they're dead".

Arr, would ye like some smuggled Hambrew coffee!?

(Hambrew being Minitature Giant Space Hamster poop)

This earns them a meeting with the Matron Mother who is planning some big ceremony but needs "noble" blood from of one of the nearby races. The Elder Eye actually counts for this, which means Jan and Elizabeth didn't die for nothing!

Insight: Instead of the elder eye, you could also go after a Kuo-toa prince or an Illithid elder brain. I'm kinda happy we just had the eye in the pack at that point.

The Cursed: Underdark

[Part of the Cursed story line]

The Underdark is dark and full of terrors, mainly in the form of drow at the arrival area. Drow might not sound very terrifying, until you remember that their sun light averse gear is actually in the +5 range so fighting them on their home turf is quite challenging!

So... if we take her to the sunlight she becomes naked? :P

To make matters worse, the team learns from some duergar that a pair of other outsiders (Irenicus and Bodhi) were last seen entering the nearby Drow city. That same city keeps it gates closed to team (rightfully so, after they killed all those Drow patrols) so Jan suggest to look for a tunnel or something that leads under the walls.

The first tunnel they enter is home to a beholder and an elder eye, and the party uses almost everything they have to win the fight. Unfortunately Jan and Elizabeth are left lying dead there while the survivors retreat.

Insight: At this point your mage should be rocking Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting which does big area damage while not hurting allies. Perfect against those drow parties who like to close the distance. Even with their increased resistance, they'll take half damage.

The Cursed: Battle for Spellhold

[Part of the Cursed story line]

The remaining asylum tests are easy and the squad finds themselves back at the main floor with the other inmates. For a cheap bribe, Catharina releases all of them (all powerful mages) and directs their anger at Irenicus.

He looks more menacing with his mask on.

Backed by the mage army, the team proceeds to the lab to fight Irenicus, and in an explosive and colorful battle find victory as Irenicus retreats, leaving some minions to cover his escape. Unfortunately, every single one of the inmates dead when the battle is over.

Not willing to let him escape the team does a quick search of Spellhold and find the portal he ran through. Without time to waste, they pursue and find themselves in... the Underdark!?

Insight: Letting bad guys escape by cutscene is also rail roading, aka bad design!

The Cursed: Beneath the Madness

[Part of the Cursed story line]

The first challenge in the Asylum basement the team faces is who to leave behind, due to the stupid 6 person party rule. Mazzy volunteers herself so Imoen can join, and the little halfling hero promptly finds a small grating to crawl through to try solo her way out.

I think we all know who the real hero is.

Everyone else is left to deal with a surprising amount of yuan-ti, some of whom are baited into a crushing hallway for faster clearance. There are also riddle rooms which Elizabeth and Imoen solve easily.

Disturbingly, there's a lich down here too but he is beaten thanks to Catharina's summoned Hakeashar (magic eating spirit) and a few lucky blasts from Nalia's wand of wonder.

Eventually they run into Bodhi's hunting party and Catharina totally loses it, transforming into a monstrous demon that attacks everyone! Bodhi flees once more, and Catharina eventually reverts no normal. Apparently her missing soul isn't killing her like Imoen, it's turning her into that.

Insight: After this point you get the ability to transform into that at will, though you take a reputation hit and might go berserk each time.

The Cursed: Soul Taker

[Part of the Cursed story line]

The vampires are easily killed, as are the pirate scum of the town whom Catharina couldn't help but mess with. They then advance on to Spellhold itself and run into the "new" manager, Irenicus!

He wears metal armor in exactly one spot only. Lol.

Knocked out in this unexpected encounter, Catharina awakens in another experimental chamber where Irenicus rips out her soul to take for his own. Somehow Catharina survives this, so Irenicus then leaves them to be taken care of by his sister, Bodhi!

Fortunately Bodhi is a moron and opts to throw the team, fully armed, into the lowest basement of the asylum so she can play a game of cat and mouse before killing them. Imoen is here, also lacking a soul, and feels like she is dying.

Insight: I hate getting KO'ed by cutscene. People really need a way to avoid that as it is bad design: rail roading.

The Cursed: Onwards to Insanity!

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Assaulting the vamp nest proves to be easy with summons, and more than a few are staked in the process. Bodhi herself comes near death before flying away as a bat... an immortal bat who resisted magic spells and weapons.

Pity none of them are this cool.

To keep their end of the bargain the Shadow Thieves have tracked down Imoen to the island asylum of Spellhold and have already arranged a ship there. Apparently that's the extent of their "help" as the party have to do the heavy lifting themselves!

Neera is very uncomfortable about visiting an asylum specifically for mages so she is dismissed and Elisabeth rejoins the team in her place. Upon arrival at Spellhold's adjacent pirate town, the team is ambushed by vampires thanks to the cowardice of their ship's captain who quickly runs away.

He must be related to Anomen.

Insight: Remember to visit the temple for restoration if any of your team get drained. Suddenly not being able to cast high level spells and having reduced max hit points is not ideal.

The Cursed: Trapped in the Woods

[Part of the Cursed story line]

While the forest is home to low level enemies, it is laced with magical traps (thanks Neera) one of which transforms Valygar into a squirrel. Due to the wild magic zone, the casters can't dispel this and so abandon him to his tiny, furry fate.

Valygar isn't happy.

Trying to navigate this place without a rogue (trap detector) is terrible so the team returns first to the city where Jaheira is again approached by Harpers who warn her that her execution has been mandated and that attacks on the party are going to increase soon. 

While she ponders on that Elizabeth is swapped out (and goes deep in her cups) for the Yoshimo, who helped them escape the Irenicus dungeon at the start. With him detecting traps in the party the team easily reaches Neera's wild magic sanctuary and they begin helping out with the numerous fetch quests given by the inhabitants there.

Insight: Definitely bring a thief to the wild forest. Not only do you get XP from disabling traps, you also avoid the adverse effects of said traps! Poor, poor Valygar...

The Cursed: Schools of Magic

[Part of the Cursed story line]

After a quick side trip to return the Knights of Solamnia, Valygar drives the sphere back to the Athkatla slums where it finally runs out of gas. At this point the cowled wizards show up and begrudgingly grant the Planar Sphere to Valygar, on the condition that they can use it as a school for apprentices.

Hmm, should have explored Krynn a bit more.

The team have no problem with that, and Catharina gets the first three students crafting a lowly magic items. From them she learns about a magic refuge in the Southern woods and so the team investigates and finds Neera there!

Her wild magic teleported her out of that bottomless chasm, and now she has created a refuge for other wild mages being hunted by the red wizards of Thay. The only problem is she forgot how to get in. Catharina decides to help her but soon finds this entire area is a wild magic zone, making the most regular spells go awry.

Insight: Bring health pots here. Casting heals will most likely not result in healing.

The Cursed: Fuel my Heart

[Part of the Cursed story line]

The sphere is huge, and using broken golem bits Catharina assembles one of her own which helps in destroying a wandering beholder within. They finally reach the cockpit and find the lich that owns this thing waiting for them.

It is a tough fight but Catharina's pierce magic does the trick in lowering his defenses until his defeat by Valygar's blade. Of course, he had flown the sphere to hell during this time and in his dying breath laughs, saying they need demon hearts to power it up once more.

"Good thing he brought us to hell then," said Lu Lingqi. True enough, disembarking they found a good number of demons just waiting to be slain and have their hearts taken as fuel. Not too hard a task with invis scouting, cloud kill, and summoned sword spiders.

We have ignition!

Insight: While not poisonous, sword spiders are great summons as they attack very quickly. Anything not physical resistant is in big trouble against them, especially if they are hastened as well!

The Cursed: Planar Sphere

[Part of the Cursed story line]

With the Umar Hills safe, the team returns to the city and Jaheira is again accosted by Harpers. While violence is avoided once more, she does take the drastic step of quitting that organization! The group proceed to the Planar Sphere which Valygar does open. Inside they find misplaced Knights of Solamnia (from Dragonlance) who warn that this place (it's a space ship) is very dangerous.

Iron golems are dangerous even without weapons.

This is true, not so much for the cannibal halflings on board but for the numerous golems guarding the place. The large iron ones in particular are very tough as they are both weapon and magic resistant.

Insight: Iron Golems are towering menaces, but that also means they can't fit through man-sized doors. Use that to your advantage!

The Cursed: Shadow Boxing

[Part of the Cursed story line]

The search for the missing folk leads to a dark, forgotten temple full of shadows (the enemy) which somehow Rasaad can still punch and kick to death. He's improved heaps! Inside they find the halfling Mazzy imprisoned and rescue her.

She info dumps that her team came here to be heroes too, but they all got caned by the shadow dragon further in. The dragon's master - a shade lord who was once imprisoned here, was saving her as his next "host".

Mazzy is sent back to her home in Trademeet while the team delves on through undead and traps which are very annoying without a thief! Eventually they reach the shadow dragon and literally kick its butt. The shade lord afterwards is laughable, being weaker than most of his minions.

Yes, Rasaad is kicking the shadow dragon to death!

With his destruction, light returns to this forest. Quest complete!

Insight: There's a wardstone that makes you invisible to the Shadow Dragon until you attack or interact with him, so use the time to prepare buffs, summons and traps!

The Cursed: Got Rep

[Part of the Cursed story line]

After solving a few more minor issues at Trademeet, Korgan has had enough of the goody-two-shoes routine and leaves the party as they head on to the Umar Hills where people have reportedly gone missing.

Unimpressed dwarf is unimpressed.

While searching the woods, a band of Harpers comes for Jaheira but are convinced to stand down and leave. They also come across the criminal wanted by the Cowled Wizards, Valygar Corthala hiding in a remote cabin.

He claims innocence, saying he's only wanted for his blood which can open the mysterious planar sphere in the slums district of Athkatla. Lu Lingqi decides to give him the opportunity to prove it, and lets him join the team.

Insight: Reputation is a two edged sword. The high reputation my party had here caused Korgan to leave but also prevented the fight with the Harper group.

The Cursed: Druid Duel

[Part of the Cursed story line]

The druid grove is home to spiders, trolls, and druids being turned to the extremist shadow druid way by their new leader, Faldorn! It seems she survived that flamestrike after all. Fortunately, the druids chose leaders based on ritual duels so Cernd steps up.

To everyone's surprise, Cernd is actually a greater werewolf and rips Faldorn to pieces and subsequently staying to redirect the druids back to a more peaceful path.

It's like fighting a random tribesman only for him to turn into this.

More problematic is the rogue rakshasa who is found hiding nearby, as the team has no weapons capable of killing it. They retreat and opt for the other solution instead - killing all the djinn in Trademeet instead. This works out better, though it does leave Raven Skinnybastard petrified.

Since he's pretty safe here in that form (even used as decoration in town), the team take Rasaad to fill his spot.

Insight: Cernd's greater werewolf form is awesome, but he can't equip/use/cast anything while in that form.

The Cursed: Trading in Problems

[Part of the Cursed story line]

The next stop from the De'Arnise keep is the city of Trademeet which for some reason is under attack by wild animals. In addition to that, a number of djinn have set up camp outside and have basically stopped all trade to the city (through charm buying everything) until the rakshasa they are hunting is killed.

You have it backwards - the genies make the wishes and you are the slaves!

Because not enough is going on, a recovered Rasaad is spotted here as well - fighting and defeating others of his Sun Soul monk order. When questioned after, he claims that this is a ruse to infiltrate a new monk cult. They leave him to do that and go chat with the mayor who has a druid scapegoat locked up for trial.

This druid, Cernd, claims to also be investigating the animal attacks, and with a little diplomacy the team secure his release and in return he shows the way to the nearby druid grove, the likely source of these problems.

Insight: You won't be able to trade with anyone here other than the Djinn who have terrible prices. Sell your stuff back in the city before coming here!

The Cursed: Troll Fort

[Part of the Cursed story line]

The closest stop outside Athkatla is the De'Arnise Keep, where the daughter of the household, Nalia De'Arnise was encamped outside with a few guards. The keep itself had fallen to troll and yuan-ti invaders, and she was trying to reclaim it.

Having had experience in sieges before, Catharina agrees to help. Much like Dragonspear Castle, there is a secret tunnel to access the fortress and unlike Dragonspear, the enemies here are weak and easily wiped out.

It was no hassle what so ever.

Nalia is thankful for the assistance, but now faces the reality that if she takes ownership of the now empty De'Arnise throne, she would be stuck to a previously arranged marriage to a douche bag. Catharina suggests a life of adventure instead, and directs her to the Copper Coronet to make her own group of explorers.

Insight: In case you forgot, you need fire or acid to finish a downed troll. Leave them long enough and they get back up at full health.

The Cursed: Breaker of Prisons

[Part of the Cursed story line]

With the cult of the Unseeing Eye destroyed, the team decide to check up on Haer'Dalis and his theater troop - only to find them being abducted by inter-planar bounty hunters! The party follow into the planar prison, and defeat the demons in charge of it. Of course, most of the slaves actually die during this but the theater company is fine.

These two also made it out. They always do.

They opt to teleport on to Sigil, but Haer'Dalis returns with Catharina's team back to Athkatla in hopes of adventuring with her (specifically Lu Lingqi) one day. Keldorn, happy with recent events, invites them all to his house to meet his wife and daughters. This doesn't go so well as his wife is upset at the job hours he keeps and admits to having a relationship with another man! Distraught, Keldorn leaves to report this to the courts, leaving the party one member down again.

They decide to visit Jaheira at the docks and find a Harper inquisition waiting for them! Unwilling to be magically imprisoned for eternity the team slay all the Harpers present with the exclusion of Jaheira who wisely decided to side and rejoin with her old team. Having had enough of the city, the party decides to leave it to follow one of the many quest hooks outside but before doing so, they pay a quick trip to the adventure mart to gear up properly. At this point they had 94k gold anyway.

Insight: The Robe of Vecna at the Adventure Mart is very handy as it reduces spell casting time. Instant skull traps? Yes please!

The Cursed: Looking and Unseeing

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Having had enough of the Graveyard, the team heads into the Temple sewers next to hunt down a new cult forming below. An encounter with a well equipped band of brigands sees Minsc getting killed by a magical throwing axe which Korgan claims for himself before kicking Minsc's corpse down one of the many shit pipes. Taking his place is the paladin Keldorn, who is also looking for this mysterious cult down here.

Instead, the group finds the secret lair of a wizard who has enslaved the local actor Haer'Dalis. After rescuing the hapless actor the team goes deeper into the sewers and finds the base of the Unseeing Eye cult. It doesn't take much to learn that these self-blinding crazies worship a beholder who is looking for half of a powerful artifact, since it already has the first half.

The team finds it first in a long forgotten temple even further down before hopping into the beholder's lair to face the monster. There are a surprising number of undead servants here too, but most of the trouble comes from the random beholders and gauths (little beholders) in the area. Catharina makes use of all the summoning scrolls she has been hanging onto, letting her own skeles, efreeti and fire elemental handle all the dirty work. As for the Unseeing Eye, Korgan uses the assembled artifact (it's a plasma rifle) to almost one shot it, making it the easiest enemy in the entire place!

Beware of dwarves with plasma rifles!

Insight: Buying the Shield of Balduran at the Adventure Mart would have saved a lot of headaches here as it reflects beholder rays, but summoned fire elementals are a good fall back as they are immune to most of what the eye tyrants can throw.