So like many people I started a new game immediately after finishing the first run. I'm still pretty early on but I'm already amazed by the new meaning a lot of events and dialogue take on in the context of the ending. For instance, when the Luteces are rowing the boat in the very beginning, male Lutece insists "No, he DOESN'T row." The first time I took this to mean that I Booker was a VIP and they were not to let him row. I realized instead that they must already know how every permutation of this scene will play out, and they know that Booker does not row in any of them.

Of course, the baptism scene in the beginning takes on a new meaning as well. Comstock has a few Voxophone recording in which he muses about the fate of the sinner when the baptized man emerges from the water. I initially dismissed this as a mildly interesting, if confusing, theological thought experiment. He's actually tying his knowledge of other dimensions into his preaching.

Has anyone else noticed any fun new perspectives on events in their second playthrough?

Near the end of the game the Vox yell "comstock" they are mistaking you for him I supposed.

I'm about 3/4 way through my second playthrough and have noticed the same thing. Very awesome, a lot of little things I'm picking up on. Also, I've found a lot more audio logs.

I'm considering playing through a again on hard, but I've heard mixed things about the hard difficulty. Does it make the combat more interesting or just frustrating?

First time though I shot everything. Second time (hard) I used A LOT more vigors.

Has anyone tried 1999 mode?

I played through on hard the first time and I've started again on 1999 mode. I'm like 2 hours in is all, but if you get headshots and take it slowly it isn't that bad yet. I imagine some of the fights later on are going to suck.

@Lukeweizer

Like Skytylz I'm also taking it very slow, which does heighten the sense of immersion and really allows you to take in all of the details.

Also, the first time you are in the office you can hear a distinct British accent when you hear "Bring us the girl!". An audio cue that completely went over my head the first time when I was searching for visual hints in order to make more sense of the extremely well paced but objectively convoluted opening act.

Upgraded charge made the back half of 1999 mode pretty much a cake walk for me. It's borderline game breaking.

On topic, I really want to know what's up with that woman who calls Elizabeth Annabelle.

@wilyboy said:

Still need to run through this a second time if I get the time, but I thought that the wounded knee/boxer rebellion museum bits are pretty brilliant with knowledge of the ending.

i played through the first time on hard. i think the problem people have with the combat stems from the fact that medium difficulty is too easy. on hard you are FORCED to use everything you can to get through the fights. the rails, tears and vigors become tactical necessities. you cant just run around and punch guys to death like jeff likes to do. it doenst get too frustrating, there were a few points where i was a bit stuck but it was never too much to handle.

There was a woman who does that? I must have missed it. Was she suffering from weird cross-universe crazies? Maybe in another universe Elizabeth's name is Anabelle?

Check out what Elizabeth was reading.

It's right before Booker and Elizabeth get ambushed at the ticketing counter.

The woman is an agent of Comstock, there for some days with a team waiting for Booker and Elizabeth's arrival in accordance with one of his visions. Asking if her name is Annabelle is the way she confirms they are the correct targets. The choice of name may also be a way for Comstock to test the state of Booker's memories.

EDIT: And you do realize that her original name is Annabelle right? Before she was kidnapped by Comstock and rechristened?

Can someone explain how Comstock knew that Booker would have the AD mark on his hand if he only branded himself after giving up Anna....I'm sure it's obvious I must have just missed it.

Also yeah I just S-ranked the game and there was a bunch of stuff I picked up on replaying the game. Comstock has a military suit with a medal of honor on it in his private quarters that I can only assume he received at wounded knee.

Does anyone know how many of the red tears are in the game (and what they do)? I can only remember one in the Fink factory near Chen-Lin's worshop and one in Emporia inside Fink's brother's house.

The only thing i can think of is that the Lucetes told him that he had branded himself with it as punishment. Thats all i can think of.

@skytylz: tell me how the lady comstock ghost bosses come along, i am looking forward to getting 100% achievement completion on the game, though i am afraid of 1999 mode because the boss fights were insanely hard on hard difficulty

@vinny_says: Comstock was using the Lucete's technology to look into the future. That's how his whole 'prophet' gig came about. He saw timelines where Booker was going to show up and knew about the mark that way.

As for 1999 mode Lady Comstock and the second Handyman are a nightmare but otherwise it's about playing really slow. Sometimes obnoxiously slow. Every enemy is a super sniper marksman with a machinegun in that mode and being out in the open for seconds is going to get you dead.

The red tears are tears into our (players) reality. It's established through a voxophone or something that comstock was opening portals to the future of what was presumably our own reality to steal music among other things.