somnomania

This is fantastic. I was trying to figure out what the connecting theme of Bioshock was from the very beginning of Infinite, now that the story has expanded from Rapture. It was at the point you mentioned, with the raffle and more in-your-face racism than the story had shown thusfar that I think I figured it out. The similarities lie in the utopian cities, fallen or falling into destruction that comes from within, and the heroes who may start the story thinking they're one thing, but end up as something very different at the other end. There are people in both who genuinely felt they were doing the right thing, even as people were dying because of it. There are also families, in all three games, that are revealed to be dysfunctional as hell, complete fabrications, or some combination of the two. I think you compared the games much more elegantly than I, however.

I liked Infinite's story, but not as much as the story of Rapture. Infinite was, appropriately, much more complex and multi-layered, to the point that I wasn't entirely sure what had happened by the end, and had to have some things explained to me by a friend. It was also a longer game, not that that's a bad thing, but there's something satisfying in routinely clearing Bioshock and Bioshock 2 in about 12 hours each. That's the thing about them, too; they have immense replay value. My attention span for games has gotten less and less over the years, and even other fantastic games like some of the Legend of Zelda titles or anything from the Assassin's Creed series can't keep my attention for long during a replay. I do it in fits and starts, sometimes with weeks between sessions. But Bioshock is different. I enjoy it just as much and get just as absorbed in it as I did the first time. Infinite, not so much. I'm actually watching a 3.5 hour long compilation of it on Youtube, of all of the plot and almost none of the gameplay, because I'm hoping a second go-round will allow me to understand it a little more, but the mechanics of the game did make it drag on a bit for me.

To the people commenting about how we're thinking too hard about this stuff, and looking for meaning where there isn't meant to be anything -- I'm pretty sure there's a lot of deeper meaning intended in a game that threw as many story-related curveballs as Infinite did, primarily in the last third of the game. If I feel like I need to have at least a passing knowledge of quantum mechanics to properly process what's just been explained in the game, well. That's a pretty deep story, in my opinion. In something that hits you in the face right off the bat with themes like utopia, self-appointed idols of a religious nature, and racism and prejudice, I'm pretty sure there's a lot to look at there in terms of symbolism and hidden meanings. And all of that is around before the quantum physics, multiple universes, and Schrödinger nonsense.

In the end, Bioshock is a series that makes you think, and is meant to make you think. Period. As with any good story, different people will find different things in it, both simple and complex. These are art games, beautiful to look at and experience, and crafted carefully with that intention.