[DigitalFreak]

 

Spoiler: Warning%3A%20Spoiler!

Don't you think you guys may be over thinking all this? I've never played the game and I only know what I've read about it on here but here's my 2 cents on the subject. In my mind before there can be multiple timelines there has to be a starting point somewhere along 1 key timeline where everything branches from. Maybe the Booker in the game is the original Booker whose actions threw the normal timeline into a flux which caused a branching of infinite timelines. Elizabeth could be the key catalyst to shut down the infinite timelines and restore balance therefore the main catalyst which time flows around wouldn't so much be Booker but would be the original Elizabeth in the original timeline which infinite timelines branch from. Yes there are other Elizabeth's and Booker's out there in the infinite timelines but whether they be evil or not could possibly have no bearing. For instance, what one timeline would deem evil and wicked another timeline would deem pure and good. Therefore whether we or any of the characters in the game would consider Elizabeth, or Booker for that matter, as good or evil would have no bearing on the final outcome or how the various characters in the various timelines choose to interact with one another and what the end result must be to restore balance. The fact the other Booker's and other Elizabeth's would cease to exist would probably also have no bearing because of the fact the other entities in other timelines could believe the elimination of their timelines as only a rejoining of their true selves back into the starting timeline.
 
I don't know, makes sense to me. An here I thought I had left my geeky gamer side behind to die in the late 90's.

 

 

[333jeffery]

The simplest explanation is that the writers took the easy way out. You can't really cover something as broad as infinity in something as finite as a story in a videogame. Imagine all the possible endings!

 

[warrenpchi]

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Spoiler: Warning%3A%20Spoiler!

It could also be that all the Bookers need to progress to Combstock to keep the fabric up, each one acting as an important pillar in the dimensional continuums. Maybe with the collapse of our own Booker, the whole thing becomes unstable, wiping out the existence of all other Bookers and erasing all that happened right before Elizabeth's conception.

 

Spoiler: Warning%3A%20Spoiler!

That's just it though: I don't see why they're interdependent as permutations. The very idea of "possibilities" implies divergences, and the worlds are completely separate outcomes. The only way for one Booker's death to cascade into all possible worlds to my thinking is if it occurs outside of the spacetime continuum, if somehow that single Booker "stands in" for all possible Bookers. This is basically what become of the twins: they exist outside of spacetime due to a freak accident and now they can appear at any point in time in any reality.
 
This goes back to my original theory about Elizabeth: that she is somehow able to "pull" the death of Booker into all possible worlds, just as she can pull things into the current world throughout the game. That seems like God-level power to me tho, and it's a little silly to think it arose due to a bit of her pinky being left behind is a smelly alleyway.
 
Your point about infinite Elizabeths goes back to another point of mine: what about the Elizabeth who has powers (because there are infinite "powered" Elizabeths and infinite "not powered" Elizabeths) who decides she wants to save Booker? Actually, there could be an infinite number of powered Elizabeths who want to save Booker and stop him from being drowned. There could be an infinite number of evil Elizabeths.
 
It all falls back to the point I made in the very beginning: that with the idea of infinite possible timelines, you kind of *have* to allow for an infinite number of exceptions and contingencies. I mean, the game even seems to acknowledge this when we see a possible Booker at the end who never sold his daughter. It would seem like Booker isn't "erased." I mean, think about the ethics behind that: there are an infinite number of Bookers who are innocent, who have nothing to do with Comstock, who never sold their daughters.

 

Spoiler: Okay%2C%20hold%20on%2C%20I%20think%20I%20might%20be%20onto%20something.

Let's start with a few assumptions:
 

1. Within any given timeline/universe (which we shall treat as a closed system), there can only be one Booker/Comstock at a time (minus external interference from tears).
2. All timelines/universes without a Comstock in them don't matter (obviously).
3. All timelines where Booker was removed via a tear don't matter (see above).
4. All timelines where Anna DeWitt remained Anna DeWitt, or was never born, don't matter.

 
Since infinity minus anything other than infinity is still infinity, the above doesn't mean a whole lot quantitatively in terms of the total timeline/universe tally, but it does introduce a concept that isn't readily apparent to us... that the number of timelines/universes that exhibit the above may in fact be finite.  Within infinity, there can be finite subsets.  In other words, not everything within a infinite set is infinite itself.  Tilpo, feel free to step in with that cardinality, axiom of choice, and axiom of determinancy stuff if you like.
 
So okay, now we can get somewhere.  In addition to the above, let's also consider that in order for the storyline to play out, there must be an interaction of two timelines/universes.  What I mean to say is that - given the assumtions above - the only timelines/universes that matter are the ones where Booker was not removed from the timeline/universe, became Comstock at some point, then kidnapped Anna DeWitt from another timeline/universe at some point, AND had a Booker DeWitt pulled in from another timeline/universe at some point (presumably from the same timeline/universe that the aforementioned Anna DeWitt was kidnapped from).  This scenario involves at least two timelines/universes.  Moreover, the timeline from which Booker was removed immediately becomes irrelevant as there can be no Comstock there.
 
I know I'm probably not being too clear about this, but what I'm trying to say is that each instance of this storyline is in fact a member of a self-reducing finite set.  And that means, that given enough instances, it would in fact be possible to wipe out all such members over time.  So what does this all mean?  Simple, it means Ken Levine ****ed up and should have just named the game Bioshock Columbia.
 
Or alternatively, that damned hummingbird is the evil mastermind behind all of this and we just haven't figured out what his/her endgame is.

 
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Spoiler: Warning%3A%20Spoiler!

Don't you think you guys may be over thinking all this?

 
Nope! 

 

[eke2k6]

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Spoiler: Okay%2C%20hold%20on%2C%20I%20think%20I%20might%20be%20onto%20something.

Let's start with a few assumptions:
 

1. Within any given timeline/universe (which we shall treat as a closed system), there can only be one Booker/Comstock at a time (minus external interference from tears).
2. All timelines/universes without a Comstock in them don't matter (obviously).
3. All timelines where Booker was removed via a tear don't matter (see above).
4. All timelines where Anna DeWitt remained Anna DeWitt, or was never born, don't matter.

 
Since infinity minus anything other than infinity is still infinity, the above doesn't mean a whole lot quantitatively in terms of the total timeline/universe tally, but it does introduce a concept that isn't readily apparent to us... that the number of timelines/universes that exhibit the above may in fact be finite.  Within infinity, there can be finite subsets.  In other words, not everything within a infinite set is infinite itself.  Tilpo, feel free to step in with that cardinality, axiom of choice, and axiom of determinancy stuff if you like.
 
So okay, now we can get somewhere.  In addition to the above, let's also consider that in order for the storyline to play out, there must be an interaction of two timelines/universes.  What I mean to say is that - given the assumtions above - the only timelines/universes that matter are the ones where Booker was not removed from the timeline/universe, became Comstock at some point, then kidnapped Anna DeWitt from another timeline/universe at some point, AND had a Booker DeWitt pulled in from another timeline/universe at some point (presumably from the same timeline/universe that the aforementioned Anna DeWitt was kidnapped from).  This scenario involves at least two timelines/universes.  Moreover, the timeline from which Booker was removed immediately becomes irrelevant as there can be no Comstock there.
 
I know I'm probably not being too clear about this, but what I'm trying to say is that each instance of this storyline is in fact a member of a self-reducing finite set.  And that means, that given enough instances, it would in fact be possible to wipe out all such members over time.  So what does this all mean?  Simple, it means Ken Levine ****ed up and should have just named the game Bioshock Columbia.
 
Or alternatively, that damned hummingbird is the evil mastermind behind all of this and we just haven't figured out what his/her endgame is.

 
 

 
 

Spoiler: Warning%3A%20Spoiler!

Eureka! It sounds entirely possible.
 
 

 
 
I love this thread

 

[warrenpchi]

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I love this thread

 
Just spitballing of course.  I could also be WAY off.
 
Your thoughts Mupps?  Maybe Irrational's hurried attempt to "rub one out" resulted in premature culmination?

 

[Achmedisdead]

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Just spitballing of course.  I could also be WAY off.
 
Your thoughts Mupps?  Maybe Irrational's hurried attempt to "rub one out" resulted in premature culmination?

Was bowei's lotion involved? 

 

[warrenpchi]

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Was bowei's lotion involved? 

 
Not that I saw.  But then again, there were parts of the game where I rushed through it.  Does this count?
 

 

[a_recording]

And suddenly this thread just becomes spoiler tags booooo.

 

[Achmedisdead]

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Not that I saw.  But then again, there were parts of the game where I rushed through it.  Does this count?
 

Looks painful....

 

[eke2k6]

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And suddenly this thread just becomes spoiler tags booooo.

 
Join us! Play the game 
 

 

[warrenpchi]

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And suddenly this thread just becomes spoiler tags booooo.

 
Well, I'd post it in the clear, but I think that Mupps would be mad at me if I did that.  Plus, not everyone's played it yet. 

 
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Looks painful....

 
Only if you do it wrong. 

 
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Join us! Play the game 
 

 
Hey would you look at that!  Never thought I'd see something from Watchtower posted in this thread. 

 
And yeah, a_rec why u no play?  After all that stuff posted about game design and what not... sure you talk a good game... but isn't it about time that you suffer tolerate enjoy Bioshock Infinite like the rest of us? 

 

[eke2k6]

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Hey would you look at that!  Never thought I'd see something from Watchtower posted in this thread. 

 

 
 
 

Spoiler: Warning%3A%20Spoiler!

 

[a_recording]

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Join us! Play the game 
 

 
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And yeah, a_rec why u no play?  After all that stuff posted about game design and what not... sure you talk a good game... but isn't it about time that you suffer tolerate enjoy Bioshock Infinite like the rest of us? 

 
Lol. I'm really bad with completing games and play them pretty infrequently. I will get around to it eventually, also when the game gets cheaper. (Games are expensive in Australia). I have to get around to actually playing some multiplayer Starcraft. Lollipop Chainsaw was fun. I've got my eye on that XCom game.

 

[drez]

And suddenly this thread just becomes spoiler tags booooo.

Join us! Play the game 

Buy us a cd key lol ;D. Actually, don't really want to download 16 gigs or whatever either. At local prices I would rather spend the money on many other things like music etc.

 

[eke2k6]

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Buy us a cd key lol ;D. Actually, don't really want to download 16 gigs or whatever either. At local prices I would rather spend the money on many other things like music etc.

 
I'll be ballin' out of control in about 3 years. Free keys to Bioshock Infinite 2 for everyone!