Hi'!
I finally got Bioshock this monday and I have a few questions. I don't want to look in that other Bioshock thread because it says there are spoilers and I'm only in Arcadia right now.

So my questions:
When I use the vita chamber, does it have any negative effect on me except that I need to walk a little to get back to where I was? I'm playing the game on "hard" difficulty, so there seem to be some villains that can't be finished in one go, like Big Daddys and now the Houdini Splicer.

When I take a photo, it says A, B or C in the bottom right. What's that? Picture quality or something?

There are no negative consequences to using vita-chambers, although playing without them makes the game alot more fun IMO - just load when you die. I also played it on hard.

And yeah, the letter is the photo quality. Higher quality photos increase your research rank faster.

Using a vita chamber does not have any negative effect other than perhaps a slight loss of eve. It really is easier than loading and saving constantly. I hear that in the 360 version a lot of your achievements are recorded, so it might record how many times you "die" if you use the vita chambers. I played on the PC though with no such restriction.

Regarding photos, I just read the reply above mine, I didn't realise it was simply the photo quality. I had always thought it was levels of research, A to B to C. Doh.

That's what I thought at first but then I realized that they wouldn't always be in that order. So I thought it must be something else.

And re vita chamber: I usually load when I "just" die. But against big daddys etc. I don't seem to be able to make it in one go. Or I don't have enough monies to buy enough health packs.

The environment is great for big daddies. Bunch up alot of explodable barrels/tubes and get him to chase you to the spot then add a bit of fire, or attack one big daddy and hide behind another and get them to attack each other. I've heard (but not tried myself) that you're able to even attach proximity mines to items. Explosive barrel + 6 proximity mines + telekenesis would be nice. Just stuff like that. There's alot of ways to take them down.

I agree with Dire here. In fact this is one of the elements that has made the game quite replayable for me. I'm on the second playthrough now and am greatly enjoying finding different ways to bring down the daddies. There really are all sorts of combinations of equipment and plasmids and locations you can drag them to to use and enjoy. When you are done gunning them down you can lure them into a security bullseye, or enrage a bunch of splicers around them, or throw barrels at them. Obviously the possible methods are not endless, but there is enough flexibility there for it to be really enjoyable.

Regarding the vita chambers when killing big daddies, I did die the first couple of daddies I tried to bring down. Once you get the hang of things though (and become a bit more powerful) they become less of a challenge, even when you meet the more powerful rosies etc.

Lastly for those thinking or starting the game or just started, just play the game on hard right away. The medium mode is too easy, and in fact the hard mode is barely any harder. My main criticism of the game is that hard mode isn't really a super tough challenge like I would want it to be.

Am I the only one who doesn't have trouble with the Big Daddies? I was kind of disappointed that they were so easy to kill, especially with Frag Grenades (and now with incendiary trap bolts). Even early on I found they could go down pretty easily, with 24 armor, piercing rounds fired from a fair distance.

Now its become fun to come up with creative ways to off them. The best I've heard of (but have been unable to accomplish) is to fire a proximity mine at a deactivated, hacked security bot, enable the bot, shoot at the Big Daddy, and watch the Security Bot go on a suicide mission.

I'm already pretty deep into the game (no spoilers) and have only "died" and been resurrected in a Vita-Chamber once... when I let a Security alarm get way out of hand. Mostly, I don't even need to use more than a single first aid kit to get past a Big Daddy.

I will offer one minor hint below, in white for those who don't want spoilers.

Whenever offered the option to buy a "Health Upgrade" for 80 Adam at a Gatherer's Garden, take it. I wish I had taken those upgrades along the way...

Jester

It sounds like you were playing on easy/normal. The daddies are very challenging on hard. Depending on research levels, you're looking at around 20 point blank electric shotgun rounds. 24 armor piercing rounds wouldn't put much more than a dent in the lifebar.

I tried that. It's awesome. It gets him down to one fourth or less (it's good if you get a nitro or houdini splicer enraged that will stab a little at him) and then you can finish him off with armor piercing rounds. Best served from the revolver, obv.

I have never fired a single bolt yet, though. Maybe I should try them.

Freeze and bolts are awesome. Zooming makes it easier to shoot as well (duh, but I didn't know there was a zoom function on certain guns until about the 15th Big Daddy).

WRENCH!!! With the right powerups and plasmids, its the best weapon in the game against the splicers.

Especially later on in the game, save your good ammo for the daddies/bosses

Did the same, I wanted the game to last longer. Be careful to save after big battles though if doing this or you'll end up pissed.

Yup. 99% of my kills were Plasmid/Wrench. I killed MAYBE 2-3 guys total with bullets or other weapons.