So yeah I just bought this game once again on GOG.com after already having bought and currently playing the first game on Steam last week thinking it would never come to GOG...

Lucky for me that I have enough money at the moment and that these games are heavily discounted that both games are about as affordable as a Fast Food Meal for 2 people.

So on to the topic at hand.

Of these 2 specific games, and I am discounting System Shock 1, 2 and Bioshock Infinite and its DLCs completely.

Of these 2 games which do you find to be the best?

The more survivial horror esque first game or the straight up Doom-likeness of the second game?

The first, mostly because of the story (up to a certain point, after that it falls apart a bit - which even the writers admit, but they had to finish the game...).

The second has some very beautiful places, and the good ending is heart-wrenchingly cool, but overall the story about the rise and fall of Rapture works way better in the first game.

As toxicTom mentioned, the story of 1 is better, unfortunately, it has some frustratingly done controls.
The story of 2 is meh, but they improved the controls. However, the Minerva's Den DLC is great, and worth playing.

HOWEVER, I get the feeling that the remasters completely changed everything with a new engine, so the issue with controls shouldn't matter anymore.
What you want to do is play Bioshock 1, then play the Minerva's Den DLC of Bioshock 2.

Got hit by the remastered bug in Bioshock 1 where you can't avoid drowning in the opening sequence. It was never fixed in the remaster unfortunately - looks like I'll need a save past that point or wait for the original.

Having a blast with Bioshock 2 though - so far no issues.

The first has the better story but the second has the better gameplay. But both games are great.

Bioshock 2 is more like, Bioshock 1.5.

It's not bad by any stretch, it's just more of the same and it tries to hit a lot of the same beats as the first and misses them or they don't have the same impact.

more of an expansion pack than a sequel.

I'm technically playing Bioshock 2 (not remastered) right now. Technically, because I've had it on hold for almost a year.

How well integrated is the Minerva's Den DLC? Does it come up as part of the main game, or does it need to be started separately?

It's played separately from the rest of the game (through the Extras/Downloadable Content menu).

Which is why I suggested skipping the main game of 2 entirely.

Thanks! I'll take a look at it after I get back to the game at some point in the future.

Mechanically Bioshock 2 is the better game, but Bioshock 1 is a much better (emotional) experience.

Copy of my post in the release thread.

I actually like Bioshock 2 more than one. A lot of people don't like 2 because it hit a lot of the same notes, but if you play them out of order or just ignore the similar plots 2 is an improvement on most points. The combat is a lot better, the choices actually matter, and I found the character arcs to be much more rewarding.

For me the 1st one had better story like most say, but overall I preferred the second game. The first game has annoying respawning where you can walk around a corner a few yards, turn around and backtrack and have the enemies you just killed immediately respawn- the exact same enemies within a closed area. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the game also making ammo so scarce at times. For me it ruined the way I like to play- slow thorough exploration- as I was always running short of ammo dealing with respawns.

The second game had the spawning issue far less and felt much better as a result and I liked the level design better too.

Personally I would say... the second one.

The first one has, IMHO, one of the best opening 30 minutes but then... it kind of fall apart. The shooting is not very good and it kind of become very repetitive very soon and the story is not good enough to compensate for that. There is not really any tension and even the big daddies become a jokes once you gain access to electrics ammo.

The second one has better shooting and the possibility to have both a plasmid and a weapon at the same time really makes the game-play more nervous and more interesting.

Others have brought this up as well, but that info doesn't really have any relevance to the remasters, does it? Am i missing something or do not those have the same improved controls in both games?