I Chose The Impossible Survivor Glitch

[Lump_x]

Wanted to come on the forum page and set some information straight about the Survivor difficulty glitch to obtain the I Chose The Impossible trophy for the PS3 console version of Bioshock. After looking up information about the glitch, I did not feel confident in the information provided since there are conflicting reports but there can be many different factors for why it does not work so I wanted to clearly state my experience performing this glitch SUCCESSFULLY. 
 

I JUST performed the glitch on my second playthrough after playing to get all of the collectibles and upgrade trophies on my first. There are a lot of posts about people getting it and many stating that it does not work with certain versions. I followed the steps as explained in the first post from MainComptonese here:

 

https://www.playstationtrophies.org/forum/topic/30995-confirmation-to-switch-difficulties-for-gold-trophies/
 

The forum post goes over the versions that work with the glitch for PS3, the console version I'm writing about, but for TL;DR I'll break it down. The consensus is that the glitch DOES NOT work for any digital versions, any EU versions, the JP Spike the Best version, or the Ultimate Rapture version that comes with Bioshock Infinite. 
 

This glitch works on the PHYSICAL US/CAN versions - BLUS-30166/BLUS-30166F. The specific version I performed the glitch on is the US BLUS-30166. 

 

Steps to follow/what I did specifically:

1) Remove all Bioshock game data and save data from the PS3

2) Insert/Load the physical Bioshock disc (US version BLUS-30166)

3) REFUSE the 1.10 patch by pressing Circle

4) Start a new game by selecting Easy difficulty

5) DO NOT change any settings in the pause menu options regarding disabling the vita chambers OR the difficulty once you start playing

6) Play through the game up to the elevator to the final boss in Proving Grounds WITHOUT DYING or changing any options

 

(I did my playthrough in a single 5 hour sitting, saving at the beginning of every area WITHOUT DYING; Allegedly, if you do die, you can reload from a manual save BEFORE you died but I did my best to not die to prevent any issues)

 

7) Make one last save at the Proving Grounds BEFORE going up to face the final boss in case you miss the glitch timing

8) Fight the boss and when you drain the last vial of ADAM, pause as soon as the screen goes white (you can press start until you land on the white screen)

9) Go down to Options and press X

10) Go down to Difficulty and press X until you get to Survivor

11) Press Start to exit the pause menu back to the game; DO NOT press Circle to go back

12) Cutscene starts and the trophies should pop after the ending CG cutscene starts

 

If you don't get the trophies after strictly following all of the steps above, reload the save you made before taking the elevator up to the final boss and try again. Some users in the forum that I linked state that it took a few tries for them to get the pause timing right. I got it first try using the instructions I listed.

 

All 4 difficulty trophies stacked on this one playthrough using the glitch so you don't need to do multiple playthroughs for hard and survivor. 

Many reports state that the game will change the difficulty setting on its own at times but I did not run into this issue by verifying my difficulty had not changed before making any manual saves throughout my playthrough. 

Again, this was my SECOND playthrough after I had collected all other trophies on my first. People have stated that they were able to get all the trophies in one playthrough so you may be able to try that but I did not want to take an break and exit the game and ruin the glitch somehow.

 

My trophy list is updated and I have the platinum for anyone to verify. I earned it at 5:01 on December 30, 2022 and I only say this because some of the users that stated the glitch worked for them did not have the trophies in their lists and I'd like to provide transparency. I've written 2 guides for PSNP so I have no intentions of leading anyone astray about this glitch. 
 

I hope this helps anyone looking to clean up this trophy list and good luck to those trying to brave Survivor mode as intended!

Edited December 30, 2022 by Lump_x
Typo

[BumpkinPumpkin]

Thank you so much! I read this from the original creator's post as well and having been doing this method, but some of the context was unclear. I may have messed up already because I'm playing on Hard (I want challenge but not to the point where I pull my hair out on Survivor) and deactivated the Vita-Chambers. But I'm fairly sure that I deactivated them from the settings in the main menu and not in-game. I have died, but never respawned from a chamber; always reloaded a save. Hopefully this doesn't nullify the glitch, but if it does, I'll just follow this method to a tee while playing on Easy. 

[Lump_x]

On 1/3/2023 at 3:19 PM, BumpkinPumpkin said:

Thank you so much! I read this from the original creator's post as well and having been doing this method, but some of the context was unclear. I may have messed up already because I'm playing on Hard (I want challenge but not to the point where I pull my hair out on Survivor) and deactivated the Vita-Chambers. But I'm fairly sure that I deactivated them from the settings in the main menu and not in-game. I have died, but never respawned from a chamber; always reloaded a save. Hopefully this doesn't nullify the glitch, but if it does, I'll just follow this method to a tee while playing on Easy. 

Good luck! I hope it works for you and as long as you don't change the difficulty at all before fighting the boss, you should be okay. I tried to do the glitch on my first playthrough but couldn't get it to work so I tried to make the second playthrough as consistent as possible. There are plenty of posts about reloading working out so maybe you'll be part of that lucky group!

[BumpkinPumpkin]

2 hours ago, Lump_x said:

Good luck! I hope it works for you and as long as you don't change the difficulty at all before fighting the boss, you should be okay. I tried to do the glitch on my first playthrough but couldn't get it to work so I tried to make the second playthrough as consistent as possible. There are plenty of posts about reloading working out so maybe you'll be part of that lucky group!

I can confirm it worked! Got my platinum last night. Looks like it’s safe to disable vita-chambers and play on whatever difficulty you want! 

[Lil-Gameboy123]

Will the glitch work for Bioshock PS3 Copies that are on a Bioshock Infinite disk? That’s the case for me and I was wondering it this was tested or not.

[ZanFear]

I'm pretty sure when I looked into this over the last few years without doing it for myself yet (lol), people on YouTube said it won't work on the PS3 digital version that comes with the physical Infinite, which is what I have. But I also have the physical PS4 collection, so I'll leave my PS3 version as is and just do it on PS4.

[Lump_x]

Everything I've seen says the Ultimate Rapture version doesn't work for the glitch. You'll have to find a BLUS-30166 disc.

[charlomagno]

Guys one question, how hard the survival mode is? I mean it's really that hard?

[HoorayForTyler]

33 minutes ago, charlomagno said:

Guys one question, how hard the survival mode is? I mean it's really that hard?

For someone who’s never played BioShock, I’d say difficulty could be a 6-7/10. The fact that you can still save scum the game even with vita-chambers turned off makes things pretty easy. Big daddy fights could cause some problems early game, but everything else is pretty manageable.