[Walter Cranston]
"Huh... heh-heh-heh... geh... I-ng... oh God...
(Coughing)
[Walter]
It's coming apart... I'm coming... apart...
Mary... I hope you never hear this but... I have to say something... I have speak because... my mind is the only... the only thing left of me that's still... me.
(A long pause)
"Listen to me, Mary... stop using the plasmids. You have to-hrng!... They aren't safe! Something's wrong... I don't know... if I got a bad batch or if... if they knew it would do this to me all along. Those bastards... they just sell it... they're on every street... big bright colors... everyone come and... mutate. Evolve. Heh-heh... ha ha ha ha! Oh God...
(The sound of breaking glass in the distance, screams. The sound fades.)
[Walter]
"It started out like nothing... a stomach ache maybe, mm-maybe something more. I felt... my arm felt like it was made of putty, and my face... no...
(Coughing)
"You have to stop. Whatever ADAM is... whatever it does... it's not safe. Did we really think we could be... gods... just by... injecting ourselves with... it. I want you to... nnraagh!
(Vomitting)
Huh... huh... Oh God is that my... heh heh... heh heh heh ha ha ha ha ha! Mm... rrnngh... ah... ah-hah... huh-huh...
(A long pause, heavy breathing and the drip of something wet)
"Mary... Mary... oh God it hurts... I... have to... find a doctor. I have to... find... some ADAM. Oh... oh yes, just a little... just enough to... take the hurt off... just a little, please... Mary, Mary..."
(Something in background groans heavily, deeply, like a rumbling humpback whale.)
[In background]
"Come on, Mr. Bubbles. Angels are waiting for us."
[Walter]
"Mary, Mary! Don't go Mary! Just a little ADAM! It hurts! Aaaagh!"
(Gunshots)
[Little Girl's Voice]
"Kill him Mr. Bubbles! Kill him!"
(Loud roaring.)
(Gunshots.)
[Walter]
"N-no! No, please! I didn't mean it! Mary! Mary! YAAAAAAAAGH!
(Drilling noise.)
(Deep groan.)
[Little Girl's Voice]
"Angry little angel... we'll make you feel all better..."
[Recording ends.]
The gentleman in this story I wrote was probably a decent man. He loved Mary. I think he used ADAM routinely, maybe he was a shy nobody who bought into the Plasmid hype and beefed himself up to win over Mary. Maybe she even fell for him. But then things got worse and worse for him and Rapture. Maybe she tried to leave him, and in his confused state he killed her, only realizing it later, and by then it was just another blurred aspect of his broken psyche.
And you're right, they were people. They're broken, and most of them are angry, scared, and confused. They didn't want what happened to them. They didn't want to do horrible things to the people they used to know. But they did. That's the horror of Rapture.
I think it's a curious direction they're taking, it, though. A sky-city full of Jingoistic, American Exceptionalists, driven to zealous, xenophobic mania. Yeah, no underlying political message there.
Maybe I'm just being silly, of course. It'll be cool to see the Steampunk aspect with American Independence-era flavors instead of Victorian English. Though with the wide open spaces and sunlight, it'll lose some of that horror aspect the "Shock" series has enjoyed since System Shock.
You can literally hear it in your head while reading it, it's just spooky! I'd certainly think twice about using an EVE hypo again if I heard a guy in an audio diary vomit up his spleen or whatever body part he managed to.
I found it odd; the splicers are clearly insane, and you can listen to them ramble, but there are no audio files that really capture their insanity for the player. Otherwise they're just foes to shoot, aren't they? You don't have much sympathy if they're just thugs trying to gun you down.
I envisioned this file being found later in the game, but reading it over again, I realize it would make a great log to find at the very beginning of the game, wouldn't it? The insanity the man feels and the clear symptoms of withdrawal and delusion... and then the presence of the Big Daddy and Little Sister to add an extra dash of menace to the things lurking in Rapture.