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SOMA (Frictional Games)

Darth Roxor

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The audio in this game is crazy fucking gud.
 

Metro

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Please refer to this as an 'interactive movie' not a 'game.'

Anyway, I've watched a couple of videos of it and let me guess the twist that no doubt happens at the end:

The whole thing is an elaborate VR program designed to vet people who would want to go on the ark? Tests your stress/willingness to shed your humanity/etc? Right? Did I guess it?
 
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Metro

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Pfft, liar. I watched the ending. And people think this is 'deep?' Tropes lifted from a ten year old Stargate SG1 episode, that 6th Day movie, and I'm sure countless other works of fiction.
 
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potatojohn

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Pfft, liar. I watched the ending. And people think this is 'deep?' Tropes lifted from a ten year old Stargate SG1 episode, that 6th Day, and I'm sure countless other works of fiction.
It's deep compared to most video games I guess
 

Burning Bridges

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They should just make those videos/movies instead of not-games.

That's what I keep thinking when I watch any of these "games". They are basically movies, but instead of traditional movies you can make the film pause at intervals and let the user interact and solve some puzzles, before the movie continues.
This works to the extent that many people actually believe they were playing a game. The swindle only becomes apparent when you compare different people's experiences, and they are all the same.
 

Aenra

Guest
The description included wording such as "existential", "deep" and "consciousness"; the year is 2015 .. and yet some of you kept on. Whose fault is it? :)
 

Starwars

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Watching SOMA wouldn't be remotely the same as to playing through it (in b4 "you dont play walking simulator lolz").

The game's story didn't tread new ground or anything but it was pretty well delivered I think and certainly "deep" when compared to most videogame stuff. Sure there are people (many younger I would guess) who will be completely taken with the philosohpy presented, that's something to be cherished in my opinion. Just like many people were taken with... I dunno, Planescape: Torment's themes when they were younger. If a fucking game can get people thinking (regardless of you, the esteemed Codexian monocled asshole poster who obviously knows everything about everything), and maybe start exploring more in that particular genre or material with similar themes, then surely that's a good thing?
 

potatojohn

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I watched a let's play of it. There's no point in me getting and playing it now is there? From what I could tell there's no variation other than unplugging or leaving a couple of robots.
 

Jaedar

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Project: Eternity Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pathfinder: Kingmaker
I watched a let's play of it. There's no point in me getting and playing it now is there? From what I could tell there's no variation other than unplugging or leaving a couple of robots.
Are there consquences for your choices?
 

Metro

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Watching SOMA wouldn't be remotely the same as to playing through it (in b4 "you dont play walking simulator lolz").

The game's story didn't tread new ground or anything but it was pretty well delivered I think and certainly "deep" when compared to most videogame stuff. Sure there are people (many younger I would guess) who will be completely taken with the philosohpy presented, that's something to be cherished in my opinion. Just like many people were taken with... I dunno, Planescape: Torment's themes when they were younger. If a fucking game can get people thinking (regardless of you, the esteemed Codexian monocled asshole poster who obviously knows everything about everything), and maybe start exploring more in that particular genre or material with similar themes, then surely that's a good thing?
Location:
Sweden


Okay, PewDiePie.
 

Darth Roxor

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So you did notice how deep the game is?

i fell like 1 metre down maybe so it's not particularly deep
borealesad.jpg
 

SumDrunkGuy

Guest
I'll be surprised as all shit if I happen across another mainstream game from 2015 boasting a narrative, presentation, and world that are nearly as compelling as SOMA's. The material isn't exactly profound, sure ain't original or groundbreaking in anyway. The mother fucker is simply executed exceptionally well.

Everything from the foreboding exploration, the slightly more urgent horror bits, dark/disturbing bits, to moments where the main characters engage in chill small talk, on down to the heavier emotional beats; it's all weaved together with uncommon finesse, made into a thoughtfully paced science fiction story that feels both warmly human in parts and chillingly alien in others.

As I said before, the subject matter is nothing new and SOMA does little to put a fresh spin on it. What makes the game special in my eyes is the way it so effortlessly inserts a compelling and believable human element into it's doomed hellish world that is anything but human.

The two main characters feel relatable in a way that's totally refreshing as far as vidya games go. They jest during times of unbearable hopelessness because it's all they have. They argue and withdraw from eachother in moments of existential crisis and moral dilemmas. They bond and seek comfort in one another as their bleak reality grows ever more suffocating. The game tells a beautiful tragedy.
 

Cyberarmy

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Divinity: Original Sin 2
I kinda liked this little "game", it is a walking simulator with mediocre story but goddamn, dat mood and atmosphere. I'm a diver and salty sea dog so that is probably why I like it a lot. Underwater paths are really well done except silly route limitations of course.

Also, I like to some Predator game (a real game with real gameplay dammit!) like this. In a dense jungle, hunted by Predator and some other soldiers maybe, using basic crafting for traps and hiding ourself.
 

Darth Roxor

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well then finished it finally

+ I got scared a lot. Dead divers are a pet peeve of mine and they appear, well, often. The sunken ship before Delta is definitely a highlight.
+ The story has been covered like hundreds of times before really, but it's really well realised here. The themes and questions it explores are really fucking well-reinforced by all the shit you do and stumble upon. I think one of my favourite is

In Tau when you find Ross's journal and he asks how can a machine know what's best for humanity. Delicious irony.

+ Atmosphere, sounds and graphixxx are incredibly top notch.

- The 'walking simulator' aspect can be ridiculous in some places, and the fact that the game doesn't present you even a modicum of a puzzle before you get through like half of it is stupid. And it's not like the following 'puzzles' are any good to begin with anyway.
- It's also stupid how for like half the game you are just following a damn corridor, and it only finally opens up and gives you at least some sort of minimal 'hub' levels at Theta.
- Simon is dumb as a sack of fucking bricks
- I felt the WAU was kind of underused/underpresented


A net cool game in any case.
 

Darth Roxor

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Okay, but the more I think about some of the story bitz, the less sense they seem to make. Mebbe I'm missin' sumpin?

- If the WAU is supposed to keep people, or at least its creations, alive at all cost (as evidenced by constantly trying to reanimate Ross), then why the hell do all the proxies constantly try to murderise Simon, who was also a creation of the WAU?
- If it's said that the brian scans go crazy if they land in a non-human body, then why was Catherine so lucid when she woke up as a bot?
- Was there any actual reason for Ross to be a lucid teleporting cyber zombie instead of all those crazy murderzombies?
- If the omnipresent WAU can detect hostile intent (which is evident by the deaders in Omicron and Ross finally getting swallowed by the squid), then why the hell doesn't it dispose of Ross at any moment when he plans its destruction?
- If the WAU can just go ahead and overload the blackboxes of people at Omicron to keal them, why doesn't it just do that to EVERYONE IN THE FUCKING FACILITY instead of chasing them around with cyberzombies and bots?
 

potatojohn

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- If the WAU is supposed to keep people, or at least its creations, alive at all cost (as evidenced by constantly trying to reanimate Ross), then why the hell do all the proxies constantly try to murderise Simon, who was also a creation of the WAU?
I think that's because Simon unplugs the robot chick to get through a door. And later you just keep destroying stuff the WAU has made, so naturally it wants to stop you.
- If it's said that the brian scans go crazy if they land in a non-human body, then why was Catherine so lucid when she woke up as a bot?
Perhaps she's uniquely comfortable with the idea because of her work?
- If the WAU can just go ahead and overload the blackboxes of people at Omicron to keal them, why doesn't it just do that to EVERYONE IN THE FUCKING FACILITY instead of chasing them around with cyberzombies and bots?
My impression was that it didn't want to kill everyone, it just panicked and it... happened.
 

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