Omikron - The Nomad Soul

[MetalCraze]

I truly don't know what genre is this. some might say that this is an adventure but...

it has character stats
it has inventory with variety of items
it has non-linear choices
it has branched dialogues
it has consequences
finally it has a goddamn free-roaming city (though pretty small)

so I would pretty much call it a RPG.

I've started playing it only recently - but wow - it's a pretty good game right now, I'm currently advanced in story-line to "wtf is happening?" point. and I also don't understand why me and the codex is overlooked this game?

 

[Section8]

Does it also have David Bowie? RPGs to me are riding around on the back of David Bowie and killing things.

 

[Hümmelgümpf]

Does it also have David Bowie? RPGs to me are riding around on the back of David Bowie and killing things.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omikron

David Bowie, who had some input into the story and game's design, has two cameo appearances within the game, although not as himself; first as Boz, a game character who's a revolutionary wanted by authorities, and secondly as the nameless lead-singer of the fictional musical group, "The Dreamers", who perform illegal concerts in Omikron.

The game's soundtrack is a main feature as well, featuring songs by David Bowie and Reeves Gabrels

 

[eth]

As i see on a Ign review it has some basic combat also? Sounds really interesting anyway

 

[MetalCraze]

As i see on a Ign review it has some basic combat also? Sounds really interesting anyway

yes it has some action fights but they are also depend on your skills - on your shooting skill f.e.

however the minus of this game is that it's very unstable sometimes. it has a bad tendency to freeze because the port to PC wasn't that flawless obviously. add to this that you can save only on checkpoints and that bugs maybe very annoying sometimes.

but it definitely worth playing.

 

[Hory]

Omikron was made by the company that made Fahrenheit. They have their flaws, but they're original games. Now Quantic Dream is working on "Heavy Rain". Just by the cover picture, it seems it will follow the tradition:

 

[afewhours]

Fahrenheit was one of the most painful experiences of my life. It was quite intriguing at the start, but the ending... oh god, the horror. Did *no-one* at Quantic Dream turn around and say: "look, my 12 year old DragonballZ-watching son would be ashamed of this! FFS rewrite this before we become a laughing stock!"

Alas, it was too late. I'd say the final stretch of Fahrenheit beats the notorious "ZOMG-we're-all-the-same-orphanage-but-we-forgot-LAWLZ!" scene from FFVIII when it comes to cringe-inducing incompetence.

What's the name of that guy? David Cage, was it? It's like he gave up writing a story and just started masturbating instead. It was like a Mary Sue fanfic turned up to 11.

...and er, oh yes, Nomad Soul. Seriously flawed. The main premise was fantastic, but ultimately squandered. I enjoyed the world and the lore, and some of the puzzles were delightfully obscure and annoying. I'd certainly give it a spin, but if you find yourself getting annoyed with it, I'd drop it as it doesn't get much better.

I found the combat easy enough, but I'm a fighting game junky on the side. FPS parts range from easy to irritating.

David Bowie: a God upon the earth. The game has a few tracks from Hours but I can't remember which ones. I loved Hours. It was a slightly cheap effort overall: the production's iffy and a couple of songs sound unfinished, but hearing Bowie relax and spin engaging little winners like Seven, Something in the Air, and Thursday's Child was something else. I love it when Bowie drops the staginess, and there were a lot of examples on Hours.

I am a massive Bowie fanboy.

 

[the_Consumer]

I truly don't know what genre is this. some might say that this is an adventure but...

it has character stats
it has inventory with variety of items
it has non-linear choices
it has branched dialogues
it has consequences
finally it has a goddamn free-roaming city (though pretty small)

so I would pretty much call it a RPG.

I've started playing it only recently - but wow - it's a pretty good game right now, I'm currently advanced in story-line to "wtf is happening?" point. and I also don't understand why me and the codex is overlooked this game?

It's not an RPG. It's an adventure game with rpg and action elements/parts.
Why do some people feel the need, to categorize every good game as rpg?
Hey DX is a great game! It has stats! Let's call it's an RPG!
JA2 is a great game! It has stats! Let's call it an rpg! Never mind that it's a strategy game!

About the game itself though, it's really a great and immersive game. Very unique, and at times frustrating. I'd say it's well worth playing.

 

[Jasede]

You forgot X-Com, definitely RPG. And Warcraft 3.

 

[MasPingon]

Hey DX is a great game! It has stats! Let's call it's an RPG!

Deus Ex is much closer to crpg then Omikron.

Omikron is great, but first person shooter moments almost killed this game for me, they are terrible done. It's also much better game at the begining, then at the end

 

[The Rambling Sage]

Omikron has the same problems than Fahrenheit. It has a good premise and a good start. It creates an interesting mystery, lots of atmosphere, and sucks you into it's world. Then, around half the game, the big plot twist comes and it turns into a stupid story about monsters and demons and evil AIs with so much lost potential it hurts.

And, when you finally finish it and take a long look back into the game you notice all the good ideas they so badly implemented were just stolen from SMT2 without rhyme nor reason. So there: I loved the begining, i hated everything after the twisty twist.

Oh, on Heavy Rain: That game looks like having promise, since they are saying there will not be a supernatural element - and that, if true, will save the story from being ruined by the incompetent use they always make of such elements.

Then, they will surely find another way of ruining the game up from the middle point. Old dogs, new tricks, and all that.

 

[Ausir]

It's not an RPG. It's an adventure game with rpg and action elements/parts.
Why do some people feel the need, to categorize every good game as rpg?
Hey DX is a great game! It has stats! Let's call it's an RPG!
JA2 is a great game! It has stats! Let's call it an rpg! Never mind that it's a strategy game!
.

JA2 is no less of an RPG than Icewind Dale or ToEE.

 

[Binary]

I truly don't know what genre is this. some might say that this is an adventure but...

it has character stats
it has inventory with variety of items
it has non-linear choices
it has branched dialogues
it has consequences
finally it has a goddamn free-roaming city (though pretty small)

so I would pretty much call it a RPG.

I've started playing it only recently - but wow - it's a pretty good game right now, I'm currently advanced in story-line to "wtf is happening?" point. and I also don't understand why me and the codex is overlooked this game?

It's not an RPG. It's an adventure game with rpg and action elements/parts.
Why do some people feel the need, to categorize every good game as rpg?

Planescape Torment fits that description, so it isn't an RPG either.

 

[Jasede]

Stop being stupid, Codex.

 

[Micmu]

It's an action adventure through and through. Stop being stupid idiots.

 

[Fez]

More importantly: it is a terrible game.

 

[Helton]

I got stalled at one of the FPS parts. Very annoying.

The beginning was fun, though.

 

[MetalCraze]

OK, I've completed Omikron.

what I liked is the true cyberpunk beginning, good voiced characters and writing. also the concept of the Omikron-city as well as the switching of the bodies is good.
what I've disliked greatly however is that by the end of the game it turned into a pure consolish first person meat-grinder by the end without any story-line back-up. and it was really annoying.
it's a decent game. with a very good 1st part but in the 2nd part it started lacking in the originality department.

 

[mjorkerina]

I liked the universe a lot (no elves! no forests! no swords!) but the awkward gameplay in action scenes made me stop playing it halfway though. I don't know what the hell they were thinking when they made the combat system and FPS scenes.

 

[MetalCraze]

no swords!

ermmm...

what the hell they were thinking when they made the combat system and FPS scenes.

for us PC players such stupid FPS parts seem annoying. but for them consolish 'tards with next to none shooters, especially in '99 it was like the miracle.

 

[Gragt]

The Nomad Soul continued the long tradition of most French game of the time: very nice graphics and atmosphere but really bad gameplay.

It really felt like three genres blended together with no real success for any of them.

Yet I really wanted to like this game for its immersive start and the sometimes different ways to solve puzzle. I was impressed when I decided to loose the fight against the demon who stole Kael's girlfriend soul, to see what would happen.

Instead of game over, I got a young and beautiful thief coming to "my" body and ending up becoming my new host. Take that bitch, teach ya to try to help some unconscious guy! You get your body stolen, ah!

By the way am I the only one who found the concept of stealing the bodies of people as deranging? Once used the body became some kind of ghost, what happened to the owners?

I remember that at the time, I was playing Outcast, another adventure game but more oriented action and exploration. I guess it didn't help me appreciate The Nomad Soul: Outcast had some huge areas to explore while Omikron fellt small for a big city with a lot less side-quest. And the combat system in Outcast was a lot more fun and challenging than The Nomad Soul's (though that one was a challenge in itself for its bad implementation).

Oh and one thing that did not help with that game was that I could not get an inverted mouse in 1st person phases. You had the option but it didn't work. Since I'm one of the few people on Earth who use that option in FPS, it added a lot of challenge and frustration to the game.

 

[AZ]

I really liked a atmosphere of the first part, but the more you play the game, it becomes more a linear badly designed shooter. The music was very good.

 

[MetalCraze]

I really liked a atmosphere of the first part, but the more you play the game, it becomes more a linear badly designed shooter. The music was very good.

the endboss was the peak. I didn't have so many duke nukem flashbacks for a long time.
he was a little hard though. but I liked how I killed him. I was totally thinking how I will come to the codex and say that the final boss makes the final crappy and then totally forgot that I'm actually fighting that boss, while running around him trying to hit his weak spot. and then boom he's dead. unexpectedly. pwning moment.