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I'm hoping Best Friends will play Soma, that would be a cool LP.
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Sep 23, 2015 13:31
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At the very least they'll almost definitely make a one-off for Shitstorm4, though yeah a full LP would be cool too and very possible, since the last one had two full LPs among it. (Rule of Rose and Escape from Bug Island)
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Sep 23, 2015 13:46
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The main character of Soma is insufferable, good Lord. He's completely tonally incongruent with the game's atmosphere.
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Sep 23, 2015 14:04
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Phobophilia posted:Is there a good SOMA LP where the LPer isn't in the corner of the screen and constantly talking? This isn't much of an LP, but this guy plays the entire game with no commentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfkpxJmSk_E His channel also has it in more divided videos, but they're still an hour or more each.
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Sep 23, 2015 14:28
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I haven't finished SOMA, but ran into an issue that I had to a lesser extent with Amnesia: Dark Descent with the AI. One of the AI that you're not allowed to look at because Frictional says so decided to hover around me and be a dick for like half an hour. Seriously kinda ruined that section for me because blargh, scary music and video corruption while the thing is near find a way to distract it when it's standing right in your way and there's literally no where to go, no where to hide and nothing to throw. So I stared at a wall. Then it eventually got bored after killing me once or twice and came back on the next floor to do it all over again. I have no problem with the scripted times it pops up and you need to look away, but when it's supposed to be organically making you wary of danger it needs to gently caress right off after a while, it can't just stroll around behind me for minutes on end. Maybe there's something I could have done, but it really didn't seem like there was. It also seems to show up more when you're low on "health" which makes the times where it bugs out even worse because you'll have no where to go, it'll kill you and then decide that it wants to be besties with you and chill for even longer and appear around every freaking corner. I eventually had to just back down a hallway that was the only way to progress through the area because it wouldn't take the hint. Then it slapped me when I hit the next plot trigger because the thing made a metric poo poo-ton of noise -- which if the AI hadn't been on the fritz would have been a great "Oh poo poo, it must have heard that it's going to be here any moment, so I should get my rear end in gear and move"-moment but was instead just kinda lame. Despite how much I'm griping about this, I'm basically loving the game. I was initially sort of disappointed in how they revealed some stuff, but they could still really screw with it even more. So you're an unreliable witness/narrator. Comms floods and you decide you're wearing a suit -- that's cool. You're walkie-talkie buddy tells you you're a robot in a diving suit and then you seem okay with that enough that that's what you seen in mirrors. I'm loving it, though. I'm totally going to go back and play a complete dick-head and go intentionally electrify Carl-scan and stun prod the larger bot that definitely houses a scan of someone instead of the little bot that is "so cute", basically just treat the game like the character is a sadist who hates robots and people. I'm going to do it even it the game doesn't acknowledge those choices just to have done it. It seems like something that Frictional isn't going to really go "hey, good job, Player, for doing these nice things for those robots and people. You really were a cool intelligence/persona/whatever." Speculation: I'm tossing around the idea that you're a totally fictional entity created by the WAU. Or that you're on the ARK and ARK 0.3 (I liked the survey) didn't work out because of the explanation in the Matrix where human consciousness wants hardship. Or that this is all one "treatment simulation" for main character's brain damage. psivamp fucked around with this message at 16:15 on Sep 23, 2015 |
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Sep 23, 2015 16:12
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Oxxidation posted:The main character of Soma is insufferable, good Lord. He's completely tonally incongruent with the game's atmosphere. gotta play to your audience and all that
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Sep 23, 2015 16:22
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Oxxidation posted:The main character of Soma is insufferable, good Lord. He's completely tonally incongruent with the game's atmosphere. how is someone from 2015 a robot racist that's what gets me, especially someone who is established as a giant nerd I'd be loving psyched about robots (when they're not trying to murder me)
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Sep 23, 2015 16:36
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Blockhouse posted:how is someone from 2015 a robot racist that's what gets me, especially someone who is established as a giant nerd Goddamn gearheads takin our jobs! 
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Sep 23, 2015 17:14
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Phobophilia posted:Is there a good SOMA LP where the LPer isn't in the corner of the screen and constantly talking? Cristopher Odd is pretty good at both of these.
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Sep 23, 2015 17:29
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I liked the MC in SOMA.  Maybe a bit too chatty for my liking but I felt he reacted at least somewhat realistically to most of the poo poo that happens around him.
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Sep 23, 2015 19:33
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I like the main character as well, way more than I expected. I don't find him particularly chatty. I don't think they quite hit all the beats with his reactions though. Of course, we can't spend the entire game in a panic, that would be rather frustrating. But some things rather feel like they should affect him more than it does. Always hard for these types of games to get this right it seems. But just voiceacting wise and the way he talks, I find him quite likeable.
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Sep 23, 2015 19:36
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SOMA's main character's ignorance can be annoying yeah, but he's not supposed to be your standin. He's just a poor sob who's not too smart and doesn't grasp advanced sci-fi concepts because he's not a gamer who's been exposed to every trope in existence.
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Sep 23, 2015 19:36
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Also I think the game dialogue says he's a human soul inside a machine reacting somewhat differently than his fleshy counterpart so his apparent lack of reaction could make sense
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Sep 23, 2015 19:38
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Demiurge4 posted:SOMA's main character's ignorance can be annoying yeah, but he's not supposed to be your standin. He's just a poor sob who's not too smart and doesn't grasp advanced sci-fi concepts because he's not a gamer who's been exposed to every trope in existence. He works at a book/boardgame/comic book store! He should be at least aware of some of it.
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Sep 23, 2015 19:39
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The game provides a tidy explanation for why he's not constantly freaking out. All the other robots seem to have mental blocks that keep them from freaking out too much about their situation as well... most of them are in denial and I bet Simon's no different.
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Sep 23, 2015 19:40
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Speedball posted:The game provides a tidy explanation for why he's not constantly freaking out. All the other robots seem to have mental blocks that keep them from freaking out too much about their situation as well... most of them are in denial and I bet Simon's no different. The companion lady (I already forgot her name) also brings out the theory that his brain is just trying to block out that reality by interpreting his sensory inputs in the only way it knows how. Simons body is technically human with a robotic core stuck in place of its head and connected with whatever the hell structure gel is. For example when you start the game out his brain is interpreting his body as fully human, and only when he "drowns" does it accept that he's wearing a diving suit.
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Sep 23, 2015 19:52
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To add onto that. Catherine says that his brain scan was one of the first and extremely primitive compared to the rest, so that could explain also why some of his reactions are a bit odd or subdued.
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Sep 23, 2015 19:55
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Ibram Gaunt posted:To add onto that. Catherine says that his brain scan was one of the first and extremely primitive compared to the rest, so that could explain also why some of his reactions are a bit odd or subdued. Except that he was an obnoxiously jokey jackass even before the scan, when he was dying of traumatic brain injury, so that idea's out. Simon's just badly written. He feels like an attempt by Frictional to flee from the more melodramatic protagonists of their previous games (discounting Machine for Pigs, which was, again, not by them and more melodramatic than every actual Frictional game protag combined), but they went way, way too far in the other direction.
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Sep 23, 2015 19:58
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I wonder of the release of SOMA had anything to do with the timing of GOG putting System Shock for sale? Not the sequel, The first System Shock. I never played it, but I saw it in the bargain bin many times at a local store ages past and kept going "That looks pretty cool, shame my computer can't run it oh well." unpacked robinhood posted:HarshlyCritical is really the last guy I'd call a whore. From the handful of series of Harshly's I've looked at, he's usually so subdued that when he does flip out and get mad/jump scared stand out that much more. Like toward the end of Night Blights when he skips straight form his usual "Mister Rodgers slowly explains jump scares to children" tone, to throwing off his headphones, hands flailing, chanting damnit. Like, no poo poo it's not perfect. But I'm actually wanting to watch stuff instead of cringing and closing the video two minutes in. Which probably goes a long way for anyone thinking that means he's the second coming of youtube Christ instead of just "Pretty good", when they have a larger habit of watching Horror game playthroughs and that usually means it's scarecams less subtle than a 360 noscope montage. This post is also mostly to help this page get something that doesn't look like a CIA document, but the spoilers considerations is appretiated because I might actually fully playthrough a game for once instead of just uselessly collecting Amnesias and penumbras on sale and then never getting around to them.
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Sep 23, 2015 20:20
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Too much redaction. See you nerds after I beat SOMA.
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Sep 23, 2015 20:52
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I would say "let's just make a soma thread" but then this thread would die again. I would laugh if something comes out where Penumbra/Amnesia/Soma were all connected in some kind of Tarantino-esque universe. They certainly have a hard "a" in all the titles, why not mesh the stories together?
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Sep 23, 2015 20:56
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DreamShipWrecked posted:I would say "let's just make a soma thread" but then this thread would die again. The 'Uh' Universe
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Sep 23, 2015 21:11
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Blockhouse posted:how is someone from 2015 a robot racist that's what gets me, especially someone who is established as a giant nerd those of us that aren't morons and saw the Terminator.
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Sep 23, 2015 23:28
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Blockhouse posted:I'd be loving psyched about robots (when they're not trying to murder me) Well, the first one you meet is trying to murder you, so...
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Sep 23, 2015 23:34
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Oxxidation posted:The main character of Soma is insufferable, good Lord. He's completely tonally incongruent with the game's atmosphere. Yeah we'd say he's a massive idiot. The game's euphemism for it is that his brain scan isn't very "dynamic". I don't mind characters that aren't blank slates and I think a lot of the best horror games use this to good effect (i.e Silent Hill) but SOMA sort of half arsed it. Plot dumps and too much exposition are generally bad but Simon's complete lack of interest in anything around him and general obliviousness is irritating when you have to be him.
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Sep 23, 2015 23:46
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I'm really not gelling with SOMA at all, which is unfortunate because I usually really love sci-fi horror. I get the reasons why they made it the way it is but the environments still have a "haunted museum" quality to them, like they've been arranged and never lived in. That I'm 5 hours in and there's been a grand total of one immersive-sim style story progressing through the environment makes the whole thing kind of threadbare. Plus they hew just a bit too close to Bioshock in terms of both setting and the use of deep-sea life as a locus for biomechanical horror. But more than anything else, I feel like the sneak peeks kind've ruined things for me. On the one hand you've got that initial Cronenberg mindfuck factor but I feel like it wears off and doesn't get deeper because there's really no rabbit hole to fall down. The central mystery is so thuddingly obvious that I'm finding it hard to work up the energy to continue puzzle-solving and hiding from giant cyber-tortoises. Maybe if I found the central mystery of what's going on with the main character compelling it would all come together, but I don't. The slow-burn intro is a good idea in theory (it was used to great effect in Until Dawn, for example) but what should be a jarring and disorienting transition just… isn't sold. At all. The dude has the same faint bemusement at being thrust into a techno-nightmare as he has at showing up to an empty doctor's office. It all feels very flabby.
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Sep 24, 2015 01:23
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Never watch promos, never read articles, never watch trailers. Someone needs to teach the games industry a lesson in responsible advertising, seriously
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Sep 24, 2015 01:26
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Yeah I remember seeing finding robo-Carl in some E3 vid or something, and it was a great hook, but it would have been so much more effective and immersive if seen in the first time within the game. My opinion of the whole game might have been much different.
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Sep 24, 2015 01:29
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I think my biggest problem with SOMA so far is that I never really feel threatened. I've had to hide kinda from maybe two monsters, and both of them had horrible AI (the first one would seriously walk right up to me while crouching and just look at me and then walk off). I guess I might still be early on in the game but I swear even Amnesia gave you the possibility to die earlier than this, or at least some possibility of danger. Also speaking of killer robots and possible horror, has anyone heard of P.A.M.E.L.A cause it looks pretty nifty:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdpTjLEueq4
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Sep 24, 2015 01:31
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Just started playing soma, I really hope the Total Recall bit at the very start is just a bait and switch E. I don't know, guys. I loved Amnesia and Penumbra, but this game... the best way I can describe it so far is that it has pomp and it has subtlety, but it doesn't use either at the right times. Maybe it will get better with time but I'm not super impressed so far. CuddleCryptid fucked around with this message at 05:00 on Sep 24, 2015 |
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Sep 24, 2015 02:00
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With the PKD quote at the beginning you would expect they might be doing a We Can Remember It For You Wholesale.
Jim Flatline fucked around with this message at 05:49 on Sep 24, 2015 |
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Sep 24, 2015 04:42
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The problem I'm having with Soma right now is that the gameplay isn't game-y enough. If I'm playing a "run and hide from monster" game, then there are certain conditions that apply. This game doesn't even have proper hiding spots for me to cower in. So I just run and crouch awkwardly next to a desk, and... look at the floor? Until the thing goes away? Minus that, we're left with a series of fetch quests. Right now the experience is still hanging on certain really effective moments, but my patience is wearing thin. It's definitely not the *horror* game I'd hoped it would be.
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Sep 24, 2015 05:35
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Perhaps it is because this is the first I am playing on PS4 rather than PC, but man, the monsters really had no buildup. Some things fell off walls and some lights flashed earlier in the level and then the dudes just kind of shows up and walks around. Amnesia had you getting glances and "just missing" the monster several times before you directly saw them. Here they just have jumpscares unrelated to them. Also, we know that monsters are best when you can't see them or tell what they truly are, but you can't compensate for that by making them a nondescript blob on legs.
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Sep 24, 2015 05:41
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mr sad posted:The problem I'm having with Soma right now is that the gameplay isn't game-y enough. There's a monster later on that actually can see you and the section is a massive pain in the arse. It's mostly open corridors with a few rooms and the doors you need to go through open really slowly about 20 seconds so you have ot press the button then run away to hide while it opens. It's tedious and not fun. Penumbra was rough around the edges but I still think its their best game. I liked Amnesia and Soma but after I'd finished Amnesia I had literally zero desire to play it again. I've played through Penumbra about 3 times. I think the bad reception of Penumbra Requiem is part of the reason why Frictional are including less decent puzzles in their games.
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Sep 24, 2015 05:58
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There are 4 or 5 different monsters who all track you in different ways that are foreshadowed by in game journals/audio or your buddy superfly and look significantly different. You only have to avoid looking at one of them, the other ones just cause artifacting on screen to show they're nearby or on-screen.
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Sep 24, 2015 06:02
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There's one monster in the game that's pretty...vague and bizarre and was a major contender for upping the spook factor for me. You meet it in the second half of the game.
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Sep 24, 2015 06:08
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Speedball posted:There's one monster in the game that's pretty...vague and bizarre and was a major contender for upping the spook factor for me. You meet it in the second half of the game. Are you referring to the ones that literally just stand still, weeping into their hands? Those were definitely the spookiest enemies for me. I saw it and was like "Okay, ...okay, this is different. I didn't find any logs or anything about it, so what's it's schtick?" I still don't really know. It seems to only become active when you're close, and when it spots you it isn't very fast, but it really fucks with Simon's vision. Agreed with Jim Flatline, the enemy and situation he is describing is probably the weakest part of the game for me, which sucks since it's so near the end. It was the only section where I didn't try to read all of the logs and stuff because the drat thing just wouldn't leave me alone.
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Sep 24, 2015 07:21
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I actually like Simon, he's pretty chipper considering his situation. I'm not super far, but I haven't felt threatened by the spooky monsters yet, I did get lost in the one section though. I am finding Harshly Critical's play through pretty annoying since he has this weird need to read everything out loud and jump to really silly conclusions. I chuckled when he found a compressed nail gun and was confused by it. To be honest, he kinda sucks at adventure games. Overall, I liked Penumbra more but Soma is pretty fun and not hard at all. Anyone playing Soma needs to watch the live action shorts, they actually give you some information that may become relevant at some point. Dreadwroth fucked around with this message at 09:52 on Sep 24, 2015 |
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Sep 24, 2015 09:49
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Dreadwroth posted:I actually like Simon, he's pretty chipper considering his situation. I'm not super far, but I haven't felt threatened by the spooky monsters yet, I did get lost in the one section though. I am finding Harshly Critical's play through pretty annoying since he has this weird need to read everything out loud and jump to really silly conclusions. I chuckled when he found a compressed nail gun and was confused by it. To be honest, he kinda sucks at adventure games. Yeah, even later on SOMA isn't really all that difficult. I had trouble with one or two sections, but only managed to die a few times. That doesn't mean the monsters aren't scary, though. Some of the later ones are pretty terrifying. They're just...easy to get away from, with the exception being (mid-to-late-game enemy) the one that can hear but not see you, fucker just chases you down forever it feels like. Honestly, Frictional seemed to focus more on presenting their story than trying to scare the pants off you this time around. The story is good, so I'm okay with that honestly. And when they do try to scare you, they generally succeed, at least in my book. Still, they could've fleshed out the encounters more. They aren't like A Machine for Pigs bad, but for a game that has such a highly-interactive environment I'm surprised the only way you can really deal with monsters in this game is to just run and duck into a corner, hoping for the best. Even Amnesia let you hide in dressers and stuff, and Penumbra had puzzles involving trapping and killing enemies from time to time. Granted, there is a section where you can potentially lock a monster in a room, but I didn't try it and you'd honestly have to be really, really quick to pull it off. e: Also, yeah, Harshly Critical's run of this game is pretty meh at first. That might be due to the fact that he's already seen the first two hours of the game, and him feigning surprise at stuff he's already found is a bit off-putting to me. Maybe it gets better once he gets past the light-bulb-head guy. BlackFrost fucked around with this message at 14:39 on Sep 24, 2015 |
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Sep 24, 2015 14:36
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I think I might be getting a little tired of the "This place used to be full of life, but is now wrecked and has a bunch of monsters that you have to hide from" type of game. I think there's an inherent idea in horror that something can only truly be scary if you're alone virtually all the time, and that having companions or other people around would ruin any sense of tension. I'd be more impressed with a horror game that somehow managed to work well in a populated area, or at least allowing you to deal with more NPCs than three or four survivors (who may or may not permanently be hidden behind bulletproof glass and speaking over a radio for the rest of their lives). Something I'm thinking of is It Follows. The movie is about being hunted by a supernatural entity, like pretty much every horror film with a single villain. But rather than stalking the protagonists in an abandoned area and popping out from behind walls for loud jump scares, it simply appears wherever and begins casually walking toward you. It can take on the look of almost anyone it wants, depending on how disturbing it wants to be to the victim, and nobody but its intended victim can see it (though it does have a physical presence, it's merely invisible to bystanders). It allows for tension even in populated areas in the daytime, as it can be anyone in a crowd or appear regardless of what's going on. You can be sitting in class or in the hospital and look at the window and bam, it's outside just walking toward you. I think it would be an accomplishment to make a horror game that effectively allows for that kind of tension without needing to resort to putting the protagonist alone in a dark area full of monsters. chitoryu12 fucked around with this message at 00:41 on Feb 23, 2016 |
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Sep 24, 2015 16:33
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