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1&2: Yes, very limited use of the available mechanics. My experiences with Frictional Games (Descent, Pigs, SOMA) let me assume that there's a deep level of consciousness behind the creation of these games, so I assume that the reason for 1&2 is that the player's mind should not be occupied with game-tasks but with the overall situation and story. My experience with SOMA was stellar, it's one of the best games I've ever experienced (Have been gaming for over 30 years.), and I guess that if I'd have had to use my mind for game-y tasks, I would not have been able to dwell as much in the emotional landscape created by the game. The game delivered ample food for the mind, so it's not like 1&2 means something was missing, it just wasn't there.
3: Can't say. You experienced these things, so they are real, and teleportation should indeed not be on the list of abilities of these beings. I'm just saying that I personally didn't have a problem with that, because I didn't explicitly lock monsters in rooms (other than closing doors behind me), and I was rarely sure if there was only one or if I was already dealing with the next.
4. Can't say. Only 1 playthrough, so I don't know if there would have been a difference.
5. Like you, I "ran" all the time and jumped a lot, but I didn't experience the slowness as a flaw of the game, just as a situational effect that I have to put up with.
6. I agree, but I didn't suffer this stupidity, I just went along with it. Also, who knows if the translation of the person into the robot body limited their ability to reason. And finally, there's the following thing, at least regarding the very end: Someone's will easily affects their ability to perceive and to reason. So if someone does not want something to be true, they will not understand the reason no matter how obvious it is, they will just "say" NO.
About no. 4, I was a bit disappointed too that I was hoping there will be alternate ending based on some decisions, but after some time I realized the ending is already perfect. Giving alternate ending could just ruin the mood of the great ending.
Maybe we will get some more SOMA content fron frictional. I hope so.
What do you think about OP's point 4 about choices not mattering? After all, you have had 4 opportunities to check on differences.
Yes that is why i menioned it. i also launch it from steam big picture mode so gog doesn't track my hours either. I also remembered that my profile is private so people can't look anyway. I just know I reached the end 5 times. I made different decisions each time, and although it didn't alter the gameplay, it did make me ponder different thoughts each time. Even the most recent playthough which ended a few nights ago had me contemplating things i didn't in my other plays. maybe I am just slow but that is my experience.
Also after playing I think more and more that the whole thing is a dream or simulation. I know the dev have denied this, but there are lots of clues to this being the case and I plan to make a write-up or video at some point.
1) They were basically the same to me. In Amnesia I'm looking for tinderboxes, lantern oil and notes. I don't remember any of the notes were ever being hidden in drawers in Amnesia. In SOMA, there were lots of notes and things in drawers that added little bits to the story.
2) Once again, they seemed the same to me. There were a few instances in Amnesia where you had to pick up an object and carry it somewhere. In SOMA, other than the ARK at the end the items that you needed to carry just went to your inventory.
3) The teleporting monsters in Amnesia were very obvious, but I only noticed one instance of a teleporting monster in SOMA. It was in the level where you have to get the part to repair the elevator (right after leaving the room with the simulated ARK). In that area, the monster seemed to roam around a set path, then run to your location if you made any noise, then it would walk out of sight and teleport back to its path. I'm pretty sure you're not meant to see it disappear, but I just happened to be in the right place and saw it disappear.
3.5) Once again, they seemed the same. I actually thought the "monsters" in SOMA were better. Although there were different monsters in Amnesia, they all basically had the same behavior. There was more variety of behaviors to the monsters in SOMA; some reacted to sound, others reacted to seeing you and some reacted to you looking at them. In Amnesia, the monsters seemed to be scripted to appear once you do something, and then you hide until it goes away and they are no longer a threat. In SOMA, they were like another puzzle to solve. They had paths or places they guarded, and you had to figure out what they reacted to and how to get past them.
4) That actually did bother me at first. I was hoping to see different endings showing me the consequences of the choices I made. Then last night while trying to fall asleep, I realized it didn't matter. In life, you don't always see the consequences of your actions. What matters is I was still thinking about them, even after the game was over, so I'm OK with the game not showing me what happened.
5) I can sort of agree with you here. I didn't sprint my way through, I walked and looked at everything off the beaten path. In a few instances there were some things to find or see off the path, but I wish there were more to find or do since there wasn't much scenery to see.
6) He didn't experience it twice. He wakes up at the start of the game not knowing how he got there, then finds out later. There was the one body swapping part, and the game followed the character that was copied to the new body, otherwise it would have been a much shorter game. Although he was aware that his mind was copied into the new body and the other copy remained in the old body, from his perspective of the previous body swap he probably expected to wake up on the ARK like he woke up in the new body. You did stay until the end of the credits didn't you?
I think SOMA is the better game. While neither really scared me, I did find the setting and environment of SOMA to creep me out more. Supernatural stuff doesn't scare me now like it did when I was a kid, but SOMA, with its more realistic setting, I found myself able to get immersed.
Out of the three games Frictional has made, Penumbra, Amnesia and SOMA, I think Amnesia is the weakest one, but only by a very small margin. The thing that puts Amnesia in last place for me is the insanity mechanic, and having limited lantern oil and tinderboxes. It was more of an annoyance, and I felt rushed to get through things and not able to explore. While Penumbra had a similar mechanic with the flashlight having limited battery life, your character didn't go insane if you explored in the dark without it.
The monsters here are almost secondary, the star of the show is the story and I actually really like the way it's told, and lets you discover it bit by bit as you explore.
Like you mention in point 4) I actually love it that you have those choices and that no big deal is made about them. I really hate it when games really try to force feed you the fact that they made multiple endings so you get ridiculous choices like "Do you want to save the doctor, or kill all the kittens?"
In SOMA the moral choices were sort of left to you as the player, and it was pretty clear to me that it wouldn't really change what happens afterwards, which makes the choice all the more important. You are making that choice based on what you think is moral and nothing else , not because you "want to unlock some ending" etc...
The only feature which I would have liked is maybe a little statstic after you complete the game, something like "35% of players chose to delete their record".
Regarding point 6) I agree with you, what an idiot, but then it makes him only more human. He also may have known from the start but just chose to ignore it because denial is more comfortable. All in all I found both Simon and Catherine very well fleshed characters.
Regarding point 5) I really liked the scenery so didn't feel slow to me. I thought the game was actually generous letting you hold shift all the time.
And finally for 3) There is a place in the game where there are actually 3 monsters and not one. You can even find some notes left by survivors which mention that. Maybe that's why you thought they teleported? Also note that you can't lock them in rooms, the monsters can open any doors.
I just finished the game a few minutes ago and went looking online for opinions. I share most of your concerns, except for the part about Simon being stupid. It seems to make sense he would feel this way since the will to live and to aspire to something better is such a visceral thing.
Denial is powerful, and as MeanJim mentioned the version of Simon you play at this point did wake up from a previous transfer...
One thing that bothered me about the story and the world, something you don't mention, is that the future looks too much like the 90's and very uninspired. I mean, all those CRT monitors, thick trackballs and keyboards, office phones, cheap metal lockers, dotted paper printouts, and suchlike. Everything felt too conventional for me, despite the cancerous growth all over the place.
For a long time all these things made me think that Simon was actually imagining all of this somehow, that he was still stuck in a simulation that totally glitched on him and that he was constrained to experience it with his own limited perception and understanding.
Doesn't account for all the deep underwater bits though. Incidentally, these sections were my favorite. I didn't care much for the dark metallic corridors but man, the underwater exploration was awesome (and I found the slow pace absolutely suiting).
Also, how does the brain scanner technology work on a regular humain brain and the robot version of Simon? Technically they'd be two entirely different organisms.
For the record I have not played other Frictional games, aside from a demo portion of Amnesia (didn't like it enough to purchase a copy). I really enjoyed SOMA for a few exceptional reasons but there was also much to dislike about it. In my opinion, it's a good game, but not great. I found it intense, agonizing, even depressing, but at the same time few other games made me want to live so much, and also be grateful for my actual life experience (compared to the hell explored in SOMA).
Just FYI: Currently, Dark Descent and Machine for Pigs are both discounted by 75%, cost €5 each.
Will try to answer you all in order, hopefully this will not be too long.
I see your point but then I would almost ask why have them there at all if they are not meant to be used? Interactive environments are great, but what is the point of being able to open lockers if there is nothing there / if nothing is supposed to be there? It's like they copied Amnesias mechanics, but for no real reason. Again, this could be me just wanting (or expecting) the game to be more like Amnesia. Like you said, the amount the mechanics were used was perfect for you. Maybe I am the one with the problem so to speak.
The last point you make is a good one, denial can be very strong and this might just have been what was going on. It just felt strange to me when the whole spoiler] "copy-into-new-body" thing [/spoiler] had a big conversation / argument between Simon and Catherie. Like the developers wanted to really hit the point across to us the player. Then later he does not get it because he is now left behind, he lost the coin toss... . I dunno, I did not really like it. But like you said, denial could without a doubt be it.
Maybe this was what I did not like about the game, the fact that at times it did feel like a walking simulator. Many people love that, I am sadly not one of them.
I am also not neccesarily thinking alternative endings would be the way to go. But I would like to have SOMETHING happen when I make a tough moral choice. A line of dialogue, a difference in how to solve a puzzle later, anything. To be faced with a moral choice, think about it and then nothing happens no matter what you do... I dunno, it did not strike a chord with me.
I have read that many times (game is supposed to make you think, it will even make you question your very existence!), but again I do not see it. Spoilers ahead by the way!
You are Simon, you go in for a brain scan and wake up years in the future when earth has been hit by a meteroid. You have no idea how you got there in the beginning, slowly piecing together that you are in fact a conciousness inside of a robot (the reveal in the mirror was great by the way!). You then also find out that the other Simon has lived his life as if nothing happened, because to him nothing did happen. This is made very clear in the game. Sooo... How exactly does this make you think? How is this supposed to make me question my existance? You were the same person, but now you are not. You and the "other Simon" were identical up until the brain scan and then you went your separate ways. That is it. Same with Catherine. If I am not misstaken you even find her dead body towards the end of the game. But what does that matter? The Catherine in your tool shared a past with "person-Catherine" but that it is. The "tool-Catherine" is from that point a completely new individual. What am I missing?
Two points here. 1. Drawers I agree, many thing were hidden in there. The rest like lockers and such, very little if anything were hidden there.
2. I would say that in Amnesia the mechanics were used constantly. You are always on the lookout for tinderboxes and such, whereas in SOMA you are sometimes looking for a specific item. Also, in Amnesia you knew that you needed oil and tinderboxes and stuff to survive (well, it would feel that way anyway). Aside from a few specific items, there is nothing that (for me) captures the same "please let there be an item I can pick up in this drawer"-feeling. You'd find noted and pictures every now and then sure. But nothing that you would not survive without.
I think I wrote about the teleporting monsters and my views on them vs the Amnesia monsters earlier. If not, the tl;dr version is that in Amnesia you were slowly loosing your mind, you were never really sure what was real or what was not. Therefore teleporting monsters make sense in universe. In SOMA your sanity is never in question (right?), so there it does not make sense in universe.
Read what I wrote earlier in this post regarding your choices not mattering.
Yes I did stay until the end. My point was that the "body-swap" so to speak had happened to him twice. Once he knew about it the entire way, and the first time he had it explained to him after the fact.
I think here is were our opinions differ. I loved the insanity mechanic in Amnesia. It made you always question weather or not it was worth hiding in the darkness, it could do some really nice 4th wall breaks (bugs on your screen anyone?) that would sneak up on you and it made you super paranoid. Was that noice you heard just in your head or was it a monster? I loved it!
SOMA on the other hand, I never felt like I was in any real danger. Sure, the monsters scared me at first but when I realized that one of them could not see, I also realized I could sneak up on it, stand 2 meters away from it looking into the wall and it would do nothing. Huh, ok. Also in SOMA you would pretty often get warned that a monster was near due to static on your HUD. I guess this was meant to increase tension, but for me it had the opposite effect.
Also in Amnesia, if a monster saw you, you damn sure ran your ass of anywhere trying to get away because you knew you were dead if it caught you. In SOMA if you get caught you get beaten up a bit, and then you start right back up where you were, even though you are a bit more injured. The monster is still there, I guess he just wanted to hurt you and not kill you? Of course you can die, but it never felt like it made a difference to me.
I hope this answered pretty much everything. I'd love to continue the discussion if anyone manages to read this mini-novel that my post became (I don't have high hopes for King Jayden)
EDIT: Formatting
They could probably have done that better in some way, e.g. introduce an element of randomness that would obliterate your "I know the rule, and therefore." approach, but maybe the problem is also a bit on your side: Instead of letting something like 4th-wall-breaking game-logic thinking reduce the virtual world to a set of rules based on your knowledge of how games are made, you should try to get lost in the movie that you're "seeing". I was lucky enough to experience it like that on my first playthrough, and when I closed it, for a moment I considered SOMA to be the best game I've ever played (in 30 years).
You might be right, maybe I was just unlucky in the way I experienced the monsters. By the 3rd of 4th one they became more of an annoying obstacle to pass, rather than something terrifying. I should also say that I did not set out to find out how this particular monster operated, it just came about that way when it was near me and I looked away.