What Year Is It Really?? (SPOILERS)

[Yankee]

A few questions....
1. When Simon gets scanned for the first time. What happen...That one guy just stored Simon away so someone 100 + years latter can use him??
2. What year is it really. OK, Simon is activated, but everything is Very Old and falling apart. I understand that the logs indicate it's 2106 or something like that. But if you ask me, it more like 2206 because the Ocean has overtaken the place just my natural growth.
3. Why is everything written in Chinese...Or at least it looks like Chinese characters.
None of this is ever explained. Like we'er suppose to just not notice all of this and Simon never asks Catherine what in the hell is going on........I enjoyed the game, but there's too much information missing that never get's answered...Kinda pisses me off........Anyone have some suggestions??

Thank You.

[♡ Katalina Aryze ♡]

Well, there are videos, documents which explaining this kind of stuff that are not in the gane. Kindly check out the links below:

Developer pre-quel tv series here:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/282140/discussions/0/517142892072010775/

Watch other videos on youtube here:
https://youtu.be/eytOzwyfiCA

Then watch the related videos.

Lastly, read the files here:
http://somagame.com/files.html

If you look into all this, your knowledge of Soma's world will improve greatly.

Hope this helps, game on! :D

[Captain Cockslap]

1. - The ingame PoV goes from real Simon in 2015 to activated brainscan in 2104.
It's later explained in the game that David Munshi failed to save Simon; he died 2 months after taking the scan.

2. - I believe it's 2104. Somewhere near the end of the game Catherine will mention what day it is and even though I don't remember the exact date, it was something very early in the morning of May(?) 2104.

3. Chinese is just a common language. So is English. Not every PATHOS-II employee was native English.

[Yankee]

OK, I understand about Simon Dying. I also understand that Catherine tells Simon that it's 3:30a in the morning of 2104.....My big question is how can it be 2104? Look around you. The place has been at rest for at least 100 years which would make the date 2204. I suppose what I'm getting at is this. Why is everything so "Old" at the Base. Everything is torn up, and the sea and WAU has grown into the place. So it cannot be 2104. The entire Team is Dead when Simon arrives. So what, Catharine has been waiting around for Simon all this time.....It just does not come together that way as a storyline. But I do Love the fascination about questioning one's self about what is Real, or who are we to began with. It plays well with that aspect, but the rest I kept asking, why is Simon not asking more questions about the base, where he is, and (Although as you have put it..Chinese is a Common Language) you still don't see Chinese Characters on sophisticated science projects. IE Space exploration as we have it now.....I just kept asking myself.....Did China win some War, and took over the Earth before the Asteroid hit??

[EXPLODENSTEIN]

Originally posted by Franklin:

OK, I understand about Simon Dying. I also understand that Catherine tells Simon that it's 3:30a in the morning of 2104.....My big question is how can it be 2104? Look around you. The place has been at rest for at least 100 years which would make the date 2204. I suppose what I'm getting at is this. Why is everything so "Old" at the Base. Everything is torn up, and the sea and WAU has grown into the place. So it cannot be 2104. The entire Team is Dead when Simon arrives. So what, Catharine has been waiting around for Simon all this time.....It just does not come together that way as a storyline. But I do Love the fascination about questioning one's self about what is Real, or who are we to began with. It plays well with that aspect, but the rest I kept asking, why is Simon not asking more questions about the base, where he is, and (Although as you have put it..Chinese is a Common Language) you still don't see Chinese Characters on sophisticated science projects. IE Space exploration as we have it now.....I just kept asking myself.....Did China win some War, and took over the Earth before the Asteroid hit??

How many sophisticated science projects have you seen? So the Chinese are incapable of such a thing? A facility of that size built under the ocean would likely have taken years even decades to build, not to mention the toll of sea water and high pressure on the structures themselves. WAU created Simon and Catherine was finally activated in the beginning of the game she even says she experiences no passge of time. The entire team is not dead either you meet at least two still alive and one of them is still hooked up to a normal man made life support machine. She is in no way over a hundred years old she even says she's nearing 30 years old. Simon has more pressing things to worry about like surviving than giving a crap about why there are chinese characters on the walls.

[Yankee]

What ever kid....

[EXPLODENSTEIN]

Originally posted by Franklin:

What ever kid....

Kid?! Ha ha far from it.

[EXPLODENSTEIN]

PATHOS-II is an underwater research facility located in the Atlantic Ocean during the 2100s. It is the primary setting of both SOMA and the live-action prequel mini-series and film Transmission and Depth. It was initially built to conduct thermal mining during the 2060s and, later, developed the Omega Space Gun. It has a diverse staff of scientists and engineers involved in multiple research projects such as marine sciences, hydroculture, and deep sea construction. An artificial intelligence known as the WAU was used to oversee primary operations of the facility. When a comet impact in January 2103 rendered the surface of the Earth barren and killed all surface life, the staff of PATHOS-II became the last living humans on the planet.

This is from the wiki.

[Zak]

Originally posted by Franklin:

... more like 2206 because the Ocean has overtaken the place just my natural growth.

It was built at the bottom of the ocean. The ocean was already there because, you know, that's where the ocean is?

Originally posted by Franklin:

2. What year is it really. OK, Simon is activated, but everything is Very Old and falling apart. I understand that the logs indicate it's 2106 or something like that. . . . . My big question is how can it be 2104?. . . . Why is everything so "Old" at the Base. Everything is torn up, and the sea and WAU has grown into the place.

It's torn up because:

• The WAU developed AI and began growing everywhere, punching through panels and walls using structure gel while pursuing its mission. This was recent because the WAU did it quickly, and the person who set the whole thing off only very recently died.
  
• A massive planet-killing asteroid hit Earth and has killed everything on the surface. The base took damage.

Also, it's obvious that it hasn't been 100 years since everyone died because, um, you meet at least two people who are still alive and lived through the collapse.

Originally posted by Franklin:

3. Why is everything written in Chinese...Or at least it looks like Chinese characters.

Because China is already (in 2015) a major industrial power (you do know they've sent a vehicle to orbit the moon, right?) with a signifcant demand for energy (the facility was originally a geothermal power plant), and they were no doubt a significant part of the group who built and used it (in 2060).

Originally posted by Franklin:

None of this is ever explained. Like we'er suppose to just not notice all of this

You are supposed to notice. The devs assume you're smart enough to work some of the backstory out from the evidence the place directly in front of you, without needing one of the characters to flat-out say "WELL GEE SIMON, I GUESS THAT SINCE A CHINESE CONSORTIUM SAW A FINANCIAL BENEFIT IN INVESTING IN RENEWABLE POWER FOUR DECADES AGO, THERE WERE QUITE A LOT OF CHINESE ENGINEERS INVOLVED IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND RUNNING OF THE PLACE."
You're expected not to need spoon-feeding, because you're expected to be able to figure some stuff out on your own.

I wish more games were built with cohesive, logical backstories woven into their fabric. SOMA does it so well and extensively that there isn't time to signpost every example through some wooden, stilted, expositionary dialogue between characters[tvtropes.org] who would really never ever talk about that stuff[tvtropes.org] in that situation. It was one of my favourite elements of the game.