Frictional Games Forum (read-only)
The Ultimate SOMA Discussion Thread - Printable Version

+- Frictional Games Forum (read-only) (https://www.frictionalgames.com/forum)
+-- Forum: SOMA (https://www.frictionalgames.com/forum/forum-55.html)
+--- Forum: General Discussion (https://www.frictionalgames.com/forum/forum-56.html)
+--- Thread: The Ultimate SOMA Discussion Thread (/thread-30110.html)

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438

RE: SOMA Discussion Thread - mirko - 10-21-2013

thanks for the answer!

RE: SOMA Discussion Thread - Mechavomit - 10-21-2013

So it was mentioned that the story will "involve women"?
God, I hope there won't be a romantic subplot, those thing are so boring and overused, I'd rather have a root canal that play as someone who is saving his girlfriend.

RE: SOMA Discussion Thread - Damascus Rose - 10-21-2013

(10-21-2013, 08:19 PM)droog Wrote: Something in one of the interview which we don't know?

That recent one wasn't very informative actually. But the other one was good

RE: SOMA Discussion Thread - Alardem - 10-21-2013

(10-21-2013, 09:24 PM)Mechavomit Wrote: So it was mentioned that the story will "involve women"?
God, I hope there won't be a romantic subplot, those thing are so boring and overused, I'd rather have a root canal that play as someone who is saving his girlfriend.

Ask yourself this - why did your mind spring to the conclusion that we'll be featuring the cliched 'damsel in distress' plot? There's countless other ways female characters can be used that aren't boring, terrible, and lazily-written (as was the case in FEAR 3 and Dead Space 3). Please give Frictional more credit than that. :p

The Alien trilogy is a very good example: Ripley is the protagonist through all three movies, and the second story in particular focuses on motherhood (Ripley the 'good' mother vs. the evil Queen).

RE: SOMA Discussion Thread - Mechavomit - 10-21-2013

(10-21-2013, 09:53 PM)Alardem Wrote: Ask yourself this - why did your mind spring to the conclusion that we'll be featuring the cliched 'damsel in distress' plot?
"Hoping for the best, but expecting the worst".
Not because I don't trust FG, (I do) and I'm not against "damsels in distress" in particular, I'm against romantic subplots as a whole. Mostly because this kind of relationship has been explored countless times before and is still shoved in every second movie/book/game that comes out.

RE: SOMA Discussion Thread - HorrorElementFilms - 10-22-2013

(10-21-2013, 10:03 PM)Mechavomit Wrote:
(10-21-2013, 09:53 PM)Alardem Wrote: Ask yourself this - why did your mind spring to the conclusion that we'll be featuring the cliched 'damsel in distress' plot?
"Hoping for the best, but expecting the worst".
Not because I don't trust FG, (I do) and I'm not against "damsels in distress" in particular, I'm against romantic subplots as a whole. Mostly because this kind of relationship has been explored countless times before and is still shoved in every second movie/book/game that comes out.

I think we should be perfectly clear here. Assuming Frictional Games would con their fans with some pitiful, and cheesy romance plot, is the silliest thing I've heard someone say about Frictional Games. Even if they were to do something outlandish like that in a HORROR game, don't you think they'd have at least the slightest clue as to what they were doing?
Take Justine, for example. Now, while the "love interest" isn't obviously present, it's known. The suitors being "in love" with Justine, is actually a bit disturbing, as it also helps with the story. And Justine, for as short as it is, is actually pretty decent. If your problem is the very fact that there's a female character in the game, keep in mind all the great games with a female character, that didn't even closely resemble a "damsel in distress" plot theme. If you're literally "Expecting the Worst" from Frictional Games, then you've obviously never played any game from Frictional Games.

RE: SOMA Discussion Thread - Alardem - 10-22-2013

Romantic subplots can be wonderful in a horror story, and indeed can enhance your fear if it's executed strongly enough to make you feel the emotional stakes. The problem is when they're poorly written by imbecilic hacks who assume the player will automatically care about their designated love interest. See: Prey, Splatterhouse, and the zillion other games where interchangeable girlfriends are kidnapped at the beginning before you even get to see them as anything other than an excuse to start your adventure. (As a corollary, this is why most people didn't care for Mandus' children - we have no reason to feel anything for them.)

I'll cite Amabel Swanson as a precedent. Even though she was little more than a disembodied voice, I bonded with her because her friendly voice served as a counterpoint to the death and decay that poor Phillip was otherwise immersed in. It's all about contrast; caring about a character makes you more afraid of losing them.

I can quite easily imagine the protagonist of SOMA coming to care for a fellow survivor. Hell, I'd identify much more clearly with a helpless protagonist having to rely on others for dear life than I would with a generic action-hero and his invincible girl sidekick. (See: Alyx & Gordon from HL2, the poorly-coded Elizabeth and Booker from Bioshock Infinite)

RE: SOMA Discussion Thread - Mechavomit - 10-22-2013

(10-22-2013, 02:26 AM)HorrorElementFilms Wrote:
(10-21-2013, 10:03 PM)Mechavomit Wrote:
(10-21-2013, 09:53 PM)Alardem Wrote: Ask yourself this - why did your mind spring to the conclusion that we'll be featuring the cliched 'damsel in distress' plot?
"Hoping for the best, but expecting the worst".

Not because I don't trust FG, (I do) and I'm not against "damsels in distress" in particular, I'm against romantic subplots as a whole. Mostly because this kind of relationship has been explored countless times before and is still shoved in every second movie/book/game that comes out.



I think we should be perfectly clear here. Assuming Frictional Games would con their fans with some pitiful, and cheesy romance plot, is the silliest thing I've heard someone say about Frictional Games. Even if they were to do something outlandish like that in a HORROR game, don't you think they'd have at least the slightest clue as to what they were doing?

Take Justine, for example. Now, while the "love interest" isn't obviously present, it's known. The suitors being "in love" with Justine, is actually a bit disturbing, as it also helps with the story. And Justine, for as short as it is, is actually pretty decent. If your problem is the very fact that there's a female character in the game, keep in mind all the great games with a female character, that didn't even closely resemble a "damsel in distress" plot theme. If you're literally "Expecting the Worst" from Frictional Games, then you've obviously never played any game from Frictional Games.
I never said I had a problem with Justine and Justine doesn't have a romantic subplot, despite her suitors being "in love".
But whatever, I get what you're saying. I'm very ashamed of what I said about FG so I'm gonna go cry in a corner and think about my life.

RE: SOMA Discussion Thread - Macgyverthehero - 10-22-2013

(10-21-2013, 09:24 PM)Mechavomit Wrote: So it was mentioned that the story will "involve women"?
God, I hope there won't be a romantic subplot, those thing are so boring and overused, I'd rather have a root canal that play as someone who is saving his girlfriend.

Maybe the machines run on women. Who serve as the machines' "Mother". That could be a possibility as we did see that brain connector thing in the gameplay trailer.

RE: SOMA Discussion Thread - Alardem - 10-22-2013

(10-22-2013, 08:57 PM)Macgyverthehero Wrote:
(10-21-2013, 09:24 PM)Mechavomit Wrote: So it was mentioned that the story will "involve women"?
God, I hope there won't be a romantic subplot, those thing are so boring and overused, I'd rather have a root canal that play as someone who is saving his girlfriend.

Maybe the machines run on women. Who serve as the machines' "Mother". That could be a possibility as we did see that brain connector thing in the gameplay trailer.

System Shock 2 had The Machine Mother.

H.R. Giger had a couple of neat images, too.

[Image: spell1_40.jpg]

[Image: li_I.jpg]