The Ultimate SOMA Discussion Thread

[Sampyli]

My only disappointment is the abrupt end of the ARG. I was looking forward to another year or so of decoding and decrypting.

Hm? We're still going to get loads of teasers, you know. Just not as close together as the previous ones : P

[Arvuti]

My only disappointment is the abrupt end of the ARG. I was looking forward to another year or so of decoding and decrypting.

Hm? We're still going to get loads of teasers, you know. Just not as close together as the previous ones : P

It will be long 2 years

[Kein]

My only disappointment is the abrupt end of the ARG. I was looking forward to another year or so of decoding and decrypting.

I believe there still will be audio logs and image teasers.

[MegaScience]

But I'm talking about code hidden inside pages, decrypting, discovering, etc. Not content handed to us. I can't argue anything, though, can I?

[Macgyverthehero]

So I was right about that concept art being used in the game!

Indeed you were.

[plutomaniac]

I like the new logo! Is there a better version out there which is not youtube print-screened preferably?

You have to ask David, I think?

soon.

Just don't forget it!

[i3670]

I was actually hoping that Reed would be the protagonist. Maybe to early to tell, but it seems that this will not be.

[Draug]

From Thomas:

Yeah a big problem is that we pretty much only had two AI models in
Amnesia: The Dark Descent. One for the grunt/brute and one for the water
lurker. The water lurker works great because we used it in just a few
places and always under new circumstances. But, especially at the end,
the grunt/brute AI was spammed a lot.

So one thing in SOMA is that there will be more enemy types. Also,
what we are trying to do is to mess with your mind a bit more so that
you are less sure of how the creatures work. Normally in games the goal
is to win over the enemies, so you learn all their patterns, etc.
Eventually you have a mind model that is pretty true to the underlying
AI. We want to get away from this as much as possible.

Instead you should only have hints of how they behave and then fill
out the gaps with your own imagination. And it is here where the fun
starts. Your imagined model of the creature will be muchscarier than
anything we could code, yet you will act on this when playing the game.
If done correctly, you will never be able to figure out the true
behavior of a monster, and live in constant uncertainty if your beliefs
are accurate. This can lead to really nightmarish experience.

That is our goal
src: http://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/10/1...on.Blog%29
comment 21

[Damascus Rose]

I think as we can see from the video, the brains aren't being kept inside the body but in those things with the red flashing light, and they control the body remotely using the metal thing in the body's heads replacing the brain. At the beginning, it malfunctioned and shocked raznik's brain and killed him, we can see the blood coming from where his brain is. And at the end, the metal things are attaching something onto the brain of our character, which seems to shut him down? Maybe kill him? I don't think it kills him because then why would they attach something to his brain, and how could he talk after. What do you guys think?

[Alex Ros]

I presume small tiny indie gamedev studio have become a lot bigger, wealthier, if they can live on 2 years and there's enough of financial background. That's just great. The situation when you have to rush is hopefully over now. For example the Dark Descent was made in a rush and I am sure without rush it could be even better and more complex, polished, unusual, etc. So that's just great (am I saying that again?) and I am sincerely happy that Frictional did survive years and years of the "always on the edge".

FRICTIONAL became FRICTIONAL. Hooray!