The Ultimate SOMA Discussion Thread

[Googolplex]

I wonder that the computers in SOMA looks like from today. Classical cases and flat screens.

[PutraenusAlivius]

I wonder that the computers in SOMA looks like from today. Classical cases and flat screens.

Nah, probably holograms.

[Sampyli]

There is more than a year of waiting ahead, you probably should put your train to some slow, steady pace yet, haha.

Might not be over a year, all we've got so far is "2015". (Probably is, tho )

[Googolplex]

I don't know why, but somehow my expectations are not as high as I normally had in everything from Frictional Games before. As I played Penumbra series and saw the first information about a new game called "Unknown" and then the first trailer of Amnesia, I was not able to describe how much I hyped the game. And Amnesia was gorgeous.

But now, the new Sci-Fi setting doesn't turn me on. I can't believe that Frictional Games will release a bad game, but I have the feeling that they go a lot different than everything before to get more audience in the mainstream market. It's a general problem of every developer, who started with excellent games and then later turned into only profit oriented design to make games more suitable for newcomers.

A science-fiction setting never got my attention. I always hate it when I saw movies about space marines or other "kitschy" things like that. Such a setting is something what doesn't exist in reality and this is the reason why I find heavy to immerse myself. Because it just looks like a conventional game or movie. I wouldn't say that science fiction is boring, I totally like the story about human and machines, but the environments in SOMA really looks like everything you've seen before in any media.

I just found a castle in 19th century or a mining complex more interesting and spooky than a surreal fictive building.

Amnesia was my most expected game as its time. But now SOMA is just under my top-5 upcoming games.

The games I waiting for are:

Risen 3
The Witcher 3
Project CARS
SOMA


I hope SOMA will be great like Penumbra and Amnesia was. But the hype is limited for me.

[plutomaniac]

+1

Also some of the videos are named after greek letters like these videos:
Ypsilon (Υ)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oC9x6Ri8jQk

Theta (Θ)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AH4y2tZei2o

It's too much to be just a coincidence.

Oh right, yes indeed. I didn't even notice that. Ha... Both names are actually Greek letters. Although it should't be Upsilon but Ipsilon to be pronounced the same way. Whatever. Theta is pronounced the same.

EDIT: Small correction about Upsilon naming.

Pathos does not mean just that (passion), in fact, I'm not sure English has a similar word to that. In Russian language there is almost 1:1 analogue: Пафос

What do you mean it doesn't mean only that? In Greek that's what it means. Obviously it could mean other things in other languages but I was talking about my own. About Russian, it could but I don't see any other related references so far and the letter Φ (I know it's not the same, I used a Greek letter but it's almost the same in appearance) is not the one at the symbol. It's Θ not Φ.

[pagan]

It's slightly worrying that looking around in the news sites, the main platform seems to be ps4, and pc seems to be an afterthought. I love the physical manipulation mechanic in Amnesia, it just feels so natural with the mouse. I can't imagine it works quite as well with gamepad, so if Soma is primarily designed for the ps4 (and its controller), i fear this mechanic will be dumbed down quite a bit.

[Ethelros]

snip

How can you say that SOMA looks like every other sci fi setting and then claim Amnesia wasn't like that? Haunted spooky castles are done pretty much as often, and as good as Amnesia looked, the location was far from unique.

[Sampyli]

It's slightly worrying that looking around in the news sites, the main platform seems to be ps4, and pc seems to be an afterthought. I love the physical manipulation mechanic in Amnesia, it just feels so natural with the mouse. I can't imagine it works quite as well with gamepad, so if Soma is primarily designed for the ps4 (and its controller), i fear this mechanic will be dumbed down quite a bit.

Knowing FG, PC comes first. AMFP (not FG's work but just an example because it uses the same engine) was partly designed with a gamepad (+ is gamepad compatible) and the controls were just as good as TDD.

[pagan]

It's slightly worrying that looking around in the news sites, the main platform seems to be ps4, and pc seems to be an afterthought. I love the physical manipulation mechanic in Amnesia, it just feels so natural with the mouse. I can't imagine it works quite as well with gamepad, so if Soma is primarily designed for the ps4 (and its controller), i fear this mechanic will be dumbed down quite a bit.

Knowing FG, PC comes first. AMFP (not FG's work but just an example because it uses the same engine) was partly designed with a gamepad (+ is gamepad compatible) and the controls were just as good as TDD.

Well, i'm not sure amfp is a good example, it didn't really used this mechanic to the full extent, the environmental interactivity was fairly minimal (possibly partly because it was designed for working with gamepad).

I'm rather talking about things like the water chase part (quickly opening and closing the doors), or the box stacking part in Justine, where you had to be quick and/or accurate with the object manipulations. I don't think the required precision is possible with a gamepad, so similarly complex or 'difficult' gameplay elements wont happen in a game designed with a gamepad in mind.

[Sampyli]

the environmental interactivity was fairly minimal (possibly partly because it was designed for working with gamepad).

Wrong. This was because of the simplistic puzzles. (So players wouldn't get confused what is a puzzle item and what isn't, since there was no inventory.)

I'm rather talking about things like the water chase part (quickly opening and closing the doors), or the box stacking part in Justine, where you had to be quick and/or accurate with the object manipulations. I don't think the required precision is possible with a gamepad, so similarly complex or 'difficult' gameplay elements wont happen in a game designed with a gamepad in mind.

I suppose this is true, but I don't think FG would repeat themselves with such sequences. Then again, who knows.