Official Poll Regarding SOMA's Monsters

[Striker]

I especially liked the "trigger" monsters where you had to avoid certain things, like either being seen or stepping on loud azz empty cans, especially when it's dark and can't see half of them. I remember going into one of the rooms and playing a voice recording and then was like "OH SHH>>>" cause monster boy was not happy and was coming get me.

[SlackerinDeNile]

Okay guys, I found Akers's voice files, I know now why they were scrapped at the last minute. They sound incredibly silly, they're not scary, they were unedited and sound rather comical if applied to the horrifying monster that Akers became. He sounds like a bloomin' Starcraft character.

D:\Games\SOMA\lang\eng\voices\02_06_theta_tunnels

Look in there if you want to listen yourself...

[felixmole]

He sounds like a bloomin' Starcraft character.

D:\Games\SOMA\lang\eng\voices\02_06_theta_tunnels

Look in there if you want to listen yourself...

His grave voice makes me think of a splicer from BioShock: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPAkWE6MhNc

[SlackerinDeNile]

Its been a long time since I played that game, but I do remember a couple of southern American splicers in it, so I hear what you mean.

[Kein]

Seems like someone made the mod making monster non-hostile according to original idea from back then,when SOMA was in development.

[A.M Team]

Seems like someone made the mod making monster non-hostile according to original idea from back then,when SOMA was in development.

To be honest I really wish more thought was put into it. I'm looking through the files of the mod and all he/she/it did was copy the scripts of the monsters and then turned their AI off. No level editing or level coding or anything like that.

And just to think that someone else said that they were going to remove the monsters from the level AND script as long as it wasn't a set piece (Ross or Akers Running at you from the stairs.

[Kein]

In my opinion best choice would be no or little to none actually hostile Creatures except when you piss them off specifically.

[srsCookie]

I would vote "Scary, but very easy to get past."
I've been looking at some "Let's plays" lately, and while most people play SOMA the way it's meant to be played (hiding, not looking at monsters, being very careful not to make any noise etc.), there are some players that just don't give a crap about monsters, because they're too forgiving if you manage to screw up. And it gets pretty ridiculous with what you can get away.

To give an example:
This dude..

He goes to the monster, get's KO'd, picks up the objective, gets KO'd again, wakes up and screws with it some more, gets KO'd again and walks away. What? I mean.. what?? What's the point in having monsters at all then?
I have no idea why we get another chance in the first place. If you get caught you die. Simple. Otherwise it completely breaks the tension. Why would I even bother? There should be an incentive for staying alive (or in this case, not getting KO'd), and here, there is none.

Also this. Oh come on.. The AI needs a lot of work.
Otherwise I LOVE the game. I just wish the death mechanic would be more punishing - we're all gamers after all.

[Cranky Old Man]

My two cents is that I wish I could set a harder difficulty for the monsters at times. The proxy (EDIT: I was wrong - it was apparently Akers.) comes to mind: When you first encounter the proxy, it's outside Cath's new lab, in a large area, and it wasn't even CLOSE to get me. I've played Alien: Isolation, so when the game instructed me to be quiet, I was crawling alongside the floor, carefully avoiding to even TOUCH beakers, be careful about the sound that opening and closing doors would make, the sound that the recording device made, thinking its augmented senses would pick up EVERYTHING. I expected a monster with PERFECT hearing, full eyesight in light, and some eyesight in darkness, and sure, why not proxy damage through walls as well?

There was one point where I fear quitted the game, and went to watch a walkthrough before daring to continue: It was when you were at the Escher ship wreck. You see a hammerhead shark overhead. I was afraid to pass underneath it, I "knew" that I was going to encounter it as I climbed the wreck, so when there was time to go outside of the wreck briefly, I thought that I would have to avoid it. It was kind of disappointing in hindsight, that I didn't even get a glimpse of it casually passing by just outside the railing. That would have been face whitening. By comparison, the later worm fish didn't feel scary.

The most scary monster, was probably the diving suit monster, because of how unnaturally fast it walks, as if it was possessed by a demon.

[Noble81]

Hi all!

Now that SOMA has been out for two weeks, would be nice to do a poll on an important subject: How did you feel that the monster encounters worked?

Obviously, this is a bit more complicated than answering one out of six answers, but please select which one feels most correct to you. Also, if you feel like it please write more about it below.

I thought for the most part they were excellent. A couple of times I felt a bit cheated, mainly in the area where you need to get the elevator working again. I would lose the monster and magically it would be back on me again even if I had not made a sound and snuck. Although I do appreciate this was probably a design choice to keep tension.

The screaming female was amazing, how could someone not be terrified when it comes for you in the corridor once you have everything you need to activate the suit! I had cold sweats once the door was closed!

Also the one where the door with the multi locks near the end was scary, even though I knew it was coming from reading the data entry showing there was one power suit still active and it was in the area (built tension).

Being scary is the hardest thing though because it relies heavily on who the player is, how immersed they are in the game and how they are playing. Are they playing at night? Head phones? I only played the game in the dark at night with headphones, which in my opinion is essential for all games like this to work. I would answer not scared at all if I played at lunch time on a sunny day with the sound coming out of a tv screen.

I loved how every monster had a different way of hunting you as well, be it by sight or movement etc. Perhaps in the next game give the character more ways of dealing with them then just sneaking and the rare opportunity to trap it.

thanks