The Ultimate SOMA Discussion Thread

**plutomaniac** · 03-10-2014, 12:50 AM

Station Omicron! The Greek letter for O. Keep it coming FG! I want the whole alphabet, all 24 letters please! Tongue

Oh crap...sorry about before. Apparently the Greek letter Υ is actually called Upsilon in English. Go figure...

**Ghieri** · 03-10-2014, 08:07 AM

I already have existential angst. I don't need that shit.

**i3670** · 03-10-2014, 01:43 PM

(03-10-2014, 08:07 AM)Ghieri Wrote: I already have existential angst. I don't need that shit.

All existential angst is good existential angst.

**Alardem** · 03-10-2014, 05:49 PM

(03-09-2014, 07:12 PM)Damascus Rose Wrote: Regarding the interview, existential angst is one of the worst feelings you can get. The whole primal fear thing is fine, it makes for a fun and scary experience. But existential themes.. this I'm not sure about. That stuff can legitimately fuck with people for a long time, and not in a fun way. They're truly taking a risk with this - the least I can see happening, if they pull this off properly, is them losing a large part of the subset of gamers who are willing to play horror games. There's such a smaller number of people I feel who would be okay with this, people like me who have probably already pondered all of the themes they're bringing up, have already passed through the angst and won't be bothered by it, who will love and appreciate the game for doing it. They have to be really careful with this whole idea, I think they're walking a thin line.

That being said, I'm really excited what they come up with.

Don't be pretentious. That stuff is awesome.

**SeanieTheMan** · 03-10-2014, 08:20 PM

What is existential angst? I looked it up and didn't really understand it. If it's so bad, I don't know what FG is trying to do to us. Are they trying to mess our consciousness up? Sad

**ReadingNotAllowed** · 03-10-2014, 09:11 PM

(03-10-2014, 08:20 PM)SeanieTheMan Wrote: What is existential angst? I looked it up and didn't really understand it. If it's so bad, I don't know what FG is trying to do to us. Are they trying to mess our consciousness up?

This explains it quite well http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.ph...tial+Angst

**i3670** · 03-10-2014, 11:17 PM

The realization that life is pointless is nothing to fear.

**VaeVictis** · 03-11-2014, 03:05 AM

(03-10-2014, 05:49 PM)Alardem Wrote:
(03-09-2014, 07:12 PM)Damascus Rose Wrote: Regarding the interview, existential angst is one of the worst feelings you can get. The whole primal fear thing is fine, it makes for a fun and scary experience. But existential themes.. this I'm not sure about. That stuff can legitimately fuck with people for a long time, and not in a fun way. They're truly taking a risk with this - the least I can see happening, if they pull this off properly, is them losing a large part of the subset of gamers who are willing to play horror games. There's such a smaller number of people I feel who would be okay with this, people like me who have probably already pondered all of the themes they're bringing up, have already passed through the angst and won't be bothered by it, who will love and appreciate the game for doing it. They have to be really careful with this whole idea, I think they're walking a thin line.

That being said, I'm really excited what they come up with.

Don't be pretentious. That stuff is awesome.

Dunno if I'd call it pretentious as there are certainly many people (myself included), that find the possibility that all life is ultimately meaningless horrifying and provokes a lot of ethical and moral questions.
That said, I'm wondering if playing the game won't mess with my head more than Amnesia.

Quote:The realization that life is pointless is nothing to fear.

To you, maybe.

**Ghieri** · 03-11-2014, 04:36 AM

(03-10-2014, 11:17 PM)i3670 Wrote: The realization that life is pointless is nothing to fear.

Everyone clap for the fearless leader. We should give you a medal or something.

**Alardem** · 03-11-2014, 04:41 AM

Lovecraft was terrified by the idea that life was ultimately insignificant in the cosmic perspective, and that fear formed the core of his stories - many people picked up on the gooey monsters or kooky occult stuff, though. Unlike him, I don't find that philosophy depressing - it's fascinating and, in my opinion, it grounds us all.

Even the first Amnesia screwed things up a little with the incompetence of the Shadow and the off-screen character of Johann Weyer, who is implied to be an Ub3r-1337 sorcerer with ultimate control over the universes' loci of control (orbs). It's hard for me to take the antagonists seriously when it turns out that Alexander is much more incompetent than a mere human, and that the Shadow is unable to hunt down a scared young man. Even so, the Shadow being more preoccupied with otherworldly Alexander and its human victims simply caught in the crossfire is more faithful to the idea of cosmic insignificance than AMFP, where the Machine literally wants to destroy humanity.

Prometheus could be cited by some as a futuristic adaptation of "Into The Mountains Of Madness". Personally, though, I didn't like that:

Spoiler below!

In other words, I'm sick of having aliens which give a damn about humans. SOMA here seems to be geared more around artificial intelligences created by humans, unless my expectations are subverted. (Which they likely will be.)