3 HUGE things I must know abut the end. Big spoilers obviously.

**Fishels** · 09-29-2015, 06:49 AM

First off when you arrive at the Ark you get that survey thing. The last question is "would you rather be removed from the project and accept death".... I assume the majority of us said no because we wanted to see what was next and that could potentially jeopardize that. Now that plays into my first question. If you say you would rather accept death does the game end right there? Do you get erased? It's killing me to know lol. Also another thing. Earlier in the game it's mentioned that there is a lower form of AI that will basically exist to do mundane tasks and serve you on the ark I think. I remember reading it in a survey earlier on in the game about asking whether or not you liked it or not. Now correct me if I'm wrong... But isn't this exactly, or close to what WAU was? Isn't there a chance that this AI could become just as scary and miserable and ruin everything even if it is different from WAU? Could it make the ark a living hell similar to pathos 2? And lastly isn't it explained that there really is no coin toss and that the body you stay in is the one you stay in? Like if I sat down right now to have this MRI scan I would have no chance of waking up as the robot version. I assume they did this for the narrative because shouldn't we really be walking out of the doctors office after the scan and after he is copied the second go we should be the one who wakes up a few hours after new Simon and Catherine are gone...... But then again the robot version is exactly the same as me in every way mind wise so it would think its the real me. So thought provoking.

**grrrz** · 09-29-2015, 10:10 AM

(09-29-2015, 06:49 AM)Fishels Wrote: First off when you arrive at the Ark you get that survey thing. The last question is "would you rather be removed from the project and accept death".... I assume the majority of us said no because we wanted to see what was next and that could potentially jeopardize that. Now that plays into my first question. If you say you would rather accept death does the game end right there? Do you get erased? It's killing me to know lol. Also another thing. Earlier in the game it's mentioned that there is a lower form of AI that will basically exist to do mundane tasks and serve you on the ark I think. I remember reading it in a survey earlier on in the game about asking whether or not you liked it or not. Now correct me if I'm wrong... But isn't this exactly, or close to what WAU was? Isn't there a chance that this AI could become just as scary and miserable and ruin everything even if it is different from WAU? Could it make the ark a living hell similar to pathos 2? And lastly isn't it explained that there really is no coin toss and that the body you stay in is the one you stay in? Like if I sat down right now to have this MRI scan I would have no chance of waking up as the robot version. I assume they did this for the narrative because shouldn't we really be walking out of the doctors office after the scan and after he is copied the second go we should be the one who wakes up a few hours after new Simon and Catherine are gone...... But then again the robot version is exactly the same as me in every way mind wise so it would think its the real me. So thought provoking.

to me it's totally obvious that the answer to the survey don't affect anything in the game. how would it? It's pretty clear pretty much all connexions are down in the station.

**TiManGames** · 09-29-2015, 10:13 AM

The survey thingy just made to help the player think about the aspects the game was made to deliver.

**Sonador** · 09-29-2015, 01:02 PM

(09-29-2015, 10:13 AM)TheTieMan Wrote: The survey thingy just made to help the player think about the aspects the game was made to deliver.

I was hoping Frictional was monitoring the results and compiling them to be reviewed online. I'd certainly like to know what everyone else was thinking.

**Fishels** · 09-29-2015, 05:16 PM

So am I right about the AI on board the ARK? Gives me a bad feeling.

**Xenosiris** · 09-29-2015, 07:28 PM

Regarding the answers to Fishels first question about the surveys, It is clear that the survey says more about the player than it does the character Simon J. For example, the game hints at dark things, things the game made clear like the reality that many of Catherine's subjects resorted to suicide shortly after being scanned. Knowing this, and knowing that you are the controller of Simon's actions you are given options to kill your first encounter with yourself sitting unconscious in the pilot seat in the dive room. This same option is suggested following the firing of the Omega Space Gun, where there were still "versions" of Simon and Catherine left behind back in Alpha. The game does a great job prying at the players deepest feelings, views and beliefs.

Based on my understanding of the mundane A.I. I'm certain that it all must be related to experimenting with Legacy Scans, and the implementation of Structure Gel. WAU seems to be some kind of intentionally created hive mind Frankenstein style experiment all to keep the "A.I." and the Structure Gel working together and sustaining itself. Clearly those affected by the "Cancer" growing throughout their entirely WAU based system, regret their decisions to experiment on themselves, and try playing god. The idea of Transhumanism and well, god, are huge topic's of their own and I personally won't go into the minutia of their theology, but i can most certainly add that after playing Amnesia: The Dark Descent, and even Penumbra, It's clear that Frictional Games has their hands in some thick soup. Between the hermetic and alchemical understandings displayed throughout the game's narratives, the developer seems totally self aware of their dark side, These subjects are a great basis for horror and may very well have their roots in Qabalah. I wouldn't doubt for a second that SOMA isn't just an allegory for some kind of hell.

The third question directly responds to the question the game itself raises from the very beginning, what is consciousness? It is almost suggested that the player might be Simon's higher consciousness, telling the "true" Simon which path he's suppose to be watching. This might as well get into quantum physics, with entanglement and the butterfly effect, but I suppose the best way to explain it might be that what this game's narrative is, Is simply experiencing death without forgetting a previous life (which goes back to theology and things like ascension) Certainly there were other Simon's that lived in 2015 and uploaded as an early A.I. but were they really living? Were those mundane existences following any path of greatness? It's almost like "consciousness" is something that just seems to follow the relative moments of time that that are "living" the most, building a narrative out of the quantum possibilities of the multiverse that just happened to be the story of someone such as Simon Jarrett's saving the last remnants and accomplishments of Humanity. Could it be that all of us are experiencing what we are here and now because this is exactly what we're suppose to be doing at this point in time? Catherine says something about a coin flip, but if you know anything about quantum physics, a coin flip lands on both sides every time.