Just finished pic related.
I don't know why it got hated so much, i absolutely loved the story and the ending was interesting too.
It got hated? I've heard nothing but praise. I loved it too
I'm surprised by how little it is mentioned here on /v/, considering how many people have an obsession with dark depths as a concept/setting.
But I really enjoyed it, wasn't as scary as Amnesia to me at least, but the enemy design was much much better. The story was absolutely phenomenal as well. Overall I'd give it a 8.5/10
yeah it wasnt hated at all for some reason people just say that to have a contrasting opinion to spark a discussion
>>321563618
Yeah the story was really on fucking point and the whole deep-depth setting was great, really fucking great, especially the descent into the abyss.
Plus this game fell just when i thought i had nothing to do with video-games at 25 years old anymore. Seems i was wrong.
i think the issue is that there's just not a whole lot to discuss, the plot wraps up pretty well and it's not like there's a slew of deep gameplay to go over either
>>321563618
Also forgot to mention the puzzles feel like actual puzzles and aren't ""bring this cogwheel from room A to room B" like Amnesia.who else was disappointed you couldn't play chess on one of the few computers that had it?
>>321563618
Probably because it wasn't on consoles
>>321562872
I liked the environments, the story (to an extent) and the general atmosphere. I just wish they went full walking simulator. The laughably broken hide and seek gameplay was crap and they could have spent the time working on that fixing the shitty animations.
>>321564542
This
>>321563618
The setting was great, the problem was literally everything else. A good setting doesnt make a game.
>>321564542
It WAS on consoles. The game isnt talked about because it was pretty underwhelming.
There were a few threads a day around release, but it was somewhat forgettable.
I'm halfway trough and it's not even a good walking simulator, it's destroyed by cheesy dialogue and voice actors.
I figured thatYou're a robotIn the first five minutes, yet it took the main character half a game of HUUUUR DUDE LMOA WHAT annoying voice acting for the main character to get trough
was thinking about picking Soma up while its on sale, worth it?
>>321565059
If it's anything like the first two amnesia games it will be pennies soon anyway
>the year 2103
>the robot A.I is talking in internet reddit memespeak
The dialogue is atrocious. Frictional should stick to making mechanics, not deep plots
soma is incredible. by far the most frightening game i've ever played. the atmosphere and the story are fucking terrifying and the game surpasses the penumbra and amnesia series. bought the game on release for $30 on PS4 and felt it was worth every penny
>>321565349
what exactly are you referring to with "internet reddit memespeak"
>>321565349
I played Penumbra recently before this and it gained a lot over Soma by having the main character be silent.
Loved the world building and concepts but it was too short and didn't explore enough.
>>321563618
>surprised this shitfest isn't plastered all over /v/.
It tried to play cartoonish sci-fi elements straight and gave characters an inconsistent awareness of their situation, not to mention the entire story centered around some thick-skulled dudebro with a messiah complex and odd mood swings.
One part that really stuck out as a plot hole was the pointless power suit you had to spend so much effort getting to survive "the crushing depths", which was immediately breached on the big bad sphincter-monster anyway and nothing came of it.
It was just Amnesia: Underwater Edition with a shitty, unrelatable protagonist and tryhard story with a bullshit pseudoscience premise.
>>321565349
>internet reddit memespea
Examples
The game isn't talked about because it has zero replay value. You play it once and it's done. Your choices don't even change that much dialogue, let alone the plot. Decent game. Solid 7 story/ 6 gameplay + no replay value means + no need for a sequel = little to talk about.
>>321565035
That "twist" makes sense for him not to get. He has no reason to assume he wasa robot. In fact I really feel like it's not actually a twist, so much a plot hook of "how did this happen".
>>321565528
>immediately breached on the big bad sphincter-monster anyway and nothing came of it.
So much THIS. Your fucking hand got cut off, the suit with it, and everything just carries on as normal. Game should have ended there if you chose that route for consistency purposes.
>>321565541
Dialogue is filled with "le quirky moments" with awful voice acting in what's supposed to be a pseudo horror game.
The A.I says "wait,what' at one time
>>321565740
How is that "memespeak"?
>>321562872
Finished it yesterday too.
The story was awesome.
And the part where you walked on the bottom of the ocean to station Tau, during a that storm, in absolute darkness was fucking incredible.
>>321565836
>you can hear thunder while being leagues beneath the surface
>>321564542
I can buy it on the psn store you faggot
>>321565712
>>321565528
The suit had self tightening valves to stop an implosion in case of a breach. I think you read that on a terminal?
>>321565740
>complains about Reddit meme and uses them
>mfw
wasn't nearly as clever as it thought it was..
I mean I get a lot of effort went into making this game, you can see it by all the details.
But it's just poorly written, people were giving Amnesia 2 shit for not having enough gameplay this was on the same level.
I hope frictional doesn't make another game like this
>>321565948
Was how scientifically possible that was your first thought while playing that tense moment? Get real
>>321562872
I really liked it but the gameplay got stale at one bit and couldnt bring myself to finish it. I think I was about 2/3 through the game.
Those parts where you have to complete an objective while sneaking around the big bad guy ruin these types of games for me more often than not any more.
>>321565948
>seismic activity
>>321566170
>dust blowing around at the bottom of the ocean
>>321565948
Was it even thunder?
I just remember how fucking intense this walk was. With everyone dead on the surface thousands of miles above you. And i felt so sad when i encountered the last human beeing alive.
Great game.
>>321566340
>sand
>>321566124
Same. I kind of feel like I should just watch the rest because like, why bother. Its not fun gameplay and its a huge timewaster that breaks the tempo of the game
>>321566124
The game really starts to shine when you are descending into the depths, heading to the last 3 stations 4000 meters below the surface. Which is about the last third of the game.
My biggest dissappointment with the game by far was the lack of multiple endings. During my playthrough I was intentionally killing off/mercy killing all the characters that came in my path, hoping i would get some sort of dark ending. I actually believed that for a while after finishing the game, but soon after that I started searching for the other endings and was like "god damn it" when I found out the lack thereof.
>>321565675
>He has no reason to assume he wasa robot
You know what I thought? I thought he was placed inside a video game.
There was a quote at the beginning by the guy who scans your brain, something about "we can fail a million times to find a cure without hurting the patient in any way."
BAM, I had that story nailed from the beginning. The premise is going to be Groundhog Day meets The Matrix.
The moment he woke up in the alien place, I was looking forward to a horror-themed mind-fuck virtual world tour of this guy's messed up brain, where you play as him inside a simulated video-game-ified version of his mind and try and fail to fix it repeatedly until some plot point comes along to make things more interesting. Maybe it takes a while before he realizes it's all just a game and starts doing Neo shit, or maybe it could have started with him believing it's "just a game", since he's now some kind of superman, and then slowly realize it's the real world later and have to come to terms with it. I dunno, something.
But nope, they played it straight. No cool twist.
I thought the protagonist knew in the back of his mind that it was all a simulation, since he was so fucking dopey the entire time, but then he just throws tantrums out of nowhere to clearly demonstrate the opposite.
I don't even know what the fuck was up with the characterization there.
>>321566640
Well fuck. I started it back up.
And my save is gone. Wow. Well nevermind on that then.
>>321566067
>The suit had self tightening valves to stop an implosion in case of a breach. I think you read that on a terminal?
Really? Huh
>>321567371
Ignore that anon, the game doesn't improve after the first third.
The end is just a bunch of plot mush to tie up and make more loose ends, and then the protag dies/lives.
>>321567371
WEW. Nevermind that, I loaded the wrong exe. I'm at Theta, is it gonna git gud soon?
>>321567595
More of the same, some plot stuff, and then an end, bro.
>>321567595
I think its good even before. But after theta you have to go to omnikron first and then you descend.
>>321566930
That's what I say it wasn't a "twist", just a way to get a player invested in the story.
And yes, I also thought there was going to be more to the story, or a better twist, like the ark scanned your brain using future tech and recreated an ideal world for you, so at the end the character is sitting there staring at a mirror and just enjoying the existential horror of this existence.
>>321562872
>ending was interesting
>>321567860
What bugs me the most is that it kind of failed to be a horror game.
The monsters were too plentiful, weren't scary, and were really easy to evade, even face-to-face.
>>321567752
I liked it but don't care for the "avoid this thing while doing objectives" that seems to become more prevalent as you play.
>>321567721
Damn.
I'm totally lost after I loaded up my save. Chased by some thing until I look away over and over. I remember why I stopped playing.
What was your favourite part of the game, guys? For me it was down in the server room, where you had to restart the router or some shit, wait for half a minute and then confirm it. The big walls and stacks of computers on the side and the dark green lighting with the monster dwelling around, really made it for me
>>321568434
Yeah the monsters were annoying i just wanted to progress in the story.
>>321568545
The underwater sequences.
I just wish they did more with it, since it just turned into a walking simulator at that point.
>no horrors from the deep
>no abyss that stares back
>tfw
>>321568545
The part where you had to walk on the bottom of the ocean to this last station. Or when you encountered the last human on earth.
>>321568294
Yeah, because they had an excuse to go full fucking crazy with designs, with both sea creatures, an ai that is trying to build life, malfunctioning robots, and the oppressive nature of UNDER THE FUCKING OCEAN.
Theangler fish? 10/10
The flickering ghost from outlast? 2/10
>>321568646
Truth.I already quit again.
Did the crew killing Catherine seem like a total overreaction to anyone else? It seemed more like the devs didn't want to deal with what would happen if you'd meet her.
>>321569112
It's alright, anon. You can always catch an LP or speedrun later on if you want to know the story.
There's not much to speak of in branching paths except new lines of dialog in like two places, neither at the end.
>>321566930
To be honest "protagonist is actually inside a computer simulation" sounds less interesting to me, I liked exploring the sea of a post apocalyptic world and piecing together what happened, would've seemed a bit consequence-free if it was all just happening inside one dudes computer (which it technically already is of course).
>>321569350
I honestly don't remember how it went down, did they kill her because they thought it was going to break the facility, or because they though the ark would break? I know it's one of the two, but I can't remember which.
The first is understandable, the second retarded.
>>321569350
The whole story felt like a "so the devs didn't have to deal with it" kind of thing.
Beginning was impressive in its mystery, but after you meet up with Catherine, it's downhill from there to corner they wrote themselves into.
>>321569350
The last person alive in this station could have been here. With the same decision to mercy kill her or not cus last living human and so on.
That would make the game so much better. And the best thing she wouldnt even know it when shes not plugged in shifting into existence.
It's a great narrative-driven story, nothing more. I enjoyed it, but it is worth at BEST maybe $10.
It has ZERO re-playability. None, zip, nada. Once you have played through it once, there is literally no reason whatsoever to play it again. No additional achievements to unlock, no easter eggs, no collectibles, nothing.
It just needed more to be a great game, just some small minor changes to the gameplay to give it some replay value, but instead it had nothing and I was really disappointed.
The game even presents you with some "choices" a few times during the game, choices which don't matter because they have no effects whatsoever. This is just poor design honestly.
>>321569618
Neither, they did it because:
>we can launch the ark whenever we want, why do it now?!
>because the sooner we do it, the better
>but I'm going plot-mental and have to be irrational, I SAY WE WAIT
>IT'S MY ARK LEMMIE DO IT FAGGOT
>NO U
>*dies*
>oh, oops
>guess we're keeping it here then
>k
>>321569350
People have been accidentally killed because of things less significant than the future of the human race.
>>321570029
I dont know what you guys have with the replaybility. When you know the ending why would you play it again. Its not like a 60€ title where this is kind of expected. Its a nice little gem with an awesome setting and story but painful average gameplay.
>>321570029
>No achivements to unlock, no collectibles
What? What kind of cheevos would you have wanted in SOMA, I'm genuinely curious.
>>321570041
That is a lot dumber than I remember. Wow.
>>321570249
Replayability is on of the main factors when it comes to talking about a game. Which is partially what this thread is about.
>>321570249
>replayability has no value to me
Well okay then, but the rest of us like exploring branching paths and alternate endings, even just alternate outcomes for cool sequences anywhere.
Even Amnesia TDD had alternate endings, and that's a a budget title by the same guys.
>>321570029
>I didn't like this book, it has no replayability whatsoever
>>321570645
Not really.
>Which is partially what this thread is about.
and is asked why its so important for some of you.
>>321570725
>games should be books
Fuck that analogy, even visual novels have replayability.
This game just fails hard at being a game.
Stop apologizing for wannabe film directors who worked their ideas into a game by mistake.
>>321570724
What story driven games have replay value then for you?
>>321570601
Not him but I could see things like getting all the buffer logs, killing/sparing everyone, secrets, etc.
I'm glad they didn't though. That stuff takes focus away from the story and puts it in the players end that they have to do it when most the choices are purely moral.
>>321571019
Are you blind, did you miss the one I mentioned?
Even Penumbra does it well, and that was an earlier game of theirs.
What story games have replayability? Try ANY RPG.
Name one - if it wasn't replayable, it failed hard.
>>321565740
>AI
Way to misunderstand, bud
>>321571016
I didn't say games should be books. I was challenging the idea that if you cannot change the storyline in a work of fiction then the book/game/movie is poor quality. Books don't need to have branching storylines to be worthwhile and enjoyable.
A lot of games are immeasurably improved by a branching storyline, but that doesn't mean that they all need "your choices have consequences!"
>>321562872
it's because it's a memegame
did I do that right?
>>321571456
Absolutely, but then in a linear horror-themed walking simulator with minor puzzle-solving elements, there had better be one hell of a complex story implementation to make up for the lack of interactive freedom, or it's a shit game.
>>321569350
It felt like it was poorly handled and just out of plot convenience.
How was her body not rotted through, anyway? Also I wish they went more in to detail with some of the other humans. That one woman kept alive by the breathing machine in the tunnel was terrifying when you think about how long she was left there in that state with no company
>>321571331
Sorry i forgot /v/ is a bunch of NEETs who dont have anything better to do with their time than replaying a whole game cus of some minor changes in the story.
>>321570029
What?
That's like complaining that a movie doesn't have any rewatchability because you've already seen it.
Soma is a story driven game, like a long interactive movie. There's lots of games like these that you're just supposed to experience once and then remember it, like
you do a good book or a movie. You don't buy these kinds of games to entertain you for as long time as possible, you buy them to experience something.
You are retarded.
>>321571926
>/v/ a bunch of NEETs
>not all of 4chan
I want normalfags to leave.
>>321572036
This
>>321571693
Some people like to experience a horror work of fiction with some appreciation for the threat and fear that the protagonist is facing. If you didn't enjoy it then that's fine, doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with you or the game and yes it was very linear with weak puzzles. But I liked the contrast between exploring a beautiful and eerie environment to unravel a mystery, and then some sections of the game where the malfunctioning world and it's inhabitants proved that something had gone seriously wrong.
I think there's room in the world for both lite-horror walking simulators and feindishly difficult puzzle games with malleable flexible plots.
>>321571456
At the same time though, books aren't limited by your character having to move through each set piece in sequence. I can't just hold fast forward and speed through the parts I don't like. I can't skip back a few chapters to quickly re-read something.
>>321571926
>Complaining about NEETs
I come here because of the NEETs, I like talking to normal people but I can't have conversations like this with the vast majority of people with a full time job and an apartment/house.
>>321572563
Well i work fulltime and still have the same mindset of a neet the only difference is that i dont have that much time. I still get high and play vidya on free days doing absolutely nothing productive. But even if i have the time i just cant see why somebody would complain about soma, a story driven game, having no replay value.
>>321572296
There's room for everything in a free market.
Does that make it good?
This game was poorly designed even from a story perspective.
Everyone is poorly characterized (especially the protag), the story is disjunct and at odds with itself throughout, and the message was too heavy-handed, like the developers didn't stop to think about the human condition and consciousness beyond a coin toss.
Granted, I think this game nailed its atmosphere to perfection, right up there with Aliens: Isolation and maybe even exceeding it.
But the "experience"? The "feels"? That needs a good story with meaningful consequences and explorable "what ifs"?
That's what "replayability" means - exploring the "what if" at every point it matters, and if a game doesn't have that, it may as well be a film or book instead.
>>321573086
Well thats just your opinion man.
>>321573156
You dropped your image, anon.
Let me get that for you <3
>>321572827
>i still have the same mindset of a neet
>i just cant see why somebody would complain
These are conflicting statements.
>kills a copy of himself
>still doesn't understand how he isn't on the ark
>throws tantrum
like seriously simon was retarded, literally told he was a scan and couldn't belief it
so god damn gay
>>321574324
>even when /fit/, asians are awkward as fuck
>>321573086
>I think this game nailed its atmosphere to perfection, right up there with Aliens: Isolation
Now that is something I consider interesting, because I was most afraid of the alien in the first parts of the game when it just dribbled on me from the ventilation system. However in the medical area I was exposed to it so bloody often that it just became an annoyance as I worked out which tactics were effective through trial and error and got increasingly upset at the fact that when it's walking on the floor it could go from beyond the limit of the motion detector to directly in front of Ripley within about 4-6 seconds, leaving almost no reaction time unless you're constantly looking at the motion detector. I just didn't find it fun and got to theunderwhelming, unresolvingend of the game but wished that I saw less of the alien.
I'd have Ripley ready to drop a flash bang and hide in a cupboard with an expression on my face similar to when I'm walking the dog and she really wants to snuffle around a rabbit hole for a while. A repetitive uninteresting obstacle.
I was one of the few people who watched the first livestream of the game when it was leaked. Here's a few of the reasons EVERYONE on that stream thought the game was shit.
Game poses as being deep while being about as low-tier as fuck on the philosophy scale.
Choices don't matter. Nothing you do matters.
All the exposition and yet Simon remains a blithering idiot.
Puzzles are just fetch quests, and there aren't even many of them so 3/4 you just spend your time walking around empty corridors.
Enemies teleport to your position because the devs were too lazy to do better.
The enemies aren't even a fucking threat because you're given like a million chances to get back up again. Their actions don't even make sense by in-world logic. Why do they attack you just so they can dump you in another location?
Dialogue overall is just plain terrible.
Again, Simon is such a fucking idiot that his presence brings the game down several notches. SOMA is like Retard simulator 3030.
Talos Principle explored the same realm of philosophy not too long before SOMA's completion, and was INFINITELY BETTER.
>>321574567
That's kind of how this game felt, too.
>great, there's the monster, gotta find a detour now
>and it's following me, so now I gotta stand in a corner and stare at the floor until it goes away
>this is fun
By atmosphere, I meant visual and audio design. Mechanically, it suffers.
>>321574682
i agree with everything you said
>>321566067
>self tightening valves
>entire hand sliced off
Sounds like some flimsy handwaving there, Frictional Games.
The monster sections destroyed this game.
They're just not fun at all and they slow the game to a crawl.
I gave up the game in the section after you're knocked out by a monster and get trapped in a dark area with lots of wandering monsters.
Couldn't figure out where to go (probably some nondescript panel I'm missing), was tired of the semi-random routes the monsters take seeming to make them get stuck blocking entrances.
>>321574682
Yep, pretty much.
>>321566082
People shit on Amnesia AMFP but the story was creative and interesting (although the dead kids were a cliche) and the monsters didn't feel like a fucking chore.
>>321574682
Talos principle
Mein negroid
>>321575571
What defines humanity anon?
>>321574682
>Game poses as being deep while being about as low-tier as fuck on the philosophy scale
the fuck does this mean
>>321574682
>Talos Principle explored the same realm of philosophy
this is false u skunk. SOMA deals with the ethics of copying someone's mind.
>>321577503
>>321577503
I think it's more a case of Soma asking "what does it mean to be human" and Talos asking "What does it mean to be sentient"
The Talos AIs studied humanity and their emotions but none ever claimed to be human.
>>321577503
Soma dealt with what it means to be "alive", to be "human".
The ethics of copying the human mind were only a footnote in the discussion the game was trying to have.
>>321577361
Game was advertised as being this incredibly deep and meaningful experience, but in reality it's just Dummies Guide to the Teleportation Paradox.
>>321578450
>Soma dealt with what it means to be "alive", to be "human".
No it didn't. I can't see what that would have to do with the story in the game.
>mfw I actually thought this game had very good voice acting
not even joking, it was great
>>321579054
I guess you fell asleep on the climber ride to the abyss then. Killing Simon2 expands on it more too.
>>321578450
>>321577503
It did dwell on individuality at key points, but the message throughout, as communicated by the banter between Simon and Catherine, was mainly centered on humanity, life, and *scoff* afterlife.
The contrast in the ending struck me as very odd, because the ARK prototype you find has very limited capabilities and even utilized modern-day (which would be then-archaic) models for simulating a virtual world, like separation of rigid and soft body physics and lighting systems. I was hoping the post-credits sequence would touch on the severe impact that living in such a limited simulation could have on a human mind, especially that reproduction would be impossible, given the limitations of the simulation. There was no explanation or scenario provided for the genesis of a new virtual brain, or managing its size in the severely limited memory of the ARK, and that the inhabitants would be forced to exist that way until the power plant failed (a very long time) was barely mentioned.
The story didn't touch on virtual suicide in that case, either. Although it's hinted that extreme stress causes a malfunction and shutdown, there was no exploration of that theme or even the namesake "soma", which implies it could be used to pacify the inhabitants of the ARK, effectively making them slaves to pleasure. Lacking that, however, if they are forced to live in limited circumstances until the end of time, cannot grow or reproduce, and cannot exit, they might try to end themselves to no avail.
That's a little box of insanity waiting to happen. So disappointing they didn't do go there with it.
>>321580258
Wasn't it meant to be a paradise essentially? Why would they kill themselves?
>>321580819
If they knew or felt it was a simulation, which would be inevitable for them to do, it was demonstrated by an interrogation sequence that the inhabitants would become very stressed and, as a result, shut down.
They have no way of doing what humans do best, even if the simulation was seemingly accurate (which, as the prototype ARK you saw earlier suggested, it's not all that convincing), so they would inevitably feel trapped and become stressed. Unless they were pacified at all times, that is.
But no information was given for any scenario.
It's just assumed that the ARK is a paradise and they will live happy, free of will and all, forever, but it's never explained how or why, despite exploring the issues of bottling up a human mind and throwing it in a virtual world.
>>321581391
I guess an ending were they'd all be "drugged up" would be too grimdark and depressing though it seems fitting for a psychological horror game.
>>321582003
Chalk it up as another disappointment, I guess.
>>321580819
It's like that Startrek movie where Picard finds Kirk in some sort of extra dimensional paradise. They were given anything they wanted but they realised that in the end, it was all fake and they made no difference to the outside world.
In the case of the ARK, I imagine it's terrifying to know that they're essentially locked in and have no way to effect the physical world if something happens to the satellite.
>>321582676
Aside from that, there's the whole "can't make babies" problem with being a brain in a jar.
You will eventually tire of the same dozen people you see every day, especially if it's every day for the next hundred thousand years.
And it's no holodeck; they've only got what was put in there. They'll run out of things to do.
>>321583773
One of the survey questions in the prototype lab hinted that they'll be experimenting with brain scans and AI to make 'child' personalties.
Some will probably never accept them as 'alive' and that would only irk them further with the knowledge that they themselves are just simulations of dead people.
