very much enjoyed the writing and atmosphere in this, but they really should have made it a bit less of a walking simulator
[QUOTE=Zezibesh;51098645]very much enjoyed the writing and atmosphere in this, but they really should have made it a bit less of a walking simulator[/QUOTE]
Honestly, I'd say the opposite- their attempts at recreating that Amnesia feel kinda fell flat, so I'd much more appreciate if they just went full on "explore this desolate space station." Different strokes, I guess, either way I'm glad it did well for them.
[QUOTE=Zezibesh;51098645]very much enjoyed the writing and atmosphere in this, but they really should have made it a bit less of a walking simulator[/QUOTE]
I personally enjoyed being able to walk around and explore areas without having to deal with a bunch of enemies.
That said, Soma is able to have great arena design by introducing enemies after you've already explored the area, so I don't think pandering to a specific crowd is necessary.
Now if only 90% of PC gamers weren't pirates it would have sold close to 2 million copies.
jk, but nice to see that it sold more on PC than on PS4 even though it is DRM free and stuff.
Penumbra was great, but I still haven't played Amnesia, even though I bought it years ago.
[QUOTE=AntonioR;51098712]Now if only 90% of PC gamers weren't pirates it would have sold close to 2 million copies.
jk, but nice to see that it sold more on PC than on PS4 even though it is DRM free and stuff.
Penumbra was great, but I still haven't played Amnesia, even though I bought it years ago.[/QUOTE]
Amnesia doesn't even come near Penumbra: Black Plague in my book, but it's still worth a play.
SOMA is my favourite game of 2014. Loved the atmosphere, the writing, the whole uncanny valley card was played so well. And the ending is horrifying.
[editline]24th September 2016[/editline]
[QUOTE=Slav Krebs;51098734]Amnesia doesn't even come near Penumbra: Black Plague in my book, but it's still worth a play.[/QUOTE]
Black Plague is very forgettable in my opinion compared to Amnesia, and I've played Black Plague twice.
[editline]24th September 2016[/editline]
Even Overture felt more interesting to me.
I have to agree with Zezibesh on this one. I want them to go back to the mechanically-driven side of things, like how things were in the original Penumbra and Amnesia. Thing is, I love the worlds that Frictional makes, but their dwindling focus on mechanics and the like makes me feel like I'm not really there, like I'm not really doing much in their lovely worlds of unspeakable horror.
Basically what I want to see from them is something akin to Silent Hill or Haunting Ground or Alien: Isolation, where you can actually deal with the enemies in some way, but it's still advantageous to not interact with them most of the time. And what's more, while they should keep the infinite flashlight of SOMA (seriously, that's one thing I don't miss from the earlier games), they should bring back a proper inventory and have us actually scrounge for resources to survive.
They do horror pretty well, believe you me, but I feel like survival horror requires a potent degree of survival involved to bring it all together. Encourage us to explore when we're in need, give us the thrill of finding a bottle of liquid courage when we're at the end of our rope, let us stuff a drinking glass into our roomy trousers so we can throw it as a distraction later.
[QUOTE=Zezibesh;51098645]very much enjoyed the writing and atmosphere in this, but they really should have made it a bit less of a walking simulator[/QUOTE]
imo it was fairly balanced between hiding from the monsters and exploring, better than most walk-y horror games at least
my problem with it was at some point it just felt like the game just didnt know when to give you a break. it just stopped being scary because all it kept doing was building up without actually leading into anything, effectively making me get use to the scary parts.
The writing was way too on-the-nose for me. Felt like it couldn't decide if it wanted to be a brain-teaser or a horror game, so it fell flat on both.
[QUOTE=Magikoopa24;51098680]Honestly, I'd say the opposite- their attempts at recreating that Amnesia feel kinda fell flat, so I'd much more appreciate if they just went full on "explore this desolate space station." Different strokes, I guess, either way I'm glad it did well for them.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=glitchvid;51098700]I personally enjoyed being able to walk around and explore areas without having to deal with a bunch of enemies.
That said, Soma is able to have great arena design by introducing enemies after you've already explored the area, so I don't think pandering to a specific crowd is necessary.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=mchapra;51098807]imo it was fairly balanced between hiding from the monsters and exploring, better than most walk-y horror games at least
my problem with it was at some point it just felt like the game just didnt know when to give you a break. it just stopped being scary because all it kept doing was building up without actually leading into anything, effectively making me get use to the scary parts.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, that's what I mean. The half-assedness between Amnesia- or Penumbra-like hiding gameplay and pure walking simulator didn't feel like it fit either way. Would have rather had them to fully in one direction.
[QUOTE=ironman17;51098769]I have to agree with Zezibesh on this one. I want them to go back to the mechanically-driven side of things, like how things were in the original Penumbra and Amnesia. Thing is, I love the worlds that Frictional makes, but their dwindling focus on mechanics and the like makes me feel like I'm not really there, like I'm not really doing much in their lovely worlds of unspeakable horror.
Basically what I want to see from them is something akin to Silent Hill or Haunting Ground or Alien: Isolation, where you can actually deal with the enemies in some way, but it's still advantageous to not interact with them most of the time. And what's more, while they should keep the infinite flashlight of SOMA (seriously, that's one thing I don't miss from the earlier games), they should bring back a proper inventory and have us actually scrounge for resources to survive.
They do horror pretty well, believe you me, but I feel like survival horror requires a potent degree of survival involved to bring it all together. Encourage us to explore when we're in need, give us the thrill of finding a bottle of liquid courage when we're at the end of our rope, let us stuff a drinking glass into our roomy trousers so we can throw it as a distraction later.[/QUOTE]
yep. wouldn't mind frictional trying to bring back some enemy interactivity. they ditched it completely after Penumbra: Overture when people figured out standing on crates and hitting enemies with the pickaxe but that doesn't mean the concept is impossible to pull off. personally I find it hard to get really spooked if the only thing you can ever do is run and hide.
Too right. I've said this many times on the subject of SOMA and games like it, but giving us a way to fight back doesn't automatically invalidate the scare-factor of a game. In fact it makes us feel more involved in the world. Silent Hill 2 had combat, and that game was still pretty damn scary.
Hell, I remember the earlier [U]Half-Life[/U] games having moments that filled me with dread, to the point where I didn't go back to them until I was older. Granted I was a little lamb at the time, but it was still effective. Half-Life 1 had the moment with that Alien Grunt in the containment unit, and I was afraid to go anything in case it burst out and ate my face off. While in Opposing Force, a dark tunnel with a skeleton next to it, which I later learned to contain Voltigores, was where I initially quit that expansion.
And that was when I was in the shoes of a gun-toting theoretical physicist and a US Marine respectively, well-armed and capable folks who had gunned down hundreds of aliens and human soldiers before those points. It might be subjective, but even games where you're armed to the teeth and wearing power armour can be scary under the right circumstances.
So in conclusion, letting us try to fight the monsters doesn't make things any less scary. Hell, being able to fight back would have been pretty helpful in the closing sequences of Outlast, where it's more of the same enemy we've seen throughout the game, and all you can do is hide and hope that he doesn't look into your locker.
If you DO end up using the same monster that we've been hiding from all this time, a monster that we've become accustomed to, at least let us knock him out with a length of lead pipe. Doesn't even need to kill the bastard, just needs to knock him out. That way, the enemy will always come back regardless of whether you slowed them down, giving you the fleeting satisfaction of having them out of the way for a while, coupled with the dread of knowing that you can never truly put a stop to them. You can only slow them down and postpone your dreaded dinner date with Damocles for just a bit longer. And while you might be able to escape them now, who knows when they'll show up again, to sodomize you with their big meaty claws?
Soma, a dead end journey, in terms of story and replayability.
i loved the amount of soma i was able to play, but i am fucking terrible with games that have any sort of scare factor. [sp]i had to put it down on the flesher encounter[/sp]
[QUOTE=ironman17;51098769]I have to agree with Zezibesh on this one. I want them to go back to the mechanically-driven side of things, like how things were in the original Penumbra and Amnesia. Thing is, I love the worlds that Frictional makes, but their dwindling focus on mechanics and the like makes me feel like I'm not really there, like I'm not really doing much in their lovely worlds of unspeakable horror.
Basically what I want to see from them is something akin to Silent Hill or Haunting Ground or Alien: Isolation, where you can actually deal with the enemies in some way, but it's still advantageous to not interact with them most of the time. And what's more, while they should keep the infinite flashlight of SOMA (seriously, that's one thing I don't miss from the earlier games), they should bring back a proper inventory and have us actually scrounge for resources to survive.
They do horror pretty well, believe you me, but I feel like survival horror requires a potent degree of survival involved to bring it all together. Encourage us to explore when we're in need, give us the thrill of finding a bottle of liquid courage when we're at the end of our rope, let us stuff a drinking glass into our roomy trousers so we can throw it as a distraction later.[/QUOTE]
I prefers if the flashlight wasn't infinite. you have to carefully use your tools at moment or else you risk using their whole battery and it makes the games harder like in amnesia with the oil.
[QUOTE=ApertureXS200;51099724]I prefers if the flashlight wasn't infinite. you have to carefully use your tools at moment or else you risk using their whole battery and it makes the games harder like in amnesia with the oil.[/QUOTE]
I think it'd be better if you had an unlimited torch, but you had to choose between a narrow, focused beam which limits peripheral vision, and a wide beam which limits your view distance. It'd make the torch limited and add a layer of decision making to the game, rather than being an unrealistic annoyance.
[QUOTE=ApertureXS200;51099724]I prefers if the flashlight wasn't infinite. you have to carefully use your tools at moment or else you risk using their whole battery and it makes the games harder like in amnesia with the oil.[/QUOTE]
That dumbass oil concept is why I still haven't finished Amnesia. It should be common sense that you don't limit whether or not the player can fucking [I]see[/I] to whether or not they manage to find whatever item you need to power whatever light source you're given.
[editline]a[/editline]
The Penumbra tech demo had a flashlight with batteries, but also an infinite glowstick that didn't give off as much light
[T]https://i.imgur.com/IzwS4Md.jpg[/T]
Out of my 200± games, SOMA is one of my favorite ones ever. A sci-fi horror fan would be crazy to miss out on it imo.
I just watched the walk-through of this game. [sp]pls forgive me im a bitch nigga[/sp] And I must say it has an incredible story. I love every aspect of this game especially the philosophical stuff. I would definitely buy it and actually play it if I can [sp]grow a pair.[/sp]
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.
