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Well maybe you should've tried asking why it's so upset instead of sneaking around on eggshells.
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Sep 27, 2015 02:46
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Why are the WAU proxy creatures trying to kill Simon any way? Why was Ross a ghost creature and not completely absorbed into the WAU? Why is Simon deliberately portrayed as being retarded?
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Sep 27, 2015 03:17
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I'm currently wandering around in this absolutely terrible avoid the monster section right after fall down the elevator shaft and you have that flashback in your apartment. Everything is dark. There's nothing to click on. The hallways and the hatch in the wall take me around in circles. What do I do? Where do I go? I'm getting sick of this poo poo.
Stokes fucked around with this message at 04:44 on Sep 27, 2015 |
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Sep 27, 2015 04:27
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You will hit a dead end that is a big square room of catwalks and machinery after the second hatch. theres a fuse box or something on the wall and you have to turn it on to get into the next room which is to your right when you leave the room.
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Sep 27, 2015 04:53
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I did 90% of the monster encounters by running into the monsters and taking a hit, then walking through after that they had teleported away I'm a very impatient person
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Sep 27, 2015 12:01
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I probably once again just missed a file or something but is there any meaningful difference between the regular structure gel growths that WAU is using to spread, and the flesh based stuff you start seeing in TAU onward? Is it just one of WAU's failed attempts to keep humanity alive in some way by using a more organic substance to keep people alive before/after it switched to using structure gel as a vector? Is it a different entity all together? It's very weird to me just how radically different the flesh monsters are compared to structure gel based ones.
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Sep 27, 2015 16:24
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Minorkos posted:I did 90% of the monster encounters by running into the monsters and taking a hit, then walking through after that they had teleported away I did the same thing. The encounters just interrupted the flow of the game. I just want to move on, get out of my way!
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Sep 27, 2015 17:18
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Anyone else notice all the messed up geometry on the Curie? Furniture on the ceiling, staircases sideways on the walls, ladders to nowhere? I've just got to Theta but as far as I can tell there's nowhere else in the game with that same kind of geometric weirdness. Can't decide if it's a Matrix-kinda thing with a localized area of bugginess (those teleporting glitchy enemies would support this theory I guess?) or if WAU-gel spontaneously creates fittings now too.
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Sep 27, 2015 17:47
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The curie was multi directional and flipped vertical or horizontal. It was basically a sci fi version of this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcgLwMcIlks
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Sep 27, 2015 18:02
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Relin posted:Why are the WAU proxy creatures trying to kill Simon any way? Why was Ross a ghost creature and not completely absorbed into the WAU? Why is Simon deliberately portrayed as being retarded? The Proxies are not trying to kill Simon, they are just tasked to knock out anyone still moving around and place them near areas where structure gel can absorb them into itself, I think that is how it is trying to preserve people. If you've seen Ross you should have run into a sequence where one of the Proxies knocks you out, you have a weird dream (my guess this is actually something the WAU is putting into your head to try and sedate you), and then you wake up basically stuck to a wall. MI think that the reason why the WAU is making people unconscious and physically binding their bodies like it is, is initially because of the people who kept killing themselves after they got their brain scanned for the ARK. The WAU is trying to do something similar with brain scans and its probably trying to prevent people from killing themselves while it works on better solutions. It also keeps them restrained and prevents from having the opportunity to try destroy the WAU while it experiments trying to make a more survivable body for everyone since it lacks the means to realize that the way its going about things understandably really freaks people the gently caress out.
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Sep 27, 2015 18:35
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Enzer posted:The Proxies are not trying to kill Simon, they are just tasked to knock out anyone still moving around and place them near areas where structure gel can absorb them into itself, I think that is how it is trying to preserve people. If you've seen Ross you should have run into a sequence where one of the Proxies knocks you out, you have a weird dream (my guess this is actually something the WAU is putting into your head to try and sedate you), and then you wake up basically stuck to a wall. MI think that the reason why the WAU is making people unconscious and physically binding their bodies like it is, is initially because of the people who kept killing themselves after they got their brain scanned for the ARK. The WAU is trying to do something similar with brain scans and its probably trying to prevent people from killing themselves while it works on better solutions. It also keeps them restrained and prevents from having the opportunity to try destroy the WAU while it experiments trying to make a more survivable body for everyone since it lacks the means to realize that the way its going about things understandably really freaks people the gently caress out. Which gives a little bit of context to the knock out mechanic.
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Sep 27, 2015 19:16
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Ibram Gaunt posted:I probably once again just missed a file or something but is there any meaningful difference between the regular structure gel growths that WAU is using to spread, and the flesh based stuff you start seeing in TAU onward? Is it just one of WAU's failed attempts to keep humanity alive in some way by using a more organic substance to keep people alive before/after it switched to using structure gel as a vector? Is it a different entity all together? It's very weird to me just how radically different the flesh monsters are compared to structure gel based ones. supersecret.zip calls the organic stuff Mind Coral. I think after the robots + gel didn't work out the WAU started using mind coral to create the dreams like you have when you're stuck in it. We know WAU is extremely good at creating simulated environments from the Reed/Vivarium stuff and the Versailles file you find during the bit with Brian. It was probably trying to create its own ARK-like simulation.
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Sep 27, 2015 19:51
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The flashback is very clearly some kind of WAU attempt at a "everything is happy!!!" hallucination/simulation. Simon's human again, he's alive and unhurt in Toronto, Ashley is alive and is also his girlfriend. (They were just friends in reality.) It's just TOO perfect and Simon rejects it all and is able to rip himself out of the brain coral because he's still got a robot body. Remember Wan? He was sure it was some kind of trick simulation made by the WAU a few times.
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Sep 27, 2015 20:18
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Does anyone know if any of the decisions you can make throughout the game affect anything outside of leaving you to ponder your decision? I'm guessing no, which is perfectly fine I think, but I'm still curious. I think the game did a fantastic job of forcing you to make tough choices that really make you think, with little to no gameplay incentive. Some of my favorites were : (big spoilers) 1.Killing the WAU. Being given that decision genuinely made me start thinking about the pros and cons of killing it and what letting it live would mean for earth in the long run. Much cooler than a black and white "evil AI" type situation. 2. Killing the robot to get his tool chip. This really isn't a choice, but I initially thought I was supposed to kill the little helper bot (you can actually target it with the rod) and I really didn't want to do that, so I ran like hell over to the one that kept telling me to get to work, and was immediately relieved I could kill him instead. As I started shocking him, his terrified and agonized reaction immediately made me feel horrible for it though, and he takes like 3 good hits, which just makes you feel worse every time as he tries to escape you. Then there is the icing on the cake where you turn around and the helper bot is scared shitless of you and swims away. That whole part was incredibly effective at making me feel like a monster. 3. Unplugging Simon. This one was actually a no brainer to me since it totally made sense to unplug him, but at the end of the game when the current Simon is left stranded, it made me think back on it and about how Simon was kind of an rear end in a top hat, and would have probably cursed Deep Sea suit Simon for unplugging him/existing in the first place. I thought all of them were really good though. Those ones just really stood out to me. veni veni veni fucked around with this message at 20:45 on Sep 27, 2015 |
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Sep 27, 2015 20:42
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The game asks hard questions that have no clear answer. I kind of like it. Regarding the one in the middle you mentioned: In Delta there's a terminal that lists the AI of all the robots in the water and the AI for Roundy Helper Bots is listed as "complex" despite that they communicate through beeps, and the one for the bigger robot slowly swimming around is listed as "Simple." It's probably why the human brainscan inside it is so delusional and unable to recognize you.
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Sep 27, 2015 20:53
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There is a dialog bit with Catherine before that, where she likens it to killing a dog. I wasn't sure if she was talking about the helper bot or the big one.
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Sep 27, 2015 21:00
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I think it is the helper bot she refers to as "killing a dog". Both the K-8 (helper bot) and the bigger bot are complex AIs, but that doesn't really matter, since human minds have been implanted into them - or at least into the big one. We never really know if the K-8 has a human mind since it doesn't have a voice module. You'd think that killing the K-8 would be the more humane choice, but it might actually have an even clearer mind inside it and just isn't able to communicate it. It could be Catherine levels of coherent. I don't think Catherine knows that the robots have minds implanted which is why she is treats it as an easy act.
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Sep 27, 2015 21:11
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Catherine objects more to you killing the K-8 than the big guy, for what it's worth.
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Sep 27, 2015 21:40
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Only in a joking matter. 'Cause it's cute.
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Sep 27, 2015 22:31
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If the first couple of dark rooms made me quit in fear is there any hope at all that I'll get through the rest of the game? I hate missing out on excellent games just because horror stuff gets to me. Atmospheric, thoughtful sci for isn't easy to find in this medium.
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Sep 27, 2015 22:38
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This game relies more upon intimidation than jump scares. The real horror is the stuff you are forced to contemplate. Though if dark places intimidate you there is one place in particular where it is overpowering.
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Sep 27, 2015 22:59
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Man the set and sound design from Tau to the end is just fantastic. I sure wish I didn't unplug OG Simon-bot and delete the other brain scans. I also think the after credits scene was unnecessary, unless maybe if you keep WAU alive it's different?
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Sep 27, 2015 23:20
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Enzer posted:The Proxies are not trying to kill Simon, they are just tasked to knock out anyone still moving around and place them near areas where structure gel can absorb them into itself, I think that is how it is trying to preserve people. If you've seen Ross you should have run into a sequence where one of the Proxies knocks you out, you have a weird dream (my guess this is actually something the WAU is putting into your head to try and sedate you), and then you wake up basically stuck to a wall. MI think that the reason why the WAU is making people unconscious and physically binding their bodies like it is, is initially because of the people who kept killing themselves after they got their brain scanned for the ARK. The WAU is trying to do something similar with brain scans and its probably trying to prevent people from killing themselves while it works on better solutions. It also keeps them restrained and prevents from having the opportunity to try destroy the WAU while it experiments trying to make a more survivable body for everyone since it lacks the means to realize that the way its going about things understandably really freaks people the gently caress out. I don't think the proxy creatures make any real distinction between killing someone or knocking them out because structure gel can bring people back from death so its irrelevant. Ibram Gaunt posted:I probably once again just missed a file or something but is there any meaningful difference between the regular structure gel growths that WAU is using to spread, and the flesh based stuff you start seeing in TAU onward? Is it just one of WAU's failed attempts to keep humanity alive in some way by using a more organic substance to keep people alive before/after it switched to using structure gel as a vector? Is it a different entity all together? It's very weird to me just how radically different the flesh monsters are compared to structure gel based ones. The whole game gradually gets more organic as you go. The proxies start becoming more human too, to the point where they become capable of expressing emotion (crying) and I would say even the last walk across the ocean floor having a relatively large amount of non-plant life was carefully considered. The reason for this is that it's meant to i̫̫̖̇̆̓̓͢l͕̮̞̆ͣ̅ͦ̓ͧl̸̑̆ǔ̺̘͕s̢̫̰̖̮̞͑̀̔͗̾̇ͅt̲͆̑̿ͅr̬̀ả̺̬̅̐̍̇̿̅ͅt̸̺͔̮̟̏ͭ̇͂̇͊̒ē̱̠̈́͛̄ ̻̖̠͊̄̍̑̏͋ͬ͝t̴̀̋ͮ͒̔h̛̯͈͔ͨͤë̩̂̎ͦ̾ ̘̞̫͓̿̓͒͆͝o̜̝̻̟͖̖̗͊̂v̷̿̈ͨͬ̆͂e͔͚̩̣ͫra̡̩͔̯̬̪͉͆̉͂̏̔̆̉r̼̟̫̳̥̗̄̄̑̍̓c̸̨͔ͮ̉ͧͣͥḩ̝̤͉̗̦͐̄ͮ͛ͫ͒ͤ̎t̥̳̹̦̺̀͛͒̆̚h̢͙̫͇͕̖͈͕ͤ̑͑i̡̪͔̼͙͙̍̊̀́n̢̛͔̠̊̋͒͛̐ͧ͞g̡̗̳͇̮̖̤͐ͬͩͫͧ̌ ̹̹̲̻͌̍̂ͪ͢t̶͍̜̟͎̬͈̩͚̲͙̪̱̝̠͕̱̱̠̔͗ͭ̓͆̆̊̌͊́̀̕͢͠ḥ̛̪̜͙͙͚̟̩ͧͬͫ̈́̔ͭe̐͑̎͐͛͛̽̐̌̽̋ͨ͆̀͜͏͔̯͈̱̀m̌̏ͫ̌̓̊ͩ͆̅ͦͦ̓͛ͩͫ̅͌̏̔͢҉̳̹̫̪̯̼̭̖̺̫e̷̺̥̼̩͈̬̱̯͓̙͙̮̖͔̮̫ͭ̒͛̒͗̎̂ͨ̈́̔ͧ̈ͤ͌̆̂̉͆͟ͅ ̐ͥ̾ͨ͌ͧ̃ͣ̚͢҉̧͇̳̙̳̬̤̤̘̝̺̳̱̗̹̟͈͍͡͝ǫ̴̶̙̞͍̬͓̜̜̜̺͉͈͔͗̿̌͆̄̇ͫ̋ͥͥ͆ͭ̚͠f̈ͧ̑̇̄͛̏̇͗̅̀͠͏̤̣̲̮̞͚͕̲͍̘̙̤̜͇͝ What is a drop of rain, compared to the storm? What is a thought, compared to the mind? Our unity is full of wonder which your tiny individualism cannot even conceive. NESguerilla posted:1.Killing the WAU. Being given that decision genuinely made me start thinking about the pros and cons of killing it and what letting it live would mean for earth in the long run. Much cooler than a black and white "evil AI" type situation. The thing that made me decide not to was I'd actually be killing a huge amount of Pathos II staff. All those bodies you see stuck in the black tentacles while they're aesthetically repellent to us and appear to be in pain are basically in heaven, I say heaven specfically because for a lot of religious people being renuinted with loved ones (as simon was) is one of the biggest perks. Of course you might say perhaps its actually hell because they realise its only a simulation. But consider the fact that all these people who were either outright killed or knocked out by a proxy monster were unaware that the WAU was making such simulations. The last thing they remember was 'dying'. You might also say the staff is aware of brain scans and cortex chips but they're also likely not huge idiots like Simon and realise that there isn't any 'Continuity' only copies. (except for those continuity idiots, but I think they died long before the WAU became an issue). You might also say well we saw continuity when Simon was transferred into the diving suit. I think this was part gameplay consideration, part horror device (the dawning realisation when the Simon in the chair speaks) and part great setup for the ending. I think they wanted to throw off people playing the game who aren't as stupid as Simon and decided a long time ago that putting yourself in danger to launch the ARK is stupid. A lot of people maybe have found even the concept of the ARK stupid to begin with others might not have but asking questions like that is the central conceit of the game. A surface reading might just be "are brain scan chips in robots human" but its asking the question of what it means to human on a more abstract level. Continuity (lol) and the experience of time is alluded to a lot (Catherine/Continuity(they feel the need to die for it)/Simon) and the fact this experience of constant linearity means accepting loss (Simon's rejection of the simulation) and perhaps the WAU is repellent to some players because it brings back the dead and maybe the ARK project is a form of grieving for the loss of humanity itself, it's launch being analogous to a funeral and the device itself a floating tombstone. Perhaps Simon and everyone left at Pathos II would have been spared all the horror seen and alluded to during the game if only everyone (including whoever set the WAU try and preserve it) accepted that humanity was lost. To quote philosopher Jud Crandall "Sometimes dead's better" Jim Flatline fucked around with this message at 23:57 on Sep 27, 2015 |
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Sep 27, 2015 23:52
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Jim Flatline posted:The thing that made me decide not to was I'd actually be killing a huge amount of Pathos II staff. All those bodies you see stuck in the black tentacles while they're aesthetically repellent to us and appear to be in pain are basically in heaven, I say heaven specfically because for a lot of religious people being renuinted with loved ones (as simon was) is one of the biggest perks. Of course you might say perhaps its actually hell because they realise its only a simulation. But consider the fact that all these people who were either outright killed or knocked out by a proxy monster were unaware that the WAU was making such simulations. The last thing they remember was 'dying'. You might also say the staff is aware of brain scans and cortex chips but they're also likely not huge idiots like Simon and realise that there isn't any 'Continuity' only copies. (except for those continuity idiots, but I think they died long before the WAU became an issue). You might also say well we saw continuity when Simon was transferred into the diving suit. I think this was part gameplay consideration, part horror device (the dawning realisation when the Simon in the chair speaks) and part great setup for the ending. I think they wanted to throw off people playing the game who aren't as stupid as Simon and decided a long time ago that putting yourself in danger to launch the ARK is stupid. A lot of people maybe have found even the concept of the ARK stupid to begin with others might not have but asking questions like that is the central conceit of the game. A surface reading might just be "are brain scan chips in robots human" but its asking the question of what it means to human on a more abstract level. Continuity (lol) and the experience of time is alluded to a lot (Catherine/Continuity(they feel the need to die for it)/Simon) and the fact this experience of constant linearity means accepting loss (Simon's rejection of the simulation) and perhaps the WAU is repellent to some players because it brings back the dead and maybe the ARK project is a form of grieving for the loss of humanity itself, it's launch being analogous to a funeral and the device itself a floating tombstone. Perhaps Simon and everyone left at Pathos II would have been spared all the horror seen and alluded to during the game if only everyone (including whoever set the WAU try and preserve it) accepted that humanity was lost. To quote philosopher Jud Crandall "Sometimes dead's better" I loved that the consequences of your decisions are left ambiguous. Like you say, we don't know what the trapped humans are going through, though we maybe get a glimpse when Simon gets captured and stuck in a simulation. Even if they are in a "heaven" simulation, are they happy? Are we doing them a favor by unplugging them, or ruining their bliss? The same questions can even be asked of the people in the Ark. Are they really better off being in a simulated world in space? I think it's stated that there's like 58 people in there, and there is the consideration of creating limited intelligence AIs to increase population. But could those AIs grow in complexity? Is that like children in the new AR space? At the end of the game, you need to justify to yourself what was right and wrong. At the end of my playthrough I thought back on some of the choices I made with the information I learned later on and was "crap, I'm an rear end in a top hat." Also, this post looks ridiculous with those big blocks of spoiler text.
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Sep 28, 2015 04:52
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Just finished an hour or so ago, since I was too much of a wuss to play at night for most of the game. I have to echo the thoughts that the monsters really brought me out of the game. Tau was especially bad for this, as after waiting for like five minutes for the monster to move far enough away from my objective I got tired of waiting and went for a Banzai charge. The monster was in the middle of the intersection I had to go through. It didn't catch me until I was on the ladder. On the other hand, I felt the monster presence in Upsilon, Lambda, the space between, Omicron and the abyss was quite reasonable and fairly atmospheric. As to my thought on the ending... is Simon that wrong for assuming that in a century they would still be able to ctrl+x instead of ctrl+c? On WAU kill/no kill, I went with kill, because while it may be able to make more Simon style meat robots, It might not. And who's to say that if any other life evolved decent brains inn the future it wouldn't destroy them because they are a 'threat'? Also, give what we saw of Simon's simulation, its not a given that the people under WAU's 'protection' are really that well off, since WAU is really good at technical details of simulations, but doesn't understand humanity well enough to do emotional stuff very well, after all, what we saw looked pretty fake. Some of those people are probably huddled up crying in their simulations.
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Sep 28, 2015 05:03
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Ashsaber posted:As to my thought on the ending... is Simon that wrong for assuming that in a century they would still be able to ctrl+x instead of ctrl+c? Catherine tells him that the whole idea of transferring human consciousness to a digital form is extremely new, and something she pretty much had to develop from scratch after the comet hit, and only realized might be possible because of what the WAU was doing. Ashsaber posted:
Idea for SOMA 2 The WAU creations have created a new cybernetic society on Earth and after hundreds/thousands of years capture the Ark and interface with it. Cue existential war over whether the (possibly alien intelligence) WAU people are more human than the digital copies on the Ark. Unrelated to the above, if you've finished the game, go back and watch the promo videos and files again. Especially the Vivarium.
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Sep 28, 2015 05:30
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Section 9 posted:Catherine tells him that the whole idea of transferring human consciousness to a digital form is extremely new, and something she pretty much had to develop from scratch after the comet hit, and only realized might be possible because of what the WAU was doing. I did understand that, but I feel like Simon probably didn't totally get it, plus there is the fact that that was a version of Catherine that didn't know what might have happened between the scan she came from and now, so there was a hope, however vague.
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Sep 28, 2015 05:37
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Section 9 posted:
It's impossible to go through the game without making a regrettable decision I think. the game is full of "is dead better?" decisions where you have to kill a human brainchipped robot, a complex ai robot, or even the last real human left. The game is good in that most people no matter what they choose will have misgivings later on due to the philosophical complexity of the questions and as you point out even Simon's entire goal and supposedly the last hope for humanity the ARK, raises the same questions Sticking with the theme of death I think the true horror of the ARK is that the people in it cannot die. Tens of thousands of years with the same 58 people there will come a point where you've had enough and I doubt Catherine put in a mechanism for shutting yourself down since she is so into the preservation of humanity Everything about SOMA brings to mind the Buddhist concept of "life is suffering" in a very literal way, whether on the ARK, trapped in a WAU simulation forever or being a Robocop trudging around a slowly dying Pathos II forever. For all the Simon's that exist it's not the people on Pathos II's inability to accept the death of humanity as I said in my last post that is the source of horror for him personally, he has to experience the events of the game because because he tried to avoid his own death by going for a brain scan. Perhaps I'm getting the wrong impression from the game but it seems bizzarely pro death and letting go, but on the otherhand striving for existence and continuity even with great cost is only human after all. But sometimes the ground is sour and maybe dead's better
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Sep 28, 2015 06:01
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Jim Flatline posted:I think the true horror of the ARK is that the people in it cannot die. Tens of thousands of years with the same 58 people there will come a point where you've had enough and I doubt Catherine put in a mechanism for shutting yourself down since she is so into the preservation of humanity The post-credits scene explicitly features a self-shutdown mechanism.
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Sep 28, 2015 06:20
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Foglet posted:The post-credits scene explicitly features a self-shutdown mechanism. Perhaps the game really is pro suicide.
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Sep 28, 2015 06:24
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Jim Flatline posted:Sticking with the theme of death I think the true horror of the ARK is that the people in it cannot die. Tens of thousands of years with the same 58 people there will come a point where you've had enough and I doubt Catherine put in a mechanism for shutting yourself down since she is so into the preservation of humanity Everything about SOMA brings to mind the Buddhist concept of "life is suffering" in a very literal way, whether on the ARK, trapped in a WAU simulation forever or being a Robocop trudging around a slowly dying Pathos II forever. For all the Simon's that exist it's not the people on Pathos II's inability to accept the death of humanity as I said in my last post that is the source of horror for him personally, he has to experience the events of the game because because he tried to avoid his own death by going for a brain scan. Perhaps I'm getting the wrong impression from the game but it seems bizzarely pro death and letting go, but on the otherhand striving for existence and continuity even with great cost is only human after all. But sometimes the ground is sour and maybe dead's better I agree, but again as with most of the rest of the game we, as players (and as Simon) aren't given enough information to really know the consequences. So we're making somewhat arbitrary decisions in the moment that we can only think back on and second guess. The ARK is supposedly a fully realistic simulation, so maybe people can kill themselves within it, or maybe like you say they're doomed to thousands of years in a virtual environment? Maybe from within the ARK people can manipulate the AR code to make it better for them, or maybe they're stuck living with the same small population in a giant idealistic world that will eventually become a hell for them. From the point that Simon wakes up in Upsilon, things are utterly bleak. There's no perfect solution, and the one person who is left to make the choices of how mankind is going to continue is a guy 100 years out of time whose biggest accomplishment to then is owning a comic book store. Is humanity continuing to exist in an AR really an existence? Is "humanity" really saved because there's a computer in space simulating their experiences? Is the WAU doing better to work on recreating humanity in machine form at the bottom of the sea? The game at no point tells you any of these things is good or bad. It just says "this is what happens in this story" and you're left to decide how you feel about it. I don't think it is pro death, it just asks you whether you think any of these lovely options you are given are worthwhile.
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Sep 28, 2015 06:32
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I'm really loving this game as much as Penumbra, but it's so heavy handed on the monsters. This is the rare horror game that could be exactly the way it is without any enemies and still be creepy and awesome. All you'd have to do is imply threat, kinda like the lower level of theta before the proxy begins patrolling but makes noise and pops up visually once or twice which spooked me more than the latter. But I heard machine for pigs did that and fell flat, but it also didn't use the nightmarish reality of industrial revolution factories as a story element either. Sounds like machine mostly missed the mark, so it might have worked here. Faffel fucked around with this message at 06:42 on Sep 28, 2015 |
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Sep 28, 2015 06:39
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Yeah, I get why he flips. From his POV he'd always been the lucky copy at least twice now, naturally he'd assume his POV (and the player POV) would be going straight to the ARK. But it's a nice way to remind us, like the Prestige, that the guy left behind is still a guy too. I have a more logistical question: Catherine says she can control the space probe the ARK is in from within the ARK, maintain its orbit or whatever... does the thing have the ability to otherwise modify or repair itself? I sure hope so. There's no astronauts to fix it and maybe at some point all the people living in ARKville will want to make robot bodies for themselves to go out to the real world again or something.
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Sep 28, 2015 07:45
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Great ending. Monster encounter design tried to be clever but without a decent spatial sense having five switchback passages just means you get lost easier, especially in the technobowels. WAU lives, it's actually doing something with the life it finds and given how little time has passed since the impact it's doing great. Also on that front the sea life that isn't changed is mostly doomed without it - only very simple life will survive away from the vents without a living surface. And the vent life is completely un-hosed-with, despite being RIGHT THERE. WAU only tried to save things that were legit doomed without it, and was actively experimenting to improve the odds.
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Sep 28, 2015 08:00
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Speedball posted:I have a more logistical question: Catherine says she can control the space probe the ARK is in from within the ARK, maintain its orbit or whatever... does the thing have the ability to otherwise modify or repair itself? I sure hope so. There's no astronauts to fix it and maybe at some point all the people living in ARKville will want to make robot bodies for themselves to go out to the real world again or something. That's my biggest complaint about the ARK being the salvation of humanity. It's static. The ARK itself has no means of creating anything outside itself, so everyone is only going to ever live within the virtual world. There is no possibility that they will develop a way to create ARKlets that can go explore the universe. Humanity is "saved" but loses it's ability to explore the universe. They will never see what is happening outside of the simulation.
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Sep 28, 2015 08:37
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Jim Flatline posted:I don't think the proxy creatures make any real distinction between killing someone or knocking them out because structure gel can bring people back from death so its irrelevant. I kind of disagree with this as if they die, a person enters brain death. Yeah the body is reanimated, but from the data left on all the rat experiments, it seems more that reanimated corpses would create more proxys, things indirectly controlled by the WAU and not what the WAU wants in terms of its goal of preserving humanity. The WAU is plainly aware of brainscan data and shows a distinct pattern of trying to preserve a person's mind (the whole dream stuff) and goes to great lengths (horrifying body modifications) to keep the brain alive. It doesn't care about their physical state, it considers the human body to be worthless as it cannot survive in the post-comet environment. All of this leads me to think that the Proxies don't kill people, maybe hurt them a lot, but it seems they knock people unconscious or incapacitate and then let the structure gel/brain coral do its thing while the WAU tries to figure out how to make a body that can live in the wasteland of the world as sticking people's consciousness directly into machines has failed.
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Sep 28, 2015 08:51
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A neat detail I really enjoyed was the fact that most of the captured humans were all unique models; aside from the wall-people in Theta I can't recall where they used the same character twice. "Man-with-chest-cavity-replaced-by-spare-computer-fans" was my favorite, though "Guy-whose-head-is-being-pulled-into-a-fuse-box" comes in at a close second. One question I have about Omicron: If everyone on Omicron got their heads scanner'ed by WAU, where did the monsters and non-exploded humans come from? Hell, how did WAU even get in before Simon got there and lifted the quarantine? Also holy crap some of the content from the secret folder would have been really interesting to see realized in the game, particularity the stuff that seemed to focus on spending more time in WAU's simulated reality with maggot-faced fake people and giger-esque nightmare crawlspaces hidden behind the drywall
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Sep 28, 2015 09:24
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One thing i found odd about Catherine Is that she has no problems with not being biologically human any more, but when Simon is reluctant to kill the robot for its chip, or expresses his feelings about the robots who still think they are human, she is completely indifferent to that, and doesn't consider it a big deal.
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Sep 28, 2015 10:04
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Enzer posted:I kind of disagree with this as if they die, a person enters brain death. Yeah the body is reanimated, but from the data left on all the rat experiments, it seems more that reanimated corpses would create more proxys, things indirectly controlled by the WAU and not what the WAU wants in terms of its goal of preserving humanity. The WAU is plainly aware of brainscan data and shows a distinct pattern of trying to preserve a person's mind (the whole dream stuff) and goes to great lengths (horrifying body modifications) to keep the brain alive. It doesn't care about their physical state, it considers the human body to be worthless as it cannot survive in the post-comet environment. All of this leads me to think that the Proxies don't kill people, maybe hurt them a lot, but it seems they knock people unconscious or incapacitate and then let the structure gel/brain coral do its thing while the WAU tries to figure out how to make a body that can live in the wasteland of the world as sticking people's consciousness directly into machines has failed. Well essentially the WAU has two choices the can either kill the body and damage the brain through lack of oxygen/energy or hit someone hard enough on the head (which may cause brain damage)so they're passed out long enough (which may cause brain damage) to plumb them into the system. The opinion as to whether proxies are killing depends on which allowance you want to make because its a videogame. That anoxia doesn't damage the brain in SOMA-world or that being hit on the head works like it does in movies where you just clonk someone hard enough to make them pass out and they wake up fine. There's all sorts of allowances you can make either way like the structure gel repairs the brain damage anyway based on the stored brain scans made for the ARK. I remember the file about the rat proxy eventually killing the other rat and also I think its more thematically appropriate that the proxies kill you. But the WAU doesn't think like us after and doesn't understand humanity so perhaps it doesn't greatly value the differences in personality and ability from being brain damaged. It probably just wants to incapacite people which ever way it can which whether its a knock out or death. I disagree though that the WAU completely discounts the human body, it discounts the flesh but looking around pathos at the people stuck in the brain coral it seems to attempt to preserve form and function but it could be that we're seeing people in differeent stages of assimilation. Speculation about why Simon is at Pathos When you 'wake up' at Pathos there's no brain coral around or any indication that the WAU was involved in creating you. My speculation is that you were created by one of the staff for a purpose and the one that comes to mind for most people is Dr Ross, who created you to destroy the WAU. Personally I don't like that theory since Dr Ross has a body so why doesn't he just do it himself? Maybe there is a reason and the WAU might be able to stop him due to his unique condition. Personally I think it was actually flesh and blood Catherine who made you but she wasn't actually trying to make you specifically. The body you start in is part the flesh and blood body of someone who means something to Catherine, I don't quite remember what is said after you've been xrayed but I'm sure she says about the body "she's (or it's) my...." trailing off because she doesn't want you to know exactly. Though throughout the game its heavily implied if not outright said that Catherine has no friends amongst the staff I think there might be a simulation log of her's where she mentions someone not "playing nice with the others" and I think thats the same person as the body parts you're using and perhaps them both being outcasts they were drawn to each other in some way. I could be completely full of poo poo because its hard to remember the specifics of notes etc in a game you've played a week ago but anyway, she didn't have the chance to put the proper cortex chip and brainscan in so it reverted to the only one it could find, which was simon. I don't think her creating a body out of her dead friend or secret lover was just a sort of selfish emotional thing because that wouldn't fit her character. I think the point was to have someone capable of traversing the entire complex via walking across the seabed if necessary in order to launch the ARK.
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Sep 28, 2015 11:00
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Has anyone played in multi-monitor surround, or know what file custom resolution settings might be in? I tried it in surround mode with bezel correction (6000x1080 for my monitors) but it froze after I made that display setting. I went back to non-surround mode, but it's loading fine at 6000x1080 now. However, I'm not in surround mode with bezel correction so a bit of the edges are cut off. I only have the 6000x1080 res in options for multimonitor. I'd like to put 5760 for the width and don't want to switch in and out of surround mode for my other games since it's a bit clunky. I can't find the config file, though. I played Alien: Isolation in surround mode and love the little bit of extra immersion it gives for these types of games. edit: I somehow missed that it's in the documents folder/mygames and I fixed the issue. I does play better, though, in surround mode so I've just been switching to it as needed. AzureSkys fucked around with this message at 08:29 on Sep 30, 2015 |
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Sep 28, 2015 13:57
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