Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

SOMA (Frictional Games)

Cowboy Moment

Arcane
Joined
Feb 8, 2011
Messages
4,407
small and linear environments

Penumbra wasn't exactly Skyrim

Aiming at a mass audience is one thing, but this is a genre that doesn't really lose that much from the transition to consoles technically speaking.

Skyrim dungeons are basically single corridors with embellishments, so not sure what the comparison is supposed to mean. In any case, Penumbra (the first one in particular) had a decent amount of open-ended exploration, and would get better as you progressed farther into the game. The latter part of Overture takes place on several, decent-sized, connected maps, where you aren't given much direction aside from an overarching goal (reaching Red). In Amnesia, everything is smaller, more gated (can't go into wine cellar until you find the key in the archive, can't open machine room until you find the key in the guest room, etc), and the puzzles are both easier and more arbitrary, while in Penumbra they were organic and mostly used real-world logic.

Yeah, PS4 release basically confirms braindead puzzles, small and linear environments, and spoonfeeding the narrative to the player as if he's a retard.

How is that exactly? Elaborate.

Okay, but first you need to point me to all those console games with relatively open levels, puzzles not aimed at drooling retards, and subtle narratives requiring the player to pay attention and employ a measure of critical thought.

Dark Souls is the exception that proves the rule, by the way. (although even it doesn't have any puzzles)
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,228
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Skyrim dungeons are basically single corridors with embellishments, so not sure what the comparison is supposed to mean.

Don't be cheeky, you know I wasn't talking about its dungeons.

But very well, substitute Skyrim with your Elite PC Gamer Approved Open World Game of choice.

The latter part of Overture takes place on several, decent-sized, connected maps, where you aren't given much direction aside from an overarching goal (reaching Red).

They're still a bunch of tunnels, though. Nothing a console can't do.
 

Cowboy Moment

Arcane
Joined
Feb 8, 2011
Messages
4,407
I think you're misunderstanding, Infinitron. I have no doubt that the PS4 could handle a Penumbra-style game on a technical level. I just don't think the console audience would find the game very compelling, there would be much gnashing of teeth about not knowing where to go, what to do, puzzles too difficult, the usual complaints. So, what I'm expecting from Soma is a downgrade even from the first Amnesia, in order to make it playable for peasants.

And in any case, open world design is different from level-based design, so your comparison to Skyrim simply doesn't make sense. You should have used something like System Shock 2 or Thief instead, these are games with levels much more elaborate than those of Penumbra.
 

Wirdschowerdn

Ph.D. in World Saving
Patron
Joined
Nov 30, 2003
Messages
34,460
Location
Clogging the Multiverse with a Crowbar
Okay, but first you need to point me to all those console games with relatively open levels, puzzles not aimed at drooling retards, and subtle narratives requiring the player to pay attention and employ a measure of critical thought.

Dark Souls is the exception that proves the rule, by the way. (although even it doesn't have any puzzles)

For starters, the PS4 has 16x more memory and 8-10x more performance than the PS3. What exactly are you so concerned about again? Are you now going to pull the graphics whore card? Because that's not the point. Gameplay/Mechanics wise, the PS4 should no longer impede PC games as much as the PS3/360 did.
 

Blaine

Cis-Het Oppressor
Patron
Joined
Oct 6, 2012
Messages
1,874,662
Location
Roanoke, VA
Grab the Codex by the pussy
No, Cowboy Moment is exactly right. They're going to be simple, embellished linear corridors, not because of hardware constraints, but because of software constraints—the software that runs on consoletard brains, which is completely unable to handle getting lost or having to figure out anything more difficult than the kids' puzzles in newspaper comics sections.
 

Wirdschowerdn

Ph.D. in World Saving
Patron
Joined
Nov 30, 2003
Messages
34,460
Location
Clogging the Multiverse with a Crowbar
This is what Blaine likes to think.

This isn't a AAA studio that *has to* dumb shit down to sell their shit. This is a small team thus can take creative risks. Porting it to PS4 is just making them an extra-buck, it is however not their bread-and-butter platform they need to rely on. If it's easy to port and doesn't impede your design ideas, then logic dictates that you do it.
 

Blaine

Cis-Het Oppressor
Patron
Joined
Oct 6, 2012
Messages
1,874,662
Location
Roanoke, VA
Grab the Codex by the pussy
I don't "like to" think any such thing; it's what I've come to expect after observing development teams go that route time and time again.

We'll see. If the game features complex level design, no doubt I'll be right there with you on day one. I do find it odd that you're already able to divine not only that the game is brilliant, but also that it almost certainly won't be "whoop! console'd" also.

I'm not fucking buying any game presented in an "on-foot" format from now on featuring God damned motherfucking embellished linear corridors. It's really starting to piss me the fuck off.

And what's with the emphasis on "drenched in narrative"? How about "engulfed in gameplay" or "slathered in challenge"?
 

Wirdschowerdn

Ph.D. in World Saving
Patron
Joined
Nov 30, 2003
Messages
34,460
Location
Clogging the Multiverse with a Crowbar
Let me quote what Cowboy said on the first page of this thread:

A refreshing minimalism and measured pacing in an industry where 30 seconds cannot pass without an explosive set piece or EXTREME dramatic moment? A genuine sense of mystery? A subtle undercurrent of creepiness built from small environmental details and seemingly innocuous events?

Things being done differently than they usually are is reason enough to get interested for a lot of people. Although, this obviously says nothing about the game behind this.

Well said, so please indulge me when I say this will be worth a D1P (Morgoth).
 

Cowboy Moment

Arcane
Joined
Feb 8, 2011
Messages
4,407
You do know I was talking about those little live action videos, and not anything related to the game proper, right?

In any case, the game might be worth playing, Frictional have always been good at the "technical" aspect of horror, with consistently great sound design, pacing, a carefully maintained atmosphere of dread, and relatively sparse use of enemies and jumpscares.

That said, I am expecting the game to be simplified even compared to Amnesia, which was already fairly basic.
 

sexbad?

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
2,812
Location
sexbad
Codex USB, 2014
The thing I've noticed about horror games that is commonly bad but can be amazingly good is that lots of people who buy them don't end up actually playing them much or caring much about their actual merits. If there is something scary or potentially scary about the game, they will remain fat and happy and not complain much about parts that were obtuse for them. This does lead to a lot of shovelware that's simple as fuck, but it's also an opportunity for good developers to make whatever they want to make with little impediment. All the pewdipeiedpw-like pre-teens with Steam accounts or PS4s will probably be a little annoyed by levels that have actual ~level design~ to them, but their primary focus will always be on how many monsters they can nickname and also scream at like babies.

I think this is the biggest ticket to stardom and creative freedom that nobody is taking advantage of yet. Idiots dislike complexity and cleverness in their shooters, stealth games and RPGs, but they put up with walking around in a straight-up maze as long as they get something that can kill them or jump out at them in their horror games. I think you could make the most intellectually stimulating horror game full of diverse, bizarre situations and still face commercial success, even on a console or two. Pewdieproles won't be able to tell the difference, which isn't very flattering of course, but they'd form a financial safety net that you could use to take risks and create something that's pretty fucking intense.

I don't really trust Frictional with this as much as I'd like to, but it's still a neat theory imho.
 

Siel

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Aug 25, 2013
Messages
885
Location
Some refined shithole
Will it be some walking simulator like most of their games?
Don't get me wrong I enjoyed the Penumbra games but it's about time they do something a bit more complex gameplay-wise.
 

1eyedking

Erudite
Joined
Dec 10, 2007
Messages
3,591
Location
Argentina

FUCK YES IT'S DOOM 3 ALL OVER AGAIN

Tubes, cables, walls and props that are inspired by computer hardware, machinery, graffiti, MORE TUBES, darkness, flickering lights...

For fuck's sake, I still can't believe how glaringly obvious it is when a game has good visual design.

MOAR
 

sexbad?

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
2,812
Location
sexbad
Codex USB, 2014
What does the video consist of? Is it just environment shots like the previous one or is there more to it? I don't want spoilers, but I'm curious, so I'll look if it doesn't give much away.
 

Blaine

Cis-Het Oppressor
Patron
Joined
Oct 6, 2012
Messages
1,874,662
Location
Roanoke, VA
Grab the Codex by the pussy
What does the video consist of? Is it just environment shots like the previous one or is there more to it? I don't want spoilers, but I'm curious, so I'll look if it doesn't give much away.

Nope, just tubes, cables, walls, computers, machinery, graffiti, tubes, darkness, flickering lights, and faux radio static ominous voiceovers and ambient sound.

11/10 GAME OF THE CENTURY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BluePortalss.gif


orangeports.png
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

Behelit

Augur
Joined
Sep 26, 2012
Messages
102
"There's no active inventory screen, with items at hand simply appearing where you need them."

:negative:

Quite spoilerfic, you see one of the antagonists and more details about the setting. Of which can uncomfortably remind some people of a certain franchise......

http://www.gametrailers.com/videos/o1jjpe/soma-preview
 
Last edited:

Metro

Arcane
Beg Auditor
Joined
Aug 27, 2009
Messages
27,792
This is the type of game I'd just watch someone play on YouTube. As I said about Amnesia, nice atmosphere but the gimmicks get old after a couple of hours. A proper game with the settings and sound design they can put out would be great but this is more for the casual crowd you just want to 'immerse' themselves into a movie.
 

Misconnected

Savant
Joined
Jan 18, 2012
Messages
587
I'll be surprised if I don't like this game, but it's been interesting to watch the promo material go from some of the best I've seen to standard forgettable shit.
 

MapMan

Arcane
Joined
Aug 7, 2009
Messages
2,330
That's their first game with an interesting setting :lol: (atleast for me)
 

agentorange

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Aug 14, 2012
Messages
5,256
Location
rpghq (cant read codex pms cuz of fag 2fa)
Codex 2012
The thing that we’re focusing on with our games now, and it’s a big design cornerstone, is that we don’t want to try and gamify too much of it. One thing we could have done with pressure is add puzzles around it – oh, before I go into this airlock I need to think about that sort of thing. Then it ends up in this abstract system. You’re not emotionally involved in it. Instead, what we’re trying to do – and it’s a bit more difficult – we’re trying to create this emotional background. You’re thinking about it in a more realistic way than you might have done if it was a sort of puzzle system."

Get emotional engaged to differential pressure hazards.

I really, truly hope that they are not removing the puzzles in favor of a bunch of over-scripted glorified cutscenes; they seemed to be getting better at puzzle design with each new game, and I thought the puzzles in Justine were great.
 

Vibalist

Arcane
Joined
Jul 21, 2008
Messages
3,583
Location
Denmark
Frictional. The Telltale Games of the horror genre.
 

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom