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That would explain a few things. As I mentioned in my post, I have not yet played Aralbad. I just got off the airship. So I’m unfamiliar with the phone calls you mentioned. All I can comment on is the phone calls Kate has received to date.

I also think that I didn’t understand that the conversations you mentioned occurred in a section of the game I have yet to play.

I’ll report back once I’ve finished Aralbad. Probably in the next day or two.

That said, I think I will reiterate Iz’s comment that there are “advantages” to having played the game before. There are things that seem obvious on a second or third playthrough that don’t make sense the first time through.

TimovieMan - 21 September 2014 03:31 PM

This is precisely what I don’t get. I have not yet seen anything that convinces me of the fact that she doesn’t care about her old life any longer. And even if she doesn’t really care anymore, then that phone call by Olivia near the end of the Aralbad chapter should still hurt, yet Kate responds in the blankest way possible. I’m an apathetic guy myself, but hearing Kate’s reaction there is making even me go ‘WTF?’...

Well Olivia does suggest that Kate is an automaton, so…

More seriously, I think you are looking at this slightly the wrong way. It is true that there is little else that indicates that Kate doesn’t care about her old life or Dan any more, but it is the phone calls themselves that tells us this story.

The fact that Kate doesn’t call Dan back when she has the chance, that she doesn’t react more strongly when she hears that Dan and Olivia is going on a date, and finally the lack of emotion when she learns that they have slept together, that all points in the same direction. That Kate is no longer emotionally invested in Dan and her old life and that she has subconsciously already broken the ties. You could even go as far as saying that subconsciously it is a relief for her, because it makes her own decision so much easier.

As I said in a previous post, the game doesn’t write its points in big flaming letters across the sky, instead you have to connect the dots yourself. Well you have already noticed some of the dots in the form of Kate’s lack of emotional response, now you just have to connect them and ask why she doesn’t react more emotionally. (which is much easier when you already know how the game ends)

I do however agree that it is a bit overdone, and that you would normally still expect a bit more emotions, both here and with the phone call in Komkolzgrad, but you can also make things so subtle that not a single person notices it regardless of whether it is their first or umpteen playthrough

Iznogood - 22 September 2014 06:05 AM

The fact that Kate doesn’t call Dan back when she has the chance, that she doesn’t react more strongly when she hears that Dan and Olivia is going on a date, and finally the lack of emotion when she learns that they have slept together, that all points in the same direction. That Kate is no longer emotionally invested in Dan and her old life and that she has subconsciously already broken the ties. You could even go as far as saying that subconsciously it is a relief for her, because it makes her own decision so much easier.

I have a different view on some of these:
Kate doesn’t call Dan back: *WE* (as in: the player) have the option to call back anyway, it’s not out of our hands. The game just avoids it by not having Dan pick up when we call.
Her not reacting strongly when Dan and Olivia “date” could very well be that she trusts both Dan and Olivia. Although her “wait, you’re dating my fiancée?” remark did have a hint of jealousy in it, so that would suggest that she DOES care… making the blank response later even more questionable…
Oh, and we haven’t reached the part where she has to make “her own decision” yet, so that can’t be an argument now.

TimovieMan - 22 September 2014 06:43 AM

I have a different view on some of these:
Kate doesn’t call Dan back: *WE* (as in: the player) have the option to call back anyway, it’s not out of our hands. The game just avoids it by not having Dan pick up when we call.

Same thing, just game mechanics.

TimovieMan - 22 September 2014 06:43 AM

Her not reacting strongly when Dan and Olivia “date” could very well be that she trusts both Dan and Olivia. Although her “wait, you’re dating my fiancée?” remark did have a hint of jealousy in it, so that would suggest that she DOES care… making the blank response later even more questionable…

I actually though her lack of response here was even more distinctive and telling than to the Aralbad call. That she was more indignant that Olivia couldn’t even wait until “the body was cold” before throwing herself at Dan, than she was actually jealous at them. I think that she already saw where Dan and Olivia were heading after this call but just didn’t really care or wanted to face the truth, though she probably didn’t expect that they would actually jump into bed with each other so soon. This would also explain why she doesn’t react more strongly in Aralbad, because she already knew that it was heading in this direction.

Besides Kate is not stupid, and I find it hard to imagine that she wouldn’t have know or at least suspected, that her best friend had a crush on her fiancée even before she left New York.

TimovieMan - 22 September 2014 06:43 AM

Oh, and we haven’t reached the part where she has to make “her own decision” yet, so that can’t be an argument now.

Fair point, but it is kind of the elephant in the room.

Anyway the point about things that need interpretation is that they are also open for different interpretations, though I am convinced that my interpretation is the one that makes most sense

I finished Aralsbad. I’m inclined to side with Iz regarding Olivia’s phone call. Olivia is obviously more upset than Kate. And appears to feel a greater sense of betrayal as well. Right now she, Kate, has four people she feels she needs to be concerned with: herself. Helena, Oscar and, of course, Hans.

There may come a time, when she has completed her objective, that she will care about what happened with Dan and Olivia. Or maybe not. Right now she can’t be bothered. Or, as I interpret it, she really doesn’t care.

I don’t know on what platform you’re playing the game. Mikekelly just commented that the Nintendo DS version of the game has no voice acting. I think some of the dialog nuances are missed if you don’t hear the voices.

No kidding. The ios version is amazing - an upgrade from the original. The DS version is only playable - the phone calls - no where near the impact. This game I barely kept in my collection - so many better games on the DS and better ports of this game.

However, the cut scenes are still lovely and the play is slightly different - so I kept it - barely.

OK! I’m bad.    Once I finished the cut scene of the return to K-Town from Aralbad, (the finale of which is shown in Sefir’s screenshot,) I couldn’t stop.

The final two sequences, Escape from K-Town and the end game don’t take more than 20 minutes, and I knew what was coming, so I just went for it.

I’m not sure how TimovieMan will feel about the final two telephone conversations. They clarify everything in my mind. We will wait, I guess, until everyone is finished and discuss.

Finished this chapter now, and let me start by saying what a relief it was to leave that dark and depressing Kom… and go to the wonderful resort on the lake instead, even if you do need a gas-mask to enjoy the fresh sea air

I however can’t help to wonder if perhaps the whole Aralbad scenario is not inspired by the drying up of the Aral Sea, even though it in this case seem like reality exceeds the fiction. In fact looking at these two pictures, the first from the Aral Sea and the second from Syberia, I am convinced it is mean as a direct reference to the ecological catastrophe of the Aral Sea (not to mention the name of the place):

(Click to see full size image)

Still the resort itself looks beautiful and must have been a marvel in its prime, but am I the only one that finds it a bit suspicious that the hotel has only had a total of 42 guests since 1980? I Know it’s prime must have been even earlier, since the drying up of the lake started already in the 60’s, but still?!?

Meeting Oscar mark 2, or perhaps James is mark 1 and Oscar the second, was a delight. Regardless of who was designed first, it is very clear that they have both been designed by Hans, and they both have the same personality, though I did find James a bit less stubborn and more helpful, but perhaps that is just because Helena and James has a longer relationship than Kate and Oscar, and that she has had time to “house-train” him a bit.

I almost fell bad about persuading Helena to come back to Kom… and sing for the director. As it should be apparent for everybody by now, he is complete bonkers and nothing good can possible come from this. Kate should really have know better here, I mean not only does he act like a lunatic and stalker, the cosmonaut also warned us about him, and even Timoviman saw this coming , the only one that was oblivious to the fact that he could be a very dangerous man, was Kate.

I know they say that “Ignorance (or in this case trust) is the mother of all great adventures”, and it would have been a shorter adventure if Kate had taken Timovieman’s advice and just used the metal shears on the organ automaton’s hands instead of going to Aralbad, but in this case Kate is just being gullible, which otherwise is not really how I think of her.

But come to think about it, perhaps Kate is really a bit gullible and too trusting and goodhearted for her own good. I mean she has a fiancée that seems very egocentric and not like he actually loves Kate, a best friend that doesn’t act like a best friend is suppose to, a boss that bosses her around, and when the takeover becomes complicated by an inheritance case, she doesn’t do what I expect most lawyers would do, and simply tries to get Hans declared dead and use other lawyer shenanigans. Instead she actually tries to track him down, and solve it the correct but not easiest way.

The cutscene at the end of this chapter, with Helena singing and then at the end being trapped in a cage, is indeed a very beautiful scene. In fact it is even more impressive than I remembered it.

On my first playthrough I remember that I for a very long time thought that I had to talk to these too guys, that they somehow was very important and I was frustrated that I couldn’t figure out how to interrupt their chess game, and actually make them talk to me.

And similar with this scene, where I was convinced that I had to sabotage his TV reception, but once again didn’t have the slightest idea of how to do it.

In the end both turned out to be red herrings
This time I of course knew better, and the whole Aralbad scene is one of the scenes where I actually remember most from my first playthrough.

Selecting only two screenshots from this chapter, has once again become a bit of a challenge, as there is so many beautiful scenes her, but this one was a very easy choice and the first I thought of. There is just something about places and items in decay the appeals to me, and I think this shows the decay of Aralbad the best:

(Click to see full size image)

A second picture was a bit more challenging, but I had almost decide on showing the swimming pool when Becky snipped me, so instead I went for a shot of the beautiful cutscene at the end of the chapter:

Edit: Oh I almost forgot to mention how much I enjoyed turning the fountain into a bobble-bath, let this be a lesson for all bureaucrats around the world. I mean he couldn’t just inform Helena that she had a visitor? Come on its not a prison you know, if this is your idea of customer service, it is no wonder that you hardly have any guests at all!

TimovieMan - 20 September 2014 07:48 PM

Now at last, we had a difficult puzzle!

Yeah it wouldn’t have hurt if there were a few more puzzles like this in the game, though once again the thing that stumped me here, was that I missed the hotspot for the cupboard where the honey and lime was placed, I guess I have simply become too used to hotspot revealers. The rest of the puzzle was pretty logical, at least once you realize you need to melt the crystallized honey and remember the hot tub. A lot of trial and Helena giving us the thumbs down, is also needed though.

TimovieMan - 20 September 2014 07:48 PM

Btw, can anyone tell me what the trigger was for the locker room door opening? Was it simply talking to James / OscarII about where Helena is or did it involve entering Helena’s (or Hans’s) room number in that keypad thing as none of the numbers I entered gave any sort of result?

Not really, the order I did this in was pool, trying the lock, talking to James, reception to write down some codes, trying the lock again and finally returning to pool to see the door open. But if I were to guess then I would say it was probaly both, that you need to realise you have to go outside by talking to James, and that you need to try a different solution to the door first. But it is only a guess.

Becky - 23 September 2014 07:59 AM

I think Aralbad is the point at which Kate pretty much stops thinking like a lawyer.

I would say that this happened much earlier, already in Barrockstad, at least that was were I first started noticing it, but it is of course a ongoing process and not something that happened at once.

Iznogood - 23 September 2014 09:37 AM

Still the resort itself looks beautiful and must have been a marvel in its prime, but am I the only one that finds it a bit suspicious that the hotel has only had a total of 42 guests since 1980? I Know it’s prime must have been even earlier, since the drying up of the lake started already in the 60’s, but still?!?

It’s odd, yes, but there are a good number of residents as well, so maybe the remaining residents are keeping the thing afloat?

On my first playthrough I remember that I for a very long time thought that I had to talk to these too guys, that they somehow was very important and I was frustrated that I couldn’t figure out how to interrupt their chess game, and actually make them talk to me.

That bothered me as well for a moment, but since the game continued without speaking to them, I just figured I either missed an easter egg, or they’re remnants of a puzzle that got scrapped during production.

And similar with this scene, where I was convinced that I had to sabotage his TV reception, but once again didn’t have the slightest idea of how to do it.

Hehe, that too. Great minds think alike?

TimovieMan - 23 September 2014 12:21 PM

It’s odd, yes, but there are a good number of residents as well, so maybe the remaining residents are keeping the thing afloat?

No that is including the residents, and Helana is the last remaining resident.

TimovieMan - 23 September 2014 12:21 PM

Hehe, that too. Great minds think alike?

Yeah - And I’m glad I was not the only one to fell for those.

Chasing Hans is way more fun than the usual day-to-day work of being a lawyer.

At the firm she works at currently, anyway. To me, Kate was determined to finish the task she was sent out to perform, but this was to be the last task she’s complete for this Firm.