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Community Playthrough #29: Syberia

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I have finished the Komkolzgrad chapter now, so time for some thoughts and comments:

Kate has only been gone a few days and have had a single fight with her fiancée over the phone, and now her best friend is dating him!?! More importantly Dan actually tried to call her several times and talk to her about it, but Kate doesn’t really seem to be interested in talking to him about their relationship, and when Olivia tells her this she doesn’t really get upset, at least she doesn’t react the way I would react if I had just learned that my best friend was dating my fiancée behind my back! It is like she has mentally already broken up with Dan and subconsciously made the decisions that she doesn’t want to go back to her old life.

A “phantom of the opera” kind of mad former director of an abandoned mine, and a alcoholic former cosmonaut who never actually got in space, both just left behind and forgotten when the Soviet Union fell apart, like castaways on a deserted island, and if that wasn’t enough then they also both hate and distrust each other instead of cooperating and helping each other. I’m not quite sure what to make of this, if there is more too it than just the story of these to individuals, but it does seem plausible that something like this could actually have happened in the chaos of the post soviet era.

We also learned that Hans had lived here (of course), and had worked for the Soviet space program, but had simply left when he realized that his work had militaristic applications, something that most of us would probably have realized much sooner, not to mention the whole thing with a westerner working for the Soviet Union. But this seem to be typical of Hans, he just do whatever he can in whatever place he happens to be, completely oblivious of the political implications or the world around him in general. In many ways Hans seems to personify the childish innocence that we all loose when we grow older, but which he has managed to keep.

But apart from this, there doesn’t really seem to be happening that much story-wise in this chapter and it felt more like an intermission or bridge between the preceding chapters and the next. Part of the reason I think is that this chapter really haven’t finished yet, unlike Valadilène and Barrockstadt we aren’t finished with Komkolzgrad but actually have to return later, and this also means that the story told here are also only half told.


And what is up with this?


(Click on pictures to see full size)

Isn’t it suppose to be a spring-loaded launch system, and not a rocket propelled system? So where does all the exhaust come from?
If I were the kind of person that paid attention to these kind of details, then I would be handing out a whole lot of Pan Pan Pan Pan

As for my favourite screenshots in this chapter then I think I will for obvious reasons go for:

And simply because I can’t get enough of these beautiful automatons:

But I also fell compelled to post these picture from the previous chapter, simply because no one else has posted them and they deserve to be seen:

     

You have to play the game, to find out why you are playing the game! - eXistenZ

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Becky - 14 September 2014 07:51 AM

Do you remember the outcry about the cellphone calls when Syberia first released? It seemed as though most people hated them. I think that’s why the phone calls don’t reappear in Syberia 2.

Perhaps, but I think it is more likely because it would be impossible to actually get a signal in both Siberia and Syberia, not to mention that she has broken all contact with the modern life, so it wouldn’t fit into the story.

Becky - 14 September 2014 07:51 AM

When I played Paradise, I was surprised how much I missed a device like the cellphone conversations to give the player information about the heroine’s past life. Ann Smith in Paradise didn’t remember much about her past, and that gave her a lot less character to be explored. (The fact that she seldom reacted strongly to anything was a factor as well.)

At the time of the game it would also have been almost impossible to get a signal in Africa Wink but I get your point. In most games the small comments you get from clicking on hotspots actually add a lot of “flesh” to the character and without that you need something else to serve a similar role. In Syberia the phone calls serves this purpose (to a certain degree), but in Paradise all we have is when we get the flashback scenes, but these come rather late in the game, so at least in the beginning “Ann Smith” might fell a bit bland to the player, though I don’t agree that she actually is a bland character. 

Becky - 14 September 2014 07:51 AM

I found that the cellphone messages in Syberia are most disruptive when they occur just as I’m about to explore a new area. Because I’m curious about the new area, and the phone call is an annoyance. When they occur upon leaving an area, I find them less disruptive.

I have never felt it annoying here in Syberia, but in Sinking Island the protagonist also receives phone calls, and not only does he have the annoying habit of going to his room to answer them, but the game also more or less happens in realtime with the NPCs moving around. So if you got a phone call just as you were about to interview someone, then you not only had to go all the way back to them, but you also had to trace down where the hell they had gone to now.

Anyway what I like about these phone calls in syberia, is that they are not just idle fillers or background chatter to add a bit more flesh to Kate, but a large and important part of the story is actually being told through them.

     

You have to play the game, to find out why you are playing the game! - eXistenZ

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Iznogood - 14 September 2014 11:32 PM

But apart from the this, there doesn’t really seem to be happening that much story-wise in this chapter and it felt more like an intermission or bridge between the preceding chapters and the next. Part of the reason I think is that this chapter really haven’t finished yet, unlike Valadilène and Barrockstadt we aren’t finished with Komkolzgrad but actually have to return later, and this also means that the story told here are also only half told.

Iznogood, put this paragraph in your post into spoiler tags please. Yes, it reveals information from this chapter, but some people are still playing it.

General Reminder
Spoiler tags people!!
Please use more spoiler tags!! This playthrough needs them more than any other that I have participated.
I understand the difficulty of discussing a game when half the participants have played it before, but please, think about the ones who play it for the first time….

     
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Sefir - 15 September 2014 04:00 AM

Iznogood, put this paragraph in your post into spoiler tags please. Yes, it reveals information from this chapter, but some people are still playing it.

Sorry - I don’t really think I revealed much in that paragraph, in fact I probably revealed more in the 2nd paragraph Meh, so I added spoilers to both.

I always find it a bit tricky to find the right balance between what need spoiler tags and what can be discussed more freely. On one hand I don’t want to spoil anything for those that haven’t reached the part yet, but on the other I also don’t want to put everything in spoilers, so those that don’t want to be spoiled can’t read my words of wisdom Wink

     

You have to play the game, to find out why you are playing the game! - eXistenZ

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is the cellphone use. Apart from riddle solving, it is cleverly used as a bond of Kate and the modern world, or “her past life” if you prefer. In other ways, a tool for storytelling.

Now I noticed this in the ipad version play through - the cell phone conversations - and yes, they do add to the story telling aspect of the game and to me, a touch of realism. Here you are exploring all the strangeness that is the Syberia game and your mom calls.

I’ve not seen the like in any other games and it did add to seeing Kate Walker as a fully developed character in the game.

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I enjoy playing adventure games on my Alienware M17 r4 and my Nintendo Switch OLED.

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That’s one hell of a mobile Kate has got there. Get’s a signal anywhere(apart from when she’s in the mine shaft) and it never needs charging! Wish my Blackberry was like that.

Unfortunately posting screenshots is too awkward on my PC (acknowledging Izno’s offer that he’d do them on request but I don’t like to bother people) but if I did I would definitely try to get one from when the eagle is let free to scare away all the other birds. That cut scene was really superb.

     

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Bit late (second chapter), but I just noticed a new visitor in Barrockstadt. Strange.

     

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And one from Komkolzgrad:

A short remark about Kate’s “helping hand” - character/story development - in Komkolzgrad/Cosmodrome. (The mechanical eagle in the Cosmodrone is called Soyouz, after the spacecrafts that were launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.)

The two lost souls, Sergueï Borodine and Boris Charow, have their own dreams (like Hans has a dream). Borodine is looking backwards (he wants to see Helena again), Charow is looking forwards (as he wants to go to the stars). She helps both of them to fulfill their dreams, and I guess by now Kate is developing her own dream. And after making his legs in Valadilene, she has to help Oscar again by getting his hands back. Btw, it is nice to see that Oscar - with his “additional soul auxiliary” - becomes a bit more emotional and closer to Kate in this chapter (after his hands are stolen:  “even an automaton deserves some compassion ... accusing me of being selfish”).

     
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I had fallen a bit behind in the playthrough (I only started the Barrockstadt chapter on Saturday) but have managed to keep up the pace these last two days.
I’m halfway into the Komkolzgrad chapter (I just found and talked to the guy that stole Oscar’s hands for his organ playing automaton) at the moment, and I’m confident I’ll meet this section’s deadline. Tongue


Anyway, there’s a few things that are slowly getting on my nerves in this game, and they’re very similar to the remarks I had after the Valadilene chapter.

With the dearth of hotspots in this game, it’s ridiculous to find so many clickable doors that NEVER have a function. Why include the hotspot if it’s never going to get used? Granted, it’s not as bad as it was in Valadilene, but still. Too much “no need to go down there” and “no point, it’s locked”.

The few locations that are larger than a single screen stick out a little - there were a couple on route to the cave at Valadilene, and one in Barrockstadt (the one between the station and the wall, with the ruined buildings across the river). On any other screen you can see at the edge of the screen if there’s an exit or not. Not in these ones since they scroll first. Luckily they’re only used in places where it’s obvious you have to continue (but it makes walking from one end to the other even slower than it already was).

How lovely as all the backgrounds are (and they are gorgeous), I’d really like some fast-travel options. Kate walks at a crawl and runs at what I consider walking speed. Climbing stairs is even slower - and there are a bunch of stairs in this game. It all goes so insanely slow.
This is especially aggravating if the game makes you run back-and-forth between the rectors, the station master and the paleontologist in Barrockstadt.

Also, the game could use some actual difficulty in its puzzles. Usually you need to use the ONE inventory item you can get in a certain location on the ONE place where you can actually use something and voilà, puzzle solved. The major task in Barrockstadt of fixing the bandstand was solved by simply opening the door and pulling the lever (and only that first action had anything even remotely puzzly about it). It’s just too easy. It makes me wonder why anyone would even need Kate for a task so menial. Plus, the door was mechanical, it shouldn’t have even required an actual cuckoo egg, just any weight should have done the trick, including using your finger to push the darn thing down a little…

And then they have a great opportunity to add another puzzle (or maybe make one optional), and they refuse. I would have loved to try and fix the mechanical eagle, but alas, I couldn’t.


And as for Kate, her behaviour is still the same: jumping all over the place. You can get a concerned response, an agitated one, a sweet one and a snarky one, all within a single dialogue. The longer this game lasts, the more I’m convinced Kate is bi-polar.
When her phone rings, half the time she’s “too busy to talk” and the other half she can go on and on about things that are irrelevant to the person on the other end of the line. And when Dan calls while Kate is in the mine shaft, she promises to call him back. Except that you can’t. You need to wait for him to call you.

I think we should have been given some control over her character, instead of having to watch everything play out without our input. If we could have had some actual dialogue options when talking to someone (including a tone to say things in), she wouldn’t feel bi-polar, and I’d probably feel a lot closer to the character.


And lastly, why am I even talking to the guy that took Oscar’s hands? He sounds insane. He took Oscar’s hands using pliers. I have those pliers in my inventory. He put the hands on his organist automaton, which I can access without anyone interfering. Why can’t I just use the pliers on the organist, get Oscar’s hands back, and get the heck out of Dodge?

     

The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka

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I’ve started the Komkolzgrad chapter, but the whole area is rather depressing and I haven’t found anything I’d like to immortalize in a screenshot yet. After Dan’s phone call, I immediately went back up top and tried to call him. All I got was his voicemail, and Kate didn’t attempt to leave a message.

In my mind, I still haven’t fully left Barrockstadt. I loved the station and the university. I even enjoyed the mini-chapter at the Wall (I’d forgotten all about it from my first playthrough years ago). And the train journey once the wall is finally breached is spectacular.

So here are a few screenshots as I try to let go of the past.

Kate among the botanicals. Like Amerzone, the plants in Syberia don’t ever seem to flower. It’s as though blooming is too…perky. The detail in the leaves and stalks and branches is gorgeous though. Even the moss freshens up the place. Well, where it’s green and alive, anyway.

At the Wall, I was impressed with this view of the train.

And here are some images from the journey.

     
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TimovieMan - 16 September 2014 06:48 AM

With the dearth of hotspots in this game, it’s ridiculous to find so many clickable doors that NEVER have a function. Why include the hotspot if it’s never going to get used? Granted, it’s not as bad as it was in Valadilene, but still. Too much “no need to go down there” and “no point, it’s locked”.

If I recall correctly there is only one door you can’t use in Barrockstadt, and not a single one you can’t use in Komkolzgrad, though there are at least one that you can’t use before you have unlocked it, so I will say that this was mainly a problem in Valadilene.

TimovieMan - 16 September 2014 06:48 AM

And as for Kate, her behaviour is still the same: jumping all over the place. You can get a concerned response, an agitated one, a sweet one and a snarky one, all within a single dialogue. The longer this game lasts, the more I’m convinced Kate is bi-polar.

She responds a bit differently to different people, but then again don’t we all? With perhaps a few exceptions, I find that she is generally kind and patient with the people that she encounters through her journey. As for the phone calls, well as I have said before, there is being told a story through those phone calls, and this story is being more and more apparent during the Komkolzgrad chapter, and [spoiler]not calling Dan back is part of that story,[/spoiler] as I see it.

TimovieMan - 16 September 2014 06:48 AM

Also, the game could use some actual difficulty in its puzzles

No argument here from me, though I did manage to get stuck a few times in Komkolzgrad, mainly because there were a few hotspots that I missed.

     

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How lovely as all the backgrounds are (and they are gorgeous), I’d really like some fast-travel options. Kate walks at a crawl and runs at what I consider walking speed. Climbing stairs is even slower - and there are a bunch of stairs in this game. It all goes so insanely slow.

The ipad version of the game retains all the good points of the game (beautiful backgrounds, lovely cutscenes) and does minimize some of the negative aspects of the game.

Hotspot indicators can be turned if needed and she will run automatically between long distances.

More than once I just had to stare at the sheer beauty of the game—graphics wise this game is a masterpiece.

 

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Iznogood - 16 September 2014 05:15 PM

She responds a bit differently to different people, but then again don’t we all? With perhaps a few exceptions, I find that she is generally kind and patient with the people that she encounters through her journey. As for the phone calls, well as I have said before, there is being told a story through those phone calls, and this story is being more and more apparent during the Komkolzgrad chapter, and [spoiler]not calling Dan back is part of that story,[/spoiler] as I see it.

I was referring specifically to the dialogues you have while using the notepad for topics. She responds VERY uneven to the sailors (although that mixture of Dutch, French, German, Russian, Portuguese and English IS off-putting, especially since the wife’s translation isn’t even close to what he actually said), to the Captain on the wall, to Sergei Borodine and even to Oscar. It’s like the topics of ‘Kate’, ‘mission’, ‘help’, ‘Hans’ and ‘train’ were each done in an entirely different tone…

Mikekelly - 17 September 2014 06:55 AM

graphics wise this game is a masterpiece.

No argument there. Graphics are stunning, and especially the voice cylinder cutscenes are outstanding! Cool

     

The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka

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TimovieMan - 17 September 2014 06:59 AM
Mikekelly - 17 September 2014 06:55 AM

graphics wise this game is a masterpiece.

No argument there. Graphics are stunning, and especially the voice cylinder cutscenes are outstanding! Cool

And you can and you could enjoy them without having a PC last generation. I remember when I played this game with an old PC with just an integrated graphics card of 32mb, I did not believe a game could looks so amazing in such a limited Pc. It looked spectacular back then and even today the graphics look stunning. There are much more current games whose requirements are ridiculously exaggerated and still can not beat the graphics of this game. How is that accomplished? I guess it has to do with dedicated developers and willing to make the most of the technology that may be available to everyone, but I really do not know.

The cutscenes….<3

     

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TimovieMan - 17 September 2014 06:59 AM
Iznogood - 16 September 2014 05:15 PM

She responds a bit differently to different people, but then again don’t we all? With perhaps a few exceptions, I find that she is generally kind and patient with the people that she encounters through her journey. As for the phone calls, well as I have said before, there is being told a story through those phone calls, and this story is being more and more apparent during the Komkolzgrad chapter, and [spoiler]not calling Dan back is part of that story,[/spoiler] as I see it.

I was referring specifically to the dialogues you have while using the notepad for topics. She responds VERY uneven to the sailors (although that mixture of Dutch, French, German, Russian, Portuguese and English IS off-putting, especially since the wife’s translation isn’t even close to what he actually said), to the Captain on the wall, to Sergei Borodine and even to Oscar. It’s like the topics of ‘Kate’, ‘mission’, ‘help’, ‘Hans’ and ‘train’ were each done in an entirely different tone…

Many things can be interpreted differently in Syberia, like in all games (see here e.g. the previous comments about the exhaust of the spaceship or the pianist hands - I mean there are also more favourable interpretations possible). After reading your comments, I thought the same as Iznogood did in his reply, but you made me replay one of the conversations, the hilarious one with the sailors. I see what you mean (though it didn’t bother me) and I also understand your bi-polar interpretation (which is a nice and favourable interpretation). But it can also be interpreted in a different way.

For instance, in the beginning at the hotel, Kate speaks with the hotel owner, and when you choose the option about the automatons, she becomes suddenly very excited, which contrasts with her other lines. One can take this as a technical flaw. I still remember a dialogue from The Riddle of Master lu, in which a guy tells a sad story about his son, and when you choose the last conversation option, you get suddenly a very excited “goodbye” (or something like that). So it may be that they paid too little attention to the balance between the dialogue options when they recorded the voice-overs. (Like some sequence flaws in the dialogues with some of the characters in Syberia.)

 

     

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