Adventure Gamers - Forums

I’m not sure I see a reason for spoilers at this stage of the game. (Anyone our there who hasn’t finished???)

I think a more interesting question as to why Hans Vorelburg suddenly appeared in Aralbad is HOW? Forgive the pun, but this is a one track pony. He didn’t arrive on the plane. That was coming from the West.

TimovieMan - 28 September 2014 07:24 PM

The final section in Aralbad has its issues as well: there is no reason why Hans Voralberg should suddenly show up there. What, he’s almost completed his journey only to backtrack now? I would have much preferred to [spoiler]find him waiting on the platform of the next train station after Aralbad[/spoiler].

Well without actually revealing anything about what happens in the sequel, then I can say that in order for the whole story to work, Hans had to have made his way back westward, otherwise the story simply doesn’t work.

The BIG question here is of course how far westward he would have come, if he hadn’t met Kate in Aralbad? All the way to Valadine perhaps?

rtrooney - 28 September 2014 08:13 PM

I think a more interesting question as to why Hans Vorelburg suddenly appeared in Aralbad is HOW? Forgive the pun, but this is a one track pony. He didn’t arrive on the plane. That was coming from the West.

I think that can easily be explained by this slightly spoilerish screenshot from Syberia 2

mart - 28 September 2014 03:47 PM

However, the game itself includes another clue (interpretation) about the mammoths and Syberia, that some may have missed (it’s optional). In the palaeontology notes (The Legend of the Ivory Ark) found in the laboratory of Professor Pons, it is said about the Youkols: “It was believed that their souls had found eternal rest on a mythical island that the Shaman named Syberia.”

Yeah I remember that… well I do now that you have reminded me about it and I see it as further hints towards my dying allegory.

But the thing I really like about this game, is that it is a story with many layers. The plot of finding Hans, Kate’s metamorphosis mainly told through the phone calls, Anna’s and Hans’s childhood story, the different settings in Valadine, Barockstad, Komkolzgrad and Aralbad with all their symbolism, the automatons, the train ride eastward, the mammoths and the island of Syberia. All tell a story in themselves and they all come together to tell a much more intangible and multifaceted story, which is open for interpretations and haven’t got a fact list with a single correct interpretation. In fact I think I would be disappointed if Sokal ever decided to explain exactly what he meant by all of it.

Sefir - 29 September 2014 04:38 AM

As I’ve said many times before, a community playthrough is not for us participants only. It is also for everyone else that wants to use it as a guide for future playing.

Of course there is need for spoiler tags!!!

^ This.

When I played GK1 for the first time (last year), I used the community playthrough of that game as a sort of “companion piece” to the game. Personally, it enhances my experience a little. And having spoiler tags makes sure I don’t accidentally read something I’m not yet supposed to know…

mart - 29 September 2014 09:35 AM

@Iznogood: the mammoths and the journey of Hans can be interpreted as an allegory for dying (the Youkols’ view about the souls that find eternal rest on Syberia). But that might be just coincidental, and I prefer the “paradise lost” interpretation.

Well as I said there are many layers in the story, so the two aren’t mutually exclusive. They can both be true at the same time.

Sefir - 29 September 2014 07:56 AM

(That reminds me, I have to post a new caption contest next week…)
EDIT: Iznogood beat me up to the last part!

Great minds think alike
I assume you would also have used a screenshot from Syberia, so just out of curiosity which one? (or do you still plan to use it later?)

Iznogood - 29 September 2014 06:03 PM

Well as I said there are many layers in the story, so the two aren’t mutually exclusive. They can both be true at the same time.

Interesting thought. Although most of us remember how S2 ended, and the mammoths seemed to be more an allegory for life than death. (Well, maybe not for Oscar.)

Another interesting note: I liked your screenshot depicting how Hans arrived at Aralburg. But I have absolutely no recollection of that scene. It’s strange. I remembered almost everything about the original Syberia. But except for a few plot points and puzzles I remember very little of S2. And, while it’s still 10 years old, it’s also 2 years newer than S1. Perhaps it’s because I found the ending so unsatisfying.

I’m tempted to give S2 a play, but I think I will wait until the next nomination/vote. I may nominate S2. I don’t recall if there’s ever been a CPT that was followed by its immediate sequel. I think there was a back-to-back GK playthrough, but they weren’t played in sequence.

rtrooney - 29 September 2014 06:38 PM

Interesting thought. Although most of us remember how S2 ended, and the mammoths seemed to be more an allegory for life than death. (Well, maybe not for Oscar.)

Actually I don’t remember the ending of S2 very well Like you there are many things I don’t remember from S2, whereas I remembered S1 much better.

But just to clarify a bit, I never said or think that the mammoths themselves represent death. It is the mythical island of Syberia I see as representing the afterlife, and the train journey that I see as an allegory for our journey through life with Syberia as the final end destination.

Whereas the mammoths themselves and Hans’s lifelong dream and chase for the mammoths is an allegory for something else, perhaps Paradise Lost as Mart suggested, or “some intangible dream or concept of happiness that we are all chasing in our life.” as I suggested myself earlier.

Though the mammoths are of course extinct, so…

Edit: Did I mention that the whole things starts with a funeral?

Did I mention that the whole things starts with a funeral?

That is still my favorite cutscene in the game. Well, and the last one too - so to me, the very best cutscenes in the game are the first one and the last one.

The Nintendo DS version of the game is by far the worst one, but it is still a fun game to play - which speaks volumes for the quality of this game. The phone calls are the best feature of the game I’ve not seen in other adventure games.

OK, late as always, but my thoughts on the end of the game.

Although I have played Syberia probably 5 or 6 times now I have never played more than the first 10 minutes of Syberia 2. There are two main reasons for this, and both are definitely subjective ones with which others doubtless disagree.

1. Because of how good the ending to Syberia is. It’s hardly a surprise that Kate makes the decision she does at the end of the first game and I suppose some might even call it clichéd but I don’t care, it really is good. The music, the animation of Kate running back and the whole package really is emotionally stirring and perfectly in keeping with the deep emotional vein of the game. Somehow it seems perfect and complete without any need for a continuation.

2. Because, somehow, I am not so interested in Siberia (the place) itself or Hans as a person. Let me explain. During the first game I become interested and emotionally involved with Kate’s quest for Hans Voralberg and her fascination with him - the whole journey she undergoes physically and metaphotrically. However, and for me, it is Hans’ automatons and machinery that hold the fascination and the way it affects Kate. Hans represents more of a mystical ideal (follow your heart) for me in the first game and his “steampunk-chic” creations are both cool and cute at the same time.

But I feel, (again my personal opinion) that the game has done almost nothing to get me interested in Hans himself as a person, or in Siberia the place and his quest for that land and mammoths (despite some beautiful mammoth statues and effegies along the way).

Therefore the “drive” of the first game has gone as Kate has achieved her objective and the mystical ideal has been realised (and reality is not often as fun as anticipation/longing etc.) I suppose I just need more of a reason to care about Hans finding Siberia/mammoths.

Having said that I do mean (as I always do after finishing Syberia 1) to play Syberia 2 and hopefully get something from it. Hopefully I am completely wrong about my reasons for not playing S2 and I am definitely willing to be convinced.

If it’s the next CP then great, but if something else is chosen and anyone else is going to play it maybe we could do an unofficial continuation of this playthrough?

Intense Degree - 02 October 2014 07:19 AM

2. Because, somehow, I am not so interested in Siberia (the place) itself or Hans as a person. Let me explain. During the first game I become interested and emotionally involved with Kate’s quest for Hans Voralberg and her fascination with him - the whole journey she undergoes physically and metaphotrically. However, and for me, it is Hans’ automatons and machinery that hold the fascination and the way it affects Kate. Hans represents more of a mystical ideal (follow your heart) for me in the first game and his “steampunk-chic” creations are both cool and cute at the same time.

But I feel, (again my personal opinion) that the game has done almost nothing to get me interested in Hans himself as a person, or in Siberia the place and his quest for that land and mammoths (despite some beautiful mammoth statues and effegies along the way).

Therefore the “drive” of the first game has gone as Kate has achieved her objective and the mystical ideal has been realised (and reality is not often as fun as anticipation/longing etc.) I suppose I just need more of a reason to care about Hans finding Siberia/mammoths.

I think you hit the nail on the head. Kate is pursuing someone else’s dream in Syberia 2. And that is all wrong.