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Community Playthrough #29: Syberia
As to the true plot to me and just me this game setup the 2nd game and it’s finale perfectly when I finished syberia 2 I felt this story was very complete and one of the best I’ve ever experienced in a computer game.
Ditto…<3
” I remember. Somebody died. It was me.”
~
As to the true plot to me and just me this game setup the 2nd game and it’s finale perfectly when I finished syberia 2 I felt this story was very complete and one of the best I’ve ever experienced in a computer game.
Now I totally disagree with this and it’s a conversation had on the old forum where I said this back in Jan 2010:
“Having read through this thread I’m somewhat surprised that everyone seems to think that Syberia 2 completed the journey rather nicely. It didn’t. How the hell was Kate supposed to get home? There she is, stuck on an island, with a boat that pretty much navigated itself. Even if she could get it to reverse the journey the train is pointing in the wrong direction. Possibility of turning it around I suppose but Oscar steadfastly refused to allow Kate any knowledge of how to operate the engine and anyway, part of the line is out. Poor girl is stuck there with only Youki for company, no apparent food, no shelter and it’s going to be rather cold. I’d give her about 72 hours before she’s frozen to death. Plenty of scope to allow the story to further unfold, albeit with different characters.”
The relevant part of that thread starts halfway down here:
http://archive.adventuregamers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24358&highlight=Syberia&page=2
Life is what it is.
Sefir - you don’t actually say but I’m assuming you mean the end of this chapter is the arrival at Aralbad?
Of course.
And by the way, I totally agree that I felt that the story in Syberia 2 was much incomplete compared to the first one (as did the entire game in general, but this is another thing entirely). One simple fact that shows in my eyes the superiority of the story in the 1st Syberia, 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. I sincerely don’t remember ANY phone conversation in Syberia 2, apart from a “Kate Walker help! They are kidnapping me!” by Oscar…
Now I totally disagree with this and it’s a conversation had on the old forum where I said this back in Jan 2010:
“Having read through this thread I’m somewhat surprised that everyone seems to think that Syberia 2 completed the journey rather nicely. It didn’t. How the hell was Kate supposed to get home? There she is, stuck on an island, with a boat that pretty much navigated itself. Even if she could get it to reverse the journey the train is pointing in the wrong direction. Possibility of turning it around I suppose but Oscar steadfastly refused to allow Kate any knowledge of how to operate the engine and anyway, part of the line is out. Poor girl is stuck there with only Youki for company, no apparent food, no shelter and it’s going to be rather cold. I’d give her about 72 hours before she’s frozen to death. Plenty of scope to allow the story to further unfold, albeit with different characters.”The relevant part of that thread starts halfway down here:
http://archive.adventuregamers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24358&highlight=Syberia&page=2
Back home? But if she really have been interested in that, she would have abandoned the journey long time ago. It was much more than go and return. Maybe I misunderstood the story it was telling, but that detail is irrelevant .. in my opinion. Yes I said “detail”. when the game finished, the last thing I thought was how she would return home now.
Is it that whenever something ends, whether in this case a game we thinking what are going to happen to the lives of the characters after that? If that were the case all games would be endless. Is it that she remained a prisoner of something? She finally for the first time must have felt satisfied and free. For me the ending was perfect .. after that nothing more could be done.
Sefir - you don’t actually say but I’m assuming you mean the end of this chapter is the arrival at Aralbad?
Of course.
And by the way, I totally agree that I felt that the story in Syberia 2 was much incomplete compared to the first one (as did the entire game in general, but this is another thing entirely). One simple fact that shows in my eyes the superiority of the story in the 1st Syberia, 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. I sincerely don’t remember ANY phone conversation in Syberia 2, apart from a “Kate Walker help! They are kidnapping me!” by Oscar…
I totally disagree with this. The story in Syberia 2 fit perfectly completed unlike the first game. When Syberia 1 ended ( I think or I thought that everybody) was wondering what now? This can not end so, not in this way,,Not when it all started, not now that we are halfway through the trip. The game was crying out for a sequel. I am sure that Sokal had in mind two games and not just one. Another thing when Syberia 2 ended, nobody expected a third game.
And of course in the second part the use of the cell phone is different and almost minimal. When first game was over and she continued with the trip, it was clear that everything had changed for her, were no longer needed more ties to her “past life”, at least not on the same level as in the first game, only minimal. She was too involved with this, with this trip, with this journey I would say almost spiritual.
” I remember. Somebody died. It was me.”
~
I can’t recall how many times during this game I have wanted to do this myself:
Well at least now he has an excuse for not giving Kate a ha… 
eh… too soon?
You have to play the game, to find out why you are playing the game! - eXistenZ
It is true that she is on a corporate mission, but that is only the plot-device used to place her on that train and give a reason for her journey, but is is not what the game is about, or the story that Sokal wants to tells us.
Kate could have very easily taken the “do it or don’t come home” call from her boss, and told him to f**k himself and taken the next flight back to New York. Of course the game might have ended there. Unless Momo put together Oscar’s legs and he, not Kate, took the train to Barrockstadt.
That would have been an interesting “plot device”
Her reason for the journey, at this point in time, is not to find self-revelation. It’s to get Hans’ signature on the contact.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
The story in Syberia 2 fit perfectly completed unlike the first game. When Syberia 1 ended ( I think or I thought that everybody) was wondering what now? This can not end so, not in this way, not when it all started, not now that we are halfway through the trip.
No, because, in my eyes, the true trip Kate had to do was the one about herself. The one about her life and about her soul. The true goal wasn’t signing a contract, or helping Hans, or whatever. It was the realization of “What do I really want to do with my life?” and this was perfectly covered in Syberia 1 ending with Kate’s spontaneous reaction. The dedicated Kate in Syberia 2 provided no character development whatsoever (that’s for Kate. It perfectly provided character development for Oscar in the game’s best moment that made me hate Hans with a passion…) and that is bad in my eyes as far as stroytelling goes. Because her real journey had already ended in Syberia 1. I didn’t really care how all these would have ended in Syberia 2, because I knew that this was what Kate wanted all along.
Kate could have very easily taken the “do it or don’t come home” call from her boss, and told him to f**k himself and taken the next flight back to New York. Of course the game might have ended there. Unless Momo put together Oscar’s legs and he, not Kate, took the train to Barrockstadt.
That would have been an interesting “plot device”
Her reason for the journey, at this point in time, is not to find self-revelation. It’s to get Hans’ signature on the contact.
Things like these (like calling your boss and tell him to f**k himself) need time. You don’t really expect self-realization to come within minutes, right? It is through experiences that someone can be made to see things from a different point of view and it is clear in my eyes that Kate’s character is changing. Gradually. What started as a corporate mission in Valadilene has now evolved into something where the contract is mainly the excuse and Kate is continually pulled further “into the rabbit hole”. We will see if Kate finally achieves self-realization in the end or something entirely different happens….
It is true that she is on a corporate mission, but that is only the plot-device used to place her on that train and give a reason for her journey, but is is not what the game is about, or the story that Sokal wants to tells us.
Her reason for the journey, at this point in time, is not to find self-revelation. It’s to get Hans’ signature on the contact.
Which is what I just said…
My point is simply that there is a difference between the plot that is used to drive the game forward and justify Kate’s actions, and the actual story that Sokal is telling with this game.
The story is also not just about Kate, though I do see that as the main story, but also about the different places and people we meet in this game and all the different symbolism he has placed in the game, and this is to a large degree open for interpretations.
Edit: Besides as Sefir just pointed out, here in Komkolzgrad it is becoming more and more apparent that she is really only using the “contract” as an excuse to continue her journey, and that the journey has already become more personal for her.
You have to play the game, to find out why you are playing the game! - eXistenZ
No, because, in my eyes, the true trip Kate had to do was the one about herself. The one about her life and about her soul. The true goal wasn’t signing a contract, or helping Hans, or whatever. It was the realization of “What do I really want to do with my life?” and this was perfectly covered in Syberia 1 ending with Kate’s spontaneous reaction. The dedicated Kate in Syberia 2 provided no character development whatsoever and that is bad in my eyes as far as stroytelling goes. Because her real journey had already ended in Syberia 1. I didn’t really care how all these would have ended in Syberia 2, because I knew that this was what Kate wanted all along.
Which is exactly the reason why I never felt that there was a need for a sequel and that the whole thing could just as well have ended with the first game. When Kate decides to jump on the train, it is because she has made the realisation that she is not happy with her life, and that she wants something different. And that is as I see it a logical and natural conclusion to the story.
The problem with Syberia 2 is that finding the mammoths was Hans’s dream and not Kate’s. During Syberia 2 Kate is just helping Hans like she is the sidekick instead of the protagonist, and she comes no closer to finding her own “mammoths”. In other words both Kate and the whole story is pretty much just treading water without any real progress
Where Syberia 3 could become interesting is if it picks up where Syberia 1 left off, story-wise not plot-wise, and let Kate figure out what her own “mammoths” are and let her chase down her own dream. But if it is just about getting home, well then I will become very disappointed.
Let me just add that I really don’t care if a piece of fiction ends with the protagonist on a iceberg adrift in the ocean surrounded by polar bears and we never learn if (s)he survives or not, or a murder mystery ends without revealing who the murderer is. As long as the story the fiction wanted to tell us has reached its natural conclusion, then I don’t really care if the plot hasn’t.
You have to play the game, to find out why you are playing the game! - eXistenZ
Syberia could have ended with the first game (though it wasn’t conceived like that). Well structured, with the four grandiose locations and six acts. In fact I thought at first this clear structure was better done than in part 2, but of course exploring Siberia required a different set up (in this desolate world). If it would have been the only game, some things would have been strange though, e.g. the long lecture on the Youkols in Barrockstadt.
But the story isn’t only about Kate, though she is the major - dynamic - protagonist, and the story about Kate’s development isn’t only about saying goodbye to the “new world” (New York). It’s also about (her relation with) Hans and Oscar, and about finding this other, “lost world” (Hans and the mammoths). Hans, whose life is completely different from the life she had in New York, has made a different choice in life (leaving the factory), and as such he can been seen as a kind of mentor or role model for Kate(‘s character development). Though - like some here - Kate is irritated by Oscar in the beginning, she will understand him better later on (and even become to like him), and he will teach her (with her shallow friends in New York) also a tragic lesson about “loyalty” in the second game(by sacrificing himself). As such, the relation between Hans and Oscar is quite different from her relation with Dan (though Dan is a kind of modern automaton, and much more irritating than Oscar imo ;-))
In the end, she helps Hans to accomplish his mission, and she is completely left alone, without her “new friends” (Sefir’s rabbit hole). Like in the first game, that could have been the end of her (“personal”) journey, and originally Sokal planned it like that. But it may also seen as a cliffhanger (with like, Jabod says, “plenty of scope to allow the story to further unfold, albeit with different characters.”). As said before, over a decade Sokal much have imagined what would happen to Kate afterwards. And aren’t we all eager to see how he will continue the story. (I am sure some would like to see that she finds Hans again, or at least find a way - sorry - to repair that “irritating” Oscar, though that probably won’t happen - and it would be a bit too sentimental perhaps). Let’s hope it will be so good that we can play it one day as a playthrough.
One simple fact that shows in my eyes the superiority of the story in the 1st Syberia, 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. I sincerely don’t remember ANY phone conversation in Syberia 2, apart from a “Kate Walker help! They are kidnapping me!” by Oscar…
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.
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.)
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.
In New York, Kate seems to have surrounded herself with people who care about money and prestige. Of course, you can’t pick your mother or your boss, but you can pick your friends. She doesn’t seem to have had a talent for choosing good companions back home.
WARNING!!!
robert foster, please put your entire 2nd and 3rd paragraphs of your last comment into spoiler tags? I believe that they reveal much more than they should. Thanks.
It’s now spoiler proof, I believe (sorry for giving away too much).
It’s now spoiler proof, I believe (sorry for giving away too much).
Sefir,
I want to apologize for not participating in this playthrough as I had originally planned. I really wanted to, but with the MM tourney starting at the end of the month, the timing just didn’t work out for me.
“Rainy days should be spent at home with a cup of tea and a good book.” -Bill Watterson
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