Adventure Gamers - Forums

[I haven’t read all the thread of the last week or so (but have read the last couple of pages) so apologies if I am repeating anything other people have said before.]

Regarding the Kate/Dan thing.

I think that the key to this is in the phone call when Olivia confesses all. Olivia is obviously really guilty and almost pleading with Kate to hate her when she doesn’t seem to react much. Kate says something along the lines of “None of this (you, Dan etc.) feels real to me at the moment.”

To my mind, this flags up a couple of things.

1. When you travel somewhere new for a bit and do different things life does seem more exciting and “real life” back home does tend to fade away while you concentrate on the here and now. This is even more true when you have a different challenge for a while. So if I’m at home I tend to spend time thinking and worrying about work and other commitments, but if I take a couple of days off to help out with doing some decorating at my Grandma’s place (even though it’s probably only 60 miles from where I live), all the work stuff fades away and I feel much more mentally free to get on with the new challenge than if I am trying to decorate my place at home.

2. When one partner goes away for a bit without the other, it can often be the time when they cheat, not just because their partner isn’t around, but because the relationship and life back home doesn’t seem real somehow. In this game however, it is the partner left at home who cheats rather than the one “on holiday” - interesting.

I suspect that Kate - when presented with something new in a new setting, realises that maybe the old life and relationships aren’t as important to her as she thought. The distance, new challenge and mission give her a sense of perspective.

Now obviously not everyone who goes on holiday without their partner will cheat - most don’t I’m sure, but maybe that is because although their relationship might seem a bit less real, they still know deep down how important it is to them so they’re not going to be tempted away by someone else. Perhaps it’s only those who aren’t really properly committed to their partners in their hearts who go on to cheat?

I don’t know if that is right, but if it is then maybe Kate, who is not properly committed to her job and Dan (just doing/with them through habit or whatever) is the sort of person who would “cheat” on her old life by falling in love with (the mystery and character of) Hans Voralberg, the automatons, the journey etc.

Tldr version-

Therefore, she is not so bothered about Dan cheating with her “best friend” because firstly that situation is not in focus right now and secondly she is giving/committing herself to something/someone else right now.

Therefore, she is not so bothered about Dan cheating with her “best friend” because firstly that situation is not in focus right now and secondly she is giving/committing herself to something/someone else right now.

To me - this setup her having a valid reason to join Hans on his journey - her job sucks and her fiance is no more.

Now I have to wonder - did she put the contract in the plane and tell the pilot what to do with it?

I have to assume so - what else would she do with it?

I’m going to play Syberia 2 now and I bet the contract is not in her inventory list!

Getting back at Marson would require motives I don’t think Kate has. Multitudes of people would be severely hurt if the signed contract doesn’t make it’s way to New York.

There is one interesting thing though. The plane is obviously not an intercontinental airliner. To think that it is the sole source of supplies to Aralburg, and that those supplies come from New York is somewhat ludicrous. At best it’s a puddle-jumper.

Which, of course, begs the question why didn’t Kate catch the plane somewhere in Europe and take it to Aralburg? It would eliminate a lot of the story, but it seems like an option someone like Marson would have suggested.

Side note: I loved the final cut scene. But I wondered why Kate couldn’t run that fast during the rest of the game.

rtrooney - 26 September 2014 12:36 PM

Side note: I loved the final cut scene. But I wondered why Kate couldn’t run that fast during the rest of the game.

hahahaha.

Now seriously, the final scene is really wonderful, and inspiring,as a contained emotion that is finally released. Very emotional. From this moment Kate knows, as well as all of us, that there is no turning back.  I cannot stop congratulate her for what she just did. <3

The multitudes are the people in Valadilene who are hoping the sale of the factory will bring life back to their town. Plus the people at the toy company who may lose their jobs is the merger isn’t completed. As well any of the ancillary people who provide raw materials to the factories and drive the trucks to make the deliveries.

The corporate life may be behind her, but I don’t see her as a vengeful person.

Done - Though it did take me more than 20-30 minutes, more like an hour, but then again I also seem to be the master of missing hotspots, in this case the leg of the giant statue where we have to place the explosives. Also I think that in reality blowing up the statue would only make things worse, that it would cause it to fall down on the tracks and make any escape even more difficult, but let us just write this down to game logic once more.

I must also say what a delight it was to discover that Kate actually has quite a mean sprint, though like Rtrooney I can help wonder why we haven’t seen this before in the game The whole sequence where she sprints from the plane to the train was a delight to watch, and especially the little detail where she almost falls and takes down a chair when trying to make a sharp corner, is a nice touch that most games wouldn’t bother to spend time on making. (I would also have been my first choice as a screenshot if Mart hadn’t beaten me too it )

I also find the the whole ending is one of the best endings ever made in a adventure game. Kate sets out on a journey with a simple objective of tracking down a person and finishing a deal for a customer. But through the journey Kate sort of finds herself and discovers that she really doesn’t love her fiancée isn’t happy in her work, and basically couldn’t care less about the life she has been living up until now. The game then gives her the choice, she can either take the plane back to civilization and her old life, or she can jump on that train and go on adventure into the unknown. And quite frankly, given the choice who among us wouldn’t chose the adventure, and take the opportunity to break free from the dull routines of our everyday life?

Also whenever I see this ending, I can’t help but to also think of Crow’s journey of self-discovery in Dreamfall It is “painted” a bit differently, where it in Crows case is described more sarcastically and selfish and not as what self-discovery really means, but in reality Kate and Crow are really doing the exact same thing. Abandoning all responsibilities and everybody they know, and just disappear into the night to do what they want instead of what is expected of them.

One thing that I find a bit odd with the ending, and I’m not quite sure if it is odd in the good or bad way, is that in the end it is actually Hans that finds Kate and not the other way around, or perhaps you could say that they find each other.

Kate sets out on this journey with the objective of finding Hans and is following his footsteps eastwards, and you would expect that the game ends when she finally catches up with him, but this isn’t the case. At the same time that Kate has been travelling east, Hans has actually been travelling west and he has already been much further east and much closer to the mammoths then he is now. Kate and Hans just happen to run into each other here in Aralbad, but they could just as well have missed each other.

The problem I have with this is, that it is never really revealed why Hans was travelling west instead of just continuing his journey eastwards towards the mammoths. Perhaps he had realised that he couldn’t make the last part of the journey without help? Or perhaps he just wanted to share the experience of finding the mammoths with his sister? All the preparations he had made with the train and Oscar does seem to be for the benefit of his sister, he had after all made it is far as to the Youkol’s on his own without any train, so I find it hard to believe that he also couldn’t have made the last leg of the journey. In the end it is of course too later for his sister, and Kate ends up taking her place instead, and perhaps more important it is also almost to late for Hans himself.

Come to think of it, I now think that the story of Hans and his sister, is just as an important part of the story being told, as the story of Kate is. Previously I have always seen Kate’s story as the main story, but now I’m not so sure anymore?!?

And perhaps equally important, where I have always thought that Kate’s story ended with her decision to follow Hans on his adventure, and that there really wasn’t any need for for a sequel because that story reached its natural conclusion here, then you can’t say the same for Hans’s story. So I am now beginning to see more of a purpose for the sequel, that the sequel is not about Kate and her story, but that it is really more about Hans and reaching the natural conclusion for his part of the story.

rtrooney - 26 September 2014 12:36 PM

There is one interesting thing though. The plane is obviously not an intercontinental airliner. To think that it is the sole source of supplies to Aralburg, and that those supplies come from New York is somewhat ludicrous. At best it’s a puddle-jumper.

Obviously it isn’t, but the game never claims it is, or that the supplies come from New York. What it does claim is that she can use the plane to get back to New York, but obviously not directly! The plane could take her to the nearest large city, from there she could easily make her way to Moscow, and from Moscow to New York

rtrooney - 26 September 2014 12:36 PM

Which, of course, begs the question why didn’t Kate catch the plane somewhere in Europe and take it to Aralburg? It would eliminate a lot of the story, but it seems like an option someone like Marson would have suggested.

That would require that she actually knew that she was going to Aralbad, and that she knew that she would find Hans in Aralbad, but she doesn’t know any of that! She hasn’t gotten the slightest idea of where Hans is, or where the train ride will take her. All she knows is that it is Hans that have designed the train and Oscar, and the he had planned for his sister to use the train, and that there for this reason is a good chance that she will find Hans by “following the breadcrumbs” so to speak.

Edit: I also don’t think that someone like Marson would have actually bothered trying to track down Hans. Instead he would just have started the paperwork for getting Hans declared dead.

Mikekelly - 26 September 2014 10:04 AM

Now I have to wonder - did she put the contract in the plane and tell the pilot what to do with it?

mart - 26 September 2014 11:31 AM

@Mikekelly: I don’t think she puts the contract in the plane (she doesn’t open the door), and that is rewarding of course (getting back at Marson).

rtrooney - 26 September 2014 12:36 PM

Getting back at Marson would require motives I don’t think Kate has. Multitudes of people would be severely hurt if the signed contract doesn’t make it’s way to New York.

I don’t think there is any kind of ill will in this from Kate’s side, she simply doesn’t have the time to provide for a way to get the papers back to Marson. Obviously Hans couldn’t care less about what happens to the factory, and Kate doesn’t strike me as a vindictive person who would use this to get back at Marson, or that she has any motives for deliberately sabotaging the take-over.

Time for the obligatory two screenshots from this chapter, and since Mart already posted a screenshot from the sprint, then I’m instead going to post one from where she is struggling to make her decision:

(Click to see full size images)

And how about a little explosion:

Shouldn’t there also be a train in this picture somewhere??

And since nobody else has posted the same screenshots from the previous chapter, then I feel obliged to post these since they simply deserves to be seen (out of competition of course).

First a screenshot from the pool, and yes I know that Becky also posted a pool shot, but for some unknown reason I find the angle here slightly more interesting :

A screenshot from this wonderful bar:

A view of Aralbad:

Enjoying the fresh sea air:

A nice bubble bath fountain

Sefir - 26 September 2014 10:20 AM

Mikekelly - 26 September 2014 10:04 AM

I’m going to play Syberia 2

Don’t be in such a rush just yet.

We will probably vote for a new CP in some days from now, you know…

I must admit that the possibility that we might continue the journey in the next CP, never even occurred to me and I have already started playing Syberia 2 on my own
Oh well… if it does get selected, then I guess I will just have to either replay it again or simple post without playing, as I don’t think I can stop now.

But just to show the rest of you what you can expect, here is a screenshot from Syberia 2:

Iz - I happen to have a pilot’s license, although it is not current. IFR, or Instrument Flight Rules is often joked about by pilots as meaning I Follow Railroads. An appropriate possibility for this game, No?