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AG Community Playthrough #35: Syberia 2
I reached the woods as well, after some fun puzzles in the monastery. I really like the variety of puzzles on display and that the game doesn’t rely solely on inventory puzzles. So far, the puzzles are fun and logical. Oh and I agree with Tim, the Youki’s adorable. I want one as a pet 
I also like how Sokal in several of his games has a journal that describes more about the setting and the place. Not only that, but it is also used for puzzle solving .
The hand drawings in those journals are as beautiful as ever.
Also, why does this game have so many villains? In the first game we really only had the director of the industrial complex, but here we have the New Yorkers, the monastery patriarch and the Bourgoff Brothers.
I wouldn’t call the patriarch a villain. Just more like a fanatic and a human bump in the road. It is understandable him acting the way he does, especially knowing the history of the church trying to convert the Yukols unsuccessfully before, and the journey of brother Alexei.
Also, by the time that I found Alexei’s journal and thus figured out how to cure Hans, I was already walking around with a regular candle and the needed herbal candle. I basically solved a few puzzles before I knew why they needed solving…
Yeah I did the same thing here. I guess it would have been nice to have said, “I don’t need to use this right now, but I wonder what it is.”, and then you go around and ask the monks about it and what it is used for, and when the time comes, you will know what it is and how it makes sense to use it.
But the thing is, it’s not that the puzzles are overly difficult, it’s just that they’re ever so poorly clued imo. Was there any way (besides trying every item on the relevant hotspot) of knowing that the Youkol relic was used as a candle holder / smoke dispenser???
That was found in the picture in Alexei’s book
I haven’t started this part myself yet, and I might have a few more words to say about the subject when I have, but:
The game is - with the sole exception of the cocktail mixing puzzle in the first game - a notch up in difficulty, but for most of the puzzles it’s because they’re imo poorly clued, and not because they’re genuinely more difficult.
I wouldn’t call it poorly clued puzzles, but instead subtle puzzles or subtlety clued puzzles. A difference in semantics perhaps, but my point is that there are plenty of games where you know exactly what you have to do as soon as you get to a screen, and the difficulty is finding the right objects or otherwise executing what you already know you have to do.
But here in Syberia 2 you will often (but not always) start out completely clueless as to what you have to do, and the game doesn’t hold your hand or offer you much help in any ways, instead you have to experiment and make some subtle connections yourself. But once you do get the right ideas and do make the connections, then you are right, executing the puzzles is usually fairly easy.
The Syberia series has never been famous for its clever puzzles, though there is one later in the game that is on my all time top 10 list of favourite puzzles, and I’m not saying that I want all games to use this approach, but I do find it refreshing to play a game with a slightly different approach to puzzles, and somehow it seems very fitting for the game imo.
Also, why does this game have so many villains? In the first game we really only had the director of the industrial complex, but here we have the New Yorkers, the monastery patriarch and the Bourgoff Brothers.
I wouldn’t call the monastery patriarch a villain, or at least not an antagonist, instead I think of this as more of a roadblock, kind of similar to the university rectors in Barrockstadt. They have their own agenda and pose an obstacle that Kate has to overcome, but they are more indifferent than outright antagonistic against her purpose. Similar with the monastery patriarch he might be more evil or vilain-like than the rectors, but that is more a case of shades of grey imo.
As for the New York lawyers, then it is still too early for me to comment on their role, but I also don’t consider them villains or antagonists, which leaves us with just the Bourgoff Brothers as the only true villains and antagonists in this game. As for whether or not we actually need them in the game, well their role might fell a bit cartoonish or tacked on but they nevertheless serves a purpose imo.
Edit:
I wouldn’t call the patriarch a villain. Just more like a fanatic and a human bump in the road. It is understandable him acting the way he does, especially knowing the history of the church trying to convert the Yukols unsuccessfully before, and the journey of brother Alexei.
Yeah, same point I was also trying to make.
You have to play the game, to find out why you are playing the game! - eXistenZ
Hans and I have made our way out of the monastery. I’ll admit to using a walkthrough. Although it’s only there as a last resort. I’ve only had to use it once so far. And that was for the candle/cross puzzle. I just couldn’t get the orientation right. I have used it after the fact to see if the task I completed could have been completed in a faster/different way.
There was one episode in the monastery that I think I completed without going through what the walkthrough said I needed to do. The walkthrough said I needed to return to the elevator and confront the Patriarch before escaping with Hans. I was able to escape with Hans without going through that step. I found the key without returning to the elevator, rang the bell, readied the sled and got Hans without going through what seemed to be a pivotal scene.
Train has left. Still working on finding a way to follow.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
Yes - the New York sections just seem to get worse an even more unbelievable, however the other parts of the game like the parts with Hans make up for it. Overall, it’s a good adventure game that fans of the first one like me love and was well worth the wait.
The puzzles are fun and not too difficult to me. Some are actually pretty inventive.
I enjoy playing adventure games on my Alienware M17 r4 and my Nintendo Switch OLED.
I’ve made it into the forest.
I suspect that the puzzles are harder in Syberia 2 because the developers saw the criticisms of Syberia 1’s puzzles (that they were “too easy”) and decided to ramp up the difficulty. I personally think that was a mistake.
In a game where there’s lots of story and characters, I’d rather not be spending time using trial-and-error methods for the puzzles—for example, painting the screen with the cursor for the non-obvious hotspot, using every inventory item on every hotspot because what works isn’t evident, trying lever/flap/pipe/wire/button connection combination after combination until I stumble across the right one that enables a mechanical device. It all detracts from the story, IMHO, which should be the more important focus.
The graphics in this chapter are as amazing and immersive as in the first game, which is saying something. I don’t remember this many ambient animations in the first game—people strolling around in the background, for instance, or the squirrel running down the railing or the snow falling. Maybe I’m just not remembering accurately.
I thought the patriarch was a bit reminiscent of the Colonel, who talked about being “above” the lowlifes living below. Well, the monks are way above everyone below (physically at least). The Colonel, however, changes in the course of the adventure—he begins to see Kate as a person and he starts wanting to help her. He becomes less uppity and intractable.
The Patriarch, on the other hand, isn’t willing to listen to anything outside his narrow view of life. He’s focused on Hans’ soul, which to him is all that matters. I thought it was intriguing that in Alexei’s journal, he implies that the monks weren’t exactly popular with the Communist officials—maybe the monks were safer up there isolated from everyone and everything for a while. But isolation has almost robbed them of their humanity. The laundry monk (judging from the letter he gave Kate) is only pretending to be a goof (the bird calls, laughter, etc). An interesting coping mechanism, if it means he’s delegated the only job that lets him get out and about a bit while doing the washing.
I went back and tried to sabotage the shroud machine after escaping the monastery, but the game wouldn’t let me. Think of the damage I could have done with those shears! Ah well.
I liked the reference to Hawaii on the bag (top soil? seed?) in the wheelbarrow.
I’ve arrived at the forest. Or at least I think I’ve arrived at the correct stopping point. I’ve abandoned the tram and have seen the two brothers on the back of the train. A short cut scene took me to a place in the woods. Although I don’t think this looks anything like Izno’s screenshot.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
@ Mikekelly: It’s indeed best to ignore the NY cut scenes, as there are so many other things to enjoy. I didn’t like the aforementioned “it’s stuck” comment too, and e.g. - as said before - the rather large number of flaws in the conversation options. These really small things (nitpicking) could have been easily removed with some serious beta testing, and we can only wonder why this wasn’t done.
But each of us can easily sum up dozens of things that are so beautiful in this episode. Only to mention the ending, it’s so beautifully done (again). The music that sounds when the horse automatons are repaired (remember the bandstand), interrupted by the rumbling noise and shaking caused by the departing train. The lever and strange contraption that get a function now (to use the gangcar), and the repetition of a trick (the candies) to lure the youki into the car. The referral to the death of Helena Romanski in the newspaper. And like the escape with Hans and all the other beautiful animations, another long and beautiful cut scene at the (our) end. It must have been very expensive to produce these games.
@ Becky: Nice comment on the patriarch, and I had to chuckle that you tried to sabotage the shroud machine.
Mart—I have the sinking feeling that the Patriarch never has any intention of healing people. He takes very sick people, never treats them, attempts to convert them when they are extremely vulnerable and, if successful, hopes they die right away before they can change their minds. He then prides himself on having been responsible for sending yet another errant soul to heaven.
Please tell me I’m wrong!
No, I think you are spot on, it’s strongly suggested (starting with Malka’s story), and you worded it very precisely.
If I ever catch the b*****rd that swapped my hand cream for super glue there will be hell to pay!
Neither Mr Smith nor The Matrix ever thought of looking for Neo within a computer game.
It wasn’t the cough
that nearly carried Hans off
But the coffin
that Kate had put him in.
Into the woods I have gone. Unlike others I wasn’t too enamoured of Malka’s character and thought the whole scenario somewhat clichéd. However, since she’s asked Kate to take her to America if she comes back then a possible story line for Syberia 3, American immigration rules notwithstanding. Just as well Kate’s a lawyer - of sorts!
As to the missing contract for the factory. I went through the closing of Syberia because I was wondering if Kate could have put it on the aeroplane prior to running for the train. But no. She doesn’t open the door to the plane. But I did notice that she didn’t have her luggage with her either so it’s possible that the signed contract was in her luggage and that the hotel had already put her luggage on the plane for her.
Life is what it is.
As to the missing contract for the factory. I went through the closing of Syberia because I was wondering if Kate could have put it on the aeroplane prior to running for the train. But no. She doesn’t open the door to the plane. But I did notice that she didn’t have her luggage with her either so it’s possible that the signed contract was in her luggage and that the hotel had already put her luggage on the plane for her.
(In my version the sequence is:) Hans signs the contract, Kate puts the contract in her jacket/inventory, phone call with NY and Kate tells the contract is signed, conversation with Hans continues, Kate walks to the plane, but turns around and runs to the train.
This is where I stopped.
I decided that wasn’t where I was supposed to stop, so I moved forward another two or three moves and found the screenshot that Izno posted. And here I thought I was doing the right thing by stopping at the forest. 
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
As to the missing contract for the factory. I went through the closing of Syberia because I was wondering if Kate could have put it on the aeroplane prior to running for the train. But no. She doesn’t open the door to the plane. But I did notice that she didn’t have her luggage with her either so it’s possible that the signed contract was in her luggage and that the hotel had already put her luggage on the plane for her.
(In my version the sequence is:) Hans signs the contract, Kate puts the contract in her jacket/inventory, phone call with NY and Kate tells the contract is signed, conversation with Hans continues, Kate walks to the plane, but turns around and runs to the train.
You’re quite right Mart. Just watched the whole sequence via YouTube and there’s no chance of her dropping off the contract anywhere. Plus I’d made a mistake anyway regarding her luggage. That was still back in Valadilene. Definitely a continuity/logic error 
Life is what it is.
I have now also completed this part.
The graphics in this chapter are as amazing and immersive as in the first game, which is saying something. I don’t remember this many ambient animations in the first game—people strolling around in the background, for instance, or the squirrel running down the railing or the snow falling. Maybe I’m just not remembering accurately.
Yeah all those small details is also one of the things that I like the most about this game, also the sparks from the wheels, when the youki starts accelerating the gangcar 
There was one episode in the monastery that I think I completed without going through what the walkthrough said I needed to do. The walkthrough said I needed to return to the elevator and confront the Patriarch before escaping with Hans. I was able to escape with Hans without going through that step. I found the key without returning to the elevator, rang the bell, readied the sled and got Hans without going through what seemed to be a pivotal scene.
Yeah that is completely optional and not really an important scene, in fact even though this is the third time I am playing this game, it is actually the first time I did that part. As soon as I discovered that the Patriarch wasn’t willing to help, I always just avoided him as much as possible and never really talked to him again. But this is actually something I regret now, if you keep bugging him then there is a lot of wonderful absurd dialogue where he just gets more and more fanatical, and he and Kate gets more and more at each other’s throats
One problem I do have with this part of the game, is that it is in many ways very non-linear. There is a lot of things you can do in different orders, or conversations with different characters that you can entirely skip, but the game doesn’t really account for it in the dialogue, and this can often lead to some absurd conversations. For example if you talk to Hans and he ask you to fix Cirkos’s horses before you talk to Cirkos about it, then it doesn’t skip the dialogue with Cirkos that would make sense if you had talked to him before Hans, but instead just dumps both versions of it, which leads to an almost Monty Python like conversation.
I thought the patriarch was a bit reminiscent of the Colonel, who talked about being “above” the lowlifes living below. Well, the monks are way above everyone below (physically at least). The Colonel, however, changes in the course of the adventure—he begins to see Kate as a person and he starts wanting to help her. He becomes less uppity and intractable.
I don’t think that the Colonel in any way improved or changed during his encounter with Kate, he was always friendly and helpful towards her right from the beginning. But he is sort of stuck in his ways and the old soviet way of thinking, similar to how the Patriarch is also stuck in an old fashioned religious way of thinking. Different degrees of course, the Patriarch is much more fanatical and .. eh .. unfriendly.
Mart—I have the sinking feeling that the Patriarch never has any intention of healing people. He takes very sick people, never treats them, attempts to convert them when they are extremely vulnerable and, if successful, hopes they die right away before they can change their minds. He then prides himself on having been responsible for sending yet another errant soul to heaven.
Please tell me I’m wrong!
No, I think you are spot on, it’s strongly suggested (starting with Malka’s story), and you worded it very precisely.
You are both wrong, or at least exaggerating 
[spoiler]When the Patriarch says that Hans is too far gone to be healed by his powers, then I actually believe him. Monks have since the middle age been known for their knowledge of herbs and their healing abilities, but that doesn’t mean that they can do miracles or even do what modern medicine can do.
Now using the Youkol herbs, Kate was able to get Hans back on his feet, and the Patriarch might have been able to do the same if he was willing to do so, but it hasn’t cured Hans, he is still a sick dying old man!
So this is really more a case of the Patriarch not being willing to give life prolonging treatment, than it is a case of not being willing to heal the ones that actually can be healed.
Of course since he can’t be cured, the Patriarch also sees it as an opportunity to try to rescue his soul, make him repent for his heretic views etc, but that doesn’t mean that he wouldn’t have cured him if he could.[/spoiler]
As for Malka’s mother, then I think the point here is more to emphasize their resentment towards women, they were reluctant to treat her because she was a women, and as a result of this she was admitted to late, but again I don’t think the Patriarch actually wanted her to die, even though it was more or less a direct result of his actions.
There is also another point her that you might have overlooked.
The monks medicine wasn’t able to (or they weren’t willing to) help Hans, but the Youkol medicine was, so obviously the more primitive and more nature oriented Youkol is better than the monks!
The Youkol and the monks form a very clear contrast to each other, and I believe this contrast between organized religion on one side and the more primitive nature spirit religion of the Youkol on the other, is the main point of this whole monastery part.
(to be continued)
You have to play the game, to find out why you are playing the game! - eXistenZ
@Iznogood: I don’t think we “exaggerate” or “overlook” things; we just have a different opinion. I think Becky depicted the Patriarch very well (as did the graphic designers). 
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