May 2017 Playthrough - Syberia

[Addicted]

I find the most interesting part of this game are the flawed characters. No one can take the moral high ground and everyone's actions are only to further their own agenda. Kate herself has no problem breaking and entering in to a preist's quarters as long as it moves her agenda forward.

[Crabmaster2000]

I've arrived at Barrockstadt now and have explored the area a bit. I find that pretty much everything I played in my last session was making my suspension of disbelief wear very very thin. Most of the initial game was set in a largely "realistic" type setting. Just a slight suspension of disbelief for some of the mechanical automatons and machines. Oscar REALLY changed that drastically. The game took a drastic nose-dive into fantasy and/or sci-fi that I wasn't expecting with him having some kind of "soul" built into him. And why were his legs made out of wood? Every part of every other Automaton was metal. I didn't understand that. On a side note was there any indication as to what color you needed to choose on that machine for his legs in a journal or something that I overlooked? I had to make him 4 different sets of legs until I got the correct color and don't remember any intel having to do with building parts or legs. Beyond Oscar the University I'm finding to be a huge stretch too. It's grand and massive, yet largely uninhabited. They have things like this humongous Atrium, but it doesn't seem like almost anyone works or attends the school to maintain it or any of the other displays or the epic library, yet the only thing not functioning is the bandstand? Odd.

The story is progression is getting sloppy too. Kate finds out that Hans may still be alive and her only clue is that he could be in Syberia. So instead of buying a plane ticket to Syberia or searching locally for more info she decides to hope on a train with an unknown destination when she knows she was a strict time limit or her job may be in jeopardy? The second she arrives in Barrockstadt the first thing she says to Oscar is "Hans was here!" based on absolutely nothing too.

I'm quite disappointed with the puzzles so far too. Every single one to this point has been incredibly obvious to figure out. The challenge just comes from finding them with the awkward movement and easily miss-able area transitions. Besides getting stalled by not seeing the gate area in Valadilene I overlooked the transition that leads you to Oscar in the factory half a dozen times before just running alongside the edge of every screen hoping for the best. Once you open up these areas and find an item it's always very obvious what to do with each new item though.

The item collection is also very silly. And to be fair this is a problem in nearly all adventure games, but seems more out of place in this one I think because of the real life setting. How are you supposed to know to collect random cogs or ink vials until you encounter a place to use them? Why would a person pick those things up and hold onto them just in case? When at Barrockstadt in a library with tens of thousands of books you climb a ladder and just happen to know you need a very specific book about one kind of wild mushroom? What?? Also I'm gonna steal it along with this book that someone else obviously was interested in and took to the table to read about rare birds too! Was quite the stretch to just assume I need to know the info in those two books without knowing why yet. And the Rectors had incredibly detailed knowledge of a student they had indirect contact with 50 years prior. And Hans can design an Automaton that has a soul, but he can't walk in a green house because he will instantly rust? What?? Priorities man! And that barge and the area it can travel is so convenient it hurts. If there was no boat how was a person supposed to move the train to the rewinding station? And again you can make an Automaton with a soul, but mis-judge where your train needs to refuel by several yards?

I've also encountered 3 glitches all just in my last session. 2 of which were minor, but one could have been quite the issue. After I freed Oscar from his weird crucifixion (why wouldn't he talk to you when you entered the room prior to being lowered?), he left the room. While exploring before deciding to leave he reappeared in his hanging position, but in the spot he was sitting on the table. I wasn't able to interact with him, but I thought maybe I missed something and messed around trying to give him items and speak with him for a few minutes. Upon leaving and re-entering the room he just disappeared.

In a conversation in Barrockstadt both Kate and an NPC say their speech over each other at the same time. This kept happening and I wasn't able to separate them. Didn't seem story relevant though so no biggie.

Most annoyingly when I was in the cave looking or the Mammoth toy I got caught in an animation that wouldn't let me walk, but only pivot. The more I pivoted it would slowly inch my character across the screen off the walking path. This eventually left me completely stuck in the wall and had to reload. Thankfully I only had to replay about 10 minutes to get back where I was, but that could have been a huge issue depending on where I saved. Now I'm a bit paranoid with my saves in case it happens again.

PS - Was kinda funny getting trolled with the service phone call to try and raise the water level for the barge. Part way through I was chuckling to myself about playing a game where I had to phone into a call center and navigate my way through an automated service call, when they told me they couldn't do anything for 48 hours anyway. I've had to do that in real life just this past week to similar results. Who thought that would be fun to put into a video game!!

[Addicted]

@Crabby: At first I was jarred by the seperation from reality and then I thought screw it let's see how far down the rabbit hole this goes.

[Crabmaster2000]

@Crabby: At first I was jarred by the seperation from reality and then I thought screw it let's see how far down the rabbit hole this goes.

At least it was early enough in the game, unlike something like Uncharted. That one really bugged me.

[Pam]

I used a walk through for the part about Oscar's legs and it said to match them to the colour of the rest of him. But the correct legs didn't match the rest of him, so I don't know. Also, him hanging there and being lowered was extremely creepy.

I'm not having an issue with the lack of believability though. In terms of inventory and things I just accept that as typical point and click fare.

However, I do think the amount of time spent on making the train move is a wasted opportunity. I haven't played through yet, but it seems like we'll be doing that for a third time since there's another stop after Barrickstadt. I don't know what's going to happen when we get to Syberia, but it feels like that would be more interesting than constantly winding up a train and having to do Oscar's bidding (without getting the chance to kick his annoying automaton ass off the train).

[Crabmaster2000]

Just got to Aralbad today and saved my game. I'm leaving town in a couple days for a week so if I don't finish by then I should still have time to finish it up just before the month's end.

I keep running into the same issue with this game where I get stalled out and can't figure out how to progress and it's always a screen transition that I didn't see in my initial exploration of an area. As soon as I find the new area I make a ton of quick easy progress as nearly every puzzle is super straightforward (although occasionally very roundabout [ie. Rector-Groundskeeper-Paleontologist-Rector-Groundskeeper---Berries!!]). I don't understand how this University survives. Even during the cut-scene with the lecture there was a total of 5 students (one of which kept annoyingly yawning while I was trying to study!!).

I was super pumped to finally get the train wound up again and almost immediately pissed at Oscar for being a tool. I went all the way back to talk to the Rectors and everyone else at the University to get myself a travel Visa because I couldn't spot the screen transition behind his dumb ticket booth. Wasted a lot of time there. I also don't really understand what happened with the general and the weird science powder. I just put some random chemical in his drink that I found in a science lab that made him more open to suggestion instead of poisoned him? Anyone able to shed some light on what that was all about for me?

The next area starts off kinda cool. Abandoned industrial mining operation with huge cool soviet mechs guarding it........then goes promptly into insane and ridiculous territory. Firstly Oscar is useless. He can't come help out because the air might corrode him.....while he hangs out in an extremely open and exposed to the elements train car?!!? What?!!

More importantly than Oscar being a useless tool is that there are a million easier ways to get your train moving again than the ludicrous tasks you embark on.

Spoiler (hover to show)

Launching a Cosmonaut into space off of spring-loaded launch pad so you can learn the secret to starting an automated blimp during your search for an old Opera Star who was last scene at Spa in the middle of nowhere 15 years ago as reported by your mom's current lover that you saw in an old scrap book in order to coax her back to meet a creepy stalker of a fan so that he can show her his elaborate Phantom of the Opera-esque robo-shrine to her which will get your Train Engineer his hands back is just a little bit off the deep end compared to everything else so far. I need to keep playing this just to see if the next chapters get even more insane.

PS - Did anyone else expect the bandstand that you have to fix to play something uplifting and triumphant. It was so melancholy I almost left punished for fixing it!

PPS - I know Dan has got some flack in this thread, but Kate is a tool too. Dan calls to apologize and says something innocent like "you're into mechanical engineering now?" to which Kate replies "Don't be stupid Dan, it's just my automaton Butler and Train Engineer" like he should obviously know all about this stuff that she hasn't told him yet.

Olivia is totally doing Dan though, isn't she?

[douglie007]

PS - Did anyone else expect the bandstand that you have to fix to play something uplifting and triumphant. It was so melancholy I almost left punished for fixing it!

The DS was even more depressing.. it just played the normal back ground music and a small 2 second video.

[Pam]

I just got to Aralbad in my playthrough. I'm sort of back on the walkthrough again. Not that I couldn't figure things out myself, it's just that if I miss something on a screen it takes so long to get back to it. For example (spoiler tags since this is from the 3rd checkpoint)

Spoiler (hover to show)

It seems like you need to go to the worker automaton in order to trigger Oscar's hands being stolen. So that happens, I talk to Oscar, but I miss the shears on the floor. Then I got back to the automaton, move it twice, get out, look at the building, can't do anything. Go back in the automaton, move it twice, get out, run 5? screens back to the train, pick up the shears. Run back 5 screens, get in the automaton, move it twice, get out, use the shears on the wall. That's a lot for one missed item. And all of that was just to get a spark plug.

There's a lot of back tracking and travel time in the game in general, but when you miss something it gets that much worse.

I've figured out one of my other main issues with the game. There's very little observation on Kate's part. You explore the different areas and get to see some nice art, but there are very few times when Kate will look at something and just comment on it. This is a mainstay of point and click adventures and it really makes it feel like there's something missing. It doesn't seem like exploring rewards me with anything that isn't absolutely necessary for progressing.

Also, I agree with Crabby - Dan and Olivia are totally boning.

[Crabmaster2000]

You're 100% correct Pam. I couldn't place why this game felt "lacking". It's absolutely that Kate doesn't interact with anything that isn't game essential or with the environment in general or just offer any insight into her character that isn't directly game related  (outside of the cell phone calls). That's an adventure game staple and it's totally absent in Syberia which can make for some dull stretches when you're exploring or stuck.

[Crabmaster2000]

So sorry to anyone who read my previous posts before I added the spoiler tags. I really really really thought there was a whole other chapter to this game and I was talking within the current checkpoints, but it turns out I was talking ahead of them for sure.

Finished Syberia off tonight:

Spoiler (hover to show)

I was really caught off guard by the credit roll. Felt like I was just finally starting the actual game and then the credits rolled. I basically just played a whole game about starting the same train over and over again. Really thought I'd get some cool Hans revelations or uncover some cool truths about the Yokuls or get to ride a Mammoth, but at the VERY least thought I'd get to Syberia. Ending was far to abrupt and unexpected.

Seems like the point of the game was just to see Kate grow as a person. It failed pretty miserably at that if that was the goal though. If Kate did have some transformation it happened before the game started since she follows a consistent story arc the entire time you have control of her. She likes to remind people on the phone a lot that "maybe I've changed", but the character you control is always the same old Kate from start to finish. She's go with the flow/see where this lead takes me, consequences be damned, inquisitive, bold, confident, cold and distant, humorous, and a poor planner from A to Z.

All in all it doesn't feel like a full story. Maybe should have been called Syberia Chapter 1 or something along those lines because I'm sure Syberia II continues the "adventure" which was not really an adventure until maybe the very end where you had to incredibly easily escape from the stalker that you knowingly (by both his previous behavior AND a warning that he was dangerous from the only person that had lived in close proximity to him for some time) brought a defenseless old lady to be trapped with. Outside of that excitement you're really just doing menial tasks that even Kate rarely seems excited about.  

Like Pam mentioned recently this game doesn't really need a walkthrough. It'll save you some time from searching and backtracking is about all, but the "puzzles" where weak from start to finish and most of which weren't even puzzles. The game is more like a Where's Waldo? book in video game form. Find thing/path and pick it up/take it to progress. Felt like a pre-curser/beta version to an adventure game rather than a full-fledged release.

Curious to know if Syberia II made any improvements over the first.

I was also mistaken that my friend had this on his PC as kids. He must have had the sequel or I confused it with another game since nothing in this game was familiar to me.

[singlebanana]

However, I do think the amount of time spent on making the train move is a wasted opportunity. I haven't played through yet, but it seems like we'll be doing that for a third time since there's another stop after Barrickstadt. I don't know what's going to happen when we get to Syberia, but it feels like that would be more interesting than constantly winding up a train and having to do Oscar's bidding (without getting the chance to kick his annoying automaton ass off the train).

Just finished Barrickstadt last night and I have to say that I am having very similar feelings about the game at this point.  In the first chapter, I had a good time with the puzzles, but became quite annoyed with the "how do I get the train to move" fetch quests.  It seems that a lot of your time is spent doing this and as a result, it really takes away from the overall narrative by breaking it up so much with unnecessary running around.  Though the areas aren't excessively large, which makes it easy to know where you are going while constantly backtracking, the constant back and forth to attain items or talk to "the right person" is incredibly time-consuming as you often have to pass through multiple screens with slow ass, stair-challenged Kate.

As far as walkthroughs go, I have only have to peek at one twice so far.  One of these was due to a glitch in the first Chapter of the game. I had made it to the train with only the toy mammoth and no music box (forgot to take it after the animated cut scene).  After placing the mammoth and trying to leave the room, my character would go out of the room, but immediately turn around and walk back into the room.  That being the only exit, I was completely stuck.  Luckily, I had accidentally created two saves and one was about 30 minutes back from where I was.  Still, it was incredibly frustrating and I'm pretty lucky that I didn't have to restart my entire adventure.  From what I have read from a few of you, this game is really buggy.

I can see how the narrative has its holes at times, but I find myself really caring about Kate and having a great deal of sympathy for her.  I think I can identify with having a really crumby job situation (thank goodness I'm in a good place now) and the crappy parasitic relationships in her life.  She seems to be the product of a big city, self-important, and consumer driven environment, and this "quest," as it becomes, makes her a stranger in a strange land and causes her to reevaluate her current situation.  Other than having a useless, robotic companion, she is alone and must power through a great deal of adversity. I don't know, there's just something that clicks with me.  I'm hoping that there is some sort of big epiphany that makes her dump Dan and the lulls of her upper middle class, extravagant lifestyle. 

Finished Syberia off tonight:

Congrats Crabby!  I hope that even though you had some issues with the game, that you still got some enjoyment out of it.  Thanks for all of your feedback on this title and we appreciate you joining in the playthrough.

[Crabmaster2000]

However, I do think the amount of time spent on making the train move is a wasted opportunity. I haven't played through yet, but it seems like we'll be doing that for a third time since there's another stop after Barrickstadt. I don't know what's going to happen when we get to Syberia, but it feels like that would be more interesting than constantly winding up a train and having to do Oscar's bidding (without getting the chance to kick his annoying automaton ass off the train).

Just finished Barrickstadt last night and I have to say that I am having very similar feelings about the game at this point.  In the first chapter, I had a good time with the puzzles, but became quite annoyed with the "how do I get the train to move" fetch quests.  It seems that a lot of your time is spent doing this and as a result, it really takes away from the overall narrative by breaking it up so much with unnecessary running around.  Though the areas aren't excessively large, which makes it easy to know where you are going while constantly backtracking, the constant back and forth to attain items or talk to "the right person" is incredibly time-consuming as you often have to pass through multiple screens with slow ass, stair-challenged Kate.

As far as walkthroughs go, I have only have to peek at one twice so far.  One of these was due to a glitch in the first Chapter of the game. I had made it to the train with only the toy mammoth and no music box (forgot to take it after the animated cut scene).  After placing the mammoth and trying to leave the room, my character would go out of the room, but immediately turn around and walk back into the room.  That being the only exit, I was completely stuck.  Luckily, I had accidentally created two saves and one was about 30 minutes back from where I was.  Still, it was incredibly frustrating and I'm pretty lucky that I didn't have to restart my entire adventure.  From what I have read from a few of you, this game is really buggy.

I can see how the narrative has its holes at times, but I find myself really caring about Kate and having a great deal of sympathy for her.  I think I can identify with having a really crumby job situation (thank goodness I'm in a good place now) and the crappy parasitic relationships in her life.  She seems to be the product of a big city, self-important, and consumer driven environment, and this "quest," as it becomes, makes her a stranger in a strange land and causes her to reevaluate her current situation.  Other than having a useless, robotic companion, she is alone and must power through a great deal of adversity. I don't know, there's just something that clicks with me.  I'm hoping that there is some sort of big epiphany that makes her dump Dan and the lulls of her upper middle class, extravagant lifestyle. 

Finished Syberia off tonight:

Congrats Crabby!  I hope that even though you had some issues with the game, that you still got some enjoyment out of it.  Thanks for all of your feedback on this title and we appreciate you joining in the playthrough.

I always enjoy playing along with friends, regardless of the game. It's a pleasure to be able to discuss thoughts on these games with others instead of just having my own thoughts to work with. Much like you I've had this game sitting on my shelf for a long time and I've been curious to try it out. Even though I didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped I would I'm glad to have played through it and get some insight into the series.

[Pam]

I've now finished the game too. I have many of the same thoughts as Crabby.

Spoiler (hover to show)

Those end credits do come as somewhat of a surprise. I can't say I'm satisfied with the story of the game. I figured, with a name like Syberia, that we would actually get there at some point. It almost seemed liked this was a very lengthy episode 1 of a series. This thought was reinforced when, after the credits, the game asked me if I wanted to play Syberia 2 - though clicking yes did nothing.

I guess the main driver of the game, from the beginning, was getting that contract signed to sell the toy factory. Not a super interesting thing to build a game around but a thread that persisted all the way though. You can also look at it as a journey of self-discovery for Kate. She travels, learns about herself and decides she'd rather go on adventures than return to her superficial friends and lawyer job. As a concept this is fine, but the game didn't really sell it. I agree with Crabby that Kate doesn't really seem to develop or change. I think my earlier point of not getting any of Kate's inner thoughts is a big part of this. But also, I just don't buy that spending 90% of the game getting a train to move and doing menial tasks would cause one to leave their old life behind. Sure, the travel is nice, but the rest of the game and things Kate had to do were hardly a rollicking good time.

[GrayGhost81]

I've been pretty absent from this thread so far for two reasons. I didn't want to be too negative and also all of you guys have already posted all of my thoughts exactly here on the thread.

As we discussed last month, nobody is expected to love every game we play, all we tacitly ask is to tell us how you feel without being a Beavis or a Butthead. Having said that, I have to agree with the consensus that the gameplay here was rather hollow at best, the characters were completely unlikable, and the story is completely lacking. The best thing the game had going for it was the visuals, but they were negated by how little interactivity there actually was. The music was good, but the voice acting was hit and miss, with some of it being atrocious.

I don't want to speak too much for Rich, but I think both he and I were hoping for much more with game. I found making Kate "WALKER" walk around was almost more than I could handle, and I found myself checking my phone, or a book, or some points even playing my PSP while Kate took her leisurely strolls.

Many times for these playthroughs I have come out of my comfort zone and been rewarded for it. This is not one of those times. Though it is by no means broken or unplayable, Syberia may very well be my least favorite game we've ever done.

[Pam]

When looking up the original PC version of the game, I see it got overwhelmingly positive reviews. I'm wondering where the disconnect is. Some games don't age well, but I don't really think this game suffers too much from the passage of time. I have gotten a little more impatient with adventure game puzzles, but the puzzles were the least of my complaints. Graphically it still looks pretty good.

Maybe it was so widely enjoyed because adventure game fans were just desperate for games in the genre at this point? In 2002 the big adventure game studios, LucasArts and Sierra, had pretty much given up on the genre. There were still good point and click adventure games out - Broken Sword series, The Longest Journey (which I think is the closest parallel to Syberia but superior in every day), some of the earlier Sherlock and Agatha Christie games, but these were not as popular or well known. Maybe people just really wanted a new adventure game? (I just talked about the "death" of adventure games in a video I recorded so this topic is top of mind right now).