Voice of the deep shouldn't speak english
kommo1
Join Date: 2017-06-23 Member: 231304Members
Join Date: 2017-06-23 Member: 231304Members
I hope I making this topic in the right place. Also english isnt my first language, so sorry in advance for mistakes.
Here is a little quote from Rock,Paper,Shotgun about Subnautica.
Up until now the game never missed an opportunity to scare the shit out of me. Always at the edge of my seat, every new area I had my sight on needed a huge amount of bravery to actually explore.
With no weapons stranded on an unknown planet, surronded by deadly creatures made me feel extremly insignificant, helpless and most importantly alone and isolated. The data logs of the preceding ships also added to this, by noting that these people didnt understand this world as well.
All of that ended as soon as the empress opened her mouth. When I first triggered her, it was the middle off the night (in RL) and I was chased by a warper. My heart skipped several beats, when she showed up on my screen. But that vanished when she startet talking in perfect english using a kind and motherly voice with a hinge of her own insecureness.
From that point on the aspect of solitude and slight horror was gone. The voice itself isnt threatening or deceitful, so I know that she wouldt harm me, when I reached her.
What was supposed to be a mysterious being hidden behind dreadful creatures and hostile enviroment, became instantly relatable and harmless.
The empress shouldnt speak a human language. She should sound alien to us and when we meet her body language, the enviroment and maybe dataconsoles should tell the story. Up to that meeting the game is very good at that. Why turning the ominous presence off the empress into a simple quest-NPC by giving her human voice. There was no need for that.
That is something I would like to discuss in this Thread.
PS: And before someone comes in and uses telepathy as an argument. The precursers were telepathic as well, and they couldnt understand her. So why should we?
Here is a little quote from Rock,Paper,Shotgun about Subnautica.
Tapping into our fear of the unknown is, undoubtedly, the game’s most malevolent and effective trick.
Up until now the game never missed an opportunity to scare the shit out of me. Always at the edge of my seat, every new area I had my sight on needed a huge amount of bravery to actually explore.
With no weapons stranded on an unknown planet, surronded by deadly creatures made me feel extremly insignificant, helpless and most importantly alone and isolated. The data logs of the preceding ships also added to this, by noting that these people didnt understand this world as well.
All of that ended as soon as the empress opened her mouth. When I first triggered her, it was the middle off the night (in RL) and I was chased by a warper. My heart skipped several beats, when she showed up on my screen. But that vanished when she startet talking in perfect english using a kind and motherly voice with a hinge of her own insecureness.
From that point on the aspect of solitude and slight horror was gone. The voice itself isnt threatening or deceitful, so I know that she wouldt harm me, when I reached her.
What was supposed to be a mysterious being hidden behind dreadful creatures and hostile enviroment, became instantly relatable and harmless.
The empress shouldnt speak a human language. She should sound alien to us and when we meet her body language, the enviroment and maybe dataconsoles should tell the story. Up to that meeting the game is very good at that. Why turning the ominous presence off the empress into a simple quest-NPC by giving her human voice. There was no need for that.
That is something I would like to discuss in this Thread.
PS: And before someone comes in and uses telepathy as an argument. The precursers were telepathic as well, and they couldnt understand her. So why should we?
Comments
2. The Emperor is from a different planet. Im pretty sure when it detects the player it is able to understand the player's language and speak it.
3. It is a smart alien.
TRIGGERED
The Sea Emperor isn't a girl nor boy....*bashes head into wall*
Yeah. Consider the mesmer's hypnotism as foreshadowing the emperor's telepathy. And the precursors were self-centered jerks so I'd sooner throw it on them being closed off to the emperor's call than being inherently incompatible.
As for it affecting the horror of the game, imo, the gentle creatures like the emperor, reefbacks, and ghostray do not negate their not-so-gentle peers. I'd argue it's the contrast that raises the horror.
I think that the Emperor says as much. I'll have to rewatch the Containment Cell scenes, but I think that she(?) says something to the effect of "The ones that came before, they were closed to me".
... Is... That BAD? Why should EVERYTHING be terrible and horrifying and aggressive. This is the Sea Emperor. The LAST of her kind. Her eggs are the last hope to save this world. Plus, it's a subverted expectation. Most large creatures have been animals. Beasts. Beings of instinct, with some being aggressive.
The Emperor? Is not. She is a sapient being. Aware of you and herself, aware her time is short, and aware that you could perhaps help save her children. Right away, her voice, her body language, the obviously curious way she examines you... This marks her as different from the other creatures you've encountered.
Also, 'harmless'. She's STILL big enough to squish you should you try anything.
I also never said, that she shouldnt be intelligent. The protagonist isnt stupid, but he still doesnt understand the alien language. She can communicate with us.... or at least try. We shouldnt be able to understand her, in order to not break the mystery sorrounding her. Especially not that early in the game.
Very scary. A word is just a thought. He's putting thoughts directly into your brain. That's not his voice, that's what he makes you think his voice sounds like O.o
Edit: Brains are the only organ that named itself
Edit2: It's probably not English at all, but it has to be relayed to the player somehow and controllers only go so far
I mean, they think that every other organ is there just to support them, so yes.
You can replace every other organ and still have the same person. You replace the brain and you have someone else.
That is the critique Im trying to convey.
Also I thought that the empress was going to be bigger. Maybe its just a shift in perspective since she is in that small cell, but to me she appears barely bigger than the sea dragon. But that is a smaller issue.
o/
Oh, and I suppose you heard that from your liver?
Technically it's apparently a hermaphrodite, if memory serves. But 'it' doesn't feel right for a sapient being.
I guess I could use 'they' and 'their'.
That said, calling it an Empress WOULD be incorrect... Much the same way that a female Emperor Penguin is not an Empress Penguin. It's a species name.
"Sea Emperor". It's what you call all of them. It's not Sea Emperor and Sea Empress.
I admit I defaulted to 'she' and 'her' because of the voice.
Also:
To paraphrase a quote you made upthread... You have no clue how much I disagree with you there.
The voice is a mystery. Subnautica isn't a HORROR game. It's an EXPLORATION and SURVIVAL game, that can be scary because of aggressive elements.
The voice coaxes you down, deeper into the ocean. Past the Lost River, past the lava zones, down into the containment facility...
And once there, you find the mysterious being that's been calling to you. It's a mystery you searched for, and found the answer to. That's PERFECTLY in-line with the tone of the game.
To encounter the one sentient being on the planet and have it be able to speak with you could be a deliberate action to put the player at ease after all the tension from the rest of the game. I kind of like this idea, but I haven't gotten to that part of the game yet so I can't judge for myself.
However, I also like the idea that direct communication isn't possible, at least not right away. I think it would be cool to have to establish trust with the last Sea Emperor (and yeah, Emperor is appropriate because this is a species name, not a cultural title). You can't talk, so you have to communicate with body language and build a relationship. Why should she/they trust you? Why wouldn't you think you would be attacked, just like everything else on the planet has done?
Could be an opportunity to extend the story a bit, and using a new type of interaction, too. Could be cool.
The sea emperor really is in no position to question anyone's trustworthiness, nor is the player to question theirs. Either character's existence is luck's mercy providing one final chance.
agreed
also to those say we shouldn't be able to understand it, the Sea Emperor is telepathic so it'll speak whatever makes sense to you