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Abiotic Factor
38 Plays3 months ago
Before disclaimer: MINOR spoilers for Abiotic Factor
After the disclaimer: MAJOR spoilers for Abiotic Factor
Join Jake, Dave, and special guest Mango as they investigate the WEIRD SCIENCE happening deep beneath the GATE facility in this week's episode!
Thoughts? Comments? Requests for new episodes? Feel free to email them in!
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Transcript
Introduction to Soapstone Podcast and 'Only Friends' Format
00:00:49
Speaker
How's it going, everyone? Welcome to another episode of Soapstone. My name is Jake, and I'm joined by my co-host, as always, Dave. How's it going tonight, Dave? What? No, you. Yes, good. Great. I'm joined by two friends. And the other friend is?
00:01:09
Speaker
This is my cue? Yeah, this is a weird cue. Yeah, I don't know. Okay. Oh, got it. We'll just redo it. Mango, there you go. I'm glad we're friends. That's just a lot of questions. We only allow friends on the podcast. It's been a while since we had a red sign soapstone, had a guest episode, but it's a new year, new us.
00:01:30
Speaker
so Welcome to Only Friends. Only Friends. We only have episodes with other people now. We won't be able to stop. It would be interesting to have somebody on who like, we don't like this person.
Episode Focus: A Video Game Discussion
00:01:44
Speaker
Just have like a lottery or something to pick somebody from online. and They just have like really shitty takes about like really Halo 2 peak game. Yeah. They're like Dark Souls 2 wasn't even a good game. Stuff like that. and So they're realists.
First Impressions of 'Abiotic Factor'
00:02:02
Speaker
Um, but you guys probably noticed from the title that, uh, today we're going to be talking about a video game. It's also been a while since we had a guest on to talk about a video game, um, in particular, but behind the scenes under layers and layers of abstraction. I think we can admit finally that we've all been playing this as a group, a biotic factor. Yeah. Um, it's been ah surprisingly good.
00:02:31
Speaker
I had no idea it existed and then it came into existence and every corner we have turned has been something new and exciting I would say.
00:02:42
Speaker
Yep. So for the format, we're going to tell you guys about the game, keep things pretty spoiler light for the first part, and then let you have a jumping off point before um we go and spoil everything else about the game for the people who ah want to be sold on it, but then don't want to have everything
Game Description and Themes
00:02:59
Speaker
spoiled. We've tailored the content exceptionally for you guys. um Mango, starting things up with you. How would you describe a biotic factor? What kind of game is this?
00:03:13
Speaker
Uh, it's a survival crafting game. There you go. Yeah. I mean, succinctly, yeah, that is, that is true. ah At its core, it's survival crafting. So if you like survival crafting, you'll enjoy it, but it's also very, what's the word? Story rich. That's fair. Yeah, that's a good descriptor. Story rich survival crafting game, which makes it a lot more interesting.
00:03:43
Speaker
than other ones I've played because they're usually not story rich or anything. You don't get a story. Do you not know about the Ender Dragon lore? It's it's so deep. You should you should get on the subreddit. It's layered. Mm hmm.
Game Mechanics and Multiplayer Experience
00:04:00
Speaker
But no, it's a it's a good way to be driven forward because the more you explore it kind of the more it opens up the facility yeah and It's always a nice, fun, new area. Yep. I agree, yeah and agree entirely. And I am ready to also jump into more of that. I would mention, as far as the people who are like, what kind of, what's the flavor of this game? It's basically like classic Half-Life. It's sort of like Half-Life 1. In fact, it's wearing it on its sleeve. It's so inspired by Half-Life 1. You're like me and you've never engaged with a single Half-Life game in your life. It's, uh, SCPs.
00:04:42
Speaker
Yes. That's the other element I was going to mention for sure. Um, let me be, yeah, let me be me on MTV. It's a hybridization of that. Basically, if like the, um, I can't remember the name of the black Mesa was the place where Gordon Freeman worked for half life. Um, if black Mesa's job.
00:05:01
Speaker
wasn't just and investigating interdimensional physics, although that also, but like ah also was the SCP Foundation for containment. um And surprise, surprise, you get trapped mike right after the tutorial and everything is, I think, working towards escaping, but it's like sort of working towards escaping in the most roundabout way so that you're doing a cruise in the world ah exploration of every single area um to get there. um That's pretty cool. I like that. It gives you some reason to keep playing and moving forward. And the graphics are also like, they're kind of like original Half-Life Plus. PS1 and PS2. Yeah, I would say is pretty close. Yeah.
00:05:50
Speaker
Occasionally there's a nice particle physic or something like that and you're like, huh, that looks like it was probably made with modern hardware, but then everything else is
Balancing Exploration and Base Building
00:06:00
Speaker
exactly PSU, PS1. What if abiotic is just halfway three?
00:06:06
Speaker
That is, it's kind of better than I think would have expected Half-Life 3 to be at this point, to be honest. Yeah, holy shit. Also, right angle turn by Valve to cut Gordon and and all the other noticeable characters out of the the cast and just make it a survival crafting game. That's why nobody thinks it's affiliated with them. Exactly. That's a good idea. It tracks. yeah um But yeah, I mean, so I had played a little bit beforehand. Um, but our group play has gotten a lot further than that. How did, how did you guys feel about the, the opening sequences in a biotic factor? Was there anything that like kind of sold you on the game early or maybe you were like, this is terrible and I'm just humoring Jake for the next 70 hours. Uh, my honest first impression was I'm a little bored.
00:07:06
Speaker
um Um, but they did ask me if I want to play again this evening. So I'm going to say yes. thank you for being honest And then as there was like more story progression, I was like, okay, I like the story. The story did a lot of ah weightlifting for me for the game. And now I enjoy it as a whole.
00:07:33
Speaker
Instead of a, I crave more progression because I need to know more. Oh yeah. That's a thing. Um, when you're playing with multiple people is how to balance. Are we going to enhance the base or are we going to go explore? We're going to do what's the, the group goal set, or maybe we split up and do things, but.
00:07:54
Speaker
I don't know. It's I've really been loving the multiplayer part of it.
Multiplayer Dynamics and Social Interactions
00:07:59
Speaker
So like going around the office area initially, ah you're breaking things for some so basic supplies and you're really just trying to find a place to kind of shack up in a corner. Yeah. But then as our technology has grown, we've gotten access to more areas, more materials. It's really cool to see how the base transforms because similar to Minecraft, like your night one is like It's dark. I'm going to be here in the bathroom. The door is locked in closed ah and-huh. Three down, one up. Yeah. And then by, like, night three, like, we're stealing art that we find around and, like, putting it up in our base. Or Mango, I think, was the first to find and really utilize signs. Mm-hmm. So she will go around um just posting signs on things like dead bodies and, like, jokes about.
00:08:54
Speaker
You never know when you're going to find one, but ah there's a lot around and they're great. One of my favorite things is after we've played and, you know, Jake's still doing something or another in the game, um after like 30 minutes to an hour, I just hear a Oh yeah? What's this? And I'm like, I see you found another one of those things. I'll just be chuckling behind her and then just read the sign aloud. yeah They're, they're very funny. Like, and a lot of it's like juvenile humor or something like that, but in the best ways, like one of, one of the ones I remember was, um, it's like, uh, it says gullible above this or something like that. Like, um, what how was it phrased?
00:09:44
Speaker
Um, so there's a sign on the floor and it says gullible is written on the wall. yeah's what it was Yeah. And then you're meant to look at the wall and there's a sign that says gullible. ahha I couldn't get it on the ceiling. The signs don't stick to the ceiling.
Humor and Absurdity in the Game
00:10:00
Speaker
But the first time I read that, I kind of like looked up, but it didn't look up high enough to actually see the sign. So I thought it was the joke played straight, basically, right? It's like, haha, you're gullible. It's not there. Then later I was back in that area and I actually saw the gullible sign. So I literally took it both ways. Um, in response to this joke. So he got a full experience. Uh-huh. That's very funny. to I want to say on that note, the game does a really good job of kind of sliding between ah this is really fucking silly shit that you get to do, whether it's just the theming of interact with some of the NPCs or the things you get to make or occasionally some jank interactions.
00:10:44
Speaker
um And then it can alternate into the more serious stuff with the the storyline and things having more consequence, having more threats in the area, besides like a little pests. Yeah. like it's um The thing that it actually reminds me a lot of is like old Fallout writing, where it was like kind of dark story in some way. like A lot of people maybe aren't having the best time.
00:11:12
Speaker
but also your player character is like running around being chased by bees or they have like a heated spear or something else that they've cobbled together from like a broom handle and like ah iron or something like that, right? um Like a clothes iron or something. Like it's ridiculous the the difference, I guess, um between some of the story that's being told and the experiences NPCs are having.
Balancing Seriousness with Humor
00:11:42
Speaker
and then it's like And then you show up right with your rainbow colored outfit and all this other stuff ah ready to to roll out. It's um it's really funny. It's it's incredibly funny. um But usually not like overtly in the story. It's absurdist a little bit, which is just peak humor.
00:12:06
Speaker
Exactly. And they lean into it too. Like I think it's safe to say all of the ways acting is bad. Yes. Um, I think it is done intentionally. So and like very um it's amateur yeah for the most part. Yeah. That's not bad. Compared to professional voice actors. I think it makes it funnier because like they, they're doing a character's voice and
00:12:34
Speaker
I do like the game. I'm sorry that came off weird. um No, no, no. I mean, I think you're right. Right. Like a lot of these sound like they were voice lines recorded in a closet like during the pandemic. And they might have been. I don't know. Like from someone that they hired on Fiverr.
00:12:51
Speaker
Now, if they had a dedicated voice acting crew, I'm sorry. I didn't. they We're not talking about your specific performance. It was the other ones. It's not bad, though. It's not like bad enough to take you out of it or anything. It kind of just fits the. The graphics could be PS1 or PS2, and maybe that's why the audio is a little janky. I don't know. I think it it works because it's kind of like the old PS1 and PS2 games.
00:13:18
Speaker
Like you just need some stuff to kind of string it along as far as some of the initial theming and stuff. But it's really the gameplay that drives that forward.
00:13:29
Speaker
that kind of go hand in hand and for this game at least. Yeah. I think that's an excellent segue. Only made worse by me calling it out. um Talking about gameplay. ah What are some some standouts for for early gameplay? What did you guys find yourselves doing in the early moments of the game ah that actually made up your play session time?
Core Gameplay Loop: Crafting and Exploration
00:13:53
Speaker
Oh, well made up play session time. That's different, but I do like emoting when people use the bathroom. That's fair. Um, the default emote is basically cheering. It's, it's very much like a rock and stone, um, from deep rock galactic equivalent, basically. So just walking up when someone else is on the toilet and cheering at them is the funniest thing. Yeah. Any game that lets you emote is automatically.
00:14:22
Speaker
bump it up a couple notches, but otherwise, uh, if I can just run off for a while, that's phenomenal. Otherwise I'm a little farmer boy and I tend to my crops. Yeah. Definitely. One of the mechanics the game has is, uh, as farming. Um, and, uh, thank you to you both for taking care of farming and cooking.
00:14:50
Speaker
Uh, so that I can just come by, steal a bagged lunch and then fuck off. It's very funny. Cause like talking about the early game in particular, um, like pretty early on you get access. If you're cooking, you're like, you're, you're, you're, you're filling skill trees and not skill trees, uh, skill bars, basically you're leveling all these different skills depending on what you do. And so I was specializing in cooking mango specialized in like.
00:15:15
Speaker
farming and medicine, I believe. um And ah the cooking thing was like, all right, I got to soup. And then it was just soup is the focus. We're no longer just, you know, eating xenomorphs that we've roasted up or whatever. Everything's a soup. here's your I literally handed out the soup cups to each person.
00:15:38
Speaker
And then the game has like a certain number of, you know, sips per soup, basically. It's like a thermos kind of effect. It's ah oh, wait, you think the container is a thermos? Yeah, it's like a thermos. Yeah, it's a coffee pot. Yes, it it's it is literally a coffee pot. But the idea is it's not like it doesn't just go away immediately. You have several servings.
00:16:00
Speaker
um And so like David was describing, I'm like laying out different soup pots at certain points with like different soups. And once you can just come back and like refill your soup can, your your ah coffee cup and head back out. I think I also used a lot of supplies that we probably needed for more important things um to kind of just explore what some of the game physics were capable of. Right. um Seeing if you kind of like build up a wall. I remember having a ah secret little ramp that went up to a very small area. It's like something you might see it like ah one of those bigger doctor's offices. ah There's kind of like a a ledge above a door that's way too high up for any reasonable person.
00:16:50
Speaker
so oh I'll just, you know, tuck some stuff in there and like an arcade machine. And that was my project for a weirdly long time, but it brought joy to the space. It was really cool. I didn't, I didn't realize it was possible to do that until I had seen what Dave had wrought as far as like the, uh, the modern sculpture of makeshift barricades. He had kind of like leaned on top of each other oh yeah in order to ascend into the ceiling.
00:17:19
Speaker
There was, yeah, that was another base, too. um There was like the skylights at the very top, but there was enough space if somebody was crouching for you to be able to walk around. So I made a very janky structure and then and kind of made a jump puzzle, unfortunately, to get up there. Yeah. No, it was it was really cool. It's like it's entirely it's not necessary, but this game lets you do a whole lot of things that aren't necessary. um But they're fun. Oh, yeah.
00:17:48
Speaker
Um, yeah, no, I think that's, I think that's fair. Um, outside of farming, was there anything that you found took up some of your time in the early game? In the early game, early mid-game, you know, what else did you like to do in the game?
Discovery and Team Coordination
00:18:07
Speaker
I just like to run around. That's fair. In those games I play, deconstructing a lot or collecting a lot of loot.
00:18:15
Speaker
Probably. I like to go places I shouldn't. Because in any game I play, I need to explore every single nook and cranny. Yeah. Doesn't matter where it is, if I am properly equipped or not. I know there was a rescue mission by Jake to come and get me. Because I died somewhere I shouldn't have been. And my like, you can pick up your loot, you got to go back and pick up your loot, like that kind of mechanic.
00:18:44
Speaker
Yeah, corpse run. And I was like, well, I don't know how I got there. And I can't go there alone because I'm not supposed to be there. ahha So that's what I like to do. I spent a lot of time doing that. It's a good game for exploring. They like to hide things all over the place.
00:19:06
Speaker
um And sometimes like we haven't really talked about progression as far as technology or anything like that, but sometimes exploring a little bit can find you something that gets you new ideas that can maybe just like open up a branch of craftables that were completely andex um unavailable beforehand. Yeah. Like when we first got like plastic or iron, it's like, Hey, you can make.
00:19:32
Speaker
less shitty things. You can actually make a makeshift gun now. I'm like, huge. And technology can jump a lot. It does start out very basic. Like you're pretty close to a cafeteria. And like, one of the first things you can make is like a plastic shield. And then you look at it and you've just taken like a cafeteria tray and just like strapped it to your arm.
00:19:55
Speaker
um It's, it's very rudimentary when you start out. But I love the idea of like. taking technology that took, you know, humanity a long time to build up to the point to like, have a functional computer, computer tower or a monitor or something like that. And you're like, if I break this, I can get sharp things and sharp things I could put on a stick. That'll help me. here Yeah. It's got that good ah survivalist, uh, gameplay where I mean, obviously you're not going to use computers for your situation.
00:20:31
Speaker
But it is cool that you can basically take the resources out in the world, like Minecraft or these other survival crafting games. and just shape your world around you into something. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and the game, the game ramps up in difficulty too. So it wants you to improve your gear. It wants you to have better tools and things like that, uh, to approach problems. I can't imagine with where we're currently at in the game, if we still had our starter gear, it would be very short experience, very short excursion and a lot more times than time and corpse around.
00:21:07
Speaker
That was my problem because I would just run off, come back, water my plants and then run off again. And then you guys are like, Hey, what kind of armor are you wearing? And I'm like, I've got a apron.
Character Customization and Strategy
00:21:21
Speaker
That's pretty good. And the stick I found, and then I was given actual armor and I'm like, wow, I'm not dying every time I leave. That's crazy.
00:21:35
Speaker
Yeah, it's nice to build up the tech for that and then to have some options to go into as well. There's different types of stats might be like heat, cold, some stuff like that, radiation. But I kind of want to talk about some of the day night cycle. Sure. Yeah. There's a day night cycle. Excellent. Next topic. and But when it becomes night, um power goes out in the facility. Yeah.
00:22:05
Speaker
So there's not lights going around outside of maybe something that you were carrying. Um, and there might be like security robots are patrolling. So you really kind of have to hole up early, but it gives it a nice balance of here's your time to explore. Like here's your threats. So maybe stay at home and craft some stuff, right? Take care of your basic needs.
00:22:30
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah.
00:22:37
Speaker
yeah You have, what have we got for basic needs? The need to sleep. The need to poop. Obviously that's the key one. um Eat and sip. And I'll just say you can collect your friend's poop.
00:22:52
Speaker
I'll leave you to figure out how to do that. ah Or why you would want to. I'm just saying you can. ah that's That's the mystery. That's what's going to drive people to pick up this game now. They're like, I wasn't really sold but collecting feces. There's two different ways to do it. That's true ah let you figure out the easy way in the harsh way You want to do this the easy way or the hard way oh
00:23:23
Speaker
Yeah, and actually you brought up the the day night cycle. That is an example of one thing I think the game does really well, as well as the the differences in armor. But like they will give you obstacles and then let you kind of pick the way that you want to um approach solving it. right So if you're in an area and like the temperature is wildly in one direction or another,
00:23:47
Speaker
There's a whole bunch of different ways you could resolve that as far as like temporary buffs through food or wear different clothes or something like that. um But, you know, when it's nighttime, initially, like you said, it's almost the way I would describe it. It's kind of like Bioshock with the big daddies wandering around. But if they were all trying to kill you. oh Yeah, you can you can run for a good bit and they will chase you.
00:24:14
Speaker
ah um But it's like, it's enough, it helps funnel you into exploring other elements of the gameplay. It keeps you from doing like, from just finding one thing and then running with it, right? um Which I think is really important for a game where they want to have this diversity of systems. Like there are times um sneaking, which is entirely optional, is actually just really nice in this game.
00:24:44
Speaker
Um, there's, it just, it might just make an encounter way easier, especially if you pick a character that bleeds easily. Like mine does for character creation. Oh yeah. Uh, the character creation, um, you have a certain number of like points to allocate into
Solo vs. Multiplayer Experience
00:25:00
Speaker
stats. Uh, but if you want extra points, you can choose to take on a debuff. Yep. Um, so Jake's character bleeds easily. I think mine has to poop more frequently to mimic me in real life. Mango, do you remember yours, your debuffs?
00:25:14
Speaker
I think I also bleed easily and I also have to use the bathroom a lot. Ah, the best of both worlds. Uh-huh. But I feel like I don't really notice it except the bleed one, because it's like, oh, well, I use the proper medical equipment to stop it, but it's not. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I guess I'll poop about it.
00:25:39
Speaker
Yeah, I think as we played more, I think that the optimal path is basically to like pick a whole bunch of those downsides, but not all of them. I picked some upsides like I run fast in a game where you move around. Running fast will always be good. That's that's never bad.
00:25:59
Speaker
um But I do like that. And it it does kind of like if you're playing this game solo, which I don't. I don't know if I recommend it as much. You can. It's not bad, but you won't be able to cover your bases as easily as you could with some friends. Yeah, literally. so And but with friends, you're going to have more of those fun multiplayer interactions because like every time that we've had a play session of like, hey, let's hop on tonight um within like an hour, I'm usually laughing about some dumb shit that happens more. It's just something silly in the game. Yeah.
00:26:39
Speaker
Yeah, and I really like that part of it. Yeah, when we play, I'll break my leg. Yo, I was thinking about that earlier. What sound effect have you heard most in the game? Uh huh. Uh huh.
00:26:54
Speaker
No, it is very funny to like, we're we're out exploring on an expedition or something. And I'm just like, I'm bleeding a lot and no pressure, no pressure on you, Mango. But if you could heal me within three seconds, that would be great. The pressure would be less, but it's like playing any game that has healing.
00:27:15
Speaker
like Oh, let me come over there to heal you and everyone's actively running away from me. To please stop wiggling. painful playing genji ah huh and I'm just going to let you die if you don't want to put this bandaid on you. I think it's because we all grew up playing Left 4 Dead.
00:27:36
Speaker
and you don't want the npc to catch you's like let me patch you up you're like na no no what is zombie onens uha you'd ah me medkit griefing somebody old holding on him yeah um Yeah, I mean, I think those are all, we talked about the skill system, we talked about creation. The skills, just to mention, they do have some pretty nice rewards, like pretty meaningful. Some I don't notice as much as others, but in general, it's like if you're really good with like blunt weapons or sharp weapons or guns or something like that, like there's gonna be a payoff, um which is nice. And you'll kind of just get those through,
00:28:19
Speaker
playing the game as you go, but obviously if you're kind of specializing in more thing, your XP in that will go up a lot faster because you're constantly doing that. Yeah. Yeah, like I maxed out cooking really, really early. I had a bonus from character creation. I think I level it faster, but I also, there was just the time where I was like, we have a lot of mystery meat. I am going to grab all of this into dishes. A new recipe. ah Yeah. I mean, that's, that's some of the rewards for cooking is like, um as you level it up, it will reveal
00:28:57
Speaker
It'll give you access to some recipes you didn't have at all. But also for the soups, it will show you the soups that you have discovered the ingredients for that could be put together to make a new soup. It's just like a mystery until you actually make it, which is pretty cool. um I think that update actually came while we were playing the game because it is a early access. And I'm pretty sure it wasn't there when we started, but it's there now. So that's nice.
Technical Performance and Early Access Quality
00:29:22
Speaker
Also say that for early access, this is surprisingly polished. Mm hmm. Like as far as a play experience, I don't think we've run into any game breaking issues. As far as I can recall.
00:29:37
Speaker
There's one interesting thing where I don't know if it's a game bug or not but the nature of it makes me think it's a bug. Mango mango was there too but basically we were in a hallway and there were these like uh spheres of energy or something alongside the hallway and you could like i walked up to it and you could look into it and it's literally just like hollowing out part of the hallway and you could just step over into the sphere and drop into like through the geometry i know what you're talking about now i was like thinking of like three different things you could be talking about and then
00:30:23
Speaker
got You got to the end and I'm like, Oh, yeah, they're holes in reality, basically. And it would be a completely on brand for this game for that to just be something that happens. But like you see all of the geometry, like as you fall through, which makes me think it's just an accidental no clip. So.
00:30:42
Speaker
hu Yeah, Mango actually fell through and had her death bag show up on like a pixel, like mid-fall basically that she had to try to get right back to landing on to collect. It was very funny. Because I was exploring again. I'm like, let me go places I shouldn't be.
00:31:05
Speaker
And then I fell through the world and I'm like, well, besa but yeah I better go get my stuff. And I'm like, oh, well the marker's in a weird spot. It's where I died off of the world. And I'm like, I guess I'll go back. oh And it turns out that's not, you can't go back.
00:31:29
Speaker
Yeah, but you did get it or or no there was a the way we got it ultimately was we had to relaunch the game Yeah, they have a they have like a mercy rule kind of like grace rule thing where if you diff if you disconnect then the game servers like brought down and brought back up then ah The janitor will grab your bag and put it back in like the common area and like the lobby So you can pick your stuff up?
00:31:55
Speaker
Which is nice. It is really nice because the alternative of I lost it the contents of my inventory to a bug. No one's going to want that. No. um And there is so much to collect too. Yeah. You got to organize it. order And again, thank you guys for doing these things. For anybody listening, like what does Dave do for the group? You'll find out at a later point and you'll be like, that's it.
00:32:26
Speaker
It's chills hats by the way. Yes. I mean, they are. They are very fun. But yeah, but yeah you're just he said there's a lot to collect. And I honestly think like that could literally just be a profession. Like if you're playing with a group of four or five people or whatever and one person just wants to run out and collect things that other people can craft together or like fulfill orders basically for stuff that the base is short on. You absolutely couldn't this game.
00:32:57
Speaker
um And it's very helpful because in a lot of cases, it's like, oh, okay, we could use more defenses or we could use more like ah batteries or more electronics or something like that. so
00:33:12
Speaker
Jake's always putting in orders for very specific ingredients. We're like, yes, chef. yeah I need I need an alien puffer fish in two minutes. go But yeah, they are. It is fun to engage with and it hits the sweet spot for me personally, where it's like there's reason enough to go back out and explore and grab stuff in areas I've already been into. But also there's always an incentive to get the next the new hotness from the next area. There's an incentive to move forward and get cooler stuff. um Yeah. As I kind of like mumbled through earlier, it is very surprising how each corner you kind of go around, there is a lot of new stuff, yeah whether it just be a new area, the advancement of tech story. um But like the facility basically keeps growing in size. You keep realizing how big it actually is.
00:34:10
Speaker
ah um But again, for it to do all that it's doing um for early access, I think is kind of nuts. Because I feel like every time we play, we correct me if I'm wrong. But I feel like we have an experience of like, oh, I didn't know that they would do that. That seems like an extra level of detail they didn't need to do. But it's cool that they did.
00:34:30
Speaker
Yeah, I would agree with that. Like a pooping mini-game. Exactly. I love the pooping mini-game. Ease passage.
00:34:43
Speaker
I almost made a grandparents like a dark grandparents joke, but i'm going I'll pass that one over. I'll just leave it as a pooping joke. um Anything else you guys wanted to call out before we open the floor to The the realms beyond the spoiler filled section for a bad factor Or I guess important question. What are your was your what is your guys's? What are your what are your votes thumbs up ten thumbs up four thumbs up? three thumbs down
00:35:18
Speaker
And also what rating system do you use? I would give it full marks so far. like it's It's not sinned in my eyes in any way, shape, or form. It's had a lot of things in the game design that's been smart and convenient or cool and interesting. And I still have that hook to kind of pull me forward to explore further and get deeper into the story and everything else. So, solid game.
00:35:48
Speaker
Sounds good.
Overall Praise and Game Enjoyment
00:35:49
Speaker
No way for me. Awesome. What about you, Mango? how you How are you feeling about abiotic? I really like it. In general, I enjoy survival crafting, but I know after some time, I'm like, well, there's nothing else to do. Right.
00:36:08
Speaker
like you've like in seven days oh well we've built the last new thing and there's like nothing else to do other than i guess keep playing right but abiotic has that story and like the plot to it and it meshes really well with progression of like skills other stuff blah blah blah And I'm like, ah, this is actually engaging and like enjoyable storytelling, enjoyable character development. Well, not really development. I don't think there's. care Like the characters are beautiful. I love them. Yeah. I think that's fair. Yeah. It just makes it significantly more interesting to play to where I'm not bored playing it.
00:37:06
Speaker
where other survival crafting games, it's like, all right, it's been a month of playing it like once or twice a week. It's there's nothing else to do here, but. If you think it is. You know, I think one of the good ah hooks for it is compared to other survival crafting games, this is a fairly tight game.
00:37:28
Speaker
It's not giving you like this huge, vast area where it's like, hey, it's procedurally generated. Go nuts. Yeah, it is a curated experience, um but it feels like there are things to explore, but you can't directly see what's ahead of you. ah You have to go to different sub layers. You have to run over here, unlock doors. It feels very much like you're in the environment versus I guess I'll build my house in like the sand biome.
00:37:57
Speaker
Mm hmm. It's like you actually have to play the game. Yeah. And you also have to know the areas and where you're going to. Mm hmm. You have to engage with the mechanics. Mm hmm. The things. That you learn and read in the game actually matter. Yeah, it's true. And I love going back to reread things and I'm like, that's terrifying. Uh huh. They have they have good writing. Uh huh.
00:38:27
Speaker
I love ah of going back to read it. And I'm like, sensible chuckle. And then next thing to read, I'm like, wow, I hate that. That's great. All right, let's go. There is a lot of that. There is a lot of that in the game. ah And knowledge is very important. And actually, like it reminds me, you guys are talking about how it like it feels different than seven days. Seven days is like a true open world where it's like go anywhere, do anything. anything And abiotic factors, like it's closer to like a dark souls or like a classic zelda or something like that or maybe in metroid or something or it's like not every area is available to you like enough is at any given time that it feels like there's plenty to explore but
00:39:14
Speaker
The way to unlock the next thing is to complete your main objective, like keep working on the main story. um And it uses that formula, I think, to great effect, where it requires you to do enough in an area to move to the next place that you'll always get like you'll get the experience for it, um which is nice. Yeah, and it's never felt to tramped or rushed at any given point. I mean, we've definitely taken in our time, I think, in the game. But I think it's because there is so many options for you to advance in technology or to build a cool base, yeah collect resources.
00:40:00
Speaker
Like that in and of itself is very engaging. So it's been really cool to just take our time through the game and just experience all those little nooks and crannies that they put in there because it's a lot of crannies. There are a lot of crannies, crannies.
00:40:17
Speaker
crannies and the grannies. Shut up. Grannies and grannies. That's our next podcast name. Um, but I think that that's probably, I think we, we've covered a lot. Oh, also my impression is the game is good bite. Um, so like we've covered a lot that didn't have to do with spoilers and we've provided all of our listeners there who were ready for that drop-off point. Enough content go out by it. We all recommend it. Um,
00:40:45
Speaker
From this point on, we're going to talk about whatever the heck, some of the weird stuff.
Transition to Spoilery Content
00:40:51
Speaker
I have things to say. Things to say. but Um, so if you have an intention on playing the game, thanks for listening. Check us out next episode, but, uh, for everyone who's sticking around, it's going to get weird.
00:41:05
Speaker
There we go. nago joe nar ah know the story First weird thing. We've all got larva to feed, you know? We've all got larva to feed. Uh-huh. Got to put coffee in your coffee hole. Uh-huh. Do you want to describe what this comes from? Yeah, it's my favorite little horror of the night, the coworker.
00:41:26
Speaker
Well, my like third favorite Eldritch Horror. Number one is Kazoo Kid unrelated to a biotic factor. That's fair. Kazoo Kid is number one. I think Coworker is number three.
00:41:39
Speaker
What's two? yeah I don't know. I think there was something there, but I can't remember. Something from Bloodborne and Cthulhu or no Twilight Domain cleric or something. Those are too obvious. That's why Kazoo Kid's number one. Have you seen him? He looks innocent because he's a child, but you know.
00:41:58
Speaker
He's murdered some people. You know that he's never truly aged. How long have you been five? A while. Yeah.
00:42:10
Speaker
oh but hu yeah Like you would not expect an NPC to be crawling around on all fours and then asking you for food occasionally.
Humorous NPCs and Game Interactions
00:42:22
Speaker
Again, the the game is like pitch black at the time, it feels like. Yeah, because we were at I think our is that our first space with your like your treehouse thing to the sky. Yeah. And the one in the ceiling. Yeah. And it was nighttime. And um I got freaked out. I'm like, what is that? And we all rushed over to see this guy crawling around on all fours.
00:42:51
Speaker
Just like working hard or hardly working. Am I right? I'm like, what are you? Yeah. He's just named coworker. Feed him food only comes out at night. That's a great sign. Um, he also, he'll like.
00:43:08
Speaker
trigger the electric traps we had on the ground, but like he seems to be immortal. Like I don't think you can actually take damage, but he will actually trigger your hair traps and stuff like that. My theory is still that somehow coworker is deeply related to like core plot in the game that we have yet to uncover. Uh-huh.
00:43:29
Speaker
I hope so because I love him. I'm also very afraid of him. So I feed him every time I see him. I make sure I have at least like a bag of chips and like two different sodas. He also gives me pens and I can use those pens to make more signs. Part of the sign economy. and He doesn't like take soup though. yeah I always have my soup on me, but he's like, nah. It's probably for the better. It'd be very unfortunate if he took the whole container, right? Literally just crafting his off with it. He will in fact take the whole container. Ask me how I know. He might've, I don't know if they patched it or not. and i I think that he could in the past. I'm not sure if he still can. Oh, you know, he did once. and No, I gave him my water bottle. Like, are you thirsty? And he took the whole thing and I'm like,
00:44:20
Speaker
I don't have a water bottle anymore. It's classic co-worker behavior. You're like, oh, do you want a drink? And you hand them the water bottle and they walk off? And Monday's, am I right? Uh-huh. I've really been loving how the game has advanced options for movement and getting around the further you go. Oh, yeah. My two main examples, because in a game like this, anything for physics interactions is just going to be either fun or janky.
00:44:48
Speaker
um But with the jump pads I mentioned earlier, whenever you go off of one, ah regardless of where you land, you will not take fall damage. Yeah. um But you have to land on the jump pad key part. um But that in conjunction with like a little trinket thing that we found, um which kind of gives me a lower gravity effect.
Movement Mechanics and Navigation
00:45:14
Speaker
So I'm like setting up these um at some point, I want to be like the line writer guy. I'm like,
00:45:19
Speaker
Oh, you want to go from here to there, take these jump pads and it'll be three hop skips and a jump over. Um, but also the fact you can like take vehicles across it. Mm-hmm. I was rolling.
00:45:35
Speaker
There was a, Dave was playing around with these pads and like wanted to have one more available. And I was the only person at this point that didn't have the zero gravity. And so we had an approach to one of our bases and I was just like, all right, jump.
00:45:50
Speaker
Uh, let me jump off because it's both, we use the jump pads for ascension and dissension, dissension, descent. Um, and I was like, all right, let me hop down to that, to safety where the jump pad is legs break immediately. I was like, Dave, what's, what's going on here? Thankfully, eventually we did. We all got one. So yeah i bounce all over the place. Another tragic fall on your behalf. Um,
00:46:18
Speaker
We had to jump a gap. Dave and I had our low grav. Yeah, you could totally jump it not remembering that there was a reason we could make that jump. I mean, it's I see you run just.
00:46:32
Speaker
I mean, I screwed it up. It is it is possible to make the jump. yeah I want to hop in here. You can make the jump without the low F thing, but I unintentionally goomba stomped Jake. That's why I jumped around the same time and like direct this physics. So he didn't keep his momentum. I just saw him fall. I'm like, well. Yeah, the game.
00:46:56
Speaker
but The game uses weight to track your movement speed. like you're you're You're at your fastest when your weight is at a certain threshold. um Again, kind of similar to Dark Souls in that way, I guess. Not for speed, but for roles and stuff. But like if you're carrying a bunch of loot and there's a gap in front of you, like this is final boss tier. This is an actual challenge to get across. um But otherwise, running around with like the bionic legs, going to have a good time.
00:47:26
Speaker
Yeah, I love that. We're just even taking the the tram around. Mm hmm. That's really nice. That's one of the things like a cutscene vibe that's taken from Half-Life. That's the opening to Half-Life one is you arrive on basically of the tram. It's almost exactly the same, actually. Maybe I don't remember who made.
00:47:51
Speaker
Like the name of the devs who made Abiotic, but maybe this is their Half-Life 3. They're like, well, you know, Valve's not going to make it. We'll make it multiplayer. I guess I'll do it. Not a shooter explicitly. Survival crafting. yeah um but Amongst the things that we've crafted or we've discovered, what are what are some of the standouts for you guys? There is.
00:48:19
Speaker
There are a couple of options for melee weapons. um And as it goes, you can kind of get like a two handed hammer that has like a little bit of charge and you can like hit somebody for like a little bit of lightning damage. That's kind of cool. Later on, you can get a bigger hammer and this hammer takes ammo in the form of blast charges. When you bring it down, it is literally an explosive um And you can't hurt yourself, so you got to be very careful. It's like a monster hunter weapon is what it seems like to me. um That's a really good example. But now that one was great. I don't use anything too fancy. I like the signs. That's fair. They're cheap to make, easy to craft. I wish they stacked.
00:49:13
Speaker
but they don't. So I have to empty out my whole inventory so I could run around with the slides. No, that's fair. I mean, for me, it's, it's, ah it's a shoe and answer because it was so game changing when we got them, but the teleporters. Oh, that's so good. So good. I literally just spent time farming resources to make more and more and more and more of them, just to have all these waypoints basically set up to teleport to them.
00:49:43
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's cool because we've been through the facility enough that we have multiple bases. So it's like, Oh, which base do you want to go to? Oh, we'll see if this one has these resources, which kind of casually teleporting around. um with charging bays there. So you're like, all right, well, I've arrived. And I guess while that's charging, maybe I'll use the toilet or maybe I'll refill my suit. Take a nap. I have a note on here that says Jake, AKA Zeus. Would you like to explain that?
Combat Strategies and Security
00:50:15
Speaker
I'm curious what ah that means. Actually, I might need more context for Zeus. So once Jake realized that our bellies were full, he's like, I need to do more. And he started fortifying our bases.
00:50:31
Speaker
with teslaa Teslas. Can you tell us how you handled the security bots? Oh right, yeah. So we talked about in the pre-spoiler section the security bots that come out at night and you can fight them conventionally. It's not really advised to go toe to toe with crappy weapons because they'll just like beat you to death and it's not that much of a fight.
00:50:51
Speaker
um But you can tilt the odds in your favor by using things like the shock pads um on the ground to stun them for a time while you like wail on them with attacks. um But ultimately, the advanced form of this is you farm the security bonds. And so I have like um I had like military barricades basically set up with cement ah walls.
00:51:18
Speaker
um Surrounding or ah surrounding some of the sides around these Tesla turrets which do not They do not they're not racist or anything. They attack everyone um And at certain places I've had several in one location and their per their burst damage if they hit a player is a lot it's it's It's enough that like I'm surprised not more people have died to them. um But I think everybody's done a pretty good job of avoiding them. One of the robot. I just don't go to the bathroom that way anymore. yeah Kind of. you can run you can You can duck in real quick to like like break their line of sight, then run over and have a weed. I just kind of poof it in front of them. Because I'm like, I could take a hit or two.
00:52:06
Speaker
and more often than not, I forget they're there. And I'm like, dang, what's hitting me? And I'm just standing there like, I'm like, oh, it's the Tesla coils. Yeah, you can't stay there that long because they take like half of your health with two of them hitting you. but They're right next to the spawn for one of these robots. And like, it'll respawn each day night cycle, basically, which is important because it has resources that you want. And soda. Soda! Because that's their other job, is the the danger robots that come out at night. Also restock the vending machines. Yeah, and then I can shake them and get soda for the coworker. Uh-huh. Um, but yeah, the trap is set right next to it, the start of its patrol. So it basically comes into existence, emerges for the night, takes a left, and then is immediately just shocked repeatedly until it dies. Um, you can run over, flip a switch. It's, it's oshas it's OSHA approved. You can turn off the Tesla turrets. We're not full redstone, but we do have binary options. Uh-huh. I mean, I'm glad that it's not full redstone though, because that's,
00:53:16
Speaker
I, it was too much for me in Minecraft. Yeah. And I really don't like, at least for the Minecraft example, um, you're like, Oh, this would be a cool idea. And then you realize you have to rearrange your entire base to kind of accommodate that new design. Um, wasn't my favorite, but before I do, I did have a story about the security bots before they were being farmed.
00:53:41
Speaker
ah We were fighting one and it's not uncommon for one of the moves where it kind of like just grabs you, picks you up, shakes you and like throws you a little bit or puts you down. um There's one time that we were fighting one and we were trying to like trying to weave them around some of these shock pads to disable them. And at this point, we only have like stick melee weapons, basically. Um, we're at the stone age in this science. We were taking turns wacking cover me. Um, but basically it grabbed me and I was like, Oh no. And then it ran off with me. And I was like, is it going to put me down? Is it going to put me down? And this happened for like 25 to 30 seconds where I'm like, guys, what's happening?
00:54:27
Speaker
It eventually just it put me into like a prison cell and then just stood outside the door. You got put in time out. I seriously did. But I had never seen the interaction. So like in the moment. Oh, my God. Yeah. That was a fun one. It's pretty incredible.
Base Defense and Anomalies
00:54:45
Speaker
oh Games like this teach me I'm not that brave because I'll see a security dube coming after me and I'm like, I'm going to run back to base because there's other people there.
00:54:55
Speaker
right so i am the one who brings the enemies to base not to be antagonistic but it's like help i mean they're the bases have a lot of defenses right now so like they should be they should be good see now that's a viable strategy where before it's like i brought a friend with me and it's three security bots how we gotta we gotta mention We gotta mention the known pervert anomaly that follows us around. oh Because there's literally there's a turret in the base to protect against him. ah One on either entrance so that you can successfully idle in the base without being killed.
00:55:38
Speaker
Which I appreciate, by the way, because I don't usually carry that trinket toward them off. um But there is a being called the Laak that will appear occasionally, ah usually just to one player at a time. Yeah. And I think you have to stare at them to make them go away. um Otherwise, kind of like the ghost from Mario.
00:56:02
Speaker
um they will come ever closer and attack you. Yeah, it operates pretty much exactly like a boo. um But the other thing it does is, as it's approaching, it makes weird noises. It goes like, uh. It does stuff like that. Like, these are accurate, to my mind at least, reproductions of the weird sounds the Laak makes.
00:56:28
Speaker
um It's always like right behind you. and You're you're like, oh, please don't like you. it It's designed in such a way that it's hard to get fully jump scared by it, but it can happen, especially if you're doing something else and you don't hear it approach. um If it gets close enough to you, then it starts aggressing you. And this is basically like a floating octopus in the air, basically is kind of the way to remember that one specific unique enemy and Dark Souls one. If you go down towards um
00:56:59
Speaker
the fire area, which is of Izalith. But there's like a little octopus monster that has like two arms and then like this big weird cone head. Yeah, I know what you're talking about. They come out of the walls and stuff. Well, it's only that one. Oh, one. Gotcha. Yeah. Hmm. Basically, it's just a weird.
00:57:19
Speaker
octopus tentacle thing that is unsettling enough. Yeah. And you cannot convention conventionally fight it. Like normal, normal attacks don't really do anything to it. Um, and again, if it gets close enough, it starts kind of flailing at you with its arms, um, and is in like aggressive mode. So then looking at it doesn't dissuade it anymore. It won't go away.
00:57:43
Speaker
but it's a really well-designed enemy because one, if the situation's already really under control, it's not a threat at all. You hear it, you look for it, you find it, you stare at it for like six or seven seconds and you're good, right? You go about your business. But if you're already in danger, if you're fighting something, if you're running away from something and then the LAYAC shows up, well, now it's a more complicated situation.
00:58:11
Speaker
Um, but the turrets I was describing are specifically X-ray, uh, projectors and X-rays will, uh, they'll both banish the LAYAC, but also make it drop LAYAC essence, which is a craftable ingredient you
Immersive Sim Elements
00:58:28
Speaker
can farm. And we have so many of them now, um but, uh,
00:58:34
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's it's very fun. um And that's not even like the only enemy type that's like it, though I think it is a pretty big standout for how you have to engage with it. But I really like that they have a good handful variety of enemy types, because there's like some of the the aliens, ah there's some of the just human guards. Yeah. um And then when you kind of get to some of those specialized enemies, they all kind of behave differently. So.
00:59:04
Speaker
I don't think usually they overlap areas too much, but you always got to be accounting for something. Yeah. And just like, um, you know, in good immersive sims, and I consider this game a good immersive sim. Um, if you take let tailor your toolkit for what you're up against, it can be easier. Like some of the armor makes you so much less susceptible to bullets. Like, and if you're going in the area where there's a bunch of bullets being shot at you,
00:59:32
Speaker
Nice to have. um There's another set of armor that if you get the whole thing, you can turn invisible when you move slowly. And like I'm kind of playing a stealth build type character. And that's really, really nice for certain areas in the game. It's like, is there a mob of enemies that I don't want to deal with? I will not.
00:59:56
Speaker
um I've been really just jump padding my way out of many situations. o You've got the emergencies can also hit the jump pad, by the way. It's true. There was one time I want to jump pad in front of a door. And this one we were in the hallway. Yeah. And I went to explore an area and there's like a lot of guards there. I aggressive at least 10 to 12 of them and I run and then when I'm ah at a decently safe distance, I look back and I see like ah the kind of solitaire.
01:00:28
Speaker
or free-sell bouncing cards of these guards just kind of being launched into the air. The crazy thing is we haven't done this yet, but this is well this will be the peak experience for our playtime with the game. One of the first traps you can get, which I haven't set up any um this time. I did set up one for single player, but I couldn't find a way to make it actually very helpful, is literally just like a slightly angled spinning blade.
01:00:54
Speaker
um It just spins. It's not in response to something getting close or whatever. It's just a constantly spinning death blade. We get one of those. Get that set up in such a way that we can funnel enemies in. They'll bounce up, hit the blades. It'll be great. I like how he's planning more and more elaborate death threats. I like it.
01:01:21
Speaker
Yeah. But that's, that is kind of the type of game it is, is it's like, I bet I could make something cool. Right. I bet there's something cool to discover around the next corner. Um, I'm wondering what this mysterious monster everybody's talking about in these computer terminals is. Um, and that's awesome. Like I, I love that.
01:01:43
Speaker
In early access, a biotic factor is legitimately one of if not my favorite so survival crafting game, which is crazy because there are so many of them. Yeah, I have some more time with Minecraft, sure. But again, Minecraft is a very open sandbox type thing versus this.
Creative Gameplay and Absurd Anomalies
01:02:07
Speaker
The one thing that a biotic has um over the rest of them, I think, at least that I've played is you can sit on the chairs and wheel around. That is incredible. Yeah. That is incredibly important to me. You swing your legs too. As you're pushing, pushing yourself in the chair and the office chair. It's so good. It's so good. It's like being able to, sorry, the dog, you can sit in the chair and move and it makes the wheelie sound.
01:02:40
Speaker
It does, yeah. and You can use weapons. If you have a gun, you can wheel yourself around in an office chair, firing a gun. That's what I do. It's just like, oh, you need medical attention? Well, walk your way over to me and you start wheeling the chair. Calling the cavalry, like two people scooting down.
01:03:04
Speaker
on It's pretty incredible. um Any closing thoughts? We've already told people we we really enjoy the game. um If not, i can I can take it. I know I'm putting people on the spot here. I would say just check out the game. Yeah. um Watch the trailer. But like it's seriously a very good survival crafting thing. And it's been great playing with friends. So do recommend. The storytelling is delightful. Mm-hmm.
01:03:34
Speaker
And I always had like vague interest in like, oh, SCPs or whatever they're called. I never looked into it. And I'm like, this is a fun gateway into that for me. Yeah. There's a lot of.
01:03:52
Speaker
directly. We are ripping off as a piece like not literally stealing them from the universe, but the exact sort of formula for SCPs. um They, you know, copied their homework, but they changed. They changed. yeah That's all that matters. And I'm like, this is a more fun way for me to engage with that, because otherwise it's like, this is a super serious, creepy pasta. And I'm like, yeah, I get it. It's a little edgy for me. So the absurdist take on it. That's also dipping into horror. Technically, I'm like, that's nice.
01:04:28
Speaker
ahha And then occasionally you just run into and an anomaly. That's like, it's a antique shotgun and it's an anomaly. What are its special properties? Well, everything about it is that it's an antique shotgun, but we know it's an anomaly. So one of my favorites is the yellow paint yeah anomaly. That's really good. You want to describe that one? What's the yellow paint anomaly do? Uh, it tells you where to go.
01:04:59
Speaker
Yep. That's it. It's just beautiful commentary on yellow paint. Uh-huh. I don't like that's so goofy. It's really good. Um, but that's a biotic factor. Um, thank you Mango for, for coming on being our guest for this episode. Always pleasure to, to, to have you here.
01:05:23
Speaker
Yeah, always happy to dilute the sausage parties when I can. There's just so much sausage. It's just endless amounts of sausage everywhere. I walk into the room ah and you just can't help but kick one and it's like, oh, okay. Kicking, not advised.
01:05:40
Speaker
the um But yeah, ah we'll we'll see how long it takes before we have another one of these. you know If we're starting these back up, You know, got to get through our guest rotation, but hopefully you're still around for the next one and willing to come back. I'll be back for the next abiotic. As they release more content coming out in February. Oh. Spicy steps. Oh my gosh. Not even that far away. um But for the people out there that are listening, if you guys have ideas
01:06:13
Speaker
for future episodes, maybe games you want to recommend. We met recently. We revised our upcoming games list, so ah you could maybe help bump some of them up the listing a little bit if you suggest something that's already there. Or maybe there's a game we haven't even considered yet. Send in your recommendation, soapstonepodcastatgmail.com, or join the discussion on Facebook at facebook dot.com slash soapstonepodcast. And as always, we'll see you in the next one. Have a good night.
01:06:43
Speaker
Goodbye, crime banks.