Syberia Game Hints
Syberia Spoilers
Syberia Cheats and Links
Syberia 2 Review
Syberia Walkthrough
Welcome to my Syberia walk-through. (-: If you're new to my series of low-spoiler computer game walkthroughs, the idea is to point players
towards things they might not have thought of in each game rather than giving away puzzle solutions or offering step-by-step instructions. There's not much
point to playing an adventure game if you know all the puzzle solutions in advance, and there's no point at all in investigating a
mysterious plotline if you've already had the plot spoiled.
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So these pages are as close to spoiler-free as possible while still providing valuable Syberia hints and tips. If you are looking for the
solution to a particular puzzle, I recommend the excellent UHS site--you can only see one hint at a time there,
so you can get the answer to one puzzle without ruining all the others for yourself.
If that interests you, here is the link to the UHS Syberia page. My website here focuses on exactly the things UHS and traditional
walkthroughs don't: the non-critical parts of the game, little detours you can take, extra details you might miss if you only did what was strictly necessary
to win the game. If you want even fewer spoilers--you're considering whether or not to buy the game, for example, and just want to know whether there's
anything you're going to hate in it--please try my Syberia Review page to find all
the pertinent information in one convenient spoiler-free package.
Adventure games in general tend to be more linear than CRPG's, and Syberia is no exception. It's impossible to miss the vast majority of this game--
if you don't complete a conversation, finish a quest, or notice a meaningful detail, you generally aren't allowed to leave the area until you rectify this.
Even so, there are a few game elements that it's possible to skip accidentally. I'll list those for you here:
Valadilene
Here's a list of the things you can do in Valadilene that are completely optional. Some of them are interesting and shed extra light on one or more of the
characters, so try not to miss them:
*talk to Momo before asking the innkeeper for help (otherwise the innkeeper will shoo him away and you'll lose that conversation).
*talk to the old man on the bench outside.
*talk to the baker.
*when you talk to the notary, telling him about your mission ends the conversation forever, so you may want to ask him about the automaton, Anna, and help before
bringing up the mission (since he has a bit to say about each of those).
*you can play all four of the punchcards, though only the purple one has an effect. The other three include "Silent Night," the wedding march, and some random-sounding ringing.
Once you play the purple card Kate will discard the others, so if you want to hear the other songs, play them first.
*talking to the innkeeper again near the end of the chapter yields a few new conversations about Hans, the train, and the mission.
*Oscar's conversations on the train all change between this chapter and the next, so talk to him thoroughly before winding the train.
Other notes:
I'm assuming the "O" and "F" on the power wheel in the factory stand for "ouvert" and "fermé," the French words for "open" and "closed." (-:
Barrockstadt
This is the most frustrating chapter. There is a huge amount of long, tedious trudging back and forth between three inconveniently
located NPCs multiple times before they finally give in and tell you where one of the key items is. You have to ask about some topics multiple times to advance the plot,
which is particularly unpleasant since asking about other topics multiple times just results in boring repetition and there's no way to tell which is which.
A single long corridor is about twelve rooms long,
even though most of them are just slightly different camera angles of the same space with nothing in them, so it takes many clicks to get back and forth. Doors stay locked
until you've done an obscure and irrelevant task, then suddenly and magically open. At the apex of the aggravation, you find (probably after much wasted time jogging
around looking for a clue) that the plot cannot advance until you step into one particular area all the way to one side of the map--at which point your cell phone rings and
you are directed to go back to the other side of the map to meet someone (who wasn't there until you stepped into that unrelated area to trigger the phone call).
That was the point at which I nearly quit playing this game. For what it's worth, I'm glad I didn't. It does get better; a lot better.
There are few optional actions you can take in this chapter:
*talk to the skeevy college student hanging around outside the university.
*read the information about the "Ivory Ark" on Pons' desk (near the mammoth doll).
*listen to the third record cylinder (you won't be able to leave without putting it in its proper place, but it's also worth listening to.)
*there are wrap-up conversations to be had with Professor Pons, the Rectors, the Stationmaster, and Oscar once the train has been successfully moved.
*there are even more conversations with Oscar available in the ticket booth; some are quite funny.
Other notes: This chapter is full of injoke references to the author's first game, Amerzone.
Komkolzgrad
The game takes on a nice dramatic urgency in this chapter. By this point I cared about Oscar far more than Kate seemed to, so I was highly motivated to recover his
hands.
There are few optional actions you can take in this chapter:
*Find the fourth record cylinder, and listen to it. (This cylinder is entirely optional, but it does complete the set.)
*Talk to Oscar and Sergei again before leaving on the monorail, otherwise you will lose those conversations (some of Sergei's are illuminating).
*Talk to Boris thoroughly before picking up the vodka bottle, as all his dialogue changes shortly thereafter.
Pitfalls:
If you leave the capsule in lifted position, you won't be able to find Boris anywhere. Why not? Well, it's not exactly clear from the dialogue, but he's inside it at the time. Just put it down to talk to him again.
Aralbad
The hotel concierge is particularly poorly translated and voice-acted. (The nadir was when he inexplicably said "No way Jose," and pronounced it "Josie." :P) On the
other hand, Helena is incredibly poignant. The themes of aging and regret permeating this game are sad, profound, and more than a bit disturbing.
There are few optional actions you can take in this chapter:
*try to go outside without the gas mask. (This isn't fatal, you just won't get far.)
*talk to the concierge again after Helena vouches for you--he has several new comments to make.
*talk to the chess players (they have nothing useful to say, but you can get three different chess-related mumblings out of them if you keep trying).
Pitfalls:
Don't forget the brochure when you sneak behind the desk! If you forget it, you won't get a phone number you'll need later.
Endgame
From here on in the game consists of brief episodes with few diversions back in locations you've thoroughly explored already: one in Komkolzgrad again, and one in Aralbad.
The cutscene upon arriving back in Komkolzgrad is utterly amazing. The imagery of the faded opera star singing "Ochi Chornya" to an audience of robotic factory workers
completely blew me away--and the ending of that cutscene sent a genuine shock down my spine. The final cutscene of the game was nicely dramatic too (hey, Kate
does know how to go faster than a loping jog when she's really motivated to! She didn't even move this fast when there was a bomb in the elevator earlier.)
There are few optional actions you can take in this chapter:
*If you go back to Sergei's room in Komkolzgrad, he will give you an extra monologue when you touch the door, though you still can't converse with him.
*You can talk to Oscar upon returning to the train and again after the giant automaton moves.
*When you return to Aralbad, you can have two new dialogues with the hotel concierge if you speak to him about your mission before and after the package arrives.
*You can talk to Oscar upon arriving in Aralbad, and you can have a new dialogue if you speak to him about your mission again after Felix tells you about the package.
Afterward
Hey! What about the mammoths? And the toy factory? And we never went to Syberia! Isn't that the name of this game??? Yeah, there are a lot of loose ends at
the finale of this one. You never do discover the "secret" promised on the cover of the game box. What I'm sure happened is that the production of this game ran too long
due to all the amazing graphics and movie cutscenes and such, and so the game designers chose to break it in half and release it in two installments. This bait and switch
annoyed me somewhat, but it's still a good game even without any payoff about the secret, and now that
Syberia II is also out in stores, you can finish the epic without having to wait if
you so desire. (-:
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