Somsnosa

* Hylics
* Hylics 2

**"***Oh hey Wayne.***"**
— **Somsnosa (Hylics)**

**Somsnosa** is one of the party members of *Hylics* and *Hylics 2*. She retains the title of holding dominion over the Bugs.

## Bio

### Appearance

#### *Hylics*

Somsnosa is a blue humanoid with short, black hair, black boots, and a two-legged gait. She is equipped with a spotted, burgundy poncho that grants "Poncho Power" and a white helmet that is referred to as a "Demon Skull". After helping Somsnosa retrieve her magic gauntlets, she grants Wayne's crew the ability to convert Bugs into mightiness.

#### *Hylics 2*

Somsnosa remains much the same as in the previous game, but with a less curvaceous figure and more human proportions and face. She is equipped with a new helmet, which she says to be the skull of a Post Dog, covering semi-shoulder length dark hair with blue lighting. She sports her signature red poncho, but it has lost its spotted pattern.

### Personality

#### *Hylics*

When you first encounter Somsnosa, she is seen sitting on her couch sulking in sadness by the loss of her gauntlets — a raincloud is seen over her head to further demonstrate her depression. Despite losing her gauntlets in her own basement, and having a Warp Crystal nearby incase of dying from the Ambulant Skulls, it's only when she joins Wayne's crew does she seem confident in retrieving them back. However, if Wayne's crew is unsuccessful in getting Somsnosa's gauntlets back, she removes herself from the crew and continues to sulk back on her couch. If Wayne declines helping Somsnosa, she accepts it and says "That's fine I guess".

#### *Hylics 2*

Compared to most characters in Hylics 2 adopting a much more verbose style of language, Somsnosa's mannerisms are somewhat more relaxed and more akin to contemporary speech. The reason for this is unknown. Wayne in particular seems to reduce his formal tone around her, though this could be because they're already friends.

Somsnosa does not exhibit any depressive behavior in Hylics 2, suggesting she has gotten better since the first game.

## History

### *Hylics*

Somsnosa can be found inside Somsnosa's House, sulking on her couch with a rain cloud over her head. She mentions that she left her magic gauntlets in her basement, which Ambulant Skulls now infest, and asks for Wayne's help retrieving them. If Wayne accepts, Somsnosa says "Nice." and temporarily joins the crew. After you retrieve the magic gauntlets, she permanently stays in Wayne's party.

It is actually possible to recover Somsnosa's Magic Gauntlets before even speaking to her, by accessing the hidden ladder behind her house leading into the basement. Doing so and speaking to her will cause her to immediately join your party permanently.

### *Hylics 2*

In the time between Hylics 1 and 2, Somsnosa's House was overrun by Ambulant Skulls to the point where she was forced to move. She now lives at the Juice Ranch with other farmers.

Somsnosa can be found at the Juice Ranch, on an island northwest of the overworld and south of the Worm Facility. She is seen preoccupied with numerous enemies prior to Wayne's arrival, and nonchalantly asks for Wayne's assistance when he talks to her. After the battle, she explains that the enemies had hid themselves in a "giant juice beast egg", and were thus able to enter her ranch uncontested. Beholding a key, Somsnosa deduces that it unlocks the Worm Facility to the north. Wayne then decides that to be their next destination.

Whilst riding the Airship, you can speak to Somsnosa on the lower decks as with other party members. The first time you speak to her once she joins the party, she will give you a Muscle Applique.

During the final confrontation with Gibby, Somsnosa protests against the planet's destruction because she just set up a new ranch. Along with Dedusmuln's archaeology fascination, Gibby dismisses them as "trivialities".

## Strategy

### Hylics

* Somsnosa is arguably the strongest party member in the game for her incredibly high attack stat, which can be raised further via bug conversion. Gestures used by Somsnosa hit incredibly hard, particularly when combined with Calibration.
* Bugs are small, white creatures which consist of many clay lumps loosely held together in a variety of shapes. You will find them throughout the overworld long before meeting Somsnosa. It may be helpful to remember the locations of Bugs so you can go back and convert them to increase Somsnosa's power.
* Somsnosa's signature gesture is Mini Leech, which causes heavy damage onto all enemies and returns health to Somsnosa equal to the damage dealt. It is especially powerful against groups, though it can also be used on bosses to give Somsnosa good self-sustain so long as the player can manage its high Will costs.
* Somsnosa's main flaw is her inability to make use of Weapons - her Magic Gauntlets are the *only* item she can use. Whilst they are powerful, it prevents her from using items with secondary beneficial effects such as the Parasite Crystal.

#### Hylics 2

* Somsnosa fits the archetype of a traditional RPG spellcaster, with low defences but high offensive power. She has the highest base Will stat of any party members at 80, making her an effective user of Gestures.
* Somsnosa's signature Gesture is Wave Artifice. This attack is able to strike every enemy on the field, albeit with a -%30 damage penalty. Despite its high 50 Will cost, it is one of few multi-target attacks in Hylics 2, making it very powerful.
	+ Using Charge Up with Wave Artifice will remove the damage penalty, causing every target to be struck at full power. Furthermore, two additional "Wavelets" will strike two random enemies. This actually gives Charged Wave Artifice decent single-target power, as a lone enemy will be hit three times in one attack for good damage.
* Though Somsnosa has a high Will stat, giving her items which increase will such as the Pleather Gauge, Looped Dome or Converter Worm are all ideal due to her frequent Gesture usage. Alternatively, you may prefer using Flesh-boosting items to cover her frailty, such as the Organ Fort.

## Trivia

* Somsnosa is the band's vocalist.
* A more low-quality pixel version of Somsnosa's sprite can be found in the files known as "!$SomsnosaRetro". The pre-release screenshot of Somsnosa's early sprite playing a guitar is found on Mason Lindroth's Tumblr post, dated January 18, 2015.
* *Somsnosa* was the name of an early build of *Hylics*. The name is an anagram of two other games by Mason Lindroth called *Asmosnos* and *Mossnaso*. All these names are inspired by a very old typo of Mason's; when he was three years old he failed to write his name on a drawing, resulting in gibberish made with the letters of his name. Most of his game jam projects were named following this principle of rearranging the letters of "Mason".
* All of the files for Somsnosa's sprites are named specifically for her. Dedusmuln, Pongorma, and Wayne are all saved with the name "Clayman".
* There is an equippable Garb in Hylics 2 called the Psychic Knuckles which offers a substantial +30 Power bonus, the highest of any Garb in the game. It can be interpreted to be a successor to Somsnosa's Magic Gauntlets due to similar naming and functionality.
* An earlier, likely unfinished, design of her was shown in an early trailer for Hylics 2, showing her with no face, a brighter white skull helmet, and no hair.
* Many people mistook Somsnosa's blue hair on her Hylics 2 portrait as a vail, Mason said "*The veil on Somsnosa is not canon. It’s just hair. The blue coloration was added to the portrait graphic for aesthetic reasons.".* He also clarifies *"It's dark hair, it's just blue here to add some texture/detail while keeping the color palette as reduced as possible.".* This can all be seen here*.*
* In Hylics 2, Somsnosa is no longer able to use her ability to gain power from bugs. When asked about this by Wayne, she says she is taking a break from it.

## Gallery

Somsnosa's portrait from the first game.Somsnosa's portrait from the second game.Somsnosa's idle sprite from the second game.An older sprite sheet of SomsnosaA face sprite for Somsnosa, seen in an earlier trailer.Sad, without her gauntletsSomsnosa fighting a group of enemies inside the ranch.The walk cycle of Somsnosa's early Hylics 2 design, which was posted by Mason in the hylicord.Mason showing off Somsnosa's character rig.

## References

1. ↑ Tumblr
2. ↑ [1]

Sage of Monitors • Sage of Accretions • Sage of Satellites (*Hylics 2*)