SOMA meaning?

[Teras]

Does anyone know the meaning behind the name? Is it an acronym?

[KeybladeBanditJing]

Somatic Philosphy. "I know I'm real because I believe I'm real, but am I really real? Is everyone else around me real?"

[python4161]

Originally posted by keybladebanditjing:

Somatic Philosphy. "I know I'm real because I believe I'm real, but am I really real? Is everyone else around me real?"

wow, you can tell this game is going to be deep.

[AestheticGamer aka Dusk Golem]

All I know is that SOMA is the nicknamename of a real world drug Carisoprodol, used for relaxing muscle tension, that was banned from doctor prescription a few years back (not sure if it was unbanned or what since then).

I'm pretty sure that's not what the game is about,but -shrugs-

[Snake]

"soma" is just the Latin word for "body".

Obviously the game will have a lot to do with your own body, the bodies of enemies, how you will get mangled and heal through sequences that the dev described as "slightly disturbing".

[Mazi7]

Originally posted by keybladebanditjing:

Somatic Philosphy. "I know I'm real because I believe I'm real, but am I really real? Is everyone else around me real?"

Thats best explanation really

[Snake]

Definitely not the best explanation to me. Going too metaphysical usually hurts horror games, even if they are going for a subtler approach. It did hurt Machine for Pigs a lot, because it ended up being a sad story about a man gone crazy instead of anything even resembling a horror game.

[♡ Katalina Aryze ♡]

Originally posted by §Teras§:

Does anyone know the meaning behind the name? Is it an acronym?

(S)ynthetic

(O)rganisms

with

(M)emories

(A)ccentuated

[gobbins]

Originally posted by Snake:

Definitely not the best explanation to me. Going too metaphysical usually hurts horror games, even if they are going for a subtler approach. It did hurt Machine for Pigs a lot, because it ended up being a sad story about a man gone crazy instead of anything even resembling a horror game.

Machine For Pigs was supposed to be a horror game? I always thought of it as a narrative thriller, and a bloody good one at that. I'll be the first to admit they done themselves no favors by tagging the Amnesia name on their product. It was clearly meant to be a narrative driven game, and that's fine - especially given the developers past games, but there were certain expectations out there for it to live up to the original.

Personally, I preferred AMFP over the original. I found the original game good, but it just didn't grab me. It failed to scare me, so as a result, it failed to do what it was designed to do. Story was not a focus, and the gameplay was less interactive than the Penumbra games that came before it. I definitely remember thinking Penumbra: Black Plague was a better game than Amnesia.

But hey, the game is free right now, so if you're one of the three people who haven't played it yet, give it a shot!

[Snake]

Don't get me wrong. Pigs has its merits. It's just that DDescent is the quintessential horror experience for me. Alien Iso was drowning in praise and accolades and while I enjoyed what little I played from it, it was just functional and getting the job of scaring me done, while maintaining a great atmosphere.

DDescent makes me feel a bodily revulsion. I am literally shaking when I play it. I am a 30-year-old man. I am literally too horrified to play the game. I feel like every fiber of the carpets and every splinter in the rafters, every piece of rubble wants to rape me and defecate down my throat. I feel like I'm stuck in the worst place that could exist on earth.

I expect Soma will go down better, I find the modern setting and robotic entities much more acceptable than the botched flesh things of Amnesia and the ancestral, primal horror of DD setting and plot.

[Fearful Light]

Originally posted by Snake:

"soma" is just the Latin word for "body".

Obviously the game will have a lot to do with your own body, the bodies of enemies, how you will get mangled and heal through sequences that the dev described as "slightly disturbing".

Greek actually, but Latin borrows much from Greek anyway. Hellinism and all that.

[Snake]

Originally posted by Fearful Light:

Originally posted by Snake:

"soma" is just the Latin word for "body".

Obviously the game will have a lot to do with your own body, the bodies of enemies, how you will get mangled and heal through sequences that the dev described as "slightly disturbing".

Greek actually, but Latin borrows much from Greek anyway. Hellinism and all that.

My bad! Sorry. Latin would be 'corpus', no?

[Fearful Light]

Originally posted by Snake:

Originally posted by Fearful Light:

Greek actually, but Latin borrows much from Greek anyway. Hellinism and all that.

My bad! Sorry. Latin would be 'corpus', no?

Yes indeed.

[Anelis]

1. "soma" (σώμα) in Greek means "body"
2. I also read that in the Indian language "Soma" is a name that means "nectar of immortality"
3. "Soma is also the cell body of a neuron (brain cell)"

And since Tomas Grip has said that "What you have is a word that stands for both the physical body and the immaterial mind." i think it could be all three of the above combined.

http://www.rpgwatch.com/news/soma--interview-the-wayfaring-dreamer-33016.html

[dnrob7]

Originally posted by Whum :D:

As far as I know, Mikko Termia (the producer behind Soma's soundtrack) is Finnish. Soma means cute or pretty in his language. Of course, I don't think that's what they intended it to mean in this context. It's just something I noticed.

I speak fluent finnish yet that never even occured to me.. Maybe it's because I find the language unpleasant on the ears in every way and end up avoiding it totally.

[Amadeus]

somatic
səˈmatɪk
adjective
relating to the body, especially as distinct from the mind.