The Ultimate SOMA Discussion Thread

[emaper]

Why the research base is named PATHOS-2?
Isn't that name bit too much "in your face"?
I mean who would name a base SUFFERING-2, which I guess is a pretty good equivalent of what the Greek term "πάθος" means? (or disease, scourge, something arousing feelings of pity/sorrow.) Or is it somekind of pathology research base?

It is pretty interesting and I'd like to share my point of view.
"Pathos", (πάθος), is referred to emotions and feelings in general.
It doesn't have a negative connotation at all.
Love, rage, exasperation, passion, etc... all these feelings, led to an extreme level, results in pathos.
Soma revolves around robots able to experience human feelings and rebel, so... "pathos" seems to have a strong connection.

[Cyberneering]

I wonder if the omni-tool also has similar function to Alien Isolation's motion detector?

[plutomaniac]

Love, rage, exasperation, passion, etc... all these feelings, led to an extreme level, results in pathos.

Pathos (πάθος) means passion, simple as that.

[emaper]

Pathos (πάθος) means passion, simple as that.

Yeah! I was trying to explain it more in detail.
I'm a Classical Lyceum student and only god knows how many lessons about "pathos" I've done ahaha

[Paddy™]

Regarding the Beta build:

So far the average tester's time to complete SOMA is 9h 30min.

Slightly less than the 11 hours predicted in November 2014, but still more than the 8 hours predicted in March 2014 when the game was in Alpha. I think 9 & 1/2 hours is perfectly fine, it's a few hours longer than Amnesia and that game didn't feel like it was too short on the first playthrough.

[Googolplex]

10 hours is a perfect time for a horror game.

[BAndrew]

This is the time it takes to complete SOMA by just doing the "main", so to speak, quest or by taking your time to explore basically everything the game has to offer?

[Paddy™]

This is the time it takes to complete SOMA by just doing the "main", so to speak, quest or by taking your time to explore basically everything the game has to offer?

Good question. I would assume it's the latter, because I reckon Beta testers would be primed to check every nook and cranny of the game to try and break it haha.

That said, some people are still taking 11 hours to finish it, according to Thomas' responses in the Twitter conversation. The "average" is 9 & 1/2 hours, but maybe 11 hours would be a reasonable upper limit for those of us who like to explore everything in minute detail.

[BAndrew]

@Paddy

Thanks for the answer. It makes sense.

However Thomas tweeted this

So probably the same thing could happen for SOMA, but 9 and 1/2 hours are fantastic nonetheless!

[Kein]

Not too shabby.