Return of the Obra Dinn

[Zombra]

Finally got around to playing this. It's as brilliant as everyone says.

I'm not as smart as Tigranes - I didn't perfectly determine each single factoid before entering it - but I did as the game suggested and used process of elimination and a lot of educated guesswork. Glad to have made it to the end with 100% solved, zero spoilers and zero lookups.

Amusingly, I made an early mistake about the interface which caused a lot of unnecessary confusion. I thought that naming a guy something like "Unknown Steward" meant that he was a steward that wasn't on the ship's register for some reason. Like, Unknown Steward was a guy. It wasn't until my very last matchup of the main sequence that I was like, hey all those unknown guys are left over oh I'm an idiot.

 

[MajorMace]

#1 Game I recommended to my non gamer friends during the lockdown and they all loved it.

 

[luj1]

Very stylish concept

 

[WhiskeyWolf]

Just finished the "Return of the Obra Dinn". Picked this up on a recommendation from a certain discord server. What a terrific, terrific game.

 

[Boleskine]

 

[Tacgnol]

Finally got round to playing this, got gifted it by a friend on steam ages ago. I went in almost completely blind, the only thing I knew was the game's blurb.

Very impressive game, the sort of game you wish you could forget so you could experience fresh all over again.

The mixed up chronology was really clever.

 

[Erebus]

Recently started playing the game. I've solved 12 fates so far.

The game is very original and the challenge it presents is highly enjoyable. You really have to pay attention to details and use your brain.

On the downside, the game tends to give me motion sickness rather quickly. I guess it's kind of appropriate to feel seasick while playing it, but it's still a pain in the ass.

 

[Tramboi]

Maybe tweaking the filters or playing in a window might make it less puke-inducing ?

 

[Neuromancer]

Maybe you can set a higher field of view (FoV).
That at least helped me to play "The Witness". (In earlier versions of that game the default value for FoV was really low, so many people experienced motion sickness.)

 

[Maxie]

Finally got to playing it. For some reason I assumed for the longest time that Wiater is captains mate since none of the uniforms told me anything
P cute to call each and every adversary Beast

 

[Wunderbar]

Maxie fresh bastard.

 

[HoboForEternity]

i finally played it. started on saturday, finished today. highly enjoyable game, i almost got everything right except for few i had to look up some guide:

Spoiler

hok seng lau the dude that got executed. i was confused because i assigned the wolff as his killer (the one who ordered the execution) turns out you have to assign it to the person whose bullet connects (aka brennan)

the second is the guy who got spiked, but didn't die from the spike but shot when he crawled to the side of the deck trough the wall. heck that scene is confusing to look since you only have the porthole to see. i thought a second spike came trough and pierced him trough the wall, but he was shot by the frenchman

other than that, some took quite a bit off educated guesswork, but since i deduce them by information that's available to you (their uniforms, positioning in the illustrations, who they are with in the image and their race) that's part of the intended design.

 

[v1rus]

Completed it, overnight, a masterpiece. All found, NO GUIDES USED. I cant remember the last time that happened tbh. The game may be a bit on the easy side thus, but who cares, it rocks.

Mind you..

Spoiler

the kid that took the shell in the last scene, boards the boat with two women and dr. IMPLICATIONS? More Cthulhu abominations roaming around? Fat chances, bat a man can dream.

 

[v1rus]

hought that naming a guy something like "Unknown Steward" meant that he was a steward that wasn't on the ship's register for some reason. Like, Unknown Steward was a guy. It wasn't until my very last matchup of the main sequence that I was like, hey all those unknown guys are left over oh I'm an idiot.

So did I! thankfully, I read this post after two hours of play, and you sorted it out for me :D Ty!

 

[Unkillable Cat]

From what I gathered...

Spoiler

there were no shells in the hands of human survivors by the end of the tale. The last imprisoned mermaid was given one, but the fate of the other three shells is unknown. Cpt. Witterel claimed to have thrown them overboard, but that's it.

 

[v1rus]

From what I gathered...

Spoiler

there were no shells in the hands of human survivors by the end of the tale. The last imprisoned mermaid was given one, but the fate of the other three shells is unknown. Cpt. Witterel claimed to have thrown them overboard, but that's it.

Spoiler

Are you sure? I might be going crazy, but in fourth part of the Bargain we can see the fourth mates stewart and the first mates stewart taking the mermaid and the shell. next time (real soon ingame time) we see them, they are boarding the ship with two chicks and doctor. The first mates stewart dies by the hands of the russian who doesnt want to let them go, the ruskie is killed by the chick, and thats it. The boat goes off. Its quite logical to assume the shell is still with them.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I'm not 100% sure, but...

Spoiler

There were only ever three mermaids, and the Captain kills two of them. The last mermaid was given the shell from the casket in the lazarette, which was the only confirmed shell at the time. Davey James was present at that moment, yes, but at what point could he have procured a second shell for himself, without incurring the wrath of the last mermaid?

If what you're saying is true, then Lucas Pope left that in there as the hook for a possible sequel, but that means we can't get a definite answer to that question until *later*... or around the time he announces the sequel. (My prediction? Highly unlikely.)

 

[v1rus]

I'm not 100% sure, but...

Spoiler

There were only ever three mermaids, and the Captain kills two of them. The last mermaid was given the shell from the casket in the lazarette, which was the only confirmed shell at the time. Davey James was present at that moment, yes, but at what point could he have procured a second shell for himself, without incurring the wrath of the last mermaid?

If what you're saying is true, then Lucas Pope left that in there as the hook for a possible sequel, but that means we can't get a definite answer to that question until *later*... or around the time he announces the sequel. (My prediction? Highly unlikely.)

Spoiler

They are carrying the last mermaid and the shell together, to toss it out in the sea. I thought they lied and hid the shell while they escaped, but yeah, they probably wouldnt manage to survive that. Curious.

In any case I doubt its sequel bait tho, I think its more of a "the horror is still out there" kind of thing.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Spoiler

IMO it's obvious that the shell was tossed out into the sea, for two reasons. One is that the glow of the shell can be seen in the water when you walk on the ship. Second - wasn't that the entire point of the "bargain"? We toss you overboard with your stupid shell but you take the Obra Dinn back home? So given #1, the mermaid with the shell must still be there with a yuge tow rope.

 

[Alan]

I played this with my brother; very addictive overall. We noticed the numbers in the bunks, but decided against following them. I guess the numbers correspond to their position on the crew list?

At the start, the narration tells you to obtain some identities through elimination. I took it as a license to brute-force between ruskies and whatever.

This Lucas Pope guy must be somewhat out-of-the-loop, because he expects the player to think in stereotypes. I know the game is set in the past; still not a popular design. It's nice that he does his own thing, as long as the puzzles work

I loved the short ambiguous dialogue before the start of each scene. Then it cues the huge flash of climatic violence, a mariner's destiny, and a sound chill

Some detail on the characters was nice. I told my brother that the older passenger was clearly Emily, because the other one got called a "miss". My brother was not convinced, until he noticed the small wedding ring on Emily's finger!

But I gotta say, I don't know how you guys managed to play this. There was nothing fun about it, except for me helping my brother and vice versa. Technicalities, nationalities and violence; no cool story and no heart. I wonder how the creator would think that the game was fun. He clearly spent this huge amount of effort; was it so much worth it when the game worked? Idk, guess the game sold

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I played this with my brother; very addictive overall. We noticed the numbers in the bunks, but decided against following them. I guess the numbers correspond to their position on the crew list?

At the start, the narration tells you to obtain some identities through elimination. I took it as a license to brute-force between ruskies and whatever.

This Lucas Pope guy must be somewhat out-of-the-loop, because he expects the player to think in stereotypes. I know the game is set in the past; still not a popular design. It's nice that he does his own thing, as long as the puzzles work

I loved the short ambiguous dialogue before the start of each scene. Then it cues the huge flash of climatic violence, a mariner's destiny, and a sound chill

Some detail on the characters was nice. I told my brother that the older passenger was clearly Emily, because the other one got called a "miss". My brother was not convinced, until he noticed the small wedding ring on Emily's finger!

But I gotta say, I don't know how you guys managed to play this. There was nothing fun about it, except for me helping my brother and vice versa. Technicalities, nationalities and violence; no cool story and no heart. I wonder how the creator would think that the game was fun. He clearly spent this huge amount of effort; was it so much worth it when the game worked? Idk, guess the game sold

You are easily the biggest autist to post on this forum in quite some time.

This is a game about anthropology (both general and historical) and the player's awareness in that environment.

It's not the game's fault if the player is lacking in these departments and purposefully ignores what the game is telling them.

It's not the game's fault (nor the author's) if the player doesn't understand people, which is clearly your case.

A large majority of the rest of us understood the game and enjoyed it just fine.

The problems are all on your end. Work on them.

 

[Zombra]

There was nothing fun about it, except for my brother and I solving all the mysteries.

Congratulations, solving the mysteries is the game. Glad you had fun.

 

[Humbaba]

I love how he points out things that are good about the game and then concludes that it is shit without elaborating at all.

Technicalities, nationalities and violence

The unholy trifecta of bad video games (???????????)

 

[Alan]

I played this with my brother; very addictive overall. We noticed the numbers in the bunks, but decided against following them. I guess the numbers correspond to their position on the crew list?

At the start, the narration tells you to obtain some identities through elimination. I took it as a license to brute-force between ruskies and whatever.

This Lucas Pope guy must be somewhat out-of-the-loop, because he expects the player to think in stereotypes. I know the game is set in the past; still not a popular design. It's nice that he does his own thing, as long as the puzzles work

I loved the short ambiguous dialogue before the start of each scene. Then it cues the huge flash of climatic violence, a mariner's destiny, and a sound chill

Some detail on the characters was nice. I told my brother that the older passenger was clearly Emily, because the other one got called a "miss". My brother was not convinced, until he noticed the small wedding ring on Emily's finger!

But I gotta say, I don't know how you guys managed to play this. There was nothing fun about it, except for me helping my brother and vice versa. Technicalities, nationalities and violence; no cool story and no heart. I wonder how the creator would think that the game was fun. He clearly spent this huge amount of effort; was it so much worth it when the game worked? Idk, guess the game sold

You are easily the biggest autist to post on this forum in quite some time.

This is a game about anthropology (both general and historical) and the player's awareness in that environment.

It's not the game's fault if the player is lacking in these departments and purposefully ignores what the game is telling them.

It's not the game's fault (nor the author's) if the player doesn't understand people, which is clearly your case.

A large majority of the rest of us understood the game and enjoyed it just fine.

The problems are all on your end. Work on them.

Lmao anthropology. The history of exploding pirates maybe? What a pedantic asshole. You sound like a Resetera admin

 

[Alan]

I love how he points out things that are good about the game and then concludes that it is shit without elaborating at all.

Technicalities, nationalities and violence

The unholy trifecta of bad video games (???????????)

Should I really explain why checking nationalities and technical details is no fun? And I'm the one who's autistic?

The violence is not worth it. A lot of gory snapshots about random targets. The story was stupid macguffin, shitty ending and little conclusion. Gameplay was not stimulating enough. We finished it because the collaboration was enjoyable. Looking back, I think we should have looked for another game

I did say that the game was well-done and mentioned some merits. But still didn't find a point to the game, and don't understand why anybody would make it. Why don't you try harder to see what I mean before joining the circlejerk