Current Events > I am playing Return of the Obra Dinn.

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'm on a mystery game kick I guess. I'm not sure if I'm feeling this one so far. I've just been moving from body to body for an hour.

Amazing game.

It's interesting playing this right after The Case of the Golden Idol because both are games where you are outside the mystery itself, and the goal is to match up every acquired piece of information.

Navigating in Obra Dinn kind of frustrates me though. I don't understand what's the trigger for when the scene goes and fills another page in the notebook, and there seems to be a LOT of arbitrary waiting centered around the compass and waiting for the visual effects to catch up to what I want to do.

I think its interesting the game starts with the kraken attack because the events on the ship before that will assumably have been more subdued, so it will be a wait-and-see to understand what else is going on that's interesting

this whole thing about the secret bargain is reminding me of an episode of "Love, Death and Robots" that my friends showed me. I wonder if both stories have a common heritage to something about a captain making a deal with a horrible sea creature.

I made a hint-through for the game last year. In case you want some hints to the answers without necessarily getting the outright solution.

Erm, storms coming

Doe posted...

Erm, storms coming

Don't worry too much about that (mechanics spoilers) it just means that you've viewed all the possible Fates and there are no new ones to find. You have all the time you need to solve as many Fates as you want.

I really enjoyed that game. One of my favourites of the last decade probably.

Is there a way to hop to memories without going to the body?

Doe posted...

Is there a way to hop to memories without going to the body?

Unfortunately not. It's a bit of a hassle, especially for the ones that are inside several layered flashbacks, but that's just the way it is.

I fucking love that game

I decided to stop for the night. I think I need to handle this in a more organizational manner, and maybe not on my couch.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm connecting the right clues. The bosun asked what happened to his frenchman and they told him he was torn apart. The bosun's mate is the only French person but that wasn't right. The guy who was torn in half by the kraken was actually the ropeman from New Guinea. I was able to guess that because I knew that was a colony of France, but I wonder how familiar the average player is with that, or if that was even who the bosun was talking about. Maybe the bosun's mate also got torn apart.

Keep in mind that you will not see all of the deaths, just those that you find the bodies for.

Doe posted...

The guy who was torn in half by the kraken was actually the ropeman from New Guinea. I was able to guess that because I knew that was a colony of France

New Guinea was split between the UK, the Netherlands, and Germany. The French guy on the ship is someone else.

Oops, I confused it for French Guinea

How dare you.

I also dunno how I'm misidentifying the carpenter and carpenter's mate, I've seen the carpenter cutting wood

My bro used my steam account and bought that game.
So its in my library but I never got a chance to play it yet.. maybe some day

Oh and it really seems like I should've identified Henry Evans by now since the surgeon has a prominent scene and he signs the book (meaning he's alive). But I've tried to match him as 'alive' with every destination to no avail. well never mind i just got him.

Remember that the game only locks them in in groups of three. It doesn't do it individually.

Doe posted...

well never mind i just got him.

lol

Henry's kind of staring you in the face a bunch of times that you almost don't want to believe it's actually him.

Did you end up sorting the carpenter and his mate?

I know it's groups of three but that means I know the carpenter and mate are mismatched.

There is some wording ambiguity. I'm guessing "speared" means you had to have a projectile spear thrown at you? While "spiked" only works for the porcupine crabs. But there's one scene where a guy is totally impaled by one of the crabs in midair. I'm currently marking that as "clawed" but speared also makes sense to me because he was thrust through, not slashed.

Doe posted...

I'm guessing "speared" means you had to have a projectile spear thrown at you? While "spiked" only works for the porcupine crabs

Typically. In the case of some Fates you have wiggle room for cause of death.

The way I remember distinguishing the carpenter from the mate was a certain piece of dialogue in one of the memories. That's a little vague, but I don't want to give more away than that.

i just got them. i feel kind of racist though because i was choosing chinese nationals for the electrocuted guy until I got the right one and I dunno if that's an intended method lol

No, that's fair, I think the majority of people who have played the game probably got the Chinese topmen just by plugging them in until it clicked.

The intended method to distinguish them involves matching them based on their shoes.

You can reveal that spoiler if you want a hint, it's up to you.

Doe posted...

i just got them. i feel kind of racist though because i was choosing chinese nationals for the electrocuted guy until I got the right one and I dunno if that's an intended method lol

lol there is a way to tell, but it's a bit involved.

oh wow let me guess. You have to look at people's legs in the Bitter Cold memory and then remember their shoes and match them to their number? I would never think of that because honestly the visual fidelity of the game is not high enough for me to have ever considered the shoes before.

Doe posted...

the visual fidelity of the game is not high enough for me to have ever considered the shoes before.

That is a fair criticism.

just cobbling the last couple together at this point. The guy who got impaled by a crab is rated a single triangle of deduction difficulty but I have no idea who he is. I'm guessing the guy who was stabbed at the successful life boat was the ship's steward since he stands with the other stewards in the drawing. I know Paul Moss the first steward but not his attacker.

the guy stuck by the crab had to be "speared"

Doe posted...

oh wow let me guess. You have to look at people's legs in the Bitter Cold memory and then remember their shoes and match them to their number? I would never think of that because honestly the visual fidelity of the game is not high enough for me to have ever considered the shoes before.

Bitter Cold Part 1 is the god-send of the game. If there is ever a point where you are stuck you basically should always run over there because the raw amount of hints that it has stuck in there is pretty staggering.

And Obra Dinn is a treat. Easily one of the best games I've ever played and probably the mystery game with the most satisfying feeling when you solve everything.

Excellent game. Easily one of the most unique games that I've ever played.

I am down to George Shirley and Zungi Sathi. I'm supposing the Third Mate and Captain's Mate are dealt with in The Bargain because they do not have fates to enter.

I'm at a loss though. One guy was clearly killed with Nathan Peters fired his gun at the crab. I'm supposing that guy is Zungi Sathi because he was with the other stewards in the picture. That leaves George Shirley as the guy killed at the same time as the gunner. But I can't nail what actually happens to him. He's holding onto the gunner in one memory, then in the next memory when the gunner is shot by the cannon, George Shirley is gone. Their deaths are simultaneous. I've tried that he was blasted with the cannon, fell overboard, drowned by the beast, crushed by the loose cannon, none of it has worked.

I had to look it up, I was already right about George. Apparently Zungi was shot by the bosun's mate, idk. From the vantage point you have through the window the guy shooting the rifle looks like nathan peters, who is in the previous scene you get to by checking the spiked butcher.

checked and yeah, I don't even see the bosun's mate in the spiked butcher's memory. Nathan also doesn't seem to be close enough to the player during Zungi's death memory for you to identify him and rule him out? I guess I just had to clock the bosun's mate because he has a big head? Or am I missing something?

Zungi is usually everyone's last.

You can tell it is him by his appearance (shirt, pants, bald). Even if you can't, you can go to prior memories of that scene and he is the one who lines up with what happens.

MajorGamer posted...

you can go to prior memories of that scene and he is the one who lines up with what happens.

I mean, like I said, the memory of the butcher is very close to that scene (Zungi is almost already in the position he is shot at) and the bosun's mate is not present at all.

Anyway, I finished the game. The Bargain chapter was fine, though I was expecting something a little more like a twist. Everything played out how I expected except the monkey being shot, which was fucked up.

The game mechanic concept for the mystery is very cool, but there was honestly a lot of frustration for me too. The definition of speared, waiting for the smoke trail to go to a body, needing to run around to access memories, especially memories buried inside other memories.

Interestingly I just played a game that is somewhat similar in concept called The Case of the Golden Idol. That had no voice work or anything, but a distinctive 2d art style and an accessible gameplay style. If you liked Obra Dinn because you had to match everyone's identities and the order of events, you may also like Golden Idol.

I love the idea of the game more than I like the game itself. I personally found it was a bit too wish my washy in how you were meant to figure out some of the deaths and there was a lot of trial and error. I think the visual style wasnt very good at portraying the information. Does anyone know if there are any good lets plays that explain how you are meant to figure out all the deaths the way it was intended?

I do agree that I expected one last twist. With how one chapter was hidden from the player, I sort of expected some big narrative switch up or stinger or something.

But...nah, the game just kinda fills in gaps that the player likely already would have figured out already and then just sorta ends.

Oh well. It doesn't detract from a really fun puzzle experience. I do think that one last twist would have done a lot for the overall narrative experience though.

Doe posted...

Interestingly I just played a game that is somewhat similar in concept called The Case of the Golden Idol. That had no voice work or anything, but a distinctive 2d art style and an accessible gameplay style. If you liked Obra Dinn because you had to match everyone's identities and the order of events, you may also like Golden Idol.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/9/6/1/AAEv3mAAEMyh.jpg

Sadly there aren't a whole lot of mystery games that I haven't played. :/

Definitely recommend Golden Idol, though.

SHRlKE posted...

I love the idea of the game more than I like the game itself. I personally found it was a bit too wish my washy in how you were meant to figure out some of the deaths and there was a lot of trial and error. I think the visual style wasnt very good at portraying the information. Does anyone know if there are any good lets plays that explain how you are meant to figure out all the deaths the way it was intended?

There are not any that I know of. That said the Wiki is pretty good at explaining the various points that you could potentially solve them.

Just played through The Case of The Golden Idol because of the recommendations. That was a fun little 5-hour romp. A bit on the short side, and I thought the ending was a little abrupt, but it stretched the brain muscles.

I've thought about an idea where the game is just a rip-off of this, but the setting is something like Citadel Station from System Shock or Dead Space's Ishimura.

Like I think if it's done well, you could do an entire series of these logic puzzles with different settings.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

The one that got me was when I let my brother play the game when he was over at my place for a bit and he got Maba instantly the second that he showed up. I got plenty of them faster than him, but Maba was one I was stuck on until it was basically process of elimination so it felt super RIP.

I remember watching a LP of it where the two people playing spent forever figuring out who the navigator was. One of the comments jokingly pointed out, "Do you think the navigator might be the guy in the picture that's standing with his hand on the steering wheel?"

Game is on sale this week, btw, in case anyone who doesn't have it wants to get it for half off

Fine time for them to start a mystery games sale, literally the day after I got Case of the Golden Idol, but that's just how it works, I guess.

UnholyMudcrab posted...

Game is on sale this week, btw, in case anyone who doesn't have it wants to get it for half off

Fine time for them to start a mystery games sale, literally the day after I got Case of the Golden Idol, but that's just how it works, I guess.

Huh, didn't know about the sale. I also didn't know about the fact that Your Turn to Die is actually getting an official release overseas. That's awesome. 100% recommend it as an indie Danganronpa-style game.