Ending (Spoilers obviously)

[todesbart]

So how did you like it?

I was pleasantly surprised by how it was handled. It was extremely gruesome and graphic and everyone basically lost their minds and/or got slaughtered. You not having any options except to partake in the ritual because you're essentially being mind controlled by a god also made sense.

What I don't understand is:

The god you're reviving basically shields you/the world from the Dragon's eyes? Or did I misunderstand something? Also why does everyone claim that you've been there a thousand times already (aka time looped for eternity) when - according to the ending - things are basically returning to normal after the outer islands were destroyed?

[rasabt]

i'd recommend watching "Into the mouth of madness"
since there seem to be some people who got no idea about the core concepts
it is a more niche film, but one of the better introductions to the genre

[minstrelofmoria]

I'm just a fake horror fan. I like horror aesthetics, but I've never liked any kind of actual horror, and I've tried plenty. Cosmic horror, Satanic horror, hillbilly horror . . . And most devs suck at making horror, so they end up with just horror aesthetics. I guess I'm disappointed this dev has talent and vision.

(If anyone wants to see some really good fake horror, look up Salt and Sanctuary. If you want to see some average, kinda boring fake horror that shows what the genre is most frequently like, look up Barotrauma.)

[Gønzö]

Hmm the last boss fight was very underwhelming. Conceptually it was interesting but when the random encounters (those troll packs, shadow creatures…) are tougher than the final boss theres a problem. The ending was poorly explained. Being cryptic is fine, but the “time loop” was never explained, the “willing participant” was never explained and these were pretty central to the plot line. The character/companion resolutions were good. The “congratulations adventurer now post your achievement on twitter” and forcing the game into windowed mode from full screen with no way of quitting is very lame. Probably the worst part of the whole game.

[Mixxer5]

After finishing the game I have to agree with some other posters- it feels like big chunk of the plot is missing due to main character being dumb and not asking right questions. Embla keeps talking about dragon, wizard in the tower talks about dragon, my character is a mage with 16 lore (I don't think there was ever a check requiring more lore than 6, btw) and I still don't know what this damn dragon is- other than the fact that it's BBEG. Embla repeatedly mentions time loop- my character never picks this up again (despite having high intellect- so I assume he should be smarter than I am).

Don't get me wrong- it was enjoyable experience, I hope that the author will create another game in the future, but he should cross-check plotpoints with someone. There's nothing wrong with plotline being confusing by design, it just shouldn't be confusing because there are no dialogue options regarding important topics.

[Rufert]

Originally posted by Mixxer5:

After finishing the game I have to agree with some other posters- it feels like big chunk of the plot is missing due to main character being dumb and not asking right questions. Embla keeps talking about dragon, wizard in the tower talks about dragon, my character is a mage with 16 lore (I don't think there was ever a check requiring more lore than 6, btw) and I still don't know what this damn dragon is- other than the fact that it's BBEG. Embla repeatedly mentions time loop- my character never picks this up again (despite having high intellect- so I assume he should be smarter than I am).

Don't get me wrong- it was enjoyable experience, I hope that the author will create another game in the future, but he should cross-check plotpoints with someone. There's nothing wrong with plotline being confusing by design, it just shouldn't be confusing because there are no dialogue options regarding important topics.

Yeah when the time loop thing came up my take away was basically "This will play out the way it plays out, stop caring and asking about it. You won't have an impact on it anyway."

And that turned out to be mostly true.

[waterinthesky447]

I had a lot of fun with the game as a whole, but the ending felt very abrupt with little actual resistance to reach the "climax" of the adventure, which felt mostly confusing. I'm glad others are hypothesizing the lore here because as much as I tried to understand what was happening through dialogue, there really wasn't a lot that was explained. The ending didn't feel like it answered very many questions at all. The fate of the companions was also pretty gruesome, especially Iben's, but it also felt nonsensical and plain disturbing for the sake of it. The culmination of your heroic quest really did feel, as one npc put it, like "dust on black wind"

[rasabt]

is Lovecraft (and friends) realy so old that people don't know what cosmic horror is anymore?
it is madness, it is the pointlessness of it all, it is beeing absolutly powerless despite fighting back (which feeds into the madness aspect), it is literaly the wholeness of space standing against a tiny little pebble blowing in the dust.
there ain't no "good" ending in cosmic horror, the joke beeing that there never even was a chance despite the protagonists of films, books and games fighting (and thus the player, watcher and/or reader thinking there is a chance) the odds.
it is the thought of something so otherwordly, something so outside of the human mind that we cannot even imagine it, and if we try to we go mad.
it is not some axe-wielding undead-icehokeymask-wearing-murderer stalking some small town, where in twist of fate some unlikly hero suddenly "wins".

that is why i recommend watching "into the mouth of madness"; the ending sums it up perfectly (the scene in the cinema). and it is easier to consume than readin 600 to a 1000 pages of books.

[J0ust]

I loved the game, the ending was on point as regards being Lovecraftian, however I didn't appreciate all the Alien references/Giger-esque touches in the final areas. But that was my only complaint.

[gallaghan2000]

So, for context at skaldrpg.com there's some (vague) history available.

This king/god predates or is some kind of progenitor for humanity that fought all the cosmic horrors and put the reticular field up that keeps them at bay (the thing that powers wizards and magitech).

Somewhere in there lizardmen took over or claimed the earth (or were already present) and were wizards/casters of some kind that worshipped the Dragon and other outsiders. Enslaved humanity until Gillian became the first wizard and effectively established the empire.

Cue thousand? of years of draining said field through magitech and use.

[Rufert]

Originally posted by rasabt:

is Lovecraft (and friends) realy so old that people don't know what cosmic horror is anymore?
.

No some people here are just claiming others don't understand the theme when they criticize the ending.

For my part I feel it's very poorly paced, and feels rushed after you leave the first island.
I think it's a fine ending. It's everything that leads up to it that makes it not work.

It's an ending that instead of making you resonate with the theme and story, just leaves you wondering if a third of the game was cut between leaving the first island and the ending.

[Wlerin]

I get the rushed complaints after Idra, but for my part I was becoming increasingly worried that the game was just going to end in (or below) Horryn, so the fact there were more islands to explore was a delightful surprise, even if there only ended up being two (and change) which together had less content than Idra.

As for the "time loop", I suspect it was either a dream loop (both the Sleeper and the Dragon are connected to dreams), or it was actually a meta-reference to the game itself. There doesn't seem to be any indication of previous Emblas visiting the Isles, but there are dreaming chairs, desiccated blind dreamer corpses, people going mad from visions, rhymes about dreaming, and I believe Embla refers to her dreams even during the flashback sequence.

[Nelo]

Misery porn is what it is. Getting your team horribly mutilated offscreen while the sayed team pushed through untold horrors to save the Outer Isles is an "Lovecraftian despair" Checkmark. Instead of earning it - gradually show us how our heroes lose it in their own unique way - the devs simply pull away a rug under us.

RPG games do not work as classic horror games. The whole genre revolves around characters enduring, getting stronger, doing everything possible in their agency. To be undone in a cutscene by le cosmic horror entity to show our insignificance is a big spit in the face for the sake of cliché loyalty.

I am not saying we need to slay an eldritch abomination and become a God ala Age of Decadence style. I am saying the pacing is ass, death and misery is unearned and vague Alien references are no substitute for an actual ending.

All is darkness my Ass.

[SkillJam]

My understanding is, that our game was last loop that finally made it through? I mean king is multidimensional creature for sure, so he can loop time, probably until we can help him rise. And since Embla was born with something special (something like that was told in the flashback when her father asks her to rescue her, her mother had some gift too if i remember correctly?) she can sense those loops and kinda understands them? Maybe in her dreams.
In last part on spacecraft, there were mentions from space king/his subjects about people (children from trees climbed down and started knocking on me). So king was there when we were monkeys, sleeping a long time, people evolved, learned to use magic which was used/created by the king to protect us/him/whatever and by doing so people opened the veil to deep ones/dragon.
In last loop, we helped him rise so he could close it or banish dragon back to hidden veil, something like that. Yes in the process of rising sadly isles got wiped, but it saved the rest of the world from madness and horror, at least that was my understanding of all that, but im not 100% sure, just my feel.

And about that ending, yes it felt quick and weird after nailing that last boss so fast, but that's what was so shockingly good for me. Humans are just nothing, small parts in this grand battle. Yes you helped the king, but for him you are ants, he can dissect you and look how you evolved just because he is curious, your body means nothing to him even if you just helped him. It's horrible, but that's what I found kinda "beautiful" about it. I am still kinda in shock (I just finished the game), but I think I liked it. It makes those heroes even bigger heroes in my eyes, what they must went through to save the world, it was horrible and scary sacrifice. They went into portal without knowing whats on the other side and it mostly backfired horribly, its sad but i liked that and it fitted the game imo. But yeah, there could have been more lore and talking about all that for sure.

[dfoqq8899]

Originally posted by rasabt:

is Lovecraft (and friends) realy so old that people don't know what cosmic horror is anymore?
it is madness, it is the pointlessness of it all, it is beeing absolutly powerless despite fighting back (which feeds into the madness aspect), it is literaly the wholeness of space standing against a tiny little pebble blowing in the dust.
there ain't no "good" ending in cosmic horror, the joke beeing that there never even was a chance despite the protagonists of films, books and games fighting (and thus the player, watcher and/or reader thinking there is a chance) the odds.
it is the thought of something so otherwordly, something so outside of the human mind that we cannot even imagine it, and if we try to we go mad.
it is not some axe-wielding undead-icehokeymask-wearing-murderer stalking some small town, where in twist of fate some unlikly hero suddenly "wins".

that is why i recommend watching "into the mouth of madness"; the ending sums it up perfectly (the scene in the cinema). and it is easier to consume than readin 600 to a 1000 pages of books.

Didn't see "pointless" in game tags and everything with tentacles is either "Lovecraftian" or hentai these days. So i AM disappointed.

[rasabt]

uhhh edgy

you do realize that
a) this is a very tiny project
b) most, if not all side quest, main quest content and random stuff is actual 1 to 1 Lovecraft and friends here?
cause i'm not so sure you got that