Ending discussion [Spoilers obviously]

[Mowup]

i've just beat the game, managed to uncover all the identities and the fate of everyone, but still, i thought there was going to be a timelapse or something that would tell the whole story but thats fine.

What i wanted to discuss is what are those shells? Just some cursed artifact brought in by the formosa royalty? Did it cause all of those unfortunate deaths? Because there were a lot of accidents, misuderstandings, some sort of plague, betrayals etc.

Also, maybe it was something that the sea wanted back and that's why there was a bunch of sirens and a kraken? Did it made some of the crew mad like something out of a lovecraftian story or they just thought it was valuable so that's why some tried to steal it?

Another thing, were the shells stored on that chest? Or was that just something different, something that seemed to give whoever put his hand inside a power capable of killing the creatures or banishing the kraken, perhaps that's what Filipe Dahl did and not the captain?

I am still trying to figure these things out, but that was an awesome game, thanks for this masterpiece Lucas Pope, i knew this would be this good back in 2014 or 2015 when i played the demo.

[Mowup]

Originally posted by Al'Eksandar:

I think the bargain was "we set you free and throw the shells into the sea, so you leave us alone", though I don't know why they thought they had to do that, as the kraken was already pleased enough to leave.

Could be it as well, we can see Martin Perrot giving an order to the crewman to send the siren with the shell back into the sea right? So that could've been the bargain.

[Mowup]

Originally posted by TheD3rp:

So what exactly was the Second Mate's deal?

The shell probably has charming powers, that's why the sirens, maybe the calling of the sea or something, that thing is probably cursed as hell, even on the beginning of the trip people were dying left and right.

[Al'Eksandar]

I think the second mate was just plain greedy, he wanted to steal the Formosan chest, but he had to kill the Italian. Other Formosans knew that their Formosan friend didn't do it, so Nichols (the second mate) kidnapped them along with their chest and took off for the Canaries, to sell the treasure and demand ransom for the Formosan royalty.

[Mowup]

Originally posted by Al'Eksandar:

I think he was just plain greedy, he wanted to steal the Formosan chest, but he had to kill the Italian. Other Formosans knew that their Formosan friend didn't do it, so Nichols (the second mate) kidnapped them along with their chest and took off for the Canaries, to sell the treasure and demand ransom for the Formosan royalty.

Yeah could be greed as well, the game really doesn't explain much about the shells and the chest.

[Ryan]

I'll throw in my 2 cents:

While the crew assumes the Formosans are carrying three or more shells, we only ever see one. The Formosan guard in Chapter 5 speaks of shell in the singular--a sign that the chest is only carrying one.

The Bargain refers to Martin's bargain with the mermaid upon her release. I believe this is what saves the Obra Dinn from the Kraken--not the Captain's rage. The shining light in the ocean, visible throughout the game, is the mermaid who guided the Obra Dinn to port. She called off the Kraken and fulfilled her part of the bargain.

The shell for the return of the Obra Dinn.

[arcymaszon]

The shells are probably some kind of weapon/tool created by the sea monsters that can be used against them. They have the power to stun the mermaids ( they dont affect the humans on the boats when the formosan elder uses it), but it probably requires some knowledge to operate, thats why nothing happens when fillip dahl takes the shell out of the crate in the lazarette. That's why the mermaids want them back, and start sending waves of monsters to reclaim them.

As for the name of the chapter "bargain", when martin is dying, he orders the men to release the last mermaid and give her the shell, in exchange for a safe journey back to england for the obra dinn. Thats why in the beginning of the game it is written that after 5 years missing, this ship somehow appears in english port, without anyone alive onboard to guide it there

[Horagema]

Originally posted by Al'Eksandar:

I think the second mate was just plain greedy, he wanted to steal the Formosan chest, but he had to kill the Italian. Other Formosans knew that their Formosan friend didn't do it, so Nichols (the second mate) kidnapped them along with their chest and took off for the Canaries, to sell the treasure and demand ransom for the Formosan royalty.

Italian just happened to be there though. His original plan was to steal the chest, and get away on boat.

[Butterfly]

the final scemes we see are in reverse order -- Dahl can't be the one who banishes the kraken. However... he can be the one who calls it.

[Mowup]

Originally posted by Ryan:

I'll throw in my 2 cents:

While the crew assumes the Formosans are carrying three or more shells, we only ever see one. The Formosan guard in Chapter 5 speaks of shell in the singular--a sign that the chest is only carrying one.

The Bargain refers to Martin's bargain with the mermaid upon her release. I believe this is what saves the Obra Dinn from the Kraken--not the Captain's rage. The shining light in the ocean, visible throughout the game, is the mermaid who guided the Obra Dinn to port. She called off the Kraken and fulfilled her part of the bargain.

The shell for the return of the Obra Dinn.

Oh right, how could i just ignore that sequence, Martin totally bargained with the mermaid, and that glow in the sea is exactly like the one the shell gives, good find, its kinda creepy when you uncover that chapter then, you are safe on your home and you find out that the whole time you were just being watched by the creature.

Man, this game has really good details, and an awesome soundtrack too.

[Salty Catfish!]

Originally posted by haydossy:

I was a bit disappointed by chapter 7 after all the buildup, but the game is still great. I don't really understand what happened with the third mate's death though, why he was there and what he was doing with the siren/mermaid etc

He and some of his buddies went down there to give the mermaid the shell and set it free in the hopes that this would banish the curse and stop the attacks from the creatures. Unfortunately, the captain had been in there moments before and had killed the other two mermaids, so the third mermaid instinctively attacked the third mate when he opened its cage since she assumed he was probably there to kill her as well.

[Jigsawn]

Just finished the game and I'm fuzzy as well on the shells, the curse and the timeline.

- First of all, is the shell on board (and in the chest) from the beginning of the Obra Dinn's voyage?

- The treacherous mate who kidnaps the Formosians sets up the Formosian guard for the murder of the musician. However they say at the execution the Formosian guy admitted to it - are they just lying? If not then why would the Formosian admit a murder he never did?

- When the Formosians are kidnapped presumably the Formosian man unleashes the power of the shell to kill the merfolk, burning himself in the process. If this is true though then it's kinda weird the merfolk are after the shell.

- The question is what causes the "curse" to activate. Previously the shell didn't seem to cause any issues, assuming they had it in the chest the whole voyage. In fact is it just that the crew captured the merfolk and thus invokes the curse? Or is it that the captains steward takes out the shell again from the chest, thus unleashing the crabmen/kraken etc? If I recall the steward is imprisoned just after capturing the merfolk and before the crabmen are unleashed.

- Based on what you guys say, the Doctor kills the monkey so he can use the pocketwatch to see what events transpired in the prison by jumping between gone corpses. And based off this he learns of the shells importance and releases the last mermaid. I wonder why the captain doesn't stop them, and what events lead to the final mutiny.

- Considering the vast amount of deaths on the ship, it seems like maybe the shell cursed the ship from the beginning until it was returned to its owners (assuming it was onboard with the Formosians the whole time). What do you think?

- Finally there is a bit of meat or something on the chain opposite the Steward when you see Martin die in the prison - if you watch its position changes throughout the flashbacks. Is there any significance to this?

[alexbattledust]

Honestly I don't think the shell cursed the ship.Before the shell gets involved there are only 6 deaths. An accident, two illnesses which I believe were picked up when they made a pit stop in Portugal, and the second mates mutiny causing 3 deaths. I'd say 3 incidents is an acceptable number consideting how far they traveled, especially compared to what happens once the mermaids come.

[Salty Catfish!]

Originally posted by Jigsawn:

- The treacherous mate who kidnaps the Formosians sets up the Formosian guard for the murder of the musician. However they say at the execution the Formosian guy admitted to it - are they just lying? If not then why would the Formosian admit a murder he never did?

One of the crewmembers who helps kidnap the Formosans is a Chinese topman - so presumably he intentionally "translated" a false confession to help cover for his co-conspirator.

[Jigsawn]

Ahh that is some nice reading between the lines, Salty! It would make sense too because that Chinese guy is in cohorts with the kidnapper murderer. I would definitely buy that. Would be interested to hear Lucas' take on any of these questions also.

[SDSkinner2011]

The game has a bunch of questions it leaves unanswered:
-How did the mermaids know the shell was on the lifeboat?
-Why did they surface instead of just punching holes in the lifeboat from underwater?
-Where do the monsters and kraken fit in?
-Why does the kraken stop fighting?

It heavily implies that all this is the result of magic. However there is an alternative that requires dramatically overthinking things.

The answer to the first question is the mermaids followed the chest from Taiwan. This meshes with the monsters who appear to be half human, half Japanese Spider Crab. Presumably they either swam or hitched a rid on the bottom of the boat.

When the lifeboat with the chest departs the 3 mermaids go after it; the monsters aren't there but are taking care of something else (maybe getting food to eat).

The mermaids wait for the boat to be far enough away for the ship and then attack. They aim at killing the crew instead of sinking the lifeboat because they aren't strong enough to lift the chest and swim with it for extended periods of time. Dropping it to the bottom doesn't work; either they can't swim deep enough or they have their own nations and this group is far beyond their borders.

The mermaids get knocked out and brought on board. The monsters either see this or- more likely- one mermaid stayed behind (in order to coordinate with the monsters when they got back) and tells them.

Normally this would be a simple matter of pulling out the planks but the British started putting metal sheathing on their ships. The monsters go over the top and get KIA.

This leaves our mystery mer to go with option 3- kraken (which wasn't done to start because it might tip local mer off and has a significant chance of getting the chest lost).

The goal of the Kraken is to kill as many crew members as possible so the ship can be taken; it stops fighting so they can see how many are left or because it is called off when the mermaid is released (they can't straight up crush the ship since they don't want to kill the mermaid prisoners). The significance of the Bargin is that it shows the mermaids understand English (previously implied when a mermaid kills the cook who talks about cooking her).

After this the two surviving mer leave before returning with the Kraken to push to ship back to England.

It is possible one of them (or the shell) can call storms which explains why the monster's attack is preceded by lightening and why the Olim Dinn procedes to get sunk by a storm in harbor.