I completely missed some easy clues (major spoilers)

[Nitrozwerg/Janik]

Today I finished the game after 12 hours and I am completely blown away by the atmosphere and epicness this game manages to create. Also the concept of this game is so unique, this is easily the best game I have played in a long time.

However, as I was getting closer to the end of the game, I ended up guessing the names of the chinese topmen and the Indian seamen.

I had no idea how to distinguish them. I saw them beíng appearent in the second chapter with all the hammocks, but I just assumed they were sleeping there and there were no clues to be found.

Now, after reading some things up, I now know that there were clues to be found. It saddens me a bit since I did not complete the game 100% how it was supposed to be done. Honestly, I thought that guessing was a legitimate method, since i thought that uniquely identifying every person would be kind of unrealistic and probably meant to be impossible. Identifying all of them by the numbers on their hammocks honestly also feels a bit too easy.

Nevertheless, this game is simply amazing and I will probably recommend this to everyone i know. I already love Papers, Please and it is just awesome to see how much heart is put into these games by Lucas Pope. Playing them makes you realize that they are just meant to be perfect.

[Dividi]

Nah, thats a completely legit way to solve this problem. I ended up guessing the Chineese topmen myself.

The game is designed in a way that you can't just relaibly bruteforce the possible options (too many names + too many possible ways to die + fates can only be confirmed in the sets of three). However, you can make educated guesses if you first narrow the circle of possible victims down via deduction and elimination, which are the core points of the game.

Take the Russian cremembers for instance. All three Russians can be identified in A Bitter Cold pt. 1, cause they speak Russian while playing a card game. Then, you can separate Volkov, cause he's the only topman of the three and can be seen up top in the rigging in the electrocution death scene. From that, you are safe to guess the other two. If they don't pop by your next set of three correct guesses, just remember to reverse the names.

[DJORES]

Originally posted by Dividi:

Nah, thats a completely legit way to solve this problem. I ended up guessing the Chineese topmen myself.

The game is designed in a way that you can't just relaibly bruteforce the possible options (too many names + too many possible ways to die + fates can only be confirmed in the sets of three). However, you can make educated guesses if you first narrow the circle of possible victims down via deduction and elimination, which are the core points of the game.

Take the Russian cremembers for instance. All three Russians can be identified in A Bitter Cold pt. 1, cause they speak Russian while playing a card game. Then, you can separate Volkov, cause he's the only topman of the three and can be seen up top in the rigging in the electrocution death scene. From that, you are safe to guess the other two. If they don't pop by your next set of three correct guesses, just remember to reverse the names.

Exactly. I'm confident that Lucas Pope would've come up with a different mechanic if he didn't want people to solve stuff like that this way. He sure is clever enough for it.

[Smiles]

After about 1/3 of the way through identifiyng people, I started to realize that the groups of people are often together in the giant group portrait, which helped me. Paying attention to what people were wearing, and figuring out where people were coming from also helped.

I also didn't at first notice the clue about Evans in the introduction -- about Africa. I figured him and the others were alive from the life boat, but I didn't immediately make the connection.

[Nitrozwerg/Janik]

I am happy that I am not the only one who sees it this way. A bit of guessing overall is not a big deal when you compare it to the amount of work you put into really trying to distinguish accents and just generally paying attention to minor detail.

the four surviving people was the only thing I had to actually look up since I just didnt realize that the book was acutally from one of the passenger.

[Delfino]

Originally posted by Dividi:

Then, you can separate Volkov, cause he's the only topman of the three and can be seen up top in the rigging in the electrocution death scene. From that, you are safe to guess the other two. If they don't pop by your next set of three correct guesses, just remember to reverse the names.

You don't need to guess. One of the Russians is easily destingushible by the pipe. It hangs under hammock which states his number. Later on you can identify him with a pipe in his mouth.

While identifying Russians was easy to me, the Chinese I had to guess. I also found the guy with a woman tantoo on his hand hanging in a hammock, but I could never identify him in any other scene so finally I guessed it..

[Reinforcements]

Id say I got about half of the fates on my first pass of the scenes, then about 2/3s once I got done filling in without even looking back. I bruteforced the Chinese crewman because even though I used the hammock numbers for everything else, including the pipe and the scimitar, (though i didnt actually notice the tatoo, but got it through process of elimination), I didnt notice the shoes at all. I ended up getting the Africa location, only after carefully looking at the Life Boat they leave in, Henry Evans is standing next to the case for the Memento Mortem, which you can see on the Raft that you arrive in, although its even more obvious if you read

[Delfino]

Africa was easy. I took the shot at Africa because Evans obviously lived in Morocco, where he wanted the book to be sent.

[DiegoKevin]

There is only 1 "off camera" death its Minier but you can hear about his death from a conversation.
The rest of the disapearances are just hard to see, but still there in the background, for exampleFinley is carried off his post on the helm on Abigails death scene, and you can hear him and another crewmember screaming as they are beeing pulled away

[Proton]

Originally posted by Delfino:

Africa was easy. I took the shot at Africa because Evans obviously lived in Morocco, where he wanted the book to be sent.

Like the other guy I missed that Evans had written the book (read it all before I was learning who was who and never considered it again). I looked at where the ship was when they left and guessed, Azores, then Canary Islands, and finally Africa.

In hindsight I see why it should have been more obvious.

I also noticed, late, how many clues are based on clothing as well. The "frenchman" was amusing when it dawned on me.

[Xamn]

I made the mistake at the beginning of zooming in on people too much and not taking in the whole scene. There were so many little details I missed because of this. Charles the frenchman was the last person I identified and I did it through elimination. But when I went back to look at the Doom I realized he was one of the 'gimmes'. A head was slapped ;).

[chip5]

the game was designed so that guessing was possible, but I certainly think it's the least fun way to play the game. The fun is in finding the reasons for the answers, not the answers themselves.

how to tell the chinese crew apart:
eventually all but one are dead and then there is a scene with their bunks and only one remains. the remaining three can be distinguished by their shoes and socks.

and another character related to the chinese characters:
The last surviving chinese man is in deep conversation with a white man. The white man is the translator, often seen hanging out with other crew who are not from english speaking countries. He bunks with the chinese crew.

[DiegoKevin]

>Played the game once,
>felt good,
>failed first time (ohhh you were suposed to solve evrything BEFORE getting off, and the storm >and not having much time is only decorative),
>replayed and finished investigating everything,
>felt pretty clever,
>played it a second time for captain did it,
>(ok now ill input name as soon as i get the clue, so constant checking of unblurring and triangle >changes)
>saw all the bloody obvious clues I missed
>felt damn stupid

[Skaydee]

Originally posted by Xamn:

I made the mistake at the beginning of zooming in on people too much and not taking in the whole scene. There were so many little details I missed because of this. Charles the frenchman was the last person I identified and I did it through elimination. But when I went back to look at the Doom I realized he was one of the 'gimmes'. A head was slapped ;).

Can you explain how Charles Miner the Frenchman is a gimme? Because I found him to be an incredible misdirection for the following reason:

when the Austrian Bosun Klestil asks what happened to his Frenchman (Bosun's Mate) as he lays dying, he's told that the Frenchman was "torn apart" by the Kraken. The one who was torn apart by the Kraken was the heavily tattooed guy, who turns out to be the Topman Maba. In fact, Charles Miner's fate is officially drowning – he was pulled overboard, not torn apart, so that information is false. So the game completely misleads you into identifying Maba as Charles Miner, even though he's standing with other Topmen (but just because he's standing there is not conclusive evidence he's a Topman too – the Russian Topman is sitting with Seamen, so it's possible that a Bosun's Mate could be sitting with Topmen.)

I only figured out who Miner was by seeing Maba up in the sails during the storm, realising he must be a Topman (so he couldn't be the Bosun's Mate) and once I had identified the other Topmen. Then simply cuz Miner was one of the few names left, and I marked him as the one who shot the Ship Steward while he was cowering behind the wall in direct line of fire from the monster (not fair that Miner's estate gets fined for that.)

[cyberboy2000]

Originally posted by Skaydee:

when the Austrian Bosun Klestil asks what happened to his Frenchman (Bosun's Mate) as he lays dying, he's told that the Frenchman was "torn apart" by the Kraken. The one who was torn apart by the Kraken was the heavily tattooed guy, who turns out to be the Topman Maba. In fact, Charles Miner's fate is officially drowning – he was pulled overboard, not torn apart, so that information is false. So the game completely misleads you into identifying Maba as Charles Miner, even though he's standing with other Topmen (but just because he's standing there is not conclusive evidence he's a Topman too – the Russian Topman is sitting with Seamen, so it's possible that a Bosun's Mate could be sitting with Topmen.)

For Charles Miner, Torn Apart is a valid option, as with many characters there's more than one acceptable option. There's also the fact that, because the bosun asks about his mate, that means that he himself was not there to see his death. But the time we see someone get torn apart, the bosun is still around, and in the memory after that too. That leaves only one person that could have been torn apart between Doom VIII and Escape I.
Not to mention the huge amount of other clues you could notice, like how he wears a marinière (the striped shirt, historically worn in the french navy), always hangs around the Bosun, is often seen giving orders to the seamen, and even speaks french in a few scenes. None of that is decisive (unless you know your naval history), but it can be used to confirm suspicions. I think that's what he meant by "gimme", as you're more likely to notice that kind of details when you already know who he is.

Maba is weird. I don't think it's impossible to figure him out based on elimination, but the fact that he gets unblurred right away suggests that you're supposed to figure out his origins based on his tatoos alone, which is just ridiculous. As many others have pointed out, the tattoos could easily be say celtic, and his skin tone would seem to support that. But the obviously stereotypical persian? Nooo, he doesn't get unblurred until you can connect his huge sword with his hammock number! Maba goes against all other logic on what counts as worthy evidence.

[Bee]

Originally posted by cyberboy2000:

Maba But the obviously stereotypical persian? Nooo, he doesn't get unblurred until you can connect his huge sword with his hammock number! Maba goes against all other logic on what counts as worthy evidence.

Ha! My moment like that was having assuredly identified 3 of the numbered Mate's being told both through blurred face and an extra pop-up warning that I couldn't identify the 4th. I can count pointy hats, thank you very much!