Story? *SPOILERS*

[Breach]

Just finished it. I'm sure it makes a bit more sense in Russian, at times I think the translations were pretty bad. So I get the ending and the Danko story (one man saves them all at his own expense, egoism leads to inaction fear and death, etc.), but there's a lot of open questions I still have, for example:

- Continuity - so the ship hits an iceberg and is stuck for two weeks -- does that happen before or after the captain is shot 'full ahead' meaning they are moving? Obviously it happens after the ship hits the iceberg, which means they escaped, as immediately afterward the reactor blows?

- The ship hit an iceberg in the '60s? But the game says present is 1981? Really, the time-line is a blur :-)

- In one of the episodes (crew gathered round the reactor pipes) they say they contacted HQ and help is coming -- so?

- Why did the reactor explode? It had shut down? How come the protagonist is immune to radiation?

- And the most nagging question -- What really happened to the crew -- the ones that attack you? As I understand they succumbed to the iceberg / cold sickness... Um, yeah, right... Any sense? Not really. Plus the level with the sick people apparently mutating to become whatever they've become...? Was that because of the reactor radiation or they started to mutate due to the influence of the polar cold?

- At the end of the aforementioned level the brig level starts which is completely (together with the guys shooting from the movie screen) is sooo Silent Hill-style -- e.g. the morgue becomes a jail all of a sudden -- how come?

- Who's that guy during the B/W flashbacks who, if he touches you, you die. It actually looks like... the protagonist?

- Why did I have to save the bear? I just crouched and reached the hatch? Bug?

Please no speculations I can make up ten thousands theories, something argumentative please :-)

[BrightSoul]

The narration is a non linear one, it's cryptic, most like a puzzle where it's not very important the order you put the tiles in. For this reason, it's hard to give non speculative interpretations... That said, I'll try to give my answers.

- Continuity - so the ship hits an iceberg and is stuck for two weeks -- does that happen before or after the captain is shot 'full ahead'

You could see the iceberg from the front window, so I'd say they crashed and got stuck into it a short time before (few days?) the captain tried to break free by moving full speed ahead. It's an ice breaker, I wonder if it could break an iceberg after all...


In one of the episodes (crew gathered round the reactor pipes) they say they contacted HQ and help is coming -- so?


Help was coming indeed but either they couldn't find the ship in the middle of the Artic Sea OR they couldn't reach in time. After Alexander Nesterov fixes the timeline, help DO arrive in time to save part of the crew.


The ship hit an iceberg in the '60s? But the game says present is 1981? Really, the time-line is a blur


yes, the ship hits the iceberg in '68 but Alexander is sent to investigate it on '81. At the end of the game, I think who you see with a dogsleigh is not Alexander, but the person sent by the HQ to help.


- Why did the reactor explode? It had shut down?

My best guess is it got damaged when the engines were reversed abruptly.


How come the protagonist is immune to radiation?

I don't think it's actual radiation, perhaps it's something more metaphisical, maybe the same substance that's on dead crew member's hearts. It could represent the dimming light of hope a man never leaves, even if his reason has been put to sleep. Or it could be a chance of redemption given by nature or god himself.
Remember the room where the spider creature is affected by it and tries to seal it back immediately. They are opposite concepts. At least this is what I like to believe.



Was that because of the reactor radiation or they started to mutate due to the influence of the polar cold?

Uhm, no. It's like in Goya's painting, "The sleep of reason produces monsters".
http://eeweems.com/goya/sleep_of_reason.html
The extreme conditions, lack of food and lose of faith turn civilized people (the crew) into mindless monsters.

[Mikael Grizzly]

Just finished it. I'm sure it makes a bit more sense in Russian, at times I think the translations were pretty bad. So I get the ending and the Danko story (one man saves them all at his own expense, egoism leads to inaction fear and death, etc.), but there's a lot of open questions I still have, for example:

I disagree, the translations are spot on. The game's plot is simply presented like a puzzle, and requires some effort to piece together.

- Continuity - so the ship hits an iceberg and is stuck for two weeks -- does that happen before or after the captain is shot 'full ahead' meaning they are moving? Obviously it happens after the ship hits the iceberg, which means they escaped, as immediately afterward the reactor blows?

The ship hit the iceberg in May 1968, with the Captain later attempting to move the ship out to open waters, deliberately stranding it after hitting the iceberg.

- The ship hit an iceberg in the '60s? But the game says present is 1981? Really, the time-line is a blur :-)

The ship hit the iceberg in 1968 and was stuck in the ice, drifting for 13 years.

- In one of the episodes (crew gathered round the reactor pipes) they say they contacted HQ and help is coming -- so?

They never found them. The Arctic is a big place.

- Why did the reactor explode? It had shut down? How come the protagonist is immune to radiation?

It did not explode, it was vaporized by Kronos.

- And the most nagging question -- What really happened to the crew -- the ones that attack you? As I understand they succumbed to the iceberg / cold sickness... Um, yeah, right... Any sense? Not really. Plus the level with the sick people apparently mutating to become whatever they've become...? Was that because of the reactor radiation or they started to mutate due to the influence of the polar cold?

It's supernatural, not explainable by science. The doctor in the sickbay even states, that he is unable to figure out just what the hell is happening.

- At the end of the aforementioned level the brig level starts which is completely (together with the guys shooting from the movie screen) is sooo Silent Hill-style -- e.g. the morgue becomes a jail all of a sudden -- how come?

As I said, it's supernatural. Seems the icebreaker wandered into The Twilight Zone. Which makes the coherent story all the more awesome.

- Who's that guy during the B/W flashbacks who, if he touches you, you die. It actually looks like... the protagonist?

I assume it's the malevolent presence that infests the ship.

- Why did I have to save the bear? I just crouched and reached the hatch? Bug?

It's there to make you feel better.

Please no speculations I can make up ten thousands theories, something argumentative please :-)

Replay the game, paying extra attention to the game.

BRIGHTSOUL

yes, the ship hits the iceberg in '68 but Alexander is sent to investigate it on '81. At the end of the game, I think who you see with a dogsleigh is not Alexander, but the person sent by the HQ to help.

Uh, no, that's not help, that's Alexander. It's a literary device used by Action Forms to emphasize that you saved all those people, by replaying the introductory sequence, this time with a welcome party and the captain saving you.

[Breach]

I disagree, the translations are spot on. The game's plot is simply presented like a puzzle, and requires some effort to piece together.

I am sure they are, from a factual perspective. Yet, dialogue still felt sterile and clumsy at times (also it doesn't feel natural to have 1-2 seconds pauses during a conversation :). What I meant to say originally, was that the translations seems like they were done externally by someone who never played the game.


The ship hit the iceberg in May 1968, with the Captain later attempting to move the ship out to open waters, deliberately stranding it after hitting the iceberg.

The ship hit the iceberg in 1968 and was stuck in the ice, drifting for 13 years.

So, the ship hit an iceberg ("How did it happen?" - Captain). They spent 13 years waiting for help, turning slowly insane. The broke loose somehow, the captain was shot, they hit another iceberg, end of game? This kind of makes sense, but see below:


They never found them. The Arctic is a big place.


Right, that's one possibility. What doesn't fit in all this, however, is the telegram that Alexander got. According to it, he was supposed to rendezvous with the North Wind in 1981, which means that a) authorities knew its exact position b) They obviously didn't know / care about the calamities which had taken place.


It did not explode, it was vaporized by Kronos.


Agreed. Obviously Kronos was not OK with the captain / XO / Chief Engineer escaping. Or more probably the captain's death led to his appearance.


It's supernatural, not explainable by science. The doctor in the sickbay even states, that he is unable to figure out just what the hell is happening.


So this supposedly is taking place during these 13 years of insanity. But apart from the metaphysical aspect there were obviously very physical changes.


I assume it's the malevolent presence that infests the ship.


Right, but he looks exactly like Alexander -- his evil / turned-coldified self?


It's there to make you feel better.


No, it's a bug and I hated the bear episode anyway :-) Obviously it was meant to block your progress, but as I said, first time around I just crouched and got past it.


Uh, no, that's not help, that's Alexander. It's a literary device used by Action Forms to emphasize that you saved all those people, by replaying the introductory sequence, this time with a welcome party and the captain saving you.

Right, it's pretty obvious from the telegram that Alexander was supposed to board the North Wind as a passenger.

[Koki]

Please no speculations

Now that's just mean.

@The missing 13 years: One possibility is that, after you save the ship, it's simply in service for another 13 years and then you board it. Or, dare I suggest it, it's simply a mistake of the devs, maybe they originally wanted the game to take place in 1981 but then changed it to 1968 except this one place. But you can't really tell what is and what is not a bug in a game like Cryostasis :)

@Melted reactor: After the Captain tries to break free from the iceberg, the Executive Officer reverses the engine - or something, I don't know enough about ships - which puts reactor into emergency lockdown mode(Among other things such as causing engine room fire) - again, or something like that. After they run away, it's possible that the reactor fails for whatever reason; it is old, there is no one to manintain it and it is out of fuel. As for why the main character is immune to radiation - you could also ask why the ship's denizens turned into beasts, or why their attacks make you colder instead of just ripping off your spleen. In other words, Cryostasis does not take place in "our universe" - it's more of a dream than a real experience for the main character. At least that's what I think.

@Seeing yourself: One possible explanation is that you're saving yourself by saving the ship. At the beginning of the game, when you fall from your sled and into the hole, you land on solid ice. Hovewer when the same scene is replayed at the end, and the captain saves you, there is water in the hole - if you'd fell into arctic water, you'd certainly die. And you would fall into the water if there was no captain, and there would be no captain if you didn't save the ship.
When you reach the ship itself, you see your dead body several times - dead from falling from the collapsed walkways.
In the hospital section, there is a moment just before the end where you see a chair standing in the corridor. When you approach, you see yourself sitting on it. Then the chair you stands up and walks away and water starts to pour in from nowhere - if it touches you, you die.

@Everything: One thing to consider is that as you change actions in the past, it affects the "future". For example, the bear. When you first arrive at the ship, the starboard crane is broken because it was hit by the iceberg. But during one of the Mental Echo sequences you have to retract it. Later, you see it used to get the dead bear on board. Which obviously couldn't happen if you didn't fix it first. And then the Captain wouldn't realize he has to act and wouldn't try to break out and...

I think we should just leave it alone...