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Keep in mind, its inspired by Lovecraft. Its not as simple as ‘Explaining a Story’.

This game has very little to do with Lovecraft, other than the usual strange names and incantations. It’s partially a sequel to Shadow of the Comet (a MUCH better effort when it comes to adapting Lovecraft, but still flawed), so if you didn’t play that one, don’t bother.

The story doesn’t make much sense anyway.

Agustín Cordes - 05 February 2013 07:15 PM

This game has very little to do with Lovecraft, other than the usual strange names and incantations. It’s partially a sequel to Shadow of the Comet (a MUCH better effort when it comes to adapting Lovecraft, but still flawed), so if you didn’t play that one, don’t bother.

The story doesn’t make much sense anyway.

Also you do realize Shadow of the Comet and Prisoner of Ice are apart of the Call of Cthulhu series right?

Call of Cthulhu: Shadow of the Comet
Call of Cthulhu: Prisoner of Ice

Both games were utilized elements from many Lovecraft tales. Prisoner of Ice which took a lot from “At the Mountains of Madness”.

Lovecraft has a unique way of telling a story. If you actually looked into it, you’d understand it goes beyond just horror storytelling. Lovecraft’s techniques live on and have such a unique take that you can actively tell what story was inspired by him and what hasn’t.

In the end, even if you played the first one, understanding the story is another matter as its literary techniques are not as obvious as most stories and moreso games.

Precisely, the Call of Cthulhu series are a bastard spinoff. Some academics will even argue that the “Cthulhu Mythos” (a posthumous creation by Derleth) are a disgrace to Lovecraft’s original vision.

His stories were quite minimalistic, but very dense and rich with details, and thus extremely focused. Shadow of the Comet and Prisoner of Ice are anything but. Shadow has an excellent first act, perhaps the best moments in any Lovecraft adaptation in any medium, but abruptly goes downhill in the blink of an eye (in fact, I can pinpoint the exact moment: when you fly like Icarus).

Prisoner has a wonderful and very promising introduction, but loses the plot even quicker. It’s a convoluted mess that hardly resembles anything Lovecraft ever wrote. For the record, I still liked the game, but it’s nothing more than an amusing anecdote in the annals of the adventure genre.

Agustín Cordes - 06 February 2013 06:51 AM

Precisely, the Call of Cthulhu series are a bastard spinoff. Some academics will even argue that the “Cthulhu Mythos” (a posthumous creation by Derleth) are a disgrace to Lovecraft’s original vision.

His stories were quite minimalistic, but very dense and rich with details, and thus extremely focused. Shadow of the Comet and Prisoner of Ice are anything but. Shadow has an excellent first act, perhaps the best moments in any Lovecraft adaptation in any medium, but abruptly goes downhill in the blink of an eye (in fact, I can pinpoint the exact moment: when you fly like Icarus).

Prisoner has a wonderful and very promising introduction, but loses the plot even quicker. It’s a convoluted mess that hardly resembles anything Lovecraft ever wrote. For the record, I still liked the game, but it’s nothing more than an amusing anecdote in the annals of the adventure genre.

Like most experts fail to realize, they are based off of Lovecrafts Story. Cthulhu is no more of Lovecrafts creation than the Golden Bug was Edgar Alan Poe. Then again, who cares about literary technique when people want to feel like Elitists?

Then again, you fail to realize that there is a difference between ‘Lovecraftian’ and ‘Work of Lovecraft’. Oh wait, you’re choosing to ignore the fact that its a subculture just like a genre defines an aspect of a game. Shadow of the Comet and Prisoner of Ice are lovecraftian. Except it. Then again, this seems like a game played by elitists like those that define adventure games as only point and clicks. lol Wrong on all accounts.

I’m not going to argue with you. Obviously you can’t broaden your mind…..funny as you seem to really enjoy Lovecrafts works. Ignorance fanaticism.

“Lovecraftian horror is a sub-genre of horror fiction which emphasizes the cosmic horror of the unknown (in some cases, unknowable) over gore or other elements of shock, though these may still be present.[1] It is named after American author H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937)”

What makes me laugh the most is that a lot of these scholars define a Lovecraftian as word for word exact replication of his mind and ignore the fact that its about the techniques not the man that define the sub-genre.

Lovecraftian? Its about insanity, incompatible acceptance of unusual knowledge, cosmic deities, the inevitability of life’s end, solitude, doors that should be left unopened, archaic mysteries of forgotten science,(and more complimentary to the people of your sort) fanaticism. I find it amazing that the one thing that Lovecraft loves to point at was the ignorance of masses. A large body of Lovecraft fans are nothing but ignorant fanatics themselves.

I love Lovecraft for his ability to expose the unknown, worlds we don’t deserve to see, beings we should leave dormant, and knowledge that should be kept buried in the recess of histories mind. Not because one word is out of place, or literary context was changed.

As a normal person and they would find most of Lovecraft’s work confusing, overly-complex, and by many simpletons, convoluted.

Maybe in your opinion, its not lovecraftian unless its racist. lol Oh wait, thats a bit nitpicking.

So technically having a play that is Shakespearean isn’t Shakespearean because it wasn’t made by Shakespeare? Isn’t the play Shakespearean by the dialect, accent, literal structure, the way the play is presented, the general tone? Absolutely not obviously you’re right. No story is lovecraftian. Not even ‘At the Mountains of Madness’.

“The appeal of the spectrally macabre is generally narrow because it demands from the reader a certain degree of imagination and a capacity for detachment from everyday life.”
? H.P. Lovecraft

You are the one comparing the plot of Prisoner of Ice to Lovecraft’s works. “Inspired by”, “based on”, “adapted”, it doesn’t matter if it’s a crappy story.

I mean, why are we even discussing this? I replayed the game less than two months ago. “Literary techniques” my butt. It’s awful. The minute you leave that submarine, it all goes downhill quicker than you can cry “Iä! Iä!”.

Replay the damn game, then tell me with a straight face if I should broaden my mind. Jeez…

Agustín Cordes - 06 February 2013 07:46 PM

You are the one comparing the plot of Prisoner of Ice to Lovecraft’s works. “Inspired by”, “based on”, “adapted”, it doesn’t matter if it’s a crappy story.

I mean, why are we even discussing this? I replayed the game less than two months ago. “Literary techniques” my butt. It’s awful. The minute you leave that submarine, it all goes downhill quicker than you can cry “Iä! Iä!”.

Replay the damn game, then tell me with a straight face if I should broaden my mind. Jeez…

I’ll be honest Agustin, I haven’t played the game in a while. The only one I played in recent memory was Shadow of the Comet, and subconsciously I was probably defending that more than this game. lol I’m sorry. I hankering for a fun lovecraftian debate and no one I know personally favors thinking out of the box sort of literature.

EDIT: I have my copy, going to give it a go this weekend.