I agree that the loss of the rat is quite the shock and that the previous wording of the warning was ambiguous, but I don’t understand why there should NOT be such shocks in a game, even moreso considering that the disappearing rat is not top tier for what concerns pets.
I do not find this twist either wrong or unfair.
edited by Master Polarimini on 7/4/2014
[quote=Master Polarimini]I do not find this twist either wrong or unfair.[/quote]I don’t find the twist unfair either, only the old warning. Or perhaps I should call it the ‘intermediate warning’, as a look even further back reveals that the earliest wikia article does not contain a metagame warning from Failbetter Games, but a warning in the regular description: "But be warned. Succeed or fail, there are long odds against his survival." That seems entirely fair to me, though there’s no shocking twist unless the rat survives. I wonder why it was changed?
Huh. Good to know, I wasn’t aware the description had changed in the interim. I remember the warning that told me it was very unlikely he’d come back alive when this storylet first came out. Either way, I think the goal in mind was to make it less obvious you would lose him, or at least not have it as a glaring warning sign. From a narrative and even a game perspective, not having that be explicit is a sensible decision to me.
This is why I think that: a consequence, especially a narrative one, is not the same when you know for fact what’s coming. You can have an idea, or even a bit of knowledge that the risk is there, but knowing flat-out? That’s kind of… well, it robs the moment of its weight. It removes the choice, and effectively the option if you know you’ll lose a unique rat, because you have other, "expendable" choices. Gameplay, especially choice-based, is not about having all the best choices mapped out for you with warning signs and bright lights. It means you can, based on your decisions, make a choice with tragic outcomes. It means you can choose wrong, and not get a second chance unless you’re willing to use fate like a reset button. It’s not unfair, neither is not including a warning. I think having more of one is fine from a customer service perspective, but story-wise, I think it was fine as it was.
[quote=Zack Oak]The game makes no promises or implications that you will get the disgraced bandit-chief back. The actual snippet of text is "This is probably a suicide mission, but at least he’ll die redeemed. You may get a chance to regain your rat later." So, it’s telling you without explicitly spoiling the impact of the story that he’s not going to come out of it okay.
edited by ZackOak on 7/4/2014[/quote]
Thats the NEW warning, when I played it the game said "[i][b]Warning - if you fail, you will lose your rat, and the Big Rat will feel reassured that he has gotten rid of a spy"
[/b][/i]That implies my rat wouldnt have been lost if I succeeded. It said nothing about him dying. The old warning was very misleading as I said, I guess whoever runs the game put in that new warning, which is better then the text I got before hand.
[quote=Gillsing] [quote=Zack Oak]The game makes no promises or implications that you will get the disgraced bandit-chief back. The actual snippet of text is "This is probably a suicide mission, but at least he’ll die redeemed. You may get a chance to regain your rat later." [/quote] I’m afraid you are too late to argue this particular point, since the text you are quoting is the new warning, as can be seen in the edit history (link) for that article.
The old warning, from the time when this thread was started, read: "Warning - if you fail, you will lose your rat, and the Big Rat will feel reassured that he has gotten rid of a spy."
Which to me certainly implies that not failing (also known as "succeeding") will not lead to a loss of one’s rat. And since it’s also the game speaking directly to the player, I would have expected honesty rather than deception through omission/misdirection. And I guess whoever changed the text might have agreed with that? Or maybe it was just a squeaky wheel getting some grease.[/quote]
I agree. The old warning was very misleading and implies you wouldnt lose your rat, the new warning makes it clear of what will happen. At least they changed the warning now so its more clear.
edited by Conker on 7/6/2014