Well, I wasn’t planning on buying this at all. But after reading the rave reviews on here, I’m glad I did. What fun! I haven’t finished the story yet, but am enjoying it a lot.
I have played all of the ES stories including Lost in Reflections. Yet, on the “A Recent Visitor from the Surface” card I can’t pick the “Final Exam: Ask about the Surface that will be” option.
This seems to be cause I don’t have a “Dreams of a Future: Paris, 1908” quality.
Does anyone know if it was possible to finish that story without getting the quality? If not then I must assume this is a bug…
Yes, it’s possible to finish LiR without that - you must have chosen not to hep July/to smash her mirror without dreaming of the future (I can’t recall the specifics at this time, but it’s certainly a possibility!).
Thanks, that clears it up!
This is interesting. Is there anything else in lore that supports this possibility, or is it just wishful thinking on the Surface Visitor’s part? (Either way, thanks for echoing–I played Lost in Reflections but felt obligated to do something that took away my memories of 1908.)
I guess it’s just wishful thinking. The unified German State is still pretty young in 1894 but with London fallen (and England basically out of the picture), Austria-Hungary unhinged by revolution and Paris on the agenda as the Sixth City, Russia would be the last major player in Europe to really oppose Germany.
edited by rahv7 on 12/26/2016
[quote=rahv7]I guess it’s just wishful thinking. The unified German State is still pretty young in 1894 but with London fallen (and England basically out of the picture), Austria-Hungary unhinged by revolution and Paris on the agenda as the Sixth City, Russia would be the last major player in Europe to really oppose Germany.
edited by rahv7 on 12/26/2016[/quote]
Wasn’t Paris confirmed to not be the 6th city? (In lost in reflection, if I recall correctly, though I only really saw the endings where you basically destroy the deal, let’s not forget that people wouldn’t really want to sell their cities either if they knew their country would fall, you know, like England did).
[quote=The Master][quote=rahv7]I guess it’s just wishful thinking. The unified German State is still pretty young in 1894 but with London fallen (and England basically out of the picture), Austria-Hungary unhinged by revolution and Paris on the agenda as the Sixth City, Russia would be the last major player in Europe to really oppose Germany.
edited by rahv7 on 12/26/2016[/quote]
Wasn’t Paris confirmed to not be the 6th city? (In lost in reflection, if I recall correctly, though I only really saw the endings where you basically destroy the deal, let’s not forget that people wouldn’t really want to sell their cities either if they knew their country would fall, you know, like England did).[/quote]
Paris was only said to be a potential Sixth City, and even then the source is dreams from a particularly crafty Fingerking. If you even believe the source, Paris would Fall without specific intervention. So those dreams don’t seem very definitive, especially as the player can interfere with July’s potential presence.
And yeah, people wouldn’t really want to sell their cities either way if they knew the outcome - but it doesn’t matter what the people want, just what a desperate ruler wants.
Except that Paris has no ruler to be desperate; it is the capital of the French Republic, and in the traditional way of republics major decisions require more committee meetings than the kaleidoscopic church. However, Paris also comes up in the Heart’s Desire ambition, and it’s hinted there that at least a few French ministers are open to the possibility of relocation.
Here’s what happens if you essentially take the side of the Kaiser.
My character did this because she wants to see how well the Kaisers programs work out. Though I have a feeling she secretly admires the Kaiser’s devotion to order, straight lines, and national power regardless of cost.
All hail Napoléon IV! Vive la Empire![/quote]
That might not work out though.
Anyway, the Masters clearly prefer making deals with royalty, it’s no doubt easier for them as they only have to craft an agreement that satisfies one desperate or egotistic ruler. But they are perfectly capable of making deals with collectively governed cities. They did this during the Third City after all…though they paid the highest price for it of all the cities so far.
Pitying the shadow, but not wishing to doom Berlin to the Neath, I used the zailor to help the shadow reconcile with her son. For my services, I was rewarded with a judgement’s egg.
Does anyone know if the other choices also grant rare items, and if so what they are?
edited by Harlocke on 12/27/2016
I would like to echo everyone’s enjoyment of this ES! I played The Gift beforehand so that I would have some background, and it really did help me to make the final decision. At the beginning, I was completely lost and not sure at all what I was doing, but as I learned more then it became clear. I loved the character interactions and all the information scattered throughout.
My only (very small) nit is the preponderance of randomness in the school. I think that I understand why things are random here so that it is not crazy good to do this over and over, but I tend to avoid all the random aspects of the game that I can. (Which means that I over prepare for all challenges despite the fact that it is not generally held to be efficient). But that is my thing and for this story it was easy enough to let go and just enjoy the plot.
I ended up helping her reconcile with her son, for that seemed the best choice to my character Felicity. No super rare unique item at the end, but I am completely fine with that!
Thanks for the fun! My Exceptional Friendship runs out today and I would have already subscribed anew if I could. :)
Becca
[i]Sacksy baby, wear a sigil under your hood for me,
Been a virtuous girl, Sacksy baby,
So hurry down the Parlour tonight
Sacksy baby, a set of new lingerie scant,
Deep gant,
I’ll wait for you down here,[/i][i] Sacksy baby,
So hurry down the Parlour tonight
Think of all the souls I’ve saved,
Think of all the revels that weren’t [/i]too[i] depraved,
Next year I might not be Mayor;
I must give London what they’ve craved
Sacksy baby, do tell the Vake
We’ll see it stuck up on a stake,
My Sisters all swear, Sacksy baby,
[/i]So hurry down the Parlour tonight
"Smuggle the Shadow into the Fourth Coil for a wrestling match."
In the spirit of the original discussion, does anyone have echoes for the Revolutionary ending? My character was torn between the zailor and the anarchist, and I’d love to see the road not taken.
Irrelevancies:
I must confess I find myself puzzled by the Jenny debate, which seems to show up in every thread that Jenny’s name is typed and swiftly sidetracks the thread from its titled purpose, which, half a year on, can be tiresome. It is interesting, though, that Jenny seems to be the only character in the entire game who provokes such detailed and close deconstructions of any of her presented positive qualities, for whatever reason and whatever end - it’s hardly as if the Neath is lacking in shifty characters pretending to be less so. Some of them are even in positions of power, and yet they remain un-torn-down, the occasional redeeming feature left unopposed.
edited by Barselaar on 12/29/2016
Did anyone choose to turn her against Mr Wines? I’m pretty sure that’s the only ending I haven’t seen discussed yet.
[quote=Vavakx Nonexus][quote=Pnakotic][quote=Vavakx Nonexus]Unmasking the Visitor’s effect on the LoN is somewhat understandable, but I remain compounded by how, exactly, the Empress’ Shadow taking control of the Observatory advances the LoN. I see no hints of revolutionary overtones, and I doubt that the Shadow is so bad at managing an Observatory as to further its enemies’ cause.
I originally picked that ending because of my interest in the Observatory & the Kaiser’s astronomical shenanigans anyways, and am kinda disappointed that this choice for some obscure and mysterious reason furthers the LoN.[/quote]
Consider what you learned from the surface visitor. It’s likely an "enemy of my enemy’s friend" kind of situation.[/quote]
That really doesn’t make sense.The Shadow chooses to align herself with the Kaiser & his Observatory in this ending, and it is even stated that Berlin is resisting Revolutionary influence.
[/i]
There is literally nothing that can further the LoN coming from the Shadow and Berlin in this particular ending.[/quote]
Okay, I think I figured this out. Helping the Shadow buy back influence actually decreases Advancing the Liberation of Night. The problem is that said quality has a custom change message, so it says you’ve advanced the Liberation even when the quality is dropping.
Yes, I think it would be advisable to resume discussing the story. I’ve noticed that collecting donations with your students has unique texts for both the Daughter and the Nun - has anyone found any others, for collections or for guard work at the Parlour?