A newly escaped prisoner!

Fallen London
1

So I signed up for this game about three days ago on mobile without any idea of what I was doing. I figured you veterans could appreciate how lost I am. (It’s made out of like 4 (or 5?) cities though, so getting lost is pretty understandable, right?) So here it is: a summary of my thoughts.

This game is made of stories and there is skill leveling. I can handle that, no prob. But wait?! I can only try an action one time and need an item to try again if I fail? What if I need to apply that item beforehand?? There’s like a 80% chance of permanent homelessness! How am I going to find a place to live??? (I then ground my persuasion up to the much more respectable level of 12 and decided that a 64% chance of a lifetime of vagrancy was a reasonable gamble and am now living in a place that probably smells like old, brine-dipped mothballs.)

Grinding rats is boring and why does every quest drop something different? Are they all useful?? (Proceeds to hoard everything, who knows when you’re going to come across another set of prison manacles for the low, low price of free.)

What is a Starveling Cat and why are people obsessed with it?

Beware anyone whose name starts with Mr.

Where are these candles coming from?? (No seriously, on mobile there isn’t a countdown unless you click it, so I kept wondering why I had so many since I expected them to refresh at midnight.)

Whoops! Some of the stories are opposing. I hope I signed up for the right one. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

So apparently, there’s a festival on now. I’ve got quirks to level and fish to catch. (I caught a whole four fish last time!). The downside is that I’m…probably failing everything?? I keep getting wounds and nightmares and I can’t find the to guy to throw fish at to fix it. …Do I have to charge through a pack of drownies to get there? They’re the only thing at the Fruits of the Festival where I’m pretty sure the guy is supposed to be. I keep clicking on them to see if the guy will show up and my nightmares are at about 5 now.

DO NOT DESTINY. DO NOT! <–from the forums

I’m sure there’s more, but off the top of my head those are my first few days in the Neath.

2

The mechanics go like this - failure is good for you, because then your stats increase faster! Don’t be afraid to fail.

Have you found the Bazaar tab yet (only in London)? That lets you buy a house for about 6 echoes worth of stuff (I bought Primordial Shrieks and used the Shrieks to buy a Rooftop Shack. This is a good idea because then you get access to more cards. Other people will agree that this is a good idea but will disagree about what house you should buy, because they all are good for different stuff. Don’t buy them all though.)

The quests all drop different things because everything is useful, although some stuff is useful only to sell. Don’t sell too much of any one thing right now and you’ll probably be fine.

You can go and eat some Rubbery Lumps to reduce your wounds. This is pretty expensive but does help. Someone was recommending throwing your catch down the well for new characters, I think? You can get a lot of stuff.

Some of the opposing stories have consequences and some don’t (a lot of people kinda regret what they did when they met the Last Constable and the Cheery Man). You can A. Look it all up meticulously or B. Have fun and don’t worry about it too much.

Starveling cats are good only if you want to look it all up meticulously and also want to kill your character. Which you probably don’t want to do. Don’t worry about them yet.

I would hold off on a Destiny because you can always get one later (at Halloween) and they’re kind of fiddly. But you can change them later too. (You have to pay some real money to do that though.)

3

Welcome to the Neath! Please, enjoy your stay :)

To answer some of your questions, I started my journey through London around the mobile launch of the game, so I understand your confusion. All storylets (under the Always tab), except ones that tell you otherwise, are repeatable. So if you fail the challenge, you will get some menaces (the four main ones are Wounds, Nightmares, Scandal, and Suspicion) but can continue to repeat the action until you succeed. Opportunity cards, listed under the Sometimes tab, refresh every 10 minutes or so (it’s a bit weird on mobile) and can’t be repeated until you draw the necessary card again.

Every action gives something different, and I would recommend hoarding everything, as there is infinite inventory space and you never know when you’ll need to sell a unch of your stuff for a particularly expensive item. Ray-Drenched Cinder, I’m looking at you.

Starveling Cats are useful for a particular quest that will do you no good at all, and you should never attempt to find any more about them, ever. Plus they eat all your food.

Correct, the Masters are not to be messed with, at least not until you seek your Ambition, a particular box, or a particular name.

The candles are your actions, they refresh onc every 10 minutes and cap at 20, unless you are an exceptional friend.

Don’t worry about the festival so much, everyone can do it, regardless of level but you are at a disadvantage because of how new you are. Just have fun, read the lore, and maybe pick up some special prizes from a certain hooded lady.

Regarding destinies, I would either wait until you get more familiar with the lore, as you can pick one at this feast, Halloween, or Christmas, or read a very helpful beginners guide on them, which can be found right here on the forums. http://community.failbettergames.com/topic22941-destiny-advice-for-newish-players.aspx

Again, welcome to the Neath, and enjoy your stay! :D
edited by ExceptionallyDelicious on 8/17/2016

4

I feel like the browser version is a lot easier to understand. I’ve tried looking things up but this game is really confusing to me for some reason, so it usually doesn’t help. I have, however, kind of been enjoying how bewildered I feel because it’s very realistic.

So, I’ve mainly been ignoring the Sometimes tab, it seems this was a poor decision. I guess I was missing all the good stuff!

The messages here have been very helpful though. I finally understand how second tries work (I thought they were just being nice to low level characters, and that was why it hadn’t dissipated.)

Also, wasn’t planning to buy a house, until later…whoops! And wouldn’t have found the houses for awhile since I read through the bazaar earlier and… didn’t see them…for some reason?? Also, I would have totally tried to buy all the houses. That’s definitely something I would do.

I think that thread about destinies is the reason I want to run the other way. It looked really complicated and beyond starting characters. I’m also really happy to just avoid starveling cats (especially after all those stories; more informative than those rhymes.)

Your advice has been very helpful! It’s time to go hunt a hooded woman. >:3

5

[quote=Knoght]I feel like the browser version is a lot easier to understand. I’ve tried looking things up but this game is really confusing to me for some reason, so it usually doesn’t help. I have, however, kind of been enjoying how bewildered I feel because it’s very realistic.

So, I’ve mainly been ignoring the Sometimes tab, it seems this was a poor decision. I guess I was missing all the good stuff!

The messages here have been very helpful though. I finally understand how second tries work (I thought they were just being nice to low level characters, and that was why it hadn’t dissipated.)

Also, wasn’t planning to buy a house, until later…whoops! And wouldn’t have found the houses for awhile since I read through the bazaar earlier and… didn’t see them…for some reason?? Also, I would have totally tried to buy all the houses. That’s definitely something I would do.

I think that thread about destinies is the reason I want to run the other way. It looked really complicated and beyond starting characters. I’m also really happy to just avoid starveling cats (especially after all those stories; more informative than those rhymes.)

Your advice has been very helpful! It’s time to go hunt a hooded woman. >:3[/quote]

Back when I was new to Fallen London (way, way before the mobile version) I found that I learned the most, and had the most fun, simply from doing the storylets that seemed the most interesting/felt the most &quotright&quot for my character. Eventually, you’ll become familiar enough with the areas of FL and the basic storylets that you can be more strategic/selective, but you don’t really need to do so in the beginning.

6

If I’m being honest, I really don’t like the user interface in the App. The browser version isn’t a shining beacon of simplicity either but I find it less clumsy and it does a better job of conveying the current state of your character and the relationship of the Opportunity Deck (or Sometimes Tab) to the static options.

If I were you I wouldn’t worry too much about the kinds of topics you’ll find floating around the forum at this point. The basic concept of the game is easily grasped (click on things, read text) and when you just start out that’s all you really need. You’ll get a bunch of stuff. For now, just hang onto it. You’ll get a better sense of what you do and don’t need as you move through the game. Once you get more involved there’s a deeper complexity here, both in mechanics and narrative, that you can gain some benefit from grasping.

Regarding Destinies, there’s nothing mechanically complicated about them. They’re just a static stat boost. Usually a +5 to one of the 4 stats. You can blunder into one pretty easily if you want to. The reason the forum has such complicated looking information about them is it can be difficult to make sure you get the one that gives you the stats you want without some insider knowledge. Each one also contains some very interesting lore that you won’t understand until much later in the game. The real catch is you only get to pick one for free. Changing after the fact requires Fate which you have to purchase. Pick one up now if you want (I blundered into in the first few weeks of my time here) or leave them for later. There’s no rush and you’ll get two more opportunities to get one before the year is out.

7

A feature many new players (including me, when I joined) are unaware of or don’t fully utilize is the journal. Unfortunately it’s only accessible in the browser, but it lets you record the text from storylets and actions, with a custom title if you so wish. Very handy for recording stories you’ve done in case you ever want to look back at them, or for things like Ambitions where you might not otherwise recall what to do next. Failbetter is currently reworking parts of the journal as well so it may have more features soon.

8

Remember that the forum is packed with charity pages! This is especially helpful for newer players like you as a surprise package can contain some really useful goodies!
Don’t be shy and tack your name on a thread or three, and if you’re lucky you’ll g a handful of cash in a day or so.

The game also has a protegé system where a far more experienced player takes you under his wing and can provide significant skill increase and second chances five times a week! In exchange, there’s plenty of social actions that you can do with them that’ll increase their making waves (something that’ll only be useful much, much later), or decrease their menaces. Being social is a whole 'nother aspect to the game.
edited by Infinity Simulacrum on 8/17/2016