I didn’t feel like this story was especially short, nor am I disappointed by the reward. I must say I don’t understand when people complain about this part of a story, the reward is the story itself, what we discover, the emotions and feelings it gives birth to, no ?
What I hope to get when playing such monthly stories are : bits of lore, interesting/touching choices and dilemma, touching characters (the one from The Art of Murder is such a character, even though we don’t have much time to get used to him/her/it), surprising turns of event in the story and, sometimes, a unique item with a tasty flavour text when hovering over with the mouse. Art of Murder gives all that. For me, this story is a success, even with its end which feels a bit rushed.
PS : I don’t mean to criticize people who want bigger rewards or don’t like the story. I just felt that I needed to add my opinion here, after what I read. ^^ edited by Emain Ablach on 1/1/2016
Personally my objection about the reward was due to the EPA for one option being worse than pre-POSI content. This has now been rectified and I’m happy with the reward for the story. I don’t expect stellar returns from exceptional stories, although that would be nice.
Both. The final choice had one choice that benefit and two that are penalized. Knock yourself out.
Also personally I’m fine with my reward I took the option that was modified. But that’s because you know what? I liked it. It was because I wanted to at first I was “oh I can’t do it, I rather choose the later two option” then I paused and said. “You know what? I came here for a reason, to be entertained and if I sip the cup I might as well drink it all and enjoy all its aroma.”
I loved the premise of this story! Enough that I made sure to make a Google Doc where I could preserve all of it and my choices, because it’s a story I’d love to read again, and I’ve always had a hard time finding things I’ve echoed in my profile. (Honestly, I wish I had thought of doing that for Flint, because boy was that a fantastic story worth preserving!)
I had no idea there was any kind of controversy about needing to repeat one of the clue gathering actions – I did that naturally as part of the investigating process, so I guess I never realized that that was necessary to advance the plot. I wish we had gotten a little bit more of a taste of the Bohemian side of things – LOVED that opening scene, and I wanted more of it! While it may seem a little short following the epic Flint (and I don’t have many other Exceptional Stories to compare it to, as I’ve only been subscribed for a few months), I quite liked it!
I can’t comment on the reward bit yet because I’ve been waffling about what to do for my final decision. Before I make this last choice, I feel like I need an answer to some lore that I might have missed – if a Snuffer steals a face from a person, is that person ever able to return from death? I feel like that answer will decide what my character will do, from an RP standpoint.
I agree completely. I have no real measure for the size of the story—Flint was my first—but it felt pretty complete to me. I understand why some players felt this was a lost opportunity to more deeply explore an interesting premise, but that would have diluted (and possibly ruined) the special character of this story: the dawning realisation of having stumbled into a mortally dangerous situation, the need to make sense of events unfolding with increasing rapidity, and the relentless suspense of it all. In addition to this, I really enjoyed the gallows humour and the twists in the story.
(I also liked that I didn’t know from the outset how long the chase would last; it made perfect sense in the context of hunting someone through a maze.)
I had a lovely time with this one. I was a little sad I couldn’t choose all three options at once during some of the chase – I ended up only seeing one particular "branch" just the once – but that’s not really a complaint so much as a commentary on my completionist tendencies.
As for the ending, I very much enjoyed the opportunity to judge the competition as promised at the beginning.
Edit:
I don’t honestly recall a reward at all from my selection, which was somewhat confusing given how the post about the seasonally-related stories suggested the rewards from Flint, Art of Murder, and February’s story could be combined into something bigger. And, of course, I failed to echo the aftermath of my final decision because why would I do something helpful?
Regardless, I didn’t feel cheated or under-rewarded at all, but I’m never really worried about the value of rewards for these stories. I’m in 'em for the lore. Also the fun, obviously, but lore is fun.
Edit 2:
I think I do remember getting a Book of Hidden Bodies for what I picked at the end, actually. Still annoyed I didn’t echo more of the story for later perusal.
[i]edited by Saevitia on 1/1/2016
It was two months of content, but it was worth more than two.
The notefiles I have for flint i+ii are almost as big as for all six preceding stories combined.
Having just finished the story, I have to say that I was quite disappointed. Not in the inherent quality of each section, they were well-written and engaging. But frankly, I would have MUCH rather focused on a society enamored of baroque and elaborate murder than have that only be the first half. I personally was hoping to feel like I was potentially in an episode of Hannibal before the end, but the story went a different direction instead.
Right off the bat the story’s been sending messages about how the murder-chasers are mostly wannabes that can’t beat anything but the truly harmless, though - the really elaborate murders are all done by the Snuffer herself, but she failed to attract anything she deems worthy. I mean there’s a Vespertine mixed in, but even she’s swiftly cut down soon after. And the fact that anyone can just half-ass it and be recognized as a connoisseur of murder simply by registering for Knife and Candle and did nothing beyond that says even more about the society.
Okay, the ending I picked for my main character is probably wildly out-of-character for them, but it was just too hilarious a notion for me to resist. Good story - very atmospheric and enjoyable. The first part especially pulls you in.
The writing was great, as usually, I had no problem figuring out where to go and what not. I felt more and more fidgety wondering if I was going to be murdered, which is a good thing. Then I felt really rushed in maze, wasn’t sure if I would lose the snuffer if I kept on exploring options after I had reached the required amount…so I opted to just to end the story. I was also confused about using the items from the Flint, never saw any options regarding that, guessing that comes later.
I also didn’t understand the mechanic which gave more of that Red attribute…I actually wasn’t even very sure what was going on when I received the attribute or why it occurred when it did?
Suggestion:
One thing I would’ve liked to see is the option to allow the snuffer to kill you (not perma-death of course) so she can complete her destiny. Not sure if declaring her the winner would satisfy that concept as I chose to kill her instead and declare myself the winner. While I don’t particularly care about rewards, I can see how some might be underwhelmed by what I received.
The item from Flint will be open for use later to those who have all three out of it, the item given in this story to allow access to the competition, and whatever item February’s story gives. It’ll be a bonus bit of story and reward so presumably won’t occur within February’s story itself.
I thought this was great, I really enjoyed the writing – very clever stuff! And I thought the pacing was perfect – I liked how quickly things moved along, and I didn’t feel like actions were being wasted. This is a good length for an Exceptional Story, from my perspective.
However, I’d like to second what Trodgmey said about the ending choices:
I would have really loved an option other than kill/let go free. I ended up letting her go, because my character Does Not Kill People, but it’s definitely not going to sit well. Just as feedback going forward, I would even prefer to give up on rewards/take a hit in terms of menaces rather than make be forced into choices that my character would find unethical. Even something like "you try to take [whoever] into custody and fail and you are haunted by this here have tons of Nightmares hahahaha" would be awesome for me, from an RP standpoint.
Having now completed it and read through numerous complaints about the lack of clarity of the mechanics, I am getting more and more convinced that the game needs minor a UI change.
I do not, per se, think the mechanics were at all confusing. But what I think has perpetuated the perception of confusion is that you cannot see the unlock requirements on the storylets of Must Urgency (in Storynexus terminology). If you allow players to view lock/unlock requirements of such storylets then most of the confusion would disappear. This is becoming more and more pertinent because I’ve noticed that Must storylets have been used increasingly often in the recent content. edited by genesis on 1/5/2016
They are also appearing in places where a sense of urgency and a split-second decision by the playe ris not present, such as after getting the fourth clue to find the BOhemian clique. Having that launch itself in my face was quite unexpected, ultimately irrelevant, apparently, as you get nearly the same info no matter which choice you pick.
And it breaks with FL’s expected interface. Why, for Stone’s sake, must I decide immediately with no opportunity to do anything else, how to get info out of some bohemian contacts? If I can wander away from discovering the route tothe Cave of the Nadir for months at a time, why is this so important that it must hijack my game and force me to act on it?
And don’t even get me started on the unclear need for four clues out of three sources. All of them point to Veilgarden and the third clue says that you are on the verge of a breakthrough. If another player hadn’t warned me, I would have spent an unknown amount of time in Veilgarden looking for soem hidden option to continue the tale.
that Must card with no warning was the last straw, actually, and I stepped away from teh story at that point because I was upset with the mechanics. I haven’t touched it again yet, which is not somethign I can say about any other Exceptional Story so far, even the one I was terribly disappointed in.
I enjoyed the story, but the mechanics and places to go were unclear and vague. I was unaware Red Temptations were a thing untill I compleated it for example, and as the above said I thought I had to go to Veilgarden before i did. But the story was enjoyable I must admit.
I awarded her first place BTW. I mean after all if it’s a contest about murder and you kill everyone there except the last judge, surely you are the winner?