This was my very first ES and I loved it!! Gutted the New Dreamer left in the end, but all the Axile info was Fascinating!
Any particular requirements for this ES? :)
None that I remember, disappointingly enough. Some Shapeling Arts checks would have been nice.
Bit disappointed with this one. I understand that ES’s can’t acknowledge everything that’s happened in FL lore, but the way this story ignores the last election AND the railway Ealing Gardens content is odd. There’s a whole cultural movement of Rubberies making creative arts out there! You can hang out with them. They greatly admire my Shapeling Arts skills. I hoped for a second I was going to be offered the chance to tell the Rubberies to head for Ealing Gardens and save themselves, but no. The story references fate-locked Flute Street, but not Helicon House? Strange.
The dilemma at the end was pretty weak, too. "Hey, the eldritch entities that literally just betrayed me are offering a new bargain that they will certainly keep this time!" Uh, how about no. The lack of free-action conversations was mechanically painful. Overall, it felt like it was written a few years ago and dug out of a drawer without updating.
edited by Grouchybeast on 4/20/2021
Quite a few comments referring to the Dreamer as ‘she’ earlier in the thread. My story calls the Dreamer ‘he.’ Is it possible that it can be either, depending on options taken when messing about with the tank? (I must have not been paying attention again - got a bit sidetracked and played the expedition part a few days after the earlier part, and my memories of it are pretty vague)
Yes - I believe the personality you use to create the Dreamer will also determine his or her gender. (Hah - usually, I hate the phrase “his or her”, but in this case, it’s entirely appropriate - the Dreamer may be he or she but never they.)
I finally got around to playing through this Exceptional Story, and I enjoyed it a lot. Great work by the writer, artist, and editors. Here’s what I liked and what could have been better:
What I liked
[ul][li]The story had one of my favorite elements: a new area that I could explore at my leisure without some kind of countdown timer. The Marais was small, but the time-of-day quality allowed for multiple things to see at each location.[/li][/ul][ul][li]The New Dreamer was a very memorable character that I enjoyed interacting with, particularly since the player has a hand in their creation and "upbringing", so to speak. They are definitely one of the more memorable characters in recent Exceptional Stories, and as other have mentioned, I hope we’ll be seeing them again at some point. They would make a great Feast of the Exceptional Rose companion.[/li][/ul][ul][li]Sneaking around London to gather clues about the Abbess was a lot of fun, and the scene in the abandoned laboratory was exceptionally well-written.
[/li][/ul][ul][li]Likewise, the imagery of Axile was eerie, mysterious, and evocative. I might have Nightmares about a hateful, dying purple star. Someone pass me the laudanum…
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What could have been better:
[ul][li]The emergence of the crab monster was epic, but it was disposed of far too quickly. It would have been a great opportunity to have a battle with the crab using the Running Battle quality, or perhaps something similar to the new Brawling mechanics. A back-and-forth battle with multiple options (such as rallying the Rubbery Men, improvising weapons or traps, etc), lasting perhaps 10-12 actions and followed by a hard-won victory would have been much more memorable.[/li][/ul][ul][li]As other have noted, the story oddly omits everything about Helicon House, where the Rubbery Men are developing their own art and music. You can even experience a dream of Axile there, which is what the entire plot of this ES is driven by. The Helicon House lore could have been better integrated into the story, or at least mentioned at some point.
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Finally got around to this one, and I’m extremely disappointed. My many-paragraphed analysis fell victim to accidentally closing the tab, so more succinctly:
- I loved the New Dreamer’s character, which came as a surprise. Normally I dislike characters whose personality facets and major choices are entirely player-determined, but the Dreamer’s journey of self-discovery won me over![/li][li]This story is an experience out of my first days in Fallen London seven years ago, and that’s very bad. Why on earth have we suddenly returned to the era of subhuman Rubbery Men and fantasy racism? Newer content explores Rubbery culture’s complex emotional perspective on Axile, the Flukes, and their life in London. Characters like the Dean of Xenotheology imply a sophisticated Rubbery culture waiting just offscreen. But Rubbery Men in this story merely ‘smell like lemon’ and ‘hoot a lot’, as we’re reminded every few paragraphs. And the story asserts these are the brightest of the species! Poor creatures ground down by subservience now uplifted by London’s fine culture. Though only to a spark of independent thought, of course—they still need human ingenuity to lead a settlement and solve their disputes. /s /s /s Seriously, when was this written? I know Failbetter commissions ESes well in advance, but Helicon House was released a year ago. Hell, The Ceremony is two and a half years old! This thematic change is not new and I am astounded nobody caught this in time.[/li][li]The rest of the story feels similarly early-game, with no provision for experienced player characters. The Numismatrix is a stranger, even if she works in your lab. The shapeling arts are a mystery, regardless of experience in the Upper River or a handful of ESes. Fallen London is constantly expanding and it’s impossible to acknowledge every relevant detail, but one or two connections makes a world of difference. Here we may merely reminisce with the Deluged Docent about Flute Street, and playing that content isn’t even acknowledged when interacting directly with the relevant Rubberiness.[/li][li]The story is linear and mechanically clunky. A couple heavy-handed "you’re forced to do this, but why are you doing this" branches. Investigations that can be done in any order, but are brief and independent. An awkwardly-implemented timed area that just adds action costs to the one option to progress. Even the key choices are single decisions unaffected by your other actions.
- Finally, the actual climax is incredibly unsatisfying. Save the Abbess from the Flukes’ betrayal or consign her to transformation! Except there’s no foreshadowing as to what will happen. The Flukes sent a giant crab to destroy the settlement! Except it’s instantly defeated, so who cares? Decide whether the Dreamer should sacrifice themselves for these Rubbery Men! Except these Rubbery Men have no personality. Except deciding the Dreamer owes them nothing (since only protagonists are allowed to make decisions, of course) means the Dreamer will be burdened by guilt forever, surprise. Decide the fate of the Abbess! Except the option text is misleading.[/li][li]Seriously, I was so thoroughly sick of the Abbess that I chose to bring her back to London for possible death at the hand of her past employers. Instead the protagonist just… sets her loose on the town and gets scolded for it by a spymaster! This was not signposted at all![/li][li]The glimpses of Axile are intriguing, but can’t prop up the rest of the story alone. Nor can the New Dreamer and their lack of resolution. Their existence is never satisfyingly explained—whether an experiment in eternal youth was abandoned because reasons, whether the Flukes’ conduit to Axile must be humanoid and based on a surface resident. They date the player character, or maybe not, abruptly and without lasting impact. If granted their freedom, they vanish into the Neath for unclear charity and an unclear duration…
So much for brevity, huh?