August Exceptional Story: Unto Dust

I wondered if I’ve encountered a bug?

Possible spoiler:

I chose the option: &quotInform the Court of the Grand Baron’s plan&quot. I clicked it, and - before I did - the warning said: &quotThis choice cannot be undone. Any other choice made regarding the Baron will be rendered moot&quot. The problem is that the option is still there on the &quotThe Court of Silent Sorrow&quot with the same warning attached?

I’m unsure how to proceed. If I click it again, am I just wasting an action? But if I choose to &quotConsider the claimants&quot, will it still register the fact I’ve informed the court and not lock me out whatever that option brings?
edited by Robin_Alexander on 8/4/2020

That sounds confusing whether or not it’s a bug mechanically.

Send an email to support@failbettergames.com to get it proper attention.

[quote=Dagforth]

That sounds confusing whether or not it’s a bug mechanically.

Send an email to support@failbettergames.com to get it proper attention.[/quote]

Thank you. I’ve just sent the email, hopefully it’ll get an answer soon.

[quote=Robin_Alexander]I wondered if I’ve encountered a bug?

Possible spoiler:

I chose the option: &quotInform the Court of the Grand Baron’s plan&quot. I clicked it, and - before I did - the warning said: &quotThis choice cannot be undone. Any other choice made regarding the Baron will be rendered moot&quot. The problem is that the option is still there on the &quotThe Court of Silent Sorrow&quot with the same warning attached?

I’m unsure how to proceed. If I click it again, am I just wasting an action? But if I choose to &quotConsider the claimants&quot, will it still register the fact I’ve informed the court and not lock me out whatever that option brings?
edited by Robin_Alexander on 8/4/2020[/quote]

FWIW I also saw the &quotinform&quot action after already playing it. I assumed it was just something that triggered a flag in the next step but didn’t turn itself off. When I moved the story forward the court acted on my tip, so playing it once did work.

Oh! I hadn’t realized there were more clubs now. How intriguing…

This was my first ES story back off a long hiatus.

I just wanted to than FBG for their good work.

I actually bought this alongside “The Shallows” (which I wasn’t as keen on), and very much enjoyed the whole story from start to finish. I found some parts a little predictable, like the identity of the other heir, and some parts rather surprising, like the full extent of the plans of our main character, but all the characters were so well-written - fleshed out, explored, made three-dimensional - that I was able to invest in them and look past any small nit-picky things narration wise. I also (as always) adore the artwork, and I’ll continue to maintain that in-game art really should be for sale in the store.

The mechanics felt a little simple to me, and I wasn’t too keen on some parts costing actions, when they were literally just snippets of story leading to more story (as it felt like I was using actions just to be told small bits of story that could be put together as one longer piece, without any rewards or choices). Still, it worked mechanically very well, especially the second half in the new location (aside from a bug I encountered, it was very intuitive, but a bit different and piqued my interests). It made from a very nice change from the grind I was doing, and I loved every moment and really absorbed the story as I went.

Great job overall, and very glad I played this work.

What were the requirements needed to get the ending where the Heir and the Housekeeper share the claim?
The option never appeared when it came time to choose.
edited by Liosalfa on 8/17/2020

[quote=Liosalfa]What were the requirements needed to get the ending <snip>
The option never appeared when it came time to choose.
edited by Liosalfa on 8/17/2020[/quote]

I couldn’t find it either. I wonder if I needed to ask the housekeeper to speak at the funeral? Or maybe I needed to sabotage the funeral? I sympathized most with the Housekeeper, but speaking at the funeral wasn’t something I thought she would enjoy so I let the Baron talk. I had trust of the Heir and Housekeeper at 6x each by the end, so unless there was a hidden option requiring their trust to be higher it wasn’t that…

Overall I was happy with my ending, where the Heir ended up with the lawyer and the Housekeeper inherited the house to turn into a home for former servants. I was initially worried about playing matchmaker and pushing the Heir into a relationship he wasn’t happy with, but it seemed like he was enjoying the Heir’s company in the end so all’s well. I’m not sure that inheriting the mansion was what the Housekeeper really wanted, but without the option to share the inheritance it felt like the next best choice.

I liked this one! I agree with others that initially it felt a lot like The Dilettante’s Debut, which I wasn’t as interested in, but the Venderbight section really made the story for me. Thanks, FBG!

If I remember right (and it’s been a few weeks), the option you’re discussing had an unlock requirement of a poor ending for the funeral. It sounded like it was a bonding experience for them.

Oh, that makes sense as a bonding experience. Thank you!

It’s been a while, but I remember really enjoying this story. It start with a standard plot line, where you are trying to organize a funeral. I liked this bit, because of the character and the different choice you could made, but I thought it was a bit of a repeat of The Dilettante’s Debut a two months earlier. I also the option at the end of the funeral where you freely augment the quality you want diminish the choice you made for the funeral. However, the story then take an exciting turn, where you are thrown in a strange situation and the choice you made at the funeral have unexpected consequence (good and bad). That second part was easily the best moment of the story. It also gave me more information about the Grand Sanatorium, so that was cool. Personally, I started by liking the Grand Baron, but by the end of the story I hated him, so I made sure he would never be a problem again. Overall, a really good story. Also, The Fairfax family make an appearance which I liked.

Just chiming to say how much I enjoyed this ES. Exploring the Grand Sanatorium was the highlight of the story for me, especially since I was able to do without time constraints (being able to explore a new area like this is my favourite part of ESes). The writing in this one was, in a word, Exceptional – the random flavor texts when passing time in the Sanatorium were particularly memorable, and the description of being dragged off by the you-know-whats was Nightmarish. The Baron and the Heir were great characters (the Housekeeper could have been developed more, though), and my view of both of them changed quite a bit as the story progressed.

Also, I do hope we’ll be seeing more of Clarisse and Ross in the future! They played a minor role in the story, but were lots of fun.

Hm, for me the story felt pretty dull and it tired me a bit mechanically (because of taking me away from London for a long while). It was a tad bit too easy to play a “proper” route and not experience any interesting effects. Also I’m not a fan the dead, so the lore bits didn’t engage me either. Oh well.