I’ve played a few Exceptional Stories that have interesting premises and slowly draw me in with interesting characters and hints of lore, only to let me down with unsatisfying endings (i.e. The Bones of London). This one is kind of the opposite: I wasn’t very interested in the premise initially, the characters weren’t very interesting (except for the urchin, but it would take considerable effort to create an urchin whom I don’t immediately like), but the story is redeemed somewhat by late lore revelations, and a final choice that felt quite meaningful, for me at least.
I can never resist taking the "bad" endings. However, I feel that the whole "This is a very bad idea. Do not do this" warning is becoming a bit overused. When it is used for options that are only bad from a narrative standpoint, it lessens the effect for truly bad choices which will permanently damage your character (i.e. Seeking).
Of course, there’s the possibility the my eye will eventually "hatch", and it will be revealed that it was actually a really bad idea after all.
What item(s) should one end up with after the story’s over? (That is, what’s the item that’ll be the trade-in after the season is concluded.) I’ve seen a few mentioned here so far, none of which I have, and no one mentioned the one I did pick up early-ish in the story (see spoiler for that 'un).
a Used Eyepatch - and not a wearable one, either, a Curiosity
edited by Tintinnabulum on 7/27/2018 edited by Tintinnabulum on 7/27/2018
(my character is a mad scientist with revolutionary leanings who means to bring down the judgments, but he hasn’t yet seen an insane scheme he didn’t want to be part of.)
[quote=TheManicMan]
<snip>
Thank you. Since the choice didn’t seem to have much of an narrative effect, I chose to help the Council with their excavation work in the end, which sadly didn’t change much either. I know that permanent upheaval in Fallen London isn’t much of a thing due to obvious reasons, but I feel like it would’ve been great to hear about how the whole thing with the spider-judgment monstrosity went down instead of being left in the dark about it in seemingly all endings. So while I personally didn’t mind the adrenaline lacking chase sequence, I think the ending is just a tad disappointing. edited by TheManicMan on 7/27/2018[/quote]
I picked this option, hoping to have a choice to sabotage the work or at least exploit my knowledge of what was going on. No such luck.
Is this the only choice that doesn’t give an item? edited by Josiah Thimblerig on 7/28/2018
[quote=datarama]Did anyone choose to wall them up and walk away?
(my character is a mad scientist with revolutionary leanings who means to bring down the judgments, but he hasn’t yet seen an insane scheme he didn’t want to be part of.)[/quote]
Really enjoyed this one! The first half especially was great, with me frantically trying to fix my house as it falls down around my ears and then the body horror of the council/council reveal was really well done.
But, I accidentally reloaded the page and lost the results to my final choice (burn it down). Would anyone mind sending me an echo of the text/what the rewards were?
Wow, an exciting new way to heck up your body!
You can now get yourself a nasty spider eye, a clay arm, a rubbery who-knows-what, you can lose your organs, remove your head and fill yourself with wax… who’s going to go for the full Neathy makeover?
[quote=Josiah Thimblerig][quote=TheManicMan]
<snip>
Thank you. Since the choice didn’t seem to have much of an narrative effect, I chose to help the Council with their excavation work in the end, which sadly didn’t change much either. I know that permanent upheaval in Fallen London isn’t much of a thing due to obvious reasons, but I feel like it would’ve been great to hear about how the whole thing with the spider-judgment monstrosity went down instead of being left in the dark about it in seemingly all endings. So while I personally didn’t mind the adrenaline lacking chase sequence, I think the ending is just a tad disappointing. edited by TheManicMan on 7/27/2018[/quote]
I picked this option, hoping to have a choice to sabotage the work or at least exploit my knowledge of what was going on. No such luck.
Is this the only choice that doesn’t give an item? edited by Josiah Thimblerig on 7/28/2018[/quote]
It does give an item though, namely the Ratty Reliquary in addition to three 12.5 Echo items I forgot. edited by TheManicMan on 7/28/2018
While I did like the story, it got a laugh out of me how attacking the man wasn’t a dangerous test.
And I’m unsure how the options of burning the council and walling them in would be different. Of course, one leads to death by suffocation and the other to death by burning.
Overall a nice story, but the chase lost it’s interest after one or two runs through the sewer.
I’ve succeeded most luck challenges multiple times in a row and the issue was that each time water got to 0 gas would rise, which you had to stop, causing water to rise to 2 again, so essentially the best thing to do in that "loop" is simply let the water or gas destroy your house.
Even though I keep to my decision about informing Mr Inch, because that is exactly what my character would’ve done in the situation, the fact that I will basically not be able to ever find out the other absurd endings kind of really gnaws on me, very very badly, especially because I was able to do that destructive one which was said to not be done. Could anyone please let me know, whether openly or privately, about the two endings and what the rewards were; the one where you keep making the symbol, and the one where you have become close to them and are offered to do something ‘‘that you shouldn’t’’? Any answers are very much appreciated!
This was only my third exceptional story, but it was the most disappointing so far.
It seems to me the story would benefit greatly from communicating a sense of positive progress – that your decisions are improving or affecting the situation. In your residence, and in the sewers therafter, the story frequently does not convey that you’re improving the situation; in the first case, because you’re not, and in the second, while apparently there was a variable measuring progress, it was carefully hidden from the player most of the time. These storylets created a feeling called "learned helplessness" this is not a feeling conducive to enjoyment.
Then, at the final decision, none of the choices – and some of the choices seemed quite dangerous – held any element of risk. While this makes sense in the larger context of an exceptional story, it does further emphasize the feeling of "whatever you choose it doesn’t really matter; everything will come out (roughly) the same, anyway." The lack of negative consequence – or rather, risk of negative consequence – just accentuates the feelings that the lack of (communicating) positive consequence created earlier; the sense that you are not the hero of the story, just a piece being moved around by it (sometimes, in circles).
That said, the pieces of conversation with the man from the Burrough Council were very nicely creepy and entertaining, and I suppose the first part is a fair simulation of what needing house repairs is like; although why anyone would simulate that for fun, I don’t know. edited by Reginald Cooper on 7/28/2018
Oh gosh, I’m really torn about what to do for the final decision. I’m very tempted by the bad end choice, mostly because I personally like collecting as many companions as possible with my character, but I’m worried about consequences down the road, as I don’t want this to be my character’s undoing. Has anyone ever chosen things that are officially “bad ideas” before (outside of Seeking, that is)? If so, have they ever had particularly negative consequences down the road?