Choices and consequences

Fallen London
1

Ok, I have been holding off on this topic for a while, and to be honest I’m not sure I either am the right guy, or have the right words to bring this to the table. But there is something about Fallen London that for a long while now has bothered me: both in main story and in gameplay terms, there is no real consequence, fallout, or power gain from our actions in any story.

Let me give you an example from my character. In one Exceptional Story, there was a machine that with the right person behind it, could move things around London as you wish. I took a action that, in theory, means I have a powerful machine that can alter London to my whims. Can I use it from a gameplay perspective? No, I cannot. Can I use it from a STORY perspective? No, I cannot. Can I be frustrated as it sits in the basement? Yes.

All of this would not be a issue to me, but I have to take offense with this new story, much as I don’t want to. A Royal Wedding is, in many games, in real life, and apparently here, a Big Deal. And Fallen London’s key theme, the thing we are warned about time and time again, is love. This sort of thing, a Big Deal like this, should have consequences and choices beyond a small monetary item or 2. In any other game, this would be a event that changes the playing field. Storywise, powers would be scrambling to find a new way to manipulate this. Gameplaywise, there should be things going on beyond normal.

Yet, nothing happens. The choice and the play does not matter. Weather you make it go through or fall through, the outcome is the same.

I think, recently, Fallen London has kinda forgot the game part and gone more for the story part. And that can work. But doing it like this, it comes as a detriment.

Hell the only thing I can think of in Fallen London that has any real choice or consequences or gameplay is to boot myself down a well and listen to my stomach. DX

2

That’s fair. In the HOJOTOHO Exceptional Story does actually affect the world in a minor way based on your choice, either giving you a new option on the Urchins Card or in the Foreign Office.

I’ve wondered if that’s why Ambition updated might be taking a while, because they definitely seem set up for some world changing events, and FBG might be figuring out how to make them work.

Also, I had been planning on getting the new story, but from your review, is it worth it?
edited by Vortigaunt on 12/18/2017

3

It’s the same problem a lot of (maybe all) games like this have in that there is no feasible way for these consequences to be implemented significantly across the player base. Ironically, choice and consequence work against each other too much, with too many potential different choices piling up on each other for each individual player, till most people’s London is nothing like any other. (Look at Bioware for example, and those are single player games.)That said, I do really appreciate when FB do take the time to have even limited consequences pop up, like Hojotoho as mentioned above and a few other things. Even if all it can reasonably be is a new option on a card or from lodgings, it still makes me feel like my character is having an affect on there wold and that my decisions have weight, and FB should defiantly do this more; I know resources are limited, but it is so much more rewarding than a rare but acquirable item. But yeah, they can’t resculpt the world for a limited group of players, but they can and should leave us with some indication that actions have lasting impact.

(I actually have more I sort of want to say, looking at elections and stuff, but that gets tangential and I made my point, I think.)

4

Your choices haven’t had consequences.

Yet.

5

I kind of feel like we’re hitting Warhammer 40k plot territory. In that everything is rapidly approaching Minute-to-Midnight levels of &quotsomething is going to happen&quot and… just sort of staying there. There doesn’t appear to be any significant change to that as a result of our actions. Just this sense of impending something, but no way to bring it about. This is something I would like to see change, because… well, I love this story, and would like to get on with it. I’d like for some kind of domino to fall, for something to get moving. If there’s one surefire way to make our choices feel significant, that’s it.
edited by ZackOak on 12/20/2017

6

Maybe there will be some significant change in the worldstate after the Ambitions plotlines are finished?

7

So, if you let everyone to make their move, you still can marry Feducci and Princess?

8

The major issue, gameplay-wise, with actions having consequences is that often people get upset when those consequences cut things off.
Take (for example) the quality for the Liberation of Night. What if, when the quality hit a certain amount, on a single character or across all of them, the lights really did go out? Most people wouldn’t appreciate this, in fact, they’d probably be livid.

Another issue with the particularly major consequences is that it’s difficult to make canon-affecting events based on stories where a single player is making the choice. Unlike the Election, where all Londoners are just a single voter, major consequences pending on a single character (say, the eventual goal of Bag a Legend) are also difficult.

So having non-communal events determined by a single player is more or less off the table. That makes sense, individual players can’t have so much sway over things that’ll effect everyone, or every Seeker would cause the servers to explode. That said, I agree that there could be more consequences for our actions. For example, add a new option to Mayor Feducci’s card based on whether you assisted or doomed the wedding.

A similar situation comes to mind with the combination of the Trade in Souls, the Soldier’s Tale (via EF-ship), and Theological Husbandry. If you were a shepherd of souls and restored the Soldier’s wife’s soul, you would find him in the Theological Husbandry story happy and relatively sober. Likewise, if you decided to take his soul instead as a spirifer, you would find him despondent and depressed.

A separate example is the Spinning of the Wheels story, where the decision you make can cut you off from the Velocipede Squad’s carousel. I’d say this is generally less-liked because if you decide to have consequences, it takes things away. It’s up for debate whether this is as valid as a consequence as the options provided by things like Hojotoho, though.

So the safest option in regards to consequences is like what Hojotoho does: An extra option here, an opportunity card there. If what you do doesn’t affect London’s operations as a whole, there can at least be some lasting acknowledgement. Like those feasts at Heorot, or the little changes in stories where your actions are important.

–But all this is just my overanalyzing opinion on it, so don’t take it too close to heart.

9

The other thing is that any &quotconsequences&quot probably mean less content down the line. Fundamentally, a consequence means that based on a choice, you now get different text later on. Which means that FBG has to write more text for the same amount of playtime for the user.

The more consequences there are, the less FBG content each individual player gets to see.
edited by Amalgamate on 12/21/2017

10

I totally support a concept of small, recurring, personal and different consequences of major events and stories instead of items of stat or echo value. An early-game story of Cheery Man and the Last Constable has a perfect consequence of acquiring a partner or even a friend with who you take drinks, discuss matters and earn ongoing little profit.

11

See, I don’t mind if a carousel gets ended, or an option is snipped. I don’t play FL for the meta, because it’s more of an interactive story than a game to me. I want to see something happen. I want more than the idea of something changing later, because the more that happens, the more stories set us up for some grand conclusion to all these threads Eventually, the more likely that the inevitable conclusion and change will be disappointing. Not due to lack of quality, but simply die to expectations being too much and the threads being too many.
edited by ZackOak on 12/21/2017