I’m of a very same opinion here. I haven’t seen the text change.
Otherwise, a very nice story and much to my liking!
Season of Skies… I sense a tie-in with another project. Yay ^_^
Yeah there’s even mention of a sort of opposite to the Correspondence and the void of space. Add in the Gate Prophet of the third story this season and we’ve a mighty Skies presence here. I’m down with it.
[quote=Kylestien]Babelfishwars: I have to ask, though I feel as though I already know the answer (not finshed yet)
[/quote]
I was a little disappointed in this regard too, albeit for a few other reasons:
[spoiler]The machine’s less arcane applications seemed quite user-friendly, so forging anything would have been possible. The other applications could have been cracked, given time. But even besides that, I found myself actually very fond of the Persona Engine itself in the conversations we had. It seemed thoughtful, loyal, and determined to improve itself, and with so much potential and room to grow as a being in its own right. The mathematician I didn’t particularly care for, and would have rather disposed of.
Besides which, just in terms of logic and pattern completion it bothers me to see several permutations on "do X and do Y" or "don’t do X and do Y", but no "do X and don’t do Y". I can understand why it’s not an option–having the machine at your disposal would drastically expand your character’s capabilities–but there should have been some internal logic applied there, like the Mathematician having a dead man’s switch or something.[/spoiler]
Good story otherwise though, I liked the premise and its execution. Best incorporation of a horse into a story since Theological Husbandry Extended.
edited by aegisaglow on 11/25/2016
Wow, that was (is, not quite done yet) an excellent piece of writing. My favourite exceptional story since the Calendar Code. Descriptions were great, atmosphere was really good, and the plot really intriguing. And I loved all the small hints of other mysteries.
I really like the support characters a lot more than I had expected to, so kudos for that.
I especially loved the mysterious tidbits about the Red Science and the Discordance and investigation the potential of the Persona Engine. I am at the final choice of the story but as others have remarked finds that ideal choice (killing the mathematician and keeping the Engine for myself) is non-existent. Now just having to figure out the most in-character alternative.
I do hope the next two stories continue in the same vein, then this season will be my favourite, baring perhaps only Heartsblood.
.
edited by Akernis on 11/25/2016
Typo watch alert:
- Replication Room, 3rd option (Open a crate): This one is It is labelled ‘Translations’. (syntax)
- A Convincing Copy: You slide the letter into the slot markedHand-Writing for Emulation (missing space symbol)[i][i]
[/i][/i]This was an amazing story that I enjoyed a lot. I chose to let both the Reclusive Mathematician and the machine live. He did nothing to me, personally, and she seemed to be quite an agreeable sort. I’d like to take her up on her offer to talk to her again. I wish I could have done something about the poor horse, though. Maybe it will come up in the epilogue?
Typo alert:
-A small victory against Hell: "True, The smallest win against the Devils (should be either ‘True. The’ or ‘True, the’)
Also it looks like an italics tag wasn’t closed on the ‘The Ambassador’s Folly’ storylet.
edited by Eglantine-Fox on 11/25/2016
I really enjoyed this, though I wasn’t entirely happy with the ending options.
In the Study:
What what indeed, old chap. giggles
Typodemons everywhere. I wonder if they fall under the purview of Hell, or another entity.
So pleased I’m not the only one who enjoys the typo hunt! Watchful points all round!
@ Jermaine: At this point, the typo hunt is almost a mini game in its own right. Super fun ^^. The spell checker must be taking a sabbatical.
@ shylarah: Folks, close the internet for today, it doesn’t get any better than this comment ;).
I’m actually mildly surprised at how many typos go through. Editors, gotta step up that game!
(not that I care whatsoever, it decreases my enjoyment about 1‰)
Wonderful story by the way. Really kicked it out of the park with these last two
[color=#e53e00]I hav a saw throte it makes me pawly in the brane.
(Fixed all the ones reported here, thank you. Do send them in as tickets, in general, as I don’t always stalk here immediately and I’d rather fix things. :) )[/color]
edited by babelfishwars on 11/25/2016
I liked the story - I just did not like the fact that I had to be hostile towards the three wronged Londoners in order to prevent a murder. It’s not like I did not recognize the anger they feel and throwing them to the curb like that felt ugly from a role-playing prespective. I would have enjoyed the opportunity to be more civilized.
As an aside, I can still see the Season of Wrecks storylet everywhere.
@ babelfishwars: Ok, will send ticket in the future! Get well soon :)
Lornfluke, I am flattered. <3
Out of curiosity, where does one go to send in a ticket? I did look in FL, but did not find a link anywhere.
I can’t seem to play this Exceptional Story. I got as far as "Return to your Study" but all the options there are either locked, or continually pass me back and forth between the same two options. There’s nothing for me to do under "Consider the Evidence" except "Return to the Mundane." And there’s nothing for me to do there except "Research the Connection between Ashes and Honey," which just turns up cryptic clues without progressing the story.
Am I supposed to have three items from Season of Wrecks to unlock this story? I only seem to have one, even though I played every story.
Edit: Nevermind, I remembered to look around London.
edited by Lamia Lawless on 11/25/2016
The Discordance reference alone rocketed this one up to among my favorite EF stories.
I am spending a lot of time hesitating over the final choice, in part because HOLY COW in Victorian London they’ve basically made a true AI. But man are bad things likely to happen if it is allowed to finish crunching its math…
But yeah, none of these options at the end are really what I want to do, so a slight ding to the score there, but otherwise, very good.
Good story that I feel is kinda ruined by the ending options.
In fact, its even unclear what some of the options do (I misunderstood what the option I chose was supposed to have as outcome).
So, I can forgive the fact that there is not even a single option to use the machine for our own profit (as a newly made Person of Some Importance I could sure have used Personal recommendations, legal documents and some permits… and can find no reason why this could not be done with it) but it ruins my immersion as it is created.
[spoiler] I went with the first option … i.e. let them kill the Mathematician. The way my character see’s it, he ruined their lives + he didnt want to help them release me so… his fate is sealed.
But the machine… such wonderful Machine should prosper (maybe used by me at a later stage or others). It was a bit scary that it wants to self improve (i.e. AI - Sentience!) and that it can break laws of nature but what do I care…
I hence selected the first option - let them do what they want with him and leave. But apparently, that gets the machine destroyed! So it seems, the only way to keep it up and running is if you leave both of them alive after beating the other 3… which is at best meh!
And of course there is no way to take back what I did… cause I would then rather leave them both alive than neither…
Shame…
[/spoiler]