I’d like to say that I very much enjoyed seeing a queer NPC relationship. It fits thematically. If the Bazaar is looking for Love Stories, then wouldn’t it welcome Love in all its forms? It seemed almost like an error that no NPCs were in LGBT relationships unless it was with a PC. As if the default was straight but by the Power of Player Choice, we have the opportunity to "turn" them gay. XD
(I’m only a mid-tier player, so please forgive me if I missed some other queer couple or if I’m misunderstanding the Bazaar’s motives.)
[quote=Ridara]I’d like to say that I very much enjoyed seeing a queer NPC relationship. It fits thematically. If the Bazaar is looking for Love Stories, then wouldn’t it welcome Love in all its forms? It seemed almost like an error that no NPCs were in LGBT relationships unless it was with a PC. As if the default was straight but by the Power of Player Choice, we have the opportunity to "turn" them gay. XD
(I’m only a mid-tier player, so please forgive me if I missed some other queer couple or if I’m misunderstanding the Bazaar’s motives.)[/quote]
On the topic of queer romance, off the top of my head we have…
The Manager of Royal Bethlehem and the King of Hundred Hearts. I’ve also heard that the Bishop of Southwark is gay, but I’m not very sure where that came from since I haven’t seen all monster breeding results and wasn’t around when he was a mayoral candidate.
That said, I agree seeing them in ES is always nice. I hope we will get a happier relationship someday though…
The Bishop’s storyline comes from one ES, where he reminisces about loves lost in the war.
Much obliged, friend, I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for these people. <3
I finally finished the story, so: thoughts.
[spoiler]
- The beginning of the story felt very linear with little player agency. The narrative simply assumes my character will help the Zailor; there’s no point at which my character’s motivations are brought up. My character would definitely help out of altruism, or out of interest in the Imaginator’s work, or curiosity once the details of Daylight come up… but I’m never given the chance to decide so.[/li][li]The Zailor has very little characterization other than missing the Imaginator. At the end, he gets angry at me for killing the monster, when the story previously implied that letting him help against the monster might get him killed. That’s it. This compounds the lack of player agency, as I have no investment in helping him even out of character.[/li][li]There’s not much characterization of the Imaginator either, which makes sense when we meet them in the present, but we know little about their past self either. They were very creative and that’s it, apparently?[/li][li]Really, the Ratling is the only character I found at all interesting, and she isn’t significant enough to carry the story on her own. Not surprising, given you can leave her out entirely, but disappointing.[/li][li]While exploring Daylight, there’s little sense of progress. We have to obtain three qualities to reach the Imaginator, but there’s no reason given for this. As such, we just wander aimlessly around the island until we stumble across what’s needed to progress. We also randomly acquire and use other qualities, but these are often confusing. I haven’t heard of anyone finding the rat key, nor was it ever clear what inspiration did, and we pick up items like Mr Sock just because. There’s very little story impact in this section, and we do nothing to change the island’s environment.[/li][li]Wandering the island is an action sink. We have to spend an action every time we visit a new location, and without a clear sense of where to go, it adds up fast. Those travel options really need to be free. This is especially egregious when:[/li][li]After fighting the Stalker, we can revisit areas freely, but there’s nothing to do there. In fact, there’s so little to do that all of the earlier options are gone! We just spend an action to see text we’ve already seen and get redirected back to the main island storylet. Absolutely nothing has changed, but we neither get to keep exploring in detail nor for our characters to examine old areas with fresh eyes and knowledge.[/li][li]The Stalker is just… there. It’s taken for granted. We learn from the rats that a monster exists, then it’s ignored until it potentially attacks, at which point we just run away. After meeting the Imaginator, it attacks again and we destroy it, then its gone. Any learning about it is incidental—we destroy it without needing to figure out weaknesses, then never wonder about it again. Apparently it’s an ushabti controlled by a Fingerking: although we have no idea where it came from, why an ushabti looks like that, or how on earth this can happen when we’re not in Parabola. Our characters simply do not care.[/li][li]Likewise, not only do we never find out how Daylight is illuminated, but we are never even invited to consider it. We get there, the island is bright, that’s it. The writing never questions it.[/li][li]There just weren’t any narratively significant choices. We decide whether to bring the Ratling along, but her presence changes little. We wander an island, meet the Imaginator, then destroy a monster. We decide whether the reunited Zailor and Imaginator should return home, but there’s no conflict between the two. We’re given no reason to think the outcome will be any different. The player character exists to facilitate the plot, not to have any say in events.
TL;DR, the concept has potential but the execution is lacking. While playing this story I felt much like my character did, exploring an unchanging world of toys that bled creativity as we pressed on. As though I was playing a TV episode transposed into interactive fiction, but with little added choice. I did enjoy the whimsy of the setting, but it wasn’t enough to sustain my interest on its own.
This story isn’t one of the outright bad ESes, but it’s solidly in the underwhelming camp.
Much obliged, friend, I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for these people. <3[/quote]
There’s also the Wilting Dandy’s storyline, although his love interest is already deceased.
edited by Optimatum on 11/30/2018
There was a lady in an earlier ES who had lost her wife, yes? The mapping one maybe?
[quote=Isaac Gates]One last thing: maybe it was just me, but at least three times over the course of the story the Imaginator went from a "they" to a "he" (all of which I echoed).
If I had to guess I’d say the story was originally written as a bog standard gay romance, and at the last minute that detail was subbed in to try and make it feel more unique (unsuccessfully).
edited by Isaac Gates on 11/30/2018[/quote]
I suspect it was a proofreading error. The Zailor was also referred to as "he" a couple times, and there were quite a few other typos.
I want the Precocious Ratling in my life. If the Injurious Princess can make a reappearance, so can Mr Sock!
I always saw social norms in Fallen London like so: by this point, most people have adjusted their social expectations. A minority hasn’t, and they are very unhappy. Those people are primarily society figures, along with a few academics. When you encounter things like that, you are dealing with that minority.
What’s the timeline on contact with the Surface, anyway? It’s possible all the more conservative types just up and left after the Fall, rather than chumming around with devils.
As for things like makeup and naked ankles, there’s no reason that has to change to be internally consistent.
The writers have perfected the art of reliably inspiring raw terror: the trick is to ensure the player cannot comprehend the stakes.
Wounds and such, I wouldn’t blink at. We all know there are ways to deal with that, even on the Unterzee. But “Dullness”? That’s novel, and therefore terrifying.
And also hilarious, in the end. I still don’t understand what happened with the Jovial Contrarian.
edited by Saklad5 on 12/1/2018
[quote= Saklad]<snip>
Wounds and such, I wouldn’t blink at. We all know there are ways to deal with that, even on the Unterzee. But “Dullness”? That’s novel, and therefore terrifying.
And also hilarious, in the end. I still don’t understand what happened with the Jovial Contrarian.
edited by Saklad5 on 12/1/2018[/quote]
I suspect the Contrarian merely figured that your character preferred aloneness that day and merely gave the first excuse that popped into his head. It seems unlikely that your stock with him would have suffered harm even if the interactions had occurred in real life and were not part of a browser game.
Have any ES NPCs become a staple of London, by the way? I know we have asked for a card from the priest in All the Saints, but this is very recent.
I love FL NPCs but after a few years of playing, I would not mind seeing new ones, taken from Exceptional Stories. I understand different people pick different fates for some of them, but for some their fate is a given, and they could very well stay with us. Think the man from the ministry, from the fireworks story. I would love to see them in cards, or shops, or storylets, if for no other reason then because it would be a waste for them to only appear once. They will enrich London and possibly entice players to find out more about them by buying older ES - I know I bought a couple for the exact same reason.
[quote=Jolanda Swan]Have any ES NPCs become a staple of London, by the way? I know we have asked for a card from the priest in All the Saints, but this is very recent.
I love FL NPCs but after a few years of playing, I would not mind seeing new ones, taken from Exceptional Stories. I understand different people pick different fates for some of them, but for some their fate is a given, and they could very well stay with us. Think the man from the ministry, from the fireworks story. I would love to see them in cards, or shops, or storylets, if for no other reason then because it would be a waste for them to only appear once. They will enrich London and possibly entice players to find out more about them by buying older ES - I know I bought a couple for the exact same reason.[/quote]
I just want to say I agree completely. There have been some much beloved characters for me in ESs
[quote=Jolanda Swan]Have any ES NPCs become a staple of London, by the way? I know we have asked for a card from the priest in All the Saints, but this is very recent.
I love FL NPCs but after a few years of playing, I would not mind seeing new ones, taken from Exceptional Stories. I understand different people pick different fates for some of them, but for some their fate is a given, and they could very well stay with us. Think the man from the ministry, from the fireworks story. I would love to see them in cards, or shops, or storylets, if for no other reason then because it would be a waste for them to only appear once. They will enrich London and possibly entice players to find out more about them by buying older ES - I know I bought a couple for the exact same reason.[/quote]
We’ve talked about this and would like to do it.
The tricky thing is using them in general FL content in a way that still works with the possibility that a player might have met them in an ES already, or might at any point buy that ES with Fate and interact with them. Since the events of an ES tend to be quite dramatic for the NPCs involved, it’s hard to write around.
We are looking at it, though. We love these characters deeply (cough cough deacon cough) and they all have more stories to tell.
Hi all, this question is not about this particular ES story but about being an Exceptional Friend in general - what is a Seasonal Reward? I’ve seen people talk about it and I understand you need to have played all 3 ES throughout a season to get it. However where do you find it?
edited by Great Pigmeat on 12/1/2018
[quote=Chris Gardiner][quote=Jolanda Swan]Have any ES NPCs become a staple of London, by the way? I know we have asked for a card from the priest in All the Saints, but this is very recent.
I love FL NPCs but after a few years of playing, I would not mind seeing new ones, taken from Exceptional Stories. I understand different people pick different fates for some of them, but for some their fate is a given, and they could very well stay with us. Think the man from the ministry, from the fireworks story. I would love to see them in cards, or shops, or storylets, if for no other reason then because it would be a waste for them to only appear once. They will enrich London and possibly entice players to find out more about them by buying older ES - I know I bought a couple for the exact same reason.[/quote]
We’ve talked about this and would like to do it.
The tricky thing is using them in general FL content in a way that still works with the possibility that a player might have met them in an ES already, or might at any point buy that ES with Fate and interact with them. Since the events of an ES tend to be quite dramatic for the NPCs involved, it’s hard to write around.
We are looking at it, though. We love these characters deeply (cough cough deacon cough) and they all have more stories to tell.[/quote]
Thank you for answering! This is great news.
If it helps at all, I know I 've played a lot of Fallen London content without realizing the significance of someone or something, then replayed it with renewed understanding (i.e. the Parliamentarian card, that changes meaning as you play through other content). Only thing that would bother me was if choices we made in an ES were outright ignored and that must be tough to work around, indeed.
[quote=Great Pigmeat]Hi all, this question is not about this particular ES story but about being an Exceptional Friend in general - what is a Seasonal Reward? I’ve seen people talk about it and I understand you need to have played all 3 ES throughout a season to get it. However where do you find it?
edited by Great Pigmeat on 12/1/2018[/quote]
When a seasonal reward becomes available, everyone who’s played all three stories will have a new storylet available throughout London. There will be a thread posted on the forums as well to let people know.
So, I quite enjoyed this story. I think it’s worth noting the 7 most recent Exceptional Stories have been AMAZING–we’re coming off a run of three stories: For all the Saints, The Magician’s Dream, and A Little Pandemonium–that will probably end up on most people’s top 10 list. Not to mention The Ratcatcher in May. So Daylight suffers a little bit, but only in comparison.
I’m continually impressed by FL’s ability to incorporate different tones in the different stories, and this one had a nice weird, creepy feel to it–and the miniature houses were wonderfully done. The introduction of a brand-new menace–Dullness–was extremely creative and well handled, and I wouldn’t mind seeing it introduced as a regular menace! (Then again, I’m a writer in real life, so it resonated.)
I think the note about the player-character not having a choice of motivations is a good one for the future, and there was a little mechanical wonkiness–I chose an option in the battle that, to my surprise, resulted in me immediately winning the battle, and I would have preferred to keep the object in question… and then there was the question of the key, which I cannot remember if I found or not. But overall, "daylight" definitely makes the "Very Good" category, and I’m intrigued and impressed enough to play the writer’s other games.
edited by GregM on 12/1/2018
No, but I made the silly mistake of starting the trip to Daylight on my phone, and then trying to pick it up on my PC, and that seems to have brought me back to my Lodgings and locked me out of the story. I’m about to send a bug report, but I wanted to see if anyone had encountered it and found a solution first. So of course I had to slog through the, ah, spectacle of the first two pages of this thread.