I played the first one "Spirifer" and I liked it, although the final card came only past 100 points (need 75 to win) therefore extending the risk of blow it unnecessarily.
I’ve now played this several times – four, I think. Not once have I had the final card at the right point in the game. I’ve always passed 100, and the system has then moved on to the end without a card. Buggy?
Played the second one now, too: Same here (final card at 108)
Agreed
I got my menaces down to 3 so I could start on the shiny new content and I failed pretty quickly (Shadowy 57, Persuasive 52). Quite sad about all those wasted actions. Maybe you could advise to start at 0 menace before embarking on one, so others don’t make the same mistake?
I liked it quite a bit, even the lower level one had a decent reward (though I did indeed bite it on the harder one, lol).
Also liked how there were occasional watchful or dangerous challenges so I could make up for the fact that my shadowy is pretty low with careful reading of the cards.
Though I’m also a huge sucker for confidence trickery, so either I’m biased or exactly the target audience, heh.
I just opened a forum account to add a similar comment, as it happened.
When it told me only after starting that I would fail immediately if any of my menaces hit 5, I practically freaked out. Nonetheless I got through the first one successfully and actually exited with lower Scandal and Suspicion than I started with (unmodified Shadowy 59, Persuasive 70, with some good bonuses.) Still, I think this is something a player should be told before irrevocably starting this section.
IMHO you should look through what’s explained in the introductory section after you’ve committed to the "Flash Lay" and consider moving at least critical information like that to be shown before you enter it.
Having said all that, it was a lot of fun, and faster than I had expected to hit 75 progress. Certainly a lot livelier than an expedition or than the long slog to build up Casing to "Make My Name" in the Flit.
[color=#ff9900]This should no longer be the case.[/color][/quote]
Just ended up there via the Party actually… A bit lost, I’ll play it until the end and edit this answer accordingly! ^^
So there I was in the Veilgarden with 34 actions, no cards, and wondering what to do. I decided to try a flash lay. As I’ve got max stats, and decent gear, I went for the harder of the two options. I quickly found out why I generally avoided that option previously.
With pretty decent gear, my chances of success with the skill checks was about 70%. With some mildly bad luck, I quickly got a distribution of menaces, and this is where my problem lies.
If the player is lucky, flash lays go smoothly and offer a modestly nice return on their actions. If they’re not, the menace cards start cropping up, starting at menace 3. These cards cost actions to navigate (duh), and they reduce up your sleeve. By reducing up you sleeve, these menace cards slow down your progress, thus increasing your chances of gaining more menaces, thus more menace cards, etc. Likewise, if things are going well, then you might hold onto the ending card if it appears. If they’re going badly, the player must seriously consider cashing it in for up your sleeve. Then you have the obstacles, which are going to add more to your menaces if you don’t have enough up your sleeve.
It’s a vicious cycle.
My problem with this is that if a flash lay starts to go badly, then it’s only going to get worse, but the sunk cost fallacy is going to keep players playing, until they finally slog their way through, or get kicked out.
This bimodal distribution is unquestionably deliberate, and I’m guessing that it is intended to teach some lesson about reach and grasp, but for me, at least, it doesn’t add tension or fun. I started a flash lay because I wanted to play a flash lay, not because I wanted to start a flash lay, was but ready to quit the moment it went south.
I haven’t finished the lay yet, but yeesh, that mechanic is annoying.
edited by RandomWalker on 5/1/2016
I started the Flash Lay at 3 suspicion, which ended up putting e in a really bad place in the flash lay and meant that i didn’t really have a chance, as i was only ever given the ability to lower suspicion once.
I must have gotten lucky, as I started in similar shape, but finished with lower scandal and suspicion than I started with.
I have now successfully played this once on the lower level, after what must have been quite a lot of tweaking by the developers.
Starting with Shadowy 42 and Persuasive 41, Suspicion and Scandal and at 1, plus a selection of modest (max +4) stats modifiers, the ‘Spirifer’ Flash Lay is a tough resource-management challenge for those who like a gamble. Given that resource-management games are the least popular type of interactive fiction, I think it should be emphasised more strongly that this is what the player is in for if they plunge in the moment this option is offered (my character is himself a terrible gambler and naturally gets into scrapes; I make no complaint).
I think the end sequence now autofires when the player reaches Flash Lay’s Progress 100-110. This was much appreciated, as by this point I’d invested a couple of candles’ worth of play (at least) and spent at least four second chances, and was getting jumpy as I repeatedly failed to draw an ending card.
Apart from what I supply in my mind, the tale is a bit generic. The suspense is down to the risk of suddenly drawing a major skill check, whilst Scandal and Suspicion build rather quicker than Up Your Sleeve; it feels like playing whimsical blackjack. But the Spirifer storylet lured me in because these grisly soul-thieves fascinate me (and I slightly fancied I might be in for a chance of getting a Spirifer’s Fork, or raising my Shadowy/Persuasive significantly; no such luck with either). But I feel I haven’t learned much about my wealthy and fairly respectable mark. Has he got regrets about his trade? How does a person even get into this filthy business?
The Importunate Constable was the best character by far. Perhaps, if I am in serious danger of failure, she might attempt to turn me, and leave me alone if I swear to dob in the Spirifer and split my ill-gotten gains with her. I honestly felt a little bad when I was forced to fabricate evidence against this hardcase, and it would be a nice touch if she could turn up again to plague me in future – or blackmail me, demanding that I use my less-reputable skills to assist her. She’s probably a little crooked, for whatever reason, and that makes a nice contrast to the straight-arrow Last Constable, who I don’t expect to meet again for some time.
As someone who has reached 200 whit shadowy I have to say it is nice to see SOMETHING to do whit it. I would ask that lowering the menace lock out to two as i like a lot of the posters before me found out the hard way starting with three in them is a sure fire way to shoot your self in the foot
I just used two entire days on a Flash Lay that I failed, so this feedback is probably going to be rather subjective. I’m a bit bitter about it.
It…sounded fun, and it was interesting to play. However, if it was supposed to be a minigame, you have failed spectacularly. I used several days inside it, and failed by a large margin, despite picking the safest route I possibly could. I’ll admit, I was only a few levels above 50 in Shadowy and Persuasive, but that should have been enough. I gained nothing but menaces from it and wasted a lot of time I could’ve used on something that is actually useful in the game. If anything, it has made me want to play a lot less Fallen London.
That was a bit harsh. I still think it’s an interesting concept. I really like the gameplay. It’s just way, way, WAY too much progress you need to collect.
I also think that you weren’t really warned about how long time it’ll take. I went into it expecting something that would take one or two full candles to complete; instead I used four full candles, even though I didn’t manage to play to the end because I lost, and got nothing to show for all those actions.
It’s not that there is nothing good about it: it was great that the draw was limitless, and you got three slots to put them in; I especially liked that not everything costed the same amount of actions; and getting to feel the real consequences from your actions by having cards you have to play was great too.
Still, the amount of progress and the fact that you get nothing for your efforts if you fail (even when you got more than 60 progress) makes me want to avoid the Flash Lay and discourage anyone playing Fallen London from trying it. I think I would like it either if less progress were needed or you actually gained something from it even when you fail according to your progress; of course this should be little compared to if you succeed the Flash Lay, but it should enough to feel like you didn’t entirely waste your time.
When your first experience of new or experimental content is a long-suffering failure with nothing to show for it but negative outcomes, then it may need more tweaking.
Some kind of quit-while-you’re-ahead or even a pause function. It removes you from ‘London’ that whole time too.
New content is good content, always. A consolation ‘prize’ might help here. I’ve since discovered that entering the heist with near zero menaces makes things… significantly easier.
edited by Shalinoth on 7/6/2016
The main issue for me has always been failure of the ending card to appear, meaning that I’ve had to prolong the lay by 25% to finish in roughly three quarter of cases.
I only started playing Fallen London a few days ago, and I shot myself in the foot by not properly reading the Flash Lay description, so I might be a bit biased. With that said, I think it would have been helpful to lock the Flash Lay until you have the required stats, especially since you can’t cancel it and as the other posters have pointed out, it’s still very difficult even with the minimum stats.
In addition, I think it should be made clearer that you can’t leave the Flash Lay unless you have a certain amount of progress. It would also have been pretty nice to be able to spend Up Your Sleeves at any time to reduce your menaces. I don’t know, I just feel like it’s way too easy for a newbie to shoot themself in the foot with Flash Lays. :/
edited by Kuzio on 8/2/2016
[quote=Kuzio]I only started playing Fallen London a few days ago, and I shot myself in the foot by not properly reading the Flash Lay description, so I might be a bit biased. With that said, I think it would have been helpful to lock the Flash Lay until you have the required stats, especially since you can’t cancel it and as the other posters have pointed out, it’s still very difficult even with the minimum stats.
In addition, I think it should be made clearer that you can’t leave the Flash Lay unless you have a certain amount of progress. It would also have been pretty nice to be able to spend Up Your Sleeves at any time to reduce your menaces. I don’t know, I just feel like it’s way too easy for a newbie to shoot themself in the foot with Flash Lays. :/
edited by Kuzio on 8/2/2016[/quote]
The problem with that is, some people might have endgame gear, but not the needed stats, but be able to thrive in both by swapping gear. some people might want to see all the failure text. More than once, i’ve discovered something’s easier than i thought it would be, and while i can agree with the basic sentiment, i cannot share it.
The inability to leave should be clearer, but spending up your sleeve at any time isn’t fitting thematically,no matter how much easier it’d make it. besides- you draw the "menaces are getting high" card often enough as it is, and those always seem to have an up-your-sleeve option for reducing it.
I like flash lays and as a shepherd of souls, I found them very useful too. However, I also found them overlong given the repetitive cards. Perhaps the card should automatically appear when you reach your goal, as it happens in the expeditions and heists, and not when you reach 99.
Having said that, I would welcome the addition of more Flash Lays for more story and different rewards. Like heists they can become a profitable grind - and they can offer snippets of Fallen London in the proccess. They are also an interesting reward for keeping your menaces low.
Heists don’t automatically draw the card when you reach the right amount. Just recently I failed a Heist on a new account at 9 Progress because the cards just weren’t having it. I’m not sure what you mean about expeditions, and minor note on the Flash Lay mechanics - I’m pretty sure it triggers at 100, not 99.