Unlock requirements for menances have dropped so that you need them less than 3 (instead of less than 4). This means that you are less likely to start closer to failure.
Here’s a suggestion: either eliminate the chance that you will lose your Openings, or massively increase the benefits of using them. As it stands now, they are rather underwhelming considering the effort required to get them.
This has been around for a while.
However, I will suggest clearing as many Menaces as possible, to absorb bouts of bad luck in Flash Lay attempts.
This has been around for a while.
However, I will suggest clearing as many Menaces as possible, to absorb bouts of bad luck in Flash Lay attempts.[/quote]
I agree with Rostygold about clearing Menaces (especially Suspicion, Scandal, and Nightmares) before you start. You will from time to time pull cards that will let you reduce one or more Menaces; play them! To make sure you can’, collect Up Your Sleeve as often as possible.
Having played through Spirifer’s Lay, I have a few peevs:
• Basically no flavour. There are no cards that would tie in to the Spirifer being… Spirifer. It’s all non-specific and nameless.
• I wish more was done with the Obstacles — my Corrupt Constable didn’t amount to much and ceased to exist after i finished the Lay. It would be great to have consequences outside of the rewards you get.
• Flesh Lay is completely disconnected from the rest of Fallen London, as if you teleported into another city. There are no opportunity cards based on your acquaitances and deeds — in fact, when my character was almost spoofed by a friend at the salon, I wondered why it wasn’t the Artist’s Model.
All in all, I wish Flesh Lays had more content connecting them to the rest of the game and more flavour to the stories. As is, I don’t think they are worthwhile in terms of narrative and a little embarassing.
I played through, and enjoyed, the Spirifer’s Lay, but I do have a few critiques.
- Incredibly action heavy, it took, I think, 30-35 of my 40 actions. This was partially due to luck being against me, I failed an astounding number of very high skill checks, but still, it most likely would have taken a non-exceptional friend user several hours to do simply because of the amount of actions needed. [/li][li] Felt quite disconnected from the rest of Fallen London, there could have been some tie-ins from your acquaintances or actions, for example, in the Spirifer’s Lay, if you were a character with a high Connected: Hell quality then there would be an opportunity to use your knowledge to persuade the Spirifer more. Not sure how you would implement, but still seems like an area for possible expansion.[/li][li]The differences between the two seem very wide, 50 and 125? It seems like it might be better to have a middle option, my skills are a little lacking to attempt the Auditor, but then the majority of the checks in the Spirifer were Straightforward and usually in the 80-90% range. Maybe having there to be a middle option, 50, 80-90, and 125, would make there be less of a large skill gap.
Overall I really enjoyed it, I like the separate location and deck, but it seemed like some things could have been implemented better.
I thought the play mechanics and illustrations were great. I played the 125 level. However, it didn’t really tie into the rest of Fallen London. I didn’t really get why I was trying to con this mark nor did the cards give me much of a clue. There also weren’t any characters that I could recognize and the others were generic. I didn’t understand how the rewards related to the flash lay. So ultimately I found it rather boring.
A much better flash lay is a Polite Invitation. I understood the purpose - impress the host so you can gain a personal recommendation. The characters were memorable and interesting like the Brass Ambassador and the Turkish Girl.
I think with a little more description on the Veilgarden flash lay card, it could be really fun.
edited by Waterowl on 6/21/2017
edited by Waterowl on 6/21/2017
I played through a lower level one, and at 50 persuasive and 70 shadowy took about forty actions to do it, which makes sense since I believe I was doing it at slightly lower than recommended.
This may just be a matter of luck, but I was never given opportunities to get rid of the various obstacles (door, constable, etc) except for the acquaintance a few times.
Over all pretty fun. Reminded me some of other storynexus games I’ve played that have infinite card draw.
Flash Lay is a great concept but isn’t really fun to play.
It feels like you’re being punished immensely for every coin flip you lose, and you’re gonna be losing quite a lot of those coin flips until you quit.
Oh no! If you want to quit,[color=#ff0000] [/color]too bad, [color=#ff0000]you’re trapped in until your progress is 25 or a menace gets too high.[/color]
[quote=Phosuletec-Shen]Flash Lay is a great concept but isn’t really fun to play.
It feels like you’re being punished immensely for every coin flip you lose, and you’re gonna be losing quite a lot of those coin flips until you quit.
Oh no! If you want to quit,[color=#ff0000] [/color]too bad, [color=#ff0000]you’re trapped in until your progress is 25 or a menace gets too high.[/color][/quote]
I really like the Concept of the Flash Lay - had to quality for and I second the comments above. It’s needs to be easier to enter into and more fun and rewarding in a general "Fallen London" way
I tried this out recently, and it appears to by very interesting, can be very challenging depending on how you play the game. Very interesting concept, I would complain about the lack of additional options for "victims", but you’ll probably add in more once it’s fully implemented.
I have to say, I immensely dislike the autoplay cards. For one thing, I dislike having my choices made for me; having only one option unlocked and being unable to navigate anywhere else or return to the problem later feels very confining. For another, at least in the Spirifer line with regards to suspicion, unless one has Up Your Sleeve stockpiled, it seems incredibly unfair to force the player into a position where their only option is to risk gaining MORE of the thing they are being warned they have too much of! Had I known this would be the case, I certainly wouldn’t have attempted this when I already had Suspicion 2. Furthermore, the only option I’ve had thus far to reduce my suspicion gave me Ruthless by way of exchange: hideously OOC for me, and not something I’d have chosen if I’d been given another choice. The autoplay "your suspicion is too high" card seemed to appear at least twice as often as any card that would allow me to DO something about this, and only served to exacerbate the issue. To make matters worse, I can’t abandon this ill-fated quest without garnering MORE suspicion, again due to a lack of Up Your Sleeve on offer.
Given that this thread started back in 2015 I have some doubts as to whether any changes are still being implemented to these particular storylets, but in the event that they are, I second the opinion of everyone who has mentioned that these feel very disconnected from the remainder of London. The Spirifer (or I guess I should more accurately say ‘the mark’) doesn’t seem very…Spirifer-y. The acquaintances I am assumed to have (or not have) also feel very generic, which would make sense if this was stock content- but I have to wonder if it is STILL beta-testing stock content in 2018? I would also like to second Anchovies complaint that
[quote=Anchovies]Over the course of the Lay, I gained zero benefits other than the basic core-quality change points from attempting challenges. No items, no progress in secondary qualities.[/quote] Not only did I gain progress in a characteristic I did not want, I will now be leaving this activity short a good handful of actions, with far more Suspicion than I started with, and with nothing else to show for it. This is frustrating. Phosuletec-Shen has the right of it: this is a great idea in theory, and I for one jumped at the chance to swindle a Spirifer, but the way the system is currently implemented is far too punishing for me to call it "fun."
Well… while I certainly understand the frustration, I will play Devil’s advocate a bit. The Lays are punishing, true, but it is nice to have content that is actually challenging for high level players. You can take a great risk, and walk away richer than before, all the way feeling more suspense than usually which is what a conman would feel.
However… to make it worthwile the rewards should be much, much higher. If I can easily make echoes through Heists and Expeditions, not to mention other carousels, the very difficult Flash Lay which takes up almost ALL of my 40 actions should be at least more rewarding than them. Why play less for less reward? It is not even lore-rich or particuarly atmospheric.
However, with increased rewards and different texts, the core mechanic does replicate a long con (time consuming, suspensful, dangerous) well enough. If it was profitable, I am sure more people would risk it daily.
It’d be nice to see some of these randomized mad-libs text in Flush Lay and PoSI carousels, like how it was done in loitering or the seasonal ES randomizers.
That said, people did have their fill of Flush Lay over the years - election aside, there were too many instances of Flush Lays in past ES.
edited by Estelle Knoht on 9/16/2018
Flash Lays are literally your character impersonating someone else for the purpose of extorting a third party, if you consider ruthlessness to be OOC, I would suggest staying away from flash lays entirely
I found this mini-game to be fun/entertaining.
It is quick and direct, so it’s fairly easy to engage, and you can end it before it becomes too tedious. It feels lighter than the Heist ordeals, which means that I feel less trepidation in starting one.
I think the game would benefit from more little side-events/quests like this.
I love it! I shall attempt the spirifer flash lay again, but this time with my three menaces at zero (they were all at two when I begun. I still got 87 progress before scandal got the better of me).
[quote=Chris Gardiner][color=#ff9900]You could call it a confidence trick, but then people would know what it was, wouldn’t they?[/color]
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[color=#ff9900]Delicious friends! We’ve just released some new, free content: a flexible card-based mini-game called "A Flash Lay". Flash Lays are confidence tricks: choose a mark, muster your schemes, and avoid suspicion.[/color]
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[color=#ff9900]We’re trialling this content at the moment, and plan to adjust it in response to feedback. Have a play and let us know what you think! [/color]
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[color=#ff9900]There are two Flash Lays available now: one for characters with Shadowy and Persuasive of about 50, and another for characters with stats of 125 or more.[/color]
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[color=#ff9900]Characters who have advanced a little way along the Persuasive and Shadowy tracks will find the starting storylet in Veilgarden.
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edited by Chris Gardiner on 12/16/2015[/quote]
Apologies for pasting the whole wipte, Zi’m on my phone & a bit blarghisj
YES to the flash lay; it was fun!
Ooh, I own Town of Salrm but omly have broadband at the cafe after a handful of GB of terhering on my phone plan. It’s good to hear an FLer plays there. :) – Solgato in FLondon
[color=#e53e00]Clarence is perfect.[/color]
edited by babelfishwars on 12/16/2015[/quote]
nooooooooo… Roger, Victor? (<3 Zero Hour!)