Fate-Locked Content

I’m considering following up in more detain on the Foreign Office. If I purchase the fate stories, how difficult is it to change sides or choose a different reward? Does it cost fate again to do so? I just want to know how much thought to put into choosing a side; or if I should try out each for a while instead.

Changing sides costs Fate again, yes.

Since this appears to have become the place to ask questions about Fate-locked stories…

While out for a pleasant ride on my Obdurate Stallion, I recently encountered the Bishop, who invited me to meet with him to discuss certain matters of Diocesan Intrigue. I rather assumed that this would be at his office, but when I visited he only volunteered his usual conversations about monsters (plus, of course, his ever-open offer to wrestle). Should I hang around the Fourth Coil in the hopes that he will eventually let me into his confidence?

TL;DR: I have Bound in Diocesan Intrigue 1, thanks to a bronze-bordered opportunity card. Do I need to wait for another opportunity card (in a specific place?) in order to advance the story, or is there a storylet somewhere?

@Quil: If you have “Bound in Diocesan Intrigue 1” the Bishop already told you about his plan to [color=#ffffff]conquer Hell[/color], right? The story then continues with several other opportunity cards around London (…meaning you don’t have to stay at the Labyrinth looking for them, they might pop up anywhere).

Ah, thank you Wieland! I am glad I am not stuck in the Fourth Coil twiddling my thumbs until the Bishop is feeling loquacious. Back to editing my newspaper!

I hope this is not inappropriate, but I’d like to point you all to a suggestion I’ve made on the Feedback forum concerning the reaccessibility (is that a word?) of Fate-locked content. I can’t be the only player who’s already forgotten quite a bit of the huge bulk of wonderful text that is Echo Bazaar, and while we can always re-read the “normal” stories on the wikis (a nod of appreciation to all the contributors there - keep up the good work!), it’s a bit sad that there’s no way to have a second look at content you payed for with real money…

I’ll be heading over there to add my vote to this suggestion. Currently I have a rather large google doc where I cut and paste the paid-for content, but even just the fate locked stories can grow quite large and difficult to manage. I’d hate to think how much text I’d have to manage if it weren’t for the various wikis out there!

[quote=LukeMcMillan]Actually, I wasn’t curious about its immediate effects nor to know the details of each choice, but only if one of the two possibilities (or both) will lead to something more or if the story will have a conclusion with that card, in whatever form will be.
This is what I was meaning by “far-reaching consequences”…[/quote]

Choose honestly. Neither choice will rob you of storyline. Either will mean the end of the matter, equally and validly.

[quote=travellersside]You’ll break him, of course. And you won’t have the painting to sell, obviously. And it is a rather valuable picture. But if you sell it, you’ll always wonder just what you missed.
So, go on. Break him. It’s not like he’s someone important, after all. People like him can be replaced so easily. After all, he may have lied when he said that there was nothing left to reveal. There might be further secrets to uncover.[/quote]

There are more than enough delicious secrets in the Neath that don’t require one to destroy valuable paintings or shatter people’s lives.
And if you go all the way, you’ll be left forever wondering what wondrous reward you could get if you just sold the thing.
edited by Passionario on 2/10/2012

Added my vote, and a comment about the gameplay problems not easily being able to Reminisce causes.

I’m all for it. Some of the stories are obviously one-offs, but some could quite plausibly be repeated.

I was unaware that the rubbery murders had any tie-ins with other content; and this was the reason I never purchased that story. I did however purchase the way to Flute Street; if there are further tie-ins with the rubbery murders in that strange place I’d be much more interested in the rubbery murders. Do you happen to know if I could still access that reward or story if I have already played through the Solitary Glim Sculptor and Flute Street?

Confused… The rubbery murders (which I thought was poor value) is a separate fate purchase to Flute Street (which I thought was excellent value). I didn’t get any overlap when I played. Did you?

Confused… The rubbery murders (which I thought was poor value) is a separate fate purchase to Flute Street (which I thought was excellent value). I didn’t get any overlap when I played. Did you?[/quote]

Oh, yes, of course. I got the two mixed up a bit, it’s been a while. I did them both at roughly the same time you see.

I was unaware that the rubbery murders had any tie-ins with other content; and this was the reason I never purchased that story. I did however purchase the way to Flute Street; if there are further tie-ins with the rubbery murders in that strange place I’d be much more interested in the rubbery murders. Do you happen to know if I could still access that reward or story if I have already played through the Solitary Glim Sculptor and Flute Street?[/quote]

Again, I apologise, I played both pretty much simultaneously a whole ago and they rather blurred together in my head. Forgive me.

I’m playing one of the fate-locked Pygmalion branches and I can’t really say I’m impressed. After the first few options, it doesn’t seem to give anything more than the old ones did, just different items. I’ll hold off on judgment about whether or not it’s worth the 5 fate pricetag (or if it’s even worth fate at all) until after I’m done.

I’m not sure how to proceed in the Empyrean Redolence plot. I’ve bred an Ocelot, Toad and Dream-Hound, but don’t know what to do next. There is more, right?

You’ll need to get a Tomb-Lion and use it with the Redolence.

I think it’s a bit like Shroom Hopping, not something I’ll do on a regular basis but it’s not a horrible way to spend time and fate. Although now that I’m thinking about it I’d like it better if it was priced for 3 Fate like Shroom Hopping.

There’s a lot more to shroom-hopping - far more content involved. In fact, I consider it to be one of the better uses of Fate for people with stats in the 50-60 or so range. You can spend a long time there, and pick up connections, rewards, stats, second chances and even venom-rubies once you get the hang of it. It’s a pretty good place to go.
The new Pygmalion though? For 2 run-throughs, it costs you 10 Fate. You could instead spend those 10 Fate on 10 more actions and come away with more Echoes. So, they’re not great from a reward perspective. Also, there’s no lore and no story progression.
The rubbery one does give an item that looks like a top tier item conversion for a hypothetical rubbery line though. So completionists may want that, although it’s possibly a preview item, since there are several inventory lines that don’t (yet?) have conversion progression.