Well, they do claim their tablets have that scratch-resistant glass…
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I accidentally this also. I’m sure it mentioned it somewhere but now it’s too late to check…
Watchmaker’s Hill, guys. :)
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Okay, so theory about the glass.
Given the dubious amount of knowledge that we who have not traveled North have about the high wilderness, and the weird nature of it. I’d be willing to consider that the glass is a piece of whatever makes up the high wilderness. It holds the correspondence without any issue and it is unbreakable by any human means, so it’s definitely a possibility.
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You know, I think I would have given this story a way higher rating if we got to keep some of the little things from the exhibits. Either what we picked to contain the wind, or what we didn’t. It’d make sense, and it’d give the story a lot of character.
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I felt this story wasn’t quite up to the standards set by the previous two, but I enjoyed it and felt it was a good use of my time.
I actually really like the way the Expo unfolded. The mechanics and story-telling very much matched the feeling I’ve had in person at such events: Wandering from place to place, encountering different things, wanting to partake, following one direction of interest and being pulled from another, having to double back and finding a place you’ve been and getting to see something you were forced to miss… It seemed like how you would go about trying to pursue an actual goal in such a situation. Wandering around, and seeing the sights, and being “led” in a fashion but not a linear fashion. Top-notch use of using game mechanics to establish setting and mood.
I agree with a previous comment about the lack of compelling characters. Also for something supposed to feel action-y, the second half was paced slow.
I think it suffers slightly from being the third story in this arc, and doesn’t feel like it offers up as much new lore. This may be an unfair comparison. This may also be a point of ignorance–trains and industry seem to be a Big Deal in Sunless Skies, and establishing them is important, they’re just not “mysteries” the way the subjects of the first two stories are.
Like I said at the top, overall enjoyed, and would recommend to others. Just not in my top 3.
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I wonder if it might be what the Bazaar’s Spires are made of?
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I am just at the beginning of the story, wandering the Exhibition, and this is my sentiment exactly! I love the feeling of actually being at this crowded, a bit chaotic place, having so many different choices and trying to see everything there is at once; the pace of the story feels very realistic so far )
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A few people mentioned the "hidden counter" at the beginning - could you please tell me where it is? I’ve been wandering the exhibits, and seem to have visited them all, but can’t progress.
Update: Ah, after many repeat visits to various exhibit I seem to have triggered something. Phew!
(By the way, I am open for pretty much any social interaction invitations, as are my siblings Flug, Spiel and Silber - invite away!)
edited by Zeug on 1/27/2017
I wonder if it might be …[/quote] <cut to allow my own spoiler tag>
That seems to be a good guess to me, except the spires of the Bazaar are heavily inscribed with the Correspondence. In the ES, an expert could not manage to even dent the surface of the glass with a rune that usually causes an intense fire when even lightly inscribed. Of course, being what the Bazaar is, it likely has means of making inscriptions that are not within the ken of ordinary mortals.
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A hard disappointment this month, not good at all. No ‘story’ in this story somehow… But this kinda balances out with last mont’s superior piece to form an overall mediocre experience.
Started out decent albeit a bit obscure about means to progress, but quickly spiraled downwards.
This one made me think deeply about keeping my Exceptional subscription.
edited by darV on 1/27/2017
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People seem to either love it, or hate it. Interesting.
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[quote=dov][quote=Plynkes]Dammit, I thought I had unlocked the Moloch Street story by starting off the first bit and it moving to my study. Now the game wants me to fork out 45 fate to play it. Well sod that.
You really could make it a bit clearer when something has actually unlocked or not. Maybe I’m just stupid, but it does seem a little confusing.[/quote]
Moving it into your Study is something all players can do - this is not limited to Exceptional Friends. When you do it, the game tells you:
Then, inside your Study, you can start (i.e. unlock) the relevant story - it’s highlighted differently, and only Exceptional Friends can do it. Once you play this in your study, the game explicitly tells you that you’ve unlocked the story and can play it at your leisure.
edited by dov on 1/26/2017[/quote]
I’d just like to thank the boffins at Failbetter for giving me a "one-time only" second chance at playing this story without having to pay any more fate. I promise to read things properly in future!
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[quote=Robin Alexander]bangs head on wall
I’ll refrain from further grumbling, but . . .
What rewards did people get? I got a ‘personal recommendation’, which felt like a huge slap on the face for all I’ve suffered and the massive action-sinks toward the end . . . I wouldn’t have minded as much not getting a great item/reward, but I felt like there was no real story and infuriating mechanics, and this was time I could have spent grinding my connections for the next conversion.
Did anyone else get any half-decent rewards?
Edit: Prepares to get downvoted for not liking the story :P Oh well :P
edited by Robin Alexander on 1/26/2017[/quote]
That’s FAR more than what I got. Couple of making waves.
Bloody cheapstake Traitor Empress. That’ll learn me to break a honest deal with Hell in the future.
Edit: I forgot-I did keep the brass skull, actually.
[li][/li][li]
edited by Hattington on 1/27/2017
I applaud the writer(s) for the slightly different convention used in this story. Yes, as many people have pointed out and are apparently extremely frustrated by, the beginning of the story did not follow the typical linear progression that many are used to. However, I found this convention more accurately reflected the feeling of an actual exhibition. I could actually meander through the crowds and selectively choose the exhibits I wanted to experience. While the linear model is a perfectly fine format, it strikes me as odd that the pitfall of this story for many people is that the open exhibition was not linear enough. I can see how the Type A personality or those seeking to most efficiently grind good items would be frustrated by this story (or rather, the first half of the story). But, I thoroughly appreciated the autonomy that the author provided, even at the sacrifice of some guidance, because it truly made me feel much more submersed into the exhibition.
While I recognize that the exhibition convention can be slightly confusing, I was surprised by some of the comments in this thread. Setting aside the exhibits part of the story (which appears to house the bulk of the complaints), I found the tale of the wind to be one of the most captivating and creative pieces I have read in my years of playing this game. I do not often post in these forums, but after seeing some of the negative comments about this story, I felt compelled to write if not simply to say that any hang-ups about the story because of the exhibition’s convention are vastly overshadowed by the compelling literature that followed. It pains me to see comments that summarily dismiss the story because of its mechanics. The writing was terrific!
[quote=Insatiably Yours]While the linear model is a perfectly fine format, it strikes me as odd that the pitfall of this story for many people is that the open exhibition was not linear enough. I can see how the Type A personality or those seeking to most efficiently grind good items would be frustrated by this story (or rather, the first half of the story).
While I recognize that the exhibition convention can be slightly confusing, I was surprised by some of the comments in this thread. [/quote]
Hello. For me it was not the desire to ‘grind’ that bothered me, but the worry that I was missing something that I needed to do. Without any kind of counter or progress indicator, all I could do was keep going to the same places and see the same text over and over. Maybe I had bad rolls for airs? But really, the mechanics of the game are where I feel the least confident - I want to concentrate on the story. I had trouble doing that. Not that I disliked the ES overall - just expressing my confusion at the start of it.
Although I wrote about liking the experience of the Expo, I can see how it took the lack of clear direction a bit too far. Objectively, the player had very little control over the progress of their character. You are presented with actions, you select, one, and occasionally progress happens. If I wasn’t enjoying the immersion as much as I did, I can see how it would be frustrating that there wasn’t much signage towards which actions were progress and which were purely exploration. Picking a button at random and sometimes getting a rewards is a different experience than trying to decide which is the best button to press, regardless of whether that decision comes from running numbers, or reading text, or putting together clues from previous button-presses.
[quote=Felicity Anne Stratford][quote=Insatiably Yours]While the linear model is a perfectly fine format, it strikes me as odd that the pitfall of this story for many people is that the open exhibition was not linear enough. I can see how the Type A personality or those seeking to most efficiently grind good items would be frustrated by this story (or rather, the first half of the story).
While I recognize that the exhibition convention can be slightly confusing, I was surprised by some of the comments in this thread. [/quote]
Hello. For me it was not the desire to ‘grind’ that bothered me, but the worry that I was missing something that I needed to do. Without any kind of counter or progress indicator, all I could do was keep going to the same places and see the same text over and over. Maybe I had bad rolls for airs? But really, the mechanics of the game are where I feel the least confident - I want to concentrate on the story. I had trouble doing that. Not that I disliked the ES overall - just expressing my confusion at the start of it.[/quote]
I burned quite a few extra actions to cycle airs, just to make sure I hadn’t missed any text before continuing on to the gate prophet. Some sort of 0 AP action to change airs would be nice, like "Wander the Exhibition" or something like that. It also took me a few actions to bring up the khaganians, when I had done everything else and was trying to get to their exhibit. I actually enjoyed the exhibition quite a bit, which is why I didn’t want to miss any of it, and that was a little expensive to do.
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Played through the story and got the item at the end. Now what to do with it? If I keep considering what I’ve learned in my study, will another option open up at some point? Also finished December’s story and January’s story, and I’m still not sure where to go from where I am now. Any hints?
I am in the middle ground, I think. It was fine. I enjoyed the vibe of the world’s fair, but wished there was more lore.