(1) Cricket, Anyone? 150+
(2) not having any Reason to Suspect the Benthic Captain.
[Standard Frequency][/quote]As I didn’t finish this ES, is the second requirement similar to what’s described here?
Loving this so far, just wondering if there is a difference on
The Fourth Stroke, whether or not you hit or miss the pitch? I could see my character doing either or as the fancy strikes them, but if there’s a huge difference between the two outcomes, they may choose one in particular.
I think this Exceptional Story is the whole, entire experience of Fallen London, distilled down into a single story. I think that’s why we like it so much. It’s everything we’ve wanted and everything we’ve enjoyed, distilled and purified until it fits into a single steaming mug.
It starts grounded in the mundane, and it has the silliness and the word-play, and the feeling of being lost and confused and not knowing exactly what’s going on. You get strange characters, and hints of mysteries and motivations. You work to improve yourself and make progress. And the mysteries have layers, and as you peel them back and find deeper truths, the mysteries get larger, and then grander, and then finally cosmic. Things that before seemed odd or fascinating now show themselves as significant, as you connect the dots and marvel at the thing that you have become a part of. The full range, from a back-alley assault with a blunt object up to staring down upon the stars from above.
The mechanical integration is also absolutely top-notch fantastic. You know what playing this story reminded me of? Old-school Lucas Arts-style text adventures. You move to a new location and see a puzzle that you can’t solve. Then later you get the thing that you know will let you solve it, and you re-trace your steps back through the intermediate locations in order to get back there. It really greats a sense of spatiality and location despite not having a map. I really enjoyed it, because remembering where things were meant that the bare mechanics of going somewhere felt rewarding when they could have been merely tedious.
[quote=loredeluxe]~snip~ because spoiler tag limitation
[/quote]
[spoiler]At the end of the description, I started think that Wines was perhaps really just a swindler, who told truly extravagant lies. And he believed those lies himself, which was the tragic flaw in his classic-Greek-theater-style capital-F Fall. As opposed to just a con-man failing, which isn’t really a fall, because it’s just being what he is.
His kingdom and his glory was a pyramid scheme: he convinced those with cosmic power to pay homage to him, that they might take part in his even-greater glory. But all of the glory that he had to share was taken as homage from others. He saw this beauty and light and power running through his fingers, and convinced himself that he deserved it, because of he magnanimity with which he shared it, and so he promised the world, and worlds upon worlds. And he honestly thought he could keep it going, as many con-men do. Some of them actually succeed! But Mr Wines was not one of those.
When he made promises, he made them in the Correspondence, and his promise was Law. Breaking promises is bad, but breaking that type of promise is the very worst kind of not-allowed. The type spelled in all-capitals, in a language where even the punctuation can burn down a building. [/spoiler]
1 Like
(1) Cricket, Anyone? 150+
(2) not having any Reason to Suspect the Benthic Captain.
[Standard Frequency][/quote]As I didn’t finish this ES, is the second requirement similar to what’s described here?[/quote]
Yes, the second requirement is specifically a lock using the quality Reason to Suspect the Benthic Captain. I’m not sure why it’s there though, as I don’t think it’s possible to finish the story while keeping that quality.
[quote=rovingthief]Loving this so far, just wondering if there is a difference on
The Fourth Stroke, whether or not you hit or miss the pitch? I could see my character doing either or as the fancy strikes them, but if there’s a huge difference between the two outcomes, they may choose one in particular.
They have different text but the same result.
edited by Optimatum on 2/5/2019
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I agree with PSGarak’s theory on Mr Wines - it is the one that makes the most sense. And I do agree that going from the silly and the mundane gradually to the cosmic was one of the strengths of the story. the enormity of the Law hits you with much stronger force, when you thought you were there just to play cricket.
I’ve always fancied myself a Corrospondent, but hadn’t gone quite far enough down that lane. Regardless, I wanted to stop by to express my pleasure at this story (and my new, disrespectful possession).
Did anyone give the Broken Word to the other factions? If so, how’d it go?
I’m at the very early stages of the story where I can take Cricket Lessons with an Athletic Deviless. It says there will be opportunities to raise the quality later on, but what level should I be aiming for and is the quality kept after the end of the Exceptional Story? The Wounds gain won’t be a problem, so I’m tempted to keep on at cricket for a little while.
[quote=Azothi]I’m at the very early stages of the story where I can take Cricket Lessons with an Athletic Deviless. It says there will be opportunities to raise the quality later on, but what level should I be aiming for and is the quality kept after the end of the Exceptional Story? The Wounds gain won’t be a problem, so I’m tempted to keep on at cricket for a little while.[/quote] You don’t keep the quality, and there’s incredible flexibility later for increasing/decreasing your proficiency.
I just finished this, and I can only echo what others have already said: This is one of the best Exceptional Stories I’ve played to date, if not the very best. The mechanics are tight: The balance between actions and 0-cost entries was well done, and the path was clear but varied such that I never felt lost, but I also consistently felt free to explore, and I appreciated how I was encouraged to backtrack. The story, characters, and pacing were all great, and I really enjoyed both the lore and the opportunity to take advantage of some of my obscure end-game shenanigans (as both a Courier’s Footprint and Midnighter). I sincerely hope we get more from this author!
Also:
I gave the Broken Word to the Great Game. Echoed here.
(1) Cricket, Anyone? 150+
(2) not having any Reason to Suspect the Benthic Captain.
[Standard Frequency][/quote]As I didn’t finish this ES, is the second requirement similar to what’s described here?[/quote]
Yes, the second requirement is specifically a lock using the quality Reason to Suspect the Benthic Captain. I’m not sure why it’s there though, as I don’t think it’s possible to finish the story while keeping that quality.[/quote]
The Reason to Suspect~ qualities (and a few others) are only cleared after you’ve played the epilogue, while the story tracker stopped earlier when you made the final decision regarding A WORD, BROKEN, so it’s likely to prevent the card from showing up before it.
(1) Cricket, Anyone? 150+
(2) not having any Reason to Suspect the Benthic Captain.
[Standard Frequency][/quote]As I didn’t finish this ES, is the second requirement similar to what’s described here?[/quote]
Yes, the second requirement is specifically a lock using the quality Reason to Suspect the Benthic Captain. I’m not sure why it’s there though, as I don’t think it’s possible to finish the story while keeping that quality.[/quote]
The Reason to Suspect~ qualities (and a few others) are only cleared after you’ve played the epilogue, while the story tracker stopped earlier when you made the final decision regarding A WORD, BROKEN, so it’s likely to prevent the card from showing up before it.[/quote]Alright, thanks for the detailed answers!
Just finished the story, and it’s a thoroughly engaging story, though I want to say that it has incredible structure and pacing, which is difficult to pull off for a work of interactive fiction like this. The key to it, I believe, was that every plot turn was engaging and well-constructed for both new and veteran players.
Seeing the Gulbuhar Redaction again was the first time in a long while that an Exceptional Story has taken me aback, but even for new players who have no idea what that is, the revelation that the Summerset Captain was studying the Correspondence to appease the devils is enough fuel to drive the story forward.
The Benthic Captain playing the Great Game was very much the same - it’s a revelation to newer players that the Benthic Captain is a spy, but namedropping Vienna and the fierce old man added that much more intrigue to it, and it makes me wonder what the White is up to nowadays. This is a case where the new knowledge we’ve gained from the confirmed Mysteries really helps improve the story, since we know what the fierce old man is playing for.
The Athletic Deviless probably had the least interesting revelation from a lore perspective, but being able to dance the Correspondence is new and it connects back to the Wounds gain from learning cricket earlier in the story.
[quote=Azothi]Just finished the story, and it’s a thoroughly engaging story, though I want to say that it has incredible structure and pacing, which is difficult to pull off for a work of interactive fiction like this. The key to it, I believe, was that every plot turn was engaging and well-constructed for both new and veteran players.
[spoiler]
Seeing the Gulbuhar Redaction again was the first time in a long while that an Exceptional Story has taken me aback, but even for new players who have no idea what that is, the revelation that the Summerset Captain was studying the Correspondence to appease the devils is enough fuel to drive the story forward.
The Benthic Captain playing the Great Game was very much the same - it’s a revelation to newer players that the Benthic Captain is a spy, but namedropping Vienna and the fierce old man added that much more intrigue to it, and it makes me wonder what the White is up to nowadays. This is a case where the new knowledge we’ve gained from the confirmed Mysteries really helps improve the story, since we know what the fierce old man is playing for.
The Athletic Deviless probably had the least interesting revelation from a lore perspective, but being able to dance the Correspondence is new and it connects back to the Wounds gain from learning cricket earlier in the story.
[/spoiler][/quote]
It’s also a Sunless Skies reference, the Deviless bit
Aaaaaaa I’m trying to decide. To keep the Word or give it to the Constables… has anyone echoed the latter? I’ve seen echoes of all the others.
Never mind, I decided: Fallen London If anyone wonders about the Constables one.
edited by MidnightVoyager on 2/8/2019
The ES is exquisite, and I agree with the comments that it encapsulates everything we love about the Neath - definitely a new classic. My only concern is the card it unlocks at the end: it’s pretty, and well-written, but mechanically it’s simply bad. It may temporarily become OK if you happen to need the specific things it gives, but outside of that it’s just a discard-on-sight one.
This irks me a bit, 'cos I’ve recently put a significant amount of effort (and some Fate) into trimming my deck as much as I could, and some of that is now undone - and so every time I draw this card I’m feeling punished for having a subscription (doesn’t help that it triggers the frequency bug). It didn’t completely ruin my deck, of course, but it did weaken it, and I don’t think paid content should do that - not without a warning or some opt-out at least.
(What makes this both better and worse, is that a few months from now there will be a way to get rid of the card: by resetting the ES and not finishing it.)
This being said, I’d still recommend this story to anyone who hasn’t bought it yet, but maybe with the caveat to not play the Epilogue (but do read an echo of it - there’s a good twist there), 'cos apparently that’s where the trap is sprung? It’ll leave you with a permanent golden storylet, but I at least would find that preferable to a permanent mechanical disadvantage.
edited by mp on 2/8/2019
Eh, while I know that everyone plays the game differently, I wouldn’t call the card useless by any means. The things it offers are useful in many, many grinds, and of course only High-level POSI would consider 1.50 echoes a waste of an action.
Your mileage may vary of course, but considering the ES targets every level of player, I am not sure people wouldn’t want the card.
Optimally, I wouldn’t want the card gone (it is pretty and well worded, and I do acknowledge that it has circumstantial uses, esp. at early stages), but improved so that it could be viable at all levels of play. This could be achieved by things like reward scaling (with SotC, perhaps?), or a high-difficulty high-reward option. I also wouldn’t have any objections if its options were instead added onto an existing card or as a storylet (Marriage of Feducci also gives 1.5e in a similar form without making it a card). And if that’s all a no-go, then at least some way to opt-out from the card would also work.
Or just leave it as it is. Not everything added must be better than something already present.
I agree, and I don’t think anyone is arguing the opposite.
The issue here is that for some people - including myself - the ES, content unlocked by paying, weakened our decks without warning - i.e. it made things slightly worse than they were before. And while it’d be nice if the card made the deck better instead, I’m mostly hoping for a way for it to stay the same as it was.
I agree, and I don’t think anyone is arguing the opposite.
The issue here is that for some people - including myself - the ES, content unlocked by paying, weakened our decks without warning - i.e. it made things slightly worse than they were before. And while it’d be nice if the card made the deck better instead, I’m mostly hoping for a way for it to stay the same as it was.[/quote]
I agree. The issue, in my humble opinion, may be fixed with payment buff up to 2 Echo value… I think. 2.5 would be overkill, obviously.