And that’s high flattery! I habitually play on the ‘dark side’ of any game that offers me a choice, and Fallen London is no exception. Rarely, however, can a game manage to actually make me feel regret. That requires a particular sort of immersion…
A shame, perhaps, that the particular storyline that made me regret - however briefly - my evil ways, is fate-locked twice over. My decision to become a Spirifer seemed an easy and profitable one back when I did ‘A Trade in Souls’, but when I got entangled in the Regretful Soldier’s Tale of Woe (from the House of Chimes)… well, let’s just say that the ending made me wish I’d chosen differently. Heck, I even found myself rethinking my close allegiance to the forces of Hell.
I suspect my character is, at this time, sitting in his lodgings with a bottle of something strong, trying to forget what he’s done, and justify what he’s become. But I, at least, will raise a glass to the writers for drawing such an emotional response from my blackened heart. Bravo!
I made the same decisions as you at those two points. It’s good to have an in-game cross to bear. My character has since expended quite a lot of effort in trying to be a "good guy"…
That’s why I do not like dealing with Hell. These Devils are basically soul-stealing free-market capitalists who take advantage of the economy for their own nefarious ends. I dislike them for what they are, not who they are you see.
At any rate, I also made some very tough decisions in line with my characters ruthless yet peculiar sense of justice. When working for Alice (the Cheesemonger) I had chosen the option that “removed a lot of pieces from the Game.” Needless to say, having that much blood on my hands affected how I viewed my character.
Believe it or not, making your problem your character’s problem can be far more interesting than re-working the story.
Early on, I picked the Neddy Mens side in The Battle of Wolfstack Docks. I did this to get some Connected: Masters. Later, I realized this was totally out of character for Nigel.
So, he made a bad choice. We all make them. We all have supremely regrettable actions from our past and times when we acted out of character. That sense of regret fills a very real place and creates motivation for other active choices.
If you regret dealings with Hell, make an effort to avoid future dealings with them because of that regret. I find that to be a far more interesting story than someone whose motivations were singular from their inception.
Heh… I agree. I do not think I’ll turn my back on hell - they’re far too useful for that. I have Ambition: Nemesis with the backstory of a formerly very bad man who was redeemed by love only to return to the darkness in pursuit of vengeance after she was killed. He’ll do anything, and deal with anyone, if it’ll get him closer to his revenge. Kind of an Ahab-esque figure. Nonetheless, I do not think it out of character for him to occasionally pause on his dark path to wince at the realization of what he’d become, and the sure knowledge that SHE would have been saddened by what he had done in the name of her vengeance. Then he grabs a stiff drink or a spoonful of Prisoner’s Honey and grumbles “Bah. The dead don’t feel happy OR sad. They’re just gone… well… at least up there, they are.”
One thing that struck me about Fallen London was exactly that… standard make-your-char-and-general-setup being bashed within the first couple hundred moves. I had a very clear character picture in mind the very momemt I entered the name of this character. It did not take more than a month before I had to notice that the character, by in-game-action… diverged from the original concept.
Three months later, there is some figure-idea on my computer screen which I did not have in mind three months back when I typed that name.
And That’s It. That is how it should work.
If you go into some game with an idea of some character, and half a year later find that you ARE playing that idea…
[quote=Reshemin]If you go into some game with an idea of some character, and half a year later find that you ARE playing that idea…
… then the game failed.
That’s it. :D[/quote]
Well, maybe not in the absolute sense, but you’ve certainly got a point there… I wanted to play my character as sort-of opportunistic. Not really out to do bad things, and always willing to help someone out, but definitely able to spill some blood if need be. And now I’m in the middle of the Cheesemonger story thinking "Wait… I just started a gang war between children! Where did it all go wrong?" The thing is, the deeper I immerse myself into the Cheesemonger’s games, the harder it becomes to pull out of them… "at least make all that blood count - for something, whatever it is"
Absolutely! Every game that makes you really regret imaginary actions in an imaginary world is superbly written indeed!
Zeel chose the same choices. He doesn’t regret it, however there’s very little he does regret. Funnily enough, he actually started this game as a nice person, trying to help people out where he could, to learn more, and being courted a bit by Hell. He was curious, for sure, and delved deeper, even losing his soul didn’t totally cost him his humanity. Eventually, he became sociopathic. My point being, my original character concept and where it led are in opposite directions, and that’s what I love about this game.
Something like that happened to me, too. I originally started my alt to have a character who would act in the ways that I would, if Fallen London existed in REAL LIFE and I were there trying to make those decisions. But in the end, my alt has turned out to be shallow and opportunistic, and my original character is the one who’s most like me. (Not completely like me. I think in real life I’d sell my carnivorous lily rather than feeding her men of the cloth just to make her tournament-competitive.) edited by cathyr19355 on 3/22/2015
Eh, I feel the whole thing of your character changing from your initial idea comes more from the metagame knowledge of the player and from easily you take diffrent roles in order to have a balanced character statwise and not miss opportunities.
[quote=BlakeTheDrake]"The first thing we do, let’s feed all the lawyers to houseplants…"
Shakespeare’s Henry VI, if London had fallen a bit earlier.[/quote]
no. the first thing to do is feed the clergy to houseplants. why? … I’d rather not explain my problems with the clergy in our fallen city. let’s just say they wear too many faces. after that, start on the lawyers.
my character is roughly as intended- a character skilled at rationalization, but when a clear, obvious moral choice stares him in the face, will make the ‘right’ decision. the fact that he has terrible sense of right-and-wrong led to the cheesemonger massacre, but i don’t regret that. he distrusts factions for no reason, and places no value on a soul whatsoever, but will not deal in souls he knows to be stolen, for others disagree on this point. edited by Grenem on 3/26/2015