I agree, way too many typos. I might actually compile them and send them in this time, as some of them really stuck in my craw.
On a different note, I have a bit of an issue with some of the storytelling here. In particular (spoilers obviously),
the choices youâre given at the climactic scene in the central chamber when the Vulgate swoops down at you. I chose âRun awayâ (the dangerous challenge), but much to my surprise this resulted in my character doing nothing of the kind. Instead of trying to flee the chamber as youâd expect, my character apparently sprinted to the center of the chamber and recklessly spun with all the dials on the device. Um, what?? Thatâs pretty much the diametrical opposite of what I thought I was telling my character to do. Nor, unless I missed something, was there the slightest hint prior to this moment that meddling with that device was something the FLPC was considering doing.
Instances of rugpulling like this where the narrative results of an action are drastically different from what the action claims to be are thankfully rare in Fallen London, but that just means this sticks out like a sore thumb all the more badly. Anyone have any thoughts or insights, or different perspectives from people who played one of the other options there?
To be honest, I had an unusually difficult time following events here. Actual unanswered mysteries notwithstanding, I kind of struggled throughout to even understand what was happening just in terms of who did what and why.
Thereâs big shiny wings attached to Shapeling Artists of some kind from the High Wilderness who are very, very rude for as yet unspecified reasons. Or at least that seems to be the gist so far.
Yeah⌠I dunno. Unless I misunderstood something, then right before all hell broke loose I was presented with the choice to either blurt out to those starved psychos the thing I wasnât supposed to tell them, or then go insane myself and do the thing that they were going to do anyway that causes everything to come crashing down. And it seemed like at the end the Duchess wanted to rescue the Vulgate or something? I have no idea how to make sense of any of this.
I wonât lie, this is probably the least sensical FL writing Iâve experienced thus far. And I dabbled in Enigma, and thoroughly enjoyed Evolution, the Discordance, and what little my alt has seen of SMEN so far.
Itâs not my least favourite because⌠well, as you say, I have very little idea whatâs going on. Hard to dislike one of those magic pictures while itâs still an unrecognizable blur.
EDIT: Come to think of it? This is also exactly how the Russet Spindlewolfâs plotline concluded. I was offered the choice between revealing or not revealing a specific piece of information to a third party to zero noticeable effect, and I had no real stake in the outcome of the choice before making it.
Sorry, yes, youâre right! I read âone-twentieth of an echoâ in the description, and when writing that post, my memory flipped that from 1/20 = .05 to 1/5 = .2. I remember getting tripped up by that exact confusion all the way back in grade school!
1. Eventually we contact Starved men of the faction that tried to erase London with pew pew laser. Itâs a crew of secondary weapon (of falling type).
2. There is an observer from another faction / place called Zenith. Judging by Vulgate they are overly religions Stymphalian birds who think of themself as angels. Capable of telepathy, memory editing and pretty powerful, but not strong enough to fight airship.
3. Bird attacks to prevent contact between Starved Men and PC. When we try second time bird goes for a kill, Chief Starved Women defends our party (by sacrifing herself?). PC activates weapon, Duchess tries to misdirect it from London.
4. Happy end. All is well, and all is well, and all matters of things shall be well.
I amazingly succeeded on all the challenges, Shapeling Arts at 50% during the fall, then Mithridacy at 70% during the discussion (interrogation?) session with the Starvies. Then there was another one which I canât remember now.
What were the penalties for failing those challenges? Menaces or other consequences?
What is the use of: The Admiration of a Duchess [your cute first officer] The Hopes of a Shepherd [your freaky navigator with three eyes] The Regard of the Dawnseeker [your chain-smoking airship pilot]
Are they going to be used for a final reward or vanity quality? I am reminded of the Railway operations and the choice between siding with the Liberationists, Prehistoricists and Emancipationists.
I find the Duchess cute and honorable, and picked or trusted her at every possible opportunity, hence she has the highest score so far.
Letâs hope she is not some backstabbing b__tch in later chapters.
I was with you this far, but for me this isnât what happened. I opted not to activate the device myself, since it seemed like a phenomenally bad idea. This I guess meant telling the Starved that London survives, which then simply led to them instantly activating the device themselves instead. And maybe for that reason they Starved also made no attempt to save me from the Vulgate, but were simply unmade by whatever power the Vulgate serves, which seems to possess vast reality-editing powers.
I was also given the option to tell the Vulgate to save themselves, which seems like an awfully goody-two-shoes approach to someone who just tried to kill you. Did anyone do that? Does it just die anyway? The Duchess seemed oddly distraught when it disintegrated.
Not sure the alternative is better but now Iâve made this giant pigeon pissed off at someone that isnât me so thatâs a win in my book.
Scores so far:
Duchess: 2. Went out of my way to not help her, I see no reason to so far. She looks to be an aristocratic religious loon, two very good reasons not to trust her.
Shepherd: 2. I didnât go out of my way to figure out what would please him so I dunno.
Dawnseeker: 3. As high as I could get it, it seems.
Iâm not sure itâs worthwhile sending in a list of errors. FailBetter used to be good at responding to that kind of thing, but not on this occasion. My list for the intro got no response at all.
I did. It escapes upwards, I think, wording is not very clear.
The Vulgate spreads its wings in a defiance of burnished gold. Violent means provoke violent ends. The Vulgate turns to look at you, and then beyond, to where you can hear the whir of propellers. A reckoning is coming. From the beastâs mouth, it falls. And it shall turn my enemy inside out. And then it flies upwards at cometâs speed. And you, left behind, feel the onset of that terrible appetite.
