Ah, I am a fool. I deeply regret my decision to devil with the tankards…however, I saw the story through to the end and now see no way to reset this. I have never spent any Fate for this game yet, but this is a story I would pay to fix my foolish mistake for. Can anyone tell me if it’s even possible to undo this once the story is over and done with? I’d sided with the constable and that will remain my decision-all I wish to do is not meddle with the final game. Being an unlucky person I didn’t want to leave that game to chance…my misfortune was in securing certainty, as it were.
It’s not possible, but if you read the posts above, you’ll note there’s quite some ruckus over whether this should be possible, and changes were already made last friday, so stay tuned I guess.
I would just like to say that I felt truly uplifted and satisfied and warmed by completing the story properly just now. I originally finished it almost as soon as it was first introduced, and as such, the odds of the final luck challenges did not reflect the narrative. While I certainly appreciated the emotional impact of my ally going through all that only to die abruptly and horribly, part of me lamented the fact that it was not completely fair and even as they wished and how I honoured them.
So when I was allowed to reset just the once to get the proper odds, I stuck by the same choice. Because this was what they truly wanted. My first surprise was that they actually spoke to me before the match, allowing for a tender moment of connection between us and our motives. My second was that, instead of an instant death after the first round, the pair instead went all three rounds, the writing and tension building so beautifully and hauntingly. And my final surprise was, this time, my ally survived. It was sad to see the other go of course, but the fact they survived and reached this ending satisfied me to no end. It was a sense of peacefulness and finality. An ending to a long, tragic tale, but a satisfying one.
Would I have been less happy had they died once again? Possibly. But I think that peace and satisfaction would have still been there, both because of the fairness of the challenge, the added length and emotional weight of the challenge between them, and just that little extra moment with them beforehand, providing the kind of closure needed to our relationship. I thank you all at Failbetter for listening and giving us all the chance to experience the narrative end to the Cheery Man and the Last Constable properly.
Just finished it, with proper odds. She still died, still on the second round, but it was fair as she wanted. I’m not necessarily happy with the ending, but I’m content. The text for the melancholic remembrance of her from the feast companion is funny, I’ll admit.
Even before this morning’s replay of it I’d time to let it sit on my mind and I really like this ending, and similarly would’ve liked it had she won. It’s not the player’s story and it does a good job of presenting that while staying engaging. It didn’t cover any deep lore, not really, it was just the tragic conflict of a family that could only end in one dead. With the mechanics change to properly be an even chance it felt fair, felt tense and dramatic (whereas the old odds just felt like manufactured drama and off putting), and the loss leaves one with a melancholy that feels inherent to FL. I’d put it above the Comtessa story in that, as hers is really short and doesn’t give you time to connect with the characters.
I wish we still had snippets of the other side’s view. From here the Cheery Man comes off as just a dickbag, defined by not giving a damn about his wife dying or his daughter honoring her memory. The last moment with him and her dead body kinda did that I guess
Also since ppl mentioned marrying their feast companions, I doubt these two will ever be options as there’s the chance they’re dead, probably unmarryable due to that, and giving the playerbase marriage options that some are permanently locked out of would go badly. I actually wonder how they’ll deal with these feast companions if they’re already dead. Like yeah if we’ve them beforehand we get the Melancholy Remembrance but will they give you a chance to have an encounter at the feast with this remembrance?
So… after doubled stakes, my Constable survived, and no, I was not invited to the funeral :(
So this is the my first visit to the forum in a long time, and I finally started the finale to this story yesterday, and finished it just now, and I’m currently a sobbing wreck.
My Ali is a thief, and sided with the Cheery Man, and she’s had a Thing for him since her first days in London, and RNG was not kind to me. The writing was amazing and it’s turned me into a goddamn emotional wreck, but at the same time I desperately, desperately want the option to reset. The tragedy of the whole thing is wonderful from a writing perspective, and I get the arguments to let things stay as is, but just… God, I’m also a little mad that the whole outcome was RNG dependent. I know a happy ending wasn’t possible, but damnit, I’m still really upset RNG was against me on this.
I’m sorry, this is very emotionally driven right now, the tears are still streaming down my face, but god I would pay any amount of fate to give my character what she wants. :(
gives you a hug
A lot of us were equally devastated. You’re in good company here :)
The whole idea of Fallen London is that if you really must, time and outcomes can be bent with Fate, and it’s up to you, the player, to decide what relationship you want with the material – empowered or ultimately powerless to change what happens.
The option to replay the story for fate should return.
I believe you misunderstood what happened in the story.
The Cheery Man had tried to avoid this ending, but their fates were sealed as soon as The Last Constable returned from exile. In doing so, she had spurned the opportunity to avoid a final confrontation and they were on a fatal collision course. Once she came back to London, he knew that she would not stop until one of them was dead. She hadn’t just come back to put flowers on the grave, she had come back and immediately resumed their conflict. She had already left the flowers, but she stayed in London and had people in pursuit of the Cheery Man as soon as he left the Medusa’s Head because she knew that he would also be going to lay flowers that day. You know this, because you helped him avoid her trap.
If the Cheery Man had wanted to murder her, she was as good as dead. He controls a sophisticated criminal network with deep resources, but he didn’t use it. He had access to a very successful black ribbon duelist who was armed with Cantigaster venom and was able to stroll through the Constables’ most secure locations with ease, but he didn’t ask you to kill her. If he’d wanted to fix the game, the game would have been fixed. The game was being played in his own place with his own cups, but he didn’t want you to alter the odds even without his knowledge.
Instead, he offered her an even chance, even if it meant that he would lose his own life if she survived. In the end, I believe they both agreed to leave it up to chance so the survivor would be spared the burden of having to kill the other.
It’s been a while and I still haven’t drawn the card; anyone else had this problem? I’m beginning to think it might be something more than just the RNG hating me
You’re probably right, but I don’t feel like it was conveyed well mechanically. I honestly already forgot the pursuit on the way to the grave because it was just filler with a faceless foe (ha, alliteration!) that punctuated a conversation. She didn’t even show up once we got to the place she was apparently 100% sure he was going! I doubt she’d kill him there, but why not show up and talk? Let’s have a Highlander-in-a-church moment.
Really, I feel like I was just completely disconnected from the Constable on the Cheery Man’s side even though she was the antagonist. Judging by whoever said the Cheery Man didn’t seem to care about his wife, I’d say the opposite side sounds much the same. Swapping over is honestly the only way I know much at all about both of them, and I didn’t play far enough on the Constable’s side to hear her side of things. That kinda goes along with how disconnected I felt from the story in general and how I felt like just a bystander instead of a character who was involved with these other characters emotionally. And I’d be more okay with just being a bystander if I wasn’t just a bystander to bleakness.
Like, the most convincing emotional stuff in this story? It isn’t in the story for me, it’s stuff people are writing about the story. I want to hear the story you guys are describing, not the words that I got from the story ingame. Which is good on you guys, but it’s deeply disappointing in how it played out.
Drake has had the same problem. Tanith got the card immediately; Drake’s been flipping cards three or four times a day all week and nothing. Probably the RNG? But it’s odd.
As long as we’re all discussing the story, a thought from the perspective of someone who hasn’t unlocked the continuation yet:
When I first started out, I was given the usual note about how your decisions early in the game aren’t irrevocable.
I really think it should be made more obvious that there’s opportunity-card-based content for the Constable that you will lock yourself out of by pursuing her story. Now, don’t get me wrong: I think it makes sense that her card locks when she leaves. However, I ended up playing through the entire thing in one go because I thought that’s what you were supposed to do: I never realized until a couple of months later that there was a LOT of content I’d missed by completing it so quickly. I was a little put out by that - particularly because I never ended up developing the emotional bond with the character a lot of the people in the thread seem to have. Heck, I was more interested in the Heiress you romance early in the Flourish plotline!
Now, I get that that’s the risk you take for blazing through, but the difficulty challenges are so low it’s an easy mistake to make, and it happens really early in the game (where you’re coming right off the note at the beginning that your initial choices can be changed later). The long & short of it is that I REALLY think it would be good to at least add a note to the "Saving the Last Constable" storylet that it’ll lock you out of meeting her. I mean, most irrevocable decisions have that kind of warning note, right? I don’t think it’s a lot to ask, and I think it might help other players from making the same mistake and thereby missing a whole chunk of content.
edited by Daedalus_Falk on 10/24/2017
From her side, it’s completely reversed: she returns just to pay respect to get mother, but the Cherry Man send people after her (you help her escape the chase). So she concluded she had no choice but to face him in a lethal game once and for all, as he won’t let her live in peace.
So, basically, it’s not one story independent of you, that you just chose whose side to follow. It’s a different narrative based on your choice of ally. Your ally is always the one meaning well, and the other party the aggressor.
The facts remain the same; the interpretations change. The Constable says the Cheery Man let his wife die to save himself; the Cheery Man says he prioritised getting the Constable to safety. Each blames the other for breaking the tentative peace - the Constable by returning from exile; the Cheery Man by interrupting her paying respects to her mother’s grave. The only practical difference, prior to the challenge being issued, is who has who tailed to the cemetery - and I wouldn’t be surprised if they both sent tails after each other. Or, for that matter, if the "pursuer" in each case was actually just the other party, coincidentally going to the same place at the same time.
There are two sides to every story…
This is how it REALLY happpened.
– Risky Boots
For anyone keeping track at home, the chance to not get your preferred outcome armed with 165 Fate would have been less than 0.0002.
Please bring back the Fate option.
Should he die, does the Cheery Man get replaced with a different Cheery Man?
A Cheerier Man, as it happens.
Did anyone journal a love confession to the Last Constable? My character is quite in love with her (and I have the Feast companion) but quailed from confessing its feelings out of fear of driving the Constable away. I’m actually pleased with how this worked out story-wise–I deviled with the tankards so the Last Constable’s not speaking to me anymore 
I’ve given up my chance to be with her even in friendship in order to save her life, and hey, that works for me as a story–but I am curious as to what she says if you confess your love.
edited by wallofillusion on 10/25/2017