[spoiler]I have not found a way to reset after the conclusion of the story - whether that means it doesn’t/won’t exist, I’m not sure. I can’t confirm or deny if you lose Feast companions (this character not having had either of them) but the storylets I saw seemed to me to suggest that they were lost, so it would be good to get some confirmation either way.
EDIT: I have had it confirmed from a number of people on the irc that it is in fact possible to lose the Feast companions as a result of the endings, so bear this in mind!
DOUBLE-EDIT: The reset is here, in Write Letters! It costs 20 Fate.[/spoiler]
Spoiler tags because I don’t want to give away any endings just in case. Mechanical information contained therein! edited by Barse on 10/18/2017
Considering this is “the tragedy of the Cheery Man and the Last Constable,” I wonder: Would the conclusion be less frustrating if the “bad” outcome were guaranteed and no luck check were involved?
Interesting continuation to the story, and I would have enjoyed it more if not for the ending. I’ll admit, I’m not entirely against the idea of a luck-based end, though how it’s handled makes a world of difference. The Last Constable is a diehard Lawful Good who would sooner single-handedly take on the world out of ideal justice than play part in anything wrong or corrupt. I think that’s what the writers were shooting for, and were the options to either aid her ride-or-die philosophy in a 50/50 odds battle against her father and everything she opposes or assure her winning to save her and her impractical yet just beliefs at the cost of her friendship and respect, I could accept it. I’d be miffed at having to pin a story’s ending on luck alone, but I’d get it from a thematic and narrative standpoint, and I’d hesitate to call it bad gameplay. Instead, we’re given a 20%-30% shot at winning what appears to be an even game of chance if we play it legit and only slightly better odds even if we rig it from the start. You’re not facing a choice of following the Constable’s morals by chancing honest odds to fight fairly or cheating to do the right thing, you’re choosing a suicidal option for an already tragic character or cheating without the secure win the practical option should provide.
However, for what it’s worth, the rest of the continuation was beautiful. I was really touched by the Constable breaking down her official persona in favor of a warm hug between friends, and her safe passage and arrival to her destination felt like the adventurous rouge cop story I was looking forward to. The writing for the location was beautiful, and even the build up for the ending was on point with its progressively darker tones and methodical setup for a final showdown between two forces.
Like I said, I could accept the implantation of luck if it were done right, but I don’t think it was. I’ll probably end up using Fate to reset the story so she can win on equal ground, though, because I love the characters involved and the story up to this point was just that good. If I had to recommend any changes, it’d be that the fair duel should be based on equal 50-50 odds between the Last Constable and the Cheery Man and pretty good if not guaranteed odds for the less honest option. Overall, it was a great continuation to a popular storyline, but disappointing in its conclusion.
EDIT: I just finished the story (I lost the luck chance, btw), and I’m not too happy about losing the Stiff-Backed Young Lady. I get the logic behind why but, well, it took time and money to get them. It’s all the more upsetting since I was planning to pay money to retry my luck with the story in a reset. It’d probably make no sense for her to still be around after her end, but it wouldn’t be the first time FL logic has been flexible, and having the cost of a luck-based option being the loss of a purchased item makes it all the more worse. edited by Sir Joseph Marlen on 10/18/2017
So to make sure I am reading this right, I apologize if not:
The result of the climax of a long running story is a luck roll, not what actions I took. I can re-try the luck roll, with no guarantee of success, for real money, and if I fail, I lose an item I payed more real money to get?
I want to make sure this is the case and I am not overreacting. edited by Lady Karnstein on 10/18/2017
[quote=Lady Karnstein]So to make sure I am reading this right, I apologize if not:
The result of the climax of a long running story is a luck roll, not what actions I took. I can re-try the luck roll, with no guarantee of success, for real money, and if I fail, I lose an item I payed more real money to get?
I want to make sure this is the case and I am not overreacting. edited by Lady Karnstein on 10/18/2017[/quote]
You get another item if/when you lose your Companion, and you can alter the odds (slightly) in your favor. But yes, the very last sequence ends with a luck roll. (Check Maxwell’s mantelpiece if you don’t mind spoilers. He lost the Gentleman of Undisclosed Business.)
[quote=Slyblue]
You get another item if/when you lose your Companion, and you can alter the odds (slightly) in your favor. But yes, the very last sequence ends with a luck roll. (Check Maxwell’s mantelpiece if you don’t mind spoilers. He lost the Gentleman of Undisclosed Business.)[/quote]
Thank you for the answer.
Yes I am pretty upset about this. (Not at you, to be clear!) I would not have paid fate for an item like that.
ETA: For the record, it is less I am opposed to it possibly ending badly; I have acted in character in ways I knew would not end well or would be less profitable before but I accepted it because decisions in theory have consequences and all that, and I want to play my character. It’s the fate thing plus random climax. At least give us an out like we got in Seven Day Reign, or at worst pay some small bit of fate or something. I actually could enjoy SDR because I was not anxious about my companion thus could enjoy the story and the writing. edited by Lady Karnstein on 10/18/2017
hey, so…theoretically…could you restart the story and side with the other person and then get them as a companion the next Feast and have both?
EDIT: I mean if you restart it right away when you draw the card since it says you won’t lose your companion if you switch sides. edited by Kukapetal on 10/18/2017
Hmm, I’m currently at the part where I need to either stage a heist or use my own vial of cantigaster venom. If I choose to use my own vial and skip the heist, will I miss any content specific to the constable’s storyline?
(Apologies if this has been discussed earlier, I wanted to avoid spoilers)
[quote=Slyblue][quote=Lady Karnstein]So to make sure I am reading this right, I apologize if not:
The result of the climax of a long running story is a luck roll, not what actions I took. I can re-try the luck roll, with no guarantee of success, for real money, and if I fail, I lose an item I payed more real money to get?
I want to make sure this is the case and I am not overreacting. edited by Lady Karnstein on 10/18/2017[/quote]
You get another item if/when you lose your Companion, and you can alter the odds (slightly) in your favor. But yes, the very last sequence ends with a luck roll. (Check Maxwell’s mantelpiece if you don’t mind spoilers. He lost the Gentleman of Undisclosed Business.)[/quote]
So the memento at the end of the storyline was resultant of having the Stiff-Backed Young Lady and not a general reward for finishing the story? If that’s the case, then I’m glad you aren’t punished for a luck option by losing a unique Fate-locked item, but that doesn’t make it much better. You still lose the item of your choice that cost money and in turn receive an item you didn’t ask for, not to mention that reacquiring your companion after a reset is all the more tricky since you’re not guaranteed to keep them if you’ve yet to finish the repeated storyline. I payed for one thing, so you can imagine why it’d be disheartening to have that taken without warning and replaced with another thing I hadn’t known existed until just now. I’d rather have kept my companion afterwards regardless of my ending (which isn’t unusual for FL Fate items/qualities, since you can have multiple statues of yourself if you repeat the Jack-of-Smiles storyline and can take the Silent Soul from the Tartar Priest then repeat the expedition to receive the alternate ending and keep your prior reward) and receive a memento based on the outcome of the storyline that wasn’t based on Fate.
Though, just to make sure I understood you right, you are saying that the Last Constable’s Cudgel came from having the Stiff-Backed Young Lady and not from finishing the storyline in general? Because, depending on if I understood right or not, what I just wrote may have been nonsense :P.
I rigged the game in favor of the Last Constable, and got lucky. The result is she will not talk to me. So the actual chance to get a "good" (read: not depressive) ending, was 25%.
This would have been better if the poison game made any sense for the Constable, which it did not. Why should someone like her risk it all in a game of chance?
All in all, since nothing was left behind after these actions were played out, I felt it would have been preferable to let her lie in the Elder Continent, and leave it there. This story subtracted from the experience instead of adding. The story of the Comtessa was also bound to end in tragedy… but in that case. the writing gave it meaning. edited by Jolanda Swan on 10/19/2017
[quote=Sir Joseph Marlen]
So the memento at the end of the storyline was resultant of having the Stiff-Backed Young Lady and not a general reward for finishing the story? If that’s the case, then I’m glad you aren’t punished for a luck option by losing a unique Fate-locked item, but that doesn’t make it much better. You still lose the item of your choice that cost money and in turn receive an item you didn’t ask for, not to mention that reacquiring your companion after a reset is all the more tricky since you’re not guaranteed to keep them if you’ve yet to finish the repeated storyline. I payed for one thing, so you can imagine why it’d be disheartening to have that taken without warning and replaced with another thing I hadn’t known existed until just now. I’d rather have kept my companion afterwards regardless of my ending (which isn’t unusual for FL Fate items/qualities, since you can have multiple statues of yourself if you repeat the Jack-of-Smiles storyline and can take the Silent Soul from the Tartar Priest then repeat the expedition to receive the alternate ending and keep your prior reward) and receive a memento based on the outcome of the storyline that wasn’t based on Fate.
Though, just to make sure I understood you right, you are saying that the Last Constable’s Cudgel came from having the Stiff-Backed Young Lady and not from finishing the storyline in general? Because, depending on if I understood right or not, what I just wrote may have been nonsense :P.[/quote]
Haha, don’t worry about it! Yes, that’s exactly what I meant. I’m pretty sure you only get that option (To check the body for the memento) if you have the corresponding Feast companion. Otherwise, you just get an option to leave Medusa’s (I remember the option had "You got this by not having X" requirement, X being, again, the companion).
Can anyone without a companion confirm if they got something out of this sad, sad tale? EDIT: Guess someone just did. I got a Searing Enigma too, along with the memento.
As for everything else…Well, the Gentleman was given to me as a gift from a friend, so I can’t complain. I did what my character would’ve done, and now, I weep. Bitterly.
EDIT 2: I didn’t rig the game, and I passed the luck check. Nothing happened. They just kept drinking. edited by Slyblue on 10/19/2017 edited by Slyblue on 10/19/2017
Is it possible/likely to lose the Cheery Man’s card as a result of finishing this story? I do like my 2 favours out of a single card, and I’m not a fan of being mechanically incentivised to leave my business unfinished.
Personally, I like that the end result is largely out of the player’s hands (For the record, I tried to rig the game and got the bad end anyway). More than a few Exceptional Stories feature characters who suddenly develop severe bouts of indecisiveness right at the climax of the story, solely for the purpose of letting the player decide the outcome. It has a tendency to cheapen the characters involved and the transparent nature of the move weakens the story. It would have made absolutely no sense for two strong-willed people, locked in an extended family feud and determined to see the other gone, to suddenly let the player talk them into giving up. They were always going to see it to the bitter end, and they were going to do it their way.
Also, has anyone actually found a way to reset the story after playing it all the way through to the end? I looked around in the places I would expect to find such an option (Lodgings, under the Local Gossip, Ladybones and Watchmaker’s) and didn’t come across anything. It may be that the option of throwing money at the story until you get the outcome you desire isn’t even on the table.
Really, this storyline has always been a LITTLE bit of a sore spot for me because I went with the Last Constable, had no way to change it, and then a bunch of Criminals-related stuff wanted me to have gone with the Cheery Man. I cannot overstate how irritating that was. The Cheery Man seemed to be the only one with a card that didn’t vanish, so I felt kinda double-annoyed. And now finishing the story might lose one of my companions? I collect those! I don’t collect sticks.