Nemesis, Part 3

Yeah, thanks, but I own dozens in fact :) And I’m aware of flash lay resetting but it feels like meta gaming, unintended and exploity. Still used it a lot because I just want to enjoy the story and it’s the only reasonable way, but I just need a break right now. There’s something about this RNG gating that just really makes me lose patience due to its binary nature.

[quote=Monara] but I just need a break right now.[/quote]That helps most of the times! Even if RNG isn’t the one to blame. :)
Wish you the best of luck!

Has anyone compiled a list of items required at various stages - for instance what one will need for each place one’s bat points to? I’d love to avoid all the running back and forth I’ve just done for one place …

[spoiler]Bat-scouted places you can visit, you can do all four but only need three to progress, no additional item required:

[ul][li]A place of some confusion[/li][li]The Mirror-Marches
[/li][li]Port Carnelian[/li][li]The Mind of Long-Dead God[/li][/ul]
Everything below are located in or accessed from London:

[ul][li]Forceful 3 or 3 Personal Recommendation.[/li][li]250 Romantic Notion, or 500 Compromising Document, or Poet-Laureate 1[/li][li]3 Blackmail Material
[/li][li]777 Skyglass Knives or 77 Ravenglass Knives (failure will cost 1/7 of the knives and improve the odd by 20%)[/li][li]An unspecified number of Sulky Bats and/or Fairly Tame Sorrow-Spiders[/li][li]Rattus Faber Bandit Chief, or Complaisant Frost Moth, or the complete set of tiger ministers from the Court of Wakeful Eye[/li][li]50 Memories of Light and 50 Memories of Distant Shores if you’re a Glassman, 1 Searing Enigma if not[/li][li]1 Night-Whisper and 3 Antique Mysteries (optional, alternative is 100 CP stat loss of your choice if you’re not a Glassman, no repercussion if you are)[/li][li]11 Antique Mysteries and 100 Ostentatious Diamonds (optional)[/li][li]2 Vital Intelligence (optional)[/li][li]1 Judgements’ Egg (optional)[/li][/ul]
For the last three optional requirements, they each have a difficult-but-not-impossible stat check as an alternative. Success will let you progress for free, but failure will cost you 100 CP of a stat of your choice.[/spoiler]

777 knives. I feel my life going all grindy on me.
edited by Snort on 2/24/2020

Six years after starting it, my Nemesis character has completed their Ambition (spoilers on the Profile). As the saying goes, revenge is a dish best served cold.

Considering what they just did, I guess continuing to live in a Bazaar Emporium is particularly bold. :D Looking forward to seeing whether this deed will be referred to in any future dealings with the Masters.

No idea what to do with this character now, to be honest. It was created specifically for Ambition: Nemesis. Definitely very interested in the possibility of both a FINAL END and a NEW BEGINNING, as hinted in the announcement.
I have two more, even older, accounts for Light Fingers and Bag a Legend (I sent the Heart’s Desire one NORTH years ago). I think I’ll be tempted to put all of them to rest after reaching their respective Ambitions’ ends and maybe start a completely new one for Heart’s Desire. I do not remember much about the early game, and a lot must’ve changed since I first started playing more than nine years ago now.

Oh, and a salute to the folks at Failbetter: you delivered, and you did not disappoint. Finishing the Ambitions is a huge step and I’m very interested to see where you’ll take the game next! :)
edited by Rupho Schartenhauer on 3/2/2020

Who else thinks making the possession of a bat that’s near impossible to obtain mandatory for continuing is ridiculous and unfair?
edited by rush99999 on 3/6/2020

I think it’s ridiculous and unfair in a way that’s actually sort of amusing, to be honest with you. And I’m speaking here as someone who’s been actively grinding for the bat for over a month now, without any success.

I’ve heard tell on the Discord that FBG intends to add an option to acquire one more easily. I’m not sure what the delay is, though.

I realise this is an old thread, but how the h__l did anyone afford the knives?!?!

I had been playing for so long, and saving up for Hesperidean Cider, that I had that much, and more. (Though paying the full amount did deeply dent my savings.)

And I was a fool. If I had done the math, I would have realized that 777 Skyglass Knives (12.80 Echoes each at the Bazaar) cost a LOT less than 77 Ravenglass Knives (204.80 Echoes each at the Bazaar). But no, I was caught up the Game, and paid a much larger price for fewer knives, which did not give you that much of a decrease in the risk of failure.

edited by Catherine Raymond on 8/6/2020

Grind, grind, grind. Scrimp and save.

[quote=rush99999]Who else thinks making the possession of a bat that’s near impossible to obtain mandatory for continuing is ridiculous and unfair?
edited by rush99999 on 3/6/2020[/quote]

I just made sure to get all 4 tigers. Got me a +10 companion for every stat and a guaranteed bat.

I think the main “Problem” with the ambition finales is, that they are designed for players that played to the old breakpoint, and then spend months/years in other content. So they could build up their stats to max and a big pocket.
I don’t know about nemesis, but for Heart’s Desire you’ll need a 5 card lodgings for example. With the help of Mr. Sacks this is doable, but without it’s a huge grind.

I’ve been playing on this character since 2012. I just didn’t realise I needed to save all my money for knives.

Edit: Also, I had HD all they way done prior to end content being announced, but got bored & chucked it for something to do & did Nemesis. THEN end content was announced & so I waited. I regret that heavily now.
edited by TheLampades on 8/6/2020

[quote=The Amber Eyed Apostle]I’ve been playing on this character since 2012. I just didn’t realise I needed to save all my money for knives.

Edit: Also, I had HD all they way done prior to end content being announced, but got bored & chucked it for something to do & did Nemesis. THEN end content was announced & so I waited. I regret that heavily now.
edited by TheLampades on 8/6/2020[/quote]

Anyway, I just sold almost everything I have, so… I guess that’s the price of getting a love one back from a Master.

Maybe going North WAS the easier ambition…

Well, HD also isn’t alway that fun. For a special item I have to grind another 5 Eyeless Skulls for a second Ray-Drenched Cinder.

But yes, grinding nealy another goat just in order to continue the ambition is very tough…

I feel like we should have gotten the bat back not as a normal bat but as a new companion that’s equal to the minor rewards of other ambitions.

Indeed, though I’d hardly call the nonfinal rewards of the other ambitions &quotminor&quot. I have hopes that us Nemesis players might still be getting some love sometime down the line, as FBG is aware that the rewards are heavily imbalanced and Nemesis in particular was screwed over rather harshly.

Choosing to save my loved one instead of going through with the revenge felt great, but stat-wise, I got an improvement of exactly 1 point of Persuasive. (I should probably count Kataleptic Toxicology as well, but I have both July and Countess of Thorns, whom I have already had by the time I resurrected my brother). For a point as important as the ending of an Ambition, this certainly feels underwhelming as a reward.

There are numerous possibilities where unique rewards could retroactively be added, such as the Bat being transformed by its experience, or encountering Mr. Mirrors in the Is-Not for those who released them. Certain items, such as the Blooded Knife or the Ring of Myriad Keys could find a juicy new use after the Ambition, or a reward could be added to show how our relative/ourselves are dealing with life in wake of the resurrection or our revenge. Heck, we could even get a T-shirt saying &quotI bought a boatload of lousy knives just to find a single shard of glass.&quot

Getting ambition-specific miscellaneous options, such as the possibilities for waking the Efficient Commissioner, is also a nice way to help even out the imbalance, though.
edited by Aardvark on 8/12/2020

I snorted at this. I’m still like 80 knives short, but I read this & thought, &quotWhen I buy that last knife, that would be satisfying to get from the bewildered knife shop owner.&quot Like, &quotMiss, I am not sure what it is you’ll be killing, but we made you this tunic in honour of all them knives.&quot