Ah, that explains why I have no recollection of meeting her at all. Thank you!
I feel like the Princess characterization from the Election onward is a set-up for how she is in Sunless Skies. And maybe a set-up for how she’ll be in future ESs.
[spoiler]In Skies, the Princess is much more like her “seductive monster” characterization, but with a twist. When you ask her why she is traveling, she tells you the goal of any princess is not to remain so. That is, to stop being a princess and become a queen. Only with Victoria the way she is in Skies, she can’t become the Queen of London/Albion. The Princess’ story in Skies is about how she becomes a queen and how you either help her or stop her. It’s very much a story about her being a monster, but also about her being your monster and you being responsible for how she ends up and certain… things she leaves behind. In some endings, you can end up acting like her even.
What I had been wondering though, was how she got to the point she wanted to be Queen. And loosing the Election and finding out people in London don’t like her wouldn’t be the worst starting point.[/spoiler]
Well, by that age,
she would be an actual queen somewhere, so given her ambitious nature it’s not unthinkable that she would be running out of patience, especially in a place where Death does not work normally .
edited by Jolanda Swan on 10/15/2019
Afraid this one was a bit of a mixed bag for me. I’d give it 3/5. Some very good bits, but also some rather tedious ones.
(Mild spoilers follow)
The story was very long, which is cool, but I played it over several days and forgot what I was doing a few times. The political implications of the quarreling royal siblings’ schemes flew past me without really making sense and I felt rather lost at the final decision - tbh I had no idea what I was doing, but that was probably more down to me than to the writing. It’s been a tough week.
I liked the beginning. Then, as in many stories, the moment the "monster" was revealed, a lot of the suspense was lost. And yeah, I agree with others in this thread that I preferred Femme Fatale Princess over Massive Bitch Princess. :D I didn’t much care about the love story arc, so the remainder of the story dragged on a bit. But at least I was given a new location to explore, which is one of my favourite things to do. :)
The whole flowers thing didn’t catch on with me and the love birds massively got on my nerves by the end tbh.
There was nothing wrong with the writing, it’s just that this story didn’t push my buttons as much as others have. My favourite part of the whole story was probably the postal rat’s visit in the epilogue. :D
The stories of the lovers hit pretty hard at Evensong’s own struggles.
[quote=Lady Karnstein]I really do feel the Princess has been flanderized recently. In the stuff with the Salon and Feast of the Rose, she seemed mysterious and seductive, and for those who discovered the truth of red honey you saw an even darker side. The Gift further made her a first rate villain without compromising her seductive or mysterious qualities. And she was fine in The Empress’s Shadow. Her run as a mayoral candidate and portrayal in this story and My Kingdom For A Pig have been frankly petulant. A spoiled, powerful child so much unlike the refined horror she had been. I kinda hate it, because I loved the seductive monster she was, which pitted Caroline’s morality at war with her ahem fun side, shall we say? Now she is easy to defy and even fun because she is just a bitch with little going for her.
edited by Lady Karnstein on 10/1/2019[/quote]
From beautiful half-eldritch horror to… Daisy Buchanan, eating fried chicken by the bucketful.
Perhaps the writer handling the Princess changed? I gope it wasn’t done solely for Sunless Skies.
Even if it’s Hallowmas, do not forget to unlock this story by tomorrow!
About 14h left to do so.
Well, I sure am late to this party. I’m not quite sure how to feel about this one. I generally prefer longer stories, but the opening sections of this one didn’t feel particularly consequential, and felt kind of like a very extended introduction before the real story started. Also, one of the choices felt kind of weird…
I don’t know what it says about Mary and the Spinster’s relationship that the Spinster wasn’t willing to talk to Mary directly about the issue of going to the surface, and instead relied on you to deliver a message for her. I understand it was just one of many contrivances throughout Fallen London (and other RPGs) that allow the player character to always be in the center of the story. But it still felt weird.
Anyway, for my character at least, that choice was clear. The Spinster clearly wanted to send Mary the message not to follow her to the surface, so I wasn’t going to deceive Mary about what the Spinster’s intentions were.
As for the ending…
[spoiler] I, of course, could not resist sticking my nose where it didn’t belong, so the Illustrated Spinster wasn’t there when I made the final choice. The choice was then between sending Mary to the surface alone, or sending Lilac with the alternate message. I chose to send Mary. The Illustrated Spinster was willing to sacrifice herself to improve the lives of the workers, and Mary was willing to sacrifice herself to save the Spinster. I saw no reason to stand in their way.
I’m curious, would there have been the option for the Spinster to go alone had I not attracted the attention of the Enforcers? Also, I’m wondering if the message you give Mary has any effect on the ending if you have Lilac deliver the alternate message. [\spoiler]
edited by Nudraxon on 12/10/2019