OCTOBER'S EXCEPTIONAL STORY: Discernment

[quote=Ian Hart][quote=metasynthie][quote=Ian Hart]Has anyone tested if there are any unique results for very high or very low levels of &quotTaking a View on Abstraction&quot?
In the conversation, it seems quite possible to raise or lower it an unlimited amount.[/quote]

I must admit I was rather curious about whether it went below 9. Do the lower/higher values have different names?[/quote]

I just brought it down to 0, and I saw the same from 1 all the way up to 8 (my starting value.) I guess Iā€™ll now try grinding it in the other direction. I wish I could look up what, if anything, this actually effects.

Edit: at 10 it becomes &quotNeutral on the aesthetics of souls&quot
edited by Ian Hart on 9/25/2015[/quote]

From 11 to 28 it becomes &quotAccepting towards flawed souls&quot. Now Iā€™m out of actionsā€¦ It probably stops changing at 11. But what ifā€¦?

[quote=dov][quote=Nigel Overstreet]Flavour. Iā€™m stained and enhanced and walked away unscathed and none the worse.
Canā€™t say the same for the Deviless. Rues the day she heard the name Overstreet, I reckon.[/quote]Thanks for the confirmation.

You can never be too sure with Stained souls when devils are involved.[/quote]
Thatā€™s only when youā€™ve sold them a stained (and seeking) soul though :P
edited by Optimatum on 9/25/2015

I liked it! It was nice getting a unique item for my Spirifer. Iā€™ll have to decide whether my main will go through the trouble of getting Salomeā€™s Soul; Gloria had most of the needed Brandy already, so it was less of a hassle.

Count me in the disappointed camp. Thereā€™s only so far that Iā€™m willing to twist the character of my main, and delivering a bishop to a deviless for vague and threatening reasons is past that point. My big problem is that if you decline to do the task, you just give up.

Iā€™ve an alt who killed a devil out of curiosity and has robbed the Bazaar and the Brass Embassy many times, and he just walks away from an opportunity for a valuable soul to add to his collection? And another alt, who decides to buy the blessed thing, and Iā€™m having a hard time justifying his decision.

Interesting lore snippets though.

Finished (with 31 Taking a View on Abstraction.)
Excellent lore, writing, and characters. Iā€™d very much enjoy a sequel in a future exceptional story, or as main content.

Iā€™ll agree with being confused and disappointed by the mechanics, but Iā€™m glad that something new was attempted! Innovation is always worth the effort.

I had a lot of fun with the story, since Iā€™m playing a character who had his soul taken against his will and ended up a miserable wreck because of it. For the same reason, he also HATES devils. So having to go to a devilā€™s party and talk to a guy who is practically DYING to sell his soul REALLY got under his skin. So I really enjoyed the first part and thought it was fun to play and the story really interesting.

[spoiler]But my character would never help a devil, even if she threatened him, and heā€™d never risk hurting the bishop either, so I ended up going nowhere. Which was a shame since, although my character didnā€™t really care about getting the soul, he did want to at least try and help the Poet (not sure if you actually can, but he wanted to try).

It would have been cool if maybe those of us who alerted the bishop had some sort of option to continue. After all, he basically says he already knows the deviless is after him and doesnā€™t seem to care much, so why not an option to have him say something like &quotLetā€™s beat her at her own game. Iā€™ll pretend to let you kidnap me but really weā€™ll be working together against her.&quot Or something similar (I donā€™t know if this would be consistent with his character since, not having played to the end, I donā€™t know what anyoneā€™s actual endgame was). But perhaps something like that could have worked out to let those of us who are playing more moral or compassionate characters finish the story.[/spoiler]

All in all, Iā€™m not really mad about it (the game did give me fair warning, after all), just a bit disappointed. Like I said, it was an interesting story and I wish I could have played more of it.
edited by Kukapetal on 9/26/2015

You can persuade the bishop to come with you rather than kidnapping him. You just need to promise the Deviless that youā€™ll be bringing him, and then you can make your choice on how to do it.

This exceptional story was the best so far in my opinionā€¦it had depth and interesting dynamics with choices.

If you want to make out like a bandit, buy Salomeā€™s soul, then extract a queer soul and return the Salome soul for profit. Salomeā€™s soul is just a corusicating soul anyway, while Utterpersonageā€™s is unique.

hmmmā€¦well, if thatā€™s the case, I donā€™t see why warning him had to end the story. Seems like it could have easily led to the same branch of the story as persuading him.

Well, at least now I know what actions to take if the story is ever available to replay. Thanks.

Just FYI, the new reward for selling back Salomeā€™s soul is pretty good, once youā€™ve converted the cabinets into something more fungible. Less legal documents, but you donā€™t need those that often anyway (thankfully).

Thanks for upgrading it, FB / Chris, and for offering to give the difference to those who traded early.

Whatā€™s the new reward?

Oops, sorry. See here

Are the SEs Searing Enigmas? Those donā€™t seem quite fitting to me.

They are indeed Searing Enigmas.

Yup, theyā€™re Searing Enigmas, and Iā€™m fine with it. Donā€™t forget that the offices of B&H are one potential source of SEs, and over Sacksmas you can get an SE from a crossword puzzle. There does seem to be a link between wordy/legal and Enigmas. Plus, of course, a few SEs are more useful and valuable than a few LDs.

Is it possible

to have the Queer Soul without having a spiriferā€™s fork? For a Shepard or a non pre-existing Fate to have that soul?

If you choose ā€œGo awayā€ on first conversation with Utterpersonage, will you get another chance to talk to him? I forgot to click on soul branch and all that follows.

While waiting for Bishop with Deviless, if you choose Salome or Abstraction option, are you eternally locked from all other themes?

No.

Yeah, I did the same thing - got all conversational-y up in the attic, was so ready for more, and then it justā€¦ ended. Granted, the game warned me and it felt soo right to once again stick it to the devils and flat out refuse (and undermine them even more by warning the Bishop) but I knew Iā€™d miss out on content and thatā€™s never quite as fun. Will replay later just to see the story, donā€™t care about rewards so much as missing out on excellent writing. But it was fun to at least see references to things you get to see more of in Sunless Sea, so thatā€™s always something :)
edited by Zakator on 9/26/2015

BTW, how do you echo something now? I donā€™t see the ā€œEchoā€ button anymore, so Iā€™m copying and pasting everything into my own Google Doc.