Hard to say, but I eventually picked the chimney pot wars. A close second and third would be Where you and I must go, and The frequently deceased.
Kind of a weird like, but I really loved The Pentecost Predicament. It has an interesting story, some clever philosophy, and while it’s not the deepest one at all, it’s really fun to play.
Least favorite would be Where You and I Must Go, even if the story was interesting the mechanics were beyond the pale. YMMV and all that.
edited by Ruddertail on 9/29/2016
Hmm. Why isn’t Flint an option? Because my choices are mainly rated on the basis of lore, and it’s certainly the loreriest one I know of.
For what it’s worth, I too think The Pentecost Predicament deserves an honorable mention as a runner-up.
[quote=Hattington]Hmm. Why isn’t Flint an option?[/quote]Because it’s, like, three times as big and three times as expensive as the other ES ;)
edited by phryne on 10/1/2016
IDK why people don’t like The Art of Murder. It’s easily my favorite of the lot (not including Flint). I think it just hits a lot of my aesthetic and narrative sweet spots. Plus it’s got one of the best endings to any exceptional story imo. I’m a big fan of The Seven Day Reign too. Great use of mechanics, interesting characters, awesome plot, made the Young Stags way more fitting for my character.[li]
[quote=Gul al-Ahlaam]IDK why people don’t like The Art of Murder. It’s easily my favorite of the lot (not including Flint). I think it just hits a lot of my aesthetic and narrative sweet spots.[/quote]See, it was quite the opposite for me - both me and my character are quite repulsed by anyone who sees (serious, final) murder as sport or art.
[quote=Gul al-Ahlaam]Plus it’s got one of the best endings to any exceptional story imo.[/quote]Yeah, the endings were definitely the best part of that story! Overall, I didn’t hate it, but it’s far from the best imo.
[quote=Gul al-Ahlaam]I’m a big fan of The Seven Day Reign too. Great use of mechanics, interesting characters, awesome plot, made the Young Stags way more fitting for my character.[/quote]I never much liked the Stags, and discovering a tradition of murder and cannibalism at their heart didn’t make them seem any sweeter. But apart from that personal note, I agree the story was pretty good.
Generally, there seems to be a trend of ES involving gruesome murder/cannibalism (Art of Murder, Seven-Day Reign, Last Dog Society) not sitting too well with most of the FL audience!
Also, I think Cut with Moonlight deserves an honorable mention at this point for still not being anybody’s least favorite story!
Ah! That makes sense! I’m a big gore fan, so extra gruesome is always a plus for me. I tend to forget not everyone sees it that way.[li]
Cut With Moonlight - I like opposing authority. Screw authority.
[quote=phryne][quote=Gul al-Ahlaam]IDK why people don’t like The Art of Murder. It’s easily my favorite of the lot (not including Flint). I think it just hits a lot of my aesthetic and narrative sweet spots.[/quote]See, it was quite the opposite for me - both me and my character are quite repulsed by anyone who sees (serious, final) murder as sport or art.
[quote=Gul al-Ahlaam]Plus it’s got one of the best endings to any exceptional story imo.[/quote]Yeah, the endings were definitely the best part of that story! Overall, I didn’t hate it, but it’s far from the best imo.
[quote=Gul al-Ahlaam]I’m a big fan of The Seven Day Reign too. Great use of mechanics, interesting characters, awesome plot, made the Young Stags way more fitting for my character.[/quote]I never much liked the Stags, and discovering a tradition of murder and cannibalism at their heart didn’t make them seem any sweeter. But apart from that personal note, I agree the story was pretty good.
Generally, there seems to be a trend of ES involving gruesome murder/cannibalism (Art of Murder, Seven-Day Reign, Last Dog Society) not sitting too well with most of the FL audience!
Also, I think Cut with Moonlight deserves an honorable mention at this point for still not being anybody’s least favorite story![/quote]
I think the stories with cannibalism themes are some of the most powerful of the lot. I too like the Seven-Year Reign (the chase scene was really gripping, as far as I’m concerned). And I didn’t mind the Art of Murder. My real problem with Last Dog Society was the lameness and pointlessness of the ending (i.e., the story didn’t give me a reason to care who died at the end or why).
It seems to me that anyone who’s played FL for more than a few weeks should understand that it’s set in a world where murder per se is a pretty trivial offense. How can it be otherwise, where the guy you murdered last week shows up on your doorstep this afternoon to complain of your bad timing in killing him right before an important business meeting? How can it be otherwise, where people practice their knife technique on each other (in Knife & Candle), and then murderer and murdered cheerfully post-mortem the fight over coffee or drinks a few nights later?
So the only real sins in FL are blasphemy (since the gods are alive and just might do something Really Bad to you if they track you down) and cannibalism. And the cannibalism is kind of excusable–there aren’t very many protein sources in Fallen London, and one does get so tired of fried, boiled, baked and stewed rat after a while.
But how can you forget all that lovely zeefood? It can’t be a fluke that everybody loves Rubbery Lumps.
But how can you forget all that lovely zeefood? It can’t be a fluke that everybody loves Rubbery Lumps.[/quote]
The zeefood often seems to make you even hungrier for human flesh, as if you’re consuming a little bit of the dead monsters’ hunger.
But how can you forget all that lovely zeefood? It can’t be a fluke that everybody loves Rubbery Lumps.[/quote]
The zeefood often seems to make you even hungrier for human flesh, as if you’re consuming a little bit of the dead monsters’ hunger.[/quote]
Anne has a point, though that depends on how the zeefood was prepared. Zeefood prepared in the water of a Certain Well–good. Otherwise, not particularly good.
If I may still chime in here (I’m no frequent forum user by any means, so I wouldn’t want to impose), I also voted for The Art Of Murder, and also happened to enjoy The Seven-Day Reign - although that one was my first Exceptional Story, so I may be biased towards it. I find a lot of the more morally harsh but also direct directions of themes of murder, cannibalism, etc, a style that suits me more, if only because I know my character doesn’t shy away from such Ruthless actions. The ending of The Art Of Murder took some serious considering for me. In fact, I think it’s ending portion may be the sole reason why it’s my favourite. I understand it’s just one of the many aspects these stories have to offer, though, so I get why many may not like that style.
I also can’t help but not mention The Pentecost Predicament, for expanding on one of my favourite places in Sunless Sea, and just being an all round enjoyable story throughout. It may not be my favourite, but the longer I play this game, the more I appreciate it in hindsight.