If I were to buy only one of the Hallowmas discounted stories, which one do you recommend? I think the Marsh House Haunting seems the most interesting, but there isn’t much information to make a decision.
edited by SgtTippy on 10/26/2016
my opinion:
Marsh house < art of murder < the waltz that moved the world.
Short summaries below:
[spoiler]
The marsh house is investigating a supposedly haunted house, as your character slowly goes insane. I went through the whole story without knowing some of the mechanics existed.
Art of murder: A competition for artistic murder, of which you are a judge. I believe I heard some confusion on the reward mechanics on the forums.
The waltz that moved the world: Help a lady track down her father, who blinded and killed her mother. Now the mother’s spirit wants revenge. [/spoiler]
edited by suinicide on 10/26/2016
edited by suinicide on 10/26/2016
I highly agree with suinicide’s relative ranking.
Marsh House is OK.
The Art of Murder is good.
The Waltz that Moved the World is excellent.
And BTW, if you do choose the Waltz, I highly recommend to play it while listening to the following music:
It really adds so much to experiencing the story.
Marsh House is the first Exceptional Story. It is also the most self-contained story so far compared to the rest of the Exceptional Stories, so if you are in this for lore you might like it less. There’s potentially a unique lodging, although it is on par with other remote lodgings from Christmas.
The Art of Murder and The Waltz belong to the same season and both have a focus on the lore surrounding the Thief-of-Face. Ideally you play them after you finish Flint as all three talks about the Thief-of-Face, but Flint isn’t on a discount now.
The Waltz is best played with prior knowledge from Sunless Sea - mostly the bit where your Captain visit Vienna and the Exaltation questline. Otherwise it might fall a bit flat. (I recommend cheerful electronic setting-inappropriate music.)
The Art of Murder is best played with prior knowledge of Snuffers - so it might be best if you played some related free stories like Seeking the Meaning of the Plaster Face or Foreign Office. It is a bit chaotic towards the end, though.
edited by Estelle Knoht on 10/26/2016
I agree with the above, however; if you don’t yet have a Remote Address and don’t want to wait for Sackmas, one of the possible rewards for the Marsh House is that very thing.
Thanks for the replies. I’m going to go with the Waltz, then maybe next week the Art of Murder. As a follow-up, could anyone say if there are any ‘must play’ fate locked stories?
Flint is widely considered excellent but is of course very expensive. Lost in Reflections is also considered one of the best. Cut with Moonlight is also great and unlocks a repeatable option to get an otherwise-unavailable item, the Mirrorcatch Box. (Mirrorcatch Boxes are not particularly useful right now as the main purpose is Knife and Candle, but it’s still a cool item.) The Frequently Deceased was also very well received, as I recall.
For non-Exceptional stories, Flute Street and Theological Husbandry’s extension are both well-regarded and having both unlocks a bonus. Buying the Soul Trade is best done in the early game, but has endgame benefits depending on choice of profession - either a card with a complete menace wipe option or the most profitable grind in the game. The Gift is also a great story, though more horror-oriented than usual.
I do recommend getting any Fate-Locked Stories that isn’t Rubbery Murders before the Exceptional Stories - these tend to be more significant than ES in general.
How much would you estimate knowledge of Flint affects The Waltz that Moved the World’s story? I was thinking of picking that up on discount, but shelling out for a 120 Fate beforehand is a bit of a stretch right now. I’ve played Sunless Sea, but not completed the Exaltation quest - does The Waltz include any spoilers for that?
So long as you have basic knowledge of the thief of faces (Art of Murder probably gives enough) I think you should understand the waltz well.
[quote=narcomanic]
How much would you estimate knowledge of Flint affects The Waltz that Moved the World’s story? I was thinking of picking that up on discount, but shelling out for a 120 Fate beforehand is a bit of a stretch right now. I’ve played Sunless Sea, but not completed the Exaltation quest - does The Waltz include any spoilers for that?[/quote]
It’d make you familiar with the Thief-of-Face to immediately know why some people react strongly in the Waltz, but it doesn’t have any direct effects.
As for Sunless Sea, well, the Waltz make some call backs to Exaltation background info but you won’t recognize it until you play Exaltation anyway so it is all good and fine.