Kadrelor has finally ended his journey, seeking to Grieve. I think I remember reading somewhere that a document exists including the other two endings, Hate and Salt. Could anyone please send that my way? My Seeker’s profile is below, for proof.
http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Kadrelor
Thank you!
I’ve gone North choosing to hate, and after much thinking, decided I’m not up for two more trips, so I’d appreciate if anyone shared the two other endings. Thank you!
Welp, finally got started on my last Fidgeting Writer grind, starting with 8000 ToT. That should get me the Cider in… lessee… if I don’t miss a turn, a little less than a year and a half.
After which, assuming there’s not a bunch of new content I just have to try with my main, I’m planning to grind out Destin and thence NORTH.
It feels weird that I’m planning to hang on so long with this char just to sacrifice him to the Drowned God, but there’s only two paths I want to take with J.T. I could give up on the Cider, but at this point there’s so much sunk cost, you know?
Anyways… I’ll be seeing you all in the well, I’m sure. It’ll just be a bit.
I finally had one character turn back.
Good riddance to this story. It was so much incoherent nonsense that is only discernible after piecing together so many things with doles of effort invested into head-hurting narrative hindsight - only an ardent fan of the game’s lore would like this, and I am not such a person.
Screw any of the Questions. Better to relinquish all that effort for a Dreaded +4 item - at least that’s more worthwhile to a player who wants to play the game for its gameplay.
edited by Rostygold on 4/4/2018
[quote=Rostygold]I finally had one character turn back.
Good riddance to this story. It was so much incoherent nonsense that is only discernible after piecing together so many things with doles of effort invested into head-hurting narrative hindsight - only an ardent fan of the game’s lore would like this, and I am not such a person.
Screw any of the Questions. Better to relinquish all that effort for a Dreaded +4 item - at least that’s more worthwhile to a player who wants to play the game for its gameplay.
edited by Rostygold on 4/4/2018[/quote]
A genuine question: are you playing FL for its gameplay, not for its lore? I mean, I have nothing against it, I just haven’t seen this point of view before.
[quote=incerteza][quote=Rostygold]I finally had one character turn back.
Good riddance to this story. It was so much incoherent nonsense that is only discernible after piecing together so many things with doles of effort invested into head-hurting narrative hindsight - only an ardent fan of the game’s lore would like this, and I am not such a person.
Screw any of the Questions. Better to relinquish all that effort for a Dreaded +4 item - at least that’s more worthwhile to a player who wants to play the game for its gameplay.
edited by Rostygold on 4/4/2018[/quote]
A genuine question: are you playing FL for its gameplay, not for its lore? I mean, I have nothing against it, I just haven’t seen this point of view before.[/quote]
My position is close to that. I got the coffee-like ‘feeling’ of the world, but play more for achievements and efficiency, spiced with roleplay decisions (I will avoid anything that really ticks off my character’s persona), Never was too deep into the hidden lore, just, as said, ‘feel’ it overall, and like it.
In my opinion, Seeking is very much a story to play for atmosphere. As you say, some parts are nonsensical without answers from other content, while other parts give cryptic answers to questions posed elsewhere. But it’s possible to enjoy without full understanding. SMEN’s writing is visceral and unsettling—it can evoke emotion even without the full context.
Mainly its gameplay - it’s the most sophisticated browser-based no-Flash game that I have ever played. The bizarre setting and usually good writing are bonuses.
It stops being unsettling for me after St. Destin’s candle. I like the parts about the player character going mad and self-destructive (and because I chose to have him/her/it turn this way), e.g. having him/her/it eat its own teeth, and I can understand why: this fool is desperately looking to somehow gain more knowledge about Mr. Eaten.
(Incidentally, there are relatively easy ways to raise Seeking from 1 to 28; only patience is needed.)
Yet, the gibberish about White, the Chain and such other wildly swinging references to other parts of the Echo Bazaar lore was unpleasant to me.
edited by Rostygold on 4/6/2018
It was the opposite for me – fun while the references were vague ("The Drowned Man was torn that he might feed us. The White comes to fulfill the frozen law. The seventh city will never fall, and all of us will live." - like, whoa), substantially less so when the main dramatis personae were humanized. There’s a parody account with fake City Vices entries from beyond the gate in their journal – it felt kinda like that but for real.
Anyway, my main is back from the North. Crashed her sub, opened the gate, saluted the Judgments with her new hat and was home for tea.
–
I play FL for the drama, as opposed to both "gameplay" (mechanics) and lore. The mechanics is mostly optimization and grinding, which is only fun when hitting milestones (this reminds me, I need a new zub). Lore has to be assembled and researched collectively - for me the ship has sailed.
Consider, for example, The Attendants, an ES I rather liked. The hide-and-seek sequence is awesome. Still, success and failure were determined by my character’s stats, not by my own skill. The lore didn’t do anything for me either - it makes no difference to me whether this or that ancient princess is this or that game character; we know so little about their historical counterparts it doesn’t meaningfully change anything either way.
But did it give me the shivers? You bet it did!
My most favorite ES is Hojotoho! I stayed up almost all night waiting for actions (I had the fate for candles but waiting was more in character). The mechanics complement the text but don’t present a challenge. The lore? Wilmot’s End has the meat, for less Fate.
The drama, though? Best. Story. Ever.
It stops being unsettling for me after St. Destin’s candle. I like the parts about the player character going mad and self-destructive (and because I chose to have him/her/it turn this way), e.g. having him/her/it eat its own teeth, and I can understand why: this fool is desperately looking to somehow gain more knowledge about Mr. Eaten.
(Incidentally, there are relatively easy ways to raise Seeking from 1 to 28; only patience is needed.)
Yet, the gibberish about White, the Chain and such other wildly swinging references to other parts of the Echo Bazaar lore was unpleasant to me[/quote]
Honestly, the cryptic deep lore is a pretty small fraction of SMEN. Given you turned back, the only parts I’m aware of are:
So I’m confused as to why you see SMEN as dominated by the lore fragments. If the issue is the amount of time stuck with Winking Isle’s weirdness, sure. If you mean that SMEN’s writing is often confusing, I agree—it’s written to be otherworldly and dreamlike in contrast to the more literal, straightforward style the rest of the game employs. But most of the vagueness adds fragments to the narrative of Seeking, with little requiring outside knowledge to understand.
(Incidentally, I’m disappointed that the optimal approach for Erzulie, even ignoring Obscurity, outright skips most of the writing. There’s some delightfully creepy text there.)
Are you saying that the option to knock doesn’t exactly bork an account permanently?
[/i]Drama’s only good when the story-telling is coherent. Also, I don’t think that the Fate-locked stories are comparable to the Seeking story, since yo are bringing up some of the former here.
Isn’t it so? I don’t think that there is anything to be confused about when the monologue of the player character’s screwed-up mind makes references to the "Drowned Man", speaks about the enigmatic "White" or bringing up the Number so many times prior to getting to the Chapel of Lights - especially when the references are about the other Failbetter games, which I am not impressed with.
It became boring and tedious to read for me quickly, and I am not referring to grinds.
I for one am glad that all that can be skipped. It’s just more giving-up-stuff, with a veneer of salaciousness. Besides, I remember that talk with Milicent from the Feast of the Exceptional Rose - one of my characters did the option that required one of the end-game reputation qualities, and that’s how I knew that Milicent has/had a … rapacious streak.
Are you saying that the option to knock doesn’t exactly bork an account permanently?
[/quote]
No, it doesn’t. To be clear, there is an option that borks your FL character permanently, but it’s not the knocking.
The only reference to other Failbetter games I can think of is Salt, who is mentioned exactly once in a special alternate route.
The Drowned Man is just another name for Mr. Eaten, the object of your obsession. And the Name and the Number are similarly mysteries, hunches, theories, half-formed ideas from forgotten dreams gnawing away at your character. Not really related to any other Neathy lore.
SMEN is juicy for lore fanatics, but I don’t think you need to know a thing to enjoy it. Especially considering a lot of it is meant to evoke the dreamlike, vengeful ranting of a long-dead alien creature.
So… there’s still a chance to turn back after knocking?
[quote=LouBlue]Welp, finally got started on my last Fidgeting Writer grind, starting with 8000 ToT. That should get me the Cider in… lessee…
Wait, I switched to the Wakeful Eye grind… is ToT still better?
[/quote]
edited by Kowth on 4/13/2018
No. Even if you have all the items already, Fidgeting Writer is only ~1.91 EPA. Tribute approaches 2.22 EPA, with the downside that you can’t use cards most of the time.
Anyone else have a pit in their stomach knowing that there will someday be Seven endings?
[quote=Optimatum]No. Even if you have all the items already, Fidgeting Writer is only ~1.91 EPA. Tribute approaches 2.22 EPA, with the downside that you can’t use cards most of the time.[/quote] Thx