I lurked on the IRC for a while yesterday to find out what was going on, the suffering was real. SMEN is quite beautiful in its way; a spiritual, albeit depraved, quest that involves giving up worldly concerns.
Of course that can’t be the same as simply having nothing, or leaving your character to be neglected or destroyed, as players often do when they eventually tire of a game. Seeking forces your character to actively acquire a great deal of worldly possessions first, through serious investment of the player’s own time, and possibly money, and then experience discarding or destroying them in an instant, in pursuit of knowledge which will almost certainly do them no good. This is easier if one is philosophic but most games, especially browser games, are designed to encourage the acquisitive and competitive parts of our natures; witness the prestige gained by owning obscure objects or qualities. Here the competition is to destroy your character, but you have to actively participate in its downfall while being warned against it; a digital martyrdom.
I can’t think of any other gaming experience like it. I hope that when the first Seekers reach the eventual conclusion, they discover the revelation they desire, but that what is sacrificed is gone for ever. And that, whatever pleas others make, they keep the revelation to themselves.
The seeking road truly is like that scene in The Quest for the Holy Grail where monks are chanting and bashing themselves in the face with books. And I do get the feeling that seeking may be a slow and steady wins the race type of affair when it comes to the main quality itself. The faster you try to push through it, the harder it hits you.
But the seeking road is just one dimension. Then there are the candles. And the island shivers. Some of the things it’s asking you for go beyond the inconvenience of resources and stats.
Also, I gained a point of Unaccountably Peckish from Time the Healer this week; I’m not sure if that was intended or not. I almost don’t mind if it is, because mapping out the caps on the cards seems a good way for me to proceed without committing too far at the moment.
I think so far the card with the highest confirmed cap is SEVEN OF WORDS with 21. I’m guessing each card then caps at three farther, so you can in theory get to 27 through just waiting then go to Winking Isle without ever needing to gamble secrets or anything.
Yes, it’s intended anyone with Peckish already gets more.
Just to be clear, does a cap at 21 means that it can take SMEN no higher than 21 (“SMEN has not changed because it’s higher than 20”), or that 21 is the last level it can be used and can therefor get you to 22?
I was just about the ask the same thing, since THREE OF EYES gives the message that SMEN can’t change "because it’s higher than 9" (so it caps at 10)
Everyone who asks for PM, things got waaay ahead from the chat logs I have. No new logs were arranged after the beginning of Winking Isle. Perhaps someone else can contribute those.
In short:
The journey goes through Winking Isle, Nadir to meet a surprising companion, Chapel of Lights (oh yea!). Currently our seeking spearheads are regrouping and will continue after a short meditation
I was just about the ask the same thing, since THREE OF EYES gives the message that SMEN can’t change "because it’s higher than 9" (so it caps at 10)[/quote]
I’m pretty sure it can increase it through 21 and no higher.
I wonder how Speeecemarine…I mean Spacemarine9 is doing. That poor guy’s quite the seeker, I’m surprised his brains haven’t yet boiled out from his head in a terrible flash of correspondence and pain.
[quote=Optimatum]I think so far the card with the highest confirmed cap is SEVEN OF WORDS with 21. I’m guessing each card then caps at three farther, so you can in theory get to 27 through just waiting then go to Winking Isle without ever needing to gamble secrets or anything.[/quote]Slow slow slowly. Still, may be a fair trade, especially when you think of what waits at the end. Thanks.
Out of curiosity, do we know what you lose if you abandon the search and quit Seeking? Does it wash away everything (scars, stains, candles) or does it just remove the seeking quality and A Bad End so you are no longer marked as a Seeker?
I am only here to express my utter frustration that my main, who has no interest in Seeking, got a hand full of the SMEN cards, while my alt, who I really want to go Seeking, has yet to draw a single one at UP 6.
Scars, stains, candles, memories, UP, SMEN, probably obscurity too. That said, Call still kept her weeping scars after leaving the hunt for the name.[li]
But that’s expected from a woman who bit enough chunks off her own arm to render it useless.