Yeah, Time increases by between 6-10 points whenever you get the messages from the Harbourmaster bit. Or when you give a Fluke-Core to the Alarming Scholar, for some reason.
Yeah it took me a while to figure it out, but I was doing sooo much smuggling and also I was camping mutton island for a quest thing that I eventually figured it out. Didn’t know about the fluke-core though, interesting.
Given that the established pattern for crew interactions in video games is fixing their personal problems in exchange for phat lewt and stat boosts, I think it’s great that there’s a crew member whose destiny is too big to beat.
Want to echo the comments above asking for more resonance in the actual game, though. This particular story is a narrative success for jarring the player, but not so much with the follow-through. It’s kinda weird that the content for drug smuggling is currently meatier than the commentary on human mortality.
Oh I dunno. I’d say that’s about on par for the 'Neath. :P
So the "something has changed in the neath" message is for advancing time the healer? That’s good to know - I thought that it was something like ‘one day the lornflukes will rise up and eat London because you sold their kin’.
That would be awesome…
Lore question - what the hell is the big flappy thing from the roof that kills the Adventuress? I don’t remember mention of it elsewhere in FL or SS.
You are not a Vake Hunter then
it is one of the Masters
I for one felt that the story was very powerful.
I agree. I really hate to lose her every time, but I feel I mustn’t stand in her way. Not a lot of games can do that to me.
Wait a minute…
is it possible to get her back from the Fathom King? Because I’d pay… in fact I think it would be really clever. ;)
Anybody else tried this?
edited by SouthSea Rutherby on 4/6/2015
Er what? Why would he have her, she didn’t drown… is there more than one ending for her?
Well, the Campaigner didn’t technically drown either – if the sister’s of the Abbey throw her remains into the sea, it would be no different than when you throw the Campaigner or the Magician down there…
[li]
[quote=Alexis Kennedy][color=#009900]Some of the Officers’ storylines are deliberate experiments in form. I’ll blog about it when I’m done, but the Adventuress’ is definitely one of them, and the arc is unusual. I am really interested in feedback on how people reacted to it - but if you feel a sense of loss because you didn’t get enough stuff, then it’s kinda operating as intended. :-)[/color]
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[color=#009900]oh dear that sounds very indie dev, doesn’t it? Let me rephrase: I think the story will provoke a variety of responses, from ‘meh’ to ‘huh?’ to ‘eek!’, but although you strictly turn a good profit on pure Echo value, the rewards are deliberately minimal.[/color][/quote]
I had promoted a fine chef, an expensive (but utterly outstanding) doctor, and the ever so Veils combination of the Sigil Eaten Navigator and Maybe’s Rival. I had just bought the adventuress a fine new weapon from Mr Fires itself. The point is, things were looking up. We fought off assassins from the Elder Continent together. It was a straightforward matter. We laughed. It broke my heart, what aging did to her, so I agreed to help her. I thought she’d get over it, but I was conducting routine business at Godfall when she started talking to some monks. Their disrespect was the last thing she needed, but even when we were at Abbey Rock I never thought it could be the end. A zee-beast that was any match for her? Nonsense. We fought off assassins who were centuries old and we laughed.
Her opponent was so vast I never realized the duel had begun, though, and then she was gone and so was it. It’s what she said she wanted, but it didn’t feel real, seeing her on the ground with her eyes still open. I was enraged, and demanded redress from every god of the zee. Storm seemed to find my request hilarious, and the rest were stone silent. The Fathomking could do nothing for her, or wouldn’t. She was gone. My Cannoneer took well to the new office, though not so much to coffee sorbet. And while I would love to steal the wings, teeth and eyes of whatever fought my gunnery officer, I know that it would only send me where it sent her. I still visit Abbey Rock all the time. The sisters are hospitable to those who hunt on the zee. And while my zailors are sleeping soundly without water beneath them, I visit that place again and rage against the yawning black sky.
In a sense, she carved her own memorial in the Vake, did she not?
[quote=Alexis Kennedy][color=#009900]Some of the Officers’ storylines are deliberate experiments in form. I’ll blog about it when I’m done, but the Adventuress’ is definitely one of them, and the arc is unusual. I am really interested in feedback on how people reacted to it - but if you feel a sense of loss because you didn’t get enough stuff, then it’s kinda operating as intended. :-)[/color]
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[color=#009900]oh dear that sounds very indie dev, doesn’t it? Let me rephrase: I think the story will provoke a variety of responses, from ‘meh’ to ‘huh?’ to ‘eek!’, but although you strictly turn a good profit on pure Echo value, the rewards are deliberately minimal.[/color][/quote]
From a story perspective, I think hers operates well enough. But from a gameplay perspective, experienced players will be disincentivized from finishing or even starting her story on the second playthrough, if they don’t want to lose her. I don’t think that less mechanically driven players would sacrifice doing her story, because they lose her, but they still might wait on doing so until they plan on dying or retiring. The biggest problem with her story then becomes that if you want to enjoy the benefits of the Adventuress, you must only do her story right before you end your game.
- I think her story is cool. Most officer stories in Sunless Sea involve new beginnings (transformations), but hers is about ending her life.
- The disadvantages to finishing her quest far outweigh the advantages to finishing her quest when you’re on your 20th playthrough.
- Early game the Adventuress is better than the Cannoneer. Depending on the kind of stories that you’re gonna do, the Adventuress is better than the Cannoneer late game. If you are interested in playing ‘optimally’ then letting her die will always be the worst choice, until the moment that you choose to end the game.
- The Gunnery Officer slot has the least amount of options both in terms of acquiring different officers, as well as developing those officers. That the Adventuress’ story leads to death slightly compounds this ‘issue’. The Gunnery officers seem underdeveloped because of this asymmetry.
In short: her story is nice, but it feels like it stimulates you to delay on completing it. Mechanically it’s not very appealing.
I always wondered what it would be like if Sunless Sea would have a few game-changing events like that. I would probably shit my pants on the day of the Lorn-Fluke invasion.