The game is becoming worse and worse

Fallen London
41

[quote=Robin Alexander]
I still love the idea of having a ‘pay for more’ system . . .

It could be tricky to implement, though. In your example, what if the character plays a pacifist role? They might not want to kill the lizard, thus feel railroaded into paying for more, or perhaps they would get a magnanimous decrease and feel penalised for playing the only choice available to them . . . if we were to use a ‘pay for more’ approach, the most basic/free route would have to be something so non-offensive to all players that it could easily become - well - dull. It would be difficult to create one path/branch that offends no one and suits everyone.

Still, it would enable old stories to become finished, which would be amazing, while still offering more for EF players . . . I’m thinking your idea that one could investigate, meet side-characters, gain companions/extras etc., would be a great compromise to giving EF players more, without letting free players be left out. It’s something I’d certainly support.[/quote]

You could have more than one free branches to fit different playing styles, as long as they don’t require a lot of work. It’s the extra work you’re paying for with the more deluxe version of the story.

For instance, in that hypothetical lizard story maybe there would be free endings to either:
A) Kill the lizard, and pick a faction to sell the body to for different monetary rewards.
B) Walk away from the whole business, forgoing all rewards and letting the lizard continue attacking Londoners.
C) Ask Mr. Inch to help you capture the lizard, which keeps it alive but then it goes to the Labyrinth of Tigers as an exhibit and your reward is just a bunch of rata.

You have options, but all the free endings conclude the story shortly after that decision, so there isnt a lot of work for FBG.

The exceptional story option to capture the lizard for yourself, and the subsequent investigation into the lizard’s origins, would have a lot of content that justifies the cost of subscription.

42

I must say FBG’s monetization scheme is faaaaaaaaaaaaar better than most “free” games out there. Lots of companies really try to exploit people, either through huge “supporter packages” that cost thousands of dollars or through letting people rack up hundreds if not thousands of microtransactions. The main income for fallen london seems to be the subscription and handful of paid stories, not refreshing actions/cards, and they get high praise from me for that.

43

I think that there’s also another way that FL has changed over the years (without necessarily being worse for it): the voice has changed.

When I started playing, most of the stories and text assumed you were a lecherous, traitorous, thieving no-good. The &quotmaterial&quot rewards of any given storylet were likely to have been gotten from deceit: jade stolen from acquaintances; correspondence taken from lovers; so-on and so-forth. The writers of FL seem to have taken a more ambiguous tone over the last few years. More of the stories now have clear options for a moral high-path.

I don’t think this makes the game worse at all. One of the big complaints here on the forums used to be that FL didn’t accommodate the more law-abiding (or sexually/romantically reserved) character conceptions. I don’t see that complaint at all anymore.

I do think it makes the game feel very different though.

It makes characterization a much more protracted affair when not everyone is playing similar characters and it can change the way a given character evolves when motivations are not given to the character directly by the writers.

It took me a long time (and a couple new characters) to notice how sweeping the changes were because my main had been created when there was still a strong Flashman-ish attitude in new content. But looking back I can see how much new content has been added and how different such content is from what came before.

44

You mean it used to be worse??

suddenly feels horrible about her constant griping about forced moral alignment

Sounds like the writers have actually done a lot to accommodate those of us who want to play as good guys.

Perhaps it’s time for me to be a bit more appreciative :)

45

[quote=Kukapetal]You mean it used to be worse??

suddenly feels horrible about her constant griping about forced moral alignment

Sounds like the writers have actually done a lot to accommodate those of us who want to play as good guys.

Perhaps it’s time for me to be a bit more appreciative :)[/quote]
I honestly think it’s a matter of taste. I found the over-the-top flippancy, selfishness and hypocrisy to be a great deal of fun. I mentioned Flashman earlier and that was really how some of the earlier writing portrayed the PC. Maybe with the more fun bits of Maugham or Huxley.

I find it easy to separate out my preference for the older tone, with the fact that many people may find the game more welcoming now. As was discussed up-thread: these seem like growing pains.

46

Yeah, the conceptualisation of the player character in the early years was very much a rogue, a rakehell, a ne’er-do-well - I do believe I recall that exact term being used, in fact. It was considered inconceivable that the player wouldn’t want to drink, steal, seduce and profane everything under the sun or otherwise.

47

It’s not strange that a game set in Victorian times would get players who want amusing opportunities to act all prim and proper ^_^

Of course one of the major features of the Victorian era was massive bourgeois hypocrisy, so the opposing extremes of rake and prude are actually rather complimentary. One must keep up appearances and all that.

48

[quote=Sir Frederick Tanah-Chook]It was considered inconceivable that the player wouldn’t want to drink, steal, seduce and profane everything under the sun or otherwise.[/quote]Yes, I do consider that totally inconceivable! ;P

49

[color=#0066ff]I believe the substantive conversation relating to the original topic has now wound down, and (as a kindness to the FBG team, who have to see the thread title popping back up every time someone comments on it) I’m going to give this thread a pat on the head and close it.[/color]
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[color=#0066ff]Merry Christmas to all![/color]