As announced by Chris Gardiner. The first thing coming to mind is that SPOILER[color=rgb(255, 255, 255)]new Qualities finally see an use beside the Connected Pets cards.[/color]SPOILER
Currently I’m tracking a SPOILER[color=rgb(255, 255, 255)]Disgruntled Naval Officer.[/color]SPOILER Anybody else is on the trail?
Just finished part of the content. Spoilers:
[color=rgb(255, 255, 255)] Decided to go after the left side first. Interesting to see Cat and Mouse being used, I ran into the Mouse property in the Mirror-Marches recently but I was unaware of its function. Also interesting to see the three reputation properties being used. In any case, I got lucky and chased down the map to the 60 point conclusion. However, I don’t have the map half. On the success slide for the 60 point victory it gave a “reward” which said a line about content coming soon and then “All shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.” Whilst I alt-tabbed out to Wiki search the quote out of interest, I accidentally closed the window, so I’ve got no idea if my current predicament of no map half/no way of continuing the storyline is a bug or intended… :([/color]
[color=rgb(255, 255, 255)] Looks like I’m stuck now anyway, no half map piece, the storyline is totally vanished from both the Local Gossip and Wolfstack Docks. Can others confirm if this is a[color=rgb(255, 255, 255)] [/color][color=rgb(0, 0, 0)][color=rgb(255, 255, 255)]bug or a feature?[/color]
Anyway, good to see some meaty content updates again. I thought I was going to be grinding for Stolen Correspondence today!
[/color]ny
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edited by Huw_Dawson on 3/13/2012
I’ve tried twice to track the first guy, and failed by 3 points each time. Though I’m really excited to get the map and be on my merry way, I’m really hating the process of getting it.
Failbetter, I hope you’re reading this post because I want to say something. I really, really love the game and you guys, but I absolutely hate the way you’re padding the recent stories. I get that you need some way to stop us top-level, endgame players from blasting through it in one sitting, but chance based mechanics I can’t affect, sometimes without the option to use Fate or rare resources to ensure success? No thanks.
I’ve not been able to get past the 5th storylet in the Fidgeting Writer story because since it’s been released, I’ve used up ALL my resources to unlock the higher tiers in constant retries of it. And now that I’ve been so frustrated by it, I have no interest in buying and changing the resources needed to keep playing it. Unless the mechanics for it change to something I have more control over winning or a simple Fate option, I’m probably not gonna touch it again. And I’ve completed pretty much every other piece of content you have to offer, simply because I love the game that much.
But I do not want a story thread where I’m forced to rely on luck to get by. Please, if you want to pad it out, find a different method.
Although the fact that the smiley button is a Clay Man is totally awesome :)
I finished it via the resource heavy route. The idea is its a time delay reward. In a few real life days you will be able to continue. I didn’t get the 60 cat and mouse option so I assume you don’t have to wait as long? The real annoying thing is there’s a second half of the map that I think you can’t work on till you get the first half. Someone please correct me if I’m wrong.
You can burn fate for fourty points, IIRC. Can’t check due to my current predicament.
EDIT: Thanks for confirming that it’s not a one off bug, Cubethulhu. :)
edited by Huw_Dawson on 3/13/2012
You can burn fate for fourty points, IIRC. Can’t check due to my current predicament.
EDIT: Thanks for confirming that it’s not a one off bug, Cubethulhu. :)
edited by Huw_Dawson on 3/13/2012[/quote]
Yeah, this one has Fate options to bypass it, which is good. I might just save up Fate from videos and do it that way. The Fidgeting Writer though, had no such options.
I enjoyed the fact that Fidgeting Writer is totally luck-based. Very much adds to the tense feel of the storyline.
To be honest, I’m more excited to see what the major updates are this week other than the new Unterzee location. Last few mechanic changes have been excellent.
edited by Huw_Dawson on 3/13/2012
True it fits thematically, but it can also mean players get so infuriated and/or drained of the necessary resources they just give up. And yes, I want to see the new updates. I like the crafting stuff, the rejigged costs etc. but I don’t want anymore pure luck stories.
We were talking about it on Twitter, and it seems who gets 60 has to wait too, but has a bonus of 1 Puzzling Map (Thanks, Nathan Attford and MidnightVoyager!).
edited by streetfelineblue on 3/13/2012
I talked to my Local Gossip and got the Polythreme Ho 1 quality. but then I was dumped at the wolfstack docks and couldn’t see any storylet to continue the quest line. What am I missing?
edited by peot on 3/13/2012
Which person did they chase after? I got another bonus from getting 60 with the astrologer
Did the first section, went to Wolfstack Docks, and found out I needed a rank higher than one in at least one of the traits. Still working on becoming a PoSI, so that its going to be easy to do sad face
The Disgruntled Naval Officer! What’s the reward for hitting 60 with the Astrologer?
Well, for starters, you Connected Pet should give you a point in one Quality (what’s your pet?). Also, it’s possible to get at least to +2 in a Quality even without being a PoSI - I actually tried the Respecteble test at Modest difficulty with just my Dignified Tailcoat (but a Morning Suit would have been just as good) and the Salt Weasel. When I’ll get my map fragment I’ll try the Bizarre option with the Bejewelled Cane and the Hungover Terrier.
The Disgruntled Naval Officer! What’s the reward for hitting 60 with the Astrologer?[/quote]
If my memory dosn’t totally fail me it was 25 Correspondence Plaques(been a long day, I’m positive on the item tho, and about 95% sure on the number :p ), once I can hunt after the right side of the map I’ll likely go after the clay man myself
Alright, so it playing the new content again I got an option to spend Glim to get the necessary score, so it looks like mine was just bugged out. Sorry Failbetter for the earlier rant! Anyway, great as this is, there’s still no alternate option for the Fidgeting Writer which still really bugs me.
I’ve just reached the end of looking for one part of the map and have to wait a few days before I get it, apparently. However, and oddly, I can’t find any way of looking for the other half. Before I chased the Naval Gentleman, I had three different people I could go after. Surely I could be spending that time chasing someone else, rather than just sitting around in my Lodgings, doing nothing!
I imagine (putting my software engineer hat on) that we’re only able to pursue one part of the map at once because of the use of the “All shall be well” timer mechanic. Pursuing multiple fragments at once would require multiple timers, which would need unique names, which the underlying code probably isn’t yet set up to do.
Pure speculation though…
Oh, probably yes, but that’s just bad coding - there are two other ‘wait some days’ counters already in the game, so it’s obviously not unique. Alternatively, just provide a narrative reason that the others aren’t available, or, since it’s obvious that you have to take multiples, just don’t give us the choice - provide alternatives for the first half, then once you have that, the person who gives it to you tells you that he knows someone who has the other half. That would actually make sense.
[quote=Quil]I imagine (putting my software engineer hat on) that we’re only able to pursue one part of the map at once because of the use of the “All shall be well” timer mechanic. Pursuing multiple fragments at once would require multiple timers, which would need unique names, which the underlying code probably isn’t yet set up to do.
Pure speculation though…[/quote]
I actually think the fact the system HAS the possibility to track down multiple timers to be the reason it’s impossible to look for a map fragment while waiting for another one: with three available characters, it would theoretically be possible to find three or more pieces, while the map is supposed to be cut in half. It would have taken a supplementary special quality to prevent this - something like “Waiting for half a map”, that prevented to look for pieces while you are already waiting for one or two… But it would probably be unnecessarily complicated. Though I still don’t completely understand the reason of waiting days to get the fragments… OK for events like Recalling a Dream of Other Places that give a huge Quality boost and so would be exploitable if they were available without limitations, but I can’t see any reason to delay the map quest, unless the developers want the maps to become available together with the release of content for the trip itself, including the passenger tramp steamers for those who don’t own a ship.
Delay.
It’s to build interest and more importantly, stop us running through all the new content within 24 hours of initial release. A lot of new content seems to have some kind of delay involved, whether that be luck checks, items that can’t be farmed directly or delay timers. We get through content far, far faster than it’s released, so by introducing a delay mechanism of some kind, it takes us longer. We may not always like the artificial delays, but their presence means that we possess content for longer before finishing it, which in turn leads to less sitting around complaining that there’s nothing new to do.