One large issue with this game is that most options aren’t even visible if you don’t have the requirements. To see some options on that card, you should raise your three connections and items to 20. This will let you see any and all options available, although some may require you to lower connections before they can be used.
On a side note, all the alternate stories ALSO have options that appear on the various cards you can draw. Yeah, good luck getting the whole picture :P
Yeah, I’ve pretty much given up on this game, even though I think I was close to the end. It’s just so draining and repetitive. The actual story bits and resolutions are interesting when you finally get to them, but the effort is so great and it’s nigh-impossible to make sure you’ve gotten every story advancement branch that I just don’t feel it’s worth it.
[quote=Urthdigger]One large issue with this game is that most options aren’t even visible if you don’t have the requirements. To see some options on that card, you should raise your three connections and items to 20. This will let you see any and all options available, although some may require you to lower connections before they can be used.
On a side note, all the alternate stories ALSO have options that appear on the various cards you can draw. Yeah, good luck getting the whole picture :P[/quote]
AHA! Thank you. I’ve done so and now I’m not paranoid I’m missing one particular thing. (Although, yeah, I agree Silver Tree can be kind of frustrating for a neurotic completist like me.)
I have played Silver Tree enough times and seen enough options that I feel no need to play it again. I thought it did a good job of evoking the atmosphere of Karakorum, and it gave little hints of what became of the Fourth City, but overall I don’t think I would have enjoyed it very much if I had not obtained the Fate-locked storylets available through supporting the Kickstarter. It is charming, but it is very different from Fallen London, both in size and in style, and now I know how much those differences matter to me.
So I purchased the Cloaked Emissary story, and I have the quality at 45 right now. Is there only one option on the card, or am I not seeing some others because I haven’t worked on the other stories yet? Just want to be careful here.
Stopped playing the game. (Spoilers) I found about the silver fountain, it said to get my trust to the top w/everyone, I did, I turned over the card, and I found out that the result I want is only available if I have a high value in one of the bought stories. I’m not unwilling to buy that story (I bought the sip of immortality), I’m bitter than I can’t go back, it will force me to choose. So, I stopped playing. Failbetter loses a sale – probably two sales, for both the other story lines. And given the amount of grind in this game (I have my qualities at 5/6/6, there is NO way I’m restarting.
I just finished the game. So, so boring. And disappointing. I kept on waiting for it to get better… but the ending to everything was an utter letdown too. I even purchased the three additional storylets.
The whole game was just the same cards, over and over and over again. So much grinding, so little choice. Unlike FL where you feel like your character has a modicum of free will, here it was just grinding and spending, grinding and spending. The worst part was that "advancing" a storylet didn’t usually mean getting new content. In FL, when you advance a story (for example, your Ambition), you are rewarded with a progression in the story in the form of written content, so that you feel you are advancing in a narrative. Or when you advance your stats, you start getting newer storylets and different cards. Not so in Silver Tree. I grinded every single storylet in Silver Tree to the bitter end, but even towards the end I was still getting the same cards as the beginning, and encountering the same text over and over and over again. Even when I "finished" a storylet, I was barely rewarded with any plot. It was only by finishing the game that I got a paragraph of writing.
The ending was such paltry payoff for weeks of non-stop grinding. I feel like I wasted my time and money.
I must also admit my disappointment in the Silver Tree. While enjoyable at times it never gave me the same grasp of control and exploration that I felt in Fallen London. The most I got out of the project was the permanent invitation to join the Temple Club here in Fallen London. Between the interface and the repetition , I never felt quite at home on the streets of the soon-to-be Fourth City.
Fallen London feels like I am playing a game, the Silver Tree feels like I am reading a strange book.
Somethings I think could improve the project and the experience:
Add rewards and connections between the Silver Tree and our characters in Fallen London, things we can unlock at the end of Storylets after accomplishing something. Like, automatically email us a onetime code for unlocking something on a Fallen London char. Incentive increases value I believe.
Add in a map of Karakorum for travel instead of the usual click a card and see your options kind of thing. Our home would be in the Palace and hold detailed information instead of more storylets.
Reduce the cost of some of the purchases to streamline things a bit more. Maybe unnecessary but I would appreciate it.
What do you guys think?
edited by Owen Wulf on 11/24/2013
[quote=LukeMcMillan]I remember I played the whole game towards the Interpreter, but now that option is locked because "You cannot play this ending if your Trusted by the Interpreter quality is above 20."
Why cannot I play the ending if my Interpreter quality is ABOVE 20?!? shouldn’t it be the opposite??[/quote]Maybe it’s like with an Intimate of Devils 20 in Fallen London? It’s not set to 20 because I’m really intimate with the Devils, but as a ‘marker’ that I have already lost my soul through that storyline, so now the game knows to not repeat it. A high number of some kind could simply mean that you’ve done something that prevents something else from happening. Think of it as Black Jack: 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 are increasingly better, but 22 (and above) is really bad.
Sounds strange that you played the whole game towards one side though, and then can’t finish it with that side. Could be a bug, I suppose. Or maybe you achieved some early conclusion with the Interpreter? Maybe when the Interpreter trusts you enough, whatever choice you can make at the end simply isn’t necessary or logical, so you can instead focus your attention on the other two sides to get a double win plus? I’m just guessing…
[quote=Owen Wulf]I must also admit my disappointment in the Silver Tree. While enjoyable at times it never gave me the same grasp of control and exploration that I felt in Fallen London. The most I got out of the project was the permanent invitation to join the Temple Club here in Fallen London. Between the interface and the repetition , I never felt quite at home on the streets of the soon-to-be Fourth City.
[…]
[/quote]
Something I’ve heard Fallen London praised on is its sense of place. That is, you really feel like you are surrounded by the world. To me, Silver Tree seemed strangely… flat. Sterile. There was plenty of interesting lore, and some nice conversations, but it never felt quite like I was actually there. Maybe because the interface and gameplay was too frugal with details. You needed lots of opportunity cards to proceed, but there weren’t very many different cards, so it just got rather tedious, like you were going through the same events over and over. I seem to remember a lot of hunting through all the cards to find where the option I wanted was, too.
Another thing is, yes, the map. Having an interactive map seems like a small detail, but I feel it really contributes to the feeling that you can actually travel around and be in different places, rather than just accessing everything from a single page. In Fallen London, if you’re tired of digging things up in the Forgotten Quarter, you can stroll down to Veilgarden and you get a new banner and set of storylets, etc.
Then there is the lack of customization, although I’m not surprised about that. The player character has a rather more defined personality because they are, in fact, a specific person. This defines their origin, and most of their purpose. Even if it is left vague, you cannot help but be The Papal Emissary to Karakorum. There is no equipment to wear, and very few qualities to raise. Maybe this is just due to being a small game, but it seemed like there wasn’t much flexibility. In FL, there are all sorts of minor qualities that aren’t necessarily needed to progress, but can pop up unexpectedly when they’re relevant, like being able to use your Tale of the Future to help design your Zubmarine, or using your Newspaper at the end of the Affair of the Box.
Along the same vein, perhaps part of the problem was that the story was already predestined, as well as short. There are many ending options, yes, but (as far as I know) all the major points are fixed. Karakorum still falls. The Princess becomes the Widow. The very existence of Fallen London precludes anything too big from happening.
To conclude: I know I have been rather negative in this post, just saying what went wrong, and what could have been done better, so I’d like to point out that I actually enjoyed the game. It was tedious at times, but I think the writing itself was superb. I especially liked the look at all the Neathy stuff we take for granted, through the eyes of someone who’s seeing it for the first time.
I did a casual playthrough where i decided to betray the city to the bazaar. Problem is that in that playthrough i took 3 month breaks about halfway through the game and i also didn’t do the fatelocked stories.
Can someone tell me the answer to these things wich i dont understand:
1.What are the other endings? What happens if you make peace? Does the bazaar just swoop down and steal the city anyway? And what of William/The PC, Does he end up in the Neath in any of the endings?
3.What are the total list of “Cameos” that occur in the silver tree? What master is the emissary, Is the king of tommorow in the game anywhere? And how does the princess become the widow?
I will say this: The game is boring. With little driving plot appart from cliche amnesia and the overarcing " THIS CITY IS DOOMED TO BE STOLEN BY THE BAZAAR " knowledge i find myself more wanting answers than a story.
An ending I picked was siding with the Emissary. I descended with Karakorum and obtained immortality. Presumably this means, in my canon, the Papal Emissary can be found in the Bazaar even today. I do not recall William’s fate.
2: The bazaar wants love stories, such as the one between William and the princess. As I recall, it’s actually a fabricated story, one William set in motion. So, it’s less the bazaar wanting Karakorum, and more that William is looking to sell it. Though, something must have gone wrong, considering only the princess is still around, and not William.
I believe the master is Mr. Wines. As for the King of Tomorrow, I believe that’s the khan. The princess becomes the widow in the same way that the duchess, the empress, and the manager of the royal beth became who they are. Stars of the love story the bazaar wanted.
[quote=Urthdigger]An ending I picked was siding with the Emissary. I descended with Karakorum and obtained immortality. Presumably this means, in my canon, the Papal Emissary can be found in the Bazaar even today. I do not recall William’s fate.
2: The bazaar wants love stories, such as the one between William and the princess. As I recall, it’s actually a fabricated story, one William set in motion. So, it’s less the bazaar wanting Karakorum, and more that William is looking to sell it. Though, something must have gone wrong, considering only the princess is still around, and not William.
I believe the master is Mr. Wines. As for the King of Tomorrow, I believe that’s the khan. The princess becomes the widow in the same way that the duchess, the empress, and the manager of the royal beth became who they are. Stars of the love story the bazaar wanted.[/quote]
William is the papel emissary. That’s his sorta canon name. Well there’s two williams in it.[li]
[quote=Urthdigger]2: The bazaar wants love stories, such as the one between William and the princess. As I recall, it’s actually a fabricated story, one William set in motion. So, it’s less the bazaar wanting Karakorum, and more that William is looking to sell it. Though, something must have gone wrong, considering only the princess is still around, and not William.[/quote]The Once-Dashing Smuggler has a scene that implies that he might have a history with the Widow. Could he be William? (I haven’t played The Silver Tree, or finished the Once-Dashing Smuggler storyline, so…)
I just did a second playthrough because I was curious about the additional endings. This time, it was even worse. Nothing advanced. Nothing changed. I never moved forward in the narrative and the final few cards. In fact, as I advanced the "storyline" for the Story of the Silver Tree, all I did was grind connections with the Princess and repeat the same action in the pinned cards. There was nothing to advance. The "endings" that I was rewarded with didn’t make any sense when they were read together.
First, I tried to get the Khan and his daughter to reconcile. That somehow put me on the side of the Khan. Then, I chose to be in support of William and Cheren’s relationship, and said that I would help the lovers escape the city. That meant I was "betraying the city". After that, I chose to ally with the Interpreter, and somehow the text was saying that we both hated Karakorum. The Interpreter, as barely fleshed out as she was, seemed to be revealed as a vengeful spy completely out of the blue. But finally, my last choice was to help the Princess. Which, based on my previous choices, should have moved the storyline along in that I would be helping her and William escape.
But instead, my final ending had me and Princess escaping to Rome on our own. No followup about the Interpreter. Nothing about William. Nothing about the Khan. Me and the Princess just hung out in Rome for the rest of our lives.
This was probably the worst "game" I’ve ever played. It was not fun. There was no characterization or sense of place, especially for an RPG. It was draining and boring and so repetitive I stopped reading the cards a quarter of the way through. The only reason I carried on was due to my love and curiosity for Fallen London.[li]
edited by Rowan Dusang on 12/15/2013
(Is it terrible that I’m necroposting?)
I hid away with William and the princess in the fountain, with enough airag to keep us alive for hundreds of years. But somehow William died at some point. Why? Did he not become immortal?
Captain, you are not “necroposting”, you are “level20clericcastingtrueresurrectionposting”. It’s very cool and you should keep at it.
Since we’re necroposting, is there still a way to play the silver tree? I’m very late to the party but it sounds super cool.
This link works for me, but I’ve heard conflicting reports.
A word of warning though, you can easily tell that Failbetter’s skills at making games have vastly improved since the Silver Tree’s release, and the infinite actions almost exacerbates that problem. However, it does have a lot of delicious tasty lore!
It’s a day to day thing. It didn’t work for me for a couple weeks, but currently the link works. It’s a good idea to check back.