I was looking around, and I noticed there really wasn’t many people talking about it. The majority of the community, as far as I could tell, is focused on Heart’s Desire. I mean, even the wiki guide is the least fleshed-out. Is there a reason for this? What’s going on?
I think it’s a combination of Heart’s Desire having a lot more options + lore, and Nemesis being a generally miserable experience (which tracks since vengeance is never easy). Also Knifegate really dwarfed any other aspects of it because of how much of a grind it was, although now that the prices of knives have been decreased there might be more discussion about it, who knows!
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Being a lore-obsessive with OCD-completionist impulses?
I can tell you that Nemesis has incredibly good story behind it, albeit a story blacker than pitch in tone.
(Unless you take the high road, in which case it’s only a very dark dark shade of grey.)
I can also tell you that it has (mechanically) the worst rewards of any ambition. And it’s very disappointing, because there isn’t much reason for that as far as I can tell.
The two treasures on offer:
Your Spouse, Returned - Fallen London Wiki / Your Lover, Returned - Fallen London Wiki / Your Daughter, Returned - Fallen London Wiki / Your Brother, Returned - Fallen London Wiki
&
Could easily have some of the very best & most interesting uses in the game.
(Introducing your real amnesiac daughter to your fake daughter whom you have a fresher and more familiar relationship with, courting your resurrected immortal spouse/lover anew and then sealing the deal in St Fiacre’s/the Bazaar, showing up to society parties wearing Mr Cups’ death shroud for instant exile to the tomb colonies and a giant pile of making waves, etc.)
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I’ve noticed that too. It seems the next most popular (or talked about) was Light Fingers, followed by Bag a Legend.
Maybe revenge just isn’t as desirable as desire?
I wonder if this means that the ordered preferences for new players are:
- Win something
- Steal something
- Kill something
- Kill someone
Personally, playing poker didn’t sound like a great reason to go live in a cave forever, but if someone killed my brother, throwing everything away to go on a nice subterranean rampage would definitely be on the table.
Anyhow, I was going to end that with “in the cards” instead of “on the table” to get a nice punny theme going, but it didn’t flow right. Turns out not to be a problem, as the origin of the “on the table” idiom is poker.
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I agree with Billy about RP motivation for Nemesis. It’s why I chose it.
Play a card game where you can lose your mind? Thanks, I have enough RNG problems as it is.
Steal a diamond as big as…? I was already a wealthy lord on the surface. Why give all that up for a possibly non-existent treasure?
Give up your life to hunt a creature that’s probably non-existent? I could do that at Loch Ness, and be back at the family castle the next weekend.
But hunting down the murderer of my bride-to-be? There’s a motive strong enough to give up a life of surface wealth and power!
I found the story very well-written, and the ending intensely satisfying! And the Coat is quite nice, too.
My only gripe was the art for the lover option. When I started Nemesis, it was unfinished, and I spent ages pursuing the storyline while imagining the lover as my betrothed, a refined and elegant lady of culture and breeding. When they put out the art for the option at the end, it looked like a chain-smoking chimney sweep! That killed that option for me right there.
And besides, the track record the Masters have of restoring people’s beloveds when offered entire CITIES in exchange doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.
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Agree - and I changed as I explored the Neath. My lost one was no longer what I wanted. Revenge was the way to go.
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Funny about the coat – is it possible to complete the ambition without getting the coat? By making some other, inadvisable choice?
If you don’t do unto others as they did unto you, and pick mercy, greatest of all virtues, you get an alternative prize that isn’t the coat.
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That’s an interesting point! While it seems that the Masters usually throw in a cruel twist, in this case there is only a bit of amnesia about which you are informed beforehand.
My guess would be that under the usual circumstances they have the other party, desperate and grief-stricken, over a barrel. Here, it is Cups whose desperate arse is bare.
And who has time for irony when their face is melting off?
Well, from my interpretation, the Masters don’t want to throw in a cruel twist, it’s just that they’re all dorks who don’t know how humans work, though they have been improving. Take the First City. They saw this dying human, thought “you know what what help this guy stop dying? Dropping a chunk of the Mountain that stops people dying in his chest!” But then he turned into a city, so they realised that didn’t work. Fast forward to the Second City, they see a guy dying of poison, they stop the death but keep the poison. Seeing as the guy had poison actively coursing through his veins, they did their best, and the Duchess seemed fine. Now, let’s talk about the Fourth City! Mongke Khan (I’m fairly certain he’s the guy from Silver Tree) sold the city for the life of his daughter and people, (because the city was under siege and her life was in imminent danger) and he had no tragic twists at all! Said daughter became an immortal mob boss by her own choice, and he zailed across the zee to found an incredibly powerful nation. If the Masters truly were malevolent, they could easily have done any number of things to corrupt his bargain, but since they just took the city and couldn’t accidentally mess up a medical procedure, everything went well. Then, the Fifth City. Albert was very close to death, and so the Masters tried to save his life. He couldn’t be entirely restored to health, but the refinement of their techniques is evident in his state, since from Court storylines we know he still has some emotions, like enjoying music, and though he might be basically a zombie, he’s still recognizably human. If the Masters really did want to add a cruel twist again, they could have made him a soulless automaton or just used the ol’ Mountain Sherd trick.
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An interesting and possibly correct notion I had not considered!
I’m not sure it adds up though. There is something very wrong with The Consort, though his condition is (so far as I recall) not directly discussed, and I don’t think he had even died yet. Whereas my brother was dead for years, but was fully restored apart from forgetting one person.
Another overlooked possibility - restoring your lost loved one was hideously expensive. Barrel upon barrel of cider; enough for the entire city to see the sun again. More than the city is worth.
The Masters are shrewd negotiators. They won’t pay more than they have to, and certainly won’t pay more than a thing is worth.
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There is something very wrong with The Consort, though his condition is (so far as I recall) not directly discussed, and I don’t think he had even died yet.
For what it’s worth, London fell in February 1862, and the real Prince Albert died in December 1861. It’s entirely possible he was dead for a couple of months before the Masters completed their deal.
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I was a Nemesis player, and have never regretted it – although I have to admit that sometimes I wish there were a couple better mechanical payoffs, and that (as someone with a Road Destiny) my decisions at the end were reflected more widely. The actual storyline itself was pretty satisfying, though.
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