Honestly, while Ed may be a good representation of the FL universe, I’d agree with Jolanda that it’s not a good representative for something a new player should see right out of the gate. On the surface (no pun intended), the fallen London is mostly just a normal victorian city, with people going about their daily lives as best as they can and a giant space crab lying mostly dormant near the center. That’s what new players are mostly presented with, too: the early Making your Name stories are mostly about petty crime, small concerns, etc. I’m not saying it projects an image of utopia, but rather that it’s mostly stuff you could imagine going on in a real city of that era (but with more mushrooms and less sunlight). Pickpocketing? Writing penny dreadfuls? Even underground fighting rings aren’t really implausible. And the same goes for the initial steps of the Ambitions: you go around, talk to people, gather some mostly simple objects, etc.
Most of the eldritch stuff is hidden away deeper, as are most of the really terrible activities and organisations. You only learn about Red Honey at special events (and then vaguely) or a good way into an ambition (I believe - I took a different one). You don’t learn much about the nefarious activities of the devils until you really get involved. The list goes on. A Surface tourist would be very likely to leave being none the wiser; a new player starts off just like such a tourist, and then as they stay they learn more and more.
So it’s not so much the fact that it’s jarring, it’s that it undermines the initial impression London is supposed to give at first glance.
edited by Dudebro Pyro on 12/3/2019
Spoiler tags, man. There are children here.
After being greeted by Ed, they are not children any more.
I do not mind it. But then, I do not expect it to remain for long after the 10th Anniversary has passed. They’ve added a new image to the collection; a lovely portrait of the Boatman, holding a chess pawn.
About that,
So the new font will not "remain for long after the 10th Anniversary has passed," but Eddie & Co. are permanent additions. Sweet dreams.
[quote=Hannah Flynn][color=#0066ff]We have some other faces that we’d like to add soon, including some mentioned here, but we thought this was a good start.[/color][/quote]We all love and ask for: rubbery! No matter of what form, but a rubbery character!
rubbery cat it needs to happen
Rubberies would telegraph it as a Lovecraftian game, though.
I am guessing the log-in screen mostly targets new players, so it might not be a great idea.
[color=#169B62]
Hey all, I just posted this in the patch notes thread but it probably makes more sense to mention it here:
It’s possible to bookmark your favourite login portrait using the following pattern:
https://www.fallenlondon.com/login?hero=aunt
Replacing "aunt" in the above with "boatman", "ambassador", or "edward" is also possible.
Note that this requires the "www" — Fallen London won’t work (the redirect removes the query string).
[/color]
That is hilarious but beautiful. Now you can have Poor Edward ALL the time!
[quote=Siankan]About that,
So the new font will not "remain for long after the 10th Anniversary has passed," but Eddie & Co. are permanent additions. Sweet dreams.[/quote]
Thanks for the information, Hannah!
Is it odd that I find the Boatman the least menacing face? In the few times I’ve died, I had a good time playing chess, and I liked his ES. (And yes, I was a bit uncomfortable seeing the Ambassador. I may have unintentionally threatened Australia in her story. Not my finest moment.)
Anyway, I love that some of the character artwork got a new place to be showcased.
[quote=phyrne]A rotating display of the greatest ES portraits would be awesome![/quote][quote=silurica]I think I’d like to see more familiar characters, like the Jovial Contrarian, or Virginia.[/quote] I also want to second these. Some more of the great ES and Election portraits would be nice.
I do enjoy the rotating faces - I am eagerly awaiting to see more added to it.