It’s been a little over a month since I last actually played Fallen London. I say "actually" because I still make sure not to lose what little Notability I have - but only that, nothing more.
It was also a little over a month ago that I started to notice that I was dissatisfied with the state of the game and wanting to make a constructive forum post about that. I didn’t come around to that, as I somehow failed to sort my wants for the game into an orderly text.
Now you see, I like Fallen London a lot, as probably all of you do. But I couldn’t help but notice that this love doesn’t reflect in what is being done with the game. Or to be more precise, the content. There are two kinds of additions being made: Exceptional Stories and Events. Content outside of that is "sold" almost entirely "as is".
So to get to the reason why I fell out of love, I have nothing to truly work toward anymore. My Ambition, Light Fingers is at 55 and that’s as far as it has been written. Nothing new has been added for now over two years.
But sure, there are other things to do. Other things worth looking out for - just not for me. The Overgoat might have a bit of story, but not enough to warrant the grid. The very existence of Hesperidian Cider makes no sense to me - by the time you can afford it, you should not have anything left to do in Fallen London. Getting the best stats possible in the game? What for, just to have them?
Something I would love to see is more character interaction and building on what has already been implemented:
There are so many "Impossible!" requirements at the time on things I would REALLY like to further pursue. So many Acquaintances that are not utilized. So many things that "end" with "That’s the last you see of them" were that’s actually the last you see of them, never to get a satisfactory conclusion.
And most important to me: so many women I can not woo into a relationship. Like, what the hell do I have this much property for? I literally have an entire orphanage full of children, but I can not make, let alone raise one? Every evening is a free evening if you have no one waitng at home. And even if they don’t wait because they are an independent woman and they need no man to pay for their part of the bill, what about my meals? Do I eat alone? Do I eat out every day? Are there no constants to be achieved and build upon?
But it’s not like that problem is limited to relationships, there are actually hardly any constant characters to interact with. No beggar living in my garage, no butler telling me where I put me pants, not even my own freaking orphans talk to me.
I don’t feel like playing anymore, because aside from there being only little left for me to explore, I feel like there is so much unfinished business along the road, which I know will not be picked up again, that I have lost interest in anything new they would offer me.
DISCLAIMER: Just to clarify, the dinner is an example of meaningful interaction between people who have a more or less lasting connection. I do by no means intent for Fallen London to simply gain a storylet "Eat Dinner" where you can once a day say "it tasted good/bad". That would be silly. At least tell me about your day or something. Have responses based on recent events or whatnot. That would be neat.
They do have the option to get into relationships with other player characters. It’s funny though, because the focus on love is one of the things that lessened my own enjoyment of the game. I began to find it rather uninteresting to delve deep into mysteries that all promised to be about love in some weird way.
They do have the option to get into relationships with other player characters. It’s funny though, because the focus on love is one of the things that lessened my own enjoyment of the game. I began to find it rather uninteresting to delve deep into mysteries that all promised to be about love in some weird way.[/quote]
Then perhaps FL is not for you. The keynote of the lore is that anything involving the Bazaar has to do with love, in one form or other.
They do have the option to get into relationships with other player characters. It’s funny though, because the focus on love is one of the things that lessened my own enjoyment of the game. I began to find it rather uninteresting to delve deep into mysteries that all promised to be about love in some weird way.[/quote]
Then perhaps FL is not for you. The keynote of the lore is that anything involving the Bazaar has to do with love, in one form or other.[/quote]
Love is a bit more than sex, romance, and weddings.
They do have the option to get into relationships with other player characters. It’s funny though, because the focus on love is one of the things that lessened my own enjoyment of the game. I began to find it rather uninteresting to delve deep into mysteries that all promised to be about love in some weird way.[/quote]
This would require some elaboration? After all, outside of player relationships the game has little to offer in that regard. Aside from the Model and the Thief, all romantic interactions are a means for you to achieve something else, or, when it’s between NPCs, a cause for some of the events you have to deal with. The Barbed Wit is a great example for the former, A Finder of Heiresses an example for the latter. The Firebrand and the Missionary are an example for both, with the added benefit of being left without an actual conclusion to the characters.
And again, as much as I’d like a Fallen London Dating Sim, it’s only one of the symptoms. The lack of continuity and permanence in actions and interactions is - to me - not longer bearable. You could say the silence is deafening.
While I’m perfectly content with grinding away in the game the way it is, I can’t deny that a handful of “Impossible!” options bother me, especially considering the vast majority of them are in the beginning of the game, from what I remember. I grew quite attached to my blind pianist friend in the short amount of time I interacted with her, way back when I was just starting out in Veilgarden. When I reached the end of her short storyline, and got a message saying “This will be updated soon!”, I decided to check the wiki, only to find out that story seems to have been made in 2013 then completely forgotten. Same with The Last Constable’s story, though I suppose that /was/ completed in Sunless Sea, to some degree.
And don’t get me wrong, I understand why they can’t update these old stories. What with production on Sunless Skies, and the outright need to continue making EF stories in order to keep doors open, the FailBetter team must be absolutely swamped with work. Still, it would be nice to see some conclusions to old stories, or continuations to Ambitions, or more factions converted to favours.
It’s still pretty time consuming to plug this stuff into storynexus. Also they’d have to proofread and probably rewrite so it doesn’t contradict lore. But it’s not a terrible idea.
I greatly sympathize here for I have also reached an end to my rope. I recently found that there is just a little more I can do in Fallen London to not pull me out completely but I subscribed for the first time as an Exceptional Friend out of boredom to see if I got anything new or more out of the experience. I was sad to see it did not do enough for me. I, too, have completed what I can of the Light Fingers ambition and am upset that there is nowhere left to go. I don’t hold my breath for long either.
Currently, I play out of habit and to keep my idle mind occupied with something while I whittle away hours.
Yes it is. We played these ambitions assuming that the writers had an idea where they would lead and had an interesting finale planned out for us. And I, for one, still believe that. I want the real ending of the story I invested in, not somebody’s glorified fanfiction.
[quote]The Barbed Wit is a great example for the former[/quote]Well, I certainly had a good time interacting with the Wit, because the story events were fun and the progress actions had little secondary rewards which made them feel more productive. It would be nice, though, if there were some way to interact with the Wit (or the Acclaimed Beauty, if you’re boring) now that I’ve made my way back to the court to work towards Artist-in-Residence. Perhaps each of them, if previously romanced, could be available to help with the player’s creative work?
[color=#ff9900]If it puts your mind at rest, we’ve had rough outlines for how the ambitions would end sketched out from very early days of FBG, and we developed those into completely-plotted outlines for the final chapters years ago. [/color]
[color=#ff9900]
[/color]
[color=#ff9900]The delay on ambitions isn’t because we don’t know how they end! It’s purely because an infinitesimally small number of players qualify to see them, which means its hard to prioritise them over other content. That’s not to say they’ll never happen - they will! But the stars need to align. [/color]
They do have the option to get into relationships with other player characters. It’s funny though, because the focus on love is one of the things that lessened my own enjoyment of the game. I began to find it rather uninteresting to delve deep into mysteries that all promised to be about love in some weird way.[/quote]
Then perhaps FL is not for you. The keynote of the lore is that anything involving the Bazaar has to do with love, in one form or other.[/quote]
If we want to get nit picky, the overarching theme of Fallen London is "love and desire, and what price you’re prepared to pay for them." There are love stories in there, but there are also many stories that fall under the broader heading of desire and almost all of them focus on that last bit; the price.
I feel you on the content thing. Having recently acquired my cider and completed Seeking (turning back) I’ve been feeling a little adrift. However, the unfortunate truth is that there is no amount of content that will sate the masses. Whatever they create, we more dedicated players will quickly consume and begin demanding more of. And we are also something of a vocal minority. Most players who start Fallen London don’t make it to their Ambition cap. Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if most of them never made reached POSI status. The unfortunate truth is that Failbetter are likely better off focusing their energy on creating new games like Sunless Skies than they are catering to the few people in the Fallen London end game.
[quote=Chris Gardiner]
[color=#ff9900]If it puts your mind at rest, we’ve had rough outlines for how the ambitions would end sketched out from very early days of FBG, and we developed those into completely-plotted outlines for the final chapters years ago. [/color]
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[/color]
[color=#ff9900]The delay on ambitions isn’t because we don’t know how they end! It’s purely because an infinitesimally small number of players qualify to see them, which means its hard to prioritise them over other content. That’s not to say they’ll never happen - they will! But the stars need to align. [/color][/quote]
I figured as much, which is why I’d rather wait for the real endings, however long that may be, than be stuck with someone’s fanfiction instead.
Thanks for letting us know what the situation is :)
[quote=Chris Gardiner][color=rgb(255, 153, 0)]The delay on ambitions isn’t because we don’t know how they end! It’s purely because an infinitesimally small number of players qualify to see them, which means its hard to prioritise them over other content.[/color][/quote]Now this somewhat surprises me. Is the number of "end-game players" really just such a small percentage of the whole active playerbase? (I suppose you have ways to monitor the number of active players, both paying and non-paying)
I have some trouble to believe in that "infinitesimally small number of players" - maybe at the time of first implementing the content, yes. But consider the factor of motivation: a lot of newish players learn pretty early (by coming here, or the IRC, or etc…) that the awesome Ambition storyline they just started is unfinished, and has been for many years. If I was a new player who had just joined, I’d probably find that a bit off-putting. (Not to speak of those who don’t know about the game’s unfinished state and hit the content boundary unexpectedly.)
I’m quite certain that the very minute you’d announce the implementation of the final Ambition chapters, not only would many slightly jaded early- to mid-content players feel a surge of motivation to continue their game - no, you’d also see scores of inactive players return to finish their Ambition (and maybe get hooked anew, and become paying subscribers…). Quite the way the implementation of SMEN last year around this time probably did. edited by phryne on 5/15/2017
[quote=Chris Gardiner]
[color=#ff9900]If it puts your mind at rest, we’ve had rough outlines for how the ambitions would end sketched out from very early days of FBG, and we developed those into completely-plotted outlines for the final chapters years ago. [/color]
[color=#ff9900]
[/color]
[color=#ff9900]The delay on ambitions isn’t because we don’t know how they end! It’s purely because an infinitesimally small number of players qualify to see them, which means its hard to prioritise them over other content. That’s not to say they’ll never happen - they will! But the stars need to align. [/color][/quote]
Excuse my curiosity, but what is the most priority story-content then (other than monthly exceptional stories, of course)? There is quite a lot of unfinished story branches, not only ambitions - the Last Constable, the Dilmun Club, Watchmaker’s daughter etc. Right now your resources obviously dedicated to the Sunless Skies, but after the game’s launch and few first patches will there be new content for Fallen London as well?
I’m fairly certain that they’ve said they have enough people now that some of them are working on skies, and some of them are working on FL. I don’t think FL is being put on the backburner.
It’s also laughter, compromise, patience, understanding, subtle dirty flirting in public, diagnosing strange skin conditions, and occasionally babies.[/quote]
I meant it has lots of platonic aspects.
[quote=Riful][quote=Chris Gardiner]
[color=#ff9900]If it puts your mind at rest, we’ve had rough outlines for how the ambitions would end sketched out from very early days of FBG, and we developed those into completely-plotted outlines for the final chapters years ago. [/color]
[color=#ff9900]
[/color]
[color=#ff9900]The delay on ambitions isn’t because we don’t know how they end! It’s purely because an infinitesimally small number of players qualify to see them, which means its hard to prioritise them over other content. That’s not to say they’ll never happen - they will! But the stars need to align. [/color][/quote]
Excuse my curiosity, but what is the most priority story-content then (other than monthly exceptional stories, of course)? There is quite a lot of unfinished story branches, not only ambitions - the Last Constable, the Dilmun Club, Watchmaker’s daughter etc. Right now your resources obviously dedicated to the Sunless Skies, but after the game’s launch and few first patches will there be new content for Fallen London as well?[/quote]
In the last stream they mentioned a "secret project" for fallen london that a few of them are working on.