babelfishwars
Administrator
Posts: 1152
12/31/2015
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A new sensation in Bohemian circles. Sharp knives. Deadly poison. Elaborate and rather impractical deathtraps.
Murder has always featured in Fallen London, but never has it been so fashionable.
The Art of Murder is the second story in the Heart’s Blood season. Play An Exceptional Story: Death from Above to begin. The Art of Murder is written by Gavin Inglis, writer of Hana Feels and Neighbourhood Necromancer.
edited by babelfishwars on 12/31/2015
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Mars, God of Fish; Leaning Tower of Fish
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+4
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Guest
12/31/2015
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[spoiler]The second contender, a diminutive straw-haired fellow, wheels in an actual deathtrap....my word, that's hard to look at.
Was that Professor Farnsworth's Great, Great (this prefix goes on for a while) Grand-ancestor wheeling it up?
If so, the Professor has his usual announcement.
[/spoiler]
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RandomWalker
Posts: 948
12/31/2015
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For the record, the reward for the 'inspired' ending, with six or seven temptations, has a total value of 12.5 echoes.
Fun story, but unless there's a hidden card or something, the reward is a joke.
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+3
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Guest
12/31/2015
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RandomWalker wrote:
For the record, the reward for the 'inspired' ending, with six or seven temptations, has a total value of 12.5 echoes.
Fun story, but unless there's a hidden card or something, the reward is a joke.
And considering the last month's story revelation, being "encouraged" to "inspire" as such makes no sense without a counter influence (no matter how weak if you have cravings at max, if even which mine were not, since it had a menace feel not advancement feel.)
And it clearly states what you get negatively if you go the other paths. That and the unclear times you have to do stuff multiple times to "advance" the story (with no marker to completion for the first stuff at the beginning whatsoever making you waste additional turns wondering if you did it right) makes this very unsatisfying a story sadly to report.
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RandomWalker
Posts: 948
12/31/2015
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I don't want to be all negative. The story was fun, and the mechanic when, uh, exploring, was interesting, even if I didn't understand why there was a topic for conversation until it was over. My alts picked other options, and the rewards were nicer.
My objection to the inspired reward is simply that this game usually encourages playing the game as your character, but here playing a less virtuous character is punished.
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babelfishwars
Administrator
Posts: 1152
12/31/2015
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Hello,
I've taken a quick look at the reward, and am upgrading it. If you played that branch before I changed it (a couple of minutes ago), and want to upgrade your Direful Reflection to a Night-Whisper, send me a support ticket. The usual place, remember to give me your character name: support@failbettergames.com
No one who plays after I've posted this should need to do this, as I've tweaked it in game already.
- Olivia
edited by babelfishwars on 12/31/2015
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Mars, God of Fish; Leaning Tower of Fish
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+8
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Askebaske
Posts: 25
12/31/2015
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My comments (ALL SPOILERS):
Positives:
* High challenge (scaling?) checks made for far more interesting gameplay than the normal straightforward-fest. A huge improvement!
* The investigation mechanic was interesting, with lots of interesting text.
* The final showdown was steeped in horror in the best way.
Negative:
* The reward for the 'inspired' ending was a joke, honestly. While I normally don't give a damn about the EPA for exceptional stories, this was a days worth of actions for a very small payout, which made the overall experience a bit tamer.
* Both of the trackers were poorly explained, and involved a lot of guesswork, which detracted from the overall experience.
I might just be disillusioned by Flint, but I felt this was one of the weakest exceptional stories.
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+5
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metasynthie
Posts: 645
12/31/2015
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So... in order to continue with the Heart's Blood 3-part sequence, you need something gained during Flint, right? Now that it's out, can someone tell me if one shouldn't play this before finishing... all of Flint? Before finishing Part I? Before heading off to Apis Meet? Before going to the Dish & Spoon? What item is it, or at what point in Flint is it gained? I don't want to accidentally do things out of sequence.
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Positively antique
http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/metasynthie
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wraith
Posts: 136
12/31/2015
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metasynthie you gain the item at the end of flint
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a scholar who is ready to do anything for knowledge http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/madwraith
please send boxed cat
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babelfishwars
Administrator
Posts: 1152
12/31/2015
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metasynthie wrote:
So... in order to continue with the Heart's Blood 3-part sequence, you need something gained during Flint, right? Now that it's out, can someone tell me if one shouldn't play this before finishing... all of Flint? Before finishing Part I? Before heading off to Apis Meet? Before going to the Dish & Spoon? What item is it, or at what point in Flint is it gained? I don't want to accidentally do things out of sequence.
Ah... no. You're fine to play! You can do the stories out of order - the item you collect doesn't impact on the next story, but on something you can unlock if you get all three items.
See here: http://community.failbettergames.com/topic21330-a-season-of-exceptional-stories-hearts-blood.aspx
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Mars, God of Fish; Leaning Tower of Fish
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metasynthie
Posts: 645
12/31/2015
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Ah thank you! I misunderstood.
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Positively antique
http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/metasynthie
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Guest
12/31/2015
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metasynthie wrote:
So... in order to continue with the Heart's Blood 3-part sequence, you need something gained during Flint, right? Now that it's out, can someone tell me if one shouldn't play this before finishing... all of Flint? Before finishing Part I? Before heading off to Apis Meet? Before going to the Dish & Spoon? What item is it, or at what point in Flint is it gained? I don't want to accidentally do things out of sequence.
If it was supposed to be there, it was not very clear to me when exactly it was used. I can say on Part 2 of Flint, it will clearly state what you get that you can "keep for future stories" at the very end. (Feel free to look at truthseeker's echoed comments if you think it would help for this month's story, but you might have to dig for Flint part 2 nor do I think it lists the item in story echo content.) If anybody else wants to spoiler or link this where it clearly was offered, please do so. if this story currently released was only the first part in a multi-part story where that is an option, also please note that as well of course to all involved writing/developing the story app.
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Mr Sables
Posts: 597
12/31/2015
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Must say, I'm loving the story so far. It's fantastically written, very unique, and involves some really interesting characters and scenarios.
That said, I'm not sure how intuitive the mechanics are? I'm at a certain point where I have no idea if I'm going forward or backward; I click certain actions, seem to be making progress or gaining a quality, but then go back to where I started with the same set of options. I'm not too sure how much 'pursuing' I need to raise, or what 'temptations' do/are, and whether I need to press a variety of options or can just stick to one or two.
I'm out of that now and onto a new part, so clearly it's nothing to get stuck on or too big a trouble, but it did throw me out of the story for a moment, trying to work out how the chase actually worked XD
Seriously, so far I think it's one of the better Fate stories by far  Some I've played that I didn't care for, others that I've adored, and I think this one ranks highly - I can't say for certain until I complete it, of course, but I very much enjoy it. I think I prefer the story to Flint, personally, but I did like the details and depth to Flint, where it felt a slower-pace (so I was able to savour it and take it all in). Pros and cons to all, but I do love this one
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penknife
Posts: 85
12/31/2015
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This was interesting, but felt awfully short -- maybe it's just that as a stat-capped player, I didn't have any difficulty progressing. Very atmospheric, though!
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http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Penknife
Most social actions welcome, no SMEN or Boxed Cats please.
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ashdenej
Posts: 66
12/31/2015
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the truthseeker wrote:
If anybody else wants to spoiler or link this where it clearly was offered, please do so.
I am pretty sure it's the vial you received before descending!
Also: I enjoyed this story. Thought it was fun to play, liked the pursuit & it had an intriguing concept. Good job!
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Mr Sables
Posts: 597
12/31/2015
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That was . . . exceptionally short 0_0
I wonder whether it just feels that way in comparison to the previous story, or whether it actually is a lot shorter . . . I adored the story and the writing, but I'm very sad it's so short and was resolved so easily :-/ It'll be interesting to see whether our final choice has an impact on the next story, though, so I look forward to finding out that
edited by RobinMask on 12/31/2015
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+2
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Hobnail
Posts: 179
12/31/2015
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I found this story of strange baroque murder and mayhem SINGUALRLY DELIGHTFUL
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http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Hobnail
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+3
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titusAndronicus
Posts: 9
12/31/2015
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[spoiler] Did anyone not revive the second judge? How does the story proceed from there? (I'm curious to know what murder they had planned for you, since the competition devolved into chaos when I revived the tragedian.) [/spoiler]
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http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/titusAndronicus - a gentleman of great impropriety, and a great friend to the rubbery.)
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Kaigen
Posts: 530
12/31/2015
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I found that quite enjoyable. The gallows humour was delightful, and I thought the mechanical representation of chasing someone through dark tunnels with a series of looping options was quite effective. I'm looking forward to seeing where this trilogy goes.
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Just a simple doctor with a chess habit. Publisher of The Flit Dispatch.
"One must remember that the impossible is, alas, always possible."
-Jacques Derrida
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Shadowcthuhlu
Posts: 1557
12/31/2015
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[spoiler]
While the mechanical award for awarding first place was not the best (love story and a few other items) I did like how it built upon the lore introduced in the Flint. What do others think?
[/spoiler]
Otherwise, I have to agree with some issues with unclear mechanics-though I did like how to topic of conversation changed during the pursuit. I wished we had a bit more time to dive into the some of the surrounding art side before getting involved with the competition; there were clearly people just doing performance murder for the sake of it.
edit: fixed your spoiler
edited by babelfishwars on 12/31/2015
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https://www.fallenlondon.com/profile/Dirae%20Erinyes. Closed to calling cards, but open for all other social action. I also love to roleplay.
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