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September ES: Where You and I Must Go

Absintheuse Posts: 348 8/25/2016	Delicious friends, the Exceptional Story for September is here! The Northern Witch hunted lifebergs in the distant north, until - one grim day - her quarry got the best of her. The Severe Bluejacket needs something retrieved from her wreck. Travel north with a crew and a coffin. Survive a white hell. And begin to unravel the mystery of one of London's greatest follies. Where You and I Must Go is the first story in the Season of Wrecks, and was written by Cash DeCuir. The Season of Wrecks will be three linked stories that send you to deal with three very different shipwrecks at the behest of a dying Severe Bluejacket. All players will be able to visit the Bluejacket and his household. Exceptional Friends may, over the next three months, help him settle his final regrets. Each month's story stands alone, but playing all three will unlock the season's bonus content. Editing and QA: Killian McCabe, Olivia Wood, James Chew, and Chris Gardiner. Art by Paul Arendt. EXCEPTIONAL FRIENDSHIP In addition to a new, substantial, stand-alone story every month, Exceptional Friends enjoy: Access to the House of Chimes: an exclusive private member's club on the Stolen River, packed with content An expanded opportunity deck: of ten cards instead of six! A second candle: Twice the actions! 40 at once! Finishing all three stories in the Season of Wrecks will make you eligible for an additional opportunity, to follow. If you want to keep an Exceptional Story beyond the month it’s for, you must complete the related storylet in the House of Chimes. This will save it for you to return to another time. edited by babelfishwars on 8/25/2016
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Chris Gardiner Administrator Posts: 539 8/27/2016	First, what Fred said. If the argument has become about how popular everyone's opinions are, the useful bit of the argument has passed. Second: Anne Auclair wrote: We don't know if any emails were sent. To my knowledge, the number of emails we've received about this is zero. Also to my knowledge, we haven't made any changes to the zailing part of this story in response to feedback. Third, I wanted to shed a little light on a topic based on this: Robin Alexander wrote: FBG has to respond to the majority of players, not the few. The word "majority" is tricky, here. It's worth remembering that: 1. A tiny proportion of players post on this forum 2. A tinier proportion read/comment/rate a particular thread or post 3. People who are cross about something are vastly more likely to post than people who were happy with it Any discussion here is already a minority, and pluses or minuses on a post are too tiny a figure to be reliable data. We love our forum and get a huge amount of valuable feedback from it. It's crucial. But do be aware it's far from our only source of information. We have access to a bunch of sources and data that guide our decisions. Plus, concerns like artistic intention and experimentation are important to us, too. And even if we were talking about pleasing a minority of players, I'd say we often address minority desires and concerns. Writing content about ubergoats is an extreme example! Mr Eaten content is another. In Exceptional Friend stories we like to explore different areas of lore, different mechanics, different paces, different conflicts, different themes, different responses. Our player base is hugely diverse, and each story is a chance to reach out to a different part of it. The single most difficult thing I learned when I started writing for an FBG-sized audience was that they are a vast, labyrinthine, glorious, beautiful venn diagram of preferences, interests and passions. Often there is no majority. Coming to see how little my own preferences - indeed, anyone's preferences - were representative was... well, let's say humbling. It's also worth mentioning that our response to feedback may well not be to change a particular thing under discussion. It might be to handle it differently in future, or to change a connected bit of content, or to stick to our guns (for any number of reasons). I wouldn't want the forum to descend into a "lobbying" culture, because it's current debate culture is so much more insightful and useful to us. TL;DR: this stuff is complicated. Remember that the forum tends to represent a particular subculture of motivated, eloquent, super-engaged players. We relish feedback, but our response to it may not be what you're expecting. The discussion is the fun and useful bit, not who's right or wrong (because "right" and "wrong" are often erroneous concepts in matters like this).
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Diptych Administrator Posts: 3493 8/27/2016	Alright, that's enough. We only get so much time in this world to have opinions; we can debate as to how popular those opinions were when we're dead. -- Sir Frederick, the Libertarian Esotericist. Lord Hubris, the Bloody Baron. Juniper Brown, the Ill-Fated Orphan. Esther Ellis-Hall, the Fashionable Fabian.
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Chris Gardiner Administrator Posts: 539 8/25/2016	suinicide wrote: Anyone else curious about how they're going to make the rest of the ships different? The next one's crashed on a... a... a... fire-berg!
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Blaine Davidson Posts: 388 8/26/2016	Am I the only one who didn't mind the slog through the Lifeberg? Thematically it made sense and it added to the atmosphere. You're supposed to hate being on this near-corpse of a beast, it's supposed to be a pain to move around on it. It drains the life of your crew and I think it was an apt way to "drain" the player metaphorically and literally. I also didn't mind the lack of a proper reward (Whirring Contraption earned here). That's what makes your decisions have weight. I chose my option because it fit my character, not because I wanted more Echoes towards my Heptagoat. That's what the Fidgeting Writer is for. This has been my favourite Exceptional Story since Flint. A lot of them have been fairly forgettable for me, like the one where you bombed the embassy. I couldn't even remember the name of it or the unique item from said story. -- Blaine Davidson, a reserved and sensible woman with a fondness of collecting rarities.
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Kukapetal Posts: 1449 9/1/2016	So my character started off this story by being fairly grumpy about it. The whole thing just screamed "tragedy waiting to happen," and my poor character has been put through emotional the wringer over and over, to the point where he just can't bear anymore sadness. So he downright resented some random dude popping up out of nowhere to drag him into his personal drama. Still, off he went. And his certainly that he was going to end this story crying only deepened as he met the other people in it. Four crewmates whose grip on their sanity become more and more tenuous the longer they stay out there. A poor, starving wretch just barely clinging to life. A supposedly dead man living a dangerous double life. The woman he's supposed to kill. It was clear that someone, most likely several someones, were not making it out of this alive. [spoiler] Then everyone made it out alive. My character was stunned. He could scarcely believe it. He actually had to touch his face to prove to himself that he wasn't crying. He was thrilled. I was thrilled. In fact, I didn't even mind (once again) getting the crappiest reward for my choices. Because this wasn't the usual "grudgingly do the right thing out of moral obligation and wait for the inevitable kick in the crotch." No, this was "do the right thing and save a bunch of well-written characters I had come to care about." For once, making the most moral choice actually felt like a reward in and of itself. Bravo, writers! Bravo! [/spoiler] As far as the mechanic go, I actually didn't mind how grindy it was. We were clearly embarking on a Very Dangerous Mission Into Uncharted Territory here, and those are always putzy if you don't want to make horrifically fatal mistakes. All the work I had to put into clearing a path, making camp, keeping everyone sane and resting, while still managing to eke out little bits of progress each day just emphasized how dire our situation was. I did wonder why we couldn't just camp up in the wreck itself for the couple of days it took to explore it, rather than climbing down each night, but it's a very minor quibble. Another minor quibble was the fact that.......no one told me what a lifeberg was. My character was given the mission, sailed there, climbed it, and talked to a guy who had spent a decade living on one, and the entire time he kept saying "WHAT THE HECK IS A LIFEBERG??" And everyone in the story just went on like he totally knew what a lifeberg was because everyone knows what a lifeberg is. It was almost surreal :P It's cool to bring in elements from Sunless Sea, but remember that not everyone here has played it. An option to ask about lifebergs when we accept the mission at the beginning would have been handy for those of us in the dark. Finally....what was up with the way we treated the poor Emaciated Survivor? We find this poor guy who's starving, frostbitten, and has been living in isolation for a decade and we...use him as a tourguide? And then go back to camp each night and leave him up there like he's a part of the scenery? We don't immediately take him back to the ship, wrap him in blankets, stuff him with food and bring him some clean underwear? When we found the dead body and his stomach rumbled, all I could think was "didn't we at least bring him up some FOOD??" Heck, I wasn't sure we were even going to bother to bring the guy with us when we left. This poor guy's backstory was heartbreaking, my interactions with him were heartbreaking, his ARTWORK was heartbreaking....I want to give him a hug. I want to feed him. I want to know what happened to him after the story. I want to take him in so he'll never be all alone again. I want him as a companion so I can keep him forever. He's Fallen London's uberwoobie :P Give him to me, Failbetter Games...or a rubbery man gets hurt :P edited by Kukapetal on 9/1/2016
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A Dimness Posts: 613 8/25/2016	I like the way non-exceptional friends get to see a bit of the storyline regardless of actually doing it. It's a great way of getting people interested. Also, a lot of this new artwork is astoundingly good. I like the bound shark-head hanging on a plaque, for one. edited by Infinity Simulacrum on 8/25/2016 -- A truth so strange it can only be lied into existence
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Anne Auclair Posts: 2215 8/27/2016	Robin Alexander wrote: Anne Auclair wrote: Well, I'm a paying player and I want to zail. I doubt I'm the only one. See, I respect your opinion, but I do think you may be a minority . . . You said it yourself, FBG has to respond to the majority of players, not the few. I didn't say that at all. And two or three complaints on a forum hardly adds up to a majority. We don't know if any emails were sent. So, who is not to say that the majority of players quietly enjoyed it? Robin Alexander wrote: Your play experience contained the thing you wanted, which is to zail, so how does this ruin your experience if it's changed for people after? Had I waited an extra day I wouldn't have zailed and my experience would have been lessened. From my perspective taking out zailing has weakened the story. -- http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Anne%20Auclair
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Anne Auclair Posts: 2215 8/27/2016	Optimatum wrote: Anne Auclair wrote: But I've seen far worse grinds in London's main story-lines (like with Feducci). Compared to those, this story was a walk in the park. The issue with comparing grindy regular story bits to an Exceptional Story is they serve two different purposes. The first comes from FL's design as a free-to-play browser game, so it combines time limits and grinding as an incentive to pay money for fast progress. An Exceptional Story serves to attract and maintain paying players, so it must both be engaging enough for players to consider it worthwhile, and not have an excess of the slow grindy bits the free parts of the game utilize. Well, I'm a paying player and I want to zail. I doubt I'm the only one. Optimatum wrote: Anne Auclair wrote: You're hunting a dying zee monster, so how is zailing not necessary story-wise? The Unterzee is a chaotic place where things that would normally be stationary - islands, wrecks, giant mushrooms - regularly rearrange themselves (the alterations). As lifeburgs move around it would probably be doubly hard to find. I mean, no one has apparently stumbled upon it for years. So you're going to have to zail around a little. Zailing absolutely is necessary for the story, but the player doing the zailing isn't. I've been hired to retrieve a corpse from a deathtrap, but the crew and supposedly the ship are provided. Why can't they bring me, the expert, directly there? If players who don't have a ship are expected to do this too, it makes even less sense - why on earth would this guy entrust the fine details to someone who very well may never have stepped on a boat? Because no one else would do it? Palpable desperation seemed the obvious motive. And zailing takes time, there are dangers, so why should it be easy? Optimatum wrote: Anne Auclair wrote: Zailing appeared at the very beginning of the story. It didn't interrupt the story, it was part of the main body of it. From the point of view of a typical ES, the zailing appeared at the beginning. From the point of view of this atypical season, it didn't. The zailing happened right after the ES story quality started incrementing, but the player has already been summoned, visited the Bluejacket, learned why they're there, talked to mourners, etc. That may not technically be part of the ES itself, but it's a prerequisite. For me that was just set up. The main story began when I took to the water. -- http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Anne%20Auclair
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Catherine Raymond Posts: 2518 8/28/2016	It finally dawned on me what the reference in the title of this monh's ES is. It's to the folksong, "The Demon Lover". Steeleye Span did a recent version of it, but I think all of the versions have the relevant phrase. I like Steeleye Span's version the best so I'll quote it: "What is that mountain yonder there Where evil winds do blow?” “Yonder's the mountain of hell,” he cried, “Where you and I must go." After those words, the ship the two are on sinks to the bottom of the sea. Several versions of the lyrics may be found here: https://mainlynorfolk.info/lloyd/songs/thedemonlover.html edited by cathyr19355 on 8/28/2016 -- Cathy Raymond http://fallenlondon.com/Profile/cathyr19355 Catherine Raymond aka Mrs. Rykar Malkus http://fallenlondon.com/Profile/Catherine%20Raymond (Gone NORTH)
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genesis Posts: 924 8/29/2016	Oh wow. I have just finished this and, oh boy! Loved it. I think most meaty things have been said so I'll just chime in on the highlights and the most discussed points. 1. I didn't mind the sailing. Yes, it would have been nice if they through an extra Zailing card (a similar criticism has been levelled about their use of Flash Lays in ES). But even so, I understand why they do it. For beginner players to whom being a POSI is something to aspire to and not something achievable very quickly this is a taster of what zailing is like. So for us oldies it's not very exciting but I can really imagine it being very popular among the newer players. 2. I also didn't mind the re-trecking across the lifeberg. There are 6 different branches you could play. Between successes and failures that's 12 different results to read. So I enjoyed the opportunity to retrek the ground until I got all 12. Thematically it also makes sense. It's not like they forget the route. But it's a living creature and snow winds blow. The crew has to go back to the safety of the ship to spend the night and in the morning they need to gain access to the wreck again. It makes sense to me. 3. The "easter egg". I agree with many others in that "don't tell us it's there and don't let us discuss" is fine, "tell us it's there and let us discuss it" is much better, but "tell us and don't let us discuss it" is a bit off. In particular, because I loved this bit. I really really really want to discuss it. Not because I want to boast or taunt or break the vow of secrecy but because it's a really interesting bit of lore. -- http://fallenlondon.com/Profile/mikey_thinkin Keeping track of incomplete content and loose ends in Fallen London
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suinicide Posts: 2409 8/25/2016	Chris Gardiner wrote: suinicide wrote: Anyone else curious about how they're going to make the rest of the ships different? The next one's crashed on a... a... a... fire-berg! No one ever said the ships of hell ran only on slave labour. Introducing another ship, and completely new enemy, the fire-berg. These mountains of fire can see for miles, and hunt down anything that gets too close to the devils secrets. Functioning as both battering ram and communication device, these burning ships are a force to be feared. Find out how you will manage against one in the new totally real exceptional story "hell or high water." edited by suinicide on 8/25/2016 -- http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/profile/sunnytime A gentleman seeking the liberation of knowledge, with a penchant for violence. RIP suinicide, stuck in a well. Still has it under control.
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Teaspoon Posts: 866 10/5/2016	Chris Gardiner wrote: suinicide wrote: Anyone else curious about how they're going to make the rest of the ships different? The next one's crashed on a... a... a... fire-berg! So. I thought that was exaggeration, I did. -- Truth lies at the bottom of a well. https://www.fallenlondon.com/profile/Alt%20Ern
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penknife Posts: 85 8/26/2016	I enjoyed this story, but it seems to peter out abruptly at the end. I got a Whirring Contraption for my choice, was honest rather than lying to the Severe Bluejacket, and then the story just ... stopped, without anything that felt like an ending. I feel like some kind of "okay, that's the end for now!" text would have been useful, because I was honestly left wondering if there was somewhere else I was supposed to go for the next storylet. (Also ... one Whirring Contraption, seriously? For a story that took two days to play? I don't expect Exceptional Stories to be super lucrative, but that's just painful.) -- http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Penknife Most social actions welcome, no SMEN or Boxed Cats please.
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Anne Auclair Posts: 2215 8/27/2016	Okay, time to post my larger review. This wasn't my favorite story, but I thoroughly enjoyed it nonetheless and look forward to the next two chapters. What I most appreciate about Where You And I Must Go is how innovative its structure is. It breaks new ground in narrative complexity. Like, I don't think there is actually an Exceptional Story with this many twists and turns! Most Exceptional Stories are ultimately about one thing and might have, at best, a single twist (nothing wrong with this, it's just the usual formula). Where You And I Must Go started out as a murder mystery, turned into a survival-horror quest, transitioned into a morality play (your promises), and finally came full circle as an espionage thriller. That's a lot of variety, variety that is not necessarily standalone. The whole season revolving around the Bluejacket makes our decisions more consequential than they would otherwise be in a series of standalone stories. I count three major story qualities imparted so far: the Search for Robert Harris, A Coffin for Lieutenant Harris, and Settling the Bluejacket's Affairs. If the writers are as ambitious as they seem, the new larger structure offers limitless avenues for continuity, with any or all of these three qualities impacting later chapters. Depending on our choices, maybe we'll see certain people again! Or feel their absence! Perhaps this wasn't one story but several interrelated stories combined and each segment will be developed as the story continues. The larger reward replacing the item trade-in further increases the importance of our collective actions as they could add to or subtract from it. The writers and designers did a lot of different things with just one Exceptional Story and they can do a lot more in the future. So I'm very much looking forward to the next update. edited by Anne Auclair on 8/27/2016 -- http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Anne%20Auclair
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Anne Auclair Posts: 2215 8/27/2016	Vavakx Nonexus wrote: Except half your comments have a negative rating of -3. If people liked the zailing, than they'd at least like the comments of a fellow pro-zailer, and the rating would even out. This proves that you are, indeed, in the minority. edited by Vavakx Nonexus on 8/27/2016 All that proves is that three or four people have pressed the thumbs down button. -- http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Anne%20Auclair
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Anne Auclair Posts: 2215 8/27/2016	Vavakx Nonexus wrote: Anne Auclair wrote: Vavakx Nonexus wrote: Except half your comments have a negative rating of -3. If people liked the zailing, than they'd at least like the comments of a fellow pro-zailer, and the rating would even out. This proves that you are, indeed, in the minority. edited by Vavakx Nonexus on 8/27/2016 All that proves is that three or four people have pressed the thumbs down button. And that there weren't enough people that liked your comment to compensate for the negativity. Either most of the pro-zailing people forgot how liking works, or there aren't enough present here. Wow, three people clicked the thumbs down button in the space of an hour. What a crushing majority they are. -- http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Anne%20Auclair
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Anne Auclair Posts: 2215 8/27/2016	Optimatum wrote: Zailing on its own is not pointless padding; that's not the problem. It becomes pointless padding when it doesn't add to the story and there's two other instances of pointless padding drawing out the story further. An investigation is a very small action sink for someone with two candles and as a mechanic it fits the story. The lifeburg navigation mechanic also wasn't particularly demanding and worked rather well. For me its shortfall was a lack of textual variety - a little more could have happened. But I've seen far worse grinds in London's main story-lines (like with Feducci). Compared to those, this story was a walk in the park. Optimatum wrote: Zailing in this instance is also not at all necessary story-wise, as the person sponsoring this expedition said he'd be providing the ship and crew, so the player not having to do everything would be a reasonable decision. (Even though players with ships found themselves using their own to explain the mechanics at zee.) If we can pay eight fate to have a journey instantly finish, surely paying for Exceptional Friendship can provide that same service once? You're hunting a dying zee monster, so how is zailing not necessary story-wise? The Unterzee is a chaotic place where things that would normally be stationary - islands, wrecks, giant mushrooms - regularly rearrange themselves (the alterations). As lifeburgs move around it would probably be doubly hard to find. I mean, no one has apparently stumbled upon it for years. So you're going to have to zail around a little. Optimatum wrote: The issue here is that the zailing appeared partway into the story and served to interrupt it. This would be a smaller issue for a regular story, but for an exclusive story designed to attract and keep paying subscribers? Any significant disruption of the story and experience is a problem. (Flint had zailing partway through, but successfully avoided issues by giving the player a one-time instant teleport there. There's no reason a teleport couldn't be done here too.) Zailing appeared at the very beginning of the story. It didn't interrupt the story, it was part of the main body of it. edited by Anne Auclair on 8/27/2016 -- http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Anne%20Auclair
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Optimatum Posts: 3666 8/26/2016	Outside of lost EPA, I think I may have actually lost money playing this story. I got a Whirring Contraption and various small items, but spent 15 echoes on keeping promises. I've played all but one Exceptional Story (and know the ending to the other) and aside from Flint there are only two I know which did not give a 62.5 echo item or multiple items with that total value. The first is Court of Cats, which iirc gave two 62.5 echo items. The second is Discernment, which was atypical mechanically in ways I do not recall well, but its option to sell a Coruscating Soul was such a loss that the rewards were significantly increased after release. So for all but one of the Exceptional Stories prior to this one, the lowest rewards given were all 62.5 echoes in value. For a story with three different artificial action sinks, such a poor reward seems a bit silly. I'd be perfectly fine with just climbing back up the lifeberg each day - it may be repetitive, but at least it's new content. Having to zail all the way there and do a full case as well is incredibly tedious - this is content I and many other players have seen plenty of times, and without anything new it's just boring. When I play an Exceptional Story, I of course expect it to be an exceptional experience. And the story itself was exceptional - but the parts added to lengthen it were neither exceptional nor story. -- Optimatum, a ruthless and merciful gentleman. No plant battles, Affluent Photographer requests, or healing offers; all other social actions welcome. Want a sip of Cider? Just say hi! PM me for information enigmatic or Fated. Though the forum please, not FL itself.
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Dandy Rumplestuff Posts: 3 8/26/2016	This is only my second Exceptional Story, and the first time I've found the "Easter Egg". But my heavens that was depressing. I've been in a funk all day at the horrific outcome. It's actually given my character a totally new sense of purpose. In other words... bravo.
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Anne Auclair Posts: 2215 8/27/2016	Optimatum wrote: Cranston Pickle wrote: So, something I'm a little confused about: People keep referring to the zee voyage you need to make in order to advance the story and how it's unnecessary, a slog etc., but when I did it, I started the voyage, got an option about the lifeberg, clicked it, and arrived. Whole trip took me a single action. Is this a bug? That could be a bug, or it could be an intentional change in response to feedback. When I did it shortly after the story came out, I had to build up Approaching Journey's End just like in any other zee-voyage. It might not have needed 10 though, I was operating on autopilot. I really hope they didn't change it because a few people complained at having to go zailing. Like, if you're going to complain about zailing to find a lifeburg, why not complain about having to zail to get to Polythreme? Or the Elder Continent? Sometimes I find zailing annoying, sometimes I find it fun, it honestly depends. This time I found it rather fun. Like, I'm against pointless padding - I was critical of the otherwise excellent Pentacoast Predicament for having an unnecessary flash lay (a mechanic that worked well in the Unsinkable Governess storyline, but which in the monkey story just felt tacked on). But zailing to find something at zee is not pointless padding. edited by Anne Auclair on 8/27/2016 -- http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Anne%20Auclair
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Optimatum Posts: 3666 8/27/2016	This isn't intended to continue the discussion at hand, but as an aside... I really don't understand some people's use of liking and disliking. Most of the time people vote up comments that are particularly helpful, insightful, or creative; the comments voted down are rude, unrelated, or outright wrong. But in the occasional emotionally-charged discussion, people vote up the person expressing the majority opinion and vote down the person expressing the minority opinion. Just now, many of my posts and those agreeing were voted up and the posts disagreeing were voted down. But there wasn't any hostility or name-calling here, just polite disagreement. I find it rather silly. By the way, Anne Auclair, you remind me somewhat of the Jovial Contrarian - most of my interactions with you seem to be centered around differences in opinions. (I intend that as a compliment; I hope it comes across as such.) edited by Optimatum on 8/27/2016 -- Optimatum, a ruthless and merciful gentleman. No plant battles, Affluent Photographer requests, or healing offers; all other social actions welcome. Want a sip of Cider? Just say hi! PM me for information enigmatic or Fated. Though the forum please, not FL itself.
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Rook Crofton Posts: 83 8/30/2016	Not to distract from the conversation about secrecy, but I’d like to share my thoughts about the ending choice. For anyone else puzzling over the final choice, what helped me decide was a thought experiment: [spoiler]What if we had the choice to kill both Harris and the Scientist? Now, hear me out, I try to play as mercifully as possible. I want to save lives, generally speaking. Why would I want to think about an even bloodier option than we were given? Both Harris and the Scientist are individuals who represent larger groups: the admiralty trying to prevent people from exploring the depths, and the various independent scientists and explorers who pop up now and again and are quashed by the admiralty (or survive, like the player). Killing Harris won’t stop the admiralty from killing explorers in the future, but it will slow them down now. Killing the Scientist won’t stop future explorers from wanting to plumb the depths, but it might reduce the nuclear possibility that this particular scientist will enrage the flukes. Killing both, were it an option, would result in a stalemate, but one where both a murderer and a potential disaster are stopped. What is analytically useful here is imagining the flipside: killing both characters would fail to stop either of the larger groups (admiralty or the various scientists/explorers) from their respective murders or disasters. It attempts to forestall possible future deaths with immediate murder, but leaves all of the larger problems unaddressed. If killing either one, or even both, won’t make any lasting changes, why have either one die? There will be future murders by admiralty agents, and future explorers who may or may not anger the flukes, but no-one, not even the generally very powerful player, can stop them. I chose to let both live because of this thought experiment. This is why I don’t see killing either character as the moral choice, though I’m interested to hear others’ thoughts. [/spoiler] -- Rook Crofton: dreamer, antiquarian, mystic Now a Scarlet Saint. Happy to send anyone an invite to the Temple Club.
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Catherine Raymond Posts: 2518 8/30/2016	Re: Rook Crofton's thought experiment: [spoiler] In real life, I would have chosen to fake the Engineer's death, which lets them both live, and leaves both to their fate. In the game, my character chose to let Harris proceed with his homicidal mission, because she feels strongly that there are Things Man Was Not Meant to Know. But even so, I think there is a flaw in Rook's reasoning. One does not usually have the option to choose in such a way as to eliminate all bad choices, present and future, by a larger group; one can only prevent, or not prevent, an immediate harm. By choosing to intervene with the intended course of each major group in this case is to choose to allow both harms. I think it is just as difficult to justify that course as a moral choice as to justify either murder. [/spoiler] -- Cathy Raymond http://fallenlondon.com/Profile/cathyr19355 Catherine Raymond aka Mrs. Rykar Malkus http://fallenlondon.com/Profile/Catherine%20Raymond (Gone NORTH)
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DeserterKalak Posts: 94 8/26/2016	Don't know if it's already been mentioned, but to my fellow monster hunters: you will NOT be able to collect a Plated Seal on this particular voyage, like normal. Deliberately raising your Troubles Waters quality will serve only to make your life more difficult and your voyage more expensive. -- https://www.fallenlondon.com/profile/DeserterKalak
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Optimatum Posts: 3666 8/25/2016	I was expecting the easter egg to require a certain Knock, given where you visit towards the end. Could someone send me a PM as to what happens in the easter egg? An Individual wrote: I'm loving this one so far. I've often wished we would see a little more of the zee (outside of Sunless Sea). I'm particularly enjoying delving into a little more detail with these terrible ice bergs. I'm particularly interested that... [spoiler]...the life bergs seem to be linked in some way to the thief of faces.There's a line from the survivor about how the lifeberg doesn't die until you destroy/extract a shard of black glass which sounds like it might have something to do with the thief and Mount Nomad.[/spoiler] It's entirely possible. One of the results after killing a Lifeberg in Sunless Sea mentions finding a shard of black glass while searching for loot, the shard seemingly being the same material as Mount Nomad. As to whether the Lifebergs were created by Mount Nomad or the Thief, whether Mount Nomad controls them or it's more like Clay Men, whether this was a planned thing or an accident... we just don't know. -- Optimatum, a ruthless and merciful gentleman. No plant battles, Affluent Photographer requests, or healing offers; all other social actions welcome. Want a sip of Cider? Just say hi! PM me for information enigmatic or Fated. Though the forum please, not FL itself.
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Mr Sables Posts: 597 8/26/2016	Ah, thanks guys for letting me know . . . That's just bizarre, as both of those have a resale value of 62.50, but a whirring contraption is just 6.00 . . . I'm half-wondering if I'm missing an epilogue card or something, as it seems disproportionately unfair else on those who made the same choice that I did :-S
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penknife Posts: 85 8/26/2016	Robin Alexander wrote: Like, I have nothing against using action points, but . . . it all felt like filler here. 2/3 of gameplay was spent basically using action points unnecessarily, without any new content or in-game reason in the process ('new content' as in customised Zee voyage, or changes to building up the route to the wreck, just the same monotonous grinds). Yeah, that's the other thing I found frustrating. It's one thing to spend actions experiencing new content with a tiny EPA return. It's another thing to have to slog through grinds with nothing new to read and still not be earning any meaningful EPA. I'd feel a lot better if it had been possible to just burn through the new content without spending so many actions on repetitive grinds, or -- if the grind on the lifeberg was necessary for pacing and atmosphere -- if the story paid out commensurate to the actions spent. I wonder, though, if one of the problems here is balancing the story for both new and late-game players? I couldn't fail any of the stat checks on the lifeberg, so there wasn't any element of balancing risk against how long to stay, just a frustrating grind to see each new section of the story. At the same time, playing the regular storylets in the game has a regular return of >1 EPA for me, and I don't have much to do in the regular game right now but grind Echoes for an Ubergoat, so getting hit with "okay, you spent a huge number of actions on this, here's your 6 Echo item" was painful. A starting player who's used to a tiny EPA, who's struggling to pass the stat checks and racking up Terror in the process, and whose game isn't mostly focused on grinding for expensive items might have a very different experience. On the other hand, I don't get why there's a big difference in rewards for the different choices in this story. That wasn't signaled anywhere, and I'm not sure it particularly makes sense that the option I chose would be less lucrative than the other two. Oh, well. -- http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Penknife Most social actions welcome, no SMEN or Boxed Cats please.
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Cthonius Posts: 362 8/25/2016	Huh, and just as I was planning to finally sail to Port Carnelian for a lack of any other story to do. Ah, but seems I must again sail regardless. Oh well, it's not like I'll be away for even a fraction as long. Certainly curious to see not only more about the lifebergs, but also more of how zailors and the zee are seen through the lens of fallen london rather than sunless sea. Already I like how this season of stories is directly connected (not that I don't enjoy thematic connections, but I'm interested in what can be done with this). On the other hand, the unlock through the House of Chimes was disappointing. The unlocks through there were, from what I've seen, we're just aneed exceptional friends barrier with a little bit of dressing, like this or that character wants to meet there. Here it's just a button to unlock, nothing more. A pretty minor complaint though, and one I'll likely forget soon. EDIT: @genesis, iirc it is in your lodgings. If not perhaps submit a bug report edited by Cthonius on 8/25/2016 EDITx2: ok it's a little cheesy but I really like that title drop done once you get to the wreck edited by Cthonius on 8/25/2016 -- Cthonius, gone North. Gone. Oneiropompus, a Scarlet Saint, eager to help make your dreams realities. Accepting all social requests for now.
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Dean Lee Posts: 133 8/25/2016	[spoiler] https://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~keith/poems/demon.html [/spoiler] -- A list of credentials A Business Card Research progress: 77 volumes of cryptopaleontoligy 77 volumes of Prelapsarian archeology 77 volumes of theosophistry.
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JimmyTMalice Posts: 237 8/25/2016	The Easter Egg has been found, although not by me. Since it's a secret, you'll have to find it yourself. Count to twice the Number and do something very unwise. -- Gideon Stormstrider, the Esoteric Gadgeteer Jimmy T. Malice, gone. A Tale of Two Suns - Meeting Your Maker - A Squid in the Polls
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Lara Jones Posts: 6 8/28/2016	penknife wrote: Robin Alexander wrote: Like, I have nothing against using action points, but . . . it all felt like filler here. 2/3 of gameplay was spent basically using action points unnecessarily, without any new content or in-game reason in the process ('new content' as in customised Zee voyage, or changes to building up the route to the wreck, just the same monotonous grinds). Yeah, that's the other thing I found frustrating. It's one thing to spend actions experiencing new content with a tiny EPA return. It's another thing to have to slog through grinds with nothing new to read and still not be earning any meaningful EPA. I'd feel a lot better if it had been possible to just burn through the new content without spending so many actions on repetitive grinds, or -- if the grind on the lifeberg was necessary for pacing and atmosphere -- if the story paid out commensurate to the actions spent. I wonder, though, if one of the problems here is balancing the story for both new and late-game players? I couldn't fail any of the stat checks on the lifeberg, so there wasn't any element of balancing risk against how long to stay, just a frustrating grind to see each new section of the story. At the same time, playing the regular storylets in the game has a regular return of >1 EPA for me, and I don't have much to do in the regular game right now but grind Echoes for an Ubergoat, so getting hit with "okay, you spent a huge number of actions on this, here's your 6 Echo item" was painful. A starting player who's used to a tiny EPA, who's struggling to pass the stat checks and racking up Terror in the process, and whose game isn't mostly focused on grinding for expensive items might have a very different experience. On the other hand, I don't get why there's a big difference in rewards for the different choices in this story. That wasn't signaled anywhere, and I'm not sure it particularly makes sense that the option I chose would be less lucrative than the other two. Oh, well. I've been playing for a few weeks, and I honestly haven't gotten many items that would be considered high in anything. I think the only one I got was from the Fruits of the Zee festival. With that said, while I can't say I appreciated the grind, it made sense to me because, as the game tells us, the lifeburg is constantly moving and working against you. If the problems were on the action points vs echos earned, and balancing that with the difficulty, on the lifeburg I didn't have a chance to fail. I'm pretty sure the Zee nearly killed me though, and I was very happy that I didn't have to navigate back.
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Optimatum Posts: 3666 8/27/2016	Anne Auclair wrote: An investigation is a very small action sink for someone with two candles and as a mechanic it fits the story. The lifeburg navigation mechanic also wasn't particularly demanding and worked rather well. For me its shortfall was a lack of textual variety - a little more could have happened. An investigation is a very small action sink, in other words about 15 actions when I did it. On its own, this would be fine. My issue is with combining that with two other repetitive action sinks. I agree about the lifeberg-navigation part - not enough variety to stay interesting, but it's new text so I'm fine with it. Anne Auclair wrote: But I've seen far worse grinds in London's main story-lines (like with Feducci). Compared to those, this story was a walk in the park. The issue with comparing grindy regular story bits to an Exceptional Story is they serve two different purposes. The first comes from FL's design as a free-to-play browser game, so it combines time limits and grinding as an incentive to pay money for fast progress. An Exceptional Story serves to attract and maintain paying players, so it must both be engaging enough for players to consider it worthwhile, and not have an excess of the slow grindy bits the free parts of the game utilize. (And let's be honest, the Black Ribbon stuff is at the sparse end of 'story'. "Hey, I've seen you're good at fighting. Come join my secret society and do a couple small things to establish the setting. Now dump tons of actions into building up a quality, which you can gamble for various single bits of text, most of which change absolutely nothing. Once you repeat that enough times, I'll let you move on to the next story, which is doing the exact same thing for a different quality.") Anne Auclair wrote: You're hunting a dying zee monster, so how is zailing not necessary story-wise? The Unterzee is a chaotic place where things that would normally be stationary - islands, wrecks, giant mushrooms - regularly rearrange themselves (the alterations). As lifeburgs move around it would probably be doubly hard to find. I mean, no one has apparently stumbled upon it for years. So you're going to have to zail around a little. Zailing absolutely is necessary for the story, but the player doing the zailing isn't. I've been hired to retrieve a corpse from a deathtrap, but the crew and supposedly the ship are provided. Why can't they bring me, the expert, directly there? If players who don't have a ship are expected to do this too, it makes even less sense - why on earth would this guy entrust the fine details to someone who very well may never have stepped on a boat? Anne Auclair wrote: Zailing appeared at the very beginning of the story. It didn't interrupt the story, it was part of the main body of it. From the point of view of a typical ES, the zailing appeared at the beginning. From the point of view of this atypical season, it didn't. The zailing happened right after the ES story quality started incrementing, but the player has already been summoned, visited the Bluejacket, learned why they're there, talked to mourners, etc. That may not technically be part of the ES itself, but it's a prerequisite. edited by Optimatum on 8/27/2016 -- Optimatum, a ruthless and merciful gentleman. No plant battles, Affluent Photographer requests, or healing offers; all other social actions welcome. Want a sip of Cider? Just say hi! PM me for information enigmatic or Fated. Though the forum please, not FL itself.
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Shaerys Posts: 65 8/27/2016	I thought the Whirring Contraption actually made thematic sense. [spoiler] After all, we need a gazillion of them (ok, only 20, but I suspect it will feel like a gazillion when I go that route) to construct our own zubmarine. So I took it as the Engineer setting me on my path to both subversion and submersion. (How did she know?) I'll be a little more discrete when I do construct my own vessel knowing of the Admiralty's programme. [/spoiler] It did seem a little unusual as an ES reward, but I was fine with it...until I read these forums. Then the Suffering started. I kind of felt that way with the Election. I thought a lot of people would have been delighted with the way their choice of profession unfolded, if they hadn't known what the alternatives were (boots! boots!). I love seeing what I missed in these storylines just to fill in the lore, but it can be a two-edged sword sometimes. I for one quite enjoyed this one. I liked the mechanics, my seven days on the iceberg were fine (though some variety tied perhaps to number of days on the berg would have been welcome), and the final decision did make me think about why I make the choices I make (having been branded a Bringer of Death once, I've spent some time reconsidering these things). I will agree the ending seemed a bit abrupt, but otherwise, great fun! -- http://www.fallenlondon.com/Profile/Shaerys Courier's Footprint, pleased to offer introductory Correspondence instruction to Orphans, Urchins, Waifs, Scamps, and other Tatterdemalions.
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Zoviir Posts: 7 9/6/2016	... ..... You know, I was all for letting the dude do whatever he wanted and telling the Bluejacket the truth. drums his fingers on his desk Right up until he threatened me. Fortunately I have a handy coffin nearby with his name on it eh? edited by Zoviir on 9/6/2016
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phryne Posts: 1347 10/2/2016	Finally got round to playing this. I liked it! Great story, obviously. I really love Cash's writing and story-crafting. Having the zailors quote that poem was a goosebump moment for me About the mechanics: they aren't terrible, but could be clearer. I didn't think to visit the Captain's cabin a second time, so didn't get to read his ravings. There should've been a pointer that another visit to the cabin might be interesting. Hidden content is definitely not an "easter egg", it's a completely different moral/ethical choice. Basically, it comes down to whether you care about your crew or not, i.e. what you're prepared to do for more knowledge - just labelling it as that would probably have made more sense. The only real issue I have is that - for the first time ever, I think - we're not told "this is the end of this month's story", leaving the player in a vaguely uncertain state over whether it's actually finished or not. Interesting that we didn't get a unique curiosity item from this story - apparently, this time the seasonal reward storylet will work differently than before. edited by phryne on 10/2/2016 -- Accounts: Bag a Legend • Light Fingers • Heart's Desire • Nemesis • no ambition Exceptional Stories, sorted by Season and by writer ― Favours & Renown Guide
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Optimatum Posts: 3666 8/26/2016	FireOfUnknownOrigin wrote: The lifeberg was quite an interesting development, disturbing as it was. Though I think upping the risk a bit might have helped; not anything that couldn't be recovered from, but just some curveballs to make it a little more difficult rather than repetitive. It's a good idea, but difficult to implement. By its nature, Exceptional Stories have to be accessible to newer players with low stats, so making stat challenges harder to appeal to more experienced players would detract from the experience for others. One Exceptional Story, I believe The Frequently Deceased, had the challenge levels scale with stats so each challenge would have the same difficulty regardless of stat level. It felt rather odd though to fail at persuading random NPC servants and such with Persuasive 200, so that has its drawbacks too. -- Optimatum, a ruthless and merciful gentleman. No plant battles, Affluent Photographer requests, or healing offers; all other social actions welcome. Want a sip of Cider? Just say hi! PM me for information enigmatic or Fated. Though the forum please, not FL itself.
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Mimay Posts: 4 8/26/2016	penknife wrote: I enjoyed this story, but it seems to peter out abruptly at the end. I got a Whirring Contraption for my choice, was honest rather than lying to the Severe Bluejacket, and then the story just ... stopped, without anything that felt like an ending. I feel like some kind of "okay, that's the end for now!" text would have been useful, because I was honestly left wondering if there was somewhere else I was supposed to go for the next storylet. This is my only real complaint. I didn't particularly mind the grind, or the fairly strong negative payoff in the end for my choices (the above, and keeping all of my promises). A message that the story was over for now would have been greatly appreciated.
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John Moose Posts: 276 8/27/2016	To put in my two cents, I particularly enjoyed this story. My main problem with ES's is that they often feel somewhat brief when compared to other stories. This time, I felt like getting through the story was a small project instead of just a clicking-through of a dozen text-filled storylets. I suppose I count myself among the people who like zailing and other filler in their stories, if for nothing else, then to give the story-intensive parts time to sink in. In short, my favourite ES so far, and I'm excited to see what the following two stories bring!
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Guest 8/27/2016	This was a very enjoyable story and in the spirit of the kind of Victorian penny-dreadful that dealt with brave explorers adventuring into the unknown and terrifying corners of the world! Excellent use of game mechanics and ambience, and it's always nice to take the old boat out for an adventure. After all, how silly would it be to go to the trouble of acquiring your own ship and then not sail it? I especially liked that keeping our promises to the crew upon return to London had a cost. Not too much, and it's only echoes, but it made the promises matter. It's a brilliant way for your character to show what kind of person they are. If I have a quibble it's that it then turns into a very short spy story, which isn't a bad thing, but it's all a bit, 'and then it turned out that he was an assassin for the government, the end.' I understand that they don't want to do another long-form story like 'Flint', but if length is limited maybe it would be better not to try to fit in so much into it, and instead extend the arctic terror on the lifeberg, and maybe more danger at zee? I only mention that as a point of discussion on what is still a very lovely bit of writing, and not as one of those entitled bourgeois killjoys who can't enjoy anything outside what they are conventionally used to and get bitterly snooty when they feel that they aren't being provided with the service they believe that they deserve, because I'm not like that. I'm just really interested in this form of writing and in arguing its finer points.
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penknife Posts: 85 8/30/2016	genesis wrote: 3. The "easter egg". I agree with many others in that "don't tell us it's there and don't let us discuss" is fine, "tell us it's there and let us discuss it" is much better, but "tell us and don't let us discuss it" is a bit off. In particular, because I loved this bit. I really really really want to discuss it. Not because I want to boast or taunt or break the vow of secrecy but because it's a really interesting bit of lore. Yeah, I'm not sure why this is off-limits; we've been asked not to discuss Fate-locked content before, but this isn't any more Fate-locked than the rest of the Exceptional Story, so it just feels like secrecy for secrecy's sake. -- http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Penknife Most social actions welcome, no SMEN or Boxed Cats please.
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dragonridingsorceress Posts: 622 9/1/2016	Is something supposed to happen after presenting the coffin to the Bluejacket? It seems to be the end of the content, but I feel like I'm just hanging - and I can see from the thread I'm not the only one. I actually enjoyed sailing to the Lifeburg. Having read the complaints here, I feel like perhaps a unique card or 3 to let you get to know your new crewmates could have been a nice touch - it would also have increased the poignancy of our promises to them. I didn't wander onto the forums before doing the story (I usually don't, for fear of spoilers) so I completed the story before finding out that there was an Easter egg. I would appreciate a PM with what happened in it. Myrto wrote: So, I'm frustrated that I completely missed out on it. It seems unfair to hide stuff in paid content, so I can't go back and catch it without paying again to reset the story. I agree with this point. I paid for the story, I avoided spoilers (as FBG have said they prefer their players to do), and only after finishing it have I been told there was even more content that I have missed out on. It feels a little like FBG are trying to wrangle more money out of us for replays. I don't want to feel this way, especially after finishing a story I otherwise enjoyed so much. -- DragonRidingSorceress is an Author of good standing. Mostly good standing. She's happy to accept any social action except Photographer and Loitering, but requests warnings before duping/poisoning/etc. Seeker of Names is a... being with an obsession. They're willing to accept all invitations. One who seeks to know all that is and may be. One who dances in the silence of the void. One whose fantasies make the reality come alive.
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An Individual Posts: 589 8/25/2016	I'm loving this one so far. I've often wished we would see a little more of the zee (outside of Sunless Sea). I'm particularly enjoying delving into a little more detail with these terrible ice bergs. I'm particularly interested that... [spoiler]...the life bergs seem to be linked in some way to the thief of faces.There's a line from the survivor about how the lifeberg doesn't die until you destroy/extract a shard of black glass which sounds like it might have something to do with the thief and Mount Nomad.[/spoiler] I'm also really liking the clear linking of the season's stories. While I've also liked the previous season enders they tended to be linked together by the barest of threads. edited by An Individual on 8/25/2016 -- An Individual's Profile The RNG giveth and the RNG taketh away. Goat Farming or Cider Brewing? This browser extension may help. Want a Cider sip? Please refer to this guide before requesting. Scholaring the Correspondence? A Brief Guide to Courier's Footprint. Contemplating Oblivion? First Steps on the Seeking Road. Gone NORTH? Opened the gate? Throw your character in a well.
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suinicide Posts: 2409 8/25/2016	BlabberingMat wrote: Is it just me or are checks on some cards easier? I am pretty sure that some Persuasive checks got lessened (from modest to straightforward) And sailing difficulty is a 1, when I think it was always a 6 before. Nice to see what it does. edited by suinicide on 8/25/2016 -- http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/profile/sunnytime A gentleman seeking the liberation of knowledge, with a penchant for violence. RIP suinicide, stuck in a well. Still has it under control.
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genesis Posts: 924 8/25/2016	Blaine Davidson wrote: Oh god, since when do the stories come out so early? I purposely burned through all my actions prior to bed so that I'd have full candles in the morning. They almost always come out on the last Thursday of the month -- http://fallenlondon.com/Profile/mikey_thinkin Keeping track of incomplete content and loose ends in Fallen London
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Skinnyman Posts: 2133 8/25/2016	ElwinHauntry wrote: ....pssst.... what's a lifeberg? A living iceberg? an iceberg teeming with life? an iceberg made out of formerly living matter, like whale blubber? A nasty "thing" in Sunless Sea! Here's some information regarding "it". -- ESs items and quality requirements sheet. Please check if there are errors or if something is missing Achievement list if you're feeling bored! I am accepting Plant battles, Neath's Mysteries card, Starveling Cats and boxed cats. No suppers, no second chances gain and no need to cure my menaces!
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spacecatte Posts: 42 8/25/2016	ElwinHauntry wrote: ....pssst.... what's a lifeberg? A living iceberg? an iceberg teeming with life? an iceberg made out of formerly living matter, like whale blubber? lifebergs are a common type of enemy in sunless sea! zee-creatures that appear in the north where there's the plenty of ice, they are in fact living icebergs. seems like this ES will give us some more info about the particulars of them! -- "That cat is walking around in a space suit." The SpaceCatte, a capricious feline claiming some absurd things. Agent Wicket, a Fist of the Bazaar who is far too serious for her own good.
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Vavakx Nonexus Posts: 892 8/26/2016	penknife wrote: Robin Alexander wrote: Like, I have nothing against using action points, but . . . it all felt like filler here. 2/3 of gameplay was spent basically using action points unnecessarily, without any new content or in-game reason in the process ('new content' as in customised Zee voyage, or changes to building up the route to the wreck, just the same monotonous grinds). Yeah, that's the other thing I found frustrating. It's one thing to spend actions experiencing new content with a tiny EPA return. It's another thing to have to slog through grinds with nothing new to read and still not be earning any meaningful EPA. I'd feel a lot better if it had been possible to just burn through the new content without spending so many actions on repetitive grinds, or -- if the grind on the lifeberg was necessary for pacing and atmosphere -- if the story paid out commensurate to the actions spent. I wonder, though, if one of the problems here is balancing the story for both new and late-game players? I couldn't fail any of the stat checks on the lifeberg, so there wasn't any element of balancing risk against how long to stay, just a frustrating grind to see each new section of the story. At the same time, playing the regular storylets in the game has a regular return of >1 EPA for me, and I don't have much to do in the regular game right now but grind Echoes for an Ubergoat, so getting hit with "okay, you spent a huge number of actions on this, here's your 6 Echo item" was painful. A starting player who's used to a tiny EPA, who's struggling to pass the stat checks and racking up Terror in the process, and whose game isn't mostly focused on grinding for expensive items might have a very different experience. On the other hand, I don't get why there's a big difference in rewards for the different choices in this story. That wasn't signaled anywhere, and I'm not sure it particularly makes sense that the option I chose would be less lucrative than the other two. Oh, well. In addition, most Fate stories end up rewarding you with a 62.5 item, like a Night-Whisper or a Searing Enigma, so this particular ES having a 10 times smaller reward is extremely strange. -- Amets Estibariz, the Moulting Eidolon: Cradled by a sun all their own. Blabbing, the Hobo Everyone Knows: The One Who Pulls The Strings. A Clarity In The Darkness. Charlotte and the Caretaker: A family?
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penknife Posts: 85 8/26/2016	Skinnyman wrote: Pity to see that the reward is more important than a story! I don't think anyone's said that. I don't play Exceptional Stories for the Echoes -- I play them for the writing, and I enjoyed this one. But it's still a little painful to feel penalized for choosing to pay for the Exceptional Stories by spending many, many actions for essentially no concrete reward. It means that in addition to the cost in real money, there's a big opportunity cost in Echoes lost by choosing to play these stories when they don't pay out anywhere near the EPA I could expect from normal play. I'm willing to do it for new content, and I like the content of this story, but spending that many actions on something with such a tiny EPA return is still frustrating. -- http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Penknife Most social actions welcome, no SMEN or Boxed Cats please.
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Barse Posts: 706 8/25/2016	Calling it an "easter egg" and revealing its existence was probably a mistake. It is not, as google has helpfully defined for me, "an unexpected or undocumented feature in a piece of computer software or on a DVD, included as a joke or a bonus." It is not something that can be shared in an echo. If you find it, good on you. If not, then that's fine too. You'll just be having a different ES experience. Your experience if you don't find it is in no way lacking, neither is it necessarily enriched if you do. edited by Barselaar on 8/25/2016 -- The Scorched Sailor, up for most social actions and RP. Not as scary as he looks.
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Eglantine-Fox Posts: 872 8/25/2016	Tip to those who want to take Heartless options: [spoiler]Be very sure of it before you forsake the crew's promises. I did on my bad-guy alt, and even then the suffering involved made me feel horribly guilty. Rest assured, it really makes you earn those points in Heartless, and the consequences are awful for those you forsake.[/spoiler] -- Eglantine Fox, the charming and androgynous Correspondent, teetering between hobbies of seduction and self-destruction. Siobhan O'Malley, Irish patriot (or 'bl__dy Fenian' if you're impolite). Isidore Day, an up-and-coming London gentleman. All allegations of wrongdoing are categorically denied.
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An Individual Posts: 589 8/26/2016	I did the thing. I'll keep it a secret because the game asked me to but I don't see why it's a secret. If anyone else is considering doing this my advice is don't. And I don't mean "don't" in the fun SMEN kind of way. [spoiler]Right now I just feel like I traded a more interesting version of the story for a more bland version of the story and locked myself out of learning what was up with one of the mechanics. Maybe later something of interest will happen linked to these events but right now this may end up being the first ES that I ever reset just so I can go through it properly.[/spoiler] -- An Individual's Profile The RNG giveth and the RNG taketh away. Goat Farming or Cider Brewing? This browser extension may help. Want a Cider sip? Please refer to this guide before requesting. Scholaring the Correspondence? A Brief Guide to Courier's Footprint. Contemplating Oblivion? First Steps on the Seeking Road. Gone NORTH? Opened the gate? Throw your character in a well.
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suinicide Posts: 2409 8/25/2016	Anyone else curious about how they're going to make the rest of the ships different? A sorrow spider infested ship maybe? Perhaps one that was taken over by guinea pigs? Edit: ooh, an underwater wreck. edited by suinicide on 8/25/2016 -- http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/profile/sunnytime A gentleman seeking the liberation of knowledge, with a penchant for violence. RIP suinicide, stuck in a well. Still has it under control.
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Mr Sables Posts: 597 8/26/2016	Skinnyman wrote: I don't remember anything implying that a story, even EFs, a festival or anything else will have a great reward at the end. Pity to see that the reward is more important than a story! There are enough (repeatable) Fate options which have a big EPA. So there's always an option! Let's enjoy the stories and worry less about Echoes! edited by Skinnyman on 8/26/2016 I kind of agree and disagree . . . I think it unfair that people are having different level of rewards, despite spending the same real-life money and real-life time, and there were issues with this story that made a reward somewhat . . . necessary. I can't comment on the story personally, because the mechanics were so bad for me that I stopped reading, just becoming intent on getting to the end. I wasted nearly 20 action at zee, just to get to my goal. I had to spend actions again and again to get to the wreck (despite how logically it made no sense to 'forget' the way). I spent actions rebuilding case notes just to find and talk to people and meet them. Like, I have nothing against using action points, but . . . it all felt like filler here. 2/3 of gameplay was spent basically using action points unnecessarily, without any new content or in-game reason in the process ('new content' as in customised Zee voyage, or changes to building up the route to the wreck, just the same monotonous grinds). It costs money to refresh actions and money to play this story. If I'm paying real-life money, I expect to be able to play the story I pay for . . . not waiting hours for action refreshes, because no one thought to put in a 'ticket' system to the wreck or 'remember' the way to the wreck once on the lifeburg . . . I felt like I was paying money just to be stalled at every moment, when I was paying for the story. Heck, I couldn't even access my items or cards, so no coffee or aunt to help me along! As such, if the mechanics were fixed, I will pay again to replay this . . . People have amazing things to say about it, saying the story is great, but for me the frustration overshadowed this to the extent I simply stopped reading and was just desperate for it to end . . . I didn't explore all option at the wreck, as I just wanted to get out. I have grinds back in London waiting for me, and I didn't want to spend days unnecessarily at Zee, just because of shady mechanics. I went through all that frustration, real-life money and time, then find out I get a reward a huge percentage less than other players? Yeah, I'm a bit miffed. It feels like I wasted my time and money. In this case, the lack of a material payout was . . . frustrating. edited by Robin Alexander on 8/26/2016
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Barse Posts: 706 8/26/2016	Ratskin boots are given from the other choice. -- The Scorched Sailor, up for most social actions and RP. Not as scary as he looks.
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Skinnyman Posts: 2133 8/25/2016	Oh, damn! Sounds incredible, Absintheuse! Can't wait to finish last months ES and start this one! To the ship, to the deck, to the ship's wheel... to North! EDIT: Great art, Paul! Reminds me why I like Fallen London that much. My guess is that I should offer Cash my compliments already! edited by Skinnyman on 8/25/2016 -- ESs items and quality requirements sheet. Please check if there are errors or if something is missing Achievement list if you're feeling bored! I am accepting Plant battles, Neath's Mysteries card, Starveling Cats and boxed cats. No suppers, no second chances gain and no need to cure my menaces!
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MrBurnside Posts: 188 8/25/2016	Infinity Simulacrum wrote: I like the way non-exceptional friends get to see a bit of the storyline regardless of actually doing it. It's a great way of getting people interested. Also, a lot of this new artwork is astoundingly good. I like the bound shark-head hanging on a plaque, for one. edited by Infinity Simulacrum on 8/25/2016 I feel the same. I also like how it frames the new season as a whole, giving clear signalling that they're bound by plot as well as by theme. Edit: I also appreciate that FB is choosing to push EF through incentives rather then through bypass-able grinds or penalties. I like giving FB my money, but I'd like it less if it felt pushed upon me. edited by MrBurnside on 8/25/2016
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ElwinHauntry Posts: 4 8/25/2016	....pssst.... what's a lifeberg? A living iceberg? an iceberg teeming with life? an iceberg made out of formerly living matter, like whale blubber?
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Mr Sables Posts: 597 8/25/2016	I have to be honest . . . I'm really not feeling this one. I had a bit of going back-and-forth to unlock the story, as well as the option to proceed, and the story itself wasn't one that personally appealed to me . . . my biggest grief is the use of zailing. The zailing feels like needless filler, designed solely to eat up action points and pad out the game . . . Mutton Island proves we can just get a 'ticket' to places, when FBG allows us, so why make me just use 16/17 action points to get to the place I need to be, only to then run out and have to wait a huge amount of time to carry on the story? The mechanics here feel extremely flawed, especially in comparison to past games. I look forward to seeing what other people think, but - honestly - I'm so far a little bit regretful I spent money on it, although I haven't finished it yet, so it may greatly surprise me. The art is amazing, though! I adore the art so much * * * Edit: Okay, when I complained about the mechanics of zailing? Can I add the loss of quality 'way to the wreck' when exploring one of three options, forcing you to replay the entire section again, should you want the other two options (or another option that looks very important)? That took a fair actions to get, and I'm not sure why the PC would just 'forget' the way after searching the bunks . . . It's extremely tempting to just 'Leave', as the whole thing feels like padding. edited by Robin Alexander on 8/25/2016
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Blaine Davidson Posts: 388 8/25/2016	Oh god, since when do the stories come out so early? I purposely burned through all my actions prior to bed so that I'd have full candles in the morning. Impeccable timing on my part as always. -- Blaine Davidson, a reserved and sensible woman with a fondness of collecting rarities.
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Kade Carrion (an_ocelot) Posts: 1372 8/25/2016	Damn, I seem to have missed content by (minor mechanics spoiler) [spoiler]not letting Terror rise high enough. At least I assume that's where people's ALL-CAPS echoes are coming from? Or I was supposed to go back after giving the Captain his funeral? Anyway: damn.[/spoiler] -- Social Actions: send them to Kade Carrion (she/her; no Tournament of Lilies, please). an_ocelot has gone NORTH and cannot benefit from social actions! Possibly-Useful Things: Spreadsheets and hints and link collections, oh my.
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Cthonius Posts: 362 8/25/2016	I did it. How could I not? If you want the results I can pm in a few hours after work, or check a person's echoes, but if you're not sure whether or not to do so as well I'll at least give my reaction, my impression to it below. [spoiler] Mechanically, the meal was not worth it. Not even to advance my seeking. Little benefit. But plot wise, writing wise? I savored every bite. [/spoiler] I suspect more such choices await me. More to consume. More. -- Cthonius, gone North. Gone. Oneiropompus, a Scarlet Saint, eager to help make your dreams realities. Accepting all social requests for now.
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genesis Posts: 924 8/25/2016	Apparently there is an Easter egg! edited by genesis on 8/25/2016 -- http://fallenlondon.com/Profile/mikey_thinkin Keeping track of incomplete content and loose ends in Fallen London
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JimmyTMalice Posts: 237 8/25/2016	I'm liking the story in this ES so far, but the artificial action-sink of having to climb up to the wreck every time you want to do anything is just tedious. -- Gideon Stormstrider, the Esoteric Gadgeteer Jimmy T. Malice, gone. A Tale of Two Suns - Meeting Your Maker - A Squid in the Polls
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GeorgeEarlslight Posts: 27 8/30/2016	genesis wrote: I really really really want to discuss it. Not because I want to boast or taunt or break the vow of secrecy but because it's a really interesting bit of lore. Can we not discuss about a mysterious female appearance? I understand that we should not reveal mechanics, rewards or the plot of Fate/Exceptional content, but what about the characters? -- George Earlslight, Advocate Available for Salon orations.
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Shadowcthuhlu Posts: 1557 8/30/2016	[spoiler] As Dirae Erinyes, I didn't stay for 14 days, kept all my crew alive, did not let my gunnery pledge her services, faked the death of the scientist, was persuaded by my wife not to kill Harris but rather keep him alive for the old man's sake and that he is still needed for our work in the navy. All in all, a good days work.. [/spoiler] -- 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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Vryl Posts: 52 8/28/2016	I wasn't entirely sure what the 'right' thing to do in this was, from my character's point of view. He is extremely magnanimous and doesn't take kindly to people getting killed off "for the greater good", but he also owns a zubmarine and is quite a capable captain. In the end I decided to let the man carry on with his work. This is the echo if anyone is interested, since looking over this thread it looks like mostly people stop him. http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Vryl?fromEchoId=9470012 I got a night-whisper as a reward, too. -- https://www.fallenlondon.com/profile/Vryl
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Myrto Posts: 209 8/29/2016	I quite enjoyed the time in the NORTH and lifeberg, and I really liked the story of this month's E.S. I'm pretty disappointed that I didn't know about the hidden content, though. I don't tend to check the wiki before I play a story, so I didn't know I needed to stay with the lifeberg until the secret content opened up for me. So, I'm frustrated that I completely missed out on it. It seems unfair to hide stuff in paid content, so I can't go back and catch it without paying again to reset the story. I'm pretty easy to please on the exceptional stories, no major criticisms to date, but this one really left a sour taste in my mouth. -- Myrto, a mysterious veteran spy who is only on their own side. Married to navchaa! Edith Alpha Doyle, social climber with grand ambitions; Correspondent who would be happy to assist you in whatever way she can. , teenage orphan who came to the Neath to pursue a career in crime; monster-hunter. Currently on the Seeking road.
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Arandia Posts: 127 8/29/2016	Oh dear, all this talk of the easter egg has made me horribly nervous. Now here I am at that exact stage, having to decide between the obviously right choice and the rather bad idea, and I hate it. Normally I would take the obvious choice without even hesitating, but knowing that I will never ever see the other option in an echo, and it apparently being so deep in FL lore, I find myself leaning to "that other choice". I wonder how long I will be stuck at this stage contemplating ... EDIT, about an hour later: This is so definitely the best Exceptional Story I have ever played so far, well, maybe except from Flint (and I have played them all but one) - I am enjoying every step of it. (Yes, even climbing up the lifeberg for many days.) As for what I wrote before about the easter egg - I couldn't do it. I did indeed find some of the unmentionable content echoed, and that was enough for me to decide I simply could not do it. Alas, I am not made of such stern stuff. All the more exciting to find myself soon afterward at a place I have only heard of in echoes and never thought I would see ... and here I am once again pondering a weighty decision. I love this story. edited by Arandia on 8/29/2016 -- Arandia van Graeff, Midnighter and crazy cat lady: http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Arandia Horace Glendower, a Seeker: http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Horace%20Glendower Looking for plant battles! Always happy to partake in social actions. No Affluent Photographer, no chess and no coffee invitations, please!
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Art Shrival Posts: 51 8/26/2016	Blaine Davidson wrote: Am I the only one who didn't mind the slog through the Lifeberg? Thematically it made sense and it added to the atmosphere. You're supposed to hate being on this near-corpse of a beast, it's supposed to be a pain to move around on it. It drains the life of your crew and I think it was an apt way to "drain" the player metaphorically and literally. I also didn't mind the lack of a proper reward (Whirring Contraption earned here). That's what makes your decisions have weight. I chose my option because it fit my character, not because I wanted more Echoes towards my Heptagoat. That's what the Fidgeting Writer is for. This has been my favourite Exceptional Story since Flint. A lot of them have been fairly forgettable for me, like the one where you bombed the embassy. I couldn't even remember the name of it or the unique item from said story. I wouldn't have minded the repeat of carving through the Lifeberg if there was content written for it. Even a repeat journey has a new story to tell, and there was ample room to describe the daily frustration and horror of carving through the back of living ice only to have it stubbornly reseal its wounds the next morning, but the identical actions only drew attention to the fact that you were grinding a mechanic rather than contesting against a living creature. In a story and choice oriented game, and especially in the case of Exceptional Stories, there's no need to make grinds a feature.
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Art Shrival Posts: 51 8/26/2016	Robin Alexander wrote: On another note: how do I get rid of the pinned storylet? It's driving me mad, as it's just sitting there, in every single area of London I go to, right at the top of every single list of storylets . . . is it just going to sit there like an eye-sore for three months? :-/ Hm, I think I would also find myself a little tired of it after a while. Perhaps they'll consign the storylet to just your Lodgings or whichever district the Breakwater House resides in so we can still access it at our leisure without having it be in the way.
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Skinnyman Posts: 2133 8/26/2016	Blaine Davidson wrote: Am I the only one who didn't mind the slog through the Lifeberg? Thematically it made sense and it added to the atmosphere. You're supposed to hate being on this near-corpse of a beast, it's supposed to be a pain to move around on it. It drains the life of your crew and I think it was an apt way to "drain" the player metaphorically and literally. I also didn't mind the lack of a proper reward (Whirring Contraption earned here). That's what makes your decisions have weight. I chose my option because it fit my character, not because I wanted more Echoes towards my Heptagoat. That's what the Fidgeting Writer is for. This has been my favourite Exceptional Story since Flint. A lot of them have been fairly forgettable for me, like the one where you bombed the embassy. I couldn't even remember the name of it or the unique item from said story. I applaud your emotion regarding this ES! Lifebergs do move and, if I remember correctly, they aren't that aggressive. Even if a Contraption has few uses (Ambition, item crafting and Newspapers) it takes 44 AP to get one; so I think it's a nice reward for people that need one. -- ESs items and quality requirements sheet. Please check if there are errors or if something is missing Achievement list if you're feeling bored! I am accepting Plant battles, Neath's Mysteries card, Starveling Cats and boxed cats. No suppers, no second chances gain and no need to cure my menaces!
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Crater Posts: 11 8/27/2016	A delicious story. I was tempted after examining the captain's scrawls to hang around and see what other nightmares might be lurking but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Did anyone else lose their nerve before reaching the "Easter egg"? (And yes, someone has echoed it. It was as I feared it would be.) Delivering the lieutenant to his grave was most satisfying and his boots will, I'm told, sell well. Call it retribution for the...silences that punctuated our discussion when zubmarines were brought up. Granted, I'll have little issue with quashing the investigations he started, but there's a principle that must be stood for. I'd have enjoyed being able to check up on the Jaunty Cannoneer though. Just to make sure she was comfortable after returning from the Horizon. Wouldn't it be keen if those who kept their promises were to receive the same crew back, ready to zail to Mutton Island and investigate a ruined ship populated by a singular woman and her zealous devotees? Could they be swayed away from your service? Or taken from it? Such possibilities. -- Enigmas burn, but truth flares. One day, a truth shall flare upon us all.
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Anne Auclair Posts: 2215 8/27/2016	I've just started a newspaper, so the whirling contraption is very much appreciated. It saved me having to muck about at Wilmot's End before I started the next edition. I think they're doing a new thing with the rewards and its connected with the fact that all three stories are really part of one very large story. Like, in the Season of Revolutions, all the stories shared a theme (Revolution!), but their plots were all standalone. Hence each story had a separate reward and trade-in item. It was the same with Frequently Deceased and Heart's Blood. With this story, you've been asked to perform three difficult tasks, each task being but a chapter, with a suitably large reward to come in the story's fourth and final chapter. The fact that the Lifeburg story is only the first chapter is also why it doesn't really have a proper ending. The story simply hasn't ended yet. edited by Anne Auclair on 8/27/2016 edited by Anne Auclair on 9/1/2016 -- http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Anne%20Auclair
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Cranston Pickle Posts: 14 8/27/2016	So, something I'm a little confused about: People keep referring to the zee voyage you need to make in order to advance the story and how it's unnecessary, a slog etc., but when I did it, I started the voyage, got an option about the lifeberg, clicked it, and arrived. Whole trip took me a single action. Is this a bug? Anyway, I liked this story overall. I didn't mind the lifeberg grind much, though I feel there could have been some more interesting rewards for it, and I did like the promise-making mechanic. One thing that I thought was a bit of a shame was the lack of acknowledgment for those that had already been to the Avid Horizon, though I imagine that so few people would end up seeing it that it wouldn't really be worth putting there. -- Fallen London profile: http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Cranston%20Pickle Open for any and all social actions.
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Optimatum Posts: 3666 8/27/2016	Cranston Pickle wrote: So, something I'm a little confused about: People keep referring to the zee voyage you need to make in order to advance the story and how it's unnecessary, a slog etc., but when I did it, I started the voyage, got an option about the lifeberg, clicked it, and arrived. Whole trip took me a single action. Is this a bug? That could be a bug, or it could be an intentional change in response to feedback. When I did it shortly after the story came out, I had to build up Approaching Journey's End just like in any other zee-voyage. It might not have needed 10 though, I was operating on autopilot. -- Optimatum, a ruthless and merciful gentleman. No plant battles, Affluent Photographer requests, or healing offers; all other social actions welcome. Want a sip of Cider? Just say hi! PM me for information enigmatic or Fated. Though the forum please, not FL itself.
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Art Shrival Posts: 51 8/27/2016	In regards to the zailing debate, I am rather confused as to why we can't narratively accommodate for both. For the Fruits of the Zee festivities at Mutton Island you had an option for charting your own course to the island or taking a ferry there. Not all players are equipped with the same zailing vehicle and I assume some newer players do not have one at all, so I don't think it would distract from the story to have branching options with varied travel mechanics.
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MadmanAtW Posts: 231 9/2/2016	I am disappointed enough that paying for the ES only gets me 2/3 of the content (due to the "easter egg") that I am considering buying a single month's Friendship on my alt just so I can see the alternate path, which may not be motivating the correct behavior on FBG's part. :P I didn't really mind the zailing but thought it was very weird that we had to zail to the lifeberg but it was then a single click to the following two destinations. I kind of felt like the story was a little scattered- [spoiler] The lifeberg could have been an entire story on its own. But then we also visit the Avid Horizon, which should have been a much bigger deal than it was! We haven't been able to go here before (aside from Seeking)! But here it's literally a single click to get there and then another to leave. And then the story is a conflict between the Admiralty and the Engineer. They all tie together around one person but it felt like I was reading Cloud Atlas more than a single tight narrative. But that's a matter of personal preference, really. [/spoiler] -- http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Madman~Across~the~Water http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Xoricco Accepting any social actions except the Affluent Photographer. Would appreciate warning of dupings/betrayals/rats.
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Frederick Metzengerstein Posts: 69 10/3/2016	This story was fantastic. I loved, loved, love it. Perhaps my favourite to date. Distinctly Lovecraftian. Chilling. My favourite part of the story was definitely the tragic lifeberg expedition. It felt so perilous, cold and wrong from the very beginning. There was such a well done feeling of dread on the lifeberg. Bravo. edited by Frederick Metzengerstein on 10/3/2016
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Lamia Lawless Posts: 604 9/1/2016	Updated! My character has to decide what she values more (spoilers for the ending under the cut): [spoiler]Knowledge, or preventing horrible, brutal human sacrifice. Classic Fallen London. Update: I had fun thinking this one through. I broke it up into several considerations: -Whether it was more important to know for certain that my character prevented a death in the immediate future, or to prevent near-certain deaths in the unforeseeable future. -Whether it was more important to try to protect the sanctity of life (having decided that preventing an immediate and certain murder is more important than possibly preventing future murders), or to make an effort to prevent London's enemies from building things that might be used as weapons to wage war on London someday. -Whether it was more important to respect the dying old man's feelings, or act on her own feelings about his son. In the end, I decided my character would most likely think, "There's a murder I can definitely prevent right now. What she chooses to do with her life, after that, is her responsibility, not mine." The Bespectacled Man seemed to think the engineer would change her mind eventually, too. She chose to help him fake the Engineer's death. Presumably with a borrowed corpse, not a created one. As for the Khanate possibly using zubmarines someday as weapons against London, that was even more hypothetical and distant to L.L. than the human sacrifices, so it didn't loom particularly large in her imagination. The assassin will probably go on being an assassin, and the engineer will probably go on to sacrifice human lives, but that's their choice. L.L. did the thing that she had immediate control over. Then I was surprised by one of the options you get when you return the coffin to the Severe Bluejacket: The option to kill the Emaciated Survivor and pretend his body is his son's. "What the hell? That seems so unnecessary," I thought. But then I figured that was probably an option for the Ruthless character who's hoping the Bluejacket will reward them with riches if he thinks his last wishes were fulfilled. Anyway, L.L. told him the truth, 'cause she also doesn't believe in lying to people just so they won't feel bad. And also wouldn't anyone be glad their son was alive, even if he was doing something horrible? I echoed everything to my journal, now I'm going to check out what everyone else did.[/spoiler] edited by Lamia Lawless on 9/1/2016 -- The Harmonic Hellfarer
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Cthonius Posts: 362 10/3/2016	ChurlishCanadian wrote: Barselaar wrote: You'll be able to play it eventually - Exceptional Stories are usually released for purchase on the Fate tab 3 months after their initial release to Exceptional Friends! Thanks for the clarification ... I just wanted to be sure that parts two and three will be available by then as well. I've played through the "starter" sequence at the House of Chimes and spoke with the Bluejacket; will that retain part two of the story past the end of October? Sorry for the novice questions, but, well ... I'm an FL novice. (Although I have played a lot of Sunless Sea prior to this.) Thank you again. edited by ChurlishCanadian on 10/3/2016 Most stories say "You've unlocked This Story's Name to play etc" when you do the intro sequence stuff, so you should have it all good for whenever you want to play. Being that the hub is new I'm not sure how it'll look when the stories are played after the season. Maybe it'll bring the hub back if the stories are bought? Either way there's no harm playing it now rather than waiting, so far the two stories can be easily played out of order as they don't connect beyond being requests of the Bluejacket. Events and characters of the first aren't referenced in the second. -- Cthonius, gone North. Gone. Oneiropompus, a Scarlet Saint, eager to help make your dreams realities. Accepting all social requests for now.
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Optimatum Posts: 3666 10/2/2016	phryne wrote: Interesting that we didn't get a unique curiosity item from this story - apparently, this time the seasonal reward storylet will work differently than before. Yep, this time completion is determined by qualities. For this story, the quality A Coffin for Lieutenant R. F. Harris determines what you did at the very end. The quality Settling the Bluejacket's Affairs has been used by both stories so far; as far as I can tell it records how close your chosen ending is to the Bluejacket's wishes. -- Optimatum, a ruthless and merciful gentleman. No plant battles, Affluent Photographer requests, or healing offers; all other social actions welcome. Want a sip of Cider? Just say hi! PM me for information enigmatic or Fated. Though the forum please, not FL itself.
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Chris Gardiner Administrator Posts: 539 9/4/2016	Chinkster wrote: Hi everyone! I just tried a 1 month sub to the game and am now an Exceptional Friend... but I still can't play this story? All the 3 stories show "locked". Hiya, could you send us a bug report about this? We recently made a change so Exceptional Friends should no longer need to unlock this story at the House of Chimes. The first of the season's stories should be showing up as unlocked for current Exceptional Friends. edited by babelfishwars on 9/4/2016
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Optimatum Posts: 3666 10/10/2016	I suspect finishing the Travel-Writer's storyline will answer your question. -- Optimatum, a ruthless and merciful gentleman. No plant battles, Affluent Photographer requests, or healing offers; all other social actions welcome. Want a sip of Cider? Just say hi! PM me for information enigmatic or Fated. Though the forum please, not FL itself.
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Absintheuse Posts: 348 2/20/2017	Where You and I Must Go is now available to purchase for Fate!
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Mr Sables Posts: 597 8/27/2016	Anne Auclair wrote: Well, I'm a paying player and I want to zail. I doubt I'm the only one. See, I respect your opinion, but I do think you may be a minority . . . You said it yourself, FBG has to respond to the majority of players, not the few. I think the mechanics here have been a point of contention, both on the forums and on chat, and we have no way of knowing how many emails FBG received (or even if this was a response to feedback, as no official statement has been left). If FBG are responding to feedback and the majority, isn't that a good thing? It wouldn't be as if they are compromising their artistic vision or changing anything major. It would just be one mechanic, to set people off on the right foot, and no one who plays since then would even notice it missing (having never played before). It's like someone else said about the whirring contraption reward: "it'll only bug you, if you know the alternative". Your play experience contained the thing you wanted, which is to zail, so how does this ruin your experience if it's changed for people after? Anne Auclair wrote: Because no one else would do it? Palpable desperation seemed the obvious motive. And zailing takes time, there are dangers, so why should it be easy? [...] For me that was just set up. The main story began when I took to the water. If you feel this strongly, why not suggest a compromise to FBG? You're more then entailed to email them, and I believe a compromise is easily reached. There could be an option that says: "take the guy up on his offer to head straight to your destination, or choose to zail the zees yourself! Head to Wolfstack Docks to make your decision". That way you can take 10-20 actions to zail, or you can 'teleport' there and skip the mechanic, depending on player preference and player level (such as not having a boat, thus needing the offer to 'teleport'.
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Optimatum Posts: 3666 8/27/2016	Anne Auclair wrote: Optimatum wrote: Cranston Pickle wrote: So, something I'm a little confused about: People keep referring to the zee voyage you need to make in order to advance the story and how it's unnecessary, a slog etc., but when I did it, I started the voyage, got an option about the lifeberg, clicked it, and arrived. Whole trip took me a single action. Is this a bug? That could be a bug, or it could be an intentional change in response to feedback. When I did it shortly after the story came out, I had to build up Approaching Journey's End just like in any other zee-voyage. It might not have needed 10 though, I was operating on autopilot. I really hope they didn't change it because a few people complained at having to go zailing. Like, if you're going to complain about zailing to find a lifeburg, why not complain about having to zail to get to Polythreme? Or the Elder Continent? Sometimes I find zailing annoying, sometimes I find it fun, it honestly depends. This time I found it rather fun. Like, I'm against pointless padding - I was critical of the otherwise excellent Pentacoast Predicament for having an unnecessary flash lay (a mechanic that worked well in the Unsinkable Governess storyline, but which in the monkey story just felt tacked on). But zailing to find something at zee is not pointless padding. edited by Anne Auclair on 8/27/2016 Zailing on its own is not pointless padding; that's not the problem. It becomes pointless padding when it doesn't add to the story and there's two other instances of pointless padding drawing out the story further. Zailing in this instance is also not at all necessary story-wise, as the person sponsoring this expedition said he'd be providing the ship and crew, so the player not having to do everything would be a reasonable decision. (Even though players with ships found themselves using their own to explain the mechanics at zee.) If we can pay eight fate to have a journey instantly finish, surely paying for Exceptional Friendship can provide that same service once? As for why I wouldn't complain about zailing to a normal location, it's very simple - it doesn't interrupt a story. There may be stories at the destination and stories that unlocked it, but the zailing is an anticipated step before beginning any story that may appear on arrival. (As Ambitions are incredibly long-running stories they naturally fit between doing other activities, so visiting Ambition-related destinations doesn't have this issue.) The issue here is that the zailing appeared partway into the story and served to interrupt it. This would be a smaller issue for a regular story, but for an exclusive story designed to attract and keep paying subscribers? Any significant disruption of the story and experience is a problem. (Flint had zailing partway through, but successfully avoided issues by giving the player a one-time instant teleport there. There's no reason a teleport couldn't be done here too.) -- Optimatum, a ruthless and merciful gentleman. No plant battles, Affluent Photographer requests, or healing offers; all other social actions welcome. Want a sip of Cider? Just say hi! PM me for information enigmatic or Fated. Though the forum please, not FL itself.
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aegisaglow Posts: 202 8/27/2016	If someone could PM me with links to echoes of the "easter egg" I'd like that as well. -- Mx. Aglow. Glazier, hedonist, devil-teaser, Paramount Presence. Pursuing their Heart's Desire. Ms. Lilian Leith. A lady of proper standing, which seems like an increasingly ludicrous thing to give a rat's ___ about. Known (to some) for her Light Fingers.
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Optimatum Posts: 3666 8/27/2016	The story always switches over on the last Thursday of the previous month. I'm not quite sure why, but it's always been that way. Anyways, the previous story is gone now. If you didn't activate it, you're probably out of luck - you could try contacting Failbetter and explaining the circumstances, but no clue what their policy is. (No matter what, you won't get a reply for a couple days minimum since they don't do anything over weekends.) edited by Optimatum on 8/27/2016 -- Optimatum, a ruthless and merciful gentleman. No plant battles, Affluent Photographer requests, or healing offers; all other social actions welcome. Want a sip of Cider? Just say hi! PM me for information enigmatic or Fated. Though the forum please, not FL itself.
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Mr. Sails Posts: 37 8/27/2016	I.. I.. I eh.. Things... Things shall be well And all manner of things.. Shall be well edited by Cantankerous Captain on 8/27/2016
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aegisaglow Posts: 202 8/26/2016	I would've been perfectly happy to get a Whirring Contraption even if it's worth less on paper than the other rewards, because then I could run my newspaper again without having to go through Wilmot's End. (But I just ran my paper for the first time the other day, so I can understand if the novelty has worn off for others.) -- Mx. Aglow. Glazier, hedonist, devil-teaser, Paramount Presence. Pursuing their Heart's Desire. Ms. Lilian Leith. A lady of proper standing, which seems like an increasingly ludicrous thing to give a rat's ___ about. Known (to some) for her Light Fingers.
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Teaspoon Posts: 866 8/26/2016	It's not true that the lowest reward is always that many echoes. I had a mere Constable's Badge as my reward for June's story. -- Truth lies at the bottom of a well. https://www.fallenlondon.com/profile/Alt%20Ern
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plasmid Posts: 21 8/26/2016	[spoiler] just to be sure- is there any story after telling the bluejaket that the coffin is empty? i got the wirring contraption, which is fine with me, but i feels like there is an epilogue somewhere that i'm missing[/spoiler] -- Key P miskatonic- an persuasive, watchful and dangerous individual of mysterious gender, with a divine amount of serpents following him: http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Key~P~Miskatonic~ bells_book- letal and sinister gentleman with a love of music http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Bells_book
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ochrasy Posts: 169 8/29/2016	so, I [spoiler]returned the empty casket and told him his son is alive[/spoiler] and I appear to have got, uh, nothing. only things that showed up at the results was 10x putting the bluejacket's affairs on orders (or something like that) and that's it. I looked at my items and I haven't got the boots or the contraption either. -- Ochrasy. Monster-Hunter. Dangerous and Watchful, favors the Constables. Robitaille. Persuasive and Shadowy, fond of the Devils. Herr Horst. Seeker of Revenge. Open to all social actions on all accounts. Preferably, send any MW-providing actions to Ochrasy.
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Luminen Walker Posts: 172 8/29/2016	Figured I'd say something with everyone else voicing their opinions on the alternate path. Why do people want a warning for everything in this? I'm kind of disappointed they announced it being a thing, because if you payed attention it's pretty obvious something would happen if you let it happen. It wasn't really hidden it just didn't have anything in-game explicitly saying "something interesting this way." In a game with limited content, going to the next step and telling me in-game what does what in a metagamey fashion isn't what I want out of Fallen London because it ruins any capacity for figuring things out on my own. I understand people wanting to see it, but do you really want to go down the path of bitching at failbetter until they just flat out tell you everything beforehand? My only complaint on this story was the combination of zailing, investigation, and the reseting of the exploration progress. Zailing I have no problem with, investigation I have no problem with, and I could have lived with the exploration but all three in a row the way they were felt a little like an action sink to me. Otherwise it would be nice if the breakwater house storylet was left at my lodgings instead of being accessible everywhere. -- 1 - Cpt. Martin Walker, a Paramount and Marvellous Dreamer. 2 - Ariana Crivelli, a silent and sagacious lady.
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Barse Posts: 706 8/28/2016	You will have got Ratskin boots from killing him, which can be sold for a decent-ish sum if you don't want to use them, I think. -- The Scorched Sailor, up for most social actions and RP. Not as scary as he looks.
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Optimatum Posts: 3666 8/28/2016	Anne Auclair wrote: Like, I don't think there is actually an Exceptional Story with this many twists and turns! Most Exceptional Stories are ultimately about one thing and might have, at best, a single twist (nothing wrong with this, it's just the usual formula). Where You And I Must Go started out as a murder mystery, turned into a survival-horror quest, transitioned into a morality play (your promises), and finally came full circle as an espionage thriller. That's a lot of variety, variety that is not necessarily standalone. I would slightly disagree about that first point. The Art of Murder was quite unusual in the same way with several distinct segments of the story. It began with a murder investigation, unexpectedly transitioned to an art show, then became a horror-style flight for your life. IMO it wasn't done as well there; I recall discussions at the time of the transitions feeling slightly jarring. (Also, did this one really start out as a murder mystery? The only mention of murder was the very first stoylet, which often isn't directly related to the events of the ES itself. It was more foreshadowing for the final bit than part of the early story.) -- Optimatum, a ruthless and merciful gentleman. No plant battles, Affluent Photographer requests, or healing offers; all other social actions welcome. Want a sip of Cider? Just say hi! PM me for information enigmatic or Fated. Though the forum please, not FL itself.
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John Moose Posts: 276 8/28/2016	Catherine Raymond wrote: It finally dawned on me what the reference in the title of this monh's ES is. It's to the folksong, "The Demon Lover". Steeleye Span did a recent version of it, but I think all of the versions have the relevant phrase. I like Steeleye Span's version the best so I'll quote it: "What is that mountain yonder there Where evil winds do blow?” “Yonder's the mountain of hell,” he cried, “Where you and I must go." After those words, the ship the two are on sinks to the bottom of the sea. Several versions of the lyrics may be found here: https://mainlynorfolk.info/lloyd/songs/thedemonlover.html Thank you! I thought the conversation upon making camp seemed... odd, not like the normal way those characters talk. Of course it was a reference. "The Cannoneer nudges the Stoker. "'O whaten a mountain is yon,' she said. 'So dreary wi' frost and snow?'" The Stoker huffs, her breath curling white. "'O yon is the mountain of hell,’ he cried, ‘Where you and I must go.’""
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Cranston Pickle Posts: 14 8/30/2016	Received a response (thank you!) regarding my confusion about not needing to do a zee voyage during this story. Probably shouldn't go into details, but I will say the issue's been fixed and the cause was something of an edge case anyway. -- Fallen London profile: http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Cranston%20Pickle Open for any and all social actions.
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Pnakotic Posts: 266 8/31/2016	As a convenient source for Romantic Notions, Intriguing Snippets, Mysteries of the Elder Continent, and Memories of Distant Shores, access to Breakwater House seems like a pretty good deal. Sure, it's not the best Echoes/Action for a POSI, but it's convenient access without having to travel around much or convert goods. I'd think it would be very nice for a lower level character. -- J. Ward Dunn, Glassman Book of All Hours 9:99: Journey's end in lover's meeting. Progress is ascendancy.
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Dean Lee Posts: 133 8/25/2016	I am so gosh darned excited for a zee based season -- A list of credentials A Business Card Research progress: 77 volumes of cryptopaleontoligy 77 volumes of Prelapsarian archeology 77 volumes of theosophistry.
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Eglantine-Fox Posts: 872 8/25/2016	absimiliard wrote: Terror??!!!!!! Awesome! I am so glad to hear all us FL people will need to learn to deal with Terror! (I'm so excited I'm simply full of exclamation points!!!! SEE!!!!!!!!) It's actually kind of perfect for anyone who has zailing stuff as part of their character - all the lore and exploration... The Terror is a side bonus. XD -- Eglantine Fox, the charming and androgynous Correspondent, teetering between hobbies of seduction and self-destruction. Siobhan O'Malley, Irish patriot (or 'bl__dy Fenian' if you're impolite). Isidore Day, an up-and-coming London gentleman. All allegations of wrongdoing are categorically denied.
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absimiliard Posts: 759 8/25/2016	Terror??!!!!!! Awesome! I am so glad to hear all us FL people will need to learn to deal with Terror! (I'm so excited I'm simply full of exclamation points!!!! SEE!!!!!!!!) -- "Because, Parabola!" -- the Curious Captain Eating nightmares from friends -- and I'm easy to befriend. Absimiliard: the Black Rose of Wolfstack Docks
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sosisqua Posts: 120 8/25/2016	Hey, guys. Will the storylet 'An Exceptional Season: Visit Breakwater House' last active until the end of month for a non-exceptional? I can't help myself but to farm free items there but i need to farm for other things elsewhere! -- http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Sosisqua%20Sardelqua http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Lazy%20Citizen is LOITERING with everyone. "Through the gate of North, as we make our way to Mr.Candle"
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maleclypse Posts: 259 8/25/2016	My wife and I have been pondering and talking all morning about the potential behind this season being linked more than just abstractly. !!!! -- Maintaining a controlling interest in my soul requires a pretty constant negotiation between the various shareholder interests. Thankfully the Fingerkings 23% control makes a pretty good foil to unite the other factions enough to get to 51%. http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Maleclypse
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Blaine Davidson Posts: 388 8/25/2016	genesis wrote: Blaine Davidson wrote: Oh god, since when do the stories come out so early? I purposely burned through all my actions prior to bed so that I'd have full candles in the morning. They almost always come out on the last Thursday of the month Oh I know they come out on Thursdays but usually around noon or 1PM for me, not 4AM in the morning. I could be mistaken though and just bitter I pre-emptively spent all my actions. -- Blaine Davidson, a reserved and sensible woman with a fondness of collecting rarities.
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Ian Hart Posts: 437 8/25/2016	Oh wow, just spent my first night on the lifeburg. This story is chilling, I love it. -- http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Antifinity
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Barse Posts: 706 8/25/2016	Sir Joseph Marlen wrote: So, the secret's been found. Anyone know where we can ask about it? If you don't ask, you'll save yourself a lot of strife. -- The Scorched Sailor, up for most social actions and RP. Not as scary as he looks.
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Eglantine-Fox Posts: 872 8/25/2016	Oh god, I'm so awfully mercenary. My first thought upon finishing was 'okay, where's the reward?' But I do appreciate the chance to explore new places, and see certain things without SMEN destroying me utterly. =D -- Eglantine Fox, the charming and androgynous Correspondent, teetering between hobbies of seduction and self-destruction. Siobhan O'Malley, Irish patriot (or 'bl__dy Fenian' if you're impolite). Isidore Day, an up-and-coming London gentleman. All allegations of wrongdoing are categorically denied.
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genesis Posts: 924 8/25/2016	So, how do you get to Breakwater House? I played the initial storylet in the House of Chimes to "save" the story. But now I don't see any way to go back to Breakwater House. Any ideas? -- http://fallenlondon.com/Profile/mikey_thinkin Keeping track of incomplete content and loose ends in Fallen London
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Cthonius Posts: 362 8/25/2016	I'm tempted to do the SMEN option in the captains cabin. Hmm... -- Cthonius, gone North. Gone. Oneiropompus, a Scarlet Saint, eager to help make your dreams realities. Accepting all social requests for now.
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suinicide Posts: 2409 8/25/2016	If you're tempted, you know what you need to do. -- http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/profile/sunnytime A gentleman seeking the liberation of knowledge, with a penchant for violence. RIP suinicide, stuck in a well. Still has it under control.
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Kade Carrion (an_ocelot) Posts: 1372 8/26/2016	Final thoughts: Content-wise, I liked that it was Seeking-adjacent for those interested but not planning to go NORTH themselves. And any ending where I ponder the best option for literal hours is a good ending. Mechanics-wise, [spoiler]As others have said, having to keep gaining the Way onto the lifeberg was not great. I liked being able to choose different options, but I would have preferred setting out all the options at the start, making the Way threshold higher, and letting us decide which of them we were going to use, maybe all or maybe not. I think this probably disinclined me to go back to the ship just to see if there was anything else, which meant I missed the captain's writing on his walls. I should note that, because we didn't immediately get given the option to read the writing, I formed the impression that we _couldn't_: you put text in front of me, I read it! It's automatic when I see it! So I'm a little bummed to have missed that. I also agree that the hidden branch wasn't properly an Easter Egg, because I would've looked differently for it.[/spoiler] Here's where my echoes start. -- Social Actions: send them to Kade Carrion (she/her; no Tournament of Lilies, please). an_ocelot has gone NORTH and cannot benefit from social actions! Possibly-Useful Things: Spreadsheets and hints and link collections, oh my.
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RandomWalker Posts: 948 8/26/2016	Night whisper for my choice. Don't forget that there are a few little rewards scattered amongst the storylets, but overall exceptional stories are generally bad EPA from a end-gamer's perspective.
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suinicide Posts: 2409 8/26/2016	I think Whirring contraptions have been confused with collections of curiosities, which are what you can trade with the tomb colonists. The main benefit of having a whirring contraption is that they are a pain to get otherwise. -- http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/profile/sunnytime A gentleman seeking the liberation of knowledge, with a penchant for violence. RIP suinicide, stuck in a well. Still has it under control.
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Skinnyman Posts: 2133 8/26/2016	I don't remember anything implying that a story, even ES, a festival or anything else will have a great reward (hundreds and hundreds of E) at the end. I find a contraption enough rewarding as FL isn't pay to win. Pity to see that the reward is more important than a story! There are enough (repeatable) Fate options which have a big EPA. So there's always an option! Let's enjoy the stories and worry less about Echoes! edited by Skinnyman on 8/26/2016 -- ESs items and quality requirements sheet. Please check if there are errors or if something is missing Achievement list if you're feeling bored! I am accepting Plant battles, Neath's Mysteries card, Starveling Cats and boxed cats. No suppers, no second chances gain and no need to cure my menaces!
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Barse Posts: 706 8/26/2016	Trilby wrote: Blaine Davidson wrote: A lot of them have been fairly forgettable for me, like the one where you bombed the embassy. I couldn't even remember the name of it or the unique item from said story. There was a unique item from that? As in an actual bit of equipment? I suspect this person was talking about the Account of Hell's Triremes (probably not exactly the name of item, but close enough) that is the unique reward from the Embassy ES which will - hopefully soon - along with 2 other items grant access to last season's cash-in story. -- The Scorched Sailor, up for most social actions and RP. Not as scary as he looks.
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Cthonius Posts: 362 8/26/2016	The reward is shockingly small, but considering the way to get that is the "cop out" option, where nobody dies, I guess it makes sense. It's certainly a disappointing reward and I can't help but wonder if an opportunity card will appear. Being that my luck with post-ES cards appearing is abysmal though... That aside I enjoyed it. A lot of mechanical filler that could've been cut down though. I like the journey up the lifeberg, just not making it several times. I liked cases being used again, but getting the progress up like 4 times or so was tedious. I'm interested in how this links to the Admiralty in Sunless Sea and their goals. The stuff at the Horizon was not at all what I expected but certainly welcome. Loved the mechanics of keeping promises to the crew. Found the last choices were hard, but mostly because I felt like we were lacking info. Couldn't even say what I'd want to know more on, as it certainly hints well enough at plenty. Just it felt weird, like their should be more for that choice. EDIT: [spoiler] I can't help but wonder, if at the end I chose differently, if I had a body for the coffin, would there be another smen option? [/spoiler] edited by Cthonius on 8/26/2016 -- Cthonius, gone North. Gone. Oneiropompus, a Scarlet Saint, eager to help make your dreams realities. Accepting all social requests for now.
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Barse Posts: 706 8/25/2016	I am very curious as to how the three wreck-explorations will be differentiated, yeah - but I have high hopes! -- The Scorched Sailor, up for most social actions and RP. Not as scary as he looks.
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An Individual Posts: 589 8/25/2016	Barselaar wrote: Sir Joseph Marlen wrote: So, the secret's been found. Anyone know where we can ask about it? If you don't ask, you'll save yourself a lot of strife. Secrets? Self inflicted strife? This is a thing which must be found! If anyone would be willing to PM me vague hints about this it would be appreciated. I don't want to know the exact what and how, but given that I only get one pass at this I'd like to make sure that I don't lock myself out of it by going too far. -- An Individual's Profile The RNG giveth and the RNG taketh away. Goat Farming or Cider Brewing? This browser extension may help. Want a Cider sip? Please refer to this guide before requesting. Scholaring the Correspondence? A Brief Guide to Courier's Footprint. Contemplating Oblivion? First Steps on the Seeking Road. Gone NORTH? Opened the gate? Throw your character in a well.
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suinicide Posts: 2409 8/26/2016	As much as I appreciated the opportunity to do the things that happened behind the easter egg and have my character live with that. I really hope this doesn't become a common thing, it kinda lessens it if there's unknowable warning signs everywhere. -- http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/profile/sunnytime A gentleman seeking the liberation of knowledge, with a penchant for violence. RIP suinicide, stuck in a well. Still has it under control.
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Art Shrival Posts: 51 8/26/2016	Does anyone know whether the zailing portion of the ES resets your Fascinating, Dramatic Tension, or Inspired qualities? I have a character with quite a bit built up and would hate to lose them.
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Eglantine-Fox Posts: 872 8/26/2016	Art Shrival wrote: Does anyone know whether the zailing portion of the ES resets your Fascinating, Dramatic Tension, or Inspired qualities? I have a character with quite a bit built up and would hate to lose them. It doesn't seem to, no. I kept mine. -- Eglantine Fox, the charming and androgynous Correspondent, teetering between hobbies of seduction and self-destruction. Siobhan O'Malley, Irish patriot (or 'bl__dy Fenian' if you're impolite). Isidore Day, an up-and-coming London gentleman. All allegations of wrongdoing are categorically denied.
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Optimatum Posts: 3666 8/26/2016	What do you think happens? (Mechanically, nothing particularly interesting.) -- Optimatum, a ruthless and merciful gentleman. No plant battles, Affluent Photographer requests, or healing offers; all other social actions welcome. Want a sip of Cider? Just say hi! PM me for information enigmatic or Fated. Though the forum please, not FL itself.
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Diptych Administrator Posts: 3493 8/26/2016	Televangelist wrote: Edit: Ugh why are spoiler tags working in the part I quoted, but not for the latter half of my message edited by Televangelist on 8/26/2016 It's a restriction of the forum software, I'm afraid - only one spoiler per post! -- Sir Frederick, the Libertarian Esotericist. Lord Hubris, the Bloody Baron. Juniper Brown, the Ill-Fated Orphan. Esther Ellis-Hall, the Fashionable Fabian.
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Optimatum Posts: 3666 8/26/2016	Skinnyman wrote: An Individual wrote: I did the thing. I'll keep it a secret because the game asked me to but I don't see why it's a secret. If anyone else is considering doing this my advice is don't. And I don't mean "don't" in the fun SMEN kind of way. [spoiler]Right now I just feel like I traded a more interesting version of the story for a more bland version of the story and locked myself out of learning what was up with one of the mechanics. Maybe later something of interest will happen linked to these events but right now this may end up being the first ES that I ever reset just so I can go through it properly.[/spoiler] Just a small question: is it well hidden or, if you're curious enough, you'll find it? Both, I would say. -- Optimatum, a ruthless and merciful gentleman. No plant battles, Affluent Photographer requests, or healing offers; all other social actions welcome. Want a sip of Cider? Just say hi! PM me for information enigmatic or Fated. Though the forum please, not FL itself.
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Cthonius Posts: 362 8/25/2016	An Individual wrote: Barselaar wrote: Sir Joseph Marlen wrote: So, the secret's been found. Anyone know where we can ask about it? If you don't ask, you'll save yourself a lot of strife. Secrets? Self inflicted strife? This is a thing which must be found! If anyone would be willing to PM me vague hints about this it would be appreciated. I don't want to know the exact what and how, but given that I only get one pass at this I'd like to make sure that I don't lock myself out of it by going too far. [spoiler]If I'm reading the hint a over correctly, you need to gain 14 of the days on the lifeberg or whatever quality. Then...do something bad? It does say you've only enough supplies for a fortnight[/spoiler] Please spoiler clues or guesses at clues to this. Lordy. edited by Chris Gardiner on 8/25/2016 -- Cthonius, gone North. Gone. Oneiropompus, a Scarlet Saint, eager to help make your dreams realities. Accepting all social requests for now.
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Saklad Posts: 528 8/25/2016	Can someone PM me a journal entry of the easter egg? -- Saklad5, a man of many talents
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Dean Lee Posts: 133 8/26/2016	The Severe Bluejacket is a great character, and I felt that my actions are gonna have true emotional resonance over this season. Edit: totally agree with you Blaine! edited by Dean Lee on 8/26/2016 -- A list of credentials A Business Card Research progress: 77 volumes of cryptopaleontoligy 77 volumes of Prelapsarian archeology 77 volumes of theosophistry.
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Gonen Posts: 817 8/26/2016	I love the idea of the bonus for the season (3 EF stories) that comes BEFORE the stories and unlocks bit by bit. Excellent! Other than that, I have no comments on the story yet, since did not start it. But the intro sounds very exciting. Looking forward to this story, and to this season at that. Another question, for the players. Quirks is important for me. Can someone tell me, please (PM or here with spoiler) which quirks is LOWERED when choosing the second option, at the introduction storylet: "Study the gory details" (blood stain picture)? Thank you! -- The Ashen Anesthesiologist - Paramount Londoner Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness. The long journey to eccentricity: On March 10th, 2018, reached 15 on all quirks, simultaneously. The Quirky Anesthesiologist
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lady ciel Posts: 2548 8/26/2016	I know Collections of Curiosities can be traded to the Tomb Colonists on their card but I don't remember seeing an option that uses Contraptions. As far as I know Whirring Contraptions are used to start the presses if you have a Newspaper; crafting a Zubmarine or to play a certain fate-locked option on the Decommissioned Steamer card. -- ciel Sorry RL means I am not a very active player at the moment. No social actions unless you are prepared to wait and definitely no sparring or other mult-action things. No Calling Cards or boxed cats please. Will take dupes on the affluent photographers. Other social invitations welcome. Parabolan Kittens usually available, send me an in-game social action saying you want one and I will get one to you as soon as possible. storynexus name - reveurciel
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BlabberingMat Posts: 385 8/25/2016	We have terror here! How nice to see it outsside of SS! Also, it is bringing some unpleasant memories... -- Alt-Lana Loter Main-Always Drunk Slav "To see a world in a grain of sand, and Heaven in wild flowers. To hold an infinity in palm of hand and Eternity in an hour” Finally, I am Crooked Cross! Feel free to send invitations for Salon! As of June 5th, 1895, I am London's newest Legendary Charisma! The current progress in Mega Soul Grind: 53727/1 639 121 Souls
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BlabberingMat Posts: 385 8/25/2016	suinicide wrote: BlabberingMat wrote: Is it just me or are checks on some cards easier? I am pretty sure that some Persuasive checks got lessened (from modest to straightforward) And sailing difficulty is a 1, when I think it was always a 6 before. Nice to see what it does. edited by suinicide on 8/25/2016 Ah, I see! Haven't noticed that before! Well, I am not complaining! -- Alt-Lana Loter Main-Always Drunk Slav "To see a world in a grain of sand, and Heaven in wild flowers. To hold an infinity in palm of hand and Eternity in an hour” Finally, I am Crooked Cross! Feel free to send invitations for Salon! As of June 5th, 1895, I am London's newest Legendary Charisma! The current progress in Mega Soul Grind: 53727/1 639 121 Souls
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Barse Posts: 706 8/25/2016	I loved this. I thought this was fab, and I'm super excited for some of the most appropriate in-character hijinks ever in the rest of this season's stories. edited by Barselaar on 8/25/2016 -- The Scorched Sailor, up for most social actions and RP. Not as scary as he looks.
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BlabberingMat Posts: 385 8/25/2016	JimmyTMalice wrote: I'm liking the story in this ES so far, but the artificial action-sink of having to climb up to the wreck every time you want to do anything is just tedious. Yeah, mechanistically, it is a bit of hit and miss. -- Alt-Lana Loter Main-Always Drunk Slav "To see a world in a grain of sand, and Heaven in wild flowers. To hold an infinity in palm of hand and Eternity in an hour” Finally, I am Crooked Cross! Feel free to send invitations for Salon! As of June 5th, 1895, I am London's newest Legendary Charisma! The current progress in Mega Soul Grind: 53727/1 639 121 Souls
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BlabberingMat Posts: 385 8/25/2016	sosisqua wrote: Hey, guys. Will the storylet 'An Exceptional Season: Visit Breakwater House' last active until the end of month for a non-exceptional? I can't help myself but to farm free items there but i need to farm for other things elsewhere! Well, it will remain open at least three more months for EF, so...maybe? -- Alt-Lana Loter Main-Always Drunk Slav "To see a world in a grain of sand, and Heaven in wild flowers. To hold an infinity in palm of hand and Eternity in an hour” Finally, I am Crooked Cross! Feel free to send invitations for Salon! As of June 5th, 1895, I am London's newest Legendary Charisma! The current progress in Mega Soul Grind: 53727/1 639 121 Souls
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Catherine Raymond Posts: 2518 9/1/2016	Because it's not possible to have two or more sets of spoiler tags in a single post, I am posting my response to Lamia Lawless's comments separately. Her post, behind the spoiler tags out of concern for prematurely revealing plot details to players who have not yet completed the ES, was very thoughtful and deserves a thoughtful response. [spoiler] I saw multiple moral choice issues in the story climax. Yes, you are absolutely right that the character had to decide whether to prevent a murder. But I don't think the other side of the coin was just about knowledge (though that's how the Engineer sees it). The real moral question here was whether it is more important to risk outraging the Lorn Flukes once more by continuing to explore beneath the deep waters, or proceeding with the Engineer's invention which would permit and encourage such exploration. In addition, there is an additional level of moral decision. The character's choices are: to kill Harris, and end his mission permanently (not just of killing the Engineer, but of preventing underwater exploration); to kill the Engineer (fulfilling Harris's immediate objective for him, and ending her mission), or to dupe Harris into believing the Engineer is dead (which allows both missions to continue but does not preclude the possibility that Harris might kill the Engineer at a later date). If I were in the situation presented to my ES character, I would have chosen to dupe Harris with a fake Engineer corpse, because I would have been unwilling to commit murder for policy reasons alone when the potential outcome of killing Harris or the Engineer was so uncertain. But that is not the decision my character made in the game. She would have focused on the policy objectives-prevent further outrage by the Lorn Flukes vs. the more long-term good of increasing knowledge--and decided that it was more important to prevent a Lorn Fluke disaster. Yet she does not commit murder gratuitously either. She would have concluded that there was no reason to stop Harris in his mission, and thus she did not. By the way, my character chose to tell the Bluejacket that Harris is alive. That is characteristic of her; in many circumstances, she considers lying more culpable of murder. In that she has become a true Child of the Neath. :-) [/spoiler] -- Cathy Raymond http://fallenlondon.com/Profile/cathyr19355 Catherine Raymond aka Mrs. Rykar Malkus http://fallenlondon.com/Profile/Catherine%20Raymond (Gone NORTH)
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Lamia Lawless Posts: 604 9/1/2016	Catherine Raymond (spoilered for discussing the ending): [spoiler]Yeah, the Lorn Flukes also got glossed over for Lamia, because as she is (before she's started her Sunless Sea adventures) she isn't really aware of their existence at all right now. Also, as her player, I don't know much about them either, other than that they apparently came to the Neath with the Bazaar and there was some sort of betrayal. And now they float around in the zee being full of hate and Correspondence. I also skipped over the consideration of killing Harris, since her focus was so heavily on murder-prevention. It wouldn't have made sense for her to kill him. And after a certain point "Knowledge!" stopped being a consideration, too- after L.L. saw Harris's tools. To her, the future is vague and full of more possibilities than she can foresee, and she didn't feel like killing anyone or letting anyone die would have had a concrete result anyway. She couldn't be sure that Engineer + dead = no human sacrifice (again, a consideration that was more clear to her than what the Lorn Flukes might do, or the possibility of the Khanate developing war weapons). Or that killing Harris, which she really wouldn't have seriously considered anyway, would stop his mission. The fact that he's been doing this work for a long time indicated that there have been many, many ongoing attempts to penetrate the depths of the Unterzee, and there will probably continue to be more attempts. It seemed like an ongoing war in which the Engineer and Harris just happened to currently be key players, but ultimately replaceable ones. And if she was going to make a decision about what she wanted for the future, it would have required a more longterm commitment to this war than she was willing to get involved in. "Lying is more culpable than murder," is a pretty interesting way to sum up your character's POV. I like that. :P Thanks for bringing the Lorn Flukes to my attention. That was a piece of the puzzle I did overlook.[/spoiler] edited by Lamia Lawless on 9/1/2016 -- The Harmonic Hellfarer
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Pnakotic Posts: 266 8/31/2016	Optimatum wrote: I was expecting the easter egg to require a certain Knock, given where you visit towards the end. Could someone send me a PM as to what happens in the easter egg? An Individual wrote: I'm loving this one so far. I've often wished we would see a little more of the zee (outside of Sunless Sea). I'm particularly enjoying delving into a little more detail with these terrible ice bergs. I'm particularly interested that... [spoiler]...the life bergs seem to be linked in some way to the thief of faces.There's a line from the survivor about how the lifeberg doesn't die until you destroy/extract a shard of black glass which sounds like it might have something to do with the thief and Mount Nomad.[/spoiler] It's entirely possible. One of the results after killing a Lifeberg in Sunless Sea mentions finding a shard of black glass while searching for loot, the shard seemingly being the same material as Mount Nomad. As to whether the Lifebergs were created by Mount Nomad or the Thief, whether Mount Nomad controls them or it's more like Clay Men, whether this was a planned thing or an accident... we just don't know. Unless you play through Flint. -- J. Ward Dunn, Glassman Book of All Hours 9:99: Journey's end in lover's meeting. Progress is ascendancy.
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Frenjamin Banklin Posts: 49 8/30/2016	I have been sitting with the tab open for several hours, I can't decide whether to pursue the easter egg or not. I want to see the content, but I don't know if I'll miss out on anything else.
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Ian Hart Posts: 437 8/30/2016	I did the easter egg on my alt and I avoided it on my main. I can assure you that they ENTIRELY different stories. Each one has a significant block of content that the other entirely lacks. On an unrelated note [spoiler] Who is the Grandmother that the Captain was referring to in his wall painting? I assume Lifeburgs are the spawn of Mount Nomad, and my memory is that Mount Nomad is the child of the Thief of Faces and the Mountain of Light. So would she be the Thief, or the Mountain? [/spoiler] -- http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Antifinity
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genesis Posts: 924 8/30/2016	Ian Hart wrote: On an unrelated note [spoiler]I think it's the former. Especially, given the choice of the branch icon.[/spoiler] edited by genesis on 8/30/2016 -- http://fallenlondon.com/Profile/mikey_thinkin Keeping track of incomplete content and loose ends in Fallen London
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Baigan Posts: 10 8/30/2016	Ian Hart wrote: I did the easter egg on my alt and I avoided it on my main. I can assure you that they ENTIRELY different stories. Each one has a significant block of content that the other entirely lacks. I had no idea there was even an Easter egg! I feel glad for reading the forums so I know there was a thing to do that I didn't do, but I liked this story so well that I was actually coming here to post how enjoyable it was - oblivious! Zailing and all, yes indeed. I'm not even done with it yet - but that's how well I liked it. It allows me to enjoy the mythos, the gleeful story just under the surface, a bit more. So lovely to read and think about the depths of it all. The twisted minds who make this stuff tick - thank you! Yrs, -b -- It's a complex flavour. Something like regret - but less assertive, perhaps? Please say hello to me and send a calling card. I'll do whatever I can - excepting annoying cats and photographer nonsense. I am a Correspondent for all your needs. http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Baigan
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Frenjamin Banklin Posts: 49 8/30/2016	Well that doesn't make my choice any easier. I've been searching for echoes of the secret content for a while, but it seems everyone is keeping the secret. It's not too often that I spend this much time making a choice, so well done on that I suppose.
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Mikarissa Posts: 60 8/30/2016	I seem to recall someone in this thread saying that the easter egg content only makes sense if you have played one of the previous Exceptional Stories. If my memory doesn't betray me, could someone tell me exactly which story is that? I'm curious whether I'm utterly dumb and incapable of connecting dots, or if it's simply one of the stories I haven't played.
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Barse Posts: 706 8/30/2016	As someone who played the secret content (and all previous ESs), I was somewhat puzzled by that post. I found nothing in the text itself to suggest a link, although I may be missing something glaring. edited by Barselaar on 8/30/2016 -- The Scorched Sailor, up for most social actions and RP. Not as scary as he looks.
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Mikarissa Posts: 60 8/30/2016	Barselaar wrote: As someone who played the secret content (and all previous ESs), I was somewhat puzzled by that post. I may be missing something glaring, however. I see, thanks for answering. In this case I probably really am utterly dumb
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An Individual Posts: 589 8/30/2016	Barselaar wrote: As someone who played the secret content (and all previous ESs), I was somewhat puzzled by that post. I found nothing in the text itself to suggest a link, although I may be missing something glaring. edited by Barselaar on 8/30/2016 Nothing in the text. But there was an image. The previous ES was... [spoiler] ...The Waltz that Moved the World. It's a loose link though and not an entirely important one. While it helps put the pieces together it's far from essential. [/spoiler] -- An Individual's Profile The RNG giveth and the RNG taketh away. Goat Farming or Cider Brewing? This browser extension may help. Want a Cider sip? Please refer to this guide before requesting. Scholaring the Correspondence? A Brief Guide to Courier's Footprint. Contemplating Oblivion? First Steps on the Seeking Road. Gone NORTH? Opened the gate? Throw your character in a well.
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Barse Posts: 706 8/30/2016	I was aware of the image, yeah - I edited my post say "nothing in the text itself" to reflect that. I am having second thoughts about my dismissal of the link now, due in part to discussions with other people who have played the secret content, but I did not feel in any way like I was disadvantaged by not thinking there was a link/taking it seriously, and that's the important part for players wondering whether or not to go there, I think. edited by Barselaar on 8/30/2016 -- The Scorched Sailor, up for most social actions and RP. Not as scary as he looks.
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Ian Hart Posts: 437 8/30/2016	I had merely assumed it was a re-use of an image, rather than an intentional link. If it is intentional... well, that would certainly answer a question... -- http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Antifinity
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Optimatum Posts: 3666 8/28/2016	Here's the original poem, as linked earlier in the thread. Dean Lee wrote: [spoiler] https://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~keith/poems/demon.html [/spoiler] -- Optimatum, a ruthless and merciful gentleman. No plant battles, Affluent Photographer requests, or healing offers; all other social actions welcome. Want a sip of Cider? Just say hi! PM me for information enigmatic or Fated. Though the forum please, not FL itself.
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Chuck Posts: 41 8/28/2016	If I'm not too late I would also like a PM to the content from the Easter Eggs and Seeking options. -- http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Charles~Liao
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Blaine Davidson Posts: 388 8/27/2016	Tarantula wrote: I think we can all agree that Mr. Harris is a terrible man for trying to deter exploration and thwart curiosity. I agree. Upon finishing the story my character often questions whether or not she should have killed him afterall. -- Blaine Davidson, a reserved and sensible woman with a fondness of collecting rarities.
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Blaine Davidson Posts: 388 8/27/2016	Anne Auclair wrote: Blaine Davidson wrote: Tarantula wrote: I think we can all agree that Mr. Harris is a terrible man for trying to deter exploration and thwart curiosity. I agree. Upon finishing the story my character often questions whether or not she should have killed him afterall. Surely being morally opposed to human sacrifice counts for something? That's the issue. I don't think my character really caught on that it was people being sacrificed. Yes, it is heavily implied but she would likely err on the side of caution. Perhaps Harris was exaggerating or outright lying. Now, what she does know is that someone who is trying to promote science (and is a fellow Zubmarine owner) is in danger. In fact, by not killing Harris she has inadvertently placed similar people in danger. And that she decided to stand by and not take action is going to bother her. -- Blaine Davidson, a reserved and sensible woman with a fondness of collecting rarities.
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maleclypse Posts: 259 8/28/2016	Are there any options opened by having completed last dog society before starting this story? Just wanting to check since I haven't gotten to that one just yet. -- Maintaining a controlling interest in my soul requires a pretty constant negotiation between the various shareholder interests. Thankfully the Fingerkings 23% control makes a pretty good foil to unite the other factions enough to get to 51%. http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Maleclypse
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Ian Hart Posts: 437 8/26/2016	Blaine Davidson wrote: Am I the only one who didn't mind the slog through the Lifeberg? Thematically it made sense and it added to the atmosphere. You're supposed to hate being on this near-corpse of a beast, it's supposed to be a pain to move around on it. It drains the life of your crew and I think it was an apt way to "drain" the player metaphorically and literally. I also didn't mind the lack of a proper reward (Whirring Contraption earned here). That's what makes your decisions have weight. I chose my option because it fit my character, not because I wanted more Echoes towards my Heptagoat. That's what the Fidgeting Writer is for. This has been my favourite Exceptional Story since Flint. A lot of them have been fairly forgettable for me, like the one where you bombed the embassy. I couldn't even remember the name of it or the unique item from said story. I also definitely enjoyed the climb each day, for the 7 days required to get all the different content at the top. Should someone decide to stay longer for whatever reason, I imagine it would get increasingly frustrating and repetitive, but I can't imagine why anyone would do that. -- http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Antifinity
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FireOfUnknownOrigin Posts: 12 8/26/2016	The lifeberg was quite an interesting development, disturbing as it was. Though I think upping the risk a bit might have helped; not anything that couldn't be recovered from, but just some curveballs to make it a little more difficult rather than repetitive. But the plot came to an excellent head, with quite the quandary presented at the end. Overall an exceptional Exceptional Story. [spoiler]After all the wonderful maddening revelations that are uncovered in Fallen London, I took Harris's word that whatever they did to appease the dwellers below was a grade-A "Very Bad Thing". While I may have my own zumbarine that I desperately hope he didn't know about, unlike certain parties I have little interest in messing with such destructive forces (my own Destiny notwithstanding). It was hard to let someone be killed in such a brutal fashion, much less let the Admiralty's button man go. But the alternative was allowing the engineer to complete her work, regardless of the potential horrors she could unleash. Such is life in the Neath. Perhaps, though, Bluejacket can at least have the opportunity to make peace with his son and himself.[/spoiler] edited by FireOfUnknownOrigin on 8/26/2016 -- A spy in the house of the night.
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Art Shrival Posts: 51 8/26/2016	I really enjoyed the optional followup with your crew in this ES. It made my time with them more tangible and helped me learn that much more about the varied lives of zailors. I hope I can interact with these people again, even if it isn't in the capacity of captain and crew.
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Dean Lee Posts: 133 8/26/2016	Trilby wrote: Due to problems I'm having while trying to go back through my echoes, can anyone remind me what disaster resulted in the underzee being off limits. Either that or provide me with the worst case senario that could occur from such exploration. edited by Trilby on 8/26/2016 edited by Trilby on 8/26/2016 A battle between the Admiralty and the khaganians pissed off some lorn flukes. And then the lorn flukes did their thing. -- A list of credentials A Business Card Research progress: 77 volumes of cryptopaleontoligy 77 volumes of Prelapsarian archeology 77 volumes of theosophistry.
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Optimatum Posts: 3666 8/26/2016	Trilby wrote: Dean Lee wrote: Trilby wrote: Due to problems I'm having while trying to go back through my echoes, can anyone remind me what disaster resulted in the underzee being off limits. Either that or provide me with the worst case senario that could occur from such exploration. A battle between the Admiralty and the khaganians pissed off some lorn flukes. And then the lorn flukes did their thing. Then get something tho map out the lorn fluke territory and fight somewhere else. Or alternatively stop fighting over... What were they even fighting over anyways? It's not like they have much of a say in who owns what. That's not quite what happened. The Lorn-Flukes are the masters of the deeps; both the Admiralty and Khanate had sent subs as emissaries. They were attempting to win the Lorn-Flukes' favor through means RFH considered immoral, seemingly involving giving people to the Flukes for their unknown, but sinister, purposes. RFH was horrified by this and ordered his zub to fire on the Khanate zubs; the ensuing conflict angered the Lorn-Flukes and they destroyed most (possibly all) of the zubs present. -- Optimatum, a ruthless and merciful gentleman. No plant battles, Affluent Photographer requests, or healing offers; all other social actions welcome. Want a sip of Cider? Just say hi! PM me for information enigmatic or Fated. Though the forum please, not FL itself.
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Blaine Davidson Posts: 388 8/27/2016	If someone has echoed the Easter Egg, the bonus Seeking content, and the three possible endings for the story I'd appreciate seeing it. -- Blaine Davidson, a reserved and sensible woman with a fondness of collecting rarities.
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Lumyire Posts: 167 8/27/2016	Ummm, is the previous months' story still available? I forgot to activate it! And it's not technically end of month yet. -- https://www.fallenlondon.com/profile/Lumyire
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Skinnyman Posts: 2133 10/12/2016	Took a while, but managed to start this ES before they pile up even more! Now, if I Break down the Captain's Door will this end my trip on the berg automatically or I may spend more and more days on it? Just interested in RP and get my Days on the Lifeberg high as possible. And does this quality get erased after I leave it? Who knows what my character will be capable of to do after spending to much time on a living iceberg... -- ESs items and quality requirements sheet. Please check if there are errors or if something is missing Achievement list if you're feeling bored! I am accepting Plant battles, Neath's Mysteries card, Starveling Cats and boxed cats. No suppers, no second chances gain and no need to cure my menaces!
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rahv7 Posts: 294 10/12/2016	Breaking down the captains door will not force you off the lifeberg. You need to make the decision to leave with your ship. If you stay too long, terrible things might happen. You'll get a warning, though. -- It's possible people have forgotten that there is an actual devil in the actual Lord Mayor's office. A devil who is promising to look after people's souls. What is wrong with everybody? https://www.fallenlondon.com/profile/rahv7
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Bonny Kate Posts: 78 9/4/2016	At the top of my Fallen London account, the headbar says "September's Exceptional Story: Where You and I Must Go" but then the storylet says "An Exceptional Story: Murder on the Front Page!" I'm not an Exceptional Friend, but I'm wondering if this is a bug I should be reporting, or if it's just a discrepancy between names. -- I quite like receiving Calling Cards. I am open to most social actions (including trading boxed cats), and am happy to help with menaces or actions involving second chances. http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Bonny%20Kate
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menaulon Posts: 112 9/4/2016	Bonny Kate wrote: At the top of my Fallen London account, the headbar says "September's Exceptional Story: Where You and I Must Go" but then the storylet says "An Exceptional Story: Murder on the Front Page!" I'm not an Exceptional Friend, but I'm wondering if this is a bug I should be reporting, or if it's just a discrepancy between names. This is just a discrepancy. "Where You and I Must Go" is the name of the story, while "Murder on the Front Page!" is the name of the opening storylet that leads to the start of Exceptional Story. -- Menaulon Open to social actions, but would prefer to be betrayed in the search for Photographer.
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The Master Posts: 804 9/5/2016	genesis wrote: I wonder how this new mechanism of accessing Exceptional Stories will work? Currently, it looks like a purple bar with "Exceptional Story" over the relevant branch. But it doesn't identify any kind of eligibility criteria. Will it just be set manually by FBG?.. They probably mean that you can only do the stories under the text that says it if you are an exceptional friend(even if you have everything else needed for the action, also, no idea why I said probably when I know this from experience and its most likely just that). edited by The Master on 9/5/2016 edited by The Master on 9/5/2016 -- http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Lolwolfking A very ruthless and daring doctor of the neath. No more gift exchanges, im getting too many and I can barely hold these. He has knowledge of a certain enigma, ask, you will get a clue.
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ChurlishCanadian Posts: 2 10/2/2016	Question from a new player and new Exceptional Friend subscriber as of today (Oct. 1, 2016): Is there a way for me to gain access to this story, since it is part one of three? Currently at Breakwater House, the Severe Bluejacket's "Three Regrets" page only lists Seek the wreck of the Ship of Pyres (October 2016) and Seek the wreck of the Bellot (yet to be released, November 2016). To complete this entire sequence, I'd also like to play through September's story. Its there a way to do this? (I understand that it might cost Fate since I joined after its active month, but I don't see Where You and I Must Go listed for purchase on the Fate tab ... the most recent story I see for purchase there is Five Minutes to Midday, from June 2016. Thanks in advance for any advice/guidance.
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suinicide Posts: 2409 10/2/2016	Exceptional stories become purchasable about 3 months after they were released. -- http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/profile/sunnytime A gentleman seeking the liberation of knowledge, with a penchant for violence. RIP suinicide, stuck in a well. Still has it under control.
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Barse Posts: 706 10/2/2016	You'll be able to play it eventually - Exceptional Stories are usually released for purchase on the Fate tab 3 months after their initial release to Exceptional Friends! Possibly slower than you'd like, but it will be made available in the near future. Edit - beaten to it. In any case, enjoy Exceptional Friendship! edited by Barselaar on 10/2/2016 -- The Scorched Sailor, up for most social actions and RP. Not as scary as he looks.
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Eglantine-Fox Posts: 872 9/4/2016	Seems you start it there, pop over to Chimes, then pop back? I think? -- Eglantine Fox, the charming and androgynous Correspondent, teetering between hobbies of seduction and self-destruction. Siobhan O'Malley, Irish patriot (or 'bl__dy Fenian' if you're impolite). Isidore Day, an up-and-coming London gentleman. All allegations of wrongdoing are categorically denied.
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ChurlishCanadian Posts: 2 10/3/2016	Barselaar wrote: You'll be able to play it eventually - Exceptional Stories are usually released for purchase on the Fate tab 3 months after their initial release to Exceptional Friends! Thanks for the clarification ... I just wanted to be sure that parts two and three will be available by then as well. I've played through the "starter" sequence at the House of Chimes and spoke with the Bluejacket; will that retain part two of the story past the end of October? Sorry for the novice questions, but, well ... I'm an FL novice. (Although I have played a lot of Sunless Sea prior to this.) Thank you again. edited by ChurlishCanadian on 10/3/2016
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September ES: Where You and I Must Go