phryne
Posts: 1351
5/18/2018
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It's that time of the year again... 
(Yes, we've done this before!)
Rule of thumb: to make the result meaningful, please vote only if you've played at least two thirds of these stories.
You can vote for your least favourite story here.
As to my own vote: a month ago, this would've been a tough call between Web of the Motherlings and The Stone Guest. But then came The Rat-Catcher...
personal ranking:
awesome: Rat-Catcher
very good: Web of the Motherlings, The Attendants, The Stone Guest, The Pursuit of Moths
good enough: All Things Must End, The Sinking Synod, The Murgatroyd Formula
lacking: Trial & Error, Lamentation Lock, Factory of Favours
terrible: Steeped in Honey
edited by phryne on 5/18/2018
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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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Meradine Heidenreich
Posts: 468
5/22/2018
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The writing on it was in a class on its own, so there's that. On the other hand, it's a very recent experience fresh in the memory, which probably plays a part. Do the newest stories regularly get a boost? It would be interesting to know. (PS I love polls like this. Thank you, phryne!)
edited by Meradine Heidenreich on 5/22/2018
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https://www.fallenlondon.com/profile/Meradine%20Heidenreich
The Starveling kit
Gobbled up the bit
of cheese on my tray ..
"O Weh!"
No plant battles, please.
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Amélie Vaincœur
Posts: 85
5/24/2018
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While I haven't played the most recent season, I'm still surprised I'm the first to vote for Web of the Motherlings. I loved that one! It had great characters, an interesting plot, and the best showdown I've seen in any ES!
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Enchantée.
An occasional player's long and winding road to Paramount Presence:
27/09/2017 - London's Blood
29/12/2018 - London's Nerves
11/02/2019 - London's Marrow
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phryne
Posts: 1351
6/2/2018
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This year, 59 users voted for their favourite story, 47 for their least favourite one.
This is the result, broken down:
01. The Rat-Catcher (26-1)
02. The Pursuit of Moths (6-2)
03. All Things Must End (5-1)
04. Steeped in Honey (7-4)
05. The Sinking Synod (3-2)
06. The Attendants (2-1)
07. Lamentation Lock (3-3)
08. Web of the Motherlings (2-2)
09. The Murgatroyd Formula (1-2)
10. The Stone Guest (4-6)
11. Trial and Error (0-9)
12. Factory of Favours (0-14)
This means that The Rat-Catcher garnered nearly 50 % of total votes in the Favourite Story poll! Somewhat reminiscent of the 2016 poll, where Lost in Reflections recorded a similar landslide victory.
edited by phryne on 6/16/2018
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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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Aberrant Eremite
Posts: 362
6/6/2018
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I chose The Rat-Catcher too, but I'm surprised to see it the runaway hit that it's becoming! Thing is, I love the L.B.s, and they were criminally underutilized in Factory of Favors, so that influenced me to choose it over other great ones like All Things Must End, The Stone Guest, The Sinking Synod, and Steeped in Honey. I also enjoyed Web of the Motherlings and The Pursuit of Moths. The ones that seemed to me to be lacking something were Trial and Error and Factory of Favors (neither of which got any votes), Lamentation Lock (the stories about that muscular young lady and her exploits were delightful, but the whole exercise seemed kind of pointless), and The Murgatroyd Formula (the sisters and their conflict were interesting, but not developed enough to keep my interest, and the stakes were low.)
Now that I see the results, I'm surprised by how many of us seem to agree. I'd expected that our ideas of "what makes a good story" would diverge more.
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Hieronymus Drake: Gentleman scholar, big-game hunter, scar-faced aristocrat. Remarkably sane, all things considered.
Tanith Wyrmwood: Longshanks cat-burglar; Bohemian author; now, perhaps, something more. Bubbly, expressive, and affectionate. It’s not only still waters that run deep.
Telemachia Lee: Gentle lady by birth, brawling Docker by choice. Good company in the drunk tank.
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Dudebro Pyro
Posts: 757
5/18/2018
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Well, this is much tougher than the least-favourite poll.
Two of honourale mentions, first:
Steeped in Honey was one of the better ones, but ultimately I failed to care enough about the main character to give much weight to the ending. I also really hoped Mnemosyne would be left as a permanently unlocked area - even if with only very basic content, a large price for entry and insubstantial rewards. Alas.
Lamentation Lock let us visit the Cumaean Canal, but in the end the story itself was good but not quite stellar either. A lot of it also ended up being grindy - I don't mind spending actions on stories, but it simply could have better used. I'm not a fan of airs-based randomised options either because there will invariably be significant repetition while grinding unless you have very particular luck.
Now the really good ones:
The Pursuit of Moths had fantastic characters; I probably cared more about them than in any other ES. I wrote in the Rat-Catcher thread how its length gave it more room to make me care about its characters, but Pursuit of Moths did so while not being a particularly long story. Plus, everything went my way and I was left with a beautiful, if bittersweet, ending. It was also the first story to provide a usable item upon completion - a wonderful and esoteric memento of the events (which sadly I will probably have to trade away for the season conclusion - a fact that disappoints me greatly).
Web of the Motherlings had some very interesting previous city lore, expanded on my friendship with His Amused Lordship, and had some really very neat mechanics for the fight scene. It basically excelled in all areas important for an ES, as an all-around fantastic story.
And finally, the Rat-Catcher, about which I already wrote a longish post. Suffice to say that I hate rats, and this story made me care about, respect, and then save the life of, a rat.
In the end, any one of these last three could easily qualify as my favourite. Perhaps The Pursuit of Moths had me the most emotionally invested. In the end, I voted for The Rat-Catcher, if only because of the amazing companion I got out of it.
edited by Dudebro Pyro on 5/18/2018
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Dudebro Pyro, eccentric scholar
Spare Starveling Kitties always welcome. I collect them.
For that matter, send me your unwanted cat boxes too.
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Jaina
Posts: 239
5/18/2018
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The Rat-Catcher, definitely. I've played all but the first three.
Excellent: The Rat-Catcher, The Pursuit of Moths, The Murgatroyd Formula, Steeped in Honey
Good: The Sinking Synod, Trial and Error
Tedious/Missing something: The Stone Guest (just felt really drawn out for what it was), Lamentation Lock (had to spend all my actions Zailing and it was a bit grindy), Factory of Favours (grindy)
I didn't explicitly dislike any and a number introduced interesting lore (Lamentation Lock, The Murgatroyd Formula, Rat-Catcher). I played Steeped in Honey and Lamentation Lock a bit before I was fully invested in the game so I wasn't paying nearly as much attention to the story as I should have.
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Cair-Var, a power-hungry lover of Devils and Rubberies
Hungry Ego, A morally upstanding citizen
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Sajach
Posts: 77
5/18/2018
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I absolutely loved the Rat Catcher, the Pursuit of Moths, the Sinking Synod, and all of the Season of Ruins, which is probably my top season just based off of the fact that all of the stories in it are quite good. But my overall favorite is Steeped in Honey, which is such a great exploration and character based story that really just grabbed me by the feels and held onto me. Honestly I was torn between Steeped in Honey and the Rat Catcher but Steeped in Honey is still fresh in my mind after all these months and still leaves me with a bittersweet feeling, while the Rat Catcher is so fresh in my mind because I just played it and that might bias my perception towards it. But I definitely echo what Pyro said above, this was a much harder decision than least favorite.
edited by Sajach on 5/18/2018
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https://www.fallenlondon.com/profile/Sajach
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Honeyaddict
Posts: 501
5/19/2018
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I'm torn between the Rat-Catcher and Steeped in Honey, both stories were absolutely amazing!
The only thing I didn't like quite as much is that the areas you went into were inaccessible afterwards. But none the less, great stories!
But with the Wings-of-Thunder Batling you gained from the Rat-Catcher that one got my vote, it is quite a unique reward!
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Honeyaddict, Scarlet Saint, Paramount Presence
pleasure to meet you.
Has some ideas the Masters won't approve of like some items and establishing a Colony in Parabola.
I will accept most social interactions (not duping). I do enjoy role playing as well.
Have some possibly still active codes!
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Greg M
Posts: 197
5/21/2018
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Rat-Catcher and Steeped in Honey were absolutely amazing. Murgatroyd Formula and The Pursuit of Moths were very good; I would've liked more ability to find out about one character's particularly horrifying lifestyle in The Pursuit of Moths (only available if you choose one of four paths).
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Profile: GregM.
http://www.fallenlondon.com/Profile/GregM
Available for any non-harmful social interactions.
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phryne
Posts: 1351
5/21/2018
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Looks like we're going to have a runaway winner this year...
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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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