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[Hanzoku]

That's what I mean. There's some awesome stuff there, but without a lot of hunting, it's not like you'll ever get more then bare scraps of it.

[Urist McScoopbeard]

That's what I mean. There's some awesome stuff there, but without a lot of hunting, it's not like you'll ever get more then bare scraps of it.

Even the wiki is cryptic and impossible to navigate!

[Aklyon]

That's what I mean. There's some awesome stuff there, but without a lot of hunting, it's not like you'll ever get more then bare scraps of it.

Even the wiki is cryptic and impossible to navigate!

Probably because the FL wiki is intentionally so, sicne they didn't want people to just copypaste chunks of the game.

[forsaken1111]

I didn't really mind the vagueness of the story, it left a lot of mystery in the world and made me feel like my little ship captain wasn't the center of the universe for once. I just disliked some of the gameplay design choices.

[nenjin]

It's the Catch-22 of FB games. The mystery makes you feel like a detective and rewards you for your digging. Unfortunately, the deeper you dig sometimes the vaguer it gets, until you're in "Much Ado About Nothing" territory.

[Neonivek]

I admit the only reason I know the game takes place in Ryleh is because of outside information I brought into the game... Rather then because the game illuminates that fact (as I said they avoid pointing attention to it at all costs!). Well that and a few details I found out here and there that spell this out.

Kind of a shame that this game cannot have a similar sort of overarching theme or interesting aspects. It is in space and that is kind of it really.

[Urist McScoopbeard]

Kind of a shame that this game cannot have a similar sort of overarching theme or interesting aspects. It is in space and that is kind of it really.

I think this is what ultimately lead me to stop playing. While since the period where I actually played, they've added several storylines that have become "game endings" which reveal some cryptic, deeper truth about the FL universe, this lack of a feeling that you're moving towards something most of the time leaves me wondering why I should go on? Maybe thats by design, but I think it's better if the player wants to keep coming back in spite of all the dying and loneliness.

EDIT: Having said that. I'm still looking forward to Sunless Skies. In fact, I really hope Failbetter keep making successful games, because the Fallen London universe is one of the most interesting and highly-developed, and I want to see more of it.

EDIT2: Im going back and playing Sunless Seas and im actually have much more of a blast than I remember. I'm super pumped for Sunless Skies.

[nenjin]

I admit the only reason I know the game takes place in Ryleh is because of outside information I brought into the game...

Uh, facts not in evidence? That sounds like someone's lazy ass "I like the Mythos and enough of this doesn't contradict the Mythos, it must be in the Mythos!" rationalization. I've put like 2000 hours into their world and I've never once gone "Oh yeah, this is Ryleh."

Say what you want about FB's writing, but it's not derivative Lovecraft fan fiction crap.

[forsaken1111]

Beyond being grimdark horror, I haven't seen any direct links to anything lovecraft either but I have not even finished the game once.

[lordcooper]

You’ve been called Lovecraftian a few times…

Alexis Kennedy: We have. I originally searched for any other word than squid to describe the Rubbery Men because of the Cthulu overtones, but squid was by far the best fit, in part because it’s such a funny word. I would argue – with decreasing conviction, I’ll admit – that there are no Lovecraftian elements in Fallen London. The same with Steampunk, although again with the same decreasing conviction. I’d argue we don’t have the same unrelenting misery of Lovecraft stories – we’re a cosmic horror story, yes, but we’re a cheerful one! Instead, we’re all borrowing from the same common sources, so of course, eventually there will be overlap. Also, when you’re trying to create strange and wonderful new animals, eventually something’s going to end up with tentacles.

[Neonivek]

You’ve been called Lovecraftian a few times…

Alexis Kennedy: We have. I originally searched for any other word than squid to describe the Rubbery Men because of the Cthulu overtones, but squid was by far the best fit, in part because it’s such a funny word. I would argue – with decreasing conviction, I’ll admit – that there are no Lovecraftian elements in Fallen London. The same with Steampunk, although again with the same decreasing conviction. I’d argue we don’t have the same unrelenting misery of Lovecraft stories – we’re a cosmic horror story, yes, but we’re a cheerful one! Instead, we’re all borrowing from the same common sources, so of course, eventually there will be overlap. Also, when you’re trying to create strange and wonderful new animals, eventually something’s going to end up with tentacles.

Ehhh I take this as similar to people who argue that their work isn't "Sci-Fi" not because it isn't Sci-Fi... but because they don't like the same connotations... usually ending up as a bias towards similar works.

[Teneb]

You’ve been called Lovecraftian a few times…

Alexis Kennedy: We have. I originally searched for any other word than squid to describe the Rubbery Men because of the Cthulu overtones, but squid was by far the best fit, in part because it’s such a funny word. I would argue – with decreasing conviction, I’ll admit – that there are no Lovecraftian elements in Fallen London. The same with Steampunk, although again with the same decreasing conviction. I’d argue we don’t have the same unrelenting misery of Lovecraft stories – we’re a cosmic horror story, yes, but we’re a cheerful one! Instead, we’re all borrowing from the same common sources, so of course, eventually there will be overlap. Also, when you’re trying to create strange and wonderful new animals, eventually something’s going to end up with tentacles.

Ehhh I take this as similar to people who argue that their work isn't "Sci-Fi" not because it isn't Sci-Fi... but because they don't like the same connotations.

Nevermind that Sunless Seas takes place in Ryleh... outright... Like cut right out of the stories into this game.

Would you mind backing up the claim with actual evidence? Because I've seen absolutely nothing Lovecraftian in Sunless Sea or Fallen London so far.

[Neonivek]

Would you mind backing up the claim with actual evidence? Because I've seen absolutely nothing Lovecraftian in Sunless Sea or Fallen London so far

You mean do I see any Cthonians, Yithians, and Migo?

No of course not. (well sort of... but we will keep it as no for the sake of argument)

[lordcooper]

Repeatedly stating that something is true doesn't make it true, and trying to insist that the Neath is R'lyeh makes it seem like you lack more than a cursory familiarity with either setting.  They both feature water pretty heavily, contain very different forms of 'cosmic' entity, and have a certain wonkiness of reality.  That's about all the settings have in common.

[Teneb]

In fact, the Neath is a reference to the Kubla Khan poem, not anything lovecraftian.

Spoiler: Click me! (click to show/hide)

    In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
    A stately pleasure-dome decree :
    Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
    Through caverns measureless to man
    Down to a sunless sea
    So twice five miles of fertile ground
    With walls and towers were girdled round:
    And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
    Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
    And here were forests ancient as the hills,
    Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
    But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted
    Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!
    A savage place! as holy and enchanted
    As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted
    By woman wailing for her demon-lover!
    And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
    As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
    A mighty fountain momently was forced:
    Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst
    Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
    Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail:
    And 'mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
    It flung up momently the sacred river.
    Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
    Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
    Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
    And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean:
    And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
    Ancestral voices prophesying war!
    The shadow of the dome of pleasure
    Floated midway on the waves;
    Where was heard the mingled measure
    From the fountain and the caves.
    It was a miracle of rare device,
    A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!
    A damsel with a dulcimer
    In a vision once I saw:
    It was an Abyssinian maid,
    And on her dulcimer she played,
    Singing of Mount Abora.
    Could I revive within me
    Her symphony and song,
    To such a deep delight 'twould win me,
    That with music loud and long,
    I would build that dome in air,
    That sunny dome! those caves of ice!
    And all who heard should see them there,
    And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
    His flashing eyes, his floating hair!
    Weave a circle round him thrice,
    And close your eyes with holy dread,
    For he on honey-dew hath fed,
    And drunk the milk of Paradise.