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[E. Albright]

Well.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I have the unwelcome choice of "settling" for two of the low-end lodgings or doing the quite-distasteful dance to try to scrape together another two points of Taste in order to secure better lodgings. I suppose I'd also have to sell my soul - possibly just to afford getting said Taste, but certainly to move in - but that seems the less significant feat at this point...

[BlindKitty]

@nenjin

Well, there is not really all that much to it. The Fallen London is very, very grindy (the actual thing that got me over the edge was probably the Heavenly Beast breeding; I've failed, twice, the breeding of Tomb Lion with best possible chances. To get third Tomb Lion, I would need to gather 8 Scandal, get to Tomb Colonies, find a Tomb Lion, get Scandal back to 0. And this is the shorter part; breeding it takes actually more time and gives like 70% chance of success. Unless you pay Nex, of course.) and even the creators admit it. Since 20 actions boost it became a little bit more bearable, but still, I don't really have time to visit the game several times a day to get a sensible amount of progress. And some parts actually got worse (I mean the places like Tomb Colonies, when your only options are Opportunity Cards, and you still have six of them tops). There are actually multiple better uses of my time. As for the StoryNexus abandonment - I get the fact that they want to concentrate on the Fallen London as a game that grants them the bulk of their profits, but I was actually pretty serious about making a game there... And since I started they pretty much stopped doing anything there. For example, there is still no progress bar for Basic Qualities there (those like Watchful/Shadowy/etc. in Fallen London), which is very frustrating. So the second reason for that account just disappeared. And for the company politics - they are actively promoting 'queer' life-style, same-sex 'marriage' etc. I don't like this, and I'm don't really want to increase their player base because of it. If not for that, I would probably just stop playing and visit every so often, but homosexuals are expansive enough as it is, and I'm opting out of this.

[nenjin]

they are actively promoting 'queer' life-style, same-sex 'marriage' etc. I don't like this, and I'm don't really want to increase their player base because of it.

I kind of wondered if that was partly a reason.

Without going too much into a debate over this, I got the impression their attitude was "we're not going to force gender roles on people and let choices be ambiguous at best and let the players fill in the blanks." At least that's what their blog about Sunless Sea said. But that is promotion of a sort.

[BlindKitty]

Well, not forcing gender roles alone wouldn't be a problem for me (even though it interferes with setting a little; I think that rat-folk requires much more suspension of disbelief ), but it was going further than that. Mostly out of the game, really (Alexis Kennedy was giving a lot of interviews for queer-oriented sites; there was quite a fuss on the forums after someone noticed that what genital people bear might have some impact on them - this second thing was also quite disturbing because the author of that statement referred to the game he was planning to create on StoryNexus platform, and the reaction was suspiciously resembling censorship, actually), but at the beginning, there were a category called Constant Companion. It was referred to as such specifically to avoid unnecessary problems with same-sex relationships, which is (again) fine by me - you want to have a constant companion of the same sex, fine. But later they decided to change the name to Spouse, specifically after somewhere in the world same-sex 'marriage' has been legalized; that's because they decided they can't be 'less progressive' with their game than the real world is. That's not a word-for-word quote, but the meaning is there. That's all that more important with respect to my game-making plans on StoryNexus; I don't want to comply to those standards, and I'm certainly not going to risk getting the finished game taken down over someone's problem with it.

But honestly, I mostly wanted people who like kittens in the boxes to avoid surprises like the lack of their feline friend on the lists. ^^"

[baruk]

_{^no comment}
 Back in Fallen London after spending the new year sampling the delights of Polythreme (amongst other remote places). On my return, the accumulated research I brought back with me was enough to re-establish my academic reputation - this, along with a few other trinkets has finally allowed me to set up a Salon:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

A blaze of light! Your first gathering is a success, though not a resounding success. One-quarter of the guests you had invited actually arrive. You had arranged for a Heroic Archaeologist to read her interpretation of the War with the Rosers: but an administrative difficulty has left you with an Erudite Archaeologist reading his account of the translation of the Wars with the Roses from the Equine Tablets. There is little of battles and an awful lot of textual comparison. Still, the atmosphere is persuasively scholarly, and several of your guests remain awake. All of them thank you. It's a good start. Next time will be better.

[nenjin]

If anyone is looking for a Master of Shadowy so they can have a patron, I think I may be there soon. (Note, I don't think you can take a patron if any one of your stats is above 100....but I think you can use the Talkative Rattus Faber to reduce your stats low enough to make the storylet show at your lodgings.

[baruk]

 Would anybody be interested in partaking of a meal adulterated with a pail of so-called snow?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

 I've caught up with the mr sacks storyline - there is an opportunity to cheaply obtain the 5-card residence before the end of January, but only if you raise your taste for lacre high enough. I've not spoilered things to find out exactly how you do this, just going by what seems intuitive...

[nenjin]

Already spent my taste of Lacre.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Got the Residence that reduces your Suspicion every time you go there. BOOYAH. THE WORLD IS MY OYSTER.

[E. Albright]

Would anybody be interested in partaking of a meal adulterated with a pail of so-called snow?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

 I've caught up with the mr sacks storyline - there is an opportunity to cheaply obtain the 5-card residence before the end of January, but only if you raise your taste for lacre high enough. I've not spoilered things to find out exactly how you do this, just going by what seems intuitive...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The better way is giving it the look-see through a monocle if you're under 6, or feeding it to a boar (with a second chance at the ready to back out if need be) if you're 6+...

Having said that, if you're well and truly fixed on a dinner, a certain Mr. - erm, Miss - ah, a certain Vide might be willing to break bread with you, so long as there's no chance whatever that any snow or snowlike substances could possibly be on the menu.

[nenjin]

Are there any other opportunities to name your ship other than the 10 Fate option in the Bazaar side streets? I guess being a PoSI means they're really going to put the screws to you now, since you've been playing this long.

[Theodolus]

I don't recall every getting a chance to name my ship, no. Which is sad, because my zubmarine could really use a good name.

[E. Albright]

Is there a good reason for me to hoard my Trade Secrets? I'm sore tempted ATM to burn the four of them I've scraped together to boost my raw Watchful by around 10 (and thus putting me in reach of studying my Plaques, and thus putting me in reach of moving from mere author to correspondent), but I'm reluctant to do so for fear of needing the Enigmas and Hints they can provide, or just needing the Trade Secrets themselves for some as-yet unknown reason...

[nenjin]

I've only found a couple of uses for Engimas and Hints so far. A storylet at the House of Chimes and getting the Mystical Raven Adviser. I suppose there are more uses higher up but I haven't found them, nor have I read the wiki to find out.

[E. Albright]

So technically I'm probably still in the mid-to-late midgame moreso than the endgame (no raw stat over 150, and 3 under 100;still early-ish storywise in the endgame areas), but I really feel like I've "arrived" at the endgame. Because of the grinding. Oh, god, the grinding. My current endeavor is maybe a fifth done, but still needs another 600-700 actions to complete. I hope that's all, anyway. This is honestly enough to make me look long and hard at what I'm doing and start spouting the kinds of admonishments and warnings that accompany particularly ill-advised courses of action, but for the moment I'm still sticking it out. And still grinding for my zubmarine, even. <sigh>

[E. Albright]

...two weeks and 36 Watchful later, and I am a Correspondent with a Zubmarine. But oh! the grind to get there! <cringe>