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Ah yes, a better way to get hold of minor items such as Whispered Secrets - and especially Rostygold - would be most, most helpful, my lovely delicious devs.

Souls and Infernal Contracts, too, while I'm wishing; I'm also finding it hard to find Proscribed Material now I'm separated from most of my sources at my beloved University.

I wish I had an Exceptionally Ridiculous Hat. It would be sort of stripey, with teeth and a disturbingly avid expression. And it would reduce all my major qualities by 50.

I've avoided being kicked out of the Palace so far, and I compromised my principles to stay at the University (who doesn't?), which means I can get my hands on some of the stuff.  But look what I need to get EIGHT of for the next phase of obtaining a ship:

2000 x Rat on a String (you have 10), 1000 x Rostygold (you have 1026), 1000 x Silk Scrap (you have 1063).

Seriously, where can I even find Rats on a String?!  And I need 16,000 of them?  PLease, guys, this is agonizing.

@Herm - You can get Rostygold by putting on some stat-decreasing gear and duelling the Black Ribboners again.

But totally agreed on souls and infernal contracts

=^..^=

I am terribly excited to learn more about the Royal Bethlehem Hotel.  I'm also looking forward to exploring Flute Street.  

Mostly I'm happy that you're looking into how I can again get things like Infernal Contracts, Whispered Secrets, Proscribed Material and other such now that I'm no longer welcome in certain places.  I know I can buy them, but it rather destroys my savings.  

If you've got a high level of Shadowy you can get Rostygold through the flit. Just do the "Tricks of the courier trade" sidequest for a while (until the investigating is @8 ish) and then pick the option to grab "more than just messages". That should help a little. And start drinking the bottled oblivion, wearing a ridiculous hat and bring the talkative rat with you to the forgotten quarter, thats always a good place to find books.

Though any help with infernal contracts (40 echoes, my poor Urchin's will have nothing to eat!) would be appreciated.

Also, the new rubberyman content is both horrifying and awesome, but are we really to get nothing for finding a place to stay or watching the squidfaced ones wander about? There is something to gain here surely.

Once again: Thanks for the awesome game.

I'm with brythain.  Perhaps there could be an opportunity to have one made in the Bazaar Side-streets...

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I appreciate how the fine Failbetter ladies and fellows seem to have an end-point in mind for the game (often talking about the "second half" and so on).

I really love Flute Street - it's the most atmospheric and delectable content in the game thus far. I shall stay until I have uncovered all it's mysteries!

Although, no way am I going to blow 100 Fate on an option which is both completely unknown and "impermanent". Is there any chance you could give us some hints on how this enormous Fate cost would be justified?

@Nigel: I realize that I can get them at the Bazaar, but given that they cost twice as much that way I'd prefer to earn them directly.

Thank you for raising the Watchful cap. If makes passing time watching the Rubbery Men seem much more rewarding.

Are there no opportunity cards for flute Street? My deck doesn't do anything when I click on it.

"Seriously, where can I even find Rats on a String?!"
You can get 53 per action in The Flit, under the card-game option in "Make Money From the Gullible".

Having arrived in Flute Street several days in advance of the announcement, I now find myself with but one end of day option remaining. I admit I am quite curious about it, but the high costs (to both pocketbook and person) give me pause.

Can you perhaps expound ever so slightly on what "uncertain and impermanent effects" might ensue?

I have just completed the Flute Street content, save for the aforementioned 100 Fate action.
I would say that Flute Street has some of the best writing in the entire game. It's well worth visiting, although one does not go there to become rich - one visits to learn things. And what secrets they are!
Sadly, the one speck of distate is the 100 Fate action. With no indication of what it is, that's just too expensive to gamble over $20 on. Were it 10 Fate, I'd take it sight unseen, but without any more information, save that it is an impermanent reward... Alas, I don't see many taking this option.
That aside, this was a wonderful place to visit, answering some questions, but raising many more. It was worth the purchase.

My guess is that said effects are related to the new option in the opportunity card with the rubbery man asking for one's warm amber.

At the same time, I'm likewise concerned by the "impermanence" of such a high-cost option...

@James: discovered that after I posted.  You actually get 78 per action if you convert all the Jade too.  

@Elaeanor: I concur.  It's a lot.

I don't have much of a problem with Rostygold (see some of the comments above) or Whispered Secrets, but it's tough getting Infernal Contracts and Silk Scraps as well.

i think a clue as to what the 100 fate result is can be found in third option of the "A Rubbery Man lopes purposefully in your wake" card ;]

I'd save the jade myself, at present I think you need around 4000 in reserve (overall) for the various things you are asked to purchase.

The only thing I am worried about now is that with the "watchful" cap going up my source of proscribed is going to vanish like morning mist! Though no doubt there will be some way to find more later (I am guessing revolutionaries) but I'd advise people to start stocking up.

Also, the Rubbery man content is completly and totally brilliant, if only for all the horrifying implications it carries. That and it makes me wonder what kind of abomination a "fiddlers fluke" is.

I don't have any whispered secret or infernal contrat anymore, and there doesn't seem to be any way to find some (can't buy them at the bazaar, and I'm 110+ so...) Can someone help ?

You can get whispered secrets (slowly at about 3600 per day with two candles) from the labryinth of tigers second level. Go for "the thing in the mirror". That and some of the later parts of flute street (which give 145 per time) might be useful.

Infernal I can only suggest buying them I am afraid, nowhere else gives a good enough cost/reward for them.

And just to get a little bit of the debate going, would anyone say that this resource grab is any different from simply building up stocks of money for clothing? I personally prefer it this way as it has given me math problems to work at whilst waiting to visit the more scary areas of the Bazaar.

Thanks Robert, that's exactly what I wanted!

Ah, I didn't realize they'd added a third option to the Warm Amber card. I usually just discard it. Too bad I can't get a look at it while I'm still in Flute Street!

Before the expensive items (boat, transport, etc) came into play? I had 2,300 echoes. They were gone in a day. I know expensive things are expensive, but LORDY. That hurt. I'll never get the insanely expensive and mysterious cider at this rate.

The 3 million echo reward for the Vake might help there.

I am enjoying Flute Street a lot. I took a chance on the 100 fate appendage because it sounded cool and I had some extra fate to spend (no interest in becoming an "exceptional friend but I  don't mind spending $20-30 a year on the game to get some extra ctorylets). It would be nice if you provided a little guidance on what benefits might accrue from our "rubbery gift" however.


One thing I would beg is please give us a means to restore our access to the university and palace areas. Those were my 2 favorite places in the game and with the palace story in particular it seemed the only way to avoid being banished was to ignore the last part of the story.

Surely a generous gift of fate or perhaps bazaar sidestreet trinkets would cause the powers that be in these locations to rethink our banishment?
  
Anyway, it is very interesting to go spelunking with rubbery friends. Thank you for Flute Street.

You can get Whispered Secrets faster by having tea with the courtiers at the Empress's Court, if you're still allowed to go there.

Oh my, things are EXPENSIVE now.  I understand we're playing for impressive results now, but I keep hoping that things will be devalued, like items in the bazaar got lower prices a few months back.  Of course, that dissuades me from buying anything now!!

Just wondering, but are ALL the constant companions going to be people we have met already?

Just wondering, as I am more than happy to wait on that issue (I intend to stand by my choice of man/woman/squid thing once it is made).

Happy to discover I can now return to Flute Street whenever I want. This makes the original Fate expenditure an even better deal!

I cannot seem to find that first part of the content that is open to all. I've finished all the non-fate quests, except becoming a person of some importance. Any suggestion where to start looking?

I'm in the same boat as Mark.  I've retrieved the glim-sculptor's squeezebox but have been waiting for days for the opportunity card that will take to Flute Street.  Do I need to be in a particular location?  I've been checking my opportunities at my lodgings lately.

Finally got it!  Loving the content.

Will also add my congratulations for Flute Street, really enjoyed it and also love the new 'Part 2' content but.... ouch, so expensive!

I've just blown all my hard earned 2400 echos in one afternoon! Yes I've got a fine ship to show for it but seriously? That took my over 2 months to save, so I'm currently looking at another 6-8 months of grind to be able to afford a companion, club, mode of travel etc?

I LOVE this game but it does give me serious pause for thought.

I've created a page which lists all of the various things that can be bought in the Bazaar Sidestreets and the costs of each; mainly because I kept forgetting what I actually needed to acquire for various quests, and got bored of constantly travelling backwards and forwards to the Sidestreets to look them up

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/222841/echo-bazaar.html

It's also got some of the new quests listed with what you need to get from the Sidestreets, and their total costs in terms of regular Bazaar goods.

Now all I need to do is work out a) which quest to focus on, and b) where to get all the necessary stuff!

I've been playing the new content, the "Person of Some Importance" stuff and I'm rather ambivalent about it all. Really not sure whether I like it or not.

The content itself, that I've so far seen, is excellent.

However, it feels like the mechanics (or style of play) have changed. It feels like the game is now more about about grinding than anything else - either for quantities of required items directly or quantities of other items which can then be traded for Echoes to purchase the required items.

Granted, there is at least a little satisfaction once the required quantities of secrets or proscribed texts or whatever have been accumulated so that a particular storylet can then be played and my Fallen London alter-ego's story progresses. But that process of accumulating the required quantities is so very tedious.

Of course, for games like Echo Bazaar (and many CRPGs even) the accumulation of x amount of item y to make progress is a fairly fundamental mechanic from which there's no getting away. However I cannot help but wonder if there's anyway that this process can be made less tedious or more interesting.

Or maybe I'm just doing it wrong?

To my mind the "part two" stuff is kind of like additional's you don't need (and will potentially help with later stories) but which you can get if you feel the need to.

Its content that allows the writers some breathing room between the larger "Storyline" updates and gives people who would otherwise simply have bought everything/ be saving up for an overgoat something else to do.

Look at it this way, if you are an individual who has bought all of the "improoving" items and exceptional friend status, after a certain level of time things get a bit ridiculous in terms of stuff you can buy. I mean look on the "profiles" section and see how many people have rooms at the three biggest lodgings.

This gives a little extra narrative "kick" that I think is overall good for the game. I just wish we had more echos to persue it with.

Since most of obtaining materials is very grindy (even with the new nostalgic storylets--thank you for those! thank you kindly!) might there be a way to have several different snippets as outcomes, with the same rewards? For example, on Ladybones Road I can play a storylet to obtain 50 Greyfields. To get 2,000 I need to play this storylet 40 times...reading or skipping over the same text 40 times. If there were several different paragraphs about where this discreet party is taking place, and it cycled through them all, it would make the process of grinding seem less Pavlovian (push button, receive echoes) and more engaging.

Roughly when did you say the stat ceilings would increase to 120 across the board?  (DID you say when?)

I'd like to see another stat-reducing equippable item become available so that I can still plan for The Big One as a Master Thief and still do some Dueling.  Alternately, just make those options automatically available for high level players, since they have decent rewards even though they're (comparatively) lower-level storylets.  It's nice to have a pay-off at the end of a bunch of grinding, like with the Pygmylion storylines.  I can get to them FOR NOW (barely) between my Ridiculous Hat, Talkative Rattus Faber, Bottled Oblivion, etc, but if the stat ceilings increase (which I'm happy about!) and my stats go up, then I won't be able to.

I'm also getting super frustrated with the "A Night on the Town" opportunity card popping up ALL THE TIME.  Most (if not all) of my qualities are maxed out or "too high for this storylet" which makes it a waste of time, but I've frequently clicked on my Opportunities deck and gotten it two or even three times in a row!

Are there only two Constant Companions available at the moment?  (My opportunity deck has only shown two.)  Is that going to be a constant thing or will there be other options later?  I like one of them in a so-so way, but you know, I don't really want to spend all the Echoes to woo her if somebody I'd prefer will become available later on.

Erm, my complaint about "A Night on the Town" opportunity card should actually read "A Night Out".  Sorry, I'm tired.  Oops.

@James S. - lovely work.  If I might, I'd call your attention to the one mistake I found on that whole sheet:  The Cellar of Wine also requires 1000 Foxfire Candles and 1000 Lamplighter Beeswax.

@Mark, Richard: After some confusion I concluded the stuff with the Squeezebox IS part 1.

"Are there only two Constant Companions available at the moment?  (My opportunity deck has only shown two.) "

This cannot be answered truthfully without infringing upon certain rules.

"I don't really want to spend all the Echoes to woo her if somebody I'd prefer will become available later on."

That's a recipe for loneliness.

"It's nice to have a pay-off at the end of a bunch of grinding, like with the Pygmylion storylines."

I agree with this.  I like grinding in the Labyrinth of Tigers because it forces my storylets to change every so often and it gives me a short-term goal.

I believe I have heard about the thing of which you speak, Richard, or I think I know what it is, since you mentioned The Rules.  I was talking more about somebody like the Barbed Wit or the Acclaimed Beauty or the Honey-Sipping Heiress becomong available later.

A recipe for loneliness it may be in real life, but in Echo Bazaar it's fricking expensive.  I've got ships to build and people to bribe.  It would be bad form to jilt somebody like that, anyway.

All of this sounds pretty good. I will look forward to Part 2, it sounds exciting, even though I've still got a long way to go before I've maxed out all my stats.

Anyway, uh... I'm not sure if this should go in the suggestion forum or something, but Persuasive was one of my focus stats, and I found Veilgarden and the Shuttered Palace dreadfully dull compared to everything else. The Watchful path involves digging into the secrets of the Neath with wild abandon and, naturally, uncovering lots of juicy tidbits about the world, and the Dangerous path is certainly quite exciting and also teaches the player a lot about Neathy wildlife/monsters. But I didn't learn much from the Persuasive path -- it seems to forgo revealing juicy secrets of the setting for superficial, hedonistic pleasures. I suppose that's kind of fitting, but I find it somewhat disappointing compared to the information density of the other paths. The Empress' Court has some interesting stuff, at least, so I guess I just want to ask if that pattern is going to continue? (i.e. will the Persuasive path focus more on setting information than writing poetry and seducing people in part 2?)

Sorry, this got a bit overlong. The game is still really great and I'd buy Fate to support it if I wasn't so poor.

Little The: different paths appeal to different people. We try to ensure that across all the paths there's something for everyone. We don't plan to make Persuasive more like Dangerous or Watchful, and a lot of players enjoy poetry and seduction.

Oh lord... so far, my experience with the "narrative economy" has consisted of spending all my actions for days on end doing the same few "Unfinished Business" storylets over and over and over and over again.

At least with the regular old echo economy, there were a large number of equally efficient ways to grind echoes. Now, I just click the same button until my actions run out, then wait for more.

@ j1000 - take a look at Nigel's responses on the original 'Welcome to Part Two' post. The reason you're doing these actions over and over again is because we haven't released the next chunk of content yet: this is what you'd be doing at the content cap anyway. The difference is, we released the narrative economy material so that you have something to aim for in the meantime.

@ Alexis Kennedy:  So how soon will you be releasing the next lump of narrative content?  

As ever, the answer is 'when it's done' - but you've probably seen the teaser go up...

That makes it worse!

Trying to work out when the previewed thing is coming out is far more likely to drive people to homicide than not knowing its coming at all.

That said, roll on Mutton Island.

any news on the new narratives. I know the answer will be 'when it's done' but I'm really looking forward to it!!

I've had pretty much the same experience as j1000 who posted above. Days and days spent doing the storylets ad infinitum