Seeking Mr. Eaten's Name - The most infamous quest in gaming?

[IridiumDragon06]

Fallen London does some interesting things with language. I found my first meeting with the Tiger Keeper in the Labyrinth of Tigers memorable, because of how the game carefully sets up what you should expect with its consistent Adjective Noun naming convention.

There is also a lot of weirdly interconnected lore, and the F2P-with-paid-premium mechanics play really well into the themes of the SMEN plotline itself.

I also think that the nature of the game does show the weakness of the AAA full-animated everything-voiced model. If you remember back to Elder Scrolls 3, then most of your interactions with NPCs were text boxes, with important lines and cutscenes voiced. This meant that the game could be hugely reactive, because it's very cheap to write new dialoge of an NPC reacting to your actions, and save the voice and cutscenes for the fixed stuff. Likewise, Fallen London can, for the price of some art assets and some writer time (which, IIRC, was mostly a single writer doing the work more-or-less off-hours because it seemed so off-brand, and thus ended up a really good paen to obsessive madness to complete a goal), include an entire branch which did draw a lot of people into the game on the strength of its reputation alone, even if most players never do more than dip a toe in.

 

[AnnLurker]

There's a quest called Seeking Mr. Eaten's Name in a game called Fallen London that takes months of effort to complete. Along the course of the quest, rather than becoming more powerful or richer, you sacrifice everything. The quest culminates in your character being permanently consigned to indefinite torment and rendered unplayable. Oh, and also, the eventual result of all your efforts is the end of the entire game setting and everybody dies. It's an insane amount of effort for something very few people would even want. It's also said to be the best-written quest in the game. I am asking, is there anything else comparable to this in all of gaming?

Lets see...
From most recent I remember.

Infernax- You can turn right around and nope the fuck out of the game in 1 minute, getting the coward ending, but totally logical.

Phantasy Star Universe (MMO) - You nearly kill an entire towns worth of people who are considered basically blacks with your superior officer at the request of her adopted father and your commander. She questions this ideology and the correct actions to take. Spoilers - He's completely right as anyone infected with SEED virus becomes a superhuman monster. Father and main figurehead of the game sacrifices his life to then save the civilian part of a space colony as it is dropped onto a robot planet by infected robots. Further spoilers - He's fucking dead, not even a ghost.

Sword and Sworcery - Shitty game, but premise is that you lose power and life as the game goes on while trying to fix the magic Macguffin. Spoiler, you die at the end.

Shining Force - Man character (Max) Wounds his brother from the past, fights an ancient evil wallbound demonic dragon and is sealed in a castle for all time, bound too the monster and no one knows what happened. Spoilers - In an extremely rare case of using their brain outside of player control, he uses his Egress spell to warp the fuck out of there, but leaves the sword and his futuristic armor behind to become a farmer.

I have lots more. The gay ass game you are talking about is fucking lame and world ending things have happened before in other games.

 

[Dom Cruise]

At first I was getting this confused with Sunless Sea before Googling it and realizing it's the same franchise.

I ain't got time to read all that but thanks for reminding me of this franchise, I love steampunk/gothic/Lovecraftian shit.

 

[Ultrapenguin]

How does a text based MMORPG even work? What the hell do you spend money on, unlocking certain vowels?
It sounds like this whole thing would probably be a lot more interesting for people who had a frame of reference and maybe a lot of adderall.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind Lovecraftian word salad, but Fallen London always comes across like they're trying too hard. I was just really curious about the ending to SMEN since it's forbidden fruit. The quest line itself was a somewhat interesting concept but why put in content that isn't meant to be played?

Eh, they do it when games put in outrageously high level raid bosses and shit that nobody in the game is actually going to be able to beat at any point in the near future. People really like knowing that there are still things out there that are so elite and esoteric that almost nobody's ever seen them.
Especially when you're dealing with mechanically simpler games it doesn't take much effort and it goes a very long way to keeping people engaged. That's exactly how Runescape managed to be so popular despite being so retardedly simplistic; that simplicity meant they could afford to put in tons of stuff only the top .1% of players would ever experience.

You just have to make sure it's actually something people can theoretically beat at some point though or your playerbase will eventually find out and be really, really pissed.

 

[EnemyStand]

How does a text based MMORPG even work? What the hell do you spend money on, unlocking certain vowels?
It sounds like this whole thing would probably be a lot more interesting for people who had a frame of reference and maybe a lot of adderall.

Well, Improbable Island made it work but that was only a MMO in the sense that it had an open chat room on the bottom of the page.

Eh, they do it when games put in outrageously high level raid bosses and shit that nobody in the game is actually going to be able to beat at any point in the near future. People really like knowing that there are still things out there that are so elite and esoteric that almost nobody's ever seen them.
Especially when you're dealing with mechanically simpler games it doesn't take much effort and it goes a very long way to keeping people engaged. That's exactly how Runescape managed to be so popular despite being so retardedly simplistic; that simplicity meant they could afford to put in tons of stuff only the top .1% of players would ever experience.

You just have to make sure it's actually something people can theoretically beat at some point though or your playerbase will eventually find out and be really, really pissed.

Yeah, but killing the uberboss won't lock you out of your game forever. So that makes some sort of sense to me.

 

[Red Hood]

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind Lovecraftian word salad, but Fallen London always comes across like they're trying too hard. I was just really curious about the ending to SMEN since it's forbidden fruit. The quest line itself was a somewhat interesting concept but why put in content that isn't meant to be played?

>Shitpost Rat added to your Lodgings.

The thing about Lovecraftian word salad is that it's hard to do right. Lovecraft intentionally used it to create a sort of hypnotic effect. Most other writers just imitate him and create a messy pastiche.

 

[HeyYou]

I also think that the nature of the game does show the weakness of the AAA full-animated everything-voiced model. If you remember back to Elder Scrolls 3, then most of your interactions with NPCs were text boxes, with important lines and cutscenes voiced. This meant that the game could be hugely reactive, because it's very cheap to write new dialoge of an NPC reacting to your actions, and save the voice and cutscenes for the fixed stuff.

Morrowind was not particularly reactive, outside of the NPC's disposition and how far you were in the main quest if you asked them about the Nerevarine. Imperial Guards don't even have unique dialogue when you're the head of the Imperial Legion on Vvardenfell, they just use the generic dialogue for when you first join the Legion.

And yeah, this kind of "weird" writing is very hard to pull off. There are very few games that do it well, and sometimes a game that does it well in some sections can do it poorly in others. The only game that I can think of in recent memory that did it well is Disco Elysium.

 

[Solid Snek]

How does a text based MMORPG even work? What the hell do you spend money on, unlocking certain vowels?
It sounds like this whole thing would probably be a lot more interesting for people who had a frame of reference and maybe a lot of adderall.

It works like a F2P mobile game mixed with a CYOA. You get a limited number of Actions per day, with realtime replenishment and cooldowns (on several things) that can be reset with $$$. You read stories, click choices, read more stories, click more choices, earning experience points and items with every branch you explore. There are random chance elements, with better outcomes in stories being tied to higher stats and leveled gear (or freemium currency, more on that in a bit), and progress in the game usually involves grinding out storylines for certain items that will unlock new, higher level stories.

When you first start playing, you can charge through quests and storylines almost effortlessly; I think the tutorial levels offer up to an hour of reading fun before you hit any significant walls. But like all F2P MMOs, as you play more the grind requirements increase exponentially; eventually you'll be spending days, weeks, possibly even months, repeating storylines to get the currency and items needed to advance to the next spot you want you to go. Players learn to balance action economy with the RNG risk/reward system, as with any F2P mobile game plunking away at repeatable storylines during bathroom breaks, train rides, and boring conversations... OR they get addicted to the story, and start shelling out money for the freemium currency (called FATE, which costs about 25 cents per unit to buy) in order to skip chunks of grind.

There are also seasonal and rotating storylines, which encourage lukewarm players to keep coming back each month, possibly spending $$$ to skip the grind and get time-limited storylines and items. Again, same as any F2P mobile, really.

There's a health system (several health systems, really, including physical health, mental health, and criminal health) which keeps you on an additional cooldown; fuck up your clicks too many times ("yes, I want to fight the betentacled vampire swamp monster, huzzah"), and you'll get yourself put in prison, trapped in a nightmare, or brutally murdered and carted off to a land of living mummies, for a period of (I believe?) up to one week, real time. Coming back to life either requires waiting out the penalty box timer, or, you guessed it, $$$.

And finally, there's a Monthly Subscription option, which unlocks grind skipping dialogue choices, doubles the amount of Actions you can take per day, and lets you play Subscriber-only storylines, also on a rotating schedule.

That's basically what's up with the SMEN Ending OP discusses, too; it's an absurdly grind-heavy, late game MMO quest that "rewards" the $$$paying Whales who put in the time and money to get through it all, by permanently killing their character and locking their player account.





I will say this, since everyone's shitting on Fallen London in this thread - if you like Victorian Gothic, Lovecraft, or steampunk stuff, AND you like reading, it's a fine game. The setting is interesting, and some of the storylines are fun and charming. It just requires a HEAVY time investment, and expect to face a lot of bullshit F2P "game" mechanics, but it IS an F2P MMO game.

For me, I thought it was OK, but I got bored and soon found myself clicking through every storyline without reading more than ten words. However, I am a big dumby who wants boobs and explosions in his vidya, not text, so YMMV. Esepcially if you're an autistic girl Farmer or a tranny.

However, if you are as dumb as I am, then I would instead recommend Sunless Sea and Sunless Skies, which are in the same setting, with some of the same writing, but also mixes stuff up by being not a text-based browser MMO, but rather a proper 4X steampunk ship simulator game, complete with real time cannon battles, carnivorous tentacle monsters, and Victorian gentlewomen getting turned into crystal by the merciless light of the vengeful Sun.

 

[The Littlest Shitlord]

@Solid Snek gave a decent summary of how a text-based browser MMO works, but he didn't mention the player interaction. It's fairly rudimentary, so that's why I mentioned in the OP that it's arguable if Fallen London is "really" an MMO or not; yes, there are thousands of players, but their interactions are fairly circumscribed. Still, you can send presents (but only certain items, such as the aforementioned gift of dead rats, which are a staple foodstuff in the Neath, or the notorious Starveling Cat, or the accursed Eyeless Skull). You can invite people to take part in various social activities, although you only have a certain number of those per real-life week. These include things that will help them raise their stats, like playing chess with them, and there are also things that will raise the other player's social status (an important game mechanic) as well. You can also go into the newspaper business and print slanderous stories about other players, which will in turn give them a special option to hire an assassin to kill you (temporarily, of course). There is of course also the usual MMORPG marriage to other players. And in the OP I already mentioned the Seeker-specific interactions, such as betraying other players by infecting them with the urge to Seek the Name themselves, lowering their stats by giving them an imaginary candle, or sending them Mr. Eaten's Calling Card.

The community is kind of insane, yes, but they do make playing the game (or even just reading about it) more entertaining. I already mentioned the player who was actually dissatisfied with the carnival attraction that failed to permanently kill their character and filed a bug report about it. There was the time that the entire community banded together to spam one of the developers with gifts of dead rats until he was forced to add a special quality to his character that disabled being sent any more rats (I think he had over a million dead rats at that point). And then there's the crazy guy who decided to set up a home for unwanted Starveling Cats and takes in any and all unwanted Starveling Cats that other players send him.

 

[Solid Snek]

@Solid Snek gave a decent summary of how a text-based browser MMO works, but he didn't mention the player interaction. It's fairly rudimentary, so that's why I mentioned in the OP that it's arguable if Fallen London is "really" an MMO or not; yes, there are thousands of players, but their interactions are fairly circumscribed. Still, you can send presents (but only certain items, such as the aforementioned gift of dead rats, which are a staple foodstuff in the Neath, or the notorious Starveling Cat, or the accursed Eyeless Skull). You can invite people to take part in various social activities, although you only have a certain number of those per real-life week. These include things that will help them raise their stats, like playing chess with them, and there are also things that will raise the other player's social status (an important game mechanic) as well. You can also go into the newspaper business and print slanderous stories about other players, which will in turn give them a special option to hire an assassin to kill you (temporarily, of course). There is of course also the usual MMORPG marriage to other players. And in the OP I already mentioned the Seeker-specific interactions, such as betraying other players by infecting them with the urge to Seek the Name themselves, lowering their stats by giving them an imaginary candle, or sending them Mr. Eaten's Calling Card.

The community is kind of insane, yes, but they do make playing the game (or even just reading about it) more entertaining. I already mentioned the player who was actually dissatisfied with the carnival attraction that failed to permanently kill their character and filed a bug report about it. There was the time that the entire community banded together to spam one of the developers with gifts of dead rats until he was forced to add a special quality to his character that disabled being sent any more rats (I think he had over a million dead rats at that point). And then there's the crazy guy who decided to set up a home for unwanted Starveling Cats and takes in any and all unwanted Starveling Cats that other players send him.

Yes, good point! I never bothered with any of the community or social features myself (beyond having a mule account to marry me and send myself presents), but I would guess - and this is just a guess! - that there is enough interesting community drama to make an entire Fallen London Community Watch thread.

I mean, who the hell doesn't want, and gives away, Starveling Cats??! Sheer madness.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

There's a quest called Seeking Mr. Eaten's Name in a game called Fallen London that takes months of effort to complete. Along the course of the quest, rather than becoming more powerful or richer, you sacrifice everything. The quest culminates in your character being permanently consigned to indefinite torment and rendered unplayable. Oh, and also, the eventual result of all your efforts is the end of the entire game setting and everybody dies. It's an insane amount of effort for something very few people would even want. It's also said to be the best-written quest in the game. I am asking, is there anything else comparable to this in all of gaming?

What is completely different is the story. In other MMORPGs your character becomes become more powerful and accomplished as the game goes on, and the story reflects this; you go from killing sewer rats or whatever to killing dragons and evil demigods or whatever. The player lives vicariously through their character, and feels rewarded when their character gets items, level-ups, gold, and so on. This is a story where all of your character's imaginary accomplishments are stripped away, one by one, until the character becomes permanently unplayable, which is something that normally only happens in an MMORPG if you deliberately delete your character, or you get banned from the game by GMs. Both of which have nothing at all to do with the story and completely violate immersion. There is nothing else like it even in the same game. Instead of simulating becoming stronger through triumphantly overcoming a series of challenges, you are simulating someone's total self-destruction in the face of everyone telling them to stop. It's more like playing an insane person descending into drug addiction, homelessness, and death than it is like playing anything even remotely heroic, or even antiheroic.

Is it a real world allegory for for voting Biden/Kamala or is there a more profound meaning?

 

[The Littlest Shitlord]

Is it a real world allegory for for voting Biden/Kamala or is there a more profound meaning?

When you write an inspired work of fiction, you have God as a co-author. And He likes to put hidden messages in the work. Let's just say that there are so many metaphors for demonic possession in this story for a reason. Whether the original author knew about this or not is an open question, but I think that they usually don't.

 

[Moths]

Whats with you niggers clicking on an obvious infodump thread and going "tldr lel"

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

Interesting topic, Fallen London is in my same category of games as Darkest Dungeon - Pretty interesting lore but a turn off gameplay-wise.

I wouldn't say it's the most infamous sidequest (though I did read about this previously, but not in-depth). You'd probably find ones more hated on the bigger mmo's. But it is a good simulation of going full retarded for a pointless achievement.

 

[Dysnomia]

I thought it was going to be stupid. But that was really interesting to read.

 

[Next Task]

I wouldn't say it's the most infamous sidequest

Second, though I thought it was really interesting to read about. But the most infamous sidequest will be something much more common. But I imagine it's incredibly rare for an MMO to have a quest specifically designed to make your character unplayable, especially one you've spent money on, as sounds likely for someone who follows that particular quest chain all the way to the end. I only know of one other MMO that had character permadeath, and that was a Korean attempt at a Wizardry-based MMO. And even then, it was something that could happen in the course of the game, not a questline specifically inserted to make it happen.

 

[Shining Wit]

But what was his name

 

[glass_houses]

This sounds absolutely fascinating and fantastically obsessive. Thank you for the introduction, I'll have to check it out.

 

[Safir]

That's basically what's up with the SMEN Ending OP discusses, too; it's an absurdly grind-heavy, late game MMO quest that "rewards" the $$$paying Whales who put in the time and money to get through it all, by permanently killing their character and locking their player account.

1. It's not late game, you can (and should) do it right after the tutorial if you want to play the game to read the content. (Some autists and trannies are very particular about roleplaying their characters correctly and making appropriate moral choices IRL and do not do it.)
2. It's not grind-heavy at all. It's certainly long (over 3 months), but the time is split between (1) playing the game normally and taking a couple unprofitable actions per week, and (2) sitting in penalty zones and on cuck island, when you only need to log in a couple times a day to click a button.
3. It requires no $$$ whatsoever.
4. It doesn't lock your account; and story-wise, it doesn't "kill" your character. In 3 out of 4 endings, the character is indeed rendered unplayable, being stuck in a leaf branch with nothing to do but read the text. The fourth ending gets you the most powerful item in the game and you can continue playing.
5. It's not really all that impressive as the OP makes it look. Most actions which seriously hurt you are there for shits and giggles and you shouldn't be doing them. Collecting scars / chains / stains means clicking a button which sends you to the timeout zone, and you grind back out of it by performing unprofitable actions. Then you liquidate most of your stuff to invest in nonperishables and go to cuck island to play martingale for a week or so until you win. Then you come back and wrap up the quest.

The first version of SMEN was indeed made to burn troon whales' extra money, setting up a money-burning competition between them, but it was never completed, because more people joined the most prominent event in the game and realized they got fucked for nothing because they could never match troons' tugboats. The "omg it's so hardcore" reputation comes from this first version. Version 2 is singleplayer, signposted, costs no money and is mandatory from both the literary (best and central story in the game) and mechanical aspect.

The way the game works (I had to look this up), each week, you need to perform actions to maintain your Notability score by grinding another trait (Making Waves) with thresholds growing quadratically, and your sum of Prominence bonuses is subtracted from the quadratic base. E.g. if you normally need to grind 10*10 = 100 points, but with Prominence 6 you only need to grind (10-6) * (10-6) = 16. High Prominence comes from hard-to-grind and real-money items, but at +4 the Seven-Fold Knock (the item you get for completing SMEN) is the single best item, and it's free. Considering many actions cost Notability and many actions require specific high levels of Notability, a week on cuck island will save you a lot of time going forward.

They also had non-binary gender before it was a thing.

It wasn't really "non-binary gender" so much as what the quote in the OP literally says: you can't tell the sex of some people, they won't tell you, and it's impolite to ask. Character descriptions are very economical, and the writers at the time I played (and, looking through the wiki, ever since) understand the importance of sex in characterization, so ambiguously-sexed characters are rare.

 

[Jimjamflimflam]

Alexis Kennedy just needs to write books instead. His Cultist Simulator and Sunless Sea game have these awesome ideas and world building but the game mechanics are trash.

Cultist Simulator is especially frustrating since no help is given and you are expected to just figure it out. However it's easy to "die" and have to start over where you are at the mercy of a clock to grind against.