missroserose: (Masquerade)
[personal profile] missroserose
Note:  Some minor spoilers ahead, although as it's a Fate-locked (read: paid) storyline, I'm keeping the details to myself.

One of the many stories you can play in Echo Bazaar involves an acquaintance known as the Repentant Forger, and a painting you buy (or steal).  Initially you plan to ditch the (all-black and "fatally modern") canvas and just sell the frame, but if you have the Fate and know the Repentant Forger, he'll tell you that there's actually a painting hidden beneath the black.  Thus begins a long and arduous (for him) process of stripping the paint off, layer by layer - each one revealing a more scandalous aspect of a portrait that had been painted out, each one increasing the value of the painting (at first in terms of blackmail from the family of the sitter, later in terms of secrets hidden in the various layers of the painting).  The Repentant Forger, meanwhile, has a harder and harder time of it, as the painting is giving him nightmares - towards the end, you have to literally bribe him with diamonds or rare wine, or threaten to rat him out to the Constables, in order to get him to continue.  This is hardly surprising, as the information contained within the painting (without going too heavily into EB's extensive backstory) is of the sort known to cause anything from nightmares to loss of sanity to actual spontaneous combustion.

I'm at the final option of the story, where the (extremely haggard) Forger, having done a beautiful job and uncovered a disturbing scene, swears to me that there are no more layers to the painting.  This is not quite the end of the storyline, however.  On the one hand, I can trust his statements, copy down the details of the painting, sell the canvas for (one assumes) a significant sum, and have done with the thing.  Alternatively, I can demand that the Forger continue his work.  It would ruin my relationship with him, and there's at least a decent chance there'd be nothing beneath the paint save blank canvas (thus rendering the entire thing worthless to anybody), but I would be absolutely certain there were no more secrets to be had from it.

As a clever reader might have gathered from my review, there's a distinct undercurrent of dark obsession running through Echo Bazaar's storylines.  Often in the game, this ruthlessness in the pursuit of one's desire is rewarded, albeit not without certain unflattering attributes attaching to your character.  And the discovery of secrets related to the heart of the game is one of its great joys.  So there's a distinct motivation there to push this to the end and see where it goes.

On the other hand, I must admire the clever way in which the game's writers have set this up.  If it were simply a matter of the currency invested in this storyline (diamonds and rare wine don't come cheap), there'd be no question - I have plenty of wealth, and the game does not give up its deepest secrets easily.  But the loss of the Repentant Forger's friendship may well have ramifications further down the road (there are plenty of other storylines like this one that require acquaintanceship with a particular individual to play), and while few choices in the game are entirely irreversible (often it will dangle the opportunity to change a past decision - for a small fee, of course), it's also just a plain awful way to treat a friend.  

Admittedly, the stakes here are fairly low; it's a game, fer chrissakes.  But this is what I mean when I talk about just how involving the story can be - I'm not certain I want my character to be the sort of person who's do this to a friend, but by the same token, I know she's the sort of person (because I am) whose need to know may well override her better judgment.  Additionally, I must doff my cap to the writers; often in stories like this, less skilled tellers telegraph which option is the "correct" one; all I have to do is imagine what I would do if I were the writer, and there's the answer.  Here, I could honestly see it going either way - I might offer a reward for the obsessive option (at a price, of course), or I might say "You'd seriously give up your friendship just to make absolutely sure he's not lying to you?  Here, have a useless canvas and an estranged friend."  And, of course, it wouldn't at all be hard to write the result of the "safe" option in order to leave a certain ambiguity about what would have happened had you gone the other way.

So, friends, I ask you:  Given the situation, which would you choose?

Date: 2011-04-01 02:24 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jamesd.livejournal.com
How much of a friend would you still be to someone who had already threatened to report you to the Constables to get what they wanted from you? :)

There may be an art restorer or additional forget available to give a second opinion.

Date: 2011-04-01 02:54 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] roseneko.livejournal.com
Actually, I intentionally didn't pick that option, largely because I wanted to preserve my relationship with him. :) Sadly, the way it's set up, there isn't anyone else I can go to. I'm fairly certain that if his acquaintanceship is necessary for a future storyline, there'll be some way to repair it (or I could get myself tossed in prison again and see if I can find another Repentant Forger to strike up a friendship with). But I'm honestly unsure if driving him over the edge is something I want to do, even as a fictional character in a completely fictional situation. Does that make any sense at all?

Date: 2011-04-01 03:36 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] epi-lj.livejournal.com
Whenever I run into things like this in other games, the key determining isn't what I'd do, but what I think my character would do. The whole point of narrative games for me is to build a model of my character (and their arc of change over the story) -- to participate in writing the protagonist alongside the designers. So the question is, who is your protagonist? What choice would they make? I almost never try to go with what I think the game designers want you to do or reward you for doing -- I try to do with what I think my character would actually do.

Date: 2011-04-01 03:51 am (UTC)
alexmegami: (Default)
From: [personal profile] alexmegami
*nod* Totally agreed with this.

In my case, I think I would... shy from estranging my friends, even if they're likely to be easy to re-friend (after all, the wine doesn't flow as freely for the Repentant Forger without you around. :). But it would be hard, because I, like you, WANT TO KNOW.

But as I am unlikely to acquire 19 Fate any time soon, I think you should go for it. ;)

Date: 2011-04-01 04:26 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] roseneko.livejournal.com
Hee. :) I went to see if I could buy you some, but they don't have that option yet (although it looks like they're planning on adding the functionality). I went with the "force him to clear away the next layer" option, so I guess my character's just a little more obsessive than yours. :D

Date: 2011-04-01 04:34 am (UTC)
alexmegami: (Default)
From: [personal profile] alexmegami
And? AAAAND?

Date: 2011-04-01 04:58 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] roseneko.livejournal.com
Sorry, it's a fate-locked story. I can't tell you. *looks virtuous*

Date: 2011-04-01 04:25 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] roseneko.livejournal.com
A fair point, although I wasn't really building a character per se - or if I was, it was a rough amalgam of me with a few of the stops taken off. That last bit is probably why I went with the obsessive option. :)

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