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An Editorial
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ctown28
ctown28
Huntsman

Jun-28-2008 08:39

There have been some recent events on this game that warrant some concern. It’s no secret that there has been a lack of interest. Much of this may be attributed to the release of Shades of Mystery. If that is what people want to play, far be it from me to tell them not to play it.

That being said. I am still a paying customer of Sleuth Noir. As a paying customer there are some things that I expect. Ben has done a decent job at keeping the server up and running. We had a slight issue earlier in the week with not being able to travel and Ben did a great job of addressing the issue and getting it corrected. He always has done a great job of taking care of things. He has not however kept the game fresh and interesting. We recently had the expansion of the USS Sleuthetania. There was a buzz before the initial launch of it and we couldn’t wait to see what was in store for us.

Well what did we get? The opportunity to pay $20,000 to get on board of a ship and do nothing more than play cases. Sure there are some new characters and new items along with 2 new “coming soon” links. That’s it! I can’t help but to feel disappointed in the way this has played out. Two weeks later, the links are still coming soon and the interest of the boat has already gone away. I know I have no plans or reason to get on the boat and be cut off from my agency completely. I don’t know this for a fact, but I think a lot of people are disappointed with the boat as well and some may even be irritated and feel cheated by the whole development.

Maybe I’m being a bit harsh and we are missing some secret that still needs to be unlocked on the boat, but if people aren’t playing, the secret will not be unlocked. I know that Ben is just one person and can only do so much. He has a lot on his plate right now with running both SOM and Noir. I’m sorry, but SOM means absolutely nothing to me as I don’t play over there.

Replies

Paranoid_Android
Paranoid_Android
Story Teller

Jul-31-2008 18:02

I don't really want to fill this board up with to's and fro's but really...

I don't doubt anyone's enthusiasm for the game. Anyone's desire to see it move forward. If Noir doesn't grow it dies. Simple.

My point is purely thus:

Whilst we spend all this time lamenting what was, bewailing what could have been, railing against what should be, and even reveling in what might be, that we occasionally take the time to remove our heads form our asses and appreciate what 'is'.

Anyway I'm off to buy another ticket ont he ship and try and work out what the heck is going on.

Brasco De Gama
Brasco De Gama
Old Shoe

Aug-1-2008 10:49

*POP* Oh yeah!
The Zen of Sleuth. Thank you Guru Squirrel. :P

Huglover
Huglover
Old Shoe

Aug-2-2008 12:09

bump

Breitkat
Breitkat
Pinball Amateur

Aug-20-2008 00:42

As I said on Ctown's debut broadcast on 8/17/08, I've been brainstorming on this for a bit now. This idea incorporates multiple new ideas that various people have suggested (sometimes multiple times) on the boards:

1. A new kind of hunt
2. A new jail in each city (ironically, something of an oddity that we seem to lack here at Sleuth)
3. Random difficulty levels for favors
4. A possibility of getting rid on an unwanted contact
5. An expansion of reward items
6. An expansion of hidden 'Big Lucy' type establishments
7. A possible better use of the Detective Shops

The hunt would involve probably 10 target favors total, 2 from each city. Case file and agency access in home cities would be and admin decision, but I'd be inclined to allow it due to the probable length of this kind of hunt, and the fact that everyone will have equal access (and, as favors cannot be stored, there's no undue advantage given there).

How it would work:

Each city would have a jail/prison of some sort except Shangri-la (probably wouldn't need one there). I start off by going to either any jail or a specific one (admin's choice there), and inquiring if they need any help. I'm told that yes, they do need some help. A certain villain, Baron Mortimer Aryaman, for example, has escaped from custody and is on the loose. They'd be much appreciative if I tracked the miscreant down for them. Last they heard, he was last seen in Delhi (for example). Bon voyage, bye bye, buy bonds.
Once in Delhi, I contact the jail there to learn that the Postal Clerk (for example) has been heard about town possibly to have some info on my boy. Being nice to her may help my cause....
So, I work 3 cases. I come up with a bartender favor. Now, in this new kind of hunt, favors can be ANY!!!! level difficulty--Intermediate to Almost Impossible. In this case (example only), I get a Stupendously Hard case, with a reward potentially worth $9600. (Cont'd)

Breitkat
Breitkat
Pinball Amateur

Aug-20-2008 00:56

After solving it, I do 3 more cases, come up with a Podiatrist favor, hard level ($1600 reward). This goes on until I come across my blipety-blip Postal Clerk favor. Yay. There's the good news. Bad news is, it's an Almost Impossible level (potential payout--$38,400). Three threads and a hair. Peachy. I go through the case, get down to two suspects. Do I guess or do I quit? Being the old codger I am, I quit. Back to the drawing board....
Eventually, after umpty-ump more cases and random-level favors, I come across the P. C. again. This time it's a Riduculously Hard case this time ($19,200 potential reward). Through an unbelievable strike of luck (or perhaps pure stupidity ;-), I manage to solve the thing. In addition to the reward, the Postal Clerk tells me that my fugitive was here, but fled just before I arrived. I might want to go talk to the Fortune Teller here in Delhi now.
Now, another twist to this hunt. The P.C. (theoretically) is my contact. Because she's harbored a fugitive from justice, and has actively refused to tell me anything about it for all this time, she's violated my trust in her. I now have the option of severing our relationship and looking for a new contact, or choosing to keep her as my standard Delhi one (two tabs would appear, and I would have to choose one of them).
After that, the whole process starts all over again, until I find the Fortune Teller. Boom. First favor I get, it's her. Really hard level case, fairly easy to solve, $3200 reward. She tells me (again) that my guy was there, but took off just before I arrived. She thinks the Baron is headed to Cairo. I'm off to my next city.
The process repeats through all 5 cities, New York, London, Shanghai, Delhi, and Cairo. At the last city, with the last favor, I finally capture my fugitive. YYYAAAYYY!!!!!!!!! Now I drag him back to whatever jail I started out at, and collect my reward.

Breitkat
Breitkat
Pinball Amateur

Aug-20-2008 01:02

Here, there are a couple of options that could be implemented:
1. I could simply get a large lump sum of cash from the jail, and I'm done.

2. I receive some kind of certificate, redeemable for various things I can look through at the Detective Shop, or again, said large lump of cash (All items in the Detective Shops would be the same in all cities.).

3. I receive some kind of certificate (again), redeemable for various things I can find at a 'Big Lucy' type of establishment found in each city (Items available in each city would be unique and fitting to that city, but again would still be worth the same large lump of cash as 1. and 2.).

I prob'ly didn't explain this whole concept real well on the radio broadcast, but there's the whole outline of it. ;-D

topkebab
topkebab
Lucky Stiff

Aug-20-2008 08:17

I love the way that that ties into the "getting rid of a contact" idea that a lot of ppl have voiced. Perhaps that could also be the way to gain a new contact after you fire the old one as well i.e. only available through fugitive favours (and entirely random and not very frequent). So you couldn't just return to Delhi after you found your fugitive, and stay there for x weeks until you get a new contact, you;d have to keep moving and tracking down fugitives all round the world.

Anikka
Anikka
Babelfish

Aug-20-2008 09:35

I think it would really personalize the whole thing if the escapee happened to be one of the arch villains the player had hunted in the past. And it would also give us a chance to have one of those villains become a nemesis who plagues our career and (perhaps) eventually the rewards for capturing them grow.

turtledove
turtledove
Gopher to the Sleuth Gods

Aug-20-2008 11:13

I think this idea is just great Breitkat. Different from VHs that we know and will probably take more time to complete but would be a welcome relief for those of us who are almost always on VHs. The idea of making it worth our while to visit Big Lucy is very interesting. Right now I don't bother anymore because once you have visited her there's not much more to see or do there.

I'm all for this and I hope it gets implemented one day. I was listening to the radio broadcast on Sunday and Ben seemed quite open to new ideas so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Aknas
Aknas
Con Artist

Mar-11-2009 03:57

Bump? :D

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