Results of our fate-locked stories survey (January 2022 edition)
Here are the results for our survey on fate-locked stories for January 2022. Bonus- and Christmas stories aside, we had a full 100 stories you could vote on this time. And it showed with the length of the survey, which has become some serious work by now. So thank you to everyone who participated! And many, many thanks to Failbetter for linking the survey both on Discord and on Twitter. We got over 300 votes again this year (slightly more than last time even!), so hopefully the results are a good representation of popular opinion.
As in our previous surveys, story quality has been calculated based on the average voted value. Possible values ranged from 1 ("Exceptional") to -1 ("Didn't like"), so stories with an average above zero were liked by the majority of players, while stories with an average below zero were not.
##Most Popular Stories
- Cricket, Anyone? (average vote: 0.85)
- My Kingdom for a Pig (average vote: 0.8)
- Por Una Cabeza (average vote: 0.68)
- HOJOTOHO! (average vote: 0.66)
- The Gift (average vote: 0.63)
The top five stories are actually the same as last year (although #3 and #4 switched places). The top three stories are by Chandler Groover who - with 7 stories in the top 30 - is proving once more that he's in a league of his own when it comes to writing stories for Fallen London. (Check out his website for some free non-FL content!). Results are maybe a little more boring than usually because besides a little shuffling around nothing much happened among the top stories for a fairly long way down. Last year's Christmas story, "The Poisoner's Library" is the highest rated new entry at #15 and Olvia's last story before leaving Failbetter is right behind at #16.
Interestingly, almost all stories got a slightly lower rating compared to our previous survey and the top improvements this year are "Upwards!" and "Johnny Croak" (+0.07), which really isn't much compared to other years. The stories who dropped most are Discernment (-0.21), "Price of Loss" (-0.2) and "The Heart, the Devil, and the Zee" (-0.19).
The most controversial story was - once again - "Fine Dining" with a variance of 0.53. It was already the most controversial story in past years, but has managed to divide players even more this time. "Secrets Framed in Gold" (var=0.39) also keeps being controversal, but for some reason "Five Minutes to Midday" (var=0.39) is also up there now. Least controversial were again "Cricket" and "My Kingdom for a Pig" by Chandler Groover.
##Least Popular Stories
- The Rubbery Murders (average vote: -0.71)
- Factory of Favours (average vote: -0.48)
- The Price of Loss (average vote: -0.39)
- The Spinning of the Wheels (average vote: -0.35)
- The Last Dog Society (average vote: -0.3)
No big changes here as well, except that ratings for these stories are also (much) lower this year than they were previously. I guess by now "Rubbery Murders" has a reputation to uphold! The least popular new story this year is "Damp Martyrs" which enters with an average rating of -0.11.
Below you will find the ranking for all stories as well as a list of stories that voters thought are worth buying based on rewards alone. For more details I've also put everything in a Google spreadsheet again. (Note that the spreadsheet has four tabs, they are easy to overlook.) So if you like you can fiddle around with the numbers on your own.
##Ranking of Fate-Locked Stories
Below you will find the ranking of the stories from most popular to least popular, incl. the total number of votes and the average vote. For a detailed breakdown on how exactly players voted for each story, please take a look here.
# | Title | Total votes |Avg vote |Diff. to prev. survey :--:|:---|:--:|:--:|:--:|:--: 1|Cricket Anyone?|178|0.85|-0.06 2|My Kingdom for a Pig|129|0.8|-0.01 3|Por Una Cabeza|106|0.68|-0.03 4|HOJOTOHO!|148|0.66|-0.05 5|The Gift|170|0.63|-0.01 6|The Brass Grail|117|0.6|0.03 7|The Twelve-Fifteen from Moloch Street|122|0.59|-0.01 8|The Shallows|131|0.58|-0.04 9|For All The Saints|105|0.58|-0.04 10|Go Tell the King of Cats|136|0.55|0.02 11|Lost in Reflections|126|0.55|-0.02 12|Caveat Emptor|179|0.54|-0.06 13|The Icarian Cup|172|0.54|-0.07 14|The Ceremony|96|0.53|-0.05 15|The Poisoner's Library|109|0.53|- 16|We Absolutely Meant to Go to Zee|221|0.51|- 17|Paisley|144|0.47|-0.07 18|Adornment|209|0.46|- 19|The Ballad of Johnny Croak|127|0.44|0.07 20|The Calendar Code|96|0.39|-0.04 21|Tauroktonos|76|0.38|0.01 22|The Rat-Catcher|62|0.38|0.01 23|Where You and I Must Go|86|0.37|-0.05 24|Flint|125|0.37|-0.09 25|The Empress' Shadow|155|0.36|-0.14 26|All Things Must End|81|0.36|-0.02 27|The Fair Unknown|170|0.36|- 28|The Persona Engine|111|0.35|-0.11 29|A Little Pandemonium|67|0.34|-0.01 30|The Crocodile Who Would Be King|250|0.34|- 31|Homecoming|134|0.31|-0.02 32|The Tempest|214|0.3|- 33|Noises from Upstairs|86|0.28|0.05 34|Reunion|175|0.28|- 35|The Waltz That Moved the World|71|0.27|0 36|The Thing That Came In From The Fog|182|0.26|- 37|A Crown of Thorns|210|0.25|- 38|The Attendants|78|0.25|0.01 39|Theological Husbandry|220|0.23|-0.11 40|Leviathan|188|0.22|- 41|The Jack-of-Smiles Case|171|0.21|-0.15 42|The Blemmigan Affair|103|0.19|-0.12 43|Upwards!|133|0.19|0.07 44|The House of Silk and Flame|234|0.17|- 45|The Heretic of Hollow Street|74|0.17|-0.01 46|The Sinking Synod|83|0.17|-0.01 47|The Century Exhibition|87|0.16|0 48|Steeped In Honey|48|0.16|-0.06 49|Cut with Moonlight|94|0.15|-0.07 50|Five Minutes to Midday|72|0.15|-0.06 51|Written in the Glim|64|0.15|0.04 52|The Pursuit of Moths|54|0.14|-0.07 53|A Functionary's Confidant|67|0.13|-0.08 54|The Chimney Pot Wars|72|0.13|-0.08 55|Inconvenienced by Your Aunt|240|0.09|0.04 56|Secrets Framed in Gold|179|0.07|-0.01 57|The Murgatroyd Formula|55|0.06|-0.06 58|The Frequently Deceased|59|0.06|-0.03 59|Older Not Wiser|136|0.06|-0.08 60|Say it With Flowers|78|0.06|-0.07 61|Flute Street|237|0.05|-0.17 62|The Bones of London|57|0.04|-0.06 63|Mysteries of the Foreign Office|107|0.02|-0.09 64|The Magician's Dream|54|0.02|-0.08 65|Unto Dust|115|0.01|-0.11 66|The Stag & the Shark|76|0.01|-0.04 67|A Trade in Souls|222|-0.02|-0.04 68|Shades of Yesterday|89|-0.03|-0.06 69|The Final Curtain|48|-0.03|-0.18 70|The Stone Guest|51|-0.04|-0.04 71|The Haunting at the Marsh-House|51|-0.05|0.02 72|The Pentecost Predicament|59|-0.05|-0.11 73|Required Repairs|59|-0.05|0.04 74|Lamentation Lock|54|-0.06|-0.04 75|A Trade in Faces|88|-0.06|-0.12 76|For A Dream Of Innocence|168|-0.07|- 77|The Seven-Day Reign|53|-0.07|-0.1 78|The Garden Embassy|74|-0.07|-0.06 79|A Court of Cats|68|-0.08|-0.06 80|The Marriage of Feducci|62|-0.1|-0.11 81|Daylight|75|-0.1|0.02 82|The Web of the Motherlings|69|-0.1|-0.12 83|Fine Dining|94|-0.11|-0.02 84|Borrowed Glory|85|-0.11|0.02 85|Damp Martyrs|208|-0.11|- 86|The Committee|67|-0.13|0.03 87|Our Lady of Pyres|58|-0.13|-0.09 88|The Dilettante's Debut|117|-0.15|-0.01 89|The Art of Murder|55|-0.17|-0.04 90|Fading to a Coda|136|-0.19|-0.11 91|Discernment|53|-0.2|-0.21 92|The Heart the Devil and the Zee|54|-0.23|-0.19 93|A Long Lost Daughter|98|-0.25|-0.01 94|Trial and Error|44|-0.26|-0.12 95|The Clay Man's Arm|74|-0.31|-0.13 96|The Last Dog Society|41|-0.33|-0.19 97|The Spinning of the Wheels|107|-0.35|-0.11 98|The Price of Loss|51|-0.39|-0.2 99|Factory of Favours|48|-0.48|-0.11 100|The Rubbery Murders|47|-0.71|-0.13
##Seasonal Conclusions
The seasonal bonus stories are unlocked when you have played all three stories of a season. Some of them are revealing some previously unknown lore and that shows fairly well in the ratings below (i.e. the ones that do tend to have a higher rating).
| # | Story name | Total votes | Average vote | Diff. to prev. survey |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Season of Sceptres | 48 | 0.6 | 0.01 |
| 3 | Season of Ruins | 66 | 0.59 | 0.02 |
| 2 | Season of Skies | 56 | 0.59 | 0 |
| 4 | Season of Wrecks | 47 | 0.57 | 0.15 |
| 5 | Season of Stones | 48 | 0.5 | -0.11 |
| 6 | Season of Animals | 62 | 0.48 | 0.01 |
| 7 | Season of Family Ties | 39 | 0.44 | -0.2 |
| 8 | Season of Embers | 51 | 0.4 | -0.13 |
| 9 | Season of Revolutions | 58 | 0.37 | -0.01 |
| 10 | Season of Adorations | 42 | 0.27 | -0.1 |
| 11 | Season of Explorations | 50 | 0.26 | 0.07 |
| 12 | Season of Endeavour | 68 | 0.25 | -0.05 |
| 13 | Season of Hobbies | 49 | 0.16 | -0.16 |
| 14 | Season of Bargains | 47 | 0.07 | -0.13 |
| 15 | Season of Silver | 34 | 0 | -0.06 |
| 16 | Season of Celebrations | 46 | 0 | -0.12 |
| 17 | Season of Propinquity | 46 | -0.03 | -0.09 |
| 18 | Season of Heart's Blood | 38 | -0.26 | -0.19 |
Spreadsheet for more details.
##Fate-locked Christmas Stories
Again, most of these stories got pretty good results, although on average much lower than last year. Note that the total number of votes varies considerably, so that every additional vote might result in large changes to the average.
#|Story name|Total votes|Average vote|Diff. to prev. survey :--:|:---|:--:|:--:|:--:|:--: 1|A foolish Rubbery Man|104|0.52|-0.14 2|A trio of devil poets|142|0.42|-0.11 3|A gang of rats|68|0.39|0.06 4|February of the Calendar Council|37|0.35|-0.07 5|Urchins of the Knotted Sock|33|0.29|-0.27 6|The Duchess|72|0.18|-0.1 7|The scholars at Benthic|35|0.14|-0.15 8|The Gracious Widow|28|0.13|-0.2 9|Some inebriated Zailors|31|0.05|-0.08 10|A Perennial Scholar|85|-0.12|-
Spreadsheet for more details.
##Buying stories based on rewards
You could also vote if you thought it was worth buying certain stories just for the rewards. This is especially interesting for stories that are not all that popular, namely "The Spinning of the Wheels" or "Inconvenienced by your Aunt".
| Story | Total votes | Worth buying | Not worth it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Theological Husbandry | 225 | 91.11% | 8.89% |
| Inconvenienced by Your Aunt | 238 | 89.50% | 10.50% |
| A Trade in Souls | 230 | 86.52% | 13.48% |
| Upwards! | 136 | 83.82% | 16.18% |
| Cut with Moonlight | 95 | 80.00% | 20.00% |
| Flute Street | 237 | 79.75% | 20.25% |
| Investigating Mr Sacks with Devil Poets | 146 | 79.45% | 20.55% |
| The Empress Shadow | 165 | 72.12% | 27.88% |
| Investigating Mr Sacks with a Rubbery Man | 101 | 67.33% | 32.67% |
| HOJOTOHO! | 141 | 63.83% | 36.17% |
| The Poisoner's Library | 110 | 61.82% | 38.18% |
| The Blemmigan Affair | 110 | 60.00% | 40.00% |
| Caveat Emptor | 174 | 56.90% | 43.10% |
| The Spinning of the Wheels | 125 | 56.80% | 43.20% |
| The Sinking Synod | 86 | 55.81% | 44.19% |
| The Persona Engine | 113 | 53.98% | 46.02% |
| Flint | 123 | 53.66% | 46.34% |
| The Gift | 165 | 44.24% | 55.76% |
| The Brass Grail | 118 | 41.53% | 58.47% |
| The Shallows | 129 | 41.09% | 58.91% |
| Cricket, Anyone? | 169 | 38.46% | 61.54% |
| A Long-lost Daughter | 97 | 37.11% | 62.89% |
| Mysteries of the Foreign Office | 101 | 33.66% | 66.34% |
| The Ceremony | 101 | 32.67% | 67.33% |
| All Things Must End | 92 | 31.52% | 68.48% |
| A Trade in Faces | 87 | 22.99% | 77.01% |
| Haunting of the Marsh-House | 66 | 19.70% | 80.30% |
| Written in the Glim | 72 | 16.67% | 83.33% |
| Damp Martyrs | 181 | 8.84% | 91.16% |
We also asked about small Fate purchases, but none of them got recommended except for the fate-locked expeditions.
| Story | Total votes | Worth buying | Not worth it |
|---|---|---|---|
| The expedition to the Gallery of Serpents | 118 | 76.27% | 23.73% |
| The expedition to the Temple of Uttermost Wind | 105 | 68.57% | 31.43% |
| Shroom-Hopping | 120 | 49.17% | 50.83% |
| Attending Mr Wines' revels as a guest | 124 | 45.97% | 54.03% |
| The Miniature Menace Contract | 67 | 37.31% | 62.69% |
| Providing Master Classes for a Rubbery Man | 51 | 35.29% | 64.71% |
| Providing Master Classes for an Elegant Lady | 42 | 23.81% | 76.19% |
And you could vote on a number of Fate-purchases not attached to a story. It seems like the rule of thumb is "If you can use it in the Lab it's worth buying!" (Although the Silk-Clad expert might be more useful out in the Moulin wasteland these days.)
| Fate purchase | Total votes | Worth buying | Not worth it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Final equipment level at University Lab | 236 | 97.88% | 2.12% |
| Experimentation Device at Whitsun | 185 | 95.14% | 4.86% |
| Fourth assistant at University Lab | 187 | 91.98% | 8.02% |
| Hiring the Silk-Clad Expert | 138 | 72.46% | 27.54% |
| The Pendant of Helicon Amber | 108 | 70.37% | 29.63% |
| Fraught Research Assistant | 93 | 37.63% | 62.37% |
| Peculiar Personal Enhancement | 67 | 37.31% | 62.69% |
And finally - because it gets asked a lot - which of the companions available at Mr Chimes' Lost & Found are worth getting. Lab experts are not really considered worth it anymore, it's all about stats. In retrospect, we should've included Tabitha Murgatroyd, who - if I had to guess - would've probably been recommended as well, as Moulin expeditions are a big thing in the endgame.
| Fate purchase | Total votes | Worth buying | Not worth it |
|---|---|---|---|
| July | 147 | 78.91% | 21.09% |
| Ebullient Undertaker | 118 | 71.19% | 28.81% |
| Courteous Assistant | 104 | 43.27% | 56.73% |
| Stoic Classicist | 99 | 42.42% | 57.58% |
| Percipient Cricketer | 110 | 40.00% | 60.00% |
| Reformed Protester | 94 | 30.85% | 69.15% |
| The Eldest Daughter | 94 | 24.47% | 75.53% |
Spreadsheet for more details.
For reference, here are the links to our previous surveys in
- January 2021
- January 2020
- January 2019
- April 2018
- September 2017 and
- February 2017
- as well as phryne's original poll in September 2016
Posted Feb 7, 2022, 2:36 PM UTC · edited