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Post by dmikester on Feb 10, 2017 0:28:19 GMT -5
Well, as you can see, it's been a month since I last posted. I had a truly epic experience with the USPS where they lost the fourth mailing somewhere around Buffalo NY and it didn't appear for over three weeks; I actually got the fifth mailing before the fourth! I also had a major issue with the second mailing of The Demon Jar, which was sent at pretty much the same time, not arriving in a reasonable amount of time; it took close to a week and a half. I contacted the MPC and they were extremely gracious and sent me a replacement copy of the fourth mailing. However, before the replacement copy was sent, I discovered an amazing hack that I highly suggest everyone do with MPC shipments to the US.
On Etsy, there was a thread on one of their message boards that discussed what to do with packages lost by the USPS, and one seller said that she'd seen amazing results from activating e-mail notifications for all activity on the package after a package had gone missing (this is of course only possible if tracking has been included, but the MPC does ship packages with tracking provided). Well, I did this for both missing packages, and lo and behold, two hours later, The Demon Jar mailing that had been inactive for a week and a half suddenly appeared in my home town and was delivered the next day! While it took longer with the fourth mailing of The Century Beast, it miraculously appeared at my local post office yesterday, after no clear destination for over three weeks, and was delivered this morning! I've let the MPC know about this, and they're actually going to try this method when a customer has a missing package, as it worked wonders for me! Anyhow, I can now finally post about the fourth and fifth mailing, so see below.
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Post by dmikester on Feb 10, 2017 0:31:48 GMT -5
Fourth MailingThis has a number of small items in it. - A letter from the sender of all of this detailing what's in this mailing and saying that everything's connected.
- A ripped out page from a medieval manuscript titled "Apocalyptic Heresies" (or Herefies if we're using the medieval spelling)
- A cassette tape liner from a heavy metal/Satanic band with lyrics from one of their songs
- A letter from one of the band members to a fan detailing what the song lyrics are about
- There's also a mention of the band's website in the letter from the sender, which is a real website with music on it and everything
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Post by dmikester on Feb 10, 2017 0:41:14 GMT -5
Fifth MailingThis is I believe the smallest mailing of them all. - A letter from the sender explaining the mailing and saying that she's sailing off to sea to find the beast
- An invitation to a private collection, presumably of Viking lore, oddly held late at night on a Saturday
- A large poster with an ancient Viking legend that describes the beast
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Post by thegenii on Feb 10, 2017 11:52:13 GMT -5
Didn't the USB drive also contain a video clip or am I thinking of another experience?
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Post by dmikester on Feb 10, 2017 12:09:37 GMT -5
Nope, mine only had the lengthy audio clip. I feel like there was a video clip in Under The Ceiba Tree, but I could be wrong.
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Post by professor on Feb 10, 2017 13:29:09 GMT -5
Nope, mine only had the lengthy audio clip. I feel like there was a video clip in Under The Ceiba Tree, but I could be wrong. You are correct. Century Beast only had an audio clip.
Ceiba Tree had both an audio and a video clip.
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Post by thegenii on Feb 11, 2017 0:27:49 GMT -5
Senior moment!
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Post by dmikester on Feb 21, 2017 17:27:23 GMT -5
Sixth and Final MailingThis is the big one. - The last notes from Sarah Perkins. Any lingering questions about her identity and her connection to the story gets revealed here, and like many MPC experiences, she implores you to use the artifact in a way that, well, you can't really, but it's sort of an ending.
- THE KRAKEN (STATUE)! An amazingly heavy and tall artifact that in my opinion was worth the wait. This is supposed to be what was on display in the museum exhibit advertised in the previous mailing. And there you go! I'll post thoughts on the whole experience in a moment.
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Post by dmikester on Feb 21, 2017 17:35:56 GMT -5
So for what it's worth, here are my thoughts. Contrary to a lot of opinions on the forum, I actually quite enjoyed this experience, including the story. I think without any of the Kickstarter issues that people had, and without any real expectations on my part, it had a solid and fairly typical MPC-style story, some excellent ephemera that made it a multimedia experience, and a truly memorable and huge artifact. I can't ask for too much more than that. Sure, the mailings were a little disjointed, but everything was connected to the main story, and I kind of enjoyed the idea that this beast has been around for so long that there were modern people basing art around its legend, such as the heavy metal group. I think having it be nine mailings like it was originally sent out would have been a bit too much, but I'm coming away from this quite satisfied.
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Post by Beckett on Feb 22, 2017 3:21:18 GMT -5
Sure, the mailings were a little disjointed, but everything was connected to the main story, and I kind of enjoyed the idea that this beast has been around for so long that there were modern people basing art around its legend, such as the heavy metal group. I think having it be nine mailings like it was originally sent out would have been a bit too much, but I'm coming away from this quite satisfied. I wholeheartedly agree; the delivery issues with the first iterations of the Experience were probably what soured it for a few people. As for the disjointed narrative: It certainly fit the state of mind of the narrator, so I was not all that bothered by this. On the practical side, the Company obviously attempted to create an Experience that would work with a variable number of mailings. I am glad I pledged for the full Experience though, since some of the most enjoyable mailings were the ones that could probably be considered 'filler'.
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Post by craigrj on Feb 22, 2017 11:31:58 GMT -5
So for what it's worth, here are my thoughts. Contrary to a lot of opinions on the forum, I actually quite enjoyed this experience, including the story. I think without any of the Kickstarter issues that people had, and without any real expectations on my part, it had a solid and fairly typical MPC-style story, some excellent ephemera that made it a multimedia experience, and a truly memorable and huge artifact. I can't ask for too much more than that. Sure, the mailings were a little disjointed, but everything was connected to the main story, and I kind of enjoyed the idea that this beast has been around for so long that there were modern people basing art around its legend, such as the heavy metal group. I think having it be nine mailings like it was originally sent out would have been a bit too much, but I'm coming away from this quite satisfied. Many thanks for your writeups on this, it's moved Century Beast up for list for me for sure.
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Post by centaurofattn on Mar 28, 2017 18:15:25 GMT -5
I just wrapped up this experience (up to the crate at least) and I have to agree that with the timing all worked out and fewer total mailings, I think this was a very enjoyable purchases (though full disclosure I got it as a Surprise Me, so I feel particularly satisfied haha). I like the mysterious narrator, the plot that the person mailing me stuff is trying to prove the existence of something seemingly wiped from history, and the mailings have a variety of ephemera that make each mailing exciting. And of course, the final artifact is awesome.
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Post by wortelboer on Sept 8, 2017 16:49:23 GMT -5
I've received my first mailing this week. I ordered it as a Surprise Me and was very happy to receive it. I'm already drawn in. The mailing was small, but the story is intriguing. Can't wait for the next package to arrive.
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Post by stupidstupiddan on Sept 14, 2017 11:22:42 GMT -5
Indeed, back when some of us received the first iteration of The Century Beast, we did discuss the possibility of there being any puzzles included. None of us has ever found any. To my knowledge, the only Experiences to date which include anything to solve are The Weeping Book and (possibly) The Lost Treasure of John Augur. Though I have doubts, there is also the demon jar and filigree of shadow
that could contain puzzle-y things. The latter will supposedly have options for endings, much like the latter of your redacted experiences, so I'm interested to hear how they differ later! Just for posterity's sake, I think it should be mentioned that we can confirm Filigree definitely has at least one puzzle element now.
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