The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - An affair of the heart (WIP) (Ch 5: 10 Nov 2023)

My mom really likes that one too. I prefer the BBC Sherlock with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman.

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I watched that while i was growing up too. I like the old Basil Rathbone ones too (Black and white movies).

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Elementary all the way for me as well ahaha. It may have influenced my choice to play heterosexual-life-partners m!Holmes and Jane Watsonā€¦

I agree with the support for Lestrade, too! Also I love how Holmes seems to have his own backstory, IMO the most compelling protags are those that arenā€™t full blank-slates and actually have mysteries to be unraveled within themselves, too. Looking forward to the next update!!

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The og book Holmes will always be dearest to me, but of the adaptions I like Elementary and the Granada series the best (and the Great Mouse Detective! :smiley:) They definitely inform how Iā€™ll play my main MC in this game.

ETA: Not gonna lie, if we expand the definition of ā€œadaptionā€ to include pastiches, then our very own Study In Steampunk is also always at the back of my mind when all things Holmesian comes up.

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Iā€™m so glad you enjoyed it! :heart_eyes::heart_eyes::heart_eyes:

And to answer your question:
I donā€™t think I have a favourite :sweat_smile: I like a lot of things from a lot of the different versions. I havenā€™t seen the RDJ / Guy Richie movies mentioned for this question yet. And, while not perfect film, they do some things very well. And one that I really adore is house (though only somewhat a Sherlock story) :slight_smile:

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Love the demo thus far! :smiley:

Very much looking forward to Watson. I adore wholesome characters that remind you of golden retrievers.

If it is a real-world historical setting (such as Victorian London), then I will always prefer realism. An example being how different a playthrough and character interactions can be in Choice of Vampires if the MC is female, PoC, LGBT, etc. with all the discrimination 19th-century America entailed.

I personally find completely ā€œsanitizingā€ historical fiction a bit insulting to the legacy of the actual people affected by it in the past.

Obviously you can play around a bit with how things happen(ed), as all stories do. This is a work of fiction after all. But immersion to me is more important than escapism if we are using real history as a backdrop.

I strongly agree with this sentiment.

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Oh man. I love Rathbone and Bruce as actors. I love Rathbone as Holmes. But Bruceā€™s Watsonā€¦ it hurts me.

Yes!! Love that film, and have you read the books? Theyā€™re so much fun.

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Lol. I agree. Best Watson was David Burke, but that is just my opinion. Everyone is welcome to their own.

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No, I never have, but I really should see if I can get my hands on them. I did read the movieā€™s tie-in comics when I was a kid, though. They were kind of a trip.

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Personally itā€™s the canon books. Because when I was reading them for the first time Iā€™m pretty much surprised to see Sherlock not be a huge jerk. I blame pop culture osmosis and modern adaptations for this :sweat_smile:.

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Thatā€™s also one of the things I love most about this WIP: we can totally be Sherlock without being a jerk, and it still feels like Sherlock Holmes.

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I agree. I was surprised after buying the books to find how much modern adaptations differed from the original books. One of the ones I picked out was that book Sherlock didnā€™t know everything off the top of his head. He did have a vast array of knowledge and was extremely observant, but he still had to work for some things.

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Holmes is only a jerk to people he knows well enough to dislike. And to the occasional housemaid, for the good of the case.

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:smiling_face_with_three_hearts: :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

Yeah, Iā€™ve noticed multiple people say this now. Iā€™m going to go for a slightly more wholesome world in some ways, for now, at leastā€”and see if that hopefully doesnā€™t annoy both groups (the escapists and the realists).
After thinking about it a while, I think for me personally, I mostly just like reactions to my choices. I mean that if I have chosen to play a woman character, I want that to be reflected somehowā€”preferably in a way that aligns with the logic of the world and story. It doesnā€™t have to be 100% accurate to history, especially if I know that it is fiction based or not going for full accuracy. But, I donā€™t particularly appreciate it when I expect a response somewhereā€”and then, Instead, my choice has been ignored for some other default (even if that makes for a softer story or easier escapism).

*edit:

To me, history isnā€™t fully the backdrop in this story, the books or other versions are.

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@Jess1973 Yeessss! Exactly! Honestly, I think book Sherlock is at times charming. He can be kind (in his own way). He is even ā€œcorrectā€ in some ways. And while other versions have that sometimes, itā€™s often when Sherlock is acting or trying to gain something.

@Kirlett :heart_eyes: :heart_eyes: :heart_eyes: :heart_eyes: :heart_eyes:

@Cat-Toes Yes, this too is so important! :smiley:

@Tarlonniel :sweat_smile: true!

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:100: :100: :100: This. Many times you are given a choice to change your character in one way or another but that choice never comes up at all. It makes you wonder: why was I given the choice in the first place then?

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YES! This, exactly. Off-topic wrt the actual game rambles beneath the cut:

Summary

Iā€™m not an immense fan of how, in addition to turning him into an asshole genius Who Must Not Be Contradicted, pop culture osmosis has given Sherlock Holmes these quasi-psychic abilities, and still has him sneer at people for not following his leaps of logic. Book Holmes didnā€™t know everything, and he was humble enough to admit it.

A bit of a tangent, but the very first episode of Elementary had this moment that cemented for me that I was going to love this modern adaption: Sherlock elaborates on some deductions he made about Joan earlier, and when she calls him on one final detail he just smiles: ā€œI googled it. Not everything can be deduced.ā€

That whole first episode was basically perfection in terms of the creators outlining where they were going with a modern AU and what that would mean for characterisation.

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Yes exactly! Though there are times where illusion of choice can be powerful, but when the illusion is broken the effects are irreparable :pensive:

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I agree completely! (And Iā€™ve only watched a few episodes of elementary, but you have just convinced me to watch more! :smiley: )

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Yup and heā€™s pretty likeable too :blush:. One of my favorite facts about him was that he knows NOTHING about space and astrology. Man, it becomes really ironic once you realize that Sherlock tends to be paired up with Lovecraftian horrorā€¦ā€¦ which tends to be about space :rofl:. (Iā€™m still salty Arthur Conan Doyle didnā€™t write any space centric cases for Sherlock to solve. Man, that would be hilarious)

Yes, but outside of that heā€™s awfully polite. Like, most adaptations tend to make him a jerk to ANYONE who isnā€™t as smart as him. Which is pretty much not the case in canon.

Honestly go for it. In fact, if you do this you might be a more accurate adaptation of the books. Since, Arthur Conan Doyle never really mention any ā€œVictorianā€ horrors in Sherlock Holmes either. Heck, his books tend to be really progressive from someone who was in Victorian London !

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