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Thief fan missions and campaigns

Melan

Arcane
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PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Codex+ Now Streaming! I helped put crap in Monomyth
A Gormenghast fan mission could be full of strange eerie things, though, and have variety going for it. Basically, a dungeon crawl masquerading as a mansion.
 

JarlFrank

I like Thief THIS much
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Joined
Jan 4, 2007
Messages
33,052
Location
KA.DINGIR.RA.KI
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Just wait until I get to my planned "Ultramansion" mission, guys.
(but before I attempt that I still have three other FMs I'm working on)
 

nicked

Educated
Joined
Feb 7, 2017
Messages
81
Location
Lincoln, UK
One legit criticism though: why was I not able to pick up the bottle of liquor of the real estate agent before getting the quest? It just leads to needless backtracking. Garrett pockets valuable wines all the time, so picking up valuable whisky is just as logical. I don't see why you shouldn't be able to frob it before getting the quest.

This was a major focus of the beta test - originally there was a lot more in the way of obvious non-frobbables with all the quests, to ensure progression couldn't be broken by things being done too far outside the expected order. Most of these were replaced with more elegant solutions. The complexity of the various conversations with the innkeeper led me to leave the bottles as is however. My in-universe justification is that Garrett doesn't know they're worth anything until he gets the note from the innkeeper.

A Gormenghast/ultra-mansion mission would need a lot of careful design I think, but if done well, it could be incredibly atmospheric - it would have to *feel* mazelike, without actually being mazelike.
 

JarlFrank

I like Thief THIS much
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Joined
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KA.DINGIR.RA.KI
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
So I just finished Behind Closed Doors. Took me about 3 hours to finish the mission, which is more than Godbreaker mission 4 even though it overall felt a little smaller than that one.

My final impressions:
- It starts out linear-ish with the gating and lack of ropes, but that changes quickly. Once you're in the main area of the mission, it opens up and you're free to explore however you want. Some rope-arrowing and a LOT of jumping and climbing, good verticality and some really impressive views await!
- The visuals are beautiful. I just love the look of daylight missions, and this one is top tier quality.
- Once the mission opens up after the linear first areas, there's some good non-linearity, although it never reaches the godlike levels of skacky missions. Walking along ledges, climbing up drainpipes, jumping from roof to roof. Some nice hidden things too, found a chest hidden on top of rafters in one building. My "wow!" moment came when I jumped to a ledge from atop the church, walked all the way around, found a window, got in, found equipment chests, got out the other side, thought "oh wow, another area!" and then realized, as I started exploring that area, that I had already been there. There's nothing quite like that "hey... I've been to this place before!" feeling during exploration, when you realize there are multiple ways to get around.
- The optional objectives were cool. Finding all the masks wasn't too hard because they're either gotten by sidequests or their location is mentioned in readables, and you can easily figure out what they're used for. Nice secret that isn't totally obscure but requires some exploration by the player.
- I liked the electric fence on top of the bank building. A barrier that kills you but can be switched off is really cool, this should be done more often.
- THAT FOX WAS SO CUTE
- THOSE RATS WERE SO NASTY. Used up all of my broadheads. Yes, all of them. More than 30.
- The mage place was kinda annoying. Do a task. After that, previously unfrobbable items are made frobbable, and you need them for the next task! Most of them are small and their location not 100% obvious so you end up running through the building looking for the next item. Good thing the area to be searched is rather small.

Overall, a very beautiful and enjoyable mission. Rated it 8.5/10. Good stuff!
 

nicked

Educated
Joined
Feb 7, 2017
Messages
81
Location
Lincoln, UK
Glad you enjoyed it!

Fair point about the mage's tasks. I wanted the player to have to jump through a few hoops, to be realistic, but not go overboard with frustrating busywork. Figured I could get away with it more if the player is locked into that one building until they've done it.

I'm currently on the second Godbreaker mission - not had much time to play it this week. So much stuff to find, and places to explore! It's almost, but not quite, overwhelming - I am making noticeable progress even if I am a bit lost. I would have liked a more detailed map, especially after the ultra-clear map from mission one - maybe an automap that starts blank and fills up as you explore could have worked well with this one. As it is, I don't understand what the pictures on the map represent, so it's not much better than having no map. It sure is pretty though - the mission and the map!
 

JarlFrank

I like Thief THIS much
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Joined
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33,052
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KA.DINGIR.RA.KI
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
The map on Godbreaker's mission 2 is surprisingly accurate, and you will know which pictures on the map correspond to which places in the level once you explored your way around a bit. Protip: use your compass and your map in order to find your way. I needed to use compass and map to find the crypt housing the sword.
 

Unkillable Cat

LEST WE FORGET
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May 13, 2009
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27,091
Codex 2014 Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy
What JarlFrank said. You should only need to walk around for a bit with your compass out to get the hang of it.

If you want a small clue regarding the map...

The village where you start is in the SE corner of the level, and the SE corner of the map.
 

Squadafroinx

Novice
Joined
Feb 8, 2017
Messages
35
(...)
I cannot tell if this guy is a major troll or not.

Same goes for downwinder actually, at first I thought maybe he's just a 'little special' but now almost every messages he post is more or less related to his strange fascination for barking dogs (???), Viktorian and Dewdrop, like he's pushing an incredible show of self-mocking sense of humor

His latest gold

http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=147516
 

Yandros

Savant
Joined
Jan 24, 2015
Messages
186
Location
Fields of blue grass
"the creator of dewdrop is a mystery but if i had to guess it would be one of the mages who was once a hammerite and got mad when karras left the hammers and made dewdrop out of spite"

:what:
 

nicked

Educated
Joined
Feb 7, 2017
Messages
81
Location
Lincoln, UK
I am really loving Godbreaker mission 2 - just even after some exploration I wasn't seeing the connection between the pictures on the map and anywhere in the level. However it's not hindering me especially; I'm just using my own sense of direction and the compass. Even when I'm lost, I don't care because the atmosphere is so superb. I see my Death's Turbid Veil moths have gone to good use amongst other things!
 

cowking

Scholar
Joined
Oct 18, 2016
Messages
115
It's a semi-renovated manor house with the older bits inspired by Nightcrawler and the newer ones more in line with Thief 2, but still retaining that cold TDP aspect. The amount of terrain brushes is mostly due to a vast majority of arches being made out of solid wedges instead of air cylinders, because we're very close to the cell limit. In terms of size, the mission is slightly bigger than, say, Heist Society, and I think fans of mansion missions should like this one. It even has a few city bits with rooftops!

Is that black parade or an upcoming fm?
 

Max_b5

Augur
Joined
Feb 8, 2015
Messages
217
Location
Argentina
Last edited:

Random_Taffer

Educated
Joined
Mar 11, 2015
Messages
88
Is there a Tumblrism for manic depressed Islamists who want to rape women?
Maybe his fursona is a rapey jackal, but he has an otherheart of gold.
 

Melan

Arcane
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Oct 20, 2012
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Civitas Quinque Ecclesiae, Hungary
PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Codex+ Now Streaming! I helped put crap in Monomyth
So, Behind Closed Doors: My initial impressions of this mission were mostly negative. Increased vulnerability in the dusky setting, ledges you can easily slide off, frustrating falls that make it easy to alert nearby AI, linear design with your prospective routes forward blocked off, a counter-intuitive way to proceed (there is a way that seems logical but isn't, and a way that doesn't seem logical but is). Not a good introduction.

I was almost ready to put it away, but fortunately, I persevered and the mission got much better as it opened up. There is a lot of clever puzzle design in the central city area, and the mini-missions are just the right length/complexity. It also feels great traipsing around on the rooftops and finding new places to break into, or figuring out puzzle solutions using environmental cues. It is not always standard Thief gameplay, and the ledges are a bit convenient, but it is very entertaining. I loved the bank missions, the electric fence, and the little touches like the back garden and window-crashing a prostitute's room.

After the middle part, the problems start cropping up again, as the mage's house and the sewers are less interesting than the urbancrawl elements, but the mission remains decent and ends on a good note. There is also the mood, a lazy, late-afternoon-in-a-Spanish-city feel, which is nicely helped by the music. Just like the enormous spaces and dizzying heights, BCD's style reminds me of Being Thief 2, although this is a better mission, where the scale is mostly right (it could be built a little tighter, but that's just me - NewDark certainly makes this style of building possible), and the objectives are less artificial. Less, but they still feel forced, and can result in a large amount of backtracking. I understand the reasoning, just don't agree with it.

All in all, this is uneven, but the good parts are really good.
 

Unkillable Cat

LEST WE FORGET
Patron
Joined
May 13, 2009
Messages
27,091
Codex 2014 Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy
importaint notice for all fan mission authors

please when you add dewdrop to a mission DO NOT CHANGE HIS NAME

thank you in advance

Is TTLG coming apart at the seams, or is this a seasonal thing?
 

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