I've been revisiting some of the Big Hits of FMs through the years lately, mostly to see whether they pass muster after some years of me growing as a person and critic.
"Bloodmist Tower" by kfort.
Garrett plans to rob a nobleman of everything's he's got. Things take a weird turn when an innocuous-looking horn takes him to Somewhere Else. Hilarity Ensues.
After recently recommending it to an aspiring taffer I felt like having a go at it myself. It is Awesome. It is Smooth. It is Gold. It Sings to Me. It has Taffing, it has Style, it has Humor. Though some may disagree, I'm henceforth gonna rank it as one of the best Thief FMs ever made.
A perfect 10/10? Perhaps. Not sure yet, but it has a better chance of it than many others.
"Wicked Relics" by kfort.
Garrett has heard of a nobleman making a big score, and wants in on his good fortune. Turns out he may have bit off a little more than he can chew, but Garrett isn't the Master Thief for nothing, is he?
kfort's final Thief FM is a mansion-heist with lots of twists, and plenty of humor. I consider it Mandatory Taffing Material because of the balance of it all, even though it's not as fine-tuned as "Bloodmist Tower". PLEASE visit the graveyard and read all the epitaphs, and do remember that the big swirly trees outside can be climbed like ropes/vine.
9.5/10.
"The Drymian Codex" by
Yandros Random_Taffer and
Tannar
The above trio decided to Remix an older FM by Goit into something more impressive. The result is That, and So Much More. Garrett (in a moment between T2 and T3) is going after a Pagan book that sounds valuable, but could upset the Balance of Things, as he later finds out.
When I first played this I was gobsmacked by it, but a second playthrough years later reveals some of the cracks. Those forced cutscenes feel a bit off and the sheer number of guards present in a Hammerite complex feels slightly absurd, but... pay attention to the atmosphere they're gunning for. The early section where you're running through the sewers trying to find the keys is AMAZING for horror tension/atmosphere build-up. And that's BEFORE we get to the Sealed Part of the Crypt, which is easily one of the most tense Thief-moments ever conceived.
8/10, the aforementioned gentlemen deserve praise for their efforts.
"Heartcliff Islands" by Quilous
There are clever FM authors... and then there are insane, but clever FM authors. Quilous fits the second bill perfectly, for his Fan Missions all possess an otherworldly quality of some sort. In the case of Heartcliff Islands the alien element is the scale of it,
enormous doesn't quite cut it. I had trouble running this FM upon release, but with a more optimized Thief-installation and a beefier computer it runs
almost smoothly now. There are some truly brilliant things in here, and it's really cool to see the lighthouse beams pan across the prison, and while I'm very fond of "Dark-as-crap"-darkness it needs to be used correctly. It's intended for closed environments, not wide-open spaces like here!
Anyway, Garrett finds himself imprisoned on a prison island and seeks to escape, but finds out there's something wicked lurking in its depths. I've spent the better part of a week trying to get anywhere in this FM... and I'm not enjoying it at all. There are so many things to do, but little to no information given about how to do them, or even why! Something as simple as mixing a potion somehow becomes needlessly convoluted.
After taffing about for three hours in-game (and many times that in reality) I eventually admitted defeat and consulted the walkthrough, courtesy of Ricebug's herculean efforts. Most of his FM-walkthroughs are usually 2-3 pages, sometimes a little more. The walkthrough for Heartcliff Islands is
37 pages. And the more I read the more apparent my rating for this FM is, which is...
Nope/10, it's testament to the Modder's Madness, and I hope someone can wrest some enjoyment from this. But I, for one, am not having it, this FM falls into that small group that I don't see a reason to play.
"Rose Cottage" by lots of taffers (including some already mentioned)
I split Thief FMs into roughly two groups:
Those that try to deliver more Thief-gameplay, and
Those that try to use the Dark Engine to create something else. "Rose Cottage" falls into the latter category, and is one of the best results of that group.
You control an unnamed paranormal investigator sent to determine why a mortuary is haunted (heh). Gameplay-wise we're "only" talking about a key hunt and an optional collecta-thon, but that's not why Rose Cottage excels. It's because of the visuals, the aesthetics, the sound effects, the atmosphere and the minute attention to detail. Even the intro cinematic is worth a mention, with an amazing artstyle that makes it one of the best Thief FM intros ever made. This FM pulls tricks that are still amazing over a decade later (the expanding hallway is my personal favorite) and finally achieves something that very few FMs do...
it transcends Thief as a game, only using minor aspects of it to create something different with a broader appeal. One does not need to learn the ins and outs of Thief to enjoy Rose Cottage. It may not interest die-hard Thief-players who are in it for the loot and the thrills, but it certainly has something for everyone.
For reasons I don't think it qualifies for the usual x/10-rating, but instead I'll say it's "Highly recommended".
