Thief fan missions and campaigns

[Yandros]

So it uses the infamous social stealth mechanics of the Dark Engine, where once an AI has seen you, you can't pickpocket things from it till it calms down, and it won't give any indication either. I always found it annoying, and it became a problem in otherwise promising looking missions like Cell 6 as well. I'm sure the mechanic can be used well, but it's just so counter intuitive.

Well, I assume the mechanic was designed that way by LGS because the vast majority of AI you encounter are hostile, and without it being as it is, you could take keys and potions off their belts in the midst of combat, which would be ridiculous. With neutral AI (like the guards in Cell 6), they should become hostile if they're aware of you trying to nick a key, but the ghosts in this new mission don't do anything. The frob just fails for no apparent reason. It could have easily been allowed by putting AlertCap0 on the ghosts.

I'm still stuck in the mission as I apparently don't have all the components for the mixture that you need to decipher the scrolls and allow you to start placing objects in the homes. I put three things in the bowl, one of which was a dead rat, but I guess I need to put something else in there, which I probably don't have. The gameplay in this part of the mission isn't very well communicated. I have no idea really what I'm doing.

Skacky: That's undeniably impressive. Are you designing a story around it, or just planning to release it so the community can see more of the HI's lost work?

 

[Melan]

4001 polygons in view! We are truly living in the future. Flying cars and Grimoire can't be far off now.

I have just no idea how Alexius & Co thought they would make it fit into a mission. ... Okay, I suppose that was the problem with the crazy bastards.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I'm still stuck in the mission as I apparently don't have all the components for the mixture that you need to decipher the scrolls and allow you to start placing objects in the homes. I put three things in the bowl, one of which was a dead rat, but I guess I need to put something else in there, which I probably don't have.

Black powder and leaves of grass are also part of the mixture, as well as the alcohol from the next table.

 

[skacky]

Sure looks interesting. Any chance you could build on COSAS too? They did make the third map free for everyone.

No plans to revive CoSaS, no.

Skacky: That's undeniably impressive. Are you designing a story around it, or just planning to release it so the community can see more of the HI's lost work?

Thanks. I'm designing a new story around it using bits from the original writeups while changing the time period (as I think that HI taking place way before TDP is silly). It won't be your typical Thief mission though, since you don't play as a thief.

I have just no idea how Alexius & Co thought they would make it fit into a mission. ... Okay, I suppose that was the problem with the crazy bastards.

What's incredible is that the original levels never go above 1000 polys in most areas. Seeing as I'm opening everything and putting a ton more detail the polycount explodes.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

4001 polygons in view! We are truly living in the future. Flying cars and Grimoire can't be far off now.

Flying Grimoires? Don't give Cleve any ideas...

 

[Unna Oertdottir]

More than 33000 backface checks and 37 fps in DromEd. Doesn't it get laggy?

 

[skacky]

More than 33000 backface checks and 37 fps in DromEd. Doesn't it get laggy?

Not really, and keep in mind this particular shot is taken from an unreachable place.

 

[Dev_Anj]

And there's another Thief: Gold mission ready to be released. Better yet, it's from the promising Stinkykitty.

Thread here: http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=145002

 

[Melan]

And for TDM, we've got Chase Mercantile, which outbanks La Banque Bienveillante in its bankness.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

This campaign is a NewDark revamp of Valley of the Burned and The Widow's Ire, along with two brand new Thief Gold missions.

EDIT: Off to a wonderful start. Remember the archer by the elevator button? Tried to distract him, he fell down the hole to join me, I hit him with the blackjack, he goes "Ooh, I think a baby bi-" but is cut off as my second blackjack blow knocks him out.

I pick up the unconscious archer and try to dump him in a corner somewhere, only for him to fall through the floor, to his death.

Mission failed.

I laughed out loud. Let's try that again...

EDIT 2: Tried that again, he ALWAYS falls through the floor. I think this guard is bugged.

 

[skacky]

The last mission is really fucking fantastic, but I cannot for the life of me find enough loot to finish it (I need 1,000 and I have 948).
Both new missions look unghostable; super twitchy AIs in CPWW and forced property damage in Mercenaries.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Yeah, I'm still on the first mission, but I get the feeling that the problems that people identified with the first (two?) missions haven't really been looked into.

 

[Dev_Anj]

Just finished the first mission in the campaign, and I have mixed feelings so far. On one hand, there are some well constructed areas, like the underground garden and the trapped enclosure that feel really surreal, but on the other hand, there's also a lot of pointless plain corridors and tunnels in the level. The whole level feels like it's an aggro stealth level on Expert where you're placed in situations where you will be led straight into a guard's line of sight, and you need to use your equipment to take them out, but the objectives don't let you kill guards, which makes this a bit awkward. Also I feel that a few places were a bit tedious in their guard placement, like the narrow staircase leading to the trapped enclosure which was guarded by one haunt. Also, did the hatch key do anything? It didn't look like it.

I'll be trying the rest of the campaign soon.

 

[skacky]

And finished it. These two new missions are perhaps not as mind-boggingly disorientating as Valley of the Burned but they're still nonetheless quite labyrinthine. I really liked them overall, especially Mercenaries (the last one). Gorgeous abbey with killer texturing and grand Thief 1-esque architecture, and a lot of devious areas that reminded me of The Golden Book of the Keepers. Pure bliss.

Spoiler

Spoiler

In CPWW, avoid killing the burning skeletons, these guys are an absolute pain in the ass and if you don't hurt them you don't have to kill them. I'm pretty sure you can avoid them all.

 

[JarlFrank]

I totally have to play this, I loved stinkykitty's first two missions

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Finished "Valley of the Burned", the first part of the Thief Gold campaign.

Good news is the author streamlined a few areas (especially around the great tree) and removed the loot requirement. The NewDark additions also add some nice touches in places.

Bad news is that there are still problem areas, like the guard by the elevator button and the somewhat rocky start of the mission.

Valley of the Burned is a mission that gets better as you get further into it. Some of the traps and puzzles are devious, so a first-time taffer will probably rage a couple of times.

It's also creepy in a very special way - at one point I started hearing burrick noises, only to zero in on them and find that they came from a burrick corpse mostly hidden in the water I was plodding through!

Next up: The Widow's Ire. Here's hoping more troublespots got smoothed out.

 

[Melan]

I am less happy about the streamlining. What the mission gained in polish, it lost in its off the wall strangeness. The coloured lights are also an unwelcome addition, and the gamma seems to have been increased, impacting the looks of the mission unfavourably. Still great, but more of a 9/10 instead of a 10/10. There is also a puzzling, but major change where

Spoiler

the entire crypts --> mines --> Hammerite monasters sequence is completely reversed. Whoa.

Will continue with the second mission tonight.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

???

Are we playing the same version? The 'sequence' is identical for me as it was. Start of mission - pumping station - great tree - monastery - mines - crypt - exit by monastery.

Please explain further.

 

[Dev_Anj]

Spoiler

the entire crypts --> mines --> Hammerite monasters sequence is completely reversed. Whoa.

Will continue with the second mission tonight.

Spoiler

Did you use the compound key to get in? Because I used an explosive charge to blow up the crypt door instead. For some reason, the charge doesn't work on the keep door though. The charge is on top of the tower roof.

 

[Melan]

Unkillable Cat: In the first release of the mission, the sequence was Start - pumping station - garden - crypt - mines - monastery - exit. I was playing on Hard, if I recall correctly.

 

[J_C]

Unkillable Cat: In the first release of the mission, the sequence was Start - pumping station - garden - crypt - mines - monastery - exit. I was playing on Hard, if I recall correctly.

Úristen! Már rengetegszer láttalak itt a Codexen, de csak most esett le, hogy te vagy az a Melan, akivel az Iponon készült interjú pár hónapja. Sosem gondoltam volna, hogy itt fogunk összefutni. :D

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Unkillable Cat: In the first release of the mission, the sequence was Start - pumping station - garden - crypt - mines - monastery - exit. I was playing on Hard, if I recall correctly.

Ah. In the first release of the mission, I played the sequence exactly as I described it, but I was playing on Expert. I didn't think of trying to "force" the crypt door, so bonus points there.

The thing is, one can't really argue which way is the "right" way. I can argue that my way is the right way because of the location of the crypt door key, but in reality the mission is cleverly designed so that you can go both ways. At least, it was possible in the old one. If the new one börked it, however...

 

[Dev_Anj]

One way also needs a fire arrow. Now of course fire arrows aren't much useful beyond zombie fighting, but that could stop some players for a moment.

My real problem with the whole explosive charge scenario is that it's not really made clear that it works only on the crypt door, and not anywhere else. It may make sense for it not to work on the Keep door, but the compound door being indestructible too?

 

[Dev_Anj]

I played through some of the second mission, and it's almost immediately an improvement over the first one. It's a more focused mission, with the clear motif of being a mountainside hideout, but it still has the surrealism of the first mission. Also, it has less annoying guard placement than the first one, and even the main marble hall inside the hideout has a decent balance between the marble flooring and being able to locate guards and sneak around.

Here's a screenshot of the mission's outdoors area:

Spoiler

Oh, and can someone point me to the location of the gem? I've not been able to find it.

 

[skacky]

Dev_Anj

Spoiler

In the original version it was at the very end of the mission, in a strange floating rock with water tunnels connecting it. You have to reach the end of the monolithic ruins first. Dunno if that changed at all in the new version.