So, that was "Calendra's Cistern" played and done with. This is one of the highlights of the T1/G FMs out there, despite its age and some really quirky elements, so I'm gonna take a little extra time to dissect it.
The biggest problem I had with it is the one I'm gonna mention right away - the writing. Apparentely there's some not-so-nice cult, led by a slut named Calendra that's just come into possession of a very powerful artifact. Guess who's been bamboozled into stealing the artifact? Fortunately Garrett is not alone, as his old girlfriend is there to provide exposition to what is clearly a hefty piece of fiction, let down by atrocious lead characters and over-complicated story. Normally I don't make an issue over gender roles, but in this case it's clear that the author has problems with writing female characters. Unfortunately the sidekick and antagonist, the two biggest roles, are both females. Mercedes has too big of a wish fulfillment/Alyx Vance thing going on, and I don't call Calendra a slut because I don't like her - she just is one. The author goes out of his way to inform us of this via in-game readables - which are so infested with Audiolog Syndrome that they should be put to the stake. Even the diary, usually the one piece of writing that allows for Audiolog Syndrome, is atrociously bad. "I just finished bedding the servant not ten minutes ago" - who the fuck writes crap like this? I cringed far too often for my own good while playing this.
But what about the rest of the cast? Besides a servant/personal fucktoy of Calendra's that doesn't even make an appearance in the mission (another brilliant example of the horrible writing involved) the supporting cast is actually pretty decent, and the key to that success is the details. EVERY character you come across/thump over the head has a name, even the guards. And those names are referenced in the story. It's actually quite fun to use the guest book to compare which guests you've 'dealt with' and which of them are still hanging around somewhere. Brother Adrius deserves very special mention as a supporting character that won't be forgotten. Unfortunately his in-game treatment is done all backwards, but more on that later.
Another point of valid criticism, though nowhere near as bad as the writing, is the level design/progression. As far as cityscape missions go, Calendra's Cistern delivers in spades, at least as far as gameplay value goes. If one takes a minute to examine how a few of the structures interact with each other, though, that a large "WTF?" will soon emerge. Anyway, that's a very minor point compared to the other problem, which is the linear path through this amazing cityscape. Not only is there almost only ever one path through it, but far too often it's quite hard to find out where to go next. Sometimes a small, jutting wooden beam high up is the only method to advance, or a hard-to-see ladder in a dark sewer room is your only way out. While roadsigns are located in various places to provide some sense of direction, their purpose seems to be actually quite different - namely, to be climbed upon to reach other places. I had to consult the walkthrough far too often to complete Calendra's Cistern, which is not how one makes a good FM.
Case in point - Brother Adrius. While his objective is technically optional, considering the effort put into his 'quest' I find the lack of forethought involved to be atrocious. Without spoling anything, Brother Adrius is an unwilling servant of the cult, and it is possible to free him from his servitude. Doing this, however, is no small feat. Here's what needs to be done:
# Find Brother Adrius.
# Find an item that allows you to have a 'normal' conversation with him. Even if you DO find the item and use it on him, it's not guaranteed to work. It took me 3 tries, for example.
# Find his 'personal' belongings. This involves retracing your steps through the cityscape leading up to this part.
# Find the item which allows you to SEE his personal belongings, as they're normally invisible. This is not as easy as it sounds, as the location of this item is both hard to spot AND hard to reach.
# Learn to use the item which allows you to see his personal belongings. Turns out it's not enough to simply lug it around in your inventory.
# Bring back all his belongings to the location of the tracking item (the aforementioned hard-to-reach place).
From there on it's pretty straightforward, and doing all of this rewards the player with a helpful (not to mention cool-looking) ally against the cult and an Invisibility potion.
This objective, as neat as it is, feels like it was put in as an afterthought with little consideration taken to the order of things. Here's why: At least 75% of all taffers playing this FM will discover this objective by finding Brother Adrius first. This turns out to be the WRONG way to do things, as finding him most often results in him buggering off somewhere and getting lost, making the objective either extra hard or impossible to complete, depending on where he ends up. Even the walkthrough states this explicitly. "See that chest? Don't open it yet." Which goes against mostly everything that the Thief games are about. The chest isn't even in a location that would suggest that it's trapped or should be left alone. This objective involves a LOT of backtracking (as you have to further the mission first before you can complete this objective) and frankly isn't worth the effort. Oh, and this objective is MANDATORY once it registers with the game.
There are other, equally silly, design decisions abound in Calendra's Cistern, most noticably the shop, the safe and the sword.
The shop is a mixed bag; while it looks really cool and it feels neat that the Dark Engine supports an in-game shop instead of the purchase screen that pops up before the mission starts, the fact that the purchase screen exists makes the shop immediately redundant. Entering the shop gives you 500 gold to spend, and you can then spend the 'gold' allowance of your ill-earned wealth to buy more stuff. Me? I just entered to get the gold, then walked right back out and completed the mission without making a single purchase - just to see whether it could be done. (It's doable, but amazingly enough the shortage of broadhead arrows may be a bother.)
Then there's the safe, a 5-digit safe with a RANDOM code and a strange series of lights. The first time I played this FM I couldn't complete it because of the safe, as it takes considerable logic and time to discover that the lights make the safe into an intricate version of Mastermind; one set of lights comes on for every correct number in the right place, and the other for every correct number in the wrong place. Even so, the safe has a chance to reset itself and force you to start over, because reasons. A needlessly convoluted objective that doesn't even work properly.
The sword is the smallest one, but still a clear indicator of the author's lack of overall vision. Garrett starts the mission without it, but it can be found in a hard-to-reach spot right at the very end of the mission. However, there is a (non-vital) key that is hidden BEHIND a tapestry, and the only way to remove tapestries is by...cutting them down. With a sword. That Garrett doesn't have. And one can make the claim, that if Garrett doesn't start the FM with the sword that he's either not gonna need it or it'll turn up when it's needed. In this case it's more of a bonus for being a nosey taffer than actually reaching the end of the FM, and even then it's not 100% needed, as is proven by the fact that the aforementioned key can be acquired by frobbing it THROUGH the tapestry, but that requires the meta-knowledge that the key is actually there.
Calendra's Cistern does do a lot of things pretty well. Like I said, while the cityscape can be bothersome, it's quite enjoyable exploring it. In fact, the whole mission rewards exploration and experimentation. One noble, for example, is wandering about his house in his pajamas! Getting through the party without getting skewered requires careful planning and placement, which is something rarely seen in Thief FM's nowadays. Another part that I found to be brilliant is the pit section where the MacGuffin is located. The atmosphere, architecture and build-up leading to this location is amazing, considering how bare-bones and simple it all looks. The guard there is immune to conventional weaponry, but the FM does allow for several solutions to deal with him, though all but one require considerable effort to pull off.
Overall, Calendra's Cistern is an overly ambitious FM that clearly served as an inspiration for future FM's, both in good ways and bad. It's undeniable that the Calendra missions are a vital piece of Thief FM history, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they're "must-play" FM's. In this case, I recommend it to those that can stomach bad writing and are up for a decent challenge. Otherwise there's little point to play this nowadays, I'm afraid.
