A new crop of FM's has arrived, plus there's a Reloaded contest right around the corner, so there should be something to keep people going for a while.
First up is the big one: Gaetane finally released the 5-mission epic simply called The Black Frog. Gaetane made the L'Arsene series of FM's, so there's a real reason to be excited. Or at least, there should be one. To be honest, I found it a little... underwhelming. First mission is simply a wander-around-the-map-and-see-how-much-loot-you-can-find affair, the second mission is a rather nice mansion break-in. Third mission is a return to the area in the first mission, except at night and with fog and things that go RARRIKILLYOUDEADCHOMPCHOMP in the night. Fourth mission is probably the worst, you must wander through some canyons (mean to represent an island) and pull some levers to reach a castle. The fifth mission, however, is by far the best of them. It's basically another version of the original Emilie Victor FM, with some extra creepy stuff thrown in. If you didn't crap your pants during the third mission, you probably will in this one.
But despite this being longer in beta testing than any other Thief FM I've ever heard of, I always kept thinking that there's something missing, like an extra finish of polish. It has nothing to do with the layout and/or design of the FMs. Even the first one has tons of little details to smile about, and the fourth one sure has its moments. But I always had the feeling that the story needed a little work. Something about it felt off to me the whole time. I can't put my finger on it, but it bugged me almost the whole way through. Like how come the noble that hired you for the job in the first place knew about the Black Frog and its powers.
It's still a great FM, but it won't be hitting any "best FMs of all time" lists.
Another FM just out is Shadow Plans, a 2-parter that has Garrett taking an unarmed stroll through some wilderness to rescue a girl, before returning to the city to try to uncover why he was set up. I'm at the start of the second mission now, so I can't comment much on that, but the first mission was just dull and unnecessary. It felt like the intro mission from Thief 3, complete with no options of choice, little gameplay and just pretty scenery and exposition. I really don't know what the author was thinking with this.
The third new FM is the first entry in the new "Thief Reloaded" contest. For those not in the know, the Reloaded contests are about taking pre-existing missions (be they fan-made or released with the original games) and improving them somehow to create new missions. "Pestis Cruenta" is Haplo taking the Reloaded concept a step beyond; he used a Thief 2 version of the layout of the City from Thief: Deadly Shadows, and based his mission on that. So you're actually walking through areas in Thief 3. Except it's not as detailed. And full of Undead. And adventure game-like puzzles. Not very Thief like, but still worth a playthrough if you want to see how Thief 3 maps come out in Thief 2, plus the story isn't half-bad in this one.
(There's also an FM, "The Perfect Job", that was made in response to someone who tried to do a "Let's Play" of Thief 2 and didn't like it very much. Check the thread on TLLG for more information. I figure you lot would enjoy this little trolling joke.)
