Thief fan missions and campaigns

[Melan]

Still got nothing on Cleveland Mark Blakemore.

 

[Yandros]

I'm more fascinated by the fact that this FM campaign is entering its thirteenth year of production.

Actually, fifteenth if you count Polygon's original mission as the starting point. On the other hand if you count from the screenplay rewrite which signaled the beginning of the current incarnation, we're on year nine. Either way... sweet Jesus.

 

[JarlFrank]

New Death's Cold Embrace video. Looking very very pretty there!

I'm more fascinated by the fact that this FM campaign is entering its thirteenth year of production.

Duke's Cold Embrace

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I'm doing a check of .iso images of PC Zone coverdiscs, and on the PC Zone #67 coverdisc I find a rolling demo of Thief: The Dark Project... one that I can't recall seeing before.

It's 1:19 long, dated 27. March 1998 and starts with footsteps audible on a black screen while an unfamilar voice goes: "Hey! Who's there?" followed by "Probably just a critter" soundbytes.

It also features samples of the cutscenes, an early look at the UI with dedicated windows for each activity (like the inventory) and ending on a "Coming Fall '98" announcement.

Any of the old taffers here familiar with this one?

EDIT: PC Zone #72 has the Thief review. Rating? 90%

Pros:

# Very atmospheric
# A more relaxing, involving pace
# Excellent movement and audio engines

Cons:

# Too much reliance on clichéd fantasy fare (zombies)
# Not ambitious enough with the thieving theme
# Multiplayer would have been nice

Uh-huh.

 

[Melan]

Fairly typical review for the time. They were mostly variations of "this game is very original, but doesn't live up to its potential because actiony Tomb Raider levels". Then Thief 2 came out, and it was rated in the mid 80s because "this game is well-made, but the graphics are showing their age and it is mostly the same as the first one".

Game journalism.

 

[JarlFrank]

I remember graphics having been an even bigger point in game reviews back in the late 90s and early 00s than they are now, because there was huge progress in graphical effects every year.
There wasn't a single gaming mag in my country that didn't fap over graphics regularly.

No surprise Thief 2 would get criticism for "looking dated" when everyone just wants games that challenge their high-end PC that they bought 2 days ago.

 

[cowking]

Christ I'm getting burned out on these shit fms (tried watery grave which was one linear crampy corridor until I quit). Give me a good one. It has to be nonlinear.

 

[Melan]

No.

 

[JarlFrank]

watery grave
corridor

Ok.

 

[tormund]

Christ I'm getting burned out on these shit fms (tried watery grave which was one linear crampy corridor until I quit). Give me a good one. It has to be nonlinear.

This is really excellent and unconventional
http://ladyjo1.free.fr/thief/spip.php?article1239
https://www.fichier-zip.com/2016/11/28/the-wall-st-edgars-cathedral-1-0-3-final/
Made by an author who shares many of your own criticisms of Thief FMs, so it might be worth taking a look at for that very reason. Be sure to share your impressions afterwards...

 

[cowking]

When do I get the ability to rate someone's post as shit?

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Never.

 

[JarlFrank]

You can't rate your own posts

 

[Icewater]

New campaign Godbreaker by Random_Taffer is out!

Why are you still reading this you faggot? Go download and play it.

 

[skacky]

Congrats on the release! The first mission is incredibly frustrating though, mantling into small windows on steep slanted surfaces is an absolute pain in the ass and the mission is full of these.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

874 Mb? That's the biggest FM so far, isn't it?

 

[Icewater]

Congrats on the release! The first mission is incredibly frustrating though, mantling into small windows on steep slanted surfaces is an absolute pain in the ass and the mission is full of these.

Just finished the first mission and I agree. It reminds me of a not-quite-as-good version of Lady Rowena's The Tower. Hoping the next two (I believe it's three total?) are better. One window is particular seems like it was specifically designed to be extremely fucking annoying to get into, as the wall it's in is slanted away from you at the bottom, forcing you to jump at it in order to mantle into it. If you don't connect with it juuust right then you slide off, fall, and die. Thank Yahweh for quick save/load and my SSD, I guess.

 

[Melan]

874 MB! That's larger than T2X at 656 MB. Well, got my weekend programme now...

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I've also finished the first mission and have gotten somewhat along in the second.

Seems to me that every single jump in the first mission is made extra hard for little to no reason. Precision jumps from a prone position, jumps at an angle, etc. And critter placement is also a factor, every stationary critter I came across was facing in a manner that made it impossible to get past without getting noticed (I had to abuse engine mechanics more than once to get past the enforcer with the lantern and the Hammerite priest). I missed the secret and 190 loot, but frankly I don't care one bit.

The second mission opens up in a swamp with an abandoned village nearby that then switches into a tunnel system. This is a pure Pagan mission with treebeasts, carnivorous plants and the like. Oh, and there's something in the water to keep you company.

And not a Rope Arrow in sight so far.

 

[Random_Taffer]

Ah, it sounds like you had some bad luck with a couple of the AI bugs that can crop up now and again.
The Hammerite is supposed to be patrolling back and forth upstairs and down. I'm guessing the lantern enforcer was on the damn table? Bastard. He's supposed to be patrolling Conall's apartment as well.
I've noticed that the bugs can happen more often after a quick-load, which it sounds like is what happened here with the difficult jumps.

As far as the difficult jumping goes, I can assure you it wasn't something I schemed over or anything like that. Most of the jumps can be accomplished by merely pressing forward and catching the ledge when you fall. There is a couple difficult ones, however I can think of. One would be jumping from the roof onto where the archer is patrolling. That one you can do by either jumping a little later than normal or jumping diagonally and not needing to catch the ledge to pull yourself up. The other is probably the window above the gargoyle and wooden spotlight holder near the start. That one you can either jump at an angle facing the window, or jump facing at an angle and turning to pull yourself up. I'm a bit surprised none of my testers reported much difficulty with it.

There are rope arrows to be found on lower difficulties, but I really didn't anticipate folk would have such a hard time. Glad you got through it though! Unfortunate about the AI bugs. I can see how encountering both of them on your first play-through would be annoying.

EDIT: This is probably a dumb question, but you're using new mantle right? The 4x4 windows can be gotten into by merely holding mantle when you're right next to them.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I am using new mantle, for one.

Yes, the enforcer was up on the table, and the priest just stood like glued to his dresser by the window. I don't use Quicksave/Quickload, but I had been abusing the Save/Load feature previously while experimenting with some jumps.

I took a break from taffing, but briefly thinking back on Godbreaker, the No. 1 thing that stands out is the voice acting. It's fantastic.

 

[skacky]

I use new mantle as well and still had a really hard time entering a few windows, most notably the priest's (extremely hard) and my apartment's near the priest's (easier but still needlessly difficult). The precise jumping on the beams as well as the hidden windows near the two house guards was very hard also. The problem with the apartment window in particular is that you alert the priest and the patrolling enforcer if you mess up and land on the roof, which happens very often. I ran into the same AI issues as Unkillable Cat, too. Forgot to mention.

 

[Random_Taffer]

The priest's window can be a bit annoying. I guess I should have made that better. Really, you don't need to jump to get in at all, you can just run towards it and mantle up into it. Same with the wooden beams. No need to jump, just run towards the next beam and catch the ledge as you fall. A little confused by the difficulty of the apartment window. All you have to do is open the shutters, duck under them, then just mantle up into the window?

In any case, I suppose the damage is done and me telling you how you can do it isn't going to change your initial play-through. Hopefully it wasn't Russian levels of bullshit hard.

 

[skacky]

I tried multiple times to run up to the priest's window and just mantle but the steep roof and the gap made it very very hard to do. My solution was to crouch-jump and get lucky with the landing inside the windowsill, because otherwise Garrett was too fat to enter. I guess that's mostly because the top of the window is an arch. As for the apartment window, same thing with the slanted roof making that mantle much harder than it needs to be. If you catch the window too close to the shutters you'll fail the mantle. It wasn't Russian levels of hard but it was still too difficult and should've been spotted during beta-testing imo.

That being said the second mission so far has nothing remotely like this and I'm enjoying it a lot.

 

[Tannar]

There is an easier way into the priest's window. Just get into the gap between the slanted roof you're on and his building wall. Use your strafe keys to move up or down that gap until you are in line with the window (you may have to jump a bit if you get stuck in there but it won't make noise), and then mantle in.