Thief fan missions and campaigns

[JarlFrank]

I want FrenchDecay to never stop making missions, seriously.

This FM just has so much creativity pumped into it, it's incredible. The new enemies are genuinely disturbing until you get used to them (those damn faceless haunts on steroids and their death animation), there are so many areas to explore and some of them are visually stunning despite their relatively simple architecture, and it just goes on and on and seems to never end which is really awesome. So much cool stuff to discover!

 

[Darth Slaughter]

I was on a thief FM spree, but styx 2, thimbleweed park, syberia and primordia got in the way of my rebellion of the builder playthrough.

 

[Max_b5]

If you have the "ladder" item, drop it. Do it in mid air, climb it, grab it again and you can fly!

 

[marbleman]

Some of it was macabre in ways most horror missions aren't.

Spoiler

Peeling someone's face off with a cleaver, WTF.

Originally, it was a regular

Spoiler

knife. But it felt odd that it can chop off a hand :D

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Finally sat down and played "Finals at the Academy".

It's time for Garrett to graduate, so in a slightly Hogwarts-esque manner he has to solve a few tasks within the Keeper campus grounds to succeed. Something goes wrong, however, and soon Harry Potter Garrett must sneak past some Undead in order to find the MacGuffin to save the day.

The mission is 100% interior as it's a huge FM and one of the last pre-NewDark FMs to be released. The sheer amount of engine limitations the author had to overcome, and how he did so, clearly shows that this is a monumental piece of work. Sadly it's a little misguided in its purpose for being. It forces ghosting in an environment of AI-tampered critters with objectives with ludicrous solutions to them. The first task alone on Expert had me stuck for two hours back in the day, I just felt relieved that I knew exactly what to do this time round. Then new objectives popped up...and again...and again...and again. Most of them are optional though, including the loot count.

The sad fact is, that despite all that work and all that effort, "Finals at the Academy" just isn't fun to play. I have never seen a Thief FM with more readables than this one...and I'm counting whole campaigns in that statement. Dozens of readables, scattered all over the place, and sadly with the exception of the Old Man Boone tales, they're all duller than school textbooks. One upside though is that NONE of them suffer from Audiolog Syndrome. There's the start of a diary, and the Old Man Boone's stories have a transcript-vibe to them, but otherwise it's all text that makes sense in context.

Surely all those readables must serve a purpose? Most of them, yeah. After all the in-game maps there are 22 pages (!) of notes related to things needed to solve the various objectives. I spotted two sets of glyph runes to decypher, an alternate time-telling system, a mnemonic, a wall of text, a dozen "lessons" and 7 spell recipes composed of riddles. I'm certain I missed a couple of puzzles that were hinted at. While I enjoy puzzles and riddles that challenge the ol' noggin, this is absolute overkill.

Speaking of spell recipes, there's a cauldron in there somewhere and if you place the proper reagents in it and then wave a wand over it you can get bonus spells and potions. The problem with that is there are DOZENS of items to be found, meaning your inventory bloats up in record time. The author seems to be aware that taffers may be carrying too many items around, so he introduces a key ring...and yet the FM only puts about half of the keys in the FM on the keyring! The rest clutter up the inventory, just like all those possible spell reagents. Even equipment gets the redundancy treatment, as Rope Arrows need to be made from Rope Coils and arrows. Uhh...why? On the topic of spells and keys, there's a Lesser Unlock spell to be brewed, and it works on EVERY LOCK in the game. Bonus point for offering alternative solutions, but when one solution not only trumps all others but renders the key hunt aspect of the FM irrelevant, one has to wonder how long the author has been missing his marbles.

The story is meh. Readable after readable speaks of Ohlm the Necromancer, an evil Necromancer that disappeared centuries ago. Garrett's graduation task is to copy the Table of Contents from a evil-sounding book that belonged to the Necromancer...except the book is locked and locked away as well. Once Garrett finds it and unlocks it, the evil Necromancer is freed from his imprisonment IN THE BOOK, summons some undead to butcher everyone, and seemingly resumes his plans to take over the world. A bodiless voice scolds Garrett for doing EXACTLY WHAT WAS ASKED OF HIM before dying in a campy "Urk!" moment. Now Garrett must reach the ancient crypts beneath the Academy and learn how he can stop the Necromancer. And with that done the FM ends, and no sequel in sight in the 5+ years since this FM was released.

To be honest, I can't think of any reason to recommend this FM. Once I realized that I had triggered the main objective and the mission ended before I could complete all the objectives, I just shrugged and quit. I can't even think of a reason to replay it to try to finish the seemingly pointless optional objectives. There are so many good ideas here, but they're taken to their extremes so that they become boring busywork. This FM is a finely crafted piece of fruitless effort in the same way a Japanese swordsmith may spend 5 years of his life crafting the finest salad fork the world has ever seen.

Rating: Autism/10.

 

[Max_b5]

Rating: Autism/10.

Best rating I've seen in my life LMAO.

 

[cowking]

New TDM mission by spoonman who made Full Moon Fever (which was excellent, play it if you haven't).

The Ravine

 

[Valky]

What are some FMs on the level of quality of Calendra's Cistern? I fucking loved that one.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

What are some FMs on the level of quality of Calendra's Cistern? I fucking loved that one.

The obvious answer is the sequel, Calendra's Legacy.

 

[Max_b5]

What are some FMs on the level of quality of Calendra's Cistern? I fucking loved that one.

Play all of Morrgan's FMs. Especially 'The Saint of Redmound' and 'Returning a Favor'.

 

[marbleman]

If you want something like Calendra's Cistern, then apart from CL, you should try The Chalice of Souls.

If you just want something of very high quality, try also Eshaktaar's missions (all 3 of them).

 

[Yandros]

The Black Frog, The Seven Sisters.

 

[Valky]

Thanks, I'll be checking all of these out.

 

[H3H3]

Thanks, I'll be checking all of these out.

And before you check The Seven Sisters out, give Rowena's Curse a try.

 

[Melan]

After an innocuous Google search...

 

[Renault]

which helps unlock a password-protected zip file located in the FM files which contains another FM! I haven't seen that trick pulled since "The Sun Within and The Sun Without" back in 2009.

I had no idea about either one of these. How was the bonus content for TSWTSW?

 

[Arrowgrab]

which helps unlock a password-protected zip file located in the FM files which contains another FM! I haven't seen that trick pulled since "The Sun Within and The Sun Without" back in 2009.

I had no idea about either one of these. How was the bonus content for TSWTSW?

It was a small complex with a few rooms and machines that could spawn lots (IIRC basket-)balls and manipulate physics so they'd behave strangely. It wasn't a proper mission with objectives, if that's what you mean, just a bit of fun.

 

[Renault]

So, I'm playing Night of the Red Moon by Terra. This isn't a final review, as I'm not done yet, but this is definitely a love/hate mission that has me going back and forth on my opinion of it:

Good Stuff:
-The town. Really fun to navigate and explore. Some cool out of the way places that require climbing. I'm actually glad there is no map.
-Lots to do. Some of it to a fault, but there is some interesting stuff as well. This thing will keep you busy for hours and hours.
-Challenge. Navigating the city before you get the "blackjack" is tough, partially because of the inconsistent lighting. At least on Expert.

Beefs:
-Personal pet peeve, but I hate when missions make you search for your lockpicks. Garrett is a master thief, he has his own lockpicks. Come up with a more creative way to lock things away from the player.
-Everyone has said it, but yeah, the beginning part of the missions is too effing huge. That might even be OK, except that its all samey looking and not that interesting to navigate.
-The flash effects and random sound traps that play when you enter a building are lame, and get old fast. There's like 10 of them too. And they're never justified - you hear footsteps, or a voice, and no one is there. And what's with the flashbomb effects? I'm not sure what he's trying to do there.
-He stole way too many of Eshaktaar's objects, to the point where it really sticks out. And worst of all, he uses the frying pan, but doesn't use the great "clang" sound that came with it. It's just the standard blackjack sound that just sounds wrong.
-Also mentioned before, too much shit to collect, and often for no reason. Why is there a portal in the middle of the forest that needs four gems to deactivate? No clue.

I'm a bit more forgiving than most when judging FMs, so I'll give this one a thumbs up for now. Mainly because I'm an exploration guy and I love large missions.

 

[fortuni]

Hiya all

I've dropped into your forum to ask all of you for your collective and/or individual permissions to use some of your reviews on a project that I'm working on over at TTLG.

I'm putting together a complete guide to all thief FMs with a brief summery and linking all known reviews to assist players, both new and old, in order to help them choose missions to play. It's an attempt to combine 3 existing threads, The FM loader guide, The Mission by Type thread & the Mega thread of reviews.....along with a ton of reviews that are buried in the forum. On top of that I'm also making notes of any known playing issues that can be fixed by installing Voodoo's or Unna's dml's, old convict, missflag.str etc.

My thinking in putting this guide together is that the MbyT thread is just one humongous set of long lists that actually does not give players any real information as to what the mission is like to play, hopefully this brief summery thread would be a more easily digestible way of selecting FMs.

Here's what I have done so far
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=146558&p=2317186&viewfull=1#post2317186

However there is a multitude of excellent reviews on this site which I would also like to add to the brief review table, but I feel it would be inappropriate to link any of your reviews from this site without asking for your collective/individual permissions.

So what to you all think.....yes or no?

 

[Zenith]

Not going to speak for anyone here, but I hope you have considered the possibility of drama emerging elsewhere as a result. Funny how you're currently at 'F' - that means you've yet to pick a review for Golden Book, for example. Not the only one with friction between communities, too.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Hello and welcome to the TTLG speakeasy.

While I appreciate your effort and wish you the best of luck with it, in my case the answer is no.

The last time I posted a review on the TTLG boards it generated considerable butthurt and revealed the TTLG community to be a rather large hugbox, which is a bad environment for some levels of discussion, even though they're important.

So I took my reviews here, as the chance of the local management taking action against me for speaking my mind is far lower than on TTLG.

But I'm not gonna be a complete stick in the mud, so I suggest this: Make a note of which FMs I have reviewed/commented on through the years (it's pretty much all in this thread), then Carry On with your project. If you come across any FMs where I'm the only one that has covered it (or the only one that pointed out that the Emperor has no clothes) then contact me again and we'll see if we can't iron out a "Friendship is Magic"-version of the review.

Good luck!

 

[fortuni]

Not going to speak for anyone here, but I hope you have considered the possibility of drama emerging elsewhere as a result. Funny how you're currently at 'F' - that means you've yet to pick a review for Golden Book, for example. Not the only one with friction between communities, too.

What I have posted above are the T2 missions, the T1/TG missions will be in a separate table which I have already finished, so yes I have written a brief summery of The Golden Book, a FM that I adore, I think Zontik is a god even if his missions are frighteningly difficult.

And yes I do know there is some friction between some of the forums, why I have never really understood or wanted to take sides on. I get my thieving kicks by getting involved in large projects, such as maintaining the Mission by Type thread and writing walkthroughs for all the T1/TG/T3 missions. In all of my projects I have always tried to think about helping the casual players, those who have never joined any forum but wish for/need help in finding answers to their problems, so I am careful to keep my personal opinions to a minimum.

Just because I don't like a mission or author does not mean someone else would not take huge offence to any negative comments I make, so I'll praise missions as much as I feel they deserve but will always try to be positive and uplifting about even those missions I think are rubbish or about authors who are more than arrogant. Hopefully then I can still keep above any fraction fiction.

Hello and welcome to the TTLG speakeasy.

While I appreciate your effort and wish you the best of luck with it, in my case the answer is no.

The last time I posted a review on the TTLG boards it generated considerable butthurt and revealed the TTLG community to be a rather large hugbox, which is a bad environment for some levels of discussion, even though they're important.

So I took my reviews here, as the chance of the local management taking action against me for speaking my mind is far lower than on TTLG.

But I'm not gonna be a complete stick in the mud, so I suggest this: Make a note of which FMs I have reviewed/commented on through the years (it's pretty much all in this thread), then Carry On with your project. If you come across any FMs where I'm the only one that has covered it (or the only one that pointed out that the Emperor has no clothes) then contact me again and we'll see if we can't iron out a "Friendship is Magic"-version of the review.

Good luck!

Thanks for your input and offer of friendship. :D

Your answer and opinion of TTLG is why I felt it was important to ask this community rather than assume otherwise, and I suspect that others on this forum will say much of the same, but I would still appreciate any other comments from other people and review the feedback over the coming days.

btw I note with amusement your 'Expand your vocabulary' tag and whilst I suspect it's not directed at me personally, I do wish I had a better grasp of the English language. Writing 1200 brief reviews is not going to be any easy task without falling back onto the same old cliches and bog standard lexicons.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

The "Expand your vocabulary" thing is part of my signature, it's not aimed at anyone in particular.

Another idea you can try sometime later when your project nears its end: Visit here and ask if we have any review-shaped opinions on certain FMs, namely ones you feel could use reviews (because honestly not all of them need one).

 

[JarlFrank]

Hiya all

I've dropped into your forum to ask all of you for your collective and/or individual permissions to use some of your reviews on a project that I'm working on over at TTLG.

I'm putting together a complete guide to all thief FMs with a brief summery and linking all known reviews to assist players, both new and old, in order to help them choose missions to play. It's an attempt to combine 3 existing threads, The FM loader guide, The Mission by Type thread & the Mega thread of reviews.....along with a ton of reviews that are buried in the forum. On top of that I'm also making notes of any known playing issues that can be fixed by installing Voodoo's or Unna's dml's, old convict, missflag.str etc.

My thinking in putting this guide together is that the MbyT thread is just one humongous set of long lists that actually does not give players any real information as to what the mission is like to play, hopefully this brief summery thread would be a more easily digestible way of selecting FMs.

Here's what I have done so far
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=146558&p=2317186&viewfull=1#post2317186

However there is a multitude of excellent reviews on this site which I would also like to add to the brief review table, but I feel it would be inappropriate to link any of your reviews from this site without asking for your collective/individual permissions.

So what to you all think.....yes or no?

You can use every review/impressions post I made here.

 

[Darth Slaughter]

Hiya all

I've dropped into your forum to ask all of you for your collective and/or individual permissions to use some of your reviews on a project that I'm working on over at TTLG.

I'm putting together a complete guide to all thief FMs with a brief summery and linking all known reviews to assist players, both new and old, in order to help them choose missions to play. It's an attempt to combine 3 existing threads, The FM loader guide, The Mission by Type thread & the Mega thread of reviews.....along with a ton of reviews that are buried in the forum. On top of that I'm also making notes of any known playing issues that can be fixed by installing Voodoo's or Unna's dml's, old convict, missflag.str etc.

My thinking in putting this guide together is that the MbyT thread is just one humongous set of long lists that actually does not give players any real information as to what the mission is like to play, hopefully this brief summery thread would be a more easily digestible way of selecting FMs.

Here's what I have done so far
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=146558&p=2317186&viewfull=1#post2317186

However there is a multitude of excellent reviews on this site which I would also like to add to the brief review table, but I feel it would be inappropriate to link any of your reviews from this site without asking for your collective/individual permissions.

So what to you all think.....yes or no?

You can use mine also, but I don't think they're good review material at all, I think they're mostly like impressions...