Fan Mission: Penny Dreadful 3 by Melan and Bikerdude (2016/07/10)

[Marbrien 4]

I too am stuck on getting into the Red Room. So far I have found

a switch under the desk in the bedroom in Grunt's mansion which opens a panel nearby in the wall. Behind that there are ladders down and a ladder up. The latter looks like it is going in the right direction for the Red Room, but it ends in a closed and unfrobbable grill.

 

Edited July 13, 2016 by Marbrien

[hanmin 8]

I too am stuck on getting into the Red Room. So far I have found

a switch under the desk in the bedroom in Grunt's mansion which opens a panel nearby in the wall. Behind that there are ladders down and a ladder up. The latter looks like it is going in the right direction for the Red Room, but it ends in a closed and unfrobbable grill.

 

There is

a readable under one bed in the barracks/kitchen room below suggesting some crowbar. I have not found out more so far

 

Edited July 13, 2016 by hanmin

[hanmin 8]

I found a way into the red room:

 

The Solution is to...

 

open the hidden green door...

 

with the lever under the desk...

 

And then block the closing mechanism with some stuff, so that you can still fit through. I've used the book on the shelf, the flower ballows near the fire and the helmet. Then use the lever to engage the closing mechanism. Slip through and you'll find the grill open.

 

 

Major spoiler ahead:

 

 

There will be a surprise in the red room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What an awesome riddle design.

Edited July 13, 2016 by hanmin

[Melan 1775]

Holy crap, that's actually not the solution I had in mind. But it is definitely the best one.

 

Congratulations, you beat the level designers!

[Marbrien 4]

I couldn't get the objects hanmin mentioned to balance, but I found what I think is the intended way into the Red Room.

Use the lever under the desk in the bedroom to open the panel in that room. Enter the passage, climb down the ladders and use the lever at the bottom to open the panel beside the fireplace on the ground floor. Go upstairs and use the desk lever again to close the panel upstairs. Go downstairs and reenter the passage from there, and the grill at the top of the ladders is now open.

 

 

As for the "surprise",

I did not find a way to defeat it, so I just outran it.

 

Edited July 13, 2016 by Marbrien

[hanmin 8]

Holy crap, that's actually not the solution I had in mind. But it is definitely the best one.

 

Congratulations, you beat the level designers!

\o/

 

Marbiens or the intended solution was way too simple :-D

 

 

It took me maybe half an hour to try out what to do with the sheet of paper that triggers a "taken" sound when you frob it until I gave up and decided it had nothing to do with the passage. What does it actually do?

 

 

I couldn't get the objects hanmin mentioned to balance

I have to correct myself,

It was the book (upright), the helmet above it and on top the bellows as a wedge.

 

Edited July 13, 2016 by hanmin

[skacky 65]

Hahaha, I didn't even think of doing that, though I figured out how to get there quite easily using the intended method.

[pwl 12]

This is a visually stunning mission! Game play is great also. Thanks to all involved!! will be playing again soon.

[MVT 8]

The town map is too hard to read with a small screen. Any change of posting a larger version.

[skacky 65]

There is a high resolution image in the pk4 file (open it with 7-zip or another zip explorer).

[Abusimplea 140]

Now that was a hunt for keys and loot. I did not unlock all the doors and certainly missed a lot of places.

The town looks great and is immersive.

The tons of readables tell a lot of stories about how bad all the people in the city are. That really added to the feel, that i am the good person there - even while killing the almsmaster and poisoning Grunt's food (as usual i spared the lives of the non-targets). The amount of readables was a bit overwhelming. But they read well and i like the stories they tell.

Performance-wise there where minor FPS-Drops at the veginning. But as the AI count got reduced, the FPS drops vanished.

 

But i am getting old and can't get the jumps and rope climbs right anymore (updated to 2.04 and did not play for some months too).
I did not found enough of the good stuff without consulting this thread, noclip and tdm_show_loot. It was a bit like the ole point'n'click advantures in that regard: Spare one inch in your search or miss a subtle detail, and you're stuck. That made it frustrating at times and i would have given up if there would not have been the cheats.

 

Gerald needs a new pair of shoes now...

 

 

[raymeld 28]

Thank you so much M & B , very enjoyable.

I finished it on easy as is about my usual standard , I'm not much good at these missions sad to say.

Never did find and get too the fabled Cinders End to loot the place , managed to grab the barest minimum loot before I had to do that.

I did have a go , using the compass , but lost my way and kept on going round and round in boring circles!

Can I ask , are they anywhere near the Almsmaster's place?

Some sort of clue would be helpful for when I try again.I'm afraid most of you are streets ahead of me in all this if I may make a pun!

?

[Melan 1775]

I am not quite sure I understand. Cinder's End is the name of the quarter featured in the mission. Or are you referring to something else?

[demagogue 1085]

I think he's just referring to the way the map looks and the readables if you weren't keeping track of everything very well. They could lead one to think Cinder's End is a specific place rather than the name of the whole district.

 

Something about the tangled layout of the streets could also get one feeling paranoid about missing an area by not finding just the right way to it, although I think if one is methodical and paying attention to the map and the streets that shouldn't be a problem. I'm personally finding the map really useful for seeing how to get around, actually; it's better than most.

 

It's been said, but this FM looks great. It reminds me once again why city FMs are so effective, because of the density and diversity of environment, story, and action you can get in one package. It really lets you to have an FM where a lot can happen, in terms of following the story and all the kinds of game situations you can get into, and you've taken real advantage of that here.

[MVT 8]

The town map is too hard to read with a small screen. Any change of posting a larger version.

I found copies of the line drawing, but no labels. The labels are the problem.

[Marbrien 4]

I've now played this excellent mission twice, once on Medium and once on Expert. On expert I finished with 2592 of 3197 loot. I found

the book of dark poetry. Someone has mentioned a tribute to Lady Rowena, but I didn't find it on either occasion.

Any pointers as to its location please, and where I might find extra loot?

[Melan 1775]

I found copies of the line drawing, but no labels. The labels are the problem.

It looks like I forgot to include the high-res map in the mission archive! Here it goes (I have also added it to the OP):

 

 

 

 

Something about the tangled layout of the streets could also get one feeling paranoid about missing an area by not finding just the right way to it, although I think if one is methodical and paying attention to the map and the streets that shouldn't be a problem. I'm personally finding the map really useful for seeing how to get around, actually; it's better than most.

Could be. Slight spoilers follow on the mission's design:

 

 

 

The construction of game space in this mission is intentionally oblique; it is an experiment in designing an environment where a lot of things connect, but not always in a way that would be the most straightforward or easy to navigate. There are ways through the mission which need to be opened up to become useful (permeable), others which can be easily traversed at one stage of the mission but not another (i.e. carrying someone, or if you have alerted a group of AI), and connections which are one-way entrances into other areas. So a certain amount of misdirection is present, and intentional as part of the greater puzzle.

 

On the other hand, I tried to leave plenty of landmarks and signposts to get your bearings at any specific point, and generous options to escape a pursuit or draw away your opponents.

 

 

[prjames 2]

Folks,

 

I figured out the earlier puzzles I had difficulty with. Got one more hint request:

 

 

How do I open the way to the Lady Rowena memorial area?

 

 

- prjames

 

NEVER MIND - I figured it out shortly after I posted it.

 

 

Go to the left of the Hammer temple, back there, a high statue you must mantle your way to has her right eye replaced by a button... once pressed, go to the right of the Hammer temple and a panel has opened... watch out for traps...

 

Edited July 16, 2016 by prjames

[Marbrien 4]

prjames, "Ah, a hidden entrance"! Thanks for that.

 

Incidentally, above and behind

that statue with the button eye is a hard to reach ledge with a railing. On that ledge are two gold plates.

 

[rustmite 0]

In Bellingcourts

I found a silver key, is that key used in that room somewhere? I can't seem to locate or figure out that puzzle.

 

[Oldjim 154]

Yes but you need to get a lot further in the FM to use it

Mild spoiler

in Grunt's Mansion

 

[raymeld 28]

Thanks Melan.

demagogue's first paragraph in the post following yours is right.I stupidly thought Cinders End was a block of old houses to loot on the map , not the name of the whole map area. Oh dear !

[Outlooker 107]

This mission is wonderful, diverse, good-looking, detailed, BIG (it felt even bigger possibly because it made you not only have some area, but also a kind of vertical map in your mind), but felt very hard (at expert difficulty level at least). The mission statistics said I spent 9hours playing, but it must be more because of reloads. Because it was such a strain, I sliced this piece of thievish art into many pieces and enjoyed it over a couple days.

 

Above all, this mission demands unusual attention and perception: Blackjacking around and picking locks to force your way forward is useless or unavailable. You are put in the shoes of a cat-burglar - the great theme is not only sneaking, but mainly analysing architecture and exploiting it by climbing up and in - and this is harder than it sounds, at least it was so for me. You need high attention/perception at all times - otherwise one quickly may overlook something important and get stuck, resulting in frustration.

 

It can happen really quick that a hint or means of access is overlooked - but if you are really, really attentive, the mission shows you everything. Often I found myself stuck and frustrated. But then I pressed on and looked and puzzled and new ways forward opened up - resulting in a feeling of well-earned achievement.

 

I think this mission is less suitable for a newbie thief, but especially challenging and therefore rewarding for the thief veteran: What seems to be impossible to access initially, is revealed to be actually not so impossible at all after careful, skilled burglar-eyed evaluation. Again and again, and that makes the mission so special and great.

 

After a couple of hours playing I even found myself in reality noticing a way to climb in an open window in the second floor of a house by exploiting a tree branch and external lamp during daydreaming in a waiting-queue. To become richer now I only need to train pull-ups and lose a bit of weight...

[hanmin 8]

What I could not find out yet:

 

 

 

Where is the key to Mr Yongs room (the one with the book of enigmas)?

 

 

Does this key actually exist? I've looked in the map file, but I could not find it.

[GUFF 17]

Does this key actually exist? I've looked in the map file, but I could not find it.

It does not.

 

 

You have to go around back and open the window to his room by going through the other room, which you can get to by going through the room you can get into by pickpocketing a key off of the patrolling guard. It's the only window in the mission that ISN'T opened already, I think. It also doesn't really stand out compared to other windows so it''s easy to miss this one.