Professor Paul1290 plays The Dark Mod

[Professor Paul1290]

Ok, so I just made my first attempt at recording a playthrough of a TDM mission.

 

It's awkward as heck as I'm not used to playing while recording myself and talking and I stumble quite a bit. Hopefully the next one turns out better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WCVgtRffqg&hd=1

 

I am somewhat worried that the video might be too dark. It seems to be darker in the recording than it is when I actually play, and some people's monitors probably aren't as bright as mine.

 

It's unlisted for now until I know whether I should do a re-take or a bit more editing.

 

Tell me what you think.

 

EDIT:

Increased brightness a bit.

Edited September 29, 2012 by Professor Paul1290

[lost_soul]

Thanks for doing this. It is always nice to see new let's plays. Do you take requests?

 

You should do one of the kick-ass new missions like Sneak and Destroy. DemonFrog666 would eventually get there, but since he is going in ABC order, it will take a long time.

[7upMan]

The game sound is a bit too loud, or your voice a bit too quiet. You might want to play with the controls a bit. On the other hand, for a first Let's Play, this is really well done. However, you need to up the brightness by a lot. I hardly see a thing, even with lowered sun blinds.

[Springheel]

It was nice to see a LP by someone who actually knew what they were doing.

 

The brightness was just about perfect on my fairly bright monitor, but notching it up a bit would probably help for other people. Also, your voice volume should be raised just a bit (or decrease ambient volume). I don't see any reason not to upload this one though...for a first time LP it's good. I laughed at the "don't throw rocks!!" part.

 

I loved seeing someone actually use swordfighting in a LP rather than just reloading!!

[RPGista]

^ Exactly. Its good to see someone play confidently, without excessive caution and actually facing the consequences of whatever you do, which in my opinion is by far the most fun play style. I liked the agressive stealth movement, the "puzzle" solving provided by the AI layout and reactions (really cool to discover the thug alerted over the body of one of his friends at the end, btw), and the constant stream of tips and strategies that is really useful in understanding how the game works. Its a great example that when you are used to play it the game is easy and fun, and its simply up to the mapper to create interesting "tough spots" for you to solve and work around, as one-on-one between you and the AI can be way too easy. Always saying that, sword fighting in TDM is really cool, specially against more than one and with manual blocking! You have to strafe and use movements though, or you dont have a chance.

 

Great work, maybe just up the gamma a bit so the details are easier to see, but otherwise great playthrough.

Edited September 29, 2012 by RPGista

[Professor Paul1290]

Thanks for the comments.

 

I'll definitely look into increasing the gamma a bit for the next one and reducing the game volume somewhat.

 

I might do some newer missions, I guess we'll see.

 

On the subject of brightness or gamma, I uploaded two test videos at a couple increased levels:

 

Here's test 1, at 1.2 gamma:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOVocyCqB5U&hd=1

 

Here's test 2, at 1.3 gamma:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJcQWCzJu0Q&hd=1

 

I'd like to hear from 7upMan or anyone else who had trouble seeing anything in my previous video. Do you like number 1 or number 2?

 

It's like going to the eye doctor!

[7upMan]

It's definitely the second video. The upper one is way too dark, I can hardly see the dark places, and it's late at night here. So yes, if you could keep the brightness on that level in the future, that would be great.

[RPGista]

Thats weird, the second one is definitely becoming washed out for me, the first one seems a good balance between detail and comtrast... Different video cards?

[Professor Paul1290]

Probably different monitor settings, I notice if I switch to one of the other modes for my monitor then I get results similar to what 7upMan describes.

 

In that case, I'll go with the second option so it's watchable by more people. It's slightly washed out for me, but not too bad.

[Professor Paul1290]

I randomly decided to make a quick "bonus video". I hope you like it, as it was the result of having a lot of beer and other alcoholic beverages!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZ0UhhfPiA4&hd=1

 

Enjoy!

 

On a more serious note, this video should be at the appropriate brightness so if it's still too dark for you please speak up.

Edited September 30, 2012 by Professor Paul1290

[7upMan]

LOL... You definitely had fun on this one. However, in some parts of the video, you sounded like you have a cold. Brightness is okay.

[ungoliant]

moar videos.

[Bikerdude]

moar videos.

:-)

[Professor Paul1290]

Ok, next one is up:

 

As with the other one, this is all one-takes straight through with thankfully no loading any saves except to split the video. I run into trouble at the last minute again, I guess I got a bit sloppy after completing my objectives.

[lost_soul]

Good playthrough. Just remember that you can manipulate bodies lim by lim by frobbing but not picking them up. This can be used e.g. to stuff them in places easily. If you want to move the hand, click the hand, legs, etc.

Edited October 3, 2012 by lost_soul

[Bikerdude]

OMG, a spacious latrine

LOL what r u like..

[Springheel]

Yes, you probably could have gotten that body in there by frobbing and the scrolling the mouse to "push" him ahead of you. Definitely enjoying this.

[Professor Paul1290]

Good playthrough. Just remember that you can manipulate bodies lim by lim by frobbing but not picking them up. This can be used e.g. to stuff them in places easily. If you want to move the hand, click the hand, legs, etc.

Yes, you probably could have gotten that body in there by frobbing and the scrolling the mouse to "push" him ahead of you. Definitely enjoying this.

 

I was trying to grab his feet and either push him in or lift the legs up and over the edge, but both times he landed such that either his waist was caught on the edge or his leg were sticking out with knees locked straight and kneecaps facing down. He ended up being balanced on the edge such that lifting his limbs was rather tricky.

 

In hindsight, flipping him over would have probably solved both problems.

 

LOL what r u like..

 

I have a tendency to prefer hiding bodies in bathrooms and toilet stalls in stealth games, hence the "quest for spacious latrines!".

Bathrooms tend to be bigger than closets yet small and out of the way enough that most games don't have NPCs going in and out too often. (and yes, there's also the juvinile potty humor factor!)

 

Some TDM FMs actually have NPCs that go in and out of the bathrooms, with some interesting consequences on my end!

[ungoliant]

Some TDM FMs actually have NPCs that go in and out of the bathrooms, with some interesting consequences on my end!

did you ... ... get caught with your pants down?

[Bikerdude]

!YES!!! I have your frickin coin pourse" "AAAH, son of a..." "Operation GTO"

ROTFL....

[simplen00b]

Halfway through your Knighton Manor walkthrough and wanted to say I really like your style - conversational, involved without being hyper, funny, and at the risk of sounding prudish, I really appreciate the lack of swearing. (Haven't watched your alcohol-fuelled bonus video yet, mind. )

 

So anyway, thanks - look forward to more!

[Professor Paul1290]

Thanks.

 

I've posted this on at least one other forum but I only go to a couple forums that are even remotely Thief related, so feel free to link these elsewhere!

[jysk]

Nice. =)

[SeriousToni]

Hahaha I laughed so hard when the professor was tricked by that guard at the back door! You know when he thought "Oh it's over they go inside" and then suddenly the guard opened the door again after that he was waiting: "SURPRISE!!!" :D

[Sotha]

Thanks for this!

 

Lots of good stuff there. Like dropping Knighton into the crapper head down. When I mapped that I never even considered this scenario: legs sticking out. Heh heh.. Also the final escape was funny as hell when the guard tossed a rock on your head. Watching these are not only entertaining, but also helpful for the mapper as well. I learnt my lesson and never make pits the player cannot get out of if they don't have rope arrows.

 

Good video! Please, do consider making more. It is good to see a proper let's play without constant save/loading. Maybe people who see gameplay videos without instant loading after a failure try to deal with consequences of getting caught and realize it is not the end of the game, but just a change of pace.

 

I still wish the mission statistics screen would have a save count stat. If savecount = 0, then the player would get a special Iron Man mention/award or something. The stealth score per se promotes save/load behavior, you get better score by just loading when a guard spots you. You can't count loads, but you should be able to count saves, right?