TG FM: "Chalice of Souls" by Skacky, FireMage, Squadafroin (09/23/15)

[Bikerdude]

Info:

Hello taffers! Our mission will take you to the snowy streets of Downtowne in order to infiltrate a high-class brothel. It is a loose sequel to Endless Rain but it can be enjoyed on its own.

Story:

 

"I found some interesting info while raiding Monsegur's palace in Stonemarket. His ledger seemed to indicate the location of a very curious trinket stashed
somewhere in a place called the Dark Hollow, itself located in Fidgewick's Hollow, a subdistrict of Downtowne. From what I've managed to gather by pushing my network
of associates, the Dark Hollow is apparently some sort of very high-class brothel, and its exact location is very well hidden. Even Cutty doesn't know where it is
exactly, and the man knows every place in The City. Looks like I'll have to do my own scouting. I'm pretty certain I'll find eager pockets ripe for picking inside
the brothel, and if I can't manage that, there is always the neighborhood.

 

The streets are cold and snow has fallen quite hard these past few days, so I don't think I'll find many people outside, though the local watchdogs are on the prowl for
these Downwinder amateurs. I doubt they'd appreciate a sneak such as me wandering the streets and the cold rooftops, so I have to find that brothel quickly. I also doubt
the guards will let me through uninvited so I better find a discreet way inside as well, and keep a low profile. I have no idea what I’ll find inside but I bet the place will
be crowded and on high security... Let's just hope this chalice is worth it."

 

 

Download:

• Dropbox
• SouthGateQuarter

Info:

• You will need to patch your copy of Thief Gold to 1.23+ using the latest version of TFix,
• it is recommended you make a clean install before playing.
• Make sure you have New Mantle, Weather and Fogging activated.
• You also have to DISABLE ALL MODS before playing. You have to add a semicolon ( ; ) on the mod path line in cam_mod.ini, otherwise the game WILL crash! This naturally includes Thief Gold HD and NecroAge.
• Please note that FMSelect users will have to do a small and painless manipulation in order to play in the best conditions. This is not mandatory but strongly recommended as a certain effect won't work properly if you don't do this. Download this ZIP file and simply extract its contents to your Thief Gold folder:
  • Dropbox
  • Southgatequrter
• FMSelect is the loader of choice for this mission but people who prefer Darkloader will have to do the following:
• To activate FMSelect, make a shortcut of THIEF.EXE and add -fm in the command line, and then launch it. Once you have set the paths you're good to go!

Beta-testers:

- bob_doe_nz
- Dev_Anj
- DrKubiac
- Fortuni
- nickie
- Nightwalker
- Peter Smith
- ValmontPhl

Gallery:

 

[AluminumHaste]

OMG awesome!!! Endless Rain was amazing!

[jaxa]

What is New Mantle? T2 mantling?

[nbohr1more]

The NewDark patch improves the way that mantling works in T1\Tg\T2.

[Melan]

My impressions, crossposted from TTLG and RPGCodex:

 

The Chalice of Souls by Feuillade Industries (Firemage, skacky and Squadafroin)

Continuing from a series including Shadow Politics, Within These Dark Walls and Endless Rain, this two-part Thief Gold mission sends Garrett in search of a hidden high-class brothel hidden somewhere beneath the City's streets, then even further to find the sinister magical chalice of the month (after the Cylix of Jortul, the Grail of Regrets and various other evil cups, one would think he would learn, but apparently not). The two missions are thus in fact four: a city, a sewer system, an abandoned Keeper sanctuary converted into a brothel, and the hidden, partially flooded parts of the sanctuary. These were made by different authors, are neatly separated, and differ in both style and execution.

The city part is the strongest section of the mission. Contrary to one's initial instincts associating it with skacky, the info file says most of the work is Squadafroin, who has created something really surreal and dreamlike. It has a deceivingly small footprint (there is a high-resolution map you can print out, always a plus), but instead of spreading out, it goes up... and then up and up some more. Like impossibly high mountains of stone, the mission ranges from snow-covered streets and a frozen over canal to aeries at dizzying heights. Opening a door and coming across a view of several balconies, rooftops and chimneys spreading out below you is something magical, something quintessentially Thief. You will travel across this roofscape on various routes, breaking into places ranging from the attic of a curio collector to the penthouse apartment of a cardinal, uncovering tons of dirty laundry along the way. This is more about finding a way forward and less about dealing with AI, although there are some very challenging sneaking puzzles (the most evil including a noble lady and a guard in an almost perfectly lit environment). A weakness of the map is found in its semi-linearity: the rooftop routes, while fun, are largely uni-directional, with only a few detours on the way. It is a hell of a ride, and it would perhaps be rude to expect more... but the feeling is still there.

The sewers are well-planned, apparently being largely Firemage's work. They are inhabited by various factions of AI in an uneasy truce, and they hide a few nasty surprises as well. While building sewers is rather more technically easy than building a fantastic cityscape, it takes talent to build an enjoyable one. Sewer levels are the monotonous, reviled outcasts of computer games (Thieves Guild from Thief Gold doesn't enjoy a particularly good reputation), but not here. The mission's sub-plots are the most fascinating here, and there are not just clever and interesting exploration opportunities, but it all looks varied and cool - there are rusting bits of machinery chugging on down in the tunnels, different recognisable architectural styles, backstabbing and intrigue, and a wonderful feeling of decay and rot. More than that, this part is pleasantly non-linear - there are different paths to choose, all with their own kind of challenges and surprises.

The underground brothel, mostly skacky's work, is a reimagination of The House of Blossoms, a justly despised Thief 4 mission. Unfortunately, the curse lingers, as this section is very good-looking (a combination of gaudy richness and decay), but severely flawed to the point of unpleasantness. The brothel is set up as an interconnected set of mostly very well lit rooms, decked out in tile with occasional strips of carpet. These are known tension-building devices. Difficulty spikes and a bit of frustration are an integral part of Thief, but here, it becomes too much. Tile and metal surfaces slow player movement to a crawl, and makes navigation really frustrating. It does not help that there are several AI walking around on heavily overlapping patrol routes, so you can almost always expect someone to either be in the area to prevent you from moving (since they would hear/see you due to the generous light and the tile surfaces), or spoil your move when they come across you unexpectedly. To make it all the more infuriating, the doorways are covered by heavy red curtains, which look good, but obstruct your vision while letting the AI look through them. So, here is the list:

tile and lots of tile

light

interlocking patrols

open layout

obstructed vision

I know there are gameplay wizards who can deal with that, but it made me resentful and displeased in the end. Additionally, while nice to look at, I feel that the story is the weakest here.

The final segment (also by skacky) is an increasingly grandiose underground Keeper library, reconstructing the feel and iconic locations of some of the Thief games' Keeper-related cutscenes and environments (it is very interesting to compare it to Ink and Dust and Calendra's Legacy, both of which try something similar). This is again mostly exploration-focused, maybe just a little too empty, and maybe getting the final object is a little bit anti-climactic, since it is just "there" somewhere. But after the brothel, it is a welcome change of pace and difficulty, and it looks very, very good..

Judging a contest mission is always tricky due to the time pressure (and sometimes special rules) involved. This is much more than your regular contest mission; in fact, it is extremely ambitious even as a standalone entry. You will find some of Thief's most breathtaking things here, especially in the city section (which inevitably raises your expectations to physical and other heights it and its followups cannot realistically match), and I wonder how Thief's designers would react if they saw it in motion. But sometimes, it is too ambitious and tries just a bit too hard.

[VanishedOne]

Given that the brothel is full of extinguishable candles, I suspect that the closer your playstyle is to ghosting, the more it'll annoy you.

 

AI seeing through curtains didn't give me trouble in the brothel; a certain high room in the city, on the other hand...