99 replies to this topic

[Oldjim]

Still on the first floor and I have a question in relation to the maps

When selecting using the M key it is a bit blurred but a second click to bring up the other map brings it into focus

Is this an affect of playing on 1920 x 1080

 

One minor annoyance - a lot of the frobbable objects haven't been set a pixel above the thing they are resting on so when frobbed often drop through the surface

[Bikerdude]

Still on the first floor and I have a question in relation to the maps

When selecting using the M key it is a bit blurred but a second click to bring up the other map brings it into focus

Is this an affect of playing on 1920 x 1080

@jim, its a mod bug. The author will have had a different res and set the map to have the correct aspect ration for said res.

[Oldjim]

Completed on hardest and ghosted (nearly)

Spoiler

except for a dead rat

One thing I may have missed this cupboard in the captains room

Spoiler

Is there a key or a switch somewhere as it wasn't pickable and wouldn't open

 fever_2016-05-14_19.06.56.jpg   144.46KB   12 downloads

As an aside I hate clanking grills

Will play through again as I would like to make more use of the passages

[Ryan101]

Awesome, awesome mission. Really liked the twist.
 
Map ended up being a lot bigger than I anticipated, and the plot unfolded nicely, and in a way that was pleasantly unintentional:

 

Spoiler

I started from the second floor and managed to work my way into the Lord's bedroom without ever going downstairs, which made my eventual looting of the first floor a heckuva lot more interesting (and terrifying.) What's also nice is that I found a readable downstairs alluding to the rat -after- everything had already gone to shit. It gave me a real sense of "crap, this is all my fault, isn't it?"

 

Some other moments that stood out...

 

-getting an immense feeling of dread when I realized I couldn't enter the Lord's bedroom through the vents, cause he'd boarded it up

-wanting to kill the horrible glowing rat as it fled, but not wanting to tip my hand to a nearby guard.

-me having to jump down to the first floor from a hallway window to escape a pursuing zombie

-entering the massive crypt and thinking the map couldn't possibly get any bigger, only to then enter the chasm

-legitimately not wanting to touch the eldritch tome, cause fuck that

 

Well done.

 

If I had to levy one criticism, it's that loot becomes almost trivially easy to find in the latter half of the FM, which makes the first half a little less important when it comes to exploring. But I digress. Excellent map, and one of my new favorites.

[Spooks]

Coming off fresh from finishing the mission:

 

I entered the mansion through a balcony, then proceeded to knock a guard flat on his face. Hearing the clatter of footsteps I had to quickly shoulder the body as a guard emerged from a corner. With many lights around I had to creep past him, body in tow, as I frantically searched for someplace safe to store my sleeping friend - I came to stash him in a privy after a mad dash to keep safe. This mission oozes tension and doesn't let up!

 

The layout of the mansion is intricate, with plenty of electric lights to keep you on your toes and many corners to hide in. It's labyrinthine in the same way Thief's missions were and while that level design always tethers on the edge of irritation through information overload(I'm looking at you, Thieves Guild), I'm glad to say this FM doesn't grate or overstay its welcome. Still, I would've liked one or two more readables to break up the core gameplay. I actually enjoyed the general lack of them - not every average Joe in the mansion's gonna spill their thoughts in their little diary - but in hindsight a pinned note or two here and there would've made the estate feel more lived in.

 

The readables that are in there serve their purpose well enough. The mission's gameplay is hard but not irritating. If you need to find a key, there's probably a hint in a readable and some map reading to set you on your path. Your goals are always simple enough to remember in the back of your head while you focus on the gameplay and I appreciate that.

 

The aesthetics and color choices felt a bit off to me... I can't quite put my finger on why. The architectural side of this mission is top notch, hear ye hear ye, but traversing the mansion multiple times over left the impression of it being too... monochromatic? This problem isn't present in the crypts, however, where this mission's spirit feels much more at home. 

 

Some things I liked in no particular order are: the inability to tell a guard's patrol route easily, the (limited) usefulness of rope arrows inside the mansion, the decals when the switcheroo happens, the architectural accents like coffers and truss in the crypts. Overall, I think this is a solid mansion FM through and through, well worth the play-time. Thank you for making it!

 

[SuaveSteve]

I'm ten minutes in and loving it.

 

Two things:

 

Spoiler

How on Earth are you suppose to exit the ventilation shaft quietly? I'm missing the "door" vents from Accountant 2 already. It's cool that you made them objects, but  I kept alerting the guard outside the room (study?) with the body in.  If you drop the vent, it makes a noise. If you land on the vent, it makes a louder noise. I can't pull the vent back through the shaft reliably, it gets stuck. In the end, it seems sitting on the vent and falling with it works but even that might need a reload.

 

There seems to be a sound effect that keeps repeating itself now and then as I traverse the mansion.

[level]

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Edited by level, 03 September 2018 - 04:37 PM.

[Moonbo]

What a great mission! I can definitely see the similarities to Transitions into Chaos, which is a very good thing. Great atmosphere, tough but fair difficulty, interesting plot, and very well done level design. This one's onto my top five TDM missions :-).

[peispud]

Excellent mission - smooth, never tedious game play, fun map. Thank you.

[hanmin]

Very awesome, many thanks and grats.
 
This gave me a lot of suspense. Just finished the mission on expert with 0 stealth score/all loot(exept the undermentioned), clubbing my way through. (cheating with show_loot and the senses indicator over each AI, not shure what the latter one is called or how it did it. But don't tell anyone ;-) )
I also clubbed my way through. When the question came up how to achieve this:
 

Spoiler

You can actually avoid all that by killing the rat. I intended it to be tough, but you can actually shoot it while it's going across the hallway.

 
My solution was:
 

Spoiler

Put three white stash packs around the bedroom door to prevent the rat from escaping. This way you can shoot it with a fire arrow without a rush, remember to keep enough distance ;-).

 
I Also wondered over this:

Spoiler

One thing I may have missed this cupboard in the captains room

Spoiler

Is there a key or a switch somewhere as it wasn't pickable and wouldn't open
fever_2016-05-14_19.06.56.jpg

 
Adding to what's been said before
 

Spoiler

it seemed as if the AIs had either supersensitive ears, or as if the acoustic impedance(?) of the "air" was rather that like water. (not sure, if that describes it correctly). It was not only the grilles, that where very loud, but jumps/runs and other noises could be heard through doors and floors. That appeared a bit "unrealistic" to me, however, who cares about "realism" in a game with zombies and skeletons anyway. This not a criticism. I'd did annoy me, but at the same time it brought suspense and the right challenge to club everyone (exept the Capitain of course) before using the air shafts. While using the airshafts I took care he was far enough away.

Another challenge was

Spoiler

clubbing the guard that just sat at the foot of the stairway close to the dining room. I managed by jumping from the top of the stairway right next to him, however that did hurt a bit. Maybe i'd have been easier to peek around the corner and switch off the light, or come in through the door to the outside. I didn't try.

+1 for:

Spoiler

Some things I liked in no particular order are: the inability to tell a guard's patrol route easily, the (limited) usefulness of rope arrows inside the mansion, (...) the architectural accents like coffers and truss in the crypts. Overall, I think this is a solid mansion FM through and through, well worth the play-time. Thank you for making it!

I really liked the amount and use of readables. As a nonnative english speaker, it is always a bit of a pain to read long diaries and letters and filter if this is relevant to the gameplay, contains hints or adds in what way to the story. Here it was well done

[acolyte6]

Sorry about the delay. Haven't been able to test a couple of days, cuz I got in a car accident on Thursday. The hurt is starting to go away, so I'm gonna give it a try later today

[Bikerdude]

Cuz I got in a car accident on Thursday. The hurt is starting to go away, so I'm gonna give it a try later today

Hope you are the car are repairable, and this mission should keep you occupied for a little while.

[Oldjim]

Playing through again but the other way round - excavation before searching the mansion for loot - there is a lot of loot in the sarcophagus (plural) which I thought I could get by opening the lids but I can't

Am I missing something or is it actually unfrobbable

[Moonbo]

you can frob the loot through the sarcophagus walls, a bit cheap but it works.

[Oldjim]

I didn't even try that   

[Oldjim]

Now completed on hardest with a very good stealth score having having started with the underground objective and using the ducts as needed

Spoiler

this time I didn't kill the rat and it made for a totally different experience - quite who rammed a sword through the guard I have no idea - as the patrol routes were mucked up changed so that some of the guards didn't move for long periods so you needed to find a way round them

I agree with an earlier comment - there is too much loot compared to the objectives which meant it could be completed without exploring the whole area which is a pity as you miss a whole lot of the map

[FenPhoenix]

I like that greenhouse.

[AluminumHaste]

Really torn on this mission. One one hand it looks great, challenging with all the guards patrolling.

On the other hand it's annoying as fuck. Can't get into lord's room, can't get into study, can't get into the bedroom, can't get into the room in the basement where I think the crypt is. I've stolen every key I can find, Front door and guard captain key, both useless. The front door key doesn't even open the front door lol, had to pick it.

 

Where the hell are you supposed to go? I've wandered around the whole map, checking all the rooms, stealing everything. Getting really really really really bored at this point, I just want to stop playing.

I HATE key hunts. None of the books are readable, There's grates in the ceilings the you can remove but you can't climb into them because 1) they're all metal so can't use rope arrows. 2) they're a million miles away from any amount of crates. I'm NOT traipsing across the entire building 5 times with crates just so I can see what's up there.

 

Ugh.

[Bikerdude]

LOL dude, you would so never make a classic thief player. I am normally terrible and finding places but found everything just fine.

[level]

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Edited by level, 03 September 2018 - 04:38 PM.

[Oldjim]

As an aside regarding grates and rope arrows - you can as the surrounds are wooden

[AluminumHaste]

Yeah just found the grate in the servants room. Still very annoying though, no matter how hard you try you can't remove them grates without making a racket.

[nbohr1more]

Yeah just found the grate in the servants room. Still very annoying though, no matter how hard you try you can't remove them grates without making a racket.

 

Time to turn down your Hearing Difficulty setting and play it T1 style ;P

[Oldjim]

I managed to remove the one in the boiler room without alerting the man in there - it just required a bit of care with respect to the angle you frob it but I will admit it took several goes to get it right

[AluminumHaste]

 

Time to turn down your Hearing Difficulty setting and play it T1 style ;P

 

Both set to hardcore and I'm loathe to change. I've played every single map this way