Summer

Vanishing of Ethan Carter is not abundant in action. But it's beautiful, visually stunning. Wish more games looked this good. You can't really die in the game, so that challenge of survival is missing. Plus, once you know the solutions to the puzzles it's not quickly re-playable. Ether One is also quite beautiful and also has that calm exploration vibe going on. I recommend both games

NuThief had some interesting things, like the birds, but they were poorly executed. The worst thing about it, IMHO, were the levels themselves. Each started out one way but ended in a completely different way. With that I mean, I wanted to, say, explore a brothel in a mission. And nothing more. But... the mission ends in some underground abandoned city that I had zero desire to explore because, well dammit, I wanted a brothel mission. Or I wanted to play a mansion mission, so I started to the architect's house. Oh, that magnificent facade. This must be good, I thought. I go in... and mouses have smaller nests than that wreck of a house! And then... a murder, a chase, a burning tower, saving Basso, huge safe, survival of the fittest.... By the time the mission ended I was exhausted and flummoxed. I'd wanted a simple mansion mission. But that was only about fifteen-twenty minutes worth, while the rest was climbing up a towering inferno. Stupid beyond belief. The developers didn't seem to get that in the original games, every mission had a specific location. Moving between locations was done with a cutscene, which I liked and would have preferred. That, I think, made the original games more re-playable (is that a word?), because if one was in the mood to play a mansion mission, they could do that. If they wanted an undead mission, go right ahead. You could replay one mission a gazillion times and nothing else, or all of them if you wished. Did we need to be chased by dogs through rooftops in NuThief? NO! Had they made the architect's place bigger and better, had a cutscene, gone to the burning tower and saved basso, then had a cutscene, and go up to the giant safe... Well, that would have had three missions already had they spaced them better, sticking to larger, individual places for each mission. The overall time for the game would have greatly improved, and so would've the patience of the players, I think. Plus, I think it would have enhanced re-playability. The only missions worth playing, to me personally, were the bank, the baron's mansion (that bit alone, as the crumbling bridge at the end is pure and utter shite, or is there someone who actually managed to steal everything there before getting burned, again and again?), and the start of the brothel mission. Thief 2 FMs are so much better than NuThief. I wonder if there'll be a sequel... And if there will, will the devs learn from the feedback? Or will they continue without a single, cohesive vision, like they did with this one? I am sorry I spent almost fifty euros on this dreck....

Fair enough. Thanks, Biker. I never said the mission was bad. My personal experience was that the place was a bit empty, of people and of trinkets. That's highly subjective, as many thieves prefer to search high and low for that last bit of loot. As much I appreciate that side of thieving, I do like being able to steal more from a vast treasure exhibit than a two cups from a glass case. Again, subjective. That said, as I mentioned before, the very first scene with the courtyard was a definite wow moment for me. Few missions start with that kind of wow. I took several pics during the mission, two of which--the opening courtyard and the inside hall with the statue in the center--I have as my current desktop pics. The interiors are spacious, the lighting sparse enough not to have to take each of them out with the few waterarrows I had, and the guards patrol at rather even spaces. I got a couple of surprises in the stairs when a guard suddenly decided to change floors, which was a nice twist and a shock for me since I had nowhere to go. I wonder if I'm the only thief who likes that kind of nasty surprise that leads me getting killed! Like Melan, I got a stealth score of 3, lowest of mine ever. I'm a blackjacking kinda thief. And like you said, Biker, I too have no doubt Sir Taff will only continue to improve his craft. I'm sorry if my words make him give up on TDM completely.

I'm not sure how to respond to this. I wasn't trying to be mean or bitchy or to disparage your efforts, but simply to show how I personally experienced this mission. I didn't say it was bad, just that I felt it lacking in some respects. But if you didn't want accurate, realistic or honest feedback, please revise your first post by stating only high praise is worthy of this thread and no other comments will be tolerated. Thank you kindly for ensuring I had such a wonderful gaming experience for which I was freely allowed to give my opinion on.

I was anxious to play this, since it's not every day we get new missions. Thus far, I only played the first, Angel's Tear. The very first scene, the courtyard with the trees and the lit-up statues, was pure awesomeness. The mansion... not so much. Don't get me wrong, the place is gorgeous, and I'm a sucker for a great mansion mission. But there were endless huge corridors with no map (I got lost a dozen times), only a couple of guards in the whole place, plus the two owners---and no servants...? Huh, kinda weird. Lots of empty rooms and places. But the worst was the lack of loot. I mean, there's a whole criss-crossing treasure area---but only the glass boxes have stuff to loot? Why not the art? Why no statues? Why only three coins in the chapel? Man, I was really bummed out, 'cause when I ended the mission, I thought I'd missed a lot, but apparently there wasn't that much to steal to begin with! Disappointing. *sigh* I'm a thief, dammit, so why'd I rob a place with nothing in it?! Sorry for the rant. It's immediate-upon-finishing-moaning, you know? The place was beautiful, the guards could easily be avoided, so not much gear was needed, and getting the keys was interesting. But would I rate this higher than, say, Penny Dreadful 2 or Heart of Lone Salvation or any of the Thomas Porter missions or the William Steele missions? No. I did play the next two missions as separate ones when they came out. Don't recall much at all about them, so I'm looking forward to revisiting their updates.

Obviously! How could I have missed that?

Well, if no one else had any problems with finding the button, then my thieving skills must be well and truly rusty.... Honestly, it never occurred to me to look But, that said, Thief does work in a world of magic and steam tech creations, so why not this?

Finished. Not a bad mission at all. The previous bank mission was good too. The only thing I didn't get was . I had to come to this thread to find the damn thing since I figured out I was missing something essential. When I learned where it was, it simply made no sense. I know these games aren't real life, but realism wouldn't hurt in matters like this. Electricity, mechanics, technology. Come on now! Show of hands, folks: How many of you figured out where it was on your own? In every other sense, however, this shined. Liked it.

I've been replaying some of the older FMs. Lockdown was the last one I just finished. I puzzled over why my latest playthrough was on easy. So naturally I started again at the hardest level 'cause I'm a master thief, dammit. Yeah, right! This is a relatively small map---and it still took me over two hours to finish on ghost! I barely got past that first alley and that guard that goes back and forth. I missed tons of stuff no matter how well I searched every nook and cranny. Sweet Jebus... GameDevGoro, I hate you! ... Don't ever change

I hope you don't think I'm harassing you or rushing you, but I was wondering where you guys are with this? Hmm, 50% done? Dare I hope 99.9% done, and coming out any day now?

Thanks, grayman

What FM starts in a foggy cell with a skeleton guard pacing outside? Can't for the life of me remember. I think it's not The Rift....

It's been a couple of months, Bikerdude. Have you, perchance, reconsidered...?

Thanks, nbohr1more I totally forgot they weren't TDM fan missions!

Thanks for the map, ERH+! I found the right place and was able to end the mission. Missed some loot but maybe on the next round

Melan, if Return to the City is Talbot 2 and Fiasco at Fauchard Street is Talbot 3, what is Talbot 1? It wasn't mentioned at http://www.thedarkmod.com/missions/. I'm trying to play series in proper order. Thomas Porter, William Steele, and Vengeance for a Thief, for example, are a great series! Keep up the good work, fellas

I might have missed a thread or an announcement or something. But there doesn't seem to be any download links for this FM. Has this been taken out maybe?

It's been a while since this came out and I don't know if anybody here remembers anything about it but.... I'm on the middle difficulty, and I've done all the objectives. All I have left is getting to the water gate to exit/leave, and I went there, but the game won't end. Is there a specific spot I need to be at? Or does the gate somehow open? For now, it's closed. There's a wheel I fixed by the other water gate but that didn't open either, so I'm guessing neither is supposed to. That's why I'm assuming there's a specific place/spot you need to be in. Could someone enlighten me? I've stood as close to it as I can but the final objective (go to the water gate) won't check off and finish the mission. I have no clue as to what I'm doing wrong.... Otherwise, it's a big place and has lots of interesting things to do there. Scary but I liked it

If you were aiming for difficult, you've achieved that goal with flying colors! I'm still in the middle of this, but I did already vote on this. For unusual gameplay, five stars because there are a lot of quirks in the game here, The spoiler parts also show why I gave the gameplay five stars as well, for the sheer difficulty of this task. For visuals, I gave it a four. The outside is spectacular, a perfect opening visual feast. However, when I got inside it was all pretty standard with the skeletons and zombies. Plus, I've already played Ulysses prior to this, and it was pretty cool It was funny that those came at the start of the mission, while up in the manor there was nothing like it. However, in Ulysses, In any case, thanks for making such awesome missions, Sotha

It sure is difficult! Dammit to hell!!! Paul's video is amusing. He's gotten so many close calls I would've reached for the escape button a hundred times already! But I'll stop before he gets to areas I haven't been to yet. So far, though, an impressive, albeit hardass mission, Sotha

I haven't read this thread since I'm still in the middle of this mission and I don't want any accidental spoilers. But gosh, Sotha, you sure know how to make an impossible mission! Just started this yesterday after finishing The Phrase Book, which was pretty damn fine. Right from the start, I'm walking along, minding my own business, when Bugger all!!!! I swear, is this mission even finishable (yes, that's a word!) without console trickery which I'm above (unless I'm in searching for that last bit of loot, which could lead me to a whole new discussion of "is it cheating to use tdm_show_loot?")? I can't help feeling this was definitely made for the veteran players. Still, gonna go as far as I can, and hopefully avoid getting killed by some horrible monster and/or undead wraith. I wonder what the lich queen looks like in this one....

Thanks, Springheel Off to play!

What's the FM where there's a tall castle, with a rickety wooden bridge between two towers up on high? The bridge creaks a lot, and alerts anyone nearby to come searching. I know I've played it, but can't for the life of me remember the name. Help, anyone?

This was an absolutely awesome mission! I always found some small way to climb or sneak through, got totally lost, and then found my way back to where I'd been. The place is huge! What I really liked about this FM was the City Watch station--and the light switches. Yeah, a small thing in the grand scheme of things, but every time I see a place fully lit, with no light switches, I think "that's unrealistic, illogical, and stupid." People can't live in perpetually lit up rooms. If people think having light switches makes things too easy for would-be-thieves, then post a stationary guard by one, two, or all the switches, and/or patrolling guards who turn the lights back on if they're off. Here, at the Watch station, the guards do exactly that. I like What confused me at the end was the objective to return where I started or go ahead to Cleighmoor. I had no idea where I was supposed to go to get to that second option, so I had to return to the beginning. There probably was a hint somewhere that I missed. Bugger.... This series is really one of THE best in TDM. Top notch. I pay thee homage, good sir grayman.