Fan Mission: The Builder's Influence (2010/03/20)

[lowenz]

 

10 minutes

[pmw57]

this mission was sweet. got a little bit tricky on expert, but managed it while only missing about 200 loot. great story on this one too! there were some nice little readables that gave good flavor to the mission. very enjoyable.

 

The loot list is now compiled for this mission, so you might find something there to help remind you of parts you haven't yet come across.

[Midnight]

I played and enjoyed this mission when it was first released, but wanted to have a 'proper' go at ghosting it, and after that experience I've got to say this is one of my top 3 missions in just about every aspect, story, gameplay, visuals (love the thoughtful placement of all the objects, everything seemed to belong to the space ).

 

This is probably the best TDM mission so far for ghosting, the corridors inside the building are perfect for laying in wait in shadow and then running and jumping to the closest carpet. Here's my stealth score:

 

 

I'm going to have to have another go at some point to achieve a perfect stealth score, and to get the rest of the loot (I thought I had pretty much cleared the place out, but damn that's a whole lot more to find! ).

Edited May 15, 2011 by Midnight

[Fidcal]

hehe! I remember adding a couple pieces of loot you might have missed.

 

That stealth score seems low considering there were 2 searches. But I guess they were low level unsure searches.

[Partol]

Just completed this mission. It's a big improvement since "The Thieves". Actually, it is very close to flawless, in my opinion. Initially, I did not like the "no blackjack rule" on expert (I always play expert). I admit, it was nice to be forced to change my style from "body stacks" to ghosting.

 

Only one dissapointment. At the beginning, I would have enjoyed a much longer journey to the destination. The brief rooftop access in the beginning was exciting and unfortunately brief. I know it's unrealistic to expect a large city. Simply want mappers to know about one of my wishes.

 

What is the next mission in this series?

[Springheel]

It's not really a part of a series, per se. But the next mission to use the same protagonist is A Score to Settle, coming out in about a month.

[ithel]

I played this mission last night. I intended to play on expert level, which requires ghosting, but I find that AI in TDM are significantly more attentive than those in Thief, so I decided to play on the medium level instead. (That is one TDM thing I've really struggled to adjust to...walking up behind a patrol is just a whole lot more difficult to do.)

 

The story is very well told, and as I proceeded, I could feel the racheting tension in the Mayor's office. I think it demonstrates how valuable readables are in creating context, in bringing to life what would otherwise be an ordinary heist. I was drawn into the story enough that I was hoping for some way of helping the good Mayor and company to rid themselves of these Inquisitori. The best I could do in that regard was murder the poor fellow carrying the torch outside on my way out. Perhaps this is my politics coming through, but some of the self-justifying documents within this mission regarding torture could have been written by Dick Cheney, heh. I'm not sure Springheel intended such a reading, but it did remind me that "sneaker" type games tend to be more self-reflexive, existential, and (dare I say) liberal, (in the sense of embracing the messiness and challenge of moral ambiguity), than other kinds of first-person fare. A shoot-'em-up, in comparison, is morally unambiguous (absolute absolutes), concrete, and self-justifying. The hero is permitted mass carnage because the things he kills are unequivocally evil. Whereas in this mission, as a player, I actually worried that my actions in the course of that night might bring harm to the wrong people. I even went so far as trying to burn scrolls on behalf of the Mayor's office! The historical references within the mission also reminded me that while this is all fun and games....it really isn't. A mission can speak to present-day realities from the safe distance of this time that never was. A mission can play us even while we play it. The story-telling possibilities are virtually endless, I think.

 

I guess that is a little tangential to this specific mission, so let me get back to it! The gameplay is excellent. The mission is very well laid out. The store before the mission had me concerned, since it didn't list a blackjack or broadheads in my current equipment, but it turns out I had both once the mission began. There is just the right balance of tile and carpet to keep the mission challenging. The mission is a model of balance.

 

The architecture is close to flawless. Since I spent so much time in dark corners watching patrols and timing movement, I had plenty of opportunity to admire the way this mission is put together. The brushwork is quite good and the textures chosen give the place a crisp, clean art-deco feel I haven't seen much yet in TDM except in isolated places. Aside from a few unfloored objects, the furnishings were well chosen and placed. There were two moments where I laughed....the location of a certain missing key (at which I laughed because it confirmed the old theater rule, 'a gun shown in the first act always goes off in the third') and the plethora of frobbable compartments/doors/nooks/moveables in the Mayor's office at just the moment I needed to find something quickly.

 

I did not encounter any of the technical issues mentioned in this thread.

 

Great mission, quite inspiring. If this is the result of "the builder's influence," I'd say we need more of it.

[grayman]

The store before the mission had me concerned, since it didn't list a blackjack or broadheads in my current equipment, but it turns out I had both once the mission began.

 

They're there.

 

Perhaps you didn't see the "More" button at the bottom of the list. The blackjack and broadheads are listed on the second screen.

 

 

[ithel]

They're there.

 

Perhaps you didn't see the "More" button at the bottom of the list. The blackjack and broadheads are listed on the second screen.

 

 

 

 

You're right, I didn't notice that, heh.

[Springheel]

The story is very well told, and as I proceeded, I could feel the racheting tension in the Mayor's office. I think it demonstrates how valuable readables are in creating context, in bringing to life what would otherwise be an ordinary heist

 

Glad you liked it. For me, feeling immersed in what you're doing is key to enjoying stealth gaming, and readables can go a long way towards doing that.

[duzenko]

Great mission, thanks!

[Hogwash]

I've just finished this. It's a masterclass in design, difficulty, usage of ambient audio and readables. I definitely got a Thief 2 Shoalsgate vibe playing this. I really like how Braeden is becoming well established as a secondary location to Bridgeport. The way the mod's setting and mythos is developing organically is quite impressive.

[TheUnbeholden]

Slight problem, the compass is point the wrong way (according to the map of the office, Gerrards office should be in the south east corner, but it shows up as the north east corner according to the compass.) its very unprofessional for our smuggler friends to draw a map without having your bearings.

[TheUnbeholden]

Wonderful little mission, tough and had me searching the place quite thoroughly, its good to encourage that to progress but theres a fine line before it gets frustrating or to random like when looking for a random book on a bookcase for instance. Higher difficulty is just that really makes you ghost which I rarely do. Lovely mapping and readables had me intensely drawn away from the game for some time. Decent length and quite pretty to. Looked different from what I usually see level design wise.

Although the book that I thought would give me the historical run down was pretty short and disappointing, I wanted to really learn about the Inquisition not get some summary of a movie about it.

Edited January 29, 2013 by TheUnbeholden

[bchimself]

Great mission, had a lot of fun even though I had to reload a few hundred times in the beginning. The story was a good chance for me to try out more of my terrible voices.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ot5eQx_YAMk

[Peanut]

The readables on this were really strong, and the city hall building itself was nicely laid-out, satisfying in a way?

 

I felt that the interior of the building was very well realised and polished.

 

Only thing extra I would have liked here would be a few more secrets or nooks & crannies, or maybe some scripted stuff, but for what it was, it was great.

[HAL-Fan]

Almost forgot about this mission and played it again in new version of TDM. It seems impossible to me how could I forget the anxious, "totalitarian" atmosphere emphasized by builders presence behind every corner. I know that it's just a game, but

I returned down undergorund just to return the key to the mayor's office because of sheer feeling of solidarity! And cause otherwise I could cause serious trouble to somebody even if he was corrupted crook Reminds me how it would be greate to see the consequences of my actions, of what I did or did not. (I know I'm asking for too much)

 

 

I also stumbled on a bug:

I have managed to get the map of the sewers without opening the container in the archives room. I guess this was not supposed to happen.

 

[Digi]

Just got through playing this. Excellent mission! Unless you’re ghosting, one of the hardest things to handle in levels not involving the undead is the challenge. As we all know, in many levels, you can pick off guards one by one and stack bodies in a dark corner. That’s true here as well, but the inside of the mansion/fortress balances things well. As soon as I got to the main floor, I stumbled out into a brightly lit hallway. There was a guard! I ducked around a corner; another guard! And the sides were marble! And a lot of it seemed to be very well lit. It forced me to put on my game face. I know many players don’t like excessive use of marble, but it really helped the level imo. The challenge/reward ratio was nicely balanced. And I actually used moss arrows, which is something I can rarely say.

 

This was the first mission (of about 8 I’ve played) to give me the Quicksave crash that I've heard about from lurking the forums, which was a scare. But it only happened once. No other bugs, and a very smooth playthrough.

The only gripe I had is that the Mayor’s room key is hidden in a very odd place. I almost didn’t check each of the chests in the room (I had already annihilated the loot objective), figuring the key COULDN’T be in such a remote area.

One of my only recurring pet peeves in FMs is when I feel like I’ve done everything the objectives set out for me, I’ve searched everywhere reasonably well, and I’m stuck because I didn’t find an obscure flask or lever or chest, and when I do it feels like a needle in a haystack.

[thief hastasi]

It's very strong fm with looking glass athmosphere Almost finished but i couldn't find the key of the container in archive.

[whoop]

One of my favourite missions so far... excellent!!!

[cavador_8]

deleted my post

Edited November 28, 2014 by cavador_8

[MirceaKitsune]

Finished the night with this mission. Another great and detailed FM with every feature you'd expect, plus high quality mapping with excellent detailing and atmosphere. It also did an excellent job at using journals and notes to detail the story and exactly what was going on, putting accent on describing what the inquisition was like. Thank you for making another awesome and nearly perfect mission

 

 

A funny thing: I almost never attack an AI since I like using stealth only. But since the builder guards here were working for the inquisition, and there's so many notes around the world detailing their crimes, I actually felt compelled to take them all out. So this time I made an exception and killed all of the builders, but without failing the "don't be seen" objective. I was secretly hoping there might be a hidden objective like "eliminate the guards and drive the inquisition away", though that would have went way over what the player was hired to do. In either case, even more cheers for the immersion

 

[Maethius]

I think I had played this one when it first came out, but that was when I was a younger taffer!

 

I decided to start playing TDM again after a long (new child related) hiatus, starting alphabetically. I loaded this one up and got the "Press Attack to Start Mission" dialogue... and TDM locked solid. I had to end the process to get back to Windows. Tried a couple more times and the dialogue didn't even come up. Darndest thing. I had just downloaded all of my missions from a clean slate about a month ago, too.

 

Any ideas?

[Springheel]

It won't be mission specific. Better to post in the tech help forum.

[llanita]

I absolutely loved this mission! one of my faves. It has everything I love to do in fms. Thank you