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Fan Mission: The Knighton Manor by Sotha (2010/11/09)


Sotha

Fan Mission: The Knighton Manor by Sotha (2010/11/09)  

88 members have voted

  1. 1. Gameplay: Enjoyment. Fun duration. Smooth flow, ect. Versus Bugs. Frustration, Boredom, framelag

  2. 2. Appearance: Visual pleasure, lighting, visual style, deduct bad texturing etc.

  3. 3. Story & Text: Story. Text. Briefing. Graphic storytelling



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Simplenoob is just being kind - in fact, regretably, my mission is still getting fixed after the new version (1.08) broke some scripts in it, so on a side note it should NOT be played until further notice, Im afraid. Will let Sotha answer from now on and wont derail the topic anymore! ;)

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  • 2 weeks later...

There's a reason we love this genre, and this mission was an homage to the craft. A distillation of stealth and thievery, unfettered by the compulsion to do something "different." Story twists, zombies, being a killing machine- other games do these things better. The things that Thief, and by extension The Dark Mod, does better than anyone else in the business was exemplified here. Very well done, Sotha.

My usual playstyle is to blackjack everybody in the mission except one unsuspecting fool, taking pleasure in imagining the fellow's painful interrogation come morning, so initially I wasn't too keen on the restrictions. But i eventually decided to push it further and didn't KO anyone, which I've never done, and found it made the mission far more interesting. I may continue to operate this way. So thanks for breaking me out of my comfort zone!

Again, great mission. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

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  • 2 months later...

I think is going to be my fav author, with melan and jesp, then bikerdude close following. My usual style is to keep to hiding in corners, or behind cover, have a few tools for escape ready. I'm overly cautious by listening in that passing guards are gone & close doors behind me in rooms I intend to scour.

Relocking doors I've opened with a key & putting back notes I've read. I don't blackjack unless in situations where it makes things significantly easier.

 

+High Difficulty, if you get caught out its your own fault for not studying the routes or not being careful enough when venturing into the unknown

+Nice visuals that just enough eye candy to keep me interested to venture forth

+Plenty of loot most not hard to find

+Ingenious security

+where mah bottle gone

+gambling

+possible to climb the shitter

+a use for a rope arrow in a place most wouldn't have found

+ruh ruh ruh ruh ruh rosemary.. rerruururrr rosemary? you taffin! nah rumururar

 

-Couldn't put the disc into the crypt disc lock, no frobbing eventhough I read the note that pretty much spelled it out that its a key.

-No women

Edited by TheUnbeholden
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I think is going to be my fav author, melan and jesp, then bikerdude close following

 

You do know that this mission was made by Sotha, and not any of the above?

  • Like 1
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I think is going to be my fav author, melan and jesp, then bikerdude close following.

You do know that this mission was made by Sotha, and not any of the above?

And you know that you didn't mention me :P

FM's: Builder Roads, Old Habits, Old Habits Rebuild

Mapping and Scripting: Apples and Peaches

Sculptris Models and Tutorials: Obsttortes Models

My wiki articles: Obstipedia

Texture Blending in DR: DR ASE Blend Exporter

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  • 5 months later...

I liked this FM a lot. Requirement not to KO anybody made me use save/load much more often in return.

 

 

I haven't found the cavern because instead of finding a switch player needs to push the wall itself. Wall does highlight but I still overlooked that.

Regarding the alarm and how to disable it, I ended up reading about it here. Although the clue is clear enough, I failed to figure it out. Brain fart I guess.

 

 

I tried to play it perfect, but ended up 123 short of loot and with 5 stealth.

Final stats say I dealt 1 damage, but I have no idea how or to whom. I guess I bumped into someone.

 

2yqs.th.jpg

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So, after having played the series, I have to say the Knighton Manor is my favorite mission. I just love manor (bank, museum, whatever) heists - and this one is done exceptionally well.

 

What I liked best (hope I get the spoiler tag thingie right - in case not, please stop reading now):

 

 

No undead - even though the Porter missions with undead are also great, I just don't really like those creatures stumbling around me when I'm already tense. Really glad the two guys in the crypt didn't get up after I freed them of the possessions they no longer need anyways

 

Several hidden areas

 

Devious traps/contraptions that made you think and plan ahead accordingly. I especially liked the one guarding the main loot: When I went into the manor, I obyiously found it real quick, but something in the design of the room/the display case stopped me from just trying to grab the shiny. So I picked the lock and left to explore the rest of the manor. It was really rewarding finding the info on the contraption later on and not having walked into the trap.

 

Enemy paths - You really had to pay attention, but there was always a right moment to be found

 

Being really immersed in a setting - stuff like the two guests who leave at the beginning of the mission, the drunk guy sleeping with the bottle still in is hand, servants cleaning up; it's little things like that that sucked me in (apart from all the "bigger" stuff like the readables for example).

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Great mission. I loved the fact that there was so much loot. I didn't really run into problems with the loot limit but it did take me a while to find the rest (hidden cache). The story is nothing special but not bad either, the mapping I found good, in general without flaws and nicely designed gameplay-wise and visually. The alarm system is pretty interesting. Enemy placement is fair. Overall I gave it around 4/4/4. Highly enjoyable.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I managed to get myself over "60 bodies discovered by AI" on this mission.

Of course, I did it intentionally. I was literally dragging bodies out into the light and leaving them for guards to find, just for fun. I can imagine the guards trembling because a psychopath is on the loose... lol

--- War does not decide who is right, war decides who is left.

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  • 4 weeks later...

http://imageshack.us...585/50/quty.jpg

First I thought: "another mansion FM?". Yes it is a mansion FM, but probably the best I played so far!

 

 

+Cool introduction cutscene. I was not expecting it!

+Story: 10/10. The beginning of the story of Thomas Porter reminded me of Garrett's.

+Readables quantity and quality: 10/10. I appreciate the hints in the readables to find the secret loot!

+Secrets: 10/10. The hints to find the secrets are good and don't make things too easy. The only secret that I didn't found any hint was the door the the attic. But sometimes, it's good to find by my own! The lever is well hidden, but not at the point of being impossible to find. All the loot and secrets are very intuitive to find, and I didn't feel the need to read this thread!

+Ambient music: 10/10. All the ambient music is adequate.

+Alarm system: outstanding. I don't know how you did it, but it's very well done and visually pleasing. It certainly looks like something the Inventor's Guild would create! The hint to disable the alarm in the readable is good and don't make things too easy.

 

+Gameplay: 10/10

+The appearance of this FM is excellent, both exterior and interior. It's all very detailed, convincing and pleasing to the eyes.

 

*Suggestion: you could make the loot requirement for expert a little higher, considering I got almost all the loot in the first time I played, and without reading anything on the internet.

 

 

Glitch report:

-I found this minor texture glitch in the secret tunnel: http://imageshack.us/g/1/10453082/

 

 

This is the best mansion FM I play since The Chalice of Kings!

Thank you Sotha!

Keep it up!

Edited by Jon Irenicus
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  • 7 months later...

Wow! The opening sequence ("I'm moving?!"). The understated but complex layout. The perfect music. The myriad options of how to enter, and a similar number of options for making my way around the manor. It felt almost maze-like at times, which is awesome, and I'd be poking around corners and through bathroom holes and would find new connections or ways to enter a particular area. There's so much packed in to find and do. This is how you do a great mansion mission.

 

 

Then there's the crypt, which I didn't even enter. And the locking mechanism and alarm beneath the sceptre, which is a great twist on the "STEAL THE IMPORTANT THING" objective. The believable readables that drew me into the characters. I loved the chess game and the basement tunnel hideout for one of Knighton's men. Also the Inventor's Guild manuals, which is a nice touch of TDM world-building. I'll need to check next time to see if the chess pieces correspond to the actual game. If they do, that would be absurdly cool.

 

 

I didn't cover nearly everything, despite it not being the biggest level, but I enjoyed every minute of it. I need to play through this at least one more time.

 

Lone small criticism: the level is really into locks. Once I was inside, I was shocked at the number of places still locked, and with 3, 4, or more sequences to the unlocking many times. And once you get the

Master Manor Key, I expected it to unlock nearly any door in the Manor, or the sceptre. When it did neither, I was disappointed.

 

 

Still, that's a tiny criticism in an incredible level. One of my favorites ever. Incredible job!

Edited by Digi

"Fancy burricks are afraid of dogs, if they encounter each other the dog barks and the burricks poop." - Thief: Deadly Shadows Game Designer

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  • 1 year later...

Wonderful FM so far. I find myself totally interested in it.

Anyway I need a hint regarding the alarm.

I already have the green light and the metal doors open.

However,I am not having any success shutting off the alarm. I gather you need to

switch the sceptre with the metal disc , which I've done, but the alarm still goes off. I've also tried to pull the switch in the basement before switching the scepter but that still gives me the alarm.

So I don't know where I am going wrong.

fosig_zpshhfnjs18.png

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I saw that earlier and completely missed the statue! Lol. I thought I had to switch the weight where the actual sceptre was, so I assumed, wrongly, that the metal disc was for that purpose. Cool. Now to find what disc is for then. Thanks very much

fosig_zpshhfnjs18.png

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People keep talking about framing someone for the murder as though it were an optional objective and I cannot for the life of me figure out how to accomplish this.

Any advice?

Or is this something people want but isn't there?

Edited by V-Man339

I like to record difficult stealth games, and right now you wonderful people are the only ones delivering on that front.

Click here for the crappy channel where that happens.

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People keep talking about framing someone for the murder as though it were an optional objective and I cannot for the life of me figure out how to accomplish this.

Any advice?

Or is this something people want but isn't there?

 

Yeah, there are no special objectives that deal with this.

Clipper

-The mapper's best friend.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I hope this one does your level justice, you really

squeezed the noisemaker usage out of me, and I have to say the basement with the sleeping guards was insanely tense.

 

Definitely my standard for "basic manor looting" from now on.

  • Like 1

I like to record difficult stealth games, and right now you wonderful people are the only ones delivering on that front.

Click here for the crappy channel where that happens.

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