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Fan Mission: Alberic's Curse by b1k3rdude (Updated: 01/11/2014)


Bikerdude

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If I remember correctly you need to drop it into a pool upstairs. It has to be a pool with

a white "Aura" !

 

 

 

Ah.

Upstairs in the cathedral eh? I tried around the ' church' area to no avail.Thought I'd tried every ' pool' within reach and some of them that didn't look like pools. I suppose you just 'use' the skull on the pool? Guess that's why I got frustrated with the mission what with the doors and all!

Thanks Chiron anyway.

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I haven't finished, BD - but just wanted to say:

 

 

The tombs / crypts are WONDERFUL - absolutely spot on - managed to sneak past all of the zombies with palms sweating as I was on the edge of waking them - the aggressive spider appearing was an (un)pleasant surprise - and the little spiders revealing the secret passage were great!

 

I must admit though - I am having a hellish time navigating the church proper above ground - I feel I'm stumbling through narrow corridors rather than picking my way through like a Thief. x-D I guess I got used to how big Flakebridge was when sneaking past Revenants, heh.

 

"No proposition Euclid wrote,

No formulae the text-books know,

Will turn the bullet from your coat,

Or ward the tulwar's downward blow

Strike hard who cares—shoot straight who can—

The odds are on the cheaper man."

 

From 'Arithmetic on the Frontier' by Rudyard Kipling

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@Raymeld

 

Don't despair!

 

 

I went to the crypt first, then instead of going through the crypt into the church directly with the skull --- I went BACK OUT of the crypt the way I came past the dead explorer. I then climbed up the vines by the zombie lying on the ground at the corner of the church where you can SEE an openable door on the first floor. Through there is a small group of rooms guarded by two revenants - who are relatively easy to sneak past even though the ambient lighting seems hazardously high - and I think to the right of the door is a long trough / pool that you drop into the pool "Press R to drop it when selected". Hope that isn't too vague!

 

"No proposition Euclid wrote,

No formulae the text-books know,

Will turn the bullet from your coat,

Or ward the tulwar's downward blow

Strike hard who cares—shoot straight who can—

The odds are on the cheaper man."

 

From 'Arithmetic on the Frontier' by Rudyard Kipling

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Thanks Chiron and Glyph Seeker ! I got there and completed fairly quickly after Chiron's reply. What didn't help though was that I was trying to interact the skull with the mouse button rather than using R as per your helpful post GS. I 'd done this on all the pools I'd found

including the pond at the start area

!? Doesn't help being too old and a little thick I guess , made the mission more frustrating due to my own errors !! anyway , thanks again for all your efforts Bikerdude.

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I have always changed door sounds and in this map each door randomly picks from a bank of 4 or 5 etc.

 

The Auto closing of the sdoor in the main atrium was unavoidable, if player with low end system want to continue to play the mod and want mappers to push the bounderies of quality/details/perf then either they upgrade or put up with these minor idiosyncrasies. dry.gif

 

I forgot to mention that I did notice the different sounds with opening and closing of doors and I found it helpful to tell if "someone" was coming or going. Thanks for that.

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As usual, another quality mission. Terrific atmosphere. I personally do not like TDM undead, so I had to give a 4 instead of a 5 for enjoyment in gameplay. You certainly have a way with churches, and you nailed it again.

I cannot immediately recall if any other missions utilized the auto-closing doors, but I really like that feature.

I am amazed at the speed at which you can create these things without compromising quality. Can't wait for your next ones.

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Btw there is a bug when you climb around one of the walls, you fall down inside the wall a little. I can't tell you exactly what wall it was, but it's one where you are already standing on the building and to go to a higher roof you mantle. Mantling makes you drop inside the wall partially, but you can still move and eventually get into the upper floor.

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Hey Biker - right by the graveyard there's some floating bits of masonry up there in the sky - thought I'd take a screenie to show you!

"No proposition Euclid wrote,

No formulae the text-books know,

Will turn the bullet from your coat,

Or ward the tulwar's downward blow

Strike hard who cares—shoot straight who can—

The odds are on the cheaper man."

 

From 'Arithmetic on the Frontier' by Rudyard Kipling

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Well I finished this mission as my first! It started out being very difficult until my unused Thief skills starting coming back (and adjusting to the differences).

 

I was having a hard time with the Renevants (is that how you spell it?) until I figured out that a quick jab to the head worked better than trying to cleave down on their head even though it doesn't look like they're wearing head armor.

 

The place is a darn maze and although I kinda knew my way near the end of it I hard a hard time re-finding the ritual room.

 

 

Other than that I did find the number of pools a little confusing and didn't really know what the book on the shelf did until much later. It sounded more like a passageway opening and closing than something to do with the pools.

 

The green pools were very freaky and the first time the piano keys hit and the mini-earthquake happened I almost had to change my shorts! :)

 

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Thanks for this mission Biker. A 1 1/2 hours well spend.

 

Seasonal theme: 'Season is clear'

 

The season did its job. However I did not quite 'feel' it, though I am not sure what I would have done to improve it, other than maybe add some wind and leafs being blown around.

 

 

Gameplay: 3-4, rounding up to 4

 

I always enjoy the undead, and this map is no exeption. I did however find the fm confusing to navigate, and I could really have used a map.

 

 

Aesthetics: 5

 

The graphics in this fm are fantastic! All those detailed patches

You did a good job on the ambient sounds too. They somehow reminded me of Arx Fatalis.

 

 

Other:

 

I found a book that activated something, but I never found out what it was.

Torch switch? I have written torch switch as a positive thing in my notes, but I cannot remember what I ment. It activated a secret door or something?

 

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Yet again another awesome mission from you Biker. Undead missions are my second favourite type with citys being the first, something which you also excel at. I think the crypts were my favourite part. So full of atmosphere and amazing detail. The church was great as well. Spent the first 30 minutes walking around lost but I eventually got a feel for the place and could workout which way was which. At times it felt very close to being in the haunted cathedral from Thief 1. Something that I think is very high praise. I liked walking out on to the roof a lot. Nice detail there too. It also was a nice place to escape to when I wanted a break from the haunts.

 

If I had any constructive criticism it would be that the 2 main objectives were too easy. I completed them without even trying or thinking where they could be. Once they were both completed I didn't feel like it was a major acievement. Way too easy.

 

On the whole this is just simply amazing. My favourite of the contest so far. I only have Reap what you sow to play. Thank you very much Biker

 

 

"I believe that what doesn't kill you simply makes you... stranger"

 

The Joker

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Now THAT were Many doors! ;)

 

A wonderful big mission with lots T2 vibe.. Loved every second being there!

 

In particular I loved:

 

+ The peaceful, idyllic start area (some water and moss arrows to be found would have been nice)

+ The chosen location and spot ambient sounds were great! Sth. that I do care and appreciate much.

+ All the nice rooftop walking possibilities.

+ The multiple and different ways to enter

+ All of the crypt visuals and feel ( simply gorgeous!!!)

+ Good use of geometry and room propotions.

+ Very good readable texts (I agree about the humor don't fit a mission which otherwise try to be creepy).

+ Liked the loading bar screen with percent progress given.

+ Very good performnce on my comparative old Athlon 4200, 3 GB RAM, 8600 GT with always above 30 fps and no stutters. Thanks for the optimisations. Very apprecited!

 

You built all this in six weeks Bikerduke ?? - think I better quit mapping if looking at the crap I come up within in six weeks, oohp ...

 

Had sth. been on the cemetery to be able to find that I missed?

 

Just for the record when you the plan your update after the contest. Not that these had smallen the good time I had in this haunted Builder outpost:

 

- You are very curtly in the briefing texts. For this the player may feel thrown into the place not being connected to the setting at first. The job instruction in the note is cool. Anyway it's essence should be part of the briefing text as well. Easy thing to change :)

- I agree with someone saying it would feel more at an archivment and rewarding to a player if making lifting the curse mandatory and the main reason why the player was send to the place. Finding the scepter and book may be optional.

- I also agree that the challange level had been a bit too easy. Anyway to my personally taste. After I did roam the area a while I didn't felt spooked or at least endangered which I always hope for being in a haunted, creepy location. For that I would have loved to see a few high tension areas (guarded, lighted). For example the last companion of Alberic do guard his remains to making his skull more challanging and rewarding.

- I was hindered by the AI stuck at the overturned statue already mentioned by others. This should be adressed in an update as making it impossible to enter that room without alerting him.

- Door closing is ok and a relief my low end rig. I only wish it would happen after a little more time. I think it's to quick and made me felt to much rushed to move when I wanted to have a look if the area behind would be without danger.

- The upper places of the cathedral felt a bit too empty with so much corridors being there and nearly no rooms.

- The leaves of the tree of the right small front tower cut through the roof (you would have to move the tree though, personally I don't care)

- Z fighting in the fireplace in the dining hall (just noticed, don't care very much either)

- shifting/rotation the textures a little on some places (like the pillars in the room where to throw the skull into the basin) would make some objects feel less cloned on a few spots.

- The pool in the starting area felt like summer night. Then I've seen the leaves. The fog isn't much I connect to a season rather to being a haunted places generally. So I didn't felt much a distinctive season. Did I care in such a great map? Hell, no!! :)

 

Seasonal Theme 2, Gameplay 4, Aesthetics (rounding up to) 5

 

Thanks for all the time and love that went into this Biker!

Edited by fllood

"To rush is without doubt the most important enemy of joy" ~ Thieves Saying

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And another thing I liked:

 

 

Having to find a new sword, and finding it on the body of a previous thief! Exactly the kind of thing I love!

 

"No proposition Euclid wrote,

No formulae the text-books know,

Will turn the bullet from your coat,

Or ward the tulwar's downward blow

Strike hard who cares—shoot straight who can—

The odds are on the cheaper man."

 

From 'Arithmetic on the Frontier' by Rudyard Kipling

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And another thing I liked:

 

 

Having to find a new sword, and finding it on the body of a previous thief! Exactly the kind of thing I love!

 

 

ohah, missed to noticed that though having shouldered and examine the poor guy. even I wouldn't have used it fine idea indeed.

"To rush is without doubt the most important enemy of joy" ~ Thieves Saying

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Finally finished this. Here are my comments, though I'm restating lots of things already mentioned:

 

 

I had lots and lots of tense moments, where I was almost caught by revenants (and a few reloads where I was). There were so many torches, and I had no water arrows left. I didn't feel it was too easy, primarily because I had to ghost everywhere after the first revenant I encountered. The music and other sound effects also kept me on my toes.

 

As others have said, this was absolutely beautiful. The best-looking FM to date, IMO. The crypt area below, with the dust and the webs and the uneven ground...it looked fantastic. Some places looked like pieces of art, and I found myself stopping to sightsee on more than one occasion. Little touches like the grass growing up through the flagstones was brilliant. We definitely need to showcase this mission on the website.

 

I'm not a huge fan of exploration missions by default...I need to be sucked into the story to make me want to explore, and I wasn't really. The briefing was way too quick, and I had no idea why I had to get the book or scepter, or even why I should care about getting a doll for some kid (as beautiful as the doll was! ;) )

 

I hate hate hate out of character humour in readables! Especially in a dark and creepy setting. Never do that again! :P Your missions are beautiful and they deserve to be taken seriously. I want to lose myself in the alternate reality you've created--don't force me to remember that I'm just playing a game!

 

The cathedral was maze-like. It felt believable, but I never did get a clear sense of my bearings, which was a bit frustrating. Several times I went in circles without realizing it, and I had a specific exit route I was going to use, but couldn't find it again!

 

Unluckily, the first door I opened into the cathedral revealed a revenant stuck walking against a statue. I had to use all my water arrows on him to kill him too, which left me defenseless for the rest of the mission (I never found the armoury, and never thought to pick up the thief's sword when I saw it).

 

I never found the ghost, or the skull. I went down into the crypt first, and wound up waking up a zombie and running out. But I was having the same sense of being in a maze of doors and halls. By the time I had completed the other objectives, I couldn't bring myself to go back down into the crypts again.

 

Overall I think this mission improves on your previous ones in every area...the gameplay was a bit more challenging, the readables were a bit better, and the visuals were more stunning. I'm not sure the visuals can get much better than they already are, so if you can bring the gameplay and story up a bit more on your next mission, you'll have a masterpiece on your hands.

 

 

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Regarding the comments about getting lost... I am torn.

 

On one hand retreading areas and never finding your objectives is frustrating. On the other hand, this is supposed to be a scary mission and not-knowing where you are heightens the suspense of the whole thing. Indeed if some of the frights were randomized or Revnants teleported or changed paths then this mission could have infinite replay value.

 

In short, if you do add a map, make sure it only has some areas detailed...?

 

 

I still need to replay and get your new bonus objective...

Please visit TDM's IndieDB site and help promote the mod:

 

http://www.indiedb.com/mods/the-dark-mod

 

(Yeah, shameless promotion... but traffic is traffic folks...)

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