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Fan Mission: Lord Edgar's Bathhouse by Goldwell (27.12.2014)


Goldwell

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Just played this one, excellent work.

 

 

A very good mission, but I have to agree with some of the things that were mentioned here before. The intro was really well done (no other TDM mission had a better one in my opinion), but it also raised my expectations beyond anything that could have been done. The visuals were great and the city a bit too clean and empty, but still 5/5 for me on this part. The "problems" are the bathhouse and the ending of the plot. Although visually great, its feels too small, but maybe thats just me expecting a "Life of the Party" kind of building that even surpasses the expectations the player has at the beginning of the map. The idea of the bathhouse manager being a killer with questionable motives is fine, but if you design your plot this way, with such an amazing intro, you might understand that the player might want to experience a more satisfying ending ( the reaction of the son, what to do with the gems you found and so on). I hope I didn´t sound too demanding, I just expected so much of this FM and in the end, it was "just" great and not the masterpiece I eagerly awaited. Nevertheless, you did a good job, I just wanted to mention that you came really close to create the best FM so far and this itself can be seen as an achievement, I guess :)

 

Edited by Cookie
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The intro is awesome!

The level design is pretty good, I personally would have varied the ambient track a bit more in the Bath house. I like the new props (sounds, doors, etc).

 

It was a challenge not being able to just knock everybody on the head. The city section looked pretty good; it made me want to explore more. Actually that awesome intro made me expect a huge, complex mission

 

 

To quote the thug, "that was a nice bit of fun". Thanks!

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

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I liked it. Like with your previous mission there was unfortunately only one way in. Not much to do in the city section (which was fairly detailed and nice looking, though!), either. Your missions so far have been small but highly detailed. Good voice acting (both the intro, the main character voice clips and the guard conversation).

 

The story was really suspenseful trying to think about what happened, who may have done what, until you do find out anyway:

 

 

You find the journal in the seemingly abandoned house with the covered furniture and think maybe some ghost/supernatural type thing may be going on, or maybe the son is the killer. Then you get into the bathhouse itself and seems normal enough. Nice conversation between the two guards there. You then find the drunk assassin's note and think maybe he's behind it, but it doesn't tick off your objective so more exploration leads to the manager's room and it turns out he's just some psycho killer who believes the voices in his head. Kind of disappointing there wasn't more going on there. No conclusion to it either, but I guess a lot of the original Thief series was like that too with some missions.

 

 

No idea how you'd get those gems without using a water arrow, though. That area is in plain sight of the non-moving guard at the beginning that should always see you if that torch is still burning, unless you knock him out or distract him somehow and raise your stealth score doing it.

Edited by GUFF
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Great FM Goldwell, the intro was amazing!!, it really sets the mood for the rest of the mission but it sets a great story but there is no payoff (i was hoping to stop the ritual or at least delivering the journal to the city watch)

 

As for the FM itself i liked the city section but it was a little too clean, it needed more debris, dirt and stuff lying around to make it more interesting visually.

The bathhouse was great all around, you did a great job with the design and visuals but it was too small and easy (in my case too easy because for some reason both guards stayed sitted the whole time and never moved, making too easy to break in the other rooms, a conversation bug perhaps?)

 

Generally it was great but a little too short and it left you wanting for more

 

Great work!!, can't wait for future installments!!!

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A great mission. goodjob.gif

Yes, this is what Thief looks like in The Dark Mod.

 

 

Thank you! And i'm glad a lot of people feel that way because that's exactly what I was going for, just a classic Thief style fm in TDM :)

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Fun, if little short. Great intro, and I liked the in-mission voices as well. This made me think how I have missed the little comments Garrett used to give every now and then - have there been any plans to do a some sort of a library of short comments that the mappers could use? Something like triggering a voice saying "Let's see where this fits" when finding an important key, or "I've got everything I came for, now I just have to find a way out" - something more interesting than just having an objective ticked off or getting a new one?

 

 

When playing, I saw some curious AI behavior:

When I was going for the locked house door, one of the guards spotted me and started running towards me. I opened the door, went in, slammed the door shut and went to hide in a corner - the guard came in, searched for a while, then went outside where the archer guard - who had either wandered there by himself following his patrol route or had been alerted - was standing. The sword guard then started attacking the archer guard, and after having killed him, went away as if nothing had happened. Another curious incident happened when I was making my way back - one of the guards got alerted again and started searching, and while doing that he opened a door I could swear was non-frobbable and which opened to a stone wall.

 

Edited by Thieving Barbarian
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This is a definite WOW mission, thank you!

There are four gripes, I have with it, though ;)

1- Too short
2- Found a muffin, but couldn’t eat it
3- The pagan seed didn’t do anything
4- Too short

I didn’t find all gems, but that only gives me an excuse, to revisit this mission soon :)

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Very nice work. I do like short missions that you can play with an hour spare. That said, I'm not sure I finished it yet. After I found Lord Edgar's journal, there seemed to be quite a bit more to do based on the story that got revealed, but my objectives were complete. If the

blood stones

are findable perhaps make it an optional objective?

 

I loved the video, the hint to

rob the shop (though the starting note made me think you'd done in-game purchases!)

, the crawl spaces outside in the city and the use of shadow throughout, and the clever use of skybox and views over the city. And the gameplay was nicely balanced and not too hard for me. An exquisite little mission!

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I was originally intending this to be a solo release but seeing as many people wanted to see more from this universe I'll work on Lord Edgar's Bathhouse 2 which will explore the bathhouse and the surrounding city which has been effected by Edgar's ritual :)

Edited by Goldwell
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Very nice FM, really loved this one!

 

 

Great city layout and choice of trajectory: You start in your home, sneak throughout the streets until you find the old abandoned house, and get in through the air vents from there. On the way, you can optionally climb into an open window and make it inside a closed shop where you can obtain extra items... finally a FM that doesn't magically give you your entire equipment at mission start! The drunk guy sleeping in front of the tavern is another nice touch, as is the homeless man in the hay stack, and the silly chat the two guards have when you get inside.

 

Once you infiltrate the bathhouse through the air vent, you get a nice feel of being in a James Bond position. The atmosphere of the entire building (bath rooms and hotel) is very pleasant, and also pleasantly modern... given it looks almost exactly like some large 5 star hotels still do in our day. I especially love the elevator, the hallway at the top floor (large glass window), and the bathroom in the room at the top floor (glass ceiling). It's also not uselessly large and complex... Not An Ordinary Guest has a similar building, but with tons of rooms which kinda make you get lost and bored at some point.

 

Story wise, investigating a murder and looking around for evidence is a nice scope. Main critique is that the mission was a bit too short... although that's the case with most single missions, hence my call for multi-mission campaigns. I think one extra element that could have been added was going to the house of the person who hired you, and telling them who the murderer is or dropping the evidence note there.

 

I found the hidden pumpkin, but only 2 of the red gems. Since they didn't complete the objective, I assume there might be another one. I noclipped around for a bit, but strangely didn't find more.

 

Edited by MirceaKitsune
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Glad you enjoyed it! And we haven't seen the last of Lord Edgar yet, so part 2 will give the conclusion most people here seem to want :)

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Glad you enjoyed it! And we haven't seen the last of Lord Edgar yet, so part 2 will give the conclusion most people here seem to want :)

Ahhh, nice! Will love seeing a part 2 for sure :) Hope there will still be a modern fancy hotel to explore.

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Ahhh, nice! Will love seeing a part 2 for sure :) Hope there will still be a modern fancy hotel to explore.

 

I am aiming to explore the aftermath of Lord Edgars ritual which will probably be moreso in the horror genre. However there will be a modern fancy hotel coming out in Accountant 2 which i'm working on at the moment (it's an open city type mission so plenty to do!)

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Congrats on the release! I finished this up yesterday - it was an enjoyable way to spend a Sunday.

I liked your use of shadows which allowed me to avoid the AI with a few little hiding spots in just the right place along the way. I got all the loot (almost missed the bottle in the room with the guy drinking - clicked on it by accident and lo and behold - cha ching). And he must of thought the place was haunted after I opened and closed the door a few times without him seeing me :ph34r:. I also found all the gems and the pumpkin.

Your pools were gorgeous, felt like I was in a spa even "burnt" myself in the steam room.


Thanks for all your hard work and look forward to seeing how things end up.

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  • 1 month later...

I enjoy this mission very much good work and I hope to see it expanded that would be awesome! maybe have a back way out that leads him into a bad part of town.

 

Thanx again

pwl

 

 

I only just noticed this now sorry, thanks for playing and it's great to hear that you enjoyed it! (always helps stir the oft stagnant mapping motivation pot) and yes after the accountant 2 is released i'll be diverting my attention towards lord edgars bathhouse part 2 :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

A highly polished mission. Took me 40 mins to complete and I liked everything about the mission.

 

Custom assets and music. Extremely well-made intro sequence. Good objectives. Comprehensive briefing. A funny&witty conversation. The length was perfect for me (I've becoming convinced that an optimal length for a mission is 1 hour, after that I get tired and sloppy). The difficulty was gentle, but challenging and interesting. Good looks. Good performance. The list goes on. I would have liked to dig a bit deeper into the mystery, but I suppose that there will be sequel. There must be.

 

Bravo, Goldwell! Bravo! You've made yet another gem! You are very quickly becoming one of the top tier TDM FMAs! Playing this kind of missions often sparks the mapping inspiration in me. Thank you!

  • Like 3

Clipper

-The mapper's best friend.

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