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Fan Mission: Sir Talbot's Collateral by Baal & Bikerdude (15/04/2015)


Bikerdude

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I really enjoyed this near perfect mission. What really took me by surprise was the incredible detail on the architecture and texturing. Cant remember seeing details like the realistic brickwork in the cellar or that roof framework in other missions. There are other really beautyfull and detailed missions out there. But this one is a step further.

 

Played it on medium because i just cant resist blackjacking (almost) all te people.

Only the one guard patroling the stairs had its weapon already drawn when i came along - so i just let him be unharmed.
Also found no rope arrows but wished for one when i saw the light shaft (now after reading the comments i know that there are at least two of em in the mission).

Couldn't steal any picture. There where tons of em and i expected to be able to take at least one as a souvenier.

I turned the picture and exchanged the busts.

Are there more hidden optional goals?

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What really took me by surprise was the incredible detail on the architecture and texturing. Cant remember seeing details like the realistic brickwork in the cellar or that roof framework in other missions. There are other really beautyfull and detailed missions out there.

Myself and then Baal spent a lot of time making sure all the texture's were aligned realistically, so its nice to see its being noticed :D

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Also found no rope arrows but wished for one when i saw the light shaft (now after reading the comments i know that there are at least two of em in the mission).

Couldn't steal any picture. There where tons of em and i expected to be able to take at least one as a souvenier.

 

I turned the picture and exchanged the busts.

 

 

 

I missed the objective with the busts, I had thought I looked everywhere - how do I trigger it so that it shows up?

(And where are those Rope arrows that seem to be hidden in the mission?)

 

 

Edited by DeusXIncognita
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I missed the objective with the busts, I had thought I looked everywhere - how do I trigger it so that it shows up?

(And where are those Rope arrows that seem to be hidden in the mission?)

 

 

 

Take the bust right next to the huge painting in the Gallery.

 

 

Myself and then Baal spent a lot of time making sure all the texture's were aligned realistically, so its nice to see its being noticed :D

Its so common to see odd texture alignments, texture fights and just plain wrong architecture in fan missions that i did not even knew what was "odd" with this mission until i entered the cellar. There it instantly broke my immersion because i realized that it is the absence of all that little immersion breakers, that caused that strange feeling. After that insight i was able to fully enjoy the mission till the end.

I tried Dark Radiant to become a mapper myself years ago. But that beast is as good an example of unusability as the other 3D-editing tools i tried even longer time ago before completely giving up on the idea to make anything involving 3D models.

Since the encounter with the beast i took it for granted that the available tooling would limit the quality of the missions regardless how good and experienced the mappers become. I seem to have erred - and am happy about that.

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So I got around to finishing this mission, after several quality sittings. I'll share my thoughts here:

 

- Starting with the best part, the gameplay, which was flawless. It had a feel like one of the great mansion missions by the old masters, like Ominous Bequest or Saturnine's, and that's great to see over in TDM. Like those, there is the broad range of scenes even though they're all under the same roof, from the moody cellar to the mossy balcony at the end of a long sneaking sequence, which give the sense of exploring a domain beneath the eyes of the guards.

 

One of my favourite parts were the attic, vents and rafters. Instead of being a featureless alternative route between A, B and C, they were a big gameplay plus because using them gave very good vantage points and ways to move undetected inside rooms.

 

So in this mission I was motivated to sit waiting in a corner and carefully track all the guards' movements, never using the blackjack and going iron-man (saves sometimes get corrupted). Very tense, good one.

 

- On the matter of appearance, some of the patch models did stick out to me as being made of patches, such as the toilet lids. However, those are just outliers outweighed by i.e. the impressive yellow pillars and the custom kitchen. What matters more, anyway, are the views in this mission - from up on the rafters down on the captain's split room, or down the stone tower which made the guards going up and down past the windows appear almost like toy soldiers (to me).

 

One of my favourite areas, again, was the attic. It looked like it was straight under the roof, and the beams looked disorganised and convincing even though they were only made of basic 4-sided brushes. This, together with the level of detail and lighting, brought the appearance to near perfect level.

 

What could be missing towards the perfect level of St. Alban's Cathedral or Rocksbourg is absolute coherence. In Talbot's there was mainly a theme of lilac and dark brown tones, but then some rooms like the kitchen were mainly yellow or posh white and brown (Talbot's antechamber), and could have belonged to a different mansion. While when I think of Rocksbourg or the Cathedral, they are blackened with thick grime or made of heavy dark blue stone and windows everywhere.

 

- The idea of the mission was excellent, the "show your skills" objectives are simply pristine for engaging and above all original gameplay. However, what it is missing in my opinion are more sidearms in the story for other characters or events.

 

"In the North does this very well:

- there is the story of Trumble and his daughter which makes him likeable even though he's a guard captain

- interacting with this: the master eyeing Trumble's daughter

- the possibility to interact with Trumble's story

- the woman who grieves for the ill servant (outstanding storytelling and show of emotion right at the start)

- the past history of the building, as a monastery

 

Talbot's already has some of these, but with a tad more side characters, crosslinks and side events this mansion could be just as bustling and densely lived in as Grayman's castle.

 

Now this is of course just a wishlist - the story with its refreshingly unusual objectives already offers an excellent level of tension and intrigue.

 

 

- All in all I gave this mission Near Perfect, Near Perfect and Excellent, which is quite a good score :)

Edited by Dragofer
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This mission was in every sense of the word, a team effort. A lot of these subtle details that you and other people have noticed were originally put in by me, which Baal then learned from and improved upon. And I in turn picked up said tricks from an old team member by the name of Dram etc.

 

The original vision was all Baal's, I then kept the mission alive when RL got in the way for him, then with help from the community, Baal and I finally got this little gem out the door.

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What he said. :)

I also have to mention Dishonored as a great source of inspiration. It has fantastic open and vertical map design and I took a lot from it (as you have probably guessed when you were hiding in the rafters).

 

And thanks, Dragofer, great to hear people enjoy the mission. We took a lot of time and effort to get it right.

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Hurry up then! Last chance to get it for free. It'll be only 1.99$ from monday on. Bikerdude gets nothing.

 

Have fun playing. :)

Does that include the Sir Talbot's 4K textured penis mod in the 1.99 price?

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(And where are those Rope arrows that seem to be hidden in the mission?)

 

 

 

I could only find one

rope arrow

too. Anyone found more?

 

Further goodies I found so far in the mission:

 

 

- 1 Healing Potion

- 1 Flashbomb

- 4 water arrows

- 1 moss arrow

 

 

 

If anyone found more please report here so I might look for more - this "egg hunt" is most appreciated by myself ;)

 

Thank you.

Edited by Florian
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Hahah.... I guess that's where parents get the sayings, "look but don't touch".

 

 

I wish I'd never touched the bust! lol, pretty funny though.

 

 

What a terrifically entertaining mission.

 

 

The layout was confusingly amazing as I'm not sure I took the 'correct' way if there was a planned 'breadcrumb' type path for the player. I wasn't sure where I was going but I like to climb so off I went and the very first room I entered I had the objective noise fire off and I checked my objectives and apparently I was in right room from the outset, found the diary and then had an objective added. It was a bit confusing as I really had no idea where I was in relation to the map at all. Little did I know I would be traversing all over hells creation up and down trying to sort out the layout. Yes, I'm aware there was a map but I always try not to use it and I never brought it up once so figuring out the area was quite a task but very very enjoyable. Lots of challenging guard patrols (which is why I started this post with the statement I did :) ) and really great environments/rooms/detail throughout.

 

I spent about 3.5 hrs on the playthrough and thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

The view on the rooftop was honestly pretty magical. Not sure what it was about the greenhouse but it was just very well modeled and lit and the scene was amazing. Fantastic stuff you guys. A great reward for the player.

 

The options the player has in the greenhouse of putting out the boiler fire with the water arrow there (which I initially did do) and then the fact that you had an unlit candle there and a fire nearby as if to suggest that the player may want to relight that fire because you're trying to befriend the manor owner for future endeavours and you don't want to go ruining his crop. Seemed to suggest that your decision here might be saved somewhere and used for the next mission or something. I wasn't sure so I relit his boiler so his 'plants' would be happy and I wouldn't piss the guy off. It did make you think though and I liked that. I could be reading in to this (probably am?) but I'm not sure so... oh well.

 

I did have several, I think I counted 4 of the popping/clicking audio issue that was mentioned. It never occured until I was in the cellar nearly ready to end the mission. Then I realized I had to go back up for something and when I returned to the cellar it happened again so not sure what was causing that but it was not that big a deal in any case.

 

 

 

Really superb small mission with guard routes and player routes intertwined in such a creative and fun way.

 

Congrats on the release, Baal, and ...more of this, yes please.

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Thanks, glad you liked it.

 

But you have to thank Bikerdude for the

rooftop area with the greenhouse

and the surrounding city background. These parts were built mostly by him.

 

I got the idea to add an extra prank objective from AluminumHaste while beta testing. That became the

bust objective

.

 

We know about the audio popping issue. It's a mod problem (although for some reason it is much worse in this mission) and will hopefully be fixed in the future.

Edited by Baal
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Here's a list of the equipment you can find (only the amount, not the location):

 

 

5 water arrows

 

 

 

 

Any hints for the 5th water arrow? Searched everywhere... (found 2 in a chest, 1 in the greenhouse and 1 in the dining room)

 

Edited by Florian
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