Fun with Thief 20th Anniversary fan missions

[Thieving Barbarian]

Lately I've been playing mostly Thief 20th Anniversary fan missions, and been having great fun trying to jump from as high as possible. Ever since I accidentally discovered that in the Dark engine it doesn't matter how high you fall as long as you either end the fall on a ladder, rope or on mantleable ledge, I've been trying to find places where I could make as high a jump as possible. In the original Thief missions, the height usually didn't matter since either you ended up in a non-continuable position anyway or the missions were so tiny you didn't really notice it - but in many of the fan missions made for NewDark, the map sizes have grown to the point where it often actually matters - one of the missions where I used this to my advantage was Catacombs of Knoss, where you have a few shortcuts (albeit minor) you can use in this way, for example.

 

Often there's really no advantage at all, but it's fun nonetheless, trying to break the map in some way. Has anyone else been having fun pushing the missions to their limits, making moves they weren't supposed to make or gain access to places they weren't supposed to be able to access, in any of the Thief games? Myself, I've found I get more out the game these days trying to break the game or map, rather than playing it the way you are expected to...

[teh_saccade]

It's what gives a mission its replay value, most of the time - I also do stuff like try to jump and mantle from the top of that tower.

What's another good game is to stack all the boxes and furniture in a place where you think the FM maker didn't think anyone might get - then do the super-leap to mantle on the box and climb up onto the level and walk along the edges of brushes around the top and find a way to complete the mission by escaping the bounds.

Chairs, boxes and a certain candlestick model are my best friends in TDM - who needs tools and keys when you have a chair and candlestick..?

 

I made a lot of very critical videos of Thief and TDM FMs...

 

<--- I think he fixed this after spotting this.

https://youtu.be/Lm-gW_eYFGM?t=560 <--- why it's a good idea to player clip around keyhunt gates, when there's moveable stuff that means climbing things and cutting out 30 mins of gameplay (it even worked on the main compound). Also to bind speakers to the instruments that play them, and have them stop playing when the musician is messed with. Plus objective logic.
https://youtu.be/ndricpE4o4M?t=737 <--- I hate "no kill" objectives that aren't optional. Got stuck (need restart) within 50 seconds of starting this one. KO'd everyone instead, thanks to a table. (very nice maps in this FM - it's a good mission).

I think it's stuff like this is why I never get asked to beta test any mission ;p

 

// i forgot I used to play with the lightgem - it looks so weird...

Edited April 11, 2019 by teh_saccade