Fan Mission: Now and Then by joebarnin (2020/09/08)

[Spyrano]

For a couple square blocks this was very dense with activities and loot (I only managed 4 secrets). Great job joebarnin!

[michael_a]

Very nice city  mission. Rather on smallish side but densely packed with sometimes very unobvious routes, and compartments. I like the idea of time travel albeit stealing content

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of Clifton's safe twice (both from the safe in the past, and from that thief downstairs in present iirc)

was a bit much. 

 

I ask about

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that safe in the museum's basement: where is the key? That vent lead me only to apartment with empty room. Should I do something with those switches?

 

Edited September 15, 2020 by michael_a

[joebarnin]

10 minutes ago, michael_a said:

I ask about

  Hide contents

that safe in the museum's basement: where is the key? That vent lead me only to apartment with empty room. Should I do something with those switches?

 

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The key is in a different apartment - you have to find a different vent.

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Outside of Carla's apartment, to the right of the door, look up

The empty apartment

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Note that the switches cause the lights to flicker a certain number of times

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Maybe there's an order to that?

 

 

 

[michael_a]

Thanks! 

[vozka]

Finally finished this, a nice mission, but I've got to admit one thing - I couldn't for the love of god find

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the secret combination lock in the table.

Everything else was fine, but even after looking at it several times I didn't notice it and since there are various different openable compartments around, I didn't even frob it by accident. 

I was sure I must have missed something so I searched through the city several times and the mission became quite tedious after that as a result. Was there a readable hint somewhere telling me what to look for? Other than that the idea and the execution are good, but I felt lost (and not in a good way) more often than in any other mission I've played. Which might have been just bad luck on my part. 

I also couldn't find 

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the key to the basement safe even though I've been to the empty room, solved the puzzle, remember getting some loot and I do have a "safe key" in my inventory that does not work. Maybe I didn't notice a key when picking up loot in there?

Here are some small technical problems I encountered in this mission, although some of them are probably 2.08 bugs: https://imgur.com/a/G4yWuos

The "shining" openable windows even though there's no light on either side were already mentioned.

Also, the red highlight that appears around an item in the GUI when you unsuccessfuly try to use it seems to have a broken alpha because it was just a big bright red blob instead of a subtle highlight in this mission. It works fine in other missions.

[michael_a]

Vozka:

a) about code - are you talking about Clifton's house in present?

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There are two readables - one below  the table (hard to notice at first) and one in a room near (some children's poem or whatever)

b) for basement safe -

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when you are leaving Carla's house, you need to look up - there would be vent. 

 

 

Edited September 15, 2020 by michael_a

[vozka]

Quote

a) about code - are you talking about Clifton's house in present?

Yes.

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I found the readables, but I couldn't find the combination lock itself. The code itself is not a problem, the problem is that I had no idea what to use them for and it took me way too long to find out.

 

7 minutes ago, michael_a said:

b) for basement safe -

Right, must have missed that. Perhaps it would be better to not use generic names like "safe key" so that the player knows what keys they do or do not have without having to try all of them (I think that all the other keys were named well).

Edited September 15, 2020 by vozka

[michael_a]

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Each entity from the note below the table has attached number in a poem. 

 

[vozka]

Again, not the problem, also like I said I already finished the mission. The problem I had was finding where to input the code, the actual mechanism, not what the code number was.

[thebigh]

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It's at the desk in the study. IIRC it's the secret compartment those desk sets have.

 

Edited September 15, 2020 by thebigh
hide in spoiler tag

[vozka]

Perhaps we should delete this whole conversation because while I appreciate you guys wanting to help me, like I said twice, I did find it in the end and finished the mission.

I mentioned it took me a really long time because it made the mission kind of tedious and less enjoyable and I'm interested to know if there was a readable somewhere saying where to look for the mechanism that I missed (or even what to look for) or if the players are supposed to find it on their own. For me personally an ingame hint telling me what to look for would make the mission more enjoyable, but I'm not discounting the option that I'm just dumb or unlucky.

Edited September 15, 2020 by vozka

[joebarnin]

29 minutes ago, vozka said:

Perhaps we should delete this whole conversation because while I appreciate you guys wanting to help me, like I said twice, I did find it in the end and finished the mission.

I mentioned it took me a really long time because it made the mission kind of tedious and less enjoyable and I'm interested to know if there was a readable somewhere saying where to look for the mechanism that I missed (or even what to look for) or if the players are supposed to find it on their own. For me personally an ingame hint telling me what to look for would make the mission more enjoyable, but I'm not discounting the option that I'm just dumb or unlucky.

There was no hint about the desk mechanism that made the combination lock visible. I'll be honest why: that mechanism (the desk with a slider that opens a hidden compartment behind the fake books) is a common asset in TDM - it's used by many missions, so I figured players would be familiar with it. If you've never come across that desk before, I can see how the slider might be hard to find.

As for the basement safe key, there is a hint as to its location in the note on Addison's desk. And in the room where you pick up the key, there is a hint as to where it might be used. I didn't want to be too explicit with the name ("basement wall safe key" is too obvious).

I know the feeling of a mission getting tedious/frustrating. Feel free to ping the mission announcement threads for hints (and the first post in this thread has a hints section).

[michael_a]

Well, I not often play TDM but understood it. I think it is subjective things - I for example didn't manage with that empty room and that vent I asked earlier. 

Lost huge chunk of loot. Very good city mission, smallish in size but densely packed with everything (I like occasional small puzzles and also - how those stories of locals are interwoven) but I suspect that loot goal is quite steep. 

 

Edit. Sorry, didn't notice that loot objective was optional. 

 

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Looks like I found Jenson and Everett in present

 

Edited September 16, 2020 by michael_a

[joebarnin]

25 minutes ago, michael_a said:

 

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Looks like I found Jenson and Everett in present

 

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The skeletons? Is this before or after you went back in time? Once you go back and steal the painting, they shouldn't be there anymore, because they didn't steal the painting, so they didn't kill each other. 

 

[michael_a]

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Before. Idea is nice

 

[Jehauri]

I haven't finished quite yet (ran out of time today), but I had a couple problems:

One, the

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note that tells you what the combination actually is

becomes completely invisible and virtually impossible to find if you open the drawer above it in the dark and don't realize there's a note there. It's just... gone, and I scoured the entire house for hours, messing with the light switches and trying to find any clue besides the one in the music room. I don't think it's at all reasonable to expect the player to find such a vital clue in a place where it's so easy to lose and never even realize.

Second, it's a minor thing, but the hallway outside Franklin's apartment door had a lit window on the outside, but on the same spot on the inside there's no window, just a wall with a lamp.

Other than that, I've been enjoying the mission so far. Love the museum exhibits and such and the abundance of secrets to find, some rather tricky even after you find clues

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(though the clue regarding the lady's missing ring is extremely misleading- shouldn't it be in the middle of the floor somewhere if she dropped it? It's nowhere near any of the exhibits)

, and great use of vertical space without requiring rope arrows.

[joebarnin]

On 9/13/2020 at 7:24 PM, Talabar said:

Probably the best use of a wide variety of ambient music I've seen in an FM so far. I found the ambient music helped me get my bearings during repeat visits to the city streets.

You can thank @JackFarmerfor several custom-made ambient music segments in this mission: the starting screen, all three levels of the museum, and the rundown townhouse. Great stuff! I also used a few of @OrbWeaver's ambients too. Plus several of the standard ones.

[joebarnin]

@Jehauri

Thanks for the comments.

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The combination note is under a drawer that is open at the start of the mission (representing the fact that the townhouse has been ransacked). So you have to close the drawer to find it. But once you close the drawer, it should be visible, even in the dark. (The note is in an easier position to find when you play on the easiest difficulty level). Sorry it was so frustrating for you.

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Yeah, I probably could have worded the note about the missing ring better. I guess I assume she accidentally kicked it and it ended up in the corner. 

 

[Jehauri]

I don't mean to be overly critical, of course. It's a great level, and I should have some more positive things to add once I have time to wrap it up.

[MrMunkeepants]

just starting, trying to not be spoiled about what is to come, so I shall ask:

in the apartments,

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how do I open the hiding spot in Franklin's room?

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is the fireplace in Megan's place broken? the switch doesn't work.

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Why does Franklin have a door to Eloise's bedroom??? 

 

[michael_a]

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Franklin spot - there is button in his wardrobe

 

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In fireplace you should douse the fire with water and use the switch

 

[thebigh]

1 hour ago, MrMunkeepants said:

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is the fireplace in Megan's place broken? the switch doesn't work.

 

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douse the fire first

 

[OrbWeaver]

13 hours ago, joebarnin said:

You can thank @JackFarmerfor several custom-made ambient music segments in this mission: the starting screen, all three levels of the museum, and the rundown townhouse. Great stuff! I also used a few of @OrbWeaver's ambients too. Plus several of the standard ones.

Delighted to hear that a mapper is actually using my ambients. I guess this map will be next on my list to play.

[joebarnin]

1 hour ago, OrbWeaver said:

Delighted to hear that a mapper is actually using my ambients. I guess this map will be next on my list to play.

Yes, your ambients worked out really well - they all fit the scene. I think I used four of them total. The one I used in the crawl spaces worked especially well - others have commented on that too. 

[joebarnin]

7 hours ago, MrMunkeepants said:

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Why does Franklin have a door to Eloise's bedroom??? 

 

Shhh. You weren't supposed to notice that.