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Fan Mission: Noble Affairs by Goldwell 2022/02/22 [TDM 2.10 Required]


Goldwell

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So I finally got around to playing the mission. I'm only a few minutes in so I don't have much to say but... there's something about the presentation that's giving me really strong Dishonored vibes, at least in the initial areas. Signs that say "A Lawful City is a Safe City" remind me of "The boldest measures are the safest" propaganda posters littered around the place in Dishonored. And right next to those signs? Some bodies wrapped in white cloth, exactly like plague victims in Dishonored. And the looting animations where items fly towards the player? Dishonored again.

Also the merged lockpicks, I haven't see that in a TDM mission before. I think I might have played a mission where only one lockpick was present, but your mission specifically has a merged lockpick item so the player knows not to bother looking for a second lockpick. I actually like the idea of a single lockpick. You say having two lockpicks has no value, to which I disagree for one situation - sometimes you may have to pick a lock ASAP due to an enemy nearing your position, and fucking up the selection of the correct lockpick for the relevant tumbler can add a certain tension. So I'm fine with two lockpicks for most missions, but I won't lie and say that having only one to deal with here wasn't appreciated. :)

Another Dishonored reference (more Dishonored 2 actually) is the Silent Dagger shop, at least in terms of how it operates. Just like D2, mess with the shopkeeper and they'll close off the store. I did notice a locked vent nearby that can't be picked. That was a staple of D2 as well - finding out how to get subversive access to the various stores. I'm gonna assume there's a means to do it here as well...

Edited by Xolvix
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A word of warning, Agent Denton. This was a simulated experience; real LAMs will not be so forgiving.

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What a great mission. 

I have no opinion about the various small changes - I enjoy them as they make the mission feel fresh, but I can't say if I prefer them or not. Streamlining the lockpicking is nice on one hand, but on the other hand I've had some tense moments where the timing of a patrolling guard was tight and having to switch between lockpicks and trying to pick some door while he's coming round the corner and nearly breathing down my neck made the situation even more exciting. But I appreciate the effort made so that we can experience something else :).

What I liked about the mission the most is how polished and balanced everything was. Like your other missions that I played the difficulty is just fine, the mission is large and nonlinear enough to be fun, but starightforward enough to not be frustrating. Very enjoyable, including the side contracts, it just flows really nicely. I got stuck at the main objective for a while, but there were several hints around, I just wasn't attentive at first.

Oh, and bonus points for replacing the mission accomplished sound, always appreciated. And the main menu is nice too. 

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Thank you both for the kind words, glad you enjoyed it :)

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So I finished it a few days ago. This is a really good mission to highlight features in 2.10 and shows what modern TDM is capable of (at least in the hands of an experienced individual). So much custom content, it was pretty cool to see new stuff almost everywhere. Found the Grayman memorial, done really well I have to say. Despite being kinda hidden it wasn't marked as a secret, but this is good and probably the more classy approach. Hopefully we'll have more adventures with Clara!

EDIT: A couple more things:

1. Speaking of references to other games, I absolutely was not expecting a reference to

Spoiler

Amnesia: The Dark Descent. For goodness sake, invisible water monsters in TDM? I dealt with that nearly 12 years ago, I thought it was over! :)

2. Related to that mission, I came across

Spoiler

Corbin and chose to KO him, but since I was curious, I quicksaved then shot an arrow through his eye. Clara didn't react to this but I didn't think until later to reload an earlier save and just kill him first instead of the knockout, just to see if the reaction was different. I'm a bit surprised the mission was designed to allow Corbin's death even though it'd totally break canon, but it was amusing nonetheless.

 

Edited by Xolvix
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A word of warning, Agent Denton. This was a simulated experience; real LAMs will not be so forgiving.

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14 hours ago, Xolvix said:

So I finished it a few days ago. This is a really good mission to highlight features in 2.10 and shows what modern TDM is capable of (at least in the hands of an experienced individual). So much custom content, it was pretty cool to see new stuff almost everywhere. Found the Grayman memorial, done really well I have to say. Despite being kinda hidden it wasn't marked as a secret, but this is good and probably the more classy approach. Hopefully we'll have more adventures with Clara!

EDIT: A couple more things:

1. Speaking of references to other games, I absolutely was not expecting a reference to

  Hide contents

Amnesia: The Dark Descent. For goodness sake, invisible water monsters in TDM? I dealt with that nearly 12 years ago, I thought it was over! :)

2. Related to that mission, I came across

  Reveal hidden contents

Corbin and chose to KO him, but since I was curious, I quicksaved then shot an arrow through his eye. Clara didn't react to this but I didn't think until later to reload an earlier save and just kill him first instead of the knockout, just to see if the reaction was different. I'm a bit surprised the mission was designed to allow Corbin's death even though it'd totally break canon, but it was amusing nonetheless.

 

Re: the Grayman shrine. I specifically didn't want to tie anything to that area. Originally there was loot and it was marked as a secret area, but I felt that was in poor taste. So it just became an area solely dedicated to just him.

 

As for 1, that's hilarious :D

 

2. That was a decision I was conscious of. There's always a battle, especially in immersive sims of whether you force the player down a path or give them options. I treat it kind of like Dishonored how you can kill or not KO enemies while playing the game, but in the sequels the canon story is always the pacifist approach.

 

Clara only interacts with him if you frob the body/corpse after you're done. In retrospect I probably should have added that narration line after the contract completes. Oh well! :) 

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On 2/24/2022 at 12:51 PM, Goldwell said:

 

Re: the safe there is a tip inside the silent dagger which gives hints there.

 

I can enter in silent dagger, but where is this tip ? I have found a note, but without any information about this code...

Regards,

JB

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15 hours ago, JBERT said:

I can enter in silent dagger, but where is this tip ? I have found a note, but without any information about this code...

Regards,

JB

 

Inside the Silent Dagger you'll find a tip right here

 

5jYMmop.png

 

This note reads

hUUQlxW.png

 

Deciphering the note

 

Spoiler

It mentions that outfront of the Jewelry shop, a couple of men left and hopped into a boat, they did one lap around the rock with a tree on it.

 

If we head out to the front of the jewelry shop you'll notice a landing area, and from there you can see a rock with a tree on it seen here

 

r8TBRKu.png

 

Swimming over there we find a scroll inside a bottle.. that is the code you need!

MSqwQxl.png

 

"Skip the BS and tell me the code riddler!"

Spoiler

9 2 5

 

 

 

13 hours ago, Melchior said:

@Goldwell A Great mission; reminds me of the T2X TC in a way. (not just the new protagonist, but a very colourful level!)

 

Thank you very much!

 

I did take a lot of inspiration from T2X as well as Dishonored and a few of DrK's incredible Thief 2 FM's.

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3 hours ago, Goldwell said:

 

Inside the Silent Dagger you'll find a tip right here

 

5jYMmop.png

 

This note reads

hUUQlxW.png

 

Deciphering the note

 

  Hide contents

It mentions that outfront of the Jewelry shop, a couple of men left and hopped into a boat, they did one lap around the rock with a tree on it.

 

If we head out to the front of the jewelry shop you'll notice a landing area, and from there you can see a rock with a tree on it seen here

 

r8TBRKu.png

 

Swimming over there we find a scroll inside a bottle.. that is the code you need!

MSqwQxl.png

 

"Skip the BS and tell me the code riddler!"

  Hide contents

9 2 5

 

 

Thanks a lot. I had this note, but I haven't been able to decipher it.

Best regards,

JB

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This was an excellent mission for me to start out my adventures in TDM v2.10. You did a great job of showcasing new features from the update and of your own creation. I enjoyed the new looting animations and sound. I found them pleasantly immersive but never intrusive. I wouldn’t mind seeing them again in other missions. I also enjoyed collecting the generic food, and I didn’t think the mission suffered at all for only having one lock pick (which surprised me).

The big show stopper though was your new protagonist! I loved her peppy character--such a contrast from the classic sarcastic thief. But I never felt she was too flippant or overly saccharine (and you guys walked that edge). She read to me as someone who is relative newcomer to the TDM life and has already learned the tropes of her own game second hand. Now she is bemused to be encountering them in person. I hope we will get to play her or meet her again in future FMs. Having another very different PC perspective like that really enriches the setting.

Spoiler

I did once run into the minor audio glitch others have noted where NPC character’s use the player’s sounds, but it did not bother me, and NPC voices changing between lines in TDM is so common I would not have taken much notice had I not read about the issue. I also feel like early in my run there was one time where Clara made a male pain grunt (...possibly after stepping on a mine, or was it while swimming/drowning?) but that was over a week ago now and I may be misremembering. Anyway I felt the technical execution was just about top notch, especially for a non-official feature.

Overall I had a great experience, and my dad who watched over my shoulder while I was visiting him liked it too!
 

There were a few things that confused me or caused me problems though. For your consideration:

1. key hunts

Spoiler

Being that I prefer playing a non-violent style of thief when I can, discovering the document to get me past the checkpoint and the tap to get into Volta’s secret area gave me a lot of trouble. I completely missed the checkpoint key from too hastily looting that (very illuminated) room before the guard came back; and with Volta’s key I guess I thought it was a way to loot some really good wine or something and the way to the objective must be elsewhere. I ultimately had to seek clues for both on the forum. I think it would have been nice if there was one other way to circumvent both blocks without needing the key items (like some really gnarly climbing or vent spelunking). But I don’t know how long it already took you to make all this stuff... so meh, it’s ok.

2. bonus objectives

Spoiler

I interpreted the “clear out the guests from the factory” quest as referring to the monsters, not the thieves! The supplies on offer did not seem worth dealing with all those terrors, so (playing non-violently) I didn’t discover my mistake until I went back later to hear the Corbin easter egg. It wasn’t a game breaker, but maybe encountering some strong evidence of the thieves before the monsters would have primed me to understand better the first time around.

3. characters

I find my self wondering whether the bird-mask boat driver guy is supposed to be an established character in the TDM lore. By his few voice lines, I assumed he and Clara are an allusion to Garret and that girl at the end of Thief 3 (you know, the one who never featured again in any other thief games); but maybe you had another PC in mind as bird-mask? I hope we might get to see more of them and their relationship in the future. A thief partners duo, done well, and maybe helping each other out of jams in the course of a mission would be cool.

4. setting

Spoiler

Was there some piece of exposition I missed about why the factory was processing human bodies? I assume it was another reference to one of the more striking set pieces in Thief 4, but was there any more to it than that? Once I stopped to think about it did not feel like it fit in the setting, even with all the other horrible stuff going on in other parts of the level.

5. canonicity and diegesis

Spoiler

The Corbin easter egg was very funny, but the discovery does kind of undermine his competence and raises questions about how Clara recognized him. Should I ask how TDM thieves magically know the names of people they incapacitate? Anyway, this and the factory thing left me feeling that the totality this mission might be one big contest inspired 4th wall break rather than an actual even in the TDM-verse, which is probably someone's jam, but for me it was a bit off putting.

 

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I got around to playing this since I upgraded to v2.10 last week. I enjoyed it very much. It does have throwback vibes to other games, aka the bird-masked boat runner guy looks very Dishonored-ish. Also the loot animation grab reminds me of how Thief 4 did it, although I noticed that only arrows, keys and scrolls were animated, but edible food didn't animate. Just curious why that is? Either way it's no biggie at all and really enjoyed traversing all the areas of the game, horizontal and vertical. Seems like a great entry to showcase v2.10.

 

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I finished this mission yesterday, and, I really liked it, nice mission.

I especially like the variety of your missions. It felt a lot like Northdale Act I in that regard. You can break into shops or homes, you can deal with the black market store owner, you can rob him (yes, nice Dishonored vibe there ;)), there are side quests/contracts you can accept, and there's a lot of variety in terms of the locations as well. Makes the missions interesting.

I also like that there's always a certain linearity in your missions. The player gets lead in a way, instead of having a complete open world, which might get confusing in terms of order of objectives. There always seems to be an obvious and "logic" way you go as a player in your missions.

The difficulty was perfect. I don't like too hard missions. I played Written in Stone a while ago, and, while i enjoyed the first part of the mission, the later part was way, WAY too hard for me. I liked that your missions also cater to the more casual player, not the super skilled pwnzo0r player, which many other missions seem to be designed for (which, obviously, is bad for people who just got into the mod).

The visuals were great, as expected. The two Northdale missions are great in that regard as well. If anything, I'd criticize that, sometimes, you seem to design some spots overly narrow and small. Most places are OK though.

The one thing I didn't like was the voice acting, and also the script of the playable character. The tone, and also the lines she says are a bit too happy for my liking. E.g., I don't care if the thief who just robs noble's homes rather would be in the pub, or own a home with such a nice garden, stuff like that. I rather like the dark tone of your other missions. After all, it's a dark theme and a dark world.

Just a minor niggle though. Overall, I really enjoyed the mission. Well done. :)

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So far fantastic mission, I'm just cleaning up the last little loot and have run into a problem.
 

Spoiler

For some reason I can't just over to the pipe, it's not solid.

wrgtH7K.jpg

 

How am I supposed to reach the ledge with the candle then?

I very much loved the voiced protagonist here, she's great. Nice change from the perpetual world-weary thief trope.

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I always assumed I'd taste like boot leather.

 

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22 hours ago, AluminumHaste said:

I very much loved the voiced protagonist here, she's great.

 

On 5/6/2022 at 9:40 PM, chakkman said:

The one thing I didn't like was the voice acting

 

The duality of man! :laugh:

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Delightful mission, as always :)

So many surprises:
- first, women protagonist! Now I know why ZeplminTemplar wanted those female line voiceover, hehe :)
- I liked the detailed intro, almost like from Dishonored - there´s boat in the intro cutscene, which is not anywhere in the game - hats off for doing something like that!

In the beginning area I haver encountered the same problem as AluminiumHaste:
 

Spoiler

I wanted to climb for that piece of loot on the wooden mantelpiece, and I saw the metal pipes goin that way, so I thought they would be climbable - I shot myself over to that closer wooden window on the right side of the port gate with the sleeping fart-man, only to fall down every single time I tried to climb on it - I thought I am doing something wrong, unless I tried to noclip there - and noticed it is not solid.

 

Please, fix this in some future patch, as it give off wrong signal being the proper way to get there - I found out I should jus shoot the arrow directly to that mantelpiece (didn´t looked wooden on the first glance).

- combined lockpicks! - while I understand some players will not be happy with this change I liked it, considered it unusual peculiarity, but I wouldn´t want to see it in every mission. You know what I would like? (and that would be a very welcomed change for me) - a key ring.

A keyring, where all the found keys would get automatically attached and you would just use the keyring on the lock and wouldn´t have to sift though keys (just like they did in Mission X for T2), which is just bothersome - THAT is something I would very much like to see here.

- there are new arrow and food icons, which I like a lot (arrow ions in these contest mission in general), they seem more crisps and clear. And the food item bag was a nice touch!

- Contracts - I must applaud you for this idea - they were not boring, each was different, and there wasn´t too many of them, so you wanted to do all of them, and they were mostly optional! Very good idea. I especially liked the one with the disgruntled salesman at the gates ;) 

- overall, the length and level design were very good.

 

I have one question though: 

Spoiler

How do you access the last pieced of loot - crown hidden behind "Crystal Eye" painting?
it is unprobeable and I have no idea how to access it.

I haven´t found any other-dimension bespectacles or anything like it :)
 

 

Edited by Tarhiel
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I'm not done with the FM yet but wanted to point out my confusions:
 

Spoiler

- When going into the Factory I came across the Storage Room *before* the maintenance room that instructs you to get to the Storage. So I was extremely confused as why I was stuck - especially since I hadn't even found the valve.

- Once I got that Valve and placed it, I assumed I had to restore the power somehow, since there's levers and an override and elevators need power, right? Wrong... I guess the dripping blood was the hint you wanted to use to make us look upwards.

 

 

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On 5/1/2022 at 5:02 AM, ChronA said:
Spoiler

Was there some piece of exposition I missed about why the factory was processing human bodies? I assume it was another reference to one of the more striking set pieces in Thief 4, but was there any more to it than that? Once I stopped to think about it did not feel like it fit in the setting, even with all the other horrible stuff going on in other parts of the level.

 

Spoiler

I guess the place is both a nod to Amnesia: TDM (the enemies and environment) and Amnesia: AMFP (the "meat processing"). Goldwell's fan missions tend to all involve Humanitarianism anyway, at least those I remember.

 

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On 5/15/2022 at 12:07 PM, Tarhiel said:

 

  Hide contents

How do you access the last pieced of loot - crown hidden behind "Crystal Eye" painting?
it is unprobeable and I have no idea how to access it.

I haven´t found any other-dimension bespectacles or anything like it :)
 

 

 

Spoiler

Click on the eye in the painting, that will open it 

 

Edited by Zerg Rush
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Sys Specs Laptop Lenovo V145 15AST, AMD A9- 9425 Radeon R5 - 5 cores 3,1 GHz  RAM 8Gb, GPU 1+2 Gb -Win10 64 v21H2

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Done. An overall solid FM as we've come to expect of the Goldwell Seal of Quality (TM) ; I did especially appreciate how

Spoiler

the guard+camera combo in front of Lady Volta's room (where the keg tap is found)

is a challenging little segment that cannot just be stealth-crouched through - easily fixed with noisemakers, a bit of violence or swift legs, but still refreshing to be forced into it!

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Ive already finished the mission and theres one I can say..

That was really great adventure and a pleasure to play it :D

But damn.. Why only 2 holy water in the shop, huh? I cant defeat thoes demons in the factory, or meaby i can find another one somewhere else?

By the way.. Great work indeed, Mr Goldwell!

Looking forward for another stories from you, sir :D 

Best regards from Poland!

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Goldwell is known for quality content and this mission is no exception. I always find his maps to be visually stunning and polished, with plenty of little detail and visual storytelling. By that I mean there is something to find in every corner and it's not necessarily loot; little things and touches that tell stories of their own, not related to the overall plot but fleshing out the map and its inhabitants nevertheless. The background story about the fake jewels and the two guys plotting each other's demise was great.

Starting with one hell of an intro sequence and playing a lady thief this time around, we set off to rob a noble. Goldwell being Goldwell, the mission offers much more content than the main goal, with secrets to discover, side missions to complete, and shops to plunder. Observant players who like to collect everything that can be stolen will have their work cut out for them.

I was impressed by the custom voice acting and the effort that likely went into creating the first female thief protagonist in TDM. I don't necessarily have a preference over what sort of thief I play, as it rarely makes any difference from gameplay perspective, but it always rubs me the right way when the protagonist is fleshed out. My only criticism - if you can call it that - is that some gasps of the protag are a tad too loud, which I noticed when swimming around in the first area.

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  • 2 weeks later...

This was a great mission!

I had a bit of a rocky start with it, mostly due to my own inattentiveness as I missed the parchment and couldn't get past the checkpoint at the beginning which, coupled with the starting area being rather simple, made me shelve the mission. Turns out the start is deceptively simple as the further in you get, the cooler and more complex the mission becomes, so I'm really glad I got back to it. :)

Edited by marbleman
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