Galaer on 20/6/2020 at 21:02
A NIGHT VISIT TO THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM
Spider museum. It's tricky to get purse from purple guard, because of distance. You can only do that while in shadow at the start, but you can't just wait there, because if guard is far away, he will despawn. So you need to get closer, so he will spawn back and continue patrolling. So pretty much you must go to the end of shadow in garden and observe him. Then when he's going back and he's somewhere in the middle, start running to shadow at the start. And in the end steal his purse.
Archer can get stuck on lantern, but hugging right wall is enough to ghost him. Museum is mostly empty, but after completing loot objective, it gets populated by spiders, but the only problem is small spider near exit window. He's verty sensitive. Luckily this mission has flaw in design. If you grab Gate key, go to starting gate and go through it, you will permanently complete leaving objective. If you activated guard on the other side (by mantling over fence and looking at him), he can get stuck while walking into unfrobbable part of gate, but he's not a problem. You can easily sneak near him and he will not even 1st alert.
There is a lot of scattered coins on floors. A lot of secrets. One secret has 3 other secret in itself. And secret switches are very hard to spot, but loot objective is easy to complete, because the whole requirement appears in Storeroom. To get down I drop on south shelf and mantle up, then drop on carpet. Patrollers and light bots are easy to avoid. To grab all the loot you must drop Gate key on carpet, so you will grab rest of loot. Then grab Gate key to finish this mission.
STATS:
Time: 0:46:37; Loot: 35215/35855
Pockets Picked: 1/2; Locks Picked: 7
Back Stabs: 0; Knock Outs: 0
Damage Dealt: 0; Damage Taken: 0; Healing Taken: 0
Innocents killed: 0; Others killed: 0
Iron Beasts Destroyed: 0; Disabled: 0
Secrets: 9/9
GHOST: SUCCESS
PERFECT GHOST: POSSIBLE
SUPREME GHOST: POSSIBLE
PERFECT SUPREME: POSSIBLE
Galaer on 20/6/2020 at 21:04
OUT FOR A WALK
Small city mission. Most AI will ignore you, so it's easy to grab most of loot. But you will need 5 water arrows and 1 rope arrow. In guard's house there is tricky to find tiara on crayman's head above entrance and 4 vases above statue. In bar I had problem to notice golden bottle among green bottles. There is invisible wall preventing you from careful watching. Also some junk items are loot. For example bigger golden hammer, daggers and sword on counter of equipment shop. There is also stone hammer in novice bedroom, which is also loot.
CITY + CHURCH
You can't enter food shop in front of guard near cemetery. I am forced to skip this 5 loot. To the next shop you can go through inner garden and disable mushroom. Then go to left guy in front of church and go left along left wall to potion shop. Afterwards run past guard to church. Left Hammerite can be ghosted if you move really slowly. Then douse 5 torches in 2 Hammerite's passage. In kitchen you must stand on the side of novice, crouch and lean for 5 plates. Then go very slowly behind Hammerite into prison. There thieves prisoners can attack patroller there. Not a bust. Use rope to get to catacombs.
CATACOMBS
To get into 1st passage behind zombie you must lean forward + run forward. This will allow you to squeeze into passage. Golden skulls aren't loot. So now I am forced bust ghost run. In next room is haunt. On sarcophagus is golden skull (no loot) and 6 tiny rings (worth 600). Room will automatically lighten if you enter this room. So haunt will spot you.
Alternative is fire elementals room. Basically you must use moss arrow on left corner, drop on ladder in that way, which will let you jump far on moss. This way you will avoid 1st elementals. 2nd is easy, you just need to move slowly along wall. 3rd elemental is impossible to ghost, not just that, after 1st jump 1st fire elemental turn on light around itself. This means you can't escape without getting spotted. By skipping this loot I skip 790 loot.
Because of loot objective I am forced to visit one of these rooms. Dealing with haunt is easier than with 3 fire elementals shooting at you. By the way they will alert also haunt through a wall, while haunt's alert will not alert fire elementals or zombies. So I decided to grab 6 tiny rings, which alerts haunt (ghost bust). To escape from catacombs I just shoot rope arrow near 1st rope, so I will climb to prison.
Then you just need to return to starting point. Also something triggers blockade and Hammerites at the city. It happened to me on my test run, but they didn't spawn on my ghost run. I guess maybe reason is I didn't KO any Hammerite in this run. Or maybe using cemetery lever summon them. I don't know.
STATS:
Time: 0:26:29; Loot: 4134/4929
Pockets Picked: 3/4; Locks Picked: 11
Back Stabs: 0; Knock Outs: 0
Damage Dealt: 0; Damage Taken: 0; Healing Taken: 0
Innocents killed: 0; Others killed: 0
GHOST: IMPOSSIBLE
Galaer on 20/6/2020 at 21:05
PAYBACK
Short mansion mission. I need to kill Lord Bullright and there is optional objective to KO his son. Pretty easy, because you can turn off light for every room. But there are 2 rooms that are really hard to ghost and they were the reason for me to restart this mission twice. It's located on 1st floor - center and north room. It's well patrolled place with archer on higher balcony. There is hard to get light switch that must be turned off and 3 gas lamps that must be doused. But if there are patrollers nearby, they will 2nd alert. Also patrollers can turn these gas lamps back on or what's worse - fail and freeze in place. Which makes ghosting this rooms impossible.
Let's start dealing with this situation. First - you need to grab 2 water arrows: one is in sewers at the very beginning and other on top of 2nd floor stairs (east side). From 2nd floor descend on stairs (west side) and when there is no patrollers douse 2 gas lamps. These 2 gas lamps will not caught any attention of guards. Go south and go to Dining Room. Turn off light, open double door and wait for guards to go away. Then close right side of door and lean for light switch.
Return to room with 2 doused gas lamps and open double door. Wait for guards to go away and step in doorway. You must douse 3 gas lamps: west, east and north. Start from west above your head. Otherwise archer on balcony will go into search mode. Then go left near entrance to Casino and go for 4 goblets on table. Go to east entrance to Casino and lean for light switch. Enter Casino and quickly grab statuette and coin on floor near chair in NW corner. Then use west passage to get out before any guard will decide to turn on any gas lamp.
STATS:
Time: 0:18:42; Loot: 1600/1600
Pockets Picked: 9/10; Locks Picked: 5
Back Stabs: 1; Knock Outs: 1
Damage Dealt: 31; Damage Taken: 0; Healing Taken: 0
Innocents killed: 1; Others killed: 0
Iron Beasts Destroyed: 0; Disabled: 0
Secrets: 5/5
GHOST: SUCCESS
PERFECT GHOST: SUCCESS
SUPREME GHOST: IMPOSSIBLE. You must turn off light in Kitchen and douse 2 gas lamps in Front Entrance to complete loot objective.
Galaer on 20/6/2020 at 21:06
RETURN TO TARNHILL
This is opposite situation to Exile. I suspected this will be city mission, but it happened to be a mission based on old FPS game Strife. Made by Ricebug. Not too much loot, but some key items are hard to find. Enemies are easy to dodge. Also 2 patrollers near beginning entered outside area while in search mode. It definitely wasn't made by me, so I don't count that as a bust. Also outside guards can 2nd alert to sound of elevator (with bent gear under it) moving.
Ultimately mission can't be ghosted. After getting teleported you must use switch opening 2 holes with bots. This close portcullis. Only destroying bots raise portcullis. You can block portcullis with scroll, 2 healing potions, speed potion and dewdrop. But to open next passage you need to use lever in hole with bot. So you must kill at least 1 bot. But then 2nd bot will start to shoot you. That's why I kill both bots (ghost bust) and to do that I grab 2 frag grenades.
STATS:
Time: 0:35:41; Loot: 540/540
Pockets Picked: 4/8; Locks Picked: 0
Back Stabs: 0; Knock Outs: 0
Damage Dealt: 65; Damage Taken: 0; Healing Taken: 0
Innocents killed: 0; Others killed: 0
Iron Beasts Destroyed: 2; Disabled: 0
Secrets: 1/1
GHOST: IMPOSSIBLE
Galaer on 20/6/2020 at 21:07
SERGE BANK
Short and easy bank mission. Lots of darkness. The only problem is on 2nd floor. 1st guard turns in random direction except towards front entrance. 2nd guard watches front entrance from terrace. Passage is medium lighted, but you need to hug wall and slowly enter until you get into darkness. Behind 2nd guard you can squeeze by using lean forward + run forward, but very slowly, because everywhere on this floor is marble.
3rd guard is the hardest, because he's patrol route is short. He has a key. Go behind his right side, use key to open door and enter. Open safe, which open safe with Old Mask and disable watcher in Vault at the same time. Then wait for guard to go away and sneak to opposite wall on the left. Use lever to open door to Vault. When he shows sneak forward into Vault.
IS SUPREME GHOST POSSIBLE?
No. And it's not because disabling watcher, because same lever also open safe with Old Mask. I think this one can be excused. But there is just no way to return guard's key, Guard's patrol route is short and on marble. He will always hear drop of key on marble and 2nd alert. Also for supreme you must skip Mace until you grab Old Mask and then return to Merchant House and grab Mace. This is because mission ends after completing all objective (no escape objective).
STATS:
Time: 0:09:20; Loot: 1311/1311
Pockets Picked: 2/2; Locks Picked: 3
Back Stabs: 0; Knock Outs: 0
Damage Dealt: 0; Damage Taken: 0; Healing Taken: 0
Innocents killed: 0; Others killed: 0
Iron Beasts Destroyed: 0; Disabled: 0
Secrets: 0/0
GHOST: SUCCESS
PERFECT GHOST: SUCCESS
SUPREME GHOST: IMPOSSIBLE
marbleman on 25/6/2020 at 12:38
Game:
Thief 2FM:
My Favorite YearGhost -
SuccessPerfect Thief -
FailedSupreme Ghost -
SuccessPerfect Supreme -
FailedTime - 49:09
Loot - 4711/5201 (Supreme: 4701)
Pockets Picked - 3/4
Locks Picked - 1
Backstabs - 0, Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0, Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0, Other Kills - 0, Bodies Discovered - 0
Consumables - none
I wanted to ghost something from the TMA 20th Anniversary Contest, so I've decided to take what's reportedly one of the toughest missions for this mode. Having played through it, I can't say I disagree. This mission doesn't have any particularly tricky situations or moves to pull off, but it's chock full of guards with interlocking patrols, which requires a great deal of patience. Our goals are to break into Lord Serendeli's mansion/warehouse and steal a bottle of his special wine, his client list, and 3500 loot.
The CompoundStarting in the sewer, I could take one of the ladders and emerge inside Serendeli's compound right away. However, a longer - and seemingly more intended - way around was also available, and given that it has loot to pick up, I decided to take that one. Although passing the kitchen with two servants seems difficult at first, their patrols offer plenty of time to move past, and the area has several handy shadowy spots, including one right by the fireplace. Emerging in the courtyard, picked a purse off a guard roaming the place before finally entering the building from the North.
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http://www.imagebam.com/image/6280a01347889044)
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https://thumbs2.imagebam.com/7e/30/fb/6280a01347889044.jpg Decided to work through Serendeli's building floor by floor. On the first floor, the only tough bit was to get into Russell Andrews' office. The door leading into from Storage Bay 2 it is very exposed, and the two guards cover this area well. Had to wait through a few rounds of their patrols before I got an opening and could slip in. The only other way into the office is from the outside, by taking a metal walkway around the building, which is also doable but quite a bit more tedious. Got the client list inside the office and exited the same way, which involved a bit more waiting. The second floor was a little easier, with the main corridor being the most difficult place to move through. Got the basement key from Serendeli's bedroom and went back down. The basement is a small area with a few tight patrols but ultimately nothing crazy. However, the basement key opens the door to a section marked “Private,” which is a gambling den full of thieves and the most difficult part of the mission.
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http://www.imagebam.com/image/6105701347889049)
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https://thumbs2.imagebam.com/08/b9/64/6105701347889049.jpg Gambling DenRight next to the entrance is Serendeli's office, and there are three things of interest inside. First is our main objective, a huge bottle of wine. Second is the sewer access key that opens the door leading right back into the starting area. However, this is an unnecessary pickup, so I skip it. Finally, there is the only bust to Perfect Thief. To gain access to Serendeli's safe, which contains some loot and a secret switch opening a secret compartment with more loot, the player has to slash a banner. Overall, a total of 490 loot has to be skipped for regular Ghost.
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http://www.imagebam.com/image/328ebf1347889053)
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https://thumbs2.imagebam.com/87/83/46/328ebf1347889053.jpg The other notable hurdle in the gambling den is a stationary drunk thief, who makes two more loot pieces unobtainable for Supreme. By leaning in from the kitchen, I could grab the wine bottles behind the bar; I could also enter the room from the other end and get the coinstacks and purse on the table right behind him. Finally, by mantling the fireplace and using the pillar in the middle of the room as hard cover, I could grab the wine bottle in the table in the middle. However, two coinstacks worth 10 on the bar stand are unobtainable for Supreme.
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http://www.imagebam.com/image/442acb1347889057)
Inline Image:
https://thumbs2.imagebam.com/a5/d9/c6/442acb1347889057.jpg With the gambling den cleared, all I had to do is return the basement key and leave. Since I couldn't put it back in the chest, I dropped it on top of it. Then, took one of the sewer hatches in the courtyard to get back to the starting area.
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http://www.imagebam.com/image/762cf81347889064)
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https://thumbs2.imagebam.com/16/6f/17/762cf81347889064.jpg Notes- Skipped a total of 490 loot in Serendeli's basement office. Getting that requires slashing a banner.
- Skipped two coinstacks worth 10 on the bar stand in the gambling den. Couldn't get those without a first alter from the drunk thief.
- The final pickpocket is an arrow on the archer in the courtyard.
klatremus on 26/6/2020 at 05:49
Hey nice to see one of your reports again finally, marbleman! :)
marbleman on 26/6/2020 at 15:36
It's been a while, hasn't it? :D I might do a couple more soon, but no guarantees.
Galaer on 27/6/2020 at 21:23
TOWER OF ST. MORIA (T1/T2)
THIEF 1 VERSION
Tower is quite easy part to ghost. You only need to remember about stealing High Priest's key from walking priest. He walks to his room and goes back to altar only once. Also on floor with generators you are forced to cut banner (ghost bust #1). Luckily patrolling Hammerite will only 1st alert to it, but will be more sensitive from now on.
Upper Crypts are also no problem. In 1st room I douse 2 torches on the right. Then I go to south section, which contains most of the loot in this mission. There are 2 haunts, but they are easy to dodge. Outer walls ladders has only 2 loot pieces on each, inner wall ladders has usually 4 loot pieces, but one ladder has only 3. After getting Magic Sceptre of Aldares you go to east section to descend to Ancient Tomb, which is much harder place to ghost.
ANCIENT TOMB
You descend on ladder to room with 4 lying zombies. You must jump out and quickly hide in passage. Don't wake zombies. Otherwise after hearing traps from next room, they will go in search mode. In next room are magic bolts traps. Easy to avoid. After grabbing Dramon Eyes fire shadow may appear (on my test run no fire shadow has appeared). On my ghost run he appeared and immediately noticed me (ghost bust #2). Rope up on top of wooden beam and wait for fire shadow to be killed by magic bolts. Then go down.
This room has no enemies. Grab loot and Sword of Ariah. Go to ladder and douse 3 torches below. You probably hear alerted haunt below. He's alerted because of traps, but if you descend traps will stop shooting and after few minutes haunt will calm down. Douse rest of torches, then use sceptre on statue to create bridge. Also grab all water arrows, you will need them.
Next part is hard. Hide between sarcophagi in front of statue and wait for haunt to go left. Now I run to bridge, get stuck on entrance, which after getting unstuck teleports me to the middle of bridge, then I run right to shadow near sarcophagus and ladder. This way I managed to avoid 2nd alerting 3 fire elementals (on my test run there was only 1 fire elemental) and haunts. I douse all torches in this room, then climb up, which starts traps again and 2nd alert haunts and fire elementals.
At the top I douse all torches again and I hear that fire shadow above me gets killed by traps (no fire shadows spawn ed on my test run). That's weird. Grabbing Medallion from mummy should spawn mummy. We have objective to kill it, but because of active traps, mummy is in search mode and it can't be killed in 1 hit. So it's a ghost bust, right? No, because something bizarre happened on my ghost run again. This time instead of mummy, it's corpse has been summoned, which completed objective.
Time to return. After descending on ladder I noticed that despite traps haunt and elementals has calmed down. But after reloading they all went into search mode again. This time I couldn't ghost bridge. Fire elementals noticed me and alerted haunts (ghost bust #3). At least haunts didn't spot me. The rest is easy. Just go to room with zombies. Again don't wake them. Just run to front of ladder and climb it. I actually doused all torches in this room. Then return to starting point.
STATS:
Time: 1:06:03; Loot: 9556/9556
Pockets Picked: 6/6; Locks Picked: 3
Back Stabs: 0; Knock Outs: 0
Damage Dealt: 0; Damage Taken: 0; Healing Taken: 0
Innocents killed: 0; Others killed: 0
GHOST: IMPOSSIBLE
THIEF 2 VERSION
The easiest to spot difference is lower loot objective (8200) and there is also much less loot (8426). So loot objective is more tight, but even so I had no problem with finding loot. Difference in loot is because exclusive for Thief Gold loot pieces has been deleted or exchanged for less valuable loot pieces. Also some 2 rooms with lots of loot in Ancient Tomb has been removed.
There is more water arrows nad roof of tower has more shadow. But still you are forced to cut banner to get to Greenhouse (ghost bust #1). In Upper Crypts south section has third haunt. He patrols from NE corner of the room through SE corner to SW corner and returns similar way. In east room there is zombie on the right side, so you must douse few torches to get all loot from there. In other words Upper Crypts are slightly harder to ghost, while tower is slightly easier. But the biggest difference is Ancient Tomb.
ANCIENT TOMB
In place of 4 lying zombies are 3 standing zombies, so after entering room with traps they will go into search mode. So douse every lower torch. Then go up and wait in passage. On island below is fire shadow in search mode, because of traps. Wait for him to die or slide down into lava. Then grab Dramon Eyes to summon 2nd fire shadow and again it's a ghost bust #2. Rope to wooden beam and wait for him to die or slide down. There is also another change in this room - grabbing tears will disable shooting trap and in the end only 1 trap will be active. Unfortunately it's enough to 2nd alert haunts below.
Descend to lower level. Room that was in Thief 1 version empty right now is occupied by 2 haunts in search mode. They are staying at the middle. First douse all torches. Then try to lean for Sword of Ariah. Disabling auto-equip will help, because sword will lighten our position. Now you need to quietly jump from sarcophagus to sarcophagus to get to another side. It's tricky, but doable. Grab skull, then douse 3 torches to safely descend below.
Again this room has 2 haunts, but for some reason they aren't alerted. Dodging them is easy. Just jump on sarcophagi and crouch on them. Use sceptre on statue to open path down. That's right, no bridge, no fire elementals and no 2nd island. We are going down to tomb. Douse all torches, grab last urn and then grab Medallion to summon ghost. You are forced to kill him, but it's impossible to do it in 1 hit, because he has too much health (ghost bust #3). At least spider doesn't alert at all.
Time to go. Haunts in room with statue are easy to dodge, but higher haunts are still tricky. They may be patrolling normally now, but it's only a matter of time they will go into search mode, because after climbing ladder trap will start shooting again. Dodge first haunt, but 2nd will go into search mode. Mantle on left sarcophagus and prey for him to go closer other sarcophagus. Then slowly move towards ladder.
Next are zombies. They are in search mode, so wait for them to walk away and then run to ladder. Escape from roof of the tower is easier in this version, because from highest terrace you can jump on mountain and find good spot to jump into water.
STATS:
Time: 0:51:37; Loot: 8426/8426
Pockets Picked: 6/6; Locks Picked: 3
Back Stabs: 9; Knock Outs: 0
Damage Dealt: 502; Damage Taken: 0; Healing Taken: 0
Innocents killed: 0; Others killed: 1
Iron Beasts Destroyed: 0; Disabled: 0
Secrets: 9/9
Back Stabs: 9. That's a high number. Too high. I only use Sword of Ariah to kill ghost at the end. I used 2 powerful slashes and then 3 normal slashes when he started to turn around. But somehow I got 9 back stabs. I wonder if fire shadows being hit from behind by magic bolts counts 1 back stab for me in the stats.
GHOST: IMPOSSIBLE
Galaer on 27/6/2020 at 21:24
UFO
Pretty easy to ghost mission by JIS. Very small number of AI, but hard to find loot. Spider must be avoided by going slowly along right wall. Thanks to new mantle you can jump over training dummies in fortress and also jump over gate leading to basement. The hardest loot to get are 2 tiaras on top of 2 bugbeast containers in lab. To get it you must jump on slope of first container, grab tiara, then while standing on slope (not on metal top) jump+mantle on slope of 2nd container and grab tiara. Return back to 1st container, climb on metal top and jump+mantle on top of stairs.
I'm skipping loot from cell, because it's impossible to ghost prisoners. It's possible to make jump into tunnel leading to exit under lava bridge. It's tricky, but at least you don't leave rope arrow behind. This way I skip 400 loot. In Keeper's house are 2 candlesticks. You need to be quick to grab them before mission will end.
STATS:
Time: 0:27:42; Loot: 9237/9637
Locks Picked: 1
Back Stabs: 0; Knock Outs: 0
Damage Dealt: 0; Damage Taken: 0; Healing Taken: 0
Innocents killed: 0; Others killed: 0
GHOST: SUCCESS
PERFECT GHOST: IMPOSSIBLE
SUPREME GHOST: IMPOSSIBLE. No way to lock exit cave passage and return key at the same time.