nickie on 7/1/2017 at 16:09
Thank you very much for these reviews. I'm, hopefully, now up-to-date in adding them to the OP.
The Dark One on 13/1/2017 at 01:26
Quote Posted by GUFF
There are a little over 100 missions for TDM right now and quite a lot of them are short 20-40 minute deals, although a lot of those especially in recent years have ended up being pretty high quality. You can easily catch up or just hop in and play some of the greatest ones. Not many large campaigns or huge 4+ hour missions to be had. Even some of the greatest ones like Requiem, House of Locked Secrets, William Steele series, Penny Dreadful series, Thomas Porter, Ulysses and lots of others are 1-2 hours length max.
I say you shouldn't let the "off-branded generic" aspect of TDM bother you since a lot of Dark engine Thief missions are basically "Garrett's non-sequitur adventures" whereas these as "generic thief man or not-Garrett-with-a-name" although most of the better written ones don't play your character up as some kind of master of thievery at all. You can easily hop right in and enjoy it because it's familiar enough. There's a small learning curve of the mechanics because it actually is harder than Dark engine games unless you turn the AI difficulties down, but there's also some novel aspects like having a togglable lantern as standard equipment in most missions, limited amount of item physics manipulation, etc. You're missing out on a lot of good content.
I guess what would help a lot of people who haven't tried Dark Mod for whatever reason yet is probably a thread with recommendations of what people think are the greatest missions and/or best beginner missions. The Dark One is basically just trying a bunch of random missions out to review them, not really reviewing the best stuff but the average quality of Dark Mod missions IS better than Thief1/G/2 missions because they have a lot of community collusion to help out newer authors. Bikerdude does a lot of that kind of work it seems, with helping optimize and add detailing. There aren't very many newer (as in last few years) missions that are of low quality at all and few that you'll get completely stumped on what to do if you're paying attention, either. It's pretty nice.
There are a couple of rec threads, actually: (
http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/18187-what-are-some-of-the-best-or-must-play-missions-out-there/)
(
http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/13323-pick-your-top-5-tdm-missions/)
And I do have some idea of playing order. :P I'm deliberately playing the not-as-well-known-and-esteemed-ones because I want to save the best for last.
Quote Posted by nickie
Thank you very much for these reviews. I'm, hopefully, now up-to-date in adding them to the OP.
No worries!
Anyway.
I think that Deceptive Shadows (by Shadowhide) is the first Dark Mission I’ve played that I didn’t like on it’s own merits.
I’ve had issues with other missions, such as Briarwood Cathedral and The King of Diamonds, but those were technical issues that didn’t really hurt the mission’s quality. This was the first where I just didn’t like the thing.
The plot is slightly more involved than normal. Not-Garrett takes aim at a Builder’s purse and bungles the job, getting knocked out for his troubles. After coming too in a cell and escaping (and pain in and of itself), he finds out that the entire building is under Pagan siege and is on magic lockdown, making escape a tad bit more involved.
On the bright side, the focus on the Pagans is slightly refreshing, as most Dark Mod missions go for either the Builders or the City Watch, and seeing the more mystical elements in a mission is good. It also allows for some good visuals when you reach the overtaken basement, with plants and fog obscuring things. There are a few good bits, such as a jumping across a void, and the finale, while flawed, is definitely thrilling.
The problem is that it’s so dang tedious. Someone in the comments of the YouTube walkthrough I watched because I have no shame said it felt like an adventure game, and I agree. A Sierra-era adventure game. Or one of those dang Japanese room escape games that I love yet am terrible at. The things you need to escape are scattered all around the place, and you’d better be ready to look into every nook and cranny to find them. There’s a lever lying in the corner, rope arrows crammed behind a bookcase, getting the (thankfully optional) loot goal requires careful searching and in one case going out of your way back into a room you have no reason to return to.
The tedious part comes in that if you miss any of this you’re stuck wandering up and down the place trying to find whatever it was that you missed. I replayed this mission a week or two ago to see if the issue the first time was just me being a moron. Turns out that yes, it is that tedious, even if you know what you’re doing.
You also don’t get a good reason why half of this stuff is anywhere. Why is the key to a hidden door in a lock box and the key to that is somewhere else? Why is a key hanging in plant room under an altar? And then we have story questions: How can a person’s body decay in a few days, at most? How did no one notice a boarded up door? Why break the lever on one gate but not the other? Why is there a demon gargoyle in this place? Why does taking a random amulet cause the place to start shooting lightning at you? (This bit, while fun, is also annoying, because you have no idea what to do when it starts.) Normally I wouldn’t nitpick this much, but the creator seemed to be going for more of a story bent, so I’m talking about that.
And the top floor is too dark. Can’t see the dang guards half the time.
All in all, it’s an interesting mission, but the sheer tedium is simply too much. Not Recommended, sadly.
nickie on 14/1/2017 at 19:20
Added to OP, thank you.
I've just realised that this thread has been going for 8 years and 1 month, (yes, I am usually late for important dates these days). My sincere thanks to everyone who's contributed over this time. Amazing dedication! :)
The Dark One on 14/1/2017 at 23:45
Disclaimer: After posting this thread on The Dark Mod forums, I was informed that this was made from the demo version, before the mod was even publically available. I'm not sure if this changes my final view on it, but do consider my review with that in mind.
Closemouthed Shadows (by LordSavage) is a different sort of mission, being more of an assassination mission. Not-Garrett is recruited by a friend to kill said friend’s neighbor because he has stolen from said friend. It’s a short and sweet set-up, and I admit I enjoy a good assassin mission every now and then, if just because the bow is fun.
Like I said, this is short. Very short. About five or so rooms total. That’s not to say you can’t have a good mission with that size, see Thieves Den, but this feels too short. It was the author’s first, so I can’t blame him, I suppose, but I still would have liked more to do.
Difficulty-wise, pretty simple, with finding a key into the apartment you need to get into being the only part that might cause trouble. I admit, I do have to wonder at why the friend is perfectly fine with letting his friend rob his own apartment as well, but maybe we can assume a creative interpretation of the request. Some of the loot is hidden, but you shouldn’t have any trouble hitting the goal.
In the end, I’m having a harder time recing this that I thought. While it’s true that a short mission can still have plenty going for it, it feels too short. While the last mission I reviewed was as well, it felt like there was more content. It was a first mission, but there just doesn’t feel like there was enough here, though with some expansion it would be much better. I can neither recommend or not recommend, too good to dismiss, too short to rec.
The Dark One on 30/1/2017 at 05:40
This is slightly out of order, as I’m trying to review these in rough playing order, but eh, it’s short.
Poets and Peasants (by Digi) has Not-Garrett angling for some good old-fashioned payback. A chance encounter in a bar leads him to the home of Flowers, a thief who ripped Not-Garrett off sometime ago. Now that he has money, it’s time to strip it from him.
Graphics-wise, it’s nothing special. Not in a bad way, just that there’s nothing overly standout about it. I do think it’s one of those missions where you need to keep an eye on your light gem to see how illuminated you actually are, because it’s easy to feel like you’re so lit up that multiple Vegas casinos want to hang you when you’re perfectly fine. That being said, I did like the mild variety in locations for such a small mission.
Difficulty-wise, harder than you think. Getting the loot total requires you to duck around one of those guards who can’t be knocked out, and while it’s easy when you get the timing down, it wasn’t what I was expecting in the mission. Getting into the school is also harder than it looks, though part of this is due to needing to make a jump that doesn’t seem possible, if you want that sweet sweet darkness, anyway..
All in all, it’s a fun little mission, nothing amazing, but still solid. Recommended.
The Dark One on 13/2/2017 at 07:46
Rightful Property (by jysk) is another city mission. The plot is simple: Not-Garratt has stolen an orb from a Builder church, and is moving to hand it off to a fence when a raid forces him to flee...without his money. Since Not-Garratt is not a man to go without money, he decides to track down his fence, get back the orb, and maybe hit a bank while he’s at it.
This mission is, in contrast to the previous two I’ve reviewed, quite long. The city, while linear, has quite a few places you can slip into, which I enjoy. Due to the linearity, you can’t really get lost. I did wish that it was clearer about which houses you could go into, but that’s a minor issue.
Difficulty-wise, it’s...up there. The loot goal is high, and you’ll have to dig around a bit to find everything. Guards are abundant, and the bank contains the bane of all thieves everywhere, especially those who wear tap shoes: marble floors. But the placement is mostly fair (I feel like there are a few too many outside of the inn, but that was on my first playthrough, the second was much smoother), and this mission actually provides a reason for so many guards on the streets, which you have to find out to complete an objective. Interestingly, you can complete it in two different ways, which I appreciate, since one way is very easy to miss.
Since the graphics are standard (so, good), I figured I’d talk briefly about the horror aspect of this mission, which, while minor, is good. The build-up and foreshadowing is done well, giving the player a sense of foreboding, waiting for the threat to emerge. It’s minor, but I knew what was coming and was still caught off-guard by it. Very well done.
All in all, a very solid city mission with a dab of horror. Recommended.
nickie on 20/2/2017 at 19:05
I've finally updated the OP with these last three. Feel free to pm me if I forget to do them again.
Melan on 21/2/2017 at 19:17
Lord Beilman's Estate by Vlad Midnight
This is one of the two mansion missions Vlad Midnight made for Thief 1 in 2009. The two were released in rapid succession, and both are fun -
Invitation to Castle Morgoth is slightly better, while Lord Beilman's is rather easier. What they have in common, though, is some seriously dark graphics. The ambient light is cranked way low, and this is barely illuminated by various light sources. The results are good-looking, and particularly interesting in this mission's combination of Thief 2's Victorian mansion aesthetics and Thief 1's darker lighting scheme in a former three-level hotel converted into a rich lord's private residence. It is always pleasant, with a consistent attention to detail - nothing excessive, just a nice, cohesive feeling.
Story-wise, Lord Beilman's is about another priceless stock trinket (the beloved golden skull) and the clues you have to figure out before you can nab it. This is a nice, medium-difficulty task (with a few curious red herrings), and the rest of the mission is mostly about avoiding the interlocking guard patrols (they are complex and well realised), hunting loot and... some pretty silly stuff to access an even sillier bonus area. There are also some places where you can listen to InfoWars (no, really), which is fun, but rather out of place smack dab in the middle of an otherwise thematically consistent FM. The negatives also include some minor issues with patrols - sometimes, guards stop in their tracks and you have to club them, which is not good news at all if you planned for ghosting. These are only small complaints, though, and the rest makes up for them.
So that's it: no masterpiece, but nice to look at, and nice to play.
Inline Image:
https://68.media.tumblr.com/bf4bd9cbb941a11fcfb50fce1afc494c/tumblr_olqlx9IeIT1rxmn3vo6_540.png Inline Image:
https://68.media.tumblr.com/e7b4359a7b2c644d48641512854803f6/tumblr_olqlx9IeIT1rxmn3vo1_540.pngInline Image:
https://68.media.tumblr.com/f1960b1598d047126ba3bed809ed3786/tumblr_olqlx9IeIT1rxmn3vo2_540.png Inline Image:
https://68.media.tumblr.com/8266c7866a0ef24b43c21e3fa6775ac0/tumblr_olqlx9IeIT1rxmn3vo3_540.pngInline Image:
https://68.media.tumblr.com/73ac666d098a8a908e3efdf739b82571/tumblr_olqlx9IeIT1rxmn3vo4_540.png Inline Image:
https://68.media.tumblr.com/21edb8ecb6ba435805644909c0ad8701/tumblr_olqlx9IeIT1rxmn3vo5_540.pngAdded, thank you - nickie
The Dark One on 1/3/2017 at 06:38
Disclaimer: This was done on the lowest difficulty, because I like knockouts. :P
House of Theo (by Theothesnopp) is a slightly atypical mission, maining due the aesthetics. This time, Not-Garrett has been hired by no authority less than the Emperor himself to infiltrate the titual house of Theo to find information on possible weapons, gold, a moll, etc.
The mission is mainly different in it’s presentation, which is the best part of it. The mission starts with you staring out at a nice looking skybox with a sorrowful piano tune playing, and then you turn around and see a whole castle looking down on you. It’s honestly very well done, and sets the scene of this large, desolated area quite well. The castle itself, however, is a tad too big, which a little too much open space. This may have been needed though for the higher difficulties, which restain knock-outs. While I didn’t beat it on that difficulty, it seems like it's very fair, based on my observations. I also hope you like that piano, because it never stops playing, and gets repetitive after awhile, not to mention loud, which makes listening for guards that much harder.
One review I read said that there’s a little too much backtracking in this mission, but I don’t think I agree. For the most part, it’s simple to get from one area of the castle to another, and most of the backtracking is short. The only parts of the mission that will almost definitely give you trouble are the atic and a first floor hallway. The former has a guard who’s a pain to knock out, and the latter is a door you need to go into in pitch darkness. And a guard who’s sole job is to stand there and let you bump into him because you can’t see where you’re going.
All in all, good mission, though it’s quirks can annoy. Recommended.
Tannar on 2/3/2017 at 20:59
Thanks for the reviews, Melan and The Dark One! I enjoyed reading them. The Dark One, it would be helpful if you would include the game the mission is for in each of your reviews. Some of us might know, but many will not.
