Galaer on 11/6/2019 at 17:49
MISSION 12 - RETURN TO THE CATHEDRAL
This mission is one of the most annoying missions in the game. And this is last undead mission. What I fear the most is killing Haunts objective. That's why I bought every flashbomb, mine and fire arrow from the shop. Even without underwater section this mission will be something.
First I used 4 Talismans and enter Cathedral. I went left and took 2 golden candlesticks then returned to the entrance. I went right to the Bell Tower. From inside I opened door and jumped+mantled on them. This way I appeared on higher ledge and obtained tiara. I went to the Altar with the Eye and roped up. On second floor I just opened door leading to big hammer with the Eye. It's tricky, because lack of shadow. If any Haunt will look in your way, they will spot you. Then I roped up to third floor, got diamond from a beam and took body of Brother Martello. Then I went with it around third floor to the stairs. I opened few chests. I also dropped to the second floor to obtain purple goblet, roped up and jump and grab the rope to mantle onto wooden beam. Then I took body to the outside of the Cathedral. The Eye spoke: "Where are you going?!". Well, what can I say, I plan getting the Eye at the very end of the mission after I will find out what equipment left for me after killing Haunts from other areas. But before that the Basement.
I went to Wine Cellar and brought Brother Renault to the entrance of Basement. Then I looted this place. Rock trap almost killed me. I turn on the generator and brought body to the outside. Then I had luck. Haunt was returning to St Yora, but he decided to return to garden. I hid in shadow near broken stairs and killed Haunt with the sword from the side. So killing Haunts with sword without leaning is actually possible. Good to know. I transported both bodies into shadow downstairs. I had a problem to jump+mantle on top of broken stairs. Now I decided to took down all Haunts walking in this area. It's not easy, because a lot of traffic, so it will take some time.
I stood near gate leading to little unnamed building to the South. I had luck. Killing Haunt alerted nobody. Second Haunt was also easy. His death alerted only 2 zombies. I hid in the corner of big shadow and waited for them calming down. Third Haunt I managed to manipulate by quicksaving and quickloading to go to my gate. He alerted only a zombie and a priest. Still not a big problem. The last Haunt was somehow resistant to my route manipulation. So I went behind him into St Tennor. Unfortunately good shadow isn't close enough to Haunt route, so I hid in the corner of the room, just behind passageway. Then attacked him with sword when he was close, but I didn't saw him yet. Then after many tries I dropped his body into shadow in the corner.
Since I appeared in St Tennor I decided to make Holy Hammer and explore this building first. Not too much here - I only found 2 fire arrows. Then I jumped into metal slope, opened door of little storage room and mantled onto them. I took Candle and a purse. Afterwards I went to entrance of Cemetery and returned to big shadow. Before going forward I decided to kill undead priest. I stood near St Tennor and manipulated his route to go to St Jenel, then I killed him from the side (powerful blow of the sword + 1 slash). Afterwards I brought bodies of Brother Martello and Brother Renault to shadow near entrance to the Cemetery. I have decided to climb up to St Yora next. I sneaked through garden with undead priest and took 1 water arrow, then I entered St Yora.
I went left and upstairs. I hid in shadow near big hole in floor and killed 3 zombies with just 2 fire arrows. I looted this floor and took Rosary. Then I went through hole in wall and took 3 water arrows from sarcophagus. I looted kitchen and left St Yora. I returned to big shadow with Haunts corpses. I decided to go South to little buiding.
Inside 3 water arrows and elevator. In the sewers I appeared near Haunt. He's always troublesome for me. But this time I hid in shadow and killed him from the front. That was surprisingly easy. Then I took diamond and silver nugget and went to zombie area to open secret room with more equipment. Afterwards I took elevator to St Vale, took Prayer Book and returned to big shadow. Then I went to St Jenel.
I went upstairs and while behind zombie I obtained Key to Cemetery. Then I mantled up. The next corridor have a zombie that enter other little rooms only when Garrett enters little room. I put mine on his path and went inside little room. Zombie exploded. Then I blessed my Holy Hammer. I returned to big shadow and used another mine to destroy 2 patrolling zombies. It took me few tries though. I went to clear Cemetery. I used 4 fire arrows to kill 4 zombies, through their body parts in the corners, then transported priests corpses near their graves. In the end I returned to the Cathedral. It's time to grab the Eye, but before that deal with last 3 Haunts.
I went to third floor and around it. I dropped to second floor in front of door leading to Eye, then I let Haunts see me. Then I used 3 flashbombs to kill them and 2 mines to kill 3 floor zombies. Then I jumped on the big hammer and took the Eye. I dropped down and hid in the corner. Undead priest ran here and left. I waited until he return and sneaked outside. Brother Murus appeared, I went downstairs and Brother Murus appeared again. I went to Cemetery and did ghost objectives. Because I killed all Haunts, after putting bodies into graves, I got Armory Key immediately without any end speech. I wonder if I put bodies before getting objective, do I get key right after Ritual of Consecration? I returned to the Cathedral, sneaked into Armory and went to exit.
I don't like this mission, but this backward run was rather fun. My favorite moment was ghosting the Cathedral. That was fun and that's weird, because I don't really like ghosting missions. Also I think that undeads are less sensitive than humans. It's just KO-ing guards is much harder than killing Haunts with a sword. In the end I used violence. Also I used jump acceleration just after clearing path very late in my playthrough. This gave me a little simulation how backward Thief 2 runs will look like. But it was surprisingly fun mission.
STATS:
TIME: 2 hour 12 min 49 s
LOOT: 1701/2126
DEALT DAMAGE: 469, RECEIVED: 0
BREAKS: 0
MISSION 13 - ESCAPE!
I start with 5 HP. I took my equipment from behind the Altar and went into Basement. Right at the beginning I heard scary sounds of new enemies. Seriously, I have no idea how to deal with this mission.
On a side note, on Normal there is a purse with previous loot behind Altar. I never knew about it. I thought this purse is available only on Expert and in different place. Also because I finished previous mission with just 1701 loot, my max loot for this mission is 3681. This means this mission have 1980 loot beside this purse. Anyway, let's return back to Expert.
I went down and hid in shadow under torch with fire arrow. Then I KO-ed 1 Ratman. It's not possible to return upstairs with a body. Also you can't drop it in little shadow and try to KO other enemies. They will attack you. This is a perfect shadow, but instead I waited for Bugbeast and Ratman to go right. Then i took body to shadow near water pool on wall. And here is first annoying obstacle - slopes. When you carry body, they can get you stuck on wall. Here you can get out by dropping body and after getting out of the slope regrabbing body. I waited in this shadow for Bugbeast and went to shadow in previous cave. I went closer to middle of cave and KO-ed second Ratman and hid his body. I returned to the same shadow and KO-ed Bugbeast.
After that I grabbed all equipment and loot I could and went to spider caves. I shot green spider, went left and killed another spider. I appeared in front of treehouse cave. I doused both torches and went inside along right wall. I shot rope arrow into wooden ledge as close to shadow as possible and not above root slope. I waited for Bugbeat to pass and quickly ran and jumped onto rope. I climbed into treehouse and collected everything. Also I completed objective about Constantine plans. For return I dropped down near the wall I entered. But not too close. If you drop too close, then root slope will get you stuck on wall. I returned to spider caves.
I must say that fighting green spiders with a sword isn't really difficult in this run. Just wait for them, use powerful hit and crouch, then go back and wait again. Easy. But climbing on slopes here can be tricky. Sometimes Garrett gets stuck on top of slope and doesn't want to continue forward. It's annoying.
Getting out of spider caves to treehouse area can be tricky. To do that I did the most ridiculous in this run blackjack action. I waited for Ratman to go on the path under me. Then I dropped, immediately turn around towards him and KO-ed surprised Ratman. I hid his body near Bugbeast. Treehouse area was empty, so I jump accelerated to a shadow in small niche.
From there I doused a torch and hell has started. Into this cave entered alerted fire elemental and 2 Ratmen. How does fire elemental got alerted, I have no idea. But he wounded 2 Ratmen and they got into search mode. And somehow they decided to go to my little shadow in small niche. Waiting there quietly didn't help, because they attacked me. To my surprise I managed to KO them one after another and hid their bodies in small niche. Then I KO-ed other 2 torches and waited.
Looks like these 2 Ratmen weren't the only one hurt by a fire elemental. Third Ratman gets alerted whenever I was close to him in full shadow. He ran away and a second later return to his patrol route. When he entered with Bugbeast, I KO-ed him, but Bugbeast went into search mode, noticed me and killed me. So instead I KO-ed Bugbeast. I left niche and went near treehouse, but Ratman always get alerted and ran behind treehouse. At some point he must got tired, because he stood in place behind treehouse and stopped patrolling. I went behind him and KO-ed him. Then I looted treehouse.
Before dropping down I shot 5 noise arrows into second treehouse cave. This let fire elementals to kill 2 Ratmen. Interesting discovery - fire elementals can only levitate above ground, they can't fly upward onto a ledge of treehouse. I never knew about that. Then I doused fire elementals and killed last 2 Ratmen with normal slashes of the sword. It was surprisingly easy. I looted this area and went into another spider caves. There I fought 2 spiders one after another, It scared me a little when one of them jumped on me, but that's all. I went to proper basement area patrolled by spider. After killing it, I squeezed into passage, which was hard, because dead spider body is still solid. Unlike to Thief 2. I hid in the shadow and KO-ed 3 Ratmen. Then I went upstairs into the House.
I climbed the stairs and waited for a Ratman. I KO-ed him before he would have a chance to get stuck on barrel. Then I doused torch in the corridor. But frog noticed me, so I shot it. After everyone calmed down, I KO-ed another patrolling Ratman and killed another frog. Then I went to Bar and loot it. Weird thing is that Garrett can't walk over the counter - small ledge at the edge blocking him. I doused 2 torches and KO-ed Bugbeast and another Ratman. I collected loot from previous mission and gas arrow from upstairs. I doused torch in Dining Room and got diamond from under the table. Then went into Kitchen, waited for patrolling Ratman, alerted them by jumping and then gassed them. Then I opened door of Dining Room, doused a torch and shot another frog.
I waited for enemies to calm down, looted area and returned back to my exit from basement. I went along wall to a room with small window. I doused 2 torches. Then through a window I shot 2 noise arrows into a small bush and then used all my gas arrows to take down all enemies. I looted this area. Then went to small tower with Bugbeast inside and KO-ed him. I doused 2 torches in tower and used last water arrow on torch behind corner. I went to shadow behind torch and KO-ed last Ratman in this mission. I looted this place and finally dropped outside where I finished this annoying mission.
STATS:
TIME: 1 hour 58 min 45 s
LOOT: 3466/3681
DEALT DAMAGE: 465, RECEIVED: 0
BREAKS: 0
Galaer on 24/6/2019 at 19:40
MISSION 14 - STRANGE BEDFELLOWS
This mission starts easy. I entered Hammerite Cathedral without problem and gathered arrows. Then I opened the door and hid in big shadow. I waited for red spider and killed him with 3 arrows. It's weird that they couldn't be killed with just 1 arrow like green spiders. Also 1 Bugbeast is walking here. But because touching it activate this annoying objective about killing all of them, I'm gonna avoid them. There is 1 piece of loot in this mission and I decided to go after that. Unfortunately this means exploring infested by Constantine minions Cathedral.
From big shadow I went to balcony leading to Garden. Unfortunately Bugbeast noticed me, so I was forced to immediately drop into Garden. I waited for frog to pass me and hid in shadow near the trees near the exit from the Garden. From there I KO-ed first Ratman from the front and hid his body in shadow behind me. Then after frog return, I hid behind corner, waited for second Ratman and KO-ed him. In the end I gassed patrolling frog. I went to room opposite to High Priest room. I used moss arrow on floor in order to jump and avoid getting attacked by green spider. Then I entered priest room and got a purse. I left the room and went the other side. My only problem was frog from bathroom, but there is shadow under wall, so it's not a big problem. I returned to stairs, waited for Bugbeast to pass them and went upstairs to big shadow. I waited for Bugbeast to go to room above cemetery, then I went to shadow created by a pillar on the left an d after Bugbeast went onto another side, I sneaked to Main Altar. I descended to the Underground Caves.
There is 4 Ratmen patrolling this part of caves. I waited for them to leave, then went right and hid in shadow behind pillar. I doused the torch, so I could more safely KO all 4 Ratmen here. Once there is one body lying in cave, Ratmen will become a little more sensitive, but they aren't big problem like human guards. Then I went to cave with Chisel. I shot green spider and gassed alerted red spider. Then I took Builder's Chisel. I went down and from top I gassed another Ratman below me. Afterwards I went across wooden bridge. In Water Room is impossible to get to well, because current take Garrett upward towards the exit. So you can't get water arrows, current is too strong. I descended to the Hammerites, got a key and returned to locked door.
This cave is very easy. I just KO-ed 2 Ratmen patrolling long corridor. Then I descended to lower floor. The entrance is slightly problematic, but there is plenty of shadow. Sneaking to High Priest is also easy, you just need to watch out for turning around Ratman. With body I went to locked door near 2 Ratmen. I opened door with key, went inside, dropped body and immediately closed the door and locked it with key. One Ratman only first alerted. I went to the bottom, opened another locked door and went to exit.
STATS:
TIME: 48 min 33 s
LOOT: 100/100
DEALT DAMAGE: 45, RECEIVED: 0
BREAKS: 0
MISSION 15 - INTO THE MAW OF CHAOS
Immediately I hid in shadow behind gate and waited for monsters to enter the portal. Getting into first cave is easy. Getting out was a case of slowly going across stone stairs. I made mistake and didn't KO second stationary Bugbeast. So after getting out of second cave, it spot me every time. So I was forced to blindly find third cave and ran through it. I ran too far and I needed to time my climb on space between slopes with third stationary Bugbeast. The rest of the stairs is easy. Jumps over lava were scary, but easy.
In ice cave I only had problem with obtaining water arrow under blue crystal near frogs. You can get stuck in the wall, because of steep slope and ice. So don't get too close to wall. Ice slide was surprisingly easy. Fire elementals cave was also easy. I managed to kill 2 elementals with 1 water arrow. Then again ice cave and mantle onto slope. Getting on side path on second slide was easy. Be careful with jump acceleration though. Behind plants is chasm and I died that way once. I took 4 fruits with me. Second slide is even easier than the first. Now it's time for biggest challenge of this mission - obligatory underwater section with strong current.
This was one crazy section. First of all, you need to press down arrow. Current is strong, but not that strong to carry you fast enough. The beginning is easy. I died only once when at the top of waterfall, I was pressing backward in wrong direction and fell to the bottom of waterfall. At first I couldn't get in air hole in the hole. This is hard - there is strong current that push you away. After some time I resigned and started stacking fruits in order to get into blue crystal cylinder, but I failed. Then I discovered a steep slope under water current before air hole. It took me many tries, but I finally figured out how to stay there in order to regain air.
When you swim upside current, then somewhere in half you must start swimming down. When you hear water sound, it means you are close to upside down surface. Stop swimming down for a second and continue until you stop moving. If you are stuck, swim against current downwards. If you are falling on the slope, keep repeatedly mantling. Even if it looks like you stick to the edge of slope, then after 3 seconds you will get unstick and fall. Regain air and then mantle repeatedly without cancelling mantle. If you do it correctly, then you still can't survive.
It's actually possible to get into this air hole in the wall. It's extremely difficult to get to the edge of hole. Extra air from slope will help. Regain air and jump into water. Now you just need to swim as fast as possible and make blind drop into cylinder and climb out of water. In the final swim I lost 9 HP and used all 4 fruits to heal. Also this final climb out of water scared me, because at first Garrett couldn't beat the slope. Mantling isn't possible and jumping doesn't help. Luckily by walking backwards long enough, game let me get into Giant Tree Area.
This area is easy. I simply KO-ed 3 Ratmen from side and shoot 3 green spiders. Red spider was weirdly not in the mood to attack me. I managed to mantle on his platform and he didn't attacked me immediately. This let me gas him. At the top I mantled onto line between slopes and climbed up. I don't remember red spider in front of spider cave. I killed him. Then I went left. I gassed 2 pairs of spiders and shot few times another red spider.
Magic arrow bridge is possible to beat by crouching and going backward on the edge of bridge. Maybe I should try jump acceleration in the middle instead. Then I simply KO-ed 2 Ratmen and after few tries I managed to jump+mantle over lava. Destroying portal was standard. For ritual I used moss arrows to get to Eye. I also believe that without moss arrows I would have a very short time to exchange the Eyes. Good thing I'm not ghosting this mission.
STATS:
TIME: 52 min 53 s
LOOT: 0/0
DEALT DAMAGE: 169, RECEIVED: 9, HEALED: 8
BREAKS: 0
So that's it. The whole Thief Gold played with only backward movement. It was a lot of fun. A lot of unique challenges. Mostly with swimming and jumping. It was noticing how stuff works. For example - the current in Water Tower. If not for this run, I would have never notice that. Jump acceleration was very useful for backtracking and only few times necessary in Lost City. Speaking about Lost City, the one and only break happened here. That's really unfortunate. On the other hand I'm incredible happy that I managed to beat underwater section in the Maw. Also few times I decided to ghost some segments and it was a lot of fun. Next time will be Thief 2, but first total stats.
TOTAL STATS:
TIME: 28 hours 16 min 40 s
LOOT: 31481
DEALT DAMAGE: 2383, RECEIVED: 64 (this means 52 damage I received during training, I wasn't aware that this damage counts into stats)
BREAKS: 1
Galaer on 15/7/2019 at 20:07
[CENTER]THIEF 2[/CENTER]
RUN ON EXPERT, NEWDARK
No jumping acceleration means that runs will be longer and also missions are longer and more complecated. But I get zooming. I can't tell how many times I tried to zoom to check if something on the ground is loot or trash or just a texture in Thief Gold. So I'm really happy to have that.
Missions are more about dealing with security instead of monsters. Also platforming and underwater sections are rare. But they appear. I think Precious Cargo with it's obligatory underwater sections will be the biggest problem for me. Let's start.
MISSION 1 - RUNNING INTERFERENCE
At the beginning I matled over gate and took a loot from courtyard. It's interesting that patrolling archer will appear here after entering the house. Pair of guards noticed me when I was opening chest under gas lamp. KO-ing patrolling archer took me few tries, but he felt slower than in Thief Gold. I used flashbomb on guard standing on his post. Also it it just me, jumping backward feels slightly faster than walking backward. In the early game most of the guards gets surprised first, so it's easy to KO them. Only once guard immediately attacked me.
After I completed everything, I decided to race with Basso to Jeneviere. With his stops and detour through kitchen, he still got to Jeneviere first. And in both directions. That's the magic of walking backward.
Anyway, mission is very easy. Loot also isn't very well hidden. This mission feels a lot like Training mission from Thief 1.
STATS:
TIME: 42 min 28 s
LOOT: 1285/1285
SECRETS: 3/3 + 1 bonus objective (rings)
DEALT DAMAGE: 10, RECEIVED: 0
BREAKS: 0
MISSION 2 - SHIPPING... AND RECEIVING
I'm starting to realize that I have nothing to talk here. Mostly because I have learned how to play backward on my Thief Gold run. I had some problem with KO-ing servant after he stopped talking outside. I jumped few times, but he never comes close enough and he's quite good in getting away from me. Luckily after few times I managed to get close enough to him during his surprise pose and KO-ed him.
More problem took me 2nd floor of Building A. I attacked from stairs and I needed to hide under stairs. After all patrols cleared I managed to time myself with stationary archer and KO-ed him. Then I KO-ed patrolling guard and waited for servant to KO him from the front. Then I went to Ramone and waited for another guard to KO him. Ramone was easy. I alerted him, he started running, but I blocked doorway, so he started to run into me. It was easy KO.
On this floor I also realized that when I KO someone from behind, it's good to wait with turning around until blackjack will start falling. This way when you turn around and stop moving, enemy has smaller chance to walk out of range of blackjack.
I had some lesson how to use rope arrow in place where I have ceiling above my head. I needed to crouch and shoot rope arrow further away into wooden ceiling than I thought. Also I think it's much harder to grab ropes in Thief 2 than in Thief 1. Thief guarding ship was easy. I used flashbomb to easily KO him. I had some problems with spiders. From barrel I shot several arrows into one of them and all of them missed. I was forced to fall on deck and shoot them from close range.
I had problem with spiders in one of warehouses. I realized after killing them that it would be easier for me to climb box and shoot them from there. I also decided to open warehouses in Building A without code. Just by opening lock through door. For some reason it didn't work with Gilver's warehouse.
This is very interesting mission, lots of secrets and places to explore. But backtracking while going backward without jump acceleration was very annoying.
STATS:
TIME: 2 hours 8 min 44 s
LOOT: 1630/1665
SECRETS: 14/14
DEALT DAMAGE: 72, RECEIVED: 0
BREAKS: 0
MISSION 3 - FRAMED
Backward ghost? Hm, I need to try this challenge someday. Also obligatory underwater section? Now, I feel like I'm home. The underwater section is impossible. After opening canal hatch and entering next tunnel, I'm dying. 2 healing potions isn't enough. Luckily Newdark have new mantle. If you go right from main entrance to Watch Station along canal, you can mantle on top of generator. Drop on metal fence and mantle on wall. Go east and north, then west to balcony. This way you will enter 2nd floor.
Also when dying in underwater section, I encountered annoying glitch. After dying I wanted to check my compass. I saw death animation instead. After reloading I noticed that I can't activate compass. I checked controls, reloaded few times game, but nothing changed. Finally shutting off Thief 2 and launching it back helped. I need to be careful in future.
Patrols here aren't that big problem. There is a lot of leeway. I got Vault key and Hagen's handkerchief, then via Truart office I went to lower floor. Here is a lesson for me - I douse torch, guards alerted to it, then I opened door near them and they went into second alert. That was stupid on my end.
I decided to go into Records via normal route, so I doused torch. Then I sticked to door and closely enter the staircase. I left Records via secret passage.
Going into Evidence Storage is tricky. First you need to go behind guard to Warden Affairs, open door and quickly enter. Then you need luck with patrolling guard. Watcher isn't big problem from this side, but it will be a problem when you return. Because on return path you have no luxury to see it's position. So you need to blindly enter it's room. And again time everything with guard. Getting out of Warden Affairs is the hardest part. You need to leave room when guard is going left and quickly run backward behind corner before she turns around. Then just go to sheriff's office and prey for other patrolling guard to be far away.
It was a really fun run. I'm looking forward for next ghost mission.
STATS:
TIME: 1 hour 12 min 37 s
LOOT: 1278/1378
SECRETS: 9/9
DEALT DAMAGE: 0, RECEIVED: 0
BREAKS: 0
Galaer on 11/8/2019 at 09:22
MISSION 4 - AMBUSH!
I don't like this mission and I'm not gonna carefully explore it. I had some problem after first mantling into wall garden. I couldn't mantle via window, so I just dropped from wall garden.
I entered Garrett's house via wooden scaffolding and exit it via window near stairs. I made some noise, but guards calmed down pretty fast.
I went to Helena Way, dropped into canal and went south. I doused torch near 3 guards talking, dropped into canal and mantle further on the south. While being on the other side, I went to ladder and got noticed by whore. She spot me going upward and when she went there I KO-ed her. I returned to guard for his purse.
The rest of the mission is just standard going into houses to avoid guards and more sneaking. In the whole mission I took only 3 pieces of loot: purse at the bottom of the canal, purse wore by a guard in Market Place and purse in Garrett's house. That's all.
STATS:
TIME: 44 min 53 s
LOOT: 1603/1870
SECRETS: 0/0
DEALT DAMAGE: 8, RECEIVED: 0
BREAKS: 0
MISSION 5 - EAVESDROPPING
I start this mission from random second alert from Mechanist at one of towers. Weird.
I was happy to find that I can overhear conversation without leaning.
It was quite scary to sneak into towers. I was fairly visible in front of entrance door. Luckily I got only first alert. I doused torch and sneaked into shadow. The rest was easy.
STATS:
TIME: 58 min 08 s
LOOT: 1829/2119
SECRETS: 1/1
DEALT DAMAGE: 71, RECEIVED: 0
BREAKS: 0
MISSION 6 - FIRST CITY BANK AND TRUST
Basement is scary with these little bots. Afterwards getting around trap tile near bot is also scary. But challenge is getting to machine opening the Vault. There is watcher that if he see you it will alert bot, which will kill you and close gate. That's how I died once - I opened gate to light switch and watcher close it. And I was so surprised why am I not entering the room. Going backward challenge can lead to this kind of situation.
So I needed to use lever and backtrack to shadow. Then blindly time watcher and go inside room and turn off the light. The rest was easy. In the other way I didn't bother to go around trap tile and sneak through metal floor. I entered SE part of 1st floor.
Here is another interesting thing. 1 patrolling archer that visits this room and watcher that can turn on lights and lock doors and open another door. I need to deal with archer first. After he left I go to open door. Close it and hide in shadow near archer's patrol route. Before he will enter the room I KO him from behind. Then I loot watcher's room.
I wonder what's going on with watcher East from front entrance. It sometimes appear in mission and sometimes it don't This time it didn't spawn. Guard in central stairs I KO-ed ny standing in shadow under stairs, when he passed me, I mantled and KO-ed him. It's a bit weird that in this run if there is a room with big bot and guard, I start by dealing with guard. I blew watcher in front of the Archive.
To get to the Vault I went on 2nd floor to west balcony above Reception, mantled on the corner of balcony, crouched and dropped down. You need to time it with a watcher above counter. Also drop is possible without losing health. If you have problems, drop few crates down there. It's possible to avoid red alert, it closes the gates. But you should be fast enough. After alarm went off, I went towards the Vault. And another surprise alarm bring guard from Guard Room to Reception and archer to fountain room with bot north of it.
It was tricky to deal with watcher near a turret. I needed to time watcher while barely see it and I went around turret. Archer got stuck on middle of loud floor at the bottom of stairs. Luckily after few loadings he got unstuck. Then I needed to deal with stationary archer in Guard Room. Normally he patrols, but since there was no conversation and there will be no conversation, because I used flashbomb and KO-ed him, archer will not move. Show yourself in front of him, then hide and use flashbomb to KO him. This alerts a stationary bot. But after getting into corridor, he turns around. So I used 2 water arrows to disable him.
I disabled 2 bots from 1st floor of Dome. I let watcher from 2nd floor of Vault see me and he launch the alarm and that's all. No special function. I noticed that stationary guard from 2nd of Guard Room vanished. He will definitely make my life miserable. I went inside Directorate Room by breaking glass on 1st floor. Now I need to figure out how to get to 3rd floor. I returned to 2nd floor of central stairs and roped up behind stationary archer.
I think it's possible to ghost 2 watcher hall while going backward. After disabling watchers in Reception, I went there to get coin stacks under the counter. Then I left the Bank.
Overall that was very interesting mission and definitely the best in this run of Thief 2 so far. Also I'm surprised by the time. I thought this mission will take me 4 hours and so far mission in Thief 2 were actually shorter than Thief 1 missions. That's really surprising for me.
STATS:
TIME: 2 hours 32 min 06 s
LOOT: 2126/2284
SECRETS: 1/2 (Actually: 2, I have no idea why stats glitched that way)
DEALT DAMAGE: 23, RECEIVED: 0
BREAKS: 0
Galaer on 19/8/2019 at 10:52
MISSION 7 - BLACKMAIL
I start in the shadow, so I decided to check if my Jump is correctly binded to Up Arrow like I like in this run. I had, so Garrett jumped, watcher noticed me and turret killed me. Nice beginning. I went right and made a mad dash to light switch. Did I meant mad dash, it was more like desperate backward walk.
I decided to enter Truart's Mansion via crack in the wall. But here is a problem. Later there is a small tunnel in the rock. In order to get inside I needed to crouch inside and jump in correct time while walking backward to clear small slope that was preventing me from getting inside.
Getting out of water is also tricky. You need to mantle, turn around and quickly move backward to not drop into water. Then I waited for guard to get to well and went to a bridge. Climbing it is slow. I KO-ed guard from behind. It's also not a good idea to open big gate while you hear a guard walking closer on the other side.
I decided to loot Front Entrance. I doused 3 torches and KO-ed 3 guards. Inside I doused 2 gas lamps behind archer. Unfortunately patrolling guards have a chance to turn them on. Through the magic of quickloadings I managed to avoid that. I used 2 moss arrows on the floor and ran to KO stationary archer. Then I hid in shadow on the right from lamps to prevent guards from turning them on. I KO-ed them from the front and looted this room.
Dealing with servant was really annoying. His stepping backward and running away screwed me few times. I went to 2nd floor. KO-ing first stationary guard was tricky. When guard turned to the side, I stood near his window and mantled inside. I KO-ed him from behind. For Benny I threw gas mine, bar woman got scared and ran to little bot that I disabled earlier. I went to her, she cried, but she didn't move away. I easily KO-ed her.
Second gas mine I used on noble in Sheriff Truart's room and then used flashbomb on guard to KO him. In Attic I learned that if I crouch and throw crate downwards, then crate turns. I never knew that crates can turn like that. I thought their physical position never change, except being placed on slope or something similar. I played with crates a little that way.
I used Sheriff Truart's body as a cushion to drop from balconies without being hurt. And I must say that walking backwards with a body for a long distance is so fun. I got stuck on slope while going to cemetery. Simply dropping body was enough to get unstuck. After completing bonus objective I needed to deal one last time with this annoying small tunnel in the rock. I think I need to jump when I feel resistance in order to get inside.
STATS:
TIME: 2 hours 03 min 13 s
LOOT: 1990/2100
SECRETS: 6/6
DEALT DAMAGE: 71, RECEIVED: 0
BREAKS: 0
MISSION 8 - TRACE THE COURIER
Successor of tracing mission from Thief 1. This time I need to trace twice. So this will be a challenging mission. For this occasion I bought 2 invisible potions and 2 speed potions. I wonder how it will go.
So the good news is that Mosely is slower than assassins from Thief 1. So it's not hard to keep her pace while walking backwards. I managed to steal 3 purses on the road: from 2 servants and guard. I stole them just before they went too close to notice me in shadow. Marketplace was hard to ghost. I'm surprised that guard patrolling it didn't spot me when I was fairly visible and 10 m in front of him walking backwards.
For Helena Way I used the same strategy like in my jumpless run. Take the bridge that Mosely ignore, go to pipe. This time I dropped into canal and mantled on the other side though. Then I went to meeting place with Mosely on the other side of Marketplace. I KO-ed guard on the way too. I wonder how it will go with Pagan.
While waiting for Pagan I listened to conversation about boots. Then one of the guards came close, so I KO-ed him and hid his body in the shop. I found another invisibility potion there too.
Pagan is actually faster than Mosely, so I had many hard times with him. Many times I lost sight of him and needed to guess where he went. Sometimes I stood in front of him 10 m away of him and he didn't noticed me. At the beginning of his path I needed to hide from a guard in the corner. Then I stole a purse. And I lost him. He moves fast, so I really needed to guess where he went. Going through Marketplace was lucky. I think I could make the same shortcut behind Marketplace like I did when tracing Mosely.
I managed to get purse from patroller near cemetery. I barely managed to get to door near cemetery in time and I was lucky to time blackjack and KO first Mechanist. Then I went closer into doorway and KO-ed second Mechanist. For third Mechanist I used invisibility potion and KO-ed her too. Now I just need to find last purse and go to the next mission.
The last purse was in possession of archer near start of the mission. I actually got objective completed after grabbing his arrows. So even if objective says "Get 6 purses" it actually means "Get 6 pickpockets". I also looted cemetery and got golden bottle from drunk guard. Then I went to the portal.
STATS:
TIME: 33 min 35 s
LOOT: 650/830
SECRETS: 1/1
DEALT DAMAGE: 8, RECEIVED: 0
BREAKS: 0
adamhenry on 23/8/2019 at 10:52
Yahh!! Really not hard now. Thanks for the links.
Galaer on 8/10/2019 at 06:28
MISSION 9 - TRAIL OF BLOOD
My money got transferred to this mission, so I start with 650 loot. There is 1500 loot in this mission. So max loot I can get here is 2150.
You can't fight with the current in river, so you can't get directly on the other side of stone face, but a little further. If you get stuck at the end, then dive and walk backward on the floor. You will manage to mantle out of river. House with Mechanist is also tricky. I sneaked from west side until I saw where he's faced. When he faced east I went behind him and KO-ed him. And one more thing - I hate trees. I got stuck on them so many times. That's it for a village.
Maw is pretty straightforward. I got gas arrow and easily got out on slope. Also Apemen are fast. I doused 4 torches to get to Spring Village. I needed to douse torch on the right to deal with patrolling Ape. In Autumn Village I gassed 2 Apes near fire. In the Winter Village for the first time I found Mosely letter. All this time I thought there were 3 letters + letter from previous mission. It's actually 4 + 1. Sneaking through last area was more scary than hard. I never noticed that there are eye plants placed in a corner. Also I got stuck on these trees again. I seriously hate them.
STATS:
TIME: 1 hour 38 min 24 s
LOOT: 2000/2150
SECRETS: 0/0
DEALT DAMAGE: 22, RECEIVED: 0
BREAKS: 0
MISSION 10 - LIFE OF THE PARTY
Big rooftop mission, but not too much of a challenge. In order to get to Astronomer's house, I needed to enter from Necromancer's Spire and Shemenov Estate. In order to enter Shamenov Estate I doused torch near archer, mantled to wooden balcony and KO-ed him. I couldn't continue my road through a chimney, because archer's lower half body got stuck at the top of stairs. So I went forward through Sir Cullen Keep.
Finally I learned how to place explosive device in front of armory door in Carlysle Castle. Not too close to door, give it some space. I went through Bank to Shemenov Estate and KO-ed unfortunate archer. He float into air above ground. Funny stuff.
Mechanist in front of main entrance to Angel Watch it turning. Is he supposed to do that? I watched old supreme ghost runs and for this guard was usually used invisibility potion. That's weird that this Mechanist is turning. Maybe he somehow got changed in Newdark.
TIME: 2 hours 47 min 41 s
LOOT: 2808/2853
SECRETS: 7/7
DEALT DAMAGE: 87, RECEIVED: 0
BREAKS: 0
MISSION 11 - PRECIOUS CARGO
I believe it will be the hardest mission in this run. Obviously I bought speed potion and breath potion for underwater sections. Even beginning is more tricky. I need to hide from archer behind rocks in full light. Shaft wasn't very difficult, but I had big problem with jumping to first vine. I was bouncing from wall many times. I also never knew that in Workshop is golden head with all death comments of big bots. Next I climbed on metal ramp and unfortunately got spotted by Mechanist above me. Luckily I managed to hide behind stairs. That's all for my problems on surface part of mission.
I decided to first gather as many breath and speed potions as possible before going to underwater sections. For Mechanist guarded storage with rust gas I used flash bomb. At the top of pirate base in Section 1 I encountered stuck in place always second alerted Mechanist. I managed to gas him, patroller and stationary Mechanist with 1 gas arrow. I also visited submarine via underwater entrance. For some reason it's actually very hard to get out of water.
For New Scripture of Master Builder in underwater section I needed 2 breath potions. I skipped side room, because it was hard to get out of there. I was always getting stuck on door. For tunnel to pirate treasure I decided to jump down from top of pirate base into water and throw rocks away. I needed 4 jumps to clear the tunnel. I also needed 1 breath potion to survive this underwater section and arrive to pirate ship. Well, I have 2 speed potions and 3 breath potions for return.
Getting to treasure chest underwater wasn't big problem. I killed pirate ghost with 2 flash bombs. I'm surprised I never tried to do that before. He's basically just a Haunt. For the return trip I used 1 speed potion and 1 breath potion. I returned to submarine and finished this mission. Seriously, these underwater sections were easier than I thought.
TIME: 1 hour 48 min 40 s
LOOT: 1367/1627
SECRETS: 1/1
DEALT DAMAGE: 44, RECEIVED: 0
BREAKS: 0
Galaer on 5/11/2019 at 06:36
MISSION 12 - KIDNAP
I found out new technique. Previously I thought I can't KO enemies while in search mode. But I can do that. If I hide behind corner of passageway and patroller will go close enough me, I can KO him/her/them.
Station 2 was the hardest. I destroyed watcher, but I also was forced to use a lot of flash bombs to KO Mechanists. I even managed to KO few of them through walls of small house to the south. I believe it's also the first time when Mechanists can hear their comrades being KO-ed and go into search mode.
In Station 5 I used invisibility potion to get through first inside watcher. Still watcher alerted. Luckily using my new technique I managed to KO him pretty quickly. For Cavador I used noisemaker arrow. Also finally figured out something that was bugging me about it. You need to be in certain range to make it lure guards. If you are too close, noisemaker arrow will not work. In this case I needed to step back from door to his room.
Then he ran to me, so I KO-ed him. For 2 Mechanists going towards me I used flash bomb. For Metal Helmet guard I used gas mine. I noticed that watcher near Cavador's Office doesn't go into yellow alert anymore, it goes quickly into red alert and turn on alarm in the whole Station. Then the most annoying part started - going with Cavador to Station 9.
I got lost few times. I also needed to drop him once in order to get over tiny slope. It's really annoying to walk backwards with body on terrain full of slopes from one side of map to another.
TIME: 2 hour 25 min 33 s
LOOT: 2628/2728
SECRETS: 1/1 + bonus objective
DEALT DAMAGE: 64, RECEIVED: 0
BREAKS: 0
MISSION 13 - CASING THE JOINT
Another ghost mission. This one is also fun, but I would say there is still a lot of time when area is completely empty. Guards have simply too long patrol routes.
I decided to vine up to the second floor offices from entrance to the Ballroom. I shot vine arrow in upper frame of window and mantled up. Took loot, then mantled up to window. You can't be too high or it will not work. Sofa covered by white sheet is good to mantle from. In other room table is too high, but you can mantle from top of chair. Catching the rope was tricky. After that climb down and grab vine arrow. This is the first time I managed to mantle up into window from inside.
I also decided to map 3rd floor. I know there is no loot there, but I never tried that before. There is no bots, no trap controls, stepping on the floor of gallery doesn't activate gas trap. That way I gathered 4 Prekursor Masks that are still present. On the other hand all secret passages works, they just don't add to secrets. Some of them are frobbable too.
I had problem in getting to north part of second floor. I tried to get from Ballroom into Dining Room. Watcher spot me and went into second alert. Very slowly went to Dining Room door. Then watcher went back to green mode. I stepped away into corridor, opened door and entered before watcher went into hunt mode. I also managed to get into control room behind this watcher from a secret passage and turn it off.
For guard near escape door I just shot 2 noisemaker arrows into balcony above. Then opened door and left. That was really fun challenge.
TIME: 2 hour 4 min 2 s
LOOT: 2225/2685
SECRETS: 9/9 + optional objective
DEALT DAMAGE: 0, RECEIVED: 0
BREAKS: 0
MISSION 14 - MASKS
I never knew about conversation of outside guard with second floor guard. I wonder if there is a key for Elevator, so I will not need to break a door. And since I decided to go from north part of 2nd floor through Foyer to south part, I needed to go through Library. For masks on 3rd floor - I just disabled trap floor, dropped to floor in these Galleries, grabbed masks and vined up. My exit was through window on 3rd floor that I needed to break. But it saved me a lot of time of boring backtracking to exit door on 1st floor.
TIME: 2 hour 12 min 7 s
LOOT: 3587/3667
SECRETS: 3/3
DEALT DAMAGE: 33, RECEIVED: 0
BREAKS: 0
MISSION 15 - SABOTAGE AT SOULFORGE
I used invisibility potion in order to get to machine in Bay E. I had problem to get to Bay D. I used ventilation in bay north from it. I can't jump there from bridge, climbing roof is also not possible, because it's to steep. I went around building guarded by bot and jump+mantled on lamp near bot. Then I went to hole. First I ran to hole, then quickly crouch and felled down into building.
Bay D is patrolled by 2 mini bots on random patrol routes. And because I decided to make mines I was climbing over machine, put ingredients, go grab finished mine and activate control panel. And I repeated this few times. With Bay E I had problem to get through vent passage I opened earlier. I was getting stuck inside. I needed to do angle mantle, so I could mantle to edge of vent, crouch and get through.
In towers area I went to lower level first. Getting through pillar room was a bit tricky. I needed to time big bot and one of patrollers, then go behind them to elevator. Return was easy. Just time bot and patroller and use conveyor belts to return. It was also very interesting to move quickly on conveyor belts. Usually in this challenge I was moving very slowly.
Next tower is very easy. Just go along wall and disable bot guarding elevator. For 2 levers tower I used moss arrow on both metal entrances and disabled 2 nearby bots. Then easily activated levers. I destroyed watcher in barracks. Blinking light room wasn't hard at all. I thought it will be much harder. For factory with 3 bots I used mines. And instead to investigate, they sticked to the back area. They were avoiding mines really well. I'm skipping turrets tower.
Just before Bay A I let 2 spider bots to pass me. They were occupying this area during my jumpless run as well. I guess because I'm on the other side of map, spider bots despawn and stop moving. And when I'm close they reappear. One bot in Bay A got stuck on machine. I destroyed watcher above exit, then threw mines into last 2 bots. Then I left this mission.
TIME: 2 hour 47 min 27 s
LOOT: 0/0
SECRETS: 31/4
DEALT DAMAGE: 129, RECEIVED: 0
BREAKS: 0
Wow, that was the longest mission in game. Wait, Life of the Party took me 14 s more. Then again if I would try to get building devices secret, it would take me at least 30 min longer. But I hate this first part of mission - building Guiding Beacon. It's long and tedious. Signal Towers challenges are more fun. Also I learned few more Karras quotes. My favorite is about building house. Also it's really scary to walk backwards in this dangerous area. That was something.
TOTAL STATS:
TIME: 26 hours 39 min 47 s
LOOT: 27006
DEALT DAMAGE: 642, RECEIVED: 0
BREAKS: 0
Looks like all my stats are lower compared to Thief Gold. I'm surprised by lower time spent in the game. I always thought it will be opposite. But no, in Thief 2 there is a lot of short missions. Areas are, I guess, smaller, more packed. There is almost no platforming and no monsters to worry about. And almost no swimming. Swimming was huge problem in this challenge. It doesn't appear in Thief 2 too much, but in Thief Gold almost every mission has it. Also time would be longer if I would care more for 2 city missions: Ambush! and Trace the Courier.
There is also smaller amount of loot, which is actually surprising. In Thief Gold there was Maw of Chaos without any loot and Strange Bedfellows with just 1 piece of loot. I guess reason may be in missions were loot transfer to next mission. These missions usually have less loot.
There is less damage, which is obvious. Almost no monsters and undeads is here. The most of damage goes from final mission, but there is no huge difference in others. And there are 2 ghosting missions with no dealt damage. Also I finally managed to avoid receiving any damage.
No breaks. The hardest challenge was definitely with 2 underwater sections. I thought Precious Cargo will be a big problem, but with speed and breath potions it wasn't that hard. Underwater section from Framed was the hardest. No speed and breath potions. I was really lucky that I managed to find alternate route.
FINAL NOTES
The challenge is over and it was really fun. It wasn't that hard like I initially thought and I learned a lot of stuff. I had a lot of fun in ghosting missions. Sneaking around while walking backwards was really atmospheric.I have a feeling that because I played Thief Gold first and learned almost everything there, I neglected writing about Thief 2. That's really unfortunate. The next challenge I will start will be definitely on Thief 2 first.