Galaer on 18/3/2023 at 20:44

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MISSION 7 - BLACKMAIL

In north house is locked blue chest. Just like with small safes you can highlight it, but you can't picklock it, because you are too far. It's a bit weird as it's possible to picklock even smaller footlockers no problem. I found out that it's actually possible to picklock this chest if you make lower step on floor. So decided to use button to move slowly forward, so I will have the biggest chance to hit right moment for lockpick. It's just one second of picklocking, so I need to repeat it a lot to open this chest.

Main gate towers have these Thief 1 ladders that you can't grab from side. So to open main gate I need to climb to attic of nearby house, mantle on shutter and from here do light shots of 2 rope arrows into wooden roof near watcher. To descend I need to mantle on roof and slide down. Now I need to jump from rope to rope to mantle up on top of tower. Sometimes I do extra climb when grabbing rope, sometimes not. If I do climbing for longer time I will stop doing this extra climb. I don't know why. From roof it's easy to pick rope arrows and open main gate, then I need to drop on ladder and on ground.

Secret from chapel is hard to trigger. I need to do stack of 2 crates on altar and from it shoot 2 rope arrows into wooden part of wall under hammer: one normal shot and one upward shot (from jumping). Thanks to 2 ropes in the same place I'm not jumping towards wall and drop on ground, instead I climb on ropes higher. Looks like lower rope stabilizes higher rope. On higher rope I can save and load to have Garrett climb to the top. Then I need to throw scouting orb at hammer to activate secret. Also I noticed that taking higher rope arrow drops me on lower rope arrow and I'm standing on it like on platform. From there I can jump wherever I want. Sadly I can't go to undergrounds, because I can't climb back on ladder and dropping crates blocks passage to maze, so I will not manage to mantle back on stack of crates due to lack of space.

Fireplace secret is easy to get by dousing fire and jumping to lever. Here is flashbomb on ground. Stepping on it will activate it. But there is another flashbomb at the cemetery in small niche and this one doesn't activate upon stepping on it. I wonder what are the rules for that. To get out from fireplace secret area I can simply jump on ladder and mantle to basement.

In game room I need to do light shot of water arrow to clean stain on carpet for secret necklace. Armory secret requires from me mantling on edge of door, crouch and shoot target while uncrouching. Gear in pool is too low underwater, so to get to 3rd floor I need to go to balcony, make door to open partially, mantle on it and from in mantle to 3rd floor balcony. To get to attic I continue mantling upwards

In sheriff's bedroom his body is too low, so I can't complete bonus objective. Mosely's key ring is also too low and even using downward shot of fire arrow doesn't move it, so that's bust #1. Conversation about sheriff's murder happens only when you are in passage at the bottom of stairs, so what will happen if I go there while cops are pursuing me? Simply 2 cops will stop pursuit in order to do conversation. Afterwards I leave cop with gear. He can open gear door, but if he doesn't have a gear, he will walk into gear door. After reload he stops and after opening door and another reload he will start walking.

STATS:

Time: 1:31:03; Loot: 1670/2100
Pockets Picked: 15/23; Locks Picked: 8
Back Stabs: 0; Knock Outs: 49; While Airborne: 1
Damage Dealt: 49; Damage Taken: 0; Healing Taken: 0
Innocents killed: 0; Others killed: 0
Iron Beasts Destroyed: 0; Disabled: 1
Bodies Discovered by Enemies: 1
Secrets: 6/6
Busts: 1 (key ring)

Galaer on 19/3/2023 at 15:16

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MISSION 9 - TRAIL OF BLOOD

Map can be taken by leaning from water. Small waterfall from stone face raises me, so I can pick 3 water arrows. In one of fireplaces I can lean to grab fire arrow, which is necessary to grab ruby stone behind house. Shooting it into house makes ruby fly away, so I can frob it. In apes cave there are 2 troublesome crystals I can get. Crystal on left path can be taken while mantling from lower path. Crystal near noisemaker arrow can be taken while falling on stone slope. From it you can drop safely on ground near poison plant.

STATS:

Time: 0:38:26; Loot: 1055/2105
Pockets Picked: 3/3; Locks Picked: 0
Back Stabs: 0; Knock Outs: 24
Damage Dealt: 24; Damage Taken: 0; Healing Taken: 0
Innocents killed: 0; Others killed: 0
Iron Beasts Destroyed: 0; Disabled: 0
Secrets: 0/0
Busts: 0

Galaer on 7/4/2023 at 09:14

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MISSION 11 - PRECIOUS CARGO

SURFACE

While standing on elevator I can lean forward to frob middle switch. Then I decided to disable watcher. For this you can mantle on wooden beam and frob it while dropping. Watcher went yellow while I was doing that, so glitch happened and watcher is disabled, but there is sound of moving watcher. This glitch is fixed upon loading game. Stationary Mechanist's body can be taken from slope and hidden in workshop. I also locked path to lighthouse, but looks like patroller is walking through portcullis. I KO-ed Mechanist on metal ledge and I had problem to frob it while dropping to hide it from bot, but eventually it worked. To top of lighthouse leads ladder. You can jump on it from metal railing, then jump right and bounce back on ladder and jump again to mantle on higher floor.

Navigation globe presents couple of problems. First of all - lever opening secret passage is on floor and it's too low. Luckily passage is made out of wood, so I can bash it. It also trigger secret notification. Out of curiosity I also checked lever and looks like it still opens and closes secret passage. Navigation globe is on floor and I can't normally highlight it. To do that I need to combine low step and leaning forward. It's really precise, but eventually I succeeded.

CARGO LOCKER #5

Key is floating on water, so my initial idea was to shoot it with fire arrow to bounce it on top of crate, but unfortunately when Garrett is in shallow water only bow is raised without fire arrow. I tried to mantle on crate, but there isn't enough space. Out of curiosity I checked how other arrows behave in shallow water. Broadhead arrow and vine arrow can be shot. Moss arrow is the same, but if moss falls into water, then it doesn't separate. Water and gas arrows can't be shot just like fire arrow, but water arrow shows splash animation (though no arrow get lost) and gas arrows hurts Garrett. You don't lose arrow, but you lose 3 HP every time you try to shoot gas arrow. You can die in a second. Surprisingly key can be easily frobbed by leaning towards it. I guess floating on water makes difference.

NUGGET ON WOODEN BEAM

Next is pirate base in Station #2. There are 3 different obstacles: nugget on wooden beam under cave ceiling, Builder's Codex and pirate treasure. Nugget on beam is complex problem. First you need to make 3 crates stack on wooden railing on roof and from it you do 2 upward shots of vine arrows into wooden beam. Thanks to that you can jump from one vine to other to mantle on beam. Now you need to drop on ledge and go backwards towards NE direction and when you fall quickly lean forward to grab nugget. You still need to hold backwards, so you will fall on vine arrow and bounce far backwards to avoid floor in water, which can kill you. This bounce allows you to get to the bottom underwater. Retrieving vine arrows wasn't easy. You need to grab one, mantle on beam and go backwards towards NE. While dropping you need to pick vine arrow and drop into deep water.

BUILDER'S CODEX

This is the first underwater swim in this game. So moving in water raises you and that's a problem when you need to swim downwards. In this tunnel is passage to room with codex. It's possible to lower yourself by angled ceiling on right wall near passage and strafe swim inside, but that's all. Here I use breath potion. Walls near codex don't lower me enough to grab it, there is back wall far away from codex that lowers me to floor, but moving towards codex places me under ceiling again. And in water you can't use low step or leaning, so I must look down to grab codex (bust #1). I can return through passage without looking down, by drinking speed potion and strafe swimming from nearby angled wall to passage.

PIRATE TREASURE

Tunnel to pirate ship is located near bottom of water. It's blocked by rocks, but they aren't any problem. The problem is lowering myself to this tunnel. The problem is also walls and ceiling are angled and tunnel is a bit under pirate house. I tried to do high stack of crates and even jump from wooden beam, but usually angled wall underwater stops me. So I tried to bounce out of vine arrow just like I escaped with nugget from high wooden beam, but sometimes it works, but most of the time it doesn't. I don't know how to consistently use it and also I would need to control direction of bounce. I just couldn't make it work, so I just swim downward (bust #2). I still do the rest of tunnel normally and raising myself by swimming in circles. This forced me to drink breath potion.

During my testing how to perform bounce out of vine arrow I learned that if you block with weapon you can't mantle. You can't block while on vine, but you can jump on it while blocking. You still can't mantle, though once on vine arrow I managed to mantle on something invisible above vine arrow. I still drop immediately down on vine. Later I tried to recreate that, but I couldn't. I also learned about useless glitch with "center view" button. If you look up or down, save, center view and load, center view button will stop working until you will look more up or down.

On pirate ship I need to do far forward jump from top of stairs into water to get to treasure chest, then I easily kill haunt and here isn't possible to drop low into underwater tunnel. It goes down too, so return path is bust #3.

SUBMARINE

Submarine has 3 entrances: 2 hatches on deck on underwater hatch. First hatch has hatch on floor and it's too low for me. Underwater hatch is too high for me. Luckily other hatch on deck has hole with ladder. From edge I need to do slow drop on middle of ladder and jump to lower floor. The rest of the mission is easy.

STATS:

Time: 1:38:38; Loot: 1216/1627
Pockets Picked: 4/4; Locks Picked: 2
Back Stabs: 0; Knock Outs: 28
Damage Dealt: 44; Damage Taken: 0; Healing Taken: 0
Innocents killed: 0; Others killed: 1
Iron Beasts Destroyed: 0; Disabled: 1
Secrets: 1/1
Busts: 3 (Builder's Codex, underwater tunnel to pirate treasure and return from it)

Galaer on 7/4/2023 at 09:34

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MISSION 13 - CASING THE JOINT

Coin on window in chapel requires low step. I can get to 2nd floor offices near ballroom without rope arrow. I just need to do good enough strafe jump from railing to mantle on wooden frame around windows. There are 2 secret switches on ceiling and surprisingly I just need to jump to highlight them. In library book on window and letter on carpet are too low, but I decided to skip optional objective until next mission, because maybe I will get fire arrow to move them. Beside that I'm curious if there is anything new happening if this objective isn't completed.

STATS:

Time: 0:52:43; Loot: 1850/2685
Pockets Picked: 7/9; Locks Picked: 1
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
Busts: 0

Galaer on 7/4/2023 at 21:30

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MISSION 15 - SABOTAGE AT SOULFORGE

FACTORY

In NW part of factory is ladder away of wall, so I can use it's sides to climb to top. I will use this path later to get to Bay D. To N Apse leads ladder and I need to jump on it from pipe to get to higher ledge. Unfortunately ladder leading to tower in this area is long and I can climb on it's sides. This one must be skipped until I will find crates. I can lean forward to frob frogbeasts eggs. Plans room secret must be skipped, because I can't mantle back up without crates.

In Bay A I need low step to grab Stage 2 Piece. Then I go to Bay D to produce Regulating Round. I can't vine arrow to ceiling vent to get to higher ledge, but I found out that from top of linking machine to top of south machine. From here I need to do 2 light jump shots of vine arrows into carpet on the edge of platform with control panels. This is hard, but doable. This way I can use these vines to climb to platform. Before that you need to put 2 potions under place where Regulating Round will drop. This way you will be able to pick it up. For Stage 3 Piece I need to only lean forward. Exit from Bay D is through vent we came. You can jump and shoot vine arrow into carpet wall of vent to use it to climb up. Then you mantle on lamp and mantle on roof to return on bridge. Then go to Bay E and jump into east tunnel, go under watcher and run to rolling machine to get Guiding Beacon.

TOWERS

Metal box on floor can be used by doing low step and lean. In research area is another long ladder leading to tower. That's not good. Because of that I will need to do turrets zone. I use 2 fire arrows to destroy turret near portcullis and then 2 frogbeasts per 3 turrets. I need to do it, because key binding for slow fall potion doesn't work. This way I can climb on machine, mantle on lamp and use use slow fall potion to jump on ledge and realize that it's pointless. Lever opening portcullis to elevator is on wall near vent and more turrets. So I ran to lever and quicksaved without realizing that I got hurt. So I was forced to redo the whole section and this time I only destroyed 2 turrets and then did mad dash to lever and back. This tower was intense.

The rest of towers is easy, but I need one more out of 2 ladder towers. And just like in Masks there is no crates in the whole mission. Probably because Karras hates wood, because it's imperfect. So now I need to make a choice. N Apse tower has small room with ladder. Near the top is metal ledge, but I shoot vine arrow up. I can mantle on metal door though. Research tower has long ladder in shaft. Climb is shorter, because of small bulb in shaft. You can mantle on it and jump and mantle on top, but because it's in shaft there isn't too much space for stack of items.

Ultimately I chose N Apse tower, because of more space. Now do I use items I gathered in this mission? Mantling on the is tricky and it's easy to fall. Another object I can use is bot's corpse. It's bigger and it requires a lot more space to drop. Furthermore it's impossible to mantle on it and it's hard to stay on it. You can climb it while continuously jumping on it. It's really tricky. Still I decided to go with bot's corpses.

I need 9 bot's corpses. 2 of them are at starting point. Others I destroy with water arrows, mine and also with blackjack. If you are in shadow bot will not turn around to shoot you. With bot's parts mantle on door and try to put it under ladder. You need stack of 5 parts under ladder and lower stack of 4 parts in front of it. Stack must be positioned to give you access to top of door and should be away from doorway. Top part though must be thrown left closer to doorway. Now from door you must drink slow fall potion to jump higher and land on 3rd part of 1st stack (jump right), turn left and quickly jump on top part. Position yourself at the absolute top of it, drink another slow fall potion and jump on top part of other stack, then from it jump on ladder and on metal ledge. This way you get lever from final tower. Now just drop on parts without getting stuck on them and escape Soulforge.

STATS:

Time: 2:23:49; Loot: 0/0
Pockets Picked: 0/0; Locks Picked: 6
Back Stabs: 0; Knock Outs: 6
Damage Dealt: 117; Damage Taken: 0; Healing Taken: 0
Innocents killed: 0; Others killed: 0
Iron Beasts Destroyed: 7; Disabled: 4 (it's weird that destruction of turrets and watchers count as disabling)
Bodies Discovered by Enemies: 1
Secrets: 0/4
Busts: 0

TOTAL STATS:

Time: 20:10:29; Loot: 22358
Damage Dealt: 611; Damage Taken: 0
Busts: 9

FINAL NOTES

That was really fun challenge. I had especially a lot of fun with Shipping and Receiving and Precious Cargo. I think they were really good tutorial for whatever gonna happen in Thief Gold. I learned a lot about arrows and their trajectory affected by momentum. I learned different ways to lower myself and there was tutorial for swimming. Soulforge also had nice challenge. About busts I suspect it's possible to get to pirate ship without looking down by using bounce from vine arrow, but I have no idea how to perform it. Also with new knowledge I returned to Running Interference to check if it's possible to frob secret lever, but unfortunately it's still impossible.