Galaer on 8/1/2020 at 18:30
1. First City Bank and Trust
2. Shipping... and Receiving
3. Precious Cargo
4. Casing the Joint
5. Framed
6. Masks
7. Blackmail
8. Life of the Party
9. Running Interference
10. Eavesdropping
11. Trace the Courier
12. Kidnap
13. Trail of Blood
14. Sabotage at Soulforge
15. Ambush!
Meowdori on 9/1/2020 at 00:52
Inline Image:
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/422750368452182027/660620014923284481/Screenshot_20191229-000727_1.png Blurry image, still legible enough I guess. I'm still seriously torn between Blackmail vs Bank being two contenders for the first place, but had to pick something.
Either way this game has essentially no bad missions, and most of them keep extremely good level of quality, which is why I placed so many of them at the top. I also love the variety in their atmospheres and how coherently the transitions were executed.
page on 9/1/2020 at 07:17
I had a list prepared already, so I'll just paste it here.
01. Shipping... and Receiving
02. First City Bank and Trust
03. Life of the Party
04. Framed
05. Blackmail
06. Masks
07. Sabotage at the Soulforge
08. Precious Cargo
09. Ambush!
10. Kidnap
11. Casing the Joint
12. Running Interference
13. Eavesdropping
14. Trail of Blood
15. Trace the Courier
Trace isn't so bad in itself, but we have a reused map and pretty tedious objective so there's that. Trail of Blood I find more annoying and dated, but at least there was an effort on LGS part.
Places 10-13 are very close, Kidnap has the most ambitious layout of the bunch but is also a chore, sometimes.
I'm not the biggest fan of Mechanist stuff, especially when it goes sci fi with radiowaves and submarines, but other than that, Cargo and Soulforge are well-designed and interesting. I think the former might use more polish, but the lighthouse and pirate caves are worthy additions Metal Age's portfolio.
Most taffers downgrade Masks for repetition, personally I'd rather punish Casing because getting the job done is more vital than the preparation... some say "you can get masks in Casing so it's a superior level" but I disagree, it's just a mistake on creator's part, we shouldn't be able to enter upper floors at all.
Places 1-4 would make my TOP 10 list of all Thieves, these levels are damn good! "Shipping" might just be my favorite, most essential Thief OM in all games, I just love the atmosphere, the theme, hidden crates, variety of stores and loot, it's just amazing.
Time constraints and impending doom of LGS affected some of these levels (a third?), but with more polish, TMA could possibly rival T1 Gold. We'll never know for sure though.
SLIEZER on 12/1/2020 at 21:45
I was gonna post a list but the forum logged me out and ate it. FML.
TLDR: Casing the Joint is the best one, Soulforge the worst and I find mechanist stuff boring (but love Hammerites). LotP is too spread-out/unfocused and overrated. Mansion-style missions with mystery and stories to tell are the best (Casing, Blackmail, Framed, Running Interference). I do not like open-world environments that are overused (like in T3) but Ambush/Trace the Courier is rare enough to be OK.
Arkane on 25/1/2020 at 18:14
I'll start from the worst.
15. Sabotage at Soulforge.
Definitely the worst level for me. Too long, annoying and boring. Sometimes too empty, sometimes too hard. Didn't like this one at all.
14. Kidnap.
Cool idea, but this level has the same problems as the Soulforge. At least it's not that long.
13. Trace the Courier.
Short, pretty linear, not much to do. And yeah, it's just a copy of "Ambush!" level.
12. Ambush!
The idea of this level is interesting, but the execution is meh. Would've been more interesting if you could enter more buildings.
11. Casing the Joint.
I don't know why, but I didn't really like ghosting in this one. Interesting secrets (secret passages and secret room with corpses), the design is pretty good, but it feels too empty and the mission itself feels kinda useless because of the next level (Masks).
10. Masks.
It would've been higher on this list if it wasn't a copy of the previous level. This one doesn't feel that empty (more NPCs, more notes/scrolls etc).
9. Precious Cargo.
Another cool idea, but it felt like they didn't tell us a lot about the project itself. Personally, I just don't like pirate/water themed levels in games so I didn't enjoy this one that much.
8. Trail of Blood.
I liked it because of the story, the atmosphere was amazing and the music really tied it up together. But it was too linear and probably too easy.
7. Eavesdropping.
The great part about this level is the first half, after you overhear the coversation between Karras and Truart, it just turns into the "okay, I'll do it" quest which you are not really interested in.
6. Running Interference.
I've played this level on Normal difficulty, so I didn't really see a lot of stuff, can't really tell much about this level.
5. Life of the Party.
Great idea, I loved all the little rooms and houses you can sneak into while you are on your road to the Angelwatch. Plus, I liked all the little stories and interactions you encounter on this level. Angelwatch itself is not bad, but, once again, it feels empty and it's design could've been much cooler.
4. First City Bank and Trust.
Liked this level, but the main thing I didn't like about this level is the design. It feels too confusing and kinda random for the biggest bank of the City, especially the statues room and the corpse in the secret room. Basement feels like it's some kind of sewerage or something.
3. Blackmail.
Great level in all of it's aspects. Didn't really like the surrounding area of the mansion, gladly it wasn't the main part of this level.
2. Framed.
I really liked ghosting in this one. A lot of secrets, lots of lore/stories to discover.
1. Shipping... and Receiving.
Lots of interesting places to loot. Great story development in terms of lore/foreshadowing.
Udo on 17/3/2020 at 11:57
Top missions:
Bank - it´s overall a fun mission(only disappointment is that there is no loot objective and the other lockers are empty)
Party - nice to explore the city
Soulforge - it´s a real challenge compared to Maw
Good:
Running Interference - for the first mission it´s ok. Nothing special, but solid
Framed - while I´m not a fan of ghosting, this can be enjoyable
Eavesdropping - I like the atmosphere of the Cathedral and the soundtrack
Blackmail & Masks - just some classic manion missions that are enjoyable for me
Okayish:
Blood - while the idea is interesting, it has annoying parts. Like loot hidden in an area only reachable when taking damage(or I haven´t figured out a way to do it without)
Cargo - overall ok, but the diving was a bit annoying
Not so good:
Shipping - the music can get annoying and I dislike the hidden loot like spice bags, and the door system gets tiring after a while
Ambush - just not so much fun...
Dislike:
Kidnap - I already dislike Lost City, so the reaons for Kidnap are the same. Too convoluted layout and too many hidden loot.
Strong dislike:
Trace - it´s just annoying and often fails unexpected.
Casing - while I like Masks Casing just seems unnecessary in all ways. I don´t see why Garrett should bother with mapping it out before, he never did that. The ghosting restriction is annoying and the loot placement boring. Most of it are just lucky coins spread all over the mansion, showing me that the designers ran out of ideas
ticky on 17/3/2020 at 17:05
See my order and also short summaries, strictly from an end-consumer perspective. :)
1. First City Bank and Trust - complex indoor map, non linear play, nice place
2. Life of the Party - instant classic, the genre maker of thieves' highway missions
3. Casing the Joint - not popular, but for me, the first really enormous mansion with forced ghosting is just something essential Thief
4. Trail of Blood - unique pagan atmosphere
5. Blackmail - nice example of a mansion mission
6. Precious Cargo - nice example of an exotic/remote setting
7. Framed - level designers could easily go wrong with a police station, but not with this one
8. Running Interference - for me, this is the prototype of those quiet, calm, small mansion missions
9. Eavesdropping - This complex is not bad, not so great either
10. Shipping and Receiving - It is hard to make a storage room level exciting, however, it's not that bad.
11. Masks - returning to a previous map with no really big changes is not so motivating.
12. Ambush - I found that portion of the city boring, especially because of bluecoat overload.
13. Kidnap - this is something that takes any mystery away from the lost city, at least how we knew it before. Not good.
14. Trace the Courier - Following someone is a nice task, and we all know it from Assassins. This is lame.
15. Sabotage at Soulforge - I always hated this one. The huge and boring factory building with the not so uplifting endgame is a putdown for me.
Blue Jay on 27/3/2020 at 02:18
Having just finished Thief 2 a few days ago, I find this thread very interesting to read through.
I definitely didn't like this game nearly as much as Thief Gold. I have three missions here which I classify as Good, though in Thief Gold, that number would be about ten (with some being Great). I think my opinions will change upon replaying the game, but here's my list for the time being.
Good:
Life of the Party - no surprise here, great variety for exploration. A better integrated Shipping and Receiving
Sabotage at Soulforge - love the soulless nature of "Soulforge". Karras surrounded by inventions and machines. What would Constantine have thought of this?
Trail of Blood - good to finally see the Pagan humans, and a refreshing change from the urban settings
Not bad:
Framed - I love the backstory here. Good amount of doubt and worry between the members of the City Watch
Blackmail - a good mansion level design. I expected some kind of catch in meeting the Sheriff, a good twist at the end.
First City Bank and Trust - heaps of watchers and marble floors, truly demonstrates the challenges a Thief faces with new technology
Shipping... and Receiving - good variety of exploration, just like LotP, but the number input system doesn't make this large map any easier to move around
Precious Cargo - love the haunted pirate ship, but feel there should've been more ghosts, and more challenging to escape
Masks - better off without Casing the Joint. I did like the library backstory, and finding the corpses was a real shock.
Lacking:
Ambush! - nice to finally see Garrett's home, but level is sorely lacking in any other backstory or content
Running Interference - nicely designed introductory level, but should have been better integrated into the main story
Eavesdropping - map had great potential, but wasn't utilized well. Pleasant surprise to see Haunts again
Awful:
Trace the Courier - take the worse part of Assassins and make it into an entire mission. Why?
Kidnap - I liked Lost City in T1, but having the same terrain and pasting on Mechanists just makes for a messy level that's awkward to traverse
Casing the Joint - waste of a mission. Interesting that you can complete the main objective of Masks as an optional objective here