Marecki on 20/5/2001 at 20:25
It is amazing how different can opinions be. For instance, I've just read (
http://www.ttlg.com/downloads/thief/missions/embrace/) frobber's review of Embracing the Enemy - and it seems as if he's played a completely different version of that FM than me! True, we agree on many good things about it; when it comes to not-so-good things however... That's why I want to compare the versioning: while I am almost sure I've got the most recent version, perhaps I missed something somehow.
Mine says "Date of release: December 20, 2000".
kfgecko on 21/5/2001 at 06:39
I think it was just a difference in opinion and personality. I think both reviews were well thought out and are accurate in their own way. The thing is, what bothered you, apparently didn't bother Frobber as much.
From reading your review, it sounds like you gave my mission a fair chance, and you expressed your honest opinion; and I thank you for your review.
As far as I know you guys were playing the same version. In fact, the beta was so close to the release, that the experience is pretty much exactly the same.
Anyways, ultimately I hope you had fun with EtE.
belboz on 21/5/2001 at 12:41
It all depends on wheather the reviewer is reviewing the mission, or the author, or the opinions from these forums.
Marecki on 21/5/2001 at 13:21
kfgecko:
Quote:
<STRONG>The thing is, what bothered you, apparently didn't bother Frobber as much.
</STRONG>
Heh, this reminds me of the Bloodstone review by Tels. "There are a few bugs in the mission which most people probably won't notice. [...] Unfortunately I got hit by all of them in the row". Perhaps it's the matter of playing style that decides whether one encounters the minor bugs or not... or perhaps it was just pure chance.
Quote:
<STRONG>Anyways, ultimately I hope you had fun with EtE.</STRONG>
Yes indeed, I cannot say I didn't.
BTW. What
are these orange dots? Or to begin with, has anyone else seen them? That would be some bug: MGA G400 displays swirling orange dots in a certain Thief FM :) .
belboz:
I'm not the author obviously and when I decide to review a mission I never read any threads related to it (unless they say "update" or something like that). I think it's as close to impartial as one can get doing such things.
<HR>
A side-note: Oh man, there are so many unreviewed FMs. I'd better get to work again...
frobber on 22/5/2001 at 01:18
I try not to get picky in my reviews (unless by way of illustration). For example, at one point I got stuck in EtE, but later realized how unlikely it would be for someone else to have had this problem -- I had more than enough clues and was just being plain stupid.
In general, more than one review is a good idea, since there is always a reviewer's bias, stated or otherwise. Two or more reviews tend to even these out.
When playing EtE I had the profound sense that kfgecko was really up against the DromEd wall trying to tell his story -- and the fact that it came out well, despite the frustration, says a lot. I still think overall that EtE is very solid and things like floating orange bubbles (I did see them) did not pull me away from this premise.
My review was merely my own reaction, and hopefully the two reviews serve to maintain interest in this mission, and give the potential player some sense for what is to be expected. Those are really the only two reasons to write a review for an above average FM IMHO.
I hope Marecki keeps writing reviews -- I'm taking a break for a little while, and we need all that we can get!
kfgecko on 22/5/2001 at 06:17
As far as what the red dots are, I have no idea. I saw them too but I attributed them to my buggy viper2 card.
Now I realize maybe it's something else.
It's possible that it's a stray SFX (special effect). Dromed has a strong propensity for allowing you to place SPX (because you're experimenting to see what works) and then it "loses" the object somewhere in the object stack and will never draw the little red box that represents it. I would also hope that this issue would not hinder a person's experience in playing ETE.
David on 22/5/2001 at 17:19
Firearrows sometimes leave stray orange dots all over the place for me. :)
Marecki on 22/5/2001 at 20:55
Quote:
Originally posted by kfgecko:
<STRONG>I would also hope that this issue would not hinder a person's experience in playing ETE.</STRONG>
By no means! My reasons for mentioning them was trying to find out if anyone else saw them (and it seems they can be seen, as I've received no "what orange dots" letters, plus you've just mentioned it yourself), furthermore... I don't like fitting what I write into any stencils, although this one is quite flexible and I'm gradually getting used to it. "First impressions? Okay, I'll give you my first impression! <IMG SRC="devil.gif" border="0"> ".
belboz on 23/5/2001 at 08:23
I personally hate the "you've pinched stuff from someone elses level so I'm going to penalise you on it" negative score.
It all depends on who pinched what, and weather they did pinch that which is assumed to be pinched. And weather that that was pinched was reviewer in the wrong order, as in the pincher gets reviewed first and the originator of the idea get penalized because the reviewer reviewed them second.
eg. I have a non-moveable teleport device in shore leave, but I've already given the information on the editor's guild on how it works, now if someone uses that idea in their level and releases it before shore leave, do I then get penalised when my level is released for pinching an idea that someone else has used in their level, that was originally my idea.
Wynne on 24/5/2001 at 02:50
Oh, I loved EtE! I still think Bloodstone Prison was your best, kfgecko, but EtE would run a very close second in my book. I really enjoyed the story; it had a unique feel to it, something you don't find so often in Thief fan missions, and I thought it was very well balanced.