theBlackman on 10/3/2004 at 00:32
One of the appeals of THIEF (and the FM's) is that you CAN go back. Rowena's Curse, is one of my favorite FM's.
It contains a bit of nearly every thing experienced in the original three THIEF games. True, some of the clues were subtle, but that too makes it an interesting challenge.
Glad you finished. Now Calendra's Cistern, and Calendra's Legacy. And for sheer terror DYERS EVE. :ebil:
TheNightTerror on 10/3/2004 at 14:46
Cardinal, no problem about the help, I had the exact same problem. I'm not a necrophile (I think that's the word I want), so kissing the skull never occured to me, lol.
:cheeky: I love this mission so much! Thank you so much for creating this gem, Lady Rowena! I love it to death, and the colored rooms were really pretty. Especially the blue room, although I'm kind of a blue freak. Just a tiny bit. :angel: I had to evict the tenant first, didn't want anyone raising a fuss. :) Judging by the amount of times I've replayed it I think it's probably my favorite FM so far, followed by Ominous Bequest. If I wanna play a mission I know, I usually try to decide between those two, but more often I just play them both.
I still haven't found everything in this mission, though, and I want to try it on expert. Those damned AI are pretty jumpy even on normal, I should really be able to raise some hell. I flipped through the pages, and I found a secret list that should help me, but a loot list . . . seem the most recent info I found was that Nightwalker had one. Has it been posted online anywhere? I managed to get 7,000 or so loot, but I think trying to ghost this would be very, very interesting, considering how much of a blackjack addict I am. And the fact that this mission is unghostable. Well, I shall just do what I did in the OMs if I got busted. RUN! Or take a swim, either way, they'd go away eventually. Or follow me into the water and drown themselves.
One last thing, I am no longer being dismembered by explosives! :cheeky: At least for now. I didn't try shooting the barrel with a water arrow this time, but I did try crouching when I put it down the first time, and even though I had my headphones turned off so I couldn't hear anything, I was amazed to see that the view of the dungeon didn't suddenly rotate 90 degrees. I picked up the keg again, and dropped it like I always did. Still nothing. I waltzed right up to a torch, sat there five seconds, then dropped it like I usually do. Still nothing. It was just too weird, so the first time I blew out the door, I made sure I was standing right beside the explosives. It would appear the explosives appreciates being gently put down rather than dropped, you were right Lady Rowena. :thumb:
Lady Rowena on 10/3/2004 at 18:59
TheNightTerror
Thanks for the compliments and thanks for playing and replaying. :D
I hope that you are playing the 2nd version, otherwise you can't have all the loot.
Anyway there is a loot list here.
(
http://thiefmissions.com/lootlists/RowenaV2.html)
TheNightTerror on 11/3/2004 at 13:31
Thank you again Lady Rowena!!!! I definitely have version 2, the red key works and Rowena's portrait changes. I loved it, when I went through there and saw it I definitely got rather creeped out. I half expected to get one last visit from her, sure as hell got me moving. ;) I must really have been tired last night. I don't even remember making that post. :laff:
Hmmm, I think I shall praise the mission some more, there's still more I love! One of the first things that caught my interest was how all the guards had names. It made the place seem alot more real, plus it was neat finding a guard who wrote this diary, another who was dating one of the girls who went missing, etc. Must have taken forever, but it definitely made the whole mission more immersive.
Another thing that I ADORE is the plot! Some people might not like readables, but I love them, I will read anything I find. Even if it's 80 pages. (Found that monster in another mission, how I survived that I'll never know.) I also loved the little romantic subplot, *sniffle* . . . and I always thought I wasn't a romantic gal unless I was writing . . . lol. It helped make Rowena seem alot more sympathetic, especially when I found her husband's diary . . . it was so satisfying killing that bastard!
Also, playing this mission stirred up more than a few ideas for my own FM I've been toying with. Both before I started it and yesterday. Just the little things, like how everyone was named, and how the diary entries had dates instead of entry numbers. Since the main part of the mission is to find out what happened there, having dates would make it so much easier to know what happened when. Why I didn't think of that to begin with I'll never know.
Anyways, it's off to play another FM, (Dyer's Eve, actually, let's see if it really is scary or not :ebil:) then off to add the changes I've thought of for my own mission for me. Adios!
The Glome on 23/3/2004 at 01:38
I thoroughly enjoyed this FM - spifftacular work, Lady Rowena. And I *did* manage to find the super secret objective... heh, I had this huge grin on my face as soon as I completed it.. :cheeky:
john9818a on 23/3/2004 at 05:28
This thread has been on the first FM page for 9 months now. I remember this was a really great FM. Has any other thread gone this long on the front page?
John
:)
Flarnet on 1/4/2004 at 13:10
Just finished it and I must say that it is truly magnificent. Easily top 10 and would have been top 5 had it not been for a few things:
[SPOILER]1. Very linear.
For being a huge mansion with an encircling garden this mission sure does play like a draw-by-numbers. It almost falls into "adventure game"-territory. While the nature of the story later on requires a linear sequence of events, I couldn't help feeling that the initial "get your bearings" and "clearing the house" part could have been made more non-linear by unlocking a few garden gates (after careful consideration of course).
2. No vertical fun.
The lack of rope arrow action as well as the lack of roof access negatively effected my emotions while playing. Thief is not really thief for me without rope arrows, and if you feel that you have to restrict access to areas for some reason, do try to achieve this without blatant invisible barriers (the balcony and the area above the barracks come to mind).
3. Hard-to frob objects.
The needlessly hard-to-frob skulls in the water/spider area as well as the area below the gate of hell confound me. Why are they still near impossible to frob even in the second revision? Surely this is not intentional?
4. Jumping puzzles with sketchy collision.
While jumping puzzles in Thief are defendable since Garrett is an agile master thief (and mastering his physical environment is a part of his skill-set), they do have to be be very well thought out and fit perfectly into the story+environment in order to not negatively effect my experience.
The jumping puzzle in the "air" part (dubiously defendable by its "air" subject matter) was marred by player collision problems (you could jump "into" and get stuck in the very top movable platform).
The jumping in the "water" part was incredibly tedious and very much marred by collision problems (the higher stone by the "right" box as well as the middle rock by the exit come to mind), but the real killer was the unneccesary low margins of error required when making the jump to the rock by the "left" box.
5. Rowena herself not defeatable by wit.
This is maybe the biggest flaw as it violates a fundamental game mechanic of Thief, the ability to use stealthy wit instead of brute force. Why could there not have been an option to pit the demons against Rowena? Didn't Cedric mention in his journal that she had trouble controlling them? [/SPOILER]
But all in all those flaws do not manage to knock the mission from a very high ranking. The story and writing are par excellence and the graphical and technical achievements are sublime. Truly outstanding work. I am eagerly awaiting the next FM from Milady.
Lady Rowena on 1/4/2004 at 22:17
Flarnet
Thanks for your compliments and also for your criticism. :)
I just want to clarify/answer to some of your notes. Forgive my English which is not so good, I hope that I'll make myself understood.
[SPOILER]1. Very linear.
2. No vertical fun.
I know it, but you guessed I did't find a better way to tell the story in the right sequence and to let the player free to go everywhere at the same time.
Same thing for the invisible barriers, plus I had a problem of too high framerate, in certain areas (above the barracks) I also hat a "too complexity scene error", that's why I had to prevent the player from going there.
3. Hard-to frob objects.
Technical problems here and a bit of lazyness...;)expecially the skull near the gate of hell: originally it was an open area, but during the betatest they carried any kind of things to put them on the pressure plate so I had to close the area. Unfortunately it happens that the teleports are too close each other, so I had to shorten the distance to activate them.
4. Jumping puzzles with sketchy collision.
I don't really know what to say...you can believe it or not, but there was someone who liked it....
5. Rowena herself not defeatable by wit.
Maybe I didn't explain myself well: what I meant is that Cedric was afraid that she didn't WANT to control them anymore.
Anyway, maybe you are right: I came from a very long experience of hard-core-FPS-player until I met Thief...
[/SPOILER]
I promise to redeem myself with my next mission.
:angel:
theBlackman on 1/4/2004 at 23:07
Quote:
Originally posted by Lady Rowena Flarnet
Thanks for your compliments and also for your criticism. :)
I just want to clarify/answer to some of your notes. Forgive my English which is not so good, I hope that I'll make myself understood.
5. Rowena herself not defeatable by wit.
Maybe I didn't explain myself well: what I meant is that Cedric was afraid that she didn't WANT to control them any more.
I promise to redeem myself with my next mission.
:angel:
What Flarnet means is that you must KILL Rowena yourself. You cannot THINK of another way to defeat her.
In other missions you can TRICK the opponent into doing damage to themselves.
"WIT" as Flarnet used it means to think a solution or to trick an opponent by using a idea. Like if the chasm is to wide to jump, use a speed potion to allow you to jump further. Or using a rope arrow to kill a spider, if you run out of broadheads.
Wit is another word for sharp thinking. :D
So if you outwit some one you outthink them.
TheNightTerror on 2/4/2004 at 19:57
Quote:
Witches - The Seven Sisters 80% of terrain completed......maybe
:wot: You're making another mission? :cheeky: Any idea on when it'll be released? Or could I perhaps try to help beta-test? :ebil: Never done it before but I'd love to help if it was at all possible. :)
