T2 FM - Shining Standards Mar. 07/02

Dafydd on 4/3/2004 at 01:17

[Nightwalker, et al]

This is driving me nuts.

[spoiler]There is a maze. I opened the secret maze entrance. I'm in the maze. I saw the slow-moving ghost in the maze. I found a discolored floor panel in the maze. I'm even reasonably sure I know what one can get from the maze -- hand of glory & a gold nugget.

But what I don't know is how to get that floorboard open! Or how to get into that center spot where I saw the female ghost.

It must be something dreadfully easy, since nobody has even mentioned it in any of the threads I've read. [/spoiler]

Edit: All right, the moment I went back there I found my way into the lit area of the maze, where the nugget and the hand (and a healing potion) are to be found. Turns out you can use the "left-hand" rule starting from the window where you can see in there: put your left hand on the left wall and don't let it come off. Follow the leftmost track at every junction. But I still can't figure out how to open the floorboard near the window... does that open? Is there something there?

Can someone please tell me what I'm missing? It's really frustrating.

Thanks,

Dafydd

Dafydd on 4/3/2004 at 01:40

[Folks]

Next to the room with the maze entrance (near the back door) is an unlocked door; inside is a stairway leading down.

Whenever I try to head down this stairway, I get about two-thirds of the way down and Thief abruptly quits (no error message), dropping me back to the desktop. Has anyone else experienced this?

Is this the section under the chapel? Is there something I can do to get past the point where Thief disappears? I tried going down backwards, thinking maybe it was a rendering problem, but it did the same thing. I could waste two water arrows dousing the torches in there, but I can't imagine that will do anything.

Help!

Edit: Okay, I found a work-around. It's a little silly, but it worked to get me past there. I saved on the stairs, then I went down slowly, counting steps. The game died between steps 11 and 12 from where I saved.

So I restarted the game and reloaded that position; then I went down ten steps, just before the deadline... from that point, I stood and jumped over steps 11 and 12, landing below them. This worked, so it must be something on the "ground" of step 11.

I don't know if I'll have to jump over the same step on the way up, but I suppose I'll find out :eww: .

Thanks,

Dafydd

Dafydd on 4/3/2004 at 02:28

[Folks]

After all that, the secret in the chapel requires so many ghost busts that I can't use it, unless I get to the point where I just can't finish without it.

[spoiler]I had to destroy a wooden bar across the wall section; I had to blow up the wall section; but since this would alert the AI in the chapel, I had to knock them both out first; then when I entered the hellish area with the gold and the canopic jars, I had to fight a blue-dot creature and kill it.[/spoiler]

And all that for only 110 gp worth of loot!

There is 2252 available in the mission, and I need 2000... I'm hoping I can just let this 110 slide; there should still be 2142 left, enough for my usual can't-find-the-loot cushion.

(I'm already working on a ghost bust: the other hellish room, the one you teleport into, requires bashing a couple of wooden bars to get out. But at least I haven't had to break any skulls or swordfight anything so far!

(Of course, this means the mission is unghostable: the two secrets together total more than 300... which means if you take either one, you have to destroy property, thus busting your ghost -- and if you skip them both, you cannot get the 2000 needed to finish, which of course busts the ghost.)

Hm, I just realized I also skipped the greenhouse because I couldn't get past the spiders without alerting them. But I think there are only arrows of various sorts in there. I hope there is no loot, or I could be drawing dead.

Dafydd

Sluggs on 4/3/2004 at 06:36

Arrrgh! I thought this was a new mission but soon discovered that it was an old thread resurrected! :rolleyes:

Ravenus1 on 18/1/2005 at 08:08

I am sure everyone is fed up with me posting about old missions that i think should be played, but I only got to Shining Standards today and thought it was excellent. The only posts I see on this mission are a few years old so it may have entered the back of most peoples minds. Nice lighting, weather effects, and my favorite thing in missions, guards coming through doors when you least expect it... REAL FUN!!

Ravenhook on 18/1/2005 at 08:25

:) MMMM, how right you are, I'm currently replaying the Tricksters Gem Mine series by Belboz, so I'll have a look at that one next. :D

Emerald Wolf on 18/1/2005 at 08:59

It's nice to have some of the older missions pointed out, that way newer
members (and lurkers) don't have to sift through all the old stuff one by one.

Nightwalker on 18/1/2005 at 13:18

There's absolutely nothing wrong with posting a thread to say how much you enjoyed an older mission. It just draws it to the attention of people who are new and may have overlooked it. ffox and I have found that when we get Jason to post a walkthrough for some of the older, really good missions, the downloads increase by a huge amount for awhile, probably for the same reason. People just notice that particular mission again. :)

Ravenus1 on 19/1/2005 at 06:57

I guess the one thing that needs to be pointed out[SPOILER] is that this mission will let you pick locks till there is no tomorrow and leaves it to chance whether it was worth it. To me it adds to the realism, in that pick lock doesnt always mean big pay day. Also the secrets are numerous and are hidden rather well. Also the patrols on the upper levels are quite often for some of it may frustrate [/SPOILER] This is the perfect kind of level to ghost.. :)

madwolf on 19/1/2005 at 18:48

I loved this mission, it's always been a personal favourite and doesn't get nearly the attention it deserves. And when you finish it there's another one ! :D { I think it's called the Prometheus ?} Great! I also think it was the first time I'd seen snow in a mission outside of The Seventh Crystal, which doesn't utilize it much.