T2 FM: The Sword Of The Stones (12/22/22)

Vortex85 on 28/12/2022 at 15:12

Quote Posted by A.Stahl

Reloading the quicksave didn't help.
Restarting the game didn't help.
Making additional save, loading it, and trying to use any weapon leads to program termination.

A.Stahl, I have uploaded version 1.1. If you would be willing to start over, please download this version and let me know the bugs are fixed for you now. Thanks!

That goes to anyone else who had bugs/problems with previous version. I would encourage to try the new release and let me know if this fixes things for you!

Quote Posted by BlackJack16

Just finished playing on expert in just over 6 hours and completed with... 11796/12466 loot, 13/15 secrets and 64KOs.

Happily spent the "6th" hour exploring the castle to find missing loot and secrets, but still finished nearly 700 loot and 2 secrets short... aaargghhh. If the missing loot isn't with the secrets I wonder if I missed a room or probably gold rings which I commonly overlook. I did get the dropped ring, so that's not missing.

I didn't need any forum help to complete the tasks, and had no trouble finding the stones. I had a couple of re-loads for the water stone (my brain was on holidays !!) and I think darkness stone. No problems with the wind / sound path, but did require game sound to be turned up loud so you could hear the differences as you moved along the path.

Wandering the mansion lulled me a bit and I needed to up my game playing style with the stones, which some players might find a bit jarring.

I never got stuck, and appreciated the hints in readables which were enough reminders of things to do in those moments where I wondered what to do next.

I had the hanging arrow a couple of times but a quick reload or an exit/reload and on my way again.

Many thanks Vortex for a perfectly timed FM release for the Xmas break. An enjoyable FM with plenty of secrets to make me stop, look and explore and admire the architecture.

Looking forward to your next mission.

Fantastic! Glad you enjoyed and thanks for playing!

EDIT: Also wanted to thank "Thinking Robot" for the feedback! Forgot to respond in a rush this morning to get things done!

Supremcee on 29/12/2022 at 09:50

Thank you for this amazing mission - I'm actually really happy that I didn't find out about the elemental Stones before finding the sword, because until that point it really felt like a classic mansion/castle mission - of course things/a mystery is mentioned here and there which is also classic and I love this little forshadowing - and then the mission opens up with those little elemental themed areas. Two things I would see as an improvement:
1. I think it really could destroy the experience when a player finds the elemental areas bevor finding out about how to unlock the sword - so maybe they should be inaccessable until the discovery of the sword because otherwise you already know most of what's going on behind the walls.

2. At the end I was hoping for a big reveal/enemy to defeat maybe with some nice puzzling or something which didn't happen - in the water level it felt like she knows about Garretts presence but after that nothing happens

PLUS: Thief platforming is a sin, at least it was just a small part :D

Overall: great experience and recommendation!

Vortex85 on 29/12/2022 at 15:42

Quote Posted by Supremcee

I had strongly considered restricting access to the portals until the sword was discovered. But I had to consider the players who may have found secret doors but were frustrated they could not use them and had to backtrack for ALL them at the end wishing I would have left them use them in the first place. There is also the aspect of stumbling into a portal unknown to what it is for that is surprising and wets the appetite to more discoveries not knowing exactly how it is used and how many there may be. So in the end I left it open to chance and lesss restriction. It's possible for Garrett to get no stones or nearly all and I haven't decided in my mind which is better.

As to a boss at the end... mission is very long already and there is a chance you can end with the vault/downwinder secret so that is a nice way to go out that is surprising. Other than that, I do hope players will discover there is a way to jump from the 5th floor balcony to the moat for a fun exit at the end... though a speed potion is necessary! I added another one in 1.1 for this very reason!

Sadovnik on 29/12/2022 at 20:05

Awesome FM! I like the idea of a giant mansion in the middle of the woods with many secrets to explore. Makes Christmas Eve happier than ever :-)
Couldn't find the way to the 4th floor so I bashed and bashed the wooden doors with my sword but with no result. Eventually blasted it with fire arrows. What a barbaric way to break in, but I feel I had no other choice. Ony upon entering the fourth floor I noticed a small ventilation hatch. Well... at least the guards are left alive. Most of them. So that makes me a master thief after all.

Vortex85 on 29/12/2022 at 20:11

Quote Posted by Sadovnik

Haha!

You must have downloaded the version prior to me fixing the doors to stop fire arrows from opening! That was unintentional way to bypass the doors only available the first 2 days the mission was uploaded! Lucky you. :cheeky:

Yes there are not 1, but 2 ways past the 4th floor doors. The main one is through the vent. The other way is super secret and I suppose only I and my beta testers know about it!

downwinder on 29/12/2022 at 20:31

i am happy to hear that people have tried to save me ,maybe in a updated version there will be a secret/bonus objective to rescue me and place me in my room :)

baeuchlein on 30/12/2022 at 05:30

No, downwinder, actually you will return as an undead, and the main objective will be to kill you brutally and incinerate your body together with every Dewdrop found in the mission, because these also turned undead.:ebil:

bari on 30/12/2022 at 20:58

Vortex85, Can you tell me what is the diference between normal vs expert dificulty. I 'm curious because a while ago I have finished mission playing on normal...

Vortex85 on 30/12/2022 at 23:04

Quote Posted by bari

Vortex85, Can you tell me what is the diference between normal vs expert dificulty. I 'm curious because a while ago I have finished mission playing on normal...

Higher loot on expert, lower health, no killl, and requirement to get into the vault/treasure room which requires a secret portal to get key. If you didn't get in the 7th secret portal and the vault, you can still go back on your normal save and do it.

You can still do this on normal optionally but on expert its required.

Taylor on 31/12/2022 at 02:35

Quote Posted by Vortex85

[...]Other than that, I do hope players will discover there is a way to jump from the 5th floor balcony to the moat for a fun exit at the end... though a speed potion is necessary! I added another one in 1.1 for this very reason!

I left exactly this stylish way :cheeky: preempted by some of a dozen of horrible deaths by trying to attempt the very same jump without the speed potion -- it was partly successful (my corpse often fell into the moat after a short .eeerr... "pause" in the fall) :D

I also tried to save Cpt. Downwinder and was quite disappointed when I found out he's already dead, and using a speed potion and the flash mine to escape the zombie dewdrops in one piece, whilst carrying the body on my shoulder was in vain. But at least finding dead Cpt. Downwinder in Sarnia's quarters might give a clue to the guards, who was the culprit.
I also tried to take a BIG revenge on Sarnia. I brought her into the twisted dewdrop realm, so she can a have a taste of her own medicine and/or to give the zombie dewdrop-things a new playmate:ebil:, sadly I found no way to lock her up permanently :( it would've been a nice touch, to have an extra bonus objective like this. I even tried to blow away the dewdrop doll with a fire arrow, but - though it felt out of place - to no surprise it didn't break the portal nor made the dewdrop doll frobbable again of course. Please if you ever make a new version, consider a move like this (and I'm not evil at all :rolleyes:)

Anyways nice mission. Enjoyed it very much. Missed ~1000 loot and maybe 3 secrets. The puzzles were challenging in a good way and the flow of the mission was very smooth, so congrats :)