ZylonBane on 17/11/2009 at 22:15
Hey there, if you're going to post all the cool scripted moments unspoilered, does that mean it's okay to post screenshots now too?
Renault on 17/11/2009 at 23:08
DUH (on me). :o In trying to make my point to ZB, I wasn't even thinking of spoilers.
(sorry bout all that)
Vigo on 18/11/2009 at 02:08
An absolutely gorgeous mission. My only complaint is that its made ever FM I've played since seem plain and drab by comparison. :o
Yandros on 18/11/2009 at 02:44
Some of that stuff is just general creepiness, Brethren. But some of it was being done by Ellen, the spirit of the mortician's sister. She did the Ouija board trick to help the player out, for example. The mannequin business was also her spirit, and she wasn't really trying to freak you out (ok, maybe she was having a little fun at your expense) so much as trying to lead you to discover the roof route to the attic entrance. She should be considered a mostly friendly spirit.
I realize some of that wasn't real clear and involved some intuition and supposition, but we just ran out of time to nail down all the story details.
The dolls aren't the spirit of Caitlin (the mortician's granddaughter) - the girl is very much alive. I'm not sure what Saturnine's real idea was there aside from just being generally creepy. Maybe it was representing the house trying to guide and warn the player along the way.
Blue Sky on 18/11/2009 at 20:51
I played this last weekend with a friend...in fact, the friend who I discovered Thief with in the first place! Since that demo of Bafford's Manor we first played together seven or eight years ago now, we'd never played any Thief together, and he's only played a tiny portion of the games whereas I became a fan.
Anyway, he came over to stay, and I really wanted to play a Fan Mission with him, partly to show him just how incredible they are, and partly to get through a scary one I didn't think I'd be able to handle on my own. So I'd decided we'd play The Inverted Manse.
So on Sunday it got to about half twelve at night and he was up for playing a bit of Thief, so I went to go download Inverted Manse, when I remembered that I'd downloaded Rose Cottage the other day. He was up for playing a bit of that one, so I installed it into DarkLoader and booted it up and...
Well, we eventually decided we'd better go to bed at half five in the morning. What a fantastic mission. Obviously, I mean, it's superb isn't it. Visually the absolute best I've seen... That first shot when the mission starts... Then you open those doors and see the house for the first time... We both had our mouths open for so much of this.
Wonderful gameplay. Really really wonderful gameplay. So many brilliant tricks and I was yelping all over the place. I'm glad my friend was nearby or I'd never have been able to approach the doll when it first...you know. And the less said about those mannequins the better.
The only bit we got stuck on was trying to enter the Cemetery. We had the key, but just couldn't figure out how to get in. We kept trying to leap over the wall, and I kept insisting that if that was the correct way to do it it wouldn't be so difficult.
So we did have to visit this thread to find out what we'd missed, sadly. As it happens, we had previously discovered the chimney, we'd just completely forgotten it was there! If we'd only thought to double check the loft again... Ah well.
So yeah...maybe it would have been a little bit more fun if there were a couple of different ways of defeating the ghosts (as it kinda put you in a position of calm and power knowing how you would deal with each one when you found it) but how can you criticise a mission like this, I mean...really!
We didn't find all the tarot cards and I'm bit scared to go and do that now in case it causes something particularly unpleasant to happen!
But yeah...thank you to everyone who contributed to this mission! Such a memorable experience!
(Oh, and was the cemetery inspired partly by Highgate Cemetery in London? I was there last summer and was thinking about how amazing it would be to feature in a Thief mission...and then something eerily similar crops up in Rose Cottage! Brilliant!)
Shadow Creepr on 18/11/2009 at 21:29
Glad you liked it, Blue Sky. I would encourage you to go back and find (
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1928631#post1928631) all of the cards from the list because
the end result for finding them and completing the tarot board is an additional task that is fun rather than scary.Yes, the cemetery was inspired from Egyptian Avenue and the Circle of Lebanon in Highgate Cemetery, London. :)
Gloria Creep on 19/11/2009 at 01:36
Quote Posted by SlyFoxx
No Dewdrop this time but we hope you liked the other dolls.:ebil:
I noticed the other dolls at their tea party and hoped they were well, but somehow I thought I was picking up Dewdrop as well. Nót at thát spot, just a bit later ...
Was I that wrong?! ...:confused:
baeuchlein on 20/11/2009 at 00:10
Now I too have survived "Rose Cottage" .;) For a being like me, it has been a pleasant ride. Thank you, Saturnine, for giving me the creeps for some hours.:ebil: And a nice change in gameplay, too. Thief missions that stray so far from normal gameplay
and succeed (for me) are a rare kind.
Overall, great mansion visuals, nice scenery, nice effects, and good gameplay. And although the story was not fleshed out as much as some other FM stories, it was done well enough.:thumb:
Quote Posted by Gloria Creep
I noticed the other dolls at their tea party and hoped they were well, but somehow I thought I was picking up Dewdrop as well. Nót at thát spot, just a bit later ...
Was I that wrong?! ...:confused:
I did not pick up any Dewdrop-like thing in this mission, since none of the dolls I met could be picked up. But one meets the large doll at least two or three times in the mission. On the other two occasions, I found her sitting on the floor. Maybe that's what you had in mind?
nicked on 21/11/2009 at 12:02
OK, this mission looks incredible, and the audio work is breathtaking. However, I am completely stuck.
I'm trying to open the safe. I have the numbers from the Ouija board (6, 4 and 3) but any combination of those numbers on the levers under the safe seems to have no effect. I've tried pushing the third, fourth and sixth levers from the left down, then pushing the button, and again with those levers up and the rest down. I've tried pushing the first six levers down, then pushing the button, then four levers, then three. No effect. I've tried a random six levers, then reducing the four, then three. I have no idea what else to try.
caffeinatedzombeh on 21/11/2009 at 13:24
what you've done is correct the third fourth and sixth levers from the left down, all others up a couple of people have reported that sometimes it gets a bit upset, go downstairs then come back up and try it again.
