Hello folk! The comments of this mission are now available for all! Have a good reading!
Quote:
"This mission met an hard work on its atmosphere. The author spent all his guts on it.
The gameplay is not the best and could have been clearly better.
But the story itself is tell in a decent way, the feeling of the arrival of Thief2 is present as the fact the quarter is decaying. A mission to be proud of."
"This is an incredible city mission that uses the outro cutscene's aesthetic to the maximum of the Dark Engine's ability. This part of town is decrepit and swallowed by the looming Metal Age, with machinery and smoke everywhere. I have never seen anything quite like it and it works incredibly well. The lighting is approriately very dark which, coupled with the nightmarish visuals and crushing sound design, gives this mission an incredibly creepy vibe.
The mission itself flows well enough. The mission isn't big but uses and re-uses space extremely well. The layout is very open which gives players a lot ways to bypass certain areas or reach specific areas. The factory is a really interesting place that is well thought out overall. Each floor feels different, with the lower work stations being very dark and noisy while the offices upstairs are a lot quieter and better lit. The church is also a very nice place that feels pretty rundown. Difficulty is on point and the mission was never too hard nor difficult. It was a bit hard for me to figure out how to properly sabotage Tudor's machine, but other than that I didn't encounter anything too tough.
I don't have much criticism to add except that roombrushing is sometimes a bit rough which causes sound to leak through certain walls (especially in the factory), and that visual clutter can make navigation a tad obscure at times. Overall this is a really awesome mission that gets my highest recommendation."
they just dont make them like this anymore,wow super impressed
Really great mission and it's a great feat that the author was able to fit in so much in a tiny space. However, the layout kinda felt shaky at parts and the way some objectives were laid out was just not very fun.
Amazing steamy/industrial ambiance. Little map but amazingly builded. 8h24 play !!! miss 100 loot. Some epic climbs and epic rewards ;-) I had lost a lot of time because of non pickable readings, always had to com back to read again (i'm french so ...).
Impressive, dense city map. Main objective could have been handled better. Maybe the word reassemble would have been more fitting instead of repair, and more of an emphasis on how it wasn't Garrett's intention for the core to explode and fly out of the building. The pieces were also very difficult to find, if they made some kind of noise at close range it would have been much more manageable, and the awkward cutscene could have been removed.
*Hard* jumping puzzles, and puzzles (rebuild the gear, "air" piece jumping away from you twice) that seem to be gratuitous overpowering the gameplay (to damage the device). This is different in that it's the only contest mission featuring an industrial setting.
"Mission finished on ""normal"" almost two hours of gameplay , when i began playing this mission i was a bit septic at first, as the city layout looks chaotic and weird, but as i progress in the game i find this map fun to play, even thought destroying the core is not really clear as i've never found a holy potion, but answers here helped to find out other means to destroy it. There's a lot of readables throughout the mission which helps to give life to this map, some secrets makes the mission even more enjoyable. the exteriors are not so well polished as the interiors . Apart from that this is a satisfying experience, and i will replay it on ""expert"" next time, and the video intro is excellent. My score is 8 out of 10!
Thank you for this Gift!"
I really want to like this mission, genuinely. The atmosphere is superb, the story is engaging, but the maze that this tiny area has been made into gives me a literal headache. I've picked it up several times and just ended up frustrated, which says something considering I did GORT's mission in one go. I'll try it again sometime in the future, but for now I've run out of patience.
Least favorite mission
The cramped and complex layout can feel overwhelming at first, but by the end, you feel like a master of navigating the environment.
"I had to re watch the sequence several times, and take screen shots after the core blowing up, to figure out where to look.
There is some quite annoying/frustating places in this mission, for instance the ladder from the balcony leading up to two guards talking behind an open window - above the bar.
- Not the most elegant solution.
But an excellent mission overall."
"Got to this one last. What can I say. The map was tight. Tiny space used to max effect. Even found the Mage on top of the tall tower. A climbers delight! But game-play suffered from lack of clear clues. Some things too well hidden. A better map or at least some signs would have helped.
What was the point of the rope arrow gymnastics to enter the ""transporter room?"" Why not a simple key? Death defying hunt for a key only to find a naked man on the bog in the same house as a married couple? What's going on here?!
This mission could be solid gold with a few simple tweaks."
I wanted so much to enjoy this mission as it looked fantastic and had great atmosphere. Unfortunately it's one of the two contest missions that I didn't finish due to frustration. I found it very confusing figuring out what I was to be doing.
"Atmosphere - 9
The industrial feel of the district was definitely there, with both the sounds and the looks working nice (though it was so dark in places that I had to resort to increasing gamma at the cost of graphics quality). There was a healthy number of video fx here and there, as well as creepy sounds. Undoubtedly very strong in this department.
Gameplay - 8
The mission featured countless items, locations, and easter eggs to discover via climbing and sniffing around. It is probably at least twice as big as its objectives I'd say. Some mechanics it deployed, however, were very un-Thief-like in their nature (e.g. getting the incriminating information objective) and personally they led me to chase my tail for quite a while. Generally, the objectives are difficult, key items very well hidden, and the gameplay anything but straightforward. Hints are there in the readables, but again, they're far from your usual Thief clues and require some unconventional approach on the part of the player. At some point I thought that the main plot got dragged out and just roaming around the rooftops became a much more rewarding experience (the shard-hunt was probably unnecessary here, but on the other hand it encouraged the player to wander around a bit more). Overall, despite some minor reservations, I really liked playing this mission for the sheer amount of possibilities it opened and great creativity it incorporated.
Story - 9
The main plot and the narrative here were original, convincing, and well-developed, easily among the best in the contest. The level of detail in the readables was stunning, making them feel really authentic. The side stories also offered a wide variety of moods here, from cryptic and mysterious to crooked and shady to giving you a good laugh (the arguing couple and the resolution of their story really made me crack a smile). My only reservation was that the main plot has been dragged out unnecessarily and it started getting silly towards the end (the running shard and all)."
"Atmosphere was extremely well done. Fantastic attention to detail, beautiful architecture that trumps the original game in quality. Tons of opportunity for parkour. Loads of verticality. I think the level could have used more AI, but I could see how that could be hard to pull off in the already small spaces of the map.
Gameplay was fantastic, mainly because of the aforementioned degree of verticality. Only complaint is that one of the four items later required is a bit...elusive - and not in an especially nice way. Going through the level in later times felt a bit tedious.
Story was actually rather unique for a Thief FM. Very unique, but doesn't suffer from too much ambition. Super solid for what it is.
Probably one of the more consistantlly good FMs I've played as of late.
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Other random ratings:
FM Name:
7.5/10"
One of my personal favorites. Gameplay really suffers sometimes because of maze-like architecture of the level. Apart from that, written and implemented story is very well done. Steampunk aspect of the map is perfectly designed and completed with many details. Sometimes the view resembles a cityscape from TMA.
Review: (
https://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthre...=1#post2414899)
This was generally a superb layout, with good atmosphere, with really good exploring opportunities. The complicated vertical layout required climbing on pipes, mantling, and other tricks to progress. Route finding was confusing and hard to remember. The first time through it was great. The 6th time, not so much. The main problem for me was the tedious hunting for core shards. The screenshot method is bogus and not much help unless you have a photographic memory not only of the places but the routes to get there. I suggested on the forum a number of possible improvements that would convert this mission from good to excellent.
Room brushes missing even on the ground. Sound propagation is important. Nice ideas, though.
"Way back, in times that now seem primordial, there was a game called The Dark Project, and after an exhausting finale, it ended on a wonderfully bleak note. The Trickster was dead, and we were told to beware the dawn of the Metal Age - a nightmare of unchecked industrialisation gone horribly wrong. We were never really given that specific Metal Age (although we got a good game by that name, and many wonderful fan missions in the bargain). Until now: this is the experience some of us have been patiently waiting for all these years.
The Whistling of the Gears is a mission which brings you the rampant industrialisation; the smoke; the towering metal structures; the dirt and grey misery. It is something that had previously only existed in a cutscene and our imaginations. The resulting mission is a super-complex city mission with a small footprint but remarkable height and density. It is filled with primitive machines and metal structures whose only seeming purpose is pollution, noise, and being eyesores. It has human environments which look cramped, uncomfortable, and miserable. It also has a visionary style which builds on dull grey and other muted colours to establish its feel. Item textures are looted for terrain in fun ways. Stock objects are repurposed with ingenuity to build mad things like a hanging string of sausages or cheap, gaudy ceramics, or sparkling wires above a street, or weird antennae, or whatever.
There is much to do here. The central objectives are complex and multi-stage. The mission has to be traversed multiple times, and this can be a bit exhausting… it needs a certain dedication, but it pays off. There is great infiltration in an industrialist's demesne, sabotage, dodging stationary and moving AI with tricky routes, and some non-standard technical wizardry that's kinda mindblowing in a “how did this madman do it” way.
In my mind, this mission is the best of the contest. There are landmarks in mission design which show us there are things previously thought impossible - and this FM has done just that."
"(I have substituted 'Design' for 'Story' when rating submissions in which Story would score lower)
Atmosphere=10
Design=8
Gameplay=6
On the one hand, there is some incredible open-ended level design going on here. On the other, the central objective can be rather unforgiving unless you reload multiple times, and it penalises any in-depth exploration and savouring of this amazingly fleshed out environment before triggering it. These two features do not mesh well, and their conjunction here seriously compromises an otherwise top-tier FM.
Along with 'Rose Garden', 'Sound of A Burrick In A Room' and 'Lost Among The Forsaken', the architecture, layout and interior design are so far beyond the baseline for Thief Gold it is almost unfair to consider them in the same category as the rest of this contest. But none of these three, and almost none of the other submissions, had so frustrating a central objective. It made me wish I hadn't already spent an hour exploring this unbelievably well-detailed mission, because it transformed novel exploration into backtracking. Considering my suspicions about the author/team behind this FM, it is an unusually poor choice in light of his/their portfolio."
"A very immersive mission, with a gorgeous atmosphere. This mission looks like taken from T1 cutscenes and depicts perfectly the transition from the Dark Project to the Metal Age. Add with this a singular and entertaining quest, and you've got here a unique mission that promises to be excellent.
The architecture in this FM is simply fabulous. Like I said, we're completely immersed in a T1 cutscene, like we see with the intro, Viktoria's visit at Garrett's or Artemus going back to see Garrett at the end. All is here : high roofs, iron wires everywhere, chimneys and smoke, open windows, electrical machines... all in a pure T1 fashion. It looks like the author tried to reconstruct the cutscenes themselves in-game. A brilliant and well-executed idea !
These narrow streets were also pleasant to wander, just like I enjoy them in T1 FMs. Roofs were also a piece of pleasure, although it was tenuous sometimes to jump from a point to another. But the disposal of street furniture justified this well, making the path to follow unpredictable. I was often lost in this sub-quarter, but it was only to discover new places and loot places I didn't have even suspected.
All kinds of buildings to explore were much interesting and very original : this famous M. butcher, the bankrupted printing house, the decaying Hammerite church and its renegade priest (so surprising!), the haunted water tower, the shut museum... all places were nice.
Tudor's factory had also its amazing parts, with all these warehouses and strange machines, plant watchers, Tudor's bedroom itself and its main workshop. We really were into an mechanical atmosphere, and I deeply enjoyed this feeling I described in other reviews : seeing the transition between T1 and T2. We clearly understand in this mission that the Metal Age is upon us, just like Artemus told Garrett before leaving him. Whether it is the readables (much pleasant and sometimes funny, above all when you get they're linked to other FMs of the contest!), the visual, the dialogues (loved this domestic fight!), the noises and the global ambience in many places, you understand, see and hear the City is changing. It was also cool to see famous people we see in T2 or heard about in other missions being mentioned there, it expanded the lore, but rather in a retrospective form, which I quite enjoyed. The author clearly understands the atmosphere of Thief 1 and cleverly managed to put it in a half T1, half T2 way.
Talking about the sound, I never heard a so noisy FM ! Machines are everywhere, even when you don't see them, and really manage to make you feel the mechanization of the City. It's good to see a good use of machines, with a real purpose for each one, without being randomly put here and there like we see in many FMs. It also seems many objects never seen before were used in this mission, making me guess they were hidden somewhere in the original files. Getting back to sound, I also liked to reuse of original sounds to make them sound darker, like this loud sound in the church, or the tense ambience in Tudor's workshop. But the abandoned factory is probably the creepiest place in the mission, and I'm looking forward to see it expanded in a future mission. It really looks like a terrifying place. Also noticed some hidden creatures (Easter eggs?) here and there which didn't look very friendly. Anywhere you go, there's something to do in this mission : no place is useless, and loot is always hidden here and there. Also really enjoyed this additional loot if you buy the contract at the start. Much original sub-plot here.
The story, now, is simply excellent. The briefing already manages to make you enjoy this FM before starting it, even if we recognize Renaissance drawings instead of custom ones, but this looked cool nonetheless. The story itself is very original, since we don't have to rob something like in 95% of FMs, but to sabotage a machine. And the plot twist was very nice and nicely designed. I'll just regret, despite the author's good intentions, that it wasn't easy to find the different pieces of the core, so much the moments to rememeber their locations were furtive. It needed little exploration, but honestly, it wasn't that annoying, since I didn't had explored every inch of town at this moment. It also made me discover places I had forgotten to reach. I heard many people complaining about the goal of the mission (sabotage then repair the core to replace it), but personally, I saw no problem with that : Garrett was said to sabotage the machine, which means making it not working good, not destroying them. And Tudor's journal, if you just bother reading it, clearly explained how the sabotage would work, with holy water and then repairing without giving back the core its powers. So no, it wasn't illogical, it just needed reading, as in every mission.
The background of the story was interesting as well. All these fighting factions (armed beggars, scrappers, merchants...) made a good reason for the story to exist and gave a peculiar story to the sub-quarter. This looked like a living and changing quarter, where things happen for each inhabitant in their daily life. It was also good to see street 'guards' not immediately running to kill you for unknown reasons but rather warning you. It made the exploration of the map softer.
Speaking of this, I also noticed how jumping (accidentally, often) on metal outside didn't alert everyone around. I guess the author has altered this in the parameters or found a trick, but if it's indeed the case, I can only praise his/her consideration for the player, so that in an definitely metallic town, we can make noise in a realistic way, that is to say, not being heard by all the district. And this is a gameplay key point.
So in the end, I deeply enjoyed this mission. It was exciting on several aspects, has a very good atmosphere, whether it was visual, aural, or narrative. Again, the author did a great job depicting how LGS imagined the City, above all between T1 and T2. This mission is another good example of a tribute to T1, but in a more ambitious way. With this, you can understand how the Metal Age came, but only thanks to little stories and not too easily with a single story. Here we have again an FM maker who understands well how Thief 1 universe works. Can't wait to see how he will show his/her understanding of Thief 2 universe..."