baeuchlein on 30/4/2019 at 17:27
With the help of DromEd, I have found a way from the storage room where Drakhat is into the alchemist's shop. It is below the storage room indeed, and could in theory be reached through the iron grate in the floor. Unfortunately, the only lever to open the grate is on the other side, so that's not an option.
Instead, you have to get out of the storage room via the window first. Then, head for the southern end of the roof on which you are standing. Look down, and you should see a window with a Hammerite sign in the glass. Go into that direction by first getting down a bit with the help of one or two roofs located below you. The last of these roofs is a slanted one. A beam portruding from the edge can be used to get across the street and land on another roof, close to the Hammerite window. Near that window, crouch near the edge of the roof, save your game, and drop down to the street below. With a bit of luck, Garrett will not lose any health.
Enter the street running towards the east from here. The beam you came across will be above your head now. Go to the eastern end of the street, then climb up using the pipes in the right corner. You should then be able to mantle or jump onto some kind of balcony there. A door leads into the alchemist's shop. Just like Sagittal described, you should find a lever below and behind two chairs. It opens the double doors nearby.
The room beyond the doors contains the golden skull you're after, as well as two or three potions near the place where some vessel is heated. If you climb up into the rafters there, you can find access to a shaft with a ladder, and on top of that ladder, you will be able to use a lever mounted there. It will open the iron grate above you, and you will emerge in the storage room once again.
Mystery solved.;)
Drakhat on 26/5/2019 at 16:01
Quote Posted by baeuchlein
With the help of DromEd, I have found a way from the storage room where Drakhat is into the
alchemist's shop. It is below the storage room indeed, and could in theory be reached through the iron grate in the floor. Unfortunately, the only lever to open the grate is on the other side, so that's not an option.
Instead, you have to get out of the storage room via the window first. Then, head for
the southern end of the roof on which you are standing. Look down, and you should see a window with a Hammerite sign in the glass. Go into that direction by first getting down a bit with the help of one or two roofs located below you. The last of these roofs is a slanted one. A beam portruding from the edge can be used to get across the street and land on another roof, close to the Hammerite window. Near that window, crouch near the edge of the roof, save your game, and drop down to the street below. With a bit of luck, Garrett will not lose any health.
Enter the street running towards
the east from here. The beam you came across will be above your head now. Go to the
eastern end of the street, then climb up using the pipes in the right corner. You should then be able to mantle or jump onto some kind of balcony there. A door leads into the alchemist's shop. Just like Sagittal described, you should find
a lever below and behind two chairs. It opens the double doors nearby.The room beyond the doors contains the golden skull you're after, as well as two or three potions near the place where some vessel is heated. If you climb up into the rafters there, you can find access to a shaft with a ladder, and on top of that ladder, you will be able to use a lever mounted there. It will open the iron grate above you, and you will emerge in the storage room once again.
Mystery solved.;)
Thanks bäuchlein for your in-depth guidance. I just find the time to finish the mission just today.
I have already visited that shop several times before, but never saw that damned lever.
getting on top of that central tower with that fire guy was extremely hard. Nevertheless thanks to your help I was able to collect all available loot in the mission.
jiansonz on 5/10/2019 at 21:47
I enjoyed this mission a great deal. Very nice usage of space, and it's often possible to get to places in more than one way.
Other than the loot objective (which was too easy, BTW. I prefer to be at least near the end of my initial exploration of a mission before it gets fulfilled), I didn't manage to solve any objectives without the help of this thread. If I had found that book in Tudor's bedroom, I may have been able to figure that one out, but the rest of the hints went over my head. Had to get here to find the 'fire' part of the core as well. I swear, I had been to every damn place in the mission with fire or molten metal/lava except that one...
Someone wrote about how to get on top of fire mage's tower using a speed potion and jump from the railing above the church. I am sceptical - feels like you don't get enough height, and if you mean I should jump/mantle to the lower parts of the tower roof (and then mantle), the corner of the building I am jumping from is in the way. Plus it's near impossible standing still on such a small spot as the railing, to then manage a run + jump under speed influence. I think it is much easier to stack two crates and a couple of scrolls and potions and get up on the roof above the church.
Oh, and when I got up there, that darn mage attacked me. I dodged a couple of his shots thinking: "What about the no-kill objective!?". :)
After the fight, I found five coins on the roof, and I have eventually managed to find three more, spotting glimmers from the coins when viewed from high above. So I only have 8/29, apparently. Any hints on how to find more?
I now have all the 'normal' loot. Thanks to Drakhat for the lootlist. Turns out I had missed only two loot items, both in eastern storage room of the factory.
A question: if you don't buy the scroll that gives you a buyer for the fine meat, can you eat the deer legs instead? Or are they simply not there?
(guess I could try that one out myself - doesn't take long to get there...)
IvyLovecraft on 28/10/2019 at 08:10
Way to the tower
Take 3 crates at Scrappers with you. Here in the melting room with rope arrow to the beams. In the crawl space, in the next room out of the window to the balcony. In the south on the ledges to the next roof. Two crates on the machine by the window with the watchman and one beside. Go onto it and onto the roof in the south.
On the next roof (east) with speed drink to the crane. Go up and in the north to the ledge. Onto the ball-like thing on the left. Behind the fence and onto the machine. Jump to the tower and kill the mage with 4 flash bombs.
Magical cucumber
At the alchemist balcony go on the red roof in the south. On the left hand lies a cucumber. When you eat it, it will beam you to the Tudor mechanic room.
Aemanyl on 9/12/2019 at 12:36
Very good mission. Had it not been for the annoying elemental shards hunt, I would have rated gameplay higher.
My ratings:
Atmosphere: 9
Gameplay: 6,5
Story: 8
A.Stahl on 10/1/2020 at 13:22
After one of the shards teleported from under my nose for the second time I gave up: no, I don't like the idea to crawl over this totally unnavigatable level once more. No, thank you.
Other things are good actually, but I'm sure many people mentioned that.
<Username> on 10/1/2020 at 20:23
Rose Garden had the same problem: a stunning mission by an accomplished creator that fell short of greatness because many players spent several increasingly frustrating hours searching for the locations of mission objectives in large and difficult to navigate maps. With some tweaks to increase the likelihood of players completing these missions on the easier difficulty levels, they could have won the contest.
DirkBogan on 10/1/2020 at 20:40
I'd be careful claiming that intentional design choices are a deficiency on the creator's part. Many others had no difficulty navigating either Whistling of The Gears (which has so much object and brush placement clearly designed to facilitate easy mantling) or Rose Garden, and actually found that their complexity made for a more rewarding experience than an 'easier' map could provide. The gameplay preferences of individual players are not the author's responsibility.
FireMage on 10/1/2020 at 21:48
I'll give a plus to Dirk.
You know, I reconize that some mappers can do mistakes on designs since nothing is perfect.
But it comes a line where it's the player's job : never mix the subjective preferences and the objective mistakes.
Mine was about goals which were not write in a clear way and the shards positions were not that obvious. It's what have frustated most of the players, not the navigation which has been at the entire opposite, commented as good and interesting.
(btw : A patch about the global cons has been started but it's paused for now since I've joined the T2 Anniversary Contest as you may expect ;) )
The both missions mentionned have been tested over and over by several persons, not just the author himself, and are filled with many mantlable edges or objects to help navigation a lot and I honnestly think it's impossible to make it more simple and certainly not in my mission where you can get to the roofs from many points on the map plus the fact they are connected.
All you have to do is to look up and try to mantle and take risks when you jump (AIs are voluntary almost deaves to be not alerted by iron surfaces).
Helping more would just lead to one thing : some players would have said it's too easy and make the roofs absolutely not interesting since there would have no reward of satisfaction once you get high above the ground since it would have been too simple. :sweat:
Imo, the answer is simple : it's just not your kind of mission. Maybe you prefer missions where there is only one way to go so you know where to go, where to look, where to search and how to win and win fast, which is not the style of map I wanted to submit for TG Anniversary Contest, since the experience is based on your sense of orientation, curiosity and hunger for exploring! :)