Esme on 18/12/2023 at 14:04
Well I finished mission 1, bit short on total loot but made the required amount, so definitely replaying
Loving it so far :thumb:
jamesPatton on 24/12/2023 at 12:06
So I recently finished an Expert playthrough of Thief Gold, so I was stoked to hear about Black Parade and couldn't wait to jump into it! My first impressions are that you guys are absolutely nailing the TDP aesthetic and feel. These looming, gothic structures all crammed in together; the weird little gardens with that weird little "crickets in the forest" ambience; the sprawling design of the district.
I'm especially impressed with the verticality of this mission, which I didn't expect given there's no rope arrow. And yet, I stumbled upon a dizzying spire-filled city vista more than once, and those views helped me orient myself in relation to the map, so it was mechanically useful too. And I loved how the little sub-locations felt like their own little mini-missions as well, little worlds unto themselves: (minor spoilers)the manor on the East side of the map, the gatehouse complete with bailiff's office, the tenements.
You've really touched on that Thief design principle that this is a world that exists for its own sake, and the player is just passing through. I felt a little more immersed each time I found a bathroom that had no gameplay purpose, or a little garden that was there just because, or some bedding with a standard green beer bottle. This feels like a place, not a videogame, and that's one thing I've always appreciated about Thief. The argument that breaks out among the gangsters and leads to them fighting each other is maybe a bit much (it seems to serve no gameplay purpose), but it also made me smile.
My favourite moments: (medium spoilers)
1: I was climbing up somewhere just to see what was there, and came across a window into a dormitory. I couldn't get through, and I thought it was unlikely I'd be able to find a way inside the room, so I wrote it off as decoration and was about to move on when I noticed someone had left a health potion on a table just inside the window. So I grabbed it. Such a tiny interaction, but it made me feel such a taffer.
2: I was hiding in the rundown area near the end of the mission. There was a bowman guard watching the street from a window above me, and I was sneaking past in the darkness beneath the window. But then a second guard started getting closer; I froze, hoping he wouldn't see me. Not only did he not see me, he stopped below the window and had a brief conversation with the bowman above me. An utterly unreal situation that made me feel like I really was completely hidden, and a great example of why the new "guards talk to each other on their rounds" feature can really improve gameplay.
3: I was in the bailiff's office, which is well lit with marble flooring, and this guard kept coming in to do his rounds. (Maybe it was even the bailiff.) He spotted and killed me a few times and I had to reload several times. I realised that the one place I hadn't tried hiding was the window. So I peeked over the window ledge... and saw a sheer drop, but also a small gargoyle jutting out from the wall directly below me. I nervously crept over the edge and carefully dropped down onto the gargoyle, avoiding the 100-foot drop below, then just stood there for a while until I heard the guard complete his rounds and close the door, which was my cue to hoik myself back up onto the sill and into the office.
Stunning work. I played on normal difficulty so I could kill guards, but I think I'll switch to Expert from now on just so I can see as much of this campaign as possible.
R Soul on 24/12/2023 at 12:19
You can access all areas on all difficulty levels, but my experience has been that the increased loot goal on Expert, and the additional objectives, makes it easier to get a feel for how much of each mission has been visited. And that there's always more than you think, in terms of both loot and locations.
Emerald Wolf on 2/1/2024 at 05:42
While exploring this level more thoroughly on a new playthrough I discovered that the carrots from the grocer's store near the start differ from the other food items in that they can be used like flares in T2 to elevator to interesting places. I managed to get out-of-bounds over the Southernmost gate near the fountain and found a floating button and two guards wearing red uniforms that I don't recalling seeing elsewhere in the level. Whats up with that?
klatremus on 2/1/2024 at 16:55
Buttons and guards out of bounds are often used by authors to control triggering of scripts and the teleportation of enemies, I believe. And if they are out of bounds they are not meant to be found, and thus definitely not important to the player/story.
skacky on 2/1/2024 at 17:42
In that case it was for something we decided to cut because it didn't work properly, but we didn't delete the two guards.
Emerald Wolf on 3/1/2024 at 06:25
Quote Posted by klatremus
Buttons and guards out of bounds are often used by authors to control triggering of scripts and the teleportation of enemies, I believe. And if they are out of bounds they are not meant to be found, and thus definitely not important to the player/story.
But trying to go where you're not supposed to is a time-honoured tradition when playing thief if I'm not mistaken and finding the guards made me wonder if I had missed an opportunity to trigger them appearing inside the level somewhere.
Quote Posted by skacky
In that case it was for something we decided to cut because it didn't work properly, but we didn't delete the two guards.
Ah, thanks.
Cotillion on 10/1/2024 at 07:35
Quote Posted by klatremus
Was this the one referred to as a fizzle arrow in the note? If so, I also wondered what that was. I found a noisemaker arrow in the alley on Dogrun, so I assumed that was it. I also didn't find rope arrows or lockpicks.
Okay I've walked the alley up and down at least 10 times and I just cant find the gutter or the arrow. Can someone help me?
EDIT: Okay nevermind, I found it
MrMunkeepants on 15/1/2024 at 01:21
going back for a second play on expert; in the first section of town there is a room above the pub visible from the Gatehouse bridge and the rickety wooden staircase; is there any way into that room? it has a grate and red walls.
Twist on 15/1/2024 at 03:11
Yes: On... Smokestack? The road where two guards are chatting... there's an entrance to a mechanical/utility area (marked by a gear on the map). I think it can be lockpicked? Once you enter, go straight back to the sewer pool. Behind the sewer water, there are two square grates on the wall. The one on the left, which is a little hidden in the darkness, opens to a ladder that will take you into that room.
