The Black Parade Mission 2: Where Old Faces Fade

Marmbo on 7/4/2024 at 17:02

Mission 2 Completed in 4 hours 33 min (In Game Timer) Actual time was probably around 10 to 15 hours, trying to find the loot on and off for almost a month.
100% Loot & Pockets Picked, No getting spotted, No knockouts
Mar 12th, 2024

TheGrimSmile on 13/4/2024 at 18:36

Has anyone been able to see whatever starts walking around when you grab the skeleton key?

Also, is there anything that can be done with the seemingly haunted painting hiding near the vault?

I've got to say, the scripting and custom animations in these missions is incredible, so many awesome little interactions to discover. I know from the infamous "Cutty laying down" issues in Thief Gold that adding animations *cannot* be easy in this engine.

Sharkburg on 16/9/2024 at 17:15

Just finished The Black Parade (absolutely amazing -- what an incredible production by the whole team), and I'm just chiming in to say that Where Old Faces Fade is the supreme standout for me and I want to extend my thanks and high-fives to all involved in putting this mission together. This is probably my single favorite fan-made Thief mission EVER, and an absolute masterpiece of design, architecture, atmosphere, and pure style. The Sword has always been my favorite OG Thief mission, and Where Old Faces Fade takes that surrealist experience to an incredible new level. My jaw was on the floor throughout the whole adventure, and I can't even fathom how it was possible to keep this all straight in DromEd during the design process. Absolutely amazing. I keep replaying it and continue to discover more and more hidden places and secrets even when I thought I'd found them all. Truly awesome!

megges93 on 21/10/2024 at 14:04

Might be a hard question, but I am trying to get 100% loot on Expert on my second playthrough... Currently I am 165 short (2298/2463 with 5/5 pockets robbed).

Here is a list of items I already got to exclude:

The coin stack in the "hut" above the sewers (street gate entrance to the opera section).
The silver flute in the ground floor secret room behind the panel.
The gold goblet in the bedroom you need to climb through the overgrown window in the round area where you leave the underground garden
The secret door with chest in chest ... in chest with value 1
The outside area above the entrance
The outside area accessed from sewers
The ouside area accessed by the bridge in the backside of the city
The coin stack in the yellow/orange timber house on top of the kitchen
... much more, but hard to remember exactly
I found all needed items to complete the mission like the vase, the clock, the two keys.

Contentwise a really great mission. In the first playthrough I really wasn't sure if it was an additional map or if by switching the statue head the complete (already existing map) changed. Especially since I went first underground before going to the maze like backside of the house. Coming out of the maze I found myself there and wasn't sure if now everything was overgrown and warped or what happened. Like all other missions, it kept going after each corner and more and more and more. Love it!!!

Darsithis on 25/1/2025 at 22:39

Anyone else notice what appears to be Garrett or another person’s eye near the “key found deep underground”? There is the Trickster’s Symbol and an eye sitting right in the middle of it on the floor in the corner.

<Username> on 30/4/2025 at 21:58

I limited myself to one Thief fan mission a month this year. Because I had been busy this month, I had to rush Where Old Faces Fade on the last day. This made playing even more enjoyable. After I grabbed Halleford's vase, I had less than 30 minutes until midnight to find my way back to the starting location. I felt very lost and just ran, from one disturbing scene to another. It felt like in a movie when the protagonist is running to escape and you just catch glimpses of the horrors in the corners.

Stats:
* Normal difficulty
* 1 hour and 8 minutes
* 709 of 2463 total loot
* 0 hints needed
Elements I liked:
* Very complex map. I had no idea where I was going most of the time. I like feeling a little lost.
* The way the building gets stranger and stranger the higher up you go and how the music gets more and more ominous is nicely done.
* Suddenly you are in a cave after going up in a building? That is creative. I don't remember this being done before.
* Images for the painting in the mansion are chosen well and fit the increasingly disturbing atmosphere.
* The jump scare with the painting with the open-mouthed, severed head really startled me.
* The upper floors are disorienting and unnerving. It does not feel like a human place.
* Moving lily pads on water surfaces and other nice touches.
Could be improved:
* The voice acting in the guard conversation about black pudding isn't very convincing. It sounds like dudes putting on exaggerated voices. It reminded me of a Monty Python sketch.
Other observations:
* A mansion mission with the Bafford tile set in which you have to do some breaking and entering. Classic.
* The mission is, of course, heavily inspired by The Sword.

demagogue on 1/5/2025 at 04:18

Seeing this thread bumped, for a half second I read the title as "The Black Parade 2" and got a little excited about a sequel. Then the logic part of my brain kicked in before even catching that it's "The Black Parade Mission 2". That's way too fast to expect a sequel.

Since you bring it up, The Sword did have a cave inside, in fact the part right before the actual sword.

<Username> on 1/5/2025 at 05:47

Quote Posted by demagogue

Since you bring it up, The Sword did have a cave inside, in fact the part right before the actual sword.

You are correct, of course. There is a small cave section near The Sword. Where Old Faces Fade feels much different because you can see the city streets outside through windows while you work your way to the upper floors of the building. Suddenly, you end up in a large carve, one that should not exist because clearly, you were high above the city, high above ground. There is the difference in Where Old Faces Fade. In The Sword, the smaller cave felt like it could exist as part of the same building.