Thief 2 FM: King's Story (released on April, 8, 2010)

raymeld on 23/10/2010 at 15:06

Not often I feel led to come on here these days having been won over by Dark Mod . However , I felt like revisiting Thief 2 fan missions having just downloaded and played COSAS Mission X . Now that was an extremely crafted and beautiful mission and my congratulations go to the makers of it . I can't wait for part three to come out ( if indeed it ever does ). I was looking for a similarly well made mission and made the mistake of downloading this one. Must be just about the most frustrating Thief mission I've ever played and I've worked my way through Gold , Thief 2 and 3 , Dark Mod and an awful lot of fan missions for each of them . I've spent several hours falling off obscure mountain passes without getting anywhere and am getting my life back by dumping this in the recycle bin ( with relish ). Don't give me the bit about the castle ( what castle? ) being beautiful and there being up to eight endings , I don't think I'll ever get there. Can anyone guide me towards what they consider to be a good Thief 2 recent fan mission , something with castles in it from the beginning not frustrating mountain paths I keep falling off of !

PotatoGuy on 23/10/2010 at 19:39

Weird, I really don't get why so many people loathed mission 1. For me it's one of the most fantastic visual experiences in Thief I've ever had, and only got the objective failed once on my first playthrough, and I knew it would - while one of the things I enjoy most in Thief is exploring. I do get why mission 2 wouldn't be for everybody though - the need for out-of-the-box thinking can get you stuck very easily.

Anyway, raymeld, I suggest you play Rose Cottage. Gameplay isn't as good as Mission X in my opinion, but the visuals are stunning. I do suggest you wait another week so Saturnine has released an updated version. Meanwhile, I'd suggest you play either Broken Triad, since it has great gameplay, fun puzzles, and beautiful areas, or the A Night in Rocksbourg series. Also visually great, and lots of hidden places for exploring taffers. Good to see how people never forget Thief. :thumb:

raymeld on 24/10/2010 at 07:55

Quote Posted by PotatoGuy

Thank you for your kind response PotatoGuy . Time , ( and with it me agewise ! ) have moved on , but I've never forgotten Thief , it ticks all the boxes for me and is my favorite game of all time . I will certainly find and download the missions you've suggested starting with Rose Cottage . I remember playing missions by Saturnine from the old days so I guess it will have a good pedigree. Nice to see too that Thief still works well with my latest Win 7 system. Kind regards , raymeld :D
p.s great you can now sometimes find walkthroughs on You Tube , helps you guage a mission.

poronty on 22/11/2010 at 11:36

Ahoy to all! I'm sorry if this has been answered somewhere and I just overlooked it: how exactly am I supposed to hide the bodies so that the Body discovered failure doesn't occur when I transition to the upper levels via the dumbwaiter? I've knocked out just about anyone I'm allowed to downstairs, and I thought I did a pretty good job making sure I didn't stack the bodies or leave them out in well-lit areas, and I still get the failure message after about a couple of minutes from the dumbwaiter explosion sequence.

People keep mentioning that the bodies teleport randomly due to the engine's certain properties, but I'm not looking forward to moving all those bodies around and checking the result through trial-and-error. So could someone please tell me straight up how I should hide the knocked-out castle crew so that I can continue with the mission? Thanks

Zontik on 22/11/2010 at 14:13

Choose places:
- where AI can't get in (under stairs - remember they can't crouch);
- where AI are not supposed to be at all (ex., in the attic - there is no way there except ladder; or nearby the entrance door);
- dark places with no lamps and switches (some switches can be turned on during the game).
Good place is a corridor between main building and South wing (on the first - *above ground* - floor). This room is not mapped. There IS a switch, but AI never turn it on. Another good places are toilets (any) and scullery. And food room (with wine cask in the wall).
If you eliminated a single guard in Water tower, all its stairs are safe now (except those which are right nearby the machinery room).
If you eliminated the person on the upper floor of the East wing, his bedroom is also completely safe (just close the door!).

poronty on 22/11/2010 at 14:35

Quote Posted by Zontik

Choose places:

Hey, thank you so much for the quick reply! I'll get right on it. And by the by, I am absolutely amazed by your FM, especially since I visited Neuschwanstein myself this summer and recognized a lot of the rooms and places immediately! Of course we were not allowed access to all the unfinished parts, just a small portion of the castle, but it was still ridiculously awesome.

StanMarsh511 on 5/12/2010 at 21:30

Great mission, but a bit confusing...

After I went to Anger's apartment, I went via the balcony to the ballroom where there was the cutscene with the werewolf transformation. After the cutscene happens it says "objective failed," so I'm thinking I missed something.

I read something about spoiling the premiere, but I have no idea where to go to do that (presuming that's what I'm supposed to do before I take the balcony to the ballroom).

Zontik on 6/12/2010 at 11:47

If you read Anger's memoires (opened book on his table), it would probably give you a clue.
First, return back from the balcony.
You need to place another score on the stand in Anger's apartments (where you got the proper one).
If you don't have it yet, check several places:
- King's study (Allegro);
- Library (Moderato/Largo).
Then go to the balcony again.

Roz on 13/12/2010 at 15:34

Thank you Zontik, what a mission! I just finished playing on Allegro, with a lot of help from this Forum. I'm very proud though of the fact that I was able to finish the Overture with extra moss and water arrows, a rope arrow and the secret without any help whatsoever :cool:

Unfortunately, the only warning I heeded was to hide the bodies well. It took me a while to internalize your M.O., the inner logic in this mission: that there were things (doors, items etc.) that couldn't be used before certain things had taken place or items were founds. But once I understood what the mission was all about, things got a lot smoother and easier for me. In addition, I learned not to expect the usual (e.g. looking for locks that looked like the prototypical locks in Thief :ebil:

All in all, a truly amazing mission, thank you!

I haven't read all the posts on this thread, there are too many, but did anybody climb to the highest tower and light the torch (or whatever) there? Cool effects! I noticed that the backside of one of the statues changed, with a text PHONO (or at least so it seemed to me).

Finally, I don't really know Wagner so well, so although many pieces sounded familiar, the only piece I was able to recognise was the Ride of the Valkyries. What were the other ones? The music certainly added to the mood of the mission.

clearing on 13/12/2010 at 15:57

Quote Posted by Roz

a text PHONO

PHONG. Congrats! You found easter egg :)

There is Miss26.mis file for all secrets and easter eggs and... all 8 alternative ways to finish the mission.