ZylonBane on 18/9/2018 at 12:41
Uh oh, I think downwinder hacked scotty's account.
Yandros on 18/9/2018 at 16:17
Quote Posted by scottyd
instead of making where a mission is so hard you have to keep relloading. A real excited way to play is DID, or" dead is dead", I've playd T2 exprt thhrough the 5th mission or so this way... when you die "you die" meaning, no reloads. except if you have to quit for the night. This style of play making the game much more exciting. A simple mission you might think was too easy, try DID.
Most people refer to this mode as Iron Man.
lpowell on 18/9/2018 at 21:11
Ones I voted for:
Patrol routes: Well, this in some sense is part of the core gameplay of Thief. If I didn't like sneaking around, there'd be no reason to play Thief. I've certainly encountered missions that were particularly frustrating in this respect, but I'm more wont to admit my skills are just not up to snuff for such missions rather than blame my failures on "bad design." In any case, for me one of the most fascinating and valuable things about custom mapping scenes in general is seeing how far skill/difficulty ceilings can get pushed without breaking the game. It's a sign of well-designed core gameplay in my eyes. (My favorite non-Thief example: so-called Doom "slaughtermaps.")
Undead/monsters: I loved the levels in The Dark Project that featured undead, ancient ruins, etc. Aside from having entirely distinct atmospheres from the city/mansion missions, I really enjoyed the different gameplay dynamics undead enemies added to missions compared to living opponents. I was actually surprised to learn that many Thief players disliked those missions. Thankfully plenty of FM authors agree with me.
Acrobatics: Vertical level design in 3D games is inherently more interesting to me than non-vertical level design, so it goes without saying that I love missions that highly encourage climbing and rope arrow usage. Melan's and skacky's city missions are favorites of mine. I particularly like it when a seemingly-accessible high-up area tantalizes me and challenges my powers of observation in finding a way up. On the other hand, I've played a few missions where it turned out such areas were really not intended to be accessible. It's not a mission-killer but it's always disappointing. I guess I've gotten too good at climbing.
A few I didn't vote for:
Key/switch-hunts: I don't necessarily dislike these, but they were certainly frustrating at times when I first started out playing Thief FMs. The Black Frog and A Night in Rocksbourg come to mind as generally fantastic missions that threw me for a loop with obscure item hunts. Lately, however, I've gotten more used to combing areas thoroughly and am much less likely to miss key items.
Puzzles: I would divide Thief FM puzzles into two types.
Type I: Puzzles in the style of old school graphic adventure games where items have to be used in specific ways in specific areas. I have very little experience with those kinds of adventure games, so naturally such puzzles are more difficult for me than for people who grew up playing King's Quest or whatever. On the other hand, most of the FMs I've played are pretty good about hiding clues in readables, though I sometimes miss things. In general though, I simply won't play an FM if it seems like it's heavily reliant on puzzles as opposed to "traditional" Thief gameplay.
Type II: Mathematical/logic puzzles. A little background on myself. I actually majored in math in university, but moreso as a personal challenge than because I was particularly interested in math as a subject. (If I had chosen a major based on personal interests it would have been literature, but I saw no point in borrowing thousands of dollars to study a subject I could easily pursue on my own time.) It turned out I was pretty good at proving theorems in analysis, less so in number theory or abstract algebra. Puzzles, though, are totally different for me. I simply never went through puzzle books or played logic games for fun, so this sort of thing is a bit alien to me. I can figure things out if I put in the effort, but I'm lazy sometimes. More importantly, I usually think these puzzles feel pretty artificial in a game that is so much about immersion, if not realism.
Scant equipment: No thanks, I prefer to be kitted out.
Spyrano on 20/9/2018 at 23:25
Quote Posted by klatremus
I was gonna say, I don't think I've ever run into a mission where a stack was "necessary", let alone required to fulfill an objective. It seems to be done by players who has an obscure need or interest for them, in which case they're usually good at making them.
Telliamed's The Taffer's Tower from 2002.
I knew I remembered there was a mission where you had to crate stack up the side of a tower, and finally found it going through the screenshots at darkfate.ru
TheDarkOne93 on 21/9/2018 at 03:06
Security systems and bots.
Yandros on 21/9/2018 at 12:39
Quote Posted by Spyrano
Telliamed's The Taffer's Tower from 2002.
Yes, I was trying to remember it also, although to be fair it's pretty much a gag mission IIRC.
Shaz on 22/9/2018 at 23:39
I tried to only answer what I often find explicitly difficult: Difficult patrol routes, well lit areas, and, on occasion, well hidden switches. These really only count, however, if they truly ARE difficult. Tricky patrol routes in certain places? Ok. A few well lit areas I might have to get through? ...Ok, maybe. That one well hidden switch that's in an area you KNOW it has to be in because you read the book that describes it? No problem, I'll find it eventually. Pile it all on excessively? I'll be throwing my hands up in defeat.
Were this poll instead asked "What makes FMs tedious/aggravating/annoying?", then I'd also add 'forced ghosting', 'excessive key and/or loothunting', and 'an overabundance of loud surfaces'. I'll get through those, but I'll probably be grumbling and I won't be enjoying the FM as much as I'd wished to.
downwinder on 23/9/2018 at 01:59
now that i had time to think about it i would say
thief 1 mission by dront ,"plot" are very hard,due to 3 factors,lighting and amount of a.i. and how sensitive they are and lack of place to have a safe place to be
^all those factors make for a hard fm
and also when it comes to puzzles i only hate the ones that have obscure math problems,like garrett would even have any idea how to solve them,remember we are suppose to be garrett in fan missions,not ourselves
Zontik on 26/9/2018 at 08:03
16 men like keyhunt. Seriously?!
I think the poll question is not clear for everybody. Or you need another poll - "Which difficulty factors make you mad?"
For me:
Acrobatics is the main frustrating factor.
Undead/Monsters is the second one.
Loothunt wins the third place.
And the favourite difficulties for me are:
Difficult patrol routes
Traps
Puzzles (of both types)
McTaffer on 26/9/2018 at 19:24
When I voted, I definitely thought it was difficulty you don't like.