FenrisUlf on 10/4/2013 at 10:02
Quote Posted by jtr7
If I know I'm about to make a tricky move, I'll get the inventory item ready, if it's bound to a hotkey, I'll hover a finger over it, and that's if I'm thinking ahead enough, heh heh. I did one move where I ran and jumped off a catwalk at regular running speed, and right before I started to arc downward, I drank the SLow-Fall potion, and floated down, blackjacking an archer while airborne. A place a lot of taffers have done something with multiple potions is off the top of the Bank, jumping over the wall to the outside of the mission map, using a speed potion to launch off the roof, and then right before descending, drinking the slow-fall potion to float farther and land safely. Obviously the funnest things to use the potions for are usually not mission oriented. I use 'em only to try new things out, otherwise, I don't need 'em.
The Invisibility and Slow-Fall potions both show up in the second mission of TMA, Shipping... and Receiving, and I think no matter the difficulty, the experimental apothecary Lady Angelica has one of each, so she's at least one in-game character who knows about their existence. You'll see a lot more potions on Easy, of course. The weirdest place for a potion--the weirdest pickpocket--is on the belt of a Hammer Haunt under Sheriff Truart's mansion. It looks wrong, too.
yeah hahaha we'll call them "The Show-off potions"! :)
And usually when I fall off of things I have already had to reload a couple of times and have gotten impatient and sloppy with my runs and jumps. However, the controls in TDP can be so klunky. It is definitely not suited as a platformer even tho some rooms are modeled that way. Those tall rooms in Bonehoard where you have to make perfect jumps onto thin or small platforms....yeesh so annoying.
jtr7 on 10/4/2013 at 10:10
It was like that at first, yeah. The rope-bounce glitch is usually what I worry about. If I'm in a hurry, I get what I deserve, hahaha! I found out that you can use the Scouting Orb to turn long deadly falls into a quick teleportation to standing safely on the ground. I wanted to see if I could watch Garrett through the Scouting Orb as he fell, but was surprised at what happened instead.
Myth on 10/4/2013 at 10:22
Quote Posted by jtr7
It's funny. Aside from not liking the existence of them, some of the other particular criticisms against the potions have been from people thinking that TMA introduced most of them. Somehow, playing through TDP/Gold, 2 of the 3 potions (4 if you include the cute li'l vials of Holy Water) aren't remembered, but in TMA, people have no problem remembering the 4 potions, especially the 2 new ones, and don't count the missing holy water, leaving a total of 4 potions to TDP/Gold's 3! :D
Other than that n00b feeling of needing potions and most equipment types to complete the missions, once things are understood better, all the potions and equipment become extras to experiment with, try different approaches, set challenges based on them. Other than the very specific puzzles that need equipment to solve, there's no need to keep any of it, but of course, they are there for individual tastes, or needs, or perceived needs.
With potions and crystals, the population, the fiction, needs to acknowledge their existence in the world, and make them part of it. TDS didn't, while TDP did, and TMA evolved it further, having AIs that drink health potions and an AI that shoots fire arrows. More of that, please!
That's how it is. I now aim to complete missions with 1 rope arrow and the two lockpicks only. Blackjack if I find it's not particularly well suited to ghosting (I don't have the physical time to invest in ghosting a mission where the author assumed you'd blackjack/gas arrow some guard or other).
In fact, in my plans to create a fan mission the last level of difficulty will give the player just a compass, two lockpicks and one rope arrow. The load feature exists for a reason :D
jtr7 on 10/4/2013 at 10:42
:thumb:
FenrisUlf on 10/4/2013 at 10:56
Quote Posted by jtr7
It was like that at first, yeah. The rope-bounce glitch is usually what I worry about. If I'm in a hurry, I get what I deserve, hahaha! I found out that you can use the Scouting Orb to turn long deadly falls into a quick teleportation to standing safely on the ground. I wanted to see if I could watch Garrett through the Scouting Orb as he fell, but was surprised at what happened instead.
heh that is a whole lot of awesome! forgot about those orbs too...okay I need to play thief 3 some more now :P
FenrisUlf on 10/4/2013 at 10:58
Incidently I was really surprised how much my Thief game improved once I started playing on Expert. I definitely went the brut force way of sniping and running through things before and that was really hard. Cragscleft especially seemed so intimidating (which is kudos to them for designing it so!) but once I just avoided people and tiptoed through darkness I masically turned into a tiger (or other firece prey simile) hunting the hammers...
jtr7 on 10/4/2013 at 11:06
Yes. The personal skill level goes up the more you go with the flow they've created and apply yourself to the challenges the devs laid out, even the ones that aren't fun or satisfying. It builds you up. You get the upgrade, not Garrett, heh heh heh. The more you try out playing his role, the more you grow as a player, and you can always go back to other styles, unless you suddenly find yourself not as interested in them anymore. :p
FenrisUlf on 10/4/2013 at 11:16
Quote Posted by jtr7
Yes. The personal skill level goes up the more you go with the flow they've created and apply yourself to the challenges the devs laid out, even the ones that aren't fun or satisfying. It builds you up.
You get the upgrade, not Garrett, heh heh heh. The more you try out playing his role, the more you grow as a player, and you can always go back to other styles, unless you suddenly find yourself not as interested in them anymore. :p
Well I also do like how in TDP they vary the levels so much to get you using different skills. LIke BOnehoard I keep saying. Whereas Cragscleft is definitely a hiding and darkness thieving level, Bonehoard is something different. It's about avoiding traps, avoiding zombies, avoiding everything to get your goals, usually at top speeds and under extreme pressure (of really scary atmosphere )
Cathedral is similar.
As far as the "not satisfying ones", you muyst be talking about The Lost City...ugh that one is long and boring.
I like the atmospheric noise but it is just so....long and devoid of people...
jtr7 on 10/4/2013 at 11:51
It's different for everybody. There are no universally disliked missions or playstyles. I really liked the feel of TDP's Lost City, but I hated going in circles until I learned the place. I only played Bonehoard once on Expert, and that was after I got comfortable with the bulk of the map first. It just felt like grinding after awhile when I didn't know where everything was. I didn't like doing chores for Murus, and again, after I learned the map, I tend to break the game somehow by collecting everything before Murus instructs me to do anything. :p Thieves' Guild's too empty and goes on and on for how empty it is, but I sense it could've really been continually surprising if there were no object limits. I dislike playing Soulforge the most, while I love exploring it in the editor. If I watch enough speed-runs, I know I can break that sense of great tedium that comes over me playing that map. Each of these maps have huge fans and a lot of dislike, too.
I really like the industrial section of Assassins! where there are no or hardly any AIs, but the design of the area intrigues me more than any other area in that mission.
Myth on 10/4/2013 at 12:18
In Bonehoard my natural instinct lead me to abuse the fire arrow trap so the zombies get chunked and I got to rob in peace.
In RTC, sadly I only really played trough it once (I have to revisit it now). I saw the haunts, and I was scared as hell. I was on a second floor ledge of some sort. I then took out my two trusty flashbombs and jumped right in the friggin' middle of them all, alerting half the universe with Garrett's tapdancing shoes colliding with solid marble. Click-click - two flashes and all the haunts were gone.
