ticky on 5/1/2021 at 22:15
Finished. Very nice one, with excellent use of ambients and a unique dark atmosphere. I'd like to point out that the enemies weren't too annoying because of their balanced settings - relatively weak vision and hearing with moving speed and attacking skills well above average - something that the player can handle cleverly, and not an annoying overpower. The voice of the AI was also very unique and enjoyable. Something partly with the vibe of The Builder's Paradise, but with better gameplay. This ship rocked, thank you for a great entry!
JoergA on 6/1/2021 at 17:44
I did not finish this mission. I liked the atmosphere and the detailed setting but was frustrated by these mummies.. Simply not my type of mission, sorry.
Thinking Robot on 6/1/2021 at 22:17
A well done little, simple horror FM; but with a lovely attention to detail. It was a wonderful and scary, but not frustrating experience.
Thank you!
<Username> on 7/1/2021 at 18:37
A Mechanist setting put to good use. I was impressed but the roombrushing and the lighting. The atmosphere inside the
corpse-strewn ship reminded my of (
https://www.thiefguild.com/fanmissions/16777/the-builders-paradise) The Builder's Paradise. Great stuff! Finished on Normal in 32 minutes with
1405 /
1600 loot.
I initially enjoyed The Perdurance a lot, but these feelings evaporated as soon as I was confronted with
very fast undead that quickly became more annoying than frightening. I was trying to ironman the mission, then made a save as soon as I saw the first one
racing by. I am glad I did because it is nigh impossible to successfuly ghost them. I did not count the number of reloads I had to do, but it must have been around 50. The inside of the ship is very loud and due to the contant noise around me, I was never sure how loud my footsteps were. This made ghosting even harder.
The mission would be
much better with
slower enemies that can more easily be avoided. To illustrate this point:
A Sinister Night, also from the 1 Million Units Contest, has basically the same objectives (get a valuable item and some loot, then get out) and the same challenge (avoid a couple of undead you can't kill). Even though the room design in A Sinister Night is far less interesting, I felt that mission was a lot more fun to play. It gave me a chance to observe the enemies' behavior, memorize their patterns, and then device a strategy on how to move from room to room without them noticing me. This was not possible in The Perdurance because of the fast movement speed of the undead and the constant machine noises around me hampering my listening to footsteps of enemies and myself.At the starting location, where you are surrounded by all the fog, the framerate slowed to one frame every couple of seconds. I had trouble leaving and later getting back to the start. It was better on the ship's deck. Inside the ship, all was well. I play Thief on an old computer, but usually I have no problems.
I noticed the allusion to Ascend the Dim Valley. If there were more allusions, I did not recognize them.
Skejven on 7/1/2021 at 19:19
I totally understand where you're coming from, but I personally found Sinister Night to lack any kind of challenge (other than loot goal, which definetly wasn't fun to meet at expert). The amnesia monsters aren't a threat to the player at all, plus the complete darkness this FM has and majority of the floor being of stone material makes it hard for me to imagine getting caught other than at the end when they spawn right at you.
I think this is mostly due to difference in our playstyles, I personally don't mind ghosting at all, but when I get caught I prefer to work my way out of the situation, rather than reloading a quicksave. That's why I made mummies more of a challange in this regard, they're quick so getting away from them after being caught is much harder, but because mission is (mostly) interconnected and has stuff like vents and few platforming spots, getting caught doesn't mean a certain death. If those were regular zombie speed enemies I could just you know, run away without any kind of problem.
<Username> on 7/1/2021 at 19:53
What you write is interesting. I played A Sinister Night without saving and much like I would have played Amnesia - The Dark Descent: desperately not wanting to be seen. I think that is why that mission was so enjoyable for me. I was always on edge trying not to get caught. When I actually managed to do it, I got a nice feeling of accomplishment. Where you perceived a lack of a challenge in A Sinister Night, I felt the challenge was just right.
I tried to play The Perdurance the same way and got frustrated when I had to learn it is just not possible. The mummies move so fast they will eventually ambush and attack you. I understand you wanted me to run away and hide in one of the ducts or other obvious hiding spots for a while. I can play the game like this, but I vastly prefer a slow approach. Sneaking around scary enemies also makes for a better horror experience than treating them like children in a game of tag.
Skejven on 7/1/2021 at 20:14
I though that is the way Amnesia is meant to be played, no? It doesn't have manual saves, you sneak, but when you get caught you want to run away and hide, save yourself instead of reloading right away. I didn't really want you to play specific way, don't get me wrong, it's absolutely fine that you didn't enjoy that aspect of the mission
klatremus on 7/1/2021 at 23:14
I completely disagree with your comparison of Sinister Night and Perdurance, Username. I found Sinister Night to be more tedious and boring due to layout and no challenge. The mummies provided heightened tension and an actual scare factor. I do think there should be enough weapons to kill them if so desired, but in terms of design quality and interesting layout, Perdurance is a considerable number of notches higher.
<Username> on 8/1/2021 at 08:03
Well, we can only agree to disagree. I also thought The Perdurance has a much higher architectural quality and interesting layout than A Sinister Night, but disliked its enemy design.
nicked on 8/1/2021 at 20:13
This was great fun - good, creative use of Mechanist theming throughout, nice atmospheric build-up and pacing, and the unkillable enemies were a fair challenge and didn't outstay their welcome.
I guess my only "complaint" is that it was very straightforward - just in and out in 15 mins, but it was really great fun while it lasted.
