Galaer on 31/12/2021 at 18:05

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THE LAST LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER

Mansion mission. Not too hard as you can frob douse lamps and turn off switches under statues. Still there are places with a lot of Hammerites and there is a lot of going back and forth for quest items. In Jeremy's room you are forced to use crowbar on trapdoor. Since there is no lock I believe crowbar is used just to raise trapdoor without breaking anything. But later crowbar is used to break open door to Sid Maier's room (ghost bust #1). In Shepard's room you are forced to use acid on lock to open safe (ghost bust #2). Also after using cuckoo on clock, bookcase vanish. Since it's a mechanism created by inventor I don't count that as damage property.

STATS:

Time: 0:52:06; Loot: 2525/2525
Pockets Picked: 1/0; Locks Picked: 4
Back Stabs: 0; Knock Outs: 0
Damage Dealt: 0; Damage Taken: 0; Healing Taken: 0
Innocents killed: 0; Others killed: 0
Iron Beasts Destroyed: 0; Disabled: 0
Secrets: 3/4

GHOST: IMPOSSIBLE

Galaer on 1/1/2022 at 10:12

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I decided to leave that as this is part of the stats. For me Deceptive Perception 2 is way less scary than previous Deceptive Perception and I didn't even jumped out of fear because of it. There is just way too many jokes that really ruin the atmosphere. The mission that really scared me and I abandoned it very quickly because of that is Better Tomorrow.

marbleman on 1/1/2022 at 23:01

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That's a sequel to Greenbay though, so you should probably do that one first. ;)

klatremus on 8/1/2022 at 04:21

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Game: Thief 2
FM: Katharsis

Ghost - Success
Perfect Thief - Failed
Supreme Ghost - Success
Perfect Supreme - Failed
Time - 3:17:10
Loot - 7623/7989
Pockets Picked - 40/42
Secrets - 7/8
Locks Picked - 0
Backstabs - 0, Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0, Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0, Other Kills - 0, Bodies Discovered - 0
Consumables - None

See the entire report with screenshots (https://www.klatremus.org/Katharsis.htm) here!
Loot list (https://www.klatremus.org/Katharsis_L.htm) here.
YouTube let's play (https://youtu.be/F3hg7UzTTk4) here!

Comments:
Due to several requests to play and record this mission, I decided to give this brand new release a try. I have absolutely no regrets. A stellar creation by Personne, a debutant author, which apparently took him two years to make. A nice changeup from all the stock texture missions we've gotten lately, this takes you to a mechanist mining facility in a flooded, misty cave system. If you want a challenge, Katharsis should be right up your alley. However, the story also has a deep, melancholy tone to it, which I think hits harder than its difficulty and high level of detail. Two thumbs up!

I was to break into Lord Tomas' mining facility and locate his precursor mask, which he had been gifted by the mechanists. Besides that, 5,000 in loot was my other main goal. I also had an optional objective of no knockouts, which ghosting already required.

Outside
Absolutely nothing to report from the first compound ghosting wise. Didn't pick the lock on the first door, but instead swam to the southern building, since that door was unlocked. Dodged all the guards without issues. Couldn't fully replace the board that covered the loot in the barracks. It could only be put sideways, so I replaced it as best I could ((https://www.klatremus.org/Katharsis_files/image001.jpg) see image). After getting the key, I left the elevator on the top floor, knowing I had to return later. Got all the way to the water tower without issues. I knew where all the loot was from my practice run; some of it was quite hidden.

https://www.klatremus.org/Katharsis_files/image002.jpg

The first problem came when trying to enter the courtyard outside the mining complex. A stationary archer was located just inside the entrance gate (image above). He commented on the doors opening, which was a bust for Supreme, so I needed to find another way around. I could easily climb the surrounding walls from either side. I found a good method from the hidden forest to the north. There were snowy outcroppings in the wall on either side. I could drop from the fenced section down to one of these and plan my final descent. I found a reliable method in the courtyards northwest corner, where I could run off the aforementioned outcropping and land in a mantle on a boulder below (image below). In order to get back up on my return trip, I'd have to use my only starting vine arrow. I was planning on not needing to pick up any more equipment for that mode. If you choose to instead use a vine to climb down, then leave it there for later, I don't think that would be considered a bust.

https://www.klatremus.org/Katharsis_files/image003.jpg

Mining Complex
The central hub, although exposed, wasn't difficult at all. It was bright, but enemies were so far away that they never heard anything. I could run and jump on the upper walkway without even a comment from anyone. Cleaned the western end on ground level first. Could take the purses from the patrolling guards from either of the dark tunnels in the southeast and southwest. Used one of the wires to get to the top floor of the central hub. Here I could open the main entrance to the whole facility, the laboratory gate, or the treasure room gate. I didn't touch any of the control panels. If so, I'd have to come back to reset the switch for Supreme, plus there were other ways into every single of those locations.

Accessed the laboratory storage room via the top floor vent. Had my first loot skip in this area. A sleeping thief was boarded up in one of the crates (image below). The only way to get in there was by breaking the boards, so I skipped his purse. There was a silent crowbar in the mechanist chapel that would remove the boards without alerts, but it still destroyed the boards and that is disallowed both for Ghost and Supreme.

https://www.klatremus.org/Katharsis_files/image004.jpg

Had to take the lift up to the laboratory entrance. It was impossible to reach the ladder any other way. I could fasten a vine to the metal walkway, but that alerted both guards on the top level. Getting the crystal shard on the top walkway was very tough. I had to experiment a lot with vine arrows into the ceiling. There was a convenient pillar that blocked the guards' view just southwest of the ladder. I could hop onto a vine unseen from here, then furthermore mantle up the top walkway. If I placed the vine so that it hung directly onto the ladder, then when going back down, I could grab the arrow and catch the ladder in the fall (image below). The lamp in here pulsated on and off slowly. If I timed this drop so that the luminosity was at its lowest, I could quickly hide behind the aforementioned pillar without any comments.

https://www.klatremus.org/Katharsis_files/image005.jpg

The biggest challenge in the mission so far came when entering the laboratory itself. Two boards blocked the entrance, and as mentioned before, destroying them wasn't allowed. Although the lab wasn't strictly speaking necessary, there was over 500 worth of loot in there. I first tried squeezing through by leaning forward. I could get my head through on the west side quite easily, but couldn't get the rest of my body to follow. Then I tried stacking boxes and get through in the top left corner, but with the same disappointing result. I finally accepted defeat and was going to see if I could clip through the boards with the block-crouch-lean-jump technique I had applied in The Haunted Cathedral to avoid the Ghost bust there. Placing myself in the western corner, facing east, I looked slightly down, blocked, crouched, leaned right and jumped. This got me almost all the way through, but my sword clanged against the boards and this alerted the guards. After a reload, I tried doing that move again, but this time without the sword, just with a crouch, lean-right and jump. It worked!! I got all the way through on the first attempt! I tried it again just for good measure and was successful a second time! This was great news, as what I was doing now wasn't an engine exploit, but instead a Supreme-clean move. I was simply hopping in between the boards sideways. It didn't work forwards or backwards, only from the side. That is why it didn't work earlier.

https://www.klatremus.org/Katharsis_files/image006.jpg

After grabbing all the loot, getting back out was a lot harder. I managed to do it using a fairly predictable maneuver, but it required using the crate near the guards to block the jump (image above). In the same corner as before, if I crouched, leaned left and jumped, I got my head through, but nothing else. I realized if I in this position turned to face north and kept jumping and wiggling the mouse, eventually I got through. This move isn't reliable more than 1 out of 5 times or so, even after a lot of testing. The reason I needed the crate was to stop me from landing on the metal floor. I would instead silently bump against the box.

Mechanist Facility
Cleaned the rest of the central grotto and entered the mechanist facility via the underwater tunnel. This was the absolute stealthiest way in. The upper floor was full of metal floors, but had enough shade to dodge the patrollers. I couldn't enter the boarded up room in the southwest to get the doll in there (image below). The boards were much closer together than in the laboratory, so there was no room to squeeze through. The upper left corner was the only place I could get my head through, but only after stacking some items. This hall was on a patrol route, so that method wouldn't have been allowable for Supreme anyway. Regardless, I couldn't get my body through at all. I tried the block-lean-jump technique as well, but to no avail. This meant the diamond from the doll bonus objective had to be skipped.

https://www.klatremus.org/Katharsis_files/image007.jpg

The area around the eastern staircase was difficult. The two patrollers covered the grounds well, plus there was a wary maid downstairs. Although there was plenty of shade, very few areas had any perfect shadows. If moving, most guards could see me across the room unless I creep-crouched. Some lights also flickered or pulsated, which made progress fairly unpredictable. I descended to the chapel via the big windows instead, then headed to the northeastern hallway via the windows on the north side. From here I could more easily get to the coins northeast of the aforementioned staircase ((https://www.klatremus.org/Katharsis_files/image008.jpg) see image). I imagine coming from the south to be possible, but very difficult.

Now I could access the vertical mine shaft and the coal tunnels below the kitchen. There was nothing to report from here, other than having to skip another piece of loot on the top level of the mines. The mining tunnel was boarded up, without possibility of getting through. Reached the loot goal up here though, which was a plus. Reentered the mechanist facility and snuck west to the main foyer. Had to be super careful moving fast here. The camera could give clicks indicating first alerts from far away. I cleaned the kitchen and headed up to the northwest hallway. This area was empty for now, so I dodged the camera here and robbed Lord Tomas' quarters. Found the vault code and his body in the cellar. Also cleaned the cold storage from this direction, that way I didn't have to get there from the foyer. On my way back, two mechanists had spawned outside Tomas' front door. I got into the hallway again via the window and stole the slave's purse (image below). It was somewhat tricky dodging the camera while avoiding comments from the guards.

https://www.klatremus.org/Katharsis_files/image009.jpg

https://www.klatremus.org/Katharsis_files/image010.jpg

Another mechanist servant with a purse had now spawned outside the door to the mine shaft. I tried approaching from the western hallway, but couldn't get farther than in the screenshot above without a comment. For regular Ghost it was easy to rush around the corner to the left and snatch the loot along the wall, but for Supreme that wasn't possible. Coming from the other door was even brighter. My thoughts then went to the above walkway. I could drop down from the pipe along the northern wall. The best place would be the northeast corner, landing on top of the sloped metal wall stud. The problem was how to get back up there. It took a long time before I finally realized the top of the walkway was carpet! With angled vine arrows I could perhaps be able to climb back up. But the only location to mantle up was the southeast corner, and even that was a very difficult mantle. The pipe here allowed enough room to mantle, but it was very hit or miss. I experimented a lot with proper arrow locations and came up with the successful configuration in the first screen capture below. I had to use 3 arrows, so 2 more had to be picked up for Supreme. The most important rope placement was in the aforesaid southeast corner. The attachment was also tough to get right, because the arrow had to stick up, yet the line had to be far enough out from the walkway to clear the edge when ascending later. I tested to make sure it was climbable before going for the loot. Dropping into the corner was silent, luckily. After getting the purse, there was a small pipe sticking out from the wall in the corner where I was concealed from all patrollers (second image below). Here I hopped onto the closest vine. Climbing up a bit, I suddenly turned dark. I leapt onto the second rope over the radio looking device. I couldn't climb too far up to make this jump, since a pipe above me would push me back down. The last jump was easy, but the mantle to the top level very hard. I saved on the rope and probably needed 10-12 tries. Very happy to get this move done Supreme clean, despite the reward being a measly 13 gold.

https://www.klatremus.org/Katharsis_files/image011.jpg

https://www.klatremus.org/Katharsis_files/image012.jpg

Treasure Room
Entered the treasure room via the top vent, just like earlier in the laboratory. The biggest problem was dodging the cameras heading down to the vault. I got stuck troubleshooting for a long time going from the first floor that had a camera to the floor below. I first tried using the intended ladder, but the cameras were badly synchronized, so that didn't work. The light stayed dark quite a while, for then to go bright for 1-2 seconds. The problem was even at the darker setting, it wasn't dark enough to prevent the cameras clicking, which is considered a first alert and a Supreme bust. I abandoned the ladder idea and instead looked for other ways down. I tried various locations to drop landing in a mantle on the level below. The problem was the mantle animation was slow and the camera below always caught me in the act. I had to find a way to stay concealed while mantling, which meant dropping to an area protected by hardcover. The best area to do this was just north of the crate with the coin stack next to it (image below). In the southeast corner on the level above I had hardcover from the camera on this floor. Timing the watcher's pivot, I dropped and landed behind hardcover down below. The maneuver was difficult, but definitely repeatable.

https://www.klatremus.org/Katharsis_files/image013.jpg

In the vault, only a single patrolling spider bot was the issue. It wasn't hard to dodge, but occasionally it would just stop, never to continue its route. Once, it stopped right outside the vault door, staring straight at it with no possibility of entry. Then I had to reload to an earlier save and redo it all. This time, it didn't stop until I was in the vault, and then it was staring straight into the corner of the storage room. I imagine this could be quite random. Couldn't reset the code panel to all zeros, so I did ‘1111' instead. I imagine it doesn't matter what you put it to, as long as the vault door closes. It was absolutely impossible to climb back up past the cameras undetected, so I used the alternate ventilation exit instead. The vents couldn't be closed up, but there was no way around that.

I then made my way out of the mining complex and returned to the guards' barracks. A few new enemies had spawned by the water tower, three of whom had purses, but none of them were difficult to dodge. The final thing to do was to return the elevator key. It couldn't be put onto the actual sill without waking up the guard, but it could be placed on the tiny lip of the window just above it ((https://www.klatremus.org/Katharsis_files/image014.jpg) see image). This was close enough for Supreme, so I deemed it ok. I'm not sure why, but this tiny ledge was quieter than any of the other surfaces.

Not long after finishing my run, Matt99 told me the grate above the elevator could be reclosed, so I went looking. I found a hidden lever underneath the top floor that I never noticed during my ghost run (image below). I thus reloaded my last save and went back to close it. If it can be closed, this is required for Supreme. The pipes leading up to that floor can be climbed, plus the underside of the top floor is rope attachable, so getting the elevator key not even necessary for any ghost mode.

https://www.klatremus.org/Katharsis_files/image015.jpg

Notes:
- Skipped a purse worth 13 on a thief in the laboratory storage room. Breaking the boards to his hideout is property damage and not allowed.
- Couldn't obtain Atropos the doll from the boarded up room in the mechanist facility. Thus, I had to skip the bonus objective and the diamond it yielded worth 253 gold.
- Skipped a gold nugget worth 100 on the top level of the mine shaft. The tunnel was boarded up, with no way to enter.

Galaer on 9/1/2022 at 15:57

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LORD GIBSON'S ESTATE

The biggest problem in this mission is reaching letter in Planning Room. It's located in small room with 2 stationary Mechanists. One of them is right in front of door looking at it. So I tried to block open door to reach it and learned that gap is too small to highlight it. Plus leaning forward would immediately 2nd alert other Mechanist. Very quickly I assumed that I must KO front guard and he must fall forward. Then you can quickly enter, grab letter and leave without any alert from other guard.

This was the only ghost bust in the mission. After completing ghost run I decided to return to previous saves and try to avoid triggering objective regarding this letter. Mechanists objective is triggered after you visit hall leading to Lord Gibson's personal rooms. To avoid triggering it I wanted to use roof. Some of ceiling windows aren't solid and you can mantle through them to roof. Unfortunately Lord Gibson's rooms have solid ceiling windows, but you can get to hall has non solid ceiling window. So maybe avoiding entering through doors would be successful in avoiding this objective.

I highly doubted plus my last save was from opening Planning Room. I didn't want to replay the whole mission, so I decided to try more block opening this door. And after couple of attempts I managed to leave door in good place. Part of face of Mechanist and part of his body was visible for me, but he couldn't see me yet. Gap was big enough, so I could highlight letter and steal it without being spotted by any of these 2 guards. Then I just replayed the rest of the mission.

Entering upper floor can be tricky as lower floor Mechanist turns a lot and upper floor Mechanist walks around room. I climbed on bookcase on the right and mantled on wooden railing. I also activated secret, but it's impossible to take loot from it as area is well visible and has a lot of zombies looking at entrance. Because of that I'm skipping 205 loot from there.

Cave is another tricky spot. To get to Book of Ash you must mantle on last cell's door and jump on wall of locked room. You can go through tunnel up to room with 3 statuettes on table and you can't continue as in narrow corridor is haunt looking in your direction. Because of that I need to skip tapestry worth 150 loot. To return to mention you must go along right wall, mantle on torture device, go behind haunt, mantle on chain and then on wooden ledge. Other way is doing strafe jump from 1st cell's door to wooden ledge above lying ladder. This way is a bit more tricky.

STATS:

Time: 0:33:09; Loot: 3733/4088
Pockets Picked: 1/4; Locks Picked: 5
Back Stabs: 0; Knock Outs: 0
Damage Dealt: 0; Damage Taken: 0; Healing Taken: 0
Innocents killed: 0; Others killed: 0
Iron Beasts Destroyed: 0; Disabled: 0
Secrets: 4/4

GHOST: SUCCESS
PERFECT GHOST: IMPOSSIBLE. You must skip 205 loot from zombie secret in library as entrance to this room is well visible and watched by many zombies. You must also skip tapestry (worth 150) in cave, because haunt is blocking corridor to it.