General Fan Mission Review And Discussion Megathread

SneakyJack on 30/1/2009 at 11:39

Sir William's Keep By Wille

Sir William's Keep tells an interesting story about the Hammer faction falling on hard times - thus they are forced to sell their relics to keep afloat. The mission is a bit light on story overall and seems like it could have been fleshed out a bit more, but the gameplay and design are really good and this one packs alot of thief into a relatively small to medium sized area.

Challenge is between middle and low and this one won't take you very long at all to complete your objectives. The outside areas seem a little sparse on looks and have very little to do, but the inside areas are great looking and the shadow placement and guard patrols are done very well.

For a "lunchtime break" mission that is fun, free from frustration and gives you a good opportunity to practice your skill with the blackjack - I highly recommend it.

Lady Taffer on 30/1/2009 at 11:56

Quote Posted by Melan

WRT the sexism bit -- in another thread, someone referred to Mercedes as "Skanky McFunbags"

Actually, I think that was me. :laff::laff::laff:

Seriously, though, it makes me sad to see female characters being made out to be nothing more than a pair of tits, seemingly, which suddenly reminded me of Keeper of the Prophecies and something I hadn't thought about before:
Another reason why I really like KoTP is because of the female lead, Aliysha. (or however it's spelled) She's really strong, tricky, not easily intimidated (in one of the missions she dons her own set of wrist knives while fleeing countless thugs and traveling through rough territory) and allegedly sleeps with Garrett but is never made out to be a "skank."
Compared to Calendra's Legacy she's pretty much the Anti-Mercedes and I really liked her character despite the fact that she. . . well, you'll have to play it to find out 'cause I'm not gonna spoil it, even with tags! ;)

*more KotP praise* Now THERE is a FM series with great story and character development and is certainly not what I'd call canon Thief either. :D

SneakyJack on 30/1/2009 at 12:08

Mystic Gems Part 1: Unlucky Soul By Wille

The Mystic Gems series is shaping up to be one of the best fan mission series out there. Part 1: Unlucky Soul finds you in search of the Mystic Soul, now in care of a Noble named Lord Gillian - a man slowly being driven mad by the power of the gem and those who would like to obtain it.

This mission is medium sized and the challenge is also medium.

This mission overall is very well done. The texture work is brilliant all around - everything looks very nice. The shadow placement is done very well and for those of you who enjoy ghosting, this level will be a treat. The guard patrols are good as well, the guards seem to cover a good bit of ground, giving you plenty of chances to sneak up before they turn around.

One thing I'd like to point out about this mission (and even moreso in the second part of the Mystic Gems series) is the ambient sound. From the choice of ambient music to the sounds used (hearing water flowing through pipes when you get close and such) is great overall - and this is something most (myself included) overlook far too often when determining the worth of missions. Lately I've been trying to pay more attention to this in every mission I play.

I'm the kind of player that loves frobbable candles, and they are in no short supply here - I really enjoyed that. Give me frobbable candles and light switches on lower difficulty levels and I will enjoy your mission to its fullest. I'm sure that are many that feel that way - and frobbable light sources are criminally underutilized in fan missions as a whole. Having the few electric light switches (perhaps only one total, I cant remember) showing the wiring going from switch to light was a nice detail as well. Little things like this really add to a mission and cause me to notice the love that was put into it by its creator.

I also enjoyed the little touches of comedy. In one instance you find a servants "to do" list, and I laughed out loud when I read "As usual polish the miniature statues and place them in windowsills" or something similar. Finding readables like "to do" lists may seem silly to some, but for me it added mission immersion and humor. There was even a seemingly real cooking recipe added by wille - I thought that was nice as well.

As for what didn't work for me with this one: There was a forced ghosting objective near the end, and I really dislike those. It wasnt terribly difficult or frustrating, but still takes away from the mission for me.

The only other thing I could mention as a negative is the story. Not in the way that you might think, though - there just wasnt enough of it in my opinion. At one point you come across a written look into the descent into paranoia that the noble is going through - but really this is one of the few instances of story in this mission. With writing as good and vivid as this readable is - you want to hear more about it from house staff or guests or even more diary entries from the Gillian himself. This is a minor thing, however - as the story as is works really well. I'm just the type that doesn't want stories to be sparse when they are gripping.

Wille started this series off with a bang, and only got better as time went on. I highly recommend this one and its second part as well. Which leads us to...

SneakyJack on 30/1/2009 at 12:34

Mystic Gems Part 2: Heart Of Bohn by Wille

This part of the series has you trying to follow up your successful theft of the Mystic Soul from Gillian by adding the Mystic Heart gem to your collection as well. This will involve the heavily guarded and somewhat mysterious Baronial Museum.

Where the Mystic Gems series hit the ground running with Part 1 - the second part goes above and beyond the first. This is a much larger mission with a someone more challenging adventure through an amazing museum setting.

As you'd expect after playing the first part this mission looks stunning. Take the first missions great looks and crank it up a notch while adding a beautiful night sky (complete with great looking moonlight, unless my eyes are playing tricks on me) and attention to detail in decorating far beyond most missions and you get an idea of what to expect looks-wise from part 2. When I say the attention to detail is staggering - take the water mesh in one area for example - the sides contain small bubbles not unlike what you'd see when real water is rushing and creating foamy bubbles in reality. Something like that may never be noticed by the average player - but the author decided to add it anyway, and I respect the hell out of things like that.

The museum has to be seen to be believed - from the moonlight-in-the-windows effects to the banners and decorations - to the "holy cow" stained glass domes.. I cant do it justice by describing it or even showing screenshots - just play the mission and drink it in.

The story is more fleshed out in this entry, which I enjoyed after the thin story of the first mission. The series seems to be getting thicker with its own twists and turns as it goes along - and i'm hoping part 3 has even more. Wille knows how to write a gripping narrative, that much is certain.

There is so much polish and detail in this fan mission that mentioning other things like the excellent shadow placement, lighting and look of the outside of the building itself really are all secondary to the overall achievement. I forgot just how well put together this mission was until I replayed it, and now it's definitely in my list of best of all time.

There are many more guards this time around than the first mission, so you'll have your skills tested much more as well. Lots of marble floors, a large area to cover and an abundance of guards will keep you playing for a few hours without frustrating - the gameplay here is simply fun. Rarely do you see a fan mission with this sort of mix of great looks, great gameplay and balanced challenge.

As far as the negatives of this mission: The only thing I can really think of is the torch puzzle itself. Though not particularly hard (you find a readable that basically spells it out for you) it seemed more trouble that it was worth (im terrible at following maps, so I just ran around the mission for more than an hour after clearing it out extinguishing torches - put one out in the wrong order and had to start again due to me skipping a line of the poem on accident) those kinds of puzzles are not for me. It was original and much better than your typical keyhunt however, so I'm far from complaining. Thats the only non-compliment I can come up for this mission, really.

Part 3 of this mission is near the top of my list for future releases - I encourage you all to play Part 1 and 2 if you have yet to play them. Hell, even if you have, they are worth a replay. Great stuff.

Wille on 30/1/2009 at 13:07

Thanks for the reviews SneakyJack. Most readables in MG2 are written by DreamWalker and if he has the time I will surely use his "services" in MG3 ;).

SneakyJack on 30/1/2009 at 13:26

Quote Posted by Wille

Thanks for the reviews SneakyJack. Most readables in MG2 are written by DreamWalker and if he has the time I will surely use his "services" in MG3 ;).

Any chance of you releasing a special edition of Mystic Gems 1 in the future with more story centered around Gillian's decent into madness? :laff:

Unkillable Cat on 30/1/2009 at 17:50

Quote Posted by SneakyJack

Calendra's Legacy Part 2: Midnight At Murkbell by Purah

This mission.. Oh - this mission.

Thank you for reminding me properly of the atrocity that is this mission. This mission is as bad as Mission 1 of CL is awesome.

The big points have been mentioned; forced time limit to complete an objective, forced encounters with nigh-on impossible odds against hordes of Undead, another forced encounter that triggers another silly objective, etc. When I originally played this, I spent a couple of days struggling with this mission, trying to make some progress in it. I remember getting stuck because I had no idea what to do after the Undead overran everything that didn't involve Mercedes McBitch...oh, and one of the Undead isn't Undead at all. It's some green monster that shoots stuff at you and has a truckload of hit points. I actually managed to kill it, only to get "Mission Failed" because I killed somebody! That was the breaking point for me. I never even got to the sword.

jiansonz on 30/1/2009 at 21:26

Quote Posted by Unkillable Cat

oh, and one of the Undead isn't Undead at all. It's some green monster that shoots stuff at you and has a truckload of hit points. I actually managed to kill it, only to get "Mission Failed" because I killed somebody! That was the breaking point for me. I never even got to the sword.

1. This beast is melee-only. It can´t shoot anything, and it´s almost as slow as dirt. It has scary sounds and an uncanny ability to find you, though.

2. This beast is a saving grace for a no-reloader like me. Since it´s living, and has a ton of HPs, you can easily heal yourself 30+ points over the course of the mission, using the less damaging side-swipes of the sword. :cheeky:

And when you want to get rid of it, there is that neat Vampyre Eye...

Shadow Creepr on 30/1/2009 at 23:04

I am really enjoying your reviews and screenshots, SneakyJack. I find what you write informative without giving too much away. I have used this thread to check on FMs I haven't played yet and found it helpful. Well done. :thumb:

SneakyJack on 31/1/2009 at 00:08

Quote Posted by Shadow Creepr

I really appreciate that, and I'm glad that you enjoy them. I'm always trying to toe the line with the screenshots and info posted to make the mission as appealing as possible for those who have not tried it but without giving away the twists or all the locations.