Jah on 26/12/2008 at 14:47

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Ultima Ratio is one of the missions I was never able to finish - there was one required key that I could never find and nobody seemed to remember where it was. :( Too bad, because I thought it was otherwise a good mission, despite the slightly frustrating keyhunting.

Nice to see Durant get a mention - I always liked that one and thought it was underrated. Calendra's Legacy, on the other hand, is one of those classic missions I'm not particularly fond of. I recognize the amount of effort that was put into it, and would certainly recommend everyone to play it once, but Midnight In Murkbell in particular was a mission I found rather frustrating. I don't like ghosting and feel naked without my blackjack, which - together with the time limit - made the beginning kind of hard for me. And then, once you finally get the blackjack, it becomes practically useless because of the undead. :mad:

For some reason, one thing that always fascinates me is watching AI vs. AI battles, and I always try to provoke them if it seems possible. :ebil: Sometimes I've noticed that in some otherwise good missions, the author hasn't made different types of enemies into different factions, which can lead to some rather bizarre situations. There was one mission in the Night Falcon series (IIRC - I'm terrible at remembering the names of FM's), where you break into a Hammerite temple with burricks and other creatures wandering outside, so of course I had to try to draw the burricks towards the Hammerite guards. To my disappointment, the Hammers and burricks completely ignored each other and banded together to look for me, which felt quite odd because there were readables inside that indicated that the Hammers were afraid of the burricks and had, IIRC, been previously attacked by them.

Are there any FM's that involve (or can involve) major conflicts between AI's besides some scripted events or individual battles?

SneakyJack on 26/12/2008 at 18:13

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You made a few excellent points Jah. I myself also really enjoy when FM creators use AI in fun ways - One mission I can think of right away is the story of Mr. Oh Dear in "A Servants Life". There was a ton of AI scripting and hilarious scenes that played out in that mission, its a great time.

Scripted sequences, friendly AI here and there and AI battling each other all add so much to the immersion factor for me when I'm playing a mission. You made a great point when you talked about disappointment when two different AI factions meet each other and act like they've been friends for years - it really pulls me out of the situation.

I always love seeing hammer vs. guard confrontations - even thieves vs. hammers or guards. It makes you feel like you are part of a bigger thief world than just yourself against a few guards or creatures, and adds a ton of cinematic feel to a mission.

I've always wanted to see an epic mission where thieves vs. guards vs. hammers vs. keepers vs. mechanists plays out in some form though scripted events and story.

Jah on 26/12/2008 at 23:14

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I just finished Memoirs of a Dead God. The ghosting objective is compulsory only on Expert, so if you're a blackjacker like me, you can play it on Normal or Hard. Both parts of the mission are nods to certain OM's - I won't spoil things by saying which ones - and although I found some parts of the second one a little frustrating, I think this is a very good mission overall. If you haven't checked it out yet, I warmly recommend you do so.

Thanks for the recommendations - I'll have to check out Brawl in the Tombs. I'm generally not too fond of undead missions, so the name has probably scared me away in the past. Perhaps I should also try Ultima Ratio again, now that I know there's at least one person who has finished it recently and might remember the location of that evasive key if I get stuck in the same place again. ;)

SneakyJack on 30/12/2008 at 17:10

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I played both parts of the Sisterhood of Azura series by Ben Hur over the last few days and had a ton of fun with them - specifically the first mission.

Tons of scripted events (one hilarious encounter I think happened on accident where a guard literally got into a battle with one of the larger cannonball robots (their name escapes me right now) - Sadly his heroic act proved futile and he met his maker.

Anyone know if Ben Hur is still creating missions? I've played all three that I could find of his and had a ton of fun with all three of them. Great stuff.

Also, I've been looking to replay a FM but for the life of me I cant remember what it is - so anyone with extensive FM knowledge want to take a shot with this one?

- You are inside a mansion I believe - I think there may be thunder and lightning effects.
- At one point you meet the "lady" of the house.. I believe she is mumbling or insane sitting in a chair at the top of some stairs - and I think it triggers an objective for you to find her a bottle of wine from the cellar or something of that sort.

I wish I could remember more, but thats all I've got. Anyone wanting to take a shot at naming that would one be appreciated!

SneakyJack on 30/12/2008 at 19:56

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Oh damn, I could have sworn it was a Thief 2 FM. :laff:

Thanks for the speedy answer :D