Azaran on 10/1/2016 at 19:08

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I didn't see a thread for this yet. I'm curious as to what people consider to be the hardest or most challenging fan missions out there?

Here's mine in approximate order:

1- (http://thiefmissions.com/m/RebellionOfTheBuilder#m) Rebellion of the Builder, especially Mystic Estate and Contradiction. Brutal and impossible to ghost. You have the bare minimum in equipment, combined with tile floors, alarms, cambots and cameras everywhere, superpowered NPC's that are 10 times tougher than you (and will sometimes spawn out of nowhere), and nothing but frustrating situations. And forget about laying low: in one case I slipped into a room to hide from an enemy, and instead of eventually going back to his own room, he just stood in the hallway, so that now I can't leave without him coming after me. Very well made and enjoyable despite the frustration, especially Mystic Estate.

2- (http://thiefmissions.com/info.cgi?m=BrokenHammers) Broken Hammers: Low on health, you have to find some equipment and escape from an undead (mostly Haunts) infested compound. Very tough

3- (http://thiefmissions.com/m/FinalsAtTheAcademy#m) Finals at the Academy: I still haven't finished this one. So many things to do, extremely convoluted and challenging

4- (http://thiefmissions.com/m/RuinsOfOriginia#m) Ruins of Originia: My favourite campaign, I had to use a walkthrough throughout, the first time playing it. Huge, tons of things to explore, puzzles to unravel, etc.

5-(http://thiefmissions.com/m/Cauchemars) Nightmares . A magnificent 5 mission campaign, you're trapped in a strange world, controlled by a devious character who wants to see you suffer, and you have to get through the countless puzzles and traps laid out for you

Tannar on 10/1/2016 at 20:35

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I seem to recall several threads about this already, but also, look (http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=144797&p=2273304&viewfull=1#post2273304) here.

Personally, I'm a bit more interested in knowing why it's hard. Is it meant to be challenging, and is it well set up for that? Or is it hard because it wasn't designed well? Those are two very different experiences.

I'd have to agree that Heartcliff Islands is one of the hardest recent missions.

Azaran on 10/1/2016 at 21:19

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Heartcliff Islands is insane, I'd forgotten about that one....

The ones I listed and generally consider hard, are positively so, i.e. they're designed in such a way as to be crafty and challenging (Rebellion of the Builder is a royal ass kicking, but because it's creatively setup). Usually the badly designed ones (which I won't name) are more tedious than anything. I played one recently which was good overall, until a cave area with some loot which you can reach, but you can't get back out of there (a cliff section, where the only way is down into a precipice, and you can't rope back up anywhere). You'll be short on loot if you want top complete the mission. That's bad design



One of my favourite T1 ones, a really ingenious puzzle system, but can take hours if you're playing it for the first time

Ricebug on 11/1/2016 at 23:55

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I'm surprised to see T2 Elevator Mission not mentioned. Those Japanese authors were insane.

Yandros on 13/1/2016 at 13:23

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Obviously you didn't find the escalator easter egg.