It took me 12 years but I finally completed Soulforge.

Jones95 on 5/12/2012 at 10:04

I'll admit, it took me a while to do myself. And that was on easy. Man, I'd hate to try it on hard.

theBlackman on 6/12/2012 at 02:16

Quote Posted by Jones95

I'll admit, it took me a while to do myself. And that was on easy. Man, I'd hate to try it on hard.

I guess that make me a freakin idiot. After T1 I played every mission in T2 and TDS on the highest difficulty. It is fun, for me at least, to attempt a Ghost of every mission, and to make it as hard on me as I can. I used the Minimalist on TDS as soon as it appeared.

I don't have my system up and running at the moment (I'm still moving in to my new house) but do plan to try 1.19 when I get set up.

I try, not always successfully to use no equipment, other than Picklocks or found keys, during a mission. No BJ, no H20 arrows etc. just sneak and peek.

I can't remember how many times I've sat in the shadows for 20 or 30 minutes REAL TIME, to figure out a guard routine or way into some place. Soulforge is not really that bad. Sprawling as it is, once you check out the map, it's not that hard to set up the beacons. And the Warbots are easy to avoid. I do admit that the TURRET ROOM has been one of my OMG places. Can't do it without getting the crap kicked out of me. :)

jtr7 on 6/12/2012 at 02:59

As with a few of us here, I just don't get that much time to play. I've experienced parking in a shadow, where I would wait for a very particular mathematical opportunity in convergent or divergent patrol patterns, and either take four AIs out with one gas arrow, or take out seven AIs, one after the other, and stack each, wait for the next, and have large portions of map cleared out in the most efficient manner. Waiting for the AIs to arrange themselves accordingly could take long enough for me to go make a sandwich in the kitchen, with the sound turned up in the game room.

The time to take my sweet time or play exactly how I would like in total immersion hasn't happened in over ten years. Someday, I hope to play each mission fully immersed, like I did once in 2001, with no breaks but those between missions. Basically, I've had to be a bit impatient or more violent on Normal difficulty just to clear a place of loot or explore uninterrupted, and have, for the most part, skipped playing and just dropped into DromEd/T3Ed to see what I want to see, in the small window of time.

Placing varying goals is more important to me than persistent maximum difficulty, since life itself is depressingly challenging as it is, and I really don't enjoy tedium without something wonderfully stimulating about the work running in parallel. Even all these lists I've compiled had to be done a little at a time, not every day, over days and years, where the learning of new things kept me going, but would still not be sufficient enjoyment for some tasks. :sweat:

:p

Haplo on 6/12/2012 at 04:26

Soulforge is definitely my favourite OM. I have finished it many times, and successfully ghosted it on expert.
To me, it has this "element of genius", both the architecture and the gameplay, that really makes it stand out.

infinity on 6/12/2012 at 04:31

Congrats! It took me about a week of several hours a day. It's certainly not my favorite level.

Brian T on 6/12/2012 at 20:17

I didn't really hate *all* of Soulforge. In fact the manufacturing of the mines (I never bothered with the flares and such) had me sort of rubbing my hands with a kind of subversive glee -heh heh heh Karras, guess what I'm doing behind your back?:ebil:

But still, it's an almost relentlessly grim experience for me and I can't see myself completing it anytime soon. I really just wanted to complete it for well, completeness sake.

klatremus on 7/12/2012 at 01:05

Quote Posted by Haplo

Soulforge is definitely my favourite OM. I have finished it many times, and successfully ghosted it on expert.

It's among my favorite T2 OMs as well. I'm just curious Haplo, how did you manage to ghost the camera in the beginning? Or did you just "excuse" that bust...? ;)

jtr7 on 7/12/2012 at 01:43

That's easy, or is it different in other versions, or does it see you when you have to exit through the front doors at the end? While the mission is loading, just about to begin, I press my right-strafe key, and zoom up underneath the camera before it detects me. Then, I make sure it hasn't detected me, which means it's only looking at the front doors, not the big room behind.

klatremus on 7/12/2012 at 22:48

Quote Posted by jtr7

While the mission is loading, just about to begin, I press my right-strafe key, and zoom up underneath the camera before it detects me.

Then I applaud you, because that's not something I even knew was possible. I just tried it several times in fact, and I'm not even close. Are you sure you're saying you ghosted it? Meaning you didn't even cause the camera to go yellow? Cause that is a ghost bust you know... That's equivalent to hunt mode in guards.

Haplo on 7/12/2012 at 22:58

Quote Posted by klatremus

It's among my favorite T2 OMs as well. I'm just curious Haplo, how did you manage to ghost the camera in the beginning? Or did you just "excuse" that bust...? ;)

Actually yes, I "excused" that bust as it was forced and by design. I have to try jtr's method.