Sluggs on 4/8/2004 at 19:13
Those statues are red herrings. :weird: As for they key, IIRC, it's for the room under the stairs.
People are still playing this thing? :sweat:
Dafydd on 27/8/2004 at 04:11
Remember, a lot of people started playing FMs after you released this mission... so we stumble across it when we're looking through archives. I just started it today, for example.
And of course, I'm already stuck! I'm trying to ghost it, and I don't know if it's possible: I was able to get the loot upstairs of the armory (and also the proprietor's key, the broadheads, the flashbomb, and the healing potion). Then I got into the inn by the drunken guard and stole a bit of loot (didn't find a key to the upstairs, though). I have the keys from the patrolling guard, the armorer, and the guard inside the gate-control room for the first gate (the one with the little window you can open and make the guard come over and close). But I haven't been able to do anything else yet.
In particular, I can't get past that gate. I tried opening the window and quickly shooting a moss arrow at what I think is the gate switch (red lever-switch on the right-hand wall, seen through the window), but it doesn't open the gate. And besides, the people standing near the lamppost usually alert -- though I can probably nudge them so they can't see me (I haven't tried that).
But is there any other way to get into the area beyond that first gate? And is there any way to get that gate open without using the Nightwalker technique?
Thanks,
Dafydd
Sluggs on 27/8/2004 at 08:00
NO! :o I'm afraid the only way in is to fire an arrow at the middle button. A water arrow will also work.
I'm very sorry that there's no easy way through. It's a bad mission. It really needs remaking for Thief 2 and having things changing and well, it all needs knocking down and rebuilding! :tsktsk: :D
I'd never even heard the word "Ghosting a mission" back then. Heck, i wasn't even on the Internet either! :o
casalor on 27/8/2004 at 10:05
Quote:
People are still playing this thing?
Absolutely.
I got stuck playing this one last year, so I left it for a while. This thread reminded me that I've got unfinished business...
Dafydd on 27/8/2004 at 11:51
I ghosted the gate.
Dafydd
Nightwalker on 27/8/2004 at 12:26
How, Dafydd??
Sluggs on 27/8/2004 at 13:41
Quote Posted by Dafydd
I ghosted the gate.
Dafydd
:wot: You're telling us that this maybe Ghostable? What about Basso and that Girl next to the gate? Surely they must have seen you fire the arrow at the button and ran off screaming! Hmmm... Maybe they did and the Guards to the far right didn't hear the commotion? As for those Guards, they're going to be tricky to get by. That's done it now! Now you've made me want to install Thief Gold and give it a go myself! :grr: :laff: :thumb:
Dafydd on 27/8/2004 at 20:55
Sluggs, you're correct -- if you draw a weapon as it stands, Basso and the girl will run off screaming, busting the ghost. So step one is to get rid of them.
I nudged the girl all the way into the wall, then along the wall towards the gate. I nudged her far enough that when I went back to the window area, I saw her back -- which meant I was behind her, and she couldn't really see me. Then I nudged Basso completely across the street and down the block, away from the gate, until his back, too, was to me.
Then I went back to the window. I noted that if the guard inside turned towards me while I was shooting at the button, he would alert and run back to hit the alarm button. So I couldn't let him see me.
I positioned myself near the window, slightly to the left (I had to get the position exactly right, which meant numerous trial runs). Then I waited until the patrolling guard did his turn-around, putting his back to me to walk away from the gate.
I quickly selected the water arrows, drew the arrow (with the window still closed), and leaned right... then with the arrow drawn, I opened the window. I fired the arrow in the brief moment before the guard noticed the window was open and turned my way, then stopped leaning... by the time he turned, I was out of view. Oddly, I did get a level-one alert from the woman (she said, "is that you, Kevel?") But she didn't go into the level-two "searching" alert, which is the test for ghosting. I unselected the bow and crouched, darting into the corner.
(Note: I had to try this about thirty times before I actually struck the right button, reloading after each miss :ebil: !)
Finally, I got the gate to open. I waited a few more cycles, then went through... but I discovered a new problem: although the gate guard never alerted during the above, and though he never saw me, he would still alert (as would all the guards in that area) if they saw me then; I'm guessing that's a forbidden area where they'll attack if they see me no matter what. But I had to avoid being spotted by the gate guard, who faces directly towards the shadowy, right-hand side of the gate, where I was hiding.
I knocked out the torch behind him, which darkened the area. Then I looted the armory behind me (yeah, thanks for that chest, you slug; reload!). I crept forward along the right wall until I was at the corner, then crept around the corner to the right, towards the area with the sewer entrance. The wagon in the way was a problem, because I was too well-lit -- this entire mission feels like high noon at midsummer in Tombstone, Arizona! -- and moving around the wagon takes you into direct view of the gatehouse guard. I resolved that by standing and running around it: he saw me, but for only a brief moment; I got a comment but no search.
Then I just continued that direction, in between the planter and the wall, until I got to the area of the sewer (actually, I deviated around the building -- museum? -- first but didn't find anything interesting).
Once in the sewer, after collecting the silver nugget, I had a new problem which I haven't yet resolved: that is the brightest-lit sewer I've ever seen in my life, and the spider has good eyes. For the moment, just to explore, I shot the spider; but I'll reload from before that and try to ghost him, too... no idea if it's possible, though. (Past the spider, it's not hard to ghost the cell and the patrolling haunt; I'm currently at the elevator, but as I said, I'll have to reload back to the spider and see if I can ghost past him.)
But I did ghost the gate, at least!
Dafydd
Dafydd on 28/8/2004 at 00:11
They key here was to remember the Nightwalker Thesis: spiders sometimes see better out of their butts than their faces. This one sure does.
[spoiler]The problem is that you have a light on the left that needs to be frobbed, and you have a door on the right that needs to be entered. I found I was completely unable to cross the corridor in the light/door section of sewer; I was spotted every time. Also, I was unable to creep far along the right-hand wall without being spotted: due to the way the spider was positioned, he could see the right wall better than the left.
So I decided to ghost in two stages, one to frob the light and the other to get into the door.
Stage 1: Let's call the section of sewer before the light/door section Sewer-1, and the light/door section itself Sewer-2.
I started in Sewer-1, pressed into the corner on the left -- where the spider could not see me. I crept around that corner until I could see the spider (and he could see me, but not well enough to react). From that moment, I would only move in the brief intervals when he spun to face me, turning his butt to the opposite wall.
I crept around the corner to the left, moving as above. Then I crept along the left wall towards the frobbable light. When I started getting close, I would save, wait until the next time he turned towards me, then stand. I wouldn't move. Then, when he spun to face me again, I would lean and see if I could frob the light. Since it was still out of reach, I would crouch again; then the next time he spun to face me, I would creep forward... then go through the whole standing-up routine again, saving each time.
Eventually, I managed to work close enough that I was able to frob the switch. Now I had to return. Using the same method of waiting for him to face me, I tap-tap-tapped my way backwards (so I would watch him spin) into the lower-left corner of Sewer-2. Save. Then I rotated about forty-five degrees, so using the right-arrow wouldn't move me too fast. I crept a tap at a time into the doorway between Sewer-2 and Sewer-1, then around the corner into the Sewer-1 corner where I had started.
Stage 2: The secret door was open now, and I was hoping I could use it as a shield. I darted across to the right-hand corner, still in Sewer-1. Then I used the same technique as above to get around that corner into the lower-right corner of Sewer-2. I continued to creep forward along the right-hand wall... and I as I got to the section where I was spotted when I tried before, I noticed the open door was starting to interfere with the spider's line of sight.
I watched his legs under the door and continued my tapping technique, moving only when he was facing me. Eventually, even his legs were invisible. At that point, I just moved normally (still crouched), and he didn't alert... I guess the rule is if I can't see him through the door, then he can't see me (unless the author deliberately makes the door out of one-way glass!)
In any event, I made it to the doorway itself without an alert. There, I stood up, held down the shift key, and pressed the forward- and right-arrows simultaneously, which is the strongest Garrett movement. I had to wriggle a bit, but it was just barely enough to get me up and over the little step without having to jump (which probably would have alerted Mr. Spider).
I shut the door (via the switch) and opened the cell door, then proceeded as before.[/spoiler]
Thus, so far I have an honest ghost going. Maybe Murder In Featherstone will turn out to be ghostable after all. Of course, I don't know what's coming up...!
At the moment, I'm in the small, locked room just before the cell; I had to pick my way in here, but I can't find anything inside. Is there anything here? If not, I can just move on.
Anybody? Is there anything to be found in that locked room just before the cell with the body and key?
Thanks,
Dafydd
Sluggs on 28/8/2004 at 01:00
Awesome stuff Dafydd. :thumb:
Yes, there's something in that room. Just a purse though.
It must have took you some time to nudge Basso and the Girl out of the way!!!
PS. Sorry 'bout the Footlocker! :ebil:
