Recommend some newer fan missions for an "oldbie"

io organic industrialism on 6/9/2014 at 18:16

Hi! It's been a while since I've played any Thief game, probably at least 7 years. I even almost lost my login info. I've been getting in the mood again, but I have no idea what are good levels to play, except for some classics that I remember ... Such as "Raid on Washout central", and "Ominous bequest".

Aside from those and the obvious older classics that people tend to mention such as the 7th crystal and calendra series, what are some great Thief 1 & 2 missions that you could recommend that have come out in the last 5 or so years? Maybe list your top 2 or 3 and that will give me an idea what to dive into :)

I was disappointed to see that KOMAG is down and some of the other sites stopped keeping up with the levels.

Also, if somebody could just give me a quick answer: What is this "Newdark" thing? From what I gather, it's an update to Thief 2 which makes it more compatible with newer PC's. And highly recommended and/or required for many of the newer levels?

Is there anything else I need to know about running Thief these days?

Also one last request: I know most Thief levels don't have this problem, but if you could please recommend some that don't have any sexually suggestive themes or connotations. Been trying to avoid this kind of crap lately, I hope you understand.

Thanks for your help!

fortuni on 6/9/2014 at 20:57

welcome back to the forum io organic industrialism, i think you'll find you have a lot to catch up with....:D

Firstly NewDark is a patch that appeared on a French site just over two years, and has simply put brought Thief into the 21st century. The main 3 things you need to know about it is

1. With NewDark all mission run SO much better, more smoothly, less broken objects, better textures, less crashes etc...it basically fixes Thief to play on modern computers the way the should and the way the author wished

2. It has massively increased the capability of authors to make missions look like more modern games, something to do with polycounts etc but i don't know anything about those...the bottom line is some of the missions coming out today just look fantastic...see below for a few recs

3. It also includes a built in mission loader FMSelector, you can still use dark loader if you wish, but you can still come across a number of playing issues with darkloader that disappear entirely with FMSel, and as NewDark and FMSel run hand in hand using FMSel is recommended, even if it is a bit of a learning curve initially, but you will avoid a lot of broken obj, textures etc (http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=140093)

As for komag's site being down, i'm afraid that has been down for a while, cheapmissions is still there though, but only with FMs up to aug 2013, so for the latest FMs go to gnartsch's site (http://www.gnartsch.de/Thief-FM/Thief_updates.shtml)

A few from this site i would recommend include 'Exile-Being Thief 2' by sensut, 'Hammered' by darthslair and 'Cryptic realm' by sensut, the last one is both available in colour and in black and white, i prefer the b+w version, but if you want the colour version there is a link in the thread

as for some other recommendations
T2
Zealot's Hollow by Xorak (http://www.thiefmissions.com/m/ZealotsHollow)
The Drymian Codex by Yandros (http://www.thiefmissions.com/m/DrymianCodex)
Rose Cottage by Saturnine (http://www.thiefmissions.com/m/RoseCottage)
King's Story by Zontik (http://www.thiefmissions.com/m/KingsStory)
Seven Shades of Mercury by Hammerite Imperium Team (http://www.thiefmissions.com/m/SevenShadesOfMercury)
Black Frog by Gaetane (http://www.thiefmissions.com/m/BlackFrog)
Finals at the Academy by LarryG (http://www.thiefmissions.com/m/FinalsAtTheAcademy)
T1/TG
Augustines Revenge by Brian Gleason (http://www.thiefmissions.com/m/AugustinesRevenge)
Nigel's Hidden Treasure by Brian Gleason (http://www.thiefmissions.com/m/NigelsHiddenTreasure)
The Phoenix Hath Risen by darthslair (http://www.thiefmissions.com/m/PhoenixHathRisen)

Those should get you going....enjoy...:thumb::thumb:

Jaime Lannister on 7/9/2014 at 00:30

Not sure if "The Seven Sisters" by Lady Rowena still counts as "newer" (2007) but definitely give that one a go as well. It's probably the absolute best example of an FM that's fun and challenging without resorting to using superpowered AI and cheap switch/key hunts. Several missions by Haplo are also worth checking out ("Insanity's Crescendo", "Unholy Vivid Innocence", etc.). Notesthes' "The Tower in the Forest" is another one that I really liked - a very challenging mage tower raid with surreal elements.

Ricebug on 7/9/2014 at 01:36

Quote Posted by io organic industrialism

...if you could please recommend some that don't have any sexually suggestive themes or connotations. Been trying to avoid this kind of crap lately, I hope you understand.

I write all the walkthroughs for every T2 mission released, and I've only recently seen this in fibanocci's Schizophrenica. Nothing over-the-top. It's pointed out in the walk if you want to avoid it.

There are a couple of older missions with some erotic paintings, but nothing distasteful. Some authors have used a naked female model, but more for decoration than to promote anything. Taking a shower, etc. Hey. It's life. My 8-year-old daughter likes to play Thief, but she's also pretty savage playing Enzio, in Assassin's Creed. (Thinks he's a real "boy" and wants to write him a letter.)

zajazd on 7/9/2014 at 07:35

I haven't played all of them but this is my top 3 of newer missions:

- The Ashen Age part 1 (2006) - daylight mission with great visuals, atmosphere and level design
- Whispers in the Desert (2009) - masterpiece in very original setting
- The Uninvited Guest (2008) - classic Thief goodness with great pacing and sense of progression

downwinder on 8/9/2014 at 05:26

i would say play them all,so many amazing fan missions,if you miss any you will never know the experiences you are missing,yolo play them all

theknitter on 8/9/2014 at 16:09

Transitions in Chaos Part 1- Conspiracies in the Dark by Ramirez's Old Fat Burrick

Ricebug on 8/9/2014 at 23:13

Ditto what Downwinder said. They're all worth playing. Otherwise, we're gonna get another bunch of "my faves" posts.

@zajazd: Those are newer missions? Ancient history since New Dark arrived 2+ years ago.

io organic industrialism on 9/9/2014 at 12:45

Quote Posted by Ricebug

@zajazd: Those are newer missions? Ancient history since New Dark arrived 2+ years ago.

Hey, it's OK. They're new to me :) I appreciate any and all recommends, thank you so much for the great suggestions guys! Unfortunately I would never be able to play all the fan missions, I do enjoy other games and activities. Hence why getting the "cream of the crop" is important. I would only ever play all the missions if I could either stop time, or live 200 years. :) :joke:

Melan on 9/9/2014 at 13:10

I would recommend When Still by Eternauta, and skacky's Thief 1 mission trilogy (Shadow Politics, Within These Dark Walls, and the newly released Endless Rain, which are all excellent city exploration missions). Lady Rowena's The Tower is a small-sized standout. Balboa's Vandal is a large, complex mansion mission full of very well executed puzzles. If you want something totally old school and exploration-oriented in a strange underground setting, The Widow's Ire. You might even have missed the CoSaS missions (the two of them that got completed), or Transitions in Chaos, which are not too recent anymore, but after your cutoff date.

But really, these are just the ones that came to my mind in this instant. There are many more to choose from.