The Phantom on 18/7/2012 at 19:32

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Call me a taffer for having never finished Richard Cull's "A Smuggler's Request" before. I do feel like one, actually, for realizing now that it's in fact a great mission I ignored all those years :p. It managed to amaze and entertain me for many hours. Old missions often still manage to appeal many years later, and it turns out A Smuggler's Request, released in 2001, is no exception :thumb:.

In the introduction we read that Garrett received a plea for help from an old friend of his. The local Captain of the Guard (Ash) suspects that this Quinn is involved in some shady business and has arrested and incarcerated the captain of his ship to beat a confession out of him. So Quinn, fearful the confession means his downfall, turned to Garrett for help. The player begins the mission hiding at Quinn's attic, with the latter's letter on a table that explains what is
requested: kill the captain of the ship, retrieve the Captain's log and kill the Captain of the Guard who causes your friend so much trouble. At least, that's the job to do on Easy difficult, which brings us to one of the strongest points of A Smuggler's Request.

The game is surprisingly different on each difficulty setting, and not merely in the usual way. On Easy the player can kill/knockout everyone he likes and it is required to find a minumum of 1600 loot. On Expert difficulty meanwhile, not only is killing prohibited, bluecoats can't be knockout and is the loot goal higher (3100), but the whole gameplay is altered. Objective numbers go up from 6 to 10 on Expert and the goals have significantly changed (instead of killing the Ship's captain and Captain Ash, it is now your job to rescue the first and dump the unconsious Ash in the sewers. Furthermore writings are different, routes are cut off and a large part of the map, inaccessible on Easy, is opened up for the player to explore. The difference is just remarkable and I can't recall coming across a mission before that did such a thorough job :wot:. Players are strongly recommended therefore to try out Expert after finishing on Easy, not only for extra challenge but to explore the large and spectacular areas that opened up, notice all the changes, and finding the extra loot and secrets :D. You'd miss a lot if you don't.

Expert difficulty is quite a challenge as it forces you to avoid the bluecoats (some carrying lanterns) as much as possible (no kills/knockouts) and to make good use of your equipment, which is delivered to you one piece at the time, hidden at the most hard to reach places, while your main stash (hidden at a secret spot by Basso) isn't very easy to retrieve.
The mission consists roughly of city streets, a guardhouse/prison and docks. Don't expect beautiful visuals (although the latticed houses and stone textures look nice) but this is more then compensated by it's size, another strong feature of Smugglers Request. It does a great job in opening up with each progress, making it way larger then the player imagines at the start. The single available map does a convincing job in hiding this fact. While it's size comes at the cost of detail (don't expect mind-blowing architecture) it's hardly missed when there's so much to explore and to do. Every part of the map brings something new and the author surprises us with some memorable settings later on, like a large ship to explore and a bridge crossing a harbour, showing us (as he does in "The Art of Thievery", his 2nd and last FM) he has a talent for creating wide, open and appealing scenes.

Plenty of climbing, mantling and swimming opportunities are present throughout the mission, and a large number of secrets is available for the player to find. It makes up for hours of thieving fun on Expert. The mission is pretty linear, most notably at the first part of the level, but more (alternative) routes and shortcuts open up later on. Some clever technical effects are implemented which works really well, like thunder and lightning (triggered at certain points), the way to rescue the captain and the presence of rain and fog in a seperate part of the map!
Beside all this some unexpected scripted events are implemented, providing a welcome twist to the story. Ghosting seems to be supported (save for the part where you have to knock out Ash and the imprisoned captain) although it's extremely difficult, especially inside the guardhouse. Until you know the place and find out what equipment to spend (and when) it can be done, but not until a second playthrough on Expert as in my case. It's quite a challenge, having to rely on equipment you never use otherwise (invisibility potion), although it's also a fun excercise to cause mayhem by locking up AI in all kinds of places (like the cells in the lower dungeon) or letting them fight eachother :ebil:.

I've played through Expert two times and very much enjoyed it :). Overall gameplay is absolutely superb, especially on Expert which provides more exploration and more difficulty. Naturally there are aspects that aren't that strong. The way Garrett is lured into a cell was a bit annoying (when passing so many locked doors) and too much pushes the player in a certain direction. I also expected more from Captain Ash, taking him for a tough warrior instead of the harmless nobleman it turns out he is, and some objectives tick off as completed while the exact task hasn't been properly executed yet,
But these are minor complaints considering the effort the author put into this mission. It's expending size and story progression, the striking difference between Easy and Expert difficulty, and some impressive locations to explore make this one of the best and most complete FMs released in the first years of the last decade. It delivers many hours of exploration and while using some elements from the Originial missions (conversations and Garrett sounds mostly) it also does a great job in turning in new directions, setting a standard for later missions to come. And all of this
packed in a less than 5 MB free-download, ladies and gentlemen.
Now it's time to drink some of that booze Quinn promised me if I did a job well done, and so I did.

Thanks for making this and keeping me immersed for hours, RiCh :thumb::thumb:. I wish you were still around to know that your work is still enjoyed over a decade later.

Stats
Difficulty played: Expert (2 forced KO's)
Time: 3 hours 18 minutes 35 seconds
Loot: 3757 out of 3977
Secrets: 8 / 11

PS: the same review with added screenshots will appear in the (http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=124349) FM Review and Discussion Thread.

Nightwalker on 3/8/2013 at 14:35

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This is a tough mission and you have to ration your water arrows very carefully until you retrieve your equipment. You may have to start again and be a bit stingier with them. I remember having to do that the first time I played it.

Unna Oertdottir on 6/9/2019 at 20:51

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It's always a pleasure to play this great mission. On expert difficulty one have to find 2 Captains and do something (bring your own Captain). Too bad, they have no names, so it's trial and error to catch the right ones. Reading hints is required.
I gave them names.

Samantha1 on 4/11/2022 at 22:31

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I just replayed this mission and gotta say it really is a great one! I love how you have to think clever, finding your ways to get on the other side of places and stuff. It also kinda has everything the thief-experience needs: Rope arrowing, hidden switches, 11! secrets, ghosting, shoot a rope arrow on a button to activate an elevator... :D

I remember the first time I played it I found it really hard (having to ghost the bluecoats and trying to blackjack those annoying green-clothed guards), but this time it was alot easier and just adds to the great experience :thumb:

Hit Deity on 25/1/2023 at 04:18

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Maybe either Unna Oertdottir or that other clever fellow (fortuni? not sure) can fix that, or at least explain how to do it ourselves. I'm assuming I could edit that dml above and put in "proper" English titles, like Guard Captain and Ship Captain. Minor language idiosyncrasy.

Last time I tried to manually install a dml myself led to disaster, however, but I'm pretty sure I now know what I did wrong.