Simbad on 17/3/2010 at 19:53
good mission. Very good secondary stories! I liked the architecture and the "ghost training" imposed by the author in the mechanist area. Very tough crowd there! Usually I don't use my arrows (moss, water, etc), but in this case I ran out of moss arrows and finished with just one water arrow. Plus, I have used the invisibility potion, thing that didn't happen to me for a while.
Found somewhat odd the tiles combined with wood on the floor of the library (from the mansion), for example. It doesn't have too much sense (not very realistic). The only scope is to make Garret's life miserable :)
The Phantom on 22/6/2012 at 19:01
Some series are just too good to play just once, and The Greyfeather Gems by Morrgan is one of these series (even though it's one that sadly never got finished). After 7 years or so it was time to rediscover this creation made one of the most talented female designers of the previous decade.
It all starts when Garrett receives a letter from a certain Lord Greyfeather. His mansion at the town of Rodamill was burried in an earthquake, along with his richest assets. A mechanist expedition, planning on excavating the town and nearby mines, is due to leave shortly and Lord Greyfeather fears some valuable possessions of him can be dug up of which the Mechanists are reluctant to part with. Most notably the Greyfeather Gems. Our hero is asked to retrieve those gems in reward for a fee and anything else of valuable he finds during his quest, an assignment he can't refuse. Easiest way to reach Rodamill would be to hitch a ride in one of the cargo crates, located at the Mechanists' Seminary.
Part of The Greyfeather Gems series (The Shipment) covers this primary objective. The mission starts on the streets before the manor of a certain Lord Carleis, where Jamaille, a Mechanist engineer, is overlooking the installation of security devices. The job is too break into the mansion, steal Jamaille's gear that gives access to the Seminary, head towards the Seminary and lock yourself up in one of the crates (similar as in TTGM Shore Leave). The mansion part provides the player with several points of entry, has a realistic layout and is beautifully furnished and decorated. Seeing a gaslamp illuminated the wallpaper in the Lord's bedroom, for example, looks extremely warm and comforting :). While crowded with guards it's not hard too explore due to it's small sized and the detailed maps, which are helpful to accomplish your task.
Once the Seminary gear has been nicked, the player exits the mansion and enters the centrepiece of the mission: a city neighbourhood which the player has to traverse to reach the Seminary. But this is by no means a dead or boring piece of level, on the contrary. It's vivid, with a good variety of accessible buildings and just beautifully designed in a classic Thief style with stock textures :thumb:. We can access a bank, apothecary, an apartment block and a police station, among others, sneak past sleeping residents and patrolling guards, and read about their daily lives (jobs, their character and love affairs) whiling stealing their possessions. Top work in providing the AI with a background, making the player immersed in their lives. There is also an interesting murder mystery to unravel (unfortunately, being a helpful Thief and dropping some evidence on a desk at the police station doesn't count as bonus objective). Some street signs would've been welcome though, or the addition of an accessible sewage tunnel as shortcut, although the absence of this didn't bothered me with a city having plenty on offer already.
On Expert difficulty forced ghosting applies for the Seminary part, but ghosting the whole mission is possible. Some parts can be a bit tricky, like passing through the games room at the manor, but it's a challenge and worth a try. Architecture, layout and texturing is very well done and still looks attractive in comparison with today's missions. No bugs have been discovered (other than eavesdropping that wasn't possible on all doors in the mansion and an invisibility potion that re-appeared every time the player closes and reopens a safe) and I really can't name any aspect of this mission that I disliked.
GFG Part 1 is a remarkably complete and charming mission, in which a lot of effort is put into the (auto)maps (just as detailed and stylish as the ones in the originial missions, great work :D), design and in making the level come to life. Three main locations are included, seamlessly connected with each other, and all three look perfectly authentic in their own way; the mansion part is what a mansion in Thief should be, warm and classy, and the same applies for the Mechanist Seminary, feeling cold and noisy instead. Ghosting is possible, there are several secrets to discover, and the objective sequence makes sense. Attention is given to the various writings in the game, expanding the straightforward accomplishment of tasks. Also notice how the Pagans and Mechanists have their particular handwriting included, I love and admire this detail :thumb:).
The Shipment is a gripping introduction to a stunning campaign and possibly Morrgan's best FM ever (save for the equally impressive Part 2, which is next on my to-do list). One that shouldn't be overlooked!
Statistics
Difficulty: Expert (no KO's)
Time: 2 hours 43 minutes 23 seconds
Loot: 2478 / 2675
Secrets: 2 out of 4
llanita on 7/6/2013 at 16:46
hi, I'm just curious to know if all the coins in landlords safe is stealable? Playing on normal. was able to steal one pile, can't get the rest to hi lite, no matter how I move.
Nightwalker on 7/6/2013 at 17:05
I just tried and I can get it all. It's on Expert but that shouldn't make any difference. Do you have a key bound for "lean forward"? If you use that to lean into the safe, it might help.
llanita on 7/6/2013 at 19:32
I have to figure out which key it would be and I shall try again. Tha:cheeky:nks
zajazd on 16/2/2021 at 16:55
Another great mission ticked on my road to playing every mission ever released, and this one has a sequel too, guess where I will be commenting next :cheeky:
Ravenus1 on 19/2/2021 at 04:23
Every mission Morrgan has made is excellent and one of the my personal favorite authors. I can only imagine what could have been if still making them.
Kubrick on 12/12/2021 at 03:01
It truly is amazing how great this FMs series is. Morrgan's work is incredible. The city in the first mission felt as a contemporary smaller kind of the best of Random_Taffer, *the* master in city missions IMO. Plus it has that very humane thing that I distinctly remember from Lady Rowena's FMs, the human relations are interesting and developed with very little through; just one or two notes here and there about a random character in the first (the pagan gardener) ends up talking about social strata in the city / the implications of a pagan being a good gardener. Second mission having been published in 2005 makes me crazy as well. I am very new in this community but in comparison to the FMs I've tried from back then, like the famed Calendra's Legacy, pale in comparison to this one! Makes me think Morrgan's work is undervalued. Maybe I just had bad luck finding her so late!
baeuchlein on 12/12/2021 at 13:53
I wished she had made the third and (AFAIK) last mission in the series as well.
fortuni on 12/12/2021 at 15:16
Does anyone know what happened to Morrgan, did she ever announce an official retirement as such?
