The inscrutable po on 3/6/2002 at 21:12
This is a cute mission, (The ties that bind) packed with innovative stuff and lots of reading. It has original sounds that work well. It should have been made into a full level. As it is, it's a bit too cutesy and the tight rooms can be annoying. In one place you hardly have the space on the fire escape to open a window. In another place, it's hard to creep past a ladder on a very narrow ramp. The writing is mischievious to the point where it gets me mad, but the claustrophobic predicaments and creepy parts work really well. At one point you're hopelessly trapped and then you get released through a method I've never seen before in Thief. It's really eerie, but it's not much of a puzzle. You just get out because you've been there for awhile.
The quest for the fish is stupid. I know it's supposed to be stupid, but Thief was never meant to be this idiotic. The demands of the female suggest the author has problems with women. :p I don't doubt they exist, but once again, it just rubbed me the wrong way in Thief. I guess I'd give this mission a 6.5, mostly because it could be turned into a great mission if it were full size. The special touches (sound effects and original puzzle elements) were so nicely done.
Bumbleson on 3/6/2002 at 23:03
I recommend you look at this mission with a bit more humor ;)
It was done for Komag's second Small Fan Mission Contest. Considering the tight deadline for those contests and the space constraints, it's really hard to make a sophisticated mission. The Ties That Bind did quite well in this regard. I found the writings very funny. There's a bit of truth in them, but of course it's parody and so things were exaggerated. For being such a small mission, it was very well done (especially the trap with the posessed doll).
Komag on 4/6/2002 at 05:18
I laughed more while playing Ties Bind than any other FM ever - I loved it! :D
Nightwalker on 4/6/2002 at 11:45
It was a great mission and extremely funny! :laff:
The inscrutable po on 4/6/2002 at 18:48
It's called "an opinion".
Komag on 4/6/2002 at 19:50
And you're entitled to it - our posts are our opinions :)
Sap'em on 4/6/2002 at 20:07
Ahh, but the giving is the best part. I believe the author of this fm gave his all too. I laughed so hard when I played this one, I had to take a break a couple of times. Hey Komag, wasn't this fm the winner of your contest?
deadman on 5/6/2002 at 04:14
Mmmm..
Hightowne Museum :eek: :o Simply wonderful. :thumb:
deadman.
Hit Deity on 8/6/2002 at 04:52
Thanks inscrutable po for the constructive criticism. I see everything you pointed out, but I have to say that I intended it to be really inanely funny for the most part and finally decided to just go with the fun, half-hearted attempt at a "real" Thief mission and make it just a fun jaunt through one twisted part of Garrett's world (my world as seen through Garrett's eyes for a time). It was intentionally a lot on the silly side, and judging by the feedback I got on it I think I chose the right path.
It was definitely satirized and exaggerated a bit from my dealings with my wife. She's not nearly that bad, but sometimes I feel like those little incidences in the Ties That Bind held more truth in them than I intended. I mean to come off more as being a little "overrun" by my wife and translated that into a short, silly mission about Garrett falling in love and getting engaged, something highly ludicrous, but seems to work for short little mini-missions like these.
The time constraints really start bearing down on you there close to the deadline and you have to hurry things along and say, "I'm just going to have to leave that. I don't like the way it turned out, and I think I know how I could make it tons better, but I don't have time...."
The fish antics were drawn from a Monty Python episode favorite of mine where the two guys are slapping each other with the fishes. I thought the reference would stand out and people would get a kick out of that. And a lot of them did.
In fact, my mission is so laden with hidden double entendre that I'm surprised more people haven't commented on some of the things, but maybe they noticed and thought it didn't need a mention. I have gotten many, many emails saying they really liked that mission and wished I would expand it or make another one, and I take your input as being constructive, too. After all, you did say you liked the original sounds, the puzzles, and the special touches. It took a while to make, and not nearly enough time to do with it what I wanted, but I had fun, and I hope you enjoyed it for the most part.
I'm happy with it for what it was: a quickly made, farcical attempt at putting Garrett in a new "predicament" and seeing how it would turn out....;)
Thanks again!
