Thief 2 FM - The Art of Thievery (Dec. 8, 2001) - by Nightwalker
NoCokePepsi on 15/12/2001 at 01:40
I'm playing on Ghost difficulty now and I'm stuck!
I've achieved all objectives except the Sword. However...<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Spoiler:</font><div style="background-color:#000080"><font color="#202080">I have the four talismans but the Lord's study door is barred and so is the back window and I don't know how to open the vault entrance with the four element panels (the one whose outer door is opened by the switch behind the clock). I fired arrows at the panels using opposite permutations of elements, etc. No dice. The talismans don't seem to do anything that I can see, either. Gah.</font></div></blockquote> Can anybody help me out here? <img src="smile.gif" border="0">
Nightwalker on 15/12/2001 at 02:39
NoCokePepsi - <blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Spoiler:</font><div style="background-color:#000080"><font color="#202080">If you read the Instruction scoll (or whatever it's called) it pretty much sets out things in the order you have to do them. You need to get into the study. To do that, go up into the attic of the building where you can see the window into the study and look to the right of the window for a scroll. It tells you how to open the door grate. Then, when you are in the Lord's study, look for a lever to open a secret door in the floor and go have a look down there.</font></div></blockquote> <img src="smile.gif" border="0">
Bruny on 15/12/2001 at 19:09
Yup. This one's a keeper. Belongs on anyone's list of the 10 greatest Thief missions of all time. I really enjoyed playing this one because there's always seemed to be so few good old-fashioned classic Thief mansion missions in the style of Bafford's or Ramirez. What can I say about the architecture and style? Wow. I'm speechless. For some pathetic reason I always thought I was pretty good at designing Thief mansions in my own puny attempts at Dromeding. This mission certainly puts things in their proper perspective for me and suddenly Dromed has lost its luster. How can anyone hope to compare to a mission like this? It's beyond gorgeous. I personally didn't see anything which reminded me of Undying, save for the opulence and the size. It took me over four hours to complete and I'm positive that's a record.
I played on Expert. I really like blackjacking guards, mostly because it gives me freedom to explore and hunt for secrets, so that was the only optional objective I decided not to complete. And many many kudos to the author for making this an optional objective. Those red cancel marks on my objective screen were just enough to shame me somewhat, but didn't detract from the way I like to play Thief. And I bet it worked perfectly well for those who like to ghost their missions. However I did manage to complete the mission without being spotted and seeing the green check by that objective was very satisfying. I hope more missions incorporate something like this (Hmmm, there was another recent mission where you could avoid the no knockout rule by flipping a switch at the very beginning. Which mission was that? Becuase I thought that was very clever too). I also picked 30 pockets. I only found 14 secrets though.
Even ignoring the limited knockout objective, there were places in this mission that were fiendlishly, cruelly difficult. I liked that. I have a question: Is it possible to get *all* of the loot on Expert? You know what I mean.
Following are my personal highlights from The Art of Thievery, despoilerized for your protection and hygiene:<br /><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Spoiler:</font><div style="background-color:#000080"><font color="#202080">The North Entrance where the painting hangs. Ha! That was pretty tough. I figured out how to turn off the light but I could never do it without alerting the guards and sounding the alarm. Once I deactivated that goddamn camera I figured maybe I could lower myself down by rope, but I could never manage to do it. Well a little patience and the discovery of a well-hidden note provided the answer. Good one! <img src="smile.gif" border="0"> </font></div></blockquote>
Getting the air talisman was tricky, fun, and required nearly all of my thiefy abilities. But nobody even knew I was there.
<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Spoiler:</font><div style="background-color:#000080"><font color="#202080">The elemental room reminded me of some of the more outrageous moments in Soulforge, in that it seemed ludicrously impossible. I managed to get past most of it by being very quick, just barely quick enough, until at the end I realized how to do it much more simply. Doh!</font></div></blockquote>
<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Spoiler:</font><div style="background-color:#000080"><font color="#202080">Those bastardy bitch-rag cameras made things soooo much more difficult and tricky. Thankfully they can be turned off but you really have to work hard to do it. Did you know you can bash the security camera doors open with your sword if you don't want to go after the key? And although the guards sometimes get suspicious they usually don't become aware of you. Anyway, I did that the first time but felt guilty and went back and did it right.</font></div></blockquote>
<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Spoiler:</font><div style="background-color:#000080"><font color="#202080">The very hardest part of this FM. Getting into that room with the two guys so you can get the chest key and the key to the North Wing. It was so tricky that, a) I can't believe there isn't a simpler way, and, b) Maybe here is a bug or design flaw. Okay there's a helmeted guard patrolling outside whom I must avoid. Luckily he pauses with his back to you for a long time. Here's the possible bug: There is another guard who goes inside the room. When I was playing it he paused outside for quite some time, facing the door to the room. Then he begins his patrol to walk into the room. However, he kept getting stuck on the railing and just kept walking in place, making it impossible to get by him. You should try to make his patrol route wider at that point, or remove that portion of the railing. Anyway, after going back a few different times to a previous save I manage to get to a point where he gets past the railing to walk into the room. After he's in the room, I shoot a moss arrow on the tile floor, crouch down, and try to pick the lock. No dice! The guards inside always become alerted! So do I decide to screw the no detection goal or keep trying? I decided to keep trying (I didn't want another red mark!). What I ended up doing was follow closely behind the guard and frobbed the door as it was closing behind him. This took me many many tries because: a) He kept getting stuck on the railing, b) They kept spotting me when I tried to turn off the light inside, and #&%*@ c) When I FINALLY did it I closed the door behind me and got locked inside with no way out!! Getting to that light switch without closing the door is VERY tough but I managed to do it. Okay everybody. Go ahead and shame me. Is there an easier way to do it? I don't believe I ever found a key to that room.</font></div></blockquote>
Okay this is getting too long. My apologies to everybody and there are several more highlights I'd like to relate but I'll restrain myself and just say that making ghosting optional, all the cameras, the ability to turn them off (with difficulty!), the helmeted guards thrown in to make things even more tricky (I only used two gas mines BTW), the loud floors, turning off lights, all of these elements and more combined to make a game that was a pure joy to play, at times extremely frustrating but a GOOD kind of frustrating, never the bad kind.
Spiderkat on 15/12/2001 at 19:14
Thank you, Richard, for your hard work to make this awesome fm! And a special thanks for making secrets that i could actually find. This was a nice christmas gift to all of us poor thief addicted taffers.
NoCokePepsi on 15/12/2001 at 20:11
Thanks, Nightwalker. <img src="smile.gif" border="0"> I understood the instruction scroll. My problem was that I overlooked the <span style="background-color:#000080"><font color="#202080">scroll in the attic when I was up there.</font></span> (This is a very entertaining mission. It has just about everything a Thief lover could want.)
Theef on 16/12/2001 at 23:23
AAAAIIIGH!
Ah. That's better.
I'm playing Art of Thievery and for some strange reason, I'm at four hours of gameplay, and I can't find my way into the North Wing. Everyone (and I mean everyone) is either out cold, or taking the big dirt nap. I've found the secret passage with the ladders, and that doesn't really lead to anything I might need (I think). This looks like it's going to be obvious, so I'm bracing myself for the "village idiot" feeling/award.
-Theef.
Nightwalker on 16/12/2001 at 23:44
What difficulty are you playing on? A lot of stuff changes in this one on each one. On Normal, you can't get into the North Wing at all. Post which one you're playing and I'll help you out. <img src="smile.gif" border="0">
Theef on 17/12/2001 at 00:15
Thanks, Night. I'm playing "Normal" (haven't done that in a long time) but someone here suggested playing through at increasing levels of ability. So here I am in normal and stuck! (Now applying for my Low-IQ Discount Card which will allow me to ride public transport for free).
I've got every painting except for one (Evil Look) and I'm supposed to steal some beads from the Mechanist Lord's belt. Hell's Bells, I don't even know where to find him/her/it.
-Theef
Nightwalker on 17/12/2001 at 01:54
There was a diary in the Lord's bedroom that gave details of where the paintings were located and it also gave you an idea of where to look for him. I don't think Rich changed it in the final release, so he should be in <blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Spoiler:</font><div style="background-color:#000080"><font color="#202080">the glass house</font></div></blockquote>.
As for the painting, it should be <blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Spoiler:</font><div style="background-color:#000080"><font color="#202080">over the stairs in the South Staircase. It's quite high, but you can get it. </font></div></blockquote>
You were quite right about starting on Normal. It has a huge amount of replayability if you do, because each difficulty you get access to more of the mansion and more secrets. <img src="smile.gif" border="0">
p7eter on 18/12/2001 at 02:40
first of all SUPERB MISSION<br />NW: im playing on ghost so will this show me the whole mission? since there are different endings apparently, does it benefit me to replay it if im already playing on hardest? or will i pretty much see everytthing on ghost?
also im stuck although i may figure it out soon but in case i dont please answer this :
SPOILER<br />.<br />.
how do i get into the north area? i have all the paintings except that one. and i got into the water cages but cant get into the middle one "water chest." i also opened the stained glass window thing but cant find the talismans. <br />i have pretty much explored the whole mansion and and dont know what im missing. also i havent got into the double metal doors near the North-door, but that may be part of the 'north' goal. but i still have a couple ideas so im not totally stuck yet.
BTW has anyone got onto the roof? i love getting onto roofs and doing so in this big mission would be a treat.
