First things first - I've played a bit of Thief in my time, but I'm not an expert. I'm just "a bit experienced". I don't try Ghosting, or Supreme Ghosting (cheers Klatremus, hehe), I blackjack anyone that is certainly going to make my life hell or be an obstacle difficult to avoid. So it's not like my gameplay is about making my life and my walkthrough more difficult than it really needs to be. Just your standard walkthrough.

THAT SAID - Ascend the Dim Valley is Easy. Extremely Easy, even for my "a bit experienced, but nearly-newbie" standards. Not much in terms of getting lost, despite the architecture and the layout of the mission - there really isn't much you can do to get lost, no keys laying around hidden under some furniture and stuff, it is very much straightforward... in a map that is very vertical and supposedly non-linear. That's not exactly a plus, and not what you'd expect. You really could get lost just inside the two mansions, and that's just for a while. Just go upwards any time you can, and pick up the LOADS, THE TONS of loot laying around everywhere. I didn't bother to pickup everything, but my god, the Builder - you can get the 2500 Loot goal on Hard in just below 50% time of your walkthrough. Yeah, Hard and not Expert, true. But then again... other missions proved to me to be a MUCH, MUCH harder challenge. No real need to get lost, to find any keys, any traps, any secrets, tons of loot everywhere, no backtracking, no secret passageways between the mansions (AFAIK) - nothing. Straightforward and easy.

Story is completely irrelevant, and the weakest part of the Fan Mission - there really isn't anything to go on, except that both the Mages hate each other, and one is more pagan-mad than the other. All that jazz about Armistice and child hostages is also irrelevant, despite the wild Secrent Ending, it really isn't worth anything. Not enough lore, not enough real story, nothing to remember this mission for.

Atmosphere is very much The Sword, but in an ascending valley (yep xD), in a literal sense, sound-wise and architecture-wise, especially inside the mansions of the two Mages. It's brilliant, and the best part of the Fan Mission, by far. Congratulations on that.

As much as I do agree this is a (very) good mission, I'm not really sure about with the notion that this might just be the top, what? Top 3 or Top 5 mission ever for T1+T2? Just judging by the ratings here, of course. Anyway, I don't think so about that "top" category, and I haven't played much more than 10 FMs for now. The Sound of a Burrick in a Room happened to be my Top 1 for now, 9/10, played a few days ago, still fresh. And that's just about 10 FMs in, already found something I'd put much higher than Ascend the Dim Valley? Yeah everyone has their own opinions, and what they love about Thief, I do myself of course. (I hate undeads, The Lost City, and labyrinthian missions). I guess I just mildly disagree with the general consensus on Ascend the Dim Valley, a few too many moderate-to-big faults to be hailed as the top of the top for me.

No haterino of course, a very good job anyway, mr. DirkBogan.

Shame you didn't enjoy it as much as I did.

I tried, friend! I really tried. I was expecting something truly bombastic, judging by the reviews. And then I went over to Vizir's, got the Iron Fascade, just laying around, with nothing challenging to it (like the whole mission)", and was like... time for the second half of the mission, the "twist", the better half where it all picks up, the reason why it's so beloved, time for something wild to happen!

Except... nothing ever happened. It was over, after 1:20h - just get down to the cave and that's it.

Idk, the most I felt was just disappointment, moderate-to-big time. I still think it's very good for what it is, but if this is the bar for the top 5 ever FM, the overall consensus says so at least - then I might be quite sad and disappointed that this is pretty much almost the best a Thief FM can get. Might be unrealistic expectations, idk. :D Cheers.

Interesting take! With so many amazing fan missions around, I can agree with this one not being top tier (compared with others). Still, I think it was a great mission. I actually got lost a lot in this one. Sewers, crypts and all that aren't that hard for me, but there was so much winding and verticality in this one. That probably got me confused at times. The length, I can't relate with that one at all. This one took me quite a while.

The story is pretty inconsequential, I agree there. I do like what Dirk did with it, though. The gameplay I mainly liked for the level design and exploration, stealth could be pretty weak.

So I partly see what you're saying, but I don't fully agree.

Yeah, I haven't really got lost much, besides these several minutes inside the mansions, trying to figure out which stairs lead upwards/outside and which ones will lead me in circles where I had just been a moment ago. I'm a huge hater of labyrinthian stuff like The Lost City with non-functional maps and the like, and I really do consider this mission effective and complicated-looking when it comes to the visual layout, and not like The Lost City, it's quite simple and non-linear in practice.

It did take me just under 1:30h tho, it really did - I have a longplay (full recording with no commentary) of it, 1:27:44 is the total duration, I'll be releasing it one day, and I'll post it here too. Which by the way makes it shorter than Bad Debts for example, which felt massive in comparison in terms of the map, objectives, backtracking etc., but still did take just 1:45h to complete. I might be fast to catch on in these FMs maybe, despite what I call a total lack of orientation xD. I don't know, I just consider under 1:30h for a FM to be a real short one. I did play on Hard tho, so maybe loot goal would be a menace and send me prowling for more loot for an extended time, idk. Not here tho!