Thief Guild

An excellent mission though one does begin to wonder what the thing is lately with the fad of many better works using seemingly as primitive T1 graphics and assets as possible i...

Lane Powell Aug. 11, 2023, 7:54 a.m.

For what it's worth, I don't think nanao. is talking about level design (obviously the level design here, as in many other TG fms of recent times, is more "advanced" in some ways than actual T1 levels) so much as the more advanced engine specs and features that T2 offers over T1.

And, sure, there are levels with TG-ish themes for T2: Rodamill or Dark Messiah, to name a couple personal favorites. But the assets of T1 have held up just fine, stylistically speaking, and lend themselves well ...

Stylistically impressive, yet overdesigned.
topic about The Whistling of the Gears (2018)

TG FM

voidhanger Aug. 31, 2021, 6:34 p.m.

A very well realised atmosphere of a neglected, shabby neighbourhood is what draws your attention right from the beginning of the mission. Mangy streets, rusty machinery and hou...

Lane Powell Sept. 23, 2021, 9:19 p.m.

FYI, there is an update of the mission in the works that addresses the difficulty of certain objectives. In the TTLG thread, Firemage indicated he'd work on it more once The Black Parade is released.

Didn't age well
topic about Augustine's Revenge (2009)

T1 FM

voidhanger Sept. 5, 2021, 12:15 p.m.

Augustine's Revenge didn't age well: blocky design, boring texture work. The amount of loot everywhere is just ridiculous. For some reason, Expert difficulty does not restrict y...

Lane Powell Sept. 5, 2021, 7:51 p.m.

When I first tried this mission, I actually put it aside because I also thought it was sore on the eyes. But I picked it up again later and began to see its merits.

There are still aspects I would criticize (looking at my old review, there are even one or two things I left out), but the mission's gameplay is usually better than its looks, and there are a lot of different creative areas crammed into the mission to make it feel alive, while being unified enough to avoid feeling arbitrary. (A...

Solid horror mission
topic about The Burning Bedlam (2018)

TG FM

Lane Powell May 26, 2021, 3:06 a.m.

The Burning Bedlam takes Garrett back to the haunted Sealed Quarter, this time into the ruins of an abandoned Hammerite complex containing an "asylum"—that is, prison and torture chamber—from which Garrett must retrieve, of all things, a body. If that wasn't promising enough, the way in is through a complex of haunted mines and sewers.

This i...

Gaetane's first masterpiece
topic about The Den (2005)

T2 FM

Lane Powell May 26, 2021, 2:04 a.m.

The Black Frog was one of the first series of FMs I played back when I was getting into Thief. It's a rightly famous series of maps, but I didn't get around to Gaetane's earlier series of missions, to which The Black Frog is technically a sequel. While I don't think it matters much if you play the L'Arsene series before The Black Frog, you must ...

Only 1 Bone here
topic about Bones: Episode 1: the Old Quarter (2012)

T2 FM

Lane Powell Sept. 18, 2020, 4:05 a.m.

Episode 1 of Bones sends Garrett to pull off a heist in a dockyard, which just happens to be located in a snowed-in section of the Old Quarter that was recently cleared of undea...

Lane Powell May 26, 2021, 1:35 a.m.

I replayed this mission and decided to raise my rating a bit. I could name some criticisms, like the number of ways there are to get outside of the playable area. The fact that it just ends is a shame, but even without the intended sequel it's no less complete in itself than any other city mission, and with that in mind I'd have to name it as one of the best. The story doesn't amount to much, but the number of objectives, the freedom you are given to approach them, and the open-ended layout o...

Return
topic about Return to the Lost City (2017)

T2 FM

Lane Powell Feb. 8, 2021, 9:49 p.m.

Another excellent Thief II mission that treads into Dark Project territory, this one is an homage to (obviously) The Lost City of the first game. Garrett is tasked to uncover th...

Lane Powell Feb. 9, 2021, 4:55 a.m.

Thanks for the recommendations! I'll add those to the (very long) list. I think the ones by nicked are already in my folder. Will probably start with the second because puzzles are not my forte.

Return
topic about Return to the Lost City (2017)

T2 FM

Lane Powell Feb. 8, 2021, 9:49 p.m.

Another excellent Thief II mission that treads into Dark Project territory, this one is an homage to (obviously) The Lost City of the first game. Garrett is tasked to uncover the mystery of a lost Keeper expedition to Karath-Din, and make some money along the way.

The story is typical, but developed pretty well in all the usual ways. The real...

The Horror Mission for People Who Don't Like Horror Missions
topic about Lost Among The Forsaken (2018)

TG FM

MarcusFlintlock Feb. 6, 2021, 11:07 a.m.

As the title suggests, I'm not a fan of horror missions. Or undead missions. Or really any mission that makes my trusty blackjack utterly worthless, removing my ability to knock...

Lane Powell Feb. 7, 2021, 4:29 a.m.

Nice review. I'm actually a big fan of horror missions, but you're right to point out the exceptional nature of this one--the huge open layout gives more places to run and hide than the usual example. Few others really do that. I have an idea for a series of missions that would include one like this.

Everyone has their own taste but I'd like to put in a good word for Thief's zombies. You can't blackjack them, but they're slow, and if I'm not mistaken, their AI is dumber than the normal gua...

Down in the Sealed Quarter
topic about Dark Messiah (2006)

T2 FM

Lane Powell Jan. 25, 2021, 12:01 a.m.

The Sealed Quarter was one of my favorite locations in The Dark Project, so naturally I'm always on the lookout for missions that explore that aspect of Thief's setting to add to my queue. Unfortunately there's not as many as I'd like, since most of the well-known undead missions favor other kinds of locations. Lost Among the Forsaken is a notab...

Melan's best mission yet
topic about Rose Garden (2018)

TG FM

Lane Powell Jan. 22, 2021, 2:59 a.m.

Replayed this and was impressed all over again, and am still missing plenty of loot. It's a sign of a truly great mission when you replay it, and not only discover new areas and routes (some of which may have not been intentional) but are still left with the feeling there's much you still haven't seen. What sets this above the earlier Disorienta...

Rocksbourg: The Final Chapter
topic about A Night In Rocksbourg 3 - Ink & Dust (2008)

T2 FM

Lane Powell Sept. 30, 2020, 7:11 a.m.

If you've played the previous Rocksbourg missions, you'll remember the brief otherworldly sections that tear you out of the city and to place you in someplace else entirely. It all culminates in "Ink and Dust". After pulling off an exceedingly dark and moody city theme, DrK creates a brand new and fully realized variation of the Keeper theme.
...

Rocksbourg Review Part 2
topic about A Night in Rocksbourg 2 - Discovery (2005)

T2 FM

Lane Powell Sept. 29, 2020, 9:34 p.m.

Rocksbourg's facade has crumbled. The "invasion" is here. Martial law is declared. Civilians are being herded into "safe zones," while elsewhere the various armed factions of the city fight to keep the undead at bay. After saving Garrett's life, the Keepers task him to run some errands in the locked-down part of Rocksbourg, one of them will send...

Only 1 Bone here
topic about Bones: Episode 1: the Old Quarter (2012)

T2 FM

Lane Powell Sept. 18, 2020, 4:05 a.m.

Episode 1 of Bones sends Garrett to pull off a heist in a dockyard, which just happens to be located in a snowed-in section of the Old Quarter that was recently cleared of undea...

Lane Powell Sept. 29, 2020, 4:07 a.m.

Having played those missions I can totally understand your comparison. This mission is like the theme of the above-ground section of "A Winter's Eve" combined with the more open-ended city layout of "Midnight in Murkbell."

Midnight in Murkbell!
topic about Calendra's Legacy (2002)

T2 FM

Lane Powell Sept. 29, 2020, 4:05 a.m.

An excellent three-mission pack. As it's a sequel to the earlier FM "Calendra's Cistern," I recommend you play that first along with Purah's first mission, "Autumn in Lampfire Hills." The story here is that Garrett needs to pawn off the artifact he stole in "Calendra's Cistern," which proves to be a lot more complicated than he expected.

The ...

A Dark Beginning
topic about A Night in Rocksbourg 1 - A New Beginning (2005)

T2 FM

Lane Powell Sept. 19, 2020, 3:10 a.m.

DrK is one of the Thief scene's heavy hitters, responsible for "Lost Among the Forsaken" which is one of my all-time favorite FMs and one of the most popular of recent years. But long before that his first series of maps, A Night in Rocksbourg, was already accorded classic status, and they were in fact among the first FMs I played back when I wa...

Nice Night
topic about A Night in Old Quarter (2019)

TG FM

Lane Powell Sept. 19, 2020, 12:54 a.m.

"A Night in Old Quarter" is a solid and enjoyable city FM, if not a particularly original one. The story is pretty thin but basically has Garrett venturing into the Old Quarter to steal a few pieces of merchandise, one of which is buried in the haunted Sealed Section, but you'll need to head to the other objectives first.

Korthak's Old Quarte...

Only 1 Bone here
topic about Bones: Episode 1: the Old Quarter (2012)

T2 FM

Lane Powell Sept. 18, 2020, 4:05 a.m.

Episode 1 of Bones sends Garrett to pull off a heist in a dockyard, which just happens to be located in a snowed-in section of the Old Quarter that was recently cleared of undea...

Lane Powell Sept. 18, 2020, 7:51 p.m.

Man I really need to play the Calendra missions, it's a big gap in my Thief experience. As I recall I got stuck somewhere in Calendra's Cistern but I'll have to return to it...

Contributions All (22)

We accepted the suggestion to change the categories of Chronicle Of The Metal Age 1, submitted by Lane Powell, June 3, 2021

We accepted the suggestion to change the categories of Dark Messiah, submitted by Lane Powell, Jan. 24, 2021

We accepted the suggestion to change the categories of The Search For Crom's Blade, submitted by Lane Powell, Sept. 25, 2020

We accepted the suggestion to change the categories of Rodamill, submitted by Lane Powell, Sept. 18, 2020

We accepted the suggestion to change the categories of The Shipment, submitted by Lane Powell, Sept. 18, 2020

We accepted the suggestion to change the categories of Nigel's Hidden Treasure, submitted by Lane Powell, May 25, 2020

We accepted the suggestion to change the categories of Returning a Favor, submitted by Lane Powell, May 16, 2020

We accepted the suggestion to change the categories of Autumn in Lampfire Hills (v2), submitted by Lane Powell, May 16, 2020

We accepted the suggestion to change the categories of The Saint of Redmound, submitted by Lane Powell, May 15, 2020

We accepted the suggestion to change the categories of Watery Grave, submitted by Lane Powell, May 14, 2020

We accepted the suggestion to change the categories of Valley of The Burned / The Widow's Ire, submitted by Lane Powell, May 13, 2020

We accepted the suggestion to change the categories of Trial by Night, submitted by Lane Powell, May 13, 2020

We accepted the suggestion to change the categories of Augustine's Revenge, submitted by Lane Powell, April 30, 2020

We accepted the suggestion to change the categories of Bloodstone Prison, submitted by Lane Powell, April 30, 2020

We accepted the suggestion to change the categories of Hidden Agenda, submitted by Lane Powell, April 27, 2020

We accepted the suggestion to change the categories of Third Time's The Charm, submitted by Lane Powell, April 18, 2020

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Posts All (38)

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