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This FMs Pack is good, but - as you should know - there are many grater titles and campaigns.
Released on April Fool's Day 2002 !!
And still THE highest rated mission on themissions.com.
It sure makes you feel old !
And now Purah is a proper games designer and a published author, and we are all......well, we are all still visiting TTLG :-)
So, when's the sequel due ?
That rating needs an update
This FMs Pack is good, but - as you should know - there are many grater titles and campaigns.
I don't agree. CL is still the greatest FM in my book.Originally Posted by Mixthoor
That rating needs an update
This FMs Pack is good, but - as you should know - there are many grater titles and campaigns.
Technically, it has been superseded, but for its mixture of mood, complexity and technical excellence, it still has this FM-to-end-all-FMs quality. It is greater than the sum of its parts. And it also has a special position as the "this is what Thief 2 should have been" mission pack.
I agree, Calendra's is a classic, probably the best FM pack ever. But saying it's the still the highest rated mission on thiefmissions is kind of silly - those ratings haven't been touched since 2003.
Also, shouldn't this be in the FM forum?
Here, here!One of the greatest campaigns I've ever played. I wish Purah was still dromedding
Agreed!
That's a bold statement
Klatremus' Supreme Thief Site - Walkthroughs, Loot Lists & Ghost Reports
I think it has been superseded by a few others since its release, but it is no doubt still near the top. It certainly broke a lot of new ground at the time and set a very high mark.
To each his own. (Хотя еще есть такая противная штука, как nostalgie, искажает реальность)
For example I've played:
SS - six times
ANiR - five times.
OB & BT - four times.
Both campaigns by Sensut - three times.
CL - only two times.
In fact... BT is better on all counts, but it is not my favorite. Of course, CL is Great FM and soon I'll play it again. Only today it's not so intriguing, does not cling.
CL was the most ambitious, polished, and technically amazing FM pack for its time, and very likely one of the most influential in terms of ideas that went into later FMs, even just in terms of setting the bar so high. I think if you went by objective criteria, there's a good case for it being the "greatest". Ominous Bequest/Broken Triad and Rowena's Curse/Seven Sisters may be the most fun to play now (IMO), but looking at it from a historical perspective, CL has a special place that should be recognized.
I'd agree with all that. I think it was superb despite some aspects I don't personally like. It was one of the first I played but I don't think I was good enough then to do it justice. I've played it 3 times in total and each time is better. Probably about time I gave it another go.
What demagogue said. CL really raised the bar especially in the looks department. You look at Murkbell and it's not the use of overly small details in the brush work, it's the way they intersect and the way they are textured. He figured out a way to fool you into thinking you are seeing more detail than is actually there. The whole thing would have caved in under its own weight otherwise. I imagine it did in the beginning.
CL was so good that its obsession with forced stealth still pisses me off to this day.
I am not a big fan of forced stealth either, but it's such a small part of the campaign that has it. Just at the police station and by the flat next to Mercedes' place in mission 1 (and of course, everywhere you want to pickpocket something), and about 5% of mission 2.
I seem to recall it being more like 100% of mission 2.
Note that by "forced stealth" I mean the game refusing to issue you a blackjack until a blackjack becomes nearly useless. Then refusing to issue you a sword, unless you feel like spending an hour working for it.
That, combined with a damn time limit right at the beginning, made mission 2 perhaps the most elaborate "*%%# YOU" ever served up to the Thief community.
Last edited by Nightwalker; 14th May 2012 at 11:29. Reason: edited language
I see your point. I was referring to the parts that have the annoying 'fail on see'.
When that part ends in mission 2 (the 'double cross' at the cathedral), the mission becomes a lot more relaxed and you have more options since it's not game over if they see you.
You can sneak (I usually just hop into the nearest part of the canal if I get caught, go somewhere else and return when they have calmed down), you can lure guards far away, run back where they stood guard and loot there, you can convince several of the sword guards to drown themselves, you can release the undead on them and go all Terminator on the undead later. Your pet zombie (conjured by Vampyre Eye) can also do a good number on several guards if you plan it right.
How do you like mission 3?
I have to agree with ZB here. I was so frustrated by the *&%# YOU of mission 2 when I originally played it back in 2001/2, that I just quit and didn't get back around to it until around 2009/10. I was glad I did, because I found Mission 3 a real treat by comparison. Don't get me wrong, the city building in Murkbell was way ahead of its time and still looks great by today's standards, and the mission design was ambitious and generally well executed, but the gameplay design decisions really turned me off.
Not to mention I was scared as hell of undead back then.
Last edited by Nightwalker; 14th May 2012 at 11:02. Reason: tsk, tsk,Russ!
I enjoyed the second mission almost beyond my capacity for joy; from the mad dash to my room -- where all my gear was -- and then to the cathedral, just in time to drop the chalice into the bin...and then a couple of hours of guerilla warfare on the undead, taking them out one by one? Who ELSE had more free time than me?
...that is, it was a fine way to kill that wearisome extra time nonsense that plagued me then.
The Foxhole
"...so she went to the Sorbonne. You know, in France?"
"Oh. For a minute there, I thought you meant the one in Utah."
I feel exactly like Yandros and ZylonBane about Murkbell. There's a way to rope up above the Duchess at the beginning so you can gather everything you want with a lot less guards before tackling it, thanks Albert for pointing that out.
And I also think A Winter's Eve is far superior to Murkbell in terms of gameplay. That Keeper sanctuary is really great for sneaking.
Try this. On expert leave the pub, rob the jewel shop, grab one of the amulet stones in the attic. Grab the museum invitation, rob the museum blind including the Red Arrow and then drop off the Cylix.
