Reply With QuoteI think it's awesome and one of the crowning achievements of the community, but I fully expect that you'll also get a few answers that it's not that great or overhyped. I'd suggest just trying it yourself and forming your own opinion.
Hey everyone! I finished Thief 2 a few months ago, and it was absolutely amazing. I'd love to see more of these games, but for now I'd rather stick to a pack of fan missions rather than individual ones. My question is: Is Shadows of The Metal Age as good (or at least close to as good) as Thief 1 or 2? Does it feel like 'fanmade' in quality (mainly the level design and worldbuilding) or does it feel like a worthy successor to Thief?
I mean, it doesn't need to be the next Thief 2, but I expect it to at least feel 'official' in quality, if that makes sense
I think it's awesome and one of the crowning achievements of the community, but I fully expect that you'll also get a few answers that it's not that great or overhyped. I'd suggest just trying it yourself and forming your own opinion.
It's absolutely brilliant. The only flaw I could find is it's less challenging than even the OM's. It took me less than a day to finish the whole thing
yes t2x is a great series,but i will say the last level was a bit of a let down
Okay, that sounds good enough to me! I'll enjoy it whenever I get to it.
I think it's a little like playing Calendra's Legacy:
Everybody loves them, and I can absolutely see why, but they do show their age. After all, it's been twenty years. Much better stuff out there. Regardless, I liked it and played it from beggining to end (unlike Calendra's Legacy). I'd absolutely go for it.
Something seems different about the light gem in T2X that makes it harder to hide. Not 100% sure, just seems that way to me. The new guard voices are just annoying, but you have to respect the effort the team put into them.
Some of the city missions are bland and seem similar to each other. Like they were just thrown in to make the magic number of 13 missions to match the original game.
The undead mission is great, "train" mission is good and very creative. Museum is pretty good, hammerite missions and the hotel are good. Rest are average.
T2x is a must play.
I would definitely put it in the camp of feeling 'fan-made'. It's dated, the quality is inconsistent, and most of the new assets are jarring. Given the hype around it, I imagine many people tried it and never bothered with anything else, assuming the publicity meant that it must be the best that fan missions had to offer -- which wasn't even true when it came out.
You should absolutely play it though. All this means is that, if you find it to be lackluster, don't give up on FMs. There is much better stuff out there.
Interesting! Thing is, though, that I prefer a package of connected missions over completely unrelated missions (that will just feel inconsistent no matter how good they are). Are there any other compilations of fan missions, or maybe a list of excellent missions done by a single person?I would definitely put it in the camp of feeling 'fan-made'. It's dated, the quality is inconsistent, and most of the new assets are jarring. Given the hype around it, I imagine many people tried it and never bothered with anything else, assuming the publicity meant that it must be the best that fan missions had to offer -- which wasn't even true when it came out.
You should absolutely play it though. All this means is that, if you find it to be lackluster, don't give up on FMs. There is much better stuff out there.
Last edited by Thirteen1355; 26th Jan 2022 at 15:24. Reason: Added quote
It is absolutely worth playing, not only for the reason of quality, but also fan mission history. Yes the missions are too easy (Down Among Dead Men and The Grand Hotel being amazing exceptions), and many times fairly short, plus there are plenty of much better missions released before and after. But it's 13 missions with all new custom content, new protagonist, and a solid story (bar the last mission) set in an alternate Thief universe. So yes, play it.
The best fan missions are usually self-contained experiences, and even the best 'series' of FMs aren't usually packed together as one. For example, Rocksbourg 1-3 by DrK are all connected but they aren't packed together as one campaign, and while they're good I think his standalone maps like Lost Among The Forsaken are much better.
Limited just to packed campaigns in Thief 2, I'd recommend Godbreaker by Random_Taffer, Sturmdrang Peak by nicked, and especially The Black Frog by Gaëtane (except this series is a sequel to a standalone map, Emilie Victor, which is itself part of a standalone series of maps... see the problem?). Dracula and Bathory by Sensut are also excellent but perhaps stray a bit far from the Thief 2 experience. If you don't mind series that you have to download individually, the three aforementioned Rocksbourg maps are great.
For Thief 1, Gems of Provenance by StinkyKitty is a masterpiece. Shadow of Doubt by Sperry is also brilliant but it's an acquired taste. I would also highly recommend skacky's trio of Shadow Politics/Between These Dark Walls/Endless Rain, but again these are individual maps that form a series.
Really, if you enjoy T2X or any of these campaigns, I would recommend you branch out to playing single maps. You'd be surprised at how fleshed out and compelling these standalone experiences can be, and they don't have the issue of filler maps or inconsistency between levels.
I'd say it's definitely worth playing. Apart from the last mission, I wouldn't describe any of the maps as "filler" though I have to say the train, the hospital, and the hotel are obviously the standout missions of the campaign.
I think it is, there is some great level design. Some of the writing and acting is imo really bad, especially in how it tries to tie itself into the story of TMA, but still very much worth playing.
It is most definitely worth playing! Folks on the team went on to work in the gaming industry, it's every bit as good as the originals in my humble opinion and all done for the love of the series.
It's like you're daring people to point out all its flaws now.Originally Posted by New Horizon
It's enough to simply assert that it's very good. No need to oversell it.
I thought it was generally excellent. If I had to pick some flaws then it is very easy, and would have preferred that they had left out the final mission. But looking past that, it is a very well made game that is definately worth your time.
If after that you want a much harder full-size FM Thief game, you could try Rebellion Of The Builder 2.
Down Among Dead Men was for me almost as good an experience as Down in the Bonehoard, and that's saying a lot. The whole T2X package overall was very good as I recall. I definitely appreciated the fact that it was an entire full length game, giving me that much more immersion than any standalone mission could.
The Keep for Thief 1 and 2 FMs, Shadowdark for Thief 3 and Dark Mod FMs
Fun fact: the voice actress for the main character of T2X pops up in a Dark Mod FM, Noble Affairs. And this is a recent FM. As in, released a few months ago recent. It's neat that she's still doing FM voice acting fifteeen years later.
You can decapitate zombies with your sword if you want - that alone makes it worth playing
I wouldn't be surprised if not many people knew that.
I would highly recommend reading sUPERMARIO999's review of T2X before playing.....
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthrea...55#post1289555
Last edited by Purgator; 26th Jun 2022 at 16:50. Reason: mispelling of user name...naughty
It's so great. Bookmarked immediately.
That was a very interesting read!
It was pretty good. Voice acting didn't work for me at times, but it's all good
Last edited by Darkness_Falls; 13th Jul 2022 at 23:34.
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