I am very pleased to announce the release of a new Thief 2 Fan Mission Pack, Elevator Mission T2, by JIS. EMT2 is a nine mission pack. The file is very large-- 135 MB, so it is available initially only using BitTorrent. A link to the file may be found here:
http://thiefmissions.com/info.cgi?m=ElevatorMissionT2
Some of you know JIS as the author of The Elevator Mission, Undeadland, UFO and others. You may remember Elevator as being extremely difficult and requiring a lot of killing. Elevator Mission T2 is completely different - it does not allow killing in most of the missions. If you BJ an innocent, he/she is killed, at least in the first few missions, and the mission fails. So, this mission pack is intended for ghosting or at least sneaky play. The only resemblance to the original Elevator Mission is the presence of quite a few elevators.
I am a great fan of JIS's work. It is quite varied in playing style. One will be a "kill 'em all," one will be a race against time, and one will be a loot hunt. Most of his missions are quite challenging to play. A theme in all his work is excellent architecture, a dark and moody feeling of dread, and somewhat tricky mazes. These missions are no exception in that regard, although I have not played them so I do not know the main theme or the difficulties.
I learned about these missions when corresponding with JIS on another matter. JIS speaks no English whatsoever and relies on a very poor Japanese-English machine translator, so communication with him is a challenge at best, unless you speak Japanese. At first JIS told me that EMT2 would never be released in English. I volunteered to help him by trying to interpret the bad machine translations. This I have done, and this release is the result. However, I have not played the missions yet, so I cannot be sure that my translations are correct.
[EDIT: I have completed the series. I enjoyed it a lot. Please see below for a review.]
We will learn together whether the objectives are clear enough and what are the challenges in the missions. If you find problems with the objectives, please post here. If you have questions on game play, feel free ask here, but remember that there are no English speaking beta testers to help. It may be a while before someone has an answer.
I spent about 10-20 minutes in each of the missions before uploading it. From what I have seen, the game play is fun and the architecture is excellent. There is very little loot to be found, so far as I can tell. There are very few texts to read, and those are not essential to game play, according to JIS, so they have not been translated. I think the game play is simply one of exploration and avoiding AI. That is good enough for me.
According to JIS, mission 9 contains notes for some Japanese friends and colleagues. No attempt was made to translate them.
JIS has stated that this is his last Dromed work. I would like to thank him for sharing this with us and taking the time to convert it to English. Enjoy!
Peter
==============
EDIT: A few days ago I completed the series. There are nine missions, not eight as I originally reported. All nine are real missions. I have corrected errors above.
I enjoyed playing the series a lot. Playing in Expert, it was a real challenge, and I had a great sense of satisfaction to get through it. There's no question that it is fairly difficult, and it takes a lot of perseverance.
It was classical JIS all the way. The architecture is excellent but sparsely furnished. The atmosphere is creepy, grungy, and forbidding. The AI are challenging and must be fought in a few places, but sneaking will be a great advantage, either in bypassing the AI or getting into good position to BJ them. Most of the missions involve solving puzzles that have no clues and finding switches that have a remote action, such as opening a door in another part of the map. JIS is toying with the player, making him think, making him frustrated. You can visualize JIS pulling your chain, working you like a puppet. Depending on how you feel about puzzles, you may feel compelled to get through it, or you may give up. If you like puzzles in general, I urge you not to give up if you can stand it. You will emerge a better player and a better person if you don't go nuts trying.
The first mission is just a walk in the park. Not much to do. Some say it is boring. Don't worry. It is just setting the stage and giving you some architecture to look at. There is a problem of finding a key....
The second mission is a rewrite of the original Elevator Mission. It has many of the same elements as the original, often dressed up in different textures. But the elements have been divided up and moved around. There are some towns in the middle. Some parts of the original are missing. So, it is more or less a new experience. I thought it was a great improvement over the original Elevator in design and in game play. It is easier, but not too easy.
The first few missions have a no-kill requirement. That tests your mettle as a sneaker or a runner. About mid way, the no-kill requirement is relaxed and you can whack away to relieve your frustrations. But you don't have to. In most cases, sneaking will work. In a few cases, you must kill to proceed. It could be the solution to a puzzle. Those places are pretty obvious.
Most of the missions have very little or no loot. Only one mission has a loot requirement. That is a mansion job. In expert, you must find all 200 of 200. There are a lot of little coins worth 5 each. It is very tough! Unless you are dedicated loot hound, as I am, I suggest playing that one in Hard or Normal.
Missions 3-9 are completely new.
The last two missions have lots of little puzzles in them that allow you to progress from one area to the next. Some of the areas are very nice in design. The puzzles have no clues (at least none in English), so you have to think: "What are the resources at my disposal, what can I do with them, and is there any pattern here that suggests something I can do?" They can all be solved with that logic, using the process of elimination, with some minor frustration.
The last mission, Men's Tale, has objectives written in Japanese. Even though they hang over your head, don't worry about those objectives. They will all be resolved at the very end.
So, if you play EMT2 and have difficulty, don't say you weren't warned. If you can succeed and get through the whole thing, then I think you will be very pleased, as I was.
I would like to thank JIS for providing me with many hours of entertainment and for his brilliant work.
Last edited by smithpd; 26th Oct 2003 at 16:05.
I'm downloading it now with BitTorrent. I'll leave mine on as a seed for awhile afterwards, though I can't leave it too long as I find it slows my computer down to a crawl while it's running.
Thanks for all the hard work you did to make this available for us, smithpd!
Downloading nowI found Elevator Mission an interesting and unique experience, despite the occasional frustrations. Looking forward to this one.
Last edited by Eshaktaar; 15th Oct 2003 at 13:09.
Thank You JIS! I am gonna try one of the other download methods listed and see if i can get it faster.
I'm also very excited about this. JIS's previous contributions may have been unique (sometimes in a bad or head-ache inducing way) in this past, but that's no reason not to give him the respect to at least try out his new missions. His latest have been more attuned to the Thief universe as we know it. Plus, how hard would it be to build something in a medieval/steampunk universe if you come from a culture whose past is so different? Besides, I don't think they released DromEd notes in Japanese or even a Japanese version of the tools, so (s)he deserves all the respect (s)he can get figuring it out
That goes for others too!
deadman.
"I cannot see anything admirable in stupidity, injustice and sheer incompetence in high places, and there is too much of all three in the present administration." -M.M.Kaye, The Far Pavilions
Can't download it... I'll try once it's available. Can't wait to play it.
Got it and Torrent is on line here for those who are loading.
I LOVE "F"
Hehe.
Ide love to get inside JIS's head and find out where he comes up with this stuff, but Ide also be VERY afraid!
Dang! PTC doesn't work with Windows 98Going to try Shareaza 1.9 Beta
Shareaza 1.9 Beta
Maybe this is not the place to ask this but what is BitTorrent and does
this work with Windows XP and if downloaded is it a program?? or where
is it stored on my computer. Would like to download and play
Elevator Mission T2 and is this the only way I can download due to the
size? Thanks
Yes,Bittorret works great with XP... Just down;oad it and install it (Bit Torret) then go to thief missions and ware it says BitTorrent...click Here (for Fan Mission)..it will find Bit Torretin your system and you can select ware to put the game..It only took me 12 minuts with broadband. It is very easy(mabey you are like me and simplify the complicated and complicate the simple..LOL)
By the way will Thief 2 and Fan Missions work with The AMD A64 and a Raid SCUI Setup. I hope so.It will be built next week.
Ohhhhh nooooooo...eeeeeakkk!!!! Another Elevator mission. Well it is ussually the hard ones I remember. Good luck !!!
Last edited by Lightningline; 15th Oct 2003 at 20:56.
I have downloaded BitTorrent to my desktop, my question is "do I store (open)
in Thief 2 folder, or t2 missions folder, or where??????
Last edited by coreyb2; 16th Oct 2003 at 14:27.
Run the install... (the thing on your desktop) it'll install bt, the program.I have downloaded BitTorrent to my desktop, my question is "do I store (open)
in Thief 2 folder, or t2 missions folder, or where??????
then just click on this
Hmm i just finished the first mission. I read somewhere that Japanese gamers prefer linear games that guide the player, and that for example a game like Grand Theft Auto (with freeform gameplay) would be confusing and somewhat unsuccesful there.
The first level made me feel like I was playing a 2D sidescroller. Though the backgrounds are nice, there's always only one way to go. Every guard is alone and once you're done with him/her, you move on to the next.
Very boring.
The start of mission 2 looks a bit better with an elevator with 2 levels (how confusing), but is the rest of the set the same? That would be a waste of 135MBs.
DAGNABBIT!I'm guessing everybody and his/her mother is downloading it right now to get that FM pack. Do you need BitTorrent even if you have broadband?
Remember #Thief-fms, taffer? Join us on IRC and get it here, dammitOriginally posted by Oneiroscope
DAGNABBIT!
deadman.
I clicked on "this" and downloading started. Only 3% shows downloaded at this time.
How long does this FM generally take to download?
I'd love to! Unfortunately every time I have tried to sign up for it I get a weird error and it don't work.Remember #Thief-fms, taffer? Join us on IRC and get it here, dammit
The more (torrenters) the better (faster)...Originally posted by coreyb2
I clicked on "this" and downloading started. Only 3% shows downloaded at this time.
How long does this FM generally take to download?
That's why we should all embrace this sooner rather than later. It seems to be something many people have decided to go with... and the FMs will keep coming, hopefully even moreso when III gets here... so let's get prepared!
Yes.Originally posted by Oneiroscope
DAGNABBIT!
What is the problem? Did you DL the BT installer?
It's the BT installer I'm having trouble getting. I should have been more specific. I cannot get the link to bitconjurer.org/BitTorrent to work. I've tried several times and nothing doing. Is there somewhere else I can get BitTorrent?
I just started playing on Expert... query: is there SUPPOSED to be absolutely nothing in your inventory? No compass, no picks, no nothing. And the only weapon I have is my blackjack. If there is, grand, I'll keep nosing around. If there isn't, I'd rather know now
I've wandered all over the place and the only avenue that looks like it might go anywhere is a locked gate. No way to climb up into the red brick building where I hear a guard, or to the balcony where I hear a woman.
And while I'm on the subject: to the designers among you - why is that some FMs leave out the compass? It can't be forgetfulness because it happens quite a bit. I habitually go back to the compass, so when it's missing from my inventory, it takes me several minutes to stop involuntarily hitting the F12 key after every frob
Just curious!
Cheers!
-M
Your mileage may vary
i downloaded shareaza without a problem and whipped out the download of the fm in no time. i think i had a hard time with bit torrent when i tried it before...but shareaza as a program is very simple...looks alot like kazaa. downloaded the program and had it up and running in 5 minutes (with dsl). downloaded the fm in about 1.5 hours....not exactly sure cuz i went out to dinner while it was downloading. so those of you having prob's with bit torrent might want to try shareza....(i believe it has bit torrent "in" it). btw...i also had a great deal of problem with IRC....error messages all over the place...then one day, it just worked...though i really found no real use for it. anyway, am leaving my share file open tonight for those taffers wanting to nab this one
i found this fm-pack unbelievably boring
very nice architecture and graphics-work that would have been very welcome in some missions with 1000 times more THOUGHT put into it
this is just like playing doom on dark engine, only with melee weapons and "do not kill" objective (=find key, open door, find exit, repeat)
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