Thread:Deathstalker666/@comment-1915529-20140221183807/@comment-3547390-20140418201850

We will never know...

True. I have to give some new school games a try.

I watched Raiders of the Lost Ark recently and have tried the other two when I was younger. I just can't get into it. I think I just am not a fan of that style of movie.

You make me feel so very young that I didn't get to see any of that. Instead I have had to go from the prequels, go through a phase of liking them mainly, and then getting into a phase of watching the originals. I think there was even a time that I avoided the older trilogy as I feared it was as bad as I remembered.

I never saw Anchorman but have heard similar things. Still, I hated his part in Wedding Crashers. Then I saw Land of the Lost and hated it for butchering the original show. The only thing I liked was Elf, but that was so outside his normal role. Ugh... now I am remembering Step Brothers. I don't think I need to watch another movie of his.

You have to remember I was seven. The last time I watched those movies I was when I was 13. Still, I won't take that route completely as I might turn out to like the prequels. Can't really argue for or against something you don't really remember.

Yes, that is my license to be a thick idiot with not brain that is stuck in the past and a derranged lunatic. They make so very few of them, you know.

I have been doing that for years. This is the type of stuff I watch on a regular basis.

EDIT: In the latest FM (note that each paragraph is a seperate FM, I went on a bit of a craze and did a couple in one night), I have realized something. Puzzles in general, not just hidden buttons but actual puzzles, are not the best way to go for a level. While it allows you to think and can be seen as raising the difficulty, the problem is that it just doesn't have any replay value. Look at Undercover, after one time of playing it there really isn't much you can do different on subsequent playthroughs unless you goof around with the Hammerites. This FM was basically one big puzzle after another, which though done well in comparison to most I have seen, just doesn't offer any reason why I would ever want to replay it or even recommend it. At least AI can do different things and create different challenges.

Keyhunts are never fun. Especially when to find one key you have to find a tiny red button among some twisty passages, destroy a wooden ceiling that can easily be ignored, and search for a hidden key in a completely darkened area. Oh, and you have at least 3 or 4 red herrings with the correct answer not having any clue. And that was the two hours I spent not progressing after wandering aimlessly through the map for two hours prior. You also can't knock anybody out, so basically getting from point a to b to look at a red herring takes a lot longer.

Zombies also love metal music. They will steal records just so they can listen to Iron Maiden in their underground tombs.

EDITX2: Calendra's Cistern.... this is one of the best FMs according to everyone that it not only is amazing, but exceeds the original game. I have heard so much about this level, I wonder how my experience with playing it will be. Get ready for a giant rant as I am disappointed once again.

EDITX3: Well, feel free to skip if you don't want spoilers. Still, I would not recommend this level unlike virtually the rest of the Thief community and feel there were better FMs. A "great" level like this deserves to be torn apart bit by bit. On the other hand it might reveal just why this level is so terrible.

Why I hated this level by hour 7 (a step-by-step review of Caledra's Cistern)

 * My first impressions going into it were actually pretty high, regardless of what I said here. With higher than perfect scores on some websites and everyone else saying how it is better than most of the OMs, I was intrigued.


 * Most FMs have some story to read in the readme. This starts with an odd quote by a rock band. Still, shrugging that off, I read the rest of the document and was amazed at the highly detailed story. The language is a bit more complex to the point that they almost seem to be forcing it to sound complex. Still it does a good job of introducing you to Mercedes, a sorcerer who also left the Keepers, who has a bit of a romantic fling with Garrett.
 * The next portion of the readme story is the letter Mercedes sent to Garrett and talks about Lady Calendra's party. Basically it is just another nobleman's party where a lot of big names are showing up (the story gets more complex as we progress). We are told about a relic that was found in the swamps to the south. None of it is anything special, but it is written in a better style than most of the other FMs I have seen.
 * Okay, so we have high hopes after reading the readme. The starting cutscene furthers that excitement. It is basically the same thing as that second half of the readme, which seems to be rather common in case you can't understand what is being said. Most FMs (the rare few with intro movies at this point) were made with terrible microphones, so you can barely make out what they are saying if you don't read the readme beforehand. This cutscene will stick out as having the best audio quality for a FM up to this point. Furthermore, the artwork of the cutscenes was very impressive. Normally, a cutscene will take a bunch of screenshots and make them sepia. The swamp picture was hand drawn and looks just as good as any of the original game stuff. My opinion at this point was that this was going to be an amazing thing based on all the buildup.
 * A personal gripe I had at this point was the design choices of Mercedes. To be saying that she is showing a little skin would be saying little. I don't know how someone can respect a character that basically is eye candy. Still, I shrugged it off once more as I remembered that this is normal in a lot of media. So far nothing has had a negative impact on the level.
 * When you start the level, your thrill of the level will shoot through the roof. The reviewers aren't lying when they say the level looks amazing. The streets are dark and gritty with smoke billowing from chimneys and vents. I didn't think a Thief 1 level would ever look so impressive to me. But you should know as well as me that looks aren't everything.
 * The map is quite amazing as well. Only one other level had an automap (the blue stuff that shows you where you are on a map) as most just give you a picture. This map is therefore one of the most helpful when navigating the city, I was able to accurately plan my way around with usage of the map. It is also good that said automap exists, because the buildings are just labeled with numbers with a number key at the bottom. The choice of font isn't exactly the best, I can read the key with some effort but it definately isn't as user friendly as the original game.
 * The first thing I notice about the level from the map is that it will be rather linear and goes around in a giant loop. I am okay with linearity (or else I am a hypocrite for liking Trail of Blood) but this definately affects how I plan out going around the map. As the loop is actually blocked off by a gate, this means that it forces you to go in one direction. This means I could easily plan out my route for raiding the buildings.
 * First building I hit was Farkus'. He was out for the night, but as I am a high paying customer he was willing to leave his shop open for me with an assistant running the store. I think I forgot to mention this before, but this is a team effort.  One of the people who made this mission made a little level called Rouge's Honour, which is basically a massive showcase of a ton of tricks to do complex things in the editor. A thing introduced here and brought here was a in-game shop. Basically, you can select anything you have the cash for and you will immediately get the object while losing the proper amount of gold. The biggest bug of this system is that the item you buy also gets registered as the latest thing you picked up for loot, so you will see an image of the item you bought in your loot count until you pick up something else. Otherwise, it works really well and gives you motivation for stealing more loot as these are often single missions and not campaigns (I often like to be stingy until I get my loot quota, then any extra I pick up I can spend without hesitation). There are also two new items - Dried Frog (I am guessing this is just for decoration) and Invisibility Potion (Though it looks different from Thief 2, it works nearly the same. The biggest difference is that you don't breathe out again so only the light gem will tell you when it is used up.)
 * The building outside of Farkus' shop looked reachable, so I jumped up there. Turns out that I just reached the skybrush. I am suprised a group of community members didn't think how the community members would explore everything. Still, I can forgive it as the original game has areas you can access in such a fashion.
 * Next building has a guard standing outside of it. Unlike basically every other FM, this guard is treated more like the city guards of Thief 1 and won't attack on sight. If you remember Bafford's Manor you might remember approaching the gate guards before being told to leave or you will be attacked. This attempts to immitate that, but the problem is that the dialogue is rather buggy. Usually when he says this he is already searching for you and has thus turned hostile. The door guards are really unpredictable and I advise not bothering with them. Good attempt, bad excecution.
 * Returning, I found a gate with some wooden poles. You could jump onto the gate from here, but it had to be done right as it was at a weird angle. It didn't help that my game freaked out with rope bugs. Still, after a few attempts I made it up. Every city FM is the same in this concept. Hidden wooden objects every few feet that will allow you to get to some otherwise inaccessible area. Of course you need to fight with rope bugs and some require you to be deadly accurate to mantle the wall or you will fall to your death.
 * Continuing on, I find a hobo. Every city mission has an interesting hobo. This one didn't intrigue me much though, especially as his dialogue intially didn't work and only started on a reload. I still don't really see the point of him.
 * The city diverges at this point! At least, this is what I thought until I found out that one of the ways was blocked and I basically had to go in the other direction to unlock the gate leading me forward.
 * As the way to the right is blocked, all that exists is a small window with a servant talking inside. This gave me the clue to smash it and hope it wasn't a merchant (which cannot be blackjacked when alerted). Suddenly the servant runs out in pajamas and runs out of breath, fainting in front of me. Well, I shouldn't say servant, this was the appropriately named Lord Wimpie. Every city FM has an awesome scene like this that just gives a great sense of promise.
 * Mantling down to the left, I find a guard patrolling a waterfront. For whatever unknown reason, this one is hostile. Upon discovering that he was immediately disposed of, though I still don't understand why they left this guard violent to me. Every other city mission instills a trope of Thief FMs that there is a curfiew and that guards will attack anybody they see on sight. This level never said anything of that sort, so this is rather strange. Still, this is the only street guard to be found in the entire level.
 * Rope arrows... this section allows the player to shoot a rope arrow into a wooden surface across the river. Of course, rope bugs means that you will fall in the water a lot. Unlike many of the other city missions, at least this one doesn't have a current so it is just a matter of retrying until you get it. The same cannot be said for shooting a rope arrow a little bit more to the left to gain access to a tiny balcony. Unless you are a good shot with your rope arrow you will die a lot here as a fall is enough to kill you. I was lucky to make it up on my third attempt.
 * The dark ambient levels were well done here. I could at least see the ladders when the level was pitch black and thus scale them. This doesn't sound like much, but so many FMs make the level rediculously dark that you can't even see your own weapon in the dark.
 * A bunch of rope climbing and exploring later, I finally make it back onto the main path by going through a guardroom with only one guard who will look just out of range of spotting you for a short time. Following this, I make it to the next section of the level which requires a rope arrow to a wooden surface and then to leap to a small chimney at an odd angle. A nice detail is that Garrett will cough as he walks through the smoke. Though I dislike the overuse of rope arrows, I have almost gotten used to and expect such annoyances with a city based mission. The good still outweighed the bad by quite a bit at this point.
 * Next I made it to the tavern which apparently was the place I was to be raiding by using a secret passage in the wine cellar. Before getting there I looted the upstairs portion and found that I could loot paintings. This isn't exactly a new feature, but up until now looting a painting would cause the game to create a seperate loot list that wouldn't count towards your loot objective. It is nice to finally have it working. The wine cellar was also very well done, though I still don't understand the exact nature of a small wooden door leading from one of the wine racks to the bar upstairs.
 * The wine cellar was also the location of a conversation between you and Mercedes (who is wearing as skimpy clothing as in the cutscene). This time around she has a slight echo to her voice which makes it a bit harder to understand what is being said. After listening to it twice, I understood what I needed to do to progress. I would need to get a key to go to Calendra's House and get another key before going after the Cylix (the treasure from the swamps). When she finishes talking to you, she enters the passage behind her and the wall closes behind her. It took me a few minutes to realize that I was expected to go forward using this secret passage by pressing a button nearby. This is because the streets are conveniently sectioned off after the tavern, making reaching her house impossible without entering the party. Luckily Mercedes gave me some maps which looked better and had a good amount of detail then the starting map.
 * Entering the party I find myself having two ways to progress. One has a guard looking where you will come out with a magical fire next to him that can't be put out, making you choose the other way. The other way requires you to douse a torch to sneak by, but as I was skimpy at the shop I only had two on me. Still, I was able to get around without being seen. A lot of the guests (well... four) hang in a well lit circle in the middle, with one of the guests even being stuck on top of a well. This isn't anything new, Blackmail suffered a similar problem on the top floor as the patrolling guards have a tendency to get stuck on top of surfaces. It just would make tackling that area harder than it needed to be without the use of a flashbomb (I found an interesting solution).
 * On a pedestal existed a guest book. For whatever reason Garrett wanted to sign it and put down specifically master thief. Basically the plot for that was "There's a guest book? I'll have to sign it". Garrett did ask me if I should wait or sign it now, but no consequences resulted from signing it now so I have no idea what the point of that was besides to make the player nervous. Still, maybe something happens if I didn't go blackjack crazy. Yeah, I dislike Garrett's ego in this one as there is a difference between having a bit of of an ego and doing something so stupid that it could devistate the entire mission.
 * A carved out section of cave exists on one side. This is a big red herring that I still do not know the purpose of besides alerting basically everyone in the guest room. On the other side is a set of sewers leading out of the party, so as I wanted to explore the party first I didn't take that road.
 * One of the four patrols in and out of the room, meaning they were an easy blackjack. Also while all are nobles, some are basically reskinned guards wearing a symbol that apparently has something to do with this group.
 * Making it past the talking group (they keep saying the same things over and over) I make it into the main section of the building.  It is basically just a large green room with little to nothing in it. A Bafford's Sergeant guards a doorway in the middle which requires me to stealth at the right angle to take him out. Remember that mansion mentioned in the beginning next to Farkus' shop? Well, an objective requires me to carry this guard into that mansion (which I haven't entered yet due to the twitchy guard). A little annoying, yet I figure I will just return at the end and get it done. This objective is probably the second big gripe of this mission though (the first being the overusage of rope bugs).
 * The right side of that large room has Lady Calendra talking to one of her guests about some plans. It seems they plan on sacrificing a small girl for initiation of some new member. Yeah... not your average noble. Sadly Lady Calendra sticks around in this room as one of my objectives blantantly forbids me from knocking her out until I steal the shrine key (the one leading to the Cylix). Still, she has her house key on her so at least the first part of my goal is already done. She also has a note detailing the sacrifice which is spread around the mansion as a program schedule.
 * The level diverges into a lot of ways at this point. One way leads into a large room filled with tile and a guard in the middle, making this not the ideal way to progress (though you are required to eventually) as I only have one moss arrow.
 * I went upstairs to get to the second floor of the main area. Apparently a Hammerite was up there, which now that I think about it makes little to no sense due to the fact of what was actually being guarded by that Bafford's Sergeant and is being overlooked by this part - a pagan shrine. With blood on the fountains, a severed hand on the table, and a statue of Cthulhu this place looks very ominous. A custom sound plays here of some tribal drums with some ominous moans. I have to say that this was my favorite room of the level.
 * The upper section has a small balcony leading to a graveyard which I didn't enter at this time and a ladder leading to an attic. Up here I found a small hole leading to some wooden beams overlooking the tile. Being extremely high off the ground, I didn't exactly try climbing to the center wooden beams (which was a big mistake). I heard some spiders, but didn't see a way to get to them so assumed that I would find another way later. Some clue somewhere ended up saying something about spiders in an observatory. I will blame myself for not climbing to the central wooden beams to find a hidden passageway leading to that observatory in the first seven hours of playing (in fact, this is the main thing that made me take so long). Overusage of rope arrows once again as you can see.
 * That pagan shrine intrigued me so I visited it. A symbol on the ground showed that the symbol I saw earlier represented this cult. I wandered around to the back where I found the chest that would proceed to make my life a living hell...
 * Aaargh. That is what was said when I opened the chest and what I said after hour seven of dealing with this whole problem. You see, I stumbled upon a talking head. His voice was very echoy, making it hard to understand exactly what he was saying when he was calm. I didn't have much time to pay attention either as the head's scream sent the entire party haywire. For the rest of the mission I carried this talking head around, who has a tendency to cut into his own comments with some other audio clip, which makes it very jarring. His loud complaints also make it hard to hear anybody else or figure out much of the plot, so from this point I was quite in the dark. Dropping the head would be logical, if he wasn't gifted with the power of moving around like a bumbling R2-D2, which means he has a tendency to wander and get lost (you hope he gets stuck on something). The reason I hope he gets stuck on something is because it is impossible to pick up the head while it is in motion, meaning I have to wait until he is pushed into a corner. Any gates have tension as he can slip under them and any holes he can drop down. From this point I have to rush everything I do so as to not lose the talking head. It does seem he will follow you around, though if you stop he will continue going until he gets stuck on something. Never stand too close to a gate due to the aforementioned issue. Also, dropping the head also alerts enemies which means I basically don't have much of a stealth element anymore. This stupid talking head was my nightmare that went from a funny gimmick to the most annoying this as it kept repeating its comments and doing all the aforementioned things. I also couldn't do anything without dropping the head as it wasn't an inventory item.
 * As I said, I alerted everybody. Luckily a trapdoor exists next to the chest which leads me to some sewers with various gates making dropping the head dangerous. That leads to a graveyard with a couple dead bodies (apparently these guests were murdered by Lady Calendra). I could use a rope arrow to get back to the second floor of the altar, but I went through a tombstone to an underwater tunnel. The annoying talking head talks just as well under water and cannot drown. I met a frogbeast, but otherwise this was a dead end.
 * Skipping ahead to when I sneaked past the party that was now hunting for me (and would do so for the rest of the mission) I was spotted by Calendra. She is apparently a sorcerer and can shoot balls of fire. Her wandering was something I was forced to endure to sneak into the basement. A bunch of levers were down here that I randomly pushed around to spawn a ton of spiders (oh yeah, I have no sword and had to use my blackjack) and a gas arrow. A hot furnace next to a metal door that nearly instant-killed me made me give up on looking in there.
 * Now that I explored the party I was to go to Calendra's house via the sewers. One of the guests wandered to far, so I was able to blackjack him, while the other two (one of which was the stuck guard) remained in the circle. In the sewers I found a pile of bones and a sunken area that can only be exited by shooting rope arrows into the beams above. More rope bugs ensue.
 * Only one of the passages allows exit from the sewers as the other is locked. The map luckily even will tell you that it is locked. So I followed the water-filled passages to her house (which don't allow for a return) which is basically continuing the city where the tavern left off and bars it again a little forward (this third section is behind that locked passageway). Another glitchy guard at Calendra's house says that entry is forbidden.
 * I dive into a well which requires either a. An extremely accurate drop that will probably result in quite a few deaths or b. A rope arrow that will probably be buggy that will result in quite a few deaths. Either way, you will hate this well and not want to return to this section any time soon.
 * Landing on a platform between the surface and the bottom, I find a tomb. This tomb has a skull that will start bouncing after you pick it up. A zombie exists down here, but luckily I had a fire arrow and so was okay. The bad news was that both the noisy skull and the zombie alerted the people above the trapdoor in the house, making entry a lot more difficult. I decided to leave them alone for a bit and explore the bottom of the well.
 * Twisty dark passages lead me to very thin platforms overlooking a shallow stream of water that will kill you if you try to drop to it. You have to jump at odd angles onto ladders and hope that you are able to grab onto them so as to not fall into the platform below. Eventually I make it, only to have to climb up one in order to progress to an area with a chaos spider. I used all my arrows on the spiders and frogbeast and I have no sword, so I will have to fight this thing with my blackjack.
 * I at this time thought of a strategy that I used for the rest of the level. Throw the talking head at my enemies and hope they get distracted. The spider was odd compared to the people as it kept trying to attack the invulnerable head. Amazingly, this means I was able to kill the chaos spider without it even attempting to fight me as it kept trying to kill the moving head. The moving head also got stuck on a crack in the floor, which made it hold still and make for an easy bashing.
 * In the next room there exists a gate where Mercedes will pop out and talk to you. I ended up putting the head on the crack so to prevent him moving through the grate and so I could hear what Mercedes was saying. Apparently some guest caught wind of her and so upon leaving we will be attacked. She offers for us to go to her house.
 * I move some boulders out of the way and find myself in a large area with the Constantine throne music playing, numerous small cracks (many of which you can get stuck in), and many missing tiles. I was going crazy trying to find the point of this room, of which I still do not know. What I do know is that a button on another passageway opens up the way back to the frogbeast.
 * Skip to me getting down the evil well again and entering through the trapdoor that is filled with a house of people searching for me. I dropped the head to close the trapdoor, only to get it to have a discussion with me that leads to a new objective. So the head was important and all this tedious work wasn't for nothing. The head told me that I need to get the body parts (which are hidden around the city) and perform a ritual in the observatory by bringing the red summoning stone (well... you will see how this interpretation was wrong as I continue). Yeah, it is hard to pay attention when a house filled with guards is out to kill you (the first time I did this the door opened to a guard). Also, if you pick up the head again you will lose that conversation. Then again that isn't exactly a bad idea...
 * After this the head will ramble on and on as usual, but this time you can put him in your inventory which saves you having to drop him around everwhere. He will talk about dried frogs and crawling death, but will also give a clue about where to find the body parts. Of course the clue is so echoy that I ended up giving up and looking up online what he was trying to say after about five hours. Remember my problem with hidden objects? Yeah...
 * The house was pretty standard, though one guard had to be lured by pressing a button which apparently calls him and then hiding in a two-way fireplace. Still, it wasn't much to get to the shrine key. I also got a lot more story of which I can barely remember due to being so focused on a talking head. Still, part of it talks about a wall that is a different texture under the graveyards that can be blown up with explosives. Suffice to say, even with the note and actively looking for it, I never found that secret room. Every second I was too focused listening to a talking head say the same few things over and over.
 * Oh, as the waterways were one way, that means you have to go down the evil well a third time. Still, I got back to the party with the full intention of getting rid of Lady Calendra now that I have the shrine key. I also threw the head at the people in the party circle, meaning I distracted them enough to knock both people out. The well the guy was standing over had nothing in it, but there was a little bit of loot.
 * No sign of Calendra, but now I have to get across the tile with but one moss arrow. I shoot it at a good halfway point between me and the guard, diving and reaching it. I quickly douse both torches (the first time the guard saw me as I wasn't quick enough on dousing them) and I knock him out. The only problem now is that I am smack dab in the middle of a large bright room filled with tile and no moss arrows and few water arrows. I alerted a guard that was patrolling on a side corridor, so I reloaded.
 * A chef (a guard with an apron) exists in the next room (which was still a distance away and had a few guards before him). Upon reloading, he insisted on coming to my position and hunting for me, meaning I had to run around in circles a bit before eventually getting the opportunity to knock him out. No idea why only this guard was searching for my presence. Making it across the tiled floor and distacting some guards with my talking head, I eventually get enough loot for the expert objective and make it to the door leading to the shrine.
 * Entering the shrine, Lady Calendra will be seen fighting a battlemage. Apparently they were supposed to be working together, but now have disputed over who is getting the power of the Cylix. Calendra calls up a zombie and the Battlemage a fire elemental. Even if one party beats the other, they are scripted to die as they run through the doorway. Still, the summoned creatures don't die, but usually it is the zombie that survives. The only problem is that this Zombie is immune to fire arrows, making it impossible to kill. I actually ended up getting lucky and experienced a glitch where Lady Calendra did not call up her Zombie on the save I ended up using, so all parties died and I was free to get the Cylix.
 * Getting the Cylix requires going down a really long staircase before using a rope arrow on a small platform, jumping from the rope arrow to a second staircase, and following the latter one to the end. At the bottom you will meet the guardian, who is really fast and vicious. It is also invincible to gas arrows. With a loud floor around the Cylix, getting it without alerting the beast is nearly impossible, so I dashed like a maniac and started running. I got away in the darkness and luckily didn't have any problems with the rope arrow.
 * Next I was curious that since I had Calendra's key, maybe I could unlock that grate in the sewers. Upon reaching it, I saw it already unlocked with a note saying I could thank the opener, Mercedes, later. I am not really sure what would lead anybody to the idea that a locked grate would suddenly be unlocked and go down this route, so I got lucky by not testing the key earlier.
 * Next you go down a long water filled passageway where if you don't focus on getting out, you can easily drown. Still, I had an air potion and never used it so I was never in too much danger. Eventually you climb up a rope arrow (filled with rope bugs of course) and climb out of the lesser evil well. I call it this because climbing out is a pain, you have to be the right distance up the rope (too far and you won't mantle, too little and you won't mantle) to get out of the well. The only saving grace is the water which won't kill you if you fall in, but of course every time you grab the rope you probably will have to deal with more rope bugs.
 * Getting out of the well, I hear Mercedes talking. She is repeating what she said in the tavern! I think she is in the tavern as I am in a small sectioned off part of the city. Nope, she is in city piece number three and will tell me to come on when I get near the gate. So a completely different instance of her which will repeat all her lines. I tried to "come on", but the problem was that there is no way out of this section by rope arrow, tiny button, or any other normal method. The solution is to push a barrel from one side of the well to the other and get it near the wall. Sounds easy until you remember that pushing a barrel is extremely slow and tedious as it only moves a foot each time you push it and you have to keep backing up and moving forward to push it again. The good news is that it has a solid top so you won't have trouble climbing onto it and mantling over the wall (though you will lose health in the process). A very tedious and annoying part, this is probably where I went from getting annoyed to starting to dislike the level. What OM made you push a barrel tediously across a courtyard to progress?
 * Next you have some frogbeasts in a house (one hopping around outside). I blew up the ones inside with my fire arrow as I had nothing else and took the damage from the one outside. I was rewarded with a book telling me really nothing important but some backstory about another group of mages paying attention to Calendra's group. I got a hint about the body parts though as she "saw them get scattered across the city". Amazing! I never would have guessed they were distributed across the city! Glad I took damage for that.
 * Mercedes will wait for you obediently before progressing. You will wander with her across a large section really devoid of anything. There is another tavern with an open window, but as the rope arrows get stuck inside the window it isn't the best wood source. It took me until about nearly hour five to discover that I could shoot a rope arrow into a nearby wall, jump from that across a sloped tile roof onto the window (which apparently does work in this case) to get into a room holding my sword. I don't really get why they waited until near the very end to reward you with the sword, except the fact that now you will have to run across the entire mission again to cut down any banners you find (note this is after I have wandered around the city five or so times, which seems to be my lucky number, as I will describe in upcoming bullets).
 * Mercedes will walk down a ramp and get ambushed by that group mentioned before. You are allowed to kill the assassins (only people you can kill, you can't even hit a dead body with a fire arrow). As all I had at this point was my blackjack, I had to bludgeon them to death. Well, I bludgeoned the archer while she used her powers to shoot fireballs into the swordsman. Even after killing the swordsman, she just stood there and took any bullets the archer shot at her. I also only had four points of heath, which meant instant death if the archer decided to shoot at me instead (he did this numerous times). Oh, using a flashbomb before knocking him out did nothing besides make him hesitate a second before shooting everyone.
 * Mercedes will finally lead you to her house, go inside, give you a healing fruit (I was so happy), and then talk about her bed. The level's end involves Garrett and Mercedes entering the darkened bedroom. Oh, the level fails if you still had any objectives... like a talking head without body parts. So I left Mercedes waiting outside her house for the next six hours as I attempted to hunt down the body parts. Luckily section 3 connects to section 1 by using a gate that is on the opposite side of the starting mansion with the buggy guard.
 * The mansion has a courtyard on this side that you can enter before knocking out the front door guard. The lord upstairs is a bit buggy with his detection, but I managed to leap past him and knock him out before he tried to kill me. I soon raided his house of everything but two locked chests. He had a safe upstairs as well with a five digit combination. The readable downstairs mentions nothing of it and only that gold plated guard. So I figured I needed to find a key to those chests to get a combination. I couldn't find any and soon gave up on that house for the time being.
 * Okay, at this point I had two objectives - the safe and the head. I combed the three sections city a couple times (*ahem* three hours) looking for any body parts and couldn't find anything before eventually giving up and looking up what he was saying. It wouldn't be so bad if getting around didn't require careful walking and the two wells. Anyway, he was saying that "water bridges his thighs ,fire burns his fingers, rats nibble on his toes, and air runs through his chest". Amazing clue. So we are basically looking for any source of water, any fireplaces, anywhere on the streets, and some vent shaft. Well, that at least kills a few spots.
 * Thinking that if I know what I am looking for I might be able to find the others I look for sources of water. Water...bridge... a bridge of water exists near the waterway! After swimming around there and hunting the rest of the city, I think that maybe this one is in Calendra's mansion. Especially when I remember that pile of bones in the sewers. Nope, that pile of bones is a red herring. So now I am wandering around hunting for bodies of water and thus hunting water tunnels at the bottom of wells. Nothing on all of them, I am being tortured by those evil wells and no longer getting rewarded. I run around like a maniac hunting nearly everything as I wonder what body of water I am missing.
 * Around this time I carried the body to the lord. I learned that if you take him towards lesser evil well he will drown, so I had to take him back through city section 1. I drop off the body and now am officially down to those two mentioned earlier - the safe and the body parts.
 * I find the sword eventually and end up going through the city slashing down banners. I find that behind a banner in the starting mansion is a key which unlocks the two locked chests. Turns out both just had loot. I had no idea where to go to look for the combination, none of my readables gave me any clues whatsoever.
 * Eventually I give up with the safe and look it up. Turns out that the combination doesn't exist anywhere, the safe has lights that tell you when you hit the right number! I don't care if this is a game or not, that is a really stupid sense of logic. Put something behind a five numbered combination and anyone that pays attention to pretty lights can open it? Yeah, I don't care if this is a puzzle or not, it is stupid logic.
 * I am still hunting for body parts. I keep going back to Farkus' and buying random stuff with my extra money as at this point I don't even need anything.
 * Hour seven (I had ragequit at hour six and then played another hour or so, I didn't really record time like I did the day before so after this I have no time reference) I end up looking up the answer. The summoning stone is needed for the body parts to appear. I have just wasted five hours looking for the wrong objects. But the summoning stone is to be used in the ritual! No, that is another red stone that is mentioned right before mentioning "bring the summoning stone" which apparently tells you to comb the city with it.
 * I get to the observatory by going to where I figured it was after remembering the thing about the spiders. I of course was right and after fighting with rope arrows and spiders, make it to the room. The red stone is a pit while the summoning stone is an orange ball. I take the summoning stone and use it, nothing happens. An instruction manual nearby says you need to have it pressed against you, meaning I think it needs to be constantly in use. I wasn't having another few hours of aimless wandering so I looked it up and found out that was right. Back to the bridge of water!
 * Suddenly as I make it to the balcony over the waterfront I hear odd ticking and laughter. Climbing over, I see a very visible torso resting on a window ledge that is heavily lit up and has a giant sign over it (no joke) that is blinking on and off. So yeah, this is the level's way of saying "see? no hidden objects. like this level". That was air, water (resevoir) and earth (alleyway) soon follow. But no matter the fireplace I search, I cannot find fire!
 * I wander around aimlessly around the city hunting for fireplaces, going through all three sections once again. No giant blinking signs in this fireplace...
 * Eventually I give up and look up the answer. Remember that basement with the hot furnace that burned me on touching and those switches? Yeah... it was found there. So when we say distributed around the city we mean all in the first section except for the head and hand which is in the mansion. I went down those wells a great many more times than I had to.
 * In anger, I watch the finishing dialogue I have already heard. I watch the cutscene as Garrett talks about how he got this item but that money wasn't important, that it was nice to hook up with an old fling. What Garrett are they talking about? The Garrett I knew refused to do anything if it wasn't out of revenge or getting paid! This one has an emotional heart and just wanted to get a powerful trinket from some satanic deities to sleep with a mage. This wouldn't have been so offensive if the character wasn't called out as Garrett on multiple occassions.