THE CIRCLE OF STONE AND SHADOW 4

SWITCHING RAILS (PROTOTYPE)

VIDEO REPORT (Segmented Run)

Anarchic Fox was kind enough to release this unfinished prototype (pre-alpha) version of CoSaS mission 4. The 9 Year Sleep was supposed to be bridging this and Mission X, but it unfortunately never moved past the planning stages. Due to the quality of Mission X, this project was very tempting to check out, despite its incomplete state. Despite quite a few bugs, with a bit of manipulation, this mission is possible to complete and well worth the playthrough.

Despite no real info file, I knew we were playing as Byron, an enemy of Dante and his team. The story was taking place concurrently with the events in Mission X, where The 9 Year Sleep had planned on being a prequel, ending where Mission X started. Byron had been arrested, gassed and thrown in jail. This is where our mission picked up. The only objective was to figure out what had happened. After overhearing two conversations pre-gameplay, I received new instructions to escape the prison, find my equipment, and obtain a map. Once done, I was released from my cinematic hold and was free to roam.

Police Station

I think the interaction with the guard in the beginning was neat; I don’t think I’ve seen it done that way before. How Byron managed to pick the lock on a metal cell door with a wooden spoon is another question entirely. Once leaving the prison cell area, all members of the city watch ran upstairs to sound the alarm (left image below). I could avoid their gaze, only to see them return to their original locations not long after. Their senses didn’t seem to be heightened beyond the expected, which told me their earlier reactions were all script based. Problem was, if I reloaded after this point, one or both of the original conversations from outside my cell replayed. I found it annoying, but quickly learned to ignore it. However, I soon realized the detrimental impact of this bug. Upon completion of the second conversation, I received my updated objectives. Well, in a nearby laboratory, reading a journal (right image below) further updated my objectives to also include finding the thief that stole my equipment, not kill anyone, not be seen by the local police, and infiltrate the circle. The objective of simply finding my gear had been removed, and therein lay the conundrum. You see, the next time I reloaded, the updated objectives resulting from the looped conversations readded the finding-my-gear task to my list. This objective can actually never be completed, since it’s supposed to be removed by reading the journal in the lab. Well, reading the journal again didn’t remove it. I assume it’s only a first-time-event styled script. Furthermore, this objective being present made an important lever unfrobbable much later in the mission, rendering the whole thing impossible to finish. I thus needed to find a way to stop their looped conversation from ever taking place. Quite the pickle.

After much experimentation, I found a semi-predictable solution. After breaking out of my cell, upon a reload, their second conversation restarted. If I deliberately initiated this chat right before triggering the alarm script, that conversation would get interrupted before it ever reached the updating-my-objectives stage. Upon returning from setting off the alarm, when using the save-reload technique, the guards would start the first conversation, but more often than not skip the second. The game would therefore never run the script to add the finding-my-gear objective, and I was home free. Strange, but true.

The rest of the station wasn’t that hard. I ascended to the offices via the secret ladder, though the stairs wouldn’t have been that risky. Found the map there and some information on the local gang called The Bandidos. I like how facts from key readables end up in the notes. Instead of all the information, only a summary of Byron’s thoughts are kept there. Overheard the conversation about the courtyard explosion before I left the building.

The courtyard spotlights were excellent. The lamps on the roof actually moved too! The two guards here triggered to hunt mode from time to time. You could actually hear the button click as if to say “start script”. It somewhat broke the immersion. Those alerts are not busts to the ghost mode. They are inevitable, and totally outside the player’s control. It happened every few minutes or so. Getting to the exit door was a bit of a problem. Although the guards settled from the scripted alerts, they were still more jumpy than normal, and normally went straight to alarm mode if detecting me. Their patrol extended behind hardcover, and that when I could enter the gate control room. There was another patrolling guard there, but he kept bumping into a stationary guard in the east side room. I could easily steal his purse and leave without problems. There was no way to shut the main gate behind me from the front courtyard, so I mantled the wall to the west and hopped into the outside canal. My objective to escape successfully ticked off.

Streets

The map layout was divided into three main section. The southwest quarter was practically empty. There were only three patrolling guards, but they were easy to dodge. The first had a conversation with a lady on her doorstep, ordering her to stay inside. She ended up stationing in the doorway of the main entrance. I entered via the back and looted her apartment with ease.

Further north I found a power station of some sort. Outside was a stationary archer with a lantern, and along the same street patrolled a swordsman. Both had purses. Inside the station I spotted two crystal shards and a flash bomb below the walkway ramp (left image below). I could lean through the grate and grab one of the crystals, but the other items eluded me. I searched long and hard, but I couldn’t locate a hidden passage into that area either. I figured it was meant to be accessible, just not yet implemented. Upon leaving, both guards outside had been triggered to hunt mode. It was another one of those scripted ‘clicks’. They soon settled down, but it was a bit tough to steal their loot bags while this was going on.

Entering the northwest quarter, I looted an empty, multi-floored apartment with ease. The key was under the door mat, but I could skip it and instead enter an upstairs window via the second floor ledges outside. Just north of this, a gate towards the east was guarded by a swordsman. Two more patrolling swordsmen protected this area. Down a slope to the west was yet another gate with two more swordsmen, one of which had a purse. They were staring down either entry, which made it impossible to approach on street level. I did find a way to mantle the roof to their southeast though. I could mantle an outcropping from the icy ledges in this area (right image above). Then, from this building’s northwest corner, I could make a running jump and mantle a lamp behind the guards’ backs (left image below). I was now able to steal the purse, but there was no way to leave this part of town without getting caught. The gate behind them could be penetrated on the lower left side, but the back alley was a dead end. The only way to get out was by nudging both of these guards towards the south. I had to sneak east in order to leave, and I needed the guards to be blocked by the corner of the closest building. The image below to the right shows how far I had to push them without getting even a first alert. Alas, nudging is considered an engine exploit and therefore not allowed for Supreme. This purse worth a measly 6 gold was thus skipped for that mode.

Moved through what I assume to be the janitor’s apartment in order to proceed northeast. Jumped across from an open window to a flooded construction site next. The only way to advance was going east. There was a window to an empty apartment above a guarded gate in this area also. It was a back way into the building I had used earlier. There was the janitor’s key and a few cryptic messages on some statues in the snow outside, but I never could figure out what it meant. Never discovered a use for that key either. The whole area wasn’t possible to enter for Supreme anyway, as the guard would always see me.

I then snuck by a guard at the start of what the map called the Northeastern Quarter. A flickering light had to be timed in order to pass him unseen. The only thing of interest in this part of town was the train station. There were two conventional ways in, but the underground passageway (which was by far the stealthier option) couldn’t be closed up from the inside. I took that way first just to hear the thieves’ conversation, but then headed back so I could close the secret panel, and instead approached the main entry doors in the streets (left image below). Here the main problem was crossing the road slowly enough not to get spotted by the stationary swordsman to the west, but also dodge the patrolling guard. I had to creep-crouch-strafe my way across and at the eastern end of the double-doors to avoid a comment. I made it just in time before the patroller turned around to see me. Inside I could finally take a breath.

Train Station

The only issue in the station was getting the two pieces of loot behind the three gang members by the campfire on the main floor (right image above). The closest thief alerted to the door opening. I could wait for one of the patrollers who entered this room, blocking the door before it closed, but this still didn’t let me get close enough to the loot in there. I could get the ring on the crate with only a first alert from the lady, but I wasn’t able to get to her tiara. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a large piece of loot on someone’s belt before either. I found the best way was dropping through the hole in the ceiling. Then I could land on the crate with the ring directly. This still spawned an alert from the guy, but now I could drop to the ground and get the tiara without further alerts. Mantling back up above this room spawned several more alerts, so these loot pieces definitely has to be skipped for Supreme. Happy I could get them without needing to douse the fire though.

The rest was smooth sailing. Although I had done all the work at the beginning of the mission preventing the wrong objective from appearing, the lever in the train car was still unfrobbable. The only way to end the mission was to ctrl+alt+shift+end it. I assumed this was ok, since the mission was utterly broken. Anarchic Fox even admitted this in one of his posts. Although this mission is littered with bugs, I still enjoyed my way through it.

Statistics:

Time: 1:11:21

Loot: 1269 out of 1294 (Supreme: 1078)

Pickpockets: 10 out of 10

Secrets: 1 out of 3?

Locks Picked: 1

Damage Dealt: 0 Damage Taken: 0

Consumables: None

Ghost: Success!

Perfect Thief: Success!

Supreme Thief: Success!

Perfect Supreme Thief: Failed

Notes:

- A purse worth 6 gold by the west gate was skipped for Supreme. Getting it required nudging both swordsmen in this area out of the way.

- Skipped a ring worth 60 and a tiara worth 125 by campfire at the train station for Supreme. The gang members gave first alerts when dropping down from above.

- The last 25 loot has been confirmed unobtainable by Psych0sis, so Perfect Thief was indeed achieved.

- I couldn’t flip the lever in the train at the end during my ghost run, so I ctrl+shift+alt+ended my way out of the mission. I figured this was ok, as the mission was broken. I have only ever been able to properly finish the mission on the lowest difficulty, and then only once.