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Patriot, Mission 1: Marauder I
had thought about trying a mission of Zontik’s for a long time. Although I’ve
heard mixed reviews of this monster campaign, most of the negative comments
are with respect to its difficulty, which for me normally isn’t a drawback.
This first mission showcases Zontik’s unique, but mesmerizing style right away.
The random battles might put some players off, but the design and puzzle
elements exude high quality all the way. I
had to get 3,000 worth of loot in order to pay my rent, that was it as far as
objectives. Problem was, only 3,499 existed in the mission, including six
items worth 500 each. I thus had to get all six of those items and therein
lay the problem. More on that later. The largest problem all across town was
all the random battles. I could replay them a few times to see the various
outcomes, but there was still a lot of unpredictability. Quite a few players
have criticized this aspect in the forums. I didn’t mind it that much. West The
western section of town wasn’t difficult at all. The bot in the starting
alley could get lured into the battles by the church, in which case it
usually killed the participants closer to the storage building. This was a
good thing, as it made traversing this area easier. It was impossible to move
farther east from here. At least six guards were involved in an endless
fight. There was a purse on a dead hammerite here to obtain, but that I could
take the from the staircase outside the gardener’s (left image below). With a
bit of luck, I could crouch-run up while the fighters were busy and grab it
by standing up, then quickly ducking again. The good thing about enemies
already involved in a fight is that a bust is the same for Supreme and
regular Ghost. If they alerted to me, they would leave their current fight
and chase me; quite easy to detect. If not, I was in the clear, no matter how
visible I seemed to be.
I
moved south next. The area surrounding Captain Pam’s was strange. Two
pivoting city watch guards stood right by the canal. They did scripted search
maneuvers, but didn’t always first alert. Sometimes they just gave settling
remarks. I crossed the wooden plank when they looked away, then snuck over to
the boat to get the captain’s key. Had to move slow and time the other
pivoting guard by the gate to the north. He alerted like normal, but was
farther away. Inside the residence, the captain heard me opening the door to
his chambers (right image above). I had to get the diamond from his safe to
reach the loot goal, so this Supreme bust was inevitable. Returned the key to
the boat afterwards. The
plaza around the inn had to be accessed through the gate north of Pam’s
house. The other way in was guarded by a stationary iron beast outside Dr.
Elves’ place. The best way I found to get to the gate without getting caught
was by sneaking in behind the guard as he faced east, then mantle the lamp
and drop down on the other side as he swung west (left image below). By the
inn a big fight was already underway (right image below). There was a wooden
gate further east, and occasionally the fighting guards ended up on the other
side, in the fountain plaza. This was not desirable, as there was no way for
them to die over there. On this side, they could end up close to one of the fires
and die from the flames. The lit doorway close to the wooden gate had the
greatest chance of impacting them. I needed a purse worth 500 from one of the
city watch guards. I could grab the drill bit from the ruins west of here
without getting spotted.
I
replayed the fight about 3-4 times, saving as I went along. The best
situation was if a few of the same type of guards died together. This
happened to the mechanists in my case. After about 15 minutes, three city
watch guards remained with all of the mechanists dead or fleeing. The
remaining guards then went to hunt mode, which meant they had a much higher
chance of accidentally ending up in the fire. Before not too long, they also
succumbed to the flames (left image below). I imagine this fight could have
an infinite amount of outcomes, and I considered my result fairly fortunate. It
meant I could even grab the bag of goods from the ruins just north of here.
That was the last piece of loot in this area, so I headed south again and
took the high route, approaching the church from the south.
Luckily,
the fights here were contained closer to the church, so I could head down to
Dr. Elves’ house unseen. Grabbed the loot here and behind the big stationary
bot. Then headed to the apartment marked X to the north. I had to enter this
one in order to reach the loot goal. This required breaking of the boards to
the basement (right image above). This was an inevitable Ghost bust. The loot
from the church contribution box I could take if waiting for the fights to
move south a bit. I sprinted into the corner and if the guards didn’t run my
way, I was good. East The
intended way of getting to the eastern section was by using a catapult to
blow open the wooden gate leading to the fountain plaza. This was property
damage, and although that mode had already busted, I wanted to reduce the
number of busts to a minimum. I found a predictable way across with a
difficult jump to Klaus Schmidt’s windowsill (left image below). The best way
was from atop the staircase below the garden. I could also hop from a burning
building to the west, but that required dousing the flames first. Since
all the fighters from the fountain plaza had perished from the previous
fight, this part of town was now very quiet, almost eerily so. In my last
playthrough, that wasn’t the case, so now I could observe the guards here on
their intended patrol routes. A tough piece of loot was in a hidden apartment
northwest of the bridge. A stationary swordsman guarded the archway, so I had
to use an overhang to fool him (right mage below). Luckily, he didn’t first
alert, he only went straight to hunt mode, so that made it possible to avoid
Supreme busts. To get back up, I used a rope arrow into the wall of the
nearby shed, close enough so I could retrieve it from above after. Nice move
this. On my second playthrough when recording for YouTube, this guard did
normal first alerts, so I could no longer get the vase for Supreme. I assume
he was in a constant first alert state during my first playthrough from being
alerted by nearby fights.
The
final hurdle was getting into the floodgate caretaker’s residence. The last
piece of loot worth 500 was a silver gear on the top floor. There was a small
open window just next to it, and I attempted every conceivable way of
frobbing the gear through that window, but to no avail. I used a speed potion
from a nearby balcony to see if I could reach it. I activated a different
inventory item to see if it decreased in size during the jump even. If it
did, it meant that the gear highlighted from the outside, but it never did. I
also tried this method from atop a rope arrow on the other side of the wall
to the east. The gear’s frob distance seemed normal, so I thought maybe this
would be possible. But alas, it wasn’t. I ended up breaking the glass with a
broadhead (image below), then climbing in with a rope arrow when the nearby
guard was looking away. I alerted at least two other guards close by also.
This honestly seemed like a cheap move from Zontik, forcing the player to
break a window right next to a stationary guard. I have never seen this guard
involved in fights either, so I don’t think it would ever leave this part of
town.
Statistics: Time: 1:05:52 Loot: 3499 out of 3499 Pickpockets: 6 out of 10 Secrets: 5 out of 5 Locks Picked: 5 Damage Dealt: 0 Damage Taken: 0 Consumables: 1 Broadhead Arrow Bodies Discovered by Enemies: 2 Ghost: Failed! Perfect Thief: Failed! Supreme Thief: Failed! Perfect Supreme Thief: Failed! Notes: -
Got a first alert from Captain Pam when opening the
door to his bedroom. Supreme bust. -
Had to break boards to enter the northern apartment
marked with an X on the map. Ghost bust. -
Had to break a window to enter the floodgate
caretaker’s. This is property damage, plus it alerted at least three guards
to hunt mode. Ghost busts. -
The two bodies discovered are from the scripted fights
throughout the city. Nothing to do with me. |
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