How is this mission rated so high when it has pretty obvious issues even for an original FM.

Made by the late Lady Rowena, who also admitted many of the issues with this mission before she sadly passed away.

The main issue I had while playing was sound propagation. I know there are tiled floors everywhere, and this adds to the challenge but some of the guards were hearing me through multiple rooms, and sometimes from a different floor. Alternatively in some areas I was hearing guards walking by seemingly just a few feet away when they were actually a couple of rooms away.

This is made all the more frustrating when there are dozens upon dozens of guards in this mission. I don't think I've played an FM with more guards, at one point I counted six guards all walking in a line! I didn't know Sheriff Truart had that many men. I ended up either KO'ing or killing over 100 NPC's!

For an original FM, it has some visionary moments for it's time (2003). Some of which have carried over to today's missions.

The story is actually very well written, and progresses extremely well, it's one of the strengths of this mission and is what saved me from giving it a dismal score.