While the signs could improve the mines/factory section, I'd rather just remove the good majority of it. It's an insane maze, pointless, but also, makes the overall pacing worse. I don't think it's a good idea to make the beginning of a level this challenging orientation wise. The author's decision is absolutely beyond me.

"Is the rest of the mission actually that good to justify the absolute maze that is the first third?"
I really loved the middle section (which is a linear journey with ...

Tfix does modify the maps indeed (even Tfix lite, judging the files in the archive), but these modifications are just small fixes and polishes. I think you should either install Tfix (lite) before Gold2Dark - or use the New Dark patch instead. The Gold2Dark readme file is very detailed, but frankly, I find it quite confusing what exactly it does and does not recommend you to do.

Big fan of this and Double or Quits too. Because of the well and the very similar backyard both missions feature, I've always thought that Double or Quits is a continuation of Vanishing Point - which kinda make them a cool mini-campaign. I'm not necessarily a fan of the texture pack these missions use (makes reading the environment needlessly hard, since everything blurs into each other), I do like how it creates a unique vibe.

If you and Dale did really work on the Slums together (which in my opinion was the best part of the mission), I'd say you should collaborate more often. It seems you two make a good DromEd team together.

"Realism isn't my top priority when Dromeding but I've thought about that more lately and trying to take that into consideration."
If you were addressing the part where I called the layouts weird, I gotta tell that it wasn't about realism. Unless you mean realism = making sense. I've neve...

"In majority of other immersive sims and in FMs shafts and many narrow spaces become a cheat"
I find this statement very... confusing.
If the core concept behind your argument is that anything the player can do, but enemies can't is fundamentally cheating, then... what about rope arrows, breath potions, life potions, lockpicking, etc. ?? Also, I think it's much more interesting when a game constantly shifts between tension and relief - environments that are dangerous and safe. The constant ...

"Especially in the last 5 years or so, there has been a trend to bigger and bigger missions, and not an emphasis on making the missions fun to explore and play"
@chakkman: I >slightly< disagree with that statement - even though I'm very glad I finally stumble upon others discussing this problem as well. I think the last 5 years were an interesting mix, because while many gigantic and overcomplicated maps got released (personally, I thought that it was a problem that slightly overshadowed eve...

Yep, I missed a smart loop leading back to the beginning of the map too, though I gotta tell that I loved the dark fantasy, linear middle sections (with the tunnels, the Keepers camp, skeletons of fallen giants, etc.) so much that walking back wasn't actually that disappointing for me (except re-visiting the Hammerite factory, huh).

Interestingly, this reminded me of how Bryan's missions did have these smart loops, but I hadn't played his latest one yet (Hammer Skull), so gave it a try - ...