How long did it take you to discover that you could one-hit KO with the blackjack? - by Cigam
Purgator on 4/2/2022 at 16:09
Really? What in the Builder's name did you think it was sitting in your inventory for?
A prostethic proboscis for cunning disguises?
A large inflatable novelty lock pick?
A hefty chunk of Biffy McSquiggan's famous Burrick jerky?
St Cardimona's mummified appendix?
Rumford's patented Stableboy warmer?
Kids these days. I blame Dora the Explorer. Stupid backpack and no blackjack.
ZylonBane on 4/2/2022 at 17:11
Quote Posted by Cigam
People might not take cinematic videos as necessarily representative of in-game mechanics. In one of them Garrett is semi-transparent
Two of the three blackjack usages in that video are straight in-game footage. And where did you see Garrett transparent?
Cigam on 4/2/2022 at 17:41
As has been pointed out, not everyone will have sought out or watched a game's trailer. They don't even do that nowadays, when it is very easy to do so. I know I didn't do this for the original two games.
As for semi-transparent Garrett, think it was the final video of Thief II.
Cigam on 4/2/2022 at 18:18
Purgator, an alternative melee club for fighting guards? Slower than a sword but doesn't slow you down or leav bbloodstains?
That is another thing a lot of people didn't realise: that you can clean blood with water.
Yes in the real world you can clean with water but if it is a rare mechanic in games people might not necessarily expect it to be a thing in this game. I think this is another one of Thief's relatively rare and unique game mechanics.
Agent47 on 5/2/2022 at 05:54
Deadly Shadows was the first Thief game I ever played, the game teaches you how to blackjack people in the tutorial so Im pretty sure I learnt instantly from that. You go up a ladder, emerge from a floor board and then knock an unaware guy standing behind a counter... that's when it clicked. I went into Thief 1 and 2 knowing full well how blackjacks worked since well, I had finished the entirety of T3 at that point so I wasn't exactly new to Thief anymore...
Samantha1 on 5/2/2022 at 11:28
When I was like 8 I first encountered thief by watching my big brother playing it and he slashed his way through baffords guards and hit them with the broadhead. I don´t even remember when we found out that we could blackjack them from behind.
Quote Posted by downwinder
more impressive was being able to learn to lean forward and use blackjack
I totally agree with that. I don´t know how far in the first game I was when I finally found that out. If I remember correct I was already playing Thief 2 by then :D
driver on 5/2/2022 at 14:13
I think I figured out the blackjack fairly early on, what took me by surprise was the ability to one-hit haunts by backstabbing them. I thought all undead could only be harmed by holy water, so Return to the Haunted Cathedral was an absolute nightmare for me on my first playthrough. A nightmare but thoroughly satisfying once I'd completed it.
baeuchlein on 7/2/2022 at 16:16
I figured it out by reading page 17 of the manual of Thief Gold, before beginning to play. It states that the blackjack is used to knock out opponents, and that they don't have time to scream or otherwise alert their companions. Yeah, reading this manual thing is incredibly helpful when trying to use more complex software.
Constance on 8/2/2022 at 08:27
Quote Posted by ZylonBane
The only way I can imagine having to discover what the blackjack does is if you'd never heard of a blackjack before. Knocking people out is literally what they're for. […]
Exactly. And even for people who might not know what it is, before you even start Bafford's manor mission, on the screen where you can buy items, with your starting gear in the leftmost panel, they can just click an item to show its description at the bottom. The blackjack's says: « This weapon will knock out an unsuspecting target with little noise and no blood. »
Cigam on 8/2/2022 at 17:57
Blimey there are some harsh people on this thread :)
I can't remember whether or not I clicked on the blackjack befor starting (not necessarily an obvious thing to do).
But even if someone did, when starting a new game and having 50 pieces of new information thrown at you, it is easy to forget something. Especially if it doesn't come up again or you are never put .in a position where it is compulsorily needed to progress.
Even if someone reads the starting tip that in some game holding alt makes you lockpick faster, it is easy to forget this mechanic if it's never mentioned again, and/or lockpicking doesn't come up again for ages, and/or not using the speed boost is not preventing you from progressing.
I've seen TG Let's Play's where people later forgot how to overhead sword slash despite them douing this in the tutorial. But if the game never mentions this mechanic again it is easy to forget about it.
Just as it would be easy to later forget about the blackjack's sneak attack one-hit KO mechanic, if read about just once, and at a stage where it is just another piece of abstract information. (And assuming they even did read about it the once).
