The Shroud on 5/6/2022 at 23:19
Quote Posted by Aemanyl
One of the main reasons why I have always preferred Thief 1 to Thief 2 is because the former perfectly depicts a sensation of loneliness and isolation. To illustrate my point, I will give you two examples.
Bonehoard is such a scary venture into a maze-like network of underground tombs and caves. If that was happening in real life, I am sure that it would take an entire night or longer for Garrett to steal the Horn of Quintus and come out alive onto the surface. Every time I listen to that lonesome melody of the Horn itself, I feel like I am trapped in abysmally deep halls where silence and melancholy dwell, much like Moria from Lord of the Rings.
The Sword is another great example. Constantine's Mansion is populated by human guards, but Garrett quickly discovers that there is something sinister about it. The bizarre architecture, magical traps, and the sound of laughing create a very dense atmosphere of desolation and being left to one's own devices.
And then there is the character of Garrett. Garrett is an independent person, a loner and natural-born survivalist, with very few associates or friends. He is an outcast used to solitude and working at night. He dares to venture where others perish. The City is a reflection of his loneliness and alienation, it simply oozes with the qualities that characterise the very Master Thief.
Thief 1 constantly puts you in strange and uncomfortable environments that aggravate feelings of disorientation and isolation. Even seemingly "normal" levels such as Lord Bafford's Manor or Assasins are just thick with a very specific stmosphere that you cannot find in any other game.
Thief 2 is more predictable in terms of level design and environmental storytelling, because it utilises human-based levels such as mansions, warehouses, museums, and banks. It's still a very good game in other terms and in a few levels I can still sense that familiar atmosphere to some degree, but something is definitely missing.
What are your thoughts on this topic?
I couldn't agree more! 100% true on every single point.
Quote Posted by Brethren
Yes, agreed with the OP, levels like The Haunted Cathedral, Lost City, and Bonehoard are some of my favorite missions from any game. Just Garrett vs both nature and the supernatural, and no humans to be found anywhere. And big, vast areas to explore, that you can easily get lost in. Perfect levels for your typical geeky video game loner.
Yes! Those missions in particular perfectly capture that eerie feeling.
Quote Posted by Lucky Hand of Glory
I think I felt this right from Lord Baffords Manor when I took a break from running around the night streets trying to avoid the guards. I stood near a pub window, avoiding its orange glow, and could hear the people inside talking and laughing and having a sociable time while I stood in the shadows, in the dark and the damp and the cold thinking, "Why aren't I in there with a freshly pulled mead, laughing and talking and being warmed by the fire..."
Not only do I relate to this exact situation you're describing, but I actually know exactly the spot you're talking about in that mission. I felt precisely the same thing in that area: hearing that muffled babbling and laughter from people who were safe and warm inside a cozy tavern, enjoying each other's company, while I was utterly alone outside in the cold, windy night, listening and trying to make out their conversation — and struck by an eerie, melancholic isolation and alienation. I wanted to see inside those lamp-lit windows and feel closer to some form of life in this dark, forbidding city. It's amazing that the game was (and still is) able to evoke such a profound feeling with the use of various ambient sounds (muted chatter amidst constant rushing wind) and scenery (darkened shops and homes with a few lit windows). The streets in Assassins are like that too. I absolutely love that hauntingly lonely feeling. No other game than Thief: The Dark Project has made me feel that way.
Quote Posted by Cigam
Also better for that feeling when the enemies aaren't human? Maybe The Lost City was more "lonely" before the Mages of Gold?
It absolutely was. The absence of any fellow human beings in that entire buried place is central to what makes it feel so lost and forgotten. Just like in Down in the Bonehoard and The Haunted Cathedral. When you discover that hidden Keeper chapel in the grotto in the Olde Quarter, for instance, and that mysterious music begins playing when you enter this long abandoned, secret dwelling of your former brethren, there is a kind of wonder and wistful intrigue that fills you, as you are reminded of this shadowy order of monks you haven't even thought about for the past six missions — those who trained you years ago and helped make you what you are now. And seeing their absence from this place which you're only now discovering over a half-century since they vacated it further adds to your feelings of loneliness. I'll never forget that moment.
Quote Posted by Komag
The Bonehoard for me was the epitome of what you're talking about, and in my book, pure magnificence.
Absolutely! The sound of that solitary, somber horn echoing distantly through the halls and burrick tunnels, mixed with the disorientation and feeling of being utterly lost (especially when you look at that, "Where am I?" note you've written on your map when you're exploring the caverns), and the realization that Felix and his comrades likely all perished down here — all of it leaves you feeling completely alone and isolated. The additional awareness that you're cut from a very different cloth than your former fellow thieves, and that probably no one will ever be even close to your level is deeply unsettling and alienating as well. There you are, in this remote, deeply buried, ancient, desolate place where
no one belongs, after your reliable fence (and probably one of the only people you actually trusted) has died, followed by the unfortunate deaths of Felix (who it seems you knew) and his comrades, and you know that even if you make it back out of here with the treasures you're seeking, you'll have no one to celebrate your success with. That's a profoundly haunting feeling.
