Demandred on 21/6/2004 at 18:55

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Well, after finishing Thief 3 today I finally can join the discussion again (I stayed away from this forum for the time of playing Thief). I know I´m a little bit late now but I just have to make a comment on this one.

The first thing I´d like to say is that Thief 3 and the Cradle in paticular really ROCKED. I usually don´t play horror games because the camera in them are so crappy. Yet this level had me constantly on my toes and while I was playing it I was laughing like a maniac (mostly out of fear). Null, I think you made a great decision not to put any monsters into the first area. It really worked for me escpecially because the sound FX were so irritating. This reminded me a bit of Eternal Darkness (the only Survival Horror game I´ve finished), where you don´t encounter any zombies in the present for a long time. Instead you get some freaky noises.

Needless to say that the Cradle is one of my top Thief levels ever. Thief has always been about horror and this is just another, yet more modern, variation of it. Unfortunately, every level that comes after it must be some sort of anticlimactic and I wasn´t too moved by the ending.

So, Null, you can´t be praised enough for this feast. I eagerly await what you´re doing in the future

:thumb:

DarthEnder on 21/6/2004 at 20:59

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See, this is why high school kids are idiots and always die in Stephen King books.

RedFlash on 21/6/2004 at 22:09

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In the first part, it wasn't too bad for me. The echoed voices, creepy sounds of something (or several somethings...) walking around above when in the cellar was bad...The loud banging and footsteps on the steel catwalk...The footsteps behind you when you ascend the spiral staircase to the attic...It all freaked me out, but I was comfortable in the fact that it was just a sound show and I wouldn't really run into anything. Then...when I went to whitehall, the part when you approach the receptionist desk...
At first I only thought I had seen a shadow walking in the distance behind the desk, blocking out the light. I wasn't sure, because I had only seen that from the corner of my eye. The first thing I noticed when I approached that desk though, was the sudden sound of clocks...Or a clock..I just remember it being very loud and it unnerved me that I didn't see a clock anywhere that could make that sound. Then of course I read the inmate log...It gave me a good freaking out. I was still brave and kept moving, but then I saw one of the 'inhabitants' and how it was presented to me wasn't in a good way at all!
Right at that entrance to the meal hall, I was heading to it when I saw something that froze me in my tracks...I just saw a shadow slowly walk into that doorway, not making a sound. That was enough for me to take a break. Of course when I walked up to the doorway I saw nothing in the hallway beyond it. It was then I started hearing rasping breathing coming from behind me that I had to save and call it quits! That memory still hasn't faded from this level!
Oooh did I know it was going to be bad...It wasn't bad enough that it used to be an orphanage (ghost children are never good) but an Insane Asylum as well!!! AAahhHH! Garret is a hard ass, that's all I have to say.

Superspy on 27/6/2004 at 17:25

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A thank you to null:

After finishing the game myself, I manipulated my husband into playing it because of the cradle. He is the typical "nothing ever scares me" man but I knew this mission would get him on a psychological level. He is not a Thief fan as he prefers to run headfirst into a mass of enemies with machine guns blazing. He does not know how to deal with the undead, etc. I didn't tell him. At any rate, he finally gets to RTC and is poking around the outer area. I notice that he is crouched and sneaking around. He gets to the attic and says "Do I need to open this door?" He does and gets the fuse, frobs the painting. He goes downstairs, turns on the power, and says "That was spooky." Now he is in the inner cradle, in the meal hall. He relaxes, stands up, says that there is nothing in here, and goes charging around the corner into the cell blocks. He runs headfirst into a puppet. He jumps, and starts slashing away with his dagger. He turns to run away but he is not fast enough. He slashes at it some more. It goes down and he is standing on top of it. He takes his hands off the keyboard and mouse, lights a cig and says "WTF was that?" I'm holding my breath and he is looking at me funny. About then it jumps up and starts hacking away at him. He says "Hey I killed you!" and proceeds to slash at it some more. It goes down again. He is standing on it convinced it is dead for sure this time. It pops up. Four times he went through this routine until he is finally killed. I don't know how he lasted that long. He then comments that he will not play anymore until the sun has come up. I convince him that the worst is over and he reloads. He finally figures out how to kill the puppets and heads to the past. His comment: "These game designers really outdid themselves on this one."
I wish you luck and prosperity. You have accomplished a great feat in giving him a reason to play a great game and scaring him at the same time. Now if I could just get him to play the first two in the series....

EmperorSteele on 27/6/2004 at 21:20

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You know what the real pain in the ass is?

If you didn't have the generator turned on, the Patients might not have woken up (I have a feeling that they draw thier life from being near lights, as evidenced by them interfering with the bulbs when they walk past).

Either that, or you'd have no way of knowing they were comming x_X