abacab on 4/1/2018 at 02:54
Hi, guys. This may be my first post here, but I've been a Thief fan since 1999 and I've visited these forums for years now. Thanks to you guys I've discovered the NewDark patch to run Thief on current-gen systems so that I can experience these games all over again.
I first ran into Thief I think in early 1999 when a gaming magazine I used to buy had it on the cover and I was immediately curious. I downloaded the demo and... whoo boy! I still remember the experience to this day. It was so immersive and terrifying, I had never experienced that kind of gameplay and rich, immersive soundscapes, ever. Just walking around Bafford's manor was horrifying. I was so afraid that somebody heard me after each step I took. It was literally one step forward and two steps back for quite some time. And if I thought that first level was tense - after I got the full game and reached Cragscleft - oh christ.
I remember playing it in the summer of 1999. It was beautiful, warm and sunny outside, but it was very annoying for me, because I couldn't see the game :D. I played on normal difficulty as I recall and I have no idea how I finished some of those missions, I was terrified all the damn time. And when I DID finish it - boy. That feeling of tension and release when the final cutscene played - I remember it vividly, it was breathtaking. I actually felt I accomplised something real. Those memories will stay with me always.
I got Thief II around autumn 2000 and enjoyed it immensely as well. And boy, whas I relieved when I saw there were practically no zombies and especially haunts in that game! I bought Thief: DS immediately upon release and well... like many of you, the clunky movement and split levels disappointed me, I don't think I finished it on my first try. But years later, after all the patching the community had made to the interface and such, I really did enjoy it and played it through.
When I read around here that a lot of you have played through those games countless of times, I can only ask - how :D. Especially Dark Project left me so drained by the end that although I cherish the memories, I couldn't literally pick the game up for years! And well... life also intervened and I didn't play a lot of games for a good long while.
But about a month or so ago I thought - I've been thinking of replaying the first game for so long, let's just do it again, for the first time since 1999! Back then, Thief Gold was not released yet, but now I have a boxed copy, I have all those sweet texture packs you guys have made - a perfect time to jump in again.
And so, I started playing after work and on weekends, sporadically. Of course the game is not as terrifying for me as it was back then (older, wiser blabla), but it's still tense and I very much still enjoyed the sneaking around in the shadows and stealing stuff. Well - from humans, anyway. When dealing with humans, I very much try to not be seen and steal everything from under their noses, taking my time. When it comes to the undead - all those self-imposed „ghosting” rules I've been applying to myself go pretty much out the window. I dont do the hardcore ghosting I've read people do (I don't care if I don't get all the loot; I don't return the keys; if a guard hears me, but thinks it's „just rats”, it's fine by me etc). But zombies - I have no problem if they see me, I'll just run away. Burricks - I tend not to kill them, but a good whomp with a blackjack or a few arrows so that they don't die but run away, whimpering - no big deal there either. I hate spiders, so I tend to kill them as well.
Anyway, here are my thoughts on the levels (all played on expert).
Bafford's - a classic, of course, and the one I've played the most and still enjoy. A quintessential Thief experience. That ambient music that kicks in when you emerge from the sewers and enter the cellar is so good... and also that „hah, it's a throne room” line. Classic.
Cragscleft Prison - I really like the level design - starting from the mines and working your way up to the prison and then to the factory and the barracks above. And whoo boy, the sound design in the prison was terrifying. All those agonizing screams of pain and anguish really got to me. A very enjoyable mission. I like the hammers as well, all their mythos and design.
Bonehoard - well. A slight downer, that one. I see a lot of people really liking it, that Indiana Jones-like feeling of seeking out treasures from forgotten temples and such. And I liked that part of it, sure. But since I don't care for the zombies and all those other creatures that populate this level - that part made me bored, really. Except for that fiery ghost thing, he was awesome. I was legitimately spooked when I encountered it, didn't remember it at all. Of course I then found out that he didn't exist in the original Thief :D. Overall I'd call this level a "mixed bag" for me.
Assassins - this was a good one. Sneaking after those two taffers and robbing Ramirez' mansion afterwards was really enjoyable. The mansion could have been a bit bigger, and I understand that it initially was, but they had to scale it back due to engine constraints. Overall, another really enjoyable mission.
Thieves Guild - Whoo boy, do I ever agree with those who say that the layout is monotone and confusing. I like the start, I like the houses of the two guild leaders, but the rest - christ, was I ever lost. I tried to make use of the map, but I still had no idea where I was most of the time. I checked my savegames - it took me (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aksrcv380GM) 4 HOURS of gametime to beat this! And I tell you - when I got to one house after much trudging around and realized I had to get a key from ANOTHER house somewhere - aagh. I saved, quit and had a relaxing cigarette before continuing :cheeky:.
The Sword - Ugh. I know a lot of you have this one pegged as one of the best missions in the game, but yeah. My sense of direction sucks, in real life and in games, so I got very lost and annoyed by the end. Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad, but the loot requirement on Expert was such that I simply could not find that final bit for a long time and just ran around, all frustrated. Eventually, that last bit I needed was on a guard guarding the mansion's front gate. Had I pickpocketed him right at the start, maybe it wouldn't have been so bad. There are a lot of good things about this level, don't get me wrong. I like a lot of the weirdness and the atmosphere is great (that giggle is SO creepy). And I really enjoyed the solution I found for getting the sword. I found this little alcove in the upper floor that had this weird thing sticking out of the ceiling and a hole below it, through which you could see the sword floating below. I flung a broadhead into that thing and whatta ya know - the sword fell down to the bottom of that pedestal thing it was hanging over. Of course it made quite a racket, so I reloaded, shot a moss arrow down to the floor and then „released” the sword. Took me a few tries, but eventually the guards didn't notice and I could just go to the bottom floor, climb onto the podium and grab the sword. No need to even visit that higher floor with taffload of guards and tile floors. Boy, did I feel accomplished :D. None of the walkthroughs and let's plays I looked at afterwards didn't do it that way, I wonder - why not? Anyway. Overall - I think if I hadn't have had so much trouble getting all the loot, I would have enjoyed it more. Oh - and Little Big World was awesome! I didn't know that if I missed it all those years ago or what, didn't remember it at all. Only afterwards I read that it was a Thief Gold exclusive thing.
The Haunted Cathedral - yeah. Didn't enjoy that one all that much. You know, undead and all that. Again - they don't terrify me (anymore), I mostly just get bored dodging them. Overall atmosphere didn't grab me either. I didn't want to turn on the lights, because well - less shadows to move around in, but that meant it was all SO dark, I could barely see a thing :D. Maybe if I had turned on the lights, I'd have enjoyed it more?
Mage Towers - Have to say I really liked this one. The mages are not all that interesting enemies and their „one-liners” while walking about are pretty cheesy, but level design was great and I got through all the tower puzzles without much trouble. The platform jumping bits were annoying, but at least they were brief. A very enjoyable mission. Oh, and I got a giggle out of that mage dude who marches up and down the main stairway, imagining how tired he must be after a few trips, heh heh.
Lost City - that one I enjoyed a surprising amout, I must say. The map was surprisingly helpful, I felt like I knew where I was going most of the time, didn't have the feeling of being confused or lost much. And I remember that in TDP there were these Craymen (or was it Bugbeasts) around and they gave me the creeps bigtime. I'm really glad they were replaced with mages for Thief Gold.
Caverns - at the start, I got ready for another of those weird creature missions and at the beginning that's exactly what it was. I gritted my teeth and thought - let's just grind my way through this. But then, suddenly I get to this opera house filled with PEOPLE! And the level just got a whole lot better :). A disappointing start, but it got fantastic at the opera house and I was really glad this level was included with Thief Gold.
Undercover - yeah. This is a weird one. I didn't usually watch any let's plays beforehand, but I did it with this, a bit. Just to see how the hell do people ghost this level? And I found out pretty quickly that well - they can't :D. Maybe I shouldn't have read that before getting too deep into the level, and maybe I'll try it again with a different playstyle, but what I did was this - instead of sneaking around the hammerites, knocking out only the necessary guards and having this Benny Hill-style chase afterwards, why not just blackjack all of them? Think about it - when I whack them all out and then get the Talisman - they wouldn't know who did it, they would just sleep through it. I just thought that in terms of stealth, this would actually be a lot better approach, since they would just wake up afterwards with a headache and no talisman, instead of them all knowing exactly who stole it and running around after you. It made the level pretty easy, I'll admit that. And also - this level looks taffing gorgeous with the HD mod installed!
Return to the Cathedral - that level I remember vividly from long ago. I was so terrified! But to my surprise - I wasn't this time. Tense, sure, but those haunts didn't get much reaction from me. Mainly it was just annoyance at dealing with the undead. Again. I remembered reading years ago that there was this way of finishing this mission quickly and I briefly even considered finding out how, but decided against it and went for the full experience. And I'm glad I did. Even though I didn't much care for all the undead, the level design itself is great and I didn't even mind Murus' fetch quests all that much. Although it was infuriating how vague his instructions sometimes were, in regards to where to find all that stuff. Except for the last thing he wanted. When he said to kill all the haunts, I grinned from ear to ear and went to work :ebil:. I really laughed when I managed to whack out four of them in that St. Something where you had to make a holy symbol. They just waltzed right in there one by one and all I had to do was give them a good bonk on the head with a sword. And also I was wondering - when playing TDP on normal, did you also have to kill all the haunts? I faintly remember searching for all that other stuff Murus wanted, but I don't remember having to kill the haunts at all? Is it a Thief Gold thing? Or an expert difficulty thing? Or perhaps I simply don't remember that bit?
Escape - blah. Blah, I say. From playing it years ago, I remember it being confusing as hell and very frustrating. I don't remember how did I ever got through this one, being as terrified as I was all the time. And this time - still confusing as hell and very frustrating. My first attempt was to run like hell past all those weirdos and hope to get through. Which I sort of managed after a taffload of quicksave-quickloads, but then there was this requirement to find out more about Constantine. Crap! So I reloaded from the start and took things more carefully. Not ghosting as such, I really don't care to ghost around all these weirdos, but basically just stealth kills. Whacking those apedudes to the head with a sword/blackjack, mainly. Took longer, but i muddled through. Boy was I relieved when I reached the first level of the mansion. Actual doors! Stairs! Floors! You know, people stuff!
Bedfellows - I enjoyed it more than I thought, actually, especially from that point onwards where the hammerites ask to get their high priest back. It was actually cool to sneak behind all those monkeyboys as they mumbled about their fires. A short mission as well, that helped. And I was surprised that I didn't remember one single bit about this mission from my first playthrough. Probably blended together with Escape, with all that anxiety and stuff. Also - it was during this level I really started to think that the „fog” effect, probably enabled after I installed NewDark - messes with the levels. Starting with Escape, the fog was all over the place and although it looked good most of the time, sometimes it made things downright weird. That weird room that I think was supposed to be in space - it was all white!. I disabled the fog halfway through Bedfellows and it was SO much better after that. I thought at one point that all the latter levels (Escape, Bedfellows) take place at daylight. And also - what the taff is up with that bugbeast killing requirement? If you blackjack one, even if you get damaged by one - immediate extra requirement to kill all of them. Really? I tried very hard to avoid that :D
Maw of chaos - not too bad, actually. Linear and short, sure, but looked good. I remember the Constatine endfight being more of a challenge first time round, messing with rope arrows and such. This time, I just stood at the entrance, ran to the Eye when Constantine had his back turned, switched, ran back to the entrance and waited for the end.
Whew. Overall game time - 31 hours. Helluva first post, I know :D. But I really wanted to share this with you all. The Thief series really means so much to me. When someone asks me what my favorite game is, I reply „Thief”. Somewhat weird, considering I only just finished my second playthrough :D. But it's just so intense of an experience, I can't play it very often because of that. And no game has made me feel this way, ever. I haven't bought the newest one, even though it's like 5 euros on Steam now. Maybe if it drops to like 99 cents I give it a go. But for now, I think I stick to the first three.
And I think I'll start with Thief II soon!