Treating Thief has a hack and slash.

Bucky Seifert on 1/6/2018 at 19:13

I'm curious if anyone has ever tried playing Thief and a completely action focused game. The idea being playing through the Thief 1 and 2 campaign on normal (So as to not have a mission failure on death), and just go around hacking and slashing all the enemies. Not even bothering to get water arrows (Except maybe in 2 to get the robots) or moss arrows. It's an idea I've been thinking of trying out sometime just for hyucks.

Azaran on 1/6/2018 at 19:21

Yes, it's horrible for me at least. You die faster, and it ruins the point of the entire game. For me the pleasure of Thief is sneaking and thinking strategically, which that approach completely defeats

Bucky Seifert on 1/6/2018 at 20:22

Quote Posted by Azaran

Oh yeah it's not the ideal way to play at all, but it seems like it could be at least an interesting way to approach it. Sometimes playing a game the way it wasn't meant to be played can be fun.

Tomi on 1/6/2018 at 20:45

Except that in the classic Thief games it just isn't fun at all. :D Using the mines and fire arrows and the sword of course might be fun and all, but the AI just reacts in silly and non-realistic ways which just makes it a frustrating experience for me. I really wish that the developers had worked on that part of the gameplay a bit more, but you can't have everything I suppose...

Renault on 1/6/2018 at 20:53

It could be fun if it was done in a FM specifically designed for that type of gameplay. Add more AI and lower their hit points, load the player up with offensive weapons, and create a more action oriented game layout and world. Random Taffer's Captain of the Guard comes to mind.

Tomi on 2/6/2018 at 00:17

What has also annoyed me a bit is that the developers actually spent some time on implementing a feature like blocking with the sword, but then just left it there unfinished. Well, I say unfinished, because I've never found it to be a very reliable way to defend myself, but perhaps I'm just not good enough... or perhaps it just really is a very badly implemented game mechanic?

ZylonBane on 2/6/2018 at 03:02

Quote Posted by Buccura

I'm curious if anyone has ever tried playing Thief and a completely action focused game.

Like, at the same time? Or first one, then the other, and so on in that fashion?

StinkyKitty on 2/6/2018 at 04:07

I tried one variant of Thief Gold where I had to swordfight every AI in the game. It actually turned out to be quite fun, especially taking on the Fire Elementals. I finally got to use the sword block, too! :thumb: The greatest challenge was keeping my health up and trying to take on the AIs one at a time instead of getting surrounded!

Another variant I tried was Sniper. My goal was to take down as many AI as possible with arrows and only arrows. That was incredibly fun and challenging, because if you snipe a guard unnoticed, it takes only one shot, but if he's alerted, it sometimes takes several, and then your broadhead supply starts to dwindle. So, really, it was about taking out guards as quietly as possible. It also forced me to use certain tactics, like clumping zombies together before I blow them up with fire arrows.

Both of these variants were done on Hard of course, and they were terribly fun. :cheeky: So I'd say go for a combat style! It challenges you in very different ways. Sure, Thief is a stealth based game, but if you go crazy with it once in a while, it's not like you'll ruin the game for yourself now and forever.

mikjames on 4/6/2018 at 03:18

I've always found ghosting through the game too tedious after a few missions. Then I tried pure combat and found that get's very tedious as well. So now I'm alternating back and forth between them, doing one mission all out lethal and the next quiet as a ghost, then I'll switch the starting mission for the next playthrough :)

With my current playthrough I'm on track to murder the entirety of the thieves guild, it landed on lethal entirely by chance I assure you ;) I agree that lethal is more enjoyable when it's a mix of stealthy headshots and some combat, not just head on against 3 guards with a broken block mechanic.

That's the beauty of the Thief series, switching back and forth would never work in a game like Dishonored, where you're upgrading the character and gear for a specific playstyle. Every Thief mission is like hitting the new game button, assuming you collected the majority of the loot from the previous mission.

Yandros on 4/6/2018 at 03:39

There are plenty of grey area modes between ghosting and Duke Nukem mode, you know. I usually play sneaking with lots of KOs but I'm not against a stealthy takedown when needed and allowed by the objectives, and I also rarely impose ghosting rules on myself.