Beginning a new Thief Gold playthrough.

ArclightBorealis on 1/10/2012 at 05:53

Earlier this year I got the chance to play Thief Gold, courtesy of Good Old Games putting the title up on their service. I had always heard such amazing things about it that I wanted to play it to see if it was as great as people said. Sure enough, it was. The game managed to live up to the hype that had been building in me for the past few years of watching footage and reading people's impressions and praises for the game.

Now several months later, a new Thief 2 patch is released that is also compatible with Thief Gold, I've now joined this community, and now I'm getting an itch to play through this amazing game once again. Especially now that I'm getting out of a weekend that has been heavy with college work and studies. So, since you people here love Thief so much and appreciate reading other's thoughts on this series, I'm gonna do a play through of one mission per day in Thief Gold. On hard. I've already played through the game on Normal, so I figure this would be the next logical step. And I'll be posting about how I feel, or rather how I still feel, about the missions in this game, while noting anything that I did not notice my first time through. That's what I love about these sort of games, as well as other series like Half-Life. There's all sorts of different details that can found in the environment that flesh the world out even more and you never knew that was there before.

So, this thread is where I'll be updating my daily progress in Thief Gold on hard difficulty, noting things that I knew or didn't know about the levels. If you're curious about what my first time with the game was like, or at least what I thought of it back in February, I have a (http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/alaska_gamer/insert-title-2-11-12/30-90941/) link to a blog post I wrote about the game. As to be expected, it is filled with lots of praise.

Looking forward to doing this. Thief is an amazing game.

zajazd on 1/10/2012 at 06:14

I will help you with description of the Thieves Guild mission: It's still a maze.

:D

They shoulda released this patch for The Dark Project instead.

voodoo47 on 1/10/2012 at 07:56

could use someone who would give (http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=134733) TFix a nice, thorough test run. if you are interested, just install the package (mods or no mods, your choice), and report any anomalies or issues.

ArclightBorealis on 1/10/2012 at 15:15

Quote Posted by zajazd

I will help you with description of the Thieves Guild mission: It's still a maze.

:D

Yeah, pretty much. I was surprised at the end of that mission that it took me goddamn ninety minutes. Level is huge.

Quote Posted by voodoo47

Sure I'll give it a test. Downloading now.

ArclightBorealis on 1/10/2012 at 16:55

Just did a quick run through of the training level with TFix 1.11 applied. No major problems, although one minor thing I noticed during the "don't be seen" segment at the beginning. Staying in the shadows in that room has the light gem completely empty, and it was when I stood still or walked backwards slowly. Moving forward, either running or walking, lit up the light gem just a little bit. I didn't fail the objective of trying to get through the room without being seen, and I could probably overlook it easily, considering if I'm moving in the shadows, it'll be going from one shadow to the next when no one is looking.

Again, no major problems. Got the controls set up the way I want them, and I like the new skybox and other graphical touches. If time permits me after getting homework done, I'll start the first mission tonight.

ArclightBorealis on 2/10/2012 at 03:31

I have now finished Lord Bafford's Manor on hard. Though technically, this isn't my first time playing through it on hard as I did this and the training level pre TFix 1.11 over the weekend, just as a test run. Didn't save anything from that. Now I've gone through a second time, being extra thorough with how I sneak through the environment.

One thing I noticed while playing was some extra quips coming from Garret early in the level that I did not hear before. I'm assuming this is something added from TFix as I did not recall Garret pointing out that the front gate is heavily guarded, and how stupid the drunk guard is when you pick pocket the key from him. Still love hearing whatever he has to say. I'll admit to saying "It's a throne room. How pretentious can you get?" as Garret was saying it in the level. Guy has some really great one liners.

Speaking of early level stuff, as much as I'd have loved to sit and listen to the bear pits conversation once again, I noticed in my test run last weekend that the servant who goes through the alley got to the gate halfway through the conversation and entered the manor. I probably could've let him go in, but I wasn't sure how much of an effect that might have on patrols or something inside, so I made sure to blackjack him as soon as possible in the alley. Even though I'm doing this playthrough without killing anyone, much like my normal playthrough, I don't think I'm comfortable yet with ghosting. I always have to blackjack everyone because I'd rather not have a guard come up behind me on his patrol.

Most intriguing bit of background information regarding the world that I found was in Bafford's library. I found a letter that implied that Bafford was in relations with the Pagans, given the manner of speech expressed in they letter, and the mention of Viktoria. Since it's referred to as "your Viktoria," perhaps Bafford was actually The Trickster/Constantine. Also in the letter was a list of other Pagans that were imprisoned by the Hammerites, and I wrote them down just in case they might've been in the prison records at Cragscleft. And then of course there's the accounting records in the hidden room that mentions Ramirez. I'm still relatively new to the universe of Thief (this is still the only game in the series I own), and finding these details I never noticed before or discovered with a different perspective helps make this playthrough feel just as fresh. Similar to what got me to play the Half Life games over and over was to find the different details I might've missed in the environment.

Still a fantastic opening level, one of the best in any game period. It's both iconic and gives a great introduction to the mechanics of the game.

My stats from the level
Total Time: 40 minutes 39 seconds
Found 1429 Loot out of 1429
Pockets Picked: 4 out of 4
Back Stabs: 0
Knock outs: 16
Damage Dealt: 37
Damage Taken: 0
Healing Taken: 0
Innocents Killed: None
Others Killed: 3 (the spiders in the cave)
Bodies Discovered by enemies: 1

Not entirely sure where I screwed up in stashing the body that was discovered. Oh well, I'll deal with it, given how thorough I was with finding the loot and not taking any damage, nor dealing any, it outweighs that one blunder.

DJ Riff on 2/10/2012 at 06:12

Quote Posted by ArclightBorealis

Not entirely sure where I screwed up in stashing the body that was discovered.

The spider's body, seen by another spider, obviously.

ArclightBorealis on 3/10/2012 at 03:32

Second level of Thief Gold completed. Not as much points of interest in the level for me, compared to Lord Bafford's Manor. I didn't end up with all the loot in the level as I was thinking, came up 300 short of the maximum. Still, 1438 is pretty good and will net me some good supplies for the Bonehoard.

In the last mission, I had found a letter written by a Pagan to Lord Bafford, detailing names of people that had been captured and imprisoned by the Hammerites. While going through all four cell blocks, I checked the records to see if any of the names mentioned in the letter had been to Cragscleft. Only Tarquis' name was found, although it's been a while since I finished the mission that I've forgotten which block I found the name.

While exploring Cragscleft as thoroughly as possible, I came across a hole I did not notice on the way to cell block 4. The area was covered in shadows, so at a distance I could not have told if it was a hole or not. It led to Nammon, who had escaped from his cell according to a letter in the barracks. First time coming across this spot and found some extra water and moss arrows, as well as some loot. I already had plenty of arrows to begin with, but finding those stacks of coins was helpful.

Everything else in the level went smoothly. The zombies I'm not so much worried about them killing me because they're slow, but I'm more worried about waking them up. The proximity you can be in around the zombies is rather generous, but it still makes me nervous. I think it's the groans. Not much need to reload saves aside from a couple of scenarios where trying to blackjack a hammerite on alert wasn't smart.

Stats for the level.

Total Time: 50 Minutes 53 Seconds
Found 1438 Loot out of 1738
Pockets Picked: 8 out of 12
Back Stabs: 0
Knock Outs: 18
Damage Dealt: 201
Damage Taken: 0
Healing Taken: 0
Innocents Killed: None
Others Killed: 3

The new patch is certainly kind to take the times from each mission and add up the current total.

Campaign Totals
Time So Far: 1 Hour 37 Minutes 18 Seconds
Loot So Far: 2917
Total Damage Dealth: 272 and Received: 10

That last number is odd, because on both this mission and last it said I had not taken any damage. So unless damage received means something else, I haven't a clue where it got that number.

Also, it's amazing and crazy to think about how much time can pass on a single mission in Thief. And how much I want to replay levels for better times or performance and what not. This game's got great replayability.

poroshin on 3/10/2012 at 03:43

Thief originally released on November 30, 1998.
On October 2, 2012 (13 years, 10 months, and 3 days later), ArclightBorealis says: "This game's got great replayability."

Understatement of the century :)

DJ Riff on 3/10/2012 at 05:52

Quote Posted by ArclightBorealis

It led to Nammon, who had escaped from his cell according to a letter in the barracks. First time coming across this spot and found some extra water and moss arrows, as well as some loot. I already had plenty of arrows to begin with, but finding those stacks of coins was helpful.

Aren't you playing on Expert? Because on Expert you're required to visit this place for the quest item (the Bonehoard map which is otherwise found in the evidence box).

Quote Posted by ArclightBorealis

The zombies I'm not so much worried about them killing me because they're slow, but I'm more worried about waking them up. The proximity you can be in around the zombies is rather generous, but it still makes me nervous. I think it's the groans.

It's not only proximity, it's proximity versus time. Actually, you can jump right over them.