Gestalt on 21/5/2006 at 22:06

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Whoops, didn't notice the new-player-specific thing. Ignore my answer, I guess.

I ghosted as much as possible, but screwed up a fair amount.

Tithian on 22/5/2006 at 11:59

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When I played through the game first I pretty much blackjacked everything that moved. Now I'm playing through the game in a more stealthy fashion, which is a whole lot more fun.

[EDIT] Wait a sec... The title of this thread is: "Was Deadly Shadows your first Thief title?" but you're asking us how we played the game?

No, I played the Thief games in this order: TDP -> TMA -> T2X -> TG -> TDS

Malleus on 22/5/2006 at 16:02

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Same here ... except that I already finished it stealthy stlye...

I played the Thief games in this order:
TDP on normal until the haunted Cathedral level, then I stopped because I was shit scared :) -> TMA on normal until the last level, then I stopped because I was afraid of robots... -> (System Shock 2 for the first time - gave me courage for Thief :) ) -> TDP on expert -> TMA on expert -> TDS on expert -> T2X (expert) -> TG (expert)
:cool:

inselaffe on 22/5/2006 at 18:12

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I played the thief games in this order:

'Couldn't get thief 1 demo to work for some reason :S

Then thief 2 demo was released with that preview issue of pczone - couldn't get it to work, then one day it magically did or worked on my dad's work laptop or something, was amazed at the game, it was HUGE and you could do what you wanted. I had never seen anything like that in a game before ever - like how you could go in through that window on the right near the start and steal that peasants stuff but it was completely irrelvant to everything. You could deal with gaurds how you wanted. I firstly just played a bit "all over the place - fighting a bit for fun sometimes but also getting completely lost - the subquests and multiple routes on that level were amazing. I think I was stealthy though, but would also attack people if I got caught and only really "run away" if I was losing :D. I also would blackjack a lot then - bear in mind I had no concept of thief or these forums existance or anything. I never "completed" the demo fully - when I got to the party I just kind of ran around the place, not knowing where to go and getting lost. Actually, I may have completed it once, but I wasn't really sure what was going on, heh I dunno what difficulty I played on though.

Then I got thief 2 (and deus ex and coling mcrae rally 2 (sold out games, 3 for £10) and played that a bit - I had avoided getting the dark project as they didn't seem to have it in virgin for some reason, also I sort of wanted thief gold anyway (not sure if I knew about gold at the time - maybe?). I finally had a computer that could play thief 2 so that was good :) I played still koing - the first level really kind of "encourages" it and sets you off to a bad start. I ran through the second level, and completled it but I think only on like easy or something, so I didnt explore properly or anything haha, and I didn't really understand what was going on, having not played thief 1. Actually, I think i explored more than I first thought - there was that ship with spiders on that was quite scary cos I was only ickle and the spiders were vicious :D but it all confused me hah. Which was the third level? Was it the police station one? I really enjoyed that cos of the secret passages, and it was a really well designed level - and it forced you not to ko more that a certain number or something? I dunno. Ambush was cool but a bit boring / sparse in places, and I was annoyed that you couldn't get into the graveyard :( or at least I never found the entrance I never knew the levels inside out anyway for those, as they were that big. Then there was eavesdropping, and that was quite good, but I think i was probly playing on easy again? Maybe I wasn't I dunno, either way I bet I missed most of the mission out - although, i'll probably find out that I didn't when I replay but meh. I got to the bank and ran around the perimeter and stuck my nose in the main door i thinK? :S and went on the roof a bit, but it was at this point that I decided I would stop the game until I had gotten thief gold and played that. So I set about seraching for it.

I played deus ex in this interlude and played all the way up to hong kong and then just never bothered to get any further. I think it's kind of another case of me rushing ahead and not taking it slowly enough, so when I did go to take that part slowly, I got a bit bored. But that's a different story, though kind of the same type of game. I tried to play it non lethal, like just knocking people out with the baton or using the dart gun - this didn't always work, but was quite good. The dart gun is still highly buggy and dodgy though ;)

Sometime I heard about the concept of ghosting or I just narually did it myself? I really don't know :S

I played thievery and at first I think I koed in that because I thought it is harder cos there are humans so you need to ko them really. Then i started ghosting in it and just adopted that style of play. It might even have been thievery that taught me about ghosting, or it may have been that I knew of it already, but thought it impossible in thievery, 'till I read tsg's altered definition to make it more applicable (basically, try not be seen, but most importantly, don't kill or ko). However I stopped playing cos I didn't really like the community in that it seemed to be pushing the game towards a deathmatch style of play and even the dev views were like a game with ghosting is not a fun game :S and basically the whole game wasn't that balanced - it can be played well and be fun if both sides are sporting, but unfortunately, many people's views were "play to win" and exploit and stuff but there you go, so I ended my playing of that, even though it was good fun when there was at least some ghosting in it. I won't go into detail about it though, as that's another story.

Then I finally managed to get thief gold off ebay :) I think it was the first thief game I ghosted from the start and played on expert from the start (I only play on expert now). I got up to thieves guild, but then got stuck, and haven't played thief for ages cos of it. I dunno how to "crouch jump" into windows in those little gaurd huts bits in the casino :( or do you have to get boxes? (which seems a bit unghostlike, but since I want to get everything, then I guess it might be neccessary). I try to play to get every item, and ghost at the same time. If it is impossible to ghost to get an item, I try to get it in the most stealthy way - eg a noise distraction to lure guards away. This is going to alert them much less than putting lights out etc ;) I don't mind alerting zombies that much though, as they aren't "people" and though it's best to avoid them, it's not always possible, so just run past them (I did ghost them while carrying basso though, that was a worrying experience, watching them walk right by me in a cramped corridor haha). For stuff like that, I ghost if I can, but if it's unpractical then I just "run away" as long as it won't alert "thinking" ai.

One of my main problems with how I play thief is that I tend to ruin the eploration by rushing through everywhere and not taking it in or getting caught or being sloppy or something, and then I end up reloading so I can "do it properly". It would be much better if I disciplined myself to take it slow the first time, but yer hehe. I guess I'm too impatient :-/

I have got thief 3 but since I'm only on thieves' guild, I haven't started it yet. The one I got from an online retailer said it was new, but it looked slightly used, which is a bit gay, but oh well - it was at the time before it came onto budget, and I was worried they weren't going to sell it anymore. I played the demo of thief 3 when it came out though, and didn't really like it, it was too easy and the levels were too small and didn't spark my imagination or really provide interest. I can't really say though, much about it, cos it had that difficulty level bug, so yer, but it did seem much easier and crap. One thing that I found crap though, is that the higher difficulty level objectives are just to get loot items and nothing "exciting" - it just seemed unimaginative to me, and I heard it's like that for the whole game? Hopefully the game as a whole will feel better when I get round to playing it though (if I do, hehe ).

Cheers, Daniel

Dia on 22/5/2006 at 22:37

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I'm not sure if I'm allowed to answer since I don't think I'm a 'newer' Thief, but yes; I did try stealth in TDS (especially in the Cradle where I just plain wished I was invisible), but eventually my head would explode and I'd have to blackjack somebody. I tried, I honestly tried. :(

I don't think I got the hang of being truly stealthy until TMA (I just kind of blasted and slashed through TDP). Then I realized I enjoyed that aspect of the game so very much that I think I must have played it twice more in succession!