Playing Thief for the first time ...

Deadlove on 20/2/2014 at 14:04

Quote Posted by Jah

Are the upper floor areas even accessible in Escape?

The first time I played The Sword I spent a LONG time trying to unlock that door to the basement. I was relieved to find out that it was an off limits area, and that the purpose of what was hidden was revealed in Escape!

gkkiller on 9/3/2014 at 06:36

Part II!

So I've played through Running Interference and am currently on Shipping ... and Receiving of Thief II: The Metal Age. I'll be doing my thoughts on each mission as I did for TG, and I might also post mini-updates asking for help or adding my thoughts on the game and stuff.

Running Interference: A nice enough beginning mission. Area feels a bit small but it's still enjoyable. Had a bit of annoyance with Basso's AI, he kept randomly stopping, and resorted to a loot list to find the 200 in gems. Yes, I'm now playing on Expert, since someone informed me that it actually opens up additional areas and gives you extra objectives and the like.

I'm about 80% through Shipping ... and Receiving. I've found a few secrets, and it took me a fair while to figure out how to open the green bay doors :P my stupidity mainly held me back, I very much underestimated the game in this instance. Only have to find those damned bags of spice. I think I'm going to have to resort to a walkthrough again. :/

ZylonBane on 9/3/2014 at 07:01

Shipping ... and Receiving is what players get for complaining about the mission before it being too small.

gkkiller on 11/3/2014 at 11:30

Finished Shipping ... and Receiving. It was nice, but those damn bags of spice were well hidden >_< The layout was a bit awkward at times as I kept going around in circles, but I figured it out in the end. It took me a good while for me to realise how the keypads worked too :P overall a fun mission but slightly frustrating.

gkkiller on 21/3/2014 at 13:26

So I got through Framed and Ambush! too.

Framed: Really liked this level. Very nice and not too unfocused. Getting the evidence was kind of tight but sneaking through was lots of fun. Stealth is pretty much the only way through on Expert: no alarms, no kills, no knockouts. Too many electric lights on the floor with all the offices though.

Ambush!: This would've been better if Garrett had been caught while entering the guard post in a cutscene and had to escape from dogs in a linear story-focused sequence. I guess that's not too hardcore though. :P Jk. This one was ok. The City was nice and atmospheric and there were just enough guards to make it challenging, but not too annoying. To be fair I KO'ed a lot of them though. I did get a bit confused as to where to go a few times until I remembered I had a map :P

So far T2 isn't grabbing me like TG did. Idk, it's probably the lack of burricks and/or zombies.

ClashWho on 21/3/2014 at 19:05

Quote Posted by gkkiller

Minus points for no undead, but plus points for gratuitous burricks.

You are my kinda fan. Except I love The Sword mission. Enjoy the rest of the game!

gkkiller on 9/1/2015 at 07:40

Almost one year later ...

Last year I gave up on Thief 2 at the beginning of the Mechanist seminary.
Recently, though, I decided to give it another try. I'm now up to Trace the Courier, and liking the game a lot more than I did last time. I'm playing on Hard, though; Expert was a hell of a pain last time.

Here's what I thought of the missions I finished this time:

Eavesdropping: I like this mission. The seminary is a nice location, not too vast and unfocused, but not a corridor either. I didn't have too hard of a time, but I accidentally wandered too far away from the conversation at least three times >_< Karras' voice is pretty creepy too. Man, that squeakiness is unsettling. I am of the opinion that he is not human. And the haunt in the crypts - Jesus, that thing scared the shit out of me. I'm playing with headphones rather than using crappy speakers this time around, and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time when I was roaming the tombs.

First City Bank and Trust: Mixed feelings on this mission. On one hand, it was pretty good. I liked having to make mad dashes around bots and cameras, and the sneakiness was generally top-notch. On the other hand, so much tile. It really annoyed me, having to inch forward step by step to not be heard. And it was too damn big. I have a feeling I only saw about 70% of the rooms. By the end of the mission, I was itching to get out. The bots in the basement were annoying too. Those things get on my nerves quickly.

Blackmail: One of the best missions yet. Not too many annoying bots or cameras, a couple of hilarious conversations, and a mid-mission plot twist! I'm kinda surprised, though - only got a little more than half of the loot, and no secrets. I guess I didn't look hard enough. Oh well. The constant key-hunting (gear-hunting) might've irritated me, but by luck I managed to pickpocket the gears I needed to get to the next floor while still on the previous floor, so it wasn't too bad. And the pool was one of the more tense moments, having to dodge the camera every few seconds while trying to grab the loot in the back. Then I discovered that it would lose sight of me if I jumped into the water ... :P

gkkiller on 11/1/2015 at 10:31

I think I'm really getting into the game, I finished two more missions yesterday.
Thoughts:

Trace the Courier: I was a little annoyed because it was back to the City map from Ambush, but eh, it was alright. Pretty easy mission - nothing to do, really. This is the closest T2 has gotten to a linear story-driven mission yet :P well, at least the attack on the Pagan wasn't a cutscene. The undead in the graveyard got to me; dem crypts :/ at least I got the loot in the zombie crypt without waking it up.

Trail of Blood: This mission was kinda spooky and eerie, but it was also tragic. It took me a while to figure out how to open the portal in the Trickster's mouth, but I got it in the end. I thought I had to put out all the torches as well, for some reason, so I ended up wasting 6-7 water arrows, but oh well. The Maw was cool, but I think I liked it better the first time around. I was stuck on the winter section for a while, too, but eventually I realised I could use my sword to cut down the icicles that blocked my way. Anyway, this was an ... interesting ... level.

Garras on 11/1/2015 at 15:28

I think the main thing that creates such tension in the Thief series is the lack of weapons and ammo. There might only be 3 undeads in a room but if it's something as simple as being fully lit with a marble floor and you've only got a sword. Well, you get the picture.

One treat for you, if you haven't found it by now, is the 'Little/Big World' in 'The Sword' mission in Thief 1/Gold. I didn't find out about that until years after having the game. It's like a whole new level, within a level.

gkkiller on 14/1/2015 at 07:59

Quote Posted by Garras

I think I found that one when I played Gold.

Here's my thoughts on the other two missions I finished recently:

Life of the Party: Oh man. Wow. Where do I even begin? This mission is definitely one of the best in the game. Just so much space and so much to do and so many places to look into. Wow. I absolutely loved this one. Let's start with bouncing around the rooftops. SO much fun. It's like Mirror's Edge Lite, or Dishonored without Blink. And then there's all the houses you can break into. The necromancer's house puzzle was a bit hard to figure out, and I accidentally stumbled on the button in the fire tray looking for fire arrows :P (not that I needed them.) The fight between the archers of the two houses was hilarious, but it was a pain to blackjack the only guard remaining at the end because he was already alerted. I got a little lost at the greenhouse, but then I got back on track and made my way into Angelwatch ... which was intense. First order of things was to KO everybody, obviously :P after which I ran around looking for all the ~~voxophones~~ Karras recordings. The cherub thing made me jump, and it turns out, the thing vanishes and respawns in the same place every time you read the book. Luckily, I'd already knocked everyone out, so it couldn't alert anyone. I had a bit of a rough time finding the key to Karras' office, but then I realised I hadn't been to the top floor yet. I broke into the office and consulted the recording (how the hell did Karras know who Garret is?*), and then got the Cetus Project plans, before beating a hasty retreat to the bell tower - unseen by the Mechanists, too! :D

* this reminds me ... in Eavesdropping, did anyone else think Karras was referring to Garrett when he mentioned an unfortunate guttersnipe waiting outside the door? I freaked out at that point, thinking I'd been found.

Precious Cargo: Another stellar mission. I really like the atmosphere of Markham's Isle above ground. Reminded me a lot of Hitman: Contracts with all the rain and gloom. After a visit to the lighthouse, I obtained the Cold Storage key, and went adventuring to find the door it unlocked. I stumbled upon Lotus freezing to death in my explorations, and blackjacked him instead of using the sword; I figured it wouldn't make a difference at that point. Following that, I took the secret elevator down and ran around the lower floors. It took a while to break into the Cetus Amicus - mainly because the diver-Mechanist wouldn't stop seeing me through the glass - but when I did it, I discovered I still needed another key. So off it was to dry land again to look for the key ... which turned out to be easy enough to find. After that, I had all my objectives ticked, but out of curiosity, I went hunting for Markham's treasure - I saw it as an Expert objective in the difficulty screen. I went in, found the gold, and emerged to find ... a ghost? Idk, I just got out of there real quick. Finally, I stowed away in cargo locker 5. Off to the KD site!