Sir Taffsalot on 31/10/2012 at 19:25

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I finished playing this last night and I absolutely loved this game! I tip my hat to Arkane studios. I'm also a big fan of Dark Messiah as well. Out of interest does anyone know which levels in particular Digital Nightfall and Purah worked on?

Sir Taffsalot on 31/10/2012 at 19:47

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I only used the runes to upgrade Teleport ability ( so I could knock people out before they saw me and get to areas that would allow me to sneak past AI) and Agility (so I could mantle to high areas so I could avoid AI and combat). Out of curiosity I upgraded on Rat Swarm and because it made things so easy I never used it. To be honest I got to the point where I enjoyed the challence of searching and finding runes and bone things (I forget what they're called) more than using them. I like exploring so finding them is great. I like a challenge so using them wasn't fun.

Sir Taffsalot on 31/10/2012 at 19:58

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Those two missions were definately a highlight so its good to know that Digi and Purah were involved.

Myth on 7/11/2012 at 10:00

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I finished it, and was disappointed that it was rather shorter than expected. Overall it was a pleasant play trough. I think an assassin/high chaos play trough might provide me with replayability a month or two down the road.

I am so glad DigitalNightfall and Purah found realization in this game. Both of them have made masterpiece FMs. Now, on to further comments.

Blink is not a dumbed down version of rope arrows - it's much too overpowered for a stealth game. It's an instant teleport which basically eliminates alert zones and removes the need for finding clever ways of going trough heavily guarded areas. It has a low cooldown, produces no sound and allows fail-safe mantling. There are two limitations on it - it bumps into things that the player's collision size would tag and it's heavily nerfed for pure vertical movement. But both are easily circumvented since there is plenty of space and alternative pathways, and layered step-like objects to hop around on until you reach the high areas.

It's really annoying and immersion breaking when you encounter one of the multiple invisible walls who prevent true rooftop exploration. Both blink and jump-mantling are disabled on terraces, roofs and ledges for no apparent reason other than to stop the player from breaking the level. I'd spent countless reloads in Thief, trying to get up to one place or another, or to jump across to the other side (Bonehoard anyone?). And yes, i have broken the level here or there but ultimately i knew that I could treat a Thief level as a real city, not a poorly concealed attempt at linear railroading of player pathing options.

Playing a knockout game is severely more bland than playing agressively. Corvo gets a ton of toys to play with if he wants to be an assassin, and dozens of different kill combos and various kill animations. In contrast, the 200th time you choke a guard from the back might seem a bit repetitive. Yes you do have the sleep arrows but I rarely used them, since blink+choke works well and doesn't cost anything.

The game is abundant with healing and mana potions and you never feel pressured. Not like Thief where if you got damaged you could finish the level with 2-3 shields and feel like you got there by the skin of your teeth. This I blame on today's generation of gamers and no one can convince me otherwise.

The other powers I got but never used. Possession did not fit my style, even though they went to great lengths to provide ample rats and broken ventilation ducts for the player to use. I felt it was a waste of mana as well as it made it much too easy. Stop Time is a panic button that basically eliminates any situation you could have gotten yourself into, apart from quicksaving while already falling to your death after you bumped into an invisible wall. Rat Swarm and Force Push / Unrelenting Force I did not use. Well I did FusRoDah some rat swarms for the hell of it, but that was about it.

All the safes in the city apparently have 3 digit combinations and all the combinations can be read on a piece of paper or something similar fairly close by.

The bone charms are imbalanced. Half of them make you kill things better (so not usable for stealth and non-violence play). The other half is split between worthless upgrades (food gives you more hp) and completely imbalanced ones (water taps give you endless mana).

I still enjoyed the game though, it has a good story and some of the visuals, level design, paintings on the walls etc. are very enjoyable. I think a mission with more rooftop / vertical movement, less invisible walls and less options for easy "winning" like Stop Time / Posession / Blink would have been awesome.

robthom on 11/11/2012 at 12:11

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I refuse to use steam.
I always have and I've never used it.

Ever since the first thing valve did was ruin CS with it.
IMO, steam and its forums is where the childish and uncreative dwell.



What a great game.
I just finished it a second ago and the whole time I'm playing it I'm getting that same full body feeling of thrill and satisfaction that I got when I played Thief and Thief 2.

I actually consider it the Thief 3 that I never got.

I tried to play Thief 3 and re started it two or three times and just put it down every time.

That wasn't a Thief game IMO.
It just didn't feel like one.