addone on 1/3/2007 at 18:14
I dunno what it is.. the zombies, they are far less scary.. I can go into the graveyard and see a zombie without wetting myself :P
Even the dormant zombies though, on Thief 3 they're moving and moaning on the ground.. I dunno what makes them so scary on the first one, they are perfectly still and silent. The Haunted Cathedral was more scary than the Cradle for me.. I can't complete it, I always have to Ctrl+Shift+Alt+End that level, the Cradle was scary but the Cathedral, was worse. This isn't a rant, I am just confused on how Thief: Dark Project (maybe Thief 2, I haven't played) makes their Zombies so much scarier than on TDS.
Sluggs on 1/3/2007 at 18:22
I can't really understand why some players find the older variety of AI more terrifying than the newer ones.
Same as some players, like yourself, finding the Haunted Cathedral more pant-wetting than the Cradle! It just doesn't make any sense!
I'm really not sure what makes those Zombies scarier for you than the DS Zombies! :o
Cronkhite on 1/3/2007 at 18:27
Maybe it has to do less so with the zombies themselves than the atmospheric differences (ambient sounds, environment, etc.).
New Horizon on 1/3/2007 at 18:52
It's a little bit of everything I think.
The overall style of TDS is far more stylistically inclined towards a cartoon like quality, style of the originals were more gritty and realistic...as far as style went. While the models for the original Thief lacked detail, their overall design was far more anatomically correct and I think that helped a lot in letting the brain fill in the details. They also sounded a hell of a lot different in the original games...moaning, wheezing, gurgling. The TDS zombies sounded more like sick dogs or something. Pretty disappointing really.
addone on 1/3/2007 at 18:56
The dormant Zombies I remember playing the second level of T1 and seeing that dormant Zombie, I walked over it thinking nothing would happen. It got up really fast and terrified me, I then walked into the room of 3 bodies, still, perfectly silent. The fact that they weren't moaning or really silent makes them extremely scary.
Tazonne on 1/3/2007 at 20:05
Yeah. A little disappointing the damn sounds that the zombies in tds were making(i recall they made me laugh one time). Uh, anyway I was really terrified by the Cradle... Not that the Haunted Cathedral didn't scare me. It's just the fact that in the HCath you could clearly see the enemy, their patrols. But in the Cradle those sounds I was walking 2 steps and then looking around.And when I realised that there are no npc's, then came the puppets...:eek: No words.
The HCath was one of our first encounters with this kind of missions. Plus, it highly depends on the player. Some considered the Cradle scary, some the HCath, some Constantine's Mansion(really)...
cradle_curdled on 2/3/2007 at 02:54
Quote Posted by addone
I dunno what it is.. the zombies, they are far less scary
Note "yawning" animation[, and despair].
Quote Posted by New Horizon
cartoon like quality
Bingo.
*Garrett rips off zombie's mask*
"Why, it's old Mr. Grimbley, the fairground keeper!"
Dia on 2/3/2007 at 03:47
For me it was the overall ambience of the Cradle that gave me nightmares. I agree with New Horizon about the TDS zombies. Hell, the servants in TMA sounded spookier.
That's not to say the TDA zombies didn't still give me goosebumps. A zombie is a zombie. That's why God gave us flashbombs.
I'd still rather face a horde of poisonous spiders.
Digital Nightfall on 2/3/2007 at 06:30
Please use descriptive thread titles.
sprenger5 on 2/3/2007 at 07:21
Going back and playing The Dark Project now-a-days the scary factor isn't entirely there anymore. Of course I usually play it at day now. I'll have to try it at Night alone in the dark.
I think its not really the AI themselves but the style of thief in general. You are always on the edge of your seat hoping that you were just noticed when you ran to that shadow past the light. With something unhuman that you are hiding for it makes that feeling more intense.
But the Cradle...now that is fricken crazy. I don't even see how they could have coded that without some wierd scary movie plot happening to them. Like Ion Storm Game Developer found dead in a straight jacket, hung himself...(cause I think it would be impossible to hang yourself if you are in a straightjacket)
I had to play the Cradle level as fast as possible...and have yet to play through it again. I remember my old dorm roommate and best friend sitting behind me on his computer and hearing me go..."wtf" these guys won't die! And watching me play the level almost crapping his pants himself.
