Unclaimed Channel on 18/12/2014 at 03:53

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Hello ! I am a total noob in the forums.

I played Deadly Shadows for the first time yesterday. My god-blackjack skills from Thief : The Metal Age are of no use in the third game of the series. The better AI, new mechanics and better level design make a different kind of challenge. The different gameplay *rules* will force you to think harder and be less careless. Garrett is weak in melee combat with his dagger. The Flashbomb is more limited; blinded guards are immune to blackjack and dagger.

The Rope Arrow and Scouting Orbs from Thief : The Metal Age are not sold anymore in the City. You can acquire special climbing gloves to reach higher places. Oil flasks are a new toy for Garrett, they can be used in different ways to dispatch your enemies. Unlike the previous games, you get to carry your loot from missions and spend them on any type of equipment. The well spent money will give you just enough liberty to *speedrun* through most missions.

The most deceiving part for most taffers is the City. You can travel through the City to overhear conversations, steal loot, explore the sewers and sign new contracts. The City has many loading zones with multiple small areas. Garrett needs to show his papers any time he walks from one part of the city to the other. The quarantine is of the least use for Garrett as he keeps a good amount of flashbombs with him. Do no meet the City Watch and do not make trouble or Garrett will get caught. The Pavelock prison is a maximum security facility for detaining prisoners. It has less guards than Cragsleft Prison and you can escape it in less than five minutes.

Deadly Shadows has a few trivial changes : not edible food, loot glint, overweight guards and more types of NPC. I am playing with the Minimalist Project. This modification by TTLG member New Horizon fixes the wall hug bug (gives you a total invisibility), adds play styles and reverts a few things. Food is edible again, loot will glint only when you are near and Garrett is never tired. I have installed Deadly Shadows with Minimalist Project a long time ago. I do not remember what options I have checked.

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Issues :

Physics :

You cannot stack boxes as in the old Thief games. It is an improvement. The rag dolls physics for NPC are bad; guards can be bent in all sort of positions.

There is some glitched geometry in the maps. I often get stuck when I am walking on pipes. The only way to get out is to push against walls or reload.


Conversations :

Many conversations are carried over from Thief 1 and Thief 2. The NPC will interact when they meet.

I do not like how non-combatants keep say : "I thought you were a danger. haha" , "You must hit harder", "I thought you were a threat" as I use my blackjack until they die.

Guards are still funny.
Garrett creeps behind. "What was that sound ?" Garrett stops behind the guard. "It was just my imagination." *BOOM*


Goals :

I love how your objectives change a few times over the course of a mission. Overhearing guards or reading letters will give you new objectives and may eliminate a few old ones.

There is no "briefing" cinematic before you play a new mission unless I missed it somehow.

I haven't seen a hand-drawn cinematic so far.


Metal Age Technology :

I am not sure what happened to the Mechanists. There are no Faces.


Rope Arrows :

It is Garrett's favorite gadget. Using Rope Arrows to skip areas with many guards often made me think that I was a professional thief.


The City :

I was disoriented when citizens kept spawning from the loading zones. My pile of NPC grew larger and larger. I wanted to collect everyone and screenshot.


The Prison :

A few critics compare Pavelock Prison to the prison found in GTA. You can't compare those things. You pay a fine in GTA. You don't pay in Thief.

I want the Prison Level to be harder. It could even be an *Easter Egg* if it was the hardest mission in the game with special loot in the end.

It is easy to avoid the prison.


Open World :

It is a bad idea for gameplay that Thief 4 re-used. Exploring or doing quests does not give information on the Thief universe. It is neither helpful for the main story.

In my opinion, Open World will never work with Thief.


Huge maps require lot of play testing, it is hard to properly design them.


Side quests are there just to *get* extra money or items in most games. Side quests may be fun but it is just additional content or game time.


Another issue is that you can stock on items. Missions in Thief : Dark Project and Thief : The Metal Age were great because you had a limited amount of inventory. It was easier to create a challenging mission because the level creators knew what items would be allowed.


I wasn't waiting for Thief 4 because the series were meant to end with Deadly Shadows. Thief 4 is simply a reboot by Eidos Montreal. If they wanted to make a good sequel and an ultimate Thief, they would fix all the *bad things* Deadly Shadows had : fixing bugs, finding solutions to gameplay design as rope arrow/flashbomb/food and making the AI smarter. They could even add a few extra mechanics.

If there was to be an *Open World*, you will be able to use loot to buy maps, bribe people for information/extra objectives/better spawn points/corrupt a few guards and decorate your house.

The way you complete your mission will influence the next ones. If you like to blackjack, a few guards will better helmets (as in TMA). If you like to kill guards, they will become more suspicious because they are scared and they will deal more damage to avenge their *friends*. I would really like a game that will adapt to your playstyle. Thief was unique in its time because of the sound propagation and emergent gameplay. The Bank is one of the best missions in the Thief Series. Levels that change depending on the player would be the next step for emergent gameplay once the AI is *done*. I am sure that there will be games in the future where enemies and levels will change depending of the player.

Side quests should give extra information on the universe, be time-limited, contradictory (Quest X or Y) and influence the main story. Side quests would make the main missions easier or harder. You could unlock a maximum of 2 or 3 *special missions* if you follow a certain path.

The open area where you can roam should not be too big. A few areas could be inaccessible for side quests. Exploring for reading books, finding secrets and overhearing conversations is fun.

This is how I think it would go with the Thief formula and make it an unique game.

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I have played the first two missions and the City so far. I have made a few interesting observations.


The areas in The City do not depend on the difficulty settings used. From reading the forums, I have learnt that they are always set on normal. A fan-made patch can change it.


Guards are much smarter and challenging on Expert. Guards with torches are hard to take down as the stick with other people.


The level design is amazing. Deadly Shadows supports all kind of playing styles. You can ghost, blackjack everybody or speedrun.

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First mission :

The tutorial is integrated into the story. I do not know why some don't want to be "held by the hand". The tutorial in "Thief : Dark Project" forces the player to complete each part in a specific way...

The loot is well hidden.

Second mission :

My first association is mission : Lord Bafford ! It is hard but you can get through the front gate by distracting the guards. There is a shortcut : windows in DS, sewers in DP. You are punished for not reading your notes. Both levels are castle. The *final* loot is strongly guarded. The End of the Bloodline feels the same as Lord Bafford but different and improved. I have not tested it but I believe that you can use the crate from the cart to jump on it, mantle and appear behind the guard, mantle the stairs and open the gate. A truly thief approach.

The lack of the rope arrow is balanced by secret shortcuts. There is also two *secret* loot that can be found only after a replay. I have found two shortcuts so far that are both in Inner Quarters : castle bailey, mantling before entering the rightmost door.

I haven't found any *secret* mantling places so far [1]. You can make silly things as in this mission as throwing crates at guards, collect every guard and jump on a table or make a low staircase from boxes.

The guards are challenging in expert but the level is designed to be *ghostable*. I am less careless and waiting a long time in darkness to see if a guard won't show up. A few players as me played the Dark Mod and found it extremely hard. Surprisingly, the Dark Mod is still on my top list of difficult games.

I hate the guards with torches. They walk too much, they are suspicious and above all, they stick with others. Their behavior is random. They may go straight for you while you are hiding or visit the next room. It is said that this a bug but I do not believe so, some people will stop walking when I make too much noise. They will wait for me in strategic places.

I replayed this mission many times. I had a much fun as I first discovered the Thief series. Learning all the mechanics takes time and I got caught many times. It was a real thrill.

There is one problem I noticed but it may related to the Minimalist Project. I got an objective : "Kill 4 guards" when I entered the second zone. It could be a special trigger that can be avoided but this is unacceptable ! I will modify my files to save those guards for the next time I replay Deadly Shadows.

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A common thief puzzle. I have someone that is guarding the room that allows you to gain access to Mortimer the Mad painting. He decided to wait for me in the doorway as I made too much noise. Nothing can stop Garret.




Collecting all the crates I may need.

Inline Image:

http://i.imgur.com/ztJh4vy.png

I only needed two crates.

Inline Image:

http://i.imgur.com/Go69fcg.png

The worker that is waiting for me doesn't know that I am Garret, the master thief !

Inline Image:

http://i.imgur.com/XidFaOF.png



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I saved the City from Karras but... I never completed Thief 1 yet. The Sword is the scariest level in the game history. I enter the mansion *cleverly*. It is empty so I go down. I like the water arrows but an underground is strange and impossible. I go up and see faces that shoot something. I accept that and go further. Everything is upside down. I stop playing because I do not want to meet any monster as treeguards, ratsmen or worse. This mansion is empty and there is bad things waiting for me. Garrett just wants to rob a normal house, he will never take the Constantine's Sword no matter how much he will get paid.

I think I am decent taffer. I have much to say about Deadly Shadows. I am not sure if I am going to *produce* another horrible videos because I want to give commentaries on Deadly Shadows as I blind play. I will obviously make a comparison between Deadly Shadows, the first two Thief Games and Thief 4 as I play. I may even go through levels from the first two games to make a fair judgement when I find a level that is similar to one from Dark Project or Metal Age. I guess that I will have play the Cathedral before reaching the Cradle.

I will obviouslybrag about my taffer skills as I jump on a table when I am being chased by twenty guards. I appreciate funny moments so I will comment that. I never made a Let's Play and NEVER talked on microphone and I do not want to make a living from Youtube. Getting a good microphone isn't a simple thing. Can I make an Interesting video and do not talk ?

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Thanks for reading and replying !

Note : I am too lazy to proofread this huge post.