R Soul on 6/7/2009 at 14:00
The very first time I played it I didn't have a graphics card and all the textures were light grey. I had shadows so I could pass the visibility test in the training mission, but passing the hearing test was more luck than judgement.
The first time I played it with the textures visible, I also thought it was too hard. I'd kill one of the basement guards with an arrow (or several) and then hit the other with my sword until he ran away. Then he'd come back with several others and I'd be done for.
Then it occurred to me that I should try the blackjack.
Palmberg on 6/7/2009 at 14:25
Heh, I remember first playing the TDP demo and was all "Holy S***! That guard is DRUNK! And he's singing! Awesome!" :cheeky:
Of course I also felt it had such a great atmosphere, sneaking around in Baffords manor like that the first time, I hadn't seen or felt anything like it. Good times.
vaustein on 6/7/2009 at 15:02
Thought I'd wasted my $$. Garrett moved at a snail's pace, the guards' animation reminded me of mutant stickmen, and everything was impenetrably dark. And at the time, I was too caught up in standard FPS' to realize the irony of this.
However, I pounced on System Shock 2. After completing Shock2 the first time, I read that the upcoming Thief 2 would use the Shock2 engine. I bought it upon release. This time, "thief logic" just sort of clicked: I played all the way through, then I went back and played ThiefTDP. To paraphrase Silver Sorrow, one of my favorite Thief FM reviewers, I enjoyed Thief for its originality and atmosphere, and Thief2 for its graphics and potential for modding.
By the way, LGS spoiled my taste for FPS'. I no longer enjoy mindless first-person shooters. About 5 years ago, Doom 3 was the killer app that encouraged serious gamers to upgrade their rigs. I did, but after playing through Shock2, Thief, and Deus Ex, Doom3 was just boring. I feel the same way about Crysis now. I was going to buy a quad-core w/ 3xSLI GTX cards. After playing the Crysis demo, though, I totally lost interest in upgrading. Why bother? The games that I actually enjoy don't need the additional raw power.
Dia on 6/7/2009 at 15:05
I remember sitting in our PC room and my husband telling me about this fantastic game called Thief. He then went on to describe it from the details he was reading online & I remember telling him that we gotta have that game. A week later he came home with it and then we had to take turns playing it since we didn't know about a certain 'no-cd crack' at the time.
Right off the bat I was hooked! Just the training mission alone was totally immersive for me. (At that time) I thought the graphics were unbelievably fantastic and the gameplay simply kicked ass. The music was beautiful and imo contributed to the immersiveness and ambience, and Garrett's voice was soooo compelling that I loved hearing even just his little asides. I, too, was a tad disappointed in the swordplay, but to me that was a minor detail and it didn't take too long before I realized that this was not a balls-out, slash & dash type of game. Stealth? Why, what a novel idea!! Hell! This Garrett guy could shoot different types of arrows for cryin'outloud!!! And he could swim & climb ropes and melt into the shadows as though he'd never been there in the first place! And then, I discovered the Joys Of Blackjacking. OMG!! I thought I'd died and gone to heaven!!! I slowed down and stopped trying to blast my way through each mission and started noticing all those delicious details that contribute still to the immersiveness & my total enjoyment of Thief.
Cragscleft & Bonehoard (& Haunted Cathedral) did give me pause, though. I got scared the first time I merely heard those cursed undead moaning & it took awhile before I had the nerve to go down on the elevator and actually confront them. Then I got frustrated because Garrett didn't seem to be able to move fast enough to just whack those damned zombies to pieces and I was getting so unnerved by them that at one point I just had my husband play through the worst of them (I didn't find out about the fatal effect that flashbombs had on those nasties til long after I'd played both TDP & TMA ... imagine my delight when discovering that little tidbit!). And those Haunts creeped me out to the point that I just quit the game several times before I finally got up enough nerve to persevere. When I finally completed the game I took a few day's rest and then started it all over again. I was Officially Addicted.
I think I played it about 3 times in a row, then disappointment and frustration set in because there just were no other games out there that even came close to TDP. And then, after what seemed like an interminable wait and after playing any and every game that had anything in common with TDP (though most often not), came Thief: The Metal Age and I thought happily, 'Here we go again!' I wasn't disappointed.
It was during my (our) initial foray into TMA that my husband discovered TTLG and for a few years I posted my questions under his nick. Then we discovered Fan Missions!! At that point I knew I'd died & gone to heaven! ;)
Now, every time I logon to TTLG I feel like I've just come home again. And as everybody knows, there's no place like home!
:cheeky:
Melan on 6/7/2009 at 15:07
Oh yeah: before Thief, I didn't like FPS games at all, and considered them stupid. Curiously, Thief wasn't just a game that made me revise that opinion, it also encouraged me to take a second look at stuff like Unreal and Doom. Imagine that: Thief also made me like good old ultaviolence. :laff:
Stath MIA on 6/7/2009 at 17:43
My first time playing through, *sigh* I remember it like it was yesterday. I recall running amuck in Bafford's Manor many a guard felt my sword pierce his gut and the poor servants never stood a chance. I think I only knocked out a grand total of 2 people (the drunk by the well and the first servant) and I barely limped out clutching that dumb scepter thinking "Wow, why would someone go to the trouble of massacring all those people just for this?" I now shudder at my barbaric antics. But even then I could tell there was something different about this game, while running about brutally murdering people who probably didn't deserve it, I began to be sucked in by the subtle nuances of The City and its denizens and I became enamored of the realism of it. At last my killing spree was brought to an end by the arrival of a new foe, the Bugbeast, who proved himself more than a match for my pitiful skills. After failing so utterly on Escape I let the game be forgotten for nearly two years before I again recalled the glorious immersion I had felt when playing it and I decided to give it another shot. This time I actually discovered a cleverly hidden secret, Thief is a stealth game! After discovering the true purpose of Thief I was able to become fully integrated with it and never since then have I played a game which has done more to impress and enthrall me.
Albert on 6/7/2009 at 18:23
It was a similar story for me, but unlike most gamers who drink FPS games to the bottom, I prefer platformers and any game for game consoles older than the hills (I still play my Atari 2600 from time to time... :D).
What caught my attention about TDP was its captivating realism from a time when games like half life and quake only tried making games cooler looking, rather than actually creating something that vaguely reminds me of gaming. That, and the fact that it is one of the few first-person games where you can use a sword and a blackjack... Well, let's just say it has something more endearing to it than a duke nukem-wannabe blasting random monsters with his macho talk that starts to make you wanna commit seppuku after a while...
bikerdude on 6/7/2009 at 18:29
I cant remember that far back, I'm getting old you see....:joke:
Thor on 6/7/2009 at 18:32
Quote Posted by Stath MIA
My first time playing through, *sigh* I remember it like it was yesterday. I recall running amuck in Bafford's Manor many a guard felt my sword pierce his gut and the poor servants never stood a chance. I think I only knocked out a grand total of 2 people (the drunk by the well and the first servant) and I barely limped out clutching that dumb scepter thinking "Wow, why would someone go to the trouble of massacring all those people just for this?" I now shudder at my barbaric antics. But even then I could tell there was something different about this game, while running about brutally murdering people who probably didn't deserve it, I began to be sucked in by the subtle nuances of The City and its denizens and I became enamored of the realism of it. At last my killing spree was brought to an end by the arrival of a new foe, the Bugbeast, who proved himself more than a match for my pitiful skills. After failing so utterly on Escape I let the game be forgotten for nearly two years before I again recalled the glorious immersion I had felt when playing it and I decided to give it another shot. This time I actually discovered a cleverly hidden secret, Thief is a stealth game! After discovering the true purpose of Thief I was able to become fully integrated with it and never since then have I played a game which has done more to impress and enthrall me.
ROFL! :laff:
Good read! :D Just like the rest of them, too.
DarkMax on 7/7/2009 at 18:56
Moree....:ebil::p
