Meisterdieb on 16/7/2009 at 16:05

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When I first started it, it blew my mind. Form the moment I saw the first briefing I was hooked - I simply loved its style.
The atmosphere, the setting, the sound effect and the gameplay - I was hooked from the very start.
Ten years after it came out it still is one of my top 5 favourite games - those games that not only defined a genre but also defined what kind of games I liked.

I remember reading somewhere something like "you are not a fighter, Garrett" and so I didn't start recreating Quake.
...I still died a lot until I managed to get a grip on how to work with the sound and the light gem.

I remember feeling always so proud aftger clearing out a level having blackjacked everybody. It was quite a while until I realized how dumb and predictable the AI actually was.
... and that blackjacking everybody is actually a lot easier than not doing it.

But this kind of stuff always happens to me in such immersive games.
... I actually didn't use a sword for my first run-through. Since I'm not that good at strafing and since the manual said the guards were way better at fighting, I simply accepted it.
... it took me ages to try to kill any of the undead without holy water and fire arrows. Or to find out that the apparitions can be killed with the sword, or that the haunts can be backstabbed.

Or getting lost in Cragscleft. Looking back now, it's funny how huge and confusing it appeared to me all those years ago. And don't get me started how long it took me to finish the catacombs or Constantine's mansion.
... not that I didn't enjoy them, I was just permanently lost.

jtr7 on 22/7/2009 at 01:19

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I loved that I could take my time and bloodshed was not the name of the game.



T1/G:
"Pull off the job without having to kill anyone."
"Violence is the mark of the amateur. Don't kill anyone."
"A master thief should be proficient enough to avoid murder."
"Littering the opera house with blood and corpses is not worthy of a master thief such as yourself. So pickpocket, rob, steal, hide, and even run if you have to, but don't kill anyone."
"A true professional doesn't leave a mess. Don't kill anyone!"

T2:
"Even though everyone loyal to the Sheriff deserves to feel your wrath, it's better not to create more problems than you already have. Don't kill anyone."
"It's hard to imagine why you'd need to kill anybody on a job like this. Anyway, don't do it."
"Killing people is unnecessary. But destroying Mechanist security machines is not an issue."
"Killing is the mark of an amateur. Don't kill anyone."
"The frame won't stick if the City Watch suspects you were involved. Don't knock out or kill anyone."
"You're a thief, not a murderer. Being the professional that you are, you can pull off this job without killing anyone."
"Violence is the mark of amateurs -- and Mechanists. You are neither; don't kill anyone during your explorations."
"No need for any rough stuff. Don't kill anybody."
"You're a thief, not a murderer. If you catch up with the wounded pagan, or come across any other humans, don't kill them."
"Jenivere would be aghast if anybody died because of this. Don't kill anyone."

gunsmoke on 22/7/2009 at 15:47

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The audio and especially the ambient sound sucked me in.

Thor on 22/7/2009 at 19:37

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Maybe the keepers just intended to say: "Stop pretending you're Rambo, Garrett".

Lytha on 24/7/2009 at 09:38

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It's been a long time.

My first memory of Thief is me in Bafford's Manor. I was holding the sword in my hand and tried to get a backstab at one of the guards on patrol in the 1st floor, carpeted area near the pool. Not the drunk guard... the other side of the mansion.

My friend was sitting next to me and watching and told me to use the blackjack for once - so I guess I had killed everyone up to that point.

Let me put the blame for this less than glorious entrance into the world of Thief onto the Tutorial (you didn't use the blackjack in the Tutorial; instead, you dueled a guard and stabbed a training dummy. I had no idea what the blackjack was supposed to do at that point) and the idea that "FPS = killer game".

I remained an utterly violent gamer up to the Sword mission, where a bloodbath in the crazed noisily tiled section of the upper levels ensued. Fire arrows shot at heads were involved there; I still have some vivid memories of that incident. However, this mass-murdering style just didn't work out very well, or I just got totally lost in the Sword mission... so I think I went and searched for some hints online and ended up here.

I'm glad I did, by the way, even though I'm not an active member here anymore.