GRRRR on 6/6/2004 at 00:58
I think they made a big fat mistake by removing the mission briefing movies. The voiceover is very good, but the halfassy briefing screen ruins it.
Imagine a classic briefing for the overlook mansion :
First we see Garrett rowing towards the mansion on the horizon (a still picture, but mebbe some animated flashes, thunder noises)
Some stills of the entrance caves fading into an overview of the mansion courtyard
Then mebbe the big stairs then a closeup of the neireid telescope zooming out into a big view of the great hall
At last we see the widow sitting on the window, then mebbe a closeup to her face with her lips moving animated
Stuff like that, hmkay contains spoilers of some kind, but it was done similar in T1/2 iirc. The old briefings helped building up the mood, created a feeling of "this mission belongs to the story". Now we just get a blueish screen slapped in the face and then get "thrown" into the mission. Especially obvious when starting a new game. No intro, just click new game - *clanking noise* "I got a tip last night....great way to start the climax of an epic story, duh.
Wynne on 6/6/2004 at 01:39
No offense, but this poll is really weak. Something as trivial as "No invisibility potions" is an option, but not "Movement" or "Game Length" or "Shortage of Rustmonkey briefings/cutscenes"? The storyline and lockpicking were great; there's no reason for either of those to be on here, either.
I chose Other.
chis on 6/6/2004 at 01:55
I'm a long-time Thiefer, and in case you're wondering, merely a lurker around these forums :sly: ... thought I'd pitch in with: I agree with Wynne, but my main issue so far is... am I the only one who is DISAPPOINTED with the Shalebridge Cradle mission? Yes there are some unsettling elements (the enemies, [spoiler]"the picture and the apparition"[/spoiler]), but after Shunned and the like, it seems to have hardly any (if any) truely trouser-worrying moments as far as I can see. And after playing the first three Silent Hill games I believe I can confidently say that Ion Storm haven't really raised the bar as far as horror goes, that is for sure.
Actually, I was mostly pissed off with the unnecessary blocking-out of Windows 9x users. Farcry and UT2004 work under 98SE for goodness sakes...
-Chis
blazinfish on 6/6/2004 at 02:20
i dont know if anybody has said this yet but for me it was most definetly the dissentigrating zombies. holy crap i was so pissed off when i shot a fire arrow into the first zombie i saw, with a big grin on my face(happily anticipating the glorious explosion of body parts flying every which way accompanied by the gross sound it made, (only what ive been used to ever since TDP )) only to be abruptly let down as it fell over and freakin evaporated. what the hells up with that crap man?!?! o well still a beautiful game.
Red Oktober on 7/6/2004 at 17:27
Not being able to blackjack someone sitting in a chair, not enough rooftop movement in the city (that's what I was really looking forward to)
Crouching removes all noise..... the only time I had to use moss arrows was for the pagan cornerstones.
SlyFoxx on 7/6/2004 at 20:07
Load zones were not as bad as I thought they were going to be...and I can now see why the game was made that way. I really enjoyed how The City acted as the hub for all the missions.
The worst part of the game for me was Garrett's lack of agility. I guess it's an engine thing but Dark 1 & 2 allowed more percise control. The first time I leaned to look over an edge I freekin' fell off! Am I a master thief or a master klutz? By the time I got to the [spoiler] cathedral mission I had my move binds like T1 & 2 ....that helped a lot but I still felt clumsy manteling, hopping on ledges and getting off ladders.[/spoiler]
The climbing gloves were about usless. I think I only really needed them once [spoiler] to access the clock tower mission.[/spoiler] There might have been more times but I really don't remember.
The "get 90% loot" on Expert was a bit of a bugger so I played from the pagan mission on on hard. [spoiler] This whole game was about uncovering a mystery, not finding a bunch of loot. I hate it when I'm done all the important things and have to run around to find another 200 or so just to tick an objective. You didn't need to steal even half the loot to have more than enough for toys and potions and such. I think about 10k would have been enough for the whole game. I had so much stuff left over it was nuts.
Lesse...Oil Flasks...used about 3.
Moss arrows...used about 3.
mines...used about 4....the first stone dudes.
fire arrows....used about 8...the first stone dudes.
[/spoiler]
As far as the [spoiler]keeper assassins....they should have called in Silent Sleep....they were a joke! But the idea was VERY cool. My blood was really pumping there for a moment....probably my favorite moment in the game....followed by the greatest let-down[/spoiler]
I loved the [spoiler] full circle conclusion with the little girl...kinda leaves things open for another game or at least fodder for future FM's[/spoiler]
:sly:
MonkeyLungs on 8/6/2004 at 07:08
i voted OTHER.
for me OTHER = AI RESET BUG
this bug is crap crap crap. blah bleh bluh. makes a damn cool game pretty uncool.
dr. cello on 8/6/2004 at 07:30
The funny thing is, most people were thinking it was just inconsistent AI, until the bug was actually discovered and verified. Now everyone absolutely hates the game, because they know why the AI was inconsistent.
Ironic.
mgeorge on 8/6/2004 at 13:37
For me the lack of those art cutscenes at the mission briefings is the games biggest fault, and why the devs didn't put it in there, I have absolutely no clue. I mean how much more could that have cost them to leave that feature intact? To me that was one of my favorite things in both T1 and 2 and greatly added to the immersive element. Grrr is right on target with his assessment. Other than that I am really enjoying the game, (although this AI bug a big dissapointment as well as it cuts down replayability) and think that although flawed still a worthy addition to the Thief series. Let's just hope a patch is put out to fix this AI thing.
Catch ya latter you Taffers!
Melianor on 8/6/2004 at 13:45
I find this sequel very fitting to the Thief series, although it is alot different in many aspects to the last games. What should have been in the poll is the AI bug. Apart from the lvl sizes this is the only thing bothering me.
