Thief: The Dark Project turns 25

[std::namespace]

^ quality GAMEplay

 

[Terenty]

I played and beat both Thiefs and I just cant share the love for that series.

As a package they are far far below the original Deus Ex. They just feel basic in comparison. I know the stealth is far more advanced than DX, but overall just no.

Also there are only a few stand out levels and these levels stand out because the design is kinda close to DX.

Both Thiefs start out strong and then lose steam half way through and decline into complete boredom by the end, levels and story wise.

Looking Glass peaked with Ultima Underworlds and then started dumping down

 

[jaekl]

This part is where Garrett and I really aren't anywhere near being on the same page. Everyone knows that wizards are BAD NEWS - and Garrett seems to think it's cool to start working for this especially weird creeper wizard. You saw how fucked up his house was, Garrett, and he didn't even pay for the sword job! He just sends you into the haunted zombie ruins and promises he'll pay you this time. HELLOooo - wake up Garrett!! Plus his girl is real unsettling, I half expected this loser to ask Garrett to bang her while he watched. Never trust a sex weirdo, they're even worse than wizards.

Garrett blasts his way through hordes of undead creatures, crab men and burricks. Funny thing about the undead is that your basic shambling retard zombies are actually much harder to kill than ghosts and the dreaded hammer haunts, who easily fall to sword blows and then allow you to pick their corpse up and do whatever you want with it. This whole district only had like 40 creatures in it, kinda strange that no one has managed to reconquer it yet. Buncha weenies in this town.

Finding 2000 loot was also a pain in the ass, I can't believe there is still 600 unaccounted for, I was running back and forth through the empty streets, slipping on zombie guts and picking around in every crevice trying to find lone gems and chalices for half an hour

 

[NecroLord]

This part is where Garrett and I really aren't anywhere near being on the same page. Everyone knows that wizards are BAD NEWS - and Garrett seems to think it's cool to start working for this especially weird creeper wizard. You saw how fucked up his house was, Garrett, and he didn't even pay for the sword job! He just sends you into the haunted zombie ruins and promises he'll pay you this time. HELLOooo - wake up Garrett!! Plus his girl is real unsettling, I half expected this loser to ask Garrett to bang her while he watched. Never trust a sex weirdo, they're even worse than wizards.

Garrett blasts his way through hordes of undead creatures, crab men and burricks. Funny thing about the undead is that your basic shambling retard zombies are actually much harder to kill than ghosts and the dreaded hammer haunts, who easily fall to sword blows and then allow you to pick their corpse up and do whatever you want with it. This whole district only had like 40 creatures in it, kinda strange that no one has managed to reconquer it yet. Buncha weenies in this town.

Finding 2000 loot was also a pain in the ass, I can't believe there is still 600 unaccounted for, I was running back and forth through the empty streets, slipping on zombie guts and picking around in every crevice trying to find lone gems and chalices for half an hour

Yeah, you missed a bunch of loot.
It's mostly scattered around in this mission.

 

[jaekl]

Come one come all, because Garrett is rolling out the dead carpet at the mage tower!! I don't approve of Garrett's questionable decisions when it comes to employers, especially when he killed everyone in the thieves guild so he can pick and choose when it comes to jobs now. Not only is he working for a super sus magic user, but now he's taking orders from an evil cursed artifact. Seems like a retarded move, but at least it gives Garrett an excuse to bring the pain to a bunch of pajama wearing pussies. What's the difference between a mage and a wizard anyways? All Garrett knows for sure is that their guts all look the same.

66 kills in a single night, this has to be some kind of record. I bet they'll be so busy investigating all these murders and trying to figure out how all the body parts fit together that they won't even notice that Garrett stole every single thing of value in the tower. That's why Garrett is a true master thief, he knows the subtle art of misdirection better than anyone.

 

[None]

Finished the game last night, all missions on expert. Cragscleft Prison was my favorite. Return to the Cathedral would have been if it was done differently in terms of enemies.

Ultimately the core issue I kept running into is that there was little incentive to try and stay unnoticed during an entire mission. Some missions clearly wanted me to, but the power of the blackjack would end up removing the need for continued stealth. Other missions wanted me to be a Paladin instead of a Thief. One even wanted me to be Mario. I outright skipped the last two missions as I was already tired of what was offered to me during Escape. Other missions like The Lost City and Undercover had implementations that didn't live up to the concept of the location or concept. The game felt all over the place, especially the further I progressed.

On its own I'd give it like a 6.5/10. The concept and ideas are there, but the execution isn't up to snuff. In an alternate universe where Thief was just the start of a long and heavily competed in genre, it'd be remarkable only as a progenitor. But because there is nothing else quite like it, it gets an 8/10. And because that score is one of relativity, I may end up changing it based on Thief 2 which is up next.

 

[cruel]

Playing Arx Fatalis has convinced me to try Thief - never played it before. I have Thief Gold on Steam - anything I need to play this in 2024, outside of Tfix and texture pack? Should I bother with sound upgrades?

Sent from my KB2005 using Tapatalk

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Playing Arx Fatalis has convinced me to try Thief - never played it before. I have Thief Gold on Steam - anything I need to play this in 2024, outside of Tfix and texture pack? Should I bother with sound upgrades?

Try to get EAX to work in Thief if it doesn't, and you should be good.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Finished the game last night, all missions on expert. Cragscleft Prison was my favorite. Return to the Cathedral would have been if it was done differently in terms of enemies.

Ultimately the core issue I kept running into is that there was little incentive to try and stay unnoticed during an entire mission. Some missions clearly wanted me to, but the power of the blackjack would end up removing the need for continued stealth. Other missions wanted me to be a Paladin instead of a Thief. One even wanted me to be Mario. I outright skipped the last two missions as I was already tired of what was offered to me during Escape. Other missions like The Lost City and Undercover had implementations that didn't live up to the concept of the location or concept. The game felt all over the place, especially the further I progressed.

On its own I'd give it like a 6.5/10. The concept and ideas are there, but the execution isn't up to snuff. In an alternate universe where Thief was just the start of a long and heavily competed in genre, it'd be remarkable only as a progenitor. But because there is nothing else quite like it, it gets an 8/10. And because that score is one of relativity, I may end up changing it based on Thief 2 which is up next.

Late to the party reading this, but better late than never.

The criticism that Thief 1 was "all over the place" is somewhat valid, as not even the developers themselves were 100% certain what they were making to begin with - they had a game engine looking for a game, which happened to have qualities beneficial for a stealth game... but as time would tell, not a platform game. The approach of "throw everything at it, see what sticks" was truly used here.

I also perfectly understand your criticism towards the end game. 15 full-fledged missions is way too much, especially since some of them feel so samey. In a remake I would merge "Escape!" and "Strange Bedfellows" into one level, and make "The Maw of Chaos" into a more streamlined, cinematic affair, focusing on bizarre visuals rather than physics challenges.

"The power of the blackjack" was so compelling to you, that you didn't even stop to realize that it's your decision whether to use it or not. Try playing the game without it, see what happens. There's your "continued stealth". Don't blame the game for what is ultimately your fault.

I don't know whether you've played Thief 2 since writing the above, but if I may make a couple of predictions:

# You're going to say that Looking Glass tried to focus on the elements that clearly worked in the first game, and eschew those that didn't.

# You're going to criticize how Thief 2 feels samey and bland throughout, as it tries too hard to "stick to its guns".

# The last levels are rough and painful, as you're subjected to another 15 full-fledged missions... some of which are larger than life.

 

[-M-]

anything I need to play this in 2024, outside of Tfix and texture pack?

The HD Mod is the easiest texture pack to find, but it takes too many liberties with the art for my liking.

Much prefer Necro Age, which keeps the original style and just upgrades the quality.

https://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=144312

 

[NecroLord]

Playing Arx Fatalis has convinced me to try Thief - never played it before. I have Thief Gold on Steam - anything I need to play this in 2024, outside of Tfix and texture pack? Should I bother with sound upgrades?

Sent from my KB2005 using Tapatalk

You can just play it straight out of the box (if you manage to make it work on your system, that is).

 

[NecroLord]

Finished the game last night, all missions on expert. Cragscleft Prison was my favorite. Return to the Cathedral would have been if it was done differently in terms of enemies.

Ultimately the core issue I kept running into is that there was little incentive to try and stay unnoticed during an entire mission. Some missions clearly wanted me to, but the power of the blackjack would end up removing the need for continued stealth. Other missions wanted me to be a Paladin instead of a Thief. One even wanted me to be Mario. I outright skipped the last two missions as I was already tired of what was offered to me during Escape. Other missions like The Lost City and Undercover had implementations that didn't live up to the concept of the location or concept. The game felt all over the place, especially the further I progressed.

On its own I'd give it like a 6.5/10. The concept and ideas are there, but the execution isn't up to snuff. In an alternate universe where Thief was just the start of a long and heavily competed in genre, it'd be remarkable only as a progenitor. But because there is nothing else quite like it, it gets an 8/10. And because that score is one of relativity, I may end up changing it based on Thief 2 which is up next.

Late to the party reading this, but better late than never.

The criticism that Thief 1 was "all over the place" is somewhat valid, as not even the developers themselves were 100% certain what they were making to begin with - they had a game engine looking for a game, which happened to have qualities beneficial for a stealth game... but as time would tell, not a platform game. The approach of "throw everything at it, see what sticks" was truly used here.

I also perfectly understand your criticism towards the end game. 15 full-fledged missions is way too much, especially since some of them feel so samey. In a remake I would merge "Escape!" and "Strange Bedfellows" into one level, and make "The Maw of Chaos" into a more streamlined, cinematic affair, focusing on bizarre visuals rather than physics challenges.

"The power of the blackjack" was so compelling to you, that you didn't even stop to realize that it's your decision whether to use it or not. Try playing the game without it, see what happens. There's your "continued stealth". Don't blame the game for what is ultimately your fault.

I don't know whether you've played Thief 2 since writing the above, but if I may make a couple of predictions:

# You're going to say that Looking Glass tried to focus on the elements that clearly worked in the first game, and eschew those that didn't.

# You're going to criticize how Thief 2 feels samey and bland throughout, as it tries too hard to "stick to its guns".

# The last levels are rough and painful, as you're subjected to another 15 full-fledged missions... some of which are larger than life.

Never understood why they cut the "Song of the Caverns" mission...
It is one of the best missions in the game, if not the whole trilogy.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I'm not sure the three missions added in the Gold-version were cut content to begin with... but I could be wrong.

And while I disagree about your ranking of it, I agree that it's up there with the best of them.

It's interesting that very few (if any) have attempted to remix, remaster or remake "Song of the Caverns" - while the number of "Thieves' Guild" do-overs are starting to fill up the place...

 

[NecroLord]

You know, I used to hate the "Downwind Thieves Guild" mission, but it has kinda grown on me.
Don't get me wrong, it's not that good of a mission, you just have to figure out the map first.
It's a really confusing mission the first time you play it.

 

[destinae vomitus]

You know, I used to hate the "Downwind Thieves Guild" mission, but it has kinda grown on me.
Don't get me wrong, it's not that good of a mission, you just have to figure out the map first.
It's a really confusing mission the first time you play it.

My main issue with it is how it bungles the pacing of the story, while also being straight-up filler that has nothing to do with the greater narrative. The Sword is obviously supposed to take place right after Assassins as the briefing cutscene suggests, but I guess Garrett actually had to embark on an inconsequential sewer escapade inbetween to attract the attention of Viktoria.

 

[NecroLord]

You know, I used to hate the "Downwind Thieves Guild" mission, but it has kinda grown on me.
Don't get me wrong, it's not that good of a mission, you just have to figure out the map first.
It's a really confusing mission the first time you play it.

My main issue with it is how it bungles the pacing of the story, while also being straight-up filler that has nothing to do with the greater narrative. The Sword is obviously supposed to take place right after Assassins as the briefing cutscene suggests, but I guess Garrett actually had to embark on an inconsequential sewer escapade inbetween to attract the attention of Viktoria.

"Lord Randall's would've smelled better."

 

[udm]

I like the Thieves' Guild for the reason that it feels badass. The idea of an underground base with a gambling den and all, connected by sewers, is pretty neat.

 

[NecroLord]

I like the Thieves' Guild for the reason that it feels badass. The idea of an underground base with a gambling den and all, connected by sewers, is pretty neat.

Not to mention Garrett trolling all those amateur thieves, showing them how business is done...

 

[Unkillable Cat]

You know, I used to hate the "Downwind Thieves Guild" mission, but it has kinda grown on me.
Don't get me wrong, it's not that good of a mission, you just have to figure out the map first.
It's a really confusing mission the first time you play it.

My main issue with it is how it bungles the pacing of the story, while also being straight-up filler that has nothing to do with the greater narrative. The Sword is obviously supposed to take place right after Assassins as the briefing cutscene suggests, but I guess Garrett actually had to embark on an inconsequential sewer escapade inbetween to attract the attention of Viktoria.

All three added missions in Thief Gold do this. They just flesh out the game world, they don't add anything to the story. "The Mage's Guild" goes one better and introduces new gameplay mechanics (levitating platforms and heated floors). Many arguments have been had (and clearly will be had in the future) whether the addition of these three missions was good for the pacing and story of Thief or not.

Where Thief Gold truly delivers is in introducing new assets for Fan Mission-authors to use. For that we can be eternally grateful.

 

[BLOBERT]

BROS I GOT THIEF IN LIKE 1999 FROM SOME DUDE MY GIRLFRIENDS FRIEND WAS SEEING

ANYWAYS BROS I PLAYED THE IF A LITTLE BUT MY GIRLFRIENDS FRIEND SUCKED MY DICK LIKE FOR YEARS LATER LOLOLLOLL