The Glade 4.0

Reviews are pretty mediocre, that's too bad.

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/thief

Looks like someone forgot to send the check to IGN.

I think that Thief purists will like the game, but I say that with the caveat that you should play it on higher difficulties, preferably with some HUD options disabled.

It would have to be a pretty royal screwup to turn me away. Hardest difficulty and no compass markers is typically how I play anyway. I dislike having my hand held like I'm a frightened, indecisive, little girl.

I really enjoy trying to "ghost" as much as possible in these games. "Ghosting" is the TTLG community term for completing a mission's objectives and getting all the loot while leaving no other trace of your passing. Closing doors you've opened, no putting out lights, no knocking out guards, etc. I don't try for 100% (I play it for the sweet spot between fun and tedious). But I do try to leave as many guards untouched as possible. It certainly extends the length of the game greatly since you must move more slowly and deliberately through the levels, and backtracking through them. But it also makes you search for alternate routes to get where you need to go (the original games had all sorts of paths, hidden and visible, to get you there).

If there is loot to be had, guards to sneak past, rope arrows to climb, I'll be happy. I'll be ten times as happy if they add some supernatural horror splashed here and there as well.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

Congrats then, this might be your game of the year.

Do you become 100% silent, regardless of substrate you're walking on, whilst crouching? That was my biggest gripe about Thief: Deadly Shadows and I still enjoyed the hell out of that game (even with it's weak last mission).

The first two Thief games, you still made noise while crouching, though far less. You made even less if you slowed yourself to a crawl (especially with your weapon drawn). I loved the decision making aspect of that. "I could sneak across that metal grate, and chance being caught. Or I can find another long way around."


T:DS negated noise completely while crouching, even on metal and sand. I had to force myself to stop using "easy mode."

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

No. Even crouching you'll have to move slowly through water, and that's while playing on easy. You are pretty much completely silent when crouching on other surfaces though. Walking normally on carpets will muffle your footsteps and there are upgrades you can get to make your footsteps quieter across the board.

Walking too quickly past a bird will startle it and make it squawk.

I will admit I am still only on the third mission, haven't had many surfaces to sneak across. Lightning Returns has been taking more of my attention.

PC version plus two DLC for $26, TODAY ONLY: http://www.gamedealdaily.com/store/prod ... oduct=2011

Disclaimer I have never purchased from this retailer and cannot vouch for them

I like it better than Thief: Deadly Shadows so far, and I didn't dislike T:DS. But you're right, for me to get the most out of it I had to disable practically every HUD option and play on the hardest level.

The only problem with that is not intuitively knowing what the character can do or what the game wants you to do. I got stuck early on after dropping down in an area without any way back up. After I turned some HUD options back on, it turns out the game wanted me to hold down the Interact key at a certain spot to "squeeze" through an area with some boxes and beams.

But I do like the minimalist HUD that I have set, even without the light gem (having the edges of the screen go dark or bright is brilliant). And not having a minimap or obvious "go here" markers puts the exploration fun back in. Though I do miss having the crudley drawn maps of the original games. They weren't exact maps, and weren't meant to be. But it was a bit of realism that I enjoyed and still found useful without being too "hold your hand like you're the little girl again"-ish. I also missed playing an FPS game where you actually have a body and cast your own shadow (something T:DS had).

The story so far is intriguing. And I do like the references to the other games. Including Basso the Boxman was definitely a good nod, as he was in the first two Thief games (you had to rescue him from Mission 2 in the first game, and he hired you to rescue his girlfriend in the first mission of Thief 2). And of course, the name of the place Basso resides: The Crippled Burrick. I am curious to see what other references I'll come across.

I even don't mind the voice actor for Garrett. He's no Stephen Russell, but his tone and inflection are perfect. I feel like he delivers the lines the same way Stephen would and therefore he doesn't take me out of the game.

So far, I give it a solid thumbs up as a Thief game. We'll see how it continues to go, but it's off to a very good start.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

Solid thumbs up what?

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The Dude abides.

Xbone crushes blacks, bye bye detail

Isn't that just a gamma adjustment of some kind?

While the black crush is pretty bad in the X-Box One example, I'd be pretty annoyed (and reaching for my adjustments) at the washed out shadows in the PS4, too.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

In this case it's an issue with the rendering, gamma changes on top of that wouldn't help. You can fix 'washed out' with brightness/contrast/gamma, or with SweetFX on the PC if you know what you're doing with it. Once the blacks are crushed, there's no going back. That detail is lost forever no matter what settings you play around with.

Odd, I remember people complaining about this on the 360, but once I did a little black/white calibration, mine looked great.

The Xbone is basically raising the black point by shaving 15 shades off of it for their rendering if you have ever used a levels adjustment in Photoshop or similar program.

I've heard the AI in the game is atrocious. Any truth to that?

Awful night vision, but if they know you're there, they can go out of their way annoyingly so to find you.

Can't find my old boxed games anymore, so have re-purchased by way of the Thief Collection on Steam.
I'm intending to play through the first one and maybe even the second before picking up the newest. Don't think I'll get far in T:DS, though - I remember being somewhat unimpressed by the demo.

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Go back to zero, take a pill, and get well ~ Lemmy Kilmister

T:DS is worth it for one mission and one mission alone: Robbing the Cradle. Unless you don't like being scared on levels you've never been before, then you may think otherwise. It was a mission brilliantly crafted by Null, a designer who did Thief fan missions who got hired onto the Ion Storm Austin team for that project.

T:DS was also at least worth it to see a closure to (Stephen Russell's) Garrett and his story.

I recommend looking into all the fan modules for the original games. They have released lots of high-res texture packs for the first two games, for instance.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

How far into T:DS is that mission?

Btw, the nostalgia wouldn't be complete without 1000 clues that you have been playing Thief way too much ...

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Go back to zero, take a pill, and get well ~ Lemmy Kilmister

A shoutout to ttlg forums, nice Shel! Outside of the glade, that board is probably one of the longest I've been a part of (November of '98 is when I registered there, got on the glade in Feb of 2000).

I'd say RTC is about 3/4 of the way through the game. Since we're talking about the Cradle mission and ttlg, here's a giant thread about all the people who were very disturbed and scared by that mission, with even a few posts from the creator the mission itself. I wouldn't read too much (literally, beyond the first 3 posts), as there are some spoilers (even though most people try not to). The mission is it's most effective going in without any foreknowledge and spoilers. It's just a wonderful psychological thrill ride.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

Really glad I picked up that bundle.
Apparently, I had never played Thief Gold.
Those extra missions = totally new to me

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Go back to zero, take a pill, and get well ~ Lemmy Kilmister

Yeah, the opera mission is by far one of the funnest of the first game. That was one of the new ones in Thief gold.

Speaking of Thief, I was watching an interview with a celeb and since he's not only a television actor but also heavily involved with a particular video game's acting, they asked him what his favorite video game was. My bet was on something like, "Halo" or " Call of Duty" or "Angry Birds."

Nope, he said Thief. And my respect for him shot up multiple notches that day.

The actor? This guy.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

Started playing T:DS last night, having completed the first two, and I want to slap someone for what they did.

I like the lockpicking mechanic. It's more interesting than switching between square & triangle picks.
I like that there's a "flatten against a wall" mechanic.
I like that there's an "extinguish candle" mechanic.

Dislike ... pretty much everything else.
Movement is the worst but weapon animations, NPC voice acting, the unreliability of sapping (and how close you have to get to do it), split levels, replacing 'lean' with 'sidestep' (I actually fell off a roof once because of that) ... it's all very disappointing.

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Go back to zero, take a pill, and get well ~ Lemmy Kilmister

Shel,

I like the new Thief game's mechanics over T:DS. Leaning out of cover is improved, being able to peer through keyholes (protip: in Thief 1 and 2, if you leaned into a door you could hear what's behind it much clearer), etc.

I wasn't too impressed with the villain of T:DS's story and felt the "final battle" was pretty weak. But, it's ending cinematic did bookend the entire series pretty well. But, like I said, the "Robbing the Cradle" mission is still one of my all-time favorite Thief levels. Period. Definitely a sparkling jewel hidden beneath layers of disappointment.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!