This is the summer that I decided that I was going to finish some of those games that I've been buying and not getting around to playing. I've started with the Thief series and after finishing the first two (number two just hours ago) I'm looking for some opinions on the third game... how's the plot, did Ion Storm do a good job, that sort of thing. My other options are Syberia 2, Omikron: The Nomad Soul and the Deus Ex series, so given that selection should I give Ion Storms attempt at picking up where Looking Glass went teats up a shot, or move on to other pastures?

I played only demo version, but I think this game is exactly as Looking Glass games. Graphics are some, AI is very nice, NPCs notice that something is missing after you stole something, guards can discover you by your shadow. The game IMHO has also got better interface. On the screen you see only that crystla, the rest of the HUD is hidden, you see it only when you choose weapon or item. ION Storm added TPP view, but I think is useless for those who played first and the second part. There is also very nice lockpicking system. When you try to open closed doors or chest a minigame appears. There are of course same bugs like strange physics, but the game is great and has got that Thief atmosphere.

I played Thief III and I must say I found it to be an excellent game (I also played Thief, but not Thief II). Thief III is a bit different, whereas in the two previous games the guards would hunt for you the moment you're spotted and won't let go (and even if they do stop the hunt they'll be more on their guard) in Thief 3 they'll resume their regular patrol almost the second you move into the shadows (and once you're in the shadows you're as good as invisible - they were once standing right in front of me and they didn't see me... of coarse they also carry a lantern often and once you alert more than two guards they will become more agressive) anyway, the game has been dumbed down a bit. But it was still a great game in my opinion. The graphics are fantastic and it's fun to run around in the city and get small quests (often by listening in on conversations)
The movies are like the previous two games most of the time, which is fun. And Thief's trademarked scary missions are there and better than ever. I think Thief III was scarier than the previous two games... it also has one of the best levels ever designed in my opinion... but I hope you'll find that out for yourself.
Fans of Thief probably won't commend it as much as the previous two games, but I say: go for it!

I haven't played Thief III, but eventualy you should get/play Deus Ex. It is a fantastic game, with good story and great gameplay. The way you can play any way you want (violent or non violent) and customise yourself is great fun. I haven't played the second one, but the first one was/is a classic IMO.

I can only say I agree with Stroggy.
The thing with lockpicking was, that pretty soon you'll know the locks, and can open any one in a matter of seconds. But the added interactivity is fun ^_^

EDIT:I wouldn't compare Thief with Deus Ex, though. Gameplay differs between the two. Deus Ex is very good too, and anyone should try it, but independantly from Thief.

I haven't played the Thief games, so I can't comment on them.

But I really recommend you give Syberia 2 a try. Oscar the Automotron is just amazing! There is a very sad twist :cry: half way through the game. You should also try Syberia 1 if you haven't already.

:ok:

Well if I didn't know we are two different guys I would swear you were me. I have the same games and for most I have too yet to finish them.

I would like to know your opinions regarding Thief 1 and 2. I have yet to finish these, so before I answer your side, you tell me, is it worth going over these two games and if so should I skip 1 and just play 2, or is it worth it playing 1 and then 2?

With regards to Omnikron, yes play it when you can, but only after you play Deus Ex.

Put it this way, I just recently, a couple or just over, months ago played Deus Ex and finsihed it. Before this I had some idea about the game and thought it was decent and never really understood why some people regarded it as their greatest game ever created.

I, now in the year 2005, 5 years after the game was released about, consider this to be the "GREATEST GAME EVER CREATED." It is a lot to claim one game to be the greastest spanning over different genres, but I must honestly grant that title to Deus Ex. I cannot comment on Deus Ex 2 I have yet to play that, but from what I have heard Deus Ex 2 isnt as good as the first one.

I can now say if I was only to have ever played one single game in my life, I would have chosen it to be Deus Ex - it really is that good. It is not the graphics or the sound or the music (which btw imo is the best damn music I have ever heard in a game) it is every part of the game combined that makes it a one in a million type of game.

The fact that you choose how to play the game with either the skills you choose or the different routes or puzzle solutions you take and that it has an amazing storyline that never once gets boring is what makes this game stand out.

I can honestly say I have never in my life played a game as many straight hours in a sitting as I did with Deus Ex (excluding multiplayer games for obvious reasons). I recall on one day I played it from morning to morning (I hardly took any breaks that day) I have never done that with a single play game before.

If this has not convinced you to play it - how about this. Take the one thing in your life that you could not have lived without experiencing at least once and now equate that to the gaming world.

For the best experience keep the room dark and quite and turn the sound up - dont let anyone destory this experience.

What a game, oh what a game...

My god it worked, I do want to play it now.

Should you play Thief?

Let me put it this way. I've been playing games steadily since 1993. I've played every kind of game and enjoyed most of them. However, I have never enjoyed a game as much as Thief. Out of the thousands of games I've played it is my favourite. Its so in-depth, so fun, the gameplay is increadible. You may think that the graphics are a bit tried for today's age, but they really do their job for the gameplay. The #1 thing that turns people off from it is its difficulity. But, like most Looking Glass Games, it is increadibly indepth and that makes it naturally hard. I would actually say that Dues Ex is somewhat more difficult, because once you get the hang of thief it gets easier. As for Syberia 2, I simply found it a bit too easy at parts, so...

In any case, Thief - one of the best games ever made... well, at least for me. :ok: But if you don't want to, Dues Ex is definatelly a second choice...

I think I just might give thief a try again.

The last time I played a bit of it was way back when, and I still recall being freaked out a bit, because I decided to play the game at night and I just happen to not be a fan of zombie anything (zombies scare the willies out of me - give me vampires, give me spiders, but don't give me zombies) and add to that the fact that I had to shoot them with holy water - it's no wonder I nearly gave myself a heart attack every corner I turned.

I am getting the shivers just thinking about it...

You'd like a part in the first Thief, where you'd make a sound and an army of zombies would come at you. :D
In fact, I just stood on a little plateau and fired arrows drenched in holy water all around. It was a massacre, and very impressive (Especially considering I hadn't really fought an enemy face to face thus far).

I really would really like to play Thief again, but my CD's corrupted -snif- :(
I never got a chance to play Thief 2 myself, but from what I saw it was pretty much the same as the first one. I would really like to get my hands on it some day.

God, I love the Thief series :D

Yeah, the Thief series has always been good for a few scares :)
It's also lots of fun to listen in on the conversations and read the notes and books.
Even the most simple thieving missions can be turned into a mission with a deep plot just by listening in on the conversations and discovering an entire plot... brilliant.

Sorry for how long it took me to reply, I've been a bit busy. I have installed the third Thief game and it seems... different. I loved the first two thief games, their depth of missions, the plot development, the way the Dark engine was just so... well, dark. The third one seems to have been developed for the X-box crowd though, shadows are no longer really black (they're now blue?!?), the first person perspective leaves me feeling like I've been playing the original Wolfenstein 3D due to it's narrow perspective, which isn't so bad when you play in 3'rd person perspective but that takes away from those tense moments when you were waiting in the shadows for a guard to blackjack him or her, but it also makes leaning useless (and what's up with the full body lean?) and, to my dismay, expert level now lets you kill guards (not that you are forced to... yet). I'll finish the game before I cast final judgement, but so far this seems to be a clumsy attempt to recreate one of the most dexterous series made.

Thief one and two are two of the best first person games I've ever played, up there with the System Shock series, The Elder Scrolls series and the Ultima Underworld series (coincidence perhaps that three of these games were made by Looking Glass? Maybe I'm just a fanboy... I love Terra Nova too) The first two games had a depth and intensity of plot that I have not seen in any game (at least not off the top of my head ;) ) to date. Game play in them was excellent, (if you really don't like zombie missions play Thief 2, Zombies only appear in two missions I believe... ghosts and haunts are another matter though... and you'll miss out on the scene where Garrett loses his eye) and leaves you wanting more. Quite literally; in fact there is a fan expansion for Thief 2 called Shadows of the Metal Age that is complete with movies... though you'll want a broadband to pull down this 700MB monster (if you're interested links can be found at www.thief-thecircle.com). To say too much about any thief game would be to give away the lovely surprises though, and those are what really keeps you coming back for more Thief; well, the surprises and the last stupid 150 loot. :ok:

Spoiler: Zombies can be killed with holy water arrows, flash bombs, mines and fire arrows. Haunts can be killed with all of the above and even something as easy as a backstab, the twisted priests also go down hard to a nice backstab. What can I say, I play too much D&D to let undead live.

Are you sure you got all the graphics set up correctly, because I remember Thief III as the darkest of the three games, at times the entire room was dark safe a small fireplace. The beginning of the game is a bit slow, granted, the first few missions are pretty weak but soon after you'll be crawling through haunted ships, robbing pirate mansions during a thunderstorm, running through graveyards, and exploring a very entertaining level.

Listen to this tragedy - Thief 1 and 2 are my all-time favourite games, but Thief 3 I can't even try out because of my graphics card! Apparently, Thief 3 started using pixel shaders which my old card does not support. But, to tell you the truth, the moment I heard that somebody else besides Looking Glass was going to be making Thief, I was skeptical. And the game tanked, too, right?

Thief 3 is a good game.
In fact, I'm going to play it again right now.
:D

I'm afraid I liked the game. And all this talk about the game makes me want to play it again.

damn you both for rubbing it in :wall: :wall:

Well if you're a real fanboy who was hoping for Thief III to be in the same unmodified Dark engine you'll hate Thief III.

No, I know that Thief 3 is under the Unreal3 engine, and I did want to see how it works there... Oh well, guess I'll have to wait until I get a better gfx card.

Well, I just downloaded the demo of Thief III. I will have a go.

Yeah Stroggy, I'm pretty sure I have my graphics set up right. It's a common complaint about Thief 3, the fact that there is no black areas where seeing was literally impossible... everything seems lit with a blue-ish hue. It may just be that I need to adjust my gamma way down, but I'm afraid that if I do it as far as I need to go it will make everything too dark (I've only just gotten the bloodline opal to the fence).

It's good to hear that the missions will get more interesting, and I'm hoping that Ion Storm will provide missions leaving me as disoriented as the mission where you steal the sword from constantine and as interesting mission that happens right after the Mechanists massacre the pagan village.

Most missions are pretty straightforwars dexcept for the Best Mission which has a nice little twist (normally I wouldn't call it a twist but because of the level itself you will hate the aforementioned twist)
The game does take a nasty turn around halfway through, one moment you are just playing hide and seek with the guards and after a cutscene you'll find yourself running over rooftops desperately seeking for a safe heaven from... but I'm running ahead of myself.

By the way i've never had the chance to play Thief II (since I was very bad at Thief I, I decided to just not waste any money on the sequel)

Great game. A certain one of those levels still freaks me out :D

Well, I decided to give Thief another go after quite some time and I am enjoying it. The engine has aged well and the graphics are more than adequate and suit the setting.

I do have 3 gripes with the game though.

(1) The whole issue of falling. I cannot even count the number of times I have fallen to my death and I have only played 3 missions so far. I fall trying to climb ladders, I fall trying to catch ropes, I fall just standing near an edge and I fall trying to make jumps.

So how many of you guys went through the same thing of slipping off the edge somewhere high and reloading and slipping again and reloading again and slipping again until you feel out pulling your hair. Related to this, trying to climb up certain areas.

(2) Certain really dark areas with important objects hidden. Playing through my love-hate mission so far in Thief - Down In The Bonehoard. I cannot count the number of times I had to use a walkthrough in order to find a certain important object - namely a ladder. I just could not see them as well as the goods I am supposed to steal.

Perhaps I have the gamma set up wrong, but I just cannot see objects in total darkness. What is the ideal setting anyway? Should it be dark like that, that you cannot see objects in the dark or should you increase the gamma so that you can see them? I am worried about increasing the gamma too far as I don't want to ruin the experience, but as it stand there are a number of occassions where I have walked into a wall because it was so dark and I got lost because I could see nothing.

(3) The whole issue of the map. What is the point with using most of the maps. It is difficult enough navigating in a game world where you have a) A compass and B) A DETAILED map. The maps in Thief do nothing for me sadly. On the odd occassion it helps me position myself correctly, but other than that I find it a waste.

It does make the gameplay somewhat frustrating as I tend to go in circles quite a bit - some professional thief I am - and don't get me started with the secret areas you need to find to progress.

Other than that the game is still really good, although it sucks having to use a walkthrough from time to time to either know where to go or to find some hidden ladder/lever/object in total darkness.

Speaking of my love-hate mission - Down in the Bonehoard

Spoilers -


As I am no big fan of zombies, I am interested to know how most of you guys went about this mission. At the area where there are lots of zombies patrolling around, I decided to try and sneak in the shadows most of the time, but unfortunately for me they kept wondering in the dark and bumping into me and of course they then went for my brains as a snack as a result.

Its bad enough having to deal with the moans of the undead, but accidentally wondering into you as you have your back turned is not good for my heart.

Anyway I decided to go rambo on the zombies and hid in the little room with 4 or 5 sleeping zombies on the floor and I attack a zombie outside of that room. Next thing I know every single zombie, but one, came after me entering that room. Somehow they all heard me and started to attack - I did not have any time to actually arm the arrow properly. It was crazy stuff. I had to kill the zombies right next to me, there were so many.

At the end of this there the room was littered with body parts every where.

Can I look forward to more situations like this? (And by this I mean please tell me there arnt any more situations like this where I have to fight off huge packs of brain eating zombies)

I must say so far my favourite mission is Assassin. Those are the kind of missions I like. Break-in, loot the place and leave.

Lastly, any of you guys got some helpful hints or advice on takling certain situations,
particularly with regards to navigating, or do you guys also just wonder around hopign to find the right areas.

Unfortunately on expert the broadhead arrow and sword are rather wasted. Pity you cannot kill the humans. Do you eventually get to kill some humans?

1: I never had trouble with that. :blink:

2: Thief is supposed to be a very dark game, but it sometimes overdoes it. When absolutely necessary I tend to turn up the gamma on my screen, and turn it back down when I'm done.

3:Personally I loved the way Thief handled maps :). They let you do the work yourself in a more realistic manner.

-Slight spoilers:
I did it pretty much the same way. I stood in the center of the great hall, threw a skull on the ground and faced the hordes. It was a bloodbath.
As far as I know you won't be facing such legions again.

The sword and arrows still have uses against non-human opponents.

If you put some efort in, most missions will not be too hard to navigate. Some of the other missions (those which are illogical in build) were meant to be very hard to navigate. In those missions the map is only a guideline and, in a way, you'll have to make your own as you go.

Spoiler: (highlight to see... unless your screen is different from mine) My favorite way to handle the zombies in Bonehorde is to sucker them all to the fire arrow trap room... get six or seven following you and they all go down like dominoes :D. If you holy water them before they "wake up" they only take one shot... same thing with flash bombs, but flash bombs will wake up others in the area, holy-water arrows won't. And remember the haunts (undead with swords) and undead priests can be killed with a single blow from a short sword if you manage to catch them unaware, backstabbing them.

There are two more missions in the game that are littered with undead, but they are both more manageable than bonehoard.