Thief III Goes Gold!

[Kassiopeia]

Spoiler:

Yeah, got it, I'm there. I do have the gloves, I went up right next to the balcony. I could swear I couldn't climb the part with the whiter material before but I guess not.

[DrSpike]

Spoiler:

I have no idea about the game yet since I haven't started, but I didn't want to ruin the run of spoilers.

[Skanky Burns]

I didn't think you had started the game yet. Risking a peek at your spoiler turned out a worthwhile risk.

I've been playing today, but my house is not conducive to stealth gameplay. Noisy as hell would be a more apt description.

[Kassiopeia]

Finished it. The game was certainly a blast, if a bit short for my taste. The endind was also slightly lacking in my humble opinion:

Spoiler:

While I think it was an excellent judgement call not to force the player to actually KILL Gamall, I was expecting some kind of a clear sign that "this is it". When I placed the eye on the fountain, I was definitely not waiting for the game to already end.

I like to savour the ends of games, feel my heart beat and so on, and while I did get a slice of this when running right through a battle between Gamall and two Hammerite spellcasters in Stonemarket Proper, the real "oomph" was lacking.

All in all it's a great game. Note however that I haven't played the two earlier Thieves that much, although I'll be looking for Metal Age in the bargain bins the next time I go shopping. But thankfully my earlier worries caused by the heap of turd that was DX2 turned out to be false.

[alva]

You've already FINISHED this game????

Where is the fun in that?

That's like spending 6 six hours on dinner and then everyone scofflling (sp?) it down in 3 seconds 'cause they want to go watch football or something.

[DrSpike]

Unfortunately the norm these days.

[Skanky Burns]

New bug uncovered.

Have you ever thought that the game was too easy even on expert level? Well, thats may just be because the game was on easy. Whenever you save the game and load again, the difficulty level reverts to normal. If you go to a zone for the second time, the difficulty level reverts to normal. If you are in town, the difficulty level will be normal and you have no choice in the matter. So the only way to play on expert at the moment is to save a game before going on a mission, then go through the mission without saving and going to each zone only once. Even in the only mission I have experienced, that is impossible.

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by Skanky Burns
New bug uncovered.

Have you ever thought that the game was too easy even on expert level? Well, thats may just be because the game was on easy. Whenever you save the game and load again, the difficulty level reverts to normal. If you go to a zone for the second time, the difficulty level reverts to normal. If you are in town, the difficulty level will be normal and you have no choice in the matter. So the only way to play on expert at the moment is to save a game before going on a mission, then go through the mission without saving and going to each zone only once. Even in the only mission I have experienced, that is impossible.

... ****.


I thought it was too easy.

But atleast the expert level objectives and restrictions stay...

[Arnelos]

Tycho made a long post about the game in Penny Arcade on Monday.

[Kassiopeia]

From Arnelos's link:

But let me tell you that I was desperate with terror on more than one occasion, and I could not bear to be in first person mode. Name the last game where that happened.

Why didn't I think of that! Third person would've been a good way to get some distance between myself and the game. I didn't actually even bother to remember where the key to shift the view was, so I played it all the way through in first person.

t has Eric Brosius on audio, which is the same person that did not only the previous games but also System Shock 2, whose audio alone was able to give me a nervous breakdown.

God yes. System Shock 2 was like one long

Spoiler:

Shalebridge Cradle

(name of level in question).

[Arnelos]

As for my own posts on the subject, which earlier in the thread I said I'd repost from the TDS forum...

Here's my "review" of the game (if you can call it that) right after I finished the game:

Just finished the game. After finishing it and playing through the lengthy last level, I have to say that Thief: Deadly Shadows is arguably better than either Thief: The Dark Project or Thief 2: The Metal Age. The plotline is, in my opinion, more compelling than Thief 2, though perhaps on par with Thief 1. Thief 1's drawback was that Thief 2 had better levels. I'd say that Thief 3's levels are easily better than much of Thief 1, and probably on par with much of Thief 2.

Making the comparison of levels with Thief 2 is difficult, however. To be blunt, you're talking about apples and oranges and ultimately it's going to be a matter of taste. Personally, I find both to be good, just different. The rooftop level of Thief 2 and other such things aren't possible in Thief 3 because of the unfortunate concessions that had to be made for the X-Box, but Thief 3 brings to the table things Thief 2 never had: namely a far more compelling plot (in my opinion), a mission that will scare the crap out of you better than probably any other mission in a video game, and one hell of a great last level (which is an area where Thief 2 was very very lacking IMO). Even the final cutscene is great (and I love the nod to Thief 1 at the end of it ).

Those who are completely turned off by the game are mostly those, I think, who have only played the Tutorial, demo, and first castle/mansion level. Frankly, that whole section of the game seems a dumbed down introduction to people new to the series compared to what comes later. The game gets both more challenging and FAR more compelling.

For those who say they like it, but see a lot of drawbacks due to things missing from Thief 1/2, I sympathize. Personally, I agreed with a lot of that sentiment early in the game and still do agree with one major gripe (the small level size). Otherwise, I don't think the gripes bear themselves out if you play through the game.

Is the game an enormous step forward in stealth gaming? No, I don't think so. Is it a really great stealth-based game with a very compelling plotline? Yes, most definately. Is it as good as Thief 1/2? Yes, at least in my opinion. I'd even argue that it's marginally better than Thief 2 because of the better plot and better than Thief 1 because they thankfully avoided some of the boring sections of Thief 1 (remember that you tend to forget the drawbacks of Thief 1 that were improved even in Thief 2 when your memory becomes so heavily tainted by nostalgia - to be fair, Thief 1 had some GREAT levels, though).

The final mission has some really great gameplay, too.

In the final analysis, I'd probably have to echo what I remember of the Gamespy review: It's not a great leap forward in stealth gaming, but it's at least as good as Thief 1 or Thief 2. I'd say Ion Storm did a pretty good job.

[Arnelos]

As for the cradle mission (sorry for giving away the NAME to anyone, but that's not really a spoiler in my opinion, seeing as the name is already on every "this is the scariest level ever" thread in the TDS forum), here's one of the things I wrote a few weeks ago after I played it. It's in response to a thread that started with the question "Cradle: Scariest Level?" and the first post asked if it was the scariest level ever.

This is hardly the first thread on this very subject. I think that provides you with your answer.

Seriously, A LOT of us have said that the Cradle level is not merely spectacular, but probably the best creep-value level of any game we remember playing. For me personally, as I've also stated elsewhere, it actually surpasses the creep-value of System Shock 2, which is the GAME that previously creeped me out most at the time I first played it.

The thing I love about the Cradle level (and I presume the genius of its design) is that it uses your Thief training against you. Specifically:

Spoiler:

You've been trained across three Thief games to sneak around slowly in the dark and listen very carefully to noises. In this level, moving slowly and being on alert for any noise only serves to uselessly scare the crap out of you. The Thief games also train you to think of yourself as the nocturnal predator hunting his unwary prey. The Cradle level turns this entire mindset upside down and makes you feel intensely uncomfortable for being the PREY with an uncanny sense of your lack of safety, yet gives nothing tangible to focus that on. The Thief games have also trained you to use enemies as mental and literal landmarks and goal posts. You get so accustomed to watching and listening to the movements of your opponents and working a strategy around it that doing so becomes quite comfortable. The experience of not having any of those goal posts or landmarks can be quite disorienting; especially with that knocking sound coming from the attic and you left wondering when the first enemy is going to pop up and surprise you.

So the result is that all of that Thief training you have ends up working AGAINST you - largely only serving to scare you more than you'd otherwise be scared (due to different behavior and outlook).

Quite an ingenious level.

[DrSpike]

I'm probably going to start this in the next week or so; I am already looking forward to a game that even in part can be said to be as scary as the great System Shock 2.

[alva]

there's a patch out for the difficulty setting.

Must be the smallest pach ever.

http://support.eidosinteractive.com/GI/CustomerSupport/FaqSearchResults.jsp?problemType=13&searchText=&game=168&platform=3

[Kassiopeia]

Arnelos: Great points on the Cradle. For instance, to exemplify your point, this was the first time ever I got scared by the mere shadow of my own character. It was a hoot.