Interview Looking back at Looking Glass

[Beautiful Clown Painting]

I didn't like and never finish the Thief games (but I don't like the stealth genre in general so it's not a question of design, I should replay one of the two someday nevertheless) but UU 1 & 2 and System Shock were fucking amazing, some of the greatest games ever. I still haven't played their squad-based FPS, is it any good?

 

[Mother Russia]

Look ppl, Thief 1 and 2 were great ideas, and fun games. But they fucked up, by adding dumbshit supernatural elements when they did not belong. The best levels in both games were the ones where you, y'know, thieved, and had human NPCs and opponents. I did not care for all that bullcrap with undead, clockwork hammerknights, etc etc.

 

[JarlFrank]

Only that the atmosphere and setting were fucking dense and there aren't many games that actually pull of the mysteriousness of magic and undead as well as Thief does. The steampunk robots in Thief 2 are also well-implemented.

I also preferred the levels without undead, but damn, Thief actually manages to make them intimidating and mysterious instead of just HURR HORDES OF ZOMBIES. The fact that all the supernatural elements are never closely explained also adds a lot to the sense of mystery Thief manages to create.

Thief 1 and 2 are perfect games and I wouldn't want a single detail in them changed.

 

[Infinitron]

Supernatural elements are both a core part of Thief's mythos and a necessary gameplay element that keeps things from becoming stale and repetitive. Don't diss em.

 

[Tigranes]

There are plenty of other ways in which you could spice up Thief without turning to the supernatural. Say, having to collaborate with another thief who goes about things in his own time (and also messes up), or other kinds of "Meanwhile..." occurrences; or hell, integrating supernatural parts into the setting in ways that don't involve walking around tribal caves for a quarter of the game. (Why not have such people with supernatural powers be present in some city buildings, forcing you to change the way you used to navigate them, etc?)

In the end supernatural stuff was implemented in a way that made for pretty boring levels, compared to the excellent city ones.

 

[Infinitron]

The Bonehoard is one of the greatest dungeon crawls of all time. The Lost City was fun to navigate, adding humans to it in Thief 2 ruined it.

My advice: Don't think of these levels as ruining your beloved mansion robbing gameplay. Think of them as "Ultima Underworld with better stealth". And what could be wrong with that?

 

[JarlFrank]

Yes, the Bonehoard is one of the best dungeons ever made.

It has everything a good dungeon crawl needs. Rewarding exploration, awesome dungeon design, loot and enemies aplenty.

Gods, imagine if LGS had survived and Bethesda outsourced their next Elder Scrolls game to them.

 

[dnf]

Thief 1 level the sword was a nice way of blending supernatural stuff with human opponents! Wish i could like Thief 2 the way i liked Thief 1.

 

[thesoup]

Looking Glass.
Arguably the most important developer ever.

What a shame.

 

[villain of the story]

I have to admit, I didn't appreciate the steampunk elements in Thief 2 at all. The automatons and cameras were a bit too much.

 

[Tolknaz]

Thief would not have been the same game without supernatural elements and varied levels. I enjoy a good mansion or city heist as much as any other taffer, but no mansion heist can hope beat the feeling i had when i played Down in the Bonehoard for the first time. And The Sword when you suddenly understood, you're not in Kansas anymore and whoever owns the place is not someone to fuck with.

 

[Stinger]

Also the Woodsie lord revelation and its stark contrast with the Hammerites and Master Builder made for some really interesting themes- and that cutscene where he first appears was honestly pretty freaky.

I haven't started Thief 2 yet but I honestly loved the supernatural elements of Thief 1. And I thought the final level mixed both heist-like elements with the crazier supernatural dungeon crawling quite well.

 

[Infinitron]

Something I noticed is that at the end, Harvey and the former LG developers show their appreciation for almost all of the LG "successor companies" - including even Warren Spector's Epic Mickey company. o_O

But they carefully avoid mentioning Eidos Montreal and DX:HR. I wonder what that's all about.

 

[Roderick]

Something I noticed is that at the end, Harvey and the former LG developers show their appreciation for almost all of the LG "successor companies" - including even Warren Spector's Epic Mickey company. o_O

But they carefully avoid mentioning Eidos Montreal and DX:HR. I wonder what that's all about.

Beacuse no one from looking glass works there (though i read something about people who worked on the thief games working as advisors or something for Thi4f, not sure)

 

[Kron]

I always thought that a less appreciated part of the original Thief games was the mood, the setting and the writing of the factions.
Just watching the Hammerites' intros and reading their stuff gave me a boner.

Literately, the first minute and half have more value than tons of shitty "art literature".

 

[Infinitron]

Kron
If you watch the video then you'll see Harvey Smith praises the "literary content" of LG`s games.

Hopefully that means lots of cool readables in Dishonored.

 

[asper]

Reinstalling Thief: The Dark Project right now.

 

[octavius]

One of the few development studios that actually deserved to be call innovative, and were the masters of level design. I doubt any game will ever top Thief 1-2 in that.

I haven't played too many, but I believe that fan missions topped LG's level for the Thief serie.

I've played most of the Thief 1 fan missions, and while there are many good ones worth playing, I must say the only one to really rival Lookinglass' ones was Calendra's Cistern.