Revisiting Deus Ex: Invisible War

[Cross]

The youthful nostalgia bit is a fallacy "gotcha!" directed at people who grew up with these games and then get gaslit into thinking they only disliked the later variant because they're not an impressionable little shit anymore.

Not really, I just think Deadly Shadows gets more stick than it deserves in being labeled "as disappointing" as Invisible War and that, even as both games fell short as sequels, the former came closer than the latter and I've rattled off a few reasons why. I also don't think Deadly Shadows "getting its dick sucked" is accurate because the usual contention among series fans is in a range of "it wasn't that bad" and "fuck it and the horse it rode in on", not exactly the sentiment I associate with the receiving end of a blowjob.

I'd say Invisible War is worse than Deadly Shadows but it's also less aggravating to play. That's because the levels are so tiny you spend most of your time in the city hubs talking to NPCs, so it ends up feeling almost like a visual novel set in the Deus Ex universe. So while it's a massive downgrade from Deus Ex in every aspect (save for the addition of Thief-like mantling and spiderbots that can flush you out of vents), you're not constantly being reminded of that.

Deadly Shadows on the other hand is more annoying because it constantly reminds you of how much better the first 2 Thief games are. I'll repost what I said about it before.

Thief 3 is...not good. Half the game is spent in a generic city hub where you're constantly chased by guards who are always on high alert because they blame you for dead bodies from NPC in-fighting. This becomes particularly stupid (and hilarious) in the finale, where the guards are still focused on you while there's a Lovecraftian monstrosity roaming the streets. Oh, and the guards remember your position when you pass through a loading screen into another district of the city so if you return there the guards will still be there and instantly kill you after the loading screen. Brilliant design.

The other half of the game consists of a series of serviceable stealth missions that aren't remotely as good as the missions from the first 2 Thief games. And no, the mod that removes the loading screens doesn't remedy the downgraded level design. There's no swimming, and the climbing gloves are a poor substitute for the rope arrow since the game is very restrictive about what walls you can climb on. Sound seems to matter way less than it does in the first 2 games: often I found I could run up to an enemy and knock them out without my footsteps alerting them. Mission objectives are less interesting too, with a generic 'find 3 special loot items' objective being reused for every mission. There's a variety of non-human enemies but it doesn't matter because almost all are interchangeable with human enemies, to the point that even zombies can sprint. And I never liked that Garrett's sword was replaced with a shitty dagger.

Story is another major downgrade from the first 2 games. After the Pagans and the Builders, we were supposed to get an exploration of the Keepers, but they completely botched it and ruined the mystique the Keepers had in the first 2 games. I couldn't even tell you what the story of Thief 3 is about because it's so dull and unremarkable. Equally bad was the decision to have pre-rendered cutscenes that look worse than the in-game graphics and have some of them occur in the middle of gameplay. They should've stuck to the storytelling style of the first 2 games.

Even if the missions were amazing (they aren't), I still wouldn't replay it because of the slog that is the city hub.

 

[SharkClub]

I still play Thief 1, for it is superior to Thief 2 and both are far superior to Thief Deadly Shadows.

Can you explain why Thief 1 is superior to Thief 2 or are you talking about the base game here? And what do you think about The Dark Mod?

For me it's a matter of the gameplay each game offers. Thief 1 was built from a base of making a medieval fantasy "Dark Camelot" game, it has zombies and hammer haunts, ghosts, craymen, lost tombs to plunder. Garrett practicing his thieving arts in ways other than staring at the light gem and smacking guards with a blackjack while making use of his high agility to outmanoeuvre non-human opponents adds much needed variety to levels between all the human thievery (that also has its own appeal, and I do also like it, obviously, if Thief was entirely just some D&D acrobat running away from zombies and dancing around them it probably wouldn't be my favorite game, lmao). Garrett was also more agile in Thief 1 than 2 because he could bunnyhop and gain speed, and while some might take issue that it's too "unrealistic" (lol who cares), I think it adds to his toolkit in a meaningful way granted the player is skilled enough to not smash his face into a wall and die while on the run from an enemy, there's also occasionally long stretches of semi-carpeted hallways where accurate bunnyhopping to escape can also avoid alerting extra enemies.

I think these encounters with the supernatural add far more good to the game than the criticism of the time realized, because LGS seemed to capitulate to the feelings of the players at the time and make a game based entirely in sneaking and blackjacking gameplay with nothing to break it up. What's more is that in lieu of these interesting supernatural encounters in Thief 2 (that are hinted at so rarely, a zombie here or there to show they still exist in the setting), they instead have multiple missions where if you get spotted you fail the mission instantly, for me this is absolute crap for Thief and just begs the player to use savescum style gameplay (because who wants to restart an entire mission because a guard spotted you). Some of the best Thief gameplay is using the tools at your disposal to shut down an opponent, escape from sight or temporarily disable an enemy in order to regain your strength in stealth. If I get caught by a guard I want to drop a flashbomb and bop him or something, not be forced to reload my most recent save (as in Framed and Casing the Joint).

Thief 1 has gameplay variety and balance on its side and Thief 2 is far too heavy handed in the direction of stealth purism. 2 is by no means a bad game but this is my main criticism of it, the fact that it rehashes levels is also not great. The Lost City full of mechanists just because, or the obvious of doing Masks literally right after Casing the Joint. If Thief 2 Gold ever got made and it had the necromancer related mission in the mountains and a couple of others in-between Casing and Masks then I think it would have been a lot better off, but anyone familiar with LGS knows how that ended.

 

[Zlaja]

Was watching a retrospective on FEAR games and it dawned on me just how much IW kinda reminds me of FEAR 2, as far as sequels go. Both are worse than their predecesor in almost every way, have less impactful story, are way shorter, both have that ugly bloom look, and they both suffer from those insufferable UI lines always visible on screen as you play.

 

[SharkClub]

Was watching a retrospective on FEAR games and it dawned on me just how much IW kinda reminds me of FEAR 2, as far as sequels go. Both are worse than their predecesor in almost every way, have less impactful story, are way shorter, both have that ugly bloom look, and they both suffer from those insufferable UI lines always visible on screen as you play.

Another very close example to the DX/IW T1&2/DS FEAR1/2 style sequel is Red Faction 1 & 2. The first one is a relatively good Half-Life 1 style FPS game with a long campaign and some neat technology for the time and the second is dumbed down ugly console garbage masquerading as a game better than it with all of the technological advancements stripped out of it. I remember the first time I tried to play RF2 after the first one I got the exact same feeling I did playing Deadly Shadows and Invisible War after their predecessors.

 

[NecroLord]

Was watching a retrospective on FEAR games and it dawned on me just how much IW kinda reminds me of FEAR 2, as far as sequels go. Both are worse than their predecesor in almost every way, have less impactful story, are way shorter, both have that ugly bloom look, and they both suffer from those insufferable UI lines always visible on screen as you play.

FEAR had great lighting.
I don't know what it is about FEAR 2 that is just so ugly.
Oh, and there's FEAR 3...
What an abomination.

SharkClub In "Framed" you do not necessarily have to restart if you get into a confrontation with a City Watch Guard. You just don't have to harm them/knock them out. In "Casing The Joint", yeah, it's a mission failure/restart.
I agree with you on some of the other points though. Always liked Thief 1 more than Thief 2, but this is a case of both games being masterpieces with few to none faults.

 

[NecroLord]

The youthful nostalgia bit is a fallacy "gotcha!" directed at people who grew up with these games and then get gaslit into thinking they only disliked the later variant because they're not an impressionable little shit anymore.

Not really, I just think Deadly Shadows gets more stick than it deserves in being labeled "as disappointing" as Invisible War and that, even as both games fell short as sequels, the former came closer than the latter and I've rattled off a few reasons why. I also don't think Deadly Shadows "getting its dick sucked" is accurate because the usual contention among series fans is in a range of "it wasn't that bad" and "fuck it and the horse it rode in on", not exactly the sentiment I associate with the receiving end of a blowjob.

I'd say Invisible War is worse than Deadly Shadows but it's also less aggravating to play. That's because the levels are so tiny you spend most of your time in the city hubs talking to NPCs, so it ends up feeling almost like a visual novel set in the Deus Ex universe. So while it's a massive downgrade from Deus Ex in every aspect (save for the addition of Thief-like mantling and spiderbots that can flush you out of vents), you're not constantly being reminded of that.

Deadly Shadows on the other hand is more annoying because it constantly reminds you of how much better the first 2 Thief games are. I'll repost what I said about it before.

Thief 3 is...not good. Half the game is spent in a generic city hub where you're constantly chased by guards who are always on high alert because they blame you for dead bodies from NPC in-fighting. This becomes particularly stupid (and hilarious) in the finale, where the guards are still focused on you while there's a Lovecraftian monstrosity roaming the streets. Oh, and the guards remember your position when you pass through a loading screen into another district of the city so if you return there the guards will still be there and instantly kill you after the loading screen. Brilliant design.

The other half of the game consists of a series of serviceable stealth missions that aren't remotely as good as the missions from the first 2 Thief games. And no, the mod that removes the loading screens doesn't remedy the downgraded level design. There's no swimming, and the climbing gloves are a poor substitute for the rope arrow since the game is very restrictive about what walls you can climb on. Sound seems to matter way less than it does in the first 2 games: often I found I could run up to an enemy and knock them out without my footsteps alerting them. Mission objectives are less interesting too, with a generic 'find 3 special loot items' objective being reused for every mission. There's a variety of non-human enemies but it doesn't matter because almost all are interchangeable with human enemies, to the point that even zombies can sprint. And I never liked that Garrett's sword was replaced with a shitty dagger.

Story is another major downgrade from the first 2 games. After the Pagans and the Builders, we were supposed to get an exploration of the Keepers, but they completely botched it and ruined the mystique the Keepers had in the first 2 games. I couldn't even tell you what the story of Thief 3 is about because it's so dull and unremarkable. Equally bad was the decision to have pre-rendered cutscenes that look worse than the in-game graphics and have some of them occur in the middle of gameplay. They should've stuck to the storytelling style of the first 2 games.

Even if the missions were amazing (they aren't), I still wouldn't replay it because of the slog that is the city hub.

I am going to eventually replay Deadly Shadows. It has been a really long time and I am not as familiar with it as I am with Thief 1 and 2, where I pretty much know all loot placements by default.
I, of course, expect a downgrade from Thief 1 and 2 and much less memorable missions and aspects of the game.

Anyway, do you guys like the Invisible War endings?
I rather liked JC appearing in the game.

 

[Wesp5]

Was watching a retrospective on FEAR games and it dawned on me just how much IW kinda reminds me of FEAR 2, as far as sequels go. Both are worse than their predecesor in almost every way, have less impactful story, are way shorter, both have that ugly bloom look, and they both suffer from those insufferable UI lines always visible on screen as you play.

Another very close example to the DX/IW T1&2/DS FEAR1/2 style sequel is Red Faction 1 & 2.

I know I will probably get some strange looks, but to me there also was a big difference between HL1 and HL2. Granted, HL2 is in everyone's mind because of the physics gun gimmick and drivable vehicles, but just compare weapon types and enemy types and you will see that HL1 was the better shooter!

 

[Gargaune]

I am going to eventually replay Deadly Shadows.

I often think about replaying DS, but I'm not sure I can get through the Cradle again. You could say I'm... chicken.

Anyway, do you guys like the Invisible War endings?
I rather liked JC appearing in the game.

Not particularly, I'm not fond of the soap opera style of having everyone important related to the cast of the previous episode. You've got the Denton brothers, Nicolette, Chad, Dr. Drake Ramoray's evil twin brother etc. - it's better than recycling the protagonist ad nauseam, but still, it makes the world feel small. I prefer to have new stories with fresh casts in a familiar setting.

 

[SharkClub]

@SharkClub In "Framed" you do not necessarily have to restart if you get into a confrontation with a City Watch Guard. You just don't have to harm them/knock them out. In "Casing The Joint", yeah, it's a mission failure/restart.

Yeah I'm aware. I actually replayed Thief 2 in its entirety (for the nth time) after making that post. Framed technically doesn't require ghosting as an objective but it's still absolute nonsense that the objective restricts knockouts because "the frame won't stick" but otherwise allows you to be caught and that's okay somehow. It's still not a very fun mission, a lot of pointless waiting and trailing guards in hallways.

I agree with you on some of the other points though. Always liked Thief 1 more than Thief 2, but this is a case of both games being masterpieces with few to none faults.

Thief 2 is a good game, I wouldn't go as far as to call it a masterpiece, it has its own appeal and the new gadgets and enemy types can be utilized well in some levels. The problem is that almost half of the level roster is filler because the game was very obviously extremely rushed. I guess I'll effortpost and just list off the missions because I feel like it and in case anyone actually gives a shit about me expanding on my opinion of it, otherwise my tl;dr is that Thief 2 is at least a little overrated, but I still do like the game a lot and the series and the legacy it delivered with fan missions is obviously better off with it than without it.

1. Running Interference - Tim Stellmach, Rich Carlson, Rick Ernst and Terri Brosius - It's fine. It's a tutorial mission so it's very easy, apart from the 200 gems requirement on Expert meaning that finding one of the secrets (switch hunting in corners, something unfortunately very popular in Fan Missions of the time) is required(?). It's also very flat.
2. Shipping... and Receiving - Mike Chrzanowski - It's more open, less flat and more difficult than the tutorial mission, pretty much an improvement in every way. The mechanism to opening all of the warehouses is a little tedious and doesn't really add much other than backtracking to the little hut when they could just allow you to open more than one at a time and it wouldn't actually change anything for the worse, that's about my only gripe with the mission. Other than that it's decent.
3. Framed - Rich Carlson & Rob Caminos - As mentioned above the no blackjacking objective is nonsense when it still technically allows you to be caught anyway, but the mission would be even worse if it was a proper ghosting objective like Casing anyway. To the mission's credit it is very open and allows a lot of secret ways through it once you get inside through the sewers but unfortunately it's also very flat, each level is a self contained flat plane outside of the courtyard, stairways and secret passages. There's a lot of following guards through hallways and waiting so it's a bit tedious.
4. Ambush! - Unknown Author? (Nobody wanted to take credit for this crap lol) - It sucks. It's literally just the ending portion of Assassins after Ramirez's mansion where you have to exit that area of the city while it's crawling with guards (if you do the mansion without ghosting it, that is). The loot is scattered and mostly just pickpocketing purses but it's not even an objective. Despite being a huge city district mission it somehow managed to be flat with very little vertical exploration.
5. Eavesdropping - Rich Carlson, Emil Pagliarulo, Sara Verilli & Mike Chrzanowski - Good, and a good idea narratively to show what an old Hammer institution can look like after the introduction of the Mechanists, where the idolatry of Karras seems to supersede the worship of the Master Builder in multiple places.
6. First City Bank & Trust - Randy Smith - A great mission. A lot of verticality and different routes through the mission and feels like a real place of work with a lot of pointless rooms. I think the worst part of this mission is the lack of secrets to find, some more would have made the map even better.
7. Blackmail - Mike Chrzanowski - Decent. The layout of the mansion between the floors is a little odd (long hallways full of nothing?) but other than that it's a solid mission with an interesting twist that shakes up the gameplay a little.
8. Trace the Courier - Unknown Author? (Again, but it's the same map layout as Ambush!, so that makes sense) - It sucks. It's literally just the opening portion of Assassins before you get to Ramirez's mansion, except it doesn't lead to some actual gameplay like Assassins does. The time between the letter being dropped and the pagan showing up is also extremely long for some reason, so you end up just waiting around for minutes on end. A very boring mission that rehashes the map from the other very boring mission.
9. Trail of Blood - Terri Brosius - Good. It's very creative and it adds a little of what Thief 2 is sorely lacking. It's unfortunate that it's linear but it's a fun mission nonetheless. It's also unfortunate that the Treebeasts are underutilized, but I have played a few fan missions that do make use of them.
10. Life of the Party - Emil Pagliarulo - Arguably the best mission in the game, filled with variety and verticality, absolutely massive in scale and filled with secrets and detail. Most people's favorite mission when asked. This mission serves as the sole inspiration for many a fan mission creator.
11. Precious Cargo - Emil Pagliarulo - This one is my personal favorite mission of Thief 2. I love the atmosphere and the setpieces in this mission, the giant lighthouse elevator, Markham's haunted pirate ship and Cetus Amicus are all extremely cool. The mission is also one of the most difficult so it gives it a good deal of replayability. The outer area is a little strange with how there are massive rocks completely surrounding the place but I'm guessing Emil tried it without them and it looked strange for some reason or another due to engine limitations. Speaking of, how strange is it that Emil Pagliarulo of all people managed to make two of the best missions in Thief 2?
12. Kidnap - Unknown Author? - Ugh. So by this point they've already rehashed Ambush! into Trace the Courier, what else is there? That's right, let's rehash a map from the first game in its entirety, excavate a couple of places and put Mechanist walkways, cameras and robots everywhere. I do not like this map at all. The map gimmick of the changing route of Cavador's group is also not that engaging.
13. Casing the Joint - Unknown Author? (I'm not surprised at all) - Absolute garbage and totally irredeemable, by far the worst mission in either of the first two games. You get to spend your loot count from Precious Cargo + Kidnap in order to play a forced ghost (quicksave/quickload simulator) mission where using anything but water arrows is pretty much forbidden. Everyone also knows that Masks is the next mission by now, but on your first playthrough it feels like you've been been scammed when you play Masks right after Casing. Because narratively it wouldn't make sense for Garrett to be stealing loot from a place that he is casing, almost every piece of loot is loose change that are randomly placed all over the mission and almost impossible to see, and since the next mission will actually let you use your equipment that means you do actually want to find these so you can buy stuff for the next mission. You come to Casing the Joint and lose all the Precious Cargo + Kidnap money in order to steal pennies from underneath couches so you can fund an actual mansion heist. It's also narratively total nonsense, since when does a master thief like Garrett need to rely on having cased a place on his own in order to pull off a heist, especially by this point, at the end of the second game; after Assassins, The Sword, Song of the Caverns, Return to the Cathedral, Framed, Eavesdropping, First City Bank & Trust and Life of the Party. Is the game really trying to tell me that if he went into Masks without completing the cuckoo clock objective in Casing he would be incapable of completing the mission?
14. Masks - Unknown Author? - Not that bad on its own but made a million times worse due to it being placed directly after Casing the Joint. If Thief 2 Gold existed to pad out the endgame a bit with some different missions maybe it wouldn't be as bad but it would be much more preferable for Casing to be gone from the level roster entirely. On its own the map is fine, if Casing didn't exist at all then the game would benefit from the inclusion of Masks, unfortunately since Casing does indeed exist and there isn't some massive twist that shakes things up, Masks is just a retread for 3/4 of the mission where you have to check all of the same rooms for loot again. In Thief 2 alone there are three completely different instances of rehashing a mission and reusing a map. Thief 1 shipped with 12 maps, Gold ended up with 15, I'm not sure why they insisted that Thief 2 had to have 15 maps from the get go, and it clearly resulted in most of the game being rushed; 3 of the maps being outright rehashes and several others suffering from a lack of polish because of the time spent including said rehashes.
15. Sabotage at Soulforge - Randy Smith - A lot of backtracking and building components. Not very engaging for a final mission but at least it offers some different gameplay despite being a bit of a slog.

 

[Fearlessjay]

There was a mod for Dark Shadows that merged levels and made it a lot better game. Even at the time after the disaster that was Invisible War it was a lot better on release. There is a lot of good stuff in it but as a result of the consolisation of the game it was well hidden.

 

[Tweed]

Replaying Thief 2 right now and just started Life of the Party, really is the best mission.

Also Invisible War is a bad game, period. Not a bad Deus Ex game, it is a bad game. Anyone who disagrees needs to be put to the sword.

 

[NecroLord]

@SharkClub In "Framed" you do not necessarily have to restart if you get into a confrontation with a City Watch Guard. You just don't have to harm them/knock them out. In "Casing The Joint", yeah, it's a mission failure/restart.

Yeah I'm aware. I actually replayed Thief 2 in its entirety (for the nth time) after making that post. Framed technically doesn't require ghosting as an objective but it's still absolute nonsense that the objective restricts knockouts because "the frame won't stick" but otherwise allows you to be caught and that's okay somehow. It's still not a very fun mission, a lot of pointless waiting and trailing guards in hallways.

I agree with you on some of the other points though. Always liked Thief 1 more than Thief 2, but this is a case of both games being masterpieces with few to none faults.

Thief 2 is a good game, I wouldn't go as far as to call it a masterpiece, it has its own appeal and the new gadgets and enemy types can be utilized well in some levels. The problem is that almost half of the level roster is filler because the game was very obviously extremely rushed. I guess I'll effortpost and just list off the missions because I feel like it and in case anyone actually gives a shit about me expanding on my opinion of it, otherwise my tl;dr is that Thief 2 is at least a little overrated, but I still do like the game a lot and the series and the legacy it delivered with fan missions is obviously better off with it than without it.

1. Running Interference - Tim Stellmach, Rich Carlson, Rick Ernst and Terri Brosius - It's fine. It's a tutorial mission so it's very easy, apart from the 200 gems requirement on Expert meaning that finding one of the secrets (switch hunting in corners, something unfortunately very popular in Fan Missions of the time) is required(?). It's also very flat.
2. Shipping... and Receiving - Mike Chrzanowski - It's more open, less flat and more difficult than the tutorial mission, pretty much an improvement in every way. The mechanism to opening all of the warehouses is a little tedious and doesn't really add much other than backtracking to the little hut when they could just allow you to open more than one at a time and it wouldn't actually change anything for the worse, that's about my only gripe with the mission. Other than that it's decent.
3. Framed - Rich Carlson & Rob Caminos - As mentioned above the no blackjacking objective is nonsense when it still technically allows you to be caught anyway, but the mission would be even worse if it was a proper ghosting objective like Casing anyway. To the mission's credit it is very open and allows a lot of secret ways through it once you get inside through the sewers but unfortunately it's also very flat, each level is a self contained flat plane outside of the courtyard, stairways and secret passages. There's a lot of following guards through hallways and waiting so it's a bit tedious.
4. Ambush! - Unknown Author? (Nobody wanted to take credit for this crap lol) - It sucks. It's literally just the ending portion of Assassins after Ramirez's mansion where you have to exit that area of the city while it's crawling with guards (if you do the mansion without ghosting it, that is). The loot is scattered and mostly just pickpocketing purses but it's not even an objective. Despite being a huge city district mission it somehow managed to be flat with very little vertical exploration.
5. Eavesdropping - Rich Carlson, Emil Pagliarulo, Sara Verilli & Mike Chrzanowski - Good, and a good idea narratively to show what an old Hammer institution can look like after the introduction of the Mechanists, where the idolatry of Karras seems to supersede the worship of the Master Builder in multiple places.
6. First City Bank & Trust - Randy Smith - A great mission. A lot of verticality and different routes through the mission and feels like a real place of work with a lot of pointless rooms. I think the worst part of this mission is the lack of secrets to find, that would have made the map even better.
7. Blackmail - Mike Chrzanowski - Decent. The layout of the mansion between the floors is a little odd (long hallways full of nothing?) but other than that it's a solid mission with an interesting twist that shakes up the gameplay a little.
8. Trace the Courier - Unknown Author? (Again, but it's the same map layout as Ambush!, so that makes sense) - It sucks. It's literally just the opening portion of Assassins before you get to Ramirez's mansion, except it doesn't lead to some actual gameplay like Assassins does. The time between the letter being dropped and the pagan showing up is also extremely long for some reason, so you end up just waiting around for minutes on end. A very boring mission that rehashes the map from the other very boring mission.
9. Trail of Blood - Terri Brosius - Good. It's very creative and it adds a little of what Thief 2 is sorely lacking. It's unfortunate that it's linear but it's a fun mission nonetheless. It's also unfortunate that the Treebeasts are underutilized, but I have played a few fan missions that do make use of them.
10. Life of the Party - Emil Pagliarulo - Arguably the best mission in the game, filled with variety and verticality, absolutely massive in scale and filled with secrets and detail. Most people's favorite mission when asked. This mission serves as the sole inspiration for many a fan mission creator.
11. Precious Cargo - Emil Pagliarulo - This one is my personal favorite mission of Thief 2. I love the atmosphere and the setpieces in this mission, the giant lighthouse elevator, Markham's haunted pirate ship and Cetus Amicus are all extremely cool. The mission is also one of the most difficult so it gives it a good deal of replayability. The outer area is a little strange with how there are massive rocks completely surrounding the place but I'm guessing Emil tried it without them and it looked strange for some reason or another due to engine limitations. Speaking of, how strange is it that Emil Pagliarulo of all people managed to make two of the best missions in Thief 2?
12. Kidnap - Unknown Author? - Ugh. So by this point they've already rehashed Ambush! into Trace the Courier, what else is there? That's right, let's rehash a map from the first game in its entirety, excavate a couple of places and put Mechanist walkways, cameras and robots everywhere. I do not like this map at all. The map gimmick of the changing route of Cavador's group is also not that engaging.
13. Casing the Joint - Unknown Author? (I'm not surprised at all) - Absolute garbage and totally irredeemable, by far the worst mission in either of the first two games. You get to spend your loot count from Precious Cargo + Kidnap in order to play a forced ghost (quicksave/quickload simulator) mission where using anything but water arrows is pretty much forbidden. Everyone also knows that Masks is the next mission by now, but on your first playthrough it feels like you've been been scammed when you play Masks right after Casing. Because narratively it wouldn't make sense for Garrett to be stealing loot from a place that he is casing, almost every piece of loot is loose change that are randomly placed all over the mission and almost impossible to see, and since the next mission will actually let you use your equipment that means you do actually want to find these so you can buy stuff for the next mission. You come to Casing the Joint and lose all the Precious Cargo + Kidnap money in order to steal pennies from underneath couches so you can fund an actual mansion heist. It's also narratively total nonsense, since when does a master thief like Garrett need to rely on having cased a place on his own in order to pull off a heist, especially by this point, at the end of the second game; after Assassins, The Sword, Song of the Caverns, Return to the Cathedral, Framed, Eavesdropping, First City Bank & Trust and Life of the Party. Is the game really trying to tell me that if he went into Masks without completing the cuckoo clock objective in Casing he would be incapable of completing the mission?
14. Masks - Unknown Author? - Not that bad on its own but made a million times worse due to it being placed directly after Casing the Joint. If Thief 2 Gold existed to pad out the endgame a bit with some different missions maybe it wouldn't be as bad but it would be much more preferable for Casing to be gone from the level roster entirely. On its own the map is fine, if Casing didn't exist at all it the game would benefit from its inclusion, unfortunately since Casing exists and there isn't some massive twist that shakes things up, Masks is just a retread for 3/4 of the mission where you have to check all of the same rooms for loot again. In Thief 2 alone there are three completely different instances of rehashing a mission and reusing a map. Thief 1 shipped with 12 maps, Gold ended up with 15, I'm not sure why they insisted that Thief 2 had to have 15 maps from the get go, and it clearly resulted in most of the game being rushed, 3 of the maps being outright rehashes and several others suffering from a lack of polish because of the inclusion of rehashes.
15. Sabotage at Soulforge - Randy Smith - A lot of backtracking and building components. Not very engaging for a final mission but at least it offers some different gameplay despite being a bit of a slog.

Yeah.
For me it's:
1. Life of the Party
2. First City Bank and Trust
3. Blackmail

Then stuff like Precious Cargo, Shipping and Receiving, etc.
Strange how Emil Pagliarulo went from Thief 2 to Skyrim...