JarlFrank said:
But the Cradle was just too much. It looks more like a level for something like Penumbra and Amnesia, a pure horror level with little actual thiefing going on with the focus being fully on terrifying the player rather than just having him taff around in a haunted area. For me, the essence of Thief is a sophisticated stealth system with sound, light and shadows, not being badass in combat and therefore having to stay hidden and looting places ranging from nobles' mansions to undead-infested crypts.
The first part is kinda true, I remember an interview with Randy Smith where he said the Cradle was basically trying to make the most terrifying level possible. I loved it, but I can see how some people would think it's not really Thiefy.
The bolded part though is an argument I've never understood. I always played through the undead levels as stealthily, if not more, than the other levels. The undead can fuck you up much quicker than normal guards, and they may have the absolute best sound in the game (which is no small feat since the sound in that game is so fantastic). But anyways, I'm sure the undead vs. not-undead arguments about Thief have been repeated a million times before. And honestly, after reading through the article Bruticis, I don't even care anymore. Every single thing written in the second half of that article sounds so fucking awful that not having any undead is going to be extremely far down on my list of complaints about the game.
I didn't meant to say that the undead levels aren't thiefy. In fact, the Bonehoard is one of my favourite levels. It's just the the Cradle, in particular, seems to me to have the focus more on the horror rather than on the looting. I've seen a playthrough of it on youtube (it's not terrifying when you watch someone else play it in a small window in your browser
) and it just didn't seem that thiefy to me, while Thief 1's undead levels did.
But yeah, it doesn't really matter if Thi4f has undead or not, when they can't even get the basics right. It isn't going to reach the excellence of TDP
or TMA. Judging form this article, it's not even going to be a proper Thief game.
My bad for misunderstanding you. The Bonehoard is indeed an awesome level. And there are definite problems with the Cradle, I would agree. In fact, through most of it there aren't even any enemies. It is awesome that they could make it that scary without enemies, but the scariness then doesn't transfer over to another playthrough. I loved the Cradle the first time I played it, but I think I've only replayed it once, and it wasn't nearly as good.
