Thief: Deadly Shadows

[mountain hare]

I've almost finished this game, and am rather impressed. Having never played either of the prequels, I'm not sure if Deadly Shadows has been 'dumbed down' for next gen gamers, but it sure does seem to force you to resort to stealth over combat (puny dagger is puny!)

So, what do Codexers think? Good game?

 

[Darth Roxor]

I still can't figure out how this was supposedly 'dumbed down', even after three playthroughs of Thief 2, two playthroughs of Thief 3 and one of Thief 1.

so yes, 'yay' from me.

 

[Hümmelgümpf]

A good game, but small maps are small. Curse the Xbox with its laughable amount of RAM!

 

[MetalCraze]

Thief: Deadly Shadows is another proof why xbawks consoles are retarded. Small levels felt so... small.
Otherwise the game is p. cool.

 

[fastpunk]

Good game, though some of the missions were dull and the game is a bit on the easy side. I liked it very much though, and I'd advise you to play Thief 1 and 2 as well. Thief 1 has got probably the best atmosphere out of the three and the most unique set of missions.

 

[Erebus]

I got stuck on the clock tower mission and haven't finished it. Probably should go back to it. It's a pretty good game, although I liked Thief 2's missions more (there were too many undeads and other monsters in Thief 1 to my taste).

Thief 3 is also the only game I know that will simply refuse to work on a laptop.

 

[abstract]

It's not as bad as some would make you think, but worse that the first two. What I disliked the most was that there were no longer additional objectives on higher difficulty levels.

 

[Cynicus]

Yeah, levels are too small and it's too easy. And I missed having rope arrows--fuck the spiderman gloves. And I liked lockpicking in the original two better. Otherwise, it's one of the better consolized titles I've played, which is remarkable considering how hard other great series from the past have been raped by consolitis. I had been expecting the worst.

 

[Darth Roxor]

What I disliked the most was that there were no longer additional objectives on higher difficulty levels.

huh?

 

[coaster]

Loved all three. T1>T3>T2 (T2 just felt a bit too...industrial for my tastes, but it was still great).

 

[Fat Dragon]

It's an alright game, not bad but not great. Some of the levels are great like the Overlook Mansion, Museum, Shalebridge, and the Keeper place. Everything else though was just dull and boring as fuck. The hub town had potential to be good but ended up as shit because there just wasn't anything to do there besides run past guards to the next mission, and the way factions were done is just pathetic.

Story sucked balls. I liked how the sword was replaced with a dagger. Lighting effects were damned beautiful too.

 

[abstract]

What I disliked the most was that there were no longer additional objectives on higher difficulty levels.

huh?

huh what? In T1 and T2 the higher difficulty levels gave you more objectives in each mission (eg on normal: steal a chalice and 100 gold, on hard: steal a chalice, a necklace ,250 gold, and don't kill any non-combatants on expert: steal a chalice, a necklace, a ring, 500 gold and don't kill anyone). As far as I remember T3 just gave you certain restrictions: on normal: do not kill more than 5 guards and 3 non-combatants, on hard no more than 3 guards and 1 non-combatants, on expert don't kill anyone. Unless I'm talking out of my ass.

 

[Aditya]

T1 is the best in series, the atmosphere and level design is simply unmatched. T3 is almost up to it, but as many mentioned, feels too restrictive due to smaller map sizes. Yet still, levels like 'Robbing the Cradle', 'Moira Mansion' and 'Museum' stand out. T2 is 'meh' in almost all departments excepts for upgraded engine...

Story sucked balls

Really? then what would u call an excuse for a 'story' that is T2? T3 story at least made sense and was cohesive. T2 felt like just some random thieving mission stitched together. Indeed, developers even admitted designing levels first and then 'constructing' story around it, which in the end proved like a confusing mess.

 

[Aditya]

Unless I'm talking out of my ass.

Umm...may be you are!

Higher difficulty has following effects: 1. find larger sum of loot 2. search more number of special items 3. increased AI awareness 4. increased number of enemies 5. low health points for player

 

[udm]

Like almost everyone else here, it's a 'yay', and I agree with the point on maps being too small. The city layout feels like crap too. And screw the moron who decided to replace the awesome long sword combat with a h0lysh1t dagger. But otherwise, yes it's still a Thief game, unlike that abomination of a "sequel" to Deus Ex

 

[Fat Dragon]

Really? then what would u call an excuse for a 'story' that is T2? T3 story at least made sense and was cohesive. T2 felt like just some random thieving mission stitched together. Indeed, developers even admitted designing levels first and then 'constructing' story around it, which in the end proved like a confusing mess.

Oh, don't get me wrong. I didn't really like the storylines for any of the Thief games. However, since this thread is specifically about the 3rd one I saw no reason to mention the older games.

 

[Aditya]

Well, people are already comparing map sizes and sword replacement, so I thought to compare the story aspect as well...besides, OP hasn't played the prequels so it may prove useful to him.

 

[MetalCraze]

Really? then what would u call an excuse for a 'story' that is T2? T3 story at least made sense and was cohesive. T2 felt like just some random thieving mission stitched together. Indeed, developers even admitted designing levels first and then 'constructing' story around it, which in the end proved like a confusing mess.

Does that happen to every game where Emil Pagriarulo is a designer? :plot thickens:

 

[Darth Slaughter]

the bad things about thief 3 are in the technical department:

Small levels... all of them have two separate sections. that wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't for that smoke thing.

The city as a hub is not nice, it is kind of boring and repetitive after sometime.

The ragdoll phisics is laughable, when you knocked your oponents, they would fall unreallistically, like folding on their own backs.

There's the addition of a 3rd person camera, which tries to make the game more like splinter cell, but it is not well done. There's a patch (minimalist) that eliminates it permanently.

the rest is mostly like the 1st two games: atmosphere, voice acying and sound, the dark graphics, gameplay mechanics...

The story is on par with the old ones. About the story in thief games, it's the way it is presented that matters. Garret is a guy in a middle of bigger things, but he doesn't care about at all. he has a bigger role in it but all he wants is to rob some possessions. And he is damn the best in that.

I praise the thief series because it has you playing a character that is weak, a clumsy fighter, but if you play carefully, you have a character tha feels the most powerful one and is really in control of situation.

 

[Longshanks]

Good game, but not up with the originals.
As everyone else has said, the smaller map sizes are a massive drawback. Add to that the reduced difficulty - fights especially are much easier. Overall level design is inferior, though there are a couple of exceptions that have already been mentioned. Without mods the text is too large and blue loot bloom looks awful. And yeah, no rope arrows sucks, wolverine gloves are no substitute.

 

[mountain hare]

Darth Slaughter:

Small levels...

I felt that they were a believable size. Despite having a map for each mission, I still found the levels difficult to navigate, although this may be because the maps aren't always accurate. Either way, it was very easy to get lost in several levels, such as the Pagan Underground Base.

The city as a hub is not nice, it is kind of boring and repetitive after sometime.

Agreed. I think it was thrown in to draw out playing time, and also so that they could have a setting where Garrett is pursued by Enforcers.

The ragdoll phisics is laughable, when you knocked your oponents, they would fall unreallistically, like folding on their own backs.

That doesn't bother me so much, I sometimes see it is a little quirk which makes the game more interesting. It doesn't detract from the gameplay experience.

What does detract from the gameplay experience is that sometimes I'll get 'stuck' on objects so that I can't move, or will enter this a stance where I am 'gliding' instead of running/walking, and need to cock an arrow to revert to normal. Sometimes these glitches happen at the worst times, like when you're trying to run from your opponent, or complete a jumping puzzle. Ughh.

 

[DemonKing]

Loved all three. T1>T3>T2 (T2 just felt a bit too...industrial for my tastes, but it was still great).

My feelings exactly.

I really liked the variety in T1 (yes - even the zombies) but the mechanical enemies in T2 left me cold and the level design was too inconsistent.

T3 had a few weaknesses as others have pointed out but was generally very playable and fun.

 

[Darth Slaughter]

about small levels, I meant small sections. The museum and cradle, on the other hand, were amog the greatest levels in the thief series.

In the previous thief games, a level was a whole thing. in thief 3, all levels had two sections. They could make it at least like level sections in half life games.

this was a problem in thief 3 regarding the AI: If you alert an AI and go to the other section, the AI would not follow. You could stay for an hour in the other section, and when you would go back, the AI would be in the same state of alertness.

In fact, this prolem was in Deus Ex also, if you were poisoned in one section, you leave that section and would be fine. later, if you go to the original section, the poison effects would still be on you.

But what pissed me off regardin sub sections was the loadtimes. if you install the texture packs, they would be longer. and also the pop-up questions asking if I'd like to leave that section.

But I could handle it.

 

[BillyOgawa]

..

 

[z-axis]

The Thief series is at the top of my favorites list. Always was, always will be. There's just nothing else like it out there for atmosphere, character development & dialogue, story, and gameplay. T2 was my favorite of the three.

While Thief 3 is definitely a bit of a let down and departure from the series, it's still a good game compared to a lot of games out there now. BillyOgawa was correct in that it didn't have the same feel and felt like something was lacking, which is a real shame. But then again, it wasn't developed by the same studio as 1 and 2 [although apparently a lot of Looking Glass developers were working on T3 at Ion Storm].

For those who have not played Thief 1 and 2, hopefully you will get around to them soon. This series deserved a whole lot more attention than it got, and there's a good reason it has a die-hard fan following.