Thief Gold

[skacky]

Well you can definitely play stealthily in those last 3 levels in TG (Escape, Strange Bedfellows and Maw of Chaos) and they're kind of hard. Well, only Escape is hard, but it's goddamn hard. The other two are piss easy 'stealth mode' compared to Escape.

 

[Infinitron]

TG has some of the best individual missions in the series, and its best missions are better than anything in T2, but T2 is a better overall game.

I didn't mind the zombies in the earlier levels (that one level in TG where you have to return the bodies to the graves and do a bunch of other stuff is one of my favorites, and that's all undead), but I think the last 2 or 3 missions of the game where it's all monsters and not many objectives other than "get to the end of the level" are awful. I got so bored with those levels that I just ran through as quickly as possible with a trail of monsters kiting behind me the whole way (which, honestly, is the best way to do them on expert. Stealthing or fighting through them would take ages and just be frustrating, I think).

System Shock 2 had that problem as well, though, in that it kind of degenerates into a really shitty FPS in it's last couple levels (and dark engine, while awesome at stealth, isn't a great combat engine). T2 is my favorite dark engine game by a mile just because combat is entirely optional (yeah, you could probably avoid combat in some of TG's undead/monster levels too if determined, but it makes things way more frustrating).

Funny, most people would say the exact opposite. Some of Thief 2's missions outdo anything in Thief, but the game is weaker overall.

 

[Infinitron]

Also, are these Orgy's texture pack and meshes faithful to the original?

They're based on Thief 2's improved textures and meshes: http://www.ttlg.com/thievery/patchguide.htm

 

[Infinitron]

The trees and bushes look rather funny. You might be able to find a mod by Vurt that improves those.

 

[Infinitron]

Here's his mod in action in Thief 2:

 

[Melan]

They're based on Thief 2's improved textures and meshes: http://www.ttlg.com/thievery/patchguide.htm

Thief 2's textures are not "improved" in any way whatsoever. They may be more than 256 colours, but they are by-and-large washed-out and pale compared to Thief 1's lush and colourful originals. (For a dark game, T1 is pretty darn colourful.) I would not recommend this upgrade.

 

[Infinitron]

They're based on Thief 2's improved textures and meshes: http://www.ttlg.com/thievery/patchguide.htm

Thief 2's textures are not "improved" in any way whatsoever. They may be more than 256 colours, but they are by-and-large washed-out and pale compared to Thief 1's lush and colourful originals. (For a dark game, T1 is pretty darn colourful.) I would not recommend this upgrade.

Before:

After:

*shrug* Purists gonna purist. The fan-made Thief Enhancement Pack that comes with both TFix and TafferPatcher overwrites most of these anyway.

 

[skacky]

@Infinitron Well with this texture pack the windows are the ones from T2, which are washed-out yellow. They are meant to be used with colored lights. Since base Thief 1/Gold cannot into colored lights (NewDark T1/G can, however), LGS used very warm, orange-tinted windows. This and several textures, like the overused but cool blustn, are bigger but washed-out, and some others are replaced with totally different textures (T1 blubrik is absolutely not the same as T2 blubrik).

 

[Infinitron]

@Infinitron Well with this texture pack the windows are the ones from T2, which are washed-out yellow. They are meant to be used with colored lights. Since base Thief 1/Gold cannot into colored lights (NewDark T1/G can, however), LGS used very warm, orange-tinted windows. This and several textures, like the overused but cool blustn, are bigger but washed-out, and some others are replaced with totally different textures (T1 blubrik is absolutely not the same as T2 blubrik).

TFix will fix it. When's EP 2.0 gonna be ready?

 

[Darth Roxor]

Looks like there is just about no difference

Fixed

artfags gonna artfag

 

[Roguey]

Oh hey I played through this crap recently.

The best levels were designed by women (Sara Verrilli and Terri Brosius) and the worst were made by a man (Randy Smith). Smith should have been fucking fired, what an incompetent. Not surprising that women would be superior at making a thief game because [negative stereotypes]

I'm predicting Thief II will follow a similar pattern. I'll find out eventually.

 

[Infinitron]

Oh dear god Roguey's playing Thief

I'm predicting Thief II will follow a similar pattern. I'll find out eventually.

Oh, just WAIT until you find out who made Thief 2's most famous level. You'll be horrified.

 

[Roguey]

Oh dear god Roguey's playing Thief

Past tense, I completed it.

Oh, just WAIT until you find out who made Thief 2's most famous level. You'll be horrified.

The Fallout 3 lead, right? I guess the stealth-gameplay skillset don't necessarily mean competence with the role playing shooter skillset.

 

[Infinitron]

The Fallout 3 lead, right? I guess the stealth-gameplay skillset don't necessarily mean competence with the role playing shooter skillset.

The incredible shrinking man:

 

[octavius]

Oh hey I played through this crap recently.

The best levels were designed by women (Sara Verrilli and Terri Brosius) and the worst were made by a man (Randy Smith). Smith should have been fucking fired, what an incompetent. Not surprising that women would be superior at making a thief game because [negative stereotypes]

Sara Verrilli was co-designer on one of the best levels - The Sword (my personal favourite), but she also designed and co-designed some of the weaker levels - Thieves Guild, Mage Towers, and Into the Maw of Chaos, as well as the middle of the road Strange Bedfellows.
Randy Smith designed the love or hate levels of the Haunted Cathedral, and Escape. I love 'em, but I guess you hated them.
Terri Brosious only designed one, but it was a good one - Song of the Caverns.

Bottom line: you are wrong.

Oh dear god Roguey's playing Thief

I'm predicting Thief II will follow a similar pattern. I'll find out eventually.

Oh, just WAIT until you find out who made Thief 2's most famous level. You'll be horrified.

I checked some of Thief 2's levels on the Thief Wiki, but it just says "unknown" under Designer. Where can you find a list of who designed the various levels?

 

[Melan]

Before:
<snip>

After:
<snip>

Yeah, it is not a striking difference in a single shot, but it is still visible. The original textures tend to have

• more saturated colours
• more baked-in shadows
  
• a more grimy appearance.

Altogether, this produces darker, more seedy-looking places. Compare and contrast Assassins with Ambush! for more examples.

And thanks for calling me a purist. I take it as the highest form of praise.

 

[Skunkpew]

Octavius, you can find Thief 1 and 2 credits here

Thief 2:
Running Interference: Tim Stellmach, Rich Carlson, Rick Ernst, Terri Brosius
Shipping And Receiving: Mike Chrzanowski
Framed: Rich Carlson, Rob Caminos
Ambush!: Iikka Keränen, Sara Verrilli
Eavesdropping: Rich Carlson, Emil Pagliarulo, Sara Verilli, Mike Chrzanowski
First City Bank And Trust: Randy Smith
Blackmail: Mike Chrzanowski
Trace The Courier: Iikka Keränen, Sara Verrilli
Trail Of Blood: Terri Brosius
Life Of The Party: Emil Pagliarulo
Precious Cargo: Emil Pagliarulo
Kidnap: Sara Verrilli, Mike Ryan
Casing The Joint: Rafael Brown, Tim Stellmach, Rich Carlson, Mike Ryan
Masks: Rafael Brown, Rich Carlson, Mike Ryan
Sabotage At Soulforge: Randy Smith

 

[octavius]

So Randy "worthless male" Smith designed First City Bank and Trust, and another male designed Life of the Party, the two best levels in the game IMO.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Oh dear god Roguey's playing Thief

Stop right there you fucking retard, stop replying to this worthless creature, what in the name of God are you fucking doing?

 

[Roguey]

Sara Verrilli was co-designer on one of the best levels - The Sword (my personal favourite), but she also designed and co-designed some of the weaker levels - Thieves Guild, Mage Towers, and Into the Maw of Chaos, as well as the middle of the road Strange Bedfellows.

Those levels were fucking great. Especially mage towers. Into the Maw of Chaos wasn't too interesting as a level but it was a fun piece of interactive storytelling so it serves well as a denouement.

Randy Smith designed the love or hate levels of the Haunted Cathedral, and Escape. I love 'em, but I guess you hated them.

Hate hate hate. Playing on the hardest difficulty setting, Haunted Cathedral had god awful polygon-hunting that encourages killing all those overgrown lizards so backtracking doesn't become too much of a chore. Return to the Cathedral had you running errands for a shitty ghost (who you have no idea isn't hostile until you run all over the place looking for the exit until you finally got close enough for it to start speaking) just so you could get a key to unlock a door. Escape had monkey-guys with absurdly sensitive ears, make the tiniest bit of noise and enjoy getting swarmed. Verrilli, who is smart, promptly nerfed that for Strange Bedfellows.

 

[Infinitron]

@Roguey The Mage Towers is widely considered to be a rather BSB level in the Thief community, FYI.

So is Thieves Guild, although that one is a tad more controversial (some people find the dungeon crawling aspect of it an interesting challenge)

 

[Roguey]

Those people are ridiculous then. I enjoyed the "what the fuck is going onnnnnnnnnnnnn" of the upper levels.

 

[Infinitron]

Those people are ridiculous then. I enjoyed the "what the fuck is going onnnnnnnnnnnnn" of the upper levels.

The level is too formulaic. Other than the gimmick of the four themed towers (which gets old after the first two towers) there's simply nothing much of interest in it.

 

[Roguey]

Those people are ridiculous then. I enjoyed the "what the fuck is going onnnnnnnnnnnnn" of the upper levels.

The level is too formulaic. Other than the gimmick of the four themed towers (which gets old after the first two towers) there's simply nothing much of interest in it.

Wait, I got it confused with The Sword. That's the one I meant to praise, not Mage Towers.

 

[Infinitron]

Those people are ridiculous then. I enjoyed the "what the fuck is going onnnnnnnnnnnnn" of the upper levels.

The level is too formulaic. Other than the gimmick of the four themed towers (which gets old after the first two towers) there's simply nothing much of interest in it.

Wait, I got it confused with The Sword. That's the one I meant to praise, not Mage Towers.

In that case, you don't disagree with @octavius.

Of the three Thief Gold missions, only Song of the Caverns is widely considered to be good. Thieves Guild I think people dislike because it starts out promising (a casino!) but then turns unexpectedly into an endless sewer maze romp. It's like Escape with human enemies and a less satisfying ending.