Thief: DS demo, and some questions

[Intrepid Homoludens]

I'm finally getting to play the Thief: DS demo (on my sister's computer, which is more powerful than mine). Not bad, but not that good, either. I doesn't have the 'oomph' the first Thief had. I dunno, it just doesn't feel.....'thiefian'? For one thing the stupid blue highlights are distracting, immediately yanking me out of the gameworld every time. Garrett's voiceman is teh GOD, and that grubby guard's voice is back, which is wonderfully comfortingly familiar, but the other voices are awful! They sound too much like commercial pitches. Every time I hear the servants talk I feel like I should go to Walmart and buy something. Ech!

I do, however, love the mulitple paths, the level design seems just like old Thief. The 3rd person view doesn't bother me but I do prefer 1st person 90% of the time. But for some reason the framerates are not that good, and my sister's rig should more than surpass the system reqs (P4, 2.6GHz, 512MB RAM, Radeon 9600, etc.). Is anyone else having this problem in their demo/full versions?

I'd like to get this game sometime soon, but which version? PC or Xbox? If I get the Xbox version I'll be forced to play in 3rd person, which I don't want; and there's also that huge stink over the screw up with savegames loading on normal difficulty by default, which cannot be fixed for the [non Xbox Live] consoles. If I get the PC version the patch takes care of that bit, but it seems people have been complaining of the perpetual dip in framerates. I'm in a quandary!

[MrHoatzin]

Just yesterday when I decided to try my luck with the first one again, I realized that I had in fact given the game to somebody a long, long while ago... Crap.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

You idiot.

[manny_c44]

I think Maureen's voice actor from full throttle is one of the NPC voices, you hear it on the second mission of the game. Which is where I stopped, because its not that good; and naviagting the town is a complete pain. The load times are annoyingly frequent and the over-world seems like just a way to create confusion and lengthen the game. I do like the shadows and the graphics in general, as well as the general-mission sneaky gameplay, but its still underwhelming. DS scores a big "meh" in my book.

[MrHoatzin]

You idiot.

It was infuriating! It was a while ago and the load times were killing me and every time I tried to hit the gard on the back of the head, he would run off screaming, so I had to load again!

You're to blame for everything.

[OftenK]

I rented it, and this just about sums up my thoughts on it.

This game gets a big fat "Meh" from me too.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

It was infuriating! It was a while ago and the load times were killing me and every time I tried to hit the gard on the back of the head, he would run off screaming, so I had to load again!

You're to blame for everything.

Jeezus Crumpets, man! How many times do I have to tell you? You do NOT bonk a guard when he sees you. You tippy toe up to him and bonk him from behind, he'll never know what hit him. And Garrett, for some fooking reason, wears fooking tap shoes to work, so crouch and tread slowly. The guards have predictable patrol patterns, pay attention and time your moves. Carpet, grass, and moss do not betray your tap shoes. Concrete, stone, and metal do.

If you want to bonk like the best, then learn to bonk properly. Oh, and feel free to throw shit like bottles and goblets across the room, guards will always go to investigate where they land and make noise, giving you the chance to sneak past.

[Jayel]

heh heh yeah, what's up with him wearing tap shoes??

I must've yelled "take off your goddamned shoes!!!" at the screen a thousand times.

[Alex]

for some reason the framerates are not that good, and my sister's rig should more than surpass the system reqs (P4, 2.6GHz, 512MB RAM, Radeon 9600, etc.)

Er...I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but those specs arn't all that hot. It's an 'about average' machine but nothing special. Admittedly, games should be tailored specifically to run at their best on average machines but they seldom are (Halo and DX2 being the first examples off the top of my head)

Just yesterday when I decided to try my luck with the first one again, I realized that I had in fact given the game to somebody a long, long while ago... Crap.

Don't worry stevey steve, i've got a copy of the original Tea Leaf if you want it.

Jeezus Crumpets, man! How many times do I have to tell you? You do NOT bonk a guard when he sees you. You tippy toe up to him and bonk him from behind, he'll never know what hit him ... If you want to bonk like the best, then learn to bonk properly.

In the knowledge that 'bonk' used to be a british slang term for fornication, that whole sentance develops a new and frightening meaning

[MrChlorophyll]

One thing that bugs me about the stupid guard issue is: Ok, so they give up the search no matter how obvious it is that you've gone Rambo on some peoples, you would rather they be on super-high alert and stick there swords wherever they think they might have seen a shadow quiver microscopicaly? For the entire rest of the freaking level?? With the resulting nigh-impossibilty of play, it would be similar to there not being an in-game save system because you'd have to restart every stinking time a guard suspected anything. So sure it aint perfect, but it's sure a heckuva lot more playable.

And as for the framerate, just lower the resolution a notch, tune down the texture detail until you find that sweet spot and it'll still look better than the console version probably. And I'll take chuggy mouse and keyboard any day.

All in all: Not perfect (duh)... Make that not anywhere near perfect, but I had a heck of a time paying it, now give me Thief 4 dammit!

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Er...I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but those specs arn't all that hot. It's an 'about average' machine but nothing special. Admittedly, games should be tailored specifically to run at their best on average machines but they seldom are (Halo and DX2 being the first examples off the top of my head)

Ah well. Still, for all the all bells and whistles in the game you'd think they'd at least allow more people to be able to enjoy it. Fook, Splinter Cell runs 10,000 times better than T: DS on my sister's rig and it features practically the same game mechanics and graphics. If you ask me, IS have turned out to be a bunch of morons who ultimately allowed themselves to get caught up in all that bleeding graphics trend shit and forgot to sympathize with the many of us who don't waste so much money on the latest tech shit. I'm pissed, and it's justified.

In the knowledge that 'bonk' used to be a british slang term for fornication, that whole sentance develops a new and frightening meaning

You don't really think I had no knowledge of that already, do you, hot stud? Frightening? [remembers a certain online chat revolving around SP: Pandora Tomorrow multiplayer] Quite. Unless you do so with a lover as foreplay.

[ragnar]

Jeezus Crumpets, man! How many times do I have to tell you? You do NOT bonk a guard when he sees you. You tippy toe up to him and bonk him from behind, he'll never know what hit him. And Garrett, for some fooking reason, wears fooking tap shoes to work, so crouch and tread slowly. The guards have predictable patrol patterns, pay attention and time your moves. Carpet, grass, and moss do not betray your tap shoes. Concrete, stone, and metal do.

What? You violent maniac! You don't go up and bonk anyone, you just go around without anyone noticing you (ok, I had two kills and one bonk, but one kill was a mistake and I had no recent savegame and the other was as far as I know a must kill and the bonk was in the training mission and there you had to do it too).

[Intrepid Homoludens]

What? You violent maniac! You don't go up and bonk anyone, you just go around without anyone noticing you

It's called 'ghosting'. It's basically the apex of taffer endeavors among the Thief fans and community. No killing, no bonking, not even triggering guards' suspicions. Very difficult, but you'll respect yourself that much more if you accomplish it.

I don't care to 'ghost' too much, but I try as best I can to avoid detection all out. But sometimes I find situations where I just can't help myself, the guy is just 'begging' to be bonked.

(ok, I had two kills and one bonk, but one kill was a mistake and I had no recent savegame and the other was as far as I know a must kill and the bonk was in the training mission and there you had to do it too).

I'm currently replaying Splinter Cell without trying to kill anyone. Sucks, though, 'cause there are definitely portions in the game where you'r required to. I hate it.

[ragnar]

Oh, you can't have any guards detect you either? I didn't accomplish that by far. The game is called Thief, not Assassin, so I thought it stupid to go around killing and bonking people. Besides, then you have the bother of going around and hiding the bodies too.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Right. 0% detection. And on the game's highest difficulty level. Of course, it's impossible to do that in Splinter Cell based on its level design and setup. It's very possible to do that in Hitman and Thief. In Hitman 2 and Contracts, you can still achieve 'Silent Assassin' ranking even if you drug a civilian/guard and 'borrow' their clothes, but you must not fire a single bullet.

[MrHoatzin]

What is the point of going all out silently? Just as long as no one turns on the alarm and not too many stalwart people on the other side of the coin I kill, everything will be efficient. I always opt for optimum carnage for the returns. If someone is in my way and he don't wanna to be dispatched otherwise, I will have to kill him. If the alternative is throwing plates against the wall half the world over in another room and then running through a maze of shadows to my destination while the guard is coming over to examine the noise... it is too big a bother.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

That or you suck at it.

I often replay levels to see how fun they are each time when I play differently. I found that a combination of styles is more satisfying than trying to be 'pure'. I achieved a 'Silent Assassin' rank in the Hitman Contracts demo, and that particular level was extremely difficult because you had two targets to assassinate (syringing a civilian, borrowing his threads, poisoning the borscht, waiting for target #1 to eat and get sick and go to the WC, killing him there, borrowing his clothes, etc.), AND they are both moving around the map with their own agendas, AND I was required to find explosives and blow up a dirty bomb factory. I also played it by killing half the league and got a 'Mass Murderer' status.

I just ordered Hitman 2!! Should get it this week sometime, can't wait.