🚀 go-pugleaf

You know what, after slogging through this game (loved it big time but it
did get frustrating at times - I didn't stumble into this newsgroup where I
could ask for hints until almost the very end) I was very happy to have the
final level the way it was....not too challenging...but very very satisfying
(although it started out pretty tough if you tried the "stand and fight"
approach).

I must say that not having to battle the end-boss directly was a brilliant
decision.  I'm a little tired of the worked-my-way-through-the-game and now
they want me to tirelessly die-reload-die-reload fight some bigass end-boss.
How about the game rewarding me for having the completed the thing?  How
about the game doing for me in the end?

When I saw the end-boss I though "oh Christ, here we go, get the quicksave
quickload buttons warmed up".  When I accomplished my mission and realised
what was going to happen, I smiled and said to myself "Huh, that's it?  Oh!
Great!"...let's sit back and watch the show.  And boy what a show the
endscene and final cutscene was.  I just replayed both and the cutscene made
the hairs on the back of my neck stand up....just perfect.

Compare the end of  Thief with the end of, say, Half Life.  I replayed the
end of HL a couple of times with the two alternatives and remember sitting
there in my chair saying to myself "huh, is that it?"  Reload.  Replay.
"Hmm, seems to be all there is."  Shrug.  Put disk away.  Let down.  Move on
to next game.  What a disappointment when compared to the begining of the
game.  How inconsistent.

I loved some much of Thief.  The voice-acting was another area of
perfection.  Garrett's cool Christian Slater-esque voice was perfect for the
character and really added to my connection to it.

Some of the cutscenes deserve an award: the delivery of the Eye to
Constantine scene was terrific!

My biggest criticism:   Not all was perfect though; the menu interface was
jolting when you had to go to it to reload or something...the mechanistic
noise at the interface really bugged me...I had to turn down my speakers
EVERY time that I reloaded a level because of that d*mn sound.  Hey LG, give
us the option to turn down that d*mn annoying sound!  Also, IMO that sound
was inappropriate.  It sounded like you were in the bowels of a ship with
the motors running at full steam.  It really took away from the game at
times when you would be hiding quietly in the dark listening intently to the
sounds around you, have to reload and RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE until the game
was restored.  The audio equivalent of someone turning all the lights on in
the room while playing the game.

Perhaps in the sequel they could merge the interface into the game a little
more subtly.

Another beef:  you use the "use" key to pick things up - how many times when
running around quickly collecting up stuff did you use the "use" only to use
the thing you last picked up instead of picking up the thing in front of
you?  (convoluted, but you know what I mean)  There has to be a way around
this.  My fingers sure worked the keyboard at times in this game:  running
around, use to pick up, store picked up item, use to pick up next item, etc.

Anyway, really loved this game.

Hellraiser.



Chris wrote in message <36948739...@news.wk.pironet.netsurf.de>...
>Without any question, Thief IS the greatest game in 98, but imho is
>the last mission a single bit too easy compared with the rest.
>The ending is great anyway.
>
>And now it's time to wait for System Shock 2
>Or maybe some mission addons with another story ?!
>
>Anyone heard some rumors ?
>
>Again thanks Looking Glass for making such an awesome game !
>
>To all you copiers outthere, get out and buy this game, these guys
>deserve to be supported.
>
>
>>wow, a game with a good ending?  do they do that anymore?
>>
>>Hellraiser <lot...@mindlink.bc.ca> wrote:
>>> It's just after 6pm.  I'm here alone in my office.  Everyone has gone
home
>>> for the night.  I had a triple Christmas left-over rum and coke.  The
lights
>>> are out and my MX300 is on high volume in my headphones.
>>
>>> I just finished Thief.
>>
>>> Wow!
>>
>>> I won't say anything about the final scene and I thank all those who did
>>> finish it and said nothing to ruin it.
>>
>>> Wow!
>>
>>> Maybe it's the rum.  No.  It's Looking Glass.  It's perfect.
>>
>>> Nothing in 1998 came close to the cinemagraphic way this game handles
>>> cutscenes.  The end is perfect.  Please.  Give me the sequel.
>>
>>> Yours, Hellraiser.
>>
>>
>>
>>--
>>---
>>Jonathan "Maendark" Bakert
>>http://www.cris.com/~maendark
>