A change in my "scariest gaming moment"

[Nerevarine]

Ok, Deadly Shadows and its Shalebridge Cradle mission actually managed to grab the first place that was previously held by the SH2 Prison compound. Good job, hurray! I can't even begin to describe how creepy that mission was, you have to play it, period. The peek:

An unkillable zombie with a cage on its head is slowly patrolling a corridor of cells. I creep behind it and silently start lockpicking one of the cells (which takes about 30 seconds to do). Suddenly I can't hear its footsteps anymore, but I decide not to exit the "lockpick" mode to check, figuring if it had seen me I would've been dead already. Lockpicking is done, I try to move a few steps back to open the door and I encounter resistance. I turn around..and THEN the damned thing starts screaming and punching me in the face. I jumped and screamed a little bit myself right then, and decided it was time to take a break...

Anyone else been there? If you're thinking of buying it but haven't decided yet, just GO! It's the best of the 3 games, and this is coming from a huge Thief fan. It may not be as novel as the first or as huge and open ended as the second, but it's the most intense and addictive one, and also the one with the best story. Game of the year for me (till now at least).

[Chip]

Thief right?

[MarkN]

Gosh, Nerevarine, I hope you were wearing rubber underwear or adult undergarments! Otherwise you should start now. graemlins/av_cheesygrin.gif

[Tutin]

Thief any good ?

Watched a friend play 15 minutes the first thief a few years back and it didnt grab me.. never played any of them.

[Chip]

well I liked the demo.

[Dracolytch]

I really enjoyed Thief: Deadly shadows. I also must concur with the first author: Shalebridge Cradle is scary as crap.

Even when you first walk in the door, the atmosphere and ambiance of the orphanage turned insane asylum turned self-aware playground for the undead is amazingly creepy. I haven't been that on-edge since I saw Alien the first time (by myself, in a dark room, while my parents were away).

~D

[CodeZero]

That's awesome! I woulda jumped and screamed too, LOL.

[American Idle]

Originally posted by Chip:
well I liked the demo. If you liked the demo, you'll love the game - the demo kinda sucked in comparison. The demo is the first two missions of the game, but the story really starts cooking after that.

Shalebridge Cradle was nerve wracking. I absolutely loved it - it kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. Brilliant is not too strong of a word. But now I'm terrified to play through the game again because I'd have to go back in there. av_eek.gif

[Wave]

An unkillable zombie with a cage on its head is slowly patrolling a corridor of cells. I creep behind it and silently start lockpicking one of the cells (which takes about 30 seconds to do). Suddenly I can't hear its footsteps anymore, but I decide not to exit the "lockpick" mode to check, figuring if it had seen me I would've been dead already. Lockpicking is done, I try to move a few steps back to open the door and I encounter resistance. I turn around..and THEN the damned thing starts screaming and punching me in the face. I jumped and screamed a little bit myself right then, and decided it was time to take a break...

Without a doubt that's a classic moment. Makes me want to watch a horror movie right about now.

[ruslan]

i never got into any of the Thief series... and as for the scariest moment in gaming... i still think AvP takes the crown in my case when playing the marine... no matter how many clips you empty on anything that moves... geez... it still scares the flu out of me...

[Fox Mulder]

Thief 3 has Zombies ???
The worst part about Thief 1 was the Zombies, it was reduced in Thief 2, was expecting the Zombies to be completly removed in Thief 3.

[Nerevarine]

Originally posted by Fox Mulder:
Thief 3 has Zombies ???
The worst part about Thief 1 was the Zombies, it was reduced in Thief 2, was expecting the Zombies to be completly removed in Thief 3. Why? It's Thief, not Splinter Cell, the paranormal reigns! Besides when you see where and how they are used I'm sure you won't mind at all..

[DavidStallard]

The undead and monsters in Thief 1 kinda sucked, they soiled an otherwise brilliant game. However, they were handled much better in Thief 2 and I don't consider them a detriment anymore...they're a cool element. I've just started Thief 3 (only played the first tutorial mission) so I haven't seen them there yet.

[maddog0606]

I loved the Shalebridge Cradle mission. I kept looking behind me while sitting at the computer.

The only other game that has ever scared me was System Shock2 where I ran like a little girl from the psy-chimps on deck one and the many-crew that were stalking me in the forward cargo bays.

[Wave]

An unkillable zombie with a cage on its head is slowly patrolling a corridor of cells.

There are only two horror movies that I can recall having a cage enclosing someones head. Bram Stoker's Dracula and Thirteen Ghosts.

The game still sounds very cool. graemlins/av_sly.gif

[SSPanzer]

It may not be as novel as the first or as huge and open ended as the second, but it's the most intense and addictive one, and also the one with the best story. I was waiting for this game but the negative reviews on some sites really put me off.It seems that the levels are very cramped(smaller in size) as compared to thief-2(you have also pointed out the same thing in your post).Also the lighting and shadow engine is screwed up.Is that so??It is said on some sites that the lighting engine is so bad that it takes away the IMMERSION from this game.Also you have loads in-mission i.e the entire level does not load at the start but in parts as you move from one area to other.This if true is a serious no-no as it will completely suck you out of the game.Also the game has SERIOUS fram-rate issues.True??Also everybody seems to be talking only about the Shalecradle level(or whatever) what about the other levels.Are they any good??The only saving grace seems to be the story which everyone says is the best of the 3 games.
Can anyone pls clarify on all the points that I have hilighted as my buying will be heavily influenced by these factors.

[jcompton]

Is it too old-school to say that it's still the supercreature coming after me in Project Firestart? av_smile.gif

[dangerballs]

Originally posted by Nerevarine:

An unkillable zombie with a cage on its head is slowly patrolling a corridor of cells.

You can easily kill the Cradle Zombies with the same tools you can kill the other zombies. A good backstab kills the staff and will also put the Cage zombies down. Oil + Fire Arrow kills, as does Holy Water and Flashbombs. 2-3 Flashbombs will take out anything in the Cradle.

[dangerballs]

Originally posted by SSPanzer:
I was waiting for this game but the negative reviews on some sites really put me off.It seems that the levels are very cramped(smaller in size) as compared to thief-2(you have also pointed out the same thing in your post).Also the lighting and shadow engine is screwed up.Is that so??It is said on some sites that the lighting engine is so bad that it takes away the IMMERSION from this game.Also you have loads in-mission i.e the entire level does not load at the start but in parts as you move from one area to other.This if true is a serious no-no as it will completely suck you out of the game.Also the game has SERIOUS fram-rate issues.True??Also everybody seems to be talking only about the Shalecradle level(or whatever) what about the other levels.Are they any good??The only saving grace seems to be the story which everyone says is the best of the 3 games.
Can anyone pls clarify on all the points that I have hilighted as my buying will be heavily influenced by these factors. I think people are complaining too much about the loads between levels. The level parts themselves are quite large. All these fanboy "reviews" seem like a internet witchhunt with most of the complaints coming from those who haven't even played the game. This game is good and it is very "Thief". I thought the light engine was awesome and the graphics were cool. And the game will run fine on your computer as long as you have a decent card. I have a Geforce4 4600 and it played supersmooth even with multiple enemies on screen.

Some of the levels are priceless. I loved the first castle level. The island manor and the museum were awesome too. I would put those up there with the bank and police station levels from the previous ones. The Cradle is excellent, not as good as Life of the Party from Thief 2, but still very good.

There are some things I would change. First, being the fence/shop system. I would have one fence and one shop, none of this running all around town to sell things. Second, I would fix a couple annoying bugs. The biggest being that you can't blackjack people who are sitting down.