Looking for some Thief tips (TDP, Metal Age) - potential spoilers inside

Games
1

I tried getting into Thief a while ago but then bounced off when I got to the second mission with the undead. One thing that I both liked and disliked was the free reign I had when it came to choosing the equipment.Without knowing in advance what was waiting ahead I didn’t know if I should buy special arrows, ropes or other equipment, and the funds were limited. I’ve also had trouble with the undead - mainly because I’m the type of player that likes to ‘clear’ areas in stealth games (usually by knocking out all the baddies) so I can explore them at my leisure, and these pesky things kept getting in the way.

So before I dive in again I wouldn’t mind some general pointers and tips - feel free to post spoilers too, I’m not too sensitive about them. I’m specifically interested in the recommended ways of dealing with the enemies and the type of equipment I should stock up before every mission. For example, is it viable to knock out all the guards or is it better to sneak around? Do I leave the undead, run past them, kill them? Fwiw I plan on playing on the hardest mode, using GoG version with the available bugfix and texture mods.

2

Oh wow, that was a long time ago.

From what I remember, you hardly need more than one rope arrow, since you can pick it back up and I think you can find them in the missions if you need some. One noise arrow should be enough for the same reason. Water arrows I liked to have as many as I could. Gas arrows are the ultimate weapon, but they were barely worth the price. It’s not too hard to knock out all humans on a level without them, though.

Fire arrows are good for undead, but they are expensive, I think? There are less monsters in Metal Age, by the way, because no one really liked those levels.

Playing on the hardest modes adds a loot target, which is pretty annoying IMO since you might have to scour the level for one more bronze coin to hit the target.

3

Yeah, while the first two Thief games are my favorite PC games of all time, the last time I actually completed one was in 2009, when I finally finished “Thief Gold”. Previous to that, I had only completed the standard non-Gold version.

I always play on the hardest mode, because I enjoy the added challenges, which IMO aren’t really much more difficult; just time-consuming.

I don’t stress too much on my load-out at the beginning of each mission, as pretty much anything you really need will be somewhere in the mission. That said, I always like to have as many water arrows and standard broadhead and fire arrows as I can afford. I rarely used a Gas arrow. The Moss arrow was a good idea in theory, but I rarely used them, as I could never get them to land exactly where I needed them to. Instead, I just moved VERY slowly (tip-toe) to avoid detection. I LOVED using the Rope arrows, and finding places to use them to gain access to otherwise impossible places was a fun challenge.

True, most folks didn’t like the “zombie” or “undead” missions, but I was an exception. I loved them. They scared the hell out of me. True, they were a royal pain in the ass once they spotted you, but avoiding them was a challenge I really enjoyed. My memory is bad: Woodlance mentioned fire arrows for the undead, but it seems to me that I recall a version of the undead that required a Holy Water arrow? Either that, or maybe it was that either a Holy Water arrow OR a fire arrow would take them out? I really can’t remember how that went, but I do remember that the in scene I’m recalling, both of those arrows were in very short supply. IIRC, you got the Holy Water arrow by dipping a regular Water arrow into a nearby vat of Holy Water, and then you’d have a Holy Water arrow, but it would only last a short time before reverting back to a regular Water arrow. OR maybe it stayed that way and didn’t revert back, but constantly running back and forth to the Holy Water vat was tedious if you were trying to clear the area. If I’m remembering that correctly, that aspect was the most annoying problem I had with the entire game, though those instances were rare.

Sorry I’m not being much help. So much time has passed that my memories on specifics are hazy.

Always try and avoid combat with enemies. That said, some of my most memorable adventures in the games were when I got myself boxed in and was forced to fight my way clear, and then run like hell once I got clear, with them in hot pursuit. My plan went to hell, and I was forced to get creative to get back on track. When things went wrong were some of my best times.

Depending on what your goals are, I always felt better once I cleared an area, so I knocked guys out whenever I could, and found a dark place to put the unconscious bodies. Once an area is clear, I could move around much more freely, which is important if I am having trouble finding a particular switch or item.

Once you get the basics down, and have a good feel for the game, there are just so many awesome locations to discover in those first two games. I’ve never before or since felt such a powerful sense of surreal discovery in any game as I did with those two. The sense of place is just fantastic.

I’ve really got to find some time to run through them again. The problem for me is that once I’m in it, many hours can go by like nothing, and suddenly it’s 2:45 a.m. and I’ve got to get up for work in 3 hours. Hmm. I’ve right now got 4 days off…

I hope you can stick with it, @Bateau. They are such rewarding games in so many ways.

4

The zombies are pretty easy to avoid. They have a harder time detecting you than eny other enemy, and if they do detect you, just sprint away and hide. They’re slow and lose track of you easily.

If you have to fight, try to bunch them up and use explosives. Just be aware that if they fall over instead of getting chunked, they’ll get up again if you get too close.

A kinda cheaty tip: they can drown, so if you can lure them into water, problem permanently solved.

Flashbombs also works wonders on all undead, but it’s kind of a waste to use those on zombies.

5

This is very good to know. I think the level I mentioned even had some water so I’ll definitely try this trick out.

I plan to. Somehow I missed the train on all the great first person classics from that era - Deus Ex, System Shock2, both Thiefs (Thieves? :) ) - and it’s probably for the best that I did. I played Deus Ex and SS2 for the first time about 5-6 years ago and definitely appreciated them more than my younger self would have. I suspect it will be the same with Thief, I love stealth games in general and the freedom these game offer seems unmatched by modern stealth games - I was one of the few people who enjoyed the new Thief but having the game tell me when and where I can use my special arrows was a bit jarring.