So, I finished Thief II: The Metal Age.
! Oh boy, this game become one of my favourites. Everything I liked about the first game and nothing I hated about it (although I did come around and admit to myself that some of the first games maps and ideas were neat).
From a storytelling perspective, this beat the first game (and many other games) by far. The buildup throughout the first few missions, the conversations, letters, the robot in the shipping crate… I feel it was so masterfully done, it's almost incredible. Karras is one strange but intriguing antagonist, with a very clearly identifiable voice that grew on me (especially during the party mission with all those recordings). The Children of Karras themselves posed as interesting obstacles, especially since they one-shot you on Expert difficulty. Their constant talking and weird way of going around added an additional otherworldly feeling to them. The slaves were also pretty well done, although I still have no idea what was up with that little boy machine thingy.
The textures and models have improved significantly, although the models still have those wonky but lovable quality to them. More guard textures, female guards and mechanists, improvements all around.
Returning to the Lost City came as a shock to me, but it all made sense in the end, and it was nostalgic roaming those ruins again. The Mechanists have cleared up the place since Garrett was last visiting.
My only complaint (aside from that it ended) was around the end: Casing the Joint and Masks seemed particularly buggy and at parts kind of unfinished. Great maps, but some parts needed a little more work. Could've used another map in between them (Thief II Gold were planned to have such a map, but never came to be).
The last map, oh boy. No living enemies, but those masked Mechanists and all those robots. I became quite frustrated at times, but that's only because I didn't really prepare properly. I should've restarted the mission as soon as it became clear what I would need, but I pushed through with some luck and multiple retries.
So yeah, one of my favourite games ever, and made me want to replay some of the missions from the first one. I also like the contrast between the two games. In the first, the balance tilts heavily to the Pagan's side, while the second game tilts to the other side. Hammerites seem to always get the short end of the stick though.
Since then, I've already started Thief III: Deadly Shadows to keep the Thief train going, and since this was my first Thief game, I thought it would be a great experience.
! Well… after the masterpiece that was Metal Age, this seems less well put together. The engine is completely different, the graphics are okay for the most part (although I can't help but feel that the women bodies look disproportionately weirder than their male counterparts which look quite okay). Let's not talk about the hairs and how horrible they are.
Right in the first mission, I encountered a game-breaking bug, which made me install a patch that made some other (optional) changes to make the game (and I hate to say this) not suck so much. I want to like this game, I really do. I did like it back in the day, but after the original two, it seems like a failed reboot. I can see the passion for the old games in it, the references, but desire to get more out of the franchise, but it falls flat.
The Keepers are brought into the spotlight, which makes them less of mysterious sect and more of idiots who get blindsided by prophecies while a thief robs them of their valuables and tries to save the world alone. Recovering artifacts decades lost in a single night (well, two but whatever). Keepers worked when they weren't the absolute focus, because that's essentially their role. It says so in the loading screen texts.
The Hammerites and City Watch are okay, although it saddens me they don't have female guards. They have female combatants on the street, so it's not like they didn't want violent gals or anything. The Kurshok are an interesting addition. And of course zombies make a glorious comeback, although I have less problems with these than in the first game (I won't say this when I'm at the Cradle, believe me). I do commend how they implemented making certain areas unaccessible through storytelling.
And this leads me to another problem. The city itself is fine, but after having to run around for the 5th time in order to get rid of all of your accumulated loot it's become less fun. I liked the little missions with Mr. Fake Garrett, and the Pagan sapling.
Lockpicking is pretty fun, especially since the patch I mentioned took out the little help and you have to go by the movement of Garrett's hand and sound alone. The eye is more straightforward, but less useful.
Strange, but I think I'll be able to enjoy the new Thief (the fourth game) better than Deadly Shadows. I have zero expectations from that.
I'm already looking into fan maps for Thief II, so I can enjoy a true masterpiece of a game some more.
