Fellow taffer here. Some things to consider for a thief first-timer:
If you have experience with games, play on expert, seriously. Thief makes the game harder by adding objectives and constraints, not just stat scaling. There’s a couple levels that have bullshit secrets to find or loot requirements, but overall it encourages exploration. I played expert my first time based on a post like this one and I was so so glad I did.
The controls and mechanics feel cumbersome at first because it’s such a different game than the usual halo/cod/unreal-influenced FPS. Until you get used to them and the mechanics don’t feel bad about save scumming.
Play with original graphics, don’t use texture mods (at least for a first playthrough). Once you get used to the old graphics, the art direction really comes together, and IMO it’s right up there with Dishonored.
The gameplay pitch is thus: LG wanted to make a mechanics-based DnD-like class based RPG videogame. Elder-scrolls is stat-based RPG: your character levels up in-game and their stats go up. If you go to your friend’s place, you don’t take any of that with you, it’s tied to the digital save file/avatar/character. Contrast this with fighting games, which are mechanics based: the characters are consistent and do not change. You get better at the game and accomplish more by learning the mechanics.
So as you get good at thief, you are leveling up. You can go to your friend’s house, take over playing and say “watch this shit” and pull some crazy stunt.
LG started building the mechanics for a thief class and realized they had nowhere near enough capital to make all the other classes. But they already had a pretty fun game. This is why Thief 1 has tons of different environments and locales and thief 2 is more focused on places a thief would be likely to go.
> If you have experience with games, play on expert, seriously. Thief makes the game harder by adding objectives and constraints, not just stat scaling.
Thanks for that tip, will definitely remember it when I get around to playing it
