Garrett's Iconic Moments

[LarryG]

I'm looking for what most fans would consider the truly iconic moments when playing any of the Thief (1, 2, or 3) games.

What visually (or auditorily) comes to memory and mind as those most memorable, significant, amusing, frightening, or revealing points when you played any of the three games, those moments when you knew the game, the mission was something special?

So what are your top ten? Was it something that Garrett said, or was it walking around a corner and seeing something unexpected? What was it for you?

[demagogue]

Hmm, my list would probably be all from TDP --
- When you're in the sewer under Baffords, the area where water is streaming down. Very dazzling for the time.
- "Inside at last..."
- There's a place you can stand in Bafford's foyer, when you move even just a little all like 5 guards standing in listening distance would call out in unison "Huh? What was that? Is anybody there?" I thought that was the funniest thing and the first thing that captured what this game was about.
- "Walks she a foot above the ground for all the footprints that I've found."
- "Huh, a throne room. How pretentious can you get?"
- "It's a long way down."
- A place in the Sword that has a mysterious chime noise, but the visual imagery in that whole mission was iconic (the screw-hallway, the space leap...)
- "So this is the Lost City... It's not Lost any more."
- The haunts in Return to the Haunted Cathedral!
- The cutscene where your eye is ripped out.
- And the Trickster's ritual.

[SlyFoxx]

To put things in context TDP was the first FPS mouse and keyboard game I'd ever played so for a while just walking along and keeping Garrett looking at the right thing was difficult. I know next to nothing about the game except for the fact it was recommended to me by a good friend. He said there was a cool story arc and that you steal stuff and explore cool places.

#1) The Bear Pits. I've just been deposited into a brand new world in brand new way. I soak up the atmosphere for a few seconds and being to proceed and then blamo..."Hey, I'm going to the bear pits tomorrow. You wanna come with?" Whoa...this place is alive.

#2) "Inside at last"

#3) Still not controlling Garrett too well and trying to escape a few baddies in the bowels of the mines. "Just jump up that tiny ledge you dummy!" Zombie rips a hole in my back and starts chewing on my spine

#4) Figuring out you could retrieve rope arrows!

#5) The spider pit in THC. My video card rendered that hole completely black, I hate spiders in real life so I'm terrified.

#6) The Sword...whole level...'nuff said.

#7) First encounter with the big red spider. Cost me a brand new pair of Fruit of the Looms and I never did get the smell out of the seat cushion

#8) The Trickster reveal cut scene.

#9) Escape.


That's a start at least.

[Random_Taffer]

TDP
#1 The bear pits

#2 "As long as I'm in here I might as well take something for myself."

#3 "It's a rock. It's what you asked for. Am I gonna get paid or not?"

#4 "I've never robbed a god before. Could be a challenge."

#5 "So this is the lost city. Huh. It's not lost no more!" (One of Garrett's most cringe-worthy quips)

TMA
#6 "Don't be alarmed ladies! Just passin' through!"

#7 "Yep. He's gone."

TDS
#8 "Still warm. Great..."

#9 "You haven't listened to anyone else yet, Orland. Why start now?"

#10 (upon discovering the way out of the cradle basement is barred) "This isn't good..."

[BrokenArts]

*CAAREFUULLLLLL.* as he walks across the thin wire.

[DJ Riff]

*CAAREFUULLLLLL.* as he walks across the thin wire.

Ditto!

Also:
(in T1) "It's a long way down."
(in T2) "It's a long way up."
(in T3) "It's a long way. But down is always easier than up."

[YcatX]

#1 "Yep. He's gone."

#2 "Ah... My favorite year..."

#3 "I've never robbed a god before. Could be a challenge."

Those are my favs...

[BrokenArts]

No its. *Ohhhh yeah, he's gone.* I've got the Oh yeah, on a wave. He sounds so sexy.

[BrokenArts]

The one thing that ties it in for me, if you will, is the music associated with a certain level. Sound and music is sometimes greatly, and I mean greatly overlooked. The same looping sound, whether it is ambient or music, just a continuous looping is annoying, the shorter the loop, the more I turn it down. Personal preference.

Case in point, *Assassins* the music that is associated with that particular mission is absolutely perfect. Its suspicious, it just fits it to a tea.

The music to the Keepers Library, I love that music, again, it so works with that level.

What is strange, this coming from someone that is partially deaf, I always played the game, and any game with headphones on. I do have weird hearing. I can sometimes pick up on things, like picking out the same voice actor that did a couple of characters in Vampire Bloodlines. It was a fluctuation in the tone of his voice, he did it the same way with another character. I looked him up and sure enough! Same guy did both characters.

Even the newer games in general, the sounds suck, too much looping, short sounds. Thief is still the best when it comes to sounds and music. Odd and still strange considering how old the game is.

[LostCitizen]

Some of my memories:

- Down in the Bonehoard, reading letters from the brave men who never made it through. The Statues and the "gaze of death". The sound of the Horn...

- "It's true he has returned. We must be ready. Rough waters lie ahead..." The dialogue between two Mages in the Fire tower; mentioning the City which is "dry and dead". The feeling that someone is expecting you.

- The moment I entered the first Pagan house in Trail of Blood. The music, the girl giving me Dewdrop.

- "To hide in the shadows is to reveal your fear, intruder! "Do I see death in the shadow?"

- The Sword mission, when I am all nervous about the sword while hearing someone laughing...

- Entering the outerspace (I only recently found an exact word for it) in TG.

- Reading all the information about the mighty THC before finally standing in front of it, combining the atmosphere and Apparition, brrrr.

[Jones95]

Who could forget the argument between the two pairs of guards in the mission Life of the Party in Thief 2? Come to think of it, the level itself was one of the best in the series. The size and detail was unparralleled.

I also have fond memories of the 'hub world' in TDS. It was so much fun to explore or just enjoy the atmosphere. Shame that it was split up into a handful of tiny zones, but it still an excellent move for the series.

But easily the most memorable part of any Thief game was Garrett himself. Never a hero or anti-hero, his attitude, personality and voice acting made him an icon.

[skacky]

I have a lot more moments in TDP/TG than T2, but here goes:

T1:
- The TDP intro movie, as simple as that.
- Inside at last!
- The top floor of Baffy's manor. The first time I played it, I spent nearly an hour slowly crawling trying to be as silent as possible. This plus the vox schema that plays in this area created a sort of unique anguish I never experienced in any game before. This is when I knew Thief would become my favorite game.
- The mines in Cragscleft, and the Oh Shit! moment when you wake up your first zombie and he kills you with a horrible beyond-the-grave grunt.
- The factory in Cragscleft as well. The ambience there is fantastic.
- It's a long way down...
- The Horn of Quintus, of course, and the consequence of taking it.
- The whole Assassins mission. Masterpiece when it comes to design. Too bad it's so easy.
- The twisted upper floors in The Sword. I played this game countless of times but I still get lost in the grass tunnels.
- You were being tested, Mr. Garrett. Do you understand? That twist was awesome.
- The Haunted Cathedral, another masterpiece when it comes to design. So much freedom. And the Eye. Oh god, the Eye.
- I Raoul do accuse you of using treachery to obtain your wealth!
- The whole Song of the Caverns mission was awesome. It's actually my favorite mission in the game.
- Not a huge fan of The Lost City, but I liked the ambience in the tower of fire with the faint echo-ing music. It conveyed a sense of "the world is coming to an end".
- The Trickster's reveal and Viktoria's wooden butt. Okay no seriously, I was impressed when this happened. I knew something would happen, but definitely not this.
- Return to the Cathedral, of course.
- The whole Escape mission. So hard, especially when ghosting.
- The Maw was crazy and all. It's a shame it's cake and really too linear, though.

T2:
- The combat bots give me the creeps.
- The unforgettable Bank. It's like a nastier, meanier version of Song of the Caverns. And it has randomly positioned cameras on Expert.
- Blackmail was great, methinks. Great tension, great music.
- Van Vernon Guard: Our lady is a saint among mortal women! An angel so pure the heavens couldn't hold her!
Willey Guard: Your lady? An angel? You're happy the Darkside whorekeeps aren't bashing on her door for stealing their clientele! Just the other day, I saw her warming the stable boy!
That whole conversation, in fact.
- The first glimpse of Angelwatch was really impressive.
- Karras' recordings are great.
- I thought Masks was great. The ambience in this mission is really well done, you feel really comfortable inside when it's cold and it rains outside.
- The last few cutscenes are awesome, especially Viktoria's assault on Soulforge.
- And I'm gonna add Soulforge, because I actually like this mission.

[R Soul]

1) "I have a simple job planned for this evening" - for most of us this was our first full mission, and we knew that it wouldn't be simple.

2) Cragscleft intro - We learn that the Hammers are quite nasty, and then Garrett nonchalantly says that he's going in! Oh and the mines are haunted. We've just made it though Bafford's, and now this...

3) The Escape mission, and Garrett's comment in the next video "This is not the way things were supposed to go" - you bet.

4) The final cutscene - no celebrations, no hero's welcome, but great music and visuals. The sight of that old man lying in the snow, and probably close to death, the rat nibbling away at something, and the sings of rapid industrialization at the end.

5) Lights with no switches, even in Bafford's and other mansions. It made their technology look crude and unrefined.

6) The low quality T1 textures had a blotchy look that created an impression of grime and dirt, which perfectly suited the game's setting. I feel that the T2 textures, being higher quality, lost some of that and felt a bit sterile.

7) Trace the Courier - even though it re-used the city from Ambush, the different routes and guard patrols created this nice mix of familiarity and the unknown.

8) The ghost of Laryl in the Cradle, especially her shadow and her frantic knocking on the attic door. Very creepy.

9) The background sounds - Bafford's, Zombie moans in Cragscleft, the Horn of Quintus music, Assassins, The Haunted Cathedral (fb...wav in snd.crf), Precious Cargo, Trail of Blood, T3 City, The Cradle.

10) The briefing movies, and the way they had different background sounds for Keeper, Hammer and Pagan quotes.

[infinity]

I'll never forget the first time I saw the sword hanging there in the middle of that...tower...and wondering how the taff I was gonna be able to grab it and get out.