Thief 2: The Metal Age final playthrough appreciation thread

[Shoshin]

Now that I've wrapped up Thief Gold (see this thread):

Thief Gold final playthrough appreciation thread

it's time to start Thief 2: The Metal Age.

One very clear memory I have is of the Thief 2 demo coming out, sometime in late 1999 I think. At the time, of course, I was on dial up internet and that connection was super flakey in my apartment. However, I had just started working at a software company (VanDyke Software, makers of SecureCRT for you terminal emulator fans out there), and one of the products was an FTP client that had the ability to resume interrupted downloads. So I started downloading the demo, and I turned the volume way up on my computer so I would hear it when the dial-up connection would drop. Then I would get out of bed, re-establish the connection, and resume the download. My recollection is that it took a good 12 hours to download it, and I got up a ton to reconnect my flakey flakey internet connection. Just for fun I redownloaded the demo now. It took 45 seconds. Progress!

The internet tells me that Thief Gold was released in October of 1999, and that the Thief 2 demo came out in November of 1999, which sounds about right.

Thief 2 brought a number of new features to the world. Colored lighting, more female characters, bonus objectives, and secrets to be found are the ones that stand out. I guess there's the scouting orb, which is a cool concept but not a tool I use much, other than to see the dancing zombies in one of the levels. Vine arrows, frog beast eggs. Anything else?

I've played Running Interference already, so the next post will be about that.

[Shoshin]

Ah, a quintessential Thief level. Takes place in a mansion with guards (a lot of guards, for that small of a space, honestly), steal some stuff. It's got a nice twist in that you're breaking out Basso's girlfriend, with Garrett having a typical jaded attitude about feelings.

This is definitely an intro type level. I'm assuming that they didn't include a training level because this is a sequel, but they are clearly easing new players into the game world with this level. It's short, the requirements aren't overly onerous, even on expert.

So Basso has picked the lock of the butler's room (Garrett has apparently forgotten his lockpicks for this job). Luckily for Garrett, the butler has left the key to the rest of the house on a ledge in his room, making it easy to access the rest of the house. I head upstairs first, to fill my pockets with whatever I can find. There's a nice bonus objective of finding rings for Basso and Jenivere, and since Garrett has forgotten his lockpicks, it's fortunate that some of the guards have keys. Playing on expert, I have to score 8 knockouts, so every guard in the level is knocked out just to be safe. Luckily, I play this way anyway, otherwise I would find this objective a bit objectionable. It's part of the training aspect of this level, so I guess it's OK. On the third floor in the bedroom there is a secret wall safe, which is one of the three secrets in this level. After I've looted the upstairs, including the outside where the guards are surprisingly lax (I mean, the owner is gone but I unlock and open the front door and they're all "Hey what was that? Musta been nothing"), I head downstairs. The armory has another secret, with some additional weaponry, including a flashbomb which comes in handy. The wine cabinet has the third secret, a speed potion (I never use them, so it's not a great secret for me). Once the guards here are all knocked out, I go outside and tweet the bird whistle so Basso can break out Jenivere.

This is another well-designed space that feels functional, as in I could imagine it having been actually built for a rich person with servants. Strangely, only one servant in the kitchen and like 10 guards (and of course Jenivere locked in her room). And the rich owners always seem to be gone. Don't they sleep at their house?

The first thing I noticed when playing this level is the subtle color variations of the lights. I don't think I noticed that before. The torches have a red hue from the fire, and the electric lights are more bright white with maybe a hint of blue? The torch in front of the guard station is an area that really shows the colored lighting. Anyway, it's a nice touch, though very subtle and has no impact on the game play. The texture artists did a good job with the wood textures here, they look very rich and add to the wealth and opulence of the place. Though I am playing with some mods installed by T2Fix, so I know I don't have the original textures in all the places. Still, my memory of the first time I played it is that the places Garrett goes to and steals from got a bit richer, if that makes sense. The gas lights are another touch that make the place seem very wealthy, as I can only imagine that having gas lights would have been incredibly expensive in the world.

Overall, a bit of a lightweight level, but a nice introduction (or re-introduction if you played The Dark Project) to the world. Not a ton of hand-holding, but not a very hard mission either. It's got all the things that make a good Thief level, and it can be completed in under an hour, even if you go everywhere and find everything. It's not up to the standard set by Lord Bafford's Manor from the first game, but it does well enough.

[downwinder]

only mission i am looking forward to is where you find dewdrop after trace the currier,and be sure to grab healing fruits

[Kubrick]

The first thing I noticed when playing this level is the subtle color variations of the lights. I don't think I noticed that before. The torches have a red hue from the fire, and the electric lights are more bright white with maybe a hint of blue? The torch in front of the guard station is an area that really shows the colored lighting. Anyway, it's a nice touch, though very subtle and has no impact on the game play.

I am very annoying with this, but I loved finally being able to tweak the contrast and saturation to make the game's palette pop better. Clearly I have a low-saturation low-contrast monitor, and this helped a lot:

https://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=151556

edit: quoted the wrong post, sorry. Fixed now

[Shoshin]

I must be missing something, as I'm not sure what the connection between Dewdrop and healing fruits is, and why messing with the contrast us related to that?

[downwinder]

the healing fruit comment was about just refreshing yourself while playing, it make a great crisp snapping sound when eating it,and on dewdrop level as they are in that level i think


in the wild the healing fruits are more fresh and when you get them from city they a bit older :P

[Hit Deity]

Ahh, yes.. I think you're right about "late 1999" for the demo but I couldn't find any definite info. I have a vague recollection of it being around the Christmas holidays and trying to get it downloaded over dial-up was a real pain. I don't remember when download managers (that allowed resuming) became a thing, but I remember them being essential for dial-up. (I remember getting the demo for Thief: TDP as well, and I didn't think it would ever finish downloading. I must have played that demo a thousand hours or more.)

Thief 2: TMA was released in March of 2000, and I bought it early for my birthday and I remember going to pick it up at the mall. I was never so stoked to get a new game. It wasn't long before Dromed was released and all the obsessive building began!

{An interesting side note that I kept meaning to put in the TG thread: I remember also going to the mall to get that game as well, and that trapezoidal box was so unique. I remember admiring it, and then about 10 minutes later, me and my wife and a friend were in another store just down from the game store and my friend asked me, "I never saw you ring that up. Did you pay for it?" I looked down and I had the Thief box tucked under my arm. My insides immediately went cold; I had never stolen anything in my life! I marched back to the game store and paid for it, the clerk looking at me kinda funny since he saw me walk in from outside and come up to the counter to buy it.." He never said a word, and neither did I.

I guess Garrett had rubbed off on my subconscious.}

[Shoshin]

Playing this level always reminds me of this:

Crate Review System

That bit of satire aside, this is another solid thieving level. A warehouse with multiple locations that need to be broken into. The colored lighting jumped out at me again while playing this, making for a richer visual experience. The warehouse area is pretty well done, the way the building is structured is decently logical, there's plenty of guards on patrol, on multiple levels, so you do need to watch out for guards on the second level patrolling the outside of the building, as they can spot you on the ground. There's some nice story elements introduced, both in the pre-mission briefing (Sheriff Gorman Truart) and the overheard conversations (Hammers in decline, Mechanists rising, industrialization starting to happen and impacting animal and plant life). And you get to steal from a pirate, what's not to like?

The outside has some crates with some useful items in it, and a number of guards on patrol. I tend to loot everything on the outside, and though the one conversation was a bit long (about the soot and the trees dying), it is a nice bit of backstory for the world you now inhabit. After listening to that, I make my way to the pirate ship. It's well guarded, lucky there's a ladder off the back of the ship. Once on board, it's easy enough to knock out the pirate guy guarding the dock. The smuggler (can't remember his name) has a couple of secret hiding places in his quarters, and there's a dead guy in the casket in the hold. Wonder what happened? Then I head into the warehouse to find more stuff. Gotta gather some keys and break into some offices. Upstairs there's a recently installed security camera. I like the sound effects for it, a mix of an elementary school film projector and a steam iron or something. Loot the warehouse by the docks, find all the spice. Then it's time to continue on with the spaces that are rented out to others.

Once you learn the secret to the keypads, getting into each place is easy. There's some nice touches, like the guy who has the best steaks in town is clearly using spider meat, and poor Gilver (you redirect his shipment elsewhere) is on the verge of going broke due to piracy. I had a momentary twinge of ethics when stealing from him. It quickly passed. You find the first scouting orb in the Mechanist inventor room, which is a cool item in theory, but in general not super useful. At least not for me. There's also a Mechanist robot (one of the big ones) in a crate in one of the Mechanist storage areas, and the first time I saw it I freaked out a bit. Scared me initially.

There's a ton of secrets in this level, 14 according to the Stats screen after completing the mission. I found 12, and missed 50 loot.

Overall I find this to be a very enjoyable level, full of thieving and sneaking, and it does a very nice job giving you some background into the world and how it's changed since the end of The Dark Project. Much like The Dark Project, the first several levels are almost unconnected to the main story and function as fun standalone missions to introduce the world to the player. We do start the main story a bit earlier with the next mission, though it's not clear initially that's the case.

Framed is next, and I'm looking forward to it.

[downwinder]

warehouse doors were way to loud, and never alerts a guard, best part of the level was all the rare spice and meeting captain Davidson,also i liked the conversations in that level

[Hit Deity]

This is probably my most-played level in Thief 2. I don't know if I'd say it's my favorite, but it's the one I remember the most for some reason. It's just very Thief-y.

[Hit Deity]

Playing this level always reminds me of this:

Crate Review System

I remember seeing that years ago. Still funny!

[Kubrick]

This is probably my most-played level in Thief 2. I don't know if I'd say it's my favorite, but it's the one I remember the most for some reason. It's just very Thief-y.

Same here. I feel like it's because it's one of the first levels in all of Thief were you infiltrate a realistic place. It's built like it would work in real life. Because as much as I love Thief 1, the levels you infiltrate an institution of some sort (instead of ruins) don't really feel realistic IMO. Craigsleft prision or the Hammerite Church you infiltrate feel tiny, gamey and cramped in comparison. Shipping and recieveing probably is, in this sense, an incredibly influential level in the history of stealth gaming. Latter levels, specially the bank, blow this out of the water in comparison, but shipping and recieving is the first time you come across the concept.

[Hit Deity]

I think you're right, Kubrick. It's an early one, so I've hit it probably the most possible number of times that I've started a T2 playthrough. I also have some very strong memories of Life of the Party, but Shipping ...and Receiving just stands out so much.

[Shoshin]

I am very annoying with this, but I loved finally being able to tweak the contrast and saturation to make the game's palette pop better. Clearly I have a low-saturation low-contrast monitor, and this helped a lot:

https://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=151556

edit: quoted the wrong post, sorry. Fixed now

Ok, makes more sense now. I was having a hard time figuring out the connection between Dewdrop and contrast levels.

[Shoshin]

Shipping... and Receiving stands out in my memory as well, along with the Bank mission and the Mechanist cathedral mission. Very much what I think of as I think of Thief 2. The Treebeasts do as well, though they were very underused. Just one mission if I remember correctly.

[Kangra]

This is probably my most-played level in Thief 2. I don't know if I'd say it's my favorite, but it's the one I remember the most for some reason. It's just very Thief-y.

It definitely feels a lot like what you'd think Garrett's "day-to-day" (night-to-night?) thieving is like.

[Shoshin]

The place you start out is another area showing off the colored lighting. I don't know if I just didn't notice before, or if I had a crap monitor, or if the work done on NewDark has emphasized the colored lighting a bit, but for whatever reason I'm really noticing it. I like the way the missions have been starting, outside your main objective and you have to get in, with a little bit of the city accessible. In this case, it's just the bar across from the police station, but it's a nice touch. As are the dancing zombies.

Getting in requires going into the machine room near where you start, though I think it's also possible to break in through the front door if you swim up and get out of the water underneath the security camera. But going in through the sewers is easiest, and there's a bit of loot down there. And rats! Finally, "Musta been rats" has some actual meaning in the game. Another nice touch. There's the ghost of a Hammer Haunt, which originally scared me a bit, but he's just window dressing. Can't kill him, he can't kill you. There for the atmosphere, along with the prisoners. And the prisoner in the interrogation room, tied up and about to be tortured.

Once inside, I typically go through each floor, getting everything I can. The ground floor is challenging, as in this mission you cannot knock out (or kill, though I always play non-lethal) anyone, so observing the guard patrols is critical. There's a nice callback to the first mission, as Lady Rumford is complaining about her missing maid Jenivere. The guard patrols overlap and there are a lot of them, so I did spend a lot of time in the shadows observing. The stairways are heavily guarded, so going up to different floors could be a problem, except for all the secret passageways. I enjoyed the "KICK ME" sign crumpled up on the floor in one of the offices.

The second floor is where the Lieutenants and Sheriff Truart's offices are. Lt Hagen's office has the incriminating personal item, Lt Mosley's office just has backstory about her doubts around Sheriff Truart. He has apparently been hiring thieves and thugs, as is made obvious by the conversation between two of the guards/cops who used to be Downwinders. Mosley has the key to the secure records room, so once I have that I can break into the secure records room and get the code for the evidence locker. There's also the dumbwaiter that goes between the kitchen area and the mess hall on the second floor, and a secret passage to Truart's office from the upper level of the training room. And the Warden's Division has a secret passage up to the third floor where the evidence locker is.

Once I'm in the evidence locker, I drop the incriminating evidence and grab the strongbox to take back down to Hagen's office. Once that is done, I just have to get out.

Overall, this is another enjoyable thievery level. Taken in isolation, this is an excellent level. It's tense, it has the classic moments of observing patrols and making your move when the coast is clear, picking locks in the brief moments when you're not being observed. And then the framing someone part, which is a very good use of Garrett's skill set. However, this is also where the story gets a bit disjointed. We are into the main plot just a little, as Truart is trying to crack down on the Pagans (who are clearly a reduced force in the City after the fall of the Trickster) and the Mechanists are at the very least providing materials, if not giving the orders directly. But coming from Shipping... and Receiving, there just isn't a strong story connection.

The same is true with the next level, Ambush.

[downwinder]

i like ambush also as far as city look but to be honest i hate the patrol routes of guards/cops, could have been way better, and the sloshing water in sewer pipes with the guards/cops super hearing

maybe one day we can get a remake of ambush as it could have been epic

[Shoshin]

One of my clearest memories of this level is playing it with my new (at the time) 3D shutter glasses. There were issues with ghosting using those glasses, but overall they worked surprisingly well. It did help with the immersion, and I really remember looking at the plants on the top of the building right at the beginning of the level. Just sitting here remembering how cool it was makes me really really want to see Thief in VR, which I think would be amazingly cool.

So we start outside a pub, and have to go back to Home and then to a second hideout in Shalebridge. Mostly this level is about avoiding patrols, not a lot of looting. The loot from the previous mission is at Garrett's house, along with a key to a gate to Shalebridge. There are a lot of patrols, and one thing that jumped out immediately to me is that patrolling guards can have buddies that follow them. The archer guards, who walk faster than the sword guards, are forced to tag along behind, leading them to walk forwards and also sideways so they don't go too fast. Maybe they should have slowed down the archer guards a bit? Anyway, it occasionally looks silly.

Generally, this level doesn't have enough going on in it, and is the first disappointing level in Thief 2. It's just about watching, avoiding guards, and getting to your objective.

I think this is the first level that introduces an enemy with the anti-blackjack helmet. I saw a guard with the neck protector helmet, but didn't try to blackjack him.

My main issue with this level is that the get somewhere while avoiding guards mechanic doesn't feel like enough to sustain a level. It's like the last part of Assassins, but there's nothing else to it. If the city were a bit more interactive with more places to break into, it would have been better, but as it is I finished it feeling a little let down.

On to Eavesdropping next.

[downwinder]

i agree shoshin on ambush, sad how the first city mission is so lack luster,and even if you get to end and then back track not much to get or see

[Shoshin]

After Ambush, we get a nice cut scene with the Keepers, and their prophecies. Garrett is of course cynical and skeptical, but the Keepers know enough to manipulate Garrett into going to the Mechanist seminary. There he overhears Karras and Truart, with Karras recording the conversation to keep Truart in line with the threat of scandal.

This is a mission that works really well. Coming off the lackluster Ambush mission, Eavesdropping recovers the Thief vibe very nicely. Once you get to the door outside the room where Karras and Truart have their meeting, you really get a chance to use the new gameplay mechanic of leaning into the door to hear what's going on on the other side better. This was a nice addition to the game. Overhearing this conversation introduces a number of story elements. You now know who is behind Truart, and you are introduced to the slightly creepy Servants, as well as the rust gas. Karras is of course not entirely truthful with Truart about what he plans to do with the rust gas, but he is a super villain after all. Whatever he is planning, it isn't good for anyone else.

After eavesdropping on this conversation, the rest of the mission is a pretty straightforward looting mission. We are introduced to the Children of Karras, as well as being introduced to their weakness. Gotta practice your archery to make sure you hit those boilers. On my initial playthrough, I didn't realize that the small children are blind until they are alerted. The small ones take one water arrow, the large ones two.

There's a nice touch with the safe deposit box key, where it moves around each time you play. And there are a bunch of decoy keys that don't seem to open anything. I forgot about that this time through, and picked up the key before I overheard the conversation. So I wasn't really paying attention to where I found it. So when I had to put it back, I had to try a number of spots before I found the right place. This time, it was in the shed on the rooftop.

With the key, and the copy I made of it, the next stop will be the bank, and the story gets a little more coherent from here on out. I liked this mission quite a bit, as there are plenty of places to explore, lots of loot to get, interesting new enemies (as Garrett says, "I could really learn to hate these guys"), and the story starts to come into focus.

Next up is First City Bank and Trust, a classic place for a thief to go.

[Shoshin]

I've finally started First City Bank and Trust. Been a busy couple weeks around here. Hopefully I'll be able to finish it in the next few days.

[Shoshin]

Whew, that was a bit of a long break for me. Medical stuff, family stuff, all kinds of fun. But I have finished the Bank, and it took about 2 hours of play time.

This is a classic mission, full of all kinds of good Thief stuff. I will say that the basement part is a bit overloaded with those small Children of Karras, but other than that, this is about a perfect mission. It's tough, there's lots of guards to avoid, plenty of tiled flooring, some nice bits of background with the owner terminally ill and his son being incompetent, and two of the higher up employees vying for the soon-to-be-vacated leadership position.

I have also read that there's an easter egg related to the vault, in that it opens up at a certain time in the morning? Has anyone actually waited for that to happen?

Anyway, this will be a short write up, as I am tired from the aforementioned medical stuff, and I finished the mission several days ago, so it's not so fresh in my memory. Suffice to say I loved this mission, hard though it was, unrealistic as it may be to have however many small robots wandering around the basement. The objectives make sense for a bank job: find the number of the safety deposit box Garrett has to get into, find the vault, figure out how to open the vault, get around the security system and guards, and steal whatever extra loot is laying around. I don't have any real complaints or nits to pick, it was just pure thiefy enjoyment for me.

Next time I'll be blackmailing our good Sheriff with the recording.

[Hit Deity]

I've heard it will open once the mission timer reaches 8 hrs.

And this wiki mentions the same thing...
https://thief.fandom.com/wiki/OM_T2_...Bank_and_Trust

[Shoshin]

This is another place in the overall story that I feel isn't as coherent as it could be. The mission itself is very well done, and quite enjoyable from a thieving point of view, but I find myself detached from the overall story being played out. It's a bit of a shame, as one of the things that leads me to my personal opinion that Thief Gold is the better game is the way the story flows together. I think overall the mission quality in Thief The Metal Age is better, but the story is weaker. I'm also finding something curious about myself and my memories of this game. There aren't as many moments that are burned into my memory with Thief 2 as there was with Thief Gold. That game blew my mind and redefined for me what gaming could be. Thief 2, while extremely well done, does not have that revolutionary feel to me. It would if I'd played it first, but since I played it after Thief Gold it just didn't have the same impact. So my write-ups are shorter, and consist mostly of impressions from this playthrough, rather than a mix of the playthrough and my memories from the time.

Anyway, The first thing I notice about this mission is the houses in front of Truart's mansion. I have to assume this is for servants to live in, but it's nice to see just that little bit more of the environments around your targets.

Sneaking around back, seeing the grounds, getting the lucky coins out of the well... It's clear that Truart's family is vastly wealthy, and that Truart overall is corrupt. It's a shame we don't actually get to interact with the good Sheriff. This mission is another very well done straight up thieving mission. It's clear that Truart is in deep with the Mechanists, and in fact he has a number of mechanist security devices all around his mansion, as well as new locks that take gears instead of keys. Lots of guards around, including a drunken Benny with an amusing performance: "Hey! Bad Guy!".

In the end, once you get up to Truart's personal room, you find out someone else has been there first. So no confrontation with the recording. Burying Truart is a nice touch, the first optional objective I think?

If I take a step back, and look at the story, there are two factions having a quiet war. Garrett is on the outside, and has been pulled into the conflict by as yet unknown persons, though Lt. Mosley is looking more and more like she's neck deep in this. Truart is dead, and we've read a number of letters indicating that Truart has suspicions about her, and we were hired by "someone" to frame Lt. Hagen, the other power player in the Sheriff's department. But from inside, playing the game mission by mission, there's a lot of feeling like Garrett is being jerked around. Someone hired me to frame someone. Oh, there's an ambush. Now the Keepers want me to eavesdrop on someone. Now I need the recording of that meeting so I can blackmail Truart. Wait, Truart's dead. It's a bit frustrating from a story point of view.

Luckily, the story is about to become much more coherent as we move into the next few levels.