chakkman

I have no idea why there's such a hype over such A.I.'s. A computer always has been something for me which should complement the human mind, not replace it. When I read that A.I. composes symphonies, and does other art stuff, then I shake my head, and think of sci-fi movies, not of something which is actually useful. Human creativity is the antithesis to anything machine made. Especially when it's simply based on a database of collected knowledge, nothing which is based on actual human behavior (yes, I know, they try to "simulate" that, but, it's still very basic). I would say "Wake me when you're through", but, like with so many things these days, I'm afraid that it's a long-running craziness, not something which is done tomorrow. For me, it's the completely wrong direction, and a total waste of time.

Oh, yeah, now that you say it, I missed the codes in the computer node rooms as well. TBH, more of an issue with modern games though... so much detail that you can easily miss the interactive stuff.

FWIW, I wasn't THAT fond of the first level (Medical) either. After that, it gets better and better.

I know what you mean. Nonetheless, I think it's the right way. Games should make you think. And, if you use a notepad alongside your keyboard, I don't think it's a bad thing. I actually had more issues with recognizing interactive elements in the game world. For example, I would have completely missed that you can interact with the diagnostic log machine, after you did some other stuff (it doesn't really react before that). Or the machine where you can scan the human head you found (which you can easily miss as well). Oh, and regarding System Shock 2: It's an insanely good game. I would rate it a bit higher than the SS 1 Remake, but, they're both great.

I re-played this, and just finished it. Really nice, classic mansion mission. Again, I didn't really care for the K.O. limitation (I played on the medium difficulty, and I just knocked everyone, ignoring the failed optional objective), but, I accomplished all the other optional objectives. I like that this mission feels so polished, it seems well tested. Nonetheless, the one thing I'd definitely criticize about it is the K.O. limitation objective. It just doesn't make sense to limit the player's approach that way (and it doesn't make sense from the mission perspective either). Really can't stress that enough. Please give the player all the options to play his way, and don't force the player to play your way. Cardinal error in my opinion.

You will like it.

Is a mission which was declared as "abandoned" also autmatically declared as "others may continue to work on it"? Sorry, don't want to cause even more confusion.

I noticed that it works reliably when you look up when you drop the body. Even when you're crouched.

Unfortunately, they wouldn't do it if the majority of players wouldn't want their hand to be held... Every single game I played back in the days said "Figure me out and learn me". But, that changed at some point in the mid to late 2000's. I think it's safe to say that most don't want to figure out and learn stuff, but get everything spoon fed, or they will smash the gamepad to the wall after 5 minutes. Games like System Shock, or also the Cyan Worlds games (played through Firmament recently) surely will stay niche. It's so unfortunate, because, the majority of players obviously totally miss what's fun about games. They want to watch a movie, and think and do stuff as little as possible, it seems.

It's also cool to see that the press and the players didn't trash it for what it is, but actually embraced (for the most part at least) the "I don't hold your hand" attitude of the game. Maybe there's still hope for the gamer audience.

Stupid question: Has there ever been a third mission in this series? I can only find "A new Job" and Tears of St. Lucia.

This. There's really no need to pack everything into this game. I already scratch my head about all those tons of super "useful" suggestions, and even additions to the code (presented in a really aggressive "add it, or I will be very disappointed because I spent so much work on it" manner) by some hyperactive users here (no, I won't name names ). I hate bloat. Focus on a few gameplay elements, which fit to the theme of the original Thief games, but, don't make this a boring feature monster, which does everything, and nothing really in depth and good. If you really want such stuff, do a mod or something, but, please, keep it out of the base game.

And I always wondered why I have to set gamma so low in-game, with a monitor with a near perfect gamma. In most games, I don't have to do that. 9 out of 10 display absolutely perfect, and I don't have to change anything.

You should check your brightness and gamma settings then. If you can't see the blackjack or other weapons, you definitely set it too dark. If you didn't know it already, the pre-installed Training Mission has a section where you can set brightness and gamma.

Which one? A Machine for Pigs? It's unfortunately the weakest part of the series (pretty dumbed down gameplay and incomprehensible story), and, it also wasn't developed by the original developer which developed The Dark Descent, Rebirth, and, now, The Bunker. The also did Penumbra, which is really great (seriously, I highly recommend that if you like Amnesia), and SOMA.

That was immediately obvious to me when I saw it. Which was part of the reason I asked the original question, because, it seemed like an old mission to me which he continued to work on.

If my ears don't deceive me, the narrator's voice. By the way, I don't have a horse in this race, and don't want to hold a discussion about it, but, how do you keep it? Let's say there is a mission planned and multiple parties are involved. The mission is on hold for years, due to people formerly involved in the mission don't work on it anymore, have gone inactive, or else. Someone chooses to pick up on it, and continues to work on it. Will he be free to do what he wants with the mission, granted the people originally onvolved are OK with it? Do you expect to be credited when the mission is done? Do you see your work or art as closed source, unless someone asks for permission to use it? I always thought, with the mod being open source, and so many openly available contributions to the assets, it would more or less mean that people are also allowed to work and pick up on old, discontinued missions, and don't have to ask for everything. Maybe I'm naive in thinking that.

Things like these add complexity, make missions much more difficult, and also create chaos for players who like order and predictability. Games like these have to be predictable to some degree. E.g., I also never found that long patrol routes, and multiple guards who patrol the same are makes sense. Gameplay has to be predictable to some degree, otherwise it's no fun. Imagine a game like Splinter Cell with chaotic A.I. behavior. It would be unplayable. And no fun at all. I already find the cool down phase of A.I. alertness in TDM way too long, at least on the default difficulty and A.I. settings.

Makes sense as the mission (at least the first work on it) seems to be pretty old. I found a thread from 2011 about it.

Nice. Thanks for the info.

I saw by chance that Mr. b1k3rdude uploaded a video of a TDM mission's briefing on his YT channel. I never heard of this mission, at least I can't remember. Will this mission be released at some point? It looks interesting.

Did you max out the Antialiasing as well? In my experience, setting it from 8x to 16x chops the frames per second in half (while still looking good). It's a real eater. Of course, you will only notice that if you play without Vsync or frame limiter on, or if your monitor only does 60 Hz with Vsync enabled.

Being 60 to 70% through, I can safely say that this is the game of the year for me. Didn't have such a fun time since, well, Prey, I guess. The game doesn't hold your hand at all, which is so refreshing after all these dumb AAA grahics demos. I can only highly recommend this, if you're remotely into this kind of setting (I guess most of here are anyway).

Yep. In fact, they're absolutely horrible, because, they force a certain play style onto the player (almost as horrible as restricting the player to only save in safe rooms ). From a logical point of view, I do understand why clients could insist on a no kill break in, as it won't cause as much attention as a break in where you just ghost or knock out guards, but, the restriction to not K.O. anyone doesn't make sense at all. Unless you're just snooping out the place. But then, it also doesn't make sense to steal anything.

I guess. There are some missions which simply seem to have a very logical structure. You don't have to backtrack too much in them. Goldwell is very good in that regard.