Killing a Thief guard... and then KOing him on the way down.

[kano]

Right, so there is this one weird qwerk of classic Thief. If you beat an AI to death with the blackjack (I know, I know, but sometimes it's fun to fight this way because it's more of a challenge than using the sword) as though Thief was a Quake clone, the guard will scream and begin to drop. But if you quickly wack him again, he will pop up and play the "knocked out" sound, and then collapse again. So basically you killed him, and *then* you knocked him out!

 

The natural question at this point, is how the stats would reflect such an oddity. I guess there is only one way to find out, but the problem is, there's usually more than one dead guard on the map when I play. Especially on Thieve's Guild. I go straight-up Doom on that one, and use the corpses to trace my steps around the confusing layout.

The classic Thief guards aren't great fighters; they are especially vulnerable to circle strafing and lots of pelting. You can even get them completely turned around and facing the other direction! As long as you're in a relatively open space you can own them by doing this quite easily. This strategy will not work on TDM guards. Try this with them and you are the one that gets owned. lol

Edited June 5, 2023 by kano

[thebigh]

I remember once getting irrationally upset because I tried to blackjack one of the Lady van Vernon guards in Life of the Party and accidentally killing him and failing the no kill objective because after the bow and arrow fight he must have had only one HP left.

[jaxa]

Blackjacking a fire elemental is the peak of Thief achievement.

[kano]

One has to appreciate the attention to detail in these games.  Not only is there (obviously) a difference in sounds played when a guard is knocked out vs killed, but there is also a different type of sound when a guard is killed unexpectedly, vs. being killed in battle. The question is whether the louder, more drawn out sound when they are defeated in battle also travels further than the sound when being unexpectedly killed.

 

Also I love how they react differently to small noises, vs a really loud unexpected noise, like smashing your sword against a door. Like I said, attention to detail. A lot of players might not even notice these small things.

Edited June 6, 2023 by kano

[thebigh]

Yeah, that's one of those things you don't notice when they're done right but would be glaringly obvious if they were done wrong.

Edited June 7, 2023 by thebigh

[kano]

The mystery is solved, because I just tested it on the Bafford mission. I only engaged with one guard; clubbed him to death with the blackjack, and then knocked him out while his death animation was still playing (this is slightly qwerky to pull off and is generally more likely to occur in dark areas). But it registers as both a KO and a kill on the stats screen, in spite of the fact that it was the same guard and he was killed before he was knocked out! lol

[esme]

On 6/6/2023 at 3:22 AM, jaxa said:

Blackjacking a fire elemental is the peak of Thief achievement.

Oooo I've never tried that

I've blackjacked frogs though, I was very disappointed to find you can't pick them up & use them as as a grenade