Rate Yer Thief 2

[Francisè von Spitroast]

Hopefully these threads don't peeve anyone off since I'm putting them on every classic Thief game but I'm interested in what your favourite missions are from best to worst. I know there are similar threads to this including one of my own but there hasn't been one in a couple of years so there's likely new players.
Thief Gold>Thief Deadly Shadows>Thief the Dark Project>Thief 2 the Metal Age>Thief

Thief 2 the Metal Age-9/10 (Tedious to the point of frustration, but I'd be lying through my Teef if I didn't say it's still one of the best games ever created)
A quick note; unlike the other Thief games I have only finished this once and therefore my opinion is spotty at best. I'll list mine later as by name I have zero memory of most missions so for now, list yours!

[AJ_MUR]

Favourite missions (in no order): Shipping and Receiving, Trail of Blood, Life of the Party, Precious Cargo and Casing/Masks.

Thief 2 - 8/10 Focuses more on actual thieving, but loses that supernatural/occult feel to it in the process. The mechanists were better villains than the Pagans and the whole Mechanist conspiracy was fun to unravel on a first playthrough. At some parts, it feels unfinished, like there could've been more added to it. Honestly though, the expanded-upon Dark Engine and constant fan-support is what makes Thief 2 what it is.

[Taffey]

Favourite missions are Trail of Blood, Precious Cargo, Framed and Ambush! the rest is strange cuz sometimes I feel like its ok mission and another time I feel like meh.

[Xautos]

from what i remember of thief 2 was the mechanist tower, Karras' mono-toned voice and the overhead mechanist camera. it's been some time since i last played it.

already through mission 2, at this point it's going a lot more smoother than thief 1 first time on returning to it. time to look down a burrick's mouth with a lit match xD

[Francisè von Spitroast]

After finishing it recently for the second time and being so underwhelmed by the whole experience i think it's time I make a list of my own.

1. Framed-10/10-The only level in the entire game that I can say on a whole lives up to anything Thief II's predeccessor or successor did. This is a seriously fantastic level with some great design and one that is unique to the series.

2. Precious Cargo-8/10-The beginning is fantastic with some beautiful fog and weather effects that equals to an atmosphere up there with the likes of Deadly Shadows. Unfortunately everything else pales in comparison once you get down into the meat of the level. Still, there are some great moments and bits that remind me of classic Gold. My main issue is that this level showcases Thief 2's array of glitches nicely, in the worst way.

3. First City Bank and Trust-8/10-This should be the pinnacle of the Thief series but it really isn't. This is a huge hog of time and made me not want to play the game whenever I thought about it, but like with most Thief missions, once you know the layout so you aren't getting confused, it's actually a blast. Not as good as it should be, but still a damn fine level.

4. The Life of the Party-7/10-Perhaps the most overrated level I've ever played. The Thieves Highway beginning is bare and far too small. This should be a place with dozens of entereable buildings and things to loot but instead it's a stroll across some buildings for a bit until you reach the mission. Inside Angelwatch is... even more bare then the Thieves Highway? I'm sorry, isn't there a party going on for the most important guy in The City? Where is everyone? Devoid of any real threat and uninteresting level design makes this whole level roughly 1/10th the experience it should have been. Not as bad as the ♥♥♥♥ I'm heaping on it, but utterly dissapointing.

5. Eavesdropping-7.5/10-Really it's better than LP, but due to how small it is and how quickly it goes I'm going to put it one below. Decent mission, but that's about it.

6. Trail of Blood-7/10-It's weird and out of place but it does change things up when the game was starting to get a little repetitive. Can't fault it for that. Still, it was far too linear. Has some great moments though.

7. Blackmail-7/10-Too small and the beginning entering houses was great. Could we just have had that? Any way, serves as a nice plot twist of a character who went too early and is actually one of the more interesting levels of the game but how about you put some meat into those bare bones, huh, LG?

8. Shipping... and Receiving-7/10-When your second level consists of mass repetition you know there's something wrong with your game. Still, there's some great story-telling to be found and the immersion is brilliant throughout.

9. Running Interference-8.5/10-A fantastic intro to the game actually, but it's this low since it's roughly a quarter the size of most other levels and therefore isn't really as good. It serves its purpose brilliantly though.

10. Kidnap-5/10-A silly unnecessary throwback to a much better game. Some fun to be had, but racks up more to luck than anything.

11. Smoking a Joint-4/10-Starts off nicely until you realize the whole level is one big gimmick of secret levers leading to corridors. Repetition, yawn, yawn.

12. Trace the Courier-2.5/10-The beginning of Assassins turned into a full level, which worked for 5 or so minutes, but not 30+. Snore...

13. Ambush!-2/10-The city is far less interesting in this than either of the other games imo, and it makes for one big dull level of confusement and boredom. A great concept, but its level design lacks severely.

14. Masks-1/10-No mercry for laziness. God-but-damn what were they thinking? It doesn't even make sense! I already stole the masks in the last bloody level! Whose idea was it to completely repeat a level?! Horrible, horrible, horrible. The last version was boring enough, now you got me repeating an inferior version of it for no reason? It would have been nice at least if it made any sense. Oh boy, this is probably why I always lose all hope by the last level. Oh, Thief 2... what a dissapointment. I think this level sums this game up perfectly.

15. Sabotage at Soulforge-N/A-Despite 'finishing' this game twice, I have yet to ever get anywhere pass half of this mission. I didn't even bother on my second go since I was too anxious to get to Gold. Thought I'd continue the trend. In reality, Thief 2 goes unifinished twice.

[Xautos]

Interference - 6/10: The idea is to rescue some common girl from some Lady who treats her like a possession and deliver her to Basso. However after running the mission it's just average, there isn't anything special about it either, a few guards wondering around, a number of poorly lit hallways. some loot that is almost out of reach or is completely out of reach on some places. The only thing that really made any interest on this level was a guard standing watch outside the kitchen area with a higher than normal awareness rating, i made a right pigs ear of trying to knock him out after being chased for half a dozen times.

Shipping - 6/10: Garrett needs money and resorts to basics to get some by robbing a dock complete with warehouses and shipping crates. I remember this mission the most and yet it's one of the least interesting missions to play. a sprinkling of guards, a few archers, a few pirates and the occasional spider. lots of big empty warehouses, buttons to push and locks to pick. The nly thing that kept it from a lower score were the pirates (sterotype: arrr ye scurvy dogs!) and the spiders.

Framed - 7/10: Break into a police station and frame someone to get them removed from their job. It's an okay mission but not really right up there. you can play it through completely by stealth via one of the scret access doors into the station. despite it being a police station the guards and security systems are not that troubling.

Ambush! - 4/10: Garrett has been sold out by one of his contacts to the city watch and now he has to escape back home. Franky i don't like this mission all that much, it takes an inordinate amount of time to get around the guards, even in stealth and the loot count is cheap for a mission like this as well. for as big as the map is, there are not that many guards about.

Eavesdropping - 8/10: Break into a Mechanist cathedral and learn about the plans of Karras and Truart at the appointed hour. It's one of the more interesting missions, breaking into a mechanist holy site and then go off killing mechanists in such a place! Admittedly the time you do eavesdrop, there are a few noises and distractions that means you may not get the whole conversation. Also there are the mechanical veriety of mechanist to deal with along with the regular guards and a few undead.

Bank - 7/10: The idea is to break into a city bank and find evidence in the vault regarding the previous missions conversation between Karras and Truart with the key copy. Stealth on this mission is possible but unlikely, due to the amount of guards, mechanicals and cameras as well as noisy floors. It's not the greatest mission to play and honestly i'm not too fond of it, if it wasn't for the amount of guards and mechanicals in the area, it would of been down voted more.

Backmail - 7/10: Break into Truart's residence and confront him with the evidence Garrett stole in order to get him to back off. For the most part it's like most other missions, smash and grab and stealth is very possible here if you want to go low key instead. it's just average up to the point you try climb to the 3rd level of the residence and then it gets interesting.

Courier - 3/10: Follow the letter to it's final destination and read it between changing hands.
Probably one of the worst missions on T2, you spend most of your time following someone and sticking to the shadows, all the while trying to avoid alerting guards or drawing attention.

Trail - 4/10: Follow the blood trail of the one who has the letter all the way to its end point.
Continued from the previous mission, it's just following the blood trail through the maw, other than some optional invesitgation and the ocassional mechanist, there is nothing interesting in the first part. the second part is the same and keeps dragging on and beyond a few ratmen and some tree ents, there is nothing else of interest.

Life - 7/10: Garrett has to break into Angelwatch in order to find out what Karras is planning and to acquire something on a project. There is an easy way and a hard way to get to angelwatch but regardless of this, you end up there in the same location anyway. When you are inside you got to get through multiple levels and either avoid or kill off the guards, mechanicals and cameras if you wish. *I remember the demo version had this same mission, but it was different in a number of ways, there was only one way to angelwatch, the bell tower was elsewhere and there was no easy way around the 4 arguing archers.*

Precious - 6/10: Viktoria wants an important Mechanist in order to learn more about a project the Mechanists are developing and to find a missing spy. This mission is fairly dull honestly, there are a few guards about and a whole load of climbing and running around but nothing that screams that it's good.

Kidnap - 6/10: Following on from the search for the important mechanist, Garrett takes the Submarine to another location that just happens to be around a place Garrett has been to before, the lost city. due to the various chambers, locations of guards and what not, it's very easy to get turned around and it would be easy to miss cavador if you are not paying attention. it's a typical hack and slash with too many guards about.

Casing - 5/10: Some nobleman has some masks that can decode the mystery of Karras' plan with his servants, Garrett needs to locate the mask. a plain average mission, easily stealthable. a few guards around, lots of cameras and fixed cannon emplacements with the occasional mechanical wondering around.

Masks - 7/10: After locating the mask Gerrett needs to steal one for Viktoria to learn more about the servant that Karras has gifted to all the local nobility along with another contraption. Same as the previous mission, get up to the 3rd floor and steal the mask. for me at least i got so bored on the previous mission i longed to sink my sword into some poor guard, i ended up massacring the entire guard in the building -- however you can take a less attention seeking means to reach your objective even so. same as the previous mission, lots of guards, the occasional mechanical and lots of cameras and cannon emplacements.

Soulforge - 4/10: You learned what Karras is doing with his servants however Viktoria pushed Garrett into action to stop Karras for good. The final mission is dull, dull, dull, dull. There are not that many enemies around in such a large place and there is only the occasional guard and mostly mechanicals and a few cameras as well as cannon emplacements. it's not the best end but then again T2 never had a great start either.

[Francisè von Spitroast]

Originally posted by Xautos:

...it's a typical hack and slash...

Wait, what??? You play Thief games as a killer? You know they're stealth games right?

[Xautos]

that right just use one of two words and take them completely out of context and ignore the fact i mentioned half a dozen times through each of them that they can be stealthed through.

[Francisè von Spitroast]

Originally posted by Xautos:

that right just use one of two words and take them completely out of context and ignore the fact i mentioned half a dozen times through each of them that they can be stealthed through.

Chill out man, if I was being ignorant and aggressive you'd have every right to call me an ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, but I wasn't, it was just ignorance and I was just asking a question. I was reading from bottom up and that's the first thing I read of your playstyle so give me a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ break.

[Xautos]

Originally posted by JizzTheWizz:

Originally posted by Xautos:

that right just use one of two words and take them completely out of context and ignore the fact i mentioned half a dozen times through each of them that they can be stealthed through.

Chill out man, if I was being ignorant and aggressive you'd have every right to call me an ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, but I wasn't, it was just ignorance and I was just asking a question. I was reading from bottom up and that's the first thing I read of your playstyle so give me a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ break.

childish insults i have no interest in. i was just wonderinghow you decided to take that whole thing out of context. it was specific to that mission not the entire game.

[Francisè von Spitroast]

Originally posted by Xautos:

Originally posted by JizzTheWizz:

Chill out man, if I was being ignorant and aggressive you'd have every right to call me an ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, but I wasn't, it was just ignorance and I was just asking a question. I was reading from bottom up and that's the first thing I read of your playstyle so give me a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ break.

childish insults i have no interest in. i was just wonderinghow you decided to take that whole thing out of context. it was specific to that mission not the entire game.

And if you actually read my comment you'd realize there were no insults. Hypocritical ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. If you were wondering something, next time don't act so snide about it.