[Hammerite]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

I finally started The Cradle last night. Actually, I only ran around for a couple minutes, I was too sleepy to run the whole thing. It's fun! Creepy and everything, and very Silent Hill in some ways. I was gonna really do it tonight but got too caught up in this dumb forum again .

My question is,

Spoiler:

does anything happen that could spoil the atmosphere? Like, say, zombies or dead Hammerites? I really love that there seems to be nothing in the building, just vast empty labyrinthine rooms, stairwells, and corridors - and an oppressive chilling loneliness.

Spoiler:

The concept of dead hammerites scares me... and the answer to your question is 'no' (as far as I remember) but you do do a stealth thing that's quite cool

[samIamsad]

Spoiler:

Oh, yes, you'll adore all those real-time shadowing when you're picking locks in Shalebridge Cradle. OMG, the tension.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Still deep in this level, but I gotta say....

Wow, the Cradle rocks!!!!


........

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Finished the Cradle. That was great fun, best levels in the game, but a little too much backtracking if you ask me, and nowhere near as scary as you guys made it out to be. Anyway, I have a new question, regarding Auldale...

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How do you get into the museum in Auldale? I found the underground passage near the front entrance but it seems I can't go up the tunnel (the game won't let me).

Another query....

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In Auldale there a guy named Fogerty can't open his shop unless his extorter, Jimmy the Knife, is taken care of. Jimmy is supposed to be hanging around the plaza but I can't find him. Where is he?

Thanks in advance.

[samIamsad]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

Spoiler:

How do you get into the museum in Auldale? I found the underground passage near the front entrance but it seems I can't go up the tunnel (the game won't let me).

I heard there's a bug. Have you seen that couple talking about the underground passage before entering? It's an event that gets triggered after... I can't remember what. Anyway, it's possible to enter the passage even if you haven't seen that couple entering the passage. But the game won't allow you to proceed further into the museum then.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

What?! Damn! I was hoping to get inside the place! *sigh* Thanks anyway.

At least I figured out Fogerty....

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I consulted a walkthrough. I did everything right, it turns out. I knocked out Jimmy. The problem was that it takes a long time before you have to come back to find the shop reopened.

Oh, and one more question in Auldale...

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How do you get inside the pumping station to lower the water level?

Thanks.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Field report....

About the museum....

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It was a plot contrivance. The story doesn't allow you to enter the museum until you get the mission. So I left off there last night and should get to it tonight.

Gamall's lair was a bitch, but quite fun once I...

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...acquired the unbinding glyph . I only wish that level had been bigger.

I just might finish the game tonight, but am going away over the weekend so won't be able to plunge myself in Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow til Sunday night or Monday.

[simpson_yellow]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

Wow, the Cradle rocks!!!!

Have to agree with that! I just played it then - lights off, headphones on, first person. After all the tales of horror here, I have to say I was expecting a few more underwear-changing moments, but still what an awesome level! Very cleverly done. It reminded me of that bit in Thief 2 where you

Spoiler:

carry out a little side task in the haunted library in the 'Casing the Joint' mission.

Makes we wonder if that was some of the inspiration for Shalebridge Cradle.

Originally Posted by samIamsad

Spoiler:

Oh, yes, you'll adore all those real-time shadowing when you're picking locks in Shalebridge Cradle. OMG, the tension.

Oh god, that was fantastic! Spoiler pic

[squarejawhero]

That library f*cked me up but good.

[simpson_yellow]

Me too - one of my favourite parts of Thief II. Now that moment had me looking for fresh underwear.

[squarejawhero]

I'd rate it as the number one terrifying moment in a game for me. Thief 2 was excellent though, I haven't got far enough in Thief 3 to comment but it just isn't as responsive or the same in feel.

[simpson_yellow]

Sounds like you need to install the superb Minimalist Project mod.

From the main page, link to the change log to read what the mod does. My gaming experience was massively improved once I installed it - I honestly can't recommend it enough.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

I finished T: DS several days ago (Xbox). Overall, it was very satisfying. Granted, it didn't have the good, oppressively intimate feel of the first Thief game, and the sound design wasn't as strong and all encompassing. It was unfortunately full of bugs (the game would occasionally freeze, 'blinking' textures, Garrett would get stuck in places, etc.), and the load times between sections got too monotonous and were slow. The framerates suffered, too, and in hindsight I think Iron Storm/Eidos got too caught up in making the game fashionably shiny shiny, thus the general visual experience was little stained.

The climbing gloves were a joke, both in concept and execution. Think about it, if Garrett were able to climb walls, shouldn't he be able to climb all the way up and around corners? And why didn't they allow you to climb into high windows and balconies? The game suffered from lack of possibilities for improvising solutions to situations.

But I should move onto the good things. The overall atmosphere was exquisite. The light and shadow effects were impressive enough (though they could have softened them a bit, they looked harsh) and I appreciated the little touches, like seeing your shadow in first person if you stand in front of a light source. The A.I. didn't feel any more improved from T: TDP, but it was serviceable. The enemies were formidable enough, I wasn't interested in killing anyone directly so spent a great deal of time distracting them away from me or luring them to other enemies who hate them.

I found myself switching often between first and third person, no problem. I remember those Thief zealots at the Ion Storm forum bitching that the beauty of the game would be ruined with the third person view, but I personally had a great time with the options and greatly took advantage of them.

Ach! That's enough for now, I'll come back later to say more.

[simpson_yellow]

I just finished it .

I agree with Trep on the game being fashionably shiny at the partial expense of gameplay. And I'd have to say it's the buggiest game I've played in the last year.

Definitely agree on the superb lighting, although I thought the audio was pretty great - on par with the first two games.

Anyway, full field report here .

Interested to hear more of your thoughts, Trep.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

BTW, I'm deep into Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, and it's interesting transiting from Thief: DS to this and seeing how 'limited' T: DS turned out to be in terms of certain flexibilities and how some similar features were executed, and conversely, how better it is compared to SC: PT in other ways.

I can tell you now that SC: PT is far more polished, tight, and clean overall than T: DS. For one thing SC's framerate is silky smooth, whereas DS suffers noticeably (terrible job they did with the coding or whatever). Of couse, there are large differences between how the two play (different moves, gadgets, etc.) and I'll not address those 'cause it's just too divergent. But I will say that thus far PT offers more dramatically varying gameplay challenges. Storywise, however, I thought T: DS had a more engrossing 'noir' style story and beautiful, stylishly done cutscenes, and overall a more thick, enveloping atmosphere.

Originally Posted by simpson_yellow

Anyway, full field report here .

Interested to hear more of your thoughts, Trep.

I wanna read that 'field report' a second time and will respond soon.

[eriq]

I am on the St.Edgar's church mission and just entered the factory. I walked around in there a bit and the first thing I noticed was how gorgeous the stairs looked by the turning factory gears. Wow. This game is gorgeous.

I also installed the hi-res texture packs from gamespot. The texture packs upgrade ALL the textures in the game to super hi-res. I noticed a HUGE difference.

I can't wait to play this "Cradle" level I keep reading about on here...

[Intrepid Homoludens]

The Cradle features arguably the coolest levels in the whole game. There's a sweet, elegant psychological edge to it that is simply peerless, a touch of Silent Hill, really. Because you'll be experiencing it through Garrett's 'been there, done that' cynicism, it probably won't feel that creepy, but it should still resonate on your awesome list long after you've played the game.

I have fond memories of The Cradle.

[Karmillo]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

The Cradle features arguably the coolest levels in the whole game. There's a sweet, elegant psychological edge to it that is simply peerless, a touch of Silent Hill, really. Because you'll be experiencing it through Garrett's 'been there, done that' cynicism, it probably won't feel that creepy, but it should still resonate on your awesome list long after you've played the game.

I have fond memories of The Cradle.

Is the cradle before or after

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doing the bit where you have to find the 2 things....one of them has you going on the abysmal gale. i cant remember if ive done the cradle or not...

[RLacey]

"Robbing the Cradle" is, if memory serves, one of the last levels in the game.

[Karmillo]

In the mission where you go to the captains mansion

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For the golden glyph, where do you find the wine? ive pretty much done all the objectives including finding the glyph but i want to atleast give her a glass of wine since I pretty much knocked out and/or killed all her guards and servants and stole all her wealth and fortune...its the least i can do