I've heard a rumour that Eidos has commissioned work to start on a Thief 4, which really spurs me on to immediately start with the Thief series, which I have never played before! *hides head in shame*

I did want to start with Thief 1 a few months ago, because apparently it's a story that follows on, but it seemed so old.

Will I be doing myself a great disservice if I start with Thief 2 or 3 and not #1?

EDIT: After playing the intro FMV's, the game is freezing on me. Any advice regarding patches or such, please? I'm running on Win XP SP2.

Hi Moondancer!

It is true. Eidos has made it official, work on Thief 4 has begun, although it's in the early stages. I started on the series with Thief 3 (Deadly Shadows). Matter of fact, I finished replaying it not too long ago. I don't think you'll be doing yourself a disservice if you start with Thief 2 or 3.I found a link with more information: Here

Most of the problems with running Thief are addressed here:

http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=75031

I had to make a change concerning textures in the user.cfg file when I got a black screen with Thief 2 and then later with a newer computer, I had to shut down one of the dual processors. It was all pretty simple.

Ah, I should have bookmarked Through the Looking Glass long ago! Thanks, Pokey, now I got my Thief 1 running.

Well, nice to know it's not absolutely imperative to start with #1, Chaos, and yeah, nice about Thief 4, though I reckon we still have a long while to wait!

Moondancer that's great news about another Thief Game in the works. Thanks for the info.

I'd say it's imperative to start with the first one if the story aspect is important for you. There is a natural progress of the plotlines and a gradual development of the main hero throughout the series. There are also symbolic things in the latter games that you won't notice if you didn't play the first one.

Besides, the first Thief is the best game in the series by far. In my opinion it is pure excellence in all departments. The second Thief has also great gameplay, but the storyline becomes a bit cheesy in the later missions and in general it lacks the depth of Thief 1. And then the third Thief has very good story (it even gives it more focus than the previous games did), yet the game design is rather modest and lazy compared to the huge world full of details and challenges the previous games offered.

I'd recommend starting with the first game as well. You would miss some great gameplay and I think you would get used to the old look quickly. Are you playing Thief Gold? It has three extra missions and they are some of the best in the game.

Now I'm getting the itch to restart the series.

Thanks for the input, guys. Yes, somebody else has also told me that the Thief Gold is better, and apparently also has improved graphics.
I'm still only on my first mission with Thief one, so I decided to temporarily put it on hold, and see if I cannot rather get hold of Thief Gold instead.

Great stuff, thanks again!

You'll have to let me know what you think

Ahh, a neophyte taffer joining our ranks. You're in for a world of fun. The Thief games are my favourite.

Moondancer, more than just the three (and soon to be four! Yay!) Thief games, there's a whole world of fan-made missions to play, so if you like Thief you need never run out of new missions to play.

Thief Gold is definitely worth looking for. Aside from any gameplay imrpovements, it contains three very large extra missions.

Moondancer, you reminded me of my favorite series of games, so of course I had to install Thief 2: The Metal Age again just to see if it would work OK. That was yesterday afternoon and guess who hasn't done a lick of work since. Now up to Ambush and getting killed quite regularly, as usual. Still can't get through windows though - I'd love a hint on how to do that!

Bristol, yes windows were always a problem. Here are some tips:

http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=96477&highlight=ambush+window

http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=121925&highlight=ambush+window

http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12616&highlight=ambush+window

I remember one that was difficult. It may have been in Ambush on a balcony. I found a box nearby and jumped on it, crouched and crawled through.

Yes, windows are a pain, and have prevented me from ghosting quite few missions. I remember in particular one window in Life of the Party that you have to climb through AND get back out again, and I've reloaded that spot more times than I care to remember -- all for a little purse of loot. But Garrett can't leave it behind, can he?

Thanks, Pokey, for all those links. I tried each and every tip, still couldn't get through that *&#$ window and eventually gave up, approached the house from the front, blew out the torch and snuck (sneaked?) up and knocked the guards out and got in that way. Good to know there's an alternate way when I play this again, as I definitely will!
Now in the Mechanists' Cathedral.
Still no housework done!

Not even the box trick worked? Well. I think that window is the toughest you will see. Your alternative method sounds good to me. Whatever works.

Hagatha, could you give a couple more recommendations on fan missions? You suggested Ominous Bequest/Broken Triad and A Night in Rocksbourg last year---all great. I especially like mansion missions. I've played a lot of the older ones. Perhaps you have some newer, in the last few years.

How exciting to hear there may be a Thief 4. Thief is what got me out of adventure games and into a whole new world of gaming.
kay

Pokey, my XP laptop's power supply failed on me and thus my fan mission collection is currently inaccessible.

These three are stand-outs:

The Dracula missions. Download the Dracula Reloaded version, which contains the whole superb series. You don't play Garrett, but that certainly doesn't spoil the experience any.

The Seven Sisters series -- also really great.

The Elizabeth Bathory series, though it isn't finished yet. You don't play Garrett in this one, either.

I have found the fan mission rating system at Thief The Circle to be very relliable; anything that got a rating of 8, 9 or 10 is well worth playing. As far as I can tell they have every fan mission that ever there was in a searchable database, so all the recent ones will be there.

Also at TTLG there is usually a lot of buzz around new missions that people are especially liking.

Hagatha, thanks. Those look like some good ones. I have used the hammer ratings at Thief the Circle to play a lot of the best missions. I haven't played many in a while so your help is appreciated. I will check TTLG and see which mansion fan missions get a lot of attention.

I have been having so much fun playing Thief fan missions that I am ignoring games I recently bought, among them Drakensang. I am currently immersed in Seven Sisters and having a wonderful time exploring the town and buildings. The crypt and Hammer fortress were exciting. Before that I played the first game by the same person who made Seven Sisters, Rowena's Curse. What a great mansion mission. It is now my favorite. The fan missions are beautifully done and quite a gift to all of us who love Thief.

It's great to have a community that is supporting the game

Glad you're enjoying yourself so much. May Thief live on forever.

Speaking of which, I still haven't got my XP laptop fixed. I'd better get on that, as I intended to take it with me on holiday.

I have been addicted to Thief for years. Have to have my daily "Thief fix". Unfortunately, some weeks ago, I don't know why, in loading up Thief II, I got a French language kernel 32 message. I am not a computer person. I should have known to ask for help, instead I opted to reinstall Thief which I have done more than a few times before. Big mistake. I have done all the tweaks, all the everythings and cannot get Thief going again. When I put in the lgntforce etc. in the "run" section I get a message that D:\setup.exe cannot be found. Never never got this message before. Running a search for this I get "dx setup" which is in folder "D:\Redist". Can someone tell me what this means and why I am getting this message when I have always been able to do the D:\setup.exe before? I am suffering in this no-Thief void. Help!

Any chance that you are trying to install from CD2 rather than CD1? CD2 is the play CD.

Joanie, do you want me to scoot you over to Glitches?