Talk:Thief: The Dark Project

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[edit] Mission briefings

Parts of the descriptions are taken almost exactly from Garret's briefing monologues in the game. Can someone clean these up?--Drat (Talk) 05:03, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Abstract rewrite and other stuff

I thought this page didn't really have much to say about the game so I thought I'd start a general rewrite. I've just tried a new opening plus a few minor changes just to see how they fly. The training mission description is how I'd basically continue with the rest (I'm not sure how the quotes sit with people). The abstract might be a little unweildy and making new sections in the article proper occured to me as it grew. I'm new at this and feel the need to put in as much info as possible to avoid unnecessary clicking around (I use my mum as the yardstick for what a good encyclopedia page needs to say) and left to my own devices I'd probably put in more about the engine (despite it having its own entry) and plenty of other semi reduntant stuff. However I notice many wikifolk think clicking around is great and this-is-the-Web-after-all etc etc, so I'm holding back on that kind of thing. I do think that a section describing the game structure is needed (briefings, objectives, loadout, missions, cutscenes etc) and will put that in at some point. I also altered the Viktoria entry, partly because the fact that she works for Constantine is a spoiler. I'd probably get rid of the character bit all together, myselfMuJoCh 16:54, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

okie dokey. Added a game structure section. It kinda hangs out there by itself at the moment, but hopefully it will be complimented by the planned Gameplay and perhaps even Story and Setting sections (not that I know how these will work together yet. The mission write ups v. a Story section is still pretty up in the air to me). Other bits of info might stick out too without the planned Cast and Development sections. All of which will make use of a good swag of references. cheers MuJoCh 15:08, 19 August 2006 (UTC)
I see someone has basically put back all the old mission descriptions that I took out. Well, I must say I agree with Drat; there's no need for them to parrot the lines from the game. The English is uglier for shoehorning that kind of dialogue into a description like that. Also the Keeper Garrett meets is not named so calling him Artemus is inaccurate. I'd like to let my edits stay for a while to get some other views. I have the older versions stored MuJoCh 18:43, 19 August 2006 (UTC)
I've reverted to your last version.--Drat (Talk) 17:14, 20 August 2006 (UTC)
Cheers. I think it was whoever wrote the old ones trying to get them to meet halfway. I sympathise. Its awkward overwriting other people's stuff, but thats the nature of this wikibeast, so they say. Anyway; some changes, mostly missions, plus my shaky first image upload. Other sections in process. I was thinking; once there are discussions on gameplay and setting, engine features, development, reception and legacy (with pictures) the missions are going to take up a lot of space and might warrant some hidable subsection(if such a thing exists) or separate article. MuJoCh 10:53, 26 August 2006 (UTC)
You don't have to worry about writing about the engine here as there is already an article on the Dark engine.--Drat (Talk) 09:47, 27 August 2006 (UTC)
A big edit. Probably some contentious stuff in there, but I'll see how it goes. Some of it is a little awkward and needs some work. It's probably rude to just remove the character bit like that, but I was thinking that stuff might be better on the series page. Once I get a reception and/or development & credit bits going I think I'll shift the missions to a separate article and replace it with a plot outline if there's no objections. Anyway, have at it. MuJoCh 16:40, 19 October 2006 (UTC)
  • This is probably just a pet peeve, but shouldn't the persoal pronouns used in various places be changed to something neutral? Shadowrun 16:05, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
You mean the occasional 'you'? yeah it is a tricky one. I find it is generally accepted as being neutral these days, sort of a shorthand for 'if the reader were the player' in this instance. It's also easier to write to a lot of the time, more acceptable than 'one' these days and reads a lot better than tying a sentence up in knots over 'the player' again and again. Maybe that's just me. MuJoCh 18:47, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
Another fairly major restructuring. Forgot to add a summary. Sorry'bout that. Missions have been moved to their own page and a shortish plot outline is there instead. Additional stuff in gameplay and there's a reception section now. It's a bit messy. I suppose I am going to have to move to a more 'chapter and verse' specific style of referencing aren't I. sigh. I thought I'd better get this up even though there are sales and development sections pending. Those are tough to find info on anymore and I want to let people have a go at this new setup ASAP to see if I'm on the right track. MuJoCh 14:35, 19 November 2006 (UTC)
Just a quick note on the last little edit. I can't find anything to suggest that the "small" spiders are specifically called sewer spiders. Spider beast is what all spiders are known as in Dromed (as everything not human is a '-beast'). I'm also content to assume that the red spiders spit venom rather than magic, even though its the same stuff that comes out of many, assumed to be magical, traps in the game. Hopefully this is ok with everyone. I expanded an entry or two as well, just for clarity. MuJoCh 22:00, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Game guide-like content

At the suggestion this article needs serious looking at it's probably worth discussing this topic. Most of the edit to-ing and fro-ing around the Thief pages concerns exactly this (though it's mostly anonymous editors who may not be interested in talking about it). I am a little hazy on where to draw the line myself at times and I can see why people might want to include some of it as many game articles have lots of info on enemy weaknesses, hitpoints etc (though its not the sort of thing I'd add). I generally consider this to be a matter of what there is to talk about in a game. For instance, there's not a lot more to Doom than the enemies and how you kill them, so sections (or sub-articles) on these topics seem appropriate. Thief has a lot more going on than that, so itemising the ways you kill foes seems a lot less important. However the eliptical nature of the game (and its age and lack of world conquering fame) can make writing about its other aspects difficult.
The opponents section the way it is looks rather vestigal at the moment and I think encourages game guide style expansion. This was never the plan, but even some of the rudimentry descriptions seem to lead this way (what the enemies attack with etc). So like I said, I'm hazy on where to draw the line (or how to re-work it). MuJoCh 12:57, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

I cut out a bunch of stuff that had been building up. Much of it seemed to be a "How to kill the Undead" section. Nobody cares guys, and the discovery of those methods is part of the fun so its a kind of a spoiler as well. I'm also never going to stand by and have people say this game is dumb enough to include magic slinging spiders. I'm sorry, that's just the way it is. So hopefully the neutral alternative pleases folk determined to believe it so. There's also some speculation about how certain AIs work that got dropped. Some of it might be arguable, but it's not really necessary and largely game-guid-ish. I also can't find any reference to the mages in The Dark Project, but I might have missed it. Hopefully nobody is too mad. MuJoCh 21:56, 2 April 2007 (UTC)
oh, yeah. The new note on the ratmen is a tricky one. Some might say it needs references for the info therein. I doubt references in a note makes a lot of sense so the whole thing might need a rethink. please discuss. MuJoCh 22:02, 2 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The City

Is it just me or did anyone else identify the unnamed 'City' with London in the Thief series? I'm not quite sure, but I believe that there is a section in London referred to generically as 'the City,' and the environments presented in the Thief series also proved congruent with my mental image of London during the late Middle Ages or Renaissance period. Any thoughts?-- User: Q 18:18, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

  • I got the impression of London but set in the 1800-to-early-1900's. In the middle ages and Renaissance periods, they were still throwing bodily waste into the middle of the streets. There were actual sewer systems present (hell, you sometimes found loot in them and could use them to escape if needed) in the City :) Shadowrun 16:08, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
Maybe Garrett's Jack the Ripper O_o --Kaizer13 00:47, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Question

Who is the composer of the first two games? --Tudor Tulok 20:40, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Eric Brosius 84.16.123.194 (talk) 02:41, 27 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Bugs

I think we need a section on bugs and work-arounds. For instance, the Air tower in the Mages guild has a bug where one or more of the moving platforms disappear. To solve this one you have to reload to a save-game prior to coming within a hundred yards of (either?) of the Air tower entrances.

Tigerwolfen (talk) 20:25, 4 June 2008 (UTC)