finals

I am now officially done with the semester. Had my last three finals on Wednesday; Japanese at 8 AM followed directly by Ancient Philosophy, then a three-hour or so break before Ethical Issues in East Asian Thought. Japanese was horrid; some of the grammar I had studied (and was most confident about) wasn't even on the exam and the essay topic - what habits of Japanese culture do you like and why? - took me over an hour to write because I couldn't think of anything to say.

Ancient Philosophy was the best final I've ever taken, and I don't mean that solely in a 'I think I did really well' way. It was open-book on part of Plato's Republic and the exam had some very interesting questions, so you were still learning and gaining insights even on the final; it was actually fun. I'm going to miss that class, despite how unpredictable it was from day to day.

As for Ethical Issues, I've taken two other finals from the professor and could guess the format of the test in advance; it wasn't very difficult, though there were one or two things I wasn't quite certain about.

Three finals in one day actually didn't bother me; it was nice to get them all done at once. However, if all three had be long essay-type finals (which would've led to sore hands) or if Japanese hadn't been first, it would have been different.

December has felt like it's flying by this year; it's hard to believe that Christmas Eve is the only day after tomorrow and that I'll be in New Hampshire in less than a week. I still have a number of things I need to get done before Derry, including checking email and LJ.

[computer game review/reaction] Thief II: The Metal Age

"My heart, it ceases. My breath, undrawn.
My eyes forever focused on the sanguine metal dawn."
- Keeper Prophecy

(This review would have been posted about two weeks ago right after I finished the game, but I decided I wanted to replay one of the missions and take screenshots for the review. However, I opted to install DarkLoader - the program used to install fan-created Thief missions - first and figured I might as well reinstall both Thief I and II so I could start clean while I was at it. Long story short, Thief II wouldn't reinstall [the play CD had apparently become corrupted] and I had to buy another copy of the game.)


Gameplay between the first Thief [originally called simply 'The Dark Project'] and The Metal Age is very similar; you can even re-configure the controls to be the same as the original Thief. The Metal Age, however, has many more gadgets to play with and also offers new challenges in the forms of mechanical guards and more complex alarm systems that makes sneaking around more difficult. There are also now secrets hidden in almost every mission along with several easter eggs.

Another advantage [at least I think it's an advantage] The Metal Age has is a lack of zombies and burricks. Not that it can't be fun to make zombies explode with holy water arrows, but I prefer sneaking around human guards to dealing with the undead -- the former feels more thief-like. Also, while a couple of non-human creatures are interesting, some levels of the original Thief were teeming with them to the exclusion of any humans.

Plot-wise, I have to agree with what appears to be the general consensus of Thief fans; the original Thief's plot was much more entertaining and surprising than The Metal Age's. Karras isn't nearly as frightening an opponent as the Trickster was and can frankly be hard to take seriously at times.

The mission I was most impressed with in Thief II was Trail of Blood [mission number 9]. It takes place in Pagan territory, which means getting a chance to enjoy the lovely forest surroundings -- a definite departure from the medieval/Victorian-age Cityscape most of the missions take place in. The mission is broken into two parts: first, a Pagan village, and second, a return to a redesigned Maw that was the location of the original Thief's final mission. As you explore the village, ghosts of the Pagans will appear and reenact scenes from when the Mechanists [the main opponents and religious sect in this Thief] came and massacred them. It's very affecting.

The new version of the Maw is also well-done, including a pool of large eyeballs on plant stalks that follow you as you enter. There's also a second village within the Maw that changes from spring to summer to fall to winter. Not only do the trees visibly transform as you move from one area to the next, but the background noises also shift with the seasons. Finally, at the very end of the mission, there's the unique experience of being chased by a tree-beast. [All of the screenshots following this review are from this mission.]

Trail of Blood's often been criticized for being too linear, which is a valid complaint. It's also a relatively easy mission even in Expert mode and can be finished within an hour, as opposed to some of Thief II's more challenging missions that can take up to three hours to complete. However, the atmosphere in Trail of Blood more than makes up for its faults.

And if Trail of Blood isn't enough, the next mission, Life of the Party [10], is one of the most highly-praised of Thief II. In Life of the Party, you spend most of the mission exploring the City via the 'thieves' highway' -- the rooftops. Highlights include watching two groups of guards insulting each other's masters in an escalating confrontation that ends with arrows being fired, outsmarting two amateur burglars, and simply being on the roofs instead of the streets - a Thief first in City missions. An early version of Life of the Party was used for the Thief II demo (which can be downloaded at The Circle) and for good reason; it's a good play and is quite interesting to see what was changed between the demo and the final version, though there are several frustrating bugs in gameplay that hadn't yet been worked out, mostly involving rope arrows.

The Metal Age's final mission, Sabotage at Soulforge [15], is drastically different from the original Thief's finale; for one, Soulforge takes two to three hours to complete with very complex objectives while the the final mission in Thief I took less than forty-five minutes and had many unique environmental elements, such as sliding down snowbanks. It's rather tiring working your way through all the objectives and the end movie isn't nearly as satisfying as Thief I's, but you certainly feel accomplished with all the work you've done on it to be finally finished.

Best missions: Trail of Blood [9], Life of the Party [10], First City Bank and Trust [6]

Worse missions: Ambush! [4], Trace the Courier [8], Kidnap [12]

Casing the Joint [13] and Masks [14] get a joint worse mission award; it's redundant to visit the same mansion twice in a row and have to explore the first two floors both times, even when the mansion itself is pretty interesting.

( Screenshots from Trail of Blood [mission 9]. )