Thief II: The Metal Age

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Thief II: The Metal Age
Developer(s)	Looking Glass Studios
Publisher(s)	Eidos Interactive
Series	Thief series
Engine	Dark engine
Release date(s)	March 21, 2000
Genre(s)	First Person Sneaker
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: M (Mature) USK: 12+ PEGI: 12+ ELSPA: 11+ OFLC: M15+
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows
Media	2 CD-ROMs
System requirements	266 MHz CPU, 48 MB RAM, 8 MB video card RAM, 4X CD-ROM drive, DirectX 7.0, 250 MB available hard disk space, Windows 95
Input	Keyboard, Mouse

Thief II: The Metal Age is a stealth-based game for Microsoft Windows, and sequel to Thief: The Dark Project. Utilizing the same Dark engine that powered the original Thief, Thief II has an almost identical look and feel, with only minor graphical and programming improvements. The basic gameplay is also fundamentally similar to the original Thief, with a few new elements, including technological gadgets such as a remote eye camera. Other changes include an increase in the number of A.I. behaviors, and the addition of female guards and soldiers.

Responding to criticism of the original Thief, the missions in Thief II were designed much more around typical thief-like behavior, and much of the game is spent robbing the rich denizens of the City rather than raiding tombs and running from monsters. In fact, the player encounters almost none of the monsters from the original Thief, except for burrick heads mounted as trophies in some of the mansions, and a few zombies, apemen and Hammer haunts. A new arrow type, Vine arrow, which can stick onto metal grates besides wooden surface, is added to replace rope arrows in a few missions. New potions were also added.

Also, the designers stated that unlike the original game, whose levels were developed to suit the plot, in Thief II the levels were designed first and the plot retrofitted afterwards to work with them. In general, the levels are much larger and less linear than those of its predecessor.

Contents 1 Characters 2 Missions Overview 3 Thief 2X: Shadows of the Metal Age - An unofficial expansion pack 4 External links 5 Notes & references

[edit] Characters

See Thief (computer game series) for information on recurring characters.

• Sheriff Gorman Truart: A corrupt medieval lawman who becomes the leader of the City Watch and the apparent main antagonist in Thief II. Truart oppresses the people, collects bribes, implements outrageous taxes, brutally suppresses the criminal element, and seems to have a particular personal grudge against Garrett. Truart regards the law not as an end in itself, but rather as a means for those with power (specifically, himself) to control those without. Despite his corruption and questionable morality, he did dramatically modernise the Watch, improve its efficiency and introduce a new, blue uniform by the time of Thief II, although not all of the Watchmen are fully up to date with the new system (some can occasionally be heard forgetting the numerical code they need to report a crime in progress). Due to Truart's modernisation efforts and his close links with the Mechanists, the Watch headquarters at Shoalsgate Station are bristling with new technology during the second game.

• Karras: A brilliant inventor, sociopath, genius, and prophet who split from the Hammerite organization to found his own faction, the Mechanists. He and his organization play a major role in Thief II's story. While still a Hammerite, Karras invented the mechanical eye and gave it to Garrett as a gift. Karras suffers from an extreme speech impediment, yet somehow is highly charismatic and able to command the loyalties of numerous followers, despite the fact he secretely despises most organic life, to the point where he charms the nobility into taking his "Servants" (Vagabounds, Beggers, lepers and prostitute converted into enslaved, placid slaves via ancient, bizarre enslavement masks salvaged from the destroyed city of Karath-Din)who are equiped with a gas canister that multiplies and destroys organic matter on contact. He plans to to wipe the City clean of life to create a mechanical "Paradise."

• Lieutenant Mosley: A member of the City Watch under Sheriff Truart, and one of his two lieutenants. Unlike Truart, Mosley is a solid, honest officer, and her conscience eventually causes her to question Truart's brutal methods despite her admiration of the way he has cut down crime. Mosley eventually forms an alliance with the Pagans to bring down Truart, framing Truart's other sycophantic Lieutenant and eventually providing keys to his mansion to his assassin.

[edit] Missions Overview

• Running Interference

This is much like a training mission for new players and a chance for old players to re-familiarize themselves with the game. An old associate of Garrett, Basso the Boxman, wants to marry Lady Rumford's chambermaid, Jenivere, but this would void her service contract, so Rumford has the girl locked up in the estate. Garrett is asked to clear a path for Basso to rescue her.

• Shipping... And Receiving

Sheriff Gorman Truart has been making Garrett's life difficult, and his landlord is coming the next day to collect the rent, so he has to go amateur for some quick cash. The warehouses by the docks should fit the bill. There are all sorts of things stored like musical recordings, music instruments, recipes and artifacts. In addition to these usual shipping traffic, there is also a small smuggling operation of rare spice sponsored by the local underground. Not too many guards, lots of dark corners and several points of entry should make this job painless, and profitable.

• Framed

A client suddenly pays a visit to Garrett late one night because he thinks the job that he wants Garrett to do is too sensitive to go through the usual channels. The job is to break into Shoalsgate Station, headquarters of the City Watch, and quietly frame a certain Lt. Hagen for robbing the evidence box. Hagen is Sheriff Truart's right-hand man, and has no doubt made life difficult for someone he shouldn't have. This unusually resourceful visitor has given Garrett all the information he needs to pull this off, including a very detailed map of the building. All he needs to do is choose a way in, plan his route, and get back out without alerting the City Watch and their newly installed security cameras.

• Ambush!

Garrett goes to the Crippled Burrick Pub to meet Sammy about unloading some merchandise, but a couple of Watch officers are there waiting for him because Sammy has sold him out. The officers are looking for "swift justice", but Garrett detonates a flashbomb and manages to escape. Now he must get past the City Watch and get back to his place fast.

• Cutscene 1 & Eavesdropping

Artemus invites Garrett to listen to a prophecy at the Keeper Library, but Garrett shows little interest. Artemus has given him a letter before he leaves, '...if you seek the private knowledge of the Sheriff, go to the Eastport Mechanist seminary tomorrow night. With stealthy discretion, overhear what you may: a certain very timely meeting...' The Mechanists church has two open towers and some back doors, which can be helpful for getting in. The catacombs below the church can be another way in, but Garrett would rather not tread where the dead sleep. The meeting will most likely take place in some sort of conference hall. All he needs to do is to get close enough to listen at the door.

• First City Bank and Trust

Garrett has learned from the meeting that the Mechanist leader, Karras, is turning living humans into mechanical 'servants'. He has developed a kind of weapon that can turn people into dust and demonstrated the process in front of Sheriff Truart. Truart has promised to supply 20 subjects (prostitutes, street scum, etc) for Karras. The incriminating meeting was recorded by Karras, and the recording device placed in a safety deposit box at First City Bank and Trust. It is one of the wealthiest establishments in town, catering to the fiancial needs of the City's upper crust. Garrett wants the recording to exert a little pressure on Truart and find out who has hired the Sheriff to kill him. The safety deposit boxes are in the huge bank vault, and the bank is well-protected by the Mechanists' security machines and the usual guards. Since Garrett has made a copy of the key in the Mechanists church, he should be able to open the box, grab the recording and get out.

• Blackmail

Garrett has stolen the recording and it is time to have a face to face chat with Truart, who will no doubt appreciate the consequences if the recording was to be made public — hanging. It is cocktail night at the Sheriff's estate, so Garrett has to wait until all the guests have cleared out. Truart has beefed up security since becoming Sheriff, so breaking in may prove to be a little difficult, but hopefully some drunken guests have left him an open door. He watched the last guest leave and the servants should be cleaning up. The Sheriff should be fast asleep by that time, and Garrett goes to his bedroom with the recording.

• Trace the Courier

Truart is assassinated before Garrett can reach his bedroom. There is a key ring at the murder scene. It belongs to Lt. Mosley of the City Watch, but she has an alibi for the murder itself. Garrett starts following her and one night she leaves the local Watch station well ahead of schedule carrying a letter. He trails her, hoping that he'll get a chance to look at it.

• Trail of Blood

Mosley drops the letter at a certain point and it is picked up by a Pagan. The Pagan is then attacked by Mechanists, but he ducks into a cemetery and disappears. It turns out there is a portal in one of the tombs. It deposits Garrett in a grove of trees and the wounded Pagan is nowhere in sight. Garrett must follow the trail of blood to find out where he has gone, although he has no idea where he is or what he will be up against. Along the way he finds that the Pagan village was occupied by Mechanists and all the villagers killed, then finds himself once again in the Maw of Chaos. He finds several letters between Mosley and the Pagans, which reveal that Truart was hired by the Mechanists to kill him.

• Cutscene 2 & Life of the Party

Garrett was walking in the forest with his sword drawn when Viktoria comes out of the ground and persuades him to join her in opposing the Mechanists. Karras is rewriting the New Scripture of the Master Builder, and at the same time throwing a ball for the local nobility at the new Mechanist tower in Dayport, Angelwatch. Garrett is asked to find out what Karras is up to and to obtain information about the "Cetus Project" from his office. Since the Mechanists are determined to kill Garrett, it will be dangerous to travel on the streets. In addition, security at Angelwatch will be extra heavy with the city's nobility in attendance, such that gaining entrance will be difficult. So Garrett will use the 'Thieves' highway', the rooftops, to go to Angelwatch, and starts at the bell tower. It turns out that Karras does not show up at his party and only left some messages for the guests, including one for Garrett himself in the office.

• Precious Cargo

From reading the New Scripture of the Master Builder and listening to the recordings, Garrett has learned that Karras is giving the "servants" as gifts to the nobles. The schematics that Garrett steals from Karras's office confirm Viktoria's presumption that Markham's Isle is the staging area for the Cetus Project.The schematics for the Cetus Project turn out to be too technical to decipher. With the reference name "Brother Cavador" as the only lead, Garrett has to find him. At the same time, Viktoria hopes that Garrett can locate her missing agent on Markham's Isle, Lotus. Garrett investigates the island and discovers a large underground complex that must be related to the Cetus Project. He also finds Lotus locked in a large fridge. Lotus passes on his information to Garrett and then begs him to end his pain. Garrett eventually discovers that the Cetus Project is in fact a large submarine, and he decides that stowing aboard is the best way to find Cavador.

• Kidnap

The submarine travels to a mysterious "K.D. site" where Cavador is located. As it turns out, the K.D. site is in fact Karath-Din, the Lost City where Garrett had visited before, but the Mechanists have made extensive changes to the city in order to make it somewhat easier to navigate. Garrett eventually tracks down Cavador, knocks him out, and brings him back to Viktoria for questioning through the way he used to get to the Lost City before.

• Casing the Joint

Viktoria has made Cavador 'spill his guts'. He was instructed to deliver two kinds of artifacts: brass masks and some kind of agricultural device called the 'Cultivator', thirty of each. Garrett suggests where they can lay their hands on one of those Precursor Masks: Lord Gervaisius, a collector with an interest in masks and headdresses, and had a commission out for them when Garrett was down in the Lost City before. Gervaisius is planning an exhibition of his mask collection on the top floor of his mansion. Access is by an elevator controlled from the top floor, but there is talk of a secret passage. Garrett has to find it.

• Masks

Now that the exhibition time has come, and since Garrett has established a "close working relationship" with Lord Gervaisius' security systems, going back in for those masks should not be too much trouble. At the same time Karras is making some modifications to the Mechanists' cathedral, Soulforge, including some sort of valves and seals on the doors, while inside it just looks like a huge factory full of machines and equipment.

• Sabotage at Soulforge

The true nature of Karras' scheme has been revealed: he has installed a Cultivator in the mask of each servant placed in the homes of the wealthy, especially those with extensive gardens. When Karras gives a beacon signal from Soulforge Cathedral, the servants will release a 'Rust Gas' that both kills and feeds off of organisms; a chain reaction will begin, multiplying the volume of gas, finally consuming the whole City and destroying all life, bringing about Karras' dream of a world of machinery. Viktoria suggests that Garrett can break into Soulforge, activate the guilding beacon and order the servants back to the air-tight cathedral before the gas release, backfiring the plan on Karras when he is residing safe in Soulforge. Garrett, however, believes that her plan is suicide and refuses. Later, though, he encounters Artemus, who tells Garrett that Viktoria has begun an assault on Soulforge anyway. He rushes to Viktoria's aid but she is being attacked by mechanical beasts. Realizing that there is not enough plant life in the cathedral to substain the chain reaction, she says "There's one more thing I can do, then it will be up to you," and sacrifices herself, filling the whole cathedral with large vines. Determined to avenge her death, Garrett attempts to carry out her plan.

• The End

Karras gives the signal for the servants to begin releasing the Rust Gas, only to discover that they have returned to the cathedral. It is too late to stop them, and the chamber quickly fills with gas, killing him and malfunctioning all the mechanical beasts.

[edit] Thief 2X: Shadows of the Metal Age - An unofficial expansion pack

After Looking Glass Studios went out of business, a group of fan developers under the banner of The Dark Engineering Guild created an extension to the Thief universe. Development involved over 100 people, and took five years - in 2005 the result was an unofficial Thief II expansion pack titled Thief 2X: Shadows of the Metal Age [2].

The game presents a new protagonist, a young woman named Zaya. She has journeyed to the eponymous City, to meet her cousin Kedar and start a new life. However, while she follows Kedar to his shop a few thugs attacked him. She escapes and seeks shelter in an abandoned mansion, where she met a man called Malak. Malak trains Zaya to take revenge, and she soon gets drawn into a murky world of crime and deceit as events spiral beyond her control. The story takes place approximately between Thief I and II.

The game has features similar to those in retail Looking Glass games: complex level design, a lengthy campaign (consisting of thirteen long missions), pre-rendered introduction and ending sequences, new voice acting, original artwork, and animated mission briefings.

This expansion is freeware and can be downloaded from the expansion developer's site [3], although it requires the original Thief II in order to be played.

Thief2X received significant gaming press coverage prior to and after release. PC Gamer magazine stated it was "one of the most impressive achievements of any fan community for any game." ^[1] In a discussion of game modding in general, Computer Games magazine called it "Arguably the biggest and best mod of the past year."^[2] Jolt Online said that for a fan of the Thief series "there was simply no excuse not to play T2X"^[3]

[edit] External links

• Through The Looking Glass forums
• The Circle of Stone and Shadow, FM Campaign in Development for Thief II
• T2X: Shadows of the Metal Age, an unofficial Thief II expansion

[edit] Notes & references