Deadly Shadows.

I haven't been online these past few days a lot because, honestly, I've been playing Thief III without reprise. I'm leaving in a bit and I wanted to finish it before then, even though I ended up not having enough time. That's really too bad, because I got pretty close. The game seems to be pretty erratic. The atmosphere and the graphics were nailed nearly perfectly, while the gamble mechanics and level design needed some work. You really have to play the Shalebridge Cradle level (just how every single review out there probably mentions) to experience one of the most brilliant first person levels in gaming. That level made me just want to get out, whereas mostly I try to explore everything and solve all tricky situations. But it did this in a good way, because I could feel the mad amount of inspiration and vision behind it. If only all of the levels were like that... In terms of gameplay though Thief III is lacking. Apparently they didn't have enough time to finish all the features, and it shows. When I'm trying to navigate the streets I tend to think that if I can't get through on ground level I should go above or below, like rooftops and sewers, but Thief III includes a pitiful amount of rooftops and sewers. Maybe I'm just spoiled by Splinter Cell... But personally I enjoyed Thief III more, mostly because of the atmosphere, but also because it was non-linear. One of the best levels, robbing-wise was the church. This was a sprawling two level environment with both inside and outside stages. Unfortunately you don't get the climbing gloves before that mission, so there's not much scaling of walls and open window entrances, but the level really allows you to experience almost everything the game has to offer and use all of your gadgets and tricks. And it just feels right (I'm a sucker for the feel part if you haven't figured it out yet). Ion Storm didn't get to finish the rope arrow, which would have been real nice, and scrapped the deep combat system from previous games, although it does make more sense for a thief to have a dagger not a sword. Fighting in the last games was nice, because if you screwed up, it wasn't load you last save, or drop a flashbomb and run away. You could fight it out. I personally tried to tackle some levels without stealth at all and succeeded a couple times. I was wondering if anyone had a copy of Thief I as I have got a desire to replay it again and my computer is actually good enough to run it I think. Thief III was a very good game, despite not living up to expectations or filling all of its potentials (which were huge), and I certainly hope that it sells well enough for a Thief 4, preferably on a next generation system...

I've been having lots of weird dreams recently for some reason. Most of the time I won't have a dream even once in a month, but now I've been waking up at like 7:30, then 9, then 10, then 11, and I seem to remember them more because of that. The one I had today had me in the Kmart we put out of business, which was still in business. For some reason I was in the parking lot with this employee who had the uniform and a Kmart visor, and a pretty dumb face, and I was saying how I could sneak away to the building to the right of the Kmart (former Jewel's) to have sex if I was an employee and no one would ever notice. So after awhile the employee says he forbids me to do that, and I say, "uhh I don't have a job..." which he doesn't seem to comprehend. And that's all I remember unfortunately, just the fact that the rest of it was just incredibly strange. I'm really bad at this, I should write these things down...

Well I'm off to Nashville in a bit to go be with friends, sail, raft, and sweat. Damn I'm not looking forward to the heat and mosquitos. And the friends part too really. The guys there (one of whose names is Kirill) are really too obnoxious and violent for me, although they're not that dumb. The sailing and rafting will be fun though. I think we'll be going on a level IV rafting course this time, which will be nice, but I think that also means we have to have a guide. Blimey... But in sailing I get to be a guide this year, which may or may not be a good thing. I certainly have to bring all of my knowledge back from the cold storage part of my brain. Bonkers...

I'll probably post occasionally nevertheless though, just don't expect for me to have anything interesting to say...