Alright how many people around here love thief but have only replayed the first level countless times because as soon as they got 5 minutes into the second one, they almost crapped their pants?

Be honest.

Also am i the only one who used completely overcomplcated control schemes (arrow keys for movement? was i daft?) back in the day, and realized the game is actually a lot smoother than they remember?

*raises hand*

I thought it would be a game with me vs. human guards, but then I jumped over a corpse and it stood up, moaning terribly. From that point onwards, I would check online to see which level was a "human level" and which was a "monster level". For the latter, I would use a printed walkthrough to get them over with as quickly as possible.

But the real shock came on that level where you have to look for the ruined cathedral, when I encountered my first spider. It came charging at me immediately, and I reached for my computer's hard reset button in panic. There's something about the way it moved and hissed. I'm still slightly arachnophobic, but let me tell you, Skyrim was a breeze in comparison. Skyrim's spiders have got nothing on Thief's spiders.

Ctrl + Alt + Shift + End

The answer to all your problems when you don't want your manboobs (or regular boobs) scared off in the Bonehoard. :)

It's the only level I ever skip, not just because it's frightening, but because I don't really find it that fun, either.

Now, the Cathedrals levels on the other hand, are awesome, and totally worth the price of new underwear.

That's it? really? ... i wish i had the vast knowledge of the internet at disposal when i was a child.

I didn't stop--I played through most of the game, but yeah, the spiders scared the bejeezus out of me, especially that first one!

So after having a drink for courage i gave this level another try.

I realized that for my entire childhood i've been scared to death by something that can be easily outrun, whose attacks have miserable range and can by dodged by backpedaling a bit and can be knocked out by 2 nice swordblows.

._.

Why was i such a dirty coward as a kid?

Their moans are still pretty intimidating though.

If you thing the Zombies are frightening (they are), piss of a Haunt and see what happens.
Haunt wispering "Join usss... join ussss. Join us NOOW"

Just like this... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5vnl90zB74

Heh heh heh...

That guy's lucky the Haunt didn't catch him... they're faster than Garrett.

When I was younger I was scared of the zombies and deleted them from the maps using the level editor. Now that I'm replaying through, I usually run past them or bust out the holy water if necessary. In the Horn of Quintus level I don't think I needed to kill any of them (just kept running!)

There are some fan missions that stand on their own as some of the better horror moments available for gaming... but without checking, they are likely for T2 ;)

For me, this game is all about suspense... hearing that groaning is a warning... based on how loud it is, you've got X amount of time to get out of there.

Although, as others have noted, once you spend some time figuring out the mechanics, you realize they are an easy enemy to deal with. I used to not like the Horn level. Once I realized what a fire arrow can do... how effective holy water is on groups, how mines and flash bombs, and even some tricks of the level work... its now a very easy and fast mission.

Ducking hell, this was definitely not what I expected when I turned on Thief. (Which was yesterday, never played it before.)

At first everything seemed really thief'ish, stealing from rich people and messing with guards, stealing jewelries and such. (By the way, there were 2 spiders in the very first level, but I guess you're talking about the Cathedral ones because they're scarier. Haven't seen 'em yet.)

Anyway, in around 10 minutes time I'm already in the next level. And damn, I really dislike scary games. Anyway, stuck around for 2 horrific levels to get into Ramirez mansion or castle or whatever that is and that's where I'm currently at. So basically, pushing trough scary levels for actual thievery, not Indiana Jones + Supernatural.

How many scary levels are there compared to normal levels, btw?

With execption of the second and third, there seems to be a 3:1 ratio between "scary" and normal levels, although i think i'm only a bit more than halfway through so i could be wrong

Well you have the Cathedral levels, which are spooky (Return to the Cathedral is downright scary) but the four missions after the first Cathedral level are not spooky. After that, because of rather striking plot elements that happen after Return to the Cathedral, it's mostly monsters... for reasons you'll understand once you experience that striking plot event. ;-)

I found myself quite confortable using the standard wasd pattern and shift for running