Hi there, I just played Thief for the first time in ages and I instantly started wondering about one thing, before even starting the first mission.

I recall that a friend once told me that gold is not being transferred between levels in Thief 1 which means that you're encouraged to spend everything on equipment each time because saving it for later is not possible. Is that true? Or has it changed over different versions and installments in the series?

It's true. Don't you trust your friends?

Well, I do, especially since he had that information from the official guide which he bought along with the game in 1998. I just wasn't sure whether my memory is that trustworthy. ^^

Also still wondering: so is that the same for all games in the series?

K, cool, thanks. :)

In 3 it is carried over, AFAIR. I had huge amounts of money left at the end.

Yes, Thief 3 lets you accumulate money, since it has an "open city" aspect where you can roam around the city between missions to fence your loot and buy more equipment. This part of the game is probably the weakest though as the city areas are TINY (like all other areas in the game, due to engine limitations) and you end up with way too much money and the maximum amount of all equipment at all times. I preferred the system from the first two games.

Thief 3 is still good though. Just not as good as the earlier games.

Note that in the first two games, the amount of money you have available to buy items depends on how much loot you found in the previous mission, so that's a good incentive to really search for loot.

That I was actually aware of (although it admittedly didn't sound like it in my post :p).

I must say, Thief is one well thought-out game. The money system sounds very odd at first but heck, it's brilliant. You're perfectly encouraged to spend all your money and search for loot. Would just be nice if that was made clear in the tutorial... oh, wait... it's an old game... old games had these things...

*facepalm* Yeah, the manual actually explains how the system works. Heck, it even says WHY it works the way it does. Dang, normally I read all manuals of older GOG releases, don't know why I didn't take a look in this case before posting this dumb question. Guess Thief feels just modern enough to assume that you don't need to read the manual. :p

To be fair, I actually think the original Thief has one of the best tutorials I've seen. It's optional, but walks you through all the stealth mechanics AND sets up the mystery surrounding the Keepers and Garrett's past. A perfect introduction to the game for the first time you play, and then skippable when you want to start the game again. I wish more games would follow that model, because I'm getting tired of going through tutorials every time I start a game.