FAQ Notes

This is my first FAQ/Walkthrough. All input is appreciated, especially regarding what you liked, and how I can improve it. Please send comments, suggestions, etc., to taffer-six@home.com.

This FAQ finally covers the entire game at the moment. There is one more release planned, which will basically fix up any grammar and spelling mistakes, fix up some tweaking, and generally just improve the overall content on a small scale. The next release will probably not occur until the first release of the Thief II FAQ, so that I can include a section to point you towards it.

This FAQ/Walkthrough is based on the PC version of the game. Does another version exist? I don't know.

Thief v. Thief Gold

On November 3rd, 1999, my local computer store finally got their shipment of Thief: The Dark Project Gold (from here on referred to only as Thief Gold). Needless to say, I purchased the first one out on the shelf! I sold them my original Thief game (at a substantial loss, but I didn't need the original anymore, and I got some money to help pay for the new one!), and as a result, a word regarding this FAQ needs to be said.

Those who have been following this FAQ will have received the original first six missions (Lord Bafford's Manor, Break from Cragscleft Prison, Down in the Bonehoard, Assassins, The Sword, and The Haunted Cathedral) while I was still playing my original copy. Now that I no longer have the original, all missions which come after "The Haunted Cathedral" will be done solely from the Thief Gold game. I have replayed all the previous missions, and noted any differences I spotted between the two games in the appropriate sections. However, once you hit Mission Eight ("The Mage Towers"), there will be no further notes on differences...everything will be pure Thief Gold.

From this point on, any references to "Thief Gold" refer specifically to that game. References simply to "Thief" will most likely be a generic reference which can apply to either the original or the Gold release. Any references that are specific to the original will be so noted, probably with "Original Thief".

NOTE:  Thief Gold does have higher recommended system requirements than the original game. There had been a few points while playing on my old computer where I noticed some "slowdown".

DromED Patch

I discovered this quite by accident, while reviewing the news at a Thief website I visit frequently.

There is a patch file (of sorts) available for DromED, the editor that comes with Thief Gold for making your own missions. It's a very small zip file (about 7k in total), and contains some missing Schema files. Apparently, without these two files "reload_schemas" crashes DromEd with an error about a non-existent voice.

I found this file at http://www.thief-darkproject.com/. I don't know if it exists anywhere else yet. Anyone?

The Walkthroughs

This FAQ is geared towards having you complete each mission with the maximum amount of treasure possible, on top of completing all of your quests. Each mission is done at the EXPERT level, and all statistics are given for that difficulty setting (i.e., what you find, where, how much, etc.). I have not tried playing these on the lower levels, but I have heard there ARE differences. (For example, on Mission 2, "Break From Cragscleft Prison", you find a Holy Water Font on the lower level of the mines on the Normal level, and it is gone on Expert, as well as there being different treasures found in different areas.)

Each mission walkthrough is presented in the following manner:

  1. It allows you to find all the treasure that is available.
  2. It attempts to give you the most expedient path through the mission, with a minimal amount of backtracking, thus giving you a better finishing time.
  3. It attempts to present the SAFEST method of doing things.

A few words regarding numbers two and three:

The most expedient path means the fastest way through the mission while still keeping numbers one and three in mind. Most missions have several "sidetrek" areas, where there is nothing for you to do or to acquire. However, a lot of these areas are just plain interesting...the designers have put a lot of time, effort, and planning into some of these, and it would be a shame for you to miss it all. So I suggest that when you are using the walkthrough, if you come across a "sidetrek" area, save your game, and go and investigate it. A lot of times, it is well worth your time. (Note: The Complete Loot Walkthrough noted in the Links section contains information on these various sidetrek areas. If you are interested, I recommend visiting the webpage.)

[A good example of these sidetreks: In Mission 3, "Down in the Bonehoard", there are several places where you can find members of a lost expedition and read their journals. But since you need to go out of your way to get to them, they are not mentioned in the FAQ.]

The SAFEST method of doing something is not always the fastest way. There are some areas where there is a more risky way of doing something, but doing so is faster. Sometimes it's not just a matter of risk, but of timing as well, since a lot of the guards patrol. So if you've been wondering why you can't beat my best times no matter HOW closely you follow the walkthroughs...well, that's your answer.

The beginning of each mission's walkthrough will have a list of "headers". These are distributed throughout each walkthrough, in an effort to make it easier for people to find a certain section that they are looking for.

Note that these headers are NOT always entirely accurate. A good example of this is the headers for "Song of the Caverns" (Mission 10). When you read the section marked "Ground Floor", you will note there is a small side-trip to the 2nd level. And the section marked "2nd Level" has a side-trip to the third level! While I considered breaking these parts up with new headers, I also wanted to keep them to as low a number as possible, to avoid cluttering up the walkthrough needlessly. Hence, sometimes you will find situations such as the one just described.

Similarly, another "inaccuracy" which occurs is that a section may change before the header does. The walkthrough may move you through a bit of a new section before changing the header.

Other than that, I hope you all like the new headers! Enjoy! :)

Best Times

For those missions that have been included, I have also included my best time for completing that mission. This is for various reasons, but mostly to do with ego. :) (Note that my best time for a mission does NOT necessarily reflect this walkthrough. For example, my best time for Lord Bafford's Manor was done with mostly running, no body hiding, no door closing, etc. Each one was finished, however, with the maximum possible loot, unless otherwise noted.)

All best times recorded are for Thief Gold. In every case, I was able to beat my best times from the original game whilst playing the new one.

For those who may be interested, I've collected all my best times here:

Training Mission:  A Keeper's Training — 2 minutes, 6 seconds

Mission 1:  Lord Bafford's Manor — 13 minutes, 25 seconds
Mission 2:  Break from Cragscleft Prison — 45 minutes, 44 seconds
Mission 3:  Down in the Bonehoard — 22 minutes, 44 seconds
Mission 4:  Assassins — 15 minutes, 20 seconds
Mission 5:  Thieves' Guild — 36 minutes, 35 seconds
Mission 6:  The Sword — 22 minutes, 29 seconds
Mission 7:  The Haunted Cathedral — 36 minutes, 10 seconds
Mission 8:  The Mage Towers — 47 minutes, 54 seconds
Mission 9:  The Lost City — 35 minutes, 50 seconds
Mission 10:  Song of the Caverns — 22 minutes, 15 seconds
Mission 11:  Undercover — 9 minutes, 27 seconds
Mission 12:  Return to the Cathedral — 37 minutes, 14 seconds
Mission 13:  Escape! — 17 minutes, 2 seconds
Mission 14:  Strange Bedfellows — 7 minutes, 57 seconds
Mission 15:  Into the Maw of Chaos — 11 minutes, 29 seconds

Secret Mission:  Blooper Reel — 44 seconds

Total Campaign Time:  6 hours, 39 minutes, 40 seconds.

Note  The Total Campaign Time does not reflect all of my best times. It is just what my campaign finished at, and sometimes I did not get a best time on a mission for the campaign.

Without the Training Mission:
    Total Campaign Time (using the best times above):  6 hours, 21 minutes, 35 seconds
    Average Mission Time:  25 minutes, 27 seconds

With the Training Mission:
    Total Campaign Time (using the best times above):  6 hours, 23 minutes, 41 seconds
    Average Mission Time:  23 minutes, 59 seconds

None of the times given above include the Secret Mission.

Experimentation

Occasionally, I will note an area where some more experimentation could be done. In some cases, circumstances did not permit further experimentation (for one reason or another), and some experiments were thought of in hindsight, long after I was past the point of no return for that area. If anyone cares to experiment in the noted areas, I would be interested in hearing the results.

EXAMPLE:  In Lord Bafford's Manor, I used to take out a certain guard as a precaution against a future endeavor. However, I was not sure that this was actually necessary, and had not tried to complete the mission without doing so. Upon replaying the mission, I left that guard alone, and found it was unnecessary to take him out, and was able to make the walkthrough for that mission that much better (and improve my best time for that mission by about a minute or more!).

Mission Objectives

Although each mission shows the objectives for Normal, Hard, and Expert levels, the walkthrough itself covers ONLY the Expert level.

The Simplified Objectives contain the mission objectives as viewed from within the mission. They are less verbose, and more to the point than the wordy objectives given before the mission begins. Although the only ones shown are from the Expert level, you should be able to pick out which ones apply to your game if you are playing on Normal or Hard instead.

Changing Objectives

During some missions which you will undertake, your mission objectives will deviate from those which you started with as you progress through the mission. This can be due to changing situations, the gaining of further information, receiving new instructions, and perhaps other reasons as well. You are informed in the game when your mission objectives change, and the mission's walkthrough also reflects this. When your objectives change, the walkthrough will give you a list of your new objectives.

Note that when your objectives list is displayed inside a mission's walkthrough, it will also indicate which ones you have completed so far. If your list differs from the one given within, it means that you have not followed the walkthrough as it is laid out. For example, if you need 1500 in treasure to complete a mission objective, and the walkthrough says you have done so but your mission objectives do not, then you have not picked up all the treasures indicated up to that point.

Recommended Purchases

At the end of each "Before The Mission" section, I've listed the equipment that I personally use and/or recommend to complete that mission. In most cases, these purchases will NOT eat up all of your funds. Use whatever you have left over as you see fit.

Note that my recommended purchases are not always what is NECESSARY to complete the mission. In some cases, it will make the mission easier for you, in others it may simply be that there is NOTHING to buy to help you, but what I've recommended is (in my opinion) the best you can do.

Just What The Heck Is A Taffer Anyway?

This is a question I am sure many Thief fans have asked countless times. I received a few emails regarding this, and here is what I've derived from them:

If anyone can clarify, expand, or suggest another meaning, please contact me! I seem to recall having once seen a definition online (on a message board somewhere) that made much more sense.

The True Meaning Of "Taffer"

Lastly, someone sent me an email with the following information:

I got this one from PC Accelerator. They interviewed Steve Pearsall, project designer of Thief. The question, "What is a Taffer and where did it come from?" The Answer, "One of our level designers, Laura Baldwin, made it up. Taffer was meant to be a slang word that meant a common criminal, but has evolved into meaning any sort of low life." So basically it is a fictitious word. Hey, maybe it will become real if we use it enough.

So there you have it. I'll bet the people over at Looking Glass Studios have been having a nice chuckle watching everyone go crazy and coming up with these (admittedly inventive) possible meanings/origins of a word they made up! :)

Be sure you all use this word everyday! I want to see it in the next edition of Webster's Dictionary! :)

Victoria vs. Viktoria

This is only a very minor point, but I thought it deserved mention here.

The character known as "Viktoria" in the game has had some (albeit minor) debate on the spelling of her name. Most often, I have seen people spelling it with a "k", and less commonly I see it spelled with a "c".

In your first mission (Lord Bafford's Manor), there is a scroll in the library where someone has reported to Lord Bafford that he has been unable to find any information regarding a woman named "Victoria". They spell it with a "c".

I was just fine with this, up until playing the new Mission Five in Thief Gold, "Thieves' Guild". In there you find a ledger belonging to one of the thieves, and there it is spelled with a "k".

So now we have conflict in the game. Damn. I was so sure it was "Victoria," thanks to Lord Bafford. Now it seems some upstart taffer has messed with my reasoning!

It seems that in almost every other place her name is mentioned in the game (and perhaps all other places), her name is spelled "Viktoria". So, despite my preference for "Victoria", I have conceded, and renamed her "Viktoria" throughout this FAQ.

Other ideas have filtered in from those kind enough to share their insights with me. Someone has suggested that the man referred to in "Lord Bafford's Manor" could find no trace of her BECAUSE he was spelling her name wrong! Another person has suggested that the name Victoria was possibly ORIGINALLY spelled with a "k", and over time got changed over to a "c". I've heard about this theory of "consonantal drift" before, and find it a completely plausible one!

Other FAQs By The Author

This is my first FAQ. I have two others at present, both being written at the same time, for the same game.

The Thief II FAQ is out, and currently covers the first two missions of the game.

The other FAQ I am working on is a Companion Guide to Thief II, which will contain (should I keep it up) the text of every document, scroll, parchment, plaque, letter, report, announcement and palimpsest that I have been able to find in the game. It is not necessary for either playing Thief II or for using its FAQ, it is simply included as a "bonus supplement".

All of these documents, including this one, can be found at www.gamefaqs.com.