The Thief series was created by Looking Glass Studios back when game studios would calmly create whole new genres of games before then jumping to an entirely different genre for their next title
After playing the original demo I was completely enamoured by the fictional world Garrett (the playable protagonist) inhabited. Even at the time the game engine had lower polygon counts (i.e. detail) than other games, but decisions like using motion capture for the movement of characters in the game really helped sell the realism of a world inhabited by living people.
Another aspect that felt a cut above the composition was the use of audio. Music was used very sparingly and instead ambient sounds came to the forefront. Better yet was the use of Aureal A3D technology to better simulate how sounds would propagate in 3D space.
The result of all this craftsmanship was a game that felt so very immersive and it's one I've revisited many times over the years.
One of the reasons I built my new Pentium III 600MHz Windows 98SE machine was so that I could install an Aureal A3D Vortex 2 audio card to use with compatible games.
At the time EAX was quite a basic technology that would simply add effects like reverb when a character ended a certain location. Whereas A3D would realistically calculate reverb through sound reflections within a given 3D space.
As much as I enjoyed Thief 1 at the time, for me Thief 2 was the highpoint of the series. This was mainly due to a reduction in the supernatural elements in the first game and instead a focus on the purity of being a thief in realistic environments.
As I look at my original Thief CD jewel case it takes me back to when I first purchased it at a local independent game shop. I was around the age of 18 and was finally earning enough money to indulge my love of technology and games. Sadly I've long since got rid of the bulky cardboard boxes that and other games came in, but I'm happy I've still retained this part of my connection my past.
