I dispatched the Pendleton brothers, non-lethally of course. Another very satisfying mission, but I'm glad this next one has me off to a different part of the city; I want to explore it all, but have a feeling more revisits are in order.

Nonetheless, this game is a pleasant surprise as I was not expecting something so Thief-y to ever happen again. I've been reading/watching a few reviews and while it seems to be well-liked everywhere, everyone fails to mention this Thief influence. They've all said Bioshock (the similarities end at the surface, mostly because they share the same engine) and DX/DXHR. It's really not anything like those; maybe a bit in common with the first DX, but mainly, like a few of you have said around here, this is Thief 21st century edition. And that is a very good thing. The average games writer is probably in their early-to-mid thirties ... are you telling me a good deal of them never knew the glorious joy that was Thief?!

Speaking of glorious, I have a Friday off and the house is mostly tidy so I'll be chugging along through Dunwall some more. Yipee.

 < Oh, that Bunting was a weird guy.

I'm on the way to Sokolov myself! Approaching Kaldwin's Bridge ... there is some nasty Tesla-coil-y thing zapping rats and thugs. Ouch.

It's too bad I somehow killed 2 people in the prison (maybe I left their bodies too near the escape door when it went boom?) because I haven't killed anyone since, and can probably make it the whole way without killing anyone else now that I can stop time altogether. Drat. Those are the only trophies I care to collect, the actually impressive ones. Hopefully the game still rewards one for being mostly merciful.

Edit: I've learned that bone charms are randomized when you enter each level. Unfortunately in my case I haven't really collected any that are terribly useful. Drinking water to recover mana helps, and I guess climbing faster is nice too, but I want something that allows wind-like movement whilst sneaking, because Agility II apparently did not help that at all

I'm the stealth fuckin' master.

Not really, but it's just fun to say.

Even if I am near the end (it feels near) I would hardly say this has been a short game. I could see it if you played guns blazing and very efficiently blew everyone away on your first attempt but... eh who plays that way?

Toger:

I did deliver the note to Lord Shaw, but upon discovering what was happening I re-loaded from my last save and just ignored him altogether. An interesting side mission, one that left me more suspicious of Lord Pendleton than I already was.

Not the first side mission I ignored either: I didn't poison the distillery gang's elixir supply either; just didn't seem right.

Some parts of Dunwall have such a City 17 vibe. I think it was an inspiration, for sure.

Makes total sense then. And the tallboys, I mean, they're practically the striders from Half-Life 2, both of course with a strongly borrowed dose of War of the Worlds. Ahhh dystopias.

I finished the game. The following is not a heavy or specific spoiler, just my ruminations, but you may choose to read them after you have finished your own games, for fear of my opinion clouding your expectations. If you care not, read on.

After my Guns of Icarus session with Gregg on Sunday morning I hunkered down and had a Dishonored marathon that pretty much ran from the middle of Kaldwin's Bridge right up to confronting the Lord Regent.

Yesterday it was a matter of moving forward from the Flooded District (the only level that got a bit boring, to tell the truth). By then I was tired of searching for coins and trinkets.

Oh, and election related, check this out: apparently Colbert (or Stewart? I forget which said it) was right when saying Canadians are all a bunch of "gay socialists." And yes, we have 5 serious federal parties (3 serious on a national level)!

Alberta has lots and lots of oil, so there are probably many Romney sympathizers out there. In the crazy wild west! Shit's so crazy in the AB, I remember when my cousins lived there about ten years ago they were getting their beginner drivers licenses at 14! They also have this highway called the Deerfoot, I think, and it's like Canada's version of the autobahn. They also coat the outsides of their houses in stucco. And it snows in July and there are sometimes heat waves in the dead of winter because of chinooks.

As David Byrne put it: "I wouldn't live there if you paid me to!"