I think there's room enough for all playing styles in this game, which is why I love it so. I plan to try each, or when I feel like it, combinations of them all. There is no right way to play - just play! What style suits you best or is 'right' for you isn't necessarily right for everyone else (just like real life). I actually 'learned' that from my kid - after spending a fair bit of time trying to get him to embrace my style of RPG gaming where my approach almost always favors stealth unless I'm feeling particularly violent (which actually does happen with some frequency; killing digital baddies is a great stress-reliever ) and not getting anywhere I finally gave up and just let him play the games he prefers in the style that suits him best. My way isn't the only right way in this case; it's still possible for him to have his own fun if he plays in his favored slash-and-burn approach. Do I think he's missing out on a lot of what games like this have to offer? Yes, of course. But he doesn't see it that way, so that's just his opinion differing from mine - it's still all good as long as he has fun. He's zooming his way through much of this game as he usually does with his other titles, and at the end of the day it doesn't really matter whether or not I think he should've done things differently. Go your own way, right?

I can't help but think it would create a sense of tension when you have more limited weapons e.g. those moments in Thief where I'd be out of gas weapons and have to pin myself in the shadows while the guards waddle about searching for me; gets pretty intense when they get close coupled with how challenging swordplay is.

Sigh, I never said ghosting, I just meant there should be more variation to knock people out, other people who are defending the game no matter what love it that much, and or protecting to justify their purchase.

No I agree with all of that, some other people are offended by my responses, saying personally to me its all in my head, whilst I actually simply complained about how I wish there was a way to fall down on someone without actually killing them. I't doesn't make it more difficult as I can just blink down, it's just.. lackluster, and for a game all about choice, it misses one cool detail that a lot of people would like, why? Its freaking cool, and playing a game, a player always wants to feel cool and awesome. I probably went too far ahead with the whole contradiction thing, the way you worded it actually makes it a lot more appealing, just doesn't change the fact that more non lethal ways would be better, instead I get nearly half of this thread arguing less is more, NO not in gameplay. A lot of people are getting the wrong end of the stick with what I actually initially meant, I love this game, its bloody brilliant, no pun intended, I just want that little bit more so I can really play it my way, and I doubt I'm the only one.

If you're creative enough you can have lot's of fun without killing anyone.

There's an upgrade to the sleep dart that lets you instantly knock out a person during combat. There's already a precedent in the game for separating non-lethal from stealth. The only difference is there's a quantity limit with the darts but you can do it ten times naturally. I don't think you can upgrade capacity for those unlike the rest of the gadgets, which instills the notion that stealth should have privation and I'm not disagreeing. If you invested in Stop Time, as mentioned by someone else, you can auto-sleep a bunch of people at once. With that in mind, it becomes a matter of degrees of maintaining your non-lethal play-through. I categorically don't believe there should be the ability to knock out several people at once with non-lethal melee. That becomes an introduction of a mechanic that breaks Bloodthirsty. However, the potential inclusion of non-lethal melee knockouts in a one-one capacity only expands on what's already there: choking someone out. Especially if it's a drop-down version of the knockout. There's actually more risk implementing that method of knock-out since you can screw that up with a normal drop-down. I tried it once and I messed up the timing, promptly leading to my death. Excluding an aerial knockout only means I wait a second or so longer for him to position, or I walk a little distance away to drop down, creep and choke out. As to including a punch, maybe that would be too far. If it's timed the same way that choking someone is though, I'm not entirely sure if that breaks stealth since the same measure of "will someone else wander into the fray while I'm dealing with this guard" still applies.

I'm glad I copied the post as my phone reset it before it sent.

One thing about ghosting through the game I love, is that all the wanted posters just list an "Unknown assailant" that itself is achievement enough for my hard work.

I'm shooting for that too and now I'm even more psyched for going for that. Thanks