Thief 4 is trash.

[Viktoria]

I like!

[New Horizon]

 

As for how LGS would have handled the next release... they were going with a totally modern setting with Garrett dressed in jeans and a hoodie. Needless to say, its another reason why I'm glad its in EM's hands and they've stuck with the medieval/victorian setting. Phew!

 

 

That was Ion Storm, not Looking Glass Studios.

[Viktoria]

True... with as many of the original devs in tow, correct?

Edited December 4, 2013 by Viktoria

[jay pettitt]

I'm hazy, but that was Eidos Proper and Rob Dyer. Nothing to do with LGS and I'm not sure even Ion Storm. If it were, it's as likely to be kicking ideas around as anything else.

 

Either way, I don't have any problem at all with the idea of a modern day Thief.

 

--edit--

 

No wait - there's some background here.

 

I'm still fine with it. Obviously I've not played EM's or IonStorm/Eidos Interactive's T4s, but I'd much much rather play a modern Thief done right than a medieval Thief done wrong.

Edited December 4, 2013 by jay pettitt

[Mr. Tibbs]

http://forums.eidosgames.com/showpost.php?p=1965151&postcount=6

 

Alex does touch on the shroud, saying that it's part of an integrated system of full-screen effects that are there to provide feedback when other elements of the UI are turned off, along with red flashes when you get hit and white flashes when you enter light. So no, it cannot be removed.

 

Ugh!

[Viktoria]

Either way, I don't have any problem at all with the idea of a modern day Thief.

 

Cool. Just goes to show how we're all different.

[jay pettitt]

Ugh!

 

Why Ugh!?

[Springheel]

Presumably because he wants to be able to turn the shroud off, like I do. I hate fingerprints on my monitor, so I doubt I'm going to like the edges looking like someone smeared vaseline on them (not to mention the "flashing" when you step into the light).

 

I can't fathom why they would refuse to make this an optional feature. You can turn of the lightgem and everything else, but not that?

[Goldwell]

Yeah I love the fact that we can control everything but it does seem weird about the fog because I found that massively distracting whenever watching people play the game. I found myself trying to look around it and it was just overall very annoying so it seems strange that it's forced. However with that said apparently the mod on the forum also said

 

I know some of you were not sold on the early iteration of the shroud that was shown at E3, but I just want to note that more recent screenshots, including those in my GIFs here, are taken with full on shroud effect. As Knox pointed out, it's a lot less present than it once was!

 

So I guess this saturday when they release 15 minutes new footage of the updated game engine we can see if they really fixed it. I still would prefer to turn it off but yeah

[jtr7]

................

Edited February 19, 2014 by jtr7

[New Horizon]

I can't fathom why they would refuse to make this an optional feature. You can turn of the lightgem and everything else, but not that?

 

From the sound of it, the lightgem has been simplified down to a trinary system. They specifically admit to it only having 3 stages, however the game apparently still takes crouching and movement into consideration when dealing with how visible you are to the AI. I guess they broke some of that stuff off into the shroud system.

 

A good example of an 'if it ain't broke' situation if I've ever seen one.

[New Horizon]

None of that addresses basic Thief freeeform movement, let alone, evolved and expaned upon. Still a colossal waste of time trying to please way too many people at the expense of the damned basics. All the dummies that'll buy the game because they admire this diplomacy--the ones who always say things like "It has this AND that, so EVERYBODY'S happy!" Wrong! It still doesn't include basics, and nothing else makes up for that.

 

Yup, it's all well and good that all these excessive UI indicators can be turned off but they do little beyond the visual appearance. Considering you can't turn off the shroud and you CAN turn off the lightgem, it goes to show just how much the gem factors into the game. Why have it at all?

[jtr7]

................

Edited February 19, 2014 by jtr7

[jtr7]

...............

Edited February 19, 2014 by jtr7

[Mr. Tibbs]

None of that addresses basic Thief freeeform movement, let alone, evolved and expaned upon. Still a colossal waste of time trying to please way too many people at the expense of the damned basics. All the dummies that'll buy the game because they admire this diplomacy--the ones who always say things like "It has this AND that, so EVERYBODY'S happy!" Wrong! It still doesn't include basics, and nothing else makes up for that.

 

Well said. I'm not surprised Eidos Montreal has included a lot of options for the u.i. since they did the same with Human Revolution. I'm sure the pc version will be a slick, excellent port as it's being handled by Nixxes. I just wish E.M. had spent more time coming up with a clear, clever design for Thief 4. Thief lacks an identity.

 

Contextual movement is a giant misread on what made the series special, but there are other major concerns. What's special about the stealth? Why is full-body awareness necessary for the game? Can the player interrupt the first-person animations sequences? Can guards travel between locations, or will all the encounters be completely discrete like the Editor of PC Gamer claimed? It seems you can make as much noise as you want when collecting "shinies" that even if there's a guard on the other side of the door, he's completely oblivious to the players actions and won't enter under any circumstances. How can the designer maintain any sense of tension if this is the case?

 

It's clear the team have only recently realized the kind of game they making and don't have time or resources for it to reach it's full potential. The options are nice but considering the poor showing the games had in 2013 and that they've spent half a year doing full-blown damage control, expected.

[jtr7]

..............

Edited February 19, 2014 by jtr7

[Nacht7]

I love all the customization options thus far (especially the loot glint), but I agree that the shroud needs to be optional or it needs to go altogether.

[Springheel]

From the sound of it, the lightgem has been simplified down to a trinary system. They specifically admit to it only having 3 stages, however the game apparently still takes crouching and movement into consideration when dealing with how visible you are to the AI. I guess they broke some of that stuff off into the shroud system.

 

I don't understand why that keeps you from being able to disable it...they can still calculate things behind the scenes. I was quite pleased with the number of options they showed, but to keep the shroud, including the bright white and red flashes?? It makes no sense to me.

[jtr7]

..............

Edited February 19, 2014 by jtr7

[New Horizon]

True... with as many of the original devs in tow, correct?

Ion Storm took on many of them in the beginning of the project, but the vast majority of them left pretty early in development. Even Randy Smith left before the game hit the shelves. Wasn't a very happy environment.

[New Horizon]

I also don't like how they are classifying what a classic experience is, when the options listed have little to do with that. We'll have to tell people who come to the original games through Thiaf that those things don't actually count, and are not indicative of classic play.

Yes, I have no idea why many of those options are under classic thief mods. I really don't think they understand the fan base to this day, let alone the type of game Thief is.

[jtr7]

............

Edited February 19, 2014 by jtr7

[Viktoria]

Ion Storm took on many of them in the beginning of the project, but the vast majority of them left pretty early in development. Even Randy Smith left before the game hit the shelves. Wasn't a very happy environment.

 

What a shame.

Oh well.... my point still stands. I'm glad that EM did not decide to continue with the previous devs idea of a modern setting.

[jtr7]

..............

Edited February 19, 2014 by jtr7

[jay pettitt]

I'm pretty much with jtr here. The options seem very comprehensive - so hats off. But I'm sceptical (cynical?) about trying to please everyone with options. Fundamentally what I really want to see is interesting game design that's strong enough to stand on its own merit. And seeing as its a Thief game, strong enough to stand shoulder to shoulder with T1 and T2. That's the bar that has been set.

 

Also that Thief probably hasn't done enough to distance itself from T1 and T2. Because the bar really has been set very, very high. NuThief is going to struggle to get close, let alone better Dishonored. The setting and the characters are new. But also they're not. If EM had done something wildly different I think folk wouldn't be wondering why the vocal work doesn't really compare to the originals or whether it will be a masterpiece of emergent game design and what have you.

 

Probably if you've only played T3 on Xbox, or if you're new to Thief games generally you'd be able to judge NuThief on it's own strengths and weaknesses ~ whatever they are. Otherwise it's asking to be compared to some of the most outstanding examples of video games ever in the history of everything.

 

Presumably because he wants to be able to turn the shroud off, like I do.

 

Granted, it's odd when the other options seem so comprehensive. But it's hardly something to lose sleep over - it's pretty subtle. (not that being subtle is a reason to insist on it being a permanent feature.)

 

I'm not sure what the justification for the trinary light gem is. It's there, but it's not much help to the player it seems.

Edited December 5, 2013 by jay pettitt