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A new way of looking at Thief 4


Springheel

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The art design is really good, I like it.

 

The only thing that really bothers me is the movement speed the player is able to reach. If this is a focus feature that can be turned off I'm fine, but else it seems a bit over-powered.

 

At least it is a good inspiration for future TDM mapping.

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Well from what I can see there isn't any pervasive score over the top of sneaking, thank God. That said I wouldn't call anything from Thief a 'score' as such, more just a darker, more industrial ambience. There's nothing in the game itself that I'd put on a soundtrack CD, compared to System Shock 2 where Brosius went full-on with the electronic. Still, the sound file for the Horn of Quintus could very easily send me to sleep, even now.

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The art design is really good, I like it.

 

Definitely some cool things there, although the constant fog bugs me, at least watching the videos. I keep feeling like my vision is going blurry.

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Yeah I was pretty happy with things overall but damn that fog gets annoying. Is it even possible to have that much fog inside?

 

Also something I noticed that was cool if Garrett looked up towards the rain more droplets formed on his "eyes" whereas if he was looking down and straight ahead it didn't happen as often. Nice little attention to detail there!

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Also something I noticed that was cool if Garrett looked up towards the rain more droplets formed on his "eyes" whereas if he was looking down and straight ahead it didn't happen as often. Nice little attention to detail there!

 

I really disliked that effect. It's more like a droplet on a camera lens. Another 'cinematic' touch that developers seem to love.

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The one that that stands out to me that annoys me is the swooshy feel to a lot of the actions, the swiping grabs, the swoops, the swish mantles, the flash shroud, etc. It's like it builds a constant impatience into the pacing of the game. Dishonored did it too and I didn't like it there either. But it was tolerable in Dishonored & I imagine here too. The little cutscene breaks goes a step further than Dishonored though. I won't comment on the UI because, again like Dishonored, it's going to be the first thing I turn off.

 

When the player is just hanging back & AI were on their patrol routes mumbling things was the most at home I felt watching it.

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What do you see when you turn out the light? I can't tell you but I know that it's mine.

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I wasn't a fan of that droplet effect either. It just looked weird, like a raindrop was pausing in midair. It might make sense in a game where the character wears a visor.

 

One positive thing I noticed was that there seem to be lots of steampunk touches around. Plenty of pipes and some interesting looking machinery. Though I still can't appreciate the 1950s-looking desk fans...are there electrical outlets on the walls to plug those into?

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If they ever claimed that it's true to the originals then they're completely wrong and should feel pretty bad,

 

Would this count? This is just the most recent example.

 

 

“The goal for us was to stay true to what Thief was,”

http://ca.ign.com/ar...things-in-thief

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I really disliked that effect. It's more like a droplet on a camera lens. Another 'cinematic' touch that developers seem to love.

I agree with this to no end. It might be justified if the character was Gordon Freeman, or Artyom with the gas mask on. It's not justifiable in any game that doesn't have a visor or any type of "screen" in front of the character's eyes...

 

I actually get irritated when I see someone praising them for any of that kind of effects, and even more irritated when I confirm that a game has them, and completely frustrated and disappointed when I can't turn them off, which happens 99% of the time with AAA games.

 

Not just rain drops and dust spots and that stuff (which in reality makes you close your eyes to get it off with urgency), but also almost everything else (I can't help but compulsively rant about it...)

- Light/dark eye adaptation - (which makes my eyes strain to the point of tears and my Arma2 getting dusty - fortunately I found a mod for Skyrim that mitigates it, else I wouldn't have played Skyrim at all either...) This effect could potentially be well done, but never is. It's always totally wrong (I'd need a long paragraph to expand on that). Yet, even if well done, it would still be a large distraction that slightly hinders smooth gameplay.

- Sun glare... I can only facepalm at this... The movie industry removed it from movies because it denounced the presence of the camera, taking away from the immersion and the realism of the human observational perspective. Somehow, someone in the gaming industry at the top of their ignorance, thought realism was the inverse... and made it a trend that everyone in their ignorance bought into.

- HDR - A misnomer. Or at least a fakery, and hardly ever looks any good, anyway. Besides, if you don't have a HDR monitor (which no one does), then you don't have HDR, period (even if HDR in games was anything close to actual HDR).

- Motion blur - Can be well done, but I don't remember ever having seen that. In reality we barely notice this effect. In a game it's only a gimmicky distraction.

- Depth of Field - It already occurs naturally in our eyes even with 2D images, no need to have it happening twice... If you look at THIS word you can notice that the rest of this page is slightly blurred to your eyes, the more you look towards the corners of the screen. It's also a distracting mechanic, and slightly hinders smooth gameplay (you have to move the mouse instead of simply looking at something... pfff).

- Bloody screens - WTF?! No comments even...

 

I've been pointing this out for years almost everywhere I go, but... no one seems to care. If only I was a big name on a big company like Bethesda...

And if a game doesn't have these, then it's "not realistic" or is "under developed". Ironically.

 

Though I still can't appreciate the 1950s-looking desk fans...are there electrical outlets on the walls to plug those into?

I noticed them too. <_< That and the late-20th-century styled compound bow Garrett has now...

Edited by Skaruts

My FMs: By The Cookbook

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I downloaded the video so I could go through it frame by frame plus the video is pitch black on my monitor so I had to change the contrast on the video directly, bloom looks like its turned on, there some weird surface shading that looks like the effect you get with bloom, I think the loot swoopings are there to cover up the fact that garretts hand is a magnet and the loot just sticks to it. Only on special unique items does he actually look at them.

Other things probably missed are all the trees and plants in plantpots outside are dead, yet plants in that jewlery shop still have some life in them. Looks like you don't need loot glint on as the only things you can actually pick up are either throwable [for distracting guards] or loot, or a readable there doesn't seem to be any general junk you can pick up. For size of levels, when he goes through that area when he moves verticle planks out the way its been mentioned elsewhere that thats an animation to cover a load next map section. When he jimmys that window thats another load next map section. so that jewlery shop and the outside street is the size of that map between two other maps, the one where he entered and the one where he leave's to the clock tower.

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I think the loot swoopings are there to cover up the fact that garretts hand is a magnet and the loot just sticks to it. Only on special unique items does he actually look at them.

Other things probably missed are all the trees and plants in plantpots outside are dead, yet plants in that jewlery shop still have some life in them. Looks like you don't need loot glint on as the only things you can actually pick up are either throwable [for distracting guards] or loot, or a readable there doesn't seem to be any general junk you can pick up.

So the game is a complete gimmicky interactive movie, as every action you take is predetermined to be so.

 

The drawers seem to also only be accessible in such a way that there's no leaving drawers open.

 

For size of levels, when he goes through that area when he moves verticle planks out the way its been mentioned elsewhere that thats an animation to cover a load next map section. When he jimmys that window thats another load next map section. so that jewlery shop and the outside street is the size of that map between two other maps, the one where he entered and the one where he leave's to the clock tower.

So much for expecting wide areas to explore... It's just zigzagging corridors and doors are getting locked shut behind you.

Edited by Skaruts

My FMs: By The Cookbook

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the desk fans have no wire coming out of them, so there's no plug, there's also no obvious way to turn them on and off.

I query the safe, usually to open a safe, you set the dials to zero before entering the correct combination, as zero resets the mechanics inside each dial.

Also don't like the generic way they've done the letters when reading them, its like that in a lot of nu-games.

Even doom 3 did it as the setting in the game and not a generic display.

Also the inside of the lock when lockpicking, how do you get a key in it, they don't look like they are built for keys, just for lockpicks.

eg for a key it must be a cylinder that has a button on it, you put it in the lock, then press the button for its tangs to pop out pushing the extra bits of metal in the lock up into there correct position.

Also the pins are on one way springs that auto compress when they get too compressed, not the way springs work.

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the desk fans have no wire coming out of them, so there's no plug, there's also no obvious way to turn them on and off.

I query the safe, usually to open a safe, you set the dials to zero before entering the correct combination, as zero resets the mechanics inside each dial.

Also don't like the generic way they've done the letters when reading them, its like that in a lot of nu-games.

Even doom 3 did it as the setting in the game and not a generic display.

Also the inside of the lock when lockpicking, how do you get a key in it, they don't look like they are built for keys, just for lockpicks.

eg for a key it must be a cylinder that has a button on it, you put it in the lock, then press the button for its tangs to pop out pushing the extra bits of metal in the lock up into there correct position.

Also the pins are on one way springs that auto compress when they get too compressed, not the way springs work.

 

I never even thought of that stuff before but that's interesting reading how things work vs the Thief world. I wonder if they do have keys in the game?

 

And yeah i'm pretty bummed about the shitty readable system. I mean you pickup a note then go into your menu system and just read text, it reminded me of the animus layout/style from Assassins Creed :/

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A contest that celebrates the hard work and creativity of the Thief community is definitely something TDM would support.

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It means nothing of consequence.

 

Announcing the Thief Modding Contest! Starting February 17, the Thief and modding communities are challenged to put their imagination to the test. Whether it’s creating a new heist for Garrett or reworking a classic level from the series, Square Enix and Amazon are looking for fans to submit their entries in one of two categories: 1) upload a short video playthrough of their completed mod or 2) submit their pitch for a mod they would like to create. Participants can return to this page (www.amazon.com/ThiefMod) to submit their videos starting February 19, and submissions will be accepted through April 14. Participants looking for help can find modding resources at The Dark Mod.

 

Here we have a marketing gimmick, launched purposefully a week before the release of their NuThief product...This is designed to reap more sales from the many in the community that disapprove of their anti-THIEF design approach, and to give the illusion that they care, by baiting members and modders into believing that there will actually be a future substantial relationship between EM and the community...which there will not.

 

Also notice the divisive tactic used, by not including TTLG in the announcement.

 

This of course assumes this announcement isn't a hoax.

Edited by Vae
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