Vadrosaul

I don't agree with many of those points. The mantling suffered from the poor third-person feeling of drunken lurching movement, as did the body awareness. Climbing gloves were a moot point when the vertical gamespace was so limited. Conversations is a matter of story, the responsibility of other creative forces. Even though they included these 'enhancements', they felt like they could have easily been implemented better. Poor choice of engine, or poor job in modifying engine? Don't get me wrong, I'm not hatin' on TDS, but rather I fail to see where it brings any fresh or well executed NEW elements to the Thief series. Many games cobble together the best ideas from other classic games and execute them in a thrilling game, but we should not be throwing the innovation stamp where it does not belong, especially with a sequel which should have tried its damndest to what essentially you guys are doing with the Dark Mod in your spare time. @Crispy: Remember one of the reasons the Dark Mod came to fruition was due to ill sentiment towards TDS

Not done particularily well? Isn't doing them well the whole point in including them? Those items and their basic inclusion in a 2004 sequel based on two previous titles is nothing more than than keeping the expected status quo for a basic upgrade. I mean you guys took an engine released a little later that same year and have already crafted superior ragdolling, shadows & alert states, and your a fan mod team. Maybe it's just me, but I failed to see anything from TDS that enhanced the Thief experience. Ion Storm copied the Thief formula, gave it a hefty dose of dumbing down, then slapped on standard tech for the time (shadows, ragdolls) and did nothing to enhance them beyond their basic inclusion.

Tell me, what unique elements from TDS do you qualify as "best most loved"?

Well duh I meant blockbuster calibre based on quality, not quantity. Your (Nyar) points about the control scheme and the fact that it was on a console are features that inherintly cater to the masses; those less inclined to scrutinize a game for its actual innovation or qualifying points, and more inclined to jump on the bandwagon of a gimmick regardless of whether or not it is effectively utilized. Perhaps to rephrase: "A control scheme alone will not make a game top quality"

There is a general excitement over it, but from what I can discern from the hype, its mostly about the gimmicky Wii controls being applied to an FPS. A control scheme does not make a game blockbuster calibre.

OR

You always prove to be an extreeeemely knowledgeable and intriguing person, so all I can say about this break of your's is: "It's about f&%*ing time" Maybe you could solve the Iraq situation using Hume's 'is-ought' problem.

Serious? His friends and colleagues actually got sick of his whining & complaining about the state of things and told him to act? Hehe I could imagine it being part of a dare

That's what makes us Thief fans so offbeat. We suspend disbelief only so far, so that arrows can support the weight of 60 kg. man, but for the rest we apply real world physics The woo of the rope arrow needs some thought out rules for the material strength of the shaft. I don't see how a rope arrow cannot, for instance, slowly drag the dead body of a man across the ground, but it can support the players weight climbing up walls & ledges. Though I can understand a programming or time crunch limitation & you guys defaulting to original Thief rules for the item first

Good to hear (and see) that weight had been given to liftable objects, and not just some arbitrary stop point for lifting, nor unbelievable anchors for rope arrows. It’s invariably a treat whenever you guys provide videos or screenshots to show us fans the work in progress PS. Love the creaking sound on the bowstring pullback

Agreed. As a chemist my uni time had a fair bit of homework and extra study. Now that I have had a stable job with the provincial energy company I get more flexible time off. Plus I only have a wife, who works steady too. From what I've seen of my friends and sister, having kids is the huge time sink to the adult life, one I wish to avoid for the time being

Good luck. Keep at it

Could have something to do with the impending release of Bioshock. Either a restriction set or the site is being deluged with users.......

Why not exactly? Because it doesn't fit in the Thief visual style? You guys keep saying how the Dark Mod isn't Thief, so why disregard an architectural style that could be utilized in early 20th century set FM's?

Don't forget the Danes The little country that could.

The rumors and hushed whispers spoken in dialog about the Cradle certainly added to the psychological buildup of the mission. I agree that such missions can only be one-offs; once you've played through its less a fright and more a matter of seeking a different challenge in it.

Perhaps they were technically limited by their new fangled engine back in '04, and couldn't give us wide open environments and throw a dozen enemies at a time at us. Twould result in very poor framerates for the computers back then. Engine should be designed around the game, not the game around the engine

Besides contracting radiation sicknesses from martian microbes

I'm struck by just how severe the obsession with "realism" is within the game industry. Lets get one thing straight here: Videogames, cartoons, and computer generated cartoons ARE NOT REAL! You may be able to try to make them look realistic, maybe even succeed, but there is no imperative need to make them look real. My honest suggestion, let artists come up with interesting character designs, art styles, atmospheric lighting, etc. altogether to make the visual design of a game fluid and seamless. Then, focus on gameplay. Much like Thief was constructed under LGS On one final note, unrealistic doesn't automatically mean cartoony either. There are plenty of styles out there where characters have realistic proportions, gritty faces, quality expressions, but still don't look "realistic" either.

Is this the purported "Doom 4: Hell in a closet on Earth"?

Congratulations. First the cat, and now a human. Things are looking up

The Steam defenders keep mentioning how the DRM system has been useful against the casual pirates. I keep wondering if those "casual pirates" are the type who would not buy the game anyways.....

I have both good things and bad to say about this game, so I want to make sure you get the right idea: I recommend Call of Cthulhu, Dark Corners of the Earth, but some of that feeling is due to my Lovecraft bias. In spite of the bad things, I liked it, and wished I could simply play it straight through with out pause for rest or real life. It has a great mix of challenging puzzles and action sequences, and there were times when I was so scared I had to remind myself it was just a game. The story is great, world interaction is pretty good, and the lack of any heads-up display adds a new element of realism. The fact that you can only save when near certain "magic" symbols (or when the game autosaves at a key point) was a mixed bag. It made the stakes higher, and the victories sweeter, but sometimes it got really tedious revisiting the same part of a particular sequence because you kept flubbing on the last villain. The sound effects and music were awesome, graphics gritty even if underwhelming. Environmentals such as rain and fog were also pretty well done, and the levels were intricate and intriguing. Also intriguing was the less abstract way in which damage and healing are handled (you may find yourself having to treat a broken arm or leg with a splint, for example, and if you leave a major wound untended for too long, you might bleed to death). Be prepared for some very frustrating (sometimes idiotic) drawbacks. Also, be warned: the weapon and combat engine is rather poor compared to the rest of the game. Bullets sometimes pass through things they should hit, hits don't always do the damage you expect, and all the terrestrial guns are about the same in terms of range vs accuracy/damage. It's not horrible, per say, but you shouldn't buy this game if your main interest lies in the shooting aspect; UT or Quake would probably serve you better there. For these reasons, the game only got four stars (out of five). It's a totally awesome puzzle game with a great horror element, but it looks like the programmers might have slacked off a bit in some areas (a few never even got paid by the now defunct Headfirst Studios).

I found Call of Juarez to be the gritty western style I was expecting from the previews and demo. The lead role has the best voice-acting work I’ve seen in ages. You have to be a fan of the genre, or at least tolerate it, because it isn’t a Western that diverges from the formulaic style of the genre. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was Oblivion with guns, though smaller and with a grungy late Soviet-era feel to it, intentionally lacking emotion and filling the world with drabness & depression. The only coming games I’m looking forward to are Bioshock & Assassins Creed. The former mainly because of who is developing it, and the promised similarities with its “spiritual successor”. Still Ken Levine keeps reiterating how Bioshock is a shooter first and foremost, which sounds like a subtle way of saying it can be good but not break the formulaic mold of that genre. From the preview videos and screencaps the atmosphere appears like a poorly blended mishmash of a dark horror game & a comical 1950’s Pleasantville parody with a violent edge, like the developers couldn’t decide on one or the other. Assassin's Creed I’m purely interested in for the stealth elements in a medieval setting; that interest obviously stemming from Thief. The producers promise a free-roaming city element that I thought we should have received in TDS, so even though there is forced combat, I'm keeping an eye on the title.