Thief 4 is trash.

[kyyrma]

Tons of previews today, apparently Square Enix had some closed event for selected members of press.

 

http://au.ign.com/ar...of-infiltration

http://www.eurogamer...r-and-for-worse

http://www.polygon.c...ast-improvement

http://www.destructo...ef-269451.phtml

http://www.videogame...eview-3562.html

http://www.computera...steal-the-show/

http://www.usgamer.n...ts-name-implies

http://blog.us.plays...-thief-for-ps4/

http://www.digitalsp...ing-reboot.html

http://www.pcgamesn....f/hands-thief-0

 

Didn't find much new info though, mainly marketing hype. Apparently there are three categories players are scored on upon completing a chapter, just like Splinter Cell: Blacklist (Ghost, Opportunist, Predator vs. Blacklist's Ghost, Panther, Assault).

 

Also, this quote from Polygon:

 

The game's music built excitement and added an edge and various spots. Only for a split second was the modern industrial styling a little jarring with the Victorian environment. But, it slotted right in with Garrett's leather-clad character, his situation and the decaying city.

 

So the soundtrack might at least be informed by Brosius' stuff - or could they even have decided to use some of his tracks after all? At least it won't be full-on Hans Zimmerman like the trailers have had us think.

 

Oh, and this jewel from IGN:

Garrett is a terrible thief. Invariably, each of his big jobs ends with the “Master Thief” getting caught red-handed. He is, however, a phantom during infiltrations and formidable during escapes. At least, he has the potential to be, if your skills are up to the task.

Edited January 24, 2014 by kyyrma

[Springheel]

Damn, I was really hoping to hear good news in the latest round of previews, but there's too much of stuff like this:

 

 

"It feels faster and fiercer, but also smaller -- something that could appeal to the more action oriented players, and which isn't likely to sit well comfortably with fans of the old series."

 

"A greater problem than charging guards was the thumping soundtrack that kicked in whenever the alarm was raised, music a little too loud for someone who is trying to pick up clues from their environment. Gone are the strange buzzes and infrasounds of old, the clack of boots on cobble, the whispers on the wind."

 

"Something that might break your immersion a little bit is the fact that this new Thief has a lot more cutscenes. The previous Thief trilogy played cutscenes at the start of each mission, but beyond those, it never interrupted gameplay. This helped players feel completely immersed in the world and in their role as Garrett. In my time playing the reboot, it felt like every few minutes I was being interrupted and my control was being taken away by 3rd person cutscenes."

[Springheel]

One of the most positive reviews out there (apparently) said this:

 

 

older fans who dislike Thief: Deadly Shadows might well feel the same about this. On the other hand those that liked the erstwhile Thief III should find a lot to love about the game formerly known as THI4F.

 

And more interestingly:

 

One of storyline things I did notice is that it’s rather hard to work out whether this is actually Thief 4, a direct continuation of the series, rather than a reboot. There are a number of hints towards it (not the least of which is Erin, who was introduced at the end of Deadly Shadows), but also some potential suggestions towards a “hundred years later” remake of the first game with a different Garrett. I’ll get to all of these.

[jtr7]

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Edited February 19, 2014 by jtr7

[Nacht7]

I liked Thief: Deadly Shadows, but the more I hear and see about this game seems very disheartening...

[jtr7]

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Edited February 19, 2014 by jtr7

[jtr7]

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Edited February 19, 2014 by jtr7

[New Horizon]

The more I see of the game, the more it definitely reminds me of TDS way more than Thief 1/2.

[Mr. Tibbs]

http://www.pcgamesn....f/hands-thief-0

 

The main objectives are often at odds with the most enjoyable parts of the game and at their worst they seem to betray a misunderstanding of what Thief is ideally supposed to be about. At its very lowest point, the game features free-running sequences in which control is taken off you in a sort of obligatory and half-hearted hat-tip Mirror’s Edge, and one-directional, third-person, Uncharted-lite climbing bits - which we can probably all agree is absolute rubbish.

 

Arrows have their uses, but there’s little scope for inventive applications of them in early chapters, or even much need to reach for the bow at all. Mostly, you’ll use it to set up a new path with a rope arrow, or knock down a ladder with a blunt arrow. By the end of the playthrough, which is just a short portion of the early part of the game, I’d accidentally packed my quiver full of unused arrows. The ability to swoop from shadow to shadow is sufficient to stealth past most guard patrols, and on the mid-range difficulty setting they're rather short-sighted, even as you stroll through broad torchlight.

 

http://www.videogame...eview-3562.html

 

Again, however, this good work isn't being made to pay off as it should. Frankly, Thief is boring. For all of its plus points – and there are a fair few – it feels like something is missing. Just what that something is isn't difficult to discern, either. There's no getting away from the fact that Thief looks and plays like Dishonored, minus the interesting story, diverse world, and enjoyable powers that game boasted.

 

http://www.officialp...urn-shaping-up/

 

In its current state, Thief doesn’t make a lot of sense. I’m not talking about the cartoonishly evil villains who shoot lackeys in the face for sport (good lackeys are hard to find), or Garrett’s incongruous aversion to murder but total readiness to rob the City’s starving poor of their last copper coin. What doesn’t make sense is how two* and* a *half years after Deus Ex: Human Revolution, developers Eidos Montreal have made a game that * less than a month before release has taken several steps backwards from Adam Jensen’s excellent cyberpunk stealth*-em-*up.

 

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-01-24-how-thief-has-changed-for-better-and-for-worse

 

A greater problem than charging guards was the thumping soundtrack that kicked in whenever the alarm was raised, music a little too loud for someone who is trying to pick up clues from their environment. Gone are the strange buzzes and infrasounds of old, the clack of boots on cobble, the whispers on the wind.

 

http://www.stuff.tv/stealth/first-play-thief/feature

 

Thief’s city - called The City - and its inhabitants do not make sense. There is no style that defines it, other than that it’s sort of olde-worlde. This is not a problem in itself, but the writing and voice acting are atrocious. Most of the NPCs speak in a dialect that goes for Mockney but veers off through Ireland, Australia and possibly Boston for sentences at a time before returning to cod-Victorian. Which, again would fine, except Garrett and most of the other main characters speak in modern American accents, which gives the impression that they’re tourists who have wandered into a historical theme park full of drunk, out-of-work actors. There’s an evil fascist Baron (you know, like the Lord Regent in Dishonored) and a mysterious plague (you know, like in Dishonored), and people are called things like Cornelius Greaves. At one point there was a mention of opium, and ale. While our two-hour preview wasn’t enough to get really get into what could be a much deeper game, what we saw didn’t feel particularly imaginative.

 

http://www.usgamer.n...ts-name-implies

 

Dishonored and Deus Ex: Human Revolution. These games certainly make more concessions to players than the original Deus Ex and Thief did over a decade ago, but they still manage to feel flexible and daring in a way the Thief reboot does not. It offers plenty of ways to tailor the experience to suit your needs, but only in terms of artificial restrictions and limitations; having Garrett fail a mission if he's seen or takes damage might make for a much more difficult experience, but not a more freeing one. If the irritating insecurities of big-budget games don't bother you as much as me, they could be worth tolerating for the sake of engaging in Thief's solid stealth mechanics. But if you've played any number of the similar games since System Shock taught us FPSes can be more than blasting demons and grabbing keycards, you'd know Thief can—and should—be much more than it is.

 

It's pretty rare to read previews this negative. It's fair to say Thief isn't on par with Human Revolution or Dishonored. Reviewers who're familiar with the series are going to tear it apart, while the rest looking for another stealth game will probably enjoy it. I can't stand the rigid movement, the unskippable animations, contextual gameplay and the removal of systemic creativity. It looks like this is going to be the Hitman: Absolution for the Thief series. Thief (2014) just isn't for me.

 

Check out this sick escape sequence:

 

 

 

Did you guys know that the Keepers hid Focus upgrades in their libraries? Also, this game has a bow upgrade!

 

[jtr7]

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Edited February 19, 2014 by jtr7

[New Horizon]

Yeah, the loot popups are in the same spot too. I think they have based this much more on TDS than the originals.

[stumpy]

it looks like a poor version of dishonored.

Edited January 25, 2014 by stumpy

[jtr7]

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Edited February 19, 2014 by jtr7

[Maijstral]

My guess is that they spent a lot of time playing TDS back when they were trying to turn Thief into a 3rd-person game, and that gave them a mistaken notion of what a Thief game should be. It may have also been the root of what led to Stephen Russell being replaced. They felt the need to create some "cool" visual representation of Garrett which ended up being an emo-ninja, and Stephen Russell's Garrett voice just didn't sound right to them coming from that thing.

[jtr7]

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Edited February 19, 2014 by jtr7

[Maijstral]

They've mentioned SR not fitting their character concept as one of their excuses, and that's the excuse I'm most inclined to believe. I don't think I've mentioned it on this board, but I do not like Cantin's Garrett AT ALL. One the previews says 3rd-person cutscenes constantly break your perspective, and if I hadn't already decided not to buy nuThief, that alone would have been a deal-breaker for me. tbh, it probably would have been a deal-breaker no matter what Garrett looks like because that sort of nonsense is so immersion-breaking, but the thought of having to watch emo-ninja Garrett frequently in cutscenes is appalling to me.

Edited January 25, 2014 by Maijstral

[jtr7]

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Edited February 19, 2014 by jtr7

[jtr7]

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Edited February 19, 2014 by jtr7

[MacD11]

Wait, what? Why are there keepers in the game all of a sudden? I thought Thief 4 wasnt supposed to have them in the game in any form?

 

"Mysticism is an important part to Thief"

 

Is that why you told us that you were removing the mystical elements in the series from the game earlier on? Come the fuck on.

[jtr7]

I knew this was wrong the second I saw it. WTF, Yahoo?:

Edited February 19, 2014 by jtr7

[jtr7]

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Edited February 19, 2014 by jtr7

[Springheel]

Yes, Square Enix seems to be pretty accommodating about copyright issues.

[Springheel]

Yikes. This is damning. I never held out much hope in the first place, but this latest round of reviews has lowered my expectations even further.

 

Dan Hindes writer of the Gamepot preview and editor of Sneaky Bastards shares some thoughts on Twitter:

 

No. Levels are tiny, and it's very obvious when the game is streaming in the next area and the previous one flushed from memory

 

The first thing you see in Thief is identical to the Bridge in Dishonored. Same hue, same buoys with white lights.

 

When you get spotted it blares Sherlock Holmes dubstep. (I'm not kidding)

 

(Any painted cut-scenes?) Didn't see any. Lots of in-engine third person cutscenes.

 

Sometimes the first-person camera rises into the sky to focus on an objective then zooms back to Garrett's eye. Its disorienting

 

Heaps. Crippled Burrick, Basso & Guinevere, Moira. You visit an abandoned Keeper library, Garrett mentions the Trickster. It's references for references sake though; no relation to the previous timelines

 

Nothing stellar. The main problem is that the writing is terrible. I'm kind of glad Stephen Russell isn't saying this stuff

 

They try to force emotions/motivations through Garrett that don't sync up with those of the player. It's also poorly presented with a complete lack of subtlety. There's one encounter with the Thief-taker General (bad guy) and the dialogue is all "Garrett, I'm gonna kill you, raaaargh"

 

Yep. There's nothing that even approaches Brosius tier dialogue. Ambient NPC barks in the hub are decent though

 

No moss arrows that I saw. Gas arrow is now "choke arrow"; broadheads can upgrade to armour piercing sawtooth arrows. Fire arrows can also be upgraded to "blast arrows" which explode pretty good

 

Other than that (closing doors), sound felt unimportant, except for bits where cracked glass was on the floor.

 

There are birds in cages that squawk if you disturb them, attracting a guard. Like a period-appropriate alarm. They were super cool

 

I got in a fight with a guard, I stood still, and he just stood still facing me for two minutes not attacking.

 

If you want a proper Thief experience I'd play the old ones. Thief: Deadly Shadows has the most comprehensive tutorial phase.

[ungoliant]

When you get spotted it blares Sherlock Holmes dubstep. (I'm not kidding)

So glad I read this. I don't think I can play this game now. Like, ever. I could put up with a lot of nonsense and trudge through it just to see how bad they mangled everything, but I have a zero-tolerance policy on this sort of thing after I dealt with it in Far Cry 3. It just ruins... everything.

[Springheel]

And now there are reports of TDS style blue mist portals. WTF?? Could it get any worse?