Thief 4 is trash.

[Goldwell]

I have the apk (renamed jar file), and have spilled its contents. It makes the super-optimists for this game look suspicious that they aren't eager or grabbing up everything or talking excitedly about stuff, just fighting the realists and pessimists.

 

I can share all, but I don't want to bring problems down on this here fine TDM site. The ambiance ogg sounds very faithful to TDS, and not at all to the older titles, so it's still better than the stuff we've heard in most of the vids.

 

Would you be able to post a summary of any new info you found in the app?

[Goldwell]

accidental repost - delete me please

Edited January 9, 2014 by Goldwell

[jtr7]

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

Edited February 19, 2014 by jtr7

[Springheel]

Gamers will now be able to escape when spotted

 

Right, because you couldn't do THAT before...

[Springheel]

 

 

 

Originally Posted by HERESY

http://www.idigitaltimes.com/articles/21411/20140108/ces-2014-gaming-thief-hands-on-demo.htm

"Yeah, he's a great thief. But he's not some mystical acrobat capable of parkouring his way up every wall or teleporting to nearby ledges. There are only so many objects he can climb and vault across, most of which are marked with a few subtle scratchmarks. It's a telling visual cue once you know to look for it, but it doesn't have a hand-holding feel"

 

We don't have a wide enough selection of emoticons to communicate my reaction to that quote.

[Sotha]

We don't have a wide enough selection of emoticons to communicate my reaction to that quote.

 

Mine was mostly this one:

 

But I think I'm overall constantly or nowadays.

[Goldwell]

I don't understand why they do that. I mean Thief is a game completely about exploration and exploring every little crack and surface of everywhere you go. It would be so.... Distressing? To be playing and think oh I'll go up there and even though it might look completely reachable because it has no contextual climb setup you couldn't do it.

 

I mean how many encounters like that would you come across? It would feel like constant invisible wall hitting. I just... I really want to like this game and give it a good try but fuck their decisions are strange. Like recasting the voice of the main character :/

[Springheel]

Ok, it's been clarified by one of the EM people that apparently these scratches are only to indicate where the claw can be used. Which is still strange, but not as bad as it sounded.

[jtr7]

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

Edited February 19, 2014 by jtr7

[jtr7]

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

Edited February 19, 2014 by jtr7

[Goldwell]

That's three characters so far who look to Garrett as savior/weapon-pawn. Also, please no boss fights.

 

Oh dear god, I had not even considered that!!!

 

Wow that would be... hilarious haha.

[jtr7]

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

Edited February 19, 2014 by jtr7

[Springheel]

Anyone know how many stages the light gem in tds had? I remember seeing an animated gif of it once but can't find it.

[jtr7]

...........

Edited February 19, 2014 by jtr7

[New Horizon]

That dip had to be a mistake in naming the files or something and they just got ordered wrong.

[jtr7]

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

Edited February 19, 2014 by jtr7

[brethren]

Looks like you guys have been reading the UI thread on the official forums. I'm still in awe of Master Taffer trying to convince everyone over there that 16 stages is overkill, or in his words "useless and redundant." I think T4 is being made just for simpletons like him.

 

Does the gem from TDM have 16 as well, or is it just 8?

Edited January 10, 2014 by brethren

[Springheel]

TDM's lightgem actually has 32 stages.

[jtr7]

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

Edited February 19, 2014 by jtr7

[brethren]

i had been thinking it was different than Thief's lighgem, but I had fogotten it was 32 stages. What was the reasoning behind why you guys decided to up the ante and bring the gem from 16 to 32 stages?

Edited January 10, 2014 by brethren

[New Horizon]

i had been thinking it was different than Thief's lighgem, but I had fogotten it was 32 stages. What was the reasoning behind why you guys decided to up the ante and bring the gem from 16 to 32 stages?

 

We found the visual transitions of the gem to be rather choppy looking at 16 stages, so we opted to go with 32. Later someone also added some nice transitional smoothing as well so that it looked even nicer. I don't know how the 32 stages factor into the actual calculations, but it would all tie into distance, light hitting the player, movement, type of weapon being held...etc. I think our gem really needed to be more precise since the calculations are based on screen captures of the top and bottom of a diamond shaped object, rather than traces from the light to the player. It's a what you see is what you get system.

[Springheel]

Looks like you guys have been reading the UI thread on the official forums. I'm still in awe of Master Taffer trying to convince everyone over there that 16 stages is overkill, or in his words "useless and redundant."

 

Yeah, it's entertaining to watch. I still can't get over the EM rep defending the lightgem only showing light levels by saying:

 

However, your visibility to the AI is affected by a lot more than light. All those things Brethren mentions are still taken into account: your stance, weapon, movement, whether they're already looking for you... There are so many factors that go into "visibility" that jamming them all into that one indicator would make it nearly useless for the player.

 

Yeah, cause the visibility gems in the other games--which did just that--were "nearly useless". Yet another rationalization from EM that seems completely full of crap.

[brethren]

I know, my initial thought after she posted that was she was probably thinking "oops, foot in mouth." But when I thought more about it, I'm guessing she likely has no clue that other games (including the three existing Thief games!) use this same exact mechanic.

 

I also wonder if her "whether they're already looking for you" remark is just a mistake - something like that may make AI more aware of you, but it shouldn't ever affect your visibility.

[New Horizon]

Who said that anyway? I didn't see that original post.

[Springheel]

I also wonder if her "whether they're already looking for you" remark is just a mistake - something like that may make AI more aware of you, but it shouldn't ever affect your visibility.

 

Depends how you interpret "visibility", I think. TDM AI can see you more easily when they're alerted, so that does affect how likely you are to be seen. She may have meant something similar.