TheivingME on 11/5/2009 at 23:47
I got into Thief late 2002. Graphics was starting to flower in gaming then and accelerations in graphics happened quicker and quicker. Red alert 2 was the game for me that really highlighted that graphics and looks were taking a more important role in gaming.
Thief 1 & 2 I have always appreciated their rustic graphics. The graphics were great for their time, but not in a way that looks awful later on. Eg, the old playstation games you thought looked real when they came out and you play them now and a car is made of 6 pixels.
Thief 3 kind of went the other way. I have forgotten all the technical information but it was chunky to me, and tried to hard in the graphics department to pioneer a style that wasn't ready yet. I would have prefered average graphics and smooth quality workings on my system (which was easily past the required spec).
So what do you want from T4. Are you wanting a post-Crysis graphics feel to the game? where everything is utterly stunning? Would that take away from the experience?
For me thief was always a game of thinking and stratagy, planning your next move, waiting and watching guard patters, especially in unfamilair FM's. I can't picture a zombie running up to me and tearing chunks out of my flesh and watching it eat me alive in a thief game. The gore potential for thief to add to the fear is incredibly high. Imagine cragscleft but with awesome graphics.
So I don't know what I want, I want them to keep the 'feel' of the original games. And if they can do that with awesome graphics, so much the better. But I don't want it to turn into a doom 3 gore fest (because you don't need to kill in thief for the gore).
Cobak on 11/5/2009 at 23:51
im sticking to my request for the in-game graphics to look more like the cutscenes if possible.
of course, i agree that Thief is not about graphics also though
jtr7 on 11/5/2009 at 23:57
What Cobak said.
just increase the resolution and clarity, but I'd love to see a hint of the texture of real paint on real canvas in the mattes, like the original art used to make the cutscenes. So much more detail than what came across.
Dia on 12/5/2009 at 00:03
I've seen plenty of FMs where the graphics were improved from the traditional original games and imo it added to the immersion factor for me (examples: Ashen Age & Rocksbourg). I think it's entirely possible to 'spruce up' the traditional type graphics used in TDP & TMA and not lose anything integral to the enjoyment of the game.
Too Much Coffee on 12/5/2009 at 00:05
The graphics is the least of my concerns. Focusing on the gameplay design and sound are more important. Not that I want to play as a stick figure in a game that looks like something for the Atari 2600. . .
Neb on 12/5/2009 at 00:09
I'm not so sure about the cutscene graphics in anything but the cutscenes.
I'd prefer clear, no-nonsense graphics so that the atmosphere of each location can be stylistically created to suit it.
Flexibility and all that. I think I'd go mad if I had to trawl through a game set to a homogenous style.
jtr7 on 12/5/2009 at 00:13
Yes. Spruced up, not replaced by an alien quality. Enhanced without losing the Thief World. Many things were actually far inferior in the new engine, which didn't make sense to me. The fundamentals should be there first, underneath the higher polys, texture resolutions, etc. The bones (and soul) should be palpable to the majority.
And I said cutscenes only in the context of cutscenes, not the game world. The game world should be as varied in style, art, and architecture as the older titles. TDS was very homogenised.
R Soul on 12/5/2009 at 00:13
Playing T1/T2 for so long, and using Dromed, has meant I'm not fussy about super-high resolutions. E.g. I thought the resolution of the T3 textures was fine (but not the lack of colour variation, but style is another matter).
What I want more than awesome graphics is a game that runs smoothly so I can concentrate on actually playing it. For that reason I think it would be nice to provide a broad range of detail settings so that people with 8 graphics cards running with SLI v2.0 (you know it'll happen) can have enough detail to show individual specks of dust and people who aren't that obsessive can turn down the detail settings enough to get a reasonable frame rate.
jtr7 on 12/5/2009 at 00:20
Exactly. And I want to be able to just hide in a shadow and drink in the sights and sounds while studying patrol routes. I would like to be able, in some way, to just explore the game world and appreciate it. I love that DromEd gives me that power, and I can't get enough of just enjoying The City in all its varied and juxtaposed styles. And when I play the game, I want the real world to disappear as I get lost in the game in a good way.
TheivingME on 12/5/2009 at 00:23
So its atmosphere that is craved really.
Atmosphere that in T1 & 2 was generated with sound and fear factor.
I want T4 to have graphics join those 2 as another main source of atmosphere.
Talking of fear factor though, I want the amount of supernatural/scary stuff to be half way between TDP and TMA
