zaya92 on 1/6/2009 at 12:11
The only difficulties in thief 4 should be: 'hard,harder,hardest'.
saatana on 1/6/2009 at 12:54
I say Expert, Ghost and Impossible.
RGL on 1/6/2009 at 12:58
Quote Posted by Taffer36
I don't know if the conversation's on it or not, but I hate hate HAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE "dynamic" difficulties. Nothing about it works for me, sorry.
Difficulties should be:
Novice, Normal (can't think of something clever :(... professional?), VeteranHow about
Bastard HardMaxDZ8 on 1/6/2009 at 13:00
Like 1&2.
Normal.
Hard: some extra, minor content unlocked.
Expert.
The "Hard, harder, hardest" makes indeed some sense considering most people will likely think at T4 as just another game.
I still have to play a game feeling right at high difficulties. My last attempt has been about a multiplayer game. It took me 2 months to unlock the "expert" class. Then a patch was realeased with "minor modifications". Unlocked the bonus class on the second try (Coincidence?) just to find out I didn't liked it.
Long story short: nobody can guarantee their "hard" is not "impossible" to you. And vice versa, so my vote is against uber difficulty.
Also, the unlocked content should be minor (or either, easily unlockable).
As said, have a add-on mutator to provide this for you (I am not well aware if most of you understand what a "mutator" is in engine terms).
Quote Posted by RGL
How about
Bastard HardYes!!! That would be it!
negative_len on 6/6/2009 at 11:07
I want the ability to face guards on maximum difficulty without heavy loot requirements. This always annoyed me. I like the freewheeling adventure of wandering through a mission and finishing at my pace without having to worry about arbitrary limits.
A certain amount is fine but on Expert some of the loot requirements get distracting, with emphasis on finding certain hard-to-find jackpots rather than exploring large areas and picking up whatever you see. If you happen to miss some of the better loot items it's frustrating to go back and look for them.
I've encountered this in a number of games, where higher difficulty settings include things I don't want.
Ghost should definitely be a difficulty level.
Here would be my system:
Playing style: Normal, Ghost
Guard difficulty: Normal, Hard, Expert (affects population, respawning, toughness and alertness)
Loot requirements: Normal, Hard, Expert
Either that or:
Playing style: Normal, Ghost
Difficulty: Normal, Hard, Expert (affects both other stats above, but with lower Expert loot requirements)
SLIEZER on 6/6/2009 at 12:06
Yeah, a real immersion-breaker was to have to go through the entire level just to find a few points of loot... it was really annoying. Removing that, or atleast easing the requirements, would be great; while still having objectives that require exploration with discreet pointers, so you can figure it out -- but not too easly. Like the expert objectives in T2.
AbysmalGale on 8/6/2009 at 10:54
I'd like simply "Normal" and "Expert". Seriously, how many used "Hard" in T1 and T2?
Dia on 8/6/2009 at 12:44
I played all three in the 'Hard' difficulty, as I do with most FMs, because there are usually restrictions in the 'Expert' difficulty under which I prefer not to play. I rather like the option of having three difficulties, maybe even four. The fourth difficulty could be something like Super-Expert for those Taffers who really want additional challenges and/or more restrictions (ie: forced total ghosting, much higher number of enemy AI, very high loot, no-kill and no-KO objectives, etc.).
Jah on 8/6/2009 at 12:52
In FM's, if the only apparent difference between Hard and Expert is the loot requirement, I usually go for Hard. I hate having to run around looking for a missing stack of silver coins if I've already fulfilled all other objectives.
negative_len on 10/6/2009 at 01:43
Okay, here's an idea.
The problem with lowering loot requirements is that it gives a certain meaninglessness to the rest of the loot once you've achieved your requirement, especially if there's a lot more in the mission than you've collected.
One way to solve this, and add interest in extra loot collection, would be to have hidden, never stated extra loot objectives in every mission. The quantity would scale depending on your difficulty setting, always higher than your actual loot requirement. You wouldn't know when you were going to reach it, though once you became aware of the mechanic you'd have a vague idea. The reward would be extra gold or even some special item. Valuable antique coins among regular ones, that kind of thing. That would work well if T4 keeps up a majorly overhauled fence system.
If the objective were explicitly stated, the idea of eventually finding a non-object-specific jackpot, only after getting so much loot, would be cheesy, but I think it'd be okay if it were hidden. It'd be a pleasantly surprising thing to discover for the first time. But it would actually be better once you were aware of it.
I mean, here you are playing this mission. You've already passed the loot requirement. Each piece of loot you pick up could be the one that makes the hidden objective. Then, suddenly, as you reach out for some miscellaneous coins, an objective completed sound plays and you get your reward. Could be fun.
Or, there could just be little such nuggets in certain hard-to-find objects. With their own unique pick-up sound effect. Sort of like the special loot items in T3. Achieve partly the same thing without a required amount collected.
