Myagi on 2/7/2013 at 09:36
With all the arm waving going on they could've made it so the arm slowly extends to grab something (followed by a quick retract), as a progress indicator, instead of some immersion breaking dumb loading circle.
Vivian on 2/7/2013 at 09:37
Haha, yeah! That's totally what they should do. If you've got the arms, make them act as the HUD. Good idea! I wonder if it would look too goofy to have Garrett count off tumblers on his free fingers for lockpicking as well, rather than have the dots appear in the middle of the screen.
Springheel on 2/7/2013 at 12:09
Quote:
With all the arm waving going on they could've made it so the arm slowly extends to grab something (followed by a quick retract), as a progress indicator, instead of some immersion breaking dumb loading circle.
Yes, that would work too...why not have an actual animation of Garrett untying something? Given their infatuation with the hands, I'm surprised they didn't do that already.
Vae on 2/7/2013 at 14:21
Quote Posted by Subjective Effect
Using the full capitalised version in a sentence is still odd and you are odd to do so.
If you were to open your mind, you would never say such a thing.
Quote Posted by Starker
Yes, there is. A ladder is a fixed resource, the new rope arrow is a variable one. Say there are 4 designated rope arrow shoot points in a level and you only bought one rope arrow. This is going to severely limit your freedom of movement versus a fixed ladder that you can use any time.
You seem to think new rope arrows are as good as ladders. I assure you, they are not.
On the contrary, I assure you they are.
Hotspots are prescribed fixed paths just like ladders, and thus provide the same no-free-roaming limitation. They precisely replicate the gameplay functionality of the Fire Escape Ladder, with the arrow being a permission release for any particular FEL. Having multiple fixed paths does not qualify as free-roaming, as free-pathing is the emergent possibility between all points of fixed origin.
Starker on 2/7/2013 at 15:53
Quote Posted by Springheel
Actually, I think an indicator is reasonable; a thief would probably have some idea of how long it would take to get the item off the belt.
Exactly, some idea, not down to the second. Not showing you exactly how long it takes and varying it somewhat would make for some wonderful tension, no?
Quote Posted by Vae
Hotspots are prescribed fixed paths just like ladders, and thus provide the same no-free-roaming limitation.
Exactly, they are fixed, but they do not provide the same free roaming limitation. They can be further limited by making new rope arrows more scarce. They only become equal to ladders when there are enough new rope arrows for all the new rope arrow attach points, which I doubt, personally.
Okay, let's take a hypothetical situation: in one case there are two ladders, in the other case there are two designated rope arrow attach points and only one rope arrow (non-retrievable). In the first case, you can climb both ladders how many times you like, in the second case, you have to choose a place where to shoot the rope arrow and stick to it. How can you say that they are equally limited? Would you not say that in the second case you have, in fact, less freedom?
Al_B on 2/7/2013 at 16:19
I'd argue that ladders are fixed at both ends which limits you much more than rope arrows do. If you're only able to use attachment points from one location then I agree that they're as limited, but if you can target an attachment point from a variety of locations then you have more opportunities about how you approach a situation.
Springheel on 2/7/2013 at 16:53
Quote:
Exactly, some idea, not down to the second. Not showing you exactly how long it takes and varying it somewhat would make for some wonderful tension, no?
I think if I were designing it, I'd treat pick-pocketing like T/2 lockpicking, minus the tools. You frob the item and hold down frob, and the object jiggles slightly back and forth to indicate your progress. You don't know to the second how long it will take but you can tell pretty much how close you are to success.
New Horizon on 2/7/2013 at 19:21
Quote Posted by Springheel
I think if I were designing it, I'd treat pick-pocketing like T/2 lockpicking, minus the tools. You frob the item and hold down frob, and the object jiggles slightly back and forth to indicate your progress. You don't know to the second how long it will take but you can tell pretty much how close you are to success.
Distance from the opponent and whether they're moving could play a part in it too.
SubJeff on 2/7/2013 at 20:51
Presumably use of rope arrows will only by one way to get to places and there will be alternate routes. Since you'll have limited rope arrows, or maybe none at all a particular time, but ladders are fixed items rope arrows offer a degree of option and flexibility that ladders do not.
Of course compared to rope arrows in Thief 1 and 2 this optional aspect is severely limited.
Chade on 2/7/2013 at 21:14
Quote Posted by Starker
Exactly, some idea, not down to the second. Not showing you exactly how long it takes and varying it somewhat would make for some wonderful tension, no?
I imagine (not based on any evidence mind you) that the pickpocketing time is likely to be in the vicinity of a second or two, so I think most of this talk of tension is probably not all that important. If there are "special" items that take in the vicinity of, I don't know, maybe four or more seconds, then I'd be more interested in the question. Even then, I think you could legitimately go either way. It's tension vs. ability to plan ahead ... both perfectly valid goals to shoot for in a thief game.
Quote Posted by New Horizon
Distance from the opponent and whether they're moving could play a part in it too.
This sounds great, although I would just make it vary depending on distance. Moving guards naturally carry their own challenges.
