Thief (reboot) - TTLG Forums

Angel Dust on 7/4/2013 at 09:12

Quote Posted by nicked

Or you can take it slow and steady, use the shadows like you would with human enemies, and the undead need never know you were there. I liked the fact that Thief 1 had some out-there Tomb-Raider, dungeon-y levels to counter balance the straight thieving. Maybe the balance wasn't right, but I think it went too far the other way in the sequel. Fatigue sets in because it's just human enemies, then human enemies and robots, then so many enemies it almost becomes a grind. In retrospect, the balance was probably best in Thief 3. Shame the atmosphere and immersion of setting wasn't quite as good.

I'm in total agreement with you. I recently replayed the trilogy for the first time in years and greatly enjoyed The Dark Project's variety but The Metal Age started to wear me down about 2/3 the way through. It's not just the variety of enemies but the variety of spaces you are exploring. Houses and mansions are all much of a muchness but giant catacombs and ancient ruins and the like are explored in a different way.

Muzman on 7/4/2013 at 13:26

It's true to some extent. I start a level and feel like it's just this massive job ahead. The Bonehoard, The Lost City, Haunted Cathedral too, they're like this groovy adventuring holiday. Never had any trouble with them.

For Thief 2 it was like they listened to all the complaints: Longer; less adventuring; no undead please. Then all the people who didn't mind that stuff really noticed their absence.

faetal on 7/4/2013 at 14:32

Quote Posted by Brethren

Some of the best news I've heard though (and I saw this in multiple interviews) is that there will be a classic mode...SNIP

Anyone else wondering why it's only lately that games are doing this? I wonder if this is a sign of the PC market finally being strong enough (presumably because of digital distro now being good enough to reduce the need for piracy for many people) to be influencing game design again?

Renzatic on 7/4/2013 at 14:35

The undead and weirder aspects of The City were one of the reasons why I preferred Thief Gold to T2 (except for the lost city, which I always felt was out of place with the rest of the game), and their "toning down" is one of the things that worries me the most about T4.

Toning down could mean so many things. Are they pushing it to the side, with only occasional reference made to them? Like "Here there be zombies, but you'll never go to this place to see them". Does it mean it's still a major part of the game, just not as overt and out in the open (not that it was right in your face even in the originals)? Who knows? All we know is it's less "magic" more "mysticism".

...which makes me think of Young Sherlock Holmes for some reason.

The setting is the one thing we know the least about. I can say they've got the look and style down fairly well. The core styling is a little more Dickensian London than it was before, but I'm not about to fault it for that. I always thought Thief's style was at its best when it was more Victorian than medieval. The question is, is the feel the same? The fiction? The general atmosphere of weird not-quite-our-worldness?

I'm pretty sure the gameplay is going to be pretty damn close to Thief 1 & 2. Modernized a bit? Sure. With all the good and bad that brings. Expanded? Yup. Garrett is much more a cat burglar this go round, so it's obvious he's gonna have some extra moves at his disposal. But even with all this, it's probably going to be Thief at its core. Gameplay I'm pretty much alright with, a few niggling details aside. But that's only half of Thief. The other half is the world. We don't know much about what EM is going to do here, and it worries me a bit. I don't think they're going to ruin it or anything, but will it be as good?

SubJeff on 7/4/2013 at 14:56

Nah, the likelihood of capturing the atmosphere via the combination of the art, the writing, the music and the gameplay is low. You can't replicate that feel without some serious effort and by losing Stephen Russell they've already lost a small but essential piece of it.

Of course I say this feeling that DXHR was a really, really well done piece of atmosphere re-capturing. I fired it up today and even the title screen and music invoked a feeling of nostalgia that echoed back to the original.

The sound in Thief was and is so important that getting it right would almost take them halfway there.

Quote Posted by faetal

I think its just easy to do and adds enough to the game to make it worthwhile. I like it and for Thief its one of the things I said could easily be done, and which should be done, ages ago.

Thirith on 7/4/2013 at 15:05

Quote Posted by faetal

What games are there that do this well, though? I've only heard bad things about Bioshock Infinite's 1999 Mode.

Renzatic on 7/4/2013 at 16:02

Quote Posted by Subjective Effect

You can't capture the feel of original Thief without Stephen Russell or Eric Brosius. Everything about the first two Thiefs was a singular combining of talents, and I don't think could be replicated faithfully without the original team getting back together to do their thing. I don't expect EM to even try to do that. They'll fall flat on their faces and make it seem like a cheap copy if they do. What I expect them to do is make their own Thief, working off the themes and settings of the original games.

It's hard to explain what I'm trying to get at here. I've got the concept of what I mean in my head, but I'm having a hard time putting it into words. I guess the best way to put it would be to say they should try and evoke the same mood and feel of Thief using their own style.

And yeah, it can be done. Your reference to HR is a perfect example of it. Deus Ex and Human Revolution are actually vastly different games when it comes to art, music, and presentation. DX obviously had plenty of inspiration on HR, but EM didn't try and ape it totally. They did their own thing, but the end result was something that still felt very much like Deus Ex after all was said and done.

It's coming to the same destination despite taking an entirely different path. I'm probably not making any sense here. Like I said, it's hard to put into words.

I'm expect (hoping) Thief 4 to be to Thief what HR was to DX. Different in a lot of fundamental ways, but still the same at the core.

SubJeff on 7/4/2013 at 16:51

Quote Posted by Renzatic

I'm probably not making any sense here.

You're making perfect sense, to me anyway.

I've just read the Sneaky Bastards piece:

Choice quote -

Quote:

There’s a melee system that acts as a fallback. Though it’s not dependent on the focus resource, Schmidt assures us, with a laugh, that it’s “pretty tough to play one-on-one with a guard;” it’ll take a truly hardy player a lot of skill and patience to try to swordfight his way through the game.

Very good. One on one without focus will be tough. I like it, I like it alot.

icemann on 8/4/2013 at 03:24

I'll reserve judgement till I play it, but Thief without Stephen Russel is like Metal Gear Solid without David Hayter. Just not the same and without that spark that made the games so unique in the first place.

Note that even Metal Gear is getting the same treatment, with a new game coming out shortly which wont have Hayter voicing snake.

What's with all these companies sticking it to the fans and not going with the original voice actors these days?

Thirith on 8/4/2013 at 04:31

Quote Posted by icemann

I believe the Hayter thing when the game is actually out. Kojima's famous for fucking with his fans.

Would I like Russell to be in the game? Yes. Is it a dealbreaker? No. With respect to Garrett's voice, for me it all depends on how much of a reboot/reimagining/reblahblahblah this game is. If this is really a new (and ideally interesting) take on the character, it makes sense for him not to have the same voice. At the same time, right now I cannot imagine what they'll do with the character that won't make me think, "... nah, not as good as Original Garrett." Russell brought so much personality to the guy.