Kindo on 14/5/2009 at 02:23
Quote Posted by Jason Moyer
What made the original games so good:
1.) being vulnerable enough that being undetected is more a requirement than an option
2.) the exploration of huge, unfamiliar/unpredictable settings
3.) the mythos
4.) the soundtrack
5.) flavor pieces (all of the books, letters, etc that are scattered around and have more to do with selling the setting than merely being hints on the current mission)
5.) the characters and dialogue, primarily presented through the idle chatter of NPC's and Garrett's occasional sarcastic observations
6.) differences in difficulty make changes to level architecture and mission objectives, rather than merely making the game mechanics more difficult
7.) the sense of humor
This is a neat package that pretty much sums it up for me. One of the things I really missed in TDS was point five - flavor pieces. In TDS, the few notes and books you found during the missions almost always related to a piece of loot, or contained a hint of some sort, and these notes were even included multiple times! Despite the fact that it felt l was being held by the hand throughout the mission (I'm sure I could read the same overly obvious hint three, or even four times, during one mission), the lack of flavor text was the main reason I didn't enjoy the missions in TDS as much as I did the missions in TDP or TMA. I sincerely hope that we'll have an
abundance of banter-notes and lore-excerpts to read in Thief IV.
Cliftor on 14/5/2009 at 04:36
I'll try to keep it simple, because I feel what made the games so amazing to me was simple in the first place:
The relationship between me, the Thief, and the Guards must be emphasized. The true pleasure of Thief is the voyeuristic thrill of being in the midst of people who's job it is to kill me, but who don't know I'm there. The way people act when they think they're not being watched. The way I can HEAR them long before I can see them. The things they say to themselves and each other. The various levels of awareness they have (saw something, heard something, searching for something, running full tilt towards me). The game is really about the Guards.
Mickyw33 on 14/5/2009 at 19:45
I agree, the thing that makes the Thief series as a whole for me, was the voyeuristic kind of pleasure I get from stalking someone's movements while hidden in the darkness. :sly:
Follow that by the money shot with the black jack to the back of the head, and playing Thief is almost a sexual experience in a perverse sort of way. Hiding bodies just never gets old to me. Satisfying every single time.
That is until TDS came along and black jacking became a good way to get caught and have to spend another 30 seconds looking at a load screen. :nono: Thats usually when I just started killing people out of frustration over the terrible engine.
Which brings up another good point, quick-saving/loading in Thief 1 and 2 was a snap and made the game more fun to play. I had no idea how spoiled I was until TDS came along and taught me the pain of staring at a loading screen over and over again. "Its not my fault this guard keeps being a prick, my black jack won't work!!"
At least ISA kept quick-saving/loading in the game. I can't imagine a Thief game with checkpoints and no quick saves, ugh. :eww:
nickie on 14/5/2009 at 20:35
Quote Posted by Chade
. . . 3) The player is the one dictating the pace and direction of the action. . .
Absolutely agree. And also agree with that excellent summing up by Jason Moyer.
Thief13x on 14/5/2009 at 23:56
CUTSCENES!
and Benny:D
seriously though.. I think the #1 is sound. sound sound sound sound...can't have without good sound.
clearing on 15/5/2009 at 02:42
:D :thumb: Nice.
