Zillameth on 24/7/2007 at 23:21
Quote Posted by Jah
Let me congratulate you before all the TDS-bashers get here and call you a loser for actually liking the game. ;)
Why, he's lucky, actually. He's having fun. I'd like to have fun playing TDS, too.
I've reinstalled it just recently. Back in 2005 it didn't work all that well on my machine, but now I've got a better one, so I thought - why not? Well, I lost patience just after the Abysmal Gale (although Saint Edgar's and Pagan Tunnels proved quite enjoable, if very small). Imagine that - so many years of playing OMs and fanmissions in a game that makes patience the highest valour, and I lost it. But, maybe it's just me getting old.
Which reminds me I actually finished TMA only once. I guess I'll give it a try soon.
Man, somebody give me a "Thief 4" licence for Christmas. And five million dollars. I promise no loot glint, and no atomic highlight. No arrow traces! But there would be rope arrows. And ice arrows (remember Thief2X?). Water would be back. The sword would be back. You would choose between dagger and sword before each mission. Dagger would be faster and more silent, but with sword you would hit harder and block enemy attacks. And there would be that super-fancy Mechanist crossbow I've always dreamt of (again, you would make a choice before each mission, and it would be balanced, so that the bow would still be a viable option).
There would be a bow upgrade. Well, at least in NPC dialogues.
And Garrett would finally get that fat retirement of his. The you-who-have-seen-TDS-ending-know-who would take over. There would be multiple possible endings, and you would have to defeat Garrett in one of them (remember that old FM, where you had to defeat several Keepers?).
Oh, and while we're at it, I want Soulforge ruins with you-know-whose ghost to talk to (no, not Karras, guess again). And a wood nymph as major enemy in one ending.
No, I wouldn't turn it into some silly Epic End Of Game Boss Fight. Remember how The Dark Project ended. It featured a god, yet it didn't have an Epic End Of Game Boss Fight.
There would be proper sound propagation, like in first two games. There would be a proper secrets system, like in first two games. There would a proper goal system, like in first two games. There would be proper, large-scale, multiple-entries missions, like in first two games.
On the other hand, I think the idea of Garrett actually having a body was good. Especially if there was a girl instead of Garrett, and you could see her... feet. Sorry, I'm drifting. Of course you wouldn't be able to see her... feet, she would be completely clad, because that's what you need when you're trying not to be spotted (or whistled at, for that matter). Besides, there already is one Lara Croft, we don't need another. And it wouldn't fit the setting. But I wouldn't mind a mission where you would have that big party to attend to, evening dress required... I guess I'm drifting again. At least I promise no Dance Dance Revolution minigame.
The lockpicking was better in TDS, too. In the fourth part, you would get more complex locks. On higher difficulty levels, that is. And you would be able to turn the lock display off. Actually, I've had some ideas for new lockpick system, but the one from TDS is a good backup.
Burricks would be back. And craymen. And frogbeasts. But not those creepy praying mantises. We killed them all in TDP, anyway. There would be zombies. And robots! But only a few, nobody makes them anymore. The big ones, not the small ones. And not the sipdery ones. And definitely not those tin can cupids. Cameras would be back! And fire elementals! But I don't want the Kurshok.
There would be an "animated slideshow" briefing before each mission. In the first mission, you would find an abandoned mansion, and you would make it your new home. It would get upgraded with time, like in some RPGs. You would have that big maproom with City map in the middle, with pending missions marked on it. There would be main missions and some optional, more difficult ones. You would make new friends, because not everyone is such a sociopath as Garrett, and re-using existing models with only the facial texture replaced is relatively cheap (voice talent is not, but hey, we've got five million dollars to spend, and we won't spend it all on 3D-artists' wages, because workforce is cheap in this part of Europe). They would give you advice, or run errands for you, or give access to better equipment (or go to parties with you... am I drifting again?). You would get that extra-difficult mission, and you would only have three days to prepare by doing some optional missions, and there wouldn't be enough time to do them all. But if you made enough friends, they would do some of the stuff for you.
We would include a userfriendly mechanism for adding new missions. There would be a single mission mode (as opposed to campaign mode) just for that purpose. The maproom would be the browser.
And don't even try to say: "so, that means I would need multiple playthroughs to do all the original side missions". Enabling a mission in the campaign would also enable it in the single mission mode, so you could always get back to it.
There would be no faction attitude measure, but the game would watch your behaviour and decide how good/evil and lawful/chaotic you are. If you become too unbalanced, Garrett would give you a warning. The kind of ending you get would depend on all those many, many small decisions. Like, you would find a beggar in your garden one day, and you would have to get rid of him, before he sees you or your hideout. You could just kill him, and get some evil points, or make him think the garden is haunted to make him run away. It would all be grounded in game mechanics, so it would seem like ordinary gameplay, and not some kind of artificial Oh-I'm-So-Roleplaying-This decisions.
If you got far enough from the balance (or close enough), your mansion would change accordingly. The lights would darken and you would start hearing those sinister, ghostly voices. Or someone would hang a Hammerite banner in the main hall. The more loot you accumulated, the more decorated the mansion would be. There would be a display room for some of the unique treasures you found.
I would be able to find a secret passage leading to a small greenery, because I like obscure references to famous science-fiction novels.
There would be that back-to-the-roots introduction, that would only give a vague impression of the mood and setting, and not a step-by-step Thievery-for-Dummies lecture on how to perform a burglary.
And one day you would find a huge library full of books, only to find out they all have blank pages.
I could do it! I really could! I have it all thought out! Just give me the licence (and money)!
The only thing I don't know yet is how we would make proper audio without Eric Brosius...
