Thi4f becomes plain old Thief, reboot coming in 2014

[Red Storm]

Hey now, the new Splinter Cell game is pretty good (best SC game since Chaos Theory, in my opinion)

I can understand people's beef with Hitman though. I personally enjoyed it but it certainly didn't have the creative freedom of the older games.

Since Chaos Theory? Hmm, that's the only Splinter Cell game I actually liked, I will take that into consideration.

The problem with Hitman is that they took a hide in plain sight game and turned it into a radar vision action game. I really love playing stealth games, it's just sad to see what's happening to them.

 

[pontifex]

1st movies now games...doesn't anyone have an original idea any more?

 

[mindcycle]

1st movies now games...doesn't anyone have an original idea any more?

They do, but then publishers want to take that idea and make it a sequel to an older title. Cuz that stuff "sells"..

 

[Dankk]

1st movies now games...doesn't anyone have an original idea any more?

It's not that they don't have original ideas; rather, the problem is that they feel like they need to use a pre-existing name of an already-familiar franchise (such as Thief) because it pretty much guarantees more money. And on big-budget projects such as this, they need all the money they can possibly get.

 

[Aikouka]

Looks like they're attempting to tack on as many modern gaming tropes as possible, rather than trying to actually make a good game. I will still give it the benefit of the doubt - even if it's not the same as the older Thiefs, it's completely possible it will still be a good game on it's own merits. Not gonna pre-order it though.

It sounds kind of like someone said, "We need to compete with Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed series! Make that!"

 

[PrincessFrosty]

You can take on multiple guys in Thief, but it's obviously going to be very difficult. And any more than 2, and it's all but a death wish.

That's really what the series has always been about. Brute force is just not feasible, and realistically so. Sure you can try it, maaaaybe even succeed, but you're on your own with that.

That's what made the original Thief games so good, Garrett was capable at combat if you knew how to use the full array of tools to your advantage and you were prepared, but combat was tricky and dangerous so you were encouraged to play the game as it was designed, by sneaking.

But it made the game forgiving, you could fluff the stealth in an area and alert a guard and duel with him and win and then continue on using stealth, it made play throughs where you don't want to quicksave/load constantly, a bit more forgiving.

 

[Chiefcrowe]

A new trailer was just released -

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/gamenews.php?id=114390

 

[BlueWeasel]

A new trailer was just released -

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/gamenews.php?id=114390

Looks good. Reminds me of Dishonored, but with more stealth.

I may pre-order after seeing the video, and I almost never pre-order games. Have seen several deals for it around $30 after coupon at GMG.

 

[Ventanni]

Less than a month away!!!

 

[biostud]

Looks good. Reminds me of Dishonored, but with more stealth.

Exactly

 

[runzwithsizorz]

So far, so good. However what is the "focus ability"? As I remember, (it's been awhile), Garrett had to find secrets, traps, treasure through information and clues. not objects magically lighting up to lead the way. This may dumb down part of the fun of the game....finding these things through intellect and/or information gathering alone. Not saying it will be a game killer; I am looking forward to its release, but this feature seems to make some aspects of the game a little too easy. like giving away all the secrets without much effort.

The Wife

 

[KaOTiK]

So far, so good. However what is the "focus ability"? As I remember, (it's been awhile), Garrett had to find secrets, traps, treasure through information and clues. not objects magically lighting up to lead the way. This may dumb down part of the fun of the game....finding these things through intellect and/or information gathering alone. Not saying it will be a game killer; I am looking forward to its release, but this feature seems to make some aspects of the game a little too easy. like giving away all the secrets without much effort.

The Wife

For what it's worth, you can turn the feature off. They do have a TON of options you can turn on/off to adjust difficulty or change the way the game plays to your choosing.

 

[aldamon]

Is it going to have A3D audio?

 

[BlueWeasel]

Recommended specs:

OS: Windows 7, Windows 8
Processor: AMD FX 8000 series or better / Intel Quad i7 Core CPU
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: AMD Radeon HD R9 series or better / Nvdia GTX 660 series or better
DirectX: Version 11
Hard Drive: 20 GB available space

Kinda surprised at the i7 Quad recommendation but yet only 4GB of RAM.

I know the game uses the UE3 engine, which is the same as Bioshock Infinite. Generally speaking, performance should be similar, right?

 

[motsm]

Recommended specs:



Kinda surprised at the i7 Quad recommendation but yet only 4GB of RAM.

I know the game uses the UE3 engine, which is the same as Bioshock Infinite. Generally speaking, performance should be similar, right?

Hard to say about performance, as this will likely have more complex lighting. As for the RAM, the hub city and levels are broken down into pieces with load zones, unfortunately. Deadly Shadows got screwed with that because of the Xbox, now Thief 4 gets screwed because of the 360 and PS4, only fitting I suppose.

 

[BFG10K]

That new trailer looks pretty good. I thought the first two games were great and the third was epic, and this looks a lot like the third game. The whole city hub exploration adds more immersion IMO.

 

[TheSlamma]

Looks good. Reminds me of Dishonored, but with more stealth.

Dishonored was inspired by Thief

There is even a few really cool parts that pay homage to Thief that some hardcore Thief fans recognize.

 

[Skel]

This is one of the few games I'm looking forward to. I enjoyed the old ones, I just hope it doesn't end up crappy.

 

[BSim500]

Dishonored was inspired by Thief

There is even a few really cool parts that pay homage to Thief that some hardcore Thief fans recognize.

Yup:-

Dishonored Easter Egg : “For your next trial, you must remain unseen. Stay in the shadow and avoid the light. Cross to the other side of the room without attracting notice. Very good, I did not see you approach. Now, attempt a transversal.” - homage to Thief's intro mission.

I so badly hope "New Thief" isn't dumbed down for the "casual audience" but have read many things to the contrary. "XP points for headshots", "SUSPICIOUS" over guard's heads (for those too stupid to see the guard's body language / stance change after being alerted), "Bullet time" when pickpocketing, etc. In a Thief game. D: :thumbsdown: I'm hoping for the best but understandably preparing for the worst given how badly they managed to screw up Thief 3 by taking the epic sized missions from Thief 2 (remember Life of the Party?) and reducing the scale of them by 80-90% on the PC because it wouldn't fit the XBox's memory...

Thief is the kind of game you play on a PC, up close to a 24" screen, at night, with a quality pair of headphones, on Expert mode only. Inevitably, it will be at least partially dumbed down for the "Moron Brigade" who run crying to mommy that it's either "too hard" or that the gameplay is "too different" and "slower paced" than Call of Duty... :|

 

[motsm]

I'm hoping for the best but understandably preparing for the worst given how badly they managed to screw up Thief 3 by taking the epic sized missions from Thief 2 (remember Life of the Party?) and reducing the scale of them by 80-90% on the PC because it wouldn't fit the XBox's memory...

It's already been confirmed the levels include loading zones like Deadly Shadows did, and the comparison I see most about level design from the people who played it, is Splinter Cell. In other words, it's not large free form exploration like Thief 1 and 2, but rather hub rooms with two or three fairly linear routes going into the next hub room.

Now forgive me for this unwieldy list, rope arrows only work on predetermined hot spots, you can only jump contextually, you remain hidden while leaning into light sources, the game has multiple places that force you to get caught and thrust into an escape sequence, there's a "swoop" move that allows you to do a quick silent sprint through light sources while remaining invisible, there are quick time events (they said they removed all the QTE's, they didn't) to keep players busy while the game loads within a level, arrows go into chase cam bullet time for some head shots, there are forced third person sequences and third person take down moves, the light gem only has 3 stages, you have to stand up to use doors, player upgrades including quieter movement, the screen flashes every time you move into light as part of the smoky shrouded HUD, and that's just whats off the top of my head.

To play devil's advocate, they added quite a few options in the menu for difficulty and HUD adjustments, and they half removed the leveling system, IE: ditched the XP, but just made all the player upgrades purchasable instead.

 

[mazeroth]

Yup:-

Thief is the kind of game you play on a PC, up close to a 24" screen, at night, with a quality pair of headphones, on Expert mode only.

This.

 

[Geosurface]

The game definitely has lots of irksome aspects and will be irritating to any classic Thief fan on numerous levels. I think it bears the unmistakable mark of some of the worst trends in modern gaming and some of the worst concessions to consoles that it could have.

However, ultimately this ship has already sailed. Looking Glass Studios is gone and never returning. Unfortunately. Very, very unfortunately. But the original two games represented a particular snap shot of time and a very "lighting in a bottle" moment with the right developer, right time, etc.

Much of what's wrong with Thief 4 already entered the series with Thief 3.

Keeping Stephen Russell for Garrett's voice would have gone a long way toward easing the sting of some of these changes.

However, from watching the trailers and such I think there is also a lot to like in this new game. I think it will most definitely be a mixed bag, and not be winning any Game of the Year awards either from sites or from individuals, but I think it looks like it is worth playing and has something to offer.

 

[Fire&Blood]

I finally got the original & mods to work on WIN8. Just in case anyone else has the same issue, don't start the game via steam, turn steam off, navigate to the folder and rather than trying to right click and troubleshoot compatibility to get it to run, go to the exe's properties and select WIN ME from the list. Worked for me.

I didn't preorder the reboot because of negative remarks in trusted previews but barring terrible launch reviews, I'll pick this one up.

I do wonder though, how feasible would it be to modernize the original? Personally I would pay $30 each for the original and the 1st sequel for DX11 and remastered audio. I'm probably too optimistic though, the cost of production is likely still high even when it's cheaper than starting from scratch.

 

[JamesV]

I'm calling it now - players that loved Thief 1+2 but hated 3 will hate 4, while those that never played 1+2 but maybe only Dishonored will like 4.

I'll probably pick up 4 once it's $5, but then again I didn't think 3 was worth even that small sum of money. I couldn't count the times I had one linear path to use, looked up to see a ledge or something I could reach, only to find an invisible wall that forced me to go another way.

And what the hell is with contextual rope arrow spots? Rope arrows were dope in 2; that one big room had twenty different ways you could sneak through it with rope arrows, and that is what Thief has always been to me - a game where I wasn't forced to follow a path, but could blaze my own.

 

[motsm]

I'm calling it now - players that loved Thief 1+2 but hated 3 will hate 4, while those that never played 1+2 but maybe only Dishonored will like 4.

More than likely accurate, which is a real shame since yet another classic series will head down the main stream path of no return.

what the hell is with contextual rope arrow spots

Considering the game doesn't even let you jump freely anymore, it seems EM has no desire to build explorable levels. Rather locked down paths, so they can control exactly what the player experiences.