A huge pile of new previews - 1/24/2014

Queue on 31/1/2014 at 04:59

As usual, Laffy speaks the most sense here.

demagogue on 31/1/2014 at 07:56

A few lols here, but could we keep things a little more on the huge pile of new previews...

joey561 on 31/1/2014 at 08:08

Quote Posted by ThePhotoshop

If you are travelling between quarters in the city hub, or going from the hub to a mission area, there is a glowing blue particle effect about the size of a human head that overlays the doorknobs or gate handle of whatever piece of geometry separates the two areas. It is not as bad as the blue mist portals from TDS as you are not physically walking into a blue cloud. It's just a glowing blue thing on a door that indicates there is a load zone (and thus a loading screen) ahead. Like Deus Ex Invisible War, you then have to press "Yes" or "No" when asked "Do you want to travel to XXX..." which is irritating.

There are other load zones which do NOT have a loading screen. These are poorly disguised by repetitive animations (mashing X to jimmy open a window; mashing X to push a plank out of the way as you shimmy through a narrow space).

Regarding ghosting, EM absolutely knows what the term means. There is a "ghosting" percentage in every most-mission summary screen; it's just one of three possible "playstyles" (the others being "Opportunist" and "Predator".) Your entire mission is divided into a pie chart representing how much of each playstyle you adopted throughout. It's very similar to Splinter Cell Blacklist.

Thanks for replying to my message - this doesn't sound quite as bad as I was expecting, although still a bit of a disappointment - specifically the 'Do you want to' dialogs.

It really spells out how bad it is when in 2014, a part of a game is being compared technically to Deus Ex Invisible War... :erg:

Beleg Cúthalion on 31/1/2014 at 08:52

You have the same system in Dishonored and I guess it makes sense if you cannot hide the transition. That in itself is a problem, but a different one IMHO.

Platinumoxicity on 31/1/2014 at 08:54

I wonder if it will be possible for PC modders to merge those areas that have the poorly disguised loading scene. The levels have been divided to work properly on hardware that was obsolete when it was released, and a PC can definitely handle the full levels.

...Except of course if the levels make no sense when re-connected, like in TDS, where the hallways with the blue mist are misaligned with the supposedly connecting hallways in the other part of the level.

You know, the only wish for me that is related to graphics in Thief 4, is that there are no longer technical limitations that compromise graphical aspects that influence gameplay or level design. Thief 1 and 2 had ridiculous polygon limitations, and levels needed to be divided into zigzagging mazes for no other reason than to limit the distance that players can see into areas with lots of detail. My wish was not granted, because the level design in Thief 4 recieved a different and more annoying compromise instead. Not only do the narrow spaces, slow-to-open windows and feet-controlling secret doors obscure the areas behind them like the pointless walls in the Dark Engine, but they also slow the player down and remove their control.

I noticed that there is also a bit of horrible game design built into the loading system. While the City hub system indicates loading zones with the effect that someone described, the secret doors don't. There is a bookshelf with a secret switch, and when you press it, you walk through the secret door whether you want to or not. How is the player supposed to know whether the switch opens a door right there or somewhere else? How does the game indicate that pressing a button causes the door to take control of Garrett's legs and forces him to walk through? It doesn't. So compared to this, the "blue mist" is actually preferable.

Gaestle on 31/1/2014 at 09:09

Quote Posted by joey561

95% of games have the same problem. Streaming new content (areas) to the screen. It's a question of bandwith and size. E.g. in Skyrim every small house needed a loading screen. The problem of DeusEx:IW and Thief: DS was the tiny levels between the loading screens. AFAIR DeusEx:HR has also loading zones between the different parts of the city-hubs.

This stuff is probably deeply integrated in the engine. If someone use an engine, this one has to deal with that kind of general restrictions of the engine.

Gothic (and Risen) had a different streaming model, without loading screens, even when entering large buildings. But it has other restrictions. And if someone look to the lately released ingame-scenes (in the office of the constructer/builder where Garret finds a safe), you see a lot of objects on the desk. All these objects need loading time. And this is maybe one of the main differences between Thief 1-3 and this iteration: the new one has much more objects in the levels, the old levels are nearly empty. And AFAIR the number of objects was an restriction of the first Thief-engine and brings some headache to modders.

I think it is better to warn (or something like that) the player: "Take note, if you use this door you will find a loading screen" ... other way the player runs in this loading screen without having a chance to avoid it.

joey561 on 31/1/2014 at 09:58

Indeed, what you say makes sense when I think about it. I'm sure I'll get over it and enjoy the game for it's merits!

Also another question for you ThePhotoshop, if this is OK!
A question was raised on the Eidos forums regarding the load screens themselves, by DarknessFalls - you can (http://forums.eidosgames.com/showpost.php?p=1978924&postcount=196) see it here.

He asks for a bit of detail on how the loading screens look - would you be able to address this?

Quote:

What does the "load screen" look like while the next quarter of the City Hub is loading? Is it like TDS splash screen graphics? An animation of some sort? An animation of Garrett running around in "The Nothing" fog, akin to Altair in Assassin's Creed mindlessly running around in empty whiteness? What does the screen say and/or look like? (If there are Pagan quotes or tips on how to play the game, I may have my friend cancel the pre-order he gifted to me, lol.)

Thank you!!

ThePhotoshop on 31/1/2014 at 11:04

It's just stills of already released concept art.

joey561 on 31/1/2014 at 11:12

Thank you ThePhotoshop :)

Tomi on 31/1/2014 at 14:32

Quote Posted by Brethren

And to top it off, you have no interest in the new game.

Yet you keep coming back and posting.

Can't that be said about the majority of people here who claim that they're not interested in this blasphemous new creation called Thief, but still post here every single day?

Anyway, it's not often that I've felt the need to defend dethtoll, but I can't believe that you're accusing him of siding with the "enemy" here. If anything, I feel that he's against the "enemy"... For a frothgangster an unbiased and neutral point of view like dethtoll's may be traitorous, but I haven't really associated you with frothgangism before, so I can't understand your sudden tantrum over this. Dethy is also right about the fact that it seems to be totally acceptable to make fun of the new game and all its features (before we've even seen them), but as soon as someone pokes a little fun at the community itself or the classic games, the so-called "true fans" often get butthurt. I can't blame him for not wanting to be associated with people like that.