Twist on 27/1/2014 at 20:08
Boy that PC Gamer preview is bleak. If RPS got snubbed for being negative -- which I doubt happened, but who knows -- PC Gamer earned a snub with this preview. Ouch.
@ThePhotoshop:
Does PC Gamer's preview sound fair and accurate compared to your experience with the game?
Renault on 27/1/2014 at 20:24
Quote Posted by ThePhotoshop
...The levels felt small. Nothing felt like a whole and consistent location because the level streaming is very obvious, and often it's not possible to backtrack past the level streaming load point.
That's pretty bad. Are you able to return to that level later, maybe accessing it from The Hub? On that note, when you start any of the individual missions, are they accessing initially from The Hub?
SubJeff on 27/1/2014 at 20:30
Wow.
That PCGamer preview was... ugh.
I might not get this after all!
suliman on 27/1/2014 at 21:41
(
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oASse69kzGQ&t=12m23s) This is the scripted escape sequence some previews mentioned
And wow, does it look
god-awful. The ironic thing is that the only effect all those little first-person cutscenes have on me is that they make me think as though I'm looking at the game through a camera that I can occasionally control- for all their talk of immersion, this is an active immersion killer.
Renault on 27/1/2014 at 22:28
There are so many things wrong with that sequence - the dogs conveniently waiting on the opposite rooftop, the (I'm assuming) fire arrows that keep whizzing in and out of Garrett's view (and where exactly are they being shot from?), the cheesy "oops, fell through the ceiling and landed in the middle of a group of cops" moment and the ultra dramatic jump/grappling hook routine. Overall, pretty embarrassing coming from a Thief game.
skacky on 27/1/2014 at 22:40
The worst offender is definitely the switching to 3rd person. Coupled with the low FOV this makes me wanna throw up.
ThePhotoshop on 27/1/2014 at 22:43
I can't really comment more on the AI because I didn't get much of a chance to experiment fully with it. There was one point where I ran circles, full pelt, through a mansion, collected a few pursuing guards, then bolted into a wardrobe - after which the guards lost sight of me despite the room I was in having only one entrance.
I was told that you can replay missions. All missions are accessed by travelling to a certain location in the hub and then crossing a load zone into that unique mission area, pretty similar to the way Deadly Shadows did it.
And yeah those scripted sequences leave an awful taste in the mouth. They look a lot better on YouTube than they are to play because it's almost arbitrary when control switches back to you which is super jarring.
ThePhotoshop on 27/1/2014 at 22:44
Quote Posted by skacky
The worst offender is definitely the switching to 3rd person. Coupled with the low FOV this makes me wanna throw up.
This is actually a major problem; especially with the loot-grabbing animations. You will feel ill after a while.
Specter on 27/1/2014 at 22:57
Deux Ex HR was roundly criticized for the boss fights they put in the game, and how they ripped you out of whatever mode you chose to play in. These 'escapes' are exactly the same thing. What a terrible idea. I see now what that one preview meant (forget who is was specifically) when they complained that the Master Thief seems to get caught an awful lot.
Renault on 27/1/2014 at 23:05
Yeah, I mentioned over on the Eidos forums that Thief's escape sequences would be the equivalent of DXHR's boss fights - kind of their "what were they thinking?" moment. There was always something satisfying about Thief when you were able to "return to your starting point" quietly, without anyone being alerted to your presence.
Then again, maybe EM did it just so they can fix it in a forthcoming Director's Cut. :p
