EM Teaser & Site Updates - Official Trailer Up & Latest PREVIEWS & Blog Fan Kit - by thiefessa
SubJeff on 6/5/2013 at 22:39
Quote Posted by Goldmoon Dawn
If you havent played them, then nothing I can say will help. I *have* gone into various detail over the years however
I bet you don't have time to go into the whys and wherefores or kowtow to the MAN because its all been said before and we who know know and you can't be one of us because you WEREN'T THERE, man.
God, you sound like a burned out hippy.
demagogue on 6/5/2013 at 22:49
Anyway, the topic of the thread is ... well it was the EM media releases, but since the trailer hasn't told us much new and the gameplay trailer hasn't come out yet, it's evolved into speculations on EM's vision for the game I guess. We don't have to get distracted with all that.
Right now I gather we were talking about what exploration meant for Thief... IMO it definitely had one brand of it, that was part of the non-linear levels and the game not herding you in the way it "wants" you to go, but rather letting go of your hand to go how you want, with multiple ways to go, which is a kind "exploration" gameplay. But it's not really the 'massive open world' brand of it people associate with something like Skyrim or Shadow of the Collosus (although some levels like the Bonehoard & Lost City were a bit like that too IMO). So I think it's fair to say exploration is a part of classic Thief gameplay in some senses but not others.
Goldmoon Dawn on 6/5/2013 at 22:57
Quote Posted by Subjective Effect
God, you sound like a burned out hippy.
Thief: The Dark Project is the Spinal Tap of the classic crpg movement, yes. :)
jtr7 on 6/5/2013 at 23:50
Exploration like a thief checking every possible place for new paths and potential treasure, including information for the future, not like someone lost in the wilderness using a magic pointer and hoping for some encounter or glint along the way. Exploration like an Easter egg hunt in a delineated space, not walking and jogging along until something or someone catches your eye.
Chade on 7/5/2013 at 00:12
GDM, I have no doubt that there are some references to ultima in LGS's work. It only makes sense. But I have a hard time believing that ultima is anything more then just one out of many influences on the thief world.
Unless you have more evidence, the British -> Bafford and Garrett to Garriott connection looks like numerology to me.
Regarding exploration, I agree with dema and jtr's posts on exploration in thief (EDIT: except exploration can be done in an "interesting" space in the wilderness too! It doesn't have to be "jogging along until something catches your eye"), and I think Tomi's statements can be interpreted in a reasonable way.
jtr7 on 7/5/2013 at 00:16
Quote Posted by Nuth
Anyone know how LGS decided on the name Garrett? I've always wondered if it might have been a nod to Garriott.
We were told names were literally added to and pulled from out of a hat, but I don't think we can find a quote about who wrote that name on the paper or why. It may have been mentioned once in a chatroom, but we aren't privy to those transcripts. Palmer is the only working name for the character I've heard that had obvious connections to his profession. Garriott may have influenced things, for sure, since many characters' names come right from people they knew including coworkers, as well as characters from movies and books and other games, like Karras.
demagogue on 7/5/2013 at 01:26
A confirmed connection everyone knows about is Warren Spector -> Walton Simons. So it was the sort of thing devs sometimes did back then. But it really doesn't matter what we speculate, except for fun. It only matters officially if anyone on the team ever gave a disclosure or hint about where things came from.
But this still has nothing to do with exploration in the game. =|
jtr7 on 7/5/2013 at 02:11
Just put the word "exploration" or "explore" in your post, and it squeaks by they rules that tighten and loosen like some lower esophageal sphincter.
If we talk about it enough in sequence, the posts'll get split off and/or merged.
Some of us like to explore that universe, the narrative, the gamefiles, the behind-the-scenes anecdotes, and the archival histories, and others could not care less.
Goldmoon Dawn on 7/5/2013 at 02:13
It just boils my knickers that no one here seems to have played the Ultima or Might Magic series, the two games that pioneered the open world exploration concept. They did it first, and they did it masterfully. LGS was a chip off the old block. Some people seem to think that LGS was nothing until they made The Dark Project. From time to time I may delight briefly in puzzling uneducated gamers about these things, but I have no interest in pursuing it any further than that. And again, Im just soooooo sorry.
jtr7 on 7/5/2013 at 02:24
Most of the old guard fled have moved on from TTLG. Hardly anyone here plays Thief. A lot of people play FMs, but not Thief, not System Shock. They talk about it likes it's some happy memory in the distant past, when for some of us, it never left, we never stopped except for lack of a computer or place to set up. It's odd for people to still play a video game after a couple of years, but I see it no different than people who watch the NFL, NHL, NBA, FIFA, week after week 'til they die, except much calmer.
