operativex on 8/7/2013 at 19:50

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Being someone who has beat all three games multiple times (and who recently played all 3 games again last week), I really have to question some peoples' stance on this new Thief game.

My views on the previous thief games so you know where I'm coming from:

I think many people here are looking back at those old games with rose-tinted glasses. They are not masterpieces by any means (though T2 comes close), but more like yesterday's neat experimental FPS ala Mirrors Edge (great concept, but has it's flaws).

As innovative as T:DP was, except for a few cases, the missions were pretty awful and too action oriented and left much to be desired in terms of stealth gameplay/looting

T2 finally had the right missions going for it (mansion, police station, bank, rooftops, eavesdropping :D:D:D:D) and a fascinating antagonist, but couldn't reach it's full potential due to the tech of that time.

I'm almost done on my third run of T3 and I feel it is totally underrated by many thief fans (solid story, decent mix of thievery/supernatural missions, ability to stick to walls is a brilliant mechanic that I use almost all the time and wish was in the previous games -- it makes me feel all "thief-y," but the first person movement lost it's fluidity and feels very clunky. Not to mention jumping over obstacles and mantling is far more difficult than it needs to be. And of course, no rope arrows and having the missions split into two is super annoying.

Thief (2014)
IMO people saying that this new game is "TOTALLY DIFFERENT" from the previous thief games are being overly dramatic. It's very much a thief game. I mean, all the classic Thief mechanics are there: hiding in the shadows, water arrows, rope arrows:D:D:D, clubbing people in the back of the head (albeit in a more cinematic way, but it's essentially the same thing), stealing loot, pick pocketing, lock picking, etc basically everything you could have done in the previous thief games but now more.

I do feel like the shadowing around the screen could have been implemented in a more subtle way, but since you can disable that it's really no biggie.

T-Rex hands: I am kinda mixed on this. I mean lets face it, so many games have "t-rex hands:" Mirrors Edge, Zeno Clash, BF, etc. It's something in pretty much every game and, for me at least, doesn't bother me anymore. Although in this particular case, I think it's a bit more noticeable since we are watching a video and paying attention to it whereas if we were playing the game, our attention would be directed towards the environment/guards. I do however like how his hands rest against a wall when leaning -- that's a nice touch.

SR: Mixed on this as well. Would I love to have SR back? Of course. However, I would rather the devs forge a new chapter for Thief as opposed to fan service/rehashing the past. I respect EM's decision to try something new. I mean just imagine, what if Tim Burton recast Adam West for Batman '89 instead of Michael Keaton? I think fans have good intentions and only want the best for Thief, but at the same time you gotta let the devs do their own thing and try something new.

Lack of dynamic shadows: this is probably the most disappointing to me for a next gen thief, but the first two didn't really have this and they both played out fine. We also have only seen one section of a mission out of an entire single-player campaign so it's probably too early to talk about this.

Climbing Claw: Love it, looks awesome.

Ability to drop down/attack enemies: This was SORELY missing in the previous games. I always thought it was strange I couldn't do this. Shooting a moss arrow, dropping down, stand behind him perfectly, then club him with the blackjack always felt odd/lacking.

Eye shadow/emo look: Visually I'm not digging the eye shadow look but it does make sense if you think about it. If you were hiding the shadows, you would want as much dark makeup/camo on your face as possible like a navy seal or something.

my 2 cents

operativex on 8/7/2013 at 20:09

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I'm just being honest. I'm speaking from a position of no biased opinions and recent game time with all three games. If you read the rest of my post, i'll name some games because I do feel I made some valid and rational points.

Gaestle on 8/7/2013 at 20:16

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In many things I'm with you.

Renault on 8/7/2013 at 20:24

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Playing the older games today will in some ways tarnish your image of them, given that there's been 15 years of tech improvements since they were released. You need to somehow compare T1/T2 to other games of it's time, and remember that every stealth title you see today is building on what the original Thief games started way back when.

On the other hand, personally, TDP is my favorite game off all time, and I do consider it a masterpiece, because of it's unique style of play, it's larger and varied environments that emphasize exploration, and the fantastic mood and atmosphere that it created to deeply immerse the player into the world. I haven't played a game quite like it since.

Vojtechsonik on 8/7/2013 at 20:35

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Here are my two cents - I have just recently been bored with games overall (because all I wanted was fluid animations and photorealistic graphics) - not enough challenge, lacking story with good gameplay, lacking gameplay with good story. So I read a few blogs and stumbled upon few opinions about people who are not so satisfied because there are no more games like System Shock or Thief. They even said, they still play them to this day. So I was ready to mock it, to make fun of it, because of how those games were bad and such and... I started with System Shock. I have never played anything like it, it feels so good, it plays so good, it has actual atmosphere. So I said to myself how wrong I was all this time, ignoring games just because of their graphics or age. Then Thief came up and it was like love for the first sight, I played 2nd first as only then I was able to appreciate what first one was trying to do. It plays and feels so great, I have immediately installed it on every computer in my house, so I can play it just in case anything happens :D I especially love the ambient music of the first, the level design of both and walking. Yeah, even movement (and sound of footsteps) of these games feels so great and immersive (reason why System Shock 2 is also "uninstallable" for me). I had to clear my HDD of Crysis 3 and Battlefield 3, so I could install FM's. I did not finish 3rd one yet but I hate it for movement, so it's pain to play. I am however very pleased with The Dark Mod and love its dynamic shadows. I will take its Crucible of Omens over this "NotReallyThief" anyday.

Did you say that this new Thief will not feature dynamic shadows? Is it true/confirmed? If so, how can this new game offer anything new/better in stealth? I am not seeing anything exciting, if it is targeted at the audience of original games, they do not know how to sell it.