Springheel on 22/6/2013 at 18:19
Yes, the stealth in Thief has always been a bit unrealistic, though I would think the trend should be towards looking for ways to make it more realistic (while still fun) rather than going the other direction.
That said, I have rarely heard Roy make positive comments about stealth play. He has seemed to imply on multiple occasions that stealth play is for 'hardcore' players, and isn't really fun for most people.
Jason Moyer on 22/6/2013 at 19:08
Thief would be an entirely different series with realistic stealth. Probably not a very good one.
Darkness_Falls on 22/6/2013 at 19:15
Yep. I'm curious to try Last of Us stealth someday (and without using the sonar superpower). I wonder where that game's stealth falls in comparison to Thief, and then in comparison to stealth found in the likes of Skyrim, Dishonored and Uncharted.
Springheel on 22/6/2013 at 20:25
Quote:
Here's another review from someone who played the game. Once again, nothing like the glowingly positive reports from the EM forum.
In the interest of fairness, I should note that even the EM devs agreed with that article. On the topic of stealth, they said:
Quote:
It occasionally felt too well lit when completely concealed
Chade on 23/6/2013 at 11:44
They also said that may be just due to the gamma being turned up very high, as makes sense in an E3 booth, but I can't remember if that was just speculation or not. I don't think I have this in my summary. I should fix that.
When I look at these complaints that Garrett's ability to hide in shadows is overpowered, frankly, they sound pretty much identical to the RPS article, and I have basically the same response. This all sounds entirely consistent with the earlier games' behaviour, except possibly the overall level of brightness was too high.
SubJeff on 23/6/2013 at 12:37
Quote Posted by Vivian
Ok, who actually thinks T1&2 were in any way realistic stealth? I mean, sqeenix's ship seems to be sinking. But realistic stealth ISN'T fun. How many times have you failed to notice a full grown man crouched in a shadow 20cm from you? Of course it's bullshit. As much as any one person being able to defeat an army. What matters is if it's fun. Which is a difficult metric to gauge. But indications are not good. Which isn't an excuse to start swiveling your eyeballs back and forth, shouting about things you have realistically made up in your own head, etc. Keep some decorum ffs.
Realism in games can greatly aid in how enjoyable they are though. The cool thing about any superhero is that they exist in a world where everything else is real and it is their ability which is unreal and therefore amazing. Superman is cool because the danger felt by the people he saves is grounded in reality - a train out of control, a falling statue, etc. The Matrix tapped into this by having the heroes able to be to work
juuuust outside of the box. You knew they
could die if shot, but they had that little something that made them special cases to deal with.
Games like Thief are like that. The stealth is some kind of voodoo skill/magic, but everything else should be grounded in reality. Its what makes the stealth thrilling; you know you have a slight edge and using it skillfully makes you very powerful. But you are also vulnerable if you make a mistake and that vulnerability comes from the reality that surrounds the core stealth mechanic.
So T1 and 2 didn't have realistic stealth, but they shouldn't have because that was the point.
