Take 5 Q&A #3 - TTLG Forums

calmflow on 26/9/2013 at 22:02

Quote Posted by Adam Badke

Take 5 – Community Q&A #3

Welcome to the Take 5 community Q&A #3! Thief fans have submitted their questions about the game, and the development team has taken 5 minutes to answer them. This week, I sat down with Thief’s Game Director Nic Cantin and Narrative Director Steven Gallagher to have them answer the top fan-submitted questions. Here’s what they had to say:

NyteSama: Will the current story that has been revealed to us so far (the setup) be given to us in the form of gameplay, a cinematic, or text?

Steven: Specifically to answer your question about the story revealed so far – “the setup” – it’s presented primarily through gameplay at the beginning of the game. There are of course cinematics regularly throughout the game, readables and the other lore as we’ve talked about previously, but one thing from a design perspective that we wanted to avoid was having cinematics that kick in halfway through a mission and interrupt the gameplay.

Cryllia: Will we see Benny anywhere at any point in the game?

Steven: We definitely have a dark city and a mature storyline, but if the game was nothing but that it would be quite relentless and harrowing for everybody. If you look hard enough in the City, like I know you will, you’re definitely going to be able to find moments that will make you laugh, that will make you smile. I won’t spoil specific characters or storylines today, but I can say that fans of Benny won’t be disappointed.

Silshas: A fairly large element of previous Thief games, and many other stealth games, is the scarcity of your resources (for example, being dumped into a Haunted Cathedral with only a handful of equipment that wasn't sufficient to eliminate the undead opposition you ran into) and that in itself provides a motivation to proceed through a level as unnoticed as possible. How large an emphasis is being placed on equipment limitations as an element of the new Thief game?

Nic: Equipment limitation is completely a part of what it is to be a thief. It’s part of preparing yourself for each mission. It’s a big reason why the hub is there – you want to be able to prepare for each mission and choose how you’re going to manage that mission. Are you going to play as stealthy as possible, or more aggressive? The number of arrows you can carry is limited, so your play style is going to decide what kind of tools and equipment you’ll want bring and also how you’ll choose to upgrade your equipment. So yes, this is an important element in the game.

Keeper_Annals : You mentioned many times that the original fans will be pleased with the game, and that we will have the ability to do stealth. My question is, however, besides having the ability, would there be a difficulty level where it is strictly necessary to do it, such as a difficulty level where killing is not allowed?

Nic: For sure, players will be given the challenge of not killing anybody. We do this in different ways, like giving players the goal of not killing anybody as individual mission objectives, or by having achievements for completing the whole game without killing anybody, for example. It’s also worth mentioning that aggressive play also brings its own set of challenges and can be a very difficult play style as well – but Thief is a stealth game, so we really want to encourage players to play the game in stealth.

vowdy: Can you explain the (non-focus) lockpicking mechanism a bit more?

Nic: The standard lockpicking works just like it does in the previous Thief games – we didn’t want to reinvent that mechanic. We have introduced brand new lockpicking mechanics as well for players who choose to enable focus. When standard lockpicking isn’t going to be fast enough, it allows you to “see” into the lock mechanism to help you perform the pick faster.

Bonus Round!

A big thanks to Imprv for this question. There were so many great questions this week it was hard to narrow them all down, but I liked this one so much that I decided to include it as a bonus. I guess this technically makes this a “Take 6” Q&A?

lmprv: What aspects of the game are you most proud of?

Nic: For me, I’m most proud of the immersion of Garrett into the world. I think that it’s really there. When he enters a back alley, you can feel the scary mood of that environment. When you’ve managed to break into a house, you find yourself feeling like a master thief. I think that feeling, that vibe, is really important. Truly placing Garrett into his world I think is what I’m most proud of. It was a lot of work for us to achieve, but that immersion of Garrett being in his world really brings you into the game.

Steven: What I’m proudest of is that if you sat down and had a beer with me, I would be able to overwhelm you with the amount of detail we’ve put into structuring this world in a credible way. Everything leans on itself in a way that makes sense. If you continue to live in and explore the Thief universe, more and more you will understand about this incredible world. It has existed for many, many, many hundreds of years, and will continue to do so – The City will never die.

Thanks, guys! And of course, thanks to everybody who submitted their questions for today's Q&A. Stay tuned to the official Thief forums for more, and start thinking about your question for the next session!

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Thief is a stealth game, so we really want to encourage players to play the game in stealth.

This line, for anyone who was in doubt.

Goldmoon Dawn on 27/9/2013 at 04:49

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During combat, the protagonist can enter a new Focus mode, which highlights vulnerable points on the bodies of his enemy and allows him to launch quick attacks.

Quote Posted by NuTeam

Thief is a stealth game, so we really want to encourage players to play the game in stealth (mode).

In the original Thief, Garrett was just a man. Just a normal human man, much like the Avatar of Ultima in fact. The reason confrontations were harrowing in Thief is because it was one human man dealing with one, two, or more heavily outfitted human guards. When caught taffing about, you certainly felt the sting of ignorances barbs, many a time. It was a small scale sense of realism that permeated the game play, and made it fun and interesting.

Yes, the jittery among you will flit about in Thief with the circle strafe. Bah! It was thy only true reprieve, in a game that was designed from the start to try and stop you in as many ways as possible. And those who partook in 1998 were especially treated to the finest gaming of the day. Nevertheless, for most of us engaging in combat was the first sign that your clever plan fell apart in your lap, and you might get one swing in and fold. I rather enjoyed dying in Thief: The Dark Project. It meant that something went terribly wrong and I then got to relish the amusing utterances of the guards who so righteously smote me down.

Adding the loot glint focus and lockpick focus thing makes me laugh. Adding the focus combat abilities warrants a serious closer look though, for me. I suddenly have the means to be a killing machine who can slow down time while zooming in on enemy body parts, and yes, launch quick attacks. Or I can be stealthy and swoop around and lockpick zoom, and I am probably making things up at this point, but a heightened sense of loot glint or something. Im forgetting drug powerups that replenish my focus.

So, you can then choose to be either Terminator NuGarrett, or "Sneaker" Garrett"".

Of course, NuThief is marketed as a stealth game, and as such you should play it that way.

When I end up watching someone play it on youtube, they had better be! Or I will be *very* disappointed, yet at the same time satisfied that I didnt have to part with any of my amassed disposable income (0$).

:ebil:

calmflow on 27/9/2013 at 05:52

Quote Posted by Goldmoon Dawn

for most of us engaging in combat was the first sign that your clever plan fell apart in your lap, and you might get one swing in and fold. I rather enjoyed dying in Thief: The Dark Project. It meant that something went terribly wrong and I then got to relish the amusing utterances of the guards who so righteously smote me down.

Too true, I always feel amused when I die in Thief, like I was pushing the limits and it didn't work as I planned, brings a smile to my face.
Most of the time it is a moment of quiet amusement as I plan my next failure.

I look forward to seeing just how close the old school mode comes to the amusement of the classic experience, and though many may say it will be atrocious, I reserve judgement until I can investigate personally.

Renault on 27/9/2013 at 13:42

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fans of Benny won't be disappointed

Best news I've heard all year. :cool:

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Are you going to play as stealthy as possible, or more aggressive?

It's also worth mentioning that aggressive play also brings its own set of challenges and can be a very difficult play style as well - but Thief is a stealth game, so we really want to encourage players to play the game in stealth.

These two quotes have me wary. As I've said before, violence shouldn't be strategy, it should be a last resort. It remains to be seen how the game actually pans out, but "Nic" makes it sound like between you missions, while in the hub, you actually make the decision on whether you want to go the route of stealth or violence. If the aggressive route just means sniping from the shadows, fine. But if you can load up on broadheds and fire arrows and go in, um, bows blazing to finish a level, that's just not cool.

TriangleTooth on 27/9/2013 at 15:23

Apparently you can only carry a small number of each arrow type. Though I'm not exactly sure how small, one person may have said 6 broadheads at one point, but idk if they were just giving that as a possible example or not.

Renault on 27/9/2013 at 15:49

I wonder how they'll balance buying items in the City Hub. If I remember correctly in TDS, after a while of accumulating so much cash, you could basically load up and buy anything and everything about half way through the game, and it all just seemed really unbalanced. I love how in T1/T2, you inventory and cash resets for every mission, giving you incentive to find more loot on the ensuing mission.