Vae on 27/3/2013 at 11:13

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The truth is, we don't know how well they're qualifying the "classic Thief experience"...plus, things can change between now and release time.




No...As far as that is concerned, I'm in a neutral "wait and see" mode at the moment, until more info comes down the pipeline.

jtr7 on 27/3/2013 at 11:34

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There's a good chunk of comments across the T4 fora where the concept of nipping things in the bud, or as early as possible, is completely outside the sphere of thought. As soon as we know something's potentially a sticking point, mentioning it immediately eliminates future last-minute flaming, upset, or surprises sprung on the team. There's time to address it, even if that means only a comment to the gamers.

If we are to believe the devs are reading the forums, and reading the forums is more than just a masochistic exercise, then dealing with concerns as soon as possible, however that translates to any party involved, is important and worthwhile. No nasty surprises, no last-minute outcry, no scramble among the devs to add and test new code to appease anyone, as before. Nipping potential issues in the bud, even if it just means putting it on the table so no one can say they didn't know or think of it, is the opportunity we have before us.

If you don't care, you don't care, and we see that, and it doesn't change a thing where we have concerns. You not caring does not reduce the degree we do care, and in fact, makes us push harder. We don't have to believe a problem is real to address it, but a potential problem to warn off. We are addressing the potential for trouble, based on the info we got, which is intentionally incomplete, and therefore, makes it just as lame to say we don't know enough to say anything. Both sides of the coin have the same protective motives, just rooted in different goals. Holding info back naturally creates tension which the imagination will fill whether the conscious mind wants to or not. That vacuum of info is easily filled with speculation, and of course it's wild, as it has no parameters but the info we have, which stretches back to 2009, and has changed in places, and is subject to change in the future, and we speak to that hope for a subjectively positive change.

Being creative types, we aren't worried about how far we extrapolate and make a game of taking things as far out as possible, and it's sad to see people taking it dreadfully seriously, never knowing what we believe and what we purposefully imagine.

New Horizon on 27/3/2013 at 11:50

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From what the Dev said, it's only optional so far as the player choosing not to use it. So in a gaming sense, as in going to the menu and turning it off, it's not optional. It's like the DE:HR cover system, you choose not to use it.

If it's something the player is given early in the game, it would be nice if the player could choose to un-equip it, toss it away, or whatever. Just to give the player a sense that they're actually in control of the character and not going out of their way to avoid using ingame features.

Judith on 27/3/2013 at 11:58

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In a gaming sense, it would not be optional if you had to use it in order to make progress. In every other aspect it will be optional, although sure there's a room to make a mistake here. E.g. in latest Tomb Raider you must use instinct to find those GPS caches, since they are very small and often lying in the grass, which makes them virtually impossible to see with the naked eye. Still, it's just a class of dumb collectibles, nothing that would prevent you from finishing the game.



I love Blink and how it changes the scope of your abilities to navigate the environment, or escape from combat, and that it is optional in a way (although it's hard not to use it). It's always better to have something like that than having to reload, sure.

retractingblinds on 27/3/2013 at 15:37

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What I fear for most is that the design of the levels and assets is hurting players who choose not to use focus. Deus Ex 3 had some problems with this, where some items which would otherwise be very visible in the environments were obscured by the games poor lighting/shadowing and a lack of contrast in colors. Bioshock Infinite as well had a very poor use of contrast in assets and lighting to make items that the player would otherwise be attracted to very difficult to see in the environments without the highlight effect.

The problem with this, like regenerating health is it's another developer shortcut. Less work and testing involved in getting a playable product. The way they describe how it'll highlight drawers in desks with loot for example is troubling, does that mean people like me who prefer to not have to deal with that will be hammering away at every individual drawer looking for the ones we are allowed to interact with by the developers? Or will they take the route that's less lazy and make all drawers interactive? That's a lot of work there, and it seems unlikely that any developer these days is willing to go through with it.

They seem keen on developing uncertainty and doubt among thief fans, both are things which won't sell a product.