Xorak on 12/6/2013 at 09:56

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I say this because of all the money and resources they clearly put into non-sneaking things. If they wanted the stealth to come first, they'd put those resources into expanding the stealth experience without relying on gimmicky things like the focus.

I understand completely that the games failed to sell enough the first time around so new things have to be added, to make it more accessible and to sell 3+ million copies. But why not just call it something new, because it's not Thief. Thief doesn't need to be turned into what every other recent AAA game is. Why not let it actually be different?

I have nothing against a game called Sneakster's Faith in which the player can use their supernatural skills to overcome multiple enemies in slo-mo, gaining xp while flipping upside down headshotting guards in order to unlock an elegant camisole for their Furry lover. But somewhere along the way it's not Thief anymore. lol

Curunir on 12/6/2013 at 11:08

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Got to love the swoop/dash...

Myagi on 12/6/2013 at 11:37

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I see nothing in the video that would suggest different movement speed. T1/2 had three difference speeds, from very slow to fast (creep, walk, run), and when crouching you were slower and again had three speeds. Also factor in that demo was on a console/gamepad with analog movement speed.

The swoop is a failure to understand core thief mechanics. Sound is just as important as visibility. When moving faster you make more noise, making it easier to be discovered. For example when hiding in a dark spot in a stone corridor, trying to make it to a shadowy spot on the other side before a guard sees you. Where you creep across slowly, holding your breath fighting with yourself not to go to fast so he doesn't hear you, while in panic that the guard might turn around or come around a corner. Swoop circumvents the tension building sound vs speed stealth component.

Sure, you can just skip using swoop, but the fact that it's there greatly increases the chances that it affects the game/level design. Patrol/look-around timings and/or hiding spot distances not being balanced against the player movement speed vs noise to create such high tension scenarios. It suggests that they don't understand, or by all means simply don't give a crap about, the importance of sound and how your movement speed is an equally important way to control how much sound you make as being careful what surface type you move on.

Chade on 12/6/2013 at 12:12

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So look, this is one of the things driving me crazy. Here you are inventing all sorts of crazy theories out of thin air, relying on extremely tenuous (resources into non-sneaking things implies stealth not first) or flat-out wrong (creating focus is not expanding the stealth experience) logic, and somehow you appear to have convinced yourself that you are actually likely to be correct!

Meanwhile, the devs gave a perfectly plausible explanation for the combat tools in the very gameplay video this thread was created for. They stated that they wanted the player to feel like they had a chance even when they were spotted. Now perhaps you don't like that explanation. Fine, I can understand that. But you can't deny that it's a simple plausible explanation that is entirely consistent with everything we've seen so far. And they state in the very same segment of that video that stealth comes first.

nickie on 12/6/2013 at 12:33

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It doesn't anymore - seems to be unavailable now.