Tyrone Slothrop on 15/4/2013 at 02:08

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I've been a long-time lurker to this site ever since I discovered these forums since searching for mods to System Shock 2 back over a decade ago on my father's win98 machine when I was just hitting puberty, I registered recently because there seemed to be a critical mass of material to have a discussion about and I really hoped to finally participate in this site after years of reading discussions particularly about Deus Ex to innumerable FMs and it feels appropriate to start on an optimistic note.

On to the topic!


* There's the obvious aspects of the graphics; it looks simply gorgeous and whilst I would like a lot more neo-classical and recognisably industrial elements the art direction has really grown on me with more that I see (the dark and oppressive nature and even the fidelity of the texture work reminds me of Gustave Doré engravings), especially in the simply beautiful concept art and how close the actual game resembles those artistic visions.


* The A.I., even if it were at a rudimentary but contemporary standard would be an immense improvement over prior titles and yet moreso as the A.I. does seem to go beyond what I've seen in any other stealth title. The developers have spoken about how characters will react differently based on their experience and professionalism, I recall an example given was that an amateur would investigate a suspicious noise but a more intelligent guard will notify others first. There also seems to be an emphasis on more realistic search routines rather than a guard walking to just beyond the location of a disturbance, and repeated disturbances won't be repeatedly brushed off. Finally guards will also notice objects missing and serious implications will occur depending on the importance of what is stolen.


* Level dynamism in spades. The example given in previews is about the front doors of a brothel closing prior to midnight and one can race there or explore the level freely and find an alternate route. Likewise if someone notices that a prized artefact is missing, that's an incredible breach of security and will send the area into a panic and one can flood an alert area with opium smoke with its own gameplay implications. Those three examples are in the same level so I cannot wait to see how that's continued in other scenarios. As I mentioned on the official forums in a list of my positive appraisals and concerns from previews, the level and mission design offers choices which go beyond just a spatial choice.


* The use of the environment. Being able to lock out guards from areas is a great addition and paired with improvements in A.I. could lead to some of the most tense moments in a video game (my dream scenario is locking a room you're methodically searching, having someone jiggle the door handle with increasing frustration as another guard is called to help break the entrance down as you look desperately for a place to hide). Also being able to utilise chandeliers and hanging objects to incapacitate guards is a very nice little addition and I again hope to see how more such options are implemented.


* There seems to be a tonne of NPCs within levels with incomparably more variety and dialogue.


* The levels seem impressively large with a focus on verticality, the previewed level had no loading screen between a richly detailed and exotic brothel and the dank, rain-covered city outside. After the maddeningly small arenas of Deadly Shadows this is my biggest complaint entirely rectified.


* Rope arrows are back... I don't need to say more (climbing gloves were a terribly disappointing substitute).


* Personally I love body awareness in first-person games and what EM seems to be doing is basically one of my immersive fetishes (physically-reactive hands that interact with the environment when appropriate), I loved the concept (if not quite the execution) of Mirror's Edge and it's great to see the advancement of a character in a dimensional space that isn't a disembodied floating camera.


* Apart from some imaginations there seems to be no indication that combat will even take equal place to stealth nor even be particularly easy as the focus of the fighting system seems more focused on temporarily disabling rather than killing guards and personally it's good that it won't be awkward and will have some actual depth if one chooses to engage in it. Surely everyone here has had the experience, playing TDP and being discovered and blackjacking a guards head, over and over and over as he recoiled dumbly, repeating that the successive blows to the head 'tickled'? I just don't see the sin with being able to push him out of the way or even breaking his leg or arm and escaping. I appreciate those aren't the sum-total of concerns but if one has the option of combat being difficult yet horribly implemented or less difficult yet refined and polished, I can't see the appeal of the former. Even if fighting was equally viable, do we play stealthily because, necessarily, combat is near-impossible (or was impossible on Expert) or do we love stealth games because we consider stealth inherently more enjoyable, more empowering and more tense and exciting than direct confrontation?


Finally, Deus Ex is a game that I love even more than the Thief series and I played it around a dozen times since it released. I still remember playing the demo at 360p windowed stretched out over a desktop because my family's computer was awful when it released. I only played Invisible War twice, being profoundly disappointed with the game (it was enjoyable... at times and on its own merits) and I initially hated even the idea of a third game, thinking it would be Project: Snowblind levels of mediocrity. I state that to say that I'm not someone would would reflexively love any Deus Ex experience and yet over time, Eidos-Montreal won my trust and surpassed even my most generous expectations during an impossible-to-resist playthrough of the leaked preview build and eventually the final game.

I would even say that with the sum-total of the improvements and shortcomings, they made a game I would rank alongside the original as a masterpiece. It was a clear labour of love as well, replete with so many details they simply did not have to include and the vast majority will never see unless specifically told and even the shortcomings were acknowledged and explicable through some issue in development rather than malice or a misunderstanding of the series. The lore was impeccably respected and wonderfully and creatively utilised to the point where the Missing Link expansion ties both games together in such a way that even the final moments of the original were foreshadowed perfectly. Eidos-Montreal did very well by me and whilst it is almost completely a different team working on Thief, it's the same studio and the same ethos and I can't see how there wouldn't be a cross-pollination of ideas and philosophies amongst persons working in the same building. I'm more than willing to invest a certain amount of trust in what they're doing.


Well, I hope that wasn't too long or convoluted a post but it does articulate why I'm greatly anticipating Thief and how in certain areas it actually appears to improve on prior games. I hope to participate more actively on this forum as games from the lineage that Looking Glass left us are truly my very favourite titles. Or at least I can contribute to the ill-humour now; The Metal Age > Deadly Shadows > TDP (Okay, okay, I don't mean those last two put down those daggers (Okay, okay; blackjacks))

jtr7 on 17/4/2013 at 06:07

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(http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=141236)

Good luck finding a video talking about rope arrows. It's been mentioned once in one article without confirmation. Rope Arrows would be huge news, not slid under the door on a tiny piece of paper.

jtr7 on 19/4/2013 at 08:57

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Yep!

New Horizon on 19/4/2013 at 14:02

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Kind of like a rope arrow huh?

New Horizon on 19/4/2013 at 21:00

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I just meant that the functionality is essentially the same, so it seems kind of pointless to change it to something else when for all intents and purposes it serves the same function.