jtr7 on 17/3/2013 at 08:53

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Please please please let this be 100% true and confirmed!
(http://tech2.in.com/news/gaming/thief-4-will-have-extremely-high-emphasis-on-stealth-say-developers/814562)


Why is Game Informer only kinda nudging this point? It's major! Another bit of awesome!




Okay, serious (rhetorical) questions:

There are a lot of articles, images, and videos at this time, with all the things being shown and said, so why are people who are promoting and preaching practicing positivity, and cautious optimism, not going out and getting what hasn't been posted yet, and sharing the good news that at least 90% of us on both sides would be positive or cautiously optimistic about?

With all the articles, videos, and details visible in the many images, why are people still saying what they did when the blurry photo was leaked, and again when the storyboards were leaked, and again when the trailer clip was leaked, that there are only a couple of images, not enough to assess anything?

Why does Marketing think they are showing us something special to get people excited, and yet the consequently excited people are saying it's not enough to assess anything?

With all the caution against saying anything perceived or truly negative based on only a couple of images, why is it okay to make boldly positive assessments from the same limited data? Of all the possible reasons, reasonable and totally unfair, I'm hoping no one thinks any amount of negativity will jinx the product somehow.


I haven't slept in over 36 hours straight, and for the fourth time in two weeks, so I hope these questions are seen as fair questions, even if uncomfortably assertive to some.

jtr7 on 17/3/2013 at 09:56

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They've definitely made it for a modern console gamer (I still don't know what Nicolas means when he says that), even just in the sense that all the movies they are looking to aren't very old! :D


We see the ropey, maybe grapple thing he carries, and it looks woven like a bullwhip not a cord or rope, so where does the chain come from and will it be noisy before the grunting and bone-cracking and vocalizing?



It'll be awesome if the game can be played all the way through on Expert (or whatever they call the highest difficulty) with not only no kills, but also no takedowns at all! That would be Thief as it's always been!

jtr7 on 17/3/2013 at 11:57

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Yep! It's about design, mechanics, and playability choices built on Thief's recipe, but hopefully, finally done right, all previous wrinkles and failures will be written out, plus new moves and abilities we've always wondered about. TMA AIs can drink health potions when wounded a little and given enough time to drink one off their belt, as well as jump onto surfaces above them. TDS messed up with AIs that couldn't strike downward. All three games have the code and voice-files for noticing missing loot, open doors, and lights that were switched on/off, but only TDS found a way to keep it in without harming playability. TDS once had shadow detection, but that did break playability. All the AIs should be able to move crates and other stackable items, unless the player can set up a situation for a door to have no room to swing open with a crate in the way. AIs should get back to jumping up on upper surfaces, and if the game doesn't have flashbombs, that takes care of the controversial flashbomb-blackjack combo in-or-out. I could fill a page with things we've all wondered about for AIs.

Jason Moyer on 17/3/2013 at 16:09

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I can't believe they would do that in a Thief game, especially when their only other released title (DXHR) had stronger stealth mechanics than any previous game in the DX series and focused on stealth more than even the most optimistic fan had expected.

And here I was thinking this was going to be Ninja Gaiden Steampunk Edition. That'll teach me to stop projecting my inability to enjoy anything onto this game instead of looking at the developer's track record and the tangible evidence that's available about the game's direction.

Jason Moyer on 17/3/2013 at 18:03

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Garrett has never had trouble with a couple guards, though, at least not in my experience. Of course, on Expert you aren't allowed to kill them which makes it a little harder. :) Still, what I've read makes it sound like the focus stuff they're planning is more about being able to stun a guard in order to escape rather than turning you into a killing machine. I wouldn't have a problem with more options for evading guards, outright slaughtering them would be pretty out of place in a Thief game, though. Still, I don't see a big functional difference between Garrett having a limited ability to stun someone by hitting them in the stomach and running away vs dropping a flashbomb and seeing how many people he can blackjack before its effects wear off. Hopefully the action aspect of the focus ability will be a resource that needs to be carefully managed instead of an infinite get-out-of-jail-free card.