Thief at GamesCom - TTLG Forums

Springheel on 22/8/2013 at 13:44

Is that new cinematic up on Youtube anywhere?

Domey on 22/8/2013 at 18:45

I'm back from the Gamescom for today, better said from the Thief Presentation.
(I'm really tired now, and my english is not the best. So maybe some german-speaking fan can translate my german text in english :) )

Let's go.
Wie schon erwähnt war das ganze in einem "kleinen" Kinosaal (ca. 50 Leute).
Als erstes wurde der "Candle Light Teaser" gespielt und die Lichter gingen aus (gutes Timing übrigens mit der Kerze).
Ein echt netter junger Mann erklärte dann kurz die Welt von Thief + einige Charaktere (Orion, Garrett, Baron). Viel Neues war da aber nicht dabei. Danach wurde der "Garrett der Meisterdieb" Trailer gespielt und gleich im Anschluss wurde das Gameplay gestartet. (PC Version)

Es war die gleiche Demo wie zur E3 (Heart of the lion), nur wurde die Mission dieses Mal beendet, oder besser gesagt bis zum besagten Beutestück gespielt. In der Villa selbst konnte man viele neue Features sehen, wie zB durch Türschlösser gucken. Ein Feature war richtig cool; Gegen Ende der Mission steht Garrett vor einem großen Portrait und fährt mit den Händen entlang des Bildrahmens. Diese Bewegung muss man selbst steuern, bis man den Schalter findet, der das Öffnen des Bildes auslöst. (Auch zu sehen im neuen Thief Gamescom Trailer).
Dahinter war dann die geheime Schatzkammer des Barons, wo noch ein kleines Rätsel zu lösen war. (Leider wirkte/war dieses Rätsel kinderleicht) Garrett schnappt sich schließlich den Klunker und verschwindet mit einem Seilpfeil übers Dach.

Pros der Präsentation:
- Die Grafik sieht richtig gut aus. Vorallem die Licht- und Schattenspiele in der Villa waren atemberaubend.
- Es wurde viel geghostet (obwohl am Anfang gesagt wurde, dass mehr actionlastig gespielt wird)
- Die Mission wurde zwar schnell beendet, dennoch war die Villa sehr groß und es waren viele Wege möglich.

Contras:
- Leider ging bei dem ganzen Lärm der Messe der Sound ziemlich unter. Zwar hörte man einiges vom Gameplay, aber Geräusche wie Schritte etc. kann ich echt nicht beurteilen.
- Zu viel Focus wurde verwendet.
- Moospfeile sinnlos? Garrett huschte nämlich auf einem Marmorboden der Wache realtiv zügig hinterher, ohne dass diese irgendwas bemerkt. Ist der Swoop eigentlich lautlos?

No Go:
- Ein Move wurde ausgeführt, wo ich im ersten Moment nicht wusste ob ich lachen, weinen oder ausrasten soll; und zwar wirft Garrett eine Flasche in Richtung Kopf einer Wache - während die Flasche fliegt wird in den Focus-Modus geschaltet - die Zeit verlangsamt - Garrett zieht den Bogen - zielt auf den Kopf einer anderen Wache - Flasche knockt die erste Wache aus - Pfeil killt die Zweite - und für einen "super" Schluss noch ein Takedown bei der dritten Wache......klar das sieht COOL aus,...aber nicht nach Thief. :eww:

Weiteres:
- Hände sind weiterhin auf gleicher Höhe (hab jedenfalls keine Änderung sehen können / mich stören die Hände aber auch nicht wirklich)
- Schattenumrandung ist noch immer vorhanden (WEG DAMIT)

Fazit:
Schade das der Sound so unterging, denn der hätte dem Ganzen nochmal einige Pluspunkte gegeben. Dennoch muss ich sagen, dass ich den Besuch nicht bereue und auch meinen Spaß hatte. Generell lass ich das Ganze einfach auf mich zukommen. Das "Thief" nicht wie die ersten 3 Teile wird war mir seit der ersten Ankündigung 2009 klar (Thi4f).
Und auch wenn es kein freies Springen mehr geben wird, fühlte sich die Präsentation in keinster Weise eingeschränkt an.
(Und ja, auch ich bin ein Thief Hardcore Fan seit über 10 Jahren. Trotzdem war ich mehr als positiv überrascht -> ICH WILLS SELBST SPIELEN :) )

Greetz Domey

nickie on 22/8/2013 at 18:53

Thank you very much for this - I look forward to reading it in English. But google translate seems to suggest that the gameplay was a pc version so I'm doubly looking forward to your impressions.

b1skit on 22/8/2013 at 19:05

Glad you guys had fun! :)

Quote Posted by Beleg Cúthalion

Speaking of details, I believe at some point the player "sold" something (loot?) to fill up the focus meter since it didn't re-charge automatically when stealing IIRC.

Just a quick correction - what you saw was the player accessing their inventory and consuming a consumable - most likely a poppy flower. You cannot sell loot during missions, nor does loot recharge your focus in any way.

Beleg Cúthalion on 22/8/2013 at 19:46

Thanks for the clarification, Adam (and send my regards to the other Adam which I had he pleasure to meet!). I couldn't really spot the food in this plain white wheel menu and when the re-charge happened I had forgotten what had been frobbed before. But I did wonder if Garrett could eat one of those tasty jerky haunches. :p

Let's have a look at Domey's impressions, I added a few comments in square brackets:

Quote Posted by Domey

Let's go.
As mentioned everything too place in a sort of small movie theatre (ca. room for 50 people).
At first the candle light teaser was played, the lights went out together with the candle (good timing, by the way).
A really nice guy briefly introduced the world of Thief and some characters (Orion, Garrett, the Baron). Nothing really new. Afterwards the played the "Garrett - the master thief" trailer and continued with the gameplay video. (PC version)

It was the same demo as during E3 (Heart of the lion), only this time the mission was finished or rather played until the main loot object was found. A lot of new features were to be seen in the manor, for instance peeping through key holes. One feature was particularly great, at some point Garrett had to feel for a hidden switch behind a painting frame. The player had to move Garrett's hands until the switch was found which afterwards opened the painting like a door. [Cúthalion: At this moment I admit I feared for some twenty frames-with-switches to be in the final game. :p] (Also to be seen in the new GamesCom trailer).
Behind it was the Baron's secret vault where one more puzzle had to be solved. (unfortunately it appeared to be or was rather simple) Garrett finally grabs the gem and escapes through the roof with the help of a rope arrow.

Pros:
- Graphics are great. Especially the light-shadow transitions inside the manor were breathtaking.
- There was a lot of ghosting (despite the initial statement that this play-through would be more aggressive)
- The mission was finished quickly but the manor appeared to be large with a lot of ways

Cons:
- Unfortunately the sound level at the exhibition was rather high, a lot of details like foot steps couldn't be heard, so no news about that.
- Too much use of Focus.
- Moss arrows pointless? Garrett was able to trace a guard on marble floor [Cúthalion: It was tiles, but the point remains valid.] quite quickly. Is Swoop silent?

No Go:
- There was one action which made me wonder if I should laugh, cry or freak out; Garrett throws a bottle towards a guard's head - during its flight Focus is activated - time slows down - Garrett takes out his bow - aims for a second guard's head - bottle knocks out the first guard - arrow kills the second - and for a grand finale there is a take out sequence for the third guard......clearly it looks kewl but not like Thief. :eww: [Cúthalion: Strange, I can only remember that he shot the bottle in mid-air. :erg: Maybe I didn't pay attention.]

Furthermore:
- Hands are still on the same level (at least I noticed no change / but they don't bother me anyway) [Cúthalion: IIRC the hands were tweaked and this is also what we were told afterwards. Instead of being there all the time, they just rise up when Garrett starts sneaking and even then go lower again. You should only see them if you look down.]
- The shroud is still there (GO AWAY)

Bottom line:
A pity that the sound was lost inside the big exhibition hall, otherwise there would have been some more positive impressions. But I don't regret seeing it because it was fun. generally speaking, I'll just wait for what is to come. It was clear to me since the 2009 announcement that "Thief" (Thi4f) wasn't supposed to be like the first three games.
And even if there was no free jumping, the demo did not feel restricted.
(And yes, I am a hard-core Thief fan for some ten years. still I was surprised in a positive way -> I WANT TO PLAY IT MYSELF :) )

nickie on 22/8/2013 at 19:50

My thanks to you again, Beleg.

Domey on 22/8/2013 at 20:02

Thank you very much for the translation Beleg Cúthalion :)

ZylonBane on 22/8/2013 at 20:28

Quote Posted by b1skit

Just a quick correction - what you saw was the player accessing their inventory and consuming a consumable - most likely a poppy flower.

Wait a minute... poppies? The flower that opium comes from? Opium, the drug that causes drowsiness, confusion, memory loss, fatigue, and hallucinations? THAT is what Garrett gobbles to power an ability which is basically the opposite of all those things?

Jesus, there's just no end of epic fail for this dev team, is there?

Starker on 22/8/2013 at 20:53

Quote Posted by ZylonBane

Perhaps, like a certain president of US, he doesn't inhale?

Renault on 22/8/2013 at 21:05

Quote Posted by ZylonBane

Wait a minute... poppies? The flower that opium comes from?

They've said several times that Focus isn't just a gimmick, it's tied to the story. We know there's a mission where Garrett infiltrates some kind of opium den. So they'll probably rig up some lame story about how Garrett has a resistance to opium or that is has the opposite affect on him, something like that. Part of his escape from that section of the game involves him running opium through the vents of the building to drug the entire place to make his escape easier - he must have some way to fight the effect or he'd be affected too.

If all of the above sounds like delirium or complete nonsense, well, it very likely is. I'm just spit balling here.