Quote Posted by xxcoy
As Beleg already told you, we had the privilege to speak to Steven Gallagher ourselves on Wednesday at GamesCom.
First of all, I have to say that I was impressed by the way the man presented 'his' new Thief to us. Was more of a theatrical performance than just a presentation. He's an outstanding narrator if he's allowed to be one in a conversation - that just as a sideline.
Concernig the story as far as it is revealed: Some magazines summarize it a bit to plainly as "loss of a loved one" driving our master thief to do what he's going to do in the game.
Also, they made it sound like he was suddenly some kind of pacifist, who condones killing for the sake of humanity. Those two points I could not deduce from our conversation with Mr Gallagher. I don't know if it is me or they who didn't listen closeley enough. But time will tell.
"Loss of a loved one" is hardly the right word for what the man has presented.
"Loss of a female protégé, to which there was an in the least very ambivalent relationship" is more like it.
Point not being the relationship itself - mostly because there isn't one at the time of the events (if there ever was one that tanscended an alliance of convenience) - but the circumstances surrounding the death of the young woman, who probably would still be alive, had the thief not intervened.
It's not about 'tragic love', if ever there might be a very subliminal "woulda shoulda coulda" (like it was with Victoria for some taffers) in Gallagher's Preview.
It's about guilt and consequence.
The no-kill-option still is a professional choice for Garrett - not a newly discovered love to the fellow human being. It's a trait of a master, nothing more, nothing less. A trait he wishes his student to gain - on which she fails deliberately and gladly.
However, even that's just the story's hook, not the impetus. Thus
begins the story. Where it goes from there remains to be seen.
It is definitely a reboot, not a prequel or sequel.
It will involve Garrett mostly as we know him, but as with Batman and Tomb Raider, the previous history will be ignored and retold. Tabula rasa, so to speak, or parallel universe. That's btw the main reason for not taking Russel as voice actor. If you want a new start, you should want it completely, if you will.
Now before the whining starts: After TDS totaled the original story in the end by killing off one of the main parts that made it interesting, a complete restart may not be the worst idea.
If you wanted to start where TDS left of, you'd have to manage changing it back to what "Thief" was before that ending; not an easy thing to do even if your audience knows what you're trying to acomplish. For newcomers a complete turnoff - and therefore likely commercial suicide for the franchise.
As the boys hinted that there
might be a future for Garrett on success of the game, I'd personally prefer a fresh start with opportunities to continue to the well-known that's doomed on release, because nobody but the community will be interested in it.
Gameplay looks very good, believable and fluent now, and yes, there will be concessions made to "casual players" or "mainstream players" - especially the focus function.
But although the Thief community is no more than a blip on the radar, a fraction of the intended audience - if developers want to make a profit from the game at all - an old-school mode without those perks will be integrated for this group of players. (Similar to "Give me Deus Ex" difficulty).
That's quite a big (and from developer's stance actually a completely unnecessary) courtesy.
Might wanna overthink some of the attitude. Just sayin. :sly:
I was skeptical about some of the things mentioned above myself.
But I can say that one thing was evident: For EM Thief is not just any franchise to be milked and waved through. The balancing act between old and new, in regard of audience, gameplay and story, is already strikingly well thought through.
There are major changes, mainly due to current requirements of the market as well as numerous possibilities of presenting a game today. There are equally strong allusions to the former game.
I see it rather optimistic, even if I realize that I will have to let go of some entrenched positions hailing from being one of those who have started out being a fan when thief was first released in 1998.
In my opinion, "our" game is in good hands.
Time has to tell the rest.
