The Thief 4 Thread

[Wamplet]

Anyone else still playing the old thief 1, 2, 3 and Dark Mod maps?

that is what i have been doing.

From what i remember of the last gameplay video i saw, there was a lot more COD put into the game where you could actually fight people which didn't make a lot of sense to me.

[Nihilanth]

I haven't played Thief series in years. I still have to actually play Thief: Dark Shadows, got it on Anthology but never got around to playing it, because I was discouraged by loading screens every 5min. I might give it a try though.

[Thief]

Originally Posted by Nihilanth

I haven't played Thief series in years. I still have to actually play Thief: Dark Shadows, got it on Anthology but never got around to playing it, because I was discouraged by loading screens every 5min. I might give it a try though.

Come now, don't exaggerate. Deadly Shadows isn't Invisible War. Each mission is broken up into two parts, with the one or two bigger missions having three parts. Not so bad. Definitely not like walking down a hallway to be greeted by a load screen like in IW. The free-roam parts of The City in between missions are also fairly big.
If you weren't a huge fan of the first two games, you'll probably enjoy Deadly Shadows the most. Don't forget to download John P's Texture Pack.

Dark Shadows... that movie kind of sucked.

[Nihilanth]

You might be right, I've only played the demo years ago.

[Wamplet]

The loading screens aren't a big deal. My mouse getting stuck in a constant scroll down in any menu in the game is though.

Also, new Thief 4 vid and release date of Feb 2014:

http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/08/16/th...re-distracted/

[Thief]

Garrett's certainly a lot more righteous this time around.

[Nihilanth]

You know, it all depends on the game. Sometimes you can change a lot and it'll still feel right. Other times, you change one thing and everything falls apart. In this case, any changes to who Garrett is feel like a complete atrocity to me.

[Wamplet]

Nearly everyone wanted Garrett to return. I think this was the best they could do.

[Damien_Azreal]

I think this will be a lot like how Deus Ex: Human Revolution worked out.

When previews and initial details were announced, all people did was complain about everything. And the complaints only got worse when videos were shown.
People ripped the game apart.

Then it came out, and surprise... everyone loved it. For a lot, it stood even with the original and for even more, it stands as the best entry in the series.

I'm gonna sit back and watch. Thief 4 may not be what some "wanted"... but that in no way means it won't be a good game.

[ScrewingUpMyRide]

I watched a livestream of this before. Holy cow is it a step down from Human Revolution!

I wonder what went so wrong here? It looks like a scripted action-stealth game that liberally stole from Dishonored without any creativity of it's own. The story is abhorrent and the ties to the original series insulting. You can't jump, and the movement is completely pre-described. The levels are smaller than Dishonored's and don't share Arkane's visual flair or player driven actions. It looks cheap, like it was made from recycled assets from an earlier, more ambitious iteration. A complete rush job.

It's not going to please either long-time fans or newcomers. Dishonored did everything better 18 months ago. The stuff I saw made Absolution look like a masterpiece. I guess we won't be seeing Garrett again.

[Damien_Azreal]

Well, I prepurchased it.
I've already got it preloaded, and I'll definitely give you my impressions of it. You and I seem to have pretty similar tastes... so, I'll let you know what I think.

[ScrewingUpMyRide]

Originally Posted by Damien_Azreal

Well, I prepurchased it.
I've already got it preloaded, and I'll definitely give you my impressions of it. You and I seem to have pretty similar tastes... so, I'll let you know what I think.

Yeah, we tend to match up most of the time. I don't have a grudge against the game or anything. I love Thief and Eidos Montreal's past work. I hope it's awesome. Looking forward to reading your impressions.

After watching the stream, I pulled the trigger and picked up Resi 4, which I already know I love, and South Park which looks to be a sure fire hit. The drought of games is nearly over!

[Nihilanth]

I've watched the first mission video and I don't like it. There's some good stuff there but they screwed it up by a lot of 'modern' things. Things like screen focusing on something, fly-over cutscenes, stealing animations, action sequences. I've come to realize how small things like that ruin the flow for me. Dishonored has a pure, clean experience.

[Damien_Azreal]

Originally Posted by ScrewingUpMyRide

Yeah, we tend to match up most of the time. I don't have a grudge against the game or anything. I love Thief and Eidos Montreal's past work. I hope it's awesome. Looking forward to reading your impressions.

After watching the stream, I pulled the trigger and picked up Resi 4, which I already know I love, and South Park which looks to be a sure fire hit. The drought of games is nearly over!

Yeah, I've got Thief on Tuesday, Resident Evil 4 later in the week.
South Park next month...

Then it's just sit back and wait for Wolfenstein and The Evil Within.

[Damien_Azreal]

So far, I've put about 4 hours into the game.
And other then the opening story mission... I haven't done a damn thing story related.
I've spent my time doing side missions, sneaking through empty homes and businesses. And picking people's pockets on the streets.

Personally, I'm having a blast. The game looks great, plays good... and the stealth is fecking great. It's easy to tell when you are hidden, when you're out in full view... movement is solid.
And the little "dash" move they added to quickly move between shadows is fantastic.
So, I can't comment on story really... as I haven't done any. And, I can't comment on combat... as other then knocking a few guards out without them even knowing I was there... I've avoided combat.

But, as a stealth game... and as a game built around stealing shit... it's awesome so far.

[KO Gilligan]

Free Steam key for Thief Gold (1999 expanded version of original) here:
http://thiefmodcompetition.com/

Once you enter your name and email, you'll get a code for Amazon.com
Go to Amazon.com That'll get your free game, select download and you'll be taken to your free Steam Key

If you're wondering about the mod competition:

Amazon and Square Enix will accept short video playthroughs or written pitches for Thief: Gold mods, whether they're creating a new heist for Garrett or reworking a classic level from the series. Square Enix and Amazon will pick the winner and award him or her:
•A high-end gaming rig from AMD which includes an AMD Radeon R9 290X graphics card
•An all-expenses paid trip to E3 2014 with Square Enix
•Steam code for all Square Enix Games with the matching Prima Guide
•An Amazon Kindle DX
•A bundle of game development books on Kindle

The best part is that all entrants get a free digital version of Thief: Gold. The contest runs through April 14, and you can find more details on Amazon.

[ScrewingUpMyRide]

I may have been a little rash before, if only because it's pretty big departure from the previous Thief games.

There's quite a bit of good stuff in here. I'm 8 hours in, and I'm still on chapter 2. I'm playing on master with focus disabled. It's a massive, generous game! I'm enjoying doing sidequests, exploring the city for loot, disabling traps, finding secrets.

There are some really cool additions including blunt arrows (must-have for all future Thief games) some instances of impressive a.i. (noticing open safes, lights switching off etc...), knocking over bottles, real-world alarms (birds, dogs), the lockpicking game making a noise when you fail. It's quite enjoyable, but I'm not without reservations.

I can't stand the main characters. Garrett's voice will only be an issue with people familiar with the original games but Basso, Orion, Erin and Thief Taker General blow. I can't believe Eidos Montreal threw away the Keepers, Hammerites, and Pagans (barring a few superficial nods) for the Begger's guild, a generic gang, and the Baron's Watch. I'm open to change as long as it's for the better. This isn't.

My biggest issues with the game, and what ultimately hold it back from being a success, is that the cities empty. The sidequests are cool, but most of the time I'm just exploring an empty house; no one's home. It doesn't matter if I mess up the lockpicking or set off a trap as 9 times out of 10 it doesn't matter. There's so many loading zones! Enter a one room apartment. Pick up a frame and a ring. Leave in under 20 seconds. Load for just as much. This content just slows the game down.

Rope arrows are boring now. The pre-described nature of the game is a big issue. It's often not clear where the player can or can't move and it's lend me to multiple deaths. The audio mixing is awful. The City, while absolutely gorgeous, doesn't have much character in the readables, guard barks, backstory. A.i. breaks frequently. I've had instances where guards freeze on the spot and won't move.

The first-person animations are nicely detailed, but interrupt the game flow. After cracking a safe in tailors shop, Garrett refused to stop examining the silly earring he just nabbed. The animation was unskippable, so when the guard rounded the corner, I didn't have time to shut the safe, and he went on alert. Not cool.

I'm kind of on the fence with the exposition coming from the scenery instead of npc's in the game world. Then again, I can't stand when a stealth game makes you watch a minute long conversation between two guards before they split up and go on patrol, but the world feels a little barren as a consequence.

There's a lack of gadgets, abilities and gadgets. I like Swoop, but it's basically a grounded Blink. The rest of Garrett's abilities are essentially uniquely skinned door-openers.

Still, there are times when it comes close to being a great game.

[Nihilanth]

I don't want to act like a know-it-all type here because I haven't played the game. I've watched a number of reviews. So I'm kind of hesitant to write this post because at any point someone can come out and say "oh you haven't played it so shut up". But it can't be helped I guess.

The main problem I've seen in videos is that the game is open but very restricted. There are multiple paths but they're all very constricted and hard-coded. Instead of creating environments as playgrounds, the way an emergent game should be, it instead has very specific routes that designers strictly coded into the game.

This includes strictly defined places where the player can climb (, jump?) or shoot rope arrows, narrowing the freedom because you have to locate specific spots that can be used. Movement should NEVER be restricted like that, not to mention in a game like this. Environment should be the tool that you can use, not a set of pre-defined routes.

I've become an enemy of 'player animations' because I find it reinforced over and over that they hurt the flow of the game. Those tiny cutscenes that play whenever you do something just feel distracting to me. They're like small, quick shots thay propel me out of the immersive experience with very little benefit. Dishonored had none of those and it felt fantastic. I really don't care about seeing my hands turning a valve or something, if it hurts the immersion and the feel of the game more than it helps it.

Of course all the "let's zoom in the players view onto something to make sure they notice it" as well as fly-by cutscenes and third-person takedowns are all magnificent ways to annoy me.
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To be completely fair, there's a lot of good stuff there too. I particularly like it that one can disable each and every part of the HUD / hints as well as adjust the difficulty in every possible way, including disabling the Focus. Also, FoV slider. Generally it looks like this game is done right in terms of "Options" which is a plus.

The look of the game seems Thief'y enough and it appears to look pretty good graphically.
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Still, there're so many things that ruin the image for me that I have no intention of playing this game. It may not be a bad game. But there's enough stuff to put me off. Both as a Thief fan and a fan of FPP games in general.

[Damien_Azreal]

Anyone that has the new "Thief"....
If you played/saved your game on March 30th or the 31st, you will encounter a save game bug that will constantly reset you back to Garrett's Clocktower.

Eidos are aware of the issue, and already have a fix in the works.

Basically, it’s an issue with the mathematical calculations of time-stamps from March 30th – April 2nd, which meant systems didn’t recognise the most recent time-stamp and instead took the previous time-stamp save (re-starting the level). So if you saved your game on March 30th, you may have experienced a disruption yesterday on April 1st and if you saved your game on March 31st, you may have experienced disruption yesterday April 1st and today April 2nd.

But, basically until the fix is out don't play the game until after today, or set your PC to March 3rd to avoid the issue.
It's an odd little bug, but not the first time I've seen a time stamp cause problems in a game.