Decline Thiaf Pre-Release Thread

[SCO]

Inb4 finding needle in haystack mission.

"now we can simulate 400 million hay strands per needle"

 

[retardation]

Thief: The Dark Project is one of my favourite games ever (up there with P:T, VTM: Bloodlines and Blood), so seeing clueless people talking about Thi4f and leading its design is having a detrimental effect on quality of all my hair.
The mere fact that they are jumping on a Dishonored train is a sign this will suck immensely. Thief is a leader, not a follower.

 

[Telengard]

No, Focus is limited and has a cost. As a player you will have to manage it wisely when you accumulate it, and really think hard about when the best time is to use it.

You will need to drain the blood of the innocents in order to raise your blood meter wait until the cooldown timer ticks down before you can use your focus superpower again. Then, if you use focus for combat, you enter into bullet time Supar Thiaf mode, where everyone else slows down, allowing you to jump around and install-kill everyone at the touch of a button, with special Extreme Thiaf Mode death animations. Or you can use your limited focus for Amazing Thiaf Analaysis vision, where everything special glows, just like CSI.

And there is the crux of your choice, because Supar Thiaf mode will drain your focus bar completely. So, do you use your focus for Supar Thiaf combat mode, or for Amazing Thiaf Analaysis vision? Or do you wait around for long enough for the cooldown timer to count down and use it on both? The choice are amazing! You really have to think about how you're going to use your limited focus powers.

 

[skacky]

http://community.eidosmontreal.com/blogs/Light-Camera-Hey

Third-person climbing.

 

[Zewp]

Well, I guess I can live with 3rd person climbing as long as nothing else in the game is 3rd person.

 

[Carrion]

Well, I guess I can live with 3rd person climbing as long as nothing else in the game is 3rd person.

Screw that attitude, dude. Thief is one of the games where there's no room for compromise. If the devs come up with a crappy idea, you have to shoot it down without mercy. Object highlighting, quest compass, 3rd person camera, takedowns, whatever other stupid ideas they might come up with... seemingly minor things that could ruin even a good game. Not that these hacks could come up with a good game even if their lives depended on it, but still.

 

[Manjuice Nutella]

http://community.eidosmontreal.com/blogs/Light-Camera-Hey

Third-person climbing.

The least of this game's problems.

It's probably hard to make a dollar in this industry even with the best intentions -- especially since you have to deal with the cro-magnon audience from the very beginning. I mean

"Will fighting/combat ever be the best choice to take?"

that's what they sincerely expect and count on, you just have to cater to those saboteurs. No AAA game can be any good in this environment.

"Awesome! Thanks Nic!"

 

[DragoFireheart]

EIDOS-Montreal:

Special artifacts like this are scattered throughout Thief's levels, which Garrett using to decorate his hideout

OMG?!!!! This just gets more

Fuck the game industry.

 

[DalekFlay]

The hideout having some trophies in it is the least of the decline here, for fuck's sake.

 

[JarlFrank]

3rd person climbing? Yep, if there had been any doubt about this not being a proper Thief game, it has been eliminated now. This is not Thief in any way, and it doesn't deserve to carry this name. It just soils the legacy of Looking Glass with its filth.

 

[Tigranes]

Wait, out of all the fucked up things they're doing.... why exactly is 3rd person climbing such a big deal?

 

[DragoFireheart]

The hideout having some trophies in it is the least of the decline here, for fuck's sake.

I just read the rest.

The game industry crash can't come soon enough.

 

[DalekFlay]

Wait, out of all the fucked up things they're doing.... why exactly is 3rd person climbing such a big deal?

Some people can't stand the perspective switch, they say it kills their immersion. I don't really have a problem with it.

 

[Lyric Suite]

It does brake the immersion. It also serves no purpose whatsoever other then having to show how awesome tranny Garrett looks.

Still, no where near as bad as take downs. I seriously despise that shit. Modern devs should be subjected to torture until they accept that they should never, ever take control out of the player's hands. Fucking ever. Shit even the original Half Life minded this rule, since the player was still in control even though he couldn't directly affect the scripted events.

 

[Flanged]

More leaked artwork of Garrett's new costume:

Players can use their Focus points to utilise ThiefSpeed, ThiefStrength, or ThiefCloak for a limited time of 60 minutes, or switch dynamically between ThiefModes while in combat.

Garrett is a master thief. He never gets caught - but when he does he can suplex guards through destructible tables. Suplexing three guards in a row puts Garrett into a Kill Streak and activates his ThiefRage form.

 

[Darth Slaughter]

"CLOAK ENGAGED"

 

[DalekFlay]

Still, no where near as bad as take downs. I seriously despise that shit. Modern devs should be subjected to torture until they accept that they should never, ever take control out of the player's hands. Fucking ever. Shit even the original Half Life minded this rule, since the player was still in control even though he couldn't directly affect the scripted events.

Yeah, it's a real shame everyone praised Half-Life 2 for that and then proceeded to do the complete opposite for a decade.

 

[SCO]

Wait, out of all the fucked up things they're doing.... why exactly is 3rd person climbing such a big deal?

Thief FP consistency was a major part of it's immersion spell.

 

[Zewp]

Wait, ave they confirmed takedowns yet? I'm going to kill something if they do.

 

[J_C]

Wait, ave they confirmed takedowns yet? I'm going to kill something if they do.

They will, rest assured.

 

[Ulminati]

It's a console game. Of course there will be takedowns. They'll probably even switch to third person during the takedown to show off the (A)wesome animations.

 

[DalekFlay]

Part of me thinks "well it was tolerable in Human Revolution" and then part of me thinks "man Thief is such a different game."

Still... whatever, this game sounds fucked in all manner of ways so a collection mini-game and third-person stuff isn't going to make me set the car on fire any more than it is. Still hoping this studio can pull it out to some tolerable degree but not sound good so far.

 

[DraQ]

Modern devs should be subjected to torture until they accept that they should never, ever take control out of the player's hands. Fucking ever.

Unless the character isn't in control of themselves at the moment (knocked down, charmed, drugged, etc.), agreed.

I don't really mind takedowns *if* they are done Dishonored style - first person only (if the game is first person, not necessary in mixed perspective games like TES, though unnecessary perspective switching should still be avoided) and with possibility of being interrupted by NPCs (rather than them standing there staring, in freeze-frame mode) as well as ability to disengage from takedown if it's anything but instantaneous and you notice that shit's going wrong.

Also, they should be "narratively correct" - don't present player with more power than their character should have.
So, for example - Jensen simultaneously beating two armed dudes into submission is ok (disregarding the freeze frame and TPP problems) because he has super advanced augs with hardwired combat reflexes and shit, but having Garret ninja two guards would be just FFFFFUUUUU-.

Wait, ave they confirmed takedowns yet? I'm going to kill something if they do.

But will you do it cinematically and in third person?

Part of me thinks "well it was tolerable in Human Revolution" and then part of me thinks "man Thief is such a different game."

This, plus Jensen wasn't a tranny.*


*) Confirmed by dialogue with Pritchard.

 

[Morgoth]

It's a console game. Of course there will be takedowns. They'll probably even switch to third person during the takedown to show off the (A)wesome animations.

Not to mention all interactions will probably be heavily controlled and scripted, courtesy to newfag movie game school design.

What made the original LGS games so charming was a certain layer of sandbox feeling. The basic mechanics were in place and functioning well, but you could accidentally break them and thus become a bit more inventive. Being inventive within a game is quintessential of "fun".

Now somebody tell that to those bloody Kwan Frenchies.

 

[Ninja Destroyer]

http://gamingeverything.com/42090/thief-tons-of-details-from-game-informer/

Game Informer has a massive article about the newest Thief game in its latest issue. The next-gen title was revealed for the PlayStation 4, PC, and other next-gen platforms today.

Details cover some of the game’s sequences, mechanics, tools, and more. We’ve rounded up a bunch of content from the preview below.


Overview/opening sequence

- Garrett has been away from his hometown for a long time
- When he returns to City, he sees “a city of melting prosperity”
- Iron-fisted Baron now rules the city
- Baron crushes City’s citizens through militarized watch
- Good fortune only for the elite
- Garrett views the political chaos as a chance to get rich
- Not concerned with being the hero
- Garrett finds his way into the Stonemarket district in the back of a covered wagon
- Watches the bodies of plague victims piling up on street corners
- Guards quell small civil disputes with force
- Wealthy men stroll by with bodyguards
- “Would-be revolutionaries preach to deaf ears while men in stockades slowly waste away”
- Garrett becomes interested in a conversation between two guards talking about Eastwick, a wealthy man
- Theodore Eastwick: principle architest, richest man
- Baron commissioned Eastwick to build many of the City’s Gothic structures
- Guards say that Eastwick is visiting a pleasure house on the other side of the size
- Eastwick going to the House of Blossoms
- This is an underground cathouse serving the elite
- Gates close at midnight
- Garrett crouches behind crates, which results in a dark tint covering the screen to show that you’re hiding safely
- Bottle thrown to distract the guards, and then Garrett climbs up a pipe up the side of a building
- Garrett moves across roofs, bounds over merchant tables and under wagons, and dives through a nearby building window
- Eastwick passes through the secret entrance in the House of Blossoms
- All of the above is not a cut-scene

Next sequence

- Garrett enters the House of Blossoms undetected
- Area has rich patrons, scantily clad women who saunter by and flirt with men
- Xiao Xiao, a transvestite, greets guests
- Garrett loses Eastwick in a crowd
- Xiao Xaio notes that there is more security than usual and that anyone with something valuable can store it in his office strongbox
- Use Xiao Xiao’s logbook to determine where Eastwick has gone
- Garrett wants to get his hands on whatever is in the storngbox, so he heads to Xiao Xiao’s room
- Logbook shows Garrett which bedroom Eastwick is in
- Garrett then decides to lighten Xiao Xiao’s strongbox
- This results in a lockpicking mini-game
- Align the tumblers of a lock until it opens
- Before Garrett can crack the lock, Xiao Xiao enters

Another sequence

- Xiao Xiao enters, but Garrett rolls into a darkened corner
- Xiao Xiao doesn’t detect Garrett
- Xiao Xiao leaves to deal with a situation with one of his girls
- Garrett opens the chest and takes out a jewel-encrusted heirloom
- Garrett can’t leave the room since Xiao Xiao is just outside the door talking with the girl
- Secret button slides the wall to slide open and reveals a hidden passageway
- Garrett comes across Eastwick’s room by using the House of Blossoms’ network of backdoors
- Garrett enters the room and takes a medallion
- He then uses Focus to look at the wall Eastwick is examining
- Focus shows a mysterious symbol written on the wall in blue energy
- Symbol corresponds to one of the runes written on the medallion
- Garrett turns a band of the medallion to line up that rune with an arrow, but the medallion then begins to glow with a similar blue energy
- Four adjacent rooms show four more symbols to line up
- After the last symbol is in place, the medallion whirls and spins
- Soon after, Eastwick notices that he has been robbed and calls for help
- Garrett hears through the wall that Xiao Xiao is ordering guards to search everywhere

Last sequence

- Guards are scattered everywhere
- Garrett heads to one of the House of Blossoms’ back rooms
- He had heard two serving girls talking about a catastrophe that followed after the ventilation system was accidentally overfilled with opium
- Garrett dumps the house’s stock of opium into vents and cracks open the flue
- Everyone is sent into a deep sleep as the vapors flood the House of Blossoms
- Garrett has to hold his breath and move quick or he’ll see the same fate
- Guards circle Garrett, who retreats into the opium fog and uses his bow to fire an arrow at a statue hanging above a doorframe
- Statue falls and crushes two guards
- Another guard pins Garrett against a wall
- To buy time, Garrett enters Focus mode
- Garrett grabs the guard’s arm, jerks it back behind his soldier, eventually falls against the stone floor
- Garrett breaks free from the final guards, grapples onto a nearby vent, and rapples down into the depths of City’s sewers
AI
- Garrett isn’t a fighter
- Fighting against four or more guards in combat won’t go well
- Guards and other NPCs are aware of the level design, so they know where a person might try to hide
- Guards understand the topography of the level and which areas could be useful for hiding
- Different NPCs will look for Garrett in different ways

Gameplay mechanics

- Navigation beacon shows players where to go
- Dev. team wants players to explore environments as they see fit
- Multiple entrances and exists in each room
- Multiple options available for stealth approach
- “Focus” mechanic: has many uses, including being able to aid Garrett’s vision as he navigates through open levels
- Focus lights up the screen and highlights pipes you can climb + candles you can put out to make the room darker
- Can upgrade Focus
- Doing so will give you a bigger radius of things to see
- Fingerpints system: gives you hints on which drawers are best to look in
- Every drawer is accessible
- Can pickpocket
- Use Focus while pickpocketing to slow time and swipe up to three times as many items from others
- Can spend money to upgrade supplies and equipment at the end of each mission
- Various artifacts are scattered throughout the game’s levels
- Can use these to decorate Garrett’s hideout
- Garrett is motivated by the thrill of stealing something that others can’t take
- Focus will show a number of attack points on enemies
- Can select a point (like the chest) to do a quick push that will buy him more time to dash off into the shadows
- Can also string together a number of points to perform a more debilitating attack
- Team is trying to find a balance between making combat enjoyable and allowing players to enter combat if they want
- Major mechanics are in place

Tools

- Blackjack: use when sneaking up behind guards to knock them unconscious
- Bow: powerful, can be used outside of combat (ex: fire at a bottle in another room to lure a guard away, trigger a switch to lock the guard inside)
- Specialty Arrows: different uses; dry-ice arrow can be used to snuff flames from far away; smoke-starter arrow: cover and a distraction
- Claw: grapple attaches to certain points
General
- Garrett design made by game director Nicolas Cantin
- Garrett’s scar represents that his past has left long-lasting effects on his life
- Eidos being vague about how faithful the team is remaining to the original Thief lore
- Many of the series’ magical elements will be toned down
- “Eidos-Montreal compares game development to a high-speed train collision between art and technology.”
- Team was kept small and “stayed within the concept phase of development for a longer period of time.”
- The staff experimented with featuring a new character, making it a third-person game involving either tactical gameplay or environmental clambering (like Assassin’s Creed)
- “At one point in development, the game had so many third-to-first-person transitions that the constant camera shifting was making people sick.”
- Many experiments during first three years of development

- Can select a point (like the chest) to do a quick push that will buy him more time to dash off into the shadows
- Can also string together a number of points to perform a more debilitating attack

It's sound like Splinter Cell: Conviction to me.