Thief's Risky Reboot
The forced evolution of the franchise may do more harm than good.
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The forced evolution of the franchise may do more harm than good.
Read Full Article
Thief's Risky Reboot
- Thread starter Shamus Young
- Start date
The whole motion capture thing I had not heard of. This does not fill me with faith now. And I was do looking forward to this game.
Excellent Article. I think Robert Rath and Shamus Young are the two reasons I continue to visit the Escapist.
Are publishers and developers really buying into the whole "Incredible Technology and Polygons and Graphics equals deep characters and emotions?" These tools and devices have LONG since surpassed my expectation of quality. Motion capture, superfluous and over long cut scenes, diamond edge bajillion polygon models.. yes, they are pretty, but still, they are merely tools. If you use just a hammer when trying to carve an intricate relief or delicate statue, you are going to leave a dusty mess of worthless garbage. Far too many games are falling into this trap.
Give me rock solid mechanics, engaging gameplay, a character or two I can actually get invested in, a compelling story, and you have me hook line and sinker.
Are publishers and developers really buying into the whole "Incredible Technology and Polygons and Graphics equals deep characters and emotions?" These tools and devices have LONG since surpassed my expectation of quality. Motion capture, superfluous and over long cut scenes, diamond edge bajillion polygon models.. yes, they are pretty, but still, they are merely tools. If you use just a hammer when trying to carve an intricate relief or delicate statue, you are going to leave a dusty mess of worthless garbage. Far too many games are falling into this trap.
Give me rock solid mechanics, engaging gameplay, a character or two I can actually get invested in, a compelling story, and you have me hook line and sinker.
Game makers seemed to hit panic mode in recent years, where everyone either jumped ship to make smartphone games or decided massive budget games that wanted to be Call of Duty were the sole method of success, and the only thing in between were indie games.
Great piece as usual.
I was floored to hear on the Jimqusition the other day that Resident Evil 6 had a development staff of 600 and somehow expected that to work out. It's demented what's going on in these companies.
Great piece as usual.
I was floored to hear on the Jimqusition the other day that Resident Evil 6 had a development staff of 600 and somehow expected that to work out. It's demented what's going on in these companies.
I empathize with the Thief fans on this one. I'm not happy about the same decision being made for Splinter Cell: Blacklist. Michael Ironside IS Sam Fisher. such a shame.
So now we will need like, Hollywood actors, so they can deliver the whole performance act at once... Now that will be cheap (NOT). Really, I think it's really ok to do the game's storytelling via animations and such (important observation bellow), but heck, why no just dub over the dude doing the mo cap?
Obs: I NEVER played any Thief game, but I can totally get the argument of "the drawings gave it a special mood", however, I think they can live TOGETHER, sorta like in The Witcher, you had both animations and stylized drawings. As I said, I never played Thief, and maybe this game wouldn't work that way. All in all, I'm in favor of keep the fucking mood alive. Hitman's latest game was awesome as a game, but crap as a Hitman game, they killed the mood of being a pro assassin, in my opinion, by integrating a bunch of linear levels that only required you to get through point A to point B, or simplistic assassination missions that gave away all the neat possibilities and studying of previous games in order to enhance story (which is nice, but I don't see why they should exclude one another).
Obs: I NEVER played any Thief game, but I can totally get the argument of "the drawings gave it a special mood", however, I think they can live TOGETHER, sorta like in The Witcher, you had both animations and stylized drawings. As I said, I never played Thief, and maybe this game wouldn't work that way. All in all, I'm in favor of keep the fucking mood alive. Hitman's latest game was awesome as a game, but crap as a Hitman game, they killed the mood of being a pro assassin, in my opinion, by integrating a bunch of linear levels that only required you to get through point A to point B, or simplistic assassination missions that gave away all the neat possibilities and studying of previous games in order to enhance story (which is nice, but I don't see why they should exclude one another).
Perhaps the need to spend money on things that don't add fun to the game, is an expression of the artistic nature of the artists? I mean we are told constantly that Games are Art. Art is not meant to be fun, but rather a pursuit of the extremes of communication.
I wonder, if perhaps this isn't a mirror in the game industry - an attempt to be cutting edge in order to effectively challenge the consumer. Games as art
More likely someone built a chart that showed how every time new tech was added sales increased - especially if it differentiated the game in some way (think being able to jump or aim your gun vs. dune where it mostly auto-targeted). The chart would show that continually pouring money in would lead to ever greater sales.
Just a guess - good artical Shamus.
I wonder, if perhaps this isn't a mirror in the game industry - an attempt to be cutting edge in order to effectively challenge the consumer. Games as art
More likely someone built a chart that showed how every time new tech was added sales increased - especially if it differentiated the game in some way (think being able to jump or aim your gun vs. dune where it mostly auto-targeted). The chart would show that continually pouring money in would lead to ever greater sales.
Just a guess - good artical Shamus.
This is a great article and it makes me reexamine my thoughts on choosing a different voice actor. I was initially okay with it, because hey it's a reboot and they should be allowed to change some stuff, but Wow they are doing it so they can use the guy in stunts? That is really retarded for all the reasons you pointed out. Thief was never about Cut scenes or action it was about sneaking around, stealing stuff and shooting lots of different kinda neat arrows.
I wonder how many sales Thief will need to be successful with all these expensive cut scenes then? I mean there where like 6 cut scenes maybe in the entirety of the first two games and I don't think the games really suffered for it. Also the apparent need for a stunt actor seems to me to suggest that all the acrobatic skills Garrett supposedly now has will be largely confined to the cut scenes rather than the gameplay.
I feel you too. I haven't played Splinter Cell since Pandora Tomorrow but I can't picture any other voice for Fisher. Damn it devs stop messing with my stealth games.JUMBO PALACE said:
Personally I think its more to do with too many people in development wanting to be movie directors. Peter Jackson does it so I must do it.carpathic said:Perhaps the need to spend money on things that don't add fun to the game, is an expression of the artistic nature of the artists? I mean we are told constantly that Games are Art. Art is not meant to be fun, but rather a pursuit of the extremes of communication.
I wonder, if perhaps this isn't a mirror in the game industry - an attempt to be cutting edge in order to effectively challenge the consumer. Games as art
More likely someone built a chart that showed how every time new tech was added sales increased - especially if it differentiated the game in some way (think being able to jump or aim your gun vs. dune where it mostly auto-targeted). The chart would show that continually pouring money in would lead to ever greater sales.
Just a guess - good artical Shamus.
Spending piles of money to blow on stuff that doesn't make the game any more fun to play and alienates entrenched fan bases. Couldn't have said it better than myself.
Hubris and piles of wasted money popped the dotcom bubble and if this industry implodes, we'll know the reason why.
Hubris and piles of wasted money popped the dotcom bubble and if this industry implodes, we'll know the reason why.
I'm reminded of the Syndicate reboot; they took a critically-acclaimed RTS Shooter franchise & turned it into a bland FPS, alienating fans of the original & leaving players new to the series unimpressed
Thief was a critically acclaimed stealth game, based around going unseen, & they're turning it into something that involves motion-captured stuntmen...
Once again, I can't help but feel like publishers don't even have a clue what they're doing anymore
Thief was a critically acclaimed stealth game, based around going unseen, & they're turning it into something that involves motion-captured stuntmen...
Once again, I can't help but feel like publishers don't even have a clue what they're doing anymore
That's not quite true. I have no idea how many (if any) Tomb Raider games you've played before this reboot came along, but Lara now has three distinct incarnations with different personalities: the old Core Design one, the Legend/anniversary/underworld Lara (who arguably had waaaaaay too much personality) and the new one. The "personality" of video game characters is generally established through cutscenes, and Lara definitely had a bunch of cutscenes throughout the years. The fact that press coverage decided to ignore most of that to prop up the sexy angle is an entirely different thing. Most people are not bitching about the reboot because it was done well and the changes made to the gameplay were done in favor of going back to the original personality while trying to offer a "modern" affair. If anything, it shows that when the game design is planned in order to provide a specific experience rather than to cram as many focus-group gimmicks good things come out. Thief is being driven away from its template, not towards, and I agree with the outcry. It doesn't seem like anything is being added to benefit the series, but to add bullet points to the description, which soaring budgets as a side-effect. That's not the recipe for success.Sgt. Sykes said:
If this game even once takes away control from me to show me Garret doing flips and kicks off walls. It gets a 0. A flat fucking failure.
If you want Dishonored with cutscenes, make Dishonored with cutscenes, don't sully the Thief franchise in an attempt to get the soft heads to play it. It should be a testament to how far up their own asses these devs/publishers have stuck their heads when even Dishonored did not resort to animated cutscenes. As far as I remember every action you took as Corvo was one you made in game. When the game you are ripping off (do a frame by frame comparison of their trailers you'll see) does a better Thief than the game bearing the Thief name then things have gone FUBAR.
I hope I am wrong. I hope I am SO wrong. However HR doesn't fill me with to many confidence, as much as that was a good game it wasn't Deus Ex. I just hope the Thief reboot won't be like Shitman: Abomination.
If you want Dishonored with cutscenes, make Dishonored with cutscenes, don't sully the Thief franchise in an attempt to get the soft heads to play it. It should be a testament to how far up their own asses these devs/publishers have stuck their heads when even Dishonored did not resort to animated cutscenes. As far as I remember every action you took as Corvo was one you made in game. When the game you are ripping off (do a frame by frame comparison of their trailers you'll see) does a better Thief than the game bearing the Thief name then things have gone FUBAR.
I hope I am wrong. I hope I am SO wrong. However HR doesn't fill me with to many confidence, as much as that was a good game it wasn't Deus Ex. I just hope the Thief reboot won't be like Shitman: Abomination.