Thief Launch Trailer Heralds Garrett's New Arrival

[Andy Chalk]

Thief Launch Trailer Heralds Garrett's New Arrival

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The Thief launch trailer is finally here, and it's everything I expected.

I've been ragging on Thief for quite awhile now, sometimes in jest and sometimes not so much, but with the game just a few days away I wanted to approach the launch trailer with an open mind and a fresh perspective. Forget everything that's gone before, I thought, and give this teaser for a bold, brand-new game an honest chance to rock my world!

And then it opened with Garrett being delivered to his mission by a man in a boat, a wizened and reserved soul counseling caution as the master thief stepped onto shore, and I thought to myself, well, that makes sense.

Look, I'll admit it: I'm heavily biased by my fanboyishness toward the first two Thief games and I haven't played this one so I have no idea what's in store. For all I know it might be great. It might be even better than Deus Ex: Human Revolution, which as a modern-day follow-up to a classic and much-loved game is probably about as good as anyone can reasonably expect.

But it's impossible to overlook the great many similarities between this new Thief and Dishonored, which seem to grow more obvious with every new trailer. And even if you look past that, Garrett as a magically-powered hero on a journey to save The City just doesn't fit with his well-established history as a guy who really doesn't care about The City at all except as a good place to earn a living. And amnesia? Really? This is what you're going with?

Again, bear in mind that this is all coming from an unhappy fanboy who has no basis for his opinions beyond the trailers and articles that plenty of other people have seen and liked, and take it for what it's worth. Thief may well be outstanding, and in fact if it wasn't for the previous three games in the franchise (plus, I suppose, Dishonored) I'd probably be very excited for it. But if you're going to base a new game on an old franchise with a die-hard fanbase, you better do it right - and you better make sure people know you're doing it right. And in that regard, Eidos Montreal has really dropped the ball.

Thief comes out on February 25 for the Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PC.


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[Drizzitdude]

Not going to lie, I loved the previous thief games and this one actually looks like it is shaping up pretty well in my opinion. I can't wait to give it a try and see how it lives up to the predecessors and I am honestly just glad they decided to make a new addition to the series. I thought dishonored was going to be the closest thing I would get to a new thief game but I think I am not alone when I say I hope this game will turn out to be great.

 

[Zaydin]

I'm cautiously optimistic about this; Eidos Montreal did a pretty good job with Deus Ex: Human Revolution, after all, and from the articles I've read, they've been listening to fan feedback about some of the choices they had made about the game and adjusted accordingly.

 

[Phrozenflame500]

There was a leaked copy streaming on Twitch for a while yesterday.

The AI was pretty bad, there were weird missing sound effects at places and the writing was hilarious, not in a good way. Also it looked like the levels were pretty linear, but hard to tell when you aren't playing.

 

[RJ Dalton]

As an unhappy fanboy, I also share your concerns. The biggest problem I have so far is mostly that it seems like they're trying to romanticize Garret. What was fun about Garret was how utterly and cynically unromanticized he was. He didn't steal because it "made him free," he stole because the rent was due and his landlord was scarier than the Hammerites. Sure, he took some pride in knowing he was good at it and he disliked killing because he saw it as the mark of an amateur, but you never got a sense that he ever felt it was somehow a good thing, or that he wanted to do it forever (he frequently talks about retiring), or spouted any kind of Zen-like bullshit you see in the trailers. That's what bothers me most.

 

[sageoftruth]

Well, this certainly told me a lot about their marketing department. I'm going to cross my fingers and hope the devs know who they're releasing this game to better than the marketers do.

 

[Eiv]

Im so glad they didn't buff out Garret. I was really fearing a Chris Redfield situation. He actually looks nimble and agile. Glad I pre-ordered this (most of the time I'm dubious about pre-orders). Yes he is slightly more philosophical, old age does that to you

 

[Blunderboy]

"Oh that looks passable for a thief game I guess..."

*dat wrist mounted crossbow*

 

[Ace Morologist]

Not the trailer I would've written if I were trying to sell this game to older fans of the series. Then again, maybe they weren't. I don't know.

I hope against hope that gameplay is all about Garrett using tools and weapons to creep and steal, with no extranormal abilities, like it was in The Dark Project. If it's not, though, I hope it's at least a good game on its own. I mean, Dishonored is like Thief except the main character has extranormal powers, and I'm liking THAT game all right. If Thief isn't like it used to be, I hope I can at least like it like I like Dishonored.

--Morology!

PS: If it were me, I would've had the trailer focus on Garrett taking a job stealing something, gameplay of Garrett sneaking, gameplay of Garrett solving an in-game puzzle, Garrett saying something snarky to show his disinterest in the background events (which we know he'll get swept up in anyway), and some of how that thief-taker dude relentlessly pursues Garrett (in cut-scene footage or in-game). You know, thief stuff. I'd leave the background magic and politics for players to discover on their own in game (the way I did when I first played Thief).

 

[L34dP1LL]

"Oh that looks passable for a thief game I guess..."

*dat wrist mounted crossbow*

Well, the mechanist crossbow guard is basically the same thing.

Spoiler

 

[Blunderboy]

"Oh that looks passable for a thief game I guess..."

*dat wrist mounted crossbow*

Well, the mechanist crossbow guard is basically the same thing.

Spoiler

Not really, that's just a small crossbow. Which works and makes sense.
But a wrist mounted one? That's just causing more problems then it could ever solve.

 

[Mike000]

Not as many problems as trying to climb through windows with a full-sized bow should have been in the earlier games.
And if you can make coal-fired steam-engine robots, then a wrist-crossbow shouldn't be a problem.
edit: not to mention the steampunk cyber-eye he used to have.

 

[wetfart]

"Do you believe in ghosts?"

"Well, considering there's an entire section of the city walled off because of rampaging undead and problems with both the Hammerite and city crpyts I'm gonna have to say ... no?"

What a kitten question to ask. Because, amnesia nonsense aside, it's not like Garret hasn't had any experience with ghosts, supernatural buildings, the undead and gods....

I hope they establish early on that this apprentice is the girl at the end of TDS. I want to see if this game somehow ties back into the last three games. Yea, the Keepers fell but then what? Where there riots in the streets when everyone realized that they were being manipulated? Did the keepers attempt to regain their power? Where are the Hammerites and Pagans? Is this new cult related at all to those orders?

I'm sorry but the devs haven't won me over.

 

[2fish]

I want to know 2 things when this comes out.

How is it as a stealth game about stealing?

and

How is it as a thief game?

If it is a good game but not a good thief game I may still buy it but not for full price. It has to beat/match thief DS to be considered for full price (I know it won't beat/match metal age).

 

[Shocksplicer]

"Do you believe in ghosts?"

"Well, considering there's an entire section of the city walled off because of rampaging undead and problems with both the Hammerite and city crpyts I'm gonna have to say ... no?"

What a kitten question to ask. Because, amnesia nonsense aside, it's not like Garret hasn't had any experience with ghosts, supernatural buildings, the undead and gods....

I hope they establish early on that this apprentice is the girl at the end of TDS. I want to see if this game somehow ties back into the last three games. Yea, the Keepers fell but then what? Where there riots in the streets when everyone realized that they were being manipulated? Did the keepers attempt to regain their power? Where are the Hammerites and Pagans? Is this new cult related at all to those orders?

I'm sorry but the devs haven't won me over.

It's a reboot. No connection whatsoever to the previous games.

OT: As a massive Thief fan, I'm still unsure about this. I'm going to get it at launch, but I'm definitely reserving the right to return it if it's rubbish.

 

[Mikocracy]

The reason it seems to similar to Dishonored is because Dishonored was essentially a modern remake of Thief with focus shifted from Theft to Murder. Obviously the modern reboot is going to be very similar to the modern remake.

Though to be fair, I don't have any Thief brand Nostalgia Goggles, so my opinion probably doesn't matter here.

 

[Sonicron]

Played the previous Thief games, loved them.
Played Dishonored, liked it.
Watched a couple of trailers for this game, looks promising.

Yes, it has the potential to gargle ball sweat. It might also be really good, though. Why can't people just rip the nostalgia shades from their eyes for a few hours and give this new game an honest chance?
The collective internet butthurt over a perceived lack of fidelity to established source material is already reaching ridiculous levels, and sadly I'm not surprised. It's the same thing as with a lot of superhero movies, where millions of raging nerds will rip a flic to shreds because a few stray costume fibers are the wrong color. :\

 

[SamTheNewb]

It's a reboot. No connection whatsoever to the previous games.

I know they have said that, but they have said a lot of things before and clearly have backtracked on them. I just can't shake the feeling that they are keeping something in secret.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=of_3FxnsCZc#t=114

 

[Shocksplicer]

It's a reboot. No connection whatsoever to the previous games.

I know they have said that, but they have said a lot of things before and clearly have backtracked on them. I just can't shake the feeling that they are keeping something in secret.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=of_3FxnsCZc#t=114

It's a different Garret in a different City, there really isn't any getting past it.