Thief Project Lead Says a New Game Needs New Combat

[seditary]

Every thing they show and say about the new Thief makes it look worse and worse and themselves more and more clueless.

'The swordplay of Thief doesn't work anymore, so we're going to add in things that are as old or older than the last Thief game to make it modern!'

GTFO.

 

[Ace Morologist]

You know what'll make this a real Thief game?

Snarky thief named Garret.
World in which medieval technocrat masons called Hammerites are constantly at war with weird-talking, magical naturalists called Pagans.
Mysterious be-cloaked Keepers playing both sides against each other for reasons of their own.
The ABILITY to sneak around completely unseen grabbing all the loot in some rich guy's mansion or place of work.

That's really it. That's Thief. Everything else (the combat mechanics, Garret's voice, Focus...) is just window dressing. That stuff changes from generation to generation all the time. It's supposed to. So settle down. If you loved Thief and Thief 2 and Thief: Deadly Shadows, give this game a shot. You might like it. You might love it.

But, if these things you're hearing about (months and months ahead of release) are too much of a deal-breaker, do us a favor: take your hateful, poisonous cynicism and sit on it. You're not doing anyone any favors spraying it uselessly all over these threads.

(Just like I'm not helping with posts like this. See how it works?)

--Morology!

 

[Ishal]

Lets have combat in a game that isn't about combat...

Wuzzat? ... Wuzzat? Thief =/= Assassin? WELL THAT WON'T SELL AT ALL. NO SIR.

If I've learned anything in the past year or so the amount of rage/dissatisfaction shown by gamers on forums is a decent indicator on how a game will sell.

1) Game reboot announced
2) Gamers mad/unsure
3) Game being "made to appeal to broader demographic"
4) Gamers rage
5) Game is fundamentally changed from what it once was
6) Gamers rage
7) Game sells gangbusters.

Not every gamer does their research online or knows about how the franchise originally started (or is online at all, or is over 15, etc.). I was surprised how much anger Microsoft conjured up so I have no idea which is the majority.

The majority that these games are being changed to cater to don't, you are correct. It is my personal opinion that they won't look at the new Thief game because its not Skyrim, CoD, or Madden. I've held for a while that this mass market doesn't exist in the world publishers and marketing imagines it does.

My point was basically about internet rage not meaning much in the grand scheme of things. All that rage over Diablo 3? It's the top selling game on Amazon, of all time. Or at least it was when I last checked.

I am surprised Xbox conjured so much anger as well... I owe to mainstream TV like Lewis Black on The Daily Show taking the piss out of the Kinect and Jimmy Falon throwing his lot in with PS4. Your average gamer likely watches those shows and might change their minds based on what they see there.

 

[Quellist]

I just want to groin punch this guy over and over. Just fucking admit the only thing Thief 4 will share with the other games is a fucking title!

QTE? Bullet Time? This fuckwit doesnt have the barest understanding of what the Thief franchise was all about.

 

[Mr Companion]

I love the idea of them sitting there playing the original and saying
'But its like, really HARD you know? Its ridiculous, I cant even beat a fully armored soldier by myself! It feels like im playing some scrawny guy or something. Its like they didn't even WANT me to fight these guys!"

 

[Evonisia]

QTEs, ok that's just a bad decision, and I can think of no positive for it in a game like Thief.

The combat is crap because you're not supposed to fight head on. This is why Dishonored fails to live up to Thief, it puts too much emphasis on the combat instead of the stealthing it, and especially in Thief stealthing it is the whole point.

Bullet time... ok, I give up on believing Thief 4 will live up to any of the originals.

 

[Nazulu]

Lets have combat in a game that isn't about combat...

Wuzzat? ... Wuzzat? Thief =/= Assassin? WELL THAT WON'T SELL AT ALL. NO SIR.

If I've learned anything in the past year or so the amount of rage/dissatisfaction shown by gamers on forums is a decent indicator on how a game will sell.

1) Game reboot announced
2) Gamers mad/unsure
3) Game being "made to appeal to broader demographic"
4) Gamers rage
5) Game is fundamentally changed from what it once was
6) Gamers rage
7) Game sells gangbusters.

Not every gamer does their research online or knows about how the franchise originally started (or is online at all, or is over 15, etc.). I was surprised how much anger Microsoft conjured up so I have no idea which is the majority.

The majority that these games are being changed to cater to don't, you are correct. It is my personal opinion that they won't look at the new Thief game because its not Skyrim, CoD, or Madden. I've held for a while that this mass market doesn't exist in the world publishers and marketing imagines it does.

My point was basically about internet rage not meaning much in the grand scheme of things. All that rage over Diablo 3? It's the top selling game on Amazon, of all time. Or at least it was when I last checked.

I am surprised Xbox conjured so much anger as well... I owe to mainstream TV like Lewis Black on The Daily Show taking the piss out of the Kinect and Jimmy Falon throwing his lot in with PS4. Your average gamer likely watches those shows and might change their minds based on what they see there.

You basically just repeated my point.

Diablo is a very popular name since D 1 & 2 are classics (because they're good games) and so many people were just going to get it because they believed in the name (this is why they keep reviving franchises). Then there was much rage from the people who actually read up on it and realised the DRM and stupid changes but it wasn't enough. However, the rage did end up biting Blizzard on the ass when so many people couldn't connect for awhile or found the stupid changes when they saw it for themselves.

 

[Giftmacher]

Modernising, ok I can take that. QTE and bullet time though? Is there anything more tedious and hackneyed? QTE in particular is a crap game mechanic. If I want to play whack-a-mole, I'll go play whack-a-mole, don't cram the stupid thing into a game for want of a decent combat mechanic.

Otherwise I've nothing to add that not been said. Combat wasn't supposed to be easy in Thief; the mechanic worked as intended (which was very well thank you).

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

No, a new Thief game does NOT NEED COMBAT. It needs STEALTH. Give us plates to avoid stepping on, ledges to shimmy along, alarms to avoid triggering, portcullises to roll under, torches to douse, patrols to avoid and rafters from which drop.

Can someone just re-assemble Looking Glass Studios and have them make it? I love the original Thief games dearly, but as Hitman: Absolution did to that series, I really fear Thi4f will do the same. Every new "reveal", discussion and news bite makes me fear for it more, not get more excited.

Also take your QTEs out of the game. They suck in every incarnation. Lazy, uninspired game design for morons. The One-Button takedowns in DE:HR was easily one of the worst features in that game.

 

[Hazy]

While the new combat design doesn't sound terrible, they're pushing it on a game that was never about the combat.
The +40 XP headshot indicators alone show that they really don't understand what this series is about.