Zero Punctuation: Thief - Stealing a Classic
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
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I think they really tried to find some excuse to take Garret wherever the hell they wanted. I was right when I put the pieces together and found out the 'old' Garret is actually another thief entirely who may or may not have died in an asylum hundreds of game years ago. This 'new' Garret is by coincidence a thief with a special eye(not mechanical this time) so I guess that makes changing him okay...at least according to Eidos.
Give it a few months and this game will be forgotten about. Most likely scenario it will have a solid first week of sales (as seem to be the case), but then very quickly slump and ultimately not meet the ludicrous expectations set by Square-Enix, and within a year from now no one will be playing this while people will still be playing fan missions for Thief 1-3 and The Dark Mod.
Also, I'm pretty sure this game was doomed to fail the second they decided to release it for both past gen and new gen consoles; Releasing it for one gen exclusively wouldn't have saved the story from being rubbish, but at least the gameplay would've felt a lot more focused and the technical issues would've most likely not been as present.
But that pretty much IS most of his review - he even admits it himself that he cannot give the game a fair treatment instead of comparing everything to Thief 2. Some of his criticisms are spot on but most of them are just "this is different than Thief 2".themilo504 said:
And at least they had the decency to go back and fix the bosses, this is just unsalvageable.Shalok said:
After Deus Ex HR I thought Eidos had it figuered out. The formula for Deus Ex was clear - more Deus Ex 1, less Deus Ex 2. And using that formula they made a great game.
For Thief the formula was similarly clear - more Thief 2, less Thief 3. And yet not only did they go above and beyond the flaws of Thief 3, they inexplicably shat all over most things that made any of the Thief games good in a quest for AAA mainstream idiocy.
What series can Eidos ruin next?
Thief 4 is filled with the latter.
For Thief the formula was similarly clear - more Thief 2, less Thief 3. And yet not only did they go above and beyond the flaws of Thief 3, they inexplicably shat all over most things that made any of the Thief games good in a quest for AAA mainstream idiocy.
What series can Eidos ruin next?
There is a huge difference between "This is different than Thief 2" and "Thief 2 did this correctly, Thief 4 did this wrong."mavrik said:
Thief 4 is filled with the latter.
And you don't think that's a sign that the AAA industry is getting worse? Well Publishers are getting worse anyway.themutantlizard said:
And incidentally I wish people would stop using the word "rip off" You want to see and example of a rip off? Go look up "Ki Fighters" on the Google App Store. THAT'S a rip off.
Haha! That was definately the only highlight for me too.Marik Bentusi said:
Im glad he didnt dwell on the story so much for this, as the technical shortcomings are the real problem with this game. Every damn time i was sneaking about and some person started talking real loud as if they were right behind me, id shit a brick thinking i needed to hide...but 90% of the time i could never even find where it was coming from! A thief who couldnt find a talking guard when he is bloody well trying to, is a serious fckin problem!
Oh and im surprised yahtzee didnt mention the 'free running' in this game.
Am i the only person who saw an enticing ledge to jump to, above the streets...build up some speed while entrusting their life to THAT button that works so well in any other free running game, only for Garret to just plop off the ledge without even TRYING to jump, so he'd land squarely in front of some rather pleased guards. Or die upon landing.
Cheers, free running mechanic...you have done a very gd job at pissing me off yet again!
Needless to say, i do not own the game anymore and i have no intention of doing so again. Now where did i put dish-onoured?
I almost feel bad for all of the quotes that the developers made about the game towards fans of the series. They had to know that their studio was doomed. All they could do is recite the lines from the marketing department and wait for the collapse.
I find it funny that Console multiplayer shooters are becoming the only reason for AAA to exist. I am not even a fan of those but they are the only time that a game benefits from the AAA machine. Since stealth is dead, I predict that the third person shooter is the next to go. The only thing that AAA devs seem to want to do with those is turn them into movies.
I find it funny that Console multiplayer shooters are becoming the only reason for AAA to exist. I am not even a fan of those but they are the only time that a game benefits from the AAA machine. Since stealth is dead, I predict that the third person shooter is the next to go. The only thing that AAA devs seem to want to do with those is turn them into movies.
Once again, Yahtzee calls out the AAA game industry for rebooting a beloved franchise and messing it up royally. I mean, come on, they didn't even try to change the title? Can't you guys be arsed to slap the word "origins" or "begins" or something?! And this latest Thief is made by the same studios who made that Deus Ex prequel, Human Revolution.
Fixed that for you. That is one reboot Bob is stubbornly refusing to let go of his hatred for.Adept Mechanicus said:
Getting on-topic, I've been watching my roommate play and he seems to be enjoying the heck out of the game. Not saying Yahtzee's wrong, I'm just not going to go by his gospel this time.
So... just play Dishonored I guess? Seriously, that was surprisingly bitter. Haven't heard Yahtzee this mad in awhile. Sure, he's sadly complacent towards games he hates (CoD) yet this was legitimate bile.
A linear thief-based game on paper really does lend itself to more open gameplay, regardless of past games.
A linear thief-based game on paper really does lend itself to more open gameplay, regardless of past games.
Alright, so I'm squarely in the pleased minority, then. I didn't have terribly high expectations and never really bothered with Thief's universe or lore precisely because it justaposed extreme Victorian squalor with dry wit (which made me eye-roll even way back during my Thief Gold years). The gameplay is solid enough in the new title, the only thing that's bothering me being the way the plot is told.
I'll admit it's a rushed product with a lot of confusion perceptible in the final stretches, but a quick look at a postmortem from Eidos Montreal reveals that it's precisely what it is. The studio was torn between those who *had* played the older titles and had some expectations, and those who hadn't and who wanted to make the old title accessible to, let's face it, an increasingly action-oriented public.
At the very least, it feels less pretentious to me than Dishonored was, largely because all Thief titles allow me to make mistakes. The Pacifist route route in Dishonored is disappointingly unforgiving.
I'll admit it's a rushed product with a lot of confusion perceptible in the final stretches, but a quick look at a postmortem from Eidos Montreal reveals that it's precisely what it is. The studio was torn between those who *had* played the older titles and had some expectations, and those who hadn't and who wanted to make the old title accessible to, let's face it, an increasingly action-oriented public.
At the very least, it feels less pretentious to me than Dishonored was, largely because all Thief titles allow me to make mistakes. The Pacifist route route in Dishonored is disappointingly unforgiving.
I got a coupon for a free Redbox game rental last week, so I decided to give the 360 version a try. I thought the controls were clunky, the level design was far too linear, and if you turn off the options to outline interactive objects and display button prompts there is no way to tell if an object is interactive until you go up to it and mash the X button. In speaking of mashing the X button, who's idea was it to make that necessary every time you wanted to open a window? And if they were going to half-ass the Rope Arrows, they may as well have not even included them. AND WHY IS THERE NO TAFFING JUMP BUTTON?!
