Thief Debuts To Mediocre Reviews 110
The latest title in the stealth game series Thief launched in North America yesterday for the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Windows. Reviews of the game are mixed. Rock, Paper, Shotgun's John Walker says that the story is poor, but "it matters very little, since it's only there as an excuse to link epic, intricate and hugely enjoyable levels together." He also laments the loss of a dedicated "Jump" button, noting that veterans of the series will miss it. "There are far too often obstacles that a toddler could easily scale, but Garrett won't even try, and his refusing to jump certain gaps in order to force a challenge is maddening." Polygon's review says navigating the game's open environments was fun, but "In the latter half of the game, when a glimpse of that openness was dangled in front of me once again, Thief snatched it away with murderous AI and controls that didn't feel up to the challenge." They add, "a new obsession with scripted story sequences and stealth action often leaves Thief feeling like the worst of both worlds." Giant Bomb's review is brutal, saying Thief is "a game that spends an inordinate amount of time making the player do uninteresting things while shoving the more fun stuff so far in the corner you'd be forgiven for missing most of it."
Can't please anybody (Score:1, Insightful)
Hardcore fans of the originals don't like the game because there's not enough emphasis on stealth. Reviewers and the ADHD generation hate the game because the combat is poor and there's no "I win button". It's kinda ironic seeing the hardcore fans of the originals then praising those reviews for saying the new thief is bad.
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Remember Dishonored? That not-exactly-unknown game involving a mix of stealth, exploration of a unique and vibrant gameworld, and occasionally just killing a dude up like a black-magic-powered ninja because you can?
Despite having their own supply of backstory, game world, characters, and so on, they managed to make the new Thief owe a creative debt that amounts to a second mortgage...
It's honestly a little baffling. Just smashing some updated art assets and an engine that
Let's Play (Score:5, Insightful)
Thank god for Let's plays on Youtube. If I happen to find that the reviewers are right, I don't need to buy it and if I find that I disagree, I can order it after having watched a bit of gameplay. In that case, sure, I have to replay already viewed scenes, but it doesn't top the amount of frustration I get from having spent good money on yet another crappy game...
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Hear, hear, video is a slower way of getting info, but let's you see/feel for yourself. TheDarkMod videos [youtube.com] won't necessarily pop up searching for Thief, but I've been having a blast with it, a true remake of the original...and free!
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I hate let's play guys, they are all hyperactive frustrated kids.
Certainly not all. I could give you a big list of them that aren't. Sure Pewdie and Toby are hyperactive (though they're both old enough to not be called kids), but there are many others that are not.
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Game Distributors are starting to hit live game footage with DMCA. Especially when the video has been made with leaked or pre-release copies.
This won't last.
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Thank god for Let's plays on Youtube. If I happen to find that the reviewers are right, I don't need to buy it and if I find that I disagree, I can order it after having watched a bit of gameplay. In that case, sure, I have to replay already viewed scenes, but it doesn't top the amount of frustration I get from having spent good money on yet another crappy game...
No wonder game companies are trying to get let's play videos taken down with DMCA claims.
Mediocre reviews, but the game is fine if not good (Score:2, Informative)
Let me copy over most of my post(updated with more gameplay) from blues, and yeah if you don't know what bluesnews [bluesnews.com] is, it's one of the first gaming review sites that existed. And we do have a stick up our asses over the quality and content of games.
So yeah guys, my first 3hrs of gameplay? Enjoying it quite a bit. It's more or less true to the game, and there's no shortage of lewts to grab but some of it's tricky. Only playing it on medium atm, do a true playthrough when I'm done the first run. Turning off contextual "help" and prompts makes it more challenging as well. Gameplay is fine, you don't have to use the new focus system if you don't want to. You can make the game even more challenging if you want.
To anyone who doesn't like the game? That's okay, I'm enjoying it. I'll get my $34 out of it without a doubt.
Oh and if you're looking for a x/10 rating? 3hrs in, I'd give it a solid 7.8-8.3/10 give or take. I don't mind the voice acting at all, and find the interaction so far decent.
First major map, the one that people were posting images about earlier? Not really holding true. I've so far found 4 alternate paths compared to the one taken in the video.
Oh and "non-exclusive fullscreen" listed as "exclusive fullscreen" works beautifully in win8.1x64 for alt-tabbing with zero issues, lag, slowdown/crashes or other issues. I'd be interested to hear if the same holds true in win7.
And if anyone wants to see the main map area in chapter 1 here it is.
http://imgur.com/1oN7zx5 [imgur.com]
And from NKD
I've been playing it a bit tonight and your experience mirrors my own. I just don't see what all the bitching was about. I truly don't. These horrible glaring flaws people talked about in the reviews are orders of magnitude less dire than they led us to believe. They are barely worthy of mention. Maybe if I put more hours in I'll understand, but so far so good. It doesn't even really feel like a franchise reboot, IMHO. It's just another Thief game. You'd have to set it on easiest difficulty and run around being a psycho to not get the Thief experience, and that'd be your own fault.
Looking at some of the reviews again, I feel like most of the reviewers didn't understand the point of a Thief game and they were expecting something more flashy like a Deus Ex.
On the other end of the spectrum you have the die-hard Thief "fans" who have been swearing up and down that the game was going to suck for YEARS. These guys are so invested in their own opinion that they are psychologically incapable of enjoying the game.
If I put a few more hours into the game and everything goes to hell, I'll have to change my view on the game, but like I said, so far so good.
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Yep.
Dove in on Master - and I'm actually going to start over on Custom and turn a bunch of extra hard-stuff on. Feeling right at home.
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That said, Blue's was big enough "back then" that in the early 2000's I knew who they were, what they did and of their reputation - good and bad. Blue's predates wiki-based gaming sites by maybe 15 years? Were wikis even a thing in 2000? PC gamers of old (like the ones who played the original Thief) know where to go to
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You have your credibility backwards. Blue's News predates Wikipedia by five years. It's not as big a deal as it used to be, but it's still a good news aggregator for video games. It's got useful information in a lightweight, text-focused design that doesn't arbitrarily change every 18 months.
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bluesnews has its reputation for the reason.
You mean as a site where major game develops have and still do come by to post their opinions, comments, and ideas to the community? Where you can find people from every major game developer posting there? Or that we're some of the first folks to get a "heads up" on discounts from said developers because they value the discussions and talk there. We're good without a page for a reason, it keeps the trolls and anonymous cowards at bay.
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no shortage of lewts to grab
"lewts?" Yes, that's some darn good gaming journalism there. Nothing like spelling a word incorrectly and adding Internet lols unnecessary plurals to really drive home the point. Sorry, "bluesnews," but that's an immediate turn off and I won't be visiting your site ever.
Some people don't like the slow pace (Score:4, Informative)
Some people (like toddler Alex Navarro) don't like the slow pace of these kinds of games. Web reviews are useless anyway. Youtube is a much better place to see if a game is good or not.
TotalBiscuit's review is worth watching if you want to decide for yourself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Re: Some people don't like the slow pace (Score:1)
Re:Some people don't like the slow pace (Score:4, Informative)
This really does feel as though the internet had already decided to hate the game before the game even came out.
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Very fun, I'd grab this anyway - no need for it to be an alternative to anything.
Eidos Montreal (Score:2)
I'm genuinely surprised by the lukewarm reception it's receiving, but moreso by the reports that it's rather linear and they've flubbed things like the background dialogue, given the developer. Eidos Montreal did the last Deus Ex game, and (farmed out bosses aside) it was genuinely excellent in exactly the sort of areas this game seems to have screwed up.
You just got low expectations (Score:3)
There are people who liked Deus Ex: HR but those are exactly the kind of dumbed down console players that would have hated the original Thief and for that matter the original Deus Ex. It is the same people who think Bioshock is a worthy sequel to System Shock.
That doesn't mean the new games are bad, they are just the equivelant of the current Discovery Channel to the one from a decade ago. Dumbed down and simplistic.
You can see this reflected in the universal action key, because you know how hard it is to r
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PC Gamer are "dumbed down console players"? Really? And my point is that these outlets don't seem to think Thief and DXHR are very similar games at all; with that in mind your "they are console baby manz I am real manz" scenario doesn't make any sense..
Re:You just got low expectations (Score:5, Insightful)
That is correct. Multiplatform games released for PC are often dumbed down because they are:
1. Not PC games - they are multiplatform releases
2. Expected to sell more on consoles than PCs - as a result main aspects of game design are focused on console crowd.
3. Both thief and DX:HR make very good example of this dumbing down. A lot of core mechanics of originals are simplified for reasons that they must run on a console and be aimed at console crowd. That means axing more complex features in favor of fast QTEs, simpler controls, linear or simplified tactical approach and so on.
All of these are present in thief. All of these were present in DX:HR. Both are still fun games in their own right, in part because originals were so good that even stripping them down still leaves a very good game.
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Really?
Try banished, the recently released one man job of a game. Good luck arguing it was "dumbed down".
Or try Starcraft 2.
Or LoL/DOTA2.
Or Path of Exile.
Or many of countless others.
PC gaming is alive and well because current generation of PC games (not multiplatform, but actual PC games) are heavily pushing in their own niches. By extension, that's also why they sell less - they focus on their own audience and keep the experience fairly hardcore instead of watering it down to ensure the wider appeal. Stacr
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So consolitis got more severe as the game got more sequels. This is not unusual.
Again, I'm talking about PC games. Not multiplatforms. You appear to have grabbed to "PC games" title and then assumed it means "multiplatform games also released on PC but designed for consoles". Which is strange, because I specifically draw the line in my initial post.
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You're confusing PC games with casual web/facebook games. Casual web/facebook games are the same category as phone games and designed for the same crowd and as a result typically share all the same problems, such as P2W stupidity.
In fact, as of typing this, PC market has been the most resistant one to pure P2W aspects of F2P market outside Far East. You have to have a fair F2P model if you want to go F2P on PC in the West - or you will fail hard.
Consider that several games on my list are in fact F2P. But th
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They are played on consoles as well. And on mobile devices. And on a damn fridge as long as it has a decent browser.
Refer to original post for more details, I cannot be bothered to literally copy/paste the same argument again.
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I'll state it once again: read the initial post. I will not copy/paste it.
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And D3 got all the flak it deserved, to the point of many people who bought it because it was a "blizzard game" swore off buying blizzard games without checking what it is for foreseeable future.
But the reason why I will indeed stamp your forehead with the "moron" and stop arguing is your claim that WoW is P2W. I raided actively in WoW for several years. Your argument is about as dumb and meritless as it can get. Even buying the best character you can find from an ebay seller will not make you great at aren
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You're talking hypotheticals on most of your point. I'm talking about specific game (Thief) that has all the problems I listed.
It could be because it is designed for previous gen and not next gen of consoles. It's still tiny in terms of world size, trying to hide the loading screens in the "spam E to pull up the window while we load that next level" (still doesn't work properly on PCs due to a shitty port quality, people are reporting to get loading screens in the "middle of level" all the time).
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I disagree. I like Human Revolution very much and I liked Deus Ex 1 very much, as well as Thief 1 and 2. Human Revolution is only simplistic if you play it as a shooter. If you play it as a sneaker, it is great and does capture the spirit of the original exceedingly well.
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Re:You just got low expectations (Score:4, Funny)
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There are people who liked Deus Ex: HR but those are exactly the kind of dumbed down console players that would have hated the original Thief and for that matter the original Deus Ex. It is the same people who think Bioshock is a worthy sequel to System Shock.
Stop generalizing. As a long-time "PC" gamer (I own a Mac), I've played a ton of FPS games dating all the way back to Wolfenstein 3D & Marathon. I loved the original DX, and enjoyed DX: HR quite a bit, though parts of it were disappointing. DX had a lot of replay value that HR didn't, and I hated the fact that you needed to use energy to use your melee attacks.
I never played System Shock, so I can't say if BioShock series was a worthy sequel, but I thought those were great too. They offered a lot of RPG
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System Shock 2 is available on GOG.com [gog.com] for both PC and Mac. It is one of the finest FPS/sneak/RP games you will ever play. It is still is my #1 spot.
Because I am such a wonderful person, email me (address is visible above) with a random bunch of junk text then reply to this post with the same junk and I'll gift you the game. You can be playing it in an hour...
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I agree. Maybe the best people there did Deus Ex (the bosses are fixed in the director's cut BTW and fixed well) and whoever was left got to work on Thief? From the reviews, I will rather play the original s again, then this half-backed thing.
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That certainly does seem to be the case. I assumed they would've moved the DX team over to Thief after their work was finished, but apparently not.
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Debut (Score:2)
The Dark Mod (Score:3, Interesting)
Go play The Dark Mod instead: http://www.thedarkmod.com/main... [thedarkmod.com]
Free, now standalone so despite the name you don't need Doom 3 to play it, plus it's cross-platform. You basically download missions through the in-game downloader, most of them really, really good, and get your proper Thief experience instead of the watered-down bullshit that this new Thief game provides.
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We can't do both? This is still fun, though it may not be what your nostalgia demands.
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I have no nostalgia. The most I ever played of the actual Thief games was a demo of Thief 2 back in the day and a little bit of Thief 3. But I've been playing The Dark Mod to death because of the incredible detail and the fan missions made by people who clearly love the old-school style of the games. New games are more obsessed with catering to all audiences, which makes them dilute the more interesting aspects of suck genres.
From most accounts (reviewers as well as users) this new Thief game is incompetent
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Whatever you say. I played the hell out of (and mapped for) Thief 1 and 2, T2X, Thief 3, and the Dark Mod... and I'm enjoying this latest game just fine.
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And that's great! I'm not a hater or want to prevent people have fun just because I'm not a fan of something.
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Needs a Patch (Score:2)
Right now I'm finding it unplayable, it needs a patch.
The online sign in system just doesn't work. If you go to their website it works just fine, but the game client can't log in. No error message or anything, it just sits there.
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Quad 2.6ghz Phenom II with an nvidia 460gtx, and I get 30-40fps consistently on High settings (though with SSA off, which was eating FPS like candy and providing little discernible difference in quality when FXAA was also on).
I've no idea where your Radeon stands compared to my nvidia, but I do know mine isn't new, it's been around for a while now. Same story with my CPU.
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I have the same problem on nvidia rig with 560Ti, 4 gigs of RAM and 4.2 GHz i5. Performs fine even on high settings as long as I turn SSAA off, but then it hits the HDD hard and FPS collapses. Same problem on medium. Haven't tried on low yet, but I suspect it will be the same problem again.
I suspect it's either shitty optimization or the game actually does need more than 4GB of RAM and I should just upgrade the machine.
My thoughts as a die-hard Thief fan. (Score:4, Informative)
I love all things Thief and have since the first release of Thief: The Dark Project.
What the new Thief gets right:
- Stealth. Just as good as previous iterations.
- Lock picking. Similar to what we had with Thief: Deadly Shadows.
- Rope Arrows. Only because they are back after disappearing in Deadly Shadows- Lighting & atmosphere. I think they nailed it.
- Difficulty: Oh yes... they nailed this. The Iron Man setting looks great (you die, game over. You have to restart from scratch) as well as may other great tweaks. Like turning off that stupid Focus (see below)
What the new Thief gets wrong:
- Rope Arrows. Yay, they are back, but they can only be shot into special wood beams with rope wrapped around them. The original rope arrows could be shot into almost any type of wood, even walls and many trees, allowing for great exploration.
- Focus. This is Thief, not Dishonored. Fuck off, Focus.
- Swearing and sex. I'm not a prude, but I would have liked hearing more "Taffer" and "Benny's drunk"-type talk over "fuck fuck fuck fuck" and the hot sexness in the brothel. Some of us play these games with our kids.
- Scripted actions. Escape-type scenes. Very new Tomb Raider. Maybe it's part of 'reimagining' games that these scenes seem necessary.
I'm in to the third part of the story (the brothel) and while I am loving the new Thief as a die-hard fan, there are some serious shortcomings.
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You play thief games with kids? What the f...?
Thief has always been about dark, decrepit, effectively collapsing society and attempts of higher strata of society to improve it that go very very badly wrong and you as the thief basically observing the results from level of average person, whom you rob. It's been that way in thief, in metal age and in deadly shadows. You do not play games like these with kids - these themes are exceptionally dark, adult and have a negative hit on young child's psyche.
That sai
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Were you talking about the daily news and world events? The political history of most existent countries and almost assuredly the history of those that no longer exist?
Sure, there's less metal golems and tricksie lords, but what you're describing is how the world actually seems to work. You can't shelter kids from that, and if you do, the result will be an individual incapable of dealing with reality. It'd be like living on the "Small World" ride until the age of 12 and only then being released into the
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Save your preaching, they are only games.
We play the Thief series as pure stealth games, we don't kill (except perhaps monsters). It's like grown up Hide & Seek.
The stuff in the new Thief you see in the brothel is pretty nice (for a grownup
Tell me, Freud, what is my main problem?
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It doesn't help the story, add to characterization, flesh out the setting, etc, it's just there because someone wanted to get away with it and be edgy. Except that too much of it and it just becomes stupid and puerile, actively hurting the final product
Thank you! You explained my overall dissatisfaction with it far better than I did. It didn't help or improve Thief in any way whatsoever.
Watching my son play it on PS4, I like it. (Score:2)
Watch Dogs better be good (Score:2)
and I hope they can at least get some of roads rights at least they seemed (at least in the prom videos) have a the weather channels local on the 8's looking like it's in the right area.
Game is okay (Score:1)
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I played through Dishonored several times because I was needing a stealth fix. The method of gameplay does affect the outcome but the number of those outcomes isn't huge (think Mass Effect 3's Pick-A-Colour ending). Dishonored was far too easy, I play on the hardest difficulty and ghosted it ending with a happy cutscene ending, hardest and killed everyone where plague rats ran amok and the end cutscene was rather grim and everything in between.
The Blink spell and Dark Vision spells made the game a walk i
Thief's 1/2 Magic Ingredients were.... (Score:4, Insightful)
I have played Thief 1/2/3 and over a hundred Thief 1/2 add on missions. Thief's 1/2 Magic Ingredients were....
There was sophisticated programing for Thief 1/2. Light and sound mattered to the AI. There were locks, puzzles, contraptions, levers. Garret could use the rope arrow on any wood. Garrett could swim.
Thief 1/2 were made in New England, where Thief 1/2 was made, has a marked Autumn season. Notice how many leaves are strewn about in Thief 1. As someone from New England who now lives in Northern California, I will state that it's hard to imagine how creepy it is to be in a graveyard at night around Halloween, when you are a child. In Thief 1, that graveyard, is in the middle of a haunted town that you will have to make it back through, and yes, but you still have to go under it.
There were quite a few women working at Looking Glass Studio on Thief 1/2. It wasn't made in an all-male cloistered monoculture. Women make add-on missions. Women even cos-play Garret. If you want women to buy video games, hire women.
The biggest problem with the Thief reboot is the console game culture, where games cannot require skill to play. Ref: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v... [youtube.com] You cannot move like a "Master Thief" unless you can control a character.
Sadly, Looking Glass Studio failed. Thief 1/2's (as well as SS2) biggest problem was it's graphics were very polygonal even for their time. Thief was never a breathtaking game visually, but once you got over that it didn't need to be, and that is why there will be many more missions for Thief than there will be for most newer games.
I might check out the new Thief, but for missions, I'm not expecting a mission as excellent as Ominous Bequest, or The Seven Sisters, or a story as good as Saturio Returns Home or The Bathory Campaign. I'm not expecting the care and devotion shown in Thief 2x or The Dark Mod.
Still, I hope there is enough in the reboot Thief, to go admit their faults and go on to get everything right.
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The new Thief has a similar level: a haunted asylum. It has a shock scare early on (you will predict it, too obvious) and a few chills within but isn't nearly as scary as Shalebridge, not by a longshot.
Shalebridge still freaks me out.
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As a Thief latecomer (Score:1)