The rumor mill is all a buzz with Eidos Montreal highering for for a game that begins with the letter “T”. Also one of the producer’s face book has a letter T for their photo and the T is clearly a scan from one of the Thief boxes. So, anyone excited?
I’ve enjoyed the Thief games. III was the only one I played almost all the way through. Hope 4, if its coming, will be a bit more open world than III was.
I rather liked III myself and finished it too, can’t say the same about the previous two (though I don’t regret spending the money on them by any means). Shalebridge Cradle freaked me out more than any game or movie ever has (not books though).
Instead of small connected levels I am hoping they can go with their original design for Thief III, that of a more sprawling sandbox city. That was my biggest complaint about the first, the small sizes of levels imposed by the stupid xbox.
Great news. Surely they’ll do it in more of a sandbox style, which fits really well with the first two.
I agree with Grendal’s comments on T3, the broken up levels really hurt the game. However, Shalebridge Cradle was awesome, great example of sound design in particular.
I think that game got made, it just got called Assassins Creed instead.
I was going to say ‘like Assassin’s Creed’ but that would have only meant the freedom. I definitely don’t want it borrowing anything else, at least not with out heavy addition and improvement. Thief 3 was a much better game for me where as AC was just an enormous shell with little I found interesting to do.
Hopefully either Thief 4 or AC 2 finds the game we all know is hiding in there.
I think that game got made, it just got called Assassins Creed instead.
Not even close. I think AC’s mobility is great but that’s about all I want taken from it. Sneaking around in AC is a lost cause for the most part.
I’m pretty sure the comparison was merely a cheerful bit of the good-natured sort of trolling, since the only real point of similarity is that both Garrett and Altair wear outfits with hoods.
The Assassins Creed engine with Thief gameplay could make a pretty cool game.
The Assasins Creed engine with almost any kind of gameplay would make a pretty cool game. I like Creed, but playing it I just kept on thinking what other sort of games you could get working with it.
KG
As perhaps the biggest Thief fan I know of (with the exception of Kalle), I reserve judgement on this. I will not be falsely led into ecstatics, despite my desire to be so. One on hand, I would love for the series to go on. On the other, I would hate for the series to just become a cash-in for Eidos (Fuck Eidos).
I love the Thief series. In fact, I’d probably rank the original Thief (gold version, of course) as my favorite game ever. I’ve loved the sequels, too, though I give the original the edge because I don’t think any of them has managed to match the story in the original. Three is probably my least favorite overall, though that’s a relative measure–I still think it was a wonderful game, and a few missions in three were as good as anything in the series (I’m lookin’ at you, Cradle).
So, cautiously optimistic. Between this and Fallout 3, I am very happy to have sequels in the works for two of my favorite games of all time. Now if someone would just get the rights to make Fantasy General 2…
That’s good to hear. I’m also a huge Thief fan. I absolutely loved Thief. But I thought Thief 2 was a slight step downward. I got only half-way through it though, and always keep meaning to go back and finish Thief 2 before trying Thief 3. Still, it’s good to hear that Thief 3 is still relatively well-regarded by fans of the series. (And not something like MOO3, where fans of the series like myself would rather pretend it didn’t exist rather than even acknowledge its existence).
Thief can’t be a cash-in; not enough people like it.
Thief 3’s biggest failing was the level sizes. Having multiple loads (even quick ones) during missions was a bad thing, IMHO, especially considering the amount of backtracking and back-and-forthing that you do in a typical Thief mission. But in terms of the gameplay and the writing and such, it was very much classic Thief. And the Shalebridge Cradle was very much one of the scariest Thief missions ever–I’d put it on par with the awesome cathedral levels from Thief 1.
Agreed, only other thing to mention was the lame difficulty bug which auto-scaled the game to easy difficulty on either saving or loading(forget exactly). Got patched on PC, but I played it on the Xbox where we weren’t so lucky.
But yea, besides the obvious Shalebridge highlight, most T3 levels were fantastic. The large mansion with all the kooky secret doors and pathways(and the creepy ‘Mrs. Havisham’-esque woman in the attic) was another favorite of mine.
Yeah, the level sizes were a big problem, ditto removing the rope arrows and adding those stupid climbing gloves. If you only want us to climb in certain areas, don’t put wooden beams there. The gloves are just stupid. Also, the Keeper Assassins got on my nerves. The engine, however, was sublime. After all these years (and I’m still playing Thief and Thief 2 fan missions), watching a guard walk around with their own light source (a candle) was bloody awesome. Or having them re-light candles you’d extinguished.
Plus, the textures and sound design were amazing. It’s worth playing, if you’re a fan, and it was nice to have a conclusion to the narrative.
I refuse to get excited about any Thief 4 rumours.
They finished the Thief Trilogy. What does this Thief 4 business think it’s doing?!
I’ve heard the Thief 4 rumor locally, so you can pretty much count on it being true.
It’s very much the sort of thing where Garrett-as-lead-character would be missing the point terribly, but also it’s pretty much inevitable.
Unless they get a really radical reinvention of the series.
KG
Ok, I must be the only one who prefers Thief II and considers it to be one of the greastest games ever. So be it.
Thief 4 ? Why not, but I doubt they could match the writing, atmosphere, mood and amazing audio effects of the first 2 (the 3 was good music and audio-wise but not as good, I thought). It could be good nonetheless.
I’m curious.