Tallima: This feels a lot like the last Splinter Cell. Lots of people complaining who haven't played it. But those who play it positively love it. (btw, the last SC, if you haven't played it, is a must play :D)
lettmon: Are you serious? The last Splinter Cell is nothing like Splinter Cell and that is why people hate it.
Right. It wasn't any thing like the Splinter Cells. Now, I love Splinter Cell -- the story, the gameplay, etc. But the newer Splinter Cells were quite different than their predecessors while keeping some core elements. I think that's how this Thief is going to go.
So far, I've not met anyone who's played the Splinter Cell Blacklist who has hated it. Instead, it's just a pool of people who refuse to play it b/c it's different. I'm sure some can raise their hand to differ. But what changed in that game were some story elements which provided different gameplay elements. You can still do entire missions without killing a soul. But the controls are a ton tighter, the story elements are far more engrossing and there are multiple ways to complete each mission. Instead of a stealth-only approach, you get the tools of an operative to go in many different ways to get the job done.
Is it different? Very much so. I personally like it more than all the others, but I also love the others. But I also have all the others available to me to play right now (I own all of them on various systems -- PS2, XBOX, XBOX 360 and PC). So when I want that hardcore, clunky controlled, thrilling stealth game, I can still go back to it. But Ubi changed some stuff for the later renditions and that added to the overall game pool. Now I can enjoy the old ones and new ones with different, innovative play styles.
Same with Thief. I have the other Thiefs. I can play them still today. And now I'm excited to see what new they can bring to the table. It might not have all of the best elements of the old games. But I'm okay with that. So long as the overall product works well together and they bring some innovation. We gamers tend to want to see new and exciting ways to play games that build on top of what we are familiar with. I think Thief will fit it from what I've seen.
That said, sometimes innovation sucks. We've seen that a hundred times over. I'm hoping Thief dodges the suck and builds a new idea for what I think is one of the most brilliant IPs to ever grace the market.