D'Astrous says Square Enix was excited to contribute, also expressing interest in Thfourteeneff. It should provide a nice change of scenery for Square Enix, though we're sure it'll find a spot to squeeze in a silver-haired, effeminate hero or three.
Square Enix doing CG cinematics for Deus Ex 3, interested in Thief 4
by David Hinkle 
on Nov 24th 2009 4:39PM
34
D'Astrous says Square Enix was excited to contribute, also expressing interest in Thfourteeneff. It should provide a nice change of scenery for Square Enix, though we're sure it'll find a spot to squeeze in a silver-haired, effeminate hero or three.
Reader Comments (34)
Posted: Nov 24th 2009 4:51PM Axcalibur said
I am a big fan of the Deus Ex and Thief franchises, so this news is exciting for me!
Thief is the greatest "stealth" first person franchise ever, period. The only problem I've ever had with the Thief franchise is sometimes the story gets a little weird near the end of all three games (a little TOO mystical).
Fingers are crossed that both these games see a release next year. I'd also love to see a "HD" remake of some of the earlier games (Thief 1 and 2, and the first Deus Ex) in either franchise released on PSN or XBLA.
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Thief is the greatest "stealth" first person franchise ever, period. The only problem I've ever had with the Thief franchise is sometimes the story gets a little weird near the end of all three games (a little TOO mystical).
Fingers are crossed that both these games see a release next year. I'd also love to see a "HD" remake of some of the earlier games (Thief 1 and 2, and the first Deus Ex) in either franchise released on PSN or XBLA.
Posted: Nov 24th 2009 5:06PM AoE said
That's easy to say; I'm pretty sure it's also the ONLY stealth first person franchise... the stealth genre by and large are 3rd person games. Either way, one of the best stealth franchises... but I'm pretty certain if you factor in the entire stealth genre, and not just first person stealth, you'll find that as of Blood Money Hitman has cemented itself as the greatest of all stealth franchises... we'll see what Ubi does with Splinter Cell Conviction though.
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Posted: Nov 24th 2009 6:22PM Granger said
Blood Money was alright, but it was way too linear. Going full stealth was more of a chore than a gratifying experience. Nothing tops the satisfaction of 100%ing a mission on Chaos Theory. Ironside had some excellent dialogue in CT as well, some of my favorite back-and-forth from any game character... Had that personality Hitman games are severely lacking when Jesper Kyd isn't playing.
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Posted: Nov 24th 2009 7:09PM aughscreennames said
Chronicles of Riddick is a first person stealth game, its surprisingly not bad. Hitman isnt even in the top 5, Bloodmoney was an alright game but still probably one of the worst stealth games Ive played and one of the lowest rated. I dont know where you found that Blood Money is the best stealth game, its not in the same league as most of the others.
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Posted: Nov 24th 2009 7:33PM AoE said
@Eh,
From personal experience. Stealth is one of my very favorite genres, and I tend to play them all, even the bad ones (Velvet Assassin, anyone?). I know the Hitman series has some control issues, but Blood Money was an absolute gem of a game. I'm not sure what Granger was smoking when he played it that he found the game to be "too linear." I have yet to play another stealth game that gave one quite as much freedom of choice when it came to accomplishing mission objectives.
As for the Chronicles of Riddick? It was a decent game... but there was so much combat that you absolutely had to participate in that I never really thought of it as a stealth game. I guess if we're calling it a stealth game now it's a pretty shitty one because of all of the required openly aggressive combat.
Anyhow, back to Blood Money. My reasoning is simple, you have complete freedom in how you choose to accomplish your mission, and for the most part fairly open levels. The enemy AI is pretty good to boot. What I look for in a stealth game is that feeling of hunting/stalking prey... the best entries in the genre give you this feeling strongly imo, and I can't think of one that inspires it more in me than Hitman.
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From personal experience. Stealth is one of my very favorite genres, and I tend to play them all, even the bad ones (Velvet Assassin, anyone?). I know the Hitman series has some control issues, but Blood Money was an absolute gem of a game. I'm not sure what Granger was smoking when he played it that he found the game to be "too linear." I have yet to play another stealth game that gave one quite as much freedom of choice when it came to accomplishing mission objectives.
As for the Chronicles of Riddick? It was a decent game... but there was so much combat that you absolutely had to participate in that I never really thought of it as a stealth game. I guess if we're calling it a stealth game now it's a pretty shitty one because of all of the required openly aggressive combat.
Anyhow, back to Blood Money. My reasoning is simple, you have complete freedom in how you choose to accomplish your mission, and for the most part fairly open levels. The enemy AI is pretty good to boot. What I look for in a stealth game is that feeling of hunting/stalking prey... the best entries in the genre give you this feeling strongly imo, and I can't think of one that inspires it more in me than Hitman.
Posted: Nov 24th 2009 4:57PM Aerothorn said
Deus Ex, I'm okay with - Square could do some nice stuff with that.
But thief? No. I know that Rustmonkey Productions is no longer in business, and so it's a given that the (totally awesome) cutscene aesthetic is likely to change, but Square has absolutely zero experience doing that kind of animation (traditionally animated stills combined with live-action rotoscoping). It's not that it's beyond their technical capabilities - I just sincerely doubt they'll make the artistic decision to learn the new techniques required to do it. Bummer.
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But thief? No. I know that Rustmonkey Productions is no longer in business, and so it's a given that the (totally awesome) cutscene aesthetic is likely to change, but Square has absolutely zero experience doing that kind of animation (traditionally animated stills combined with live-action rotoscoping). It's not that it's beyond their technical capabilities - I just sincerely doubt they'll make the artistic decision to learn the new techniques required to do it. Bummer.
Posted: Nov 24th 2009 6:01PM fadeoutagain2784 said
Well... usually if a company has no one with experience in a particular field, they go out and look for someone who does. And I really doubt the of all the minds at S.E. there's not a single person with experience creating that sort of animation... just because it's not utilized in their trademark series doesn't mean they have "zero experience" with it. S.E. are masters of CG - don't fret, I'm sure these games will have some damn beautiful cutscenes.
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Posted: Nov 24th 2009 6:54PM (Unverified) said
I hope you're not- Get the hell out of here, Cloud!
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Posted: Nov 24th 2009 6:06PM Aerothorn said
I'm not worried that the cutscenes won't be BEAUTIFUL. I worry that they won't mesh with the game's aesthetic.
Also, I assume this "farming out" means farming out the visual production, NOT the narrative/scripts of the cutscenes. Otherwise that brings in additional problems, because regardless of what you think of Square they show no evidence of housing writers capable of emulating the Thief style.
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Also, I assume this "farming out" means farming out the visual production, NOT the narrative/scripts of the cutscenes. Otherwise that brings in additional problems, because regardless of what you think of Square they show no evidence of housing writers capable of emulating the Thief style.
Posted: Nov 24th 2009 6:22PM rahmenxnoodles69 said
Awesome! SE should do the CG sequences for more games :]
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Posted: Nov 24th 2009 6:22PM SnatchTease said
Square Enix really needs to catch up with the times and current events. Smoking ain't cool or bad ass anymore, for we all know that it's for a lack of self control.
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Posted: Nov 24th 2009 6:24PM SnatchTease said
Yes, I greatly appreciate the irony in my profile pic.
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Posted: Nov 24th 2009 6:25PM (Unverified) said
EPIC!!! Now I can watch final fantasy grade cinematics without suffering through turn-based gameplay!! (sorry, just a preference)
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Posted: Nov 24th 2009 7:15PM (Unverified) said
Am I the only one that doesn't care about CG anymore? I would much rather see in-engine cinematics
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Posted: Nov 24th 2009 8:36PM KeenCommander said
I think Square Enix will probably do a great job with this, for what it is, but am I the only one who thinks that having CG cutscenes in a Deus Ex game is a bad idea? I don't want another Invisible War where the couple of cutscenes are the coolest part of the game and the playable bits pale by comparison. Granted, there were a lot of other things wrong with that game - but the first Deus Ex's engine cinematics still hold up well IMO, other than the awful teeth, and with modern tech there's just no good reason not to do in game for this type of game.
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