But if the AI isn't *drastically* improved from Invisible War, I think I will stay far, far away from this one...
The noncombat AI wasn't actually that bad, fairly good even. It was the combat AI that sucked ass. Since the only real combat instructions that are needed in a Thief game are "Run to Garret, Swing Sword" I'm not too concerned about the AI. While the 3rd person perspective is a bit disconcerting given Thiefs roots, it seems to me like it would take hardly anytime to implement and would likely increase the appeal of the game to those whose only experiece with stealth games is Splinter Cell. As long as it's optional, it doesn't bother me too much.