But load screens should not even be an issue anymore. I have played bigger games on both the PS3 and PS4 (Uncharted, GTA, Infamous etc), and they never really have any load screens once the game starts as they do a massive load up at the start of the game, and any other loading is pretty much done in the background while they play cutscenes etc.
What Thief has done is move backwards in time.
I agree, to a point. I'm not saying that Thief DIDN'T drop the ball, but in terms of load screens, I can see justification for some titles to still rely on them.
All the bigger (typically open-world) games you mention also have some noticeably short draw distances/severe pop-up, and I've noticed they also tend to be more prone to batshit crazy bugs and clipping errors. In fact, I think the only "open world" game I've played that didn't have any sort of clipping issues was Far Cry 3, but even then, the AI would regularly lose its shit, especially if an NPC was behind the wheel.
The rendering shortcomings seem minor until you're hauling ass in any especially fast vehicle, in which case you appear to be speeding through a barren wasteland with random shit sprouting out of nowhere.
I will concede that some games do a great job of eliminating load screens and not having all the draw distance issues, but they're generally set in mostly confined spaces. Dead Space 2 is probably the greatest example I can think of; I never saw any pop-up or any issues with texture rendering, but with the exception of starting the game and dying (often) there were no load screens.
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