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[Loudninja]

WHAT?! Thank you!

Yep you activate it on one account it will work on all others on your PS3.

All the PS passes are like that.

Seconded. Finished it earlier on Hard.

The combination of the change in aiming mechanics and the overall unresponsiveness of hit detection for enemies, not to mention a few sections that were flat out cheap, really killed a lot of the excitement. That, and the overall encounters were oddly designed--some things you can take cover around, sometimes too much (so instead of roll, you just stuck on a wall), sometimes too little (everyone fire all guns and throw grenades at once!).

Really the first time that I felt like I didn't have total control of Drake.
I'll also say that way, way too much control was taken away from me during gameplay.

This is an 8/10 for me. U2's shooting and encounter designs were much, much better.

Looking everything that's happened, it really does feel like it was rushed.

Biggest gripe - Priority pickup. Quite a few times during the game, I'd try to throw back a grenade, only to pick one weap--no, the nade---no, the nade--*BOOM*

"You LOSE!" -.-

Why didn't you wait for the patch?

Also aren't you more in control of drake more than any other Uncharted game?

 

[Thunderbear]

Huh, the game has gotten a lot better the further in I am. Loved the opening and most of the first chapter, then thought it was good but I guess I had seen too much and now I am 2/3rds through the game and the last couple of hours have been a lot better. The story is also getting better.

The more I play it the more I have to regrettably agree with people who complain about the aiming. It's not horrendous or anything, and I still feel the combat sections are really fun, but I do notice it. I do still think the hand-to-hand combat has improved a lot (though it could still be improved further!).

 

[Balphon]

One thing I noticed on my treasure playthrough is that there are certain times where the game takes away whatever weapons you currently have and replaces them with shitty ones because ND thinks that since I was smart enough to save all the power weapons for the next encounter, that it would be unfair to the cheap AI's if I slapped their shit with a few RPG's.

Unbelievable.

My favorite example of that was in the chapter at the

Spoiler

Airfield

where I rolled into a cutscene with a full SAS - 12 and Para 9, but left it with only a silenced pistol and four bullets. And then got thrown into a gunfight.

 

[hsukardi]

Huh, the game has gotten a lot better the further in I am. Loved the opening and most of the first chapter, then thought it was good but I guess I had seen too much and now I am 2/3rds through the game and the last couple of hours have been a lot better. The story is also getting better.

The more I play it the more I have to regrettably agree with people who complain about the aiming. It's not horrendous or anything, and I still feel the combat sections are really fun, but I do notice it. I do still think the hand-to-hand combat has improved a lot (though it could still be improved further!).

I died in the ship ballroom and found myself at the very end of the ballroom with 30 KAL bullets and 40-50 micro MG bullets.

2 shotgun guys, 2 snipers, 1 hammer, and plenty of grunts.

FUCK THAT.

 

[Auto_aim1]

I died in the ship ballroom and found myself at the very end of the ballroom with 30 KAL bullets and 40-50 micro MG bullets.

2 shotgun guys, 2 snipers, 1 hammer, and plenty of grunts.

FUCK THAT.

So? That area was very challenging, but not that unfair. You can take out the sniper guys easily with headshots. The enemies also drop a lot of weapons like the sawed-off. On the crushing difficulty, it was hardly a challenge because I knew exactly what to do.

 

[Boombloxer]

Yep you activate it on one account it will work on all others on your PS3.

All the PS passes are like that.


Why didn't you wait for the patch?

Also aren't you more in control of drake more than any other Uncharted game?

Nope. And part of that is the encounter design.

I haven't checked online about a patch or anything, and I told myself I'd finish it today.

Arkham City awaits.

My favorite example of that was in the chapter at the Airfield where I rolled into a cutscene with a full SAS - 12 and Para 9, but left it with only a silenced pistol and four bullets. And then got thrown into a gunfight.

And this is what I mean by cheap. If I was good enough to keep the power weapons, why am I punished with inferior ones?

 

[StarEye]

I noticed the lack of control over Drake the very second I started playing, and I feel that it's because they overdid the amount of animations for him. He's slower and more cumbersome to move. In Drake's Fortune he's very fast and nimble, but it doesn't look so natural due to less animations and not being as fluid. It looks very gamey. In Uncharted 2, this was better, but already then he felt a little heavier, but didn't really make the game feel more unresponsive so it didn't hurt the experience one bit. In 3, there's a whole load of animatiosn for Drake, and a whole bunch of them are reactions to the environment. He doesn't turn on a dime anymore, which while it does look better, the animations feels like they're in the way rather than adding to the experience. It's not quite as fluid as in the other games either, and it doesn't really look good when Drake can't decide which animation to do next.

Less is more, sometimes.

 

[Phoenician_Viking]

I really liked the puzzles in U3. There were not too easy or too hard. It was well balanced imo.

 

[FlutterPuffs]

I just realized the more stealth kills you get in a row, the better the weapons the enemy will drop. You'll usually get a jackhammer on the fourth stealth kill.

Edit: Oh, tip for the ship ballroom level.

Spoiler

Stealth kill the dude near the piano. He'll drop a jackhammer.

 

[thuway]

I noticed the lack of control over Drake the very second I started playing, and I feel that it's because they overdid the amount of animations for him. He's slower and more cumbersome to move. In Drake's Fortune he's very fast and nimble, but it doesn't look so natural due to less animations and not being as fluid. It looks very gamey. In Uncharted 2, this was better, but already then he felt a little heavier, but didn't really make the game feel more unresponsive so it didn't hurt the experience one bit. In 3, there's a whole load of animatiosn for Drake, and a whole bunch of them are reactions to the environment. He doesn't turn on a dime anymore, which while it does look better, the animations feels like they're in the way rather than adding to the experience. It's not quite as fluid as in the other games either, and it doesn't really look good when Drake can't decide which animation to do next.

Less is more, sometimes.

I disagree that they need to reduce the animations, but I do think they need to fix the awkwardness of some of the animation. Drake just looks stupid as he touches everything next to him. Chapter 2 was pretty bad in its animation set.

 

[hsukardi]

And this is what I mean by cheap. If I was good enough to keep the power weapons, why am I punished with inferior ones?

It's the problem with Call of Duty design.. you're good so we give you something that makes you even better.

So? That area was very challenging, but not that unfair. You can take out the sniper guys easily with headshots. The enemies also drop a lot of weapons like the sawed-off. On the crushing difficulty, it was hardly a challenge because I knew exactly what to do.

How is this good game design?

 

[jax (old)]

Just played some coop adventure. Fuck yeah mad awesome....

 

[MightyKAC]

Is there a community thread in the works? We could really use one for the purposes of getting gaffers together for meetups and Crushing co-op runs and such.

 

[BeeDog]

Just finished my Normal run of the campaign. Some rough impressions to follow:

+ The graphics are absolutely astounding even despite the lack of motion blur. I thought the sand/desert theme would render the game boring, but the environmental variation was still nice.
+ The traversal dynamics still ensure that this game is the most fun third-person shooter available. It forces you to move a lot, and so do the (sometimes overly hyper-)agressive enemies.
+ The voice work is as fantastic as always. UC3 was better than UC2 in this regard.
+ I know some people don't like the pacing of the game (especially in the early chapters), but I think it's paced very deliberately and well before going all out.
+ The puzzles, while still not very hard, were much better this time around.
+ The more context-sensitive animations were awesome, and drake overall animates much better than the somewhat floaty system used in the previous games.
+ The villains and the end-game were much better here than in the previous game, though I still feel that the villains were a bit underdeveloped.
+ I loved that the arena-style combat encounters were more freeform than before. But it also made them that much harder (see further down).
+ Charlie Cutter is an awesome addition.
+ I actually really liked the simplistic addition of the melee combat. There was weight behind the encounters, but I would've liked to see some more unique animations or an increased number of context-sensitive finishers.

- The vertical combat scenarios were underutilized. I can think of like two places where they occured.
- A bit of an unpolished feeling throughout; some animation transitions were off, more pop-in and streaming issues than I ever remembered from UC2 and the lack of motion blur and the aiming issues.
- The difficulty was unbalanced in parts. Holy hell, I had more issues with this game than in the previous ones.
- The game's more directed than usual, especially the chase sequences, which was a bit of a shame.
- Character spoilers:

Spoiler

It was a major bummer that both Chloe and Charlie dropped off the map all of a sudden and didn't return for the second half. Worse yet, how the hell did they get to know Charlie? He just shows up and is all awesome.

- There are some holes in the story which left parts unexplained and ultimately unsatisfactory. Why the spiders?

Spoiler

How did Talbot get into the picture? How did Sully come to get associated with Marlowe? How did Drake come to try and steal Francis' stuff? How the hell did Drake manage to get himself washed up at a perfect place?

In the end, all this didn't bother me too much since I feel that the game still managed to present what it felt was relevant, and the performances helped to sell it.
- There's a bit of a "been there, done that" feeling over the game, but that's more of an issue if UC4 would be exactly the same. Right now, I'm content as all hell.
- It felt a bit on the short side. According to the in-game statistics it took me 7:40h to finish it.

Overall, I'm very satisfied with the game despite some of its blemishes (mostly the lack of motion blur and the aiming issues). I'll postpone my Crushing run until the patch is out, but either way, I had some great fun with this game. I still think I prefer UC2, but to have another game that's as close to that one is still a fantastic feat and automatically makes it one of the best games this console generation. I think I'm going to make UC3 my go-to multiplayer game...

 

[Trick_GSF]

That giant dude on the boat carrying the PAK-80 on Crushing?

Spoiler

He is a dick.

 

[Phonomezer]

I disagree that they need to reduce the animations, but I do think they need to fix the awkwardness of some of the animation. Drake just looks stupid as he touches everything next to him. Chapter 2 was pretty bad in its animation set.

Yeah, it's cool the first 3 times and then it just starts looking stupid, especially when he clearly isn't touching anything.

 

[Auto_aim1]

How is this good game design?

It discourages camping. It also forces you to be aggressive and use whatever weapons and techniques you have at your disposal.

 

[Pranay]

It discourages camping. It also forces you to be aggressive and use whatever weapons and techniques you have at your disposal.

+1

 

[Jaroof]

Oh. My. God.
Best fucking coop match EVER!!!
Deepbrown, Jeramii, and I played the last level of coop adventure on Hard. Jeramii, I love how you pretty much had no faith in us from the beginning, but we still ended up beating it :lol
AND it was my first time playing through. Dunno if it was Deepbrown's..
But man. We pulled that off.
So many close calls.
I can't believe how perfect everything pulled together in the end.. when Deepbrown got downed and he was too far away from us to heal..
When I noticed I had 9/10 medals for my Heal kickback.
I started blasting at the enemies trying to get a medal, and a few shots later, I did XD.
So fucking amazing.
Good job guys. That was amazing. Now to try crushing ;D.
It's moments like the one we had tonight where I wish you could record coop sessions.. oh well

Also, gg to everyone else I played with tonight.
cjtiger, gibration, mgviperman, jeramii, and deepbrown.
Gotta play again soon.

 

[Choc]

whilst i also preferred Uncharted 2 i think it speaks volumes that we still do. Uncharted 3 is a quality game there is no doubt but i think UC3 is suffering from a problem many games have in trilogies and that is a better game may not seem better.

This is because Uncharted 2 was such a significant jump over the original game and made people go wow, that Uncharted 3 was never going to have that impact.

We expected the game to be of insane quality, rather then it being somewhat of a surprise like UC2 was.

Therefore, UC3 was never going to be seen as good as UC2 in my opinion

 

[StuBurns]

I think people would like it more if it was better. GTA:SA is generally considered better than VC, being the third game didn't hurt. Same for many one generation spanning trilogies. Gears 3 for example. We seemed to have more last generation with things like Sony's 3D platformers (R&C actually managed four games though), but I don't think it hurts the game that it has predecessors.

In that though, there are lots of people on GAF who think it's the best of the three.

 

[BeeDog]

I think people would like it more if it was better. GTA:SA is generally considered better than VC, being the third game didn't hurt. Same for many one generation spanning trilogies. Gears 3 for example. We seemed to have more last generation with things like Sony's 3D platformers (R&C actually managed four games though), but I don't think it hurts the game that it has predecessors.

In that though, there are lots of people on GAF who think it's the best of the three.

But you're missing his point. The examples you posted, such as San Andreas and Gears of War 3, are major improvements over their previous entries. San Andreas gained a ginormous map and introduced tons of new elements into the GTA gameplay, and Gears of War 3 is generally considered to be a major improvement over Gears of War 2, which allegedly screwed up much of the multiplayer.

Uncharted 2 was such a major leap over its predecessor that it was extremely hard to make a similar leap with UC3, and thus it won't be seen in the same light as the games you've mentioned.

 

[Anteater]

I just realized the more stealth kills you get in a row, the better the weapons the enemy will drop. You'll usually get a jackhammer on the fourth stealth kill.
[/spoiler]

Interesting, I thought enemies only drop whatever weapons they are using.

 

[hsukardi]

It discourages camping. It also forces you to be aggressive and use whatever weapons and techniques you have at your disposal.

You finding it "easy" on Crushing because you memorized all the enemy spawnpoints and how to deal with them = discouraging camping?

Your dumb answer aside, forcing players to be aggressive is not good game design. Naughty Dog has already simplified a shitton of gameplay, notably the platforming, to make Uncharted as accessible as possible. For the mainstream user, getting killed while trying to pick enemies off from cover will NOT make them act more aggressively but only the reverse.

All in all, shitty game design decision.

 

[StuBurns]

But you're missing his point. The examples you posted, such as San Andreas and Gears of War 3, are major improvements over their previous entries. San Andreas gained a ginormous map and introduced tons of new elements into the GTA gameplay, and Gears of War 3 is generally considered to be a major improvement over Gears of War 2, which allegedly screwed up much of the multiplayer.

Uncharted 2 was such a major leap over its predecessor that it was extremely hard to make a similar leap with UC3, and thus it won't be seen in the same light as the games you've mentioned.

I got his point, I just don't agree with it. The point of naming SA was that's a series (within the 3 trilogy I mean) that had a very significant improvement with it's second game, and had an even larger one with the third. The idea that UC2 is so incredible it can't be significantly improved is kind of ridiculous to me. I don't believe the 'leap' matters at this point, in the same way the leap from SMB1 to 3 is much larger than from 3 to SMW, but no one cares, lots of people favour each of them.

I don't think there's a perfect comparison, I could look for series with three iterations in a single generation with a large leap, then a small leap as the theory would suggest, but considering I don't agree with it that wouldn't really make sense. For three iteration series within a generation that peaked at two, there's a very natural comparison for me, Jak and Daxter.

 

[Dibbz]

Oh man I fuckin' love this game. MP is also amazing. GOTY no question.

No one got shit on stealth Chloe

 

[pubba]

I've rarely played online games before apart from a few games of halo on the old Xbox it thought I would give it a try with uc3 when I saw the online pass voucher in the case.

Wow! This is great fun! I'm not good enough to play the competitive modes, but I'm loving the coop stuff. I've actually stopped playing the sp game for now.

I'm only level 10 but add me, I have exactly zero friends ATM

Psychic_pilot

 

[Rewrite]

I finally unlocked

Spoiler

Young Sully

in the MP, but I never had a chance to even use him in the competitive playlists tonight because I was partied up. :lol

This is bullshit.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

Gonna have to give multiplayer a try tonight, but as it stands, I have to rank the single-player above UC1 and below UC2. :\

Not for "impact' or anything, but I feel like UC2 was actually just better.

 

[Riposte]

Oh man I fuckin' love this game. MP is also amazing. GOTY no question.

I asked some questions about MP(I've been rather critical of it), but no one wants to discuss it it seems.

I have spent more time with the multiplayer. I've already talked about flaws I see in the anti-competitive mechanics, but lately I've been thinking about the shooting.

Two things bother me and I want more people's input on it since I haven't really looked into it yet.

1) Sometimes it is a little hard to tell how many times you hit someone(I know there are subtle indicators with the UI) or how close they are to dying. I am having a hard time adjusting to it. Whereas in Halo or Call of Duty or MGO(forget UC2, and know it was patched) my brain can do the work in real time, it seems like in UC3 they die usually fast(no headshots) or they take in a lot, even after being being hit by a grenade.

2) Does the game has a wide or random spread? I think the above may be caused by something like this. Firefights can be really messy, even when aiming is on point.

 

[Monarch]

I was wondering about treasures, is there any of them that needs to be shot at like in U2 to become available ?
I found 54 of them in my first run, and I explored the areas quite a bit so...

 

[Rewrite]

I was wondering about treasures, is there any of them that needs to be shot at like in U2 to become available ?

Yes. About 4 or 5 of them, I believe. There's some treasure in certain places where you have to climb down/up in some of the environments. In my first playthrough, I found 86 treasures on my own...the rest were very cleverly hidden.

 

[Monarch]

Yes. About 4 or 5 of them, I believe. There's some treasure in certain places where you have to climb down/up in some of the environments. In my first playthrough, I found 86 treasures on my own...the rest were very cleverly hidden.

Ok thanks
Any during chase sequences ?

 

[Loudninja]

I was wondering about treasures, is there any of them that needs to be shot at like in U2 to become available ?
I found 54 of them in my first run, and I explored the areas quite a bit so...

Yeah.

 

[Rewrite]

Ok thanks
Any during chase sequences ?

Nope.

 

[Anteater]

:lol I swear more than half of the enemies died from them blowing themselves up, there were so many times I was running to get to an enemy and I just hear something blowing up screaming and they're dead.

 

[D6AMIA6N]

Hope you guys enjoy it. The adventure genre is is ghost town in recent years, and that movie is probably the only one I've found with the "attitude" of a real fun, sprawling, great stunts adventure flick. I love it and I wish there was anyone besides Johnny Depp and his pirates crew taking shots at the genre.

So true. Watching movies like Raiders or Goonies when I was a kid, I loved the sense of adventure and exploration. Then when I played the first Uncharted, I was just blown away. Basically a modern Indy game. Hopefully the Tomb Raider reboot will be good. Can anyone recommend me any other similar style books or movies? I will look into The Good The Bad The Weird also.

 

[Loudninja]

Multiplayer is fantastic, so is the co-op great stuff.

 

[neojubei]

You finding it "easy" on Crushing because you memorized all the enemy spawnpoints and how to deal with them = discouraging camping?

Your dumb answer aside, forcing players to be aggressive is not good game design. Naughty Dog has already simplified a shitton of gameplay, notably the platforming, to make Uncharted as accessible as possible. For the mainstream user, getting killed while trying to pick enemies off from cover will NOT make them act more aggressively but only the reverse.

All in all, shitty game design decision.

I have to agree with this

 

[Deleted member 30609]

Gonna have to give multiplayer a try tonight, but as it stands, I have to rank the single-player above UC1 and below UC2. :\

Not for "impact' or anything, but I feel like UC2 was actually just better.

In a lot of ways, if someone presented me the three Uncharted games with no labels or branding and I played through them, I'd assume the release order was UC1 -> UC3 -> UC2.

 

[Choc]

In a lot of ways, if someone presented me the three Uncharted games with no labels or branding and I played through them, I'd assume the release order was UC1 -> UC3 -> UC2.

agreed
aside from the storyline aspects

 

[REV 09]

Put in UC2 for a bit... I forgot how bad the compression was during cutscenes... at least they fixed that. And then I forgot about that annoying forced stealth section in chapter 2 ;-;

Shooting is a lot smoother though. I will say that UC3 really did have a pretty big leap in graphics. It's almost jarring looking at the characters in UC2 now.

I agree. I did the same, but once you reach Nepal you realize that the game and shooting is just so much better and more polished than 3. I actually enjoyed the shooting in 2. I think the controls in general feel tighter in 2.

 

[daxter01]

agreed
aside from the storyline aspects

story wise :
U1>U3>U2

Wait, are those meant to be greater than symbols or arrows?

greater symbol

 

[Deleted member 30609]

story wise :
U1>U3>U2

Wait, are those meant to be greater than symbols or arrows?

 

[Auto_aim1]

You finding it "easy" on Crushing because you memorized all the enemy spawnpoints and how to deal with them = discouraging camping?

Your dumb answer aside, forcing players to be aggressive is not good game design. Naughty Dog has already simplified a shitton of gameplay, notably the platforming, to make Uncharted as accessible as possible. For the mainstream user, getting killed while trying to pick enemies off from cover will NOT make them act more aggressively but only the reverse.

All in all, shitty game design decision.

It's the same thing with Demon's Souls/Dark Souls. Your second playthrough will be incredibly easier compared to first because you know how to deal with the enemies. And how have they simplified the gameplay? The platforming is the same as it was in the first two games. In fact, the gameplay is a lot more dynamic here. It's all about adapting to the situation. Uncharted 2 was a lot tougher than this game on higher difficulties, I didn't see anyone complaining then.

 

[Steve McQueen]

Finished it. What an amazing game. Hell of a ride.

 

[Replicant]

My favorite example of that was in the chapter at the

Spoiler

Airfield

where I rolled into a cutscene with a full SAS - 12 and Para 9, but left it with only a silenced pistol and four bullets. And then got thrown into a gunfight.

Yup I got stuck there for at least 1 hour. What an awful awful design on ND's part. It was a ridiculous fight seeing that you have to fight 2 armored shotgun thug on the ground while on the rooftop there are laser-aiming snipers and a guy with grenade launcher.

I am also sick of the fact that you can only carry two weapon types and each one only interchangeable with the same type so if one runs out and you can't find another with the same type, you're stuck with one gun until you can exchange the gun.

 

[iNvid02]

anyone in the EU or UK - what BCES code is your game?

I just noticed mine is 01179/S but the bonus content that came
with the special edition says only compatible with 01175 or 01176.

Most of the content works OK but didn't know how to get that cash
multiplier working, and i didn't see any extra decals unlocked either.

 

[Raonak]

Coop is very cool. so is multiplayer, it actually feels really deep with lots of customisiations. I like the "fluff" (kickbacks, mods, etc)

 

[Raonak]

Yup I got stuck there for at least 1 hour. What an awful awful design on ND's part. It was a ridiculous fight seeing that you have to fight 2 armored shotgun thug on the ground while on the rooftop there are laser-aiming snipers and a guy with grenade launcher.

I am also sick of the fact that you can only carry two weapon types and each one only interchangeable with the same type so if one runs out and you can't find another with the same type, you're stuck with one gun until you can exchange the gun.

I didn't find it too hard. kill the hammer guy, he falls, I had a shotgun/pistole with me, which i used to kill the brute comming up, then dodge roll to the stairs, the hammer is there(dropped by the guy i killed) pick it up and go obliterate everyone.