Finally got my hands on both this game and a free schedule (booo you finals). That intro did a fantastic job at both introducing the characters, the mechanics, and the treasure hunt. My only problem was it
felt a little beat for beat Uncharted 3's intro. Open with a crazy action scene with our leads on the brink of death, cut to young Drake showing how he got into the treasure hunting business, and also some scenes that tie the game's treasure hunt to clues found in the characters' past. As a bonus, important character dying pulled from Last of Us! (bit of a stretch there, I know)
Really? I thought for sure that he knew him, seems crazy for Nate to keep Sam a secret from Sully all these years. Oh well point still stands, I still want to play as young Sully and I want ND to make it happen
Just finished, took me about 14 hours, when I think back to where I was in the starting chapters and the adventure Nate goes on it really does feel like this has been multiple games!
Honestly the best UC game I've played, yes UC2 was fantastic, but I think to many people are getting wrapped up in nostalgia.
Can't wait for ND's next game, cause this was breathtaking at some points!
also just to add, I was so happy when you got to run around with not only Sully, but Elaina again, brought back such good memories from UC1
Not true. Sam very clearly knows Sully. The dialogue in the auction setting clearly implies they've worked together before, but unlike Nate, Sam doesn't like Sully all that much.
distrustful of Sully of past experiences. I think this very clearly implied they've worked together before, but just never bonded. Partners, but never ever becoming friends.
Not true. Sam very clearly knows Sully. The dialogue in the auction setting clearly implies they've worked together before, but unlike Nate, Sam doesn't like Sully all that much.
Not true. Sam very clearly knows Sully. The dialogue in the auction setting clearly implies they've worked together before, but unlike Nate, Sam doesn't like Sully all that much.
Sam was
distrustful of Sully of past experiences. I think this very clearly implied they've worked together before, but just never bonded. Partners, but never ever becoming friends.
Im almost done, Sad to say it, but it's only around the ending chapters where the shooting and action feels so sublime. It looks and feels like nothing I've every played, and it's such a shame that more of the game isn't this way. It's a great finish (so far), but there was just so much slow down and repeated actions in this game.
Im so tired of walking, talking, pushing boxes. The plotline between Nathan and Elena, and Nathan and Sam feels so sappy and tries way too hard to make you have feelings other than "Shoot shit, and see cool shit explode". I don't care about these people. I dont care about Drake's feelings.
The elements they borrow from TLoU work so well in LoU. It feels really cheap to me to bring those elements here, where they dont have that effect because the characters are not as easy to feel care about
Seeing Drake show emotion other than the ones he shows in the game, which is Nolan North shouting random witty things, even in situations where he probably shouldn't, is strange to me.
It's also incredibly off to me that Nathan seems to be involved in some heavy story, but makes SO MANY tired quick conversations with
Elena
that just sounds like they were added in as padding. I'm so tired of hearing him talk. Im sorry, I loved it in UC2, and UC3, but in UC4, I just dislike it. He's supposed to
care about his life, and care about Sam, and his brother is alive, and his brother lies to him and puts him in danger
, but none of it really matters because he's ALWAYS cracking jokes. The only time I recall him being serious was after the boat crashes in the jungle (first scene in the game), but that's only because he had no one to talk to but us.
I'm not sure why, but I just keep rolling my eyes at some of this.
And my god, is the Shoreline army such fodder. They are so incredibly shitty and it's baffling how I'm supposed to imagine that Drake beats them all. But I mean, fine, he's the cool action guy that demolishes them all.
but after so many times, it just becomes "Oh, shoreline is here, better rid of them."
and not only that, but
Elena reacts the same way too. She doesn't even show ANY fear, it's like she's just as godlike as Drake
It's such a joke, there's no tension at all. Is it supposed to be cute?
The stealth is awful. It's the equivalent of an adult playing "hide and seek" with a kid, where they pretend to look around for the kid, and despite knowing that the little kid is right under your damn nose, you just peer out and say "HUH, WELL HE'S NOT HERE! BETTER LOOK SOMEWHERE ELSE!" (they have to make sure they say it out loud too)
They see you, or get alerted, then you lazily hide and they look around and say "HUH, I GUESS I IMAGINED THAT!" And then they go RIGHT back to their basic patrolling of like 2 feet, where you knock them out one by one.
If they see their own man die? "OH WOW, HE KILLED ONE OF US! LET'S GET SERIOUS!" and they are more alert for all of 10 seconds before they lose their memory.
The stealth is just so bad. It always was, but it's so lame that they made this a big focus, only for it to just have slapped on some marking and grass cover and some PS2-level MGS alert system.
The graphics are stunning, the animations are breathtaking, and the part where I am at now feels so magical and special because it's balls to the wall action and shooting and taking cover, and swinging. God the swinging is so good in this particular level.
This part of the game is unmatched
It's the part where you discover the ship graveyard and are fighting off the lame Shoreline enemies to save Sam
. It's so breathtaking, and so fun to swing around and shoot and take cover and try out all the weapons. I feel like a kid in a candy store.
It's such a great level.
Edit: madagascar was great too.
I feel like they tried so hard to apply the emotional seriousness of Last of Us, but it just comes off as a poor mixing. It just doesn't work with Nathan Drake. He's a successful thieving selfish hero who gets everything he wants, so why should I suddenly care about this brother storyline? Or his emotions?
And oh god, the Nadine scene...
Drake kills hundreds of men, breaks necks, and through all that garbage, he DOESN'T WANT TO KILL NADINE. Why the hell not?? What is with Nate's complete indifference to her? He doesn't take her seriously ever, even when she tries to shoot him, yet has a problem with Sam doing it. And then Sam takes a bullet... I wonder if that will be brought up.
All of this is fine if not for how stupidly its written and how the scene is used to make up an emotional moment.
Also, what is up with that ill placed chapter? You know, the one with Sam and Nate.
The house exploring was very creepy and scary, I actually loved it. But they meet an old lady? Who was a colleague? And then she dies right there? Lmao. Come on.
And the police can't catch these two little punks, even fumbling multiple times. Come on.
Seriously, I get the villains have to be typical fodder, but dont make them seem so incompetent.
I know Uncharted is supposed to be far less serious and more cartoonish, but it seems like they tried to mature the series and ground it with the emotional stuff, but it never feels right to me. The emtional stuff is laid on thick, and it seems to just draw out some parts of the game and takes away from the pacing of what UC games are about.
The actual pirate storyline is so enjoyable. It feels so eerie and creepy too. I am so interested in picking up letters and reading about Avery. I love the lost city storyline, it's what they do so well, and I love the piecing together of the story here. But the emotional storytelling feels like too much.
Honestly the tech in this game needs more discussion, its almost too good. The NDAA and the sheer density of assets on screen at any given time. Draw distance, lack of pop in, great smoke from nades, destruction in certain areas and nearly rock solid 30. Monumental achievement.
I still think Lazarevic was my favorite villain of the bunch. Sometimes just having a ruthless warlord in your treasure hunt story works and his presence in Uncharted 2 was god damn great.
Honestly the tech in this game needs more discussion, its almost too good. The NDAA and the sheer density of assets on screen at any given time. Draw distance, lack of pop in, great smoke from nades, destruction in certain areas and nearly rock solid 30. Monumental achievement.
Those that talk about the huge levels with nothing in them. Treasure is one thing but that's a given. What made it for me was the sense of scale it added to enviroments and settings. If they filled these maps with a shit ton of checklist to do objectives, they would have gone straight up Ubisoft. So I'm glad they didnt.
One thing I remind myself is that people will do or say anything to fill awkward silence. It's why nervous laughter is a thing. Drake quipping when their lives are at risk is more like a defense/coping mechanism than his actual inability to take what is happening seriously.
But it's unfortunate you didn't have the best time with the game.
And yeah, Nate has never killed a woman so maybe its a chivalry thing. I mean, hes not a monster.
Im almost done, Sad to say it, but it's only around the ending chapters where the shooting and action feels so sublime. It looks and feels like nothing I've every played, and it's such a shame that more of the game isn't this way. It's a great finish (so far), but there was just so much slow down and repeated actions in this game.
Im so tired of walking, talking, pushing boxes. The plotline between Nathan and Elena, and Nathan and Sam feels so sappy and tries way too hard to make you have feelings other than "Shoot shit, and see cool shit explode". I don't care about these people. I dont care about Drake's feelings.
The elements they borrow from TLoU work so well in LoU. It feels really cheap to me to bring those elements here, where they dont have that effect because the characters are not as easy to feel care about
Seeing Drake show emotion other than the ones he shows in the game, which is Nolan North shouting random witty things, even in situations where he probably shouldn't, is strange to me.
Loved all that stuff - thought it made a change from all the shooting in previous games. Loved the exploration, loved the character work (really amplified by the amazing facial animation in cutscenes).
The stealth is awful. It's the equivalent of an adult playing "hide and seek" with a kid, where they pretend to look around for the kid, and despite knowing that the little kid is right under your damn nose, you just peer out and say "HUH, WELL HE'S NOT HERE! BETTER LOOK SOMEWHERE ELSE!" (they have to make sure they say it out loud too)
They see you, or get alerted, then you lazily hide and they look around and say "HUH, I GUESS I IMAGINED THAT!" And then they go RIGHT back to their basic patrolling of like 2 feet, where you knock them out one by one.
If they see their own man die? "OH WOW, HE KILLED ONE OF US! LET'S GET SERIOUS!" and they are more alert for all of 10 seconds before they lose their memory.
The stealth is just so bad. It always was, but it's so lame that they made this a big focus, only for it to just have slapped on some marking and grass cover and some PS2-level MGS alert system.
I liked the stealth too. Sure it isn't super complex, but it was a nice change of pace to have different styles of encounters. 'BAM these guys are shooting at you' or 'oh there are some guys over there in that open area, how do you want to approach it'. Actually the forced action encounters were more annoying to me as they felt more artificial, like I walked over a switch which spawned some enemies.
The narrative definitely felt more cohesive and well-thought out as opposed to UC3, but I feel that the game as a whole was missing the "grand and epic moments" that its predecessors had. Like, the train on the mountain from Uncharted 2, or the plane sequence in Uncharted 3. The story felt more intimate, and even spectacular moments like
Sam and Nate finding Libertalia
were more subdued than I would have liked. That being said, I love the amount of care they took in making sure the story was told in such a way that reflected Nate's current state in life, that of him being
essentially dragged back into the world of fortune hunting against his will, when he clearly doesn't want that life anymore
. The ending fight was cool, but the gunfight leading up to it was kind of bland. I expected more. It never felt as dire or as necessary to fight as it did in all three games that came before.
I loved the stealth components that they added, but I found myself missing the epic gunfights that the series has been known for. And I felt as though combat opportunities came too far apart; the majority of the game is just traversing over landscapes. Which, don't get me wrong, were beautiful and each one felt like it's own little puzzle, but it lacked the sense of adventure and danger of previous games. I found myself getting tired of jumping up buildings or climbing steep mountains.
What I loved about UC3 was that there were so many diverse levels. I mean, you go from London, to a boat graveyard, to a sinking cruise ship, and then to the desert...each level felt unique. This game lacks that. I mean, you go from
King's Bay, a bustling city
, to trekking through a jungle for the next six hours. They were on the right track with
the Italian estate and Scotland
, but they lost their momentum. It got boring towards the end.
Puzzles were great this time around and I loved the pirate theme. It also looks beautiful, and I found myself in awe of how seamlessly they managed to transition from gameplay to a pre-rendered cutscene. Soundtrack was amazing, too.
Would give it an 8.5/10, and would rank it second (behind UC2) in my list of best UC games.
Edit: Also, having to constantly find crates to stand on was a fucking chore. I never want to do that again.
They've really hit this one out of the park with Elena's character. Love the acting, facial animation, everything. She comes across as the realest character of the whole bunch. Nate really fucked this one up!
I'd assume, so obviously incomplete, but for me it goes uc4>uc2>uc1>uc3=ucga
The story telling is on a whole different level. The pacing for me wasn't necessarily off, however on subsequent playthroughs it definitely will be difficult to get through and lack the same impact. That bring said context is important and for me this game has set the bar on so many different levels- visuals, storytelling, writing in videogames, acting, gunplay, traversal, level design, etc. Its amazing how much they got right with the campaign.
The end is almost here and I don't want it to come I can't imagine not getting another adventure with these amazing characters.
On combat: There wasn't enough of it, period. It's like 350+ less enemies compared to Uncharted 2, in a game that's anywhere from 6-8 hours longer. Didn't work for me. I was never one of these people complaining that the previous games had too much combat, I just wanted ND to keep improving it. And now that they've really made it better, like MUCH better, there's much less in there. And sure the wider arenas are cool, but there are so few of them in the grand scheme. Then those rare moments when you hit a classic Uncharted 2 style cleverly constructed linear shootout like Chapter 17's
elevator encounter
, there's no escalation or follow through. It's there one moment, and gone the next as you go right back to walk + talk or simple platforming.
The combat sections are incredible and the best in the series overall but they are too few and far between each other, I do think they went overboard with the whole "less shooting, more adventuring/exploring" mantra overall.
a good reason to try to fix and work on a shitty relationship, because it's not just a relationship, it's marriage; and you see how they fix it in the epilogue
I see some people complaining about a slow start but I loved every second of it. How can you not if you love these characters? I'm glad that Left Behind's reception gave them confidence to put something like chapter 4 in the game. This more personal look into the lifes of the characters is exactly what I want from the game.
I'm still in the chapter 8 but is it just me or is the ability to throw back grenades gone? I really liked that in UC3.
Anyway, I can tell this will be my favorite UC, all the small aditions to the gameplay and the improvements to the game's feel ad up to make it much more satisfying to play and boy, does it look stunning.
The visuals in this game are incredible. I'm currently in chapter 12 and i can't believe how beautiful it looks at times. Games like this are the reason i would buy a new more powerful PS4 without any hesitation at all just to see how far these games can be pushed visually. Ofcourse, a lot has to do with the art direction aswell.
Well, I just finished it and still have no idea how I really feel about the game. The last 90 minutes - 2 hours were fairly strong, but man it took 20 Chapters to really inject some sustained adrenaline (beyond the Madagascar chase), and provide like 3 minutes of more interesting platforming. I gotta be honest, the pacing in this was a pretty big issue for me. I made a post 2 days ago when I was somewhere around Chapter 12 that I liked how 8-9 reminded me of the ice caves in Uncharted 2, but I didn't think like 80% of the game would be that. It's a more subdued experience to the point of feeling tepid during that Chapter 13-17 stretch. And when the real excitement comes, it lasts moments before you're back to cooldown sections.
On combat: There wasn't enough of it, period. It's like 350+ less enemies compared to Uncharted 2, in a game that's anywhere from 6-8 hours longer. Didn't work for me. I was never one of these people complaining that the previous games had too much combat, I just wanted ND to keep improving it. And now that they've really made it better, like MUCH better, there's much less in there. And sure the wider arenas are cool, but there are so few of them in the grand scheme. Then those rare moments when you hit a classic Uncharted 2 style cleverly constructed linear shootout like Chapter 17's
elevator encounter
, there's no escalation or follow through. It's there one moment, and gone the next as you go right back to walk + talk or simple platforming.
Puzzles: I know this game isn't classic Tomb Raider, and I don't need it to be, but nothing was happening here. Neither the actual puzzles or platforming puzzles were impressive, even in a "manipulating grandiose ancient mechanisms" sort of way like some from the last games were.
Set-pieces: Great, if fairly short lived. I don't need huge Uncharted 3 airplane set-pieces, hell I don't even like UC3, so I was fine with the scripted moments in this game. My only real problem goes back to how they worked within the game's pacing, feeling basically like defibrillator shots to the chest to briefly give you a pulse, rather than caps on big flowing action sequences.
Visuals: Amazing. I don't need to gush here. The presentation is outstanding.
Story: It's cool. Again, everything's so subdued that I kinda just feel like Nate's jaded "been there done that" attitude was rubbing off on me. The animation is brilliant, and the performances are great, but I still think Uncharted 2 had the most entertaining script and cast. Nothing in this touches the Nate/Chloe/Elena/Flynn dynamic. All the individual pairings work well (Nate and Elena, Nate and Sam, Nate and Sully) but as a whole I wasn't feeling that interplay, wit, or charm like UC2. It's also very cutscene heavy to start, but I guess the long stretches of gameplay from the middle on make up for that, and they absolutely attempted to pay off everything they established, maybe to the point of overdoing it.
So that all sounds super negative, but I'm not that down on the game, especially not in the way I was down on UC3. There are a lot of fun, beautiful sequences here, combat is REALLY good when you actually get your little baby's dose of it (more so before they start adding those brute enemies), the whole thing is INCREDIBLY well presented and the tech/art on display is crazy. I just wanted more of that super precise, momentum driven pacing. They took what was a shooter-story-adventure tiered game, and switched that to story-adventure-shooter. Obviously a ton of people are liking that, but hey, I also didn't like Left Behind as much as TLOU. There's not a lot for me to sink my teeth into on a replay. This isn't a game I can turn on and just let flow and take me on a swashbuckling adventure, which is funny considering the treasure hunt in this one.
Anyway, I'm rambling. I don't even know what I'd rate this, but it's definitely not as great a campaign as UC2 or TLOU to me. In attempting to ground the game, or create a response to the ludonarrative dissonance crowd, or the "mass murderer' crowd, or have a more story focused experience, they sort of lost me.
Best ending in the series though, so at least it finishes strong.
Well, I just finished it and still have no idea how I really feel about the game. The last 90 minutes - 2 hours were fairly strong, but man it took 20 Chapters to really inject some sustained adrenaline (beyond the Madagascar chase), and provide like 3 minutes of more interesting platforming. I gotta be honest, the pacing in this was a pretty big issue for me. I made a post 2 days ago when I was somewhere around Chapter 12 that I liked how 8-9 reminded me of the ice caves in Uncharted 2, but I didn't think like 80% of the game would be that. It's a more subdued experience to the point of feeling tepid during that Chapter 13-17 stretch. And when the real excitement comes, it lasts moments before you're back to cooldown sections.
On combat: There wasn't enough of it, period. It's like 350+ less enemies compared to Uncharted 2, in a game that's anywhere from 6-8 hours longer. Didn't work for me. I was never one of these people complaining that the previous games had too much combat, I just wanted ND to keep improving it. And now that they've really made it better, like MUCH better, there's much less in there. And sure the wider arenas are cool, but there are so few of them in the grand scheme. Then those rare moments when you hit a classic Uncharted 2 style cleverly constructed linear shootout like Chapter 17's
elevator encounter
, there's no escalation or follow through. It's there one moment, and gone the next as you go right back to walk + talk or simple platforming.
Puzzles: I know this game isn't classic Tomb Raider, and I don't need it to be, but nothing was happening here. Neither the actual puzzles or platforming puzzles were impressive, even in a "manipulating grandiose ancient mechanisms" sort of way like some from the last games were.
Set-pieces: Great, if fairly short lived. I don't need huge Uncharted 3 airplane set-pieces, hell I don't even like UC3, so I was fine with the scripted moments in this game. My only real problem goes back to how they worked within the game's pacing, feeling basically like defibrillator shots to the chest to briefly give you a pulse, rather than caps on big flowing action sequences.
Visuals: Amazing. I don't need to gush here. The presentation is outstanding.
Story: It's cool. Again, everything's so subdued that I kinda just feel like Nate's jaded "been there done that" attitude was rubbing off on me. The animation is brilliant, and the performances are great, but I still think Uncharted 2 had the most entertaining script and cast. Nothing in this touches the Nate/Chloe/Elena/Flynn dynamic. All the individual pairings work well (Nate and Elena, Nate and Sam, Nate and Sully) but as a whole I wasn't feeling that interplay, wit, or charm like UC2. It's also very cutscene heavy to start, but I guess the long stretches of gameplay from the middle on make up for that, and they absolutely attempted to pay off everything they established, maybe to the point of overdoing it.
So that all sounds super negative, but I'm not that down on the game, especially not in the way I was down on UC3. There are a lot of fun, beautiful sequences here, combat is REALLY good when you actually get your little baby's dose of it (more so before they start adding those brute enemies), the whole thing is INCREDIBLY well presented and the tech/art on display is crazy. I just wanted more of that super precise, momentum driven pacing. They took what was a shooter-story-adventure tiered game, and switched that to story-adventure-shooter. Obviously a ton of people are liking that, but hey, I also didn't like Left Behind as much as TLOU. There's not a lot for me to sink my teeth into on a replay. This isn't a game I can turn on and just let flow and take me on a swashbuckling adventure, which is funny considering the treasure hunt in this one.
Anyway, I'm rambling. I don't even know what I'd rate this, but it's definitely not as great a campaign as UC2 or TLOU to me. In attempting to ground the game, or create a response to the ludonarrative dissonance crowd, or the "mass murderer' crowd, or have a more story focused experience, they sort of lost me.
Best ending in the series though, so at least it finishes strong.
I literally agree with all your points except the UC3 sentiment. If this game was shorter and had more encounters I'd put it above uc3 but as things stand it's 2>3>4=1 for me. So many things are improved but the pacing really hurts it. an over bloated story isn't a good thing. I was also very very very disappointed
at the final boss and lack of a supernatural occurrence
I know a lot of people are super high on the ending, but I thought it was kind of boring. The entire story revolved around
greed, obsession, and loss.
Except for some magical reason, everyone loses (with exception to Nadine on the villain side) except Drake and his merry band. Cassie is cool, but one of the main characters (probably Sam) should have died.
I want to make clear I don't think it's a bad ending, it's simply one I wouldn't have chose if I wrote it.
Came across the first actually challenging gunfight on Crushing yesterday. The bit where the Jeep is in the lift going up. My God that bit took me maybe a dozen retries, mostly because cover and traversal options are quite limited when you get pinned down, and I just kept running out of ammo. I ended up just staying shimmying around climbing ridges almost the entire time, only every now and again standing or swinging out just to pick up some ammo and then immediately rolling back to shimmying off the ridges again for cover.
The massive gunfight shortly after in New Devon probably would have been pretty hard too were it not for all the water allowing you to quickly and easily swim away and get back in to hiding.
I know a lot of people are super high on the ending, but I thought it was kind of boring. The entire story revolved around
greed, obsession, and loss.
Except for some magical reason, everyone loses (with exception to Nadine on the villain side) except Drake and his merry band. Cassie is cool, but one of the main characters (probably Sam) should have died.
I want to make clear I don't think it's a bad ending, it's simply one I wouldn't have chose if I wrote it.
I know that many people will feel this isn't a good answer, but I liked how the game gave us what would have been the best moments of a "Sam dies" ending before, you know, changing the ending so it wasn't that. Sam's "final words" were heartbreaking and memorable and sincere, and what happens later doesn't ruin them.
And I like that Sam STILL can't leave treasure behind, afterwards, and goes on to keep risking his life afterwards for more treasure. I get the feeling that he might still get himself killed at some point.
I know a lot of people are super high on the ending, but I thought it was kind of boring. The entire story revolved around
greed, obsession, and loss.
Except for some magical reason, everyone loses (with exception to Nadine on the villain side) except Drake and his merry band. Cassie is cool, but one of the main characters (probably Sam) should have died.
I want to make clear I don't think it's a bad ending, it's simply one I wouldn't have chose if I wrote it.
+ best visuals I've seen in a game
+ characters are great, more fleshed out than ever in this entry
+ superb voice acting
+ some nice puzzles, even if they were simplistic
+ a LOT of sections in the game were really cool
+ (end spoilers)
great boss fight
- platforming has zero challenge (like always), the problem is that there is so much of it in this game, where you just have to press X over and over (with L1 sporadically), that it becomes boring. Thankfully the scenery is beautiful so at least you can appreciate that.
- some very repetitive "mechanics", like finding some crate to jump on... there's way to much of this, it was the same in TLOU. This is filler content, it shouldn't be in the game more than 2 or 3 times, and definitely never with the exactly same objects. Hope ND improves on this.
- enemies aim is way too good, if you sitck your head out you're already eating twenty bullets. I played on moderate without aim assist (which was a mistake) and I barely had time to align my shots on most occasions. Always felt that I was getting hit more than I should be.
- no truly memorable shootout like the Nepal village / Shambala in UC2 or shipyard / sandstorm in UC3.
Overall it's an amazing game, only surprassed by UC2 in this franchise.
wow. pretty surprised to see the positive reactions here. i am bored out of my mind with these auto platforming sections. i never minded them in the previous games but here there is just so much of it. pretty much every chapter starts off with a lengthy 30 minute platforming section which might as well be automatic at this point. they could have done so much with the rope mechanics but it all boils down to press up and x and sometimes L1.
I can literally count the combat encounters on my fingers. setpieces are even more rare. I am at Chapter 15 and the E3 sequence was the only thing worthy of a setpiece. i guess the bell tower one was another.
I dont know. I am just baffled by some of the game design choices ND have made here. You create these massive open world areas and fill it with nothing? Chapter 12 is a whole lot of nothing. I love TLOU and even in its quieter moments they had you find collectibles and upgrades. It made exploring those areas so much fun. Here it's activating a bunch of random conversations and picking up a useless treasure or two. I thought ND cared about interactivity. I used to defend them back in the day pointing out how Uncharted pretty much lets you play sequences that would otherwise be QTEs or just plain cutscenes in other games. But now they just seem interested in hand holding you from one place to the next sprinkling in a combat encounter here and there.
I am all for story and i love what they did with TLOU, but you cannot phone in the gameplay. when the game is 80% platforming/puzzles like it has has been so far it needs to be a little more interactive. it needs to have a fail state. there needs to be a challenge. i dont want to sleep walk through your game .
EDIT: I am a big graphics whore and this is by far the most impressive game i have ever played. And yet i feel that there is no point in exploring these locations so i reluctantly move on.
This is why chapters 14-16 were so boring to me. Yeah the scenery was pretty(well in 14&15 at least), but these big environments were filled with basically nothing interesting and weren't fun to actually play. The game picks up again in chapter 17 though and doesn't let up until
21.
12 is another offender too I suppose, but I liked using the
boat
at least and I think it was fine coming off the high of chapter 11, but 3 straight slow chapters in a row after 13? Doesn't work for me at all or at least not in their current design.
