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Uncharted 4: A Thief's End |OT| You're gonna miss this ass

LiK

Member
Some of the trophies are pretty fun to get. They make you play differently and end up feeling more like doing a challenge. Being able to load up encounters was genius. Wish more games did this.
 
I plan to go in depth about this in my video review, as I feel there is a justification for the pacing issues however its hard to deny that it doesn't exist,
the impromptu flash back/flashforwards - the prison escape scene with Sam which turned out to be a complete waste of time since it didn't even turn out to be true...and the section where you're breaking into the house to get the journal and the game foces you to look through crap one by one until make your way through the entire house) - all of which could have easily been done with dialogue instead of making you play through those moments. In short, it went from extremely high to extremely low moments with no smooth transitions which can be jarring at times.

theta's nothing wrong with the
sam escape chapter - you didn't know it was untrue at the start so it adds to the game.
loved it myself

There are some issues pacing; especially in the later chapters. Part of it has to do with the scope of the world. The first big
island with the boat - I mean, its so huge so you're just running around checking stuff and there's no enemies anywhere so it felt a bit slow. and yes, too much "pointless" climbing in the latter act. It gets a bit mechanical

the biggest issue for me was these huge fucking rooms, I really didn't enjoy running around trying to find treasure etc. so i skipped it mostly
 

LiK

Member
loved fighting lazarvich. He was the only truly menacing boss in the UC series and loved the right.

He's the only one that actually used all of Uncharted's gameplay. Constant traversal, running and gunning, grenade dropping, targetting the sap. I used to hate the boss but I've grown to really appreciate it compared to the other games.

Disagree. Replayed it in Remastered Collection and still hated this boss. I actually hate him more now. Shitty long ass repetitive fight. Also, if you happen to die near the end, you have to do it all over again from the beginning.

"DRAAAAAAKE!" Man, STFU Lazarevich
 

The Lamp

Member
Maybe it's excellent if you think the "exploration", puzzles, and traversal are engaging in this title, but I don't think they are. Exploration is slow and limited, and aside from the odd optional conversation offers nothing but treasures which are just empty collectables. The puzzles are piss easy, which has almost always been the case sure, but now they're not even grand, fun to interact with, or and nice to look at. Just dirty old temple roadblocks. And the traversal is mindless aside from maybe Chapter 11 and a single platforming sequence all the way at the end, which, again, might have always been the case, but now there's like 200% more of it.

The main issue is that there's very little intensity or sense of urgency to most of this game, something that even UC3 got right (and if you've seen me post about that game, you'll know I have almost nothing positive to say about it). Every time it feels like the game's about to light a fire and get things going, it pours water on itself. Shouldn't come as a surprise to you that those of us who enjoyed Uncharted as a higher energy experience might be disappointed in the way UC4 plays out. There are long stretches here where I'm on auto-pilot. I could never say that about the previous games.

I keep reading posts like this and thinking it's different people but nope it's always you. I totally agree with you though. I think you nailed the problems of U4.

At least the multiplayer is all action.

Blessed be U2
 

Keihart

Member
He's the only one that actually used all of Uncharted's gameplay. Constant traversal, running and gunning, grenade dropping, targetting the sap. I used to hate the boss but I've grown to really appreciate it compared to the other games.

I like all boss fights in uncharted since the've been always some kind of surprise to get the adrenaline going, i never understood the hate for Lazarevich's fight tho.

Uncharted 4's final boss is pretty amazing in my book, it is right next to Liquid Vs Solid on MGS4.

I mean, a blades duel on a burning ship in a story about pirates and you beat him with your "wits" and a one liner, that's straight out of 80's action movies, i loved it.
 
I honestly would love for Naughty Dog to dump The Last of Us and Uncharted IPs for good and create another unique IP. The Last of Us being a one off story is fine by me and I'd love for them to start yet another new world. I guess I just noticed that the novelty of the Uncharted experience has been lost after 4 titles.

This is what I want too. TLoU 2 is fine I guess, but I'm more interested in a new IP from them.
 
I like all boss fights in uncharted since the've been always some kind of surprise to get the adrenaline going, i never understood the hate for Lazarevich's fight tho.

Uncharted 4's final boss is pretty amazing in my book, it is right next to Liquid Vs Solid on MGS4.

I mean, a blades duel on a burning ship in a story about pirates and you beat him with your "wits" and a one liner, that's straight out of 80's action movies, i loved it.
I love the imagery and the idea of the fight. The actual playing of it isn't that fun imo. The camera is way too shaky and it's sometimes hard to tell what kind of strike is going to happen. On Crushing there isn't much leeway as you can die in one hit.
 

SSReborn

Member
This is what I want too. TLoU 2 is fine I guess, but I'm more interested in a new IP from them.

If they ever do a TLOU2 I want it to be their next game I don't want them to do a new IP than go back to TLOU for fear that they will bring over things from that game that don't necessarily work in a potential TLOU sequel.
 
I plan to go in depth about this in my video review, as I feel there is a justification for the pacing issues however its hard to deny that it doesn't exist,
the impromptu flash back/flashforwards - the prison escape scene with Sam which turned out to be a complete waste of time since it didn't even turn out to be true...and the section where you're breaking into the house to get the journal and the game foces you to look through crap one by one until make your way through the entire house) - all of which could have easily been done with dialogue instead of making you play through those moments. In short, it went from extremely high to extremely low moments with no smooth transitions which can be jarring at times.
I couldn't disagree more.
The prison escape with Sam was nessicary in hindsight because it served to give nate (and the player) the proper motivation to forget about his current life and return to treasure hunting. It also instilled a real sense of danger and fear of Alcazar into the player Nate. In regards to the flashback, I think that it occurred at a perfect time. It allowed for you to feel sympathy for Sam and understand his motivations. It gave context for why Nate ultimately forgave Sam as well. I also adored the explorative nature of it.
 

LiK

Member
I couldn't disagree more.
The prison escape with Sam was nessicary in hindsight because it served to give nate (and the player) the proper motivation to forget about his current life and return to treasure hunting. It also instilled a real sense of danger and fear of Alcazar into the player Nate. In regards to the flashback, I think that it occurred at a perfect time. It allowed for you to feel sympathy for Sam and understand his motivations. It gave context for why Nate ultimately forgave Sam as well. I also adored the explorative nature of it.

I agree with this. Bet you if Kojima did the same thing, people would say it was genius.
 
There's parts of the game where you climb a little too much. That's about it. Other than that I think it was fine and I don't get it either.

That's basically it. Traversal was simply a means to get to the next fight asap. Now the game has traversal for storyline and gameplay aspects which increases those moments. Therefor this is where people I think are seeing the biggest disconnect. That and the slower more serious setup. Though like a good movie, I feel it does well to establish everything and then slowly things get crazier and crazier.
 

Gorillaz

Member
My biggest fear of ND going forward is them not being able to separate multiple IPs and their systems. With UC4 you can obviously tell they had alot of influence in story flow, gameplay and hell even the MP is nicknamed Naughty Dog MP and not a Uncharted one. Idk if it's still TLOU shadow lingering over them or what but they definitely seemed afraid of doing too much in terms of setpieces...maybe because of the way 3 turned out.

There were times in the story I was waiting for it to get off "chill mode" and just go crazy. Like let your hair down and shit, it's still partly a "blockbuster" level adventure.
 

Riozaki

Banned
If ND didn't fix the pacing issue in the DLC and added more encounters I think I will lost my faith at their next game.

I tried to replay UC4 again but I can't handle the long boring sections of just climbing, talking and walking. It just so boring to do this for a long time.

The funny thing is that, when I finish any encounter I feel frustrated because I knew I will walk and climb for another 20 minutes after only 5 mintues of fighting.

I'm so sad to say this because how much I love Uncharted series and don't get me wrong I also loved UC4 for the excellent things they did with it. But man, if they only had more set pieces and fewer walking-talking sections it would've been the best ND game they ever created. What a waste of huge potential in the game.
 

Riozaki

Banned
My biggest fear of ND going forward is them not being able to separate multiple IPs and their systems. With UC4 you can obviously tell they had alot of influence in story flow, gameplay and hell even the MP is nicknamed Naughty Dog MP and not a Uncharted one. They definitely seemed afraid of doing too much in terms of setpieces because of the way 3 turned out.

There were times in the story I was waiting for it to get off "chill mode" and just go crazy. Like let your hair down and shit, it's still partly a "blockbuster" level adventure.

This is my biggest fear too.
 
If they ever do a TLOU2 I want it to be their next game I don't want them to do a new IP than go back to TLOU for fear that they will bring over things from that game that don't necessarily work in a potential TLOU sequel.

Yeah, I see what you mean. That definitely hampered UC4. I bet that's the route they will go with anyway tbh. TLoU 2 -> New IP.
 
Some asshole ruined a certain reference in Chapter 11 (
Guybrush Threepwood, mighty pirate
) by posting a screenshot in a Kotaku comment and I'm bummed as hell I didn't get to be surprised by it in the moment. Still, I love that it's in there.
 
I hope when people were saying "Wow!" at Chapter 4 it was at least partially for the scenes in the attic. I loved everything about that. So sweet and hilarious.
 

Gorillaz

Member
This is my biggest fear too.
Going into 4 I was thinking that alot. Especially after Amy left and Neil ran the show on this one instead of them both doing it or whatever they did on 2.

Idk whatever they do next I hope they let each series live on it's on in
 

dralla

Member
I hope when people were saying "Wow!" at Chapter 4 it was at least partially for the scenes in the attic. I loved everything about that. So sweet and hilarious.

Picking up the treasures from the previous game and hearing the respective musical cue was one of the best parts of the game. It made me hella nostalgic and emotional. The only downside to it was that it made me realize the music in 4 is not nearly as good as previous games.
 
At least the multiplayer is all action.

That's the thing though, I don't need all action, I like downtime after some good stretches of intensity, but they slashed the number of enemies, hard, on top of changing the way the game's paced around non-shooter action moments.

This wasn't a game made for me, this is a game made for people who only played UC for the story and got annoyed with the amount of action scenes. Sadly, Naughty Dog in 2016 wouldn't make Uncharted 2.
 

Keihart

Member
My biggest fear of ND going forward is them not being able to separate multiple IPs and their systems. With UC4 you can obviously tell they had alot of influence in story flow, gameplay and hell even the MP is nicknamed Naughty Dog MP and not a Uncharted one. Idk if it's still TLOU shadow lingering over them or what but they definitely seemed afraid of doing too much in terms of setpieces...maybe because of the way 3 turned out.

There were times in the story I was waiting for it to get off "chill mode" and just go crazy. Like let your hair down and shit, it's still partly a "blockbuster" level adventure.

ND's games are very cumulative, i mean to say that they stack on knowledge and improve on the previous entry. You can see a lot of U3 in TLoU and a lot of U2 in U3, even if they are the same franchise.

I expect that the next game they make, proably TLoU 2, to be more fleshed out on openess than uncharted 4 and build upon vehicles and gadgets that you can use in battle as in "puzzles" like the rope.
Just like melee style animations were improved but very similar from U3 to TLoU, the inclusion of quiet moments and the wall hand touch thingy wich is almost like a watermark for ND games now.
 
Ending boss

Congratulations ND on making one of the worst boss fights off all time, and surely the worst last boss of all time. Like what the hell were they thinking!? ND just suck at making boss fights in general, they can't make a decent one even if they had a gun to their head.

I loved the final boss - thought it was the best ending encounter of the series, honestly. To each his own.

What I would like to see next[/B]:
I think a spin-off game/expansion with Sam and Sully getting into mischief would be fantastic. Honestly, I think Sam is a more interesting character than Nate, and they could go a lot of different ways with him.

Oh and also what happened with
Nadine? Obviously she's alive, but they seemed to have left her whereabouts open ended.

What I want to see as the next Uncharted game:
Adventures of the New Generation: Cassie Drake! I love their kid and think it would be neat to have a female protagonist (although you may get some Tomb Raider comparisons).
 

Wagram

Member
If ND didn't fix the pacing issue in the DLC and added more encounters I think I will lost my faith at their next game.

I tried to replay UC4 again but I can't handle the long boring sections of just climbing, talking and walking. It just so boring to do this for a long time.

The funny thing is that, when I finish any encounter I feel frustrated because I knew I will walk and climb for another 20 minutes after only 5 mintues of fighting.

I'm so sad to say this because how much I love Uncharted series and don't get me wrong I also loved UC4 for the excellent things they did with it. But man, if they only had more set pieces and fewer walking-talking sections it would've been the best ND game they ever created. What a waste of huge potential in the game.

Fighting all the time is just as boring for many people. The best parts of the game I felt was when I wasn't using a gun.
 
This wasn't a game made for me, this is a game made for people who only played UC for the story and got annoyed with the amount of action scenes.

Well, I mean, that is me to a tee, so that explains why I loved it so much, haha. I can certainly understand the disappointments if the main draw for people is the action.
 
My rankings.

UC4 > TLoU > UC2 > UC1 = UC3

I absolutely adore Naughty Dog games. I'm really going to miss the Uncharted series :( . At least we have more TLoU to look forward to.
 

SSReborn

Member
Fighting all the time is just as boring for many people. The best parts of the game I felt was when I wasn't using a gun.

That's fine and all but the franchise was founded on that aspect so you can't really fault someone for being disappointed by the way the the two aspects were partitioned.
 
Fighting all the time is just as boring for many people. The best parts of the game I felt was when I wasn't using a gun.

Yep totally... I still loved the games though but it's aways been borderline overboard on fights. I prefer it this way, more spread out, with more fighting options in play. It's a great balance and made the fights that do happen even more special.
 

Riozaki

Banned
Fighting all the time is just as boring for many people. The best parts of the game I felt was when I wasn't using a gun.

I'm not asking for fighting all the time at all. Hell, I'm one of those who annoyed so much from the fighting all the time in UC3. But what they did in UC4 is not good at all with the pacing. There are barely any fighting in the first 19 chapter in the game.

When I finished the game I didn't feel satisfied like I felt with UC2 and TLOU. They both have the perfect pacing I have ever seen at any video game.
 
I guess my ranking would be

U4>U3>U2>U1. I felt each entry had its strengths and flaws but overall I enjoyed each one more than the last. U4 is definitely my favourite, by far.

TLOU is still a notch above any of them, though.
 

HeelPower

Member
Downtime reminds me of chilling in open world games.(while avoiding open world bloat)

There are many moments where I could just relax and enjoy the world they put together.

The encounters feel much more meaningful here...Like when the shooting broke out at the Ballroom I actually felt excited.

The older games were bloated with encounters.
 

JTripper

Member
That's the thing though, I don't need all action, I like downtime after some good stretches of intensity, but they slashed the number of enemies, hard, on top of changing the way the game's paced around non-shooter action moments.

This wasn't a game made for me, this is a game made for people who only played UC for the story and got annoyed with the amount of action scenes. Sadly, Naughty Dog in 2016 wouldn't make Uncharted 2.

Not really? I didn't play the other games solely for story. Sure, I loved the characters and the light-hearted banter between them, but I played for the adventure as well. I loved the set-pieces and was looking forward to what U4 would bring and I found myself immensely satisfied with the narrative-driven pace and open-ended combat. A game that looks this good visually deserves the exploration it entices for the views alone. At least I felt that way. In the end, I still felt like I went on a crazy Uncharted adventure even without the game
including waves of enemies and set-pieces galore.
 
theta's nothing wrong with the
sam escape chapter - you didn't know it was untrue at the start so it adds to the game.
loved it myself

There are some issues pacing; especially in the later chapters. Part of it has to do with the scope of the world. The first big
island with the boat - I mean, its so huge so you're just running around checking stuff and there's no enemies anywhere so it felt a bit slow. and yes, too much "pointless" climbing in the latter act. It gets a bit mechanical

the biggest issue for me was these huge fucking rooms, I really didn't enjoy running around trying to find treasure etc. so i skipped it mostly

I couldn't disagree more.
The prison escape with Sam was nessicary in hindsight because it served to give nate (and the player) the proper motivation to forget about his current life and return to treasure hunting. It also instilled a real sense of danger and fear of Alcazar into the player Nate. In regards to the flashback, I think that it occurred at a perfect time. It allowed for you to feel sympathy for Sam and understand his motivations. It gave context for why Nate ultimately forgave Sam as well. I also adored the explorative nature of it.

Like I said, I know there is justification for having those sections in it and I'm not here to challenge whether those sections were enjoyable to play through or not depending on the individual. (personally for me, both parts felt like unnecessary filler) The issue is how both scenes started basically out of no where which caught me off guard. Especially when considering the scenes and what was occurring prior. There was almost zero subtlety on the change in tone.
going from an intense fight scene with Nadine filled with action-heavy cinematic set pieces, to Sam getting shot, to drake falling off a cliff and hitting his head, to a flash back of him exploring a house in search of a journal, to him waking up in Elena's lap saying "and that's why we be doin' what we do when we do what we do [sic]"
and that's just pacing from gameplay to narrative.

As far as gameplay is concerned, I do agree about the size of the land. Its huge for the sake of being huge. with the exception of treasures and journal entries, there is really no reason to go exploring the area, however, that portion is fully in the player's control. The biggest inconsistencies as far as pure gameplay is concerned is that there's a lot of down time in between actual gun fights. A lot of driving and platforming, it does get a bit more exciting towards the end of the game though.
 

Gorillaz

Member
Overall I did enjoy what action we did get

I would say the entire (late game spoiler)
ship junkyard from combat to chase
was a great little part and the highlight of the game. From atmosphere to the music cue. That was them basically firing on all cylinders. Top 5 moment for me series wise.

I personally think the
Scottland
levels soured me a bit early on.
 

Grisby

Member
Credits are rolling. I didn't really expect that "ending", but it was nice.

As for the game, well, I'm a bit conflicted. The combat felt great, but the pacing was too off for my taste. The slower parts felt a lot slower than something like TLOU, of which you can see some influences here.

With that much downtime you start to lean too much on Uncharted's weaker aspects, namely, the climbing and the puzzles. Some of the larger sections of the game fell a bit flat for me too.

I'd still rank TLOU first, with UC2 right behind and 4 nipping at it's heels. Nepal is still the highlight of the Uncharted series for me.

When UC4 is firing on all cylinders, it's pretty fun. The graphics are crazy, the story is above average, and the combat feels fluid.

Bottom line, thanks to Naughty Dog and everyone who was involved with the series over the years for all of the great memories with Drake and Co.


Massive ending spoiler:
Chloe SP DLC yo. She gets one throw-away line in the game. Leave the family Drake to it's sunshine and mojitos.
I'd be real curious to see what Hennig had planned.
 

Keihart

Member
I'm not asking for fighting all the time at all. Hell, I'm one of those who annoyed so much from the fighting all the time in UC3. But what they did in UC4 is not good at all with the pacing. There are barely any fighting in the first 19 chapter in the game.

When I finished the game I didn't feel satisfied like I felt with UC2 and TLOU. They both have the perfect pacing I have ever seen at any video game.

I think that is missing like one fight before the last boss to conect the stretch before
Drakes reunite with Sam
They let the adrenalin go dow before the last fight and usually you get there all pumped up.

This adveture was pretty mild compared to what Drake was put through on U3 tho, that seemed almost like a joke that he wouldn't die.

I still can't believe that there is no vulcano set piece...
 

mikemandey

Member
Finished in 18 hours with a bunch of collectibles still out there waiting to be found for my next playthrough. I played on hard difficulty.

If ND really make a new UC with
Cassie
as the main protagonist, the competition and comparison between UC and TR will be fiercer than ever.. lol
 

BiGBoSSMk23

A company being excited for their new game is a huge slap in the face to all the fans that liked their old games.
Maybe it's excellent if you think the "exploration", puzzles, and traversal are engaging in this title, but I don't think they are. Exploration is slow and limited,

So, what? Did you want Drake to have a jetpack full with astronaut suit ready to blast off into millions of procedurally generated treasure planets?

and aside from the odd optional conversation offers nothing but treasures which are just empty collectables.
Again, what do you want this game to be? Open world? This is Uncharted not Infamous, and even in that game the collectables are empty. If you wanted the treasures to have an impact or story or more than an item viewer then, again, I don't know what you've been playing for the past three games.
The puzzles are piss easy, which has almost always been the case sure, but now they're not even grand, fun to interact with, and nice to look at.

Actually the entire game is nice to look at, and again, this is not a puzzle game, either. It's not Talos, it's not Witness, it's not Swapper...it's Uncharted...
Just dirty old temple roadblocks. And the traversal is mindless aside from maybe Chapter 11 and a single platforming sequence all the way at the end, which, again, might have always been the case, but now there's like 200% more of it.

The main issue is that there's very little intensity or sense of urgency to most of this game, something that even UC3 got right (and if you've seen me post about that game, you'll know I have almost nothing positive to say about it). Every time it feels like the game's about to light a fire and get things going, it pours water on itself. Shouldn't come as a surprise to you that those of us who enjoyed Uncharted as a higher energy experience might be disappointed in the way UC4 plays out. There are long stretches here where I'm on auto-pilot. I could never say that about the previous games.

It seems like you missed the point of this game and its premise.

There's nothing urging Drake the way glory and treasure hunting did in his heyday, he's dragged out of his new life with Elena, still unable to find a happy middle between responsibility and adventure.

That's what this journey is about, and the pacing reflects that.

You're clearly allowed to have expectations , and as much as it blows that they weren't met, when you're getting onto the fourth sequel in a series you gotta stop to wonder whether it's about what you want or what the creators want to do the fourth time around.

Luckily for me, they hit all the right notes.
 
Guys, I might have liked U3 more than this one. Help.

lol. I actually really liked Uncharted 3. Sure, I prefer U2 as a whole, but I thought U3 was great. It was a lot closer to what I expected from an Uncharted game than U4 has been for me so far. I'm going to reserve full judgment until I finish U4, though. Enjoying the game a lot, but there's definitely a few things I think they should have done differently.
 
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