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

History repeats once again.

Gaming journalists strike again, every single time.

Reviews are about right, it's as good a game as any that come out in the last 2 years, if it doesn't deserve a 9.5 for the total package then no game does. If uc2 came out today at 60fps and hd, it would get a 4/10. Uc4 isn't a master class I am sure ND would be the first to see all the things that could be improved but nobody else has managed to pull together the story graphics animation voice and myriad of little touches at this level of quality. Shrug. Not liking the genre is quite ok, but to suggest that the rating is inflated because not enough journalists see things the same way? seems like salt.
Also, the salty can't even say they are being misled by the scores! It's an uncharted game. Not an unknown quantity. If the characters and exploration do nothing for you, why on gods green earth did you buy it?
 
Some people hate climbing in these games? climbing was fantastic and smooth to me

crate pushing isn't a mind blowing mechanic, but I fail to see it as a flaw

not saying that the game doesn't have flaws of course. I just didn't know that people hated the climbing portion of the game.

Climbing is only really good because it's accompanied by taking in the scale and beauty of the environments as well as getting the trademark banter. On its own its not like I'm having the time of your life.
 

ArmGunar

Member
It took me 18h47 to finish it, with 74 treasures found out of 109

What a game, the set-pieces were a lot fewer than UC2/3 but the pacing was definitely better imo, I loved the game and the characters !

Uncharted ranking: UC4 > UC2 > UC3 >> UC1
ND modern games ranking: TLOU > UC4 > UC2 > UC3 >> UC1
 

ZeroX03

Banned
It's not that the climbing is bad as much as it is very uninvolved. Each person has a limit on how much "push stick in a direction and press a button" while looking at pretty sights they can take. There's no dynamic or skill elements involved.

The E3 demo represented peak Uncharted to me. A visually spectacular set piece which is more involved than it looks. A lot of Uncharted's stuff is very on rails, but being able to jump between two vehicles and the rope at your discretion was a nice touch. I wish they'd expanded on that sort of design.
 

WaterAstro

Member
It's not that the climbing is bad as much as it is very uninvolved. Each person has a limit on how much "push stick in a direction and press a button" while looking at pretty sights they can take. There's no dynamic or skill elements involved.

The E3 demo represented peak Uncharted to me. A visually spectacular set piece which is more involved than it looks. A lot of Uncharted's stuff is very on rails, but being able to jump between two vehicles and the rope at your discretion was a nice touch. I wish they'd expanded on that sort of design.

Well the magical rope of infinite retractability is up there with Just Cause 2's collapsible parachute. lol
 
How would people change the climbing? I think it's good enough for what it is and better than previous games with multiple routes.

I also like how climbing is a part of combat and a good part at that

E3 set-piece is great, but peak UC are areas like the one from the PSX demo as all systems are working together, creating a dynamic that is rare in a TPS.
 

Menaged

Member
I'm at chapter 10 and I actually enjoy the climbing a lot.
I love taking the scenery and just taking my time. Every now and then there's a slide and you have to use the rope which helps to refresh things.

I may be over it later on, and on later playthroughs, but so far so good on that aspect.
 

thetrin

Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
The climbing is so simple that sometimes I truly wonder why I enjoy it so much. I really do enjoy it, though, so it's clearly doing its job.
 

Gurish

Member
How would people change the climbing? I think it's good enough for what it is and better than previous games with multiple routes.

I also like how climbing is a part of combat and a good part at that

E3 set-piece is great, but peak UC are areas like the one from the PSX demo as all systems are working together, creating a dynamic that is rare in a TPS.

Agree, climbing is more diverse than ever in this entry, the rope adds a lot of fun for all those platforming sections, I'm not sure I want the game to be too challenging like in old Tomb Raiders where you need to jump at the precise moment and such, this is a game where you need a good flow and pacing, if people will start to die often when trying to climb it will hurt the experience imo.

It's not a platformer, it's a cinematic tps at heart, that's why most people buy it, platforming and puzzles are just there mainly for pacing and diversity, which is why the game is more varied and fun than almost 99% of the games in this genre where you mostly move from combat zone A to B.
 

Chao

Member
It's not that the climbing is bad as much as it is very uninvolved. Each person has a limit on how much "push stick in a direction and press a button" while looking at pretty sights they can take. There's no dynamic or skill elements involved.

The E3 demo represented peak Uncharted to me. A visually spectacular set piece which is more involved than it looks. A lot of Uncharted's stuff is very on rails, but being able to jump between two vehicles and the rope at your discretion was a nice touch. I wish they'd expanded on that sort of design.

You know what bugs me? Now that I've completed the game, I believe the best chapter in the game was precisely the e3 demo. The one we had already seen.

I kept playing and thinking "what could they do to top that scene?, can't wait to see it"

And they didn't! The best set piece takes place halfway through the game and is never topped afterwards.

Don't get me wrong, the game is better than any other game this generation as a whole package, but TLOU was better with much less.
 

ZeroX03

Banned
You know what bugs me? Now that I've completed the game, I believe the best chapter in the game was precisely the e3 demo. The one we had already seen.

I kept playing and thinking "what could they do to top that scene?, can't wait to see it"

And they didn't! The best set piece takes place halfway through the game and is never topped afterwards.

Don't get me wrong, the game is better than any other game this generation as a whole package, but TLOU was better with much less.

I never watched the E3 demo, I got to experience it fresh :p
 

pupcoffee

Member
How would people change the climbing? I think it's good enough for what it is and better than previous games with multiple routes.

I also like how climbing is a part of combat and a good part at that

E3 set-piece is great, but peak UC are areas like the one from the PSX demo as all systems are working together, creating a dynamic that is rare in a TPS.

It's fine during the fighting.

The clock tower had the right idea.
 

silva1991

Member
It's the very definition of a flaw. The crate is used like 20 times in the game, looks exactly the same every time and is just magically present in nonsensical areas when it's required.

Was crate pushing+ finding a ladder a flaw in TLOU as well? or is it only a flaw in Uncharted 4 because it was unnecessary addition?
 

leng jai

Member
Was crate pushing+ finding a ladder a flaw in TLOU as well? or is it only a flaw in Uncharted 4 because it was unnecessary addition?

TLOU had the stupid floating pallet gimmick, no ladders if I remember correctly. UC2 had the most "boost me up" ladder sections. UC4 has the ladders and the crates, and by now you'd think ND would have figured out an alternative to them or at least changed the skins for the crate.
 
nX7ijIR.gif


Just noticed he took the gun out of the hand of the last guy he threw over.
 

valkyre

Member
I dont get people with climbing complaints.

Its Uncharted.

Climbing was always supposed to be an important element of COMBAT.

All the people crying about climbing is so easy and no skill involved, I would love to see them design a skill based climbing system that would at the same time work in harmony with combat and allow the player to pull off great cinematic moments/kills...

I would love to see their iteration.... I picture it would be a complete disaster with people annoyed at the fact that they have to endure precise inputs for climbing in combat situations.

Hideous to even suggest that such a thing would be good for the game.
 

Chao

Member
TLOU had the stupid floating pallet gimmick, no ladders if I remember correctly. UC2 had the most "boost me up" ladder sections. UC4 has the ladders and the crates, and by now you'd think ND would have figured out an alternative to them or at least changed the skins for the crate.

TLOU had the pallets, the plank/garbage container moving and the "boost me up" mechanic. The latter at least set up a good scene when Joel is ready to give Ellie a boost but she is so lost in her thoughts that she doesn't realize Joel is waiting for her.

But yeah, TLOU had its share of bullshit too, although it still manages to keep a much better pace than UC4
 

Jacqli

Member
I cannot be the only one who thought (ending spoilers)
that we were gonna fight some dead pirates at some point. In the end, it was all Cerb… I mean, Shoreline over and over. I actually missed the "supernatural" aspect of Uncharted because it added that surprise, variety and it felt part of the series even though many might disagree. You could pretty much guess what happened to Libertalia from many chapters prior the ending.


I loved the game though. I still like Uncharted 2 more (that or my memory is fuzzy but the train scene will be stuck in my mind whereas I do not think that UC4 is that memorable), but this was a great sequel.
 

Nev

Banned
You know what bugs me? Now that I've completed the game, I believe the best chapter in the game was precisely the e3 demo. The one we had already seen.

I kept playing and thinking "what could they do to top that scene?, can't wait to see it"

And they didn't! The best set piece takes place halfway through the game and is never topped afterwards.

Yeah I don't understand why they showed that. I also was waiting for the set piece that topped it but it never came, despite there being plenty of awesome set pieces after that.

But then I realized that the game was going for another thing, that chase set piece was the most "Unchartedy" of all and even so, it's been done in previous games in a similar way and in these, it was one of the "smaller" set pieces. It's clear that the game was going for a more grounded, intimate approach versus the bombastic, over the top motto of the previous two.

There was never going to be a train or a plane set piece here and I'm fine with that, the set pieces here, despite being more "realistic" and subtle, are still masterfully crafted and fit the theme of the game more than a, let's say, giant pirate ship falling apart while also falling down from the top of a giant mountain, which would be the kind of set piece you'd expect if it were Uncharted 2 or 3.
 

leng jai

Member
I dont get people with climbing complaints.

Its Uncharted.

Climbing was always supposed to be an important element of COMBAT.

All the people crying about climbing is so easy and no skill involved, I would love to see them design a skill based climbing system that would at the same time work in harmony with combat and allow the player to pull off great cinematic moments/kills...

I would love to see their iteration.... I picture it would be a complete disaster with people annoyed at the fact that they have to endure precise inputs for climbing in combat situations.

Hideous to even suggest that such a thing would be good for the game.

I think most people are actually arguing that the new additions to the climbing don't really add any complexity and just look plain stupid half the time. I'd rather them just leave the climbing like it was in the older games if the alternative is absurd looking sliding and obscure rope swinging manoeuvres. The platforming was already contrived enough as it is, that stuff on top is just eye rolling.
 

Stiler

Member
Nearing the end I believe and I definitely have to agree with many of the reviewers who say that the game just drags down a lot later in the game.

the first half of the game was perfect. A ton of variety and set pieces, things were just popping in all the right areas.

Then you get to
The pirate island
and it just draaaaaaaaaaaags on and on doing the same stuff in the same looking locations over and over and over. It just feels like they ran out of things to do and felt the need to "pad out" the game here for some reason.

I am still hooked on the story and everything but the gameplay is starting to wear thin on me in terms of its repetitiveness and the lack of variety now.

I mean the first half of the game you were:

In the prison, scotland, the party, moracco, madagascar, etc

Then the last hal f of the game it's like one long Island that starts to look the same and gameplay elements that keep repeating themselves over and over and over with no change of pace or variety.
 

f@luS

More than a member.
Just started to play ratchet and clank again. Make me appreciate the frame rate of uncharted even more. How did they make a 30fps feeling so smooth ? Ratchet is locked on 30 but uncharted feel so much better
 

silva1991

Member
TLOU had the stupid floating pallet gimmick, no ladders if I remember correctly. UC2 had the most "boost me up" ladder sections. UC4 has the ladders and the crates, and by now you'd think ND would have figured out an alternative to them or at least changed the skins for the crate.

It had the ladder and I can't forget about it


anyways we gonna have to agree to disagree about calling those flaws.
 

leng jai

Member
Nearing the end I believe and I definitely have to agree with many of the reviewers who say that the game just drags down a lot later in the game.

the first half of the game was perfect. A ton of variety and set pieces, things were just popping in all the right areas.

Then you get to
The pirate island
and it just draaaaaaaaaaaags on and on doing the same stuff in the same looking locations over and over and over. It just feels like they ran out of things to do and felt the need to "pad out" the game here for some reason.

I am still hooked on the story and everything but the gameplay is starting to wear thin on me in terms of its repetitiveness and the lack of variety now.

I mean the first half of the game you were:

In the prison, scotland, the party, moracco, madagascar, etc

Then the last hal f of the game it's like one long Island that starts to look the same and gameplay elements that keep repeating themselves over and over and over with no change of pace or variety.

The last half of the game is the best because you spend the majority of the time with
Elena
. It's practically a next generation
UC1
.
 
History repeats once again.

Game received all the 10s and then some, we laughed at the guy who gave it an 8 and, in the end, the game, while fantastic, still has flaws like the horrible pacing, tedious climbing and continuous crate pushing.

Gaming journalists strike again, every single time.

This is why I don't lash out to outlier reviews. More often than not I find them to be the most insightful ones, laying out the good and the bad of a game. And then I can decide for myself if the negatives are a big deal.
 
The last half of the game is the best because you spend the majority of the time with
Elena
. It's practically a next generation
UC1
.

Hell yes. I never felt the game dragged on but then again I was in it for the characters more, I was surprised at how much exploration there was but I preferred it that way because it immersed me more into the world than the previous UC games.
 
History repeats once again.

Game received all the 10s and then some, we laughed at the guy who gave it an 8 and, in the end, the game, while fantastic, still has flaws like the horrible pacing, tedious climbing and continuous crate pushing.

Gaming journalists strike again, every single time.

History repeats itself indeed... minor flaws become defining factors!
 

Nev

Banned
The last half of the game is the best because you spend the majority of the time with
Elena
. It's practically a next generation
UC1
.

Yup. That's exactly what it was, and it's pretty clear it was intentional. I also expected more globetrotting until I saw what they were going for and the parts with Elena became my favorite in the game.
 

leng jai

Member
This is why I don't lash out to outlier reviews. More often than not I find them to be the most insightful ones, laying out the good and the bad of a game. And then I can decide for myself if the negatives are a big deal for me.

It always amuses me how often negative posts seem to get attacked and the poster accused of trolling. For a game like this I'm always actively looking for the negative posts so I can actually get an idea of what the actual flaws are (every game has them). They're way more insightful then the other billion posts that just say "WOW", "10/10", "Mind blown" or just some random meme/gif. Those posts are all basically useless meaningless after a point.
 
Finished it last night.
Its the only uncharted game I've actually enjoyed playing and loved it from start to finish.
Its by no means perfect but it is absolutely a 10/10 game.
 
I'm about 6 chapters in and finding this game to be really boring
I'm at the auction bit so Sam has stolen the cross

Game looks great but right now it a struggle to continue, do things improve the further i get into the game?
 
I'm about 6 chapters in and finding this game to be really boring
I'm at the auction bit so Sam has stolen the cross

Game looks great but right now it a struggle to continue, do things improve the further i get into the game?

There will be more firefights and some setpieces to come. However UC4 has by far the most downtime, so that won't change. I have similar issues with the game after finishing it.
 

dealer-

Member
I'm about 6 chapters in and finding this game to be really boring
I'm at the auction bit so Sam has stolen the cross

Game looks great but right now it a struggle to continue, do things improve the further i get into the game?

I felt the same at that point and ended up loving it. It gets much better from chapter 8 onwards.
 

valkyre

Member
I think most people are actually arguing that the new additions to the climbing don't really add any complexity and just look plain stupid half the time. I'd rather them just leave the climbing like it was in the older games if the alternative is absurd looking sliding and obscure rope swinging manoeuvres. The platforming was already contrived enough as it is, that stuff on top is just eye rolling.

I see, so in other words, just because you roll your eyes at the new climbing mechanics (which to me look nowhere near less ridiculous than the base climbing mechanics in previous games, unless the 100 feet jumps of Uncharted 3 were looking "ok" to you) it means they are factually bad?

I consider all these elements fine additions and enrichment of the climbing system. Traversal is even more varied now, and the rope is making combat even more fun.

I dont know, maybe you want Uncharted to become realistic? It never was. It never will be, and more importantly, it shouldnt be.

I'm about 6 chapters in and finding this game to be really boring
I'm at the auction bit so Sam has stolen the cross

Game looks great but right now it a struggle to continue, do things improve the further i get into the game?

Uncharted 4 wants to tell a story. It starts slow, in order to introduce its characters, the setting, the premise. To me -who I love a good story- all these elements are absolutely essential, especially considering the story that was told by the end of it.

As you move forward the game introduces more action.

But, if you are the kind of person who doesnt care about story and is all about the gameplay/shooting stuff, then maybe this game is not for you.
 
Realism is such a stupid argument for this game anyways. Drake has super upper body strength for crying out loud. He could kill a man with his hand grip. I'll argue that he should be killing people in 1 punch, that's how strong he is.
 

WanderingWind

Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
I dont know, maybe you want Uncharted to become realistic? It never was. It never will be, and more importantly, it shouldnt be.

But, if you are the kind of person who doesnt care about story and is all about the gameplay/shooting stuff, then maybe this game is not for you.

Honest question; what do you gain by doing this?
 

valkyre

Member
Honest question; what do you gain by doing this?

What do you mean? A guy said he was bored due to the pace of Uncharted 4 and I went ahead to tell him that it is a story driven game (more so than the previous titles) and told him that if story is not interesting to him, then maybe this game is not for him.

Whats wrong with that?

Its not like I dont respect people who find Uncharted boring and prefer something more action oriented. I find Until Dawn boring. I want to be told beforehand how much interactive or not it is.
 
It's the very definition of a flaw. The crate is used like 20 times in the game, looks exactly the same every time and is just magically present in nonsensical areas when it's required.

True. Despite the immense scale and the fact that every chapter is vastly different, the crate pushing is a tiresome mechanic that needs to die.

There are so many things they could have used in order to hide loading times. At least have the balls to change up the crates in terms of how they look. I'm pretty sure that only happens twice.
 
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