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

Ascenion

Member
I found those shootouts to be really annoying. Plus, the QTE at the end is lame.

The entire freakin' game was nothing but shootouts, so by the time I get to that boss, I'm beyond done.

I think UC4's boss fight is a lot better. Hell, I think UC2's is better and it sucks!

That caught me off guard....wow. U4 just felt like a better scripted QTE like Talbot. It felt drawn out. I appreciate U1 for being quick if you pop off head shots. But I can totally understand the sentiment. U1 is basically straight action from moment one.
 
I always rate for "now." If I didn't, nostalgia or blind hate would cloud my views and my opinions would never evolve. That's why I know deep down that UC4 doesn't stack up to UC2 because I just played UC2 a few months ago and had a great, great time with it.

I think you're making a mistake in thinking that nostalgia is something that doesn't affect your modern experiences with old favorites.
 
The downtime made those sequences more effective to me. I like that they got rid of the standard "4 guys in a flat room with a bunch of conveniently placed cover" that still dotted so much of the first 3 games and instead decided on making each combat encounter unique and impactful.

2 already moved away from that formula.

And there's a palette cleanser change of pace, then there's three chapters straight with no combat whatsoever. I liked all of 4, but there are some huge chunks with no real action.
 
the
old lady knew Nate and Sam were in the house
so she called the cops and gave a description, it's not that sully.

latest
 
I don't think that's exactly fair though. UC1 was their first attempt so I'm going to cut them some slack when it comes to how it ages. They came close to perfection with UC2 and that game will probably forever be as close to perfection as it gets for me as an entire package.

The way I see it, if I "cut them slack" for something like UC1, it makes the fact that I still hold UC2 in such high regard mean less. UC2 came out only 2 years later and was such a huge leap that I don't need to cut any slack. I can look back or replay that game and feel the same way I did in 2009. I'm sure even ND looks back at UC1 and cringes at a lot of it, hence Bluepoint trying to update it with the HD Collection (and me bumping the score up one point because of it).

I think you're making a mistake in thinking that nostalgia is something that doesn't affect your modern experiences with old favorites.

I'm sure it does subconsciously but I try to curb it. Admittedly, it's easier for me with games than movies or music because movies especially informed the way I view games (shooters most of all)
 
2 already moved away from that formula.

2 is definitely way better than UC1 about it but it's still dotted with routine and boring combat encounters. People just forget them and focus on the memorable ones, particular that sign mini-set piece that was indeed rather inspired.

And there's a palette cleanser change of pace, then there's three chapters straight with no combat whatsoever. I liked all of 4, but there are some huge chunks with no real action.

UC2 did the same thing- 3 straight chapters (16,17,18) where there is no combat accept for a two minute encounter with a couple of yeti.
 

RDreamer

Member
Whatever piece of shit at Naughty Dog is in charge of
final bosses
, they should be fired off a fucking cliff, nearly drowned, beaten with a stick and then thrown off the fucking cliff again.

This is just stupid.
 
UC2 did the same thing- 3 straight chapters (16,17,18) where there is no combat accept for a two minute encounter with a couple of yeti.

I think a lot of people forget about this section of the game.

Whatever piece of shit at Naughty Dog is in charge of
final bosses
, they should be fired off a fucking cliff, nearly drowned, beaten with a stick and then thrown off the fucking cliff again.

This is just stupid.

I loved it.
 
Whatever piece of shit at Naughty Dog is in charge of
final bosses
, they should be fired off a fucking cliff, nearly drowned, beaten with a stick and then thrown off the fucking cliff again.

This is just stupid.

jesus, if you're that terrible at
parrying left and right swings, just mash triangle and circle, Nate will automatically block Rafe's attack.
 
UC2 did the same thing- 3 straight chapters (16,17,18) where there is no combat accept for a two minute encounter with a couple of yeti.

You seem to be forgetting that those cooldown chapters follow the most iconic chapters in the franchise on the train, which followed a stream of super well paced chapters in Nepal. UC2 earned the village and ice caves 10x over.
 
Whatever piece of shit at Naughty Dog is in charge of
final bosses
, they should be fired off a fucking cliff, nearly drowned, beaten with a stick and then thrown off the fucking cliff again.

This is just stupid.

I'm guessing you're playing on the harder difficulties? Because on normal that shit was exhilarating. Really enjoyed the final boss, best one out of the bunch.
 

RDreamer

Member
jesus, if you're that terrible at
parrying left and right swings, just mash triangle and circle, Nate will automatically block Rafe's attack.

Tried it. That doesn't work either.

I'm guessing you're playing on the harder difficulties? Because on normal that shit was exhilarating. Really enjoyed the final boss, best one out of the bunch.

Yeah, I'm on hard.

it's just so stupid. Why is it going on for this freaking long? I mean for one it's completely new mechanics in the game which is stupid and bad design. For two, why are they dragging this out with those mechanics to the point of just ridiculousness.
 
I think a lot of people forget about this section of the game.

Which is strange to me because that was the standout moment for me. Inserting that pause after the crescendo of the train sequence was just a masterstroke.

You seem to be forgetting that those cooldown chapters follow the most iconic chapters in the franchise on the train, which followed a stream of super well paced chapters in Nepal. UC2 earned the village and ice caves 10x over.


? Where did I forget that at all? I agree with you! But I also think UC4 earned it's downtime as well.

2 years is a pretty long time actually, especially when you consider we were still in the earlier stages of cover based TPSs. Since UC2 the improvements have stagnated significantly.

Yep. UC1 was only one year after Gears 1. Everybody was still rushing to play catch up on the cover mechanics. I think ND did an admirable job all things considered but it was early days for the genre. By 2009 it was far more refined. Which still doesn't take away what ND accomplished with UC2.
 

leng jai

Member
The way I see it, if I "cut them slack" for something like UC1, it makes the fact that I still hold UC2 in such high regard mean less. UC2 came out only 2 years later and was such a huge leap that I don't need to cut any slack. I can look back or replay that game and feel the same way I did in 2009. I'm sure even ND looks back at UC1 and cringes at a lot of it, hence Bluepoint trying to update it with the HD Collection (and me bumping the score up one point because of it).



I'm sure it does subconsciously but I try to curb it. Admittedly, it's easier for me with games than movies or music because movies especially informed the way I view games (shooters most of all)

2 years is a pretty long time actually, especially when you consider we were still in the earlier stages of cover based TPSs. Since UC2 the improvements have stagnated significantly.
 

RoboPlato

I'd be in the dick
I wish I could put thoughts into numbers like some of you can but I really can't so here's my thoughts summed up as quickly as I can.

Drake's Fortune was one of the few games I bought blindly, simply because I had nothing to play on my PS3 (got in in 2008 just for MGS4 and wasn't sure if I would keep it) and I liked pulp adventure. I knew nothing about the reception to it or even the gameplay really, only the basic concept. It was a game I got really attached to personally because it felt like one of those rare games that was made just for me. It hasn't held up all that well, but for nostalgia reasons it means a lot.

Then Uncharted 2 happened and the series blew up. I've loved seeing this series that I happened upon become this critical darling. The last five games this studio has released have all been some of my fondest gaming memories for different reasons with the last four being all time faves and mostly for different reasons. Their games just resonate really well with me and I have a hard time placing some above the others.
 

ZeroX03

Banned
Uncharted shoehorning in boss fights it's so silly. I can't think of a good reason beyond "we're a game, we need a final boss and we don't want to use a cutscene to conclude the villain's story!". I'd say Uncharted 1 was the best just because it was the most naturalistic and used established mechanics, but I wouldn't classify it as good.
 
You seem to be forgetting that those cooldown chapters follow the most iconic chapters in the franchise on the train, which followed a stream of super well paced chapters in Nepal. UC2 earned the village and ice caves 10x over.
Yup, as soon as you leave Borneo and get to Nepal, it's firefight after firefight after firefight. You're chased by a truck, which leads you to the hotel, which leads you to the rooftops, which leads you the temple, which leads you to the train yard, which leads you on a train ride from hell, then to one last stand in the mountain tops. Those mountaineering chapters were perfectly placed.
 

Ascenion

Member
Whatever piece of shit at Naughty Dog is in charge of
final bosses
, they should be fired off a fucking cliff, nearly drowned, beaten with a stick and then thrown off the fucking cliff again.

This is just stupid.

This is overboard, but they really should look at what makes boss fights good so we A: never ever have a Lazarevic situation again. EVER. and B: so they can stop calling drawn out/dolled up QTEs boss fights.
 
UC2 did the same thing- 3 straight chapters (16,17,18) where there is no combat accept for a two minute encounter with a couple of yeti.

The yeti was still action! And there's more than one big lull in 4.

2 is almost straight, non-repetitive action from like chapter 3 to 15, then it picks back up till its ending. You get the jeff-carry/escape into the train into the wreckage battle into Nepal downtime, then into the tank chase, truck convoy and then some straight up balls-to-the-wall combat almost all throughout the monastery.

4 really rarely has back-to-back combat with varying design/spins. The combat that's there is great, but there's no denying the structure is considerably different compared to 2. And lengthy exploratory segments are only going to be cool for me a couple times. Too often I didn't feel in the mood for those areas and was hoping for more action.
 

RDreamer

Member
This is overboard, but they really should look at what makes boss fights good so we A: never ever have a Lazarevic situation again. EVER. and B: so they can stop calling drawn out/dolled up QTEs boss fights.

I think they just don't test any of these things on higher difficulties or something, because that was the biggest problem with Lazarevic, too.
 

RoboPlato

I'd be in the dick
The yeti was still action! And there's more than one big lull in 4.

2 is almost straight, non-repetitive action from like chapter 3 to 15, then it picks back up till its ending. You get the jeff-carry/escape into the train into the wreckage battle into Nepal downtime, then into the tank chase, truck convoy and then some straight up balls-to-the-wall combat almost all throughout the monastery.

4 really rarely has back-to-back combat with varying design/spins. The combat that's there is great, but there's no denying the structure is considerably different compared to 2. And lengthy exploratory segments are only going to be cool for me a couple times.

I definitely agree that this game has less replay value but I think it's cool that they put the replay encounter option in there so that you can get right to combat scenarios.
 

MMaRsu

Member
Just finished it on hard for the first time. Pretty stunning game :). I still think TLOU is the better game though ^_^. The graphics are literally insane at times.
 
I definitely agree that this game has less replay value but I think it's cool that they put the replay encounter option in there so that you can get right to combat scenarios.

I used that a bit and it's definitely a nice feature. I really don't like how some sequences are split up though, and how it abruptly stops right after the last enemy is killed in some of them.
 

zsynqx

Member
I used that a bit and it's definitely a nice feature. I really don't like how some sequences are split up though, and how it abruptly stops right after the last enemy is killed in some of them.

Yup, really hope they patch that. Was showing my friend the E3 setpiece and it cut off just as you get to the rope drag.
 
I'm motivated to churn though this game almost purely in anticipation of the LTTP/RTTP/general reflection threads coming down the line. Despite the critical consensus, this is clearly a divisive game in myriad ways. It's undeniably high-quality, hence the high-scores, but this isn't the type of game that a lot of people wanted.

Reading impressions makes the reception to Stirling's review even more hilarious on reflection.
 

Auto_aim1

MeisaMcCaffrey
Whatever piece of shit at Naughty Dog is in charge of
final bosses
, they should be fired off a fucking cliff, nearly drowned, beaten with a stick and then thrown off the fucking cliff again.

This is just stupid.
Haha, I know that feel. Just keep repeating it, you'll get the hang of it. I think there's a checkpoint in between too.
 

MMaRsu

Member
Yup, really hope they patch that. Was showing my friend the E3 setpiece and it cut off just as you get to the rope drag.

Yup and you have to do the entire clock section again if you really want to show off the scene fully with the cutscene at the end.
 

RoboPlato

I'd be in the dick
Just finished it on hard for the first time. Pretty stunning game :). I still think TLOU is the better game though ^_^. The graphics are literally insane at times.

There was one point that I thought the background was just a piece of concept art. Then I was able to walk up to it and explore. I had to put the controller down for a few minutes to regain my composure LOL
 
Where did I forget that at all? I agree with you! But I also think UC4 earned it's downtime as well.

I think UC4 earned
Chapter 12 coming off of Chapter 11
. That's about it. The rest felt very off, like the game was afraid of just letting loose for an extended duration because the player would suddenly forget the themes or characterization. That
13 through 16
stretch is far too subdued IMO, made worse by coming off of
12
which might be the slowest, most uneventful chapter in the series (in terms of gameplay)

2 years is a pretty long time actually, especially when you consider we were still in the earlier stages of cover based TPSs. Since UC2 the improvements have stagnated significantly.

TPS's stagnating that quickly is even more reason to hold UC2 up and not give UC1 any more credit than it deserves imo. It was an ok game but I don't see a reason to cut them slack. I wouldn't cut any movie director or musician any slack with their early works when ranking them either. I understand what the game means in a historical context, but it's a credit to ND that they improved so much right after that.
 
I think UC4 earned
Chapter 12 coming off of Chapter 11
. That's about it. The rest felt very off, like the game was afraid of just letting loose for an extended duration because the player would suddenly forget the themes or characterization. That
13 through 16
stretch is far too subdued IMO, made worse by coming off of
12
which might be the slowest, most uneventful chapter in the series.

I think I was too modest with my "three chapters of straight downtime," comment then. I can't remember specific chapter numbers, so I made a guess, but looking back, 12 through 16 was subdued like you said.

Makes me wonder what the game would've felt like for me if there were just more combat situations peppered throughout, considering how much I enjoyed every part of this game, even when I felt like the uneventful moments lasted for too long.
 

Namikaze1

Member
The exploding mummies in that one room can fuck off. Took me 20 attempts to clear it on Crushing Mode. The fight after that took just four attempts. Also, fuck you, Rafe, and your one hit kill sword! It may have taken me 20 minutes to get it done but you dead now, bitch! Now to do the epilogue to officially be done with my Crushing Mode run.
 
Finished it yesterday morning. Loved it. Though I do think they could have gone a step or two further with the stealth. There were many times I wish I could have thrown a rock to distract a guard or whistle to lure a guard to me.

Also, right after I finished UC4, I got the platinum for UC1 and I think it has aged a bit but I still really like it. Some of you are being a bit harsh on it.
 
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