• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

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

Jennipeg

Member
Thinking about the puzzles, I really enjoyed the one in
chapter 19, I love a good death trap puzzle, gave me some serious Indiana Jones and the last crusade vibes, remember 'in the latin alphabet Jehovah starts with an i'. Love that shit, I wish there had been more of that.
 
Yeah, I hated everything about that. 3 handled it so much better by leaving things to our imagination and
implied he took the name to aspire to greatness that he didn't have as some orphan. In 4 now he's part of some line of great historians, and his daughter takes up the mantle too ugh. It's just too "perfect". The dialogue in the Evelyn scene was sooooo on the nose and cringey too. Sticks out like a sore thumb
. Chapter 16 should have been cut.

I dunno if I'd go so far as to say it should've been cut.
I liked the majority of that chapter, and I didn't even mind that their mother was a historian. For me, it's just the contrived death of the old lady and the name origin that had me annoyed.
 
It is plainly stated in that cut scene that Sam is an integral part of Raef (sp?) finding the treasure after so many years of coming up with nothing. Thirty seconds before that scene, Sam is almost getting murdered for 30th time. Just seems incongruous.

I'm not saying that is the direct implication, I'm asking if we are supposed to think that... because without that implication, it is a weird assumption of what somebody could live through.

Yeah I don't think that implications was intended. I'd say the whole series is a weird assumption of what somebody could live through.
 

ShutterMunster

Junior Member
The boards are already flooded with Uncharted threads so I wanted to leave this one here. Colin Moriarty has asked why other developers aren't even close to Naughty Dog when it comes to characterization and storytelling in games—this is an exploration of how they do it.

What makes their approach noteworthy here is their pacing and decision making. The game’s pre-credits chapters are a blend of exploration, character building, and the bombastic set pieces the series is known for. But the game doesn’t rush through the character beats to get to the bombast—it doesn’t in these early chapters or throughout the rest of its 12–14 hour campaign. They understand that in order for the spectacle to work, in order for the stakes to feel real, they must set the foundation for Sam and Drake’s relationship. The early exploration sequences with Sam, the moments where he catches you from a fatal fall or let’s you, his little brother, who is too short to reach most ledges, take the lead are all there to build that bond.

This level of focus and execution is not present in work from rival studios, a discrepancy I’ve written about in the past. Characters this layered aren’t commonplace in the industry and it’s not because of an inherent flaw of the medium. Developers simply don’t deem it necessary or feel comfortable taking the steps needed to get here. If a developer bets on themselves and forces the player to engage in a narrative that ultimately isn’t very good the blowback will be enormous. Many developers are so petrified of a player ditching their game for another that they end up with an experience that is always “at 11,” there’s no variation in pace. They have no faith in their narrative or their audience and it makes Naughty Dog’s display of confidence here resemble Steph Curry firing off a three-pointer and rushing back to the other end of the court before it goes in the hoop. But their storytelling ability isn’t the only thing that separates them from the rest of the pack.

Before words are spoken you understand the history of the space. You can see it in the crumbled statues, the ransacked rooms, and decayed bodies. Even the dead feel alive in Libertalia. Amongst the destruction—the desolate mansions that were swallowed by the earth, the men who slashed, stabbed, and shot one another over riches—you will find pockets of promise in Libertalia. The art becomes fuel for the narrative, which in turn pushes the player to want to carry on the adventure. You’re invested in Henry Avery’s story, not just his treasure. You became invested after you walked through his dreams, saw his ambition, felt his rage, and discovered his downfall. This is the power of great art. Libertalia is this generation’s Rapture, the infamous underwater city from the Bioshock series. Like Rapture, Libertalia was a utopian wonderland that ultimately crumbled under the pressure of mankind’s greed and paranoia.
And it’s only one location in UC4…

More: https://the-optional.com/uncharted-4-naughty-dogs-spree-of-excellence-bf2aaff2cb1e#.l0uoxaiz7
 

Jennipeg

Member
The magnum for one shotting regular enemies and a machine gun for spray and pray. The rocket launcher and grenade launcher take too long to reload and aren't accurate enough plus slash damage.

Which chapter is it? I can check the guide and see if it has any crushing tips.
 
Multiplayer seems good. Aiming feels a bit better like some users noted. Still need to see more of the maps and figure out whether I'm okay with this unlock system though. Could possibly be Rocket League's sidepiece :p
 

Jennipeg

Member
I DID IT! holy shit I actually did it. My hands are shaking.

lol, that's awesome, congrats dude. That sounds like me when I beat the huge guy on the train in UC2 on crushing, for some reason he was the bane of my existence for 3 days before I beat him. My PS3 almost went out the window at that point.
 

Jyrii

Banned
I just got to chapter 1
7
. The chapter before it was a nice palette cleanser. The pacing overall seems to be best Naughty Dog has ever done.

Edit. The game starts too slowly though.
 

Fjordson

Member
Enjoying this quite a bit from a creative perspective (visually amazing, interesting characters, enjoying the story more than past UC's) but I think I agree with some other posters in that the pacing is flawed. I dunno, I feel like it should be exciting more consistently. I just hit Madagascar so I still have a lot to play, but some of these sections have been really, really slow

That being said, when the combat and stealth actually shows up it's been pretty fun.
 
no bumhurt pls. no calling me a troll because i have a different opinion than you. anyone trolling will be reported to the mods as well as the police.

before i go into how much of a complete shitshow the game is, let's look at the positive:

the game looks nice.
that is all.

now let's go into why the game is a complete and utter shitshow. i am only on chapter 13, but i feel i have played enough to be able to critique the game. i will not talk about the story because that is something i cannot comment on at the moment.

the game starts in an action sequence as you play as nathan shooting some cunts on a boat with his brother. the sequence is boring, out of context, and a mechanically flawed experience designed to put you straight into the action before the game throws you into the rest of the shitshow opening. the whole opening is a non interactive shitshow for the telltale generation who put too much value on the story and characterization in a game. you idiots probably like it. especially that noel edmonds cunt. the first 4 hours of the game is literally a movie. i don't even want to call it an interactive movie because you have no control over anything. the only time you control nathan is to perform ridiculously mundane tasks such as walking over to a door and mashing a button to open it.

the first real action sequence starts about 4 hours in. this is when you start to regret asking for a action sequence and want the game to turn back into a movie about a man performing mundane tasks. you quickly realise that not only has the combat not been fixed, but it is actually worse than in previous games. the shooting mechanics and the cover system are completely broken and the enemies are still bullet sponges. they have been talking about the fucking grapple hook like it actually changes combat. it does not change the combat experience and that is because you can pretty much only use it in scripted events. the grappling hook does not change platforming either because again, scripted events only. you cannot just grapple around freely like a good game would allow you to. the combat is not organic as previews suggested. nathan is the elephant man so stealth is not an option. and why no sprint button? idiots.

the whole structure and pacing of the game is fucked and rinse and repeat. they have made the game much more open compared to previous games, but it does not work because naughty dog are complete and utter cunts. the previous games worked well because they used to flow perfectly. there was no pacing issues in those games at all. you would start at one end and walk through until you reached the other end. inbetween that, you would get great set pieces and combat sequences. there is absolutely nothing wrong with a linear game. stop pretending that something being linear is valid criticism.

this game is different. this game goes something like this:

go to place and wonder around aimlessly for 5 minutes. eventually find where you need to be and get told that the door/gate is blocked. you look around the walls for the highlighted rocks for you to climb on. you find a crate to push over to the highlighted rocks and jump on the highlighted rocks. you climb on them and press L1 to grapple on a conveniently placed bracket and find a different way in. sometimes there are no highlighted rocks at all. in that situation, sam usually points out a broken ladder that he needs boosting up to. once he is boosted up, he pushes down a crate that you can use to climb up to the broken ladder. i am not lying when i say that this is literally over 50% of the gameplay in this game. it is in EVERY chapter i have played after the first 4.

after you have done that nonsense, there is usually a simple, mundane puzzle to solve. it usually involves moving some symbols around until they fall into place. the annoying thing is that most puzzles involve doing the same thing about 3 times. you move the symbols into the correct position and then another tier opens up

when you eventually solve that puzzle trash, rafe phones you up to tell you he was outside wanking in a bush all along, has overheard everything and is now coming to beat you up with his sexy mercenary girlfriend. you are then forced into combat before the chapter ends.

i said i would not be talking about the story, but it is hard to ignore that nathan literally left his wife to go on a mass murdering spree. i can ignore that nonsense. many people cannot ignore that and find it hard to take the story seriously.

i have not played the multiplayer because i have not got a dick growing out of my head.

that is uncharted 4.

DO NOT BUY

FUCK UNCHARTED 4

#REVIEWINPROGRESS
#RARE
#EXCLUSIVE
#BUYRATCHERANDCLANKINSTEAD

If this is serious I don't know what to say except that everyone in their right minds shouldn't read this post. I read it word for word and I am now dumber for it.
 

zsynqx

Member
Forbes ranked the Uncharted games. More in the article.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidth...games-ranked-from-best-to-worst/#2d08d6b2650e

5) Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception

This one was sort of a mess. The game was a trip through giant set pieces, some of which were built before the developers had any idea how they would fit into the story, and it shows. Not quite sure if it wanted to end close a trilogy or not, and not quite sure if it wanted to delve into Drake’s darker side or not, it ended up lacking both focus and drive.

4) Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune

I debated the bottom two of this list for a while, because there are a lot of things we need to forgive about the first entry in this particular series. Naughty Dog hadn’t really figured the whole thing out yet, and neither the gunplay nor the navigation were quite there yet, and the pacing was all wrong. But it had that kernel to it that would later grow into Uncharted 2, and for all its faults, I had a better time with this game than I did with Uncharted 3.

3) Uncharted: Golden Abyss

Some will be surprised to see a Vita port quite so high on this list. Uncharted: Gold Abyss was meant to be a selling point for Sony’s quixotic portable, showing us a future where we all played “console-quality (whatever that means)” games on the go, on the toilet, or on the couch when we didn’t feel like turning on the console. We all know how that panned out, but the Vita did leave us with this one. Golden Abyss was stacked with odd vita-specific features showcasing motion controls, a light sensitive camera, the touchscreen, and more, and that whole rigamarole could get pretty tiring. But at the heart of that game was Drake’s purest adventure in the entire series.

2) Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End

This game was a true accomplishment. It takes that emotional weight that bogged down Uncharted 3 and commits wholeheartedly, wrapping up Nathan Drake’s adventure with grace, charm and a a surprising maturity. It helps that the combat is the best in the series, it helps that the visuals are the best I’ve seen in any video game, ever, and it helps that Naughty Dog experimented with opening up the corridor shooter just enough to give us a hint of player agency. Uncharted 4 was a rough game to get through sometimes — knowing that you’re coming to the end of the adventure will do that to you. But Naughty Dog pulled it off in the most emotionally affecting game of the series. The treasure of Henry Avery, too, was the only goal in the series that felt like it had a story to tell every bit as interesting as the one in the present day.

1) Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

As you can see from my love of Golden Abyss, I prefer it when Uncharted sticks to the breezy pulp that inspired it, and we see that in spades with Uncharted 2. This the game that came to define the series, and for good reason: we were not yet weighed down with the broader character arcs that gave us such trouble in Uncharted 3, nor were we tasked with introducing the characters like we were in Uncharted. There are parts of this game that haven’t aged quite as well — the shooting could be improved, the stealth could seriously be improved, and you spend too much time crouched behind cover mowing down legions of enemies. But damn, was this an adventure. Grand, funny, exciting and quick, Naughty Dog managed to tell a story that didn’t lag for a single moment, from the opening moments on the train to a striking, quiet moment in a Tibetan village. This game, always, will be the masterpiece of the Uncharted series.
 
Eh,
I thought he was in it plenty. Lots more than UC2. Certainly not as much as UC3 but UC3 was very much about Drake's relationship with Sully. I was happy that they put the focus back on Elena after how little she was in 3. Further, I liked how Sully was used. Even when he was offscreen in the second half he was still in the story unlike how he left in UC2 or Chloe and Cutter left in UC3.

UC2 didn't need a ton of Sully though with
Chloe, Elena, Flynn, and Tenzin also being companions. The call for more Sully is because at least he would've injected more humor into the game. Sam felt monotonous as a companion at times. Elena's return in chapter 17 was refreshing and much needed tbh.
 
no bumhurt pls. no calling me a troll because i have a different opinion than you. anyone trolling will be reported to the mods as well as the police.

before i go into how much of a complete shitshow the game is, let's look at the positive:

the game looks nice.
that is all.

now let's go into why the game is a complete and utter shitshow. i am only on chapter 13, but i feel i have played enough to be able to critique the game. i will not talk about the story because that is something i cannot comment on at the moment.

the game starts in an action sequence as you play as nathan shooting some cunts on a boat with his brother. the sequence is boring, out of context, and a mechanically flawed experience designed to put you straight into the action before the game throws you into the rest of the shitshow opening. the whole opening is a non interactive shitshow for the telltale generation who put too much value on the story and characterization in a game. you idiots probably like it. especially that noel edmonds cunt. the first 4 hours of the game is literally a movie. i don't even want to call it an interactive movie because you have no control over anything. the only time you control nathan is to perform ridiculously mundane tasks such as walking over to a door and mashing a button to open it.

the first real action sequence starts about 4 hours in. this is when you start to regret asking for a action sequence and want the game to turn back into a movie about a man performing mundane tasks. you quickly realise that not only has the combat not been fixed, but it is actually worse than in previous games. the shooting mechanics and the cover system are completely broken and the enemies are still bullet sponges. they have been talking about the fucking grapple hook like it actually changes combat. it does not change the combat experience and that is because you can pretty much only use it in scripted events. the grappling hook does not change platforming either because again, scripted events only. you cannot just grapple around freely like a good game would allow you to. the combat is not organic as previews suggested. nathan is the elephant man so stealth is not an option. and why no sprint button? idiots.

the whole structure and pacing of the game is fucked and rinse and repeat. they have made the game much more open compared to previous games, but it does not work because naughty dog are complete and utter cunts. the previous games worked well because they used to flow perfectly. there was no pacing issues in those games at all. you would start at one end and walk through until you reached the other end. inbetween that, you would get great set pieces and combat sequences. there is absolutely nothing wrong with a linear game. stop pretending that something being linear is valid criticism.

this game is different. this game goes something like this:

go to place and wonder around aimlessly for 5 minutes. eventually find where you need to be and get told that the door/gate is blocked. you look around the walls for the highlighted rocks for you to climb on. you find a crate to push over to the highlighted rocks and jump on the highlighted rocks. you climb on them and press L1 to grapple on a conveniently placed bracket and find a different way in. sometimes there are no highlighted rocks at all. in that situation, sam usually points out a broken ladder that he needs boosting up to. once he is boosted up, he pushes down a crate that you can use to climb up to the broken ladder. i am not lying when i say that this is literally over 50% of the gameplay in this game. it is in EVERY chapter i have played after the first 4.

after you have done that nonsense, there is usually a simple, mundane puzzle to solve. it usually involves moving some symbols around until they fall into place. the annoying thing is that most puzzles involve doing the same thing about 3 times. you move the symbols into the correct position and then another tier opens up

when you eventually solve that puzzle trash, rafe phones you up to tell you he was outside wanking in a bush all along, has overheard everything and is now coming to beat you up with his sexy mercenary girlfriend. you are then forced into combat before the chapter ends.

i said i would not be talking about the story, but it is hard to ignore that nathan literally left his wife to go on a mass murdering spree. i can ignore that nonsense. many people cannot ignore that and find it hard to take the story seriously.

i have not played the multiplayer because i have not got a dick growing out of my head.

that is uncharted 4.

DO NOT BUY

FUCK UNCHARTED 4

#REVIEWINPROGRESS
#RARE
#EXCLUSIVE
#BUYRATCHERANDCLANKINSTEAD

Eh.. I've seen better attempts.

I'll give you a 'C+' Though, I did laugh at the bolded bits
 

Unknown?

Member
Eh,
I thought he was in it plenty. Lots more than UC2. Certainly not as much as UC3 but UC3 was very much about Drake's relationship with Sully. I was happy that they put the focus back on Elena after how little she was in 3. Further, I liked how Sully was used. Even when he was offscreen in the second half he was still in the story unlike how he left in UC2 or Chloe and Cutter left in UC3.



This sentiment seems weird to me since the jeep chase is a gigantic setpiece that is on the level with the plane and train. Especially the plane since, while visually spectacular, it was quite short.

Sometimes I think ND made a mistake in showing that stuff at E3. I think more than a few people would have had a better reaction to the game if that chase had been kept under wraps.

Yeah it was much longer than the plane. The plane was way over the top but ultimately very short and not that great IMO.
 
If this is serious I don't know what to say except that everyone in their right minds shouldn't read this post. I read it word for word and I am now dumber for it.
Yeah the part where he called everyone "idiots" was where I transitioned to skimming, and I stopped reading where he called Naughty Dog cunts. You can be critical, but have some respect.
 
I just got finished at
the ballroom where everyone saw Rafe. Now I'm on the next chapter looking for the graveyard.

How long left do I have before the game is over? I haven't had a lot of time to play and I am hoping to finish this game soon so I can join in discussions and not worry about spoilers.
 
I just got finished at
the ballroom where everyone saw Rafe. Now I'm on the next chapter looking for the graveyard.

How long left do I have before the game is over? I haven't had a lot of time to play and I am hoping to finish this game soon so I can join in discussions and not worry about spoilers.
Lol... You have a loooonnnggg ways to go.
 
I just got finished at
the ballroom where everyone saw Rafe. Now I'm on the next chapter looking for the graveyard.

How long left do I have before the game is over? I haven't had a lot of time to play and I am hoping to finish this game soon so I can join in discussions and not worry about spoilers.

That sounds like 20% of the game. :p

Edit: Took me close to 18hs on hard.
 

bombshell

Member
lol, that's awesome, congrats dude. That sounds like me when I beat the huge guy on the train in UC2 on crushing, for some reason he was the bane of my existence for 3 days before I beat him. My PS3 almost went out the window at that point.

The huge guy where you just have to shoot the straps off the wagon with the pile of trees? Or some other huge guy that I can't remember?
 

Jennipeg

Member
UC2 didn't need a ton of Sully though with
Chloe, Elena, Flynn, and Tenzin also being companions. The call for more Sully is because at least he would've injected more humor into the game. Sam felt monotonous as a companion at times. Elena's return in chapter 17 was refreshing and much needed tbh.

I think Sam as a companion felt a bit 'off' because I did not trust him at all, I was giving him the side eye the entire time. So any time he made a joke, It actually annoyed me, because he should have been taking it more seriously. BUT at the same time, the relationship between Sam and Nate is awkward too, which it would be considering their time apart, so that fitted well with my own feelings of discomfort. I'm torn between thinking this was brilliantly handled by ND, and thinking it didn't work for me. I wonder what they wanted us to feel during the first half of the game. It will be very interesting to replay in retrospect.

Chapter
17 onwards was great because I love Elena so much, and it was clear how much Nate loved her too, it was great, and also the reason that area did not drag for me in the slightest.
 
UC2 didn't need a ton of Sully though with
Chloe, Elena, Flynn, and Tenzin also being companions. The call for more Sully is because at least he would've injected more humor into the game. Sam felt monotonous as a companion at times. Elena's return in chapter 17 was refreshing and much needed tbh.

I liked the way they handled the companions. I think it was appropriate that there was less humor in Chapters 12-15 because of what went down with Elena at the end of 11. Nate even pushes back on Sam a lot in this time when Sam tries to lighten the mood. I don't think Sam himself was much of a downer- I really enjoyed the 3 way banter going on throughout Chapter 10.

Totally agree with how refreshing Elena was but I think it was wholly intentional. Chapters 17&18 are essentially this beautiful piece of marriage counselling played out via an adventure and the player and Drake see what he was giving up putting his marriage on the line for Sam. And it makes a nice contrast that just as things are getting darker in the pirate world as you find out more of what went down in Libertalia things are actually becoming brighter for Nate as he fixes his marriage.

Also, I will probably be lynched for this, but a little bit of Sully goes a long way. I think over extended periods of time their banter can get a bit try-hard. Never worse than in Golden Abyss but that was more because it wasn't written by anyone at ND and none of the dialogue is even close to the quality of the main games.

So I think UC2 was a great use of Sully in terms of amount of screen time but I thought his exit from the game was one of the sloppier bits of writing in that game.
 

Jennipeg

Member
The huge guy where you just have to shoot the straps off the wagon with the pile of trees? Or some other huge guy that I can't remember?

No, it was some bullet sponge mini boss at the end of the chapter. He was terrible.

Yeah this fucker. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCe3nlTgJm0

The one that Lezarevic gave the really really really important dagger to, for no reason whatsoever. Uncharted 2 is in my top 5 all time fav games, but even I can't excuse this shit.
 
I think Sam as a companion felt a bit 'off' because I did not trust him at all, I was giving him the side eye the entire time. So any time he made a joke, It actually annoyed me, because he should have been taking it more seriously. BUT at the same time, the relationship between Sam and Nate is awkward too, which it would be considering their time apart, so that fitted well with my own feelings of discomfort. I'm torn between thinking this was brilliantly handled by ND, and thinking it didn't work for me. I wonder what they wanted us to feel during the first half of the game. It will be very interesting to replay in retrospect.

Chapter
17 onwards was great because I love Elena so much, and it was clear how much Nate loved her too, it was great, and also the reason that area did not drag for me in the slightest.

Absolute best Sam moment for me was
The little optional conversation in Chapter 14 where they talk about how life would have been different if they had made other choices.
 

Gorillaz

Member
When it comes to companions we needed
--Chloe--
to show up

ND you know what needs to be done with the dlc even if it is a flashback mission just do it.
 

msdstc

Incredibly Naive
I completed Uncharted 2 yesterday and I am scrambling to think of the reasons that have made players hail it as the king of TPS! The pacing was good and Nathan as charming as ever, but the mechanics are frustratingly limited and limiting (The last boss is a chore...just awful), and the story less focused and engrossing than that of the first. I think that I will like the 4th one more, if only by default...

Did you play uc2 when it came out or just now? You're comparing a nearly 10 year old game on a previous gen console to a current gen beast. Context matters.
 
http://magazine.artstation.com/2016/05/uncharted-4-art-blast/

i'm on chapter 14. i noped after seeing stuff i hadn't seen in the game yet. thinking maybe there are some possible ending/character spoilers here?
Yeah there are some there, you're fine as long as you didn't scroll all the way down to the bottom though. Even then I doubt most people will realize what they saw until they get to it, the spoilers are not really in your face.
 
I liked the way they handled the companions. I think it was appropriate that there was less humor in Chapters 12-15 because of what went down with Elena at the end of 11. Nate even pushes back on Sam a lot in this time when Sam tries to lighten the mood. I don't think Sam himself was much of a downer- I really enjoyed the 3 way banter going on throughout Chapter 10.

Totally agree with how refreshing Elena was but I think it was wholly intentional. Chapters 17&18 are essentially this beautiful piece of marriage counselling played out via an adventure and the player and Drake see what he was giving up putting his marriage on the line for Sam. And it makes a nice contrast that just as things are getting darker in the pirate world as you find out more of what went down in Libertalia things are actually becoming brighter for Nate as he fixes his marriage.

Also, I will probably be lynched for this, but a little bit of Sully goes a long way. I think over extended periods of time their banter can get a bit try-hard. Never worse than in Golden Abyss but that was more because it wasn't written by anyone at ND and none of the dialogue is even close to the quality of the main games.

So I think UC2 was a great use of Sully in terms of amount of screen time but I thought his exit from the game was one of the sloppier bits of writing in that game.

I never really trusted
Sam so that didn't really resonate with me. I have my suspicions that he was originally intended to be a villain because he just comes of as a sleazy character.(+the tone in that teaser)

It might've been intentional to make Elena refreshing, but Sam didn't fit that role for me. Maybe if the ending was less of a straightforward happy ending, I would've appreciated it more, but as it stands I'm just left wanting more humor and a scenario where Sam's story wasn't a lie, culminating with the clashing of the three parties.
 
Did you play uc2 when it came out or just now? You're comparing a nearly 10 year old game on a previous gen console to a current gen beast. Context matters.
I don't agree with the notion that UC2 isn't the king since it's my favorite, but what does the age of the game have to do with anything? A truly sterling piece of media doesn't lose its luster just because ten years have past.
 
Top Bottom