MAX PAYMENT
Member
How is the multiplayer? Still on a work trip until the 27th.
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Uncharted 4: A Thief's End |OT| You're gonna miss this ass
- Thread starter BaraSailey
- Start date
ViewtifulJC
Banned
Chapter 16 only made me appreciate Left Behind even more, cuz now I see how poorly it could have went.
Man-is-Obsolete
Member
Loved it. For whatever reason combat encounters never fully clicked with me. It always felt like where I thought I would be aiming coming out of cover never was where I was intending even if I went back to cover then out again. i really want to play it again with bullet time and really explore each encounters options, resetting an encounter is actually pretty quick. I think it speaks volumes about the combat though that I want to explore those options even if it didn't truly click the first time. Except for stealth. I loved the areas where you could stealth the entire thing though. Felt like a giant puzzle.
I just found the game to be incredibly dense. So many locales and so many moments. Truly incredible.
I just found the game to be incredibly dense. So many locales and so many moments. Truly incredible.
Heard it's fun. Haven't played it myself yet cuz I'm still working on SP trophies.
Just finished it. Mhm. The game started out slow, had a short peak phase where pacing, combat and vistas entered a perfect symbiosis and I had a blast but then it just took a deep nose dive regarding all the former in roughly the last third. Also wtf at that boss fight, pure bullshit. I thought the ending was fine for the conclusion of a franchise.
Overall it was a nice experience for the price I paid but hardly a super outstanding 11/10 GOAT title like some people hyped it up to be.
Overall it was a nice experience for the price I paid but hardly a super outstanding 11/10 GOAT title like some people hyped it up to be.
omg - splitscreen?
I dont think I have seen anyone saying its GOAT or 11/10... I am sure there are exceptions to that but really i dont see that 11/10 thing you are talking about.
The general impression of the majority of people, is that it is a great game, well crafted and that closes the series on a high note.
lukeskymac
Member
Word.
Raitosaito
Member
Some real thoughtful criticisms there
lukeskymac
Member
Not surprised that they got things this wrong considering they are Polygon's bigger bro site.
MegaSackman
Member
I've read quite a few posts saying it's GOAT, and I can fully appreciate why. For those that love exposition and character building, along with dynamic and diverse combat and a blockbuster type experience, this is pretty much as good as it gets. In terms of story and combat, it's well ahead of Uncharted 2 imo, only a bit less humorous and instead more mature and nuanced. Some like me will of course prefer UC2's pacing, as it's a little more energetic and action packed, but for those that prefer the exposition or exploration, and are less inclined towards the combat, UC4 is likely going to be preferable.
Did you play the Beta? It's still basically the same.
I have a few beefs with it, sometimes melees don't register on people on ledges below me, etc. Command is pretty fun with the zones and captain mechanic. But for the most part its just a diversion, nothing I'd play beyond a couple days just to check it out, a lot of better MP games out there.
Chapter 16 was amazing.
I would LOVE LOVE LOVE if they explored Evelyn's past. Her house was a treasure trove (sry, not sry) of her adventures. I was thinking maybe it can be a dual story, with her in the past, and one of her ancestors in the future. How cool would it be to explore the same areas in two different time periods? Would love some 1930s-like Indiana Jones set pieces with a strong female lead. Maybe even finding things that Evelyn left behind in certain tombs or areas, mysteries that eluded her, but her ancestor in the future was able to figure out, etc.
Hire me now. I want this game
With GOAT i assume he meant greatest game of all time. No best Uncharted. To me as well this is the best Uncharted and by quite a margin too.
But as for GOAT I really havent got that impression from what I read and hear. Certainly not GOAT for me at least, I still consider TLOU up there though.
lukeskymac
Member
I agree with him, might be converting into a Polygon fan after all.
Uncharted 4's pacing and both the amount and the distribution of combat encounters are completely whack. Meanwhile, Uncharted 2 gets the aforementioned perfectly between chapters 5 and 21 (so, 75% of the game).
I loads of superman punches all over the shop. Super useful on Crushing to get OHKOs. Use stealth, find a small vantage point over an enemy, check no-one's watching, leap on them.
I've seen the + steal long gun variation a bunch of times, too. sogood.gif
I'm really hoping that autumn co-op mode is at 30FPS, maintains the fidelity/style of the singleplayer, and is just combat arena after combat arena, with the option to play singleplayer. Could be gamechanging.
If you base pacing only on the distribution of combat encounters, then yes, it's whack.
However, the combat encounters only occured where it 100% made sense in the story, and no more than required were shoehorned in, and there are still 6-8 variously-sized setpieces which are all great, and the pacing is still great, so no, the pacing is not whack.
It was so much fun.
ChaosZeroX
Banned
Can you even get Crushing without playing it again? That would be great, because as much as I do love the game, I really don't want to play through it again lol
herbchamberz
Member
Wow - that Videogamer article posted earlier makes me want to play through the whole series again, with that "retroactive layer" that's been added to Drake's character:
http://www.videogamer.com/ps4/uncha..._screw_up_created_the_best_uncharted_yet.html
I would say my only fault with the game is
.
Great game, though. Loved the ending
.
Naughty Dog is da real MVP.
http://www.videogamer.com/ps4/uncha..._screw_up_created_the_best_uncharted_yet.html
I would say my only fault with the game is
I wish there was one more locale added to the game before Libertalia. I do like how they ended the series in the jungle, similar to how it started. But after seeing Scotland and Madagascar, I think the pacing could have benefited from one more set piece before taking us there
Great game, though. Loved the ending
and the epilogue
Naughty Dog is da real MVP.
The_Darkest_Red
Member
I enjoyed every chapter but I am concerned about some of them on a replay. The slower story-driven chapters tend to be a bit of a drag on repeat playthroughs and UC4 has more of those than the previous 3 games combined.
I would agree, it's a fascinating chapter.
To my mind it's important as
if you spend the time in the mansion to look around and read the letters from the husband and son, you see that Evelyn essentially chose adventuring over her family, has been dying of cancer with no loving support and ultimately dies alone and unloved surrounded by her relics. In the context of Drake's past and his current life with Elena, this memory is another powerful catalyst for Drake to choose life and love over adventure. Awaking to find Elena immediately afterwards, with this memory fresh in his mind just reinforces what he has to lose
Vital chapter.
Collateral22
Member
On Chapter 13 at the moment and it still continues to blow me away. The attention to detail is unrivaled and visually it's probably the best looking game I've ever seen.
My man... I agree 100%!
The way this story also resonates with Nate's life as well is amazing.
regarding choosing adventure over family
Lys Skygge
Member
Totally agree. And I think it's placement within the overall story was masterfully done.
Fancy Clown
Member
It's super on the nose. And the dialogue and contrived stuff at the end is no bueno
I liked the chapter, but I agree that
the woman dying in front of them but only after she called the cops was too contrived.
orthodoxy1095
Banned
Unfortunately realizing this stuff requires people to actually pay attention and not rush through looking forward to the next combat section
These are just from the last couple of pages. Read dozens of similar posts. For some people I think it really might be GoaT.
MegaSackman
Member
That's The Goonies part of the movie/game hehe, it's silly but I'm ok with it.
The entire premise of Uncharted is contrived. We are talking about a guy who cant cross a damn bridge without everything collapsing around him. It fits the tone of the game. Sure its convenient but I dont mind it.
KINGofCRA5H
Member
I wish I could forget the game and play it again fresh, nothing like that first experience going in not knowing anything.
Hell, I'd be happy with just being able to replay Chapter 4 completely fresh.
Certainly is for me. Finished it today and it was everything I wanted it to be.
Don't know why people wanted more combat. I was starting to feel like there was too much of it while in Chapter 20, tbh. 😅
Easily my favourite Uncharted too. I don't think the other games' stories even come close, especially the "historical" parts. Avery's story was really interesting to me and I couldn't wait to see what happened next, and I loved the little notes and stuff that foreshadowed and explained a lot of background detail. Felt like
Isn't story
Overall, amazing game to me. Couldn't have asked for a better conclusion as a long-time Uncharted fan.
Unfortunately realizing this stuff requires people to actually pay attention and not rush through looking forward to the next combat section
Yeah, that's exactly why I disliked a section of walking around pressing triangle every 5 yards. I've already said the story part of chapter 16 is important and needs to be told, I just think it was handled like shit.
Fine Ham Abounds
Member
Wrapped up last night. What a disjointed mess. This entry achieves a weird combination of treading more physical, mechanical, and emotional ground than any of the previous entries, but still ends up feeling the thinnest and most unfinished of the entire series.
Middle to late game and ending spoilers:
Ultimately, the game just never felt like it knew what it wanted to be. Part an homage to the series, part an homage to Naughty Dog's other work, part open world, part setpieces, never fully feeling committed to justifying any of it.
The best parts of the game are where you choose how to approach a combat situation and then scramble to make the most of it - something done so much better and with so much more tension in TLoU, but still as to make the best parts of this game largely not feel like Uncharted at all. The worst parts of the game are the parts which also aped TLoU's worst qualities - walking around looking at scenery. However, in TLoU there was always tension, anticipation. There is none of that here. You always know you can survive an ambush, you always know something is going to crumble and you'll have to go jump around safely for another 30 minutes, seemingly for its own sake.
The Uncharted formula doesn't lend itself well to padding. The only justification for the mind-numbing traversal of the series was that it made the most sense to bookend setpieces and give a pause to combat without interfering with the pacing. In this entry, the traversal itself interferes with the pacing, and it leaves you cold and unsatisfied, and in the worst cases, bored. No game that had this much effort and care put into it deserves to end up boring.
For all its best intentions and massive production values, UC4 feels incomplete. It's an odd product that is so obviously not a combination of first ideas, not (just) a cash grab, and makes an honest attempt to not be a cynical spoon-fed experience, but somehow ends up feeling less cohesive and nearly as unsatisfying as any of the above. It almost feels as if an attempt was made to address the critics of the series while not turning its back on long-time fans, and the result is something that fully satisfies neither camp.
Ultimately the pacing is called out as the game's main flaw as it is the net result of all of the game's offenses. More stealth encounters, more enemy variety, more puzzles, leaning more heavily on the rope and less on walking along walls for half of Chapter - these things would have improved the whole experience enormously I think. I'd go so far as to say less also could have been more. Heavily editing individual chapters - even without providing more of them with greater variety to make up the difference - might have made a stronger game.
Middle to late game and ending spoilers:
Chapter 12 finally makes the open environment feel like exploring. Sadly, this is the only part of the game that really achieves this. After some more of the same from 13 to 15, the Chapter 16 trainwreck hits. I appreciated the plot, but it really underscores just how poorly the game handles tension and buildup. The Sam twist was predictable, although not as dark as I expected, but to transition from finally getting interesting to another pacing slog was just about the dumbest thing they've done storytelling-wise since the beginning of the series.
Chapter 17 was basically a slightly more interesting rehash of chapter 10, then the game basically coasts along until Chapter 20 when it suddenly remembers it's Uncharted, and the really quite excellent stealth combat approach is abandoned for the last 3 chapters as it's back to the dull cover-shooting antics interspersed with forced mobility and bullet sponge encounters that are the trademark of the first 3 games.
The game wraps up with the most anti-climactic finish of the series, worse I think than even UC3, with a boss fight that feels roughly like what would happen if you tried to strip down Godhand for smartphones. I'm still on the fence as to whether the numbskull fistfight at the end of UC3 or this is the worst way to end either game.
Chapter 17 was basically a slightly more interesting rehash of chapter 10, then the game basically coasts along until Chapter 20 when it suddenly remembers it's Uncharted, and the really quite excellent stealth combat approach is abandoned for the last 3 chapters as it's back to the dull cover-shooting antics interspersed with forced mobility and bullet sponge encounters that are the trademark of the first 3 games.
The game wraps up with the most anti-climactic finish of the series, worse I think than even UC3, with a boss fight that feels roughly like what would happen if you tried to strip down Godhand for smartphones. I'm still on the fence as to whether the numbskull fistfight at the end of UC3 or this is the worst way to end either game.
Ultimately, the game just never felt like it knew what it wanted to be. Part an homage to the series, part an homage to Naughty Dog's other work, part open world, part setpieces, never fully feeling committed to justifying any of it.
The best parts of the game are where you choose how to approach a combat situation and then scramble to make the most of it - something done so much better and with so much more tension in TLoU, but still as to make the best parts of this game largely not feel like Uncharted at all. The worst parts of the game are the parts which also aped TLoU's worst qualities - walking around looking at scenery. However, in TLoU there was always tension, anticipation. There is none of that here. You always know you can survive an ambush, you always know something is going to crumble and you'll have to go jump around safely for another 30 minutes, seemingly for its own sake.
The Uncharted formula doesn't lend itself well to padding. The only justification for the mind-numbing traversal of the series was that it made the most sense to bookend setpieces and give a pause to combat without interfering with the pacing. In this entry, the traversal itself interferes with the pacing, and it leaves you cold and unsatisfied, and in the worst cases, bored. No game that had this much effort and care put into it deserves to end up boring.
For all its best intentions and massive production values, UC4 feels incomplete. It's an odd product that is so obviously not a combination of first ideas, not (just) a cash grab, and makes an honest attempt to not be a cynical spoon-fed experience, but somehow ends up feeling less cohesive and nearly as unsatisfying as any of the above. It almost feels as if an attempt was made to address the critics of the series while not turning its back on long-time fans, and the result is something that fully satisfies neither camp.
Ultimately the pacing is called out as the game's main flaw as it is the net result of all of the game's offenses. More stealth encounters, more enemy variety, more puzzles, leaning more heavily on the rope and less on walking along walls for half of Chapter - these things would have improved the whole experience enormously I think. I'd go so far as to say less also could have been more. Heavily editing individual chapters - even without providing more of them with greater variety to make up the difference - might have made a stronger game.
you loved it all!
Indeed. This is one of the best plot points that Uncharted has pulled off. Loved all the foreshadowing.
Khalifa Jayy
Banned
I just got to Chapter 15.
This game, man... this game!
This game, man... this game!
This. It drives the point home so damn hard, its really out of character for ND
Alex_Mexico
Member
Ok show of hands who didn't like
? In an otherwise phenomenal game and easily the best in the series the dropped the ball
And yes,
chapter was easily the best one in the game.
the final boss
with this final battle. They threw away all the mechanics you've been building upon for a glorified QTE that was very difficult to learn at first (so a left attack means my left or his left? If he swings from his right to his left does that mean I make a Right Block or a Left Block?). It took so many deaths and trial and error to get my bearings. No gunplay, barely any punching, no rope mechanic made this for a dissapointing fight.
And yes,
The Drake Brothers
Ammogeddon
Member
That and the exploding mummies mired an otherwise great last chapter for me.
lukeskymac
Member
The game takes so much time to get off the ground that its first act is slower than TLoU's, and Chapter 16 overstays its welcome massively. It's like ND tried to do the Where Am I? again but forgot that it worked because
a) You had just spent several minutes in high-action encounters/setpieces with perfect pacing
b) The change of scenery itself was kind of a twist, and
c) Where Am I? doesn't completely kick you out of what just happened in the prior chapters, both because it's set immediately after them and before it's quite short. The Brothers Drake is neither of those.
Fine Ham Abounds
Member
It does a good job doing what it was trying to do. All that it breaks up though is the tension of a major plotpoint. I certainly understand the intent was to throw something in right then and there to lend perspective to
the betrayal and better understand Sam's motivation and character, and to help you believe he still deserved your sympathy and cares deeply for his brother.
Alex_Mexico
Member
I loved Chapter 16. It also made me remember
Winter from TLoU where the game changed a scene dramatically while leaving the previous chapter in a cliffhanger making me have to go through a slower pace but I loved it.
I wholeheartedly disagree. It was making me hunt deer on Winter in TLoU right after a major cliffhanger in Fall all over again. I explored every nook and cranny of that mansion btoh because I was enjoying it and because I wanted to know what happened next.
So I finished the game today, and I have been avoiding all discussion threads, partly to avoid spoilers, partly to avoid colouring my experience before I've played it myself.
I thought it was really, really good, and you can feel a LOT of The Last Of Us' influence in this game. I loved the slow parts and the character building, Naughty Dog are just on another level since TLOU in lending emotional weight to characters. Yes, previous UC games had character development, but the way they have underpinned all the plot of the first three games with realistic, believable emotional grounding moves the characters and the entire series away from 'throwaway adventures' to something more hard-hitting, with more emotional clout, without taking away the fun. It feels like Casino Royale/Skyfall to the first three games' Roger Moore/Connery Bonds.
It's interesting. I think if Amy Hennig had been left in charge, we'd have had a similar game to Uncharted 2/3 in that it would have been big and bombastic and a bit more throwaway. And someone would have died.
If there was one thing missing, I think it could have done with 'one big set piece', like the train in UC2, or the plane or the boat in UC3.
I still preferred Uncharted 2 as a single adventure, but I LOVE the emotional and realistic grounding they gave to these characters this time around, so it's a close call overall.
And the music was weak. I want my Uncharted main theme!
I thought it was really, really good, and you can feel a LOT of The Last Of Us' influence in this game. I loved the slow parts and the character building, Naughty Dog are just on another level since TLOU in lending emotional weight to characters. Yes, previous UC games had character development, but the way they have underpinned all the plot of the first three games with realistic, believable emotional grounding moves the characters and the entire series away from 'throwaway adventures' to something more hard-hitting, with more emotional clout, without taking away the fun. It feels like Casino Royale/Skyfall to the first three games' Roger Moore/Connery Bonds.
It's interesting. I think if Amy Hennig had been left in charge, we'd have had a similar game to Uncharted 2/3 in that it would have been big and bombastic and a bit more throwaway. And someone would have died.
If there was one thing missing, I think it could have done with 'one big set piece', like the train in UC2, or the plane or the boat in UC3.
I still preferred Uncharted 2 as a single adventure, but I LOVE the emotional and realistic grounding they gave to these characters this time around, so it's a close call overall.
And the music was weak. I want my Uncharted main theme!
lukeskymac
Member
The damned chapter is longer than the "insanity" it precedes for crying out loud! By the time the chapter ended I had almost forgotten that something interesting even happened before it.
Don't you dare. Winter works, in part for one of the same reasons that Where Am I? worked. The Brothers Drake is a mess.
I can't believe I'm saying this, since I was firmly on the #ibelieveindruckley camp when that mess happened, but now I wonder if her Uncharted 4 wouldn't have turned out much more interesting.