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

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
That moment when you recognize your crock pot in Uncharted 4....

r41KLHM.jpg


the attention to detail, man!


Courtesy of Reddit.

Hahahahaha, damn!
 
I really liked
Chapter 13, jungle shootout. You don't get to play as Nate without a companion much in this game and I really liked going solo on this one. Hanging off edges and rotating around the platforms to stealth kill people was a lot of fun.

Next one would have to be the ship graveyard.

This one is up there too.
 
I'm playing through all 4 at the same time to get a series perspective and it's a joyous but frustrating thing. Uncharted 4 literally does everything perfect on a gameplay side but then it doesn't let you get in combat encounters enough and Uncharted 2 has perfect pacing but it sometimes goes overboard with enemies. Uncharted 3 so far has he best balance but it has other problems. My list may be changing after these playthroughs :)

Yeah, I mentioned earlier that all the individual aspects of 4 are the best in the series by far, except the balance of the components is super off. It just goes to show how important pacing is. As a result 4 is not as good as 2, but better than 3 (which I still love). 3 is probably still more replayable than 4 though since it ramps up better with more combat and moves at a faster clip. I really wish they hadn't paced this game like Last of Us/Left Behind. The slower pacing worked great for those games, but not nearly as well for Uncharted where both more combat and a faster pace would greatly enhance the urgency and impact of the story and gameflow.

I feel like Naughty Dog, despite making combat better and better, are trying to phase it out of their games more and more which I really hope is not the case.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold 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
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.

This was a very well written article, and I could not agree more with her assessment on Nate.

Completed it 2 days ago, and it was so bittersweet. Not going to lie, I was actually getting a little anxiety
in the Epilogue when looking for your parents.

Naughty Dog did a good job with,
all the 'gotcha' moments of the cliche type scenarios, especially when Cassie felt like Sarah for a split second, complete with Vicky barking, adding to it.

Such a beautiful game all around with the dialogue and interaction with all the characters.

Can't not wait to jump in for a second play-through, with 'Cel Shading' and "Bullet Time'.
 
To be it is only realized in the multiplayer. It is way too sluggish on single player.

The multiplayer is fun but I much prefer single player encounters with tons of placed AI, full melee system, and all the other things that come with being a designed encounter. The 60fps for multi is real nice tho
 
That's interesting because I thought 2 got it just right and 3 went over board. There were little things about 3's combat that made it less fun for me. So maybe it just felt like there were a few too many combat section's. I didn't love the amount of melee you had to do, and those armoured shotgunners can GTFO.

Well I'm near chapter 10 in all 4 of the games so that's why Uncharted 3 seems to have the most balance so that will change once I get to Uncharted 2's set pieces and the Tenzin section.
 

valkyre

Member
Well, she
needed it the most after her entire army was destroyed. So she was the sane one at the end yet she was basically hit the hardest by this whole affair?(everyone else came away scott-free)

Then the game makes the impact kinda negligible by giving her a lot of treasure to rebuild it.(since they were just mercs for hire as we saw in Chapter 22 when she wanted to leave before getting to the ship)

I guess it's reasonable that the "sane" one gets the treasure because she knew when to quit and I know that she was basically forced into the shoreline thing, but it seems strange that everyone gets the treasure(including Sam) when it's supposed to be a tale of greed.

You seem to forget that
she didnt leave with just the gold but she also got obviously a hell of a lot of money from Rafe to offer her service and army. in fact by the end the game hints at her wanting to leave that merc life.
 
Yeah, I mentioned earlier that all the individual aspects of 4 are the best in the series by far, except the balance of the components is super off. It just goes to show how important pacing is. As a result 4 is not as good as 2, but better than 3 (which I still love). 3 is probably still more replayable than 4 though since it ramps up better with more combat and moves at a faster clip. I really wish they hadn't paced this game like Last of Us/Left Behind. The slower pacing worked great for those games, but not nearly as well for Uncharted where both more combat and a faster pace would greatly enhance the urgency and impact of the story and gameflow.

I feel like Naughty Dog, despite making combat better and better, are trying to phase it out of their games more and more which I really hope is not the case.

I'm not going to make any final judgments about 4 until I finish my second playthrough but I may agree with you. I've just told myself to appreciate it as a narrative driven game that's unlike past games. There is no arguing 2 flows the best and just works. However, I remember having more "wow" moments in 3 so I'm anxious to see how I feel after I finish. 3 could have been so much better if they improved hit reactions and the AI didn't act plain weird sometimes.

As of now I have Uncharted 2>>Uncharted 4=Uncharted 3>>>>>Uncharted 1. However, after I finish all 4 that equal sign will be gone just not sure which way it will go.
 
You seem to forget that
she didnt leave with just the gold but she also got obviously a hell of a lot of money from Rafe to offer her service and army. in fact by the end the game hints at her wanting to leave that merc life.

I didn't forget about that at all. That's why I said she was basically forced into it. She can rebuild it to suit what she wants or do whatever. Honestly, who cares about the money? She's already rich from the treasure alone and that doesn't change anything regarding what I was saying with consequence and everyone getting it.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Does anyone know when you beat the game,
and in the Epilogue when Nate is speaking to his daughter Cassie, if he will still start off with Drake's Fortune, or will he start off with Shangri-La if you chose to talk about UC2 first to Sam earlier, etc.?

Oh, and I would not mind a game based on Nadine, without her mercenary life, going on adventures and the like (getting the itch).
She now knows she can no longer trust 'guns for hire' when it comes to loyalty. So her riding the solo act, being her badass self would be fun.
 
I'm not going to make any final judgments about 4 until I finish my second playthrough but I may agree with you. I've just told myself to appreciate it as a narrative driven game that's unlike past games. There is no arguing 2 flows the best and just works. However, I remember having more "wow" moments in 3 so I'm anxious to see how I feel after I finish. 3 could have been so much better if they improved hit reactions and the AI didn't act plain weird sometimes.

As of now I have Uncharted 2>>Uncharted 4=Uncharted 3>>>>>Uncharted 1. However, after I finish all 4 that equal sign will be gone just not sure which way it will go.

Yeah I need to do a second playthrough as well. I started one and got to chapter 6 and figured I need to give it some more time to breathe since if jump into it right after I might just like it less since I just went through everything. It's weird to feel so conflicted and kind of dissapointed with such a quality production, but it is what it is.
 
Does anyone know when you beat the game,
and in the Epilogue when Nate is speaking to his daughter Cassie, if he will still start off with Drake's Fortune, or will he start off with Shangri-La if you chose to talk about UC2 first to Sam earlier, etc.?

I chose Shambala at the beginning and he still talked about El Dorado at the end since that's when he and Elena met
 
Does anyone know when you beat the game,
and in the Epilogue when Nate is speaking to his daughter Cassie, if he will still start off with Drake's Fortune, or will he start off with Shangri-La if you chose to talk about UC2 first to Sam earlier, etc.?

I'm pretty sure he always say the same because I finished the game twice and picked two different options and I don't remember seeing anything different at the epilogue.
 
Color me surprised that there are people disappointed that the game doesn't have
supernatural stuff in it.
That's exactly what I wanted. I was sick of it.
 
Is any one playing without the hud? for some reason I find it to be enjoyable, except for the sniper rifle and it not having a scope. I'm playing through the First Madagascar level for the second time and found out that it actually has many paths that you can miss. One was-
you drop down the well with the winch and you wrap it around a pillar and than tell Sully to drive in reverse to drop it down to get the treasure, found it kinda cool, especially for an Uncharted game.
 

Exodust

Banned
Beat the game earlier.

That was fantastic, loved it. I have it up there with 2.

2=4>>3>>>>>>>>>>>>>>1

i still miss Chloe's ass
 
Yeah I need to do a second playthrough as well. I started one and got to chapter 6 and figured I need to give it some more time to breathe since if jump into it right after I might just like it less since I just went through everything. It's weird to feel so conflicted and kind of dissapointed with such a quality production, but it is what it is.

Same here. But I often can't judge a movie or album on first run through because expectations mess with my head. This may be the same with UC4. I actually enjoyed the first 5 chapters a lot more because I knew what I was getting to...
 
So what were everyone's favorite shootouts out of the (shamefully few) encounters in the game.

Not including the glorious set piece, my top 3 all come from the final act of the game

The elevator encounter in 17 (it's like the sign post shootout from 2 but times 10, the first encounter in New Devon in 18 where you can dive in the water, and then the absolutely bonkers shootout in the ship graveyard in chapter 20
.

I also really really liked the little string of encounters in chapter 14. The environment for that was great.

The one from the PSX demo was really fun as a sneak, climb, drop, swing and slide combat sandbox, but
New Devon in 18 wins because of the water, adding an extra dimension to the combat. I also like the outside Scotland encounter, just a great environment to ghost in.

Some of the best combat design of any TPS and a lot better than the first three games, let alone GA. It's the main reason why this is my favorite UC, though I also feel this has the best exploration and writing.

I hope the DLC will add more of those lovely combat bowls and hopefully at least one cracker of a set-piece, though it will be hard to top the major one in this game, easily the best in the series.
I really liked the one with the armored vehicle smasing into the building near the end as well and the one in Libertalia when you have to escape the building that's coming down. Both are pretty short, but sweet and the graphics are just insane.
 

CHC

Member
Finished the game after ~18 hours. Overall, truly excellent. I think the strengths of the game have already been discussed so much that it probably make sense to mention my small criticisms below, and just assume that everything else was perfect or nearly perfect.

Pacing:

Probably the biggest one. I really feel like they had originally planned to have this game take place chronologically, and then they just mixed it up in the late stages of development to try to make it more punchy or something. Opening with the boat chase... why? It's such an arbitrary part of the game to start with, and it's not particularly engaging.

Even just stuff like Nate shooting the toy gun in the attic would be a perfect little tutorial, but since it happens AFTER the boat, it doesn't really introduce anything (but it's still fun and endearing). Again the game just feels kind of oddly... remixed, but not for any especially good reason.

Combat / Toolkit:

Possibly my own fault for not playing on normal, but I felt like it was just so damn hard to do anything cool, and more importantly, it kind of had no pay off. I try to play in a dynamic and fun way, but in so many gunfights it came down to just lurking in cover and occasionally moving, rather than swinging around, leaping over things, and mixing melee and shooting.

Like, in that E3 section that takes place in the cliffs of Libertalia, I died every time I tried to rope swing, so it mainly just came down to me climbing in and out of cover taking pot shots.

Chapter 19:

Mummy bombs were SO bad. SO bad. All you could do is just walk forward and run away when they explode?! Such a dumb trap. If you're going to have traps, there needs to be some disarm mechanism or sense of agency - options. Like in TLOU, with the wire cutting. A couple mandatory traps for story reasons is fine, but this section was way too long and just physcially grating with the constant explosions.

The whole things just felt completely half baked, really bad traps.

Miscellaneous story beats:

The old woman dying RIGHT after you talk to her.... lol.

Nadine's small role - there should have been a proper fight with her.

Final boss - fine from a story point of view but the actual gameplay was like Order 1886 level. Was cool for a second but then it dragged.

Again though, I loved the game, just had to air some of my grievances with it.
 

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
None of it is, and that's the problem with going more "realistic." When you opt to shift tone, everything needs to adapt, including the game design. If not, you're left with realistic things clashing with unrealistic elements, realistic people doing completely unrealistic things.
I forgot where I heard it but someone summed it up perfectly, Nathan Drake in the past games was an ordinary man in an extraordinary world, in UC4, Nathan Drake is an extraordinary man in an ordinary world. The latter leads to a dissonance especially considering that the style itself is much more realistic than past UC games. Even more so when characters say stuff like
"Oh these guys don't kill people in cold blood."
Like ok, have you SEEN the bodies?

Color me surprised that there are people disappointed that the game doesn't have
supernatural stuff in it.
That's exactly what I wanted. I was sick of it.
UC3 already did that though.
 

cormack12

Gold Member
Posted earlier in the game. I think I'm on chapter 17 now, up to the bit where
Elena turns up and you're driving towards the last location I think, the fields open uip in the Jeep and you get that really soft music coming through - quite nice

I still feel like I'm waiting for the game to start to be honest. There seems to be less encounters but they're more dense. I find the game much tougher than previous Uncharted which is alright in some respects but becomes annoying when you activate non stealth combat by accident and it's just like a swarm of locusts.

I feel I've spent most of my time walking, or doing mundane stuff. I've liked the puzzles so far. I don't like the boxes that appear round enemies (hoping I can turn these off in second playthrough).

It's a solid game, don't get me wrong, but I don't feel like I'm engaged as heavily as I was with TLoU and have less 'proper' gameplay than previous Uncharted games. It's a bit middle of the road, doesn't quite know what it wants to be. As always the artists work at ND shines throughout. The VA work, especially by Elena has been fantastic, Nate and Sam have been good as well.

I'm going to hold off totally committing to my opinion until playing through a second time but right now. that's where I'm at.

Also the amount of times walking past the NPC's and 'sticking' to them is infuriating.
 
Just finished the game.

By far most beautiful scenery in all the series.

I especially loved that although the game was linear, the areas were explorable and you really had to figure out where to go.

my only knock is the puzzles. I found them way too easy. I didn't have to use the hints once or look up how to complete them. In past uncharteds I had to.
 
Regarding the supernatural talk...
I was fine that there wasn't anything because I felt like the history of the pirates, how you followed along their story parallel with your own story, how rich the history, scenery and details were made it feel like there were fucking ghosts everywhere and Sam even jokes about that IIRC. Also there were exploding mummies in the caves, so I mean there was some weird shit and some of it felt extremely haunting
.
 

Keihart

Member
I just finished it. It's a great uncharted overall, nothing new really. It has really impressive landscapes, same gameplay as usual, the controls in the shooting parts are not good, but it has his very good action scenes.

What is not good about the controls? it sure has not much of an agressive aim assist like Battlefield or COD on consoles, but controls are pretty smooth even without it.
 
Regarding the supernatural talk...
I was fine that there wasn't anything because I felt like the history of the pirates, how you followed along their story parallel with your own story, how rich the history, scenery and details were made it feel like there were fucking ghosts everywhere and Sam even jokes about that IIRC. Also there were exploding mummies in the caves, so I mean there was some weird shit and some of it felt extremely haunting
.

Agreed. Chapter 19 was awesome, it has amazing atmosphere.
"the hands that stole from me" Avery was one fucked up dude
. Libertaria is just such a good location, and has such a strong sense of place and history.
 

Wootball

Member
Posted earlier in the game. I think I'm on chapter 17 now, up to the bit where
Elena turns up and you're driving towards the last location I think, the fields open uip in the Jeep and you get that really soft music coming through - quite nice

I feel I've spent most of my time walking, or doing mundane stuff. I've liked the puzzles so far. I don't like the boxes that appear round enemies (hoping I can turn these off in second playthrough).

If you're playing on one of the relatively low difficulties they appear as standard. They can be turned off from the control options though. On Crushing nothing like that appears at all, there are no hints or enemy markers or tagging etc.
 

EVH

Member
Finished it. I'm convinced that Naughty Dog are ahead of everybody else in the industry, specially in cinematic games, which are most of the big ones nowadays.

I loved everything about it. I'm impressed not only about the dialogs in the cutscenes, but the acting. The amount of drama they can create with these characters without saying anything is brutal.
 

Wootball

Member
Regarding the
supernatural elements - I'm so so pleased there weren't any here. I absolutely despised them in the previous three games (and don't give me the 'UC3 doesn't have any' bullshit, disguising them as a hallucination doesn't change anything). All of my previous repeat playthroughs have ended as soon as that rubbish starts. UC4 not having any was one of the best things about it. And for reference, I also hate the Indy movies for the same thing
 

Jennipeg

Member
Regarding the
supernatural elements - I'm so so pleased there weren't any here. I absolutely despised them in the previous three games (and don't give me the 'UC3 doesn't have any' bullshit, disguising them as a hallucination doesn't change anything). All of my previous repeat playthroughs have ended as soon as that rubbish starts. UC4 not having any was one of the best things about it. And for reference, I also hate the Indy movies for the same thing

Even the little old Knight in the last crusade?!
 
Regarding the
supernatural elements - I'm so so pleased there weren't any here. I absolutely despised them in the previous three games (and don't give me the 'UC3 doesn't have any' bullshit, disguising them as a hallucination doesn't change anything). All of my previous repeat playthroughs have ended as soon as they rubbish starts. UC4 not having any was one of the best things about it. And for reference, I also hate the Indy movies for the same thing

I like supernatural elements, for me it sorta turns things on its head and can be interesting.
I thought it added more flavor to the past games. However, as I said above and that Fancy further touched on is that while this one doesn't straight up have supernatural elements, the atmosphere and history of everything makes it a bit haunting and unsettling, and there's a lot of implied fucked up shit through the notes and such. Not supernatural, but it kinda sorta helped fill that gap for me a little
.
 

whytemyke

Honorary Canadian.
I have no idea how they make games so well, but after just finishing it, this is another Naughty Dog classic. That epilogue alone is just so good and well written for really not having anything happen at all. But what a cap on the series.
 

LuuKyK

Member
I LOVED the part by the end of the game where
Drake and Elena stumble upon the table where all the pirates died. After following these guys for the whole game and finding out what happened to them, and especially the way they died (with Nate recreating the scene with the glass of wine and everything) it just felt very historic and you can share the excitement of being there.
I think its the first time the sentiment was so clear to me in the series.
 
The epilogue is honestly my least favorite thing about the game.
I hate how epilogues feel like they always have to cut to the future and show the original characters had fucking kids. I don't hate the existence of it, but it felt completely unnecessary to me and by the numbers. Also felt way too Last of Us. It's like in this pulpy action adventure thing I'm not sure why I have to wander around as Nathan and Elena's daughter some 14 years later or whatever
.
 
What did you dislike about the controls?

What is not good about the controls? it sure has not much of an agressive aim assist like Battlefield or COD on consoles, but controls are pretty smooth even without it.

It's not as bad as the division, but it's far from metal gear V. I don't know exactly, but it feels cheap, but i guess it was the same as the old uncharteds.

They feel slow and hard to aim, like the aim didn't move fast enough with the analog (I try to change the sensitive in options and didn't get any better), and the cover system is clunky, like it roll or doesn't stick/take cover where you think it will by proximity, or it happen a lot that it picket the wrong gun from the floor, but i guess that one was my fault for being running.
 

Jennipeg

Member
The epilogue is honestly my least favorite thing about the game.
I hate how epilogues feel like they always have to cut to the future and show the original characters had fucking kids. I don't hate the existence of it, but it felt completely unnecessary to me and by the numbers. Also felt way too Last of Us. It's like in this pulpy action adventure thing I'm not sure why I have to wander around as Nathan and Elena's daughter some 14 years later or whatever
.

It could have been worse, they could have gone mummy returns with this story
and had the kid already at the start of the game. Then spend the entire thing trying to get said kid back.
 
It could have been worse, they could have gone mummy returns with this story
and had the kid already at the start of the game. Then spend the entire thing trying to get said kid back.

Oh things can always be worse haha. I don't like it, but it's whatever. It by no means taints my overall impression of the game.
 

NJShadow

Member
So what were everyone's favorite shootouts out of the (shamefully few) encounters in the game.

Hands down it was when
you reached the pirate ship "graveyard." That may have been one of the most perfect action sequences ever in a game. So much going on.. Drake swinging from the ships, your buddies conversing in motivating dialogue, phenomenal music.
WOW.

And also, there isn't "shamefully few" encounters in this game. This is what many people wanted, and it's definitely what I wanted. The constant encounters in U3 killed that game for me. I love exploring more, and fighting when the time comes. Now, that being said, the combat was much better and way more satisfying this time around, so I actually did look forward to the firefights. At times, yes, I did want a bit more.
 

Keihart

Member
It's not as bad as the division, but it's far from metal gear V. I don't know exactly, but it feels cheap, but i guess it was the same as the old uncharteds.

They feel slow and hard to aim, like the aim didn't move fast enough with the analog (I try to change the sensitive in options and didn't get any better), and the cover system is clunky, like it roll or doesn't stick/take cover where you think it will by proximity, or it happen a lot that it picket the wrong gun from the floor, but i guess that one was my fault for being running.

I love both games aiming controls, and the only real difference to me is that MGSV has some real agresive aim assist, so much that the aim almost gets locket on enemies head when you get close. Uncharted sure doesn't have that.
 
Yeah, I mentioned earlier that all the individual aspects of 4 are the best in the series by far, except the balance of the components is super off. It just goes to show how important pacing is. As a result 4 is not as good as 2, but better than 3 (which I still love). 3 is probably still more replayable than 4 though since it ramps up better with more combat and moves at a faster clip. I really wish they hadn't paced this game like Last of Us/Left Behind. The slower pacing worked great for those games, but not nearly as well for Uncharted where both more combat and a faster pace would greatly enhance the urgency and impact of the story and gameflow.

I feel like Naughty Dog, despite making combat better and better, are trying to phase it out of their games more and more which I really hope is not the case.
I think I see it as quality over quantity though. Even for Uncharted.
 

JBwB

Member
Oh things can always be worse haha. I don't like it, but it's whatever. It by no means taints my overall impression of the game.

Just curious, how would you have liked the epilogue to play out if you didn't like what they gave us?

I personally found it incredibly endearing. It was a great ending to the series.
 
Just curious, how would you have liked the epilogue to play out if you didn't like what they gave us?

I personally found it incredibly endearing. It was a great ending to the series.

Well, I'm not the writer and that's not up for me to decide. I've never actually given thought to it and I hate being pretentious and acting like I could write someone else's story better.

That being said, perhaps... nothing. I thought the ending was fine before the epilogue.
 
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