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UNCHARTED |OT| The Master Thief Collection

P

Palette Swap

Member
Just done with the UC2 plat, only UC3 remains.

Replaying UC2 so many years later, the one thing that stands out the most is how amazing the visual design was. This is clearly a case of great tech in service of very, very good assets.

My biggest gripe with the game would be how bullshit Steel Fist Expert is. :p

I guess I'll do UC3 next week. Doing the speedrun trophies, I was a bit annoyed at how you lose a lot of times to cutscenes. I'm not looking forward to UC3 in that regard as I remember a game with a lot of these non-gamy cutscenes.

NegroNinja said:
How hard is the speed run trophy? I've never done a speed run in a game before and I don't want to try to do it any wastes two hours. Is there some tips anyone could give?
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I haven't done any of these yet but IIRC, it doesn't require a continuous playthrough. If I were to do it, I'd approach it as a speedrun, see at how long I land once I'm done with the game, look at individual chapter times and see in which chapters I can shave off the longer times?
 
A

Admiral Woofington

Member
ok that's three games in a row how the hell do the bad guys keep finding the shit that you're in that's supposed to be super secret. I understand it's so you can have fire fights but still.
 
R

Raxus

Member
NegroNinja said:
How hard is the speed run trophy? I've never done a speed run in a game before and I don't want to try to do it any wastes two hours. Is there some tips anyone could give?
Click to expand...

Pretty easy as long as you know what fights to skip and what to fight. It can be done on easy mode as well. I'd play on crushing that way you are forced to know enemy encounters/triggers which makes speed runs all the better. Also instantly know the solution to all puzzles to save time.

Up to Chapter 25 on UC2 on brutal. I seem to have run into an endless enemy wave...
 
J

JigglesBunny

Banned
I've come to the startling realization that I only truly loved Uncharted 2 and that UC1/3 are boring most of the time and their combat is unresponsive and tedious, and now I want to collect a quick $33 from GameStop because I have no interest in replaying the first or third game again.

That said, still, UC3 Multiplayer > UC2 Multiplayer
Do we know if the Beta for UC4 will require the disc? I could always rebuy on Black Friday if so, but I'm just wondering.
 
R

RyanardoDaVinci

Member
NegroNinja said:
How hard is the speed run trophy? I've never done a speed run in a game before and I don't want to try to do it any wastes two hours. Is there some tips anyone could give?
Click to expand...

It's not bad, I had about 15-20min of time left after each speedrun. You can play on Easy, though I'm not sure if you can activate the cheats, I didn't try.

U1: STEELFIST ALL THE THINGS! Seriously. Run up > blindfire > punch.

U2: Steelfist what you can. There's usually a Wes.44 lying around in most areas and stealth killing the first few guys often gives you a power weapon (Deagle, Sniper, etc.)

U3: easily the worst because of the shitty combat/non hit-reactions and slowing the player down every 2min with mini-cutscenes / melee shit / brute fights. Steelfist is practically useless so just shoot everything until it falls down.

The most important thing is to keep moving foward, most chapters can be done in 5-10min or less -- except U3 because of the above -- and many fights can be skipped/shortened by simply running to the "exit."
 
P

potatohead

Member
Papercuts said:
Playing all three Uncharted games back to back has been really interesting for me. UC1 was the game I remembered the least, yet held up better than I expected. That said, it's mostly just adequate at what it does, but it's nice to return and see how far ND has come since then. While it leverages a bit too heavy in the actual enemy waves/combat and I'm not a big fan of the pretty big tone change in the late game, overall it's still a fun romp to go through.

But 2...man, what a jump. This is a huge showcase of why pacing is so important yet something not often really talked about, good pacing just kinda goes unnoticed with you sitting there thinking "...damn" when it's all over. I do agree with what seems to be the common consensus regarding it not really kicking in until Nepal, though--the opening heist and borneo are fair enough for being character building/tutorialized but once you get here the whole game just has an excellent flow. I could mentally just retrace Drake's adventure as you head to the hotel, run away from the heli, go through the temple, etc. etc. all the way until the credits roll. The game constantly mixes up what you do even in small scenarios such as the billboard shootout which is such a damn clever use of Uncharted's unique integration of verticality. More than just having solid mixed up encounters, it knows when to have rising and falling action. Bombastic moments like the pre-train shootout leading into the train ride itself are followed by the slow paced Tibetian walk leading into the ice cave exploration. This gives a nice breather before you get into the hectic endgame with the village under siege, into the convoy leading to a small breather once again as you stealth your way into the (gorgeous) monastery area which has SO MANY COOL ENCOUNTERS AHHH. You can examine most of UC2 with a damn magnifying glass and just come out even more impressed, its pacing is up there with RE4, which is literally my favorite game of all time, so that's high praise to say the least. ND improved so much from 2 in creating engaging, well crafted setpieces that are as fun to play as they are to watch, so much so that it still gets aped by tons of developers to this day. 2, along with TLoU, are by far the best games ND have ever put out.

But that leaves us with 3. Heading into it, I wasn't actually expecting 2 to get topped, and merely wanted another fun uncharted romp. But 3, just as much as the jump from 1 -> 2, is a very different game from their previous outing. While there are clear moments that look to match(or even one up) uncharted 2 in the setpiece department, the pacing magic is no longer here, and the game feels very cut up and stop-go all over the place. A glacial opener, jumping around areas constantly instead of having a more directed free flow feel to the progression, etc. all crop up. Drake will one minute be in syria on a bus with Cutter and Chloe, then cut to Yemen never to see the previous characters again. Get abducted to an area with zero plot relevance for a huge chunk of the game then magically wash ashore...somewhere(I guess Yemen). The game in general also takes on a much more combat heavy focus in the later stages, with the few puzzles being front ended. That said, though the series always had simplistic puzzles, the ones that you go through in 3 are much better than before so it's a shame they pretty much vanish after chapter 11.

However, pacing isn't all that it takes for 2 to be held as highly as I put it, as those little moments I mentioned such as the billboard shootout are key. This heads more into the combat which is where 3 is seriously heartbreaking. On launch when I originally played 3, the aiming was noticeably fucked up the moment I tried to aim. Funnily enough there's a quote very early on from Sully where he asks if you forgot how to aim, and that was definitely true at the time as Drake was apparently drunk. Thankfully this has been ironed out for the collection here and I can aim like a sober human being, and that really does go a long way to make me like the game more. But at the same time, it also makes the issues with the core design of the combat stick out that much more.

There are three main issues with the very strange combat changes in UC3. To preface this I think I get what ND was trying to do; utilize movement much more to make for active and exciting firefights where you aren't just plopped in cover. Being able to throw back grenades actually has a large impact against this, as it almost promotes camping. Previously, a grenade would be thrown to flush you from your cover, opening the enemy up for a killshot. With that no longer being a flush, it's now up to the enemy itself to do it. This leads into bullrush suicide charges where guys will go without any cover just to run directly where you are, which is...weird. I posted this in here before which is the type of thing that happens, but for an extended test I actually intentionally stayed back here. What happened? Lo and behold, literally every enemy in the entire encounter actually ran right over there to get beat up. You can hear Cutter almost constantly getting into fistfights, and it's particularly apparent around 2:03 as the enemies that were shooting at me just give up and run right in the open. The video got cut off a bit at the end, but you can still catch the final 2 people running towards me. It's ridiculous looking, and actually problematic because of the next combat change.
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Really nicely put together thoughts on the game mechanics. I agree with most of it. Very nice points about hit response feedback.

I thought the cruise ship level was OK though, even in the sinking area, I think the higher resolution and framerate, and better aiming made those tougher areas quite a bit easier. Only thing I hated in that area was the one armored enemy at the top of the cruise ship that has a machine gun. Bullet sponge enemies are the worst. I am so glad that TLOU did not go in that direction....

And yea there's something not as fun about the shooting in UC3, even in the remastered edition. It's like the response is not there, and the guns are just kind of too similar. There's so many weird pacing issues too, like the game just taking weapons away from you (can't bring the PK machine gun with you on the Cruise ship, or can't bring a rocket launcher in the Ghost town sand place before you reach the machine gun atop the red pillars).

But I felt that 3's combat overall as good and a solid U3 outing. It's just that it is constantly interrupted over and over again for such slow and boring and long "character" scenes.

And the best shooting scenes are cut so short, I don't understand why a game about third-person shooting shows so much contempt for its basic gameplay. I want to play the game too, not just watch the characters talk. U3's balance between shooting gameplay and "platforming" is just off, because the story scenes cut so deeply into the gameplay portion. The game is about third-person shooting, and using platforming in the shooting sections, but there's just not enough of it in U3..... platforming works great as a segway between sections, but not when they are obnoxiously long and frankly tiring.. lol.

Why such a desperately slow opening too? It's like 4 chapters of forced walking and climbing. That's not fun. If you want to do some story stuff, put it in a cutscene, pressing forward on the analog stick "just because" is tiring and annoying.

The grenade throwback change was quite excellent though, I liked how you have to time the throwback as well, very nice touch.
 
R

Reebot

Member
Alo0oy said:
That's been debunked a million times & I'd rather not do that again.
Click to expand...

Well if its not true then I've no way to explain the dramatic drop in quality between 2 and 3. At a bare minimum I'd suggest balancing two games and favoring one hurt the other.

I also never said anything against having a more personal story and actually noted the desert parts as my favorite aspects, I think you might have confused me with another poster.
 
R

Revven

Member
Raxus said:
Up to Chapter 25 on UC2 on brutal. I seem to have run into an endless enemy wave...
Click to expand...

It won't stop spawning them until you go up the left-side of the staircase opposite from where you start (and only if you've killed The Guardians and the GAU guy). And then it will spawn two-three Guardians on that side.
 
TGO

TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
I can't believe people are arguing over Druckmann directing skills.
I honestly liked U3 style a bit more then 2's
I wouldn't say it's anything to do with Druckmann and more to do with the style ND was/is going for now and U4 will be the same.
 
R

Raxus

Member
Revven said:
It won't stop spawning them until you go up the left-side of the staircase opposite from where you start (and only if you've killed The Guardians and the GAU guy). And then it will spawn two-three Guardians on that side.
Click to expand...

As you can see I figured it out but thanks :)
 
R

RoboPlato

I'd be in the dick
TGO said:
I can't believe people are arguing over Druckmann directing skills.
I honestly liked U3 style a bit more then 2's
I wouldn't say it's anything to do with Druckmann and more to do with the style ND was/is going for now and U4 will be the same.
Click to expand...

Druckmann hasn't been a director on this series. 4 is the first time he's been at the head of the creative side of Uncharted. Personally, that's no real change for me as Amy and Druckmann are both two of the best writers in the industry and I love their work so I know that side is in good hands.

I'm excited that Straley is back in the director seat though. He's such an underrated part of ND's team even though he's contributed so much. Everything I know that Justin Richmond directly contributed is stuff that I haven't liked.
 
B

Bliddo

Member
Just replayed the train level in U2.
It's still today one of the best action levels ever created. The pacing and variety are insane.
 
Ascenion

Ascenion

Member
Reebot said:
Well if its not true then I've no way to explain the dramatic drop in quality between 2 and 3. At a bare minimum I'd suggest balancing two games and favoring one hurt the other.

I also never said anything against having a more personal story and actually noted the desert parts as my favorite aspects, I think you might have confused me with another poster.
Click to expand...

If I remember correctly Amy Hennig talks about UC3 development in one of the bonus videos included with the original release and she mentions they approached the development from more of a what kind of set pieces can challenge the team perspective more so that what makes sense for a coherent narrative. I thinks it's the same video where they gush about making the realistic ocean simulation for the ship/pirate levels that don't even fit with the game. That what I've always blamed for the quality drop.
 
R

Reebot

Member
Ascenion said:
If I remember correctly Amy Hennig talks about UC3 development in one of the bonus videos included with the original release and she mentions they approached the development from more of a what kind of set pieces can challenge the team perspective more so that what makes sense for a coherent narrative. I thinks it's the same video where they gush about making the realistic ocean simulation for the ship/pirate levels that don't even fit with the game. That what I've always blamed for the quality drop.
Click to expand...

I assumed that's how they approached U2 as well, so I wasn't sure if thats to blame.

That video also has a hilarious moment where they talk about the Drake-Talbot chase scene, saying that when they made it they hadn't even figured out who was chasing whom. Which is painfully obvious since in game it has no logical set up, conclusion, or purpose. Its entirely pointless and jarringly plotless.
 
Ascenion

Ascenion

Member
Reebot said:
I assumed that's how they approached U2 as well, so I wasn't sure if thats to blame.

That video also has a hilarious moment where they talk about the Drake-Talbot chase scene, saying that when they made it they hadn't even figured out who was chasing whom. Which is painfully obvious since in game it has no logically set up, conclusion, or purpose. Its entirely pointless and jarringly plotless.
Click to expand...

I totally forgot about that too. That video was a big wtf moment for me as it explained damn near every complaint I had with UC3, and I came away asking why.
Honestly I have no earthly idea how they approached UC2. I assumed it was the same as Drake's Fortune just bigger and better. UC3 seems like what happens when you combine that video with the big head from a GOTY title and misunderstanding exactly what it was people loved about the previous title.
 
N

Nightengale

Member
Neil's sense of creative directorship is notably different from Amy's, since with TLoU, and also with UC4, he laid out the broad game story flow from start-to-finish from the get-go, rather than writing it around pieces of the game.

Is it better or worse? Honestly, there's no real answer to that. I mean, the UC2 train scene manages to integrate itself nicely into the story even though that level was concieved well before there was even a 'story' for UC2. Sometimes stuff like that are either hit-or-miss, or it depends on the stewardness of the game director to ensure that all the disjointed story pieces flow well with well-designed levels, set-pieces and gameplay.

RoboPlato said:
I'm excited that Straley is back in the director seat though. He's such an underrated part of ND's team even though he's contributed so much. Everything I know that Justin Richmond directly contributed is stuff that I haven't liked.
Click to expand...

ND's gameplay isn't talked up a whole lot, be it UC2 or TLoU compared to how much the story/characters are lauded, which sadly means the game director's influence gets underrated by the community.
 
N

NoWayOut

Member
First timer here. Played UC1 and finished 2 20 minutes ago. What a great gaming experience. I will start UC 3 later today. Very happy with this purchase.
 
Z

zsynqx

Member
Shin-chan said:
It's going to be interesting to see how things change with 4 and whether Naughty Dog can raise the bar again like they did with 2. I'm one of the people that thinks Straley is the man who made U2 and TLoU great gameplay experiences, while Hennig and Druckman respectively controlled the narrative. After seeing how the gameplay in U2 holds up, I have no concerns about that in 4. As fun as the Uncharted stories are, though, The Last of Us was a huge step up in writing in terms of the characters and the subtlety of the moment to moment dialogue. I'm looking forward to seeing how this translates to Uncharted.It will tell us if Druckman just got lucky (which I don't think he did) or if he is a great writer.
Click to expand...

For me Left Behind proved the original wasn't a fluke, but I guess this will just be further proof if Uncharted 4's narrative does turn into something special.
 
B

burgerdog

Member
Raxus said:
Truth be told I thought this thread would be a lot more popular seeing how many UC fans we have in GAF.
Click to expand...

That's probably why, though. A lot of us have played the games already and aren't in a rush to play them again. I'm waiting for a Black Friday deal and even then I probably won't play it until there isn't new games on my plate.
 
Z

zsynqx

Member
RoboPlato said:
Druckmann hasn't been a director on this series. 4 is the first time he's been at the head of the creative side of Uncharted. Personally, that's no real change for me as Amy and Druckmann are both two of the best writers in the industry and I love their work so I know that side is in good hands.

I'm excited that Straley is back in the director seat though. He's such an underrated part of ND's team even though he's contributed so much. Everything I know that Justin Richmond directly contributed is stuff that I haven't liked.
Click to expand...

https://youtu.be/KUGL1w2_L4w?t=1038 @17:18 Bruce just laying it out.
 
O

Oneself

Member
Done with UC1, it was great to play this improved version, very impressive work by Bluepoint.

Just started U2 yesterday and goddamn it looks so freaking good. The improved res, lighting, assets and frame rate make a huge difference. The demo didn't sell the improvements well enough IMO, I'm much more impressed by the first chapters so far.
 
N

Nightengale

Member
RoboPlato said:
Awesome

Every time Bruce talks the design philosophy for 4, I feel like he's listing off so many of the things I have said I wanted to see the series do.
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Bruce Straley is easily top 5 of devs that I can just listen to all day. Extremely insightful with a great sense of humour.
 
Necro900

Necro900

Member
Damn, the game just randomly crashed on me and corrupted my save file. I was just at chapter 9 of the first game, and now I have to start all over again.
This really killed my will to finish the game. I'm so pissed off right now, and can't really understand how such things still happen with all these giant patches we get every day one and a team specifically employed for QAing the shit out of the game.

Before you ask, I don't have PS+, so I don't think the ps4 saved to the cloud.

Damn.
 
S

SictorVullivan

Member
Wow Uncharted 3 Elena looks worse from what I remember. Naughty Dog really messed up her face in that game. It's good then that Uncharted 4 looks to have fixed and improved it.
 
T

The Flash

Banned
I've only played a few hours of Drake's Fortune but at this point I'm comfortable saying that I'm looking forward to A Thief's End. Glad I have this opportunity to play the first 3 games before it comes out.
 
zkorejo

zkorejo

Member
Admiral Woofington said:
ok that's three games in a row how the hell do the bad guys keep finding the shit that you're in that's supposed to be super secret. I understand it's so you can have fire fights but still.
Click to expand...

I think it can be explained. UC 1 the bad guy was Navarro, UC2 had Flynn and 3 had Marlowe, Talbot and the entire secret society.

All those guys are smart, they sure are not as smart as Nate though. Plus they have lots of resources and man power to make things easier for them.
 
A

Admiral Woofington

Member
zkorejo said:
I think it can be explained. UC 1 the bad guy was Navarro, UC2 had Flynn and 3 had Marlowe, Talbot and the entire secret society.

All those guys are smart, they sure are not as smart as Nate though. Plus they have lots of resources and man power to make things easier for them.
Click to expand...

It still seems like these locations are hidden by like one piece of flimsy parchment and clue that you would never be able to find without it.
 
N

nib95

Banned
SictorVullivan said:
Wow Uncharted 3 Elena looks worse from what I remember. Naughty Dog really messed up her face in that game. It's good then that Uncharted 4 looks to have fixed and improved it.
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I think she looks by far the hottest in UC3. Pretty sure they plumped up her derriere a bit too.
 
R

Red Comet

Member
Beat UC1 for the first time last night. Glad that's fucking over with. I absolutely loved UC2 when I first played it, so I'm looking forward to giving that another go.
 
O

OmegaTreeFish

Banned
Admiral Woofington said:
ok that's three games in a row how the hell do the bad guys keep finding the shit that you're in that's supposed to be super secret. I understand it's so you can have fire fights but still.
Click to expand...

Here's the thing. They ALL just basically followed drake there. He did all the work. If he just went home and banged elana instead, the world would still be safe.

But that would be a different game entirely.
 
Elitist1945

Elitist1945

Member
God damn Uncharted 3 looks sooooo good. I also realized you can't use photomode if subtitles are on and someone is talking. So I turned them off.
 
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