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Finally Finished Uncharted 4

Certinty

Member
I loved the game and this is coming from someone who thought the first three games were all overrated.

Combat was good (for the first time in the series), gameplay was great, animations and visuals were amazing whilst the story was actually interesting and well told, something I can't say for the first few games.
 

sainraja

Member
Finally someone who feels like me, the game was an absolute masterclass with incredibly detailed and phenomenonal sets/level design

My only gripe is they completely ignored the supernatural aspect from the first 3 games and went with a more mature grounded feel for this one but still man some of those levels where drop controller gorgeous
^^ this. I really liked the supernatural elements in the previous 3 games. I don't know why they felt the need to get rid of it. It was brilliant how they handled that in the first game. We had little clues given to us and Nate & Elena brushed it off, just like we brushed it off. As you progressed through the game, you heard Nate & Elena consider if the 'curse' or whatever is real, but they dismiss it. Man, the first one, at the time it came out, was great! And the second just made it soo much better.

Still, I would have liked to see Amy's version of UC4. She even had a difference voice actor for Sam (I think it was Alan Tudyk). I think he was going to be more of a villain in her story.

I liked UC4 as it released but just can't help but feel we didn't get a proper game due to Amy being gone.
 
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Everything in Uncharted 4 is conveniently written to make the predetermined events play out, like Elena suddenly being this unadventurous person who wants to settle down even though she was the one pushing Nate a lot of the time in the first two games. Reif killing warden is another rubbish writing just to make priaon break happen and for Sam to presumably die. There was no need for Reif to do what he did whatsoever. The whole thing about there being a massive prison break and riot when Sam escaped and Nathan or Sully (who was well connected) to not know about it is another rubbish writing. Sam being medically treated and well looked after when he was shot just after his accomplice stabbed the warden also makes no sense.

I could go on and on, but I just can't be brothered. It's a typical Niel Druckman game, a game where events and outcomes are already decided before the story is even written.
None of that is a plothole.
 
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Garani

Member
His talent and influence on the industry / art form is undeniable.
That he has influence on the industry is undeniable. Talent, he has. Point is, are we talking about the same positive and negatives? :)

Of course the guy is miles better than me, but I reserve the right not to like all the things he has done in the past.
 
I never understood why people have issues with the combat in Uncharted, what's the problem?
Good Luck Charlie What GIF

I don’t know, I just don’t like it.
 
I loved the game except Nadine. Here we have Nathan Rambo Drake fist fighting every 2m 120kg Brawler and winning but 60kg Nadine? No. She stronk! Worse is when both brothers try to take her on and still lose.
"But she is experienced in hand to hand combat". Gtfoh.

Also OP in Averys Cave, no it doesn't take 2 minutes, more like 15 seconds when the flashlight goes out. I replayed that bit just 2 days ago and going for the platinum after all those years, lol.
F the loud PS4, good thing I waited for the PS5 to platinum it.
This kinda ties into the gameplay and narrative being at odds with each other for me. The two fights with Nadine just weren’t fun. They were narrative set pieces that I had barely any control over. Was it weird to see Nathan get his ass kicked by a girl after casually murdering hundreds of people? Well, I think it’s weird just how casual of a killer Nathan is. Getting his butt kicked by a girl fit the narrative of the game, so I just can’t agree with the outrage on that one.

It was much longer for me, but that could be because I didn’t activate the story elements very fast while in the dark.
 
The original idea of Drakes brother being an antagonist and villain is far more captivating, and also would give far more reason to explain the lack of mention of him in any other game, the sense of other worldliness is gone, the cop-out death of Drakes Beau was lame and worst of all while the animations were stunning, the climbing had very little consequence, It felt like filler...in a already badly paced game

That having been said, the set pieces, the animations and gameplay are all top notch, and the attention to little details is un-surpassed... Druckman can't write that well, but I would put him on a game lead job anyday!



As mentioned above, ND games since Uncharted 2 have had a level of depth and nuance that few games can match, the series is known for it's setpieces and UC4 doesn't disappoint, the graphics and animations are top tier and well I mean look at this...We have seen Next Gen (PSV XseX) games that don't look this good, and that's compressed to hell (all I could find on the Gif options)


Video Game Adventure GIF by Zenny






The Last Of Us Forest GIF by Naughty Dog
The second game is the most beautiful game we've ever seen. Everything is just amazing.
 

Valentino

Member
Feel like i'm going on holiday when I jump back in to it. I can feel the heat on the burnt orange rocks in Madagascar. I stop way too often in the game and just WALK around, feels so immersive. Libertalia is probably one of my favourite realised fictional locations in a game. Felt like it could absolutely exist. And I know the controls are very grounded but I love how fluid everything felt this time round. Rope swinging is always a win for me in games.
 

Zeroing

Banned
Sure, but it's still very difficult to lead a huge, successful AAA project.

Most people here who are still triggered by Abby's biceps probably have no idea about game development.
I don’t mind Abby’s muscles, but usually is 2 extremes, when people talk about him - hate or only focus praise on him.
 

Zeroing

Banned
You're thinking of Bruce Straley, and he co-directed Uncharted 4 and The Last of Us with Neil Druckmann.

He left after Uncharted 4 shipped. Not before.

No one said he's a genius. And its totally fine to not like his work.

But numbers don't lie, he's very successful.
Oh yes him! Ok sorry I really though he left before the game was complete.

I have no issue with him, I was just pointing out that people hate him or/and like him but most of his work was made by a team...
 

decisions

Member
4 has some great segments but I can never bring myself to replay it due to the ridiculous amount of slow-paced, extended walking segments the game has in it. These parts felt much more natural in TLOU and it seems like they just made their way into this game without much thought as to why they would be good for Uncharted.

Ultimately, it was a beautiful game I didn't find to be fully satisfying. It's development history clearly signaled something had changed at the studio, and that is reflected in the fact that their output slowed way down since after TLOU.
 
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Dorohedoro

Member
I beat it a few times so I mostly enjoyed my time with it but what frustrated me is that now when they finally nailed the combat in an UC game there wasn't enough of it, and the previous games had too much. I would've probably considered it the best game in the series, and not have gotten rid of it, if they just squeezed in a few more combat arenas. I remember some of the climbing sections being kind of annoying and overly long as well, like the one near the end.
 

The Alien

Banned
Pretty much my feelings about U4.

Loved the climbing, etc...but yeah, the combat is not smooth, fun, or well executed IMO.

Coming off U3 (my least fave), in some ways I felt that the U4 story was good enough....the villain was decent. I also did feel that the game was almost too long. Felt it was also padded a bit (hey Naughty Dog: no more winches please).

Nathan Drake's quips and cocky/cool attitude are getting kinda stale for me. After these games, glad ND putting it aside for a bit. It could use a fresh look in a few years.

Controversial gaming opinion incoming....
Played this and Shadow of Tomb Raider almost back to back. Even though SOTR was the worst of the reboot trilogy, I still prefer TR over UC. Prefer both TR combat and exploration.
 
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Keihart

Member
That is some wild take, climbing good and combat bad? Combat can become super engaging and unique with it's focus on movement while climbing can be the most unengaging shit ever in the game, the only times that climbing it's really good are those small snippets when you get to combo moves like sliding, jumping and hanging. The rest of the time it's better used as a tool during combat than as an exploration tool.
 
Controversial gaming opinion incoming....
Played this and Shadow of Tomb Raider almost back to back. Even though SOTR was the worst of the reboot trilogy, I still prefer TR over UC. Prefer both TR combat and exploration.

Not controversial at all to anyone who has played both.
 

WoJ

Member
I liked Uncharted 4 but found it really uneven with weird pacing. I thought it wrapped up Drake's story well and I really liked Rafe and Nadine as villains. Easily the best villains in the series. One of my gaming "to do's" is to replay the entire Uncharted series. I need to do that sooner than later because I could really use another assessment of 4.
 

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
The more hate UC4 gets.... the more I realize my enjoyment is unique and I love it.
Same with DS2. So I don't mind people disliking these games :p
yes - I also loved Death Stranding and TLOU2
 
I do like UC4 but the semi open stealth combat sections don't feel like an Uncharted action at all. I just want to go guns blazing but it makes some parts pretty frustrating.

The story is pretty okay, but the "brother out of nowhere"- thing was always pretty hard for me to get into.

The talk about stealth sections reminds me of UC3 art museum scene. Why does Nathan have to snap the necks of innocent museum guards? That always makes me go like this:
No Way Omg GIF by VTM.be
 

Kokoloko85

Member
I bet alot of these people hating on it have
A.) Not played the game and just wanna hate
B.) Hate Neil And wanna act like having a tough female enemy is a cuck move lol.

Gameplay wise it was the best. Combat wise easily.
I love the larger areas for the combat, stealth And exploring.

Action wise maybe its 2nd best after Uncharted 2.
Storywise the same.

How anyone thinks Uncharted 1 and 3 are better is personal opinion. Graphics, action, combat, length are all better in Uncharted 4. Story is way better than 3 and 1, alot more engaging. Anyone acting like orignal trilogy is great but 4 is a drag is just convincing themselves lol
 
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Kokoloko85

Member
Neil Cuckman ruined the story and characters. It was the worst mainline Uncharted, and the tone was off, like trying too hard to be dark and edgy and "mature".

That end boss had a different minigame out of nowhere. It even had a tutorial.
That was the worst designed game of the series.

Unfortunately with Cuckman in and Amy out I doubt the franchise will ever recover.

I actually really liked the boss fight lol, was different and original.

Uncharted 1 was nowhere in the same league as 2, 3 and 4. It didnt have the same gameplay or scene to scene action formula.

Uncharted 1 had great puzzles and some of the best voice acting, animations and effects for its time though but the rest was unoriginal.
2 was ground breaking and 3 and 4 kept the same flavour lol
 

Kokoloko85

Member
I never understood why people have issues with the combat in Uncharted, what's the problem?

Because people cant give a better example of a better action packed 3rd person shooter. Then they will criticise the story. Or that its a walking simulator.
Like other games are perfect....

Truth is not many games have the level of detail, animations, voice acting that a Naughty Dog game has. And no1 does action to action scenes like they do. Tomb Raider and co try but its nowhere near the same level of quality and is just copying Uncharted.

Also Mostly because they don’t like Neil
 
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Neil Cuckman ruined the story and characters. It was the worst mainline Uncharted, and the tone was off, like trying too hard to be dark and edgy and "mature".

That end boss had a different minigame out of nowhere. It even had a tutorial.
That was the worst designed game of the series.

Unfortunately with Cuckman in and Amy out I doubt the franchise will ever recover.
He also threw Amy's plot (which would have been more interesting in my opinion with Sam and Rafe being the main villains and Elena being in most of the game) in the trash for a more generic plot twist betrayal story and hired a horrible composer instead of bringing back Greg Edmonson.
 
The climbing was pretty much the same. It's basically just amazingly well animated versions of games as old as Underworld. The piton was ripped from new generation Tomb Raider (ice picks on different textured surfaces). The rope was really an answer to the rope traversal in Rise as well but was mainly used for combat. It was slightly more compelling but still falls short of the options Crystal Dynamics founded in my opinion.

The combat was what I expected to be honest? Was a lot more refined - especially coming from the UC collection on brutal. But if you hated the combat, I think 90% of the encounters were avoidable via the vegetation.

The story is just something that happens round the game imo. It was decent enough overall - though playing through a chapter that didn't happen was a bit stupid. I thought it was a solid game, looked beautiful but soem parts were needlessly dragged out. Lost legacy was the better uncharted game.
I liked Lost Legacy better than U4. I could instantly tell that it wasn't made by Druckman and everything from the exploration and environments to the story and set pieces felt a lot closer to Uncharted 1 and 2 to me.
 
happiness.gif


First big problem I have with U4 is the pacing, which has been discussed at length. The other games had a much better feel for momentum, not dragging individual bits on for too long. There's a lot of focus on traversal in U4, but it's not engaging for long stretches. It's a particularly bad design decision to suddenly have an entire chapter dedicated to that (21) when you're deep in the finale of the game. That's one example, but there are more. I liked ch16 as a unit, but in the context of the game it was a bit poorly placed, coming right after an already slow chapter. I have no problem with less shoot-outs, but replace it with gameplay that's also engaging. The first half of the game is an even bigger offender. I actually enjoyed the second half more, which was more focused and felt like a long tribute to Drake's Fortune.

On the other hand, there's the tone of the story, which I felt was an even bigger miss. The approach closely resembled TLOU, and the mistake here was using this influence for a franchise that wasn't a perfect fit for it. TLOU had great introspective moments, but that fit the universe and the characters. The bond Ellie and Joel developed for example, was complexed and cut deeper than anything in the Uncharted universe. From the outset TLOU is way more character-driven, whereas Uncharted was kind of forced in this direction.

This is because Uncharted is -and should be- pure lighthearted pulp, with characters that weren't rounded or complex like Joel or Ellie were, which is fine. As much as I love Nate and Elena, I'm not that interested in their relationship therapy. I realized this when the optional convoys in the jeep/elevator chapter didn't do much for me. Don't get me wrong, I love them trying something new, but this was the wrong way to approach it. You can't inject mechanics that worked in TLOU, and expect them to work in a different franchise.

Combine these two points, and you get a game that tries to challenge what makes an Uncharted game (which I applaud), but ultimately fails at it. It was a gamble on two sides, and they lost both times.

Uncharted 4 showed that Hennig was just better at directing this franchise. I love what Drachmann did in TLOU (which is an understatement, it's one of my all time favorite games), but the experiments ultimately didn't pan out.
EXACTLY!

Uncharted is supposed to be something like Romancing the Stone where the characters are silly, the love story is semi cheesy, and you laugh the entire way through.

Druckman wants everything to matter way too much. That's the problem.
 

NinjaBoiX

Member
It’s FAR too fucking long, it’s a joke. By the end I was willing the credits to roll.

TLOU2 was long, but that didn’t really feel like a negative for me. I regularly thought “bloody hell, this is a long ass game”, but I didn’t think it outstayed it’s welcome.

U4 is just poorly paced, I felt bored to the point of wanting to stop playing on a number of occasions.

Yeah, it’s a technical marvel and yeah, there are some astonishing set pieces and yeah, the mechanics are as polished as they’re even been. But it’s all tainted with long stretches of dull ass gameplay that really spoilt the experience for me. It felt padded to a detriment.

It’s the weakest entry for me, didn’t care for it and I doubt I’ll ever replay it.

(I’ve yet to play TLL, but I do plan to. I have high hopes based on trusted opinions.)
 
I gotta say I really loved that about the first ones and was disappointed somewhat by the omission in the 4th
I never felt the series executed the supernatural angle very well, it's always felt like a tonal clash to me, it should have just been about finding treasure, which is what 4 was.

Part of the reason is because of the character of Nathan Drake himself, he's more of an "everyman" character to contrast with someone like Indiana Jones, it makes sense for Indy to encounter the supernatural, but it doesn't make as much sense for Nathan Drake to do so, it's like having Bruce Willis as John McClane in Diehard fight robots or something.

I like 1-3 but they each have their flaws, I feel like 4 is the one that comes the closest to actually knocking it out of the park, but it's supposed to be the end of at least Nathan Drake's story.🤷‍♂️

Lost Legacy did it right too because that was just about treasure also, not the supernatural, I really never understood why 1-3 felt like it had to try to be about semi-supernatural things, it's not enough to ruin the games, but they could have been better.
 

BadBurger

Is 'That Pure Potato'
I loved it, I think it's one of the greatest games of all time in terms of presentation, story, traversal mechanics, attention to detail, and acting. My criticisms all concern the combat. The mechanics of the combat are OK, functional. The design of the encounters, however, sometimes were too heavy and droned on for too long. I always felt the one thing holding back the franchise from being absolute masterclass was the combat encounter design, and right up until the end Naughty Dog never nailed it.
 

Topher

Gold Member
Don’t people consider it the weakest of the them all?

Some.....sure. Most? I doubt it. It was extremely well-received. Every game has detractors though. For example, I haven't played a GTA game I've liked yet, but I recognize that puts me in the vast majority. All good.
 
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mxbison

Member
I never understood why people have issues with the combat in Uncharted, what's the problem?

Need something to hate. Since it looks so good and most people like the story, gameplay is the only thing that is left.

Just look at TLOU2. Easily the best combat in the genre right now, and people still come up with their "generic, average gameplay" takes.

If that's generic and average, where are the other games that play that well?
 
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odhiex

Member
Personally, for me: U2 = U4 (U2 might slightly better because it was so memorable, but U4 has the better endings) > TLL > U3 > UC1 > Golden Abyss.
 

Banjo64

cumsessed
Everything in Uncharted 4 is conveniently written to make the predetermined events play out, like Elena suddenly being this unadventurous person who wants to settle down even though she was the one pushing Nate a lot of the time in the first two games. Reif killing warden is another rubbish writing just to make priaon break happen and for Sam to presumably die. There was no need for Reif to do what he did whatsoever. The whole thing about there being a massive prison break and riot when Sam escaped and Nathan or Sully (who was well connected) to not know about it is another rubbish writing. Sam being medically treated and well looked after when he was shot just after his accomplice stabbed the warden also makes no sense.

I could go on and on, but I just can't be brothered. It's a typical Niel Druckman game, a game where events and outcomes are already decided before the story is even written.
You’re missing the fact that Sam was retconned in to a game with 4 previous mainline instalments of which no one ever mentioned his name, nor the fact that Nate had a brother.
 
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EverydayBeast

thinks Halo Infinite is a new graphical benchmark
I loved the story, Henry Avery is a big pirate name, Libertailia, and Madagascar were the right choices in terms of picking a location and I believe it offers the best opportunities for platforming (Jungle, grappling hook etc.) this is maybe my favorite Uncharted game, and it holds a 94 on metacritic so...
Celebrate Nathan Drake GIF by Naughty Dog
 

kyliethicc

Member
Uncharted 1 - 8-10 hours long
Uncharted 2 - 10-12 hours long
Uncharted 3 - 8-10 hours long
Uncharted 4 - 12-15 hours long
Uncharted LL - 8-10 hours long

so
"Uncharted 4 is too long"
then
"Uncharted Lost Legacy is too short. just DLC"

lol
 

ethomaz

Banned
Everything in Uncharted 4 is conveniently written to make the predetermined events play out, like Elena suddenly being this unadventurous person who wants to settle down even though she was the one pushing Nate a lot of the time in the first two games. Reif killing warden is another rubbish writing just to make priaon break happen and for Sam to presumably die. There was no need for Reif to do what he did whatsoever. The whole thing about there being a massive prison break and riot when Sam escaped and Nathan or Sully (who was well connected) to not know about it is another rubbish writing. Sam being medically treated and well looked after when he was shot just after his accomplice stabbed the warden also makes no sense.

I could go on and on, but I just can't be brothered. It's a typical Niel Druckman game, a game where events and outcomes are already decided before the story is even written.
Because woman are like that... they are adventurous until certain age when it start to change because she wants to have children and that include a bit of settle down.

It is not something bad... it just shows Elena is becoming old.
That little details in the franchise is amazing.

What you described is good writing... most people if not all changes thought age.
 
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Reindeer

Member
Because woman are like that... they are adventurous until certain age when it start to change because she wants to have children and that include a bit of settle down.

It is not something bad... it just shows Elena is becoming old.
That little details in the franchise is amazing.

What you described is good writing... most people if not all changes thought age.
You're trying too hard to justify poor writing. Elena was acting like she doesn't understand Nathan's craving for adventure, even though she was like that for most of her life. It was clearly written after plot events were already decided, like everything else in that game.
 
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ethomaz

Banned
You're trying too hard to justify poor writing. Elena was acting like she doesn't understand Nathan's craving for adventure, even though she was like that for most of her life. It was clearly written after plot events were already decided, like everything else in that game.
You are trying too hard to make the written poor.
It is actually very realist.
 

Keihart

Member
You're trying too hard to justify poor writing. Elena was acting like she doesn't understand Nathan's craving for adventure, even though she was like that for most of her life. It was clearly written after plot events were already decided, like everything else in that game.
If you have that problem with Elena , then you should of have it in 2 and 3 too. Same fucking conflict between Drake and Elena, best development of it was on 4.
 

Bragr

Banned
^^ this. I really liked the supernatural elements in the previous 3 games. I don't know why they felt the need to get rid of it. It was brilliant how they handled that in the first game. We had little clues given to us and Nate & Elena brushed it off, just like we brushed it off. As you progressed through the game, you heard Nate & Elena consider if the 'curse' or whatever is real, but they dismiss it. Man, the first one, at the time it came out, was great! And the second just made it soo much better.

Still, I would have liked to see Amy's version of UC4. She even had a difference voice actor for Sam (I think it was Alan Tudyk). I think he was going to be more of a villain in her story.

I liked UC4 as it released but just can't help but feel we didn't get a proper game due to Amy being gone.
I don't think I have ever seen anyone actually liking the wacky supernatural stuff in Uncharted. One thing is how it ruins the harder difficulty modes, but more importantly, it feels out of place in the Uncharted universe. It reminds me of that last Indiana Jones movie when the fucking aliens popped up and you start to wonder what a fuck you are watching. With the supernatural, instead of being a game set in the real world, it becomes a game set in a wacky alternative universe with monsters. It destroys so much of the story, it creates so many problems.

And then, to top it off, they repeat the EXACT same sequence in all the games, when I got to the end of Uncharted 3 I could not believe they repeated the same silly monster fight as the second game, they couldn't even come up with anything new. It felt like a tradition that you have to fight monsters at the end of every Uncharted game. For me, it was like if God of War would end in a kart race or something.
 
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