But that's not the point, there need be no Balls for the Blueing.
UC4 just seems to cater to this modern day audience's need to, for some reason, have everything explained out word by word, and I just don't get it. We don't need to see why when we already have the outcome. Nathan Drake was orphaned and disowned by his family, he was thrown away almost completely and left to an orphanage in a world that didn't want him. Going back recently through Uncharted 1 we meet this fortune hunter who feels he has claim to this identity, despite the fact that we are told time and time again that Sir Francis had no heirs, but Drake is always quick to remind her that
he had no heirs in England. That little quip, the validation and affirmation, is as much a reassurance to himself as much as it is a counter to Elena's point. In Uncharted 2 it's not really a point of concern since Sir Francis doesn't play a part, but when you get back into UC3 you see the obsession take off. It's in UC1 and UC3 where Drake propels himself forward the most. Hell, in UC2 Drake wants to back out by the time he gets to Tibet. The difference is though, the first and third installments tackle his supposed namesake, and therefore deal with his own sense of ideology/identity. If he can follow Sir Francis' footsteps then he can follow the legacy, and in the end hopefully claim it for his own. Drake's Fortune and Deception show us a man obsessed with purpose and ownership. In this sense, by the time that sequence rolls around in UC3 where we find out his background it gives us all we need to go forward. The revelation isn't that he was once a
, it's that he's not really a Drake. That's what's important, that's what matters. It would be like wanting to know about the first time Robert worked with Joel, or what happened with Ish after he got out of the sewers. The truth is it doesn't matter, it simply doesn't matter. All we needed to know about his past we got in UC3. All it provided was a catalyst for a character change and that's what people should have focused on, much like when lighting a stick of dynamite, it's not the burning fuse that matters, it's the explosion. It's the end result, and Uncharted 3 provided us both bookmarks for that character. We didn't need to see each time Drake's father was mean to him to appreciate that he's an orphan, much like we didn't need to appreciate his original last name in order to realize that his current wasn't real. It's people looking at the wrong things for the wrong reasons.
But we didn't get anywhere with the character that we hadn't before. Sir Francis never even came up in conversation between the two brothers at all. Their namesake was amazingly absent and goes to show you how little meaning went into picking the last name Drake due to the retcon in UC4. Hell, Nathan found Sir Francis body, you'd think that would actually mean something to them.
Sam as a character also seemed undefined and far too wishy washy. We didn't get enough time between the brothers to feel something, so Drake's motivation to put everything on the line in order to save him feels artificial and forced. Even looking at the end there doesn't seem to be enough closure. Sam just comes off one note(as much as I love Troy) and indecisive in what he wants. He is pushed towards the treasure but then seemingly indifferent at the end, we are told that he wants to have his brother involved and yet he puts his life in danger in order to get the treasure. I never got the sense of what actually propelled Sam forward.
Uncharted 4 didn't wrap up any long hanging loose ends, instead it just presented all new questions that we won't get the answer to. For example, what was Sam doing for three years while helping Rafe?
See above.
You realize that direction more or less took a hard 180 turn once Neil and Bruce took over, to the point where characters were recast. I hardly believe that various elements were just dumped into Neil's lap and he just had to make the best of it. We know that Drake's Brother was an element, but I would assume Druckmann took him in the direction he wanted to.