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[zsynqx]

Sounds pretty bad to me. Like they didn't know what they even wanted it to be. Glad we got the Druckmann and Straley's Uncharted 4 and Lost Legacy instead. Plus a Amy Hennig Star Wars game has a pretty good chance of being great, so happy she landed that too.

Only negative is we'd probably have a TLoU 2 by now if the original Uncharted 4 wasn't apparently a mess.

With Bruce as the co-director, that's the most painful part.

 

[silva1991]

Sam as a main villain would have been much better. I thought he was insufferable in UC4.

 

[jdstorm]

My thoughts exactly. It just sounds like a bunch of disparate set pieces & random mechanics, with a paper thin story behind it.

Can you imagine the outrage if there was a DanceDanceRev mini game? It would have been derided.

Glad we got the UC4 we did.

It was great in Yakuza 0

We in!

Ultimately this stuff is mostly about execution. To be honest i don't think i would have enjoyed either version of Uncharted 4 very much. Lost Legacy seems great so far though so things probably worked out for the best.

 

[LastNac]

I like it a lot. 2nd best UC game for my tastes, which isn't saying much, but still. It acts as a sort of "Best of Uncharted," riffing off of vibes from UC2 and UC4, with particular attention paid to how the game ramps up from the slow UC4 stuff to what I think is clearly the best end run in the series. It probably has the best puzzles they've done so far (and finally a tangible reward for doing them), the traversal from UC4 is made more interesting through better environments and climbing/jumping paths, visuals are incredible (of course), Chloe is a good protagonist (of course, best choice, Drake you messed up), the dialogue is fun, it actualizes the potential of the Madagascar chapter in UC4, and it gets better as it goes along. With that said it doesn't have the same emotional impact that an UC3 or UC4 might because it's basically a smaller scale spin-off pilot episode for a new series, but what it lacks in drama and scope it makes up for with a more constant juggling act of puzzles, combat, traversal, and quips. Considering how good the UC4 base is (controls, combat, sound, visuals, etc), I could see TLL with one more location and a few newer major sequences challenging for the best in the franchise.

There's no desert though so 0/10 on the LastNac scale.

I mean, how many deserts are there in India?

Especially in the Western Ghats?

 

[ZeroX03]

She could have been an engaging character. Instead she's just the lead henchmen, with more screentime than that role warrants.

Her backstory - trying to keep her PMC afloat - is more interesting than any of her actions are. Perhaps incorporate more of that into the core narrative.

She didn't even get that much screentime? And it's not like other villains in any of the other entries got much more development. Just don't see how she can elicit such strong feelings one way or the other.

 

[Rellik]

Based on what?

No gun combat for half the game alone would have been a huge plus to me. The gun combat in Uncharted is by far my least favourite part of them. It's just not good.

 

[Alienous]

She didn't even get that much screentime? And it's not like other villains in any of the other entries got much more development. Just don't see how she can elicit such strong feelings one way or the other.

Well for me her mopping the floor with Drake and Sam, simultaneously, where I might as well not even be playing made me resent her inclusion. She didn't add anything positive to the experience, and did add some things negative, I suppose.

 

[Emulated Hype]

I was never really a fan of the brother angle tbh, I feel like they were being too meta about it.

But still, if they were always going to commit to the concept then I wish Harry would have been the missing link between the Nate, Sam, and Rafe in the flashbacks.

 

[HMD]

I still wish we got an edgy U4 with a dark storyline and actual character deaths like the teaser and the game's subtitle were hinting at.

 

[BoxManLocke]

Respect Amy Hennig, but i'm happy we got the version we did.

Yep. That kind of heavy drama really wouldn't have mixed well with Uncharted in my opinion.

 

[Strike]

Interesting ideas. Never thought we'd actually get both HL3 and this from official sources within a few weeks of each other.

 

[Mega Caprison]

I still wish we got an edgy U4 with a dark storyline and actual character deaths like the teaser and the game's subtitle were hinting at.

This, Drake death would be the final closure for Uncharted series.

 

[pantsmith]

I still wish we got an edgy U4 with a dark storyline and actual character deaths like the teaser and the game's subtitle were hinting at.

Blegh. Uncharted is and always has been an escapist, globe-trotting pulp fantasy. Thats like saying you want to watch Indiana Jones die like a chump in some far corner of the Earth 🤢

The Last of Us exists and is a great place to examine the darkness and consequence of the human condition. Leave Drake out of this.

 

[Neith]

This, Drake death would be the final closure for Uncharted series.

Oh jesus. No it would not not. It's like Indiana Jones dying and totally inappropriate.

I'm glad we got the U4 we did. I love Amy but the direction Uncharted was headed in was not really working. It was there, but the writing and characters were seemingly going nowhere. It was stuck in the past if you ask me. U4 really brought it full scale into a more mature future, and I like that. It still has a lot of fun sequences, but come on U3 was badly written and that sadly has to go on Amy. It was more than not her series in some ways, but others came in to help when major elements were faltering.

I don't think U2 would have been the same without Bruce and others at all, and I doubt anyone else does. 3 was a fun ride in the remaster, but I didn't want to see all that craziness in U4. I am sure the decisions made were awful, but you have to make decisions with a major series like this. U3 was kind of terribly written in places, and it wasn't very hard to spot. The villains hardly had any real time. While Nate and Sully's relationship was cool, the game still had that disconnected aspect to it. It was still a really fun game though with set sequences that still haven't really been topped in some aspects.

Amy probably moved on when she should have. Artists should never just keep churning out sequels IMHO. It dulls their work.

 

[Ricky_R]

It's honestly nuts that Neil and Bruce released such an amazing game with quite a satisfying conclusion considering all the stuff that was already there and they had to work around or had to pick up where Amy left off.

And that was coming off TLOU and Left Behind which was a huge project.

 

[Neith]

It's honestly nuts that Neil and Bruce released such an amazing game with quite a satisfying conclusion considering all the stuff that was already there and they had to work around or they had to pick up where Amy left off.

And that was coming off from TLOU and Left Behind which was a huge project.

Didn't Bruce basically get burned out and went on vacation? I can see why....

 

[Ricky_R]

Didn't Bruce basically get burned out and went on vacation? I can see why....

Possibly, among other things.

 

[NipplesAndToes23]

Is there anything I can get out of this having not played the game?

 

[zsynqx]

Is there anything I can get out of this having not played the game?

The book? Definitely

Some of the most interesting chapters were about games that I'd never played.

 

[Callibretto]

She didn't even get that much screentime? And it's not like other villains in any of the other entries got much more development. Just don't see how she can elicit such strong feelings one way or the other.

she didn't have big role in U4, but the character does look cool and her beating up Sam and Nate is a cool set piece that show how strong she is.

basically she's like Boba Fett at least in U4. she's just there to look cool and do cool thing. TLL is where they flesh her character more, more defined personality, goes into her backstory a bit, why she's in mercenary business etc.

 

[NipplesAndToes23]

The book? Definitely

Some of the most interesting chapters were about games that I'd never played.

This video.

 

[GravityInsanity]

I had my gripes with U4 but I must admit, it looks like Straley & Druckmann directorial perseverance and a lot of crunch actually put this out of the door. We knew more or less that some details of the story were different, but the sheer fact that U4 (of all games, Sony's most important exclusive and franchise) was basically..... "not shaping well" is really incredibile, given the pedigree of ND.

They got scraps of a story and characters written by someone else, some gameplay experimentation and unfinished concepts, and in 2 years they basically directed the longest, most ambitious Uncharted ever, while also giving it a poignant meaning in the great scheme of things, a game which showed no signs of it being an originally diverse story. Again: I liked U4, I also found many flaws in it, but in hindsight, Straley & Druckmann work truly is exceptional.

Great post.

 

[Everlya_Apocryha]

i'm REALLY glad we got the UC4 that we did..

I love the 1st 3 UC and all but who's the say the final chapter of Amy Hennig's UC4 will not fall into the same trap of 'supernatural BS' again as per UC1 - 3?

Glad that the UC4 we got is playing it straight with zero aliens/ancient curses....

the idea of going through the journey of competing against Rafe to find libertalia and using the fate of Thomas Thule & Henry Avery as a parable to the Drake Brothers & Rafe is a subtlety the past UC didn't have.

 

[bobbytkc]

After reading this, I think we dodged a bullet there.

 

[Everlya_Apocryha]

Possibly, among other things.

Not possibly...Bruce was definitely burnt out....he's on an official one year sabbatical now

 

[cheez124]

It makes sense that Sam would be angry at Nate for leaving him in prison, and I kinda expected this to happen when I played the game. Sure, Nate made calls and stuff to check if he was alive, but Sam didn't know that. From his point of view, Nate left him there to rot for 15 years and never did anything to help.

I prefer the version we got, though. I like how it actually subverted that, and that Sam still believed in and cared about Nate even after all that time. Plus, not having any gun combat for half the game wouldn't sit right with me

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Glad that the original vision didn't come to light. I think something must have happened with UC3 and the early dev of UC4.. I don't want to necessarily blame it on Amy, but my gut feeling is that she was behind a lot of the head scratching story bits in the series.

I enjoyed what UC4 turned out to be. Despite the pacing flaws, the story/presentation are easily the best in the series and it gave a lot of depth to the characters....something that never happened with UC3, and didn't seem to be on the right track to accomplish with UC4.

Druckmann seems to have an unbelievable cinematic vision...it just feels more mature in comparison to what we received through most of the UC series.

TLOU an UC4 were a huge step up in terms of cinematic production and storytelling, imo.

 

[B.O.O.M]

umm yeah glad that didn't pan out. Sounds terrible

 

[ymgve]

Sounds a bit like the part in the "Portal 2: The Last Hours" book where they describe how Valve was working on a lot of prototypes and didn't have clear direction, and Gabe suddenly realized they were on their way to making a Portal sequel without the portal gun, and finally put his foot down.

 

[Discotheque]

No shooting for first half of game. Haha that's gross. Would have worse pacing than what we ended up with (i really liked the character stuff tho but it ended up being to the gameplays detriment. Love the game but I don't really wanna play it again for a long while)

Also Nadine rules

 

[Raonak]

Prefer what we got. In a series of constant betrayls; a sam betrayl would be so unsurprising that I was really expecting it in U4 and actually got surprised when it didn't really happen.

 

[Ricky_R]

Not possibly...Bruce was definitely burnt out....he's on an official one year sabbatical now

I meant that it was possibly because of that reason. I'm aware he's taking a long break.

 

[AuthenticM]

Sounds a bit like the part in the "Portal 2: The Last Hours" book where they describe how Valve was working on a lot of prototypes and didn't have clear direction, and Gabe suddenly realized they were on their way to making a Portal sequel without the portal gun, and finally put his foot down.

wait what? Seriously?

 

[-COOLIO-]

I definitely prefer what we got.

 

[AuthenticM]

I don't really have a problem with people aggregating juicy Uncharted 4 details from my book, but the problem here is that stuff is being misinterpreted. A lot of these ideas (like the ballroom dancing mechanic) weren't necessarily going to be part of the original version of Uncharted 4 -- Naughty Dog's designers were just prototyping them and trying to see what would work.

One of the reasons for the directorial shift, according to people I spoke with, was that there were too many prototypes floating around and nobody was making strong decisions about what to cut and what to implement. That's why Naughty Dog made the change in the first place -- because the game wasn't in great shape. It's impossible to say that "Amy Hennig's Uncharted 4" would have looked like this, because we have no idea what would have made the final cut.

If you want the real, complete story, please do check out Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062651234/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Is your book available at Chapters?

 

[Radical Edward]

Why does it have to be that they're brothers? Secret family relationship reveals are so overused and cheesy nowadays that it doesn't really have any emotional effect anymore

I hear what you're saying but we basically got a secret family relationship reveal with Sam