Is that the second Uncharted game, and the one with the long train section and the a helicopter after you? If so, yep that is my least favourite too but I've not played the last two games. And I've just realised I don't remember a single thing about the third game. 🤤
Yes that's the one. Why is it your least favorite?
@AdamantiumClaws Sorry, yeah, my reply yesterday was a little flippant. I'll explain in detail.
Among Thieves has some incredible moments, I grant you, but for each of them there's two or three things I didn't like, or found to be done better elsewhere in other Uncharted games. I played the first trilogy all long after they'd been released, so perhaps I'd have felt better if I'd played Among Theives at launch, but as soon as I'd completed it I moved on to Drake's Deception and found refinements of everything I'd wanted refined.
Take the convoy chase across the snow. Wonderful, exciting moment, but it's incredibly brief and has very little point to it, beyond "don't die and get to the next place" (okay, we're going to try and save Schäfer, and I liked him a lot, but he's most definitely a B-list character if we're being honest). When compared to the horseback convoy chase across the desert in Drake's Deception, where we're desperate to save Sully (more on him in a minute) and constantly jumping from horse to truck to flatbed to horse, with twists and gags and much-improved music, I can only really look back on Among Thieves' convoy chase as a test run, a proof-of-concept tech demo.
And maybe it's a little unfair to unpack the games into the standalone sequences when they're supposed to be one long, loading-screen-free narrative, but Uncharted has always been about stringing together a handful of set-pieces like a blockbuster movie. Among Thieves falls down because the bits stringing its sequences together are really boring. Right after that convoy chase, there's a slog through the ruins towards Shambhala which is beyond tedious. It takes forever to move from room to room, or ledge to ledge, and when you finally arrive at your destination it becomes more of the same, both outside the gates and within. In an age where games are pre-judged by their completion times, I feel it might be unpopular to say this, but I much prefer Drake's Deception for cutting out a lot of that padding and just honestly going "here's six hours of bonkers insanity" rather than adding an extra two hours of repetition (which, at times, felt cheap in enemy placement and numbers to make them even longer). After a really strong start full of pace and zip, no sequence after the halfway point is spared this approach; the train, for example, is amazing before the tunnel but then outstays its welcome beyond it. Everything just feels played out.
As for the storyline and characters (because hey, who plays Uncharted for the gameplay, right?) it's another case of "one step forward, two steps back". As I said, I love Schäfer and Tenzin and that whole element of the story, but they feel underused and kinda wasted on exposition (in the former's case) and language barrier gags (with regards the latter). Chloe Fraser is absolutely fantastic... in Drake's Deception and The Lost Legacy, but I never really connected with her in Among Thieves; she seems like a contrivance, somebody put in to deliberately cause complications between Nate and Elena and keep you guessing as to her loyalty. Lazarević isn't the blandest, most cookie-cutter villain in the series (that honour falls to the chaps from Drake's Fortune) but he's pretty darn close, and the less said about Flynn, the better. And why, oh why, is Sully only around for half an hour? He's my favourite character, which is probably why Drake's Deception is my favourite, as it's all about him and his relationship with Nate.
When I think back to Among Thieves, I always seem to think of the bits I disliked first, before I think a little harder and remember the bits I loved (like dragging Jeff through the city to try and save him, or the first half of the train sequence). With regard all other Uncharted games, I instantly recall my favourite moments, without question.
Drake's Fortune? U-Boat and the Fortress Wall. Drake's Deception? Young Nate, the Chateau, the Plane Crash and the Convoy. Golden Abyss? Canoeing with Sully. A Thief's End? The Rossi Estate and the Jeep Chase. The Lost Legacy? Almost all of it.
Among Thieves? Urgh, there was that annoying gunplay slog towards the end, just went on and on, kinda like the bit in the city... oh, but the temple full of light beams was pretty.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@AdamantiumClaws Sorry, yeah, my reply yesterday was a little flippant. I'll explain in detail.
Among Thieves has some incredible moments, I grant you, but for each of them there's two or three things I didn't like, or found to be done better elsewhere in other Uncharted games. I played the first trilogy all long after they'd been released, so perhaps I'd have felt better if I'd played Among Theives at launch, but as soon as I'd completed it I moved on to Drake's Deception and found refinements of everything I'd wanted refined.
Take the convoy chase across the snow. Wonderful, exciting moment, but it's incredibly brief and has very little point to it, beyond "don't die and get to the next place" (okay, we're going to try and save Schäfer, and I liked him a lot, but he's most definitely a B-list character if we're being honest). When compared to the horseback convoy chase across the desert in Drake's Deception, where we're desperate to save Sully (more on him in a minute) and constantly jumping from horse to truck to flatbed to horse, with twists and gags and much-improved music, I can only really look back on Among Thieves' convoy chase as a test run, a proof-of-concept tech demo.
And maybe it's a little unfair to unpack the games into the standalone sequences when they're supposed to be one long, loading-screen-free narrative, but Uncharted has always been about stringing together a handful of set-pieces like a blockbuster movie. Among Thieves falls down because the bits stringing its sequences together are really boring. Right after that convoy chase, there's a slog through the ruins towards Shambhala which is beyond tedious. It takes forever to move from room to room, or ledge to ledge, and when you finally arrive at your destination it becomes more of the same, both outside the gates and within. In an age where games are pre-judged by their completion times, I feel it might be unpopular to say this, but I much prefer Drake's Deception for cutting out a lot of that padding and just honestly going "here's six hours of bonkers insanity" rather than adding an extra two hours of repetition (which, at times, felt cheap in enemy placement and numbers to make them even longer). After a really strong start full of pace and zip, no sequence after the halfway point is spared this approach; the train, for example, is amazing before the tunnel but then outstays its welcome beyond it. Everything just feels played out.
As for the storyline and characters (because hey, who plays Uncharted for the gameplay, right?) it's another case of "one step forward, two steps back". As I said, I love Schäfer and Tenzin and that whole element of the story, but they feel underused and kinda wasted on exposition (in the former's case) and language barrier gags (with regards the latter). Chloe Fraser is absolutely fantastic... in Drake's Deception and The Lost Legacy, but I never really connected with her in Among Thieves; she seems like a contrivance, somebody put in to deliberately cause complications between Nate and Elena and keep you guessing as to her loyalty. Lazarević isn't the blandest, most cookie-cutter villain in the series (that honour falls to the chaps from Drake's Fortune) but he's pretty darn close, and the less said about Flynn, the better. And why, oh why, is Sully only around for half an hour? He's my favourite character, which is probably why Drake's Deception is my favourite, as it's all about him and his relationship with Nate.
When I think back to Among Thieves, I always seem to think of the bits I disliked first, before I think a little harder and remember the bits I loved (like dragging Jeff through the city to try and save him, or the first half of the train sequence). With regard all other Uncharted games, I instantly recall my favourite moments, without question.
Drake's Fortune? U-Boat and the Fortress Wall. Drake's Deception? Young Nate, the Chateau, the Plane Crash and the Convoy. Golden Abyss? Canoeing with Sully. A Thief's End? The Rossi Estate and the Jeep Chase. The Lost Legacy? Almost all of it.
Among Thieves? Urgh, there was that annoying gunplay slog towards the end, just went on and on, kinda like the bit in the city... oh, but the temple full of light beams was pretty.
See that's interesting, I felt Uncharted 3's chase was a way worse version of the one in 2, and a rinse-and-repeat. I loved the one in two, felt the location was more visually interesting and just handled better. And I loved Schafer.
Man, I just can't relate at all I love the game so much. But I was just curious to know.
The only thing I really liked about Drake's Deception was seeing Nate meet Sully, and the set pieces were incredible but story was not good at all. When you find out that the creative team split for Uncharted 3 and Last of Us it makes sense. They actually admitted at one point that they designed the levels before the story, which is why you end up in so many places for flimsy reasons. I also hated how all the enemies looked the same, just guys in suits, and didn't like the cartoonish additions of brutes.
And I absolutely loved Drake's Fortune back in the day but last time I played it the gameplay was really not good anymore. Gameplay-wise that one is probably the worst.
@AdamantiumClaws ...and that's awesome. Life would be so dull if we were all identical.
I love Schäfer too (especially because I instantly recognised his voice actor) and, like I originally said, Among Thieves is still Uncharted and on a base level, I love Uncharted. We get picky because we care, and I still had a blast with the game. I've completed it so many times, I've lost count.
Whilst I am aware of some development stories, I try to ignore them and just focus on the end result. It's quite telling that, when answering you yesterday, I summed up Uncharted as "stringing together a handful of set-pieces like a blockbuster movie" and so, if that's the approach they took with Drake's Deception, I obviously have no personal problem with that, because that's what I want and / or expect out of an Uncharted game. Flimsy reasons for going places has been a staple of Hollywood action-adventure films for years; take any Indiana Jones film, for example!
But this is just me, in the same way that I still enjoy playing Drake's Fortune because of the big chunk of nostalgia it comes with. It probably is the worst to play from a technical standpoint, but I have a blast because I loved discovering this new franchise (which my best friend had gotten for me) and meeting these characters.
It's interesting to find such diversity, especially with regards a game series which people often criticise for being too similar installment to installment.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@RogerRoger I dunno man, I felt that in Indiana Jones they always had reasons for going places. They had reasons in Uncharted 2, 4, and the rest as well. Speaking of Jones, Last Crusade is my favorite of that franchise and another problem I had with Drake's deception was how the convoy and Salim himself were a rip-off from that movie. Just need to get that out there. Anyways.
I have a lot of Nostalgia for DF as well, but the gameplay is just nowhere near as good as 2, and it gets a bit stale due to being in one location the whole time.
I'm actually surprised that some people have problems with Uncharted, I never met people who didn't like it before coming here.
But at the end of the day, I'm glad we both like it in some way. It's a series that has really touched me, and it has definitely made me wish my life was like Drake's on more than a few occasions! lol.
@AdamantiumClaws The Last Crusade is also my favourite Indiana Jones film, but that might be why I love Drake's Deception so much, because I saw and smiled at the similarities. Guess we're just wired differently when it comes to stuff like that in our entertainment!
For me, every Uncharted game is an incredible experience the first, second and even third time around, but coming back to them beyond that has allowed me to notice more of the cracks (a big part of me was really frustrated with A Thief's End when I replayed it recently) so I'm gonna take longer breaks before going back to them again, because I'm somebody who does like to replay things. I do wanna replay The Lost Legacy though, because I've only played it the once, and I'm really looking forward to doing so.
But it's awesome when you can form a connection with a game, or a whole series of games, like that and I can certainly see where you're coming from. Fingers crossed for more Uncharted someday!
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
Just started something this morning called Dead Nation: Apocalypse Edition. Seems like a fairly basic zombie-themed twin-stick shooter. It's atmospheric, but I don't like how hard all that darkness and fog make the zombies to see. I guess that's the point, to increase tension by besieging the player with hard-to-see monsters, but I don't think it plays to the strengths of the genre in that regard.
Also, why would a game map the main method of combating zombies to the R1 button? Thankfully, it allows you to change the button layout.
It seems to be separated into short-ish little missions, so this'll be my morning game until I beat it.
@Kidfried Because shooting almost should always be mapped to the trigger. R1 is okay for brief commands you hit every now and then, but not for the main means of attacking your enemies. Shooting with the shoulder bumpers reminds me of PS1/PS2 era action games, and I don't mean that in a charming, nostalgic sense.
@AdamantiumClaws@RogerRoger To me, the story in Uncharted is just an excuse, however flimsy, to string together the great set pieces the series is known for. I actually feel that the games suffer when they place more emphasis on story and being serious as they did in A Thief's End. The story in Drake's Deception was very silly, but the game as a whole also felt the most over the top and adventury (not a word) that the series has. I'd still rate it as having the best set-pieces too.
@mookysam For most part I feel like that too. The characters in Uncharted are great and well written, but the plot I never cared for too much.
Remember Uncharted 4? When you're on the pirate island, then the bad guys throw you off a mountain, and you happen to fall exactly where Elena is at that moment. The plot was never more than an excuse to get certain characters at certain places.
@mookysam +1 to that. I always rise an eyebrow when someone mentions uncharted in the context of a good story, especially when they compare it to Tomb Raider. I didn't like those flashback chapters in uc4 as they broke the pace of the game. I recently started uc4 again to go after the platinum and I stopped when you become young Nathan. Just can't force myself to play it. I always regarded Uncharted games as a blockbuster summer movie - just for fun and relaxation, nothing serious.
Project Cars 2 is awesome. I just started my career and winning the first tournament was as satisfying as beating a boss in a Souls game. PC2 is surely hard to master, but it all depends on the player's ability and concentration.
Not a lot of love for the series on here I guess. What can you do. I've always thought the storytelling was great. Well, it was in 1, 2, and TLL at least.
@Kidfried He doesn't fall where Elena is, he falls into a river and floats for a while until she finds him. I think if I remember, she said she found him by following the sound of gunfire.
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