Uncharted 3

[Sigfried1977]

I completed it on Crushing yesterday. Wasn't too bad save for a handful of spots which more than anything else seemed to be about choice of weapons and a great deal of luck.
Might be my imagination, but the A.I on crushing seems to be even more aggressive. As soon as they become active they are basically hell-bent on getting behind your back no matter the cause.

 

[Sigfried1977]

Spoiler

And why was there no end-boss? (I don't really count Talbot as one...)

Spoiler

Because traditional bosses in games like Uncharted generally suck ass. (Lazarevic and Navarro were horrible boss designs)

I was glad Naughty Dog finally realized this with Talbot. (who is a very challenging boss on higher difficulty levels by the way)

 

[Phil]

Spoiler

Because traditional bosses in games like Uncharted generally suck ass. (Lazarevic and Navarro were horrible boss designs)

I was glad Naughty Dog finally realized this with Talbot. (who is a very challenging boss on higher difficulty levels by the way)

Spoiler

You are right - traditional bosses in a game like Uncharted doesn't work well - but I still thought they add a significant value to the game, especially the ending to the game. We've had this discussion before in other games (KZ3, Tomb Raider: Underworld) which did not have any boss at all and were cited as a negative. The end-boss in UC2 perhaps wasn't the best boss, but he was a boss and gave the game a satisfying ending. I wouldn't call Talbot a boss - he was more or less a "quick-time-event" battle, nothing more (PS: I completed it on hard). There wasn't a significant challenge in beating him other than pressing the right buttons and surving those 2 minutes of combat. He wasn't even a very hateful character, not how they built up the Russian in UC2 for instance.

In that sense, the combat with the armor guy on the ship with the machine gun was more of a challenge and felt more like a summit than what was at the end.

I really think they could have done a fight with a bit of a challenge. I was actually playing the last level, expecting Nate to be injected with some hallucinogen and battle a super-natural bullet sponge Talbot or something...

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Just finished it and I have mostly the same criticisms as other people.

Firstly, the controls were too laggy and the new aiming mechanic feels terrible. Control of drake and shooting felt so lose it was like you were disconnected from Drake and this, more than anything, severely dampened my enjoyment of the game. I reckon I tried all the sensitivity settings. And what the hell with not being able to switch over which shoulder you want to look/shoot?

Second, the scripted bits; Among Thieves wasn't nearly as scripted as this. At times playing Drake's Deception felt like there were splinters of gameplay between scripted events, sometimes every few seconds which for me destroyed gameplay pacing. Here and there would be fine but it was everywhere, wresting control from the player indiscriminately.

Thirdly, the 'dream/haze' sequences and 'running from things' sequences were very overdone. Yes, it was cool for first time for each, familiar the second time and just tedious the third, fourth time etc ad nausium. Having to run at the camera but angle it towards a point you can't see and can only do right by sheer luck, or dying and replaying again is a terrible gameplay mechanic. It's almost as though ND spent a lot of time building some cool technology which they then felt the need to insert into the game every 2 hours.

As somebody who loved Uncharted 2, having played the singe player campaign several times, most recently a week ago, I found Uncharted 3 really disappointing. I liked the story though and maybe I'll revisit the game once the promised patch arrives.

 

[rabidrabbit]

Yup, agree on the running towards the screen scenes.
They were annoying in Crash Bandicoot and they're almost as annoying today.
One of them might have been okay to add tension but three is already too many. Glad they aren't very long though, and they're pretty easy.

I'm on the

Spoiler

ship wreckyard

level now, and totally blown away by what's been on offer thus far!
My love for gaming has been renewd by Uncharted 3. No game for a long time has kept me so hooked on what's coming next.
Thank you Naughty Dog!

 

[Cyan]

One thing that I really like, that stands out for me, is the use of the concave mask illusion that is spread about the game. If you look closely at the faces of some of the carvings and statues and then move from side to side they seem to follow you. As in turn their heads to track you. And it's all a visual illusion that happens for free because of the way in which the vc assembles images.

Example:

Cunning!!

I always wondered why devs never made use of such a treasure trove of free goodies that the human vc provides, like necker cubes, and tonal changes. First time I can remember such a thing being used to such effect in a game.

It looks certainly neat but I think that technology exists in games since many years ago. It's called 2D graphics.

2D objects rotate as you move, always facing your character. Some plants in Rage for instance are completely drawn in 2D, and they are always following you.

 

[BoardBonobo]

And what the hell with not being able to switch over which shoulder you want to look/shoot?

That really bugged me at first. But then I realised it's an option you can switch on in the menu. It's Shoulder Swap in the Buttons menu.

 

[Sigfried1977]

It looks certainly neat but I think that technology exists in games since many years ago. It's called 2D graphics.

2D objects rotate as you move, always facing your character. Some plants in Rage for instance are completely drawn in 2D, and they are always following you.

That's not how the effect works at all actually, at least not in U3.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

That really bugged me at first. But then I realised it's an option you can switch on in the menu. It's Shoulder Swap in the Buttons menu.

D'oh! I saw that in the button configuration menu but thought it just reversed the functions of the the four (L1,L2,R1,R2) shoulder buttons.

 

[Arwin]

So I don't actually share the issues with laggy controls or anything, and the running sequences, only in the first one I had a part where I died a few times in a row. Mostly there were good queues where you had to go all the time, and I never felt that it was unfair. So if you guys missed them, you should just be ashamed. But the one time it did happen a few times to me, it does really take you out of the cinematic feel a bit. It's a shame that so often, gameplay and cinematic direction seem to get in the way of each other. Yet it is fair - it shouldn't be too easy, or such a chase scene loses all excitement and could then better replaced by a cut-scene altogether.

And there have been sections where I felt absolutely kick-ass as Drake. There was one section with Elena where my kid had walked in and I wanted to get past the violent bits as fast as possible, so I just went at it as aggressively as I could running, shooting and meleeing (a fair bit) and I was positively taking names and wiped the floor with the baddies, clearing the whole place in no-time. The times afterwards that I felt challenged, most of the time had to do with not seeing the solution to the 'puzzle' ... can be quite frustrating, but once you do get it, the fun can continue. The two I had some trouble with, one of them I thought was slightly unfair

Spoiler

the armored guy on top of the first tanker

and one of them totally fair

Spoiler

took me a while to notice I could shoot the legs from under that platform

, and one inbetween

Spoiler

the one where you can fight from the water for the first time, there was a location that was relatively easy to defend, where you have the artillery / gun thing

 

[suryad]

I still have yet to order a copy of the game for me. I am gonna wait considering the ginormous list of games I need to get through. But reading about the laggy controls is definitely reinforcing my decision of not ordering my game yet until at least a slew of updates get pushed out.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

So I don't actually share the issues with laggy controls or anything,

Play Among Thieves for 30 minutes then replay any part of Drake's Deception. The delay in Drake responding to the player, along with imprecision of moving in a particular direction, topped off with the aiming makes the new game feel like a cheap knock off from another developer.

Like others I think ND were under pressure to ship and shipped it without polishing it to their usual standard. Another week was needed but that wasn't an option because of MW3 and Skyrim.

 

[Sigfried1977]

The game isn't laggy for me at all. I saw that youtube video where the guy measured a tremendous 240 ms delay (compared to 120 ms in U2) and my game behaves nothing like that at all. I squeeze the trigger and Drake shoots pretty much instantaneously with virtually no delay at all. Same with crosshair movement. Feels almost exactly like in U2.

 

[Gitaroo]

I think there are suppose to be added animation and recoil in U3, I don't really notice any major input delay, if its 200+ ms, its worse than KZ2 originally was, that instantly noticeable.

 

[Arwin]

The game isn't laggy for me at all. I saw that youtube video where the guy measured a tremendous 240 ms delay (compared to 120 ms in U2) and my game behaves nothing like that at all. I squeeze the trigger and Drake shoots pretty much instantaneously with virtually no delay at all. Same with crosshair movement. Feels almost exactly like in U2.

Same here. I may put it to the test with my camera. It's 50fps unfortunately but good enough for this I think.

 

[Npl]

The game isn't laggy for me at all. I saw that youtube video where the guy measured a tremendous 240 ms delay (compared to 120 ms in U2) and my game behaves nothing like that at all. I squeeze the trigger and Drake shoots pretty much instantaneously with virtually no delay at all. Same with crosshair movement. Feels almost exactly like in U2.

Not for me... I get a notable delay.
maybe thats another thing that depends on the PS3 hardware (got 40GB, CECHG model)? doesnt seem likely but what do I know.

 

[djskribbles]

I think it depends a lot on your TV as well. Monitors have low input lag and a lot of TVs have pretty bad input lag. My 3-4 year old Samsung LCD (A650) has 60-70ms of input lag in Movie mode (~35ms in game mode) and my LED LG LCD (LH90) only has ~30ms in ISF/Expert mode with LED local dimming ON (game mode doesn't really do anything). There was a pretty big difference playing KZ2 pre-patch on my two TVs.

Some of the newer TVs are even worse for input lag, going upwards of 100ms.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

I'm gaming on a Sony Bravia KDL40EX703, in game mode it has a 31-35ms input lag - one of the reasons I bought this particular set. With a low native input lag, anything added becomes noticeable. You can both see, and more importantly feel, the increased lag switching from U2 to U3 and even more bizarrely, having had a go at U3 MP, it is also much more responsive.

EDIT: playing on a launch EU 60Gb PS3, albeit with a 320Gb HDD, connection via HDMI.

 

[patsu]

It looks certainly neat but I think that technology exists in games since many years ago. It's called 2D graphics.

2D objects rotate as you move, always facing your character. Some plants in Rage for instance are completely drawn in 2D, and they are always following you.

That should be pretty cool to watch. I'll look out for it when I get the game.

I shudder to think how the U3 hallucination effect will appear in stereoscopic 3D.

 

[patsu]

I'm gaming on a Sony Bravia KDL40EX703, in game mode it has a 31-35ms input lag - one of the reasons I bought this particular set. With a low native input lag, anything added becomes noticeable. You can both see, and more importantly feel, the increased lag switching from U2 to U3 and even more bizarrely, having had a go at U3 MP, it is also much more responsive.

I thought a YouTube video demonstrated the increased lag already (assuming done on the same TV) ?

Some people complained that it's hard to move the cursor in the direction you want due to acceleration. I think that behavior is in U2 and U3 MP also. Except that when combined with the increased lag, it becomes more noticeable.