Uncharted 4: A Thief's End [PS4]

[Globalisateur]

If they can't deepen the gameplay they could at least reduce input lag and improve controls/responsiveness in UC4.

Tomb Raider (on PS3) seems to me more responsive and controls better, even during framerate drops at 20fps-ish, and is also using triple buffer (is it? no screen tearing, so...). So it should be possible.

Anyway if they target 60fps controls should be better than on PS3, which were a bit heavy and clanky (retrospectively compared to Tomb Raider 2013 IMO, controls in UC are still good).

 

[wco81]

Wasn't the initial pull of UC the graphics and the set pieces?

The plot was …

Was it UC2 where they introduce these alien or monster creatures later on and you had to keep yourself from rolling your eyes?

 

[tuna]

If they can't deepen the gameplay they could at least reduce input lag and improve controls/responsiveness in UC4.

I thought the input lag was pretty good in UC3, but it was helped by the fact that you can force the game to 1080p output (meaning no TV upscaling).

 

[Wynix]

Wasn't the initial pull of UC the graphics and the set pieces?

The plot was …

Was it UC2 where they introduce these alien or monster creatures later on and you had to keep yourself from rolling your eyes?

The story of UC2 was pretty solid up until the end of the game, the supernatural stuff was very poorly done.

UC2 art style was also better than UC3.

The UC franchise has a lot of areas it can improve; The platforming is one, it is mind-numbingly easy and has no depth.
The gameplay needs some serious work, less gears of war and more puzzles and exploring.
Cutting back on cutscenes would also be a welcome improvement.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Naughty Dog: Uncharted 4 Will Benefit Heavily From The Last of Us Dialog System Read

GamingBolt have an interesting article on The Last of Us's 'dialogue system' and how it'll benefit Uncharted 4.

There were a lot of things that made TLoU a better story-driven gameplay experience over Uncharted for me and the more natural dialogue was part of it. I'd chalked it up to better writing not realising that was some actual carefully thought out mechanics behind how and when dialogue is used.

"The more you allow characters to interact verbally, the more telling it is when they break form or do something unrealistic. We call it the “uncanny valley”, which means that we’ve made things look so realistic that anything which doesn’t look real will stand out. When your dialogue manager is so sophisticated that you can feel character’s moods and feeling, the in-game Artificial Intelligence can’t afford to make mistakes.”

“If the AI makes a dumb move, it’ll be telegraphed through the dialogue. So one of our biggest problems with raising the bar for dialogue is to create a smarter AI, because it can easily do things that are wrong.”

 

[Daozang]

The fact that you said nothing about actually playing the game is precisely what I think is so weak about this series. No one who loves this series ever says that there is anything actually fun about playing. They love the cutscenes, the story, the graphics, the music, the theme, the setting, etc.

I've never heard someone say, "The combat in Uncharted is really gripping. Great controls, great weapons, solid AI, meaty challenge." This is because it is passable, and everyone knows it.

Nor have I ever heard, "The platforming sections are a great mix of timing and precision." This is because it is "press forward to win," and everyone knows it.

Nor have I have I ever heard, "The puzzles are good brain-teasers without being punishing." This is because they are insipid, and everyone knows it.

Throw a grenade, move out of cover, kick the guy that is trying to flank you in the head and one-shoot his buddy with your pistol immediately after you land on the ground, duck into cover again. Get the guys shotgun. You are now flanking the rest of his team yourself.
You shoot one of them immediately, only now, an other guy has already moved behind you and most of them have changed positions.
Leap over your cover move to a better position shooting non stop. One of them is in your way, punch him, grab him, smash him against a wall.

The platforming was fun. The puzzles were a nice break. But the combat was simply amazing in my book.
I had many memorable and gratifying gameplay moments in those games, especially in 2.

 

[Nesh]

Throw a grenade, move out of cover, kick the guy that is trying to flank you in the head and one-shoot his buddy with your pistol immediately after you land on the ground, duck into cover again. Get the guys shotgun. You are now flanking the rest of his team yourself.
You shoot one of them immediately, only now, an other guy has already moved behind you and most of them have changed positions.
Leap over your cover move to a better position shooting non stop. One of them is in your way, punch him, grab him, smash him against a wall.

The platforming was fun. The puzzles were a nice break. But the combat was simply amazing in my book.
I had many memorable and gratifying gameplay moments in those games, especially in 2.

Oh yes the combat was beautiful. It felt so natural and had an amazing flow. You could "connect" the covers, shooting, melees and take downs from one to the next without the game even employing a "chain" mechanism in the gameplay. I dont remember any other game in the genre with such an amazing flow during enemy encounters. The whole game in general had the right flow. Whereas other games of it kind have their elements disconnected. Its not the complexity that made that game special. It is the flow. The platforming was simple alright. My second playthrough was like speed running the platforming which revealed its "shallowness" but the good think about it is that it didnt feel like it was "drugging" on and on. There are games that bore with their platforming because although harder they are not enjoyable.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Combat really hit the spot for me, Uncharted combat and Motorstorm driving - both games where the core mechanic, the thing you spend 99% of the game doing, was fantastic and where you sometime didn't want it to end.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

The fact that you said nothing about actually playing the game is precisely what I think is so weak about this series. No one who loves this series ever says that there is anything actually fun about playing. They love the cutscenes, the story, the graphics, the music, the theme, the setting, etc.

That's flat-out wrong. I commented on enjoying the gameplay and especially the multiplayer which was far more entertaining for me with its verticality than many other more conventional shooters. My only gripe with the multiplayer was (common to all multiplayer) imbalanced teams and no-win situations where, say, a teammate drops out and you're just cannon-fodder, with no reward/incentive for enduring that.

The gameplay in Uncharted was very fun. Simple shooting, responsive, with various decision making requirements. It could have been better, but it wasn't bad by any stretch, and the whole package was worth much more than the sum of its parts which explains its success and ongoing interest in the IP. If it truly was as mediocre as you say, it'd have sold no better than any other mediocre title. And wouldn't have had 88, 92, and 96 metacritic scores either.

 

[Daozang]

Oh yes the combat was beautiful. It felt so natural and had an amazing flow. You could "connect" the covers, shooting, melees and take downs from one to the next without the game even employing a "chain" mechanism in the gameplay. I dont remember any other game in the genre with such an amazing flow during enemy encounters. The whole game in general had the right flow. Whereas other games of it kind have their elements disconnected. Its not the complexity that made that game special. It is the flow. The platforming was simple alright. My second playthrough was like speed running the platforming which revealed its "shallowness" but the good think about it is that it didnt feel like it was "drugging" on and on. There are games that bore with their platforming because although harder they are not enjoyable.

A good indication the combat was amazing for me, in any game actually, is the difficulty.
In U2, I started playing on the hardest difficulty, right after I finished it.
The game was a lot less forgiving. But, the gameplay allowed you to pull those moves as fast as you could master them.
If you were able to stay aware of you surroundings, the difficulty, seemed inconsequential.
You were never fighting against the game mechanics. Only against the enemies.
I was dying a lot more frequently on hard. But it was almost always, my fault.

Naughty Dog, is the reason, I'm eventually going to buy a PS4.
Up to this point, these guys can't do wrong in my book.

 

[Nesh]

A good indication the combat was amazing for me, in any game actually, is the difficulty.
In U2, I started playing on the hardest difficulty, right after I finished it.
The game was a lot less forgiving. But, the gameplay allowed you to pull those moves as fast as you could master them.
If you were able to stay aware of you surroundings, the difficulty, seemed inconsequential.
You were never fighting against the game mechanics. Only against the enemies.
I was dying a lot more frequently on hard. But it was almost always, my fault.

Naughty Dog, is the reason, I'm eventually going to buy a PS4.
Up to this point, these guys can't do wrong in my book.

Exactly I wouldnt have said it better myself. This is what I was thinking about a lot lately. Hard difficulties in most games are a pain in the ass because the faults of the gameplay mechanics and AI routines are revealed. I finished Bioshock infinite on hard difficulty mode for example and it was not fun at all because the balance was not there and the AI enemies were just attacking full force from every possible angle simultaneously, they were bullet sponges while my health was drained with a few shots. Unless I was a robot with super reflexes and prediction abilities it was impossible not to die countless times. The mechanics where simply too unfair and unbalanced. Uncharted though was simply awesome. Balanced, fair and success was a matter of skill.

 

[Billy Idol]

I wonder if they incorporate some of TLOU gameplay?!

 

[Deleted member 11852]

I wonder if they incorporate some of TLOU gameplay?!

I would really like stealth and hand-to-hand combat as a viable option for some encounters. That was seriously satisfying in TLoU. Being basically out of ammo and hang to creep around to grab an iron bar in order batter somebody to death was a serious adrenaline rush.

And perhaps even the crafting system could find a home, although I don't know how.

 

[Gitaroo]

open the level and maybe some kind of currency or points system + weapons mods.

 

[Arwin]

I would really like stealth and hand-to-hand combat as a viable option for some encounters.

This was always an option in Uncharted, wasn't it? There's a whole level section where you only sneak up on enemies. But TloU just really improved that system a nice bit again.

For next gen, above everything else I would love the hit detection to improve and have people react realistically to the bullet impact. That too was already done better in TloU, but I'd love people losing the capacity of a leg or an arm, and really react to the impact properly, instead of having canned contortions and temporary disabled hit-detection, or a hit counter that says three shots and you're out, basically. Shoot someone in the leg and make them limp, shoot them in both legs and make them crawl, shoot their shooting arm and they can't shoot for crap, and shoot both of them to prevent them from shooting altogether.

I'd also love an option where you could play the game where you get a rating for the amount of non-lethal incapacitations you pull off, as a nice change to the eternal headshot bonus.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

They need to add TV/Movie hero modes, so a Swazzennergggger mode where you score based on how many kills you make and lose points for failing to make a kill, and a MacGyver mode where you score based on non-fatal takedowns, in which every punch to the face is an immediate knock-out.

 

[jlippo]

This was always an option in Uncharted, wasn't it? There's a whole level section where you only sneak up on enemies.

In some cases it was possible to skip waves of enemies, at least in UC2.

 

[benroveno]

Maybe Nolan North should be replaced with Joey from "Friends" (Matt LeBlanc).. lol. that would be cool. And then if he meets a girl and here comes the famous phrase "How you doin'?" LMAO ROFL

 

[ultragpu]

Holy f*ck at Drake, that detail was beyond CGI! Too bad it's so short.

 

[Shortbread]

Holy f*ck at Drake, that detail was beyond CGI! Too bad it's so short.

101% agree.