Left Behind DLC is a prequel story, then - better to play that after the main game, or first? These things can vary.
Even though it takes place before, I seem to remember it assuming you've already played the main game. Like, combat quickly ramps up and you don't get tutorialized much if at all. I could be wrong, it's been a while.
Regardless, I'd play TLoU first, then the dlc. Release order.
listen I just woke up 9 hours ago you can't expect me to be awake yet
not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
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Inquisitor772 x Penny Arcade Fight Club ChampionA fixed point in space and timeRegistered Userregular
Yeah, it feels like I have to dip out of threads 9 months out of the year because random stuff gets spoiled... Not blaming anyone, but generic threads like Movies/TV Shows/Playstation invariably have spoilers for stuff unless you consume literally everything the second it comes out. Short of enforcing constant spoilers for pretty much every single post, I'm not sure there's a solution. Like, it's relatively easy to avoid the Game of Thrones thread if you don't want to get spoiled on Game of Thrones, but bigger threads like this one are pretty much a matter of when, not if.
Left Behind DLC is a prequel story, then - better to play that after the main game, or first? These things can vary.
Even though it takes place before, I seem to remember it assuming you've already played the main game. Like, combat quickly ramps up and you don't get tutorialized much if at all. I could be wrong, it's been a while.
Regardless, I'd play TLoU first, then the dlc. Release order.
The narrative framing of the DLC takes place later on in the main story, so yeah, it's to be played after.
reVerse on
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SnicketysnickThe Greatest Hype Man inWesterosRegistered Userregular
Left Behind DLC is a prequel story, then - better to play that after the main game, or first? These things can vary.
Even though it takes place before, I seem to remember it assuming you've already played the main game. Like, combat quickly ramps up and you don't get tutorialized much if at all. I could be wrong, it's been a while.
Regardless, I'd play TLoU first, then the dlc. Release order.
The narrative framing of the DLC takes place later on in the main story, so yeah, it's to be played after.
If you know where it integrates you can hit a specific chapter title card*, quit out, play the dlc and come back to the main game semi-seamlessly
The Last of Us already loses me with zombie-like monsters in it, but it keeps me away with the brutality in the violence. It's just totally disinteresting to me. MK11 is also extensively brutal, and I'm not interested in it, but I've seen some of the fatalities and some of them are honestly cartoon levels of violence that while I cringed, it was partly in the "oh god" way, but also in the "that's so stupid" way.
MK10 annoyed me at times with how bloody long some of these animations take to play out. Though I got a laugh out of Robocop’s fatality while watching the GB crew play MK11. It combined every single move that I figured Murphy would have, all into one.
"Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are." - Bertolt Brecht
I guess there's not much left to talk about for the PS4. The Switch thread also talks about games that came out on the Switch recently/soon. So it's not entirely off topic.
The Last of Us already loses me with zombie-like monsters in it, but it keeps me away with the brutality in the violence. It's just totally disinteresting to me. MK11 is also extensively brutal, and I'm not interested in it, but I've seen some of the fatalities and some of them are honestly cartoon levels of violence that while I cringed, it was partly in the "oh god" way, but also in the "that's so stupid" way.
RE: TLoU 1 -
You didn't miss much. I played it/completed it because my brother wanted to see it and I was bored/annoyed throughout.
Are you familiar with zombie apocalypse tropes? With 3rd person shooter tropes? Congratulations, you can predict how the game will play out in all respects with 99% accuracy.
It's an utterly mediocre game with unoriginal everything that people think is a masterpiece because of competent voice acting and production. One that railroads you into a bad choice at the end which paves the way for the sequel, which by all accounts is even more dreary and self-congratulatory.
Man, describing the performances in The Last of Us as merely competent really makes me respect your opinions dude. Nah wait, the other one.
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AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
Yeah I really haven’t seen a more wrong opinion on that game since that description in a while. It hasn’t aged well in a lot of ways -stealth games have improved a lot in seven years, but it is hardly mediocre.
And the voice acting in the game is some of the best anywhere.
Man, describing the performances in The Last of Us as merely competent really makes me respect your opinions dude. Nah wait, the other one.
For video game performances they were great. But, that's because only until very recently game acting has been pretty bad.
In terms of other media? Yeah, competent. The last 20 years of film and television has raised the bar. And TLoU 1 doesn't separate itself from what I would consider baseline prestige television. The kind of thing that's plastered all over Netflix, HBO, etc.
I can only call it like I see it. And for me a game needs more than decent performances to be good. If all I wanted was acting, I'd watch a movie or a television show.
Put another way, if the voice acting was removed from the game, would the game be hailed as a masterpiece? I honestly doubt it. Because the entire experience is paint-by-numbers. Chest high walls as far as the eye can see. Simplistic puzzles we've all done a hundred times before. Rudimentary and unsatisfying combat (zombies are 'scary' because they're unfair - one hit kills and bullet sponges). Rudimentary stealth. Rudimentary crafting.
It's not a great game. It's not particularly thoughtful (giving the player agency at the end would've been the bold thing to do). And it's not particularly fun.
I honestly don't want to argue about whether you should like Last of Us. No one SHOULD like anything that doesn't appeal to them. I just feel like making up stuff makes your opinion look silly. I wouldn't call the world traversal in Breath of the Wild "amateur" or "basic", that's clearly where that game excels even if other aspects don't appeal to some people. I personally think the performance and writing in The Last of Us is competitive with any format anywhere. Saying "without the writing, it wouldn't be as memorable" is the worst kind of argument to me. All of the elements that didn't impress you were clearly designed around the narrative. Disregarding the goals and purpose of the game (to tell this story) will make the game look worse for sure. Why didn't they let the player author the story? Because they were telling a difficult story with a harsh ending, letting the player make a choice that appeals to them is an alarming miss of the point. Why aren't there incredible stealth mechanics that etc? Well maybe this is the best Naughty Dog could do, but as to their reasoning, I'm sure it had a lot to do with the pacing they desired and the themes they wanted gameplay to represent (one hit kill enemies means you have to respect and fear being caught by them, just as an example).
Tl;dr if you're going to come in with a hot take, be somewhat on point at least. Why wasn't this game a game with completely different design goals and values is... uninteresting to me as a critique.
Man, describing the performances in The Last of Us as merely competent really makes me respect your opinions dude. Nah wait, the other one.
For video game performances they were great. But, that's because only until very recently game acting has been pretty bad.
In terms of other media? Yeah, competent. The last 20 years of film and television has raised the bar. And TLoU 1 doesn't separate itself from what I would consider baseline prestige television. The kind of thing that's plastered all over Netflix, HBO, etc.
I can only call it like I see it. And for me a game needs more than decent performances to be good. If all I wanted was acting, I'd watch a movie or a television show.
Put another way, if the voice acting was removed from the game, would the game be hailed as a masterpiece? I honestly doubt it. Because the entire experience is paint-by-numbers. Chest high walls as far as the eye can see. Simplistic puzzles we've all done a hundred times before. Rudimentary and unsatisfying combat (zombies are 'scary' because they're unfair - one hit kills and bullet sponges). Rudimentary stealth. Rudimentary crafting.
It's not a great game. It's not particularly thoughtful (giving the player agency at the end would've been the bold thing to do). And it's not particularly fun.
I know opinions and all that but. . .whoof. I mean I can understand someone wanting the gameplay of TLOUI to be of more importance than the story, but Naughty Dog's games have never really been about that (which isn't to say the gameplay is bad as a matter of fact). I honestly look at TLOU as a huge 3D visual novel whose gameplay is there to string together the story bits.
Thankfully reviewers have at least said (well the DF tech guys) that the ladder and trash bin puzzles are out the window, so there is likely more meat on the bone in regards to that.
As for TLOU as a narrative piece being barely better than the most average of media out there at the moment: hard disagree there.
"Get the hell out of me" - [ex]girlfriend
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KalnaurI See Rain . . .Centralia, WARegistered Userregular
These are the Uncharted folks, right?
Because the Uncharted games are lots of fun, and though I've compared the stories in those games to sort of a Romancing the Stone/Indiana Jones/National Treasure style adventure film, I didn't expect the gameplay to blow me out of the water on those games specifically because simple, direct gameplay and exploration paired with the occasional "ancient temple" puzzle is what I'd expect of mechanics that aren't going to get in the way of "summer action adventure blockbuster" attempts at storytelling.
Now, TLOU keeps me away because of the zombie content (because I have kinemortophobia) and what I heard was increasingly brutal visuals in a gritty world (I don't like stuff like Walking Dead, the Battlestar Galactica reboot, Game of Thrones and the like for similar reasons). But I have faith that Naughty Dog made a fun, engaging game for some people. It's just not for me personally. And that's fine! I don't need to watch the game get ripped apart to make me feel like I didn't miss out; I'm not missing out because even if I like other games the company makes, I'm not interested in that particular game.
Like, I'm also not interested in every Nintendo game, every Square Enix game. I don't feel like that demands that the ones that aren't for me are shat upon. And honestly, neither should any of you. Unless it's a cheap-ass Unity store asset flip, I feel like 99% of games should get their due as "art, even if it's not for me".
I make art things! deviantART:Kalnaur ::: Origin: Kalnaur ::: UPlay: Kalnaur
A lot of what made Uncharted 1-3 so memorable was Amy Hennig's writing and dialog. After Neil Druckmann had her forced out of Naughty Dod and threw put her script for 4 and started from scratch... that game was clearly not as good as the prior 3 in the writing, story, and character aspects.
Naughty Dog has gotten better and better in gameplay and technical prowess, but they lost their best writer/director.
I am still upset that Henning's single player Star Wars RPG was canceled a number of years back because it wasn't a Live Service game to rake in the cash when those were all the 'rage' by publishers.
A lot of what made Uncharted 1-3 so memorable was Amy Hennig's writing and dialog. After Neil Druckmann had her forced out of Naughty Dod and threw put her script for 4 and started from scratch... that game was clearly not as good as the prior 3 in the writing, story, and character aspects.
Naughty Dog has gotten better and better in gameplay and technical prowess, but they lost their best writer/director.
I am still upset that Henning's single player Star Wars RPG was canceled a number of years back because it wasn't a Live Service game to rake in the cash when those were all the 'rage' by publishers.
I like Uncharted 4 a lot more than 3, and I don't think Henning was solely responsible for the good parts of the prior games. I will be interested to see what her next big game turns out to be like, though.
Uncharted 3 is the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull of the Uncharted series.
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KalnaurI See Rain . . .Centralia, WARegistered Userregular
So, a fun retread of old material from a beloved series that holds pattern of being just as ridiculous as what came before? Sure, it's not the best in the series, but it's still an enjoyable movie, (and Uncharted 3 is an enjoyable game), and I swear the reason Kingdom of the Crystal Skull gets as much hate as it does because people don't seem to remember how damn stupid-silly the originals were.
/soapbox
I make art things! deviantART:Kalnaur ::: Origin: Kalnaur ::: UPlay: Kalnaur
A lot of what made Uncharted 1-3 so memorable was Amy Hennig's writing and dialog. After Neil Druckmann had her forced out of Naughty Dod and threw put her script for 4 and started from scratch... that game was clearly not as good as the prior 3 in the writing, story, and character aspects.
Naughty Dog has gotten better and better in gameplay and technical prowess, but they lost their best writer/director.
I am still upset that Henning's single player Star Wars RPG was canceled a number of years back because it wasn't a Live Service game to rake in the cash when those were all the 'rage' by publishers.
I thought UC4 was a good game, but they clearly went in a different direction that would have been more interesting if that beginning trailer was anything to go off of (not a spoiler of what happens in the game, but a spoiler of what doesn't happen in the game):
I thought Nate's brother was going to betray you given that the actor who did the voice over for the teaser was meant to be Nate's bro.
Also, something missing from 4 that is in ABUNDANCE in the previous UC's is the crazy elements coming out. UC4 was a bit too straight for me; save that for something like TLOU.
Having said that UC2 - which was the wackiest - is my favorite. That final boss fight on max difficulty was rage inducingly good.
A lot of what made Uncharted 1-3 so memorable was Amy Hennig's writing and dialog. After Neil Druckmann had her forced out of Naughty Dod and threw put her script for 4 and started from scratch... that game was clearly not as good as the prior 3 in the writing, story, and character aspects.
Naughty Dog has gotten better and better in gameplay and technical prowess, but they lost their best writer/director.
I am still upset that Henning's single player Star Wars RPG was canceled a number of years back because it wasn't a Live Service game to rake in the cash when those were all the 'rage' by publishers.
I thought UC4 was a good game, but they clearly went in a different direction that would have been more interesting if that beginning trailer was anything to go off of (not a spoiler of what happens in the game, but a spoiler of what doesn't happen in the game):
I thought Nate's brother was going to betray you given that the actor who did the voice over for the teaser was meant to be Nate's bro.
Also, something missing from 4 that is in ABUNDANCE in the previous UC's is the crazy elements coming out. UC4 was a bit too straight for me; save that for something like TLOU.
Having said that UC2 - which was the wackiest - is my favorite. That final boss fight on max difficulty was rage inducingly good.
To me, UC4 spoilers
Having the family member we've never seen before betray you is the most basic writing choice imaginable and what we got was FAR better. In that the brother loved Nate but was also greedy and used Nate to get at the riches and adventure that he'd wanted after being stuck in prison for most of his life. This makes Nate reckon with his own choices and how his adventure lust is hurting the people he loves and causing him to be a bad husband and unreliable partner. Uncharted 3 goes to some similar places, but 4 COMPLETELY blows it out of the water on this.
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Zavianuniversal peace sounds better than forever warRegistered Userregular
So, a fun retread of old material from a beloved series that holds pattern of being just as ridiculous as what came before? Sure, it's not the best in the series, but it's still an enjoyable movie, (and Uncharted 3 is an enjoyable game), and I swear the reason Kingdom of the Crystal Skull gets as much hate as it does because people don't seem to remember how damn stupid-silly the originals were.
/soapbox
I find that, when a movie is really disappointing, people tend to obsess over the wrong thing. Indy surviving a nuke in a refrigerator was not that far around the bend from what happened in the originals. But it ended like a bad episode of Stargate SG-1, and that was completely out of place in The Adventures of Dr. Whip & The Rumpled Fedora.
As for the Uncharted series, I own the first two on disc, and have accumulated 3 & 4 over time via Plus. I’ll go back and finish 1 sometime, but I’m at the part where they shake up the dull combat the dumbest way possible. If I can slog through that, I’ll check out 2, which I hear is great. I like what I’ve seen of at least the action set pieces that DON’T involve waves of this or that and chest high walls.
"Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are." - Bertolt Brecht
So, a fun retread of old material from a beloved series that holds pattern of being just as ridiculous as what came before? Sure, it's not the best in the series, but it's still an enjoyable movie, (and Uncharted 3 is an enjoyable game), and I swear the reason Kingdom of the Crystal Skull gets as much hate as it does because people don't seem to remember how damn stupid-silly the originals were.
/soapbox
I find that, when a movie is really disappointing, people tend to obsess over the wrong thing. Indy surviving a nuke in a refrigerator was not that far around the bend from what happened in the originals. But it ended like a bad episode of Stargate SG-1, and that was completely out of place in The Adventures of Dr. Whip & The Rumpled Fedora.
As for the Uncharted series, I own the first two on disc, and have accumulated 3 & 4 over time via Plus. I’ll go back and finish 1 sometime, but I’m at the part where they shake up the dull combat the dumbest way possible. If I can slog through that, I’ll check out 2, which I hear is great. I like what I’ve seen of at least the action set pieces that DON’T involve waves of this or that and chest high walls.
I played through the whole Uncharted series for the first time recently. The first one is like the definition of a 7/10 game. It’s a perfectly OK game, but it’s... well, it’s just that. Ok. Decent! Certainly adequate. It has some flaws but it has a lovely personality and you’re not getting any younger you know.
There would be no shame in playing it on the lowest difficulty level to get it out of the way so you could play 2, which is much better than a seven.
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KalnaurI See Rain . . .Centralia, WARegistered Userregular
I consider Uncharted to be in the same area as the original Assassin's Creed, in that it's more like an introduction to what they could do, but it wasn't the best they could do. So if you want to play them, it's best to play them first, because otherwise going back will be hard.
I liked Uncharted 2 the best thus far, like most folks here, and thought that 3 was better than 1, but I have yet to play Uncharted 4 or Lost Legacy, and because of *motions vaguely* it'll be a while before I can afford them. Yes, even with both games together being 40 bucks total regular price.
I make art things! deviantART:Kalnaur ::: Origin: Kalnaur ::: UPlay: Kalnaur
I consider Uncharted to be in the same area as the original Assassin's Creed, in that it's more like an introduction to what they could do, but it wasn't the best they could do. So if you want to play them, it's best to play them first, because otherwise going back will be hard.
I liked Uncharted 2 the best thus far, like most folks here, and thought that 3 was better than 1, but I have yet to play Uncharted 4 or Lost Legacy, and because of *motions vaguely* it'll be a while before I can afford them. Yes, even with both games together being 40 bucks total regular price.
Hey man, hit me up with a PM of an address I can ship to, pretty sure I've got the disk version somewhere around here.
Edit: Pretty sure it's just Uncharted 4, will get a ladder tomorrow to confirm if interested.
I consider Uncharted to be in the same area as the original Assassin's Creed, in that it's more like an introduction to what they could do, but it wasn't the best they could do. So if you want to play them, it's best to play them first, because otherwise going back will be hard.
I liked Uncharted 2 the best thus far, like most folks here, and thought that 3 was better than 1, but I have yet to play Uncharted 4 or Lost Legacy, and because of *motions vaguely* it'll be a while before I can afford them. Yes, even with both games together being 40 bucks total regular price.
Maybe I’m alone in this, but I liked the first Assassin’s Creed as much as the second. And replayed it once, unlike any of the sequels. While I loved the historically-themed puzzles and brief, tantalizing glimpses of “The Truth” in AC2, the full reveal for completing them fell back on an old cliche. And as much as I eagerly lapped up the history lessons that Matrix Rick Steves gives you when stopping to admire some Venetian landmark, the setting in the original is also fascinating, and got me interested in the history and landmarks (many still recognizable today) of Damascus, Jerusalem, and Acre.
And let’s face it, Renaissance Batman was OP. He trivialized combat. And I enjoyed fighting exclusively with the hidden blade back before it was split in two, to attack and block like a normal weapon. Strolling towards a group of enemies, doing that little flourish where Altair deploys it and retracts it threateningly. The loop of taking one guy out, then grabbing his buddy who is standing there looking shell-shocked.
"Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are." - Bertolt Brecht
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KalnaurI See Rain . . .Centralia, WARegistered Userregular
I consider Uncharted to be in the same area as the original Assassin's Creed, in that it's more like an introduction to what they could do, but it wasn't the best they could do. So if you want to play them, it's best to play them first, because otherwise going back will be hard.
I liked Uncharted 2 the best thus far, like most folks here, and thought that 3 was better than 1, but I have yet to play Uncharted 4 or Lost Legacy, and because of *motions vaguely* it'll be a while before I can afford them. Yes, even with both games together being 40 bucks total regular price.
Maybe I’m alone in this, but I liked the first Assassin’s Creed as much as the second. And replayed it once, unlike any of the sequels. While I loved the historically-themed puzzles and brief, tantalizing glimpses of “The Truth” in AC2, the full reveal for completing them fell back on an old cliche. And as much as I eagerly lapped up the history lessons that Matrix Rick Steves gives you when stopping to admire some Venetian landmark, the setting in the original is also fascinating, and got me interested in the history and landmarks (many still recognizable today) of Damascus, Jerusalem, and Acre.
And let’s face it, Renaissance Batman was OP. He trivialized combat. And I enjoyed fighting exclusively with the hidden blade back before it was split in two, to attack and block like a normal weapon. Strolling towards a group of enemies, doing that little flourish where Altair deploys it and retracts it threateningly. The loop of taking one guy out, then grabbing his buddy who is standing there looking shell-shocked.
Just going by playtime, I'd posit that I enjoyed playing Black Flag, Rogue, and ACIII the most, as those have the most playtime dedicated to them. Comparitivly, I only played both the original and Liberation for 29ish hours. That said, I'm currently playing Unity, and have Syndicate and Origins waiting, and I've played a bit of Syndicate as well, and I really like the mechanics that I'm encountering right now at the point I'm playing in the series.
It's not really a secret that I'm more mechanically focused in most games, though it really usually goes "visual style" then "solid gameplay" and then "narrative". That said, I really enjoy the oddity that is teh AC series, and similarly I really enjoy the Adventure movie feel of Uncharted. I just don't know if I'd ever want to go back and experience the original games. I'd be constantly thinking about the Quality of life changes I'd be missing.
Which is sad, because the look of Damascus, Jerusalem, Acre, yes, I loved that. Hell, I love all the games for what they do with historical stuff, it feels freaking great to run around in those environments. But at least in the original game there was so little to actually do when it came right down to it that I got bored easily.
I make art things! deviantART:Kalnaur ::: Origin: Kalnaur ::: UPlay: Kalnaur
Is this where I say that the Uncharted games do absolutely nothing for me? I buy them and the whole time I struggle to get any sort of enjoyment out of it.
Which is a damn shame because I see the appeal. But I guess I just don't vibe with it. Ah well.
My guess is that if I would just suck it up and play on the easiest difficulty I'd enjoy it more. And the combat was my least favorite part of it.
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GoodKingJayIIIThey wanna get mygold on the ceilingRegistered Userregular
AC Origins was super cool and I thought a decent shakeup of their formula. I hadn’t played an AC since AC2 but this one felt like a good take on their formula. I haven’t played Odyssey but I hear good things.
Is this where I say that the Uncharted games do absolutely nothing for me? I buy them and the whole time I struggle to get any sort of enjoyment out of it.
Which is a damn shame because I see the appeal. But I guess I just don't vibe with it. Ah well.
My guess is that if I would just suck it up and play on the easiest difficulty I'd enjoy it more. And the combat was my least favorite part of it.
I'm going to tell you a non-secret: I only play on easy. Like, when at all possible. I just have nothing to prove to myself or anyone else, and I see no point in punishing myself for wanting to get through a game (hell, even with Souls-likes there are common ways to cheese the hell out of them to create an "easy mode").
Also, there are still moments (I'm thinking of one area in 2 in particular) that are hard as hell even on easy, but it's rarer, and on the whole made me feel more like the adventure movie badass I was supposed to be.
I make art things! deviantART:Kalnaur ::: Origin: Kalnaur ::: UPlay: Kalnaur
Count me in as another person who plays on easy. I'm in it for the story and generally in a story the protagonist doesn't die repeatedly at the same point in some kind of Indiana Jones meets Groundhog Day loop. Uncharted's easy mode is just enough to be fun and not boring.
Yeah I really need to shut that part of my brain off. Whenever I select anything other than Easy I can hear my 15 year old friends from back when I was in high school calling me a little bitch for putting it on the easy mode.
Posts
Lol yeah I said "early on" and then used "epilogue". Gotta keep em guessing!
(thanks, fixed)
Even though it takes place before, I seem to remember it assuming you've already played the main game. Like, combat quickly ramps up and you don't get tutorialized much if at all. I could be wrong, it's been a while.
Regardless, I'd play TLoU first, then the dlc. Release order.
The narrative framing of the DLC takes place later on in the main story, so yeah, it's to be played after.
If you know where it integrates you can hit a specific chapter title card*, quit out, play the dlc and come back to the main game semi-seamlessly
*
but that's for second playthroughs really
D3 Steam #TeamTangent STO
MK10 annoyed me at times with how bloody long some of these animations take to play out. Though I got a laugh out of Robocop’s fatality while watching the GB crew play MK11. It combined every single move that I figured Murphy would have, all into one.
PSN:Furlion
RE: TLoU 1 -
You didn't miss much. I played it/completed it because my brother wanted to see it and I was bored/annoyed throughout.
It's an utterly mediocre game with unoriginal everything that people think is a masterpiece because of competent voice acting and production. One that railroads you into a bad choice at the end which paves the way for the sequel, which by all accounts is even more dreary and self-congratulatory.
Whee!
And the voice acting in the game is some of the best anywhere.
For video game performances they were great. But, that's because only until very recently game acting has been pretty bad.
In terms of other media? Yeah, competent. The last 20 years of film and television has raised the bar. And TLoU 1 doesn't separate itself from what I would consider baseline prestige television. The kind of thing that's plastered all over Netflix, HBO, etc.
I can only call it like I see it. And for me a game needs more than decent performances to be good. If all I wanted was acting, I'd watch a movie or a television show.
Put another way, if the voice acting was removed from the game, would the game be hailed as a masterpiece? I honestly doubt it. Because the entire experience is paint-by-numbers. Chest high walls as far as the eye can see. Simplistic puzzles we've all done a hundred times before. Rudimentary and unsatisfying combat (zombies are 'scary' because they're unfair - one hit kills and bullet sponges). Rudimentary stealth. Rudimentary crafting.
It's not a great game. It's not particularly thoughtful (giving the player agency at the end would've been the bold thing to do). And it's not particularly fun.
Tl;dr if you're going to come in with a hot take, be somewhat on point at least. Why wasn't this game a game with completely different design goals and values is... uninteresting to me as a critique.
I know opinions and all that but. . .whoof. I mean I can understand someone wanting the gameplay of TLOUI to be of more importance than the story, but Naughty Dog's games have never really been about that (which isn't to say the gameplay is bad as a matter of fact). I honestly look at TLOU as a huge 3D visual novel whose gameplay is there to string together the story bits.
Thankfully reviewers have at least said (well the DF tech guys) that the ladder and trash bin puzzles are out the window, so there is likely more meat on the bone in regards to that.
As for TLOU as a narrative piece being barely better than the most average of media out there at the moment: hard disagree there.
Because the Uncharted games are lots of fun, and though I've compared the stories in those games to sort of a Romancing the Stone/Indiana Jones/National Treasure style adventure film, I didn't expect the gameplay to blow me out of the water on those games specifically because simple, direct gameplay and exploration paired with the occasional "ancient temple" puzzle is what I'd expect of mechanics that aren't going to get in the way of "summer action adventure blockbuster" attempts at storytelling.
Now, TLOU keeps me away because of the zombie content (because I have kinemortophobia) and what I heard was increasingly brutal visuals in a gritty world (I don't like stuff like Walking Dead, the Battlestar Galactica reboot, Game of Thrones and the like for similar reasons). But I have faith that Naughty Dog made a fun, engaging game for some people. It's just not for me personally. And that's fine! I don't need to watch the game get ripped apart to make me feel like I didn't miss out; I'm not missing out because even if I like other games the company makes, I'm not interested in that particular game.
Like, I'm also not interested in every Nintendo game, every Square Enix game. I don't feel like that demands that the ones that aren't for me are shat upon. And honestly, neither should any of you. Unless it's a cheap-ass Unity store asset flip, I feel like 99% of games should get their due as "art, even if it's not for me".
Naughty Dog has gotten better and better in gameplay and technical prowess, but they lost their best writer/director.
I am still upset that Henning's single player Star Wars RPG was canceled a number of years back because it wasn't a Live Service game to rake in the cash when those were all the 'rage' by publishers.
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
I like Uncharted 4 a lot more than 3, and I don't think Henning was solely responsible for the good parts of the prior games. I will be interested to see what her next big game turns out to be like, though.
/soapbox
Steam | XBL
I thought UC4 was a good game, but they clearly went in a different direction that would have been more interesting if that beginning trailer was anything to go off of (not a spoiler of what happens in the game, but a spoiler of what doesn't happen in the game):
Also, something missing from 4 that is in ABUNDANCE in the previous UC's is the crazy elements coming out. UC4 was a bit too straight for me; save that for something like TLOU.
Having said that UC2 - which was the wackiest - is my favorite. That final boss fight on max difficulty was rage inducingly good.
To me, UC4 spoilers
I made a thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/236455/the-last-of-us-2-full-of-friendly-mushroom-people/
Then when you re-hit it in the actual game and play it again Drake is nothing but curses.
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
I find that, when a movie is really disappointing, people tend to obsess over the wrong thing. Indy surviving a nuke in a refrigerator was not that far around the bend from what happened in the originals. But it ended like a bad episode of Stargate SG-1, and that was completely out of place in The Adventures of Dr. Whip & The Rumpled Fedora.
As for the Uncharted series, I own the first two on disc, and have accumulated 3 & 4 over time via Plus. I’ll go back and finish 1 sometime, but I’m at the part where they shake up the dull combat the dumbest way possible. If I can slog through that, I’ll check out 2, which I hear is great. I like what I’ve seen of at least the action set pieces that DON’T involve waves of this or that and chest high walls.
I played through the whole Uncharted series for the first time recently. The first one is like the definition of a 7/10 game. It’s a perfectly OK game, but it’s... well, it’s just that. Ok. Decent! Certainly adequate. It has some flaws but it has a lovely personality and you’re not getting any younger you know.
There would be no shame in playing it on the lowest difficulty level to get it out of the way so you could play 2, which is much better than a seven.
I liked Uncharted 2 the best thus far, like most folks here, and thought that 3 was better than 1, but I have yet to play Uncharted 4 or Lost Legacy, and because of *motions vaguely* it'll be a while before I can afford them. Yes, even with both games together being 40 bucks total regular price.
Hey man, hit me up with a PM of an address I can ship to, pretty sure I've got the disk version somewhere around here.
Edit: Pretty sure it's just Uncharted 4, will get a ladder tomorrow to confirm if interested.
Uncharted 4 I thought was a great game, and second best Uncharted. It probably had the best character work of the series.
Maybe I’m alone in this, but I liked the first Assassin’s Creed as much as the second. And replayed it once, unlike any of the sequels. While I loved the historically-themed puzzles and brief, tantalizing glimpses of “The Truth” in AC2, the full reveal for completing them fell back on an old cliche. And as much as I eagerly lapped up the history lessons that Matrix Rick Steves gives you when stopping to admire some Venetian landmark, the setting in the original is also fascinating, and got me interested in the history and landmarks (many still recognizable today) of Damascus, Jerusalem, and Acre.
And let’s face it, Renaissance Batman was OP. He trivialized combat. And I enjoyed fighting exclusively with the hidden blade back before it was split in two, to attack and block like a normal weapon. Strolling towards a group of enemies, doing that little flourish where Altair deploys it and retracts it threateningly. The loop of taking one guy out, then grabbing his buddy who is standing there looking shell-shocked.
Just going by playtime, I'd posit that I enjoyed playing Black Flag, Rogue, and ACIII the most, as those have the most playtime dedicated to them. Comparitivly, I only played both the original and Liberation for 29ish hours. That said, I'm currently playing Unity, and have Syndicate and Origins waiting, and I've played a bit of Syndicate as well, and I really like the mechanics that I'm encountering right now at the point I'm playing in the series.
It's not really a secret that I'm more mechanically focused in most games, though it really usually goes "visual style" then "solid gameplay" and then "narrative". That said, I really enjoy the oddity that is teh AC series, and similarly I really enjoy the Adventure movie feel of Uncharted. I just don't know if I'd ever want to go back and experience the original games. I'd be constantly thinking about the Quality of life changes I'd be missing.
Which is sad, because the look of Damascus, Jerusalem, Acre, yes, I loved that. Hell, I love all the games for what they do with historical stuff, it feels freaking great to run around in those environments. But at least in the original game there was so little to actually do when it came right down to it that I got bored easily.
Which is a damn shame because I see the appeal. But I guess I just don't vibe with it. Ah well.
My guess is that if I would just suck it up and play on the easiest difficulty I'd enjoy it more. And the combat was my least favorite part of it.
I'm going to tell you a non-secret: I only play on easy. Like, when at all possible. I just have nothing to prove to myself or anyone else, and I see no point in punishing myself for wanting to get through a game (hell, even with Souls-likes there are common ways to cheese the hell out of them to create an "easy mode").
Also, there are still moments (I'm thinking of one area in 2 in particular) that are hard as hell even on easy, but it's rarer, and on the whole made me feel more like the adventure movie badass I was supposed to be.
Do... Re... Mi... So... Fa.... Do... Re.... Do...
Forget it...