No, it doesn’t. The easiest way to keep rough track if you don’t want express spoilers, but want to know how much longer you approximately have, is to look up the number of chapters (or ask here) prior to playing.
Ok. Thanks. I used to set little goals like "get another 10%’ when playing the first 3.
After playing the first 3 back-to-back-to-back, the graphics upgrade is a little jarring.
I would like Uncharted 4 a lot better if I liked his brother. The brother looks like Christian Bale’s character in The Fighter.
Be interested if you still have that view at the end.
Yeah, I’m expecting there is a big pay off. Just out of curiosity, was his brother mentioned in the previous 3?
No, he’s a retcon.
Ok, so I finished it over the weekend.
Here is how I rank the games (these are all the PS4 versions):
Uncharted 1: 7
Uncharted 2: 9
Uncharted 3: 7.5
Uncharted 4: 8
The series itself: 9. I know the averaged don’t line up, but I really enjoyed the body of work in its totality more than I enjoyed the individual components.
Some of the specific complaints I have with 4 I have in the spoiler tags:
The story got better once Elena got back in the story. I wasn’t thrilled that early on she was treated as “the wife” and I think the story could have handled that better. A big hole I was expecting would be that Jameson could just show up and ask “Hey, where is Nate?” A little bit better writing and exposition could have handled the intro of the brother and the quest. It redeemed itself at the end where they admitted that they need a little excitement in their life.
I saw the reveal with the brother coming from the beginning. Even at the end, I was hoping he would just die.
I liked Rafe and Nadine.
At the end of the epilogue I felt really sad. I binge played the games over a month, and I’m really sad this is the end for Nate.I loved the interaction between Nate and Elena. I’m not sure a series of games will ever have the hit these games have had. They just checked off all the boxes for me.
Given the level of comments about Chloe’s ass in Uncharted 2, I was expecting at least one “whose ass is better” from Elena while they were climbing.
Re: Jameson - I don’t think he ever accepted the job, so that wouldn’t have happened. It was just his alibi to get away.
Agree that the reveal was telegraphed, but it was redeemed by the overall morality of the brothers and how their behavior related to (and was at least in part explained by ) their early life experiences, as shown in the flashbacks.
It was a great ending. I think a lot of little things, including the writing, were notably better in Uncharted 4 - it’s just such a polished game. All the little tweaks, including:
[spoiler]not having a supernatural enemy and explanation. That was the worst part of the first 2 in the series, and it wasn’t welcome in the 3rd either - it was just needlessly sticking with the Raiders mold despite nobody enjoying those parts.
The grappling hook added some great scenes and views and was incorporated well - without really changing the feel of the series.
A lot of little refinements to the weapons, combat, animations, etc.[/spoiler]
Uncharted 2 was definitely the biggest jump forward for the series over its predecessor, but Uncharted 4 had a deeper story, better dialogue, additional thematic depth, a fantastic ending, and more refined combat mechanics/animation/gameplay. Was very happy with the way the Last of Us team refined and rationalized the franchise, added more thoughtful writing and plotting, and yet created a game that very much felt like its predecessors and not a sequel to Last of Us.
I do agree the ending was great. Bittersweet, but well done.
My only issue with the grappling hook is that him having it made some of the puzzles a little implausible. Like the one where you’re at the gate to New Devon and need to jump on the Gibblets. I kept thinking “I could hook that rope right up there, also.”
[spoiler]I also liked that the boss fight wasn’t a total PITA. I hated the boss fight in the 2nd one, and I’m also not a fan of QTEs in general. The Rafe fight only took me a few tries.
I also found it interesting that Cassie didn’t make a reference to Uncle Sam, so I’m guessing they are leaving his fate up in the air.
Also, until I hit the wiki, It never occurred to me that they got married after the 2nd one. I totally missed what Sully meant when he handed the ring back to Nate. I thought that was so they could get married.
[/spoiler]
To answer one of your points in spoilers :
Sam is mentioned in the epilogue, so his fate isn’t left in the air - there’s a note from him telling Nate go get better beer. He’s clearly still up to mischief, perhaps with Sully. I wouldn’t be surprised if he showed up in the new Uncharted game, which focuses on Nadine and Chloe. While I’m somewhat glad that they retired Nathan happily, I’m not that thrilled about the prospect of playing another game with those characters.
The problem with characters not using all the tools at their disposal (like the grappling hook) in every situation is one that runs through the whole series, where there are frequently places where it looks like Nate could climb, or reach something through getting a boost, etc. Plus the fact that nobody would ever blindly attempt the crazy climbs and jumps the characters do (or be humanly capable of them) - those are definitely “gamey” elements that you just have to roll with - I certainly didn’t think Uncharted 4 was worse than the other games in that respect, and the design of the environments was generally much better than in earlier installments (in terms of avoiding arbitrary walls and feeling much more wide open). Having played Uncharted 1 remastered recently, after U4, it was amazing how much of a corridor shooter that game was (definitely got better with u2).
Yeah. It’s easy to lose sight of the larger piece of work when nitpicking small details. The game series was one one of the best I’ve ever played.
I’m looking forward to the upcoming DLC.