Uncharted: The Games

Le Saboteur

Active member
Drake's Deception is as far removed from Among Thieves as it was from Drake's Fortune. A major thumbs up from me so far.
 

Ska

New member
Le Saboteur said:
Drake's Deception is as far removed from Among Thieves as it was from Drake's Fortune. A major thumbs up from me so far.

What do you mean by "far removed"? Different? Original? Feel free to elaborate.

Didn't get a change to pick it up yesterday. It killed me seeing just about everyone on my friend list playing the game. So I popped in U2 and played through Borneo and a little of the city following (second play through of the game). Got to the hotel. Found a few more treasures, making my total treasure count 80 now and earning a new trophy.
 

Le Saboteur

Active member
The Drifter said:
Hopefully, we'll all gather to await a part 4 in the future.

Because we can't talk about Uncharted in the meantime?

I'd stake my reputation on there being an Uncharted 4. I still wish they would drop the numeric appellation, because while, yes, it would be the fourth game in the series, it's still not a sequel. Each game is episodic and bears no relation to the previous entry aside from Nathan Drake of course. But I repeat myself.

Just arrived at Chapter 10!

Cool background I swiped from the Playstation Blog! Click the image to be taken to the full-size image!

<a href="http://blog.us.playstation.com/files/2011/10/PSB_U3-Skin-41.jpg"><img width="800" height="650" src="http://blog.us.playstation.com/files/2011/10/PSB_U3-Skin-41.jpg"></a>
 

WitAndAWhip

New member
Wow, what a ride! I finished the story in the wee hours of the morning after playing most of the day yesterday. I'll try to post my full impressions soon but I feel like I need a couple days to digest everything. Plus, it's always more fun for everyone to experience the game without any preconceived ideas.

Ska said:
What do you mean by "far removed"? Different? Original? Feel free to elaborate.
Speaking only for myself, I thought it followed the blueprint of what we've come to expect from Uncharted very nicely with some new wrinkles thrown in. The story and locations are original enough to make you feel that it's a completely new game but I'd say if you enjoyed UC2 you shouldn't be dissapointed. Obviously, some aspects of the game shine more brightly than others but that's to be expected. Uncharted 2 was about as tough an act to follow as you're gonna find.

Saddle up!
 
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WitAndAWhip

New member
I'm interested to hear some of your favorite moments from the game.

There's one level in particular that stood out to me as some of the most fun I can remember playing a video game, and I wonder if anyone else felt the same.
 

The Drifter

New member
I played a few hours last night and I am loving it so far. I'm on chapter 5 at the moment, and can't wait to play it again!

Le Saboteur said:
Because we can't talk about Uncharted in the meantime?

I didn't mean it like that.
I'm hoping that us regular Uncharted fans (me, yourself, Ska, and WitandAWhip) will all still be around to keep this thread alive as long as the Uncharted franchise exists.
And, I agree - I also hope they do away with numbering the sequels.
 

Le Saboteur

Active member
Nifty article on gun mechanics in Drake's Deception over at Naughty Dog's blog.

Arne Meyer said:
First off, the guns fire in a completely different way in Uncharted 2 compared to what you're experiencing now in Uncharted 3. Keep that in mind, as it affects your perception of gun combat as a whole since it's very easy to want to compare the two sets of mechanics between the two games. In Uncharted 2 the bullets would leave the barrel at a pre-set deviation when you were aimed in. What this means is that the bullets would not fire straight out of the barrel all the time -- they could come out at an angle. Therefore, you could have a target clearly in the reticle and still miss it by a wide margin. This was frustrating, because it was difficult to tell why you were missing a target.

Ska said:
What do you mean by "far removed"? Different? Original? Feel free to elaborate.

Drake's Fortune set the ground work. Among Thieves built upon that to became, well, one of the greatest games of all time. Drake's Deception took that combined knowledge to become a more complete experience thus far.

But more so than that, the Uncharted series has evolved, become more mature in its depth of characterization and storytelling. Despite the wear and tear -- It's not the years, it's the mileage. -- Drake remains jocular.

I've been trying to drag out the experience as long as possible by playing a lot of multi-player, and I have yet to advance beyond Chapter 10. However, part of me really wants to go back to the beginning and play them all again.


Off topic: The Paradise Garden on the Museum map that serves as the Villain's base in Plunder is absolutely stunning. I want one.

If there's one aspect where Drake's Deception fails, it's where Among Thieves failed -- the manual. Naughty Dog did a good job in making the manual fit the atmosphere of Drake's Fortune, did a half-assed version of one for Among Thieves and wasted the paper it's printed on for Drake's Deception.

The Drifter said:
I'm hoping that us regular Uncharted fans (me, yourself, Ska, and WitandAWhip) will all still be around to keep this thread alive as long as the Uncharted franchise exists.

I'll be here. And I'll keep it alive by myself again if I have to. In the meantime though, as Naughty Dog & Sony expand upon, what it is now, the franchise, there will be more to talk about. I hope the rest of you guys will offer up more of your own input.
 

WitAndAWhip

New member
I'm getting a little bit frustrated w/the Multiplayer. Don't get me wrong, it's fantastic, I just haven't mastered the art of running around aimlessly shooting everything in sight with absolutely no thought to strategy or teamwork (nor do I really care to). I think I'm gonna stick to Plunder from this point forward but even in that mode it seems like alot of people are just in it to rack up kills. Still, it's a blast when you play w/the right people!

If anyone would like to schedule a time this weekend or in the future to play a match give me a shout.

Oh and some of the maps this time around are really well done! Yemen is probably my favorite...I love what I've seen so far of Co-Op Adventure as well, It's like adding several new levels to the game.
 

RedeemedChild

New member
Le Saboteur said:
Midnight release tomorrow. Who's going? Other than myself of course.

In the meantime, there's a rumor floating around that all the redeem codes from the Subway Multi-player Experience will expire once the full retail game hits store shelves. And even though I have yet to win anything, I keep playing on the off chance that I'll win a trip to Nepal.

I otherwise have no use for these, so please use them. Or give them to friends who might enjoy them.

Subway Drake

4EK9-8JN7-C628 ~ EAF4-3RND-8RM6 ~ CLCD-NQNC-5NQR ~ LJT4-HCND-2THJ ~ LM5E-N3NJ-M3CQ

Drake's Deception Dynamic Theme

QJ3G-JRNR-J97P ~ QE2F-42N9-QAM3 ~ 8G2E-T9NH-MR54 ~ 5HKD-B3NC-JHGH ~ EPTR-F2NE-ERDL ~ RQC8-DBNR-R4DT

Drake's AK-47

8ND9-6MN7-3KQ8 ~ F97P-CENF-NAGQ ~ C5K6-MGN5-NNPG ~ R2MA-G9NP-HJRP ~ 4L3D-KGND-R5QG ~ KK7R-6NNG-8292 ~ 9HPG-EDNJ-TF4K ~ 2G94-HAN3-MTFT ~ 7NCK-6HNA-23JN ~

And in other news: I haven't seen these posted anywhere yet. It would seem that the Uncharted comic is still flying below the radar at the moment. And while we've already seen the Adam Hughes cover for Issue #1, here are the covers for #2 & #3!

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The six-issue mini-series goes on sale 30 November 2011 at a comic shop near you followed by Issue #2 on 28 December 2011 and Issue #3 on 25 January 2012.

That looks good. Isn't Hughes the same gentleman who illustrated the Indiana Jones posters?
 

The Drifter

New member
I finished the game on hard earlier today. In my personal opinion, it's not only is up to snuff with Uncharted 2, but surpasses it.
I can see myself playing through this many more times to come. Fantastic work Naughty Dog!
 

Le Saboteur

Active member
I just made it to Chapter 12 -- at least I think it was Chapter 12 -- and I reached up for what I thought was going to be a classic "pull down" only to have Drake reach up, sock the guy in the groin, and when he doubled over, belted him in the jaw! It was hilariously cool addition.

New article up at Naughty Dog's blog! This time: Unique Guns! Rather than rely on the stock arsenal, Naughty Dog has prettied up several of them with custom paint jobs and an extra modification!

Check them out over here.

The Drifter said:
I finished the game on hard earlier today.

Already? Damn. I almost feel like I'm slacking off, but I'd rather not have the game end. Yet. Cause what's next? Random speculation about the fourth entry? I guess we could talk about the book, the comic, or delve into the game's subtext. But there's so much time for all of that!

Redeemed Child said:
Isn't Hughes the same gentleman who illustrated the Indiana Jones posters?

No. That's Drew Struzan. Adam Hughes is a well-known comic book artist who drew this cover for the first issue.

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Le Saboteur

Active member
Bastards. 'nuff said.

Just finished the campaign on Normal in a little over ten hours with 64 treasures discovered.

I'm such a lookie loo.

More to come later.

Uncharted_Eddy.png


Also: In a nice little touch, I liked how they used the shoulder holster from Drake's Fortune to open the game then switched to the rig used in Among Thieves later on. Nice touch.
 
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emtiem

Well-known member
I love that it starts with a punch-up in a London boozer :)
Stunning so far; truly great game.
 

Le Saboteur

Active member
emtiem said:
Stunning so far; truly great game.

:D

I, for one, am glad to see more of the Names making an appearance in this thread. Hopefully they'll linger a while and add their commentary to the conversation.

In the meantime, I came across an interesting read. If you haven't beat the campaign yet, please avoid the article; it discusses aspects of the game that you don't want to know yet. That said, I found these tech specs to be quite interesting.

Digital Foundry said:
Other interesting elements of Uncharted 3's technical make-up can be found by taking a look at the make-up of the disc itself. As Microsoft gears up in offering developers up to 7.9GB of space on its DVD format, Naughty Dog has taken full advantage of the Blu-ray delivery mechanism and utilises a colossal 46.3GB of space.

There are some "luxuries" in that allocation - 3.24GB of behind-the-scenes movies, 7GB of foreign language audio, and 10GB of 3D movies (pre-rendered cut-scenes are stored both in 2D and 3D versions) but by our reckoning there's at least 16GB of core game data being used in this game - and even then, Naughty Dog is employing compression on top of that, so the real size of these assets easily moves north of 20GB - not including pre-rendered movies. All of this is driven by executable code just 18MB in size.

Emphasis added. Check out the full article here.

Also: Several months ago, in a post I don't care to dig up, I mentioned Naughty Dog's own post-mortem on Among Thieves held at the 2010 GDC in San Francisco. While highly interesting for those of us interested in the genre at large, I would have liked more analysis. Well, while reading about Drake's Deception, I came across Eurogamer's own in-depth analysis with Richard Lemarchand, Naughty Dog's Game Director.

Get it here.


Note: For those of you who have yet to finish the campaign, please stop reading here. I don't want want to give anybody any unfair impressions of the game, least of all mine. Go. Enjoy. Come back once you've finished.






Digital Foundry said:
This is a game that will come under scrutiny like no other...

Since beating the campaign, I have gone back to pick up reading on all the things I missed in the run up to launch day -- reading the reviews, etc. If there's any one line that can encapsulate the post-mortem wringer that Drake's Deception is going to be put through, it's the one above.

Barely out a week and it has: inspired intense hatred on Naughty Dog's official forum; garnered critical praise from most major outlets, but lacked the impassioned fervor surrounding Among Thieves; seen unfair comparisons to Kingdom of the Crystal Skull; and to its predecessor which is the yardstick with which all future 3rd person action games must be inevitably compared.

The fall out brings me back to the question Roger Ebert indirectly asked in his review of The Last Crusade: Is the "Law" of Diminishing Returns at work on the Uncharted series (and the action-adventure genre as a whole)?
 

Le Saboteur

Active member
In other news that I forgot to post, multi-player enthusiasts got their first taste of DLC on Launch Day via three skin packs! Featuring characters from Drake's Fortune & Among Thieves, each skin can be had for as little as forty-nine cents American or a whole pack will set you back two seventy-five American. Our European friends are looking at something like two thirty-nine British Pound Sterling on two ninety-nine Euro.

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Featuring some twenty-five skins spanning the first two games, there's bound to be a skin that everybody will enjoy. Personally, I'm glad to finally be done with Stick Figure Chloe, and can now rotate between Winter & Nepal Chloe.

Those stupid skeletons are back, but other standouts include Cameraman Jeff, Eddy Raja, Tenzin, Wetsuit Dake, Elena Fisher & Drake from Drake's Fortune, and Harry Flynn. The Doughnut versions of Drake & Lazaravic are there too!

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Did you enjoy Greg Edmonson's score for Drake's Deception? How about Among Thieves? If the answer is yes, you're in luck! As of the 4th of November, the soundtracks for all three games are available on the Playstation Network Store!

Check out the full blog post here.

Drake's Deception will set you back $9.99, but the other two can be had for $5.99 each. According to the blog, however, the soundtracks for Among Thieves & Drake's Fortune will soon be made available together for $9.99. Not a bad price either way you go.

If you're still into having the physical album in your hand, it can be had through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, & Best Buy. Check out LA LA Land Records for an exclusive limited-edition two cd set as well!

Track listing and order form for the special edition can be seen here.

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Drake's Journal is finally available exclusively through Amazon in North America. You can also order the digital version through the website once it's finished.

Go here for a .pdf sample.

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Also now available is the Official Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception Strategy Guide from Piggyback. It comes in two editions:

Piggyback said:
The softcover Standard Edition guide is printed on high-quality paper and has 260 packed pages.

The Collector?s Edition Guide is a vintage hardcover book and includes a free audio CD with 10 tracks from the official UNCHARTED 3 music score. It also features an exclusive 16-page section with stunning character art supported by commentaries from the Naughty Dog team. The Collector?s Edition guide will be available only at launch.

Want to try before you can buy? Drop in over here for another hefty .pdf sample broken down into sections for ease of consumption.

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Ska

New member
Le Saboteur said:
Just finished the campaign on Normal in a little over ten hours with 64 treasures discovered.

I'm such a lookie loo.

I am, too. I spend so much time walking/looking around for the flashes. I wouldn't be surprised if my first play through is near 20 hours.

Just picked up the game on Saturday. Can't wait to delve deep into it. (y)
 
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