Uncharted: The Games

Finn

Moderator
Staff member
Le Saboteur said:
I know you're joking, but it tells us a few important things:

1.) Naughty Dog is taking us to Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa to be specific.
2.) Madagascar is going to feature, with some undersea exploration.
3.)The Latin inscription: "Today You Will be With Me in Paradise."
4.) The map mentions "the Sonquas," a coastal African tribe that Stoo might know more about.
5.) That map is in Portuguese if I'm not mistaken.
6.) Vasco de Gama dubbbed South Africa "Terra de Natal," or "Land of Nativity"
For a game named Uncharted, that was a particularly well charted trailer.
 

Le Saboteur

Active member
Attila the Professor said:
Someone in the comments there wonders if they're going to do Atlantis now, but there's no real reason to think that. Now, some version of the Lemuria concept could fit right in with Madagascar as a locale.

I have no mouth and I must scream.

Sorry, Harlan.

I know reading comprehension is suffering amongst younger generations, but that's astounding. The first three games were sly adaptations of...well, traditional mythological places including Atlantis. If the references to "an ancient city swallowed by the sands" were too oblique, then Drake & Co. refer to Iram of the Pillars as the "Atlantis of the Sands" a couple of different times.

Naughty Dog won't be doing Atlantis.


Attila the Professor said:
Here are some other musings on what the trailer might mean, leaning rather more heavily on the Drake angle than Le Sab does above.

It can't be Sir Francis. De Gama was the first to round The Cape in 1488; Sir Francis didn't pass through until 1580, about the time the Portuguese were finishing their mapping of the area. So, they could theoretically pull "why did it take an expert navigator six months to travel through here" again, but the likely clue is "Every betrayed us all". Like Attila's article mentioned, it's probably a reference to pirate Henry Every. He didn't make his bones until ~1690, 94 years after Sir Francis met his maker off the coast of Panama.

Plus, I believe the French had a significant presence in the region. It's doubtful that Sir Francis would hang around his mortal enemy's bailiwick for very long.

So, that leaves us with Every. Which makes sense; he betrayed much of his crew after they raided a small fleet sailing under the flag of the Mughal Empire on their annual pilgrimage to Mecca. It's been reported that the ultimate take from the raid was $188,000,000 circa 2000 making it the biggest haul in pirate history. Apparently, it wasn't enough because Every convinced his confederates to place the entire haul onto his ship (because it was the fastest) and sailed off with it one night. Which is right around the time he disappeared from the history books.

There has been some speculation about the importance of Ile Ste. Marie (that's the island at the Northern end of Madagascar), but I don't see the importance. Yes, Avery was reported to have lived there, but you'll note that the location isn't signaled out until we're quite close. When we do get close, the island gets circled, then x-ed out like the location was a bust. That wasn't an "X-marks the spot," but rather, "it" was so obviously not going to be there why did I waste my time?

It could, of course, end up being an anagram of sort. Why? If you freeze the video the at the twenty-three-second mark you'll note some odd looking shapes/symbols/whatever. It took some time flipping through my library (two-thousand titles and counting) as to why it looked familiar. Turns out those shapes are a part of the pigpen/Freemason/whatever cipher.

Once translated you get "ANQS QLRESE". Which means... absolutely nothing.* I had initially speculated that it was Enochian script, but it wasn't ornate enough.

*-- I considered that somebody else on the 'net might have found a solution, and while looking around some guy claims that it translates to "Memento Mori", or "Remember that you will die". I don't see it. The ciphers don't match up unless there's another layer on it.

Anyway, there's some obvious subterfuge going on. The fade in onto the map starts at a funny angle, and there are very clear English additions -- "said" and "end" for example -- that you can't quite make out in their entirety. Plus, there's a reference to the Cochoqua tribe that you can just make out if you're looking for it.

re: The Narration

I believe that there's one very important fact that's being overlooked. Not only is it not an English accent, but it's a very modern American one. A 17th Century pirate would speak quite differently. Also, I believe the chains that can't be broken refer to memory & ancestry. I was immediately reminded of Rimbaud's A Season in Hell, but that's probably a bridge too far.

Attila the Professor said:
Getting into some sub-Saharan history culture would be deeply exciting, as that doesn't seem to happen much in games or, y'know, anywhere in pop culture.

Definitely. There have been a couple of recent stabs, but it's quite deliberately overlooked.

Finn said:
For a game named Uncharted, that was a particularly well charted trailer.

Yeah, I don't know why I bother. I should quit while I'm ahead.

Stoo said:
I've never played an "Uncharted" video game but am intrigued by the series.

Well, until I get off my duff it's the closest you'll get to a modern day Indiana Jones. It's worth a playthrough for that aspect alone.


Forgot to mention: The Cape is, of course, the traditional home of the Flying Dutchman.
 
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Le Saboteur

Active member
Finn said:
For a game named Uncharted, that was a particularly well charted trailer.

I did mean to say: John Funk, is that you?

In the subsequent days since the new game's announcement, Todd Stashwick, the actor behind the trailer's narration, Tweeted a couple of cryptic behind the scenes shots.

news_photo_35467_1385594633.jpg


Todd Stashwick said:
it's confirmed #uncharted #ps4 has apples. #gala #ralphs

Todd Stashwick said:
The guts the glamour the glory that is #uncharted #ps4 #whosthisguy?

Feel free to follow him over here.

While I'm often surprised by the imaginative leaps certain individuals 'round the 'net tend to take, I am at a loss how a picture of an apple immediately means Naughty Dog is sending Drake to the Garden of Eden.

There was also this snap of the same dummy and a member of the Kalashnikov family.

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Le Saboteur

Active member
So, Uncharted was a decided no-show @ the VGAs. Which has led to some speculation that Drake's fourth outing (fifth if you count Golden Abyss) would indeed be coming out late 2015!

In their annual Christmas card/post/whatever, they've promised to reveal all new information about their future projects once 2014 was upon us. Now that it's finally here stay tuned to their site and the PlayStation Blog for future announcements!

If you need something else to tide you over until then try... Unearthed: The Trail of Ibn Battuta! While the legendary explorer gets little play here, his life story is absolutely fascinating.

 

Ska

New member
Le Saboteur said:
If you need something else to tide you over until then try... Unearthed: The Trail of Ibn Battuta! While the legendary explorer gets little play here, his life story is absolutely fascinating.

[VIDEO]

I expected to find that game was for mobile devices only. But a quick search shows that it's also for last gen (PS3 and 360). I might spend a few bucks to play it on my iPad, but in no way should something of this "quality" be released on a console. It looks laughably bad in terms of gameplay and graphics.
 

Le Saboteur

Active member
Ska said:
I expected to find that game was for mobile devices only. But a quick search shows that it's also for last gen (PS3 and 360). I might spend a few bucks to play it on my iPad, but in no way should something of this "quality" be released on a console. It looks laughably bad in terms of gameplay and graphics.

I've been paying some attention to the development since first hearing about it... several months ago. Yeah, the graphics don't look great, but they're pretty good for a studio's very first game. They also appear to be based out of Saudi Arabia so who knows what kind of kit they're working with.

Surprisingly enough, the voice acting is decent. The gameplay appears to be pretty bad, though. They've even lifted entire bits of Drake's dialogue to boot!

BlogBanner_Uncharted_960x180.jpg


For anybody interested, the (sometimes fine) folk at IGN have been exhaustively chronicling Naughty Dog's rise to prominence over their twenty-five year history! Start at the beginning if you'd like, but the most recent update deals with the creation of Drake & Co.

IGN said:
In the end, Naughty Dog bought into Hennig’s grand vision for Uncharted, as a fun, relatable pulp adventure. “[Uncharted] was inspired by a lot of stuff,” she admits. “The movies are an obvious inspiration, the ‘80s, looking at Raiders [of the Lost Ark] and the Indiana Jones movies. We all love that stuff. But I’m a huge nut for stuff that goes back to the ‘20s, ‘30s, and ‘40s. It’s an interesting era to draw from because a lot of people who are fans of games right now really don’t know that stuff.”

“A lot of people pull from the ‘80s, and you can see a lot of the ‘80s vibe in the work that people do, because we were all children of the ‘80s. But I’ve always loved things like Buck Rogers and the old serials and old pulp novels like Doc Savage, old adventure movies we looked at, like Gunga Din, and the serials. I could see, actually, where Lucas and Spielberg got all their inspiration from, because I started seeing all the resonance in the Indiana Jones movies. Comics like Tintin, the Uncle Scrooge adventures. All that stuff informed what we were doing.”
 

S. Dakota Jones

New member
Ok, so I've been home for about a month now and with a brand new PS3(my first), and a big hankering to play Uncharted, I powerplayed through all 3 games in about a week and a half.

What an amazing series of games. Some of the most fun I've had in years, I'm so glad I finally decided to jump on board. Only a few issues I had with the game but overall I loved them.

My dislikes were few but really bothersome when it happend..

1. Casual conversations taking place while searching rooms or walking around would just end abruptly, even while the exploring was still going on.

2. The shooting mechanics...ugh, probably my biggest problem. I can't put a guy down with head shots from a rifle but the guy 100+ meters away can hit me with a frickin pistol...I've seen people on amphetamines take less shots to the body/head than a lot of the people I had to shoot in this game to get them to stay down.

3. Wave after wave of bad guys gets exhausting after a bit, I mean really, how many private armies and mercanaries can a villain purchase lol ?

4. Bad guys that were in areas before you got there yet you had to solve the puzzle to get in there...seemed only an issue in the first one though.

I maybe making more of them then they really are because I did power through them so I may have also gotten burned out by it too. But, I really did love them and I will be playing them again.
 

Le Saboteur

Active member
S. Dakota Jones said:
I powerplayed through all 3 games in about a week and a half.

You..uh, wow, powered through three of the best games to appear on the PlayStation in a week and a half?! I'm not sure how I feel about that. I loved them so much that I couldn't bother to give them the attention they deserve!

In other news, Sideshow Collectibles' Nathan Drake premium figure has finally made its way into homes everywhere! While it's a swell looking figure, I'm not about to drop four hundred bucks on it.


3002131-product-silo.png
 

Montana Smith

Active member
Le Saboteur said:
In other news, Sideshow Collectibles' Nathan Drake premium figure has finally made its way into homes everywhere! While it's a swell looking figure, I'm not about to drop four hundred bucks on it.

Ah, toys. One of my favourite subjects. ;)

There's the cheaper and smaller Sideshow 1/6 figure as well:

100186_press07-001.preview.jpg


100186_press11-001.preview.jpg


100186_press09-001.preview.jpg


Even though I haven't played the game I'm tempted to get this.
 

S. Dakota Jones

New member
Le Saboteur said:
You..uh, wow, powered through three of the best games to appear on the PlayStation in a week and a half?! I'm not sure how I feel about that. I loved them so much that I couldn't bother to give them the attention they deserve!

Perhaps "powering through" them was the wrong terminology. I had about 15-20 hours invested in each one for sure...I love exploring and looking for shiny things:whip: . But what I did do however, was play each game one right after the other, lol.
 
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Le Saboteur

Active member
Montana Smith said:
There's the cheaper and smaller Sideshow 1/6 figure as well:

It's a nice figure, but a buck fifty is still too expensive for a toy. Especially one that you'll never play with.

uncharted_2_chloe1.jpg


There's been a couple of interesting newsworthy items to come out of the world of Uncharted, and since the last post made on The Raven was @ eleven today I suppose it falls to me mention it.

1.) There's an unsubstantiated rumor that the original three games (and Golden Abyss) were getting a graphical upgrade and a port to Sony's PS4 behemoth. I can't locate the source of the original rumor, but there is this blurb from an Italian gaming site. For all I know, it is the source of the rumor.

2.) Some cad posted what they claimed were tech demos from Uncharted's new PS4 engine and the 'net went apespit. They were later confirmed to be fake by the supposed poster -- one of Sony's ICE team members -- and everybody had a really big sad. It's a nice demo reel too.

Could the PS4 achieve this level of fidelity in its lifetime? The Order: 1886 looks phenomenal, so what can Naughty Dog pull out of their hat?


3.) In a very surprising turn of events, the rags are reporting that Naughty Dog's Creative Director, Amy Hennig, has left Naughty Dog after ten years of service. It should be particularly galling for Uncharted fans because Ms. Hennig essentially created the game as it exists today and wrote the first three games in the series (and the fourth, I would assume). Uncharted has succeeded primarily because of the strength of her writing and characterization. Pulp adventure is an undeserved sector, sure, but Ms. Hennig really understood its ins and outs like nobody else did today.

Sony Computer Entertainment America said:
"We can confirm that Amy Hennig has left Naughty Dog. Amy has made significant contributions to the game industry and we appreciate all she has done for Naughty Dog. The development timeline of Uncharted will not be impacted."

If the rumors are true about Neil Druckmann & Bruce Straley "forcing out" Ms. Hennig, then there are infinitely more underlying concerns with the future of the series then simple "creative differences." The next Uncharted game is going to need to be a real barn burner to now earn my patronage.

Silver lining: Maybe she lands back @ Crystal Dynamics and Tomb Raider gets a real writer.
 

jsarino

New member
Assuming of course Uncharted still goes forward with Amy Hennig's departure and it shows on on the PS4, would you pull the trigger and upgrade to that console?

I'm trying to decide what to do at the moment as my PS3's Blu Ray player is having issues. I'd consider upgrading now if I know for sure that the first three Uncharted games will get graphical upgrades and come over.
 

The Drifter

New member
jsarino said:
Assuming of course Uncharted still goes forward with Amy Hennig's departure and it shows on on the PS4, would you pull the trigger and upgrade to that console?

I'm trying to decide what to do at the moment as my PS3's Blu Ray player is having issues. I'd consider upgrading now if I know for sure that the first three Uncharted games will get graphical upgrades and come over.

I've already upgraded. And yes, Uncharted 4 will still come out regardless of Amy Henning being there or not.
Tons of rumors are saying that indeed the first three will also make their way to the PS4 as The Last of Us is supposed to be hitting this June.
 

Le Saboteur

Active member
jsarino said:
Assuming of course Uncharted still goes forward with Amy Hennig's departure and it shows on on the PS4, would you pull the trigger and upgrade to that console?

Of course it's going to go forward with Ms. Hennig's departure. Uncharted is a system seller. They'll keep turning them out too precisely because of that fact, and because, for better or worse, Uncharted has become the PlayStation's flagship franchise.

The problem now: It's something of an unknown quantity because of the change in stewardship. Straley & Druckmann did commendable work on The Last of Us, but it'll take some serious effort on their part to convince me that they understand the genre as a whole. I dearly don't want to play a re-skinned version of the zombie apocalypse featuring Nathan Drake.

Fortunately, I have to assume that the bulk of Ms. Hennig's work is still in place given the (assumed) Fall 2015 release date. It's too late to change a significant amount of story details and dialogue. What happens beyond this is where the real test will lie.

Anyway, it's a dark, dark day here @ The Raven when I have to post this some six(?) hours after it debuted.


PlayStation said:
Several years after his last adventure, retired fortune hunter, Nathan Drake, is forced back into the world of thieves. With the stakes much more personal, Drake embarks on a globe-trotting journey in pursuit of a historical conspiracy behind a fabled pirate treasure. His greatest adventure will test his physical limits, his resolve, and ultimately what he's willing to sacrifice to save the ones he loves.

Excited? Cautious optimism. Day 1? Of course.

Yo Soy said:
It's a nice figure, but a buck fifty is still too expensive for a toy. Especially one that you'll never play with.

It's also 2/10's of a plane ticket to Madagascar, but who's keeping score?

And that's post number 1,500.
 

jsarino

New member
Le Saboteur said:
They'll keep turning them out too precisely because of that fact, and because, for better or worse, Uncharted has become the PlayStation's flagship franchise.

Being a PS2 and 3 owner, IMO I feel both the Uncharted series AND the Gran Turismo series are the PlayStation's flagship games. :) That the former is not coming out until the fall of 2015, and taking consideration to Kazunori Yamauchi's penchant for usually taking several years to develop his titles (GT6 for the PS3 was a bit of a surprise though), it tempers my desire to upgrade my console to a PS4. I may very well wait until next year to do so.

Anyways, though the trailer is supposed to be how the gameplay will look (an improvement from Uncharted 3 and The Last of Us), I'm curious how the game will feel. Will Hennig's (and Richmond's) work flow well with Straley & Druckmann's? My hope that considering the exemplary work they did with The Last of Us, this only enhances what made the Uncharted games great.
 

Le Saboteur

Active member
So if you haven't been paying attention, some concept art for the forthcoming A Thief's End has found its way onto that great repository of nonsense that is the 'net. It's been featured in an art gallery in Alhambra, California for The Art of Naughty Dog.

If you're in Southern California and so inclined, do stop by. For everybody else, we'll have to make do with lo-res snaps!

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The images are fairly large (and I don't feel like editing them), so swing by this place to check them out in all of their pixelated glory!
 

Le Saboteur

Active member
Time and tide wait for no man. Not even Nathan Drake.

Our first real look at Drake comes courtesy of Naughty Dog's Twitter account.

drake.png
 

jsarino

New member
The details look good, assuming he'll be rendered that way in actual game play. But, is it me or his face now looks different from Uncharted 1-3? If it wasn't for the clothes, I might not realize that's Nathan Drake. Here's how he looked in the past...

Nathan_Drake_render.jpg
 
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