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Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (PS4) Status: Finished playing I started playing this game on Tuesday 23 January, 2018 // I stopped playing this game on: Thursday 22 February, 2018
Current opinion of this game
No comment, yet.
February 22, 2018 11:06:34 AM
And finished! I was really surprised by the epilogue - it really makes a strong argument for there not being any more Nathan Drake games. Well, until they do one where he's young, or one where his brother comes back with an emergency and Nathan's all old and creaky... The game is absolutely gorgeous and the environments are extraordinary in their details, variety, and just...hmm...amazing. Weirdly, especially for the whole 2nd half of the game - I increasingly felt bad about everything that was going on in the game. All of the places they see and visit - each replete with incredible historical artifacts and things and all they care about is the "treasure". It makes sense - if the characters are all mercenary thieves and such - but it just made me feel bad that - even though I know and understand it's fantasy - there was so much cool stuff going to waste! For example, you spend a lot of time in rotting mansions that have bookshelves full of books..and I'm thinking WOW, scholars would die for half of what's there - collector's would die...there's so much money in all those ancient editions, how many books might have even been lost that are now found, etc. Of course the characters just walk on past. It's unfair to ask them to care and they do briefly comment on things like that - but still. I guess it hit me harder than before because the set dressing and level design and art is just so great. The places are more believable and have more details and things to think about. What was I not that excited about? Combat still felt awkward - especially when the climbing stuff gets mixed in. I would often try to take a goon down only to get "stuck" hanging off a ledge or trying to jump up on something and stuff like that. Overall I never really enjoyed the combat sections even though there are a few standout moments (the one where you're dragged along on a rope was particularly notable). I guess I now need to look at the game whose name currently escapes me that came out afterwards?
February 4, 2018 12:37:34 PM
I've played this a it over the last two weekends (made it to chapter 13). I think the last game in the series I played was 2 and it's been fun to see how the series (and the technology) has evolved. The game looks amazing and, from a game design perspective, I really appreciate how things that used to be super obvious/evident (like which areas you could climb up) are now much more subtle. As a player, I can still tell what's what - but my recollection is that it used to feel much more restricted. Now, it feels quite free when you climb up cliff faces and buildings. The other thing that feels quite "advanced" in terms of the design is the way that conversations between the characters have been worked in to what would otherwise be downtime moments of gameplay. They just chit chat, do some character development, and add humor while you casually stroll to the next location you want to get to. I even noticed, when driving around in a jeep - that conversations that are interrupted (when, for example, I stop the jeep and get out in mid conversation) are resumed ("hey, what was that thing you were talking about?") when I get back in the jeep. So far, it's been a lot of fun.

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (PS4)