Uncharted 3: the Uncharteningest

[juv3nal]

So, I don't really have anything to say about it other than it's more Uncharted 2 and I loved Uncharted 2, but I figure the other 2 Uncharteds are on the front page right now, so someone else must be playing 3, right?

[Thyroid]

I have one question: does it have something as exciting and different as the train sequence?

[Nappi]

Is the latter half of the game still populated by Michelin men that take forever to kill?

[Thrik]

Michelin men? What? ;

[Nappi]

(Probably not the correct term)

I mean the assholes in (what seems to be) bomb disposal armor. I started hating them when Uncharted 2 rewarded me for being clever – that is going round a choke-point – by spawning 3 or 4 of those guys next to me.

[elmuerte]

is there more time you explore and enjoy the scenery?

[juv3nal]

is there more time you explore and enjoy the scenery?

I'm pretty early on so I can't really speak to the other questions, but I would say that there are definitely moments when you can enjoy the scenery (although there isn't so much exploration, just the odd treasure collectible tucked away on a balcony or something) and other moments where you need to run away from stuff. The game does a good job of making you feel like you want to push forward even in situations where technically nothing bad will necessarily happen if you don't get a move on.

if you've seen the various trailers/teasers, there's one that's set in a burning chateau. I didn't exactly sit there and test it out, but I'm pretty sure you can just stand around in parts of that burning castle forever and nothing will happen to you. The game does a good job of encouraging you to move on with the "we need to get out of here" stuff from Sully and the music though.

Overall though I wouldn't say there is any more time for enjoying the scenery than there is in "among thieves," but I don't think there's any less.

[elmuerte]

Oh, that's a shame. So, it's pretty much like the first 2 games: the only archeology going on is cinematic.

[juv3nal]

I have one question: does it have something as exciting and different as the train sequence?

I'm a but further in now (although not done yet) and although it's a subjective call, I'd say yes.

Also, arachnophobes should probably steer clear of this one.

[Thyroid]

I'm a but further in now (although not done yet) and although it's a subjective call, I'd say yes.

Also, arachnophobes should probably steer clear of this one.

I was mostly joking and trying to be ridiculous, but I do appreciate your answer.

[Lu]

Kind of annoyed at Uncharted 3. There is a lot of glitchy stuff that keeps pulling me out of the game. Just had a hard lockup too. Other thing was that I walked into a side-room and enemies just started spawning out of nowhere in front of me. Even though I was previously in stealth. Also see the AI be fucking stupid a lot of times, where they throw grenades while they're standing in front of an object and throw it into said object, or just seeing AI running into walls. When it works it's great, but there has been too many little and not so little glitchy shit going on for me to enjoy it as much as have Uncharted 2.

Edited November 11, 2011 by PiratePooAndHisBattleship

[Cigol]

Not had any lockups or anything on my end but I'm still waiting until they get that patch out to fix the aiming. I muddled on so far and it hasn't gotten in the way but once they acknowledged it I figured might as well wait. To anyone who played the previous games it was so painfully obvious that you have to question the role of reviews when they decide to omit stuff like that...

Otherwise I was really enjoying it, very Uncharted'y. The beginning of the game it was difficult (in a good way) to know whether you were watching a cut-scene or controlling one. The sequence with a young drake was nicely done too, especially with regards the animation. The way Drakes hands now grab out to hold onto stuff procedurally (to the extent he can brush books out of bookcases) is a nice flourish.

[Nappi]

What is the problem with aiming? Is there a clear bug or is it just clumsy?

[Cigol]

As soon as you get a gun in the game you'll notice, it's very odd.

A video;

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It makes it look game breaking but in truth it's more of an annoyance that you begrudgingly get used to. Not sure why it's like that but will be happy if they fix it.

[Nappi]

Ahh.. It is indeed quite strange it wasn't mentioned in (many of) the reviews.

I was kinda hoping that the previous games would have suffered from the same problem and that after the upcoming patch the console aiming suddenly wouldn't be awful anymore.

[Cigol]

Hah, well they do say they updated the aiming for Uncharted 3. Something about bullets now shooting straight (?) so who knows maybe it'll feel less alien to you because I personally found the aiming in Uncharted 1 & 2 to be perfectly normal, but apparently not. Still doesn't make any sense to me why they changed it.

[Nappi]

Yeah, aiming in Uncharted 2 was probably as good as console aiming gets, though I don't have too much experience in the field. It was just a general rant.

Hah, well they do say they updated the aiming for Uncharted 3. Something about bullets now shooting straight (?)

God, I hope that made it to the list of new features in the back cover.

[elmuerte]

lol... aiming with a gamepad. What a funny thought.

[Sully907]

lol... aiming with a gamepad. What a funny thought.

Aiming on a gamepad has been fine in good games for years now. No need to go all PC elitist on us.

[Nappi]

Aiming on a gamepad has been fine in good games for years now. No need to go all PC elitist on us.

Ehm.. You are talking to elmuerte.

[elmuerte]

Ehm.. You are talking to elmuerte.

But seriously, they made aiming even worse than it already was?! I hope they fix it by the time I'm getting Uncharted 3, which would be somewhere after Skyrim and Arkham City.

[Cigol]

Well, I doubt you're going to finish either Skyrim or Batman any time soon, but for the rest of us who were waiting for the patch; now is the time to get back in there! Apparently they've reintroduced motion blur to singleplayer too, which is odd since I never noticed that was missing. I wonder whether the two are related.

[Thrik]

Yep tried the patch out last night, holy shit what a difference. Note that you have to actually go into your options to switch the aiming mode, otherwise you'll just get the old mode.

That video above is completely misrepresenting the issue, though — I think he's lowered the sensitivity or something to exaggerate the issue so it's more obvious, because it's too subtle to really capture.

Basically there's a diagonal deadzone in the regular aiming mode, in that if you move your stick in any way other than perfectly vertically or horizontally you have to move it pretty damn far to make it move significantly. Conversely, if you move it perfectly vertically or horizontally it's very sensitive and there's no deadzone, meaning your aiming virtually snaps to X and Y movements.

It might not sound like the biggest deal in the world but if you enjoy playing shooters really accurately it's almost game-breaking, because lining up headshots quickly and tracking guys as they move is incredibly difficult. I hadn't even heard of the uproar but the moment I got a gun in UC3 it really got on my nerves, probably made worse by the fact I'd just finished replaying UC1 and UC2 which had consistent aiming.

Seems like the kind of thing you can probably get used to after a lot of persistence, which is why Naughty Dog probably didn't see it as an issue. But then you can get used to walking with a missing leg if you try hard enough.

As for reviews not picking such a skill-crippling problem up... well, says a lot about most reviewers really.

[Lu]

That video above is completely misrepresenting the issue, though — I think he's lowered the sensitivity or something to exaggerate the issue so it's more obvious, because it's too subtle to really capture.

I tried this myself after seeing that and the results were pretty much the same, so I dunno. Funnily enough, before I saw this video, I thought I had just gotten really terrible at aiming with a controller...

[Thrik]

That is weird, maybe there's a secondary issue with controllers that can make the issue worse? It's certainly not as bad as in the video for me, unless different guns can behave differently. I only have to push the stick about halfway diagonally to get it moving whereas it seems like that guy is pushing it all the way without it doing anything.

But yeah it was fucked on release regardless. I wonder how many people will have rated UC3 lower than UC2 because of it subconsciously, not realising why they were finding the game frustrating and/or not as fun.

I did read somewhere Naughty Dog specifically screwed with aiming to try and overcome inherent acceleration/lag issues that console games almost always have.