G-Force:
1. It's not like he went out with the intention of destroying those treasures. In UC1 the golden man was cursed and in 2 the Fountain of Youth turned out to be way more elaborate and was destroyed in the firefight he had. Both cases Drake never intended to destroy what he found but happened as a consequence in preventing his enemy from getting his hands on them. There are plenty of smaller adventures he's been on (Eye of Indra for one) that show him going for less grand artifacts and NOT breaking them.

2. Just because it's been used in two games does not mean it doesn't exist. Your point is that he has NO MOTIVATION not that you agree if it's a good one. Rescuing Sully is a motivation and it exists therefore your point falls apart. Also for the bad guys their reason was not money, it was power and control which was what Cutter said at first and later repeated by Drake.

1. well he didn't want to destroy both of the bigest descovers made by human kind, but he did! its like finding a book with all the answers of life and then forgeting it in the bus. As an archeologist/ treasure hunter he has caused the bigest damage to human culture a single man have ever done. And how about that part whe he makes a drawing in a 400 years old? he doesnt care!. It's not even about money, he loses BILLONS of dolars worth in treasures every time an complete ancient city is destroyed, and he doesnt care.

2. well you got me here, he does have a motivation AFTER sully is captures. In video games when someone is captures you get a free ticket to not care about motivation anymore. But what is the motivation BEFORE that??? my point is that he has to go for A LOT! he contantly get shot, specially during gameplay where he get shot every 2 seconds....why?? after that fire scene there is no reason to keep on going and risking your life...sure he wants to prove something but come on thats BS

and for the bad guys, i am no talking about the main villan, but the regular agents who take cover and start shooting you....in the midle of a burning colapsing bulding!!! men the health program they have must very really good!

meromero:

G-Force:
1. It's not like he went out with the intention of destroying those treasures. In UC1 the golden man was cursed and in 2 the Fountain of Youth turned out to be way more elaborate and was destroyed in the firefight he had. Both cases Drake never intended to destroy what he found but happened as a consequence in preventing his enemy from getting his hands on them. There are plenty of smaller adventures he's been on (Eye of Indra for one) that show him going for less grand artifacts and NOT breaking them.

2. Just because it's been used in two games does not mean it doesn't exist. Your point is that he has NO MOTIVATION not that you agree if it's a good one. Rescuing Sully is a motivation and it exists therefore your point falls apart. Also for the bad guys their reason was not money, it was power and control which was what Cutter said at first and later repeated by Drake.

1. well he didn't want to destroy both of the bigest descovers made by human kind, but he did! its like finding a book with all the answers of life and then forgeting it in the bus. As an archeologist/ treasure hunter he has caused the bigest damage to human culture a single man have ever done. And how about that part whe he makes a drawing in a 400 years old? he doesnt care!. It's not even about money, he loses BILLONS of dolars worth in treasures every time an complete ancient city is destroyed, and he doesnt care.

2. well you got me here, he does have a motivation AFTER sully is captures. In video games when someone is captures you get a free ticket to not care about motivation anymore. But what is the motivation BEFORE that??? my point is that he has to go for A LOT! he contantly get shot, specially during gameplay where he get shot every 2 seconds....why?? after that fire scene there is no reason to keep on going and risking your life...sure he wants to prove something but come on thats BS

and for the bad guys, i am no talking about the main villan, but the regular agents who take cover and start shooting you....in the midle of a burning colapsing bulding!!! men the health program they have must very really good!

1. And the untold damages that the villains in UC 1,2 and 3 are just things worth mentioning right? UC 1 the statue was not destroyed, just sank to the bottom of the sea. Meanwhile the cities in UC 2 and 3 were never meant to be seen by human eyes. Remember Drake is never to shoot first and its only through the escalation of the villain's actions that ultimately cause the cities to be lost.

2.He stays in it cause he does not want Marlow to win, plain and simple. Even before we know what she's really after, they've already raised the stakes so high that Drake would not be able to back down now. Drake is a very prideful man and the only thing worse than abandoning a treasure hunt is to roll over and admit another person got the best of him when the pressure is on. He's gone too far to back out especially at the point where Kutter broke his leg where he scolded Drake for even thinking to stop his search.

It also doesn't help his conscious that it was Marlow who almost got him killed in South America where she saw him as a scared little boy. Finding the Atlantis of the Sands is Drake's own way of proving he's able to surpass her.

Also with motivations on the Fodder, it's always been a staple of the Uncharted Series. In the first game the enemies would rather shoot at you than the zombies underground. In the second game they fought off the guardians but still made sure you were killed, all that Uncharted 3 does is follow this pattern.

Yeah in U2 when he was mortally wounded and freezing to death I was like oh shit now theirs bad guys no way this will be the usual gameplay cause Drake is fucked! and then you proceed to do the usual gameplay and the disconnect between the story and the gameplay is extremely jarring.

In U3 when they did the same thing, with Drake being at deaths door after wandering in a desert and then magically being able to fight at full strength and dexterity mere seconds after he encounters more guys. urgh, made me angry.

That's what has always been the huge problem with the Uncharted games, NaughtyDog seems to have no idea how to properly weave the story with the gameplay. By far the stupidest thing is how in story Drake is established as this nice, caring, normal guy but then in gameplay is brutally murdering thousands of people. In many cases having the option to simply knock them out, but no even when in stealth he has to break their fucking necks like he's god damn Kratos.

G-Force:
1. And the untold damages that the villains in UC 1,2 and 3 are just things worth mentioning right? UC 1 the statue was not destroyed, just sank to the bottom of the sea. Meanwhile the cities in UC 2 and 3 were never meant to be seen by human eyes. Remember Drake is never to shoot first and its only through the escalation of the villain's actions that ultimately cause the cities to be lost.

2.He stays in it cause he does not want Marlow to win, plain and simple. Even before we know what she's really after, they've already raised the stakes so high that Drake would not be able to back down now. Drake is a very prideful man and the only thing worse than abandoning a treasure hunt is to roll over and admit another person got the best of him when the pressure is on. He's gone too far to back out especially at the point where Kutter broke his leg where he scolded Drake for even thinking to stop his search.

It also doesn't help his conscious that it was Marlow who almost got him killed in South America where she saw him as a scared little boy. Finding the Atlantis of the Sands is Drake's own way of proving he's able to surpass her.

Also with motivations on the Fodder, it's always been a staple of the Uncharted Series. In the first game the enemies would rather shoot at you than the zombies underground. In the second game they fought off the guardians but still made sure you were killed, all that Uncharted 3 does is follow this pattern.

i usually don't buy the "he doesn't shoot first" to justify a mass murder and in UN3 HE destroyed the city so its his fault. And pride to beat someone he doesn't really know sounds stupy to risk your life and those around you. But i think at this point its just a matter of opinion and in the there is a higher reason as motivation the characters acts, even if it doesn't work very well for me. Anyway this i am just saying the same aguments again and its geting late

it was nice having a discussion with you ^^ you have some intersting points

I try to not let plot nitpicks stop me from enjoying a story, and I've never played uncharted. But yeah, wasn't the whole "deception" thing about Drakes lies to himself or something? If they completely dropped the friggen theme that then yeah, that's a pretty dumb turn in story telling.

From what I hear, Uncharted as very good writing. It's a shame they seem to keep emerging from the epic adventures they keep going on with status quo intact.

Also, I saw the desert level in a demo and was thinking, "wut?" I guess chronic dehydration and sunstroke never hurt anyone...

My problem with the game wasn't so much the game-play, it was the story line. I mean for ****s sake, they designed the story around set pieces. If that isn't S*****y writing, i don't know what is.

Therumancer:
You know Yahtzee, you might as well just come out and say you love Uncharted and everything about it. I've been observing this for a while now, and it seems like you trot out all these same complaints every game, but in the end still wind up playing these games through to their conclusion, one after another, where major releases of AAA titles you genuinely loathe seem to be delayed for crazy amounts of time or simply "forgotten" entirely, sometimes with you mentioning it specifically in text in your videos.

I just want to point out that he plays these games to completion because he is PAID to review these games in full, and it's not fair to do so without completing the game. The exception being Final Fantasy XIII.

mjc0961:
Yeah, all that stuff about Drake just being able to magically fight just fine when needed bothered me about Uncharted 2, even. As mentioned in the article,

Uncharted 2 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

See, the slogan on the back of the box for Uncharted 1 was "one ordinary man, one extraordinary adventure" and in Uncharted 1, he really was just an ordinary man. But then in Uncharted 2, he's not. I once joked that "They might as well have changed Nate's name to Clark Kent for all the times he should have been dead or at least weak" and "I think Drake will be able to fly and shoot laser beams from his eyes in Uncharted 3" because of all the times Drake just randomly was okay despite injuries in Uncharted 2. It's really disappointing to hear that while he still can't fly yet, he's gotten closer to being able to do so since Uncharted 2. :(

And this is exactly why I think that Every Uncharted past Drake's Fortune is a piece of crap.

I agree with the "insufferable little shit" part 100%! That conversation with Marlowe was the best part of the game! She was the only interesting character and there was hardly anything of her in it.

meromero:
the bigest problem i have with this game (besides being son scripted i don't know why the bother making this a game) is the friking motivation.....theres is NONE!!!

in the first one they motivation was to escape, drake himself said that the treasure wasn't worth it at some point, in the second one he has to save that chick i always forget her name....but now?? there is absoluty fucking NOTHING to kill so many people for....we KNOW he wont get al the treasure and live the rest of his life as the richest man on earth. So why the hell does he risk his life and the people around him? he also doesn't care at all for archeologic research, he basically cleans his ass with a 400 years old map, and destroyed THE BIGEST archeologic discovery ever by human kind

The game strongly implies that Drake has a pathologically need to constantly look for treasure and put himself in mortal danger, despite how badly it ruins his relationships.

DVS BSTrD:
I don't think it's because they made Nathan Drake the hero that he wasn't interesting, it was more the fact that he stayed Nathan Drake. He's Nathan Fillion minus the charm, with the invincibility of John Cena, Edward Cullen's hair jell and the luck of an offspring of a rabbit's foot gang-banged by horse shoes in a field of four leaf clovers. And being smug and annoying may be a relatable character flaw but it's not an endearing one.

That comparison will haunt me always....

These are the people I trust with writing stories:

Hideki Kamiya
Fumito Ueda (Only if Shadow of the Colossus is good; Ico, Ico may go to hell)
Guy(s) who wrote the Infamous series
Tim Schafer (big concession there)
Ken Levine (Enough trust to make Bioshock Infinite, which scares me, look marketable)
Whoever writes the Assassin Creed's series (I don't like the games but the story works fine)
Whoever writes the modern Legend of Zelda games (I can't find his name, but holy crap this guy knows what he is doing)
Probably a lot of people I forgot

These are people I trust to develop the aesthetic and narrative of games for future writers. I like them because they are at least capable of keeping all the elements of the story together, all compact-like. See, a story can't be made by trying to raise emotions or tension. It starts by making a story.
I played Uncharted 2 and I think it's equivalent to Naruto for me. In that it's boring and it's trying to be a lot of things. It is trying to be a lot of things by shoving all of those things in its mouth as fast as possible. Which will eventually come out of its ass.
Edit: I'll concede, Infamous has never made a lot of sense plot-wise, I saying this without really needing to justify it. But at least it's interesting and doesn't try to gorge on drama and emotions. No, it gorges on trash monsters and ice nazis, to which I say live on, live on.

TaboriHK:
James Cameron also famously admitted that he ripped the plot of the Terminator from a couple of different stories.

Yep Harlan Ellison famously sued him and won. Demon with a Glass Hand...

so... you know. to me... Nate's portrayed as immature dumbass on purpose. everyone telling him to give up isn't hyperbole. its pointing out for the player a big character flaw.

Amy Henning is also responsible for Raziel and if you want an unsufferable shit look no further. I am sure many hardcore UC fans find Nate Heroic but that doesn't mean it was entirely black and white... He's only good superficially. and while the advertising shys away from this point I feel the writing does a decent job of pointing it out.

foxlovingfreak:
I have to admit the whole getting ship sequance was one of my faviorete parts of the game but as mentioned in the artiule (not to mention every other reviewer and crtic) it didn't really need to be there. It felt like they should have just stuck with either the cargo plane or the ship( it probally would havr worked better if instead the city he washed up in the desert) but naghty dog kind of screwed themselves with this one. They couldnt get rid of the plane it was in the teaser and the actual game box art and they showed of the ship at E3 and since it ended up being one of the most talked about demo's if someone did notice that it didnt work with the overall plot they knew they couldn't take it out other wise we all be here saying what happen to that awesome ship sqeance they showed I really wanted to play that. yahtzee also talks about how the game hints that drake is not who he says he is and nothing comes of it. Uncharted 3 had a lot of plot points beasides this that arent concluded. For example when cutter breaks his leg this whole concept of tarrot cards are introduced and are even put in drakes journal but are never brought up again. it seemed like the script for this game went therw alot of rewrites which might explain the inconcenties. I still like this game regrdless but naugty dog is better then this.

Whatever point you where trying to make was lost in a sea of spelling mistakes and horrible grammar.

See, a genuinely unique and funny solution to the desert second wind scene would be to have him get it, but replace the enemies with thirst hallucinations. Like giant gummy bears shooting lasers from their groins until you use the flower in your hand to plant a heart right between the eyes. Finally, the illusion would slowly melt away after water was found... leading to the horrific discovery that you'd just massacred an innocent village. Now there's a moral dilemma we haven't seen in gaming yet.

Yahtzee! Stop hitting that nail on the head. What did it ever do to you?

This sums up my experience. Favorite moment was that bit in the cafe, where we learn that Drake isn't Drake. I also like Cutter.

I knew something was up with this series when I played 2, where I'm supposed to swallow that Drake, who can't plan for shit and keeps making bad decisions constantly, in the manner of an ordinary man in an extraordinary situation, keeps pulling out a doctorate in archaeology and masters' in dead languages when we have no reason to think he completed high school algebra (circa the third game).

I groaned, physically GROANED when Elena turned up again, and considered who to stab when he walked off with her into the sunset again. I actually feel better when I imagine them flying off to time loop back to 1 at the end of three.

gyrobot:
I like it this way, Drake is in essence the idealistic counterpart to Laura Croft.

that's why people I know calls Uncharted series "Dude Raider"

It's too bad that the rumors of Naughty Dog 'abandoning' Uncharted like they did Jak and Daxter and Crash might be true, it's been done those two times already after a trilogy and a side game or two, it can happen again.

Golden Abyss, a prequel, is already outsourced. So it's pretty close to being true.

They seem to be shifting their focus to The Last of Us, which was in development for at least four-ish years by part of the design staff, and does look interesting and maybe even good. Though the game is reminicent of the environments of Enslaved with the gameplay of a Half-Life/Left4Dead vibe, or Resident Evil 4. Though they could just make it play essentially like Uncharted with tweaks, never know.

Would be nice to have some solid character development for Drake to make him human, but it may not come to pass. Never know, Naughty Dog could suprise us....maybe.

I enjoyed the original Uncharted, and loved the second one. But when I recently watched the GamesTrailers video compilation of the Game awards, I felt disappointed that the game won so many awards.

Story campaign has literally become the game's cliche. The cover based shooting was probably better done in Gears of War (And I don't own an Xbox).

His motivation? It's more assumed than anything. All he says it'd be a great thing to find. Sully was not a driving motivation, he just knew the way, and also Drake might've been feeling guilty about dragging his best friend on yet another damned scavenger hunt. Even when he is questioned about his motives, he shrugs it off, and it makes me want to cave his skull in the the controller so he will fucking emote. Nathan Drake's character has the casting range of Neo from the Matrix.

The plot? More like plod. I'm sorry but when I heard they came up with the set pieces and 'epic' things he gets to do, then they string it all together, it made me understand why the game seemed more of an Indiana Jones/Tour Guide masturbation fetish [And this has become a lot more scathing than I was trying to intend].

The whole plot 'twist' when we discover that Drake is not his real family name was as jarring as a gentle curve, especially when Nathan sulks like a schoolkid getting told off by the teacher.

While writing all this up, I just noticed that my 'captcha' thing would've been incorrect and I cared more about that than the entirety of this stupidly put together game.

Naughty Dog (and by proxy Nolan North), I'm not trying to say the game was bad, but generally when you set the bar high, you go higher and not use it as a limbo stick.

If you manage to drudge up a fourth game, (and you care about the gamers who want this franchise to be good again) please, watch Pixar movies and learn about emotions. It is actually depressing how you put this together.

If you want me to come up with a better script or game idea, I would happily offer suggestions. I really did like the first two games, but I was so over the moon to return this game I fear for what was once an excellent franchise.

And if people have a problem with my responses, I will happily explain my point of view. I will not defend it as it is an opinion and pointless to defend.

Just play the Legacy of Kain series, Yathzee. You will understand how low the mighy Amy Henning has fallen