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[Wario64]

lol at everyone saying Sony is redeemed. Yeah, having gritty games in a sea of other gritty games. Whatever.

 

[LiK]

Good call.

 

[M°°nblade]

Looks like Sony didn't win the whole battle with ND as both Uncharted's have a bit of fantasy in them.

Good for Sony though, they made the right call, critically and commercially.

The funny thing is, I know many people who saw the zombie climax thing at the end as a minus storywise.

 

[metareferential]

Uncharted in a fantasy-setting?

donotwant.jpeg

How about something Sci-fi, Naughty Dog?

That would be rad.

lol at everyone saying Sony is redeemed. Yeah, having gritty games in a sea of other gritty games. Whatever.

'cause Uncharted is a gritty game, yeah.

 

[-Pyromaniac-]

Good job Sony, good job. Also seems that Naughty Dog retained some of what they originally wanted because there are obviously fantasy elements in all of them so far.

 

[erpg]

lol at everyone saying Sony is redeemed. Yeah, having gritty games in a sea of other gritty games. Whatever.

I can barely tell Uncharted apart from everything else!

 

[terrdactycalsrock]

that explains a lot

 

[Callibretto]

I doubt the problem is actually about being realistic setting as opposed to fantasy setting, Xbox's success with Halo and Gears of War and it's not a game with realistic setting. it's all about gritty shooter. ND don't have experience with shooter, even Jak use a very generous auto aim. if ND push forward with it's tolkien-esque fantasy, most likely it won't be a shooter, and shooter just doesn't fit fantasy setting.

but Sony want shooter. it's pretty damn apparent with Sony line up. Uncharted, inFamous, Resistance, Killzone, MAG, Haze, Warhawk, 8 Days, all of them are shooters or have some shooter element to it.

 

[hsukardi]

But the first Uncharted got off to a slow start, didn't it?

all that means is that the fantasy Uncharted could have gotten to no start

 

[Gravijah]

I can barely tell Uncharted apart from everything else!

it's the one with nolan north.

 

[ntropy]

an unhealthy precedent. Sony is like bizarro-Nintendo (Wii Crush lol).

 

[Majine]

lol at everyone saying Sony is redeemed. Yeah, having gritty games in a sea of other gritty games. Whatever.

This way it can sell more!

 

[subversus]

it's the one with nolan north.

I see...

 

[Nuclear Muffin]

an unhealthy precedent. Sony is like bizarro-Nintendo (Wii Crush lol).

That was an NOA decision, not NCL. Big difference.

Though Nintendo did do it for Starfox Adventures... (who knows how that happened though. Also, the gameplay was barely changed - the on foot sections were left basically untouched)

 

[LiquidMetal14]

lol at everyone saying Sony is redeemed. Yeah, having gritty games in a sea of other gritty games. Whatever.

Let's not downplay what Uncharted is to the industry though. Let them try a new idea for next gen. Sony has too much talent not to try at a fantasy type RPG game BUT the world has changed. The game has changed. The west now loves them realistic shooters and stuff.

 

[M°°nblade]

if ND push forward with it's tolkien-esque fantasy, most likely it won't be a shooter, and shooter just doesn't fit fantasy setting.

Nothing seems to indicate that. Jak was fantasy and still a shooter. Just like ratchet.

 

[onQ123]

realistic you say?

 

[AAK]

Phil was in charge of SCEWW at the time. See what I just did.

...No I really didn't.

 

[donkey show]

Thank you Sony for the half tuck.

 

[VIVIblkmgIc]

I guess that explains some of the contradictions between the realism, and the late game zombies, and Drake's mass murderer-ness.

 

[Easy_D]

Fantasy eh?.. Soul Reaver games were fantasy.. Amy Hennig wrote them.. she wrote Uncharted as well.. oh what could have been! Maybe something with deep awesome dialogue instead of a fun/witty action movie script. Not that I own a PS3 but still!

 

[DMeisterJ]

lol at everyone saying Sony is redeemed. Yeah, having gritty games in a sea of other gritty games. Whatever.

Uncharted isn't really gritty though, it's just less fantasy.

 

[BobFromPikeCreek]

Hooray for muscling a dev to change their own game's direction! Sony is best, best is Sony!

 

[ProfessorMoran]

lol at everyone saying Sony is redeemed. Yeah, having gritty games in a sea of other gritty games. Whatever.

No, having Uncharted in a sea of gritty games, that's like shawshank redemption.

 

[The Albatross]

I wish that they took it one step further and dropped some of the silly Sci-Fi stuff from the last two. Great, great games, two of my favorites from this generation, but I didn't think that Uncharted 2 had to get all stupid midway through just to progress the game. Can't help but compare it to Indiana Jones, and while the stories in Indiana Jones end with science fiction elements (the arc, the heart munchers, the grail), they aren't totally dominated by their mystery... It makes the rest of it that much more compelling.

 

[LOCK]

I knew this was the direction that they wanted to take Uncharted but somehow was getting side tracked.

I think Naughty Dog can make up their own minds Sony....

 

[Proelite]

Uncharted universe could have benefited much more if it was a post-apocalyptic world, where Drake has to fight bandits, mutants, and remnants, and uncover ancient and modern relics to save the world.

The kind of universe would have offered naughty dog so much more creative freedom, and still be extremely gritty.

If I was the leader of a creative establishment, I'll never ever make any of my franchises take place in a very realistic world, it just hampers what the artist and designers can come up with.

 

[ProfessorMoran]

...No I really didn't.

I blame Phil.

 

[Rush2thestart]

Uncharted seemed to have benefitted from this, but I really did not like most of Sony's other franchises this gen for this particular reason. I knew the reason we were seeing so many shooters was cause of Xbox's influence over Sony.

 

[ZeroGravity]

This is why we can't have nice things.

 

[obonicus]

lol at everyone saying Sony is redeemed. Yeah, having gritty games in a sea of other gritty games. Whatever.

I'm really sorry you couldn't get your Magical Pixies in Adventureland third-person cover-based shooter.

 

[JWong]

I wonder if Sony's directive was literally just "make it Indiana Jones" or if it was a little more loose than that.

It's a publisher's job to give some vision to the developers, but there is no way Sony thought up of Uncharted for ND. There's no doubt that Evan Wells, Christophe, and Amy had a hundred more ideas to pitch to Sony.

I have no qualms in disbelieving this ex-employee. Game ideas live and die by the minutes.

Remember Insomniac's cancelled game? Sony didn't push them to cancel it. They were even going to publish it regardless, but Insomniac realized it wasn't going to work out.
Another example is how LBP came to be Create Play Share. Alex Evans pitched a small idea, and then Sony blew the door open for them with the idea of content sharing and online.

 

[daviyoung]

Can't help but compare it to Indiana Jones, and while the stories in Indiana Jones end with science fiction elements (the arc, the heart munchers, the grail), they aren't totally dominated by their mystery... It makes the rest of it that much more compelling.

Indy dealt with real-world fables, fairy-tales and religious myth. Not science fiction. Uncharted did the same, the second one was all about Yetis and that. Third one will probably have Atlantis or something. As far as contextualising craziness goes, they're on par.

 

[Gravijah]

has it ever been said who made the choice to turn Jak into... whatever the hell Jak II and 3 were?

 

[ProfessorMoran]

This is why we can't have nice things.

You could have had Taylor Swift but you got Carrie Underwood instead.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

I knew this was the direction that they wanted to take Uncharted but somehow was getting side tracked.

I think Naughty Dog can make up their own minds Sony....

They have been given enough creative freedoms to make Uncharted the franchise you see today. It's lovely but this is probably not so playground as the thread makes it seem. ND still made the game they wanted and look where we are today. What could have been is nice but hind sight is always 20/20. Like I said, let them or another one of Sony's top rate studios have a crack at an RPG or MAYBE (JUST MAYBE) Sony and MSFT know to not make them types of games because studios like Bathesda have that covered? Who knows, we are all merely speculating but it's fun to have these conversations none the less.

 

[Vulcano's assistant]

Uncharted > Jak HD

 

[hsukardi]

Uncharted seemed to have benefitted from this, but I really did not like most of Sony's other franchises this gen for this particular reason. I knew the reason we were seeing so many shooters was cause of Xbox's influence over Sony.

No, the reason we're seeing so many shooters is because THE MARKET BUYS SHOOTERS.

 

[ZeroGravity]

You could have had Taylor Swift but you got Carrie Underwood instead.

Not seeing a positive in this scenario.

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

Good. More Raiders of the Lost Ark and less Shia Lebaouf.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

I am curious how this affects the "Sony does not bother their developers, they just let them make their games" mantra I hear so often.

My guess: Not at all!

 

[Zeliard]

People are giving Sony credit for their cynical outlook? They didn't want it more realistic because they thought it would make a better product, but rather that it was the "trend."

 

[M°°nblade]

Uncharted universe could have benefited much more if it was a post-apocalyptic world, where Drake has to fight bandits, mutants, and remnants, and uncover ancient and modern relics to save the world.

The kind of universe would have offered naughty dog so much more creative freedom, and still be extremely gritty.

If I was the leader of a creative establishment, I'll never ever make any of my franchises take place in a very realistic world, it just hampers what the artist and designers can come up with.

post-apocalyptic, fighting mutants, ... Don't we have enough of those too?

I'd say Uncharted settings, as they are, are quite refreshing and unique.

 

[Sealda]

The thing i dislike with Uncharted is the matinee theme. I rather have full blown fantasy than this Indiana Jones-esque thing.

 

[hamchan]

Thank you Sony.

 

[B_Rik_Schitthaus]

This whole 'Make dark gritty shooters' worked well for Uncharted (after ND added in a strong action serial vibe) but it didn't work out for Resistance, such a boring and bland IP.
Shame since the original idea of a big space opera could have been something at least a little engaging.

 

[Wario64]

I'm really sorry you couldn't get your Magical Pixies in Adventureland third-person cover-based shooter.

No, but I didn't really like having a bunch of shooters either

 

[dark10x]

Sony made the right push. The game isn't "dark and gritty" like so many other shooters, however. It's still very whimsical, but those elements are grounded in reality (similar to the Indiana Jones and the pulp novels that served as inspiration). I really don't think a fantasy world would have benefited this series at all. It wasn't until this generation that I truly thought of Naughty Dog as a AAA force to be reckoned with.

=( I wish these guys would buy back Crash and make a new one for PS4.

God no, while the games were solid, the whole Crash aesthetic and "world" has always felt so generic. I would hate to see them go back to that series.

People are giving Sony credit for their cynical outlook? They didn't want it more realistic because they thought it would make a better product, but rather that it was the "trend."

It almost doesn't matter. The end result is better as a result of this push.

 

[bwahhhhh]

you can pretty much see that push this gen all across the board with the Sony 1st parties and close knit 3rd parties like insomniac. Jak -> Uncharted, Sly -> infamous, Ratchet -> Resistance. (though we still get Ratchet games from IG)

 

[M°°nblade]

Not seeing a positive in this scenario.

I could give a fuck about both scenario's, literally.