![]() ![]() To make mention of the video again, I started that with a long pause before I suggested the bloke in the cage said the Age of Empires 2 quote, “Start the game already!” It wasn’t just a joke about a dead bloke in a cage, but one about feeling bored in that first half of A Thief’s End. It is the same story, the same beats, and everything is all in place, but the pacing has shifted to account for adding on another 5-6 hours. These are two people who don’t actually communicate as a married couple. ![]() It throws the Uncharted tone of violence out the window for no good reason. The issue is none more apparent than the scene where the known mass murderer we’ve been controlling for umpteen hours sits on the couch with his wife and eats dinner. Instead of just telling its story, it’s prolonging itself with the mysterious notion that pregnant pauses and drawn-out cutscenes show maturity. It is a vague misunderstanding of what mature storytelling happens to be. I mentioned in the video last Thursday that this pacing attempts to go for Naughty Dog’s other PS3 hit, The Last of Us. Uncharted started out at my preferred length of 8-10 hours, and A Thief’s End is bleeding out into 15 hours. The idea of a 12-15 hour campaign in single-player games offers the ability to complete more games. I agree with his point that 50-80 hour RPGs that are as wide as the ocean and as deep as a puddle are an issue. Why am I using Layden’s words to talk about pacing in Uncharted 4 ? I’m not denying that games have become more expensive to make in the 25 years Layden had been in the business by that point, but even the tired Uncharted story that keeps being trotted out to go showjumping has the problem Layden complains about. If you don’t have elasticity on the price-point, but you have huge volatility on the cost line, the model becomes more difficult. “ been $59.99 since I started in this business, but the cost of games has gone up ten times. “ I would welcome a return to the 12 to 15-hour game ,” said Shawn Layden in 2020. This is where I think it would be nice to roll out two quotes from the former president and CEO of SIEA, one on game length and one on pricing. it is there and with its predecessors, but here it is slower. Last week when talking about Uncharted 3, I noted that the pacing is at a breakneck speed. The longest of the four main series installments, A Thief’s End doesn’t gallop out of the gate. That is really like coming in second in a boxing match. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, despite being another slow, boring escapade into the dull tawdry adventures of a useless man with no personality and his immature “friends”/family, and all my usual gripes with the series, it is the second-best game that I’ve played in the series. It is a bit of a backhanded compliment, but it is worth saying nonetheless. Before I get into my usual swearing hatred towards Nathan Drake and how Naughty Dog doesn’t have a single adult on staff that can communicate like a human being, I want to say one thing. ![]()
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