man, i just got around to playing and finishing uncharted 2, and gotta say, kinda let down. First of all, there has to be something im missing in the combat. i would die at LEAST 10 times a level. other than that, i DONT LIKE ELENA. sure its supposed to be like a sort of comeback from the first game, but damn. I would have much preferred Nathan stay with Chloe than the annoying blonde elena. Lastly, no matter who much i try, i cant get into a multiplayer game. it always says syncing and connecting, but then always pops up an error. 
 
So tell me, What am i missing? What concept have i not grasped in the combat? What hidden depth in the story am i missing?

Well without knowing HOW you play the combat, I can't really say what you're missing. It's cover-based, so stay in cover and go for headshots. Try to remain mobile, going from cover-to-cover, as enemies tend to attack where you last were. 
The multiplayer might just be dead, the game is over two years old, or it might be a faulty connection on your side. I never really got into it, so I can't say. 
Nothing anyone can possibly say will ever make you like a character that you don't care for, so I can't really do anything for you there. Overall, the game just might not be for you.

What difficulty are you playing on? The combat is all about patience. Analyze the situation and when you do you should know when people are going to pop up or run at you. I almost never used the hip fire or blind fire. Also if you are going to run at people make sure they are the only ones or close to the only ones left and hit them with a combo.

Also I don't know what to say about the story. I thought the characters and story were fantastic and am really excited for Uncharted 3.

whenever i would stay behind cover for any period longer than 5 seconds, enemies would throw grenades, making me exposed to their bullets while trying to find more cover. when i was on the train sequence, enemies would just randomly drop down behind me from the roof and kill me with 1 shot from a shot gun. Either way, i still really appreciate your help.

I died quite a few times playing as well. I liked Chloe much more than Elena and the multiplayer thing happens to me as well kinda kills my want to play the multiplayer when I have to sit staring at that screen for five minutes.

I agree, I didn't like her much either and thought the combat was sorta lame, generic.  But I turned my video settings all the way up and tuned the audio just for that title and found the adventure great.  
 
Didn't really pay any attention to the little things, just the big scenery and the atmosphere.   Reminds me of Indiana Jones movies.   Had to watch Temple of Doom afterward. 

I thought Elena was better than Chloe.

Elena is my favorite character. Stop playing it wrong.

" I thought Elena was better than Chloe. "

its not that i cant find a game, its that it doesn't even begin to look for a session. it pops up something like error loading models or error getting ticket

Google the error message?

I too enjoyed Chloe much more than Elena but found nothing wrong with Uncharted 2. I think it's the best game I've ever played this generation.

Uncharted 2 was great. I don't know how you keep dying. It's got a cover system.

Chloe's more of a fling gal, and Elena's the kind that Nathan would stay with after the series. 

" Well without knowing HOW you play the combat, I can't really say what you're missing. It's cover-based, so stay in cover and go for headshots. Try to remain mobile, going from cover-to-cover, as enemies tend to attack where you last were. The multiplayer might just be dead, the game is over two years old, or it might be a faulty connection on your side. I never really got into it, so I can't say. Nothing anyone can possibly say will ever make you like a character that you don't care for, so I can't really do anything for you there. Overall, the game just might not be for you. "

I think it's a improvement on this first and a great action packed shooter but I know what you mean. I feel like if you've played the first, you've pretty much played the second as well. Multiplayer was kind of cool but I wasn't really wanting to play more after about 5 games. Great game and technical achievement but perhaps overly hyped.

I really hate to be this arrogent, narrow-minded and pig headed but...  
 

DON'T LIKE ELENA? GTFO! 

I found the developers thought that their control systems were better than they actually were. Game was fine, but not good enough for the situations they put you in. Also last quarter of that game sucks pretty hard.

Well, it depends on the difficulty you're playing on. If you were playing on a harder difficulty, well, that's your answer. If you played on easy or normal, then it's about staying in cover and knowing when to shoot, when to move, and when to hunker down behind a slab of concrete. As for not being able to join a multiplayer game, it's important to realize the game is around two years old now and many people have probably moved on to a different game (like Killzone 3). Uncharted 2 just might not be the game for you, which is fine. All that matters is that you gave it an honest shot.

I played Uncharted 1 and 2 recently and didn't much care for them. Then again, I didn't much care for Portal 2 so my tastes in games may be slightly unconventional.

Oh and I forgot to ask should I play the first uncharted first? Or does it matter that much?

man, i just got around to playing and finishing uncharted 2, and gotta say, kinda let down. First of all, there has to be something im missing in the combat. i would die at LEAST 10 times a level. other than that, i DONT LIKE ELENA. sure its supposed to be like a sort of comeback from the first game, but damn. I would have much preferred Nathan stay with Chloe than the annoying blonde elena. Lastly, no matter who much i try, i cant get into a multiplayer game. it always says syncing and connecting, but then always pops up an error.  So tell me, What am i missing? What concept have i not grasped in the combat? What hidden depth in the story am i missing?

What concept have i not grasped in the combat? 

 cant get into a multiplayer game. it always says syncing and connecting, but then always pops up an error.

the fact that you don't like that enemies throw grenades to take you out of cover means you should either be playing this game on easy or not at all. The game wouldn't be much fun if you could just stay in one spot the whole time and kill the enemies, where is the fun and thrill in that? Also when you said when you were trying to use melee you would die, would  you by any chance be trying to do that with 5 guys around you? I mean logically do you think you could punch a dude in real life with 5 guys around you loaded with Ak-47's and survive?

I don't know. The only explaination I can give is that you are an, how should I put it, incorrect person. One might even say you are a wrong person.