Im on Chapter 14 or 15 of the first Uncharted. I like the shooting mechanics, but hate the bullet sponge nature of the enemies. I like Nathan Drake, because he's basically Mal from Firefly (no, seriously, there is a reason everyone wants Fillion to play this guy in a movie). Overall, I dig the story and the characters, but some of the stuff I go through to get to said story is kind of, well, frustrating.

My question is do things get better in Among Thieves? Should I soldier through and finish Drake's Fortune so I know what's going on in the sequel? Basically, did anyone else dislike the first game and love the second?

The first Uncharted is good, the second Uncharted is amazing. Keep going.

I didnt enjoyed the first one a lot , which prompted me to never touch another Uncharted game ... my loss I guess but I didnt digged the characters or the game mechanics. So perhaps you should ignore the first one and go to the second as is the favorite of the series for most folks

Things get way better in the second one, and in the third.

okee dokee. I think i might be able to beat Fortune, Monday, so I might pop in Thieves just to see how it goes.

Finish it!!!!

Or I could just finish it, tonight. Story beats were really cool, but the final boss fight sucked hard. QTE boss fights are just lame as hell.

Oh man, you think Drake's Fortune's end boss is bad... where as Among Thieves is virtually superior to Drake's Fortune in every way, that fucking end boss is a monstrosity.

Also it's great you completed Drake's Fortune; plenty of great little winks and nods to grab a hold of in Among Thieves.

I wanted to finish DF because I wanted to see how awesome AT really is, plus like I said, I rather enjoyed the story. Drake's Fortune would make a killer film, as-is. Indiana Jones with more action and violence? Sign me up. No idea why they'd change anything about it.

I am going to make a random suggestion for the rest of the series if you keep playing. Stick with a pistol and headshots. That is how I played all 3 games and I think it was the best choice I could ever make. Never ran into this bullet sponge thing people kept talking about, since dudes always died in one shot. 
 
Except the armored guys, but fuck those, they are terribly designed enemies. Somehow getting worse as the series progressed as well, the placing and scenarios you find them in UC3 made me yell at the game more than once.

Lower the difficulty. I actually find all the Uncharted games equally enjoyable when I crank the difficulty all the way down or up. While Crushing feeds into the whole feeling of accomplishment, playing on Very Easy lets you enjoy the scripted moments. It also goes hand in hand with the common movie trope of bad guys not being able to shoot for shit while the protagonist is an assassin with a pistol.

for the most part, I stuck to pistols and tried for head shots as much as I could. the special enemies towards the end being a notable exception. the best times were when I happened across a sniper, desert eagle or magnum. one shots for everyone. even if I shot em in the leg......

I'm also finally working my way through this series. About halfway through Drake's Fortune. Having a good time so far, but I really didn't enjoy that fortress gunfight setpiece in the flooded rooms. There's something a little whack about the shooting mechanics that I haven't quite reckoned with yet, and I think--for this first game only, of course--that's going to hamper my enjoyment a bit. Not too unsettled by the "bullet sponge" nature of the enemies, but that's mostly because I sort of knew that'd be the case before I even signed up for this series.

for the most part, I stuck to pistols and tried for head shots as much as I could. the special enemies towards the end being a notable exception. the best times were when I happened across a sniper, desert eagle or magnum. one shots for everyone. even if I shot em in the leg......

Dude you're near the end of the game. Stopping now would be a shame. You'd basically have done everything up to now for nothing. Keep going. When you pop in Uncharted 2, you will understand why everyone was all over this game two years ago. Trust me.

The end-areas of all the Uncharted games are frustrating, but they're worth fighting through.

Plus, UC 2 is a significant improvement over the first one. Like leaps and bounds. 3 doesn't do anything the 2nd didn't, so temper your expectations realistically.

@HistoryInRust said:

I'm also finally working my way through this series. About halfway through Drake's Fortune. Having a good time so far, but I really didn't enjoy that fortress gunfight setpiece in the flooded rooms. There's something a little whack about the shooting mechanics that I haven't quite reckoned with yet, and I think--for this first game only, of course--that's going to hamper my enjoyment a bit. Not too unsettled by the "bullet sponge" nature of the enemies, but that's mostly because I sort of knew that'd be the case before I even signed up for this series.

heh. wait till you see the last enemy type introduced in the game. that's when the shooting mechanics really got to me.

I know it's blasphemous, but I would have loved an auto aim for easy mode. itd make it more fun for those of us that are more into the story and exploration than the combat.

@BionicRadd said:

I wanted to finish DF because I wanted to see how awesome AT really is, plus like I said, I rather enjoyed the story. Drake's Fortune would make a killer film, as-is. Indiana Jones with more action and violence? Sign me up. No idea why they'd change anything about it.

Yeah, the story in Drake's Fortune is the best part. It has a charming degree of modesty to it that the other two don't quite match; no doubt since the later two are all 'bout globe-trotting with around 9 major characters, wherein Drake's Fortune is naturally of a much smaller scale.

Honestly, I never really found the combat to be a problem in the Uncharted games. It's always the platforming that got to me.

Just skip Drake's Fortune if you're not having fun with it. Uncharted 2 stands well enough on its own.

The second one is probably in my top 10 of all time for games so yeah keep going.

Started Uncharted 2. I love Very Easy mode. haha. I get the story which I like and the combat is still fun without them going full on lock-on auto targeting. Opening missions are outstanding.

I enjoyed Uncharted 1 and I played it for the first time a month ago.

Im on Chapter 14 or 15 of the first Uncharted. I like the shooting mechanics, but hate the bullet sponge nature of the enemies. I like Nathan Drake, because he's basically Mal from Firefly (no, seriously, there is a reason everyone wants Fillion to play this guy in a movie). Overall, I dig the story and the characters, but some of the stuff I go through to get to said story is kind of, well, frustrating.

My question is do things get better in Among Thieves? Should I soldier through and finish Drake's Fortune so I know what's going on in the sequel? Basically, did anyone else dislike the first game and love the second?

@Sooty said:

@BionicRadd said:

Im on Chapter 14 or 15 of the first Uncharted. I like the shooting mechanics, but hate the bullet sponge nature of the enemies. I like Nathan Drake, because he's basically Mal from Firefly (no, seriously, there is a reason everyone wants Fillion to play this guy in a movie). Overall, I dig the story and the characters, but some of the stuff I go through to get to said story is kind of, well, frustrating.

My question is do things get better in Among Thieves? Should I soldier through and finish Drake's Fortune so I know what's going on in the sequel? Basically, did anyone else dislike the first game and love the second?

Honestly if you dislike the shooting in Uncharted then don't bother with 2 or 3 because the shooting in those games is still pretty spongey and the lackluster part of the game. If you can push yourself through it then that's fine and there's some great moments, but just a word of warning because the shooting really is pretty boring and lifeless throughout the series. Edit: Playing it on very easy mode so people die fast is a good workaround. Nice.

Yea, I don't typically go for noob mode in games, but the other option was to not play the game, at all, since I really don't find the combat that compelling. I don't think the bullet sponge stuff would bother me if you didn't have to endure 2 or 3 waves of fools every time you get in a fight. Even on very easy, I've already hit a spot where I am ready for the fight to be over long before it actually is.

I accept that the second Uncharted is the better game, but i like the first Uncharted more. My GOTY 2007. What a great experience that game was.

I feel like Uncharted has maybe gone too crazy with its stunts in the last two. Leaping from truck to truck, hanging by your fingers from a cargo plane, fighting a fucking tank on foot... Original almost feels like its showing restraint in comparison. Couple jet ski sequences, the jeep sequence... Even the combat encounters have a nice progression from disorganized pirates to better trained mercenaries to feral zombie guys. Drake feels like a guy in a crazy situation rather than a magical fucking stunt wizard.

I'm on chapter 13. I'm enjoying the game but definitely get frustrated with the bullet sponge enemies. I'm sticking with it but I can't wait to get to UC2.

@Brodehouse said:

I accept that the second Uncharted is the better game, but i like the first Uncharted more. My GOTY 2007. What a great experience that game was. I feel like Uncharted has maybe gone too crazy with its stunts in the last two. Leaping from truck to truck, hanging by your fingers from a cargo plane, fighting a fucking tank on foot... Original almost feels like its showing restraint in comparison. Couple jet ski sequences, the jeep sequence... Even the combat encounters have a nice progression from disorganized pirates to better trained mercenaries to feral zombie guys. Drake feels like a guy in a crazy situation rather than a magical fucking stunt wizard.

Nah, he still feels like a magical stunt wizard to me in that first game. Just the sheer volume of crazy bare handed ledge climbing and jumping he does was enough to erase any semblance of realism for me. It implies that he should have enough upper body strength to bench press a truck.

Things ramp up in sequels. That's sort of the nature of the beast with pretty much any medium. The first game made it pretty clear they were trying to be Tomb Raider with better shooting mechanics, but from a storytelling standpoint, Among Thieves starts out really strong. I love the flashbacks and how the opening sequence is handled, a lot.

@Abyssfull said:

Oh man, you think Drake's Fortune's end boss is bad... where as Among Thieves is virtually superior to Drake's Fortune in every way, that fucking end boss is a monstrosity.

THIS!

I ran through the entire game on Hard, and after what amounted to months or retrying, I eventually broke, turned it down and completed it.

Emptiest win ever.

The shooting in Uncharted is a strange, frustrating beast. I think it actually has more to do with enemy AI being incredibly jerky than the actual mechanics being rough. I mean, the online in both two and three feels great, so that leads to me to believe the core mechanics are completely fine. They just...do something wrong in the single player. 

@Chop said:

The shooting in Uncharted is a strange, frustrating beast. I think it actually has more to do with enemy AI being incredibly jerky than the actual mechanics being rough. I mean, the online in both two and three feels great, so that leads to me to believe the core mechanics are completely fine. They just...do something wrong in the single player.

I find aiming to be incredibly slow and that is exacerbated by the fact that the enemy will often show up on your flank, or worse yet, behind you, which totally takes cover out of the equation. I kinda wonder how I'd like it if the game was set up with true run and gun mechanics instead of stop and pop. I realize I can walk while shooting, but it's laborious at best.