Remember Uncharted 4: A Thief's End at last year's PlayStation Experience? Naughty Dog showed off some gameplay which revealed that Nathan Drake's latest would have dialogue options, essentially allowing you to pick your way through cutscenes. There was an audible gasp from the the crowd when the choices popped up on the big screen, but since then, we haven't really heard anything substantial about this aspect of the game.
Speaking to Eurogamer, director Neil Druckmann reiterates that the dialogue options won't be a major part of the release, and certainly won't have a direct impact on where the title's story ends up. "The thing I want to make sure we're clear about is that we're not making Mass Effect," he says, shutting down any comparisons to BioWare's role-playing series. "Uncharted has a very specific story, it has a very specific ending that's very definitive to the franchise."
Druckmann continues: "Every once in a while we felt a dialogue tree would really bring you more into the scene [...] there's something about Sam asking Nate about his old adventures that's like, it would be kind of fun to have Nate – and therefore the player – pick which story they want to tell first. And there's a few other instances like that where it felt like a dialogue tree was just going to get you more into the scene and make it more interactive." In other words, these choices are there for those who'd like a little more back and forth between characters - an optional mechanic that's used to flesh each scenario out.
All in all, it's sounding like the supposed final chapter of Nathan Drake is going to hone in on the game's cast and the relationships that the characters have with each other. Do you like the sounds of this? Did you think that the dialogue trees would have more of an impact? Choose a reply in the comments section below.
[source eurogamer.net]
Comments 18
I'm absolutely okay with this.
I can totally see the thought process behind this. I think it was obvious they're not making The Witcher or, like he says, Mass Effect. If it really is the last entry, it seems like they just wanted a system that would allow players to put a little bit of themselves into the final leg of the story. The dialogue choice in the screenshot is indicative of that: it's asking fans to remember previous games.
Sounds fine to me.
For a lot of people who didn't play the previous games and for those that my have played them awhile ago, it looks like this will give players a bit more insight into Nates previous adventures and maybe help them understand the relationship dynamics. I don't know how many times this dialogue tree option will crop up but the example so far relates back to the previous games therefore I don't know if it will give a bit more depth to the current game and its story or a way of recapping past adventures/relationships etc. I don't know if it will be almost pointless if you recently played the Nathan Drake collection for example but give context to newcomers. I guess it could be used to give context to 'new' characters and any prior history that wasn't explored in former games.
Either way I am not bothered that it doesn't give a branching storyline. I am a big fan of Uncharted and its my favourite PS exclusive franchise - probably my favourite exclusive franchise overall too. I think the stories lend themselves to a linear pathway better anyway. Its my most anticipated release of 2016 and if I didn't already have a PS4, I would buy one to play it!
It could be fine to add a little more variety to subsequent playthroughs. I am pretty sure there will be trophies again for beating the game in different difficulty levels.
Pointless.
I'm not sure how I feel about non-impactful dialogue trees in general, but used as a vehicle to let players choose what to brag about? Brilliant.
@Bad-MuthaAdebisi It's more of a fan service than anything substantial.
I don't know how I'd feel about dialogue trees that don't mean anything to the story. Yeah, it's definitely a pretty good tool for immersion, but these days people think that if you're going to make the choice, then it should matter.
Good. I'm not a big fan of games with multiple endings.
>Dialogue choices don't impact the story
>"We're not making Mass Effect"
No, it sounds like you ARE making Mass Effect.
@slampog exactly, I'd rather they spent the time on something else but good for the super fans I suppose. Considering though you can already play the first 3 on PS4, is there a need? I'll most likely enjoy the game, I enjoyed Golden Abyss although it's pretty much just a straight forward shooter. I've no real interest in playing the previous games or having the choice of which order I'm forced to listen to back story. I'm primarily interested in the action in 4 as it looks pretty great.
Hopefully it won't feel irrelevant like most games that take this approach most recent in my mind being XCX where choices just don't matter and might as well not be there.
I wish real life had dialogue trees. I'm seemingly on a predetermined course to constantly pick the red / wrong / bad / naughty option whilst in a conversation in real life.
Seems a bit pointless to have dialogue options without different endings/levels but this sound interesting to have different scenes and dialogue if im hearing this right.
@TheMightyPunram Yeah, I agree, but even then ME fails repeatedly in that regard. Most decisions have no repercussions beyond a few sentences after making the choice itself. I mean, I was making a joke with my previous post but it's still true that ME's choices basically alter the next paragraph of dialogue (if that) and then just move on in the way they were going to move on anyway.
It got away with all that because people assumed it was going to be referenced next game, or at least at the end. Sometimes it was completely ignored, sometimes it just led to the infamous "different coloured cupcakes" thing.
Mass Effect 3 then? Yes, I'm still bitter about that game.
That's absolutely fine by me. No need to worry about what you're saying will impact the game. Plus, it adds some variety to the cutscenes, which is always nice.
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