Co-Optimus

[bapenguin]

Link: Co-Optimus Entry

Please keep all discussion of Uncharted 3: Drake\'s Deception for the Playstation 3 in this thread.

[Macrocephalus]

Cannot wait! Along with LBP2, Infamous 2, The Last Guardian, and Resistance 3, this is one of my very most anticipated games!

[godmathias]

Uncharted 2 in my opinion was the best game ever made. Not necessarily the most fun game, but the most well made. It will be tough to top that and raise the bar even higher, but I have a feeling Naughty Dog can do it. I hate the fact that I have to wait 11 months for this.

PS3 exclusives are going to have a HUGE year. Xbox has some great exclusives, but they really can't tough the ones PS3 puts out.

[BigBadBob113]

Joystiq did a piece where Naughty Dog has confirmed there will be some kind of co-op, but not campaign co-op. They gave no details, but I'm assuming it will be similar to Uncharted 2's co-op. Check out the article here.

[justabaldguy]

PS3 exclusives are going to have a HUGE year. Xbox has some great exclusives, but they really can't tough the ones PS3 puts out.

YES!! This means I got my PS3 right on time. I have Uncharted 2 on my list, and $70 worth of gift certificates to Best Buy, so one way or another I'M GETTING THIS GAME!

[sackoflemons]

This game is gonna be incredible! Maybe we should get a few co-op games going in uncharted 2 soon.

[TroNada]

Can't wait for this, Among Thieves was beyond amazing & i know that Drake's Deception will be top notch

This along with Killzone 3, LittleBigPlanet 2 & inFamous 2 are in my top 10 of anticipated games next year

[BigBadBob113]

Soooooooooooo Uncharted 3 will require an online pass in order to play. Yet another game that I won't be playing online with if I happen to rent it from Gamefly...

[coldphirre]

i saw this as well. first resistance, now uncharted. i didn't realize there was so much rampant piracy that sony needed to have a buffer against.

it is ridiculous that companies are getting away with charging customers for access to parts of games already on the disc. even more unbelievable is that this is apparently becoming the accepted norm. punishing gamers who can't or aren't willing to pay full price to play a game doesn't seem like the way to build and maintain a customer base. whatever happened to making money by selling products people actually want?

[Macrocephalus]

i saw this as well. first resistance, now uncharted. i didn't realize there was so much rampant piracy that sony needed to have a buffer against.

it is ridiculous that companies are getting away with charging customers for access to parts of games already on the disc. even more unbelievable is that this is apparently becoming the accepted norm. punishing gamers who can't or aren't willing to pay full price to play a game doesn't seem like the way to build and maintain a customer base. whatever happened to making money by selling products people actually want?

It sure steams my goat.

I'd love to see the anti-used-sales brigade try to extend their absurdist argument to other goods which often get sold used… like buildings, and cars. I'd like to imagine that the entire bogus edifice of their rhetoric would implode so spectacularly and violently that it'd form a black hole which would devour all such arguments and their evil espousers once and for all, but I guess that's just a pleasant fantasy. This kind of doublethink BS may be with us for the long haul.

I already paid for my preorder (I decided to go to the play-it-first thing since it sounded like fun and promised to get me the game a week early) but when I read about the online pass, I actually considered trying to get my money back. And yet, it's Uncharted 3, and it's almost certain to be a spectacularly good time, and I don't want to punish Naughty Dog for what I hope is strictly Sony's dirt-baggery, so…. urgghhhh.

[coldphirre]

I already paid for my preorder (I decided to go to the play-it-first thing since it sounded like fun and promised to get me the game a week early) but when I read about the online pass, I actually considered trying to get my money back. And yet, it's Uncharted 3, and it's almost certain to be a spectacularly good time, and I don't want to punish Naughty Dog for what I hope is strictly Sony's dirt-baggery, so…. urgghhhh.

i also signed up for the AMC pre-release event (LA), and i definitely think naughty dog is doing all the right things here in getting fans and newcomers excited for u3.

i'm hoping what will happen is sony/ea/whoever will see a significant drop in sales when they attempt to do a similar "project $10" on a less popular franchise and realize that while the whole online pass situation doesn't hurt the sales of established franchises, anything less would suffer greatly as a result of their greed.

[Macrocephalus]

i'm hoping what will happen is sony/ea/whoever will see a significant drop in sales when they attempt to do a similar "project $10" on a less popular franchise and realize that while the whole online pass situation doesn't hurt the sales of established franchises, anything less would suffer greatly as a result of their greed.

I think Sony may have already seen that with Resistance 3, which sold like cyanide to corpses. The problem, I think, is that forever reason (probably related to Insomniac's decision to go multi-platform) they decided to basically dump R3 in the market and do hardly any promotion, so it's probably hard to conclusively determine how many lost sales were because of the stupid evil rotten disgusting online pass requirement and how many were because they just didn't pitch the game to the public. (Which is too bad, because the campaign at least is really, really good.)

(This also makes me really worry about Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One. Are they going to dump that too?)

[Macrocephalus]

Well, from a strictly personal perspective, the whole online pass imbroglio could theoretically wind up being beside the point. The multiplayer beta awhile ago worried me. The demo they just rolled out via a Subway promotion is worrying me more. Unlike the beta, the multiplayer demo is ostensibly the real thing — tweaked and polished and adjusted and more or less in its final form, except presumably for server optimizations. And I'm starting to feel kind of like they killed Uncharted, or at least Uncharted's multiplayer.

The team selection is catastrophically borked — virtually all the high-level players get put on one team, virtually all the low-level characters on the other. At least that's easily fixed, though… provided someone bothers.

The controls, though, aren't so malleable, and they largely feel horrible. The camera swoops and spazzes uncontrollably, like it's on meth, and yet once you've aimed your weapon, you suddenly feel like you've been teleported into Resident Evil 5 and transformed into a torpid sloth that's been shot up with a lethal dose of industrial strength animal tranquilizers. If you're moderately near cover, hitting circle while moving, regardless of what direction you're moving in, will frequently draw you into cover instead of executing a roll… except when it doesn't. If you try to roll up to someone and hit square to melee attack a split second too soon, you're screwed, because melee attacks stop you dead in your tracks. I can't even count the number of times I knocked out empty air and got shot to death for my troubles. And on those occasions when I did manage to melee someone, it didn't usually matter, because other people could kill me with one punch, whereas it apparently took me half a dozen to kill most anyone else.

The rest of the combat system is just as ridiculously unbalanced. On multiple occasions, I poured entire clips into somebody's face, only to be killed by a few bullets — and I'm not talking about a close-up shotgun blast to the face beating an AK-47, either. I suppose there must be armor or hitpoint upgrades you get as you level up, though whether they're granted automatically or come in the form of unlocks I don't know, because there's no other way to explain it. The weapons certainly don't indicate that they get more lethal as you level up. I'm not sure it matters, though, because it's not fun to get killed repeatedly by people whose gunfire sort of wanders across you while being unable to kill people no matter how well I focused my gunfire on them. Even in the last game I played, when I got 18 kills (my high for the night) I still died even more frequently — 22 times.

The impression I'm getting is that Naughty Dog chose to learn all the wrong lessons from Call of Duty… though even that doesn't explain the horribly ganky controls. I'll keep playing, but I'm a lot less sanguine about my preorder now. I sure wish the demo included some proper co-op modes, but at this point, I'm not sure how much of a difference it'd make.

Anyone else try the demo? Thoughts? Disagreements?

[coldphirre]

my complaints about the mp are largely the same as yours, macro. i couldn't seem to find the option to adjust the look speed of the x or y axes, and melee does seem to require you to be much closer to someone than u2 did. the issues i've had with the cover system was mostly trying to take cover by doorways, which is usually a 50-50 deal.

with regards to weapon damage, i don't really understand if it's an issue with hit detection or if i'm really just that bad at aiming. at first i assumed it was because my opponents had purchased upgrades to their weapons that caused more damage or they had the regen perk, but even on hardcore, where all of that is supposedly out of the equation, i still seem to lose plenty of battles where i put at least half a clip of my ak into my opponent's body and he kills me in fewer bullets. also, i still can't seem to figure out how to throw a grenade back at someone. the grenades always seem to explode before i can hit triangle to toss it back.

the most use i've gotten out of the competitive mp was the fact i managed to unlock a couple of coop perks as i leveled up, though i can't see them while coop remains locked. i'm just going to save all of the money i've gotten so far to go all out on coop perks when my retail copy arrives.

the problem might be that third person shooters and competitive mp don't work as well as their fps counterparts, and naughty dog may be using us subway testers for feedback to confirm or alleviate their doubts.

*Edit: i almost forgot to address the worst issue that you had mentioned: ridiculously imbalanced teams! i get that there are some really hardcore players who have reached level 35 by now (and even 2 days into the promotion, actually), but it would make more sense to try and put at least 2 of them on my team rather than have all but one of them on the same team while i floundered around with my fellow lowbies. it may be an issue with preserving their squad, but i doubt every level 35 i've come across has been in the same team every game i've played.

[Macrocephalus]

I don't think the problem is either that you're not good at the game or that third-person shooters are just inherently worse than first-person ones. For one thing, Uncharted 2 didn't have these problems, and there are plenty of other good TPS games out there too. I just think U3's multiplayer is currently borked.

i couldn't seem to find the option to adjust the look speed of the x or y axes

That's because there isn't one! The only sensitivity adjustment is for aiming — i.e. moving the camera once you're holding L1 and you're aiming. And I'm not sure how effective that adjustment is, either. There simply isn't one for the camera outside of aiming mode. For some bizarre reason, its speed and sensitivity are completely fixed.

the most use i've gotten out of the competitive mp was the fact i managed to unlock a couple of coop perks as i leveled up, though i can't see them while coop remains locked. i'm just going to save all of the money i've gotten so far to go all out on coop perks when my retail copy arrives.

Yeah, same here. I've unlocked piles of co-op stuff, and I've only made it up to level 8. I guess I'll spend a little cash on competitive stuff, but I think I'll save most of my cash and hope that the co-op proves to be more worth spending it on.

*Edit: i almost forgot to address the worst issue that you had mentioned: ridiculously imbalanced teams! i get that there are some really hardcore players who have reached level 35 by now (and even 2 days into the promotion, actually), but it would make more sense to try and put at least 2 of them on my team rather than have all but one of them on the same team while i floundered around with my fellow lowbies. it may be an issue with preserving their squad, but i doubt every level 35 i've come across has been in the same team every game i've played.

Being low level myself, since I was just starting the game last night, I didn't land on the winning team once — not once — because every single time, without fail, the other team would have a bunch of people in the 20s and 30s and my team would have all single digits with maybe a person or two in the teens.

And if a couple level 35s are squadding together, then put another similar squad on the other team. There's absolutely no excuse for such broken team balancing.

I just came across this article that adds some other concerns.

http://www.gamersmint.com/uncharted-3%E2%80%B2s-mp-is-a-mess-what-naughty-dog-can-improve

I can't really comment about the map design yet — one nice thing about the demo is that there are a whole pile of maps in it, so I only rarely wound up playing the same map a second time, and never consecutively. They seemed fun, but there could be subtle problems that I just didn't get the chance to notice.

Spawning definitely is broken, though, at least a little bit. I was in a party with a friend, and there were times when I should've been able to buddy spawn but it was ghosted. And other times, I spawned in completely random locations — sometimes right in the middle of a party of enemies, obviously leading to my very very rapid death. Once I died like four times in a row like that. Very frustrating.

OTOH, I don't really mind the Subway aspects of the promotion. I think it's cool that they're sponsoring an entire month-long demo of the multiplayer, I think it's awesome that cash and unlocks and leveling up carries over to the release version of the game, and I don't give a crap if some of the treasures during the demo are Subway drinks and other junk. It's not like they defaced the actual levels themselves with advertisements, so what's the problem?

I just hope Naughty Dog can fix some of these problems, because some of the multiplayer modes seem like they could actually be a lot of fun — like Plunder.

[coldphirre]

my only complaint about the maps is that every position is exposed, either with an exposed flank or within view of a ledge somewhere closeby. i can certainly understand the reasoning behind having such open maps, but given it's a tps, more often than not it just leads to players camping on ledges behind walls watching everyone with a sniper rifle. it does tend to keep players on the move in most situations, i'll admit.

Spawning definitely is broken, though, at least a little bit. I was in a party with a friend, and there were times when I should've been able to buddy spawn but it was ghosted. And other times, I spawned in completely random locations — sometimes right in the middle of a party of enemies, obviously leading to my very very rapid death. Once I died like four times in a row like that. Very frustrating.

i haven't personally had much issue with that, both spawning on a buddy or normal respawns in the starting area. i just chalked up my constant deaths to the fact everyone else was level 35.

OTOH, I don't really mind the Subway aspects of the promotion. I think it's cool that they're sponsoring an entire month-long demo of the multiplayer, I think it's awesome that cash and unlocks and leveling up carries over to the release version of the game, and I don't give a crap if some of the treasures during the demo are Subway drinks and other junk. It's not like they defaced the actual levels themselves with advertisements, so what's the problem?

my favorite part of the mp (is it really a demo or just an early access to the game?) is actually the subway promotional treasures in game. granted i've only been alive long enough to find one treasure, but it was a subway sub, and i cracked up when i saw the treasure i had picked up. i haven't gone back and played recently though so i dont know that i'll be able to collect the full set and get a sweet subway trucker hat anytime soon.

i had pretty good experiences with the coop portion of u2 last time around, and the demo of the u3 coop wasn't too bad. if ND can provide a halfway decent coop experience and add in some sort of survival mode like they had in u2, i'd be perfectly fine avoiding the competitive mp portion this time around as well.

[Macrocephalus]

my only complaint about the maps is that every position is exposed, either with an exposed flank or within view of a ledge somewhere closeby. i can certainly understand the reasoning behind having such open maps, but given it's a tps, more often than not it just leads to players camping on ledges behind walls watching everyone with a sniper rifle. it does tend to keep players on the move in most situations, i'll admit.

Yeah, I have somewhat mixed feelings about that, but in my limited-so-far experience, the way the maps kept everyone on the move seemed to do a good job of preventing camping, so it may be a worthwhile tradeoff. Except for fixed gun emplacements, which seem to be way too commanding and hard to assault.

my favorite part of the mp (is it really a demo or just an early access to the game?) is actually the subway promotional treasures in game. granted i've only been alive long enough to find one treasure, but it was a subway sub, and i cracked up when i saw the treasure i had picked up. i haven't gone back and played recently though so i dont know that i'll be able to collect the full set and get a sweet subway trucker hat anytime soon.

I got a treasure that said it was a Subway hat, but the graphic was of a big soda cup.

Either way, I thought it was funny, and I didn't mind at all. I don't understand why some people think the Subway promotion is so crass and disgusting. Sure, Subway sucks, whatever. But they're not messing with the game, they're just helping ND promote it, so it's all good.

Oh, and yeah, AFAIK it's a demo. I don't think all the maps are available, but either way, it ends when the game's released, and of course there are no trophies, so it's not like they're just giving away the multiplayer portion of the game.

i had pretty good experiences with the coop portion of u2 last time around, and the demo of the u3 coop wasn't too bad. if ND can provide a halfway decent coop experience and add in some sort of survival mode like they had in u2, i'd be perfectly fine avoiding the competitive mp portion this time around as well.

I had pretty much the same control issues with the co-op in the beta awhile back as I'm having with the competitive multiplayer, so I'm worried. But I guess I'm not going to cancel my preorder. I'm still hoping for great things.

[Macrocephalus]

The key to playing Uncharted 3's ganky multiplayer revealed: DON'T AIM!

WARNING: The video is DEFINITELY NOT SAFE FOR WORK! Or for people who don't tolerate harsh language. But otherwise, it's worth watching.

http://gamingbolt.com/how-to-be-good-at-the-uncharted-3-beta-sad-truth-about-the-game

[CaptainSofa]

I've always played on Xbox360 and recently bought a couple of PS3s for the wife and I. This is one of the games I'll be buying, as we both lke to play MP. I've researched on the internet about what co-op this game will have, and I really can't find an answer. Does anybody know for sure what co-op it will have?

Thanks

[CaptainSofa]

Hahaha no one answered. That's ok though. After playing the "Subway Taste for Adventure Multiplayer Experience" I won't be buying this one.