There’s a trend toward interactivity in titles. Which is a little ironic, considering games are interactive by nature, but companies want to give people more control. Or, at least, developers want to give people the illusion of control. A popular method of doing so as of late is to provide dialogue options during story segments, which Naughty Dog is trying with Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End . Unfortunately, people already don’t appreciate the effort.
The first trailer during Sony’s 2015 PlayStation Experience was for Uncharted 4 . It showed Nathan and Sam Drake catching up after a number of years and was one of the more low key videos for the game. It was primarily there to show off a new feature – the ability to decide what Nathan says during story segments. Sam asks him to talk about his adventures, and the trailer shows people would have the option to decide what to talk about.
People seized on how Arne Meyer, Naughty Dog’s Community Strategist, has said that these dialogue prompts will be minor. When interviewed by PlayStation Access , Meyer said they would give people more details about certain plot elements, but wouldn’t change the overarching storyline. He confirmed Uncharted 4 is a linear adventure.
Which is fine. Games don’t have to offer multiple endings. We don’t need to control every facet. It feels more like the Uncharted 4 dialogue prompts will be a kindness. If there’s some aspect you’d like to explore and learn more about, perhaps over other options, Naughty Dog is going to give you the chance to do it.
It’s still allowing a measure of freedom and control. Good ones, in fact. We feel like we’ve gotten to know Nate over the last three games, but we’ve always only seen what Naughty Dog allows us to. By providing these dialogue choices, even minor ones, we could learn more about the motivations of characters we’ve come to love. Even the most minor option to alter the expected course could prove entertaining for fanatics.
Especially if Uncharted 4 does prove to be the last entry in the series. At the PlayStation Experience, Robert Cogburn, Naughty Dog’s lead game designer, made comments to Kotaku that suggested the company may want to move on to something new. If that proves true, a final game where people could replay to choose different dialogue options and learn more about the characters could be a great way to say goodbye. It’d mean new information about the world, even minor tidbits, every time.
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End won’t be released until March 18. All anyone has been able to play through so far is the multiplayer beta. Let’s try and keep the area surrounding the game a judgement-free zone for now, okay? There’ll be plenty of time to see if the risks Naughty Dog are taking are good or bad ones. Let’s not jump ahead.