'Uncharted 4' Director Bruce Straley Talks Diversity, Storytelling Tips And More

He discussed the end of "Uncharted" in an exclusive interview with HuffPost.

[DarkOcelet]

"Nathan Drake is kind of the ultimate white, male protagonist. He's like a 21st-century Indiana Jones. But a lot of people are waking up to the need for more diverse characters and stories in our popular culture. Did you think about these issues at all for "Uncharted 4"? "

What a disturbing thing to say. WTF does Ultimate White means? Seriously? Who says stuff like that?

[Overload]

Yeah, referencing his race like that is kind of weird.

[TFJWM]

Pretty sure they mean the Ultimate (White male protagonist) not Ultimate white.

Other than that question thou it was a pretty solid interview

[ShinMaster]

@ TFJWM

Yeah but it's followed up with: "Did you think about these issues at all for Uncharted 4?"

It was a bit of a loaded question. These people can't help but try to lecture others at any opportunity.

[KurtRussell]

Being so sensitive is weird

[InactiveUser]

Hope they're talking about single player, because the multiplayer is ruined with all those perks/boosters/rewards, whatever you want to call them.

The gunplay is pretty good. They should've stuck much closer to a focus on that, like in UC2. Now you can call in NPCs. Why the F would I want to be fighting NPCs in competitive PvP multiplayer?

Then you have that speed burst teleporting with 1hit melee, the sarcophagus attacking everything in range, basically the same effect as an unmanned turret..

I want to fight people.. other real, actual people in Competitive PvP multiplayers.. not NPCs, not 'turrets', I don't want people to be invisible, invincible, or have super speed. They made a good MP with UC2, just as Insomniac did with R:FoM.. then they CoDify them more and more with each new installment.

TLOU' MP is good too. How do you all think they'll screw that up in the sequel? Ability to call in clickers and bloaters? Way to F up some good gunplay, ND.

[Genuine-User]

Huffington post apparently. :p

But yeah, that's a bizarre thing to ask.

[miyamoto]

my favorite part of Straley's answer:
"In this game, if you're lost, we want to open up the landscape so you have a very wide environment. We want to explore your options so you're getting back on the path. That feeling of adventure -- we're bread-crumbing you so we're not giving you the goal. Nathan Drake is lost, he's trying to assess what he should do next, and we want the player to feel the same with the controller in his hand. What do I do and where do I go?"
so much for linear corridors....

and
"Video games are just taking baby steps in terms of coupling really strong narrative with compelling gameplay. Naughty Dog is known for our character-driven stories, and I think that the trick that we have to pull off is that we want strong characters, and we want a strong story, which means there has to be a certain amount of sacrifice for the type of gameplay that affects the story.

So for example, we had a moment in "Uncharted 2" where you go back for [love interest] Chloe on a train. Nathan Drake is the kind of person who sticks his neck out for his friends. We choose to go on that adventure with him. You get on the train, and there's a turn, and things end up that there's a train wreck and you're stranded in the snow in the Himalayas.

We accumulate the snowstorm in the fight. As enemies approach, they surround the train wreck. You're injured. Your move-set is compromised. After you get off this high climactic point, we want to contrast it with this down moment where you collapse. You're on your own."

Video games are the only industry where every single time someone picks up a joystick, they expect something familiar but it has to be something new. It has to have new mechanics.

this is what Nintendo extremists will never understand.

[goldwyncq]

Not that surprising to hear in an age where a white male is often presented as the definition of a generic protagonist.

[G20WLY]

Generic? I can agree that protagonists are often white males, but generic is a stretch. I think they've worked quite hard to make Drake a great, loved character, that stands out from the 'generic' crowd.

He's actually being quite likable, thanks largely to subtle humour and the always ever-so-slightly out of his depth nature of his mannerisms and script.

[HeavenlySnipes]

^Generic in that most protagonist in action media (movies/games) is a white male in his 20s/30s.

[AnubisG]

The left wing liberal media asks questions that way. For then if something doesn't have a gay/lesbian/bisexual black/hispanic person in it as a lead than it's automatically racist. If it has a white person as the lead character, it needs more diversity right away according to them. And this is the reason why we got this awful Ghostbusters remake, the next James Bond will be played by a black guy. Everything white man needs to be switched out, can't have that.

[WeAreLegion]

And ironically, the black character is super racist. -_-

God, that movie looks bad. If you're going to get women, get funny women.

[BlakHavoc]

I think all it means is that we need more diversity in Hollywood period. In most big blockbuster films the protagonist is white, rarely do u see the character as anything else unless it's will smith or Denzel. Equal opportunity is all that ppl are complaining about, I agree that not everything needs to have diversity, like the Human Torch being black (God that threw me off), but I do believe we need more diversity in movies and video games today. Truth is anyone that doesn't see their race represented often is going to complain, while ppl that are used to it won't understand the big deal.

[kneon]

@BlakHavoc

Normally I don't care what race a character is, you want an Asian or Black superman, sure go for it. The only time I found it weird was in Thor where you had Black and Asian Norse Gods, that just makes no sense at all.

[TheOneWhoIsTornApart]

Not sure if you heard but they are looking to get Idris Elba to play the gunslinger in The Dark Tower film adaptation. You know how ridiculous that is if you have read the books. This type of thing is getting out of hand.

[iceman06]

@Blakhavoc...I fully agree. I don't think that diversity needs to be shoe-horned into everything just for the sake of representation. However, it would be great to see more diversity in places where race is really not the topic. As you said, when you are used to seeing adequate representation, it is often difficult to see why others might complain.

[Software_Lover]

Dumb question

[ShadowKnight]

Lol that was a weird thing to say. The ultimate white male?

[Thatguy-310]

Exactly!!!! I don't see why people bring race into topics like this. The last thing in my head when investing myself into a story is questioning what race the character is. I do understand that some stories do explore one's race and it does play a big role but when looking at stories like Uncharted I'm pretty sure that's the last thing on someone's mind.

[3-4-5]

The Huffington Post are trash. All they talk about is race and sexism. They never talk about it in a knowledgeable way though, but they talk about it like how a High school freshman would.

They have no shame.

[rainslacker]

Well...he does certainly kill a lot of people of ethnic origin....

But yeah, pretty loaded question. Could have been asked without that whole racial thing at the beginning, because Drake to me is more a rather typical male hero archetype whose race is rather irrelevant.

[Visualift]

How about you get your head out of your ass and stop thinking everything has to be about race and some questionable ulterior motive.

[Bathyj]

What I don't get is why Bruce plays to that question.

"We can't suddenly make Nathan Drake a black protagonist, as much as it'd be super great to support something like that. "

Super great? Why would it be super great? It would be ridiculous to change an established character (in his last game no less) for no other reason than to have more black characters. Stupid pandering answer.

[Helios86]

Huffpost and other racists like Kotaku, polygon etc.

[Acquiescence]

Dude, it's the Huffington Post. This kind of far-Left extremism is what keeps them afloat.

[Brohan]

Could just be me but I for one believe naughty dog is a over rated developer.

[DarkOcelet]

Nope, just you.

[Walter_Official]

Well isn't that a surprise, a guy who in his past comments said he will never get rid of his xbox is downplaying a developer that he probably hasn't played. Ain't that something new to N4G.

[Brohan]

Comes from someone who thinks they know something about another. I for one have played the uncharted series and it's good but to say naughty dog is the best/greatest developers around is a lie and anyone who believes this is in denial.

[G20WLY]

^Brohan, where did anybody here say that for you to start with that kind of nonsense?

It's certainly been said many a time and MANY firmly believe ND to be the best in the business, but it's got sod all to do with this article and it's not a reply to someone's comment.

So do one ;o)

[Eidolon]

So is Deadpool.

[Whirlwind_Fanfare_08]

Yep, it's you.

[Aloy-Boyfriend]

Overrated?
Am I on IGN?

[notachance]

Nah, it's actually been winning awards. what's overrated is Deadpool

[rainslacker]

Define overrated. Then go on to explain why that should be applied to ND.

You leave out quite a few details to your argument for having good discussion.

[Bathyj]

It's not just you. I think there's like 3 other guys that think that.

[TheOneWhoIsTornApart]

So sick of this sh**. Fu** this idiot interviewer bringing race into this. There was absolutely no reason to bring it up whatsoever.

[akurtz]

modern liberal plebs dont have anything better to do

[Phill-Spencer]

I'm not white but not once i was thinking "damn that character should have been black." while playing a videogame.

[Brohan]

I'm a Caucasian guy and I agree I could care less what the color of their skin is. I've never once played a game thinking characters should be certain or different colors. But I can only speak for myself and others may have different opinions.

[Sunny_D]

It's a stupid question to ask for a game that is on it's 4TH iteration. What? You want Naughty Dog to change Nathan Drake to some other race? Get out of here. Other than that, I wouldn't mind developers do decide to go with a more diverse character in their games like the new Mafia game coming out.

[G20WLY]

I agree that Nathan shouldn't suddenly be black. I also think it's ridiculous to suddenly make James Bond black. Why not go the whole hog and make both of them a black disabled lesbian woman? Perhaps she also used to be a man - GASP! Get's those boxes ticked right? Sigh.. -_-

Anyone upset by the race, gender, sexual preference or whatever of any given lead character should just bugger off and make their own character in a franchise they create. Nobody is stopping them and I wish them all the luck of the already-established franchises.

[rainslacker]

@G20WLY

Hey, if they can kill 7 birds with one stone, go for it I say. Then we can point to one game that represents seven groups, and we can counter that with getting a pass on 7 games(our choice) with rather typical characters we are used to getting. Hopefully the ones we get a pass on actually have good characters though, since they aren't tying to check off boxes, and instead just trying to make a compelling character.

As a white guy, never once have I seen a black character and thought...oh cool he's black. I have never once seen a white character and said....oh cool he's white. Never seen a straight character and said...oh cool, he's straight. Never seen a male or female character and said....well you get the idea by now. I have seen homosexual characters that have made me go..."what's the point in them being homosexual?"...usually because it's superficial to the story like all the aforementioned traits.

[Tapani]

I'm a white guy, but lived as a minority in Asia for years. Video games are a medium to me where one of it's charms lies in learning how to understand if races and ethnicities differ from each other. I like playing all types of characters, but I find it often more interesting to play a "different race" (as far as I'm concerned, we are all the same!) or particularly someone from a different culture to perhaps get a glimpse how it feels to live life like they do. I think that can be eye-opening and create universal understanding.

[iceman06]

Agreed. As long. as the game itself actually has something to teach. I don't see the point for the average game. However, for those that immerse you in the culture, it can be interesting.

[Doomster1971]

People go over the top sometimes with these subject's. Remember when Resident Evil 5 came out? Loads of people were up in arms because it took place in Africa. They called Capcom racist because of that. The first 3 took place in the states and no one called them racist toward white people because of those games.

[G20WLY]

Sigh, sadly I remember it well. I also remember that nothing was said about Resi 4 being set in a Spanish setting and all the people you killed were Spanish.

Capcom had to add white zombies to Resi 5 to placate the lefties and avoid any further race-debate, it was completely ridiculous.

What next; Killzone is racist against Helghast?

Whack-a-mole is 'molist'? lmao X^D

[Kingdomcome247]

You went too far, sir/ma'am. Both sides of my family were moles, and were some of the first moles to immigrate from Moland. Whack-a-mole is racist, hateful, and disgusting. We are tired of having our civil liberties, "Mole-ested." #Molelivesmatter

[G20WLY]

^lmao, you got a disagree?! Great comment X^D

And in hindsight, I agree, I did go too far and I'm sorry. I learned a valuable lesson years ago: NEVER mention the mole...

https://youtu.be/rc5G04nJec...

[Kingdomcome247]

Lol.

[DafunkyRebel]

he could work as an Asian guy but I can't see Drake as a black dude or a hispanic unless he's funny

[Devil1870]

He discussed the end of "Uncharted" in an exclusive interview with HuffPost
interview with HuffPost
HUFFPOST
im not clicking that shit.

[Bathyj]

They need to change Elaina to a mentally challenged, Hispanic, lesbian tree. They are so underrepresented in video games.