Uncharted 4's Final Boss Fight Screws Up A Near-Perfect Ending

Oh, Uncharted. You’ve just got a problem with boss fights, don’t you? A supernatural Russian mercenary cum Yeti didn’t really work, nor did the pure QTE bosses of Uncharted 3. Something about the semi-naturalistic setting combined with the demands of a narrative game have never quite jived with fighting the main villain in climactic moment for both story and gameplay, and both Uncharted and it’s wider ilk have still yet to crack just how to handle that most traditional of video game conventions. Uncharted 4 was this particular franchise’s last chance to get this one right, and unfortunately, the final fight was one of the worst attempts yet to get the whole final boss thing working.

[peewee11016]

What this is a perfect ending to an amazing game.

[Brandnewfan610]

Obvious click bait from some loser that just wants to have his fake opinion heard.

[x5exotic]

Jesus Uncharted fans are the most cancerous of any entertainment medium.

[Kingthrash360]

So gamers, not click thirsty journalists are cancerous?
I mean yeah people have different opinions but who gives a wet napkin (trying not to cuss due to wife complaints) about this strangers opinion. His job is to bring news or something not his differed opinion .
Clicks garner money so I understand but back in the day people used to work for great juicy newz...now they just think up something contraversal and make it into an article. Most the time something negative about a proven game or console...to me that's the cancer...the lazy click bait thirsty "journalist"

[Kryptix]

x5exotic has held a grudge against Uncharted for the longest time.

http://n4g.com/news/1747835...

"Uncharted 1 was the nemesis of originality, its sequels carbon copies with less inspiration and ever more generic, yet they won awards. GOTYs are driven by hyoe and fanboy blindness, not quality. Not that the new TR's are impressive anyway. "

it's ok x5exotic, keep listening to your therapist. Let the anger flow out. One day you will conquer your inability to let go of grudges and maybe get some glasses?

[Mr_Writer85]

BOOM !!!

Kingthrash with a headshot to x5exotic.

Followed up by a tea bagging from Kryptix.

[x5exotic]

@Kryptix, just telling facts. And your comment proved it. You keep patting each other on the back whenever someone hurts your ego and tells you the game isn't good anymore (UC now goes irrelevant one weekend after release date), but yeah, my points stand still. So have at it.

[TwoForce]

@x5exotic It's not fact. It's your hatred of the game. I should know you are relentless and completely blind hatred.

[LordMaim]

Forbes again throwing out some clickbait in the hopes that you'll disable your adblocker to respond to it.

[generic-user-name]

LOL

[MagicBeanz]

Forbes can kiss my adblock.

[mike32UK]

This was my favourite boss fight out of all the games... Sooo yeah.

[Darkwatchman]

That's not saying much considering how bad the boss fights in all the games are

[x5exotic]

The well reception of the boss fights simply shows the lack of quality of the rest of the game rather than highlights the fight itself.

Like many other shooters this game suffers from the unrealistic one-side shooter aspect. As in, you're on one side, enemies on the other. 90% of the time hiding behind an object makes you completely safe. So when they give you zombies running around and coming at you from all directions, people lose their shit at this "ground-breaking" segment.

[DeadlyOreo]

^ @exotic

Erm no.

[G20WLY]

@x5exotic (rookie AGAIN??), if you'd ever played it, you'd know the environments are often destructible, so wooden cover can be completely shot to pieces, sand bags will leak sand and get too low to hide behind, even concrete can be broken down and pillars destroyed by explosives. If you're cornered you have to fight your way out, or you'll die, even if not flanked. Go play it on 'crushing' and tell me you're safe hiding 90% of the time lmao

The point I'm trying to make is: you're wrong. :^)

[Babadook7]

I thought uncharted 2's end boss was fantastic. As was its ending all in all. To surpass that experience would be quite a feet. Uncharted 4 was also great (both boss and ending) imho. Just more realistic and subtle.

[Babadook7]

@exotic In uncharted 4 it is not like your saying. Enemy ai is dynamic inside huge non linear environments where they will hunt you and if you escape them and hide, stealth plays a part.

[x5exotic]

@G20Willy

Destructible yes, but in no way are you put in danger. You can just slip right behind the next cover. And I never got flanked. That's the problem. Either shitty AI or lack of good planning from ND but they never even try to surround me.

@Babadook, read what I said again, I said everything except end-game boss fights have this issue. What UC's endings were, should have been the entire game, and the boss fight itself a much better job.

[G20WLY]

^"G20Willy" AHAHAHAAA are you 5?

If you never got flanked, Rookie, you should try a mode above Easy or Normal. I get that some gamers don't want the challenge, they just want to let the story wash over them, or they don't have the coordination to cope - and that's fine. That's who the easy modes exist for, but let's not pretend the difficulty doesn't exist for those who are prepared to challenge themselves.

And what about the multiplayer? Are you going to say you don't get flanked there too? How do you complain about AI if it's a human opponent? You can't.

[DigitalRaptor]

Definitely.

The most tense ending, with the best written villain in the series.

[TwoForce]

What ? Really ? I thought it was great.

[MagicBeanz]

It was great but you know, clicks and stuff.

[ninsigma]

Boss fight was fine. It was really tense and suited the scene and fit the game very well. I mean, in retrospect, having an adventure game that revolves around hunting our ate treasure NOT end in a swashbuckling sword fight would be a crime :p

[game4funz]

I thought it was a crime to not have pirate themed supernatural event.... Especially since all the games had one... One of the biggest trolls in gaming I've ever seen.

They characters even mention that possibility within the game.

@ninsigma
Yes I agree uncharted 3 didn't do a good job. It's Def my least favorite of the 3.

@xiku
I would like to think the devs have a much greater imagination then what you just implied they have.
They weren't after anything hunted before either. El Dorado... Treasure.... Shambala... Treasure... Same thing in the 4th. Nothing to deal with kid.

[ninsigma]

Slight spoiler warning.

I dunno. I was quite fine with it myself. Uc3 seemed to just shoehorn a supernatural event in and I felt it was quite weak. Uc4s ending was very strong in comparison even without the supernatural event.

[IIFloodyII]

Spoiler warning!

I kinda agree, but I also found seeing Avery's descent into madness one of the best moments of the franchise, so was fine without it going into supernatural territory too. Also liked how the were joking about Pirate ghost showing up and stuff, but can see how that'd annoy some.

[Aloy-Boyfriend]

They knew from the beginning that Avery's treasure was most likely a pile of gold. They weren't after a haunted or supernatural treasure this time. Deal with it!

What could fhey have done anyways? Pirate ghost?

[Loktai]

felt totally in step, well designed. ... satisfying. what the hell. .. I guess they need to get clicks somehow. uc4 is fantastic, has no mentionable flaws outside the minds of those who haven't played it and look for reasons to dismiss it and tell themselves they aren't missing anything, or those looking to post unpopular opinions for clicks.

[deafdani]

It does have mentionable flaws, no game is perfect.

I agree, still. Uncharted 4 is a good game. Although, personally, it was my least favorite in the series.

[game4funz]

Uncharted 4 is a good game. But it has flaws. Said flaws are unmentionable by the minds of those who look beyond them. Great job dismissing other people's opinions when they don't match yours.

@Twoforce...thanks for telling me something Im already aware of.

[TwoForce]

And you should know that people do enjoy Uncharted 4 for what is it. I aware the game problem but it doesn't affect me that much.

[Deadpooled]

I guess the author hates the Goonies and tense well executed swordfighting. That part looked stunning even on my crappy 8 year old Samsung 'hd ready' plasma tv and I felt immersed in the tension of that fight.

[ninsigma]

Anyone who hates the goonies has no soul :p

I kid, people!!

[overrated44]

I've shamefully never watched that movie

[Deadpooled]

I love that movie

[ninsigma]

You should definitely give it a go if you don't have a problem watching a 31 year old movie :)
It's classic 80s xD

Deadpooled, same! And actually it was just yesterday I was telling someone at work to watch it lol

[overrated44]

I don't understand why I'm being downvoted...I said it's shameful that I haven't watch it...

[ninsigma]

It's the goonies defence force! :O

[ravinash]

@ overrated44

You hadn't watch it, there fore your wrong!

[Roronoa0411]

this was one of the best boss fights I've played in any game. Damn hard on crushing but it felt like I was playing a cut scene it was surreal.

[SkippyPaccino]

I had a tougher time with it on hard than crushing... It took me over an hour on hard. Lol! (I was like "seriously won't be able to finish the game?")

[Aloy-Boyfriend]

a supernatural russian didnt work? U2 final boss was great. I was expecting something like that in U4 but I was surprised by how good and tense it was

[ravinash]

The Boss fight in U2 was pissing me off to no end.
It wasn't till I found out that if you just hang from the ledge in the middle of the areas, he could hit you or kill you with his grenades.
It was a little bit of cheating, but I wanted to platinum it damn it!

[kraenk12]

Great and perfect ending.

[Somedudeoverhere]

Bossfights seems difficult to make great. I personally don't like how unrealistically Nate

[WeAreLegion]

Go on...

[badz149]

I think somebody got to him already. How dare he wish to badmouth Drake. RIP

[deafdani]

Come on man, it's obvious that this dude was

[Somedudeoverhere]

ND Fan Police here. We took care of him.

[Jls1]

it was def better than uc3 ending which made no sense. Cutter shoots talbot and he dosent die yet when nate shoots him he dies. I guess nate has special bullets.

[Pozzle]

Wasn't the Talbot boss battle a QTE fight too? I remember being disappointed by the end of U3 because of how anticlimactic the final boss fight was. There was so much lead up to the ending, and then Talbot dies after a short QTE fight, then Marlowe dies during a bloody cutscene! We didn't even get to take her on :(

But I really enjoyed the final boss in U4 because there was actually a bit of strategy to it. You had to watch and react to Rafe's movements. It kept you on your toes more than a simple QTE fight. Fighting him on Crushing mode was especially exciting. He moves so fast and you e less time to react, so really need to pay attention to the way he moves.

[badz149]

You really want UC3 to end with Nate taking down a grandma?

[Pozzle]

@badz149:

Well, she was an evil murderous grandma, so I wouldn't have felt too bad about punching her in the face! haha

But I guess I just expected more than simply watching her die in a cutscene. Obviously she wouldn't have been able to beat Drake in a one-on-fight, but it would have been cool if she was SOMEHOW involved in a final 'boss battle' of sorts. Maybe have a gameplay sequence where Drake shoots at the brass urn's chains to drop the Djinn back into the water before it is released, while Marlowe or Talbot try to stop him? Or maybe incorporate the hallucinogenic sequences into the boss battle to allow Talbot to fight Drake in a seemingly inhuman way? Or even have some sort of puzzle sequence where Drake would destroy parts of the building to trap Marlowe inside before the quicksand engulfed them all? I don't know....anything more climactic than a quick cutscene death followed by a QTE fight sequence that was identical to all the other QTE fights from earlier in the game.

When I first played U3, I actually thought it would be revealed that Talbot was a Djinn all along who was using Marlowe for his own personal gain. Given that he survived a shot at point-black range with no wound, is infinitely faster and stronger than Drake, appears to be very skilled with drugs, and was seemingly able to teleport away from Drake (something that is never fully explained beyond "he's a good illusionist"), I was fully expecting it to be revealed that he was either A) The king that had banished the Djinn, cursed to immortality for his actions by them, and questing to remove his curse, or B) A Djinn himself that was trying to free his companions, or finaly C) Some other supernatural creature.

[ninsigma]

Just generally the story for uc3 was weak for me. Least fave in the series (excluding vita game cuz I don't really remember it).

[PressPlayBro]

"cum Yeti" Agreed the ending could've been better and Sam should've died.

[TwoForce]

That would be predictable.

[ShadowWolf712]

Sam dying would have been such a cliche.

[SeanScythe]

Nate left his bro to die once, he wasn't going to let it happen again.

[SeanScythe]

I enjoyed it, was way better than the first games ending. And I loved the first game.

[SaffronCurse]

I loved it, personally.

[game4funz]

Not a fan of qte bosses either. Set the mood very well. But qte... Yea not a fan

[senorfartcushion]

Well you can only get "near perfect"

[CDbiggen]

I thought the whole game was pretty boring and forgettable. Guess people are happy with anything they play.

[TwoForce]

It's your opinion, and it's their.

[Aloy-Boyfriend]

As you are happy to come and hate what others like

[ClayRules2012]

I respectfully disagree.

I thought the Final Boss fight was Intense & exhilarating. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. I remember seeing the one sword on the ground before the fight started & my first thought was "Naughty Dog, oh please let this be a sword fight ( as I giggle with hope & excitement ) and when Rafe picks it up, I was like "Bring it Bitch" pardon my language, lol.

The ending was wonderful as well "in my opinion"

It's my favorite boss fight in the entire series. Very nice job, Naughty Dog =)

[Davemyrose592]

What seriously I thought final battle was great, like a perfect blend between QTE and gameplay, definitely a good finale

[the_mack_attack3]

God I hate Forbes

[goldwyncq]

Not a fan of games introducing a new mechanic at the final boss fight but Uncharted 4 managed to do it well.

Uncharted 2 still has the best final boss in the series though.

[bit-crusherrrr]

Agreed, maybe they could have done something in the flash backs just to get a handle on reading cues. As it took me a few attempts just to figure out that is was best just to dodge and parry attacks than attack Rafe.

[PhoenixUp]

I rather enjoyed the final boss of Uncharted 2 and I also found Uncharted 3's to be enjoyable.

Uncharted 4's was tense and gratifying

[Anzil]

Forbes is such a joke now haha

[Skankinruby]

Huh? Are you high? This was the best boss fight in the series, a hell of a lot better than the Lazarovic fight.

[KillerBee]

Im a fan of tragic endings, so I wanted one of the three to die (Drake, Sully or Elena). The final boss battle was fine to me.

[chris235]

cool. i never couldfinish uncharted 4 because it felt utterlyboring. now you're ranting about the final fight being equally bad. what a stinket game. there, i said it.

[kraenk12]

As if you own a PS4....lol

[opinionated]

Lol@the hate for saying the ending messed up a perfect game. That's ignorantly generous IMO. The entire game was slack compared to the rest of the series.

[BlakHavoc]

Uh no it doesn't. I thought it was pretty damn epic.

[WellyUK]

The overall ending was pretty uneventful and had 0 impact on me leaving me with feeling of the game being an utter disappointment. It's good game but it's story is very lackluster to me.

[TwoForce]

So you want something to be cliche ? I'm sorry, but it would be predictable. Again, it your opinion. More importantly, Nathan Drake has to move on with his life, he isn't a typical hero you used to know and that's good thing. You need to understand this, no matter how you want something that you would like, but there time that doesn't please you. I'm so sick some people who doesn't want UC 4 belong in UC trilogy and I was pissed about it.

[WellyUK]

and it isnt cliche as it is? it's as dull as an ending can be.

[Dark_Knightmare2]

Cool story bro there has to always be people like you out there to form the minority opinion.

[WellyUK]

not really the story has pretty much zero impact there is no moment that stands out at all in the 4th game it's lackluster, but if you like that it's fine but it's hardly a great story when pretty much NOTHING happens and there is 0 big impact moments. This is why uncharted 2 is by far the best in the series as it actually has those moments.

[nommers]

Pretty much this. The story didn't even try to do anything impressive or interesting. It was cliche as hell and forgettable; plenty of long drawn out segments not worth replaying through. The villain had more potential than the ending gave him.

[Dark_Knightmare2]

This article is his opinion and my opinion is its crap. The uc 4 boss fight was easily the best of the series and I loved how it mirrored avery and tew. Also it's about as realistic as a sword fight can be with an controller in hand lol. I just thought it was so awesome having to watch rafe and respond with the correct direction to block his incoming blows and Damn if it wasn't cinematic with mind blowing graphics.

[Dark_Knightmare2]

No rafe Def had psychological problems and the end is when he finally loses it. Also if you actually listen to him during the boss fight you can hear the problems he had that most likely lead him to be what he is.

[QUIMICOMORTAL]

I disagree!

[Speak_da_Truth]

Eh! It was amazing to me. Very intense on hard.

[LAWSON72]

The sword fight was a pain in the ass on my playthrough on insane, and about maybe take a break for the day. It is by the worst part of the game.

[Will_b]

I loved this boss fight. Write a full article about it... Is... A waste of time... Or... To want to be appealing...

[madmonkey01]

just a microsoft site downplaying it, nothing new here.

[-Foxtrot]

Why are people praising the boss fight? Are you actually trying to defend it because you think the scene was good OR do you guys think saying it could have been better will make out you hate the ENTIRE game when that's not really the case

People complained about the fight in Uncharted 3 where you just pressed a lot of buttons in QTE yet this was basically the same, just a tiny bit better

I would have actually liked to see melee combat and let us control Nate fully.

You could start on the top deck, have the fire start and each new section you'd see them drop further into the ship as it starts to set alight more until the final room which is the treasure room.

[hiredhelp]

Ok why is the word cancer freely being used when talking about games,serious question guys.
The word has nothing to do with gaming yet the worlds biggest struggle in human life.
Just saying

[G20WLY]

Well said mate, it really pisses me off. These people also like to use the term 'rape'. "Haha, company X totally raped company Y at E3 LOLZ"...it's disgusting.

Inb4 I get labelled an SJW or prude - I'm REALLY not, but some things just aren't funny.

[MoveTheGlow]

It really depends on what you want in an ending. It was a fine cinematic ending and a great ending to the story for sure, with these two just duking it out like it was MGSIV on the top of Outer Heaven. Watching it all happen was awesome.

Game-wise, it didn't make sense. If you think that a final boss should test your skills acquired throughout the game (I sure do), then this just didn't do it at all. If you're being really generous, it's almost Punch-Out, but with swords, and the shallow mechanics just come out of nowhere.

You could also say that this is just an interactive ending, and the real test was the final stage - it is a beast of a stage, after all. I just wish that final stage was a little more dramatic and distinguishable as such, if that were supposed to be the case.

[nommers]

Not even remotely as iconic MGS4 Liquid vs Solid Snake.

[TwilightSparkle]

So many misspells in this article. Kinda forget what this articles about

[DarXyde]

Totally disagree. The last fight was pretty thrilling. I haven't played it below Crushing, so I don't know what it's like, but literally every attack from the final boss meant death.

I don't know about you, but it was really satisfying to understand their animations and respond accordingly, knowing every attack meant dying. Thrilling, to say the least.

[Sy_Wolf]

I've always hated the end boss battles in Uncharted but this was by far the least offensive.

[Soc5]

"unfortunately, the final fight was one of the worst attempts yet to get the whole final boss thing working."
lol you write as if you speak for a large group who think the same as you. I really liked the ending and thought it was like an homage to swashbuckling pirate adventures, You and the bad guy in a sword battle while surrounded by flames in a pirate ship full of gold on a secret pirate island! Come on that's fun for me at least.

[GameHead85]

I saw nothing wrong with it. I hate it that all these Nit-Pickers like to complain about the littlest things.

[GameHead85]

I guess, at the end, you were supposed to take all the treasure.

[Sweetbrandigirl]

That Boss fight was tuff on crushing took me a few times to get through it.

[DeadManMMX]

I beat it on the hardest difficulty my first play through and it was an awesome ending. Maybe it's just not for the weak at heart.

[Bass_fisherman]

The final boss battles were never that exciting in this series for some reason and UC4 never really delivers really big exciting moments unlike previous games but i enjoyed playing this boss fight to be honest.

[WelkinCole]

I loved it. What better way to end a series about treasure hunting than fighting in a pirate sword fight?.

It was just brilliant also with respect to the pirate story itself. All the clues leading up to that point with regards to Avery. I loved how they incorporated Nates and Sam history into it as well with regards to the lost treasure.

I know some people wanted over the top stuff like in U2 and U3 but that would be too predictable. Another lost city underground or in the middle of the desert seems too much.

It was a fairly personal story and I think it was the best way to end it.

[Dan_scruggs]

It was a glorified QTE. Something pretty much everyone says they hate... Except when Naughty Dog does it.

[MagicBeanz]

Well the only honest and true part of this whole things is that its labeled as "opinion piece" which it defenitly is.