Interview With Director Bruce Straley (Part 1)

(click the blog entry title to read the interview)

I'm really impressed with Straley's ability to both answer questions and not answer questions at the same time. He actually gave information that is useful (like reassuring people that just because there's a stealth element doesn't mean it's a stealth game), and he still held back a lot of details about the game itself, especially STORY. Popular opinion around the internet is that people want U2:AT to be kept close under wraps until its release, to make it more exciting. I mostly agree, and I appreciate the lack of specifics in this interview while still giving a pretty good info session.

What I really really want to know, and isn't even mentioned here and I hope is addressed in the next half of the interview, is the answer to the question on everyone's minds: WHERE ARE SULLY AND ELENA!?

This is very important. I got really attached to these characters. A lot of people want to see Eddy Raja too, and I totally agree. It was the characters that made the game so particularly special, even if- according to the more video game knowledgeable- it was basically cut-n-paste as far as gameplay mechanics goes (I personally enjoyed it and didn't see any problems with it, having never played Gears of War or Tomb Raider [which i ended up doing recently and hated]).

But having gone through at least the opening of two first person shooters that supposedly had "great stories" and being entirely unable to relate to any of the characters I encountered, INCLUDING THE CHARACTER I WAS PLAYING AS, I have realized that maybe THE biggest draw of U:DF was the fact that these were characters I liked and enjoyed spending time with. And the thought that they may not be in Among Thieves makes me worried.

What I am crossing my fingers for is that U2:AT is actually a prequel. This would assuage a lot of things I am worried about with the game, particularly my concern that Sully and/or Elena die at some point. Naughty Dog has been suspiciously mum about their presence or non-presence in the game, which to me means one of two things- they're in the game but they die (or something similar like dying between the two games), or else we're supposed to play the game thinking that they won't be in it and then they show up at some point as a surprise. If it's a sequel then i'm pulling for the second one, but if it's a prequel then I don't have to worry about it at all.

Related to this is my worry that Elena has become a Bond girl, being in the one game and never showing up again, with no reference explaining what happened to her with Nate, or where she went. I don't like the idea that after the adventure they just split up and go separate ways. If it's a prequel, though, then there is a very good reason Elena's not there, since he hasn't met her yet.

And this also would make a lot of sense because, as a prequel that shows Drake's shadier, criminal side, we'd get to see one of the encounters that don't pay off in the end (like he and Sully refer to in U:DF). This is the impression that I get from the whole situation anyway.

Although I notice that he isn't wearing Drake's ring as a necklace in any of the promo material that's been released so far. He got the ring back at the end of U:DF, which makes me wonder- did he choose to not wear it anymore? did it get stolen or lost? or is this before he finds it? That would make more sense to me, because he could find it in this game, which would prompt the search for Sir Francis Drake's coffin, now that he's got the coordinates.

Those are my thoughts for now. More next week with the second half of the article.