Crunched said:
I don't think you understand the "Nate is a murderer" criticisms. "Murder" is common in games because "kill the thing" is an easy to understand goal. But think about games which emphasize this. Think Halo or Killzone or Gears of War. Your avatar in these games is a killer by definition, and this is reflected in their presentation. Nate is not presented as a murderer. He's presented as an everyman. That's where the dissociation takes place. He can't be both at the same time.
And the plot criticisms come as a response to praise. The usual counter is something like "oh, but the rest of the story is good, so the bad stuff doesn't really count."
Really? This is always said and I always wonder why.
You must be quite special.
I mean, which part of him being a really intelligent treasure hunter who has constantly been involved in dangerous events, made several infamous enemies, fought pirates, mercenaries, stolen artifacts, infiltrated various guarded compounds, made quite the name for himself in his line of work, and has a mentor who was also apparently quite good as a treasure hunter himself, makes him seem like an everyman to people?
At what point in either of the two Uncharted games is Drake portrayed as an everyman? Do they miss these glaring facts about the kind of person he is?
Here, I'll help people out with this.
An everyman is an ordinary person placed in extraordinary circumstances. The idea behind this concept is for audiences to be able to imagine themselves in the same position because they wouldn't need any extra skills to cope in the same position. Hence the term. Everyman.
Now unless people these days happen to be great at research, are well versed in historic artifacts and documents, understand and recognise different ancient texts, know how to use a gun really well, and also are fit enough to climb ridiculous places with their bare hands, then Drake isn't really an everyman for them.
I mean, do you happen to be able to do those things? Or does the average person in your city or country have those skills? Maybe that's why you think he's an everyman. I'm certainly in awe of you, if that's the case.
Not being a complete tosser, having an attitude that people can somewhat relate to, and being quite likeable certainly doesn't make you an everyman. And at least here, in the West, we wouldn't consider anything ordinary about Nathan Drake apart from how he dresses.