Far Cry 2 Gameplay Discussion [NO SPOILERS]

[muddi900]

Crysis's AI is a million times better than Far Cry. Heck, even Fallout 3 has better NPC AI than FC2.

You're wrong. I said it, that's why it's fact :p

[National Kato]

Heck, even Fallout 3 has better NPC AI than FC2.

This is where you lost credibility.

[Goronmon]

Heck, even Fallout 3 has better NPC AI than FC2.You sure about that?

[H.Bogard]

You sure about that?

Yes. Because no matter what, I've never seen the enemies stand around idly when I'm standing in FRONT of them 5 feet away (Happens in Far Cry 2, everyone has experienced that, almost).

[Disgustipated]

Crysis's AI is a million times better than Far Cry. Heck, even Fallout 3 has better NPC AI than FC2.

With this quote, I think it's safe to say that FC2's AI is smarter than you.

[H.Bogard]

With this quote, I think it's safe to say that FC2's AI is smarter than you.

I don't kill anyone within viewing distance, period. :D
So you have just agreed with my point there... awesome!

[Iron Past]

Okay, dragging this out again, since I just got the game.

Having alot of fun, even if the save sysem on consoles is really, really bad. I would mind at all if there was some type of checkpoint system, so I don't have to replay an hours worth of mission should I die. And god forbid I get too wrapped up and don't remember to run to a safe house.

Aside from that, though, it seems really well put together so far. I've only done the first faction mission, but it took a loooong time for me to get there, between messing around with everything. I was very, very dissapointed to find out my rescue Buddy randomly died, though. He was there on my menu just fine, rescues me and apparently goes away. Check the menu half an hour later and poof! just like that. The animations are really good, too, and running in between buildings then hearing one of the guys chasing me set off an ammo pile thus killing him and a few others was priceless.

[bryan]

My buddy's been pretty resilient but I wish he moved around more.

The AI's not terribly impressive, the only time I have any trouble is when they're behind some shrubbery and I can't see where the heck they are.

That being said, something really cool happened last night. Two jeeps came after me, at least one of them with a mounted RPG, and I had to find some cover. That I did, then the second jeep revved up and rammed me, insta-kill.

[Crowe]

That revving will haunt me to the end of my days.

[bryan]

The difficulty seems to ramping up at 50% of the game, which I'm really glad for. Before this tho I enjoyed the game the combat was way too easy. I like the bit after you warn the Doctor and all hell breaks loose, that took me a few tries.

[bryan]

Anyone got any tips on how to use the damn hang glider?

[National Kato]

Anyone got any tips on how to use the damn hang glider?

Haha...my first encounter with this vehicle went something like this:

On my way to a rendezvous with Guilien at a safe house, my path led me across a stranded blue hang glider. "Score!" I thought, climbing around to the back of the winged vehicle and strapping myself in. To my right a steep cliff dropped 30 feet to the river below. The safe house was only a click down river, and what better way to arrive than in style!

I took a few steps, launched into the air, and promptly plummeted 30 feet into the river below. As I stood soaking wet on the river bank, watching the glider float upside down on the river's surface I realized it wasn't as easy as it looked.

[Bingley Joe]

Anyone got any tips on how to use the damn hang glider?

It seems to control basically the same way as the other vehicles: you hold RT to go forward/faster, and LT to slow down (I don't think it has reverse, lol). Occasionally you'll want to angle yourself upward a bit to regain some altitude or the ride will be short. Other than that, it's a piece of cake.

Until you get shot at. One measly bullet seems to send it into an unrecoverable dive :mad:

[bryan]

It seems to control basically the same way as the other vehicles: you hold RT to go forward/faster, and LT to slow down (I don't think it has reverse, lol). Occasionally you'll want to angle yourself upward a bit to regain some altitude or the ride will be short. Other than that, it's a piece of cake.

Until you get shot at. One measly bullet seems to send it into an unrecoverable dive :mad:

I'm playing on the PC tho, and mastering it seems to elude me.

[Bingley Joe]

I'm playing on the PC tho, and mastering it seems to elude me.

Ah... yeah, I could see that being quite a bit trickier :o

[Wolvie]

Just got this today off of a convoluted affair involving a $25 gift card, a traded in game, getting a used copy Wario Ware: smooth moves, not feeling the fun I originally had with the game and returning it for store credit, then nabbing Far Cry 2 with said credit.

*phew*

Anyways, the game underwhelmed me a bit at first. But I chugged a monster energy drink, and booted it back up and damn was I digging it after I woke my happy ass up. The game is just an awesome blend of sand box game play and FPS action.
It gets slow from time to time as you're driving/hoofing it to the next mission. But at least I got some extremely pretty scenery to look at. The visuals are quite possibly the most stunning I've seen in a sand box game. But I think what wowed me the most was how you could blow up a jeep, have it's flaming engine ignite the grass, and a roaring brush fire soon erupts through the planes around you.

I wasn't sure I picked up the right game with my Christmas cash, but now I think I have a title I'll be coming back too for quite some time.

[KingGorilla]

Anyone got any tips on how to use the damn hang glider?

Don't use the hang glider?

It falls way too fast, and you cannot use your GPS while using it. Also, I know I am not the only one who got pissed that when you start missions for the airfield...that you cannot fly the fucking planes. Just Cause remains the ultimate vehicle hijacking game yet.

But on another note; an....emergent(UGH!) note. The first time I went into the Dogon Village, under mortar fire. The game showed some spark. The verticality of the cliff face and adobe houses, as unseen mortars hailed down all combined for a great experience. Whomever designed that encounter needs to be the creative lead on a shooter.

[Wasson_]

Anyone got any tips on how to use the damn hang glider?

like a aircraft...pushing forward will lower the nose and increase your speed, back will raise the nose and slow you down, A and D will turn you, which thanks to any small understanding of physics will also slow you down.

remember that a hang glider has no control surfaces and it's control is entirely depended on inertia so it's response will always be quite slow.

the hang gliders in the first game seemed to have much better control however there were a few levels where they came very in handy.

[National Kato]

Game Informer has posted a Q&A (http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200901/N09.0127.1901.42518.htm?Page=1) with Ubisoft Montreal's Clint Hocking, answering many of the questions players have had regarding this often brilliant, sometimes frustrating sandbox FPS. Hocking admits to oversights and mistakes (e.g. respawn, faction conflict) but also defends certain design choices, technical and otherwise:

(One Minor Spoiler about the map change between Act 1 and Act2, but otherwise pretty spoiler-free)

PART ONE++

Game Informer: I loved the Jackal. Was he based on any particular literary characters or historical persons?

Clint Hocking: He’s based loosely on Kurtz – the madman from Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness – but he also has a little bit of Far Cry’s Jack Carver thrown in (note the tacky red shirt). He is a cocky, Han Solo-type of roguish arms dealer who has come to see (and embrace to some extent) the madness of the situation around him. He is also attempting – perhaps unconsciously – to redeem himself for a life that contributed so greatly to the kinds of troubling things he is seeing. This “end justifies the means” philosophy is also the philosophy the game design’s systems impose to a certain extent on the player.

GI: Did you want to include more NPC characters in the cities like Assassin’s Creed had?

Hocking: Yeah – we originally planned to have much more civilian interaction. We never wanted crowds of civilians going about their business – there is anarchy going on – but we did want meetings with the underground to include many more civilians. We wanted to have refugee camps and places where the player could experience firsthand the plight of the civilians displaced by this conflict. This would have given the player a much stronger motivation and would have made the Jackal’s motivation (as it is revealed late in the game) much clearer and easier to follow. Unfortunately, numerous technical and production challenges whittled away at the civilian population until we were effectively left with “three guys in a room.”

GI: Why were there no dangerous animals? For some reason I thought the plains of Africa might be a tad dangerous to go strolling around in at night.

Hocking: We decided fairly early on that, while leopards, lions, and crocodiles would have been awesome, having animals preying on other animals, having multiple animation skeletons and having all the AI, art, sound and other features to support this other class of animals (beyond grazing herbivores) would have added a lot of work that would have ultimately detracted from stuff that was, frankly, more important – AI combat behavior and animation, for example. That said, I clung fairly hard to a stripped down crocodile design that might have allowed them to be in the game in a limited way…but this too was cut in production.

GI: Why did you decide on such a wonky mission structure? I have to save multiple times on the way to a mission because everyone on the road wants to kill me and it takes forever.

Hocking: To me – conceptually at least – I see no difference between the mission structure we use and the one used in a linear game with a checkpoint-driven save game system, except that our game is of course not linear at all. In Call of Duty 4 (which is an awesome game), there are checkpoints every 8-15 minutes, and in our game, you can easily reach a safe house every 8-15 minutes, stopping as you pass each guard post or minor encounter along the way. The difference is that in CoD 4, you can’t miss the checkpoints because the game is linear, and in our game, the openness forces us to make you intentionally save the game. This necessity to stop and save is the pacing of the game. Admittedly, it is a very different pacing than in most shooters, but we felt it added tension to each leg of the journey and made player decisions about which path to take to each of the main locations to be meaningful and interesting.


GI: Why weren’t the sniper rifles in the same class as the rocket and grenade launchers instead of the assault rifle class? I should be able to carry an AK-47 and a SVD if I can carry an AK-47 and a bazooka.

Hocking: Originally sniper rifles were in the “special” class, and it led to a situation where almost no one ever carried a special weapon except for a sniper rifle – the system degenerated to a few load-out configurations that were not very interesting and caused most players to play the same way every time. We wanted the choice of which three weapons to carry to be as hard as possible – and putting the assaults and the snipers opposite each other guaranteed that.

GI: Why did neither faction care that I was helping the other?

Hocking: Well, they do care, actually. Some of the dialogue in each mission briefing is different based on your prior relationship with the faction, and whether you have worked for them or the enemy in the past. Admittedly, this is pretty weakly implemented (to the point of being virtually unnoticeable). There was also some on-paper design that would have had one of the faction lieutenants actively trying to bribe you to switch sides between missions if you were working for the other side and would have dynamically adjusted the amount you got paid for a mission based on your relationship with the factions, but we never had time to implement it.


GI: Why are all the stealth weapons/stealth upgrades so expensive?

Hocking: Our stealth and AI detection system is not as polished as we would have liked. Sneaking can be quite difficult and recovering from being detected is even more so – that’s just a side effect of having run out of polish time. Compounding this problem is that last-minute balancing of the economy which forced us to “dump” some diamonds onto single items – meaning as we made adjustments to the stuff you could buy, we ended up with surplus diamonds – we could not risk removing diamonds from the world as this would be too hard to test – we had to keep the totals the same, and that meant pushing the excess diamonds onto a few objects that were alone in their class. Consequently, the already expensive stealth suit was collapsed from three different biome-specific suits into one very expensive one, and other diamonds were also piled on top of the stealth suit, the health kit upgrades, and the vehicle repair manuals. I agree that the end result is that the stealth suit is noticeably too expensive for what it gives.


GI: Why did you decide to include respawning enemies at all the guard posts?

Hocking: This issue was raised by one of the programming leads late in the development cycle, but my feeling at the time was that it was not an issue. I knew it was happening, but the number of places in which it was noticeable was small. In fact, the number of places where you notice it is small – it is just that they almost all happen to be very close to safe houses that are frequently visited en route to and from major objectives, meaning that almost every player encounters these few places in almost every mission. We didn’t do anything intentionally to make it that way, but we also didn’t do anything to fix it, and that is my fault because I misestimated the severity of the issue. In hindsight, having read numerous reviews of the game, this issue seems to be the single largest problem with the game, and it is frustrating for a lot of players. It makes me a bit sad to think that this one slightly mishandled, moderately scoped technical design issue seems to have such a powerful influence on the overall perception of the game when I feel we did so many things well. I guess that’s the challenge of making hugely ambitious games – you’re juggling a lot of plates and it’s very hard to pull off a perfect finish.


GI: Why did you decide to use the Far Cry name? It's nothing like the previous Far Cry games, aside from being a FPS in a big open area.

Hocking: We feel that, thematically, the game is very much a Far Cry game. Far Cry – as a brand – has to do with feelings of being ‘displaced’ – of being ‘out of your element’ and of being somewhere beautiful and dangerous. Games are not like movies… movies are about character and story, and when you make a sequel to a film, you make a sequel to the story of the film. Games are not about stories and characters, games are about mechanics, dynamics and the overall aesthetics they generate in the player. We feel that our game mechanics and dynamics are the natural ‘sequel’ to those delivered in the original Far Cry on PC. We feel that our game takes the promises of the original Far Cry – a foreign, exotic, displacing, dangerous environment where you can use your own tactics and strategies in a free-form combat sandbox – and brings those promises up-to-date for this new generation of technology and design. We feel that a linear corridor of big rooms on a tropical island with the same characters and a follow-up story would only be an ‘expansion’ to the original Far Cry… not a true sequel.

[National Kato]

PART TWO++

GI: Were there things you wanted to add about Africa that you had to pull due to time constraints?

Hocking: Aside from adding more variety in the animals and adding more of a sense that there is a displaced civilian population, no, not really. I feel we achieved all the goals we set out to achieve in terms of making the game really feel like (certain parts of) Africa.

GI: I've never played a first person shooter with so much land to explore. Did you have to spend more time than usual (in other games) making the game world?

Hocking: No… I don’t think so. In our engine and technology development, the technical director Dominic Guay aggressively strove for world building tools that would allow us to create the game world extremely quickly so that we would have the flexibility to iterate on it in order to meet design and technical demands. As Dom said very early, ‘we have designed a game that forces us to be able to build and re-build many kilometers of the world in a few seconds.’ He was right, and he delivered a robust tool-set that allowed it. A simplified version of this tool set is visible in the level-editor we shipped, which itself allows players to build massive natural environments very rapidly.

GI: Why did you split the map up into different sections?

Hocking: The game world was divided into a Northern and a Southern region for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it was to allow for a progression in the story and a place for the player to be ‘exiled’ to after the coup by the leading faction at the end of Act 1. It also allowed us to have a broader architectural and environmental art palette and to show a progression in the look and feel and mood of the game over time. The Northern region is more ‘spotted’ in the way the jungle, woodland and grassland environments overlap, and is dominated by shanty and industrial architectural features. The Southern region obviously has the lake and larger sections of desert (especially in the north of the Southern region) – it also features more indigenous and colonial architectural elements. The Southern region also includes the so-called ‘Heart of Darkness’ – it’s own natural environmental art palette. Needless to say, with all the streaming going on, we were not able to have all of these environments and architectural styles in close proximity to one another, and so in addition to using these styles to show a progression, it allowed us to control the technical problems of streaming much more effectively.

GI: It seems like the game is at its hardest early on, before you get decent weapons or allies. Was that intentional?

Hocking: We wanted the game to seem difficult at the start when you are sick with malaria and vulnerable in combat (and you have crappy weapons and few allies) – and then for you to get rapidly more powerful through the mid-game as you get new weapons, allies, equipment, and your symptoms fade and your reputation increases. However, this high level of power in the mid-game is supposed to be the peak… in the end game, after you get your supply of malaria medicine cut-off, you are supposed to get weaker and the game systems should force you to be more brutal – using more and more powerful weapons and confronting enemies who are more and more easily and frequently wounded. In the beginning, you should be fighting to survive because you don’t have a choice, in the middle, you should be enjoying the luxury of good health, a moderate reputation and fairly good weapons… you should be able to use an ‘appropriate’ level of aggression to solve the game challenges. In the end, the game systems should be almost forcing you to be as aggressive and brutal as possible. In short, the game should first teach you to be brutal, then force you to be brutal. The difficulty should be shifting from a technical difficulty of reflex skill and resource management to a psychological challenge that asks you how far you are willing to go to achieve your ends. I’m not sure the extent to which we succeeded with that, but we tried.


GI: Why not add the option to simulate driving from point A to point B? Driving through the African countryside is cool at first, but after a while I just want to get to my objective.

Hocking: Similar to the above, in our game – unlike in Grand Theft Auto IV for example – getting to the objective is the game. In GTA IV you often need to get to the location where the mission starts and taking a cab there or otherwise simulating the travel is fine. In GTA IV the option to take a cab allows you to bypass many potential accidental police chases – but ultimately once on the mission, you will have exciting chases for sure. But in our game, that wouldn’t make sense. It would be like being told to flip the switch in the reactor core and then simply teleporting to the reactor core… the gameplay is gone.


GI: Why did you decide to go with a fixed save game system (after checkpoints and at safe houses) rather than a player-driven quick save option?

Hocking: As for a Save Anywhere system, we included one on PC mostly because we felt PC gamers would not tolerate not having one and console gamers were accustomed to more ‘checkpoint-based’ types of save systems as in linear shooters or in open-world games like GTA or Zelda where progress can usually only be saved at key locations or events. I personally feel the game is stronger without save-anywhere as it forces the player to plan his navigation and make his way intentionally and cautiously from Safe House to Safe House and Objective to Objective while managing his resources. I feel a Quicksave system works against this, and also risks devaluing the Buddy system – which to me is the most important system in the game (and is kind of a back-up ‘save-system’ itself).

GI: Why is there no option for gun sight upgrades? Why is the only gun with a "red" dot sight the M14?

Hocking: In Far Cry 2 I wanted to differentiate the guns as much as possible, I feel that weapon customization tends to lead toward all guns becoming more and more similar. A pistol with a foregrip and extended stalk attachment effectively becomes the same as a submachine-gun, for example. I felt it was more interesting to have to choose between silent pistol or SMG, or to choose between the range and precision of a sniper rifle or the fast and furious action of an assault rifle, or some balance of the two as is found in the AR-16, which has better range and accuracy, but fires only in bursts and is not as battle-friendly as an AK or an FN. I think we could have done a slightly better job specifically in differentiating the assault rifles… Pierre Rivest the Game Designer pushed for us to make the G3 a much more powerful rifle that was only semi-auto. In hindsight, I wish we had, as this would have given us more room to broaden the differentiation between the FN and the AK and also make the USAS-12 a slightly more practical load-out choice. In the end, though, I think we did a great job of getting all the weapons to feel unique and fresh (especially for weapons that you have fired hundreds of times in shooters in the past).


GI: Why did you feel that degenerating weapons were important to the gameplay?

Hocking: For two reasons: First, a jammed weapon forces the player to improvise. Far Cry 2 is at its most exciting when something unexpected happens and you are forced to adapt. The game is least exciting when you are in control of everything and it is predictable. Weapon degeneration and jamming is one of a few systems (others include malaria and fire) that add really unpredictable (but not often fatal) complexities to combat that force you to think on your feet and adapt. Observed players have a tendency to quickly adopt preferred tactics and never stray from them (as with the penchant for always carrying a sniper rifle, as mentioned above) and the game can get stale when this happens. Degeneration, jamming, fire, malaria, all these systems interfere with the player’s ability to fall into a ‘routine’ and keep the game fresh. Admittedly – if you’ve ever had 3 jammed weapons in your inventory, it can be extremely frustrating, so at least a small amount of forethought is required to prevent that. The other reason weapon degeneration is important is because it reminds the player of the visceral, physical, grimy, nature of the game world. We did not want to make a game that was clean and sterile feeling with a laser-sharp HUD and high-tech gadgets, we wanted the game to feel dirty, messy, gritty and analogue. We want the player to feel like he needs to work to survive in this hostile wilderness. Challenging his inherent assumptions about even the most staple elements of shooter design was a sure-fire way to make him feel like this world was hazardous and contributes to the overall aesthetic we wanted for the game.


GI: What made you decide to offer only one perspective for driving vehicles? It’s really hard to see where you’re going when you’re driving at night.

Hocking: We felt it was extremely important to make the player feel physically embodied in his avatar – even to the extent of compromising his ability to see somewhat while driving. So much effort was invested in the buddy rescue system, in the healing animations, in the removal of the HUD, in the creation of a 3D in-game map and GPS navigation system, that we felt that maintaining the psychosomatic bond between the player and the avatar while in vehicles was necessary to achieve our aesthetic goals. It is only when you are powerfully immersed in the game that you can ‘feel’ the pain of relocating a dislocated shoulder in the middle of combat. It is only when you feel powerfully physically connected to your avatar that you actually feel like you are holding your dying buddy in your arms. Using a third-person camera in vehicles would break this bond every time you used a vehicle.

[National Kato]

His comments on the respawns make me hopeful for a patch...but he doesn't really mention anything about that and GI didn't follow up with a query.

If they did patch the respawn issue, Far Cry 2 would be near perfect to me.

[Nerdious]

I'm with you Kato, this game rocks. Fix the respawn and you'll have a kick ass FPS.

Now if we could get velociraptors and dirtbikes, it would be perfect

[National Kato]

Lord, on the Ubi forums there's currently a frequently updated list of fixes for the upcoming patch/title update, due sometime in February. So far no word on whether that will include a tweak to the respawn rate, but one can hope. :)

[Bingley Joe]

Lord, on the Ubi forums there's currently a frequently updated list of fixes for the upcoming patch/title update, due sometime in February. So far no word on whether that will include a tweak to the respawn rate, but one can hope. :)

Oh man do I ever hope they fix it -- you'd think that it would be pretty high priority given this guy's comments about it in the interview. Especially since it can't be too much more complicated than tweaking an .ini file somewhere..

[National Kato]

Especially since it can't be too much more complicated than tweaking an .ini file somewhere..

Not only that, but he mentions a few times how things were cut because of technical limitations (civilian populations, wild animals). To reduce respawn would seem like a no-brainer as it would ease demand for resources.

[bryan]

National, thanks for pointing out the article, I would have missed it otherwise. But should you really post it wholesale on this thread? I'm sure GI deserve a few hits on their site.

[Slack3r78]

I've read a few other things that Clint Hocking has said about the game elsewhere, and I have to say, he's a developer I can really respect. He's very open about the ambitions they had for the game, what he thinks they did right, and very modest about where he feels they failed. FC2's greatest failing is that it was incredibly ambitious, but that's also one of the things that makes it one of the best games I played in 2008.

I really hope Ubi lets Hocking and Co take another stab at the Far Cry franchise as I think they have a lot of really, really good ideas.

[Goronmon]

We wanted the choice of which three weapons to carry to be as hard as possible – and putting the assaults and the snipers opposite each other guaranteed that.I meant to bring this up previously, but I find this comment somewhat amusing. Because of the aforementioned respawns, it pretty much guarantees I will never use a sniper rifle because I have to expect to get into prolonged firefights very frequently and having a sniper rifle just makes those frequent fights too annoying to deal with.

[Jackel]

I meant to bring this up previously, but I find this comment somewhat amusing. Because of the aforementioned respawns, it pretty much guarantees I will never use a sniper rifle because I have to expect to get into prolonged firefights very frequently and having a sniper rifle just makes those frequent fights too annoying to deal with.

I never seemed to have this problem, as I always tried to make sure I was in a vehicle with a gun mount. This enabled me to deal with the guard posts swiftly and without difficulty.

Then for most missions I was able to find spots where I would have enough cover that I could effectively use the sniper rifle. If a prolonged firefight seems likely I'll grab a gun from one of the dead guys I picked off early.

[National Kato]

I see your point, Goronmon. I only used sniper rifles when I knew I could sneak to the target sight by using buses, the outlying railroad tracks, or under cover of night. I would choose my weapons for the task at hand, but always enjoyed the spontaneous panic of being caught in a fight unprepared, having to scavenge for CQC weapons.

[SilentScreams]

Pfft, the sniper rifle is a close quarter weapon! :)

.40 cal bullet at point blank range > 9mm bullet at point blank range.

My logic is undeniable. :p

[National Kato]

True. Imagine if you machined a bayonet onto the end of the sniper rifle!! :D

[Dukefrukem]

. I'm about 30% complete and I'm wondering if it's possible to:


Save your buddies from the firefight at Mikes bar... or is everyone supposed to die?


thanks in advance

[Dukefrukem]

and btw, i noticed that with the sniper/assault rifle (unable to carry both) thing... its fucking stupid. this whole game is fucking stupid. a mounted machine gun should cut through people and yet you can hit them 10 times and they're still walking around....

my overall enjoyment of this game is very low... how can games like this score so high in reviews?

[Ghostbear]

What could have been a great game was crippled by annoying travel time, guard posts and a weak story.

[TheKeck]

Man, I just read that game informer and I'm SO ready to start playing this game again.

(I got it in December, but have been playing all Fallout/L4D/TF2 since then.)

Edit: Funny that the two people who just ninja'd me had such negative commentary!!

[Dukefrukem]

What could have been a great game was crippled by annoying travel time, guard posts and a weak story.

Why is it everyone drops what they're doing and sprints after you... even if it's one guy driving a crummy ford POS and I'm in a suped up Jeep with a gun mounted on the back bigger than the length of the ford POS...??? Does everyone here have a death wish?

[Dukefrukem]

Man, I just read that game informer and I'm SO ready to start playing this game again.

(I got it in December, but have been playing all Fallout/L4D/TF2 since then.)

Edit: Funny that the two people who just ninja'd me had such negative commentary!!

So far I hate everything about the game. Even the graphics look like shit on the PS3. (on PC they look incredible (I own both but only played the PC version for the first 5 minutes))

[kyrieee]

I'm pretty sure you can't do that no (the spoiler question)

That really annoyed me though. I don't know how they could've handled it differently, so maybe they shouldn't have included it. The game is sort of breaking its own rules

[Dukefrukem]

I'm pretty sure you can't do that no (the spoiler question)

That really annoyed me though. I don't know how they could've handled it differently, so maybe they shouldn't have included it. The game is sort of breaking its own rules

Well thats good to know at least. I wasn't expecting it at all.

[bryan]

I used a sniper gun 70% of the time, because they were easy to pick off. I would get off my vehicle a 100 meters from the guard post and just snipe them. If I felt like a change I'd just sneak up on them and fight them with my Mac or Uzi.

The flare gun never worked for me - it never seemed that an opposite faction came to fight the one already there. Plus, pistols and LMG's seem to be useless to me.

[LarsenNET]

I just gave this game a shot but the save system on the 360 is killing it for me. This seems better suited as a PC game but I won't buy any game that has an activation limit. Oh well, on to something else.

[Wraitheist]

I really wanted to like this game, but it just pissed me off around every turn. Getting around the world gets tedious very quickly thanks to the environment and the respawning guard outposts. It takes way too many bullets to kill anyone. The AI is suspect. It is incredibly difficult to pick out enemies in the environment. Alerting one enemy allows every other enemy in the area to know exactly where you are. The save system is too unforgiving. Etc., etc.

I feel a little bad about bitching about this and Prince of Persia as I really respect Ubisoft for doing something different with these franchises, but I just really dislike some of the design decisions they have made with these titles.

[bryan]

I decided I'd try to play the game on Hardcore, and to my surprise I enjoyed it more. It seems that there was an increase to every weapon's damage, and so it made the weapons more fun. Plus the next time around I did all the side missions instead of trying to chase the storyline. And it works, if you play a mission or two at a time. Trying to pursue the storyline is unrewarding cause besides diamonds, you don't get much, and of course the storyline itself is fairly lackluster. The only interesting part of it is the character of the Jackal.

So about halfway through my second playthrough, and knowing now to take it easy and just mess about it, I would give the game an 80%. If the game had been able to undergo some more design refinements it would be 90% easy.

[bryan]

I really wanted to like this game, but it just pissed me off around every turn. Getting around the world gets tedious very quickly thanks to the environment and the respawning guard outposts. It takes way too many bullets to kill anyone. The AI is suspect. It is incredibly difficult to pick out enemies in the environment. Alerting one enemy allows every other enemy in the area to know exactly where you are. The save system is too unforgiving. Etc., etc.

I feel a little bad about bitching about this and Prince of Persia as I really respect Ubisoft for doing something different with these franchises, but I just really dislike some of the design decisions they have made with these titles.

The 'way too many bullets to kill anyone' problem can be solved by jacking up the difficulty. As for enemies, yes it be difficult but after a while it's fairly realistic since that's the whole point of cover. I believe it would be much the same in real life. If you're under fire and you find it hard to pick them out, what I do is dash for another cover and circle around to get a better vantage.

[Wasson_]

and btw, i noticed that with the sniper/assault rifle (unable to carry both) thing... its fucking stupid. this whole game is fucking stupid. a mounted machine gun should cut through people and yet you can hit them 10 times and they're still walking around....

my overall enjoyment of this game is very low... how can games like this score so high in reviews?

Probably because it it's really fucking good and it's utterly retarded to condemn it over such a small issue when it offers so much in terms of scale and the sheer craftsman ship of the world they placed you in.
...it's a game try playing into it's small degrees of limitations and find a set-up you enjoy.
also if your having trouble killing guys, you're generally just not simply hitting them or scoring good hits. Hit a guy in the head, he'll go down with one shot...wtf is peoples problem with the damage in this game? It takes a shit load to kill you (in fact your damn near invincible), why should all the enemies be complete push-overs? Did you decide to play a FPS to not have to fire your gun in a great volume or with some god damned attentive aiming?

[bryan]

On the default difficulty, it took too much bullets to kill both the enemies AND yourself. On hardcore this felt a lot better. I imagine it might be even better on the final difficulty (I forget the name of it)

[Dukefrukem]

Probably because it it's really fucking good and it's utterly retarded to condemn it over such a small issue when it offers so much in terms of scale and the sheer craftsman ship of the world they placed you in.
...it's a game try playing into it's small degrees of limitations and find a set-up you enjoy.

1. The game isn't really fucking good... and 2.
It's not just 1 small issue. I can throw around a dozen or so.

1. Sniper/Assault guns (can't carry both)
2. stupid enemies
3. driving around
4. fixing cars
5. awful console graphics/textures
6. awful hitboxs
7. repetitive
8. not rewarding
9. not related to Far Cry 1 at all
10. everyone dropping what they're doing to kill you

okay that's only 10 but those are far from "small issues"


also if your having trouble killing guys, you're generally just not simply hitting them or scoring good hits. Hit a guy in the head, he'll go down with one shot...wtf is peoples problem with the damage in this game? It takes a shit load to kill you (in fact your damn near invincible), why should all the enemies be complete push-overs? Did you decide to play a FPS to not have to fire your gun in a great volume or with some god damned attentive aiming?

Im using the mounted gun on the back of my Jeep. I shoot them from the moment they are in range until they smash into my Jeep and after maybe the 25th round they finally fall off the back not before pelting me bullets as well ... Its stupid... If you're gonna make a game as realistic as this game tries to be, then make it consistently realistic. (please watch Zero Punctuation if you are having trouble grasping this complaint)

[National Kato]

1. Sniper/Assault guns (can't carry both)
2. stupid enemies
3. driving around
4. fixing cars
5. awful console graphics/textures
6. awful hitboxs
7. repetitive
8. not rewarding
9. not related to Far Cry 1 at all
10. everyone dropping what they're doing to kill you

okay that's only 10 but those are far from "small issues"


I could easily trim 7 of those off just by filtering your personal 'small issues' out because they're not issues to everyone, and debatable at best. The remaining 3 issues are valid points, acknowledged by the developer in that previous interview, and likely will be improved upon for the next in the series - or, hopefully, a patch.

I'll let you decide which are the 7 and which are the 3.

[Dukefrukem]

I could easily trim 7 of those off just by filtering your personal 'small issues' out because they're not issues to everyone, and debatable at best. The remaining 3 issues are valid points, acknowledged by the developer in that previous interview, and likely will be improved upon for the next in the series - or, hopefully, a patch.

I'll let you decide which are the 7 and which are the 3.

why do i have decide? why don't you just tell me?

[Wasson_]

------
1. Sniper/Assault guns (can't carry both)
cry some more. Carry an LMG if it bugs you so much.

2. stupid enemies
eah... when wounded they'll get up and try to crawl to safety, otherwise their accuracy and tendency to use cover suggests pretty sound AI. They fit-in with the games environment well.

3. driving around
...??...yeah their are long distances to cover in the game, or did you not know that?

4. fixing cars
you'd rather you can't fix them?

5. awful console graphics/textures
hurm...i wouldn't know.

6. awful hitboxs
Negative. at least not on PC... You hit a guy in the head, he goes down. you hit him in the arms and legs they are going to require significantly more hits.

7. repetitive
yes, as far as, there are bad guys who are trying to kill you? Drive around exploring for diamonds, seeking new missions none of which take you to the same place twice...however most of which involve you blowing something up.

8. not rewarding
that is entirely debatable. Do you like to blow shit up?

9. not related to Far Cry 1 at all
and that is entirely irrelevant.

10. everyone dropping what they're doing to kill you
what the hell are they doing? Waiting for someone to kill: You.

okay that's only 10 but those are far from "small issues"



Im using the mounted gun on the back of my Jeep. I shoot them from the moment they are in range until they smash into my Jeep and after maybe the 25th round they finally fall off the back not before pelting me bullets as well ... Its stupid... If you're gonna make a game as realistic as this game tries to be, then make it consistently realistic. (please watch Zero Punctuation if you are having trouble grasping this complaint)

---
In all honesty, I too have found the mounted guns to be considerably inaccurate...I don't even drive the er "Technical" jeep if I have the choice, I prefer the dune buggy because it's so agile and maneuverable, plus it looks awesome. The game isn't really trying to be realistic...at all actually, there are just alot of realistic-looking scenery and environmental ambiance laid atop an out door, open ended shooter that involves long distances and driving.

[National Kato]

why do i have decide? why don't you just tell me?

Because 7 of them are pretty subjective. That's not lessening their importance to you. I'm just saying I disagree.

[divinechaos]

Wow, if anyone here hates their 360 copy then I'll buy it. I rented this game a long time ago and I loved it but didn't have enough cash at the time to buy it.

[Slack3r78]

1. Sniper/Assault guns (can't carry both)
Because carrying around a 10lbs assault rifle and a 30lbs sniper rifle along with their respective ammunition across the African Sahara is a completely reasonable expectation.

[Goronmon]

Because carrying around a 10lbs assault rifle and a 30lbs sniper rifle along with their respective ammunition across the African Sahara is a completely reasonable expectation.Especially since carrying an assault rifle along with anti-vehicle weaponry is apparently a piece of cake?

The limitation is completely arbitrary, the developer even admits it. They did it to force you into certain loadouts, not because they were aiming for something more realistic.

[Dukefrukem]

People are taking my comments way too personal. Obviously its my opinion that the game is sub par so relax. If you love it great. I happen to think it blows chunks.

[Wraitheist]

I wish I would have known that bumping up the difficulty resolves the "way too many shots" problem. That was probably the biggest sticking point for me. Then again, the myriad of other issues I had with it wouldn't have been resolved. Oh well.

[Dukefrukem]

Can you enter the northern part of the map again after you beat the game?

[bryan]

Can you enter the northern part of the map again after you beat the game?

Once you beat the game you hit the credits.

At the end you die.

[Dukefrukem]

i really wish you didn't put that spoiler there. it wasn't really necessary for my question and i tried to hold back and couldn't.... now i dont want to finish the game.

[bryan]

Sorry about that.

[darkbase]

i really wish you didn't put that spoiler there. it wasn't really necessary for my question and i tried to hold back and couldn't.... now i dont want to finish the game.

It's even more disappointing than it sounds. At least it was to me.

[Slack3r78]

It makes sense in the overall story, though. I have said and still maintain that the Jackal is one of my favorite video game characters ever.

[bryan]

It makes sense in the overall story, though. I have said and still maintain that the Jackal is one of my favorite video game characters ever.

I agree I think he's a very intriguing character, I just wish the missions were more story driven. I know it can be done in an open world game cause GTA did it pretty well, I thought. (I didn't play it myself but watch my brother play it.)

[Dukefrukem]

It makes sense in the overall story, though. I have said and still maintain that the Jackal is one of my favorite video game characters ever.

I don't even know how thats possible considering I've seen him twice so far and he hasn't said anything.... interesting really.

[Dukefrukem]

Oh and btw, I'm adding awful draw distances to this game as my #11th complaint. Terrible draw distances.

[Slack3r78]

I don't even know how thats possible considering I've seen him twice so far and he hasn't said anything.... interesting really.
The implications of his character become much more important later in the game.

[Dukefrukem]

The implications of his character become much more important later in the game.

Well Ive been pretty bored with this game so I don't even listen to what people say to each other but rather play music most of the time... I read a subtitle once in a while.

[Slack3r78]

Well Ive been pretty bored with this game so I don't even listen to what people say to each other but rather play music most of the time... I read a subtitle once in a while.
I can't imagine why you're taking nothing from the story.

[bryan]

Well Ive been pretty bored with this game so I don't even listen to what people say to each other but rather play music most of the time... I read a subtitle once in a while.

No offense, but why force yourself through the game if you dislike it so much? Might as well trade it in.

[Smoof]

I'm liking the game so far. Just installed it a few days ago and while it's no Crysis Warhead (what I played before FC2), I'm still having a lot of fun.

I'm not sure if it was just a fluke, but I was driving along and I noticed my GPS blinking while I was on this ridge. So I park my car on the ridge and start jumping down the side of the mountain to find the diamond case. I heard a car going by up above and then it stopped next to my car and two guys got out of the truck. Like I said, I'm not sure if it's a fluke or not, but I thought it was really awesome that these guys would see my car parked on the road and get out to investigate.

[LarsenNET]

No offense, but why force yourself through the game if you dislike it so much? Might as well trade it in.

I agree. I tried it and didn't care for it. The save system is to punishing on the 360, so I moved on to something else. Games are supposed to be fun.

[darkbase]

No offense, but why force yourself through the game if you dislike it so much? Might as well trade it in.

For me: Trophies and just to see it through. Not finishing a game really bugs me.

[bryan]

For me: Trophies and just to see it through. Not finishing a game really bugs me.

I'll never get the achievement thing. I'd rather play a proper game than chase after a meaningless ranking. I can understand getting all the achievements in a game that you enjoy, but to force yourself through a game you don't...

[darkbase]

I'll never get the achievement thing. I'd rather play a proper game than chase after a meaningless ranking. I can understand getting all the achievements in a game that you enjoy, but to force yourself through a game you don't...

I certainly didn't get all of them but enough to feel satisfied. And I didn't hate the game, I just didn't think it was all that great. It was good enough that I saw it through to the end though.

I think I should add that Duke and I were battling for first place in the CoG Trophies rank at the time, although we've both been surpassed by RestlessAvenger recently.

[bryan]

I think I should add that Duke and I were battling for first place in the CoG Trophies rank at the time, although we've both been surpassed by RestlessAvenger recently.


Ah cool... what is this CoG Trophies thing? I must have missed it completely, first I've heard of it! :eek:

[darkbase]

Ah cool... what is this CoG Trophies thing? I must have missed it completely, first I've heard of it! :eek:

Thread's here (http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/showthread.php?t=882). I probably spend more time competing for that small sense of accomplishment than I would like to admit.

[Dukefrukem]

No offense, but why force yourself through the game if you dislike it so much? Might as well trade it in.

I will when I'm finished with it. No offense taken.

[Ghostbear]

Those of us on the FUDcast just did a show in Farcry 2. You may enjoy it, we uhh...didn't like it. Its a fun show in any case. Check it out kids!
Link Here (http://www.gameradio.us/fudcast/fudcast-episode-7-all-i-need-to-know-about-africa-i-learned-from-far-cry-2/)

[bryan]

magical ratchets that fix all damage to cars <--- Got that from the page, and I just wanted to say - Dude it's a game! Nitpicking about shit like that doesn't make for very good humor.

I'll dl your podcast tho and have a listen.

[SilentScreams]

I'd rather have a magical ratchet than have to call my dad (an engineer/mechanic) every time I break my car. :p
My phone bill would be through the roof.

[Ghostbear]

magical ratchets that fix all damage to cars <--- Got that from the page, and I just wanted to say - Dude it's a game! Nitpicking about shit like that doesn't make for very good humor.

I'll dl your podcast tho and have a listen.

I think you'll find that we don't pick at the little things. We pick at the big ones ;)