Just Cause 2... where is the fun?

[OldJadedGamer]

So I heard rants and raves about Just Cause 2 when it came out and I'm trying to play through it but it's getting super boring traveling from one space to another and it seems so confusing knowing what I should be doing next. Where is my quick jump? Am I just playing too many games right now to remember what I'm doing in all of them.

[Wackman3000]

You need to throw out your beacon to get the guy who drops off supplies to come by. Then you choose extraction and you can go to any place you have already discovered.

As for the fun, I had the most fun once I modded the game. Then I just proceed to fuck around blowing stuff up until I get bored.

justcause2mods.com

[Hawkzombie]

Also, have you seen the movie Commando?

This game is the Commando of video games.

[Farsight]

it's getting super boring traveling

Uhh, grapple the ground 50 feet in front of you. Open parachute. Continue grappling. Experience the best traveling gameplay in the history of gaming... until someone implements my trademarked concept: The Porniraptor.

what I should be doing next

Pick one of the 8,000,000 icons on your map. Explodify it. Repeat until something shiny distracts you or death.

where is the fun?

Where is your soul?!?

[Hawkzombie]

Farsight...you're my new hero :p

[OldJadedGamer]

Where is your soul?!?

If I had no soul I would have #1 given up on the game and #2 not made a thread asking what I'm missing. I want to love the game, I'm just not liking the traveling part.

[roboninja]

Look to your username. :p

Even the menial travel is a blast with this game. Plus, you are only travelling to the next thing to blow up anyhow. Not sure what to tell you. This is my favourite sandbox game ever.

EDIT: Rereading the OP, I may have found the problem phrase: "play through it." This is not a game you try that with, IMO. I just jump on to cause as much mayhem as possible, having a blast doing so. Objectives are mostly incidental.

[Farsight]

I may never get the achievements for driving all the cars or doing all the faction missions. Half the time I don't even think of the cars as something other than grapple points, bowling balls to attach to my helicopter, and moving balloons filled with gasoline.

[Inspector Fowler]

I'm still kind of in OJG's corner. Although the game has lots to "do" it's all exactly the same.

The world is huge, and beautiful, and the game has some interesting mechanics. But the story sucks, and gave me little reason to finish it (although I forced myself to). The gameplay is virtually the same every time - it's really cool, don't get me wrong - but it's all kind of the same.

This is one of those games that for me was "cool with a friend". When you're trading off the controller, working together to decide what to blow up or what mission to do. Playing alone, it felt like "travel, boom, repeat" which got pretty old.

[Wackman3000]

Do you guys have the DLC? I will totally recommend the one that gives you the jetpack addon to the parachute. Combine that with the mod to increase it's velocity, and you can cover a TON of ground.

There is also a mod that increases the range on your grapple, allowing you to travel much faster as well.

[Lon Lon Rabbit]

I love this game but got distracted by other recent purchases.

I should be getting back to it soon but to spice it up a bit when I do I want to play with mods.

Wackman please recommend the best mods that are both fun and stable (I think you told me about a multi-tether one or something? That sounded cool).



Well, bye.

[TheEpicOfTyler]

I'm really excited for this when it hits sub-$30. The demo was a blast, but I can see it getting old fast. $30 seems like a good price for me to explore that whole game world.

[Kelegacy]

Story missions are there, so you can follow just those if you want. The real fun is losing yourself in the world.

There are issues I have with the game, like shooting bad-guys not being as satisfying as I want it to be after playing RDR (seems like they can absorb a lot of bullets sometimes), but getting around is not an issue with the game and there are many places to liberate and get my attention and amplify my OCD to crazy levels.

[roboninja]

I'm still kind of in OJG's corner. Although the game has lots to "do" it's all exactly the same.

The world is huge, and beautiful, and the game has some interesting mechanics. But the story sucks, and gave me little reason to finish it (although I forced myself to). The gameplay is virtually the same every time - it's really cool, don't get me wrong - but it's all kind of the same.

This is one of those games that for me was "cool with a friend". When you're trading off the controller, working together to decide what to blow up or what mission to do. Playing alone, it felt like "travel, boom, repeat" which got pretty old.

I see where you are coming from, but like I said, if your objective is to finish the game, this is not the game you need to play. This is a true sandbox game; just get in there and mess around. Travel, boom, smile & laugh at the carnage, repeat :D Does not really get old for me.

I spent over 2 hours recently grabbing fast sports cars and taking them on the freeway around the main city, seeing how fast I could go and doing wild flips and crashes. I so want a video record feature for this game.

[Wackman3000]

Here's one of my favorite mods, the parachute thruster mod:

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(yes, that character skin mod is the Joker)

There is also a mod built based on this mod that removes the parachute and makes it look like you are flying, ala superman style:

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(Still haven't seen a superman character model yet, I'm sure it's coming though.)

Here's a supercar that has been modded to have full weight, speed, and invulnerability. You can even drive it up mountains, and it can coast along water too!

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Here's the same car with the BOLO trainer on, allowing multiple tethers:

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Also, the guys who did the San Andreas online mod are working hard on getting their Just Cause 2 multiplayer working well. I expect them to probably have something (beta) up for the public within a few months, since they have already been leaking out some videos of them playing together, testing the sync and lag issues.

[Grifter]

Here's one of my favorite mods, the parachute thruster mod:


(yes, that character skin mod is the Joker)

There is also a mod built based on this mod that removes the parachute and makes it look like you are flying, ala superman style:


(Still haven't seen a superman character model yet, I'm sure it's coming though.)

Here's a supercar that has been modded to have full weight, speed, and invulnerability. You can even drive it up mountains, and it can coast along water too!


Here's the same car with the BOLO trainer on, allowing multiple tethers:



Also, the guys who did the San Andreas online mod are working hard on getting their Just Cause 2 multiplayer working well. I expect them to probably have something (beta) up for the public within a few months, since they have already been leaking out some videos of them playing together, testing the sync and lag issues.

The videos are sweet but do you have link to where people can get the mods?

[roboninja]

The videos are sweet but do you have link to where people can get the mods?

I believe they are all from justcause2mods.com; that's the site Wack mentioned earlier. I will be checking some of these out.

[Wackman3000]

Yup, they are all on http://www.justcause2mods.com

[Gorvi]

Just Cause 2, judging by the demo, seems like a really fun "fuck around for a bit" game, but one that would get frustrating if you're just trying to "beat" it. I'll get it some day, I had a blast with the demo, but not until it's ~$25.

[Generation ABXY]

lvA3IUQP670

And now I'm in the market for a better PC. :D

[Widgetcraft]

Just Cause 2, judging by the demo, seems like a really fun "fuck around for a bit" game, but one that would get frustrating if you're just trying to "beat" it. I'll get it some day, I had a blast with the demo, but not until it's ~$25.

It's a playground, not a journey. It's not like most games, where you have a goal, and a quest to play through to the end. It's just a big open world to have fun in for a while, now and again. It basically has the same thing going for it as Crackdown, but with different mechanics and setting.

[c0m3d14n]

i had fun with it, until i got bored after 2-3 days ;)

[Inspector Fowler]

A couple things - one, I'm playing on the 360 (this is the Console Haven forum after all) so I couldn't mod the game.

And two, I guess I'm just getting to the age where messing around in a game doing stuff like that just gets old. Been there done that. Random havoc? About a million games have it. Blowing up all kinds of stuff? Yawn. Yeah, it's fun to tether a car to your chopper and use it as a wrecking ball - the first time. Or to tether a guy to a passing car - the first time.

I think Gabe from Penny Arcade posted something along these lines a while back, about how he appreciates the sandbox but when there isn't much direction given, it gets old really fast.

All in all I found that JC2 was pretty much a very mediocre 3rd person shooter with an awesome travel mechanic in a gigantic world. If I could mod it, perhaps that would add some value for me, but I just don't have the money right now to build a PC that could do this game justice.

[OldJadedGamer]

I got stuck playing Battlefield: Bad Company 2 for the last two nights and haven't gotten back into it. But yeah, I want to beat this game. I don't have time right now to dick around and play in the world. I have too many other games in my backlog. I just want to get the experience and move on but if this is going to be boring to do then I'll just sell it and move on to my next game.

[Inspector Fowler]

OJG - You can gauge your progress by how many story missions you've done. There are essentially 7 but 6 and 7 are the same, you don't need to cause more chaos to unlock 7.

Also, the oil refinery on the little banana-shaped island in the middle is an excellent way to earn a substantial amount of chaos. Chopper in, get things done.

[Kelegacy]

I got stuck playing Battlefield: Bad Company 2 for the last two nights and haven't gotten back into it. But yeah, I want to beat this game. I don't have time right now to dick around and play in the world. I have too many other games in my backlog. I just want to get the experience and move on but if this is going to be boring to do then I'll just sell it and move on to my next game.

I don't think getting "the experience" is going to happen if you want to blow through it. It's not that type of game. Blowing through games just to beat them usually isn't the best way to get the best experience anyway, but that's my opinion. But I'm a smell the roses kind of guy, and I relish books the same way. If a game is crap, I might try to hurry to the end, but if it's too far off I'll just stop playing.

Dicking around and playing in the world is HOW you get the best game experience here, but I feel that way about most sandbox games.

[OldJadedGamer]

I don't think getting "the experience" is going to happen if you want to blow through it. It's not that type of game. Blowing through games just to beat them usually isn't the best way to get the best experience anyway, but that's my opinion. But I'm a smell the roses kind of guy, and I relish books the same way. If a game is crap, I might try to hurry to the end, but if it's too far off I'll just stop playing.

Dicking around and playing in the world is HOW you get the best game experience here, but I feel that way about most sandbox games.

Well, I don't mind smelling the roses. The problem is my rose garden is about 15 acres right now so I only have so much time to stop by each flower. I don't have time for a sandbox game right now since I just wasted a bunch of time on Red Dead Redemption. Sounds like this is the type of game I just need to come back to when I have more time to enjoy it. Right now I just want to play the games I have and not really having a lot of spare time to dick around.

[Kelegacy]

Well, I don't mind smelling the roses. The problem is my rose garden is about 15 acres right now so I only have so much time to stop by each flower. I don't have time for a sandbox game right now since I just wasted a bunch of time on Red Dead Redemption. Sounds like this is the type of game I just need to come back to when I have more time to enjoy it. Right now I just want to play the games I have and not really having a lot of spare time to dick around.

I know what you mean, as I bought RDR and Just Cause 2 in the shipment from Gamestop. RDR took up 40+ hours of my time. I just starting dicking around in Just Cause 2 the last day or so. I'm actually playing it right now, have it on pause because I had to get my son a bottle.

Having so many good games out at the same time is both a good and bad thing. Good because we are never wanting for a quality title. Bad because for us adults, time is something we don't have a lot of. Games start to stockpile and we get the 15 acres of yummy flowers that are starting to overrun our yard and suffocate us.

My solution would be to stop buying so many games and just pick them up when you are in the mood for it, but I don't follow my own advice. I don't buy multiple games each week like Spigot, but mine do stockpile regardless because a game can take me a month to beat if I only get to play it on the weekends.

I'd ignore the sandbox for now if I were you and come back after mixing it up a bit. I'm feeling the same way, though I see that JC2 is a fun title. I need a completely different genre after the epic RDR, but Killzone 2 didn't grab me right off the bat and I might try out 3D Dot Game Heroes to mix it up a bit. Or something else...I'll know when whatever it is clicks. Maybe a short game I CAN blow through and cleanse my palate. I have Uncharted 2 sitting here that I should play and said I would after RDR. Hmmm.

[Widgetcraft]

I got stuck playing Battlefield: Bad Company 2 for the last two nights and haven't gotten back into it. But yeah, I want to beat this game. I don't have time right now to dick around and play in the world. I have too many other games in my backlog. I just want to get the experience and move on but if this is going to be boring to do then I'll just sell it and move on to my next game.

Don't bother, you aren't going to get the experience with that kind of attitude. It is not designed around the idea of beating the game. It's designed around having fun in a sandbox.

[Kelegacy]

Tonight I attacked a compound randomly that had a corporal or something as a mini-boss assassination target. I don't know, the game keeps throwing these things at me randomly. Anyway, I was under heavy fire and enemies kept respawning. Didn't help I was by a river and boats showed up for support. I was blowing up as much stuff as I could but snipers were beating me up and guys with shotguns were assisting in keeping me in cover. The boss guy is heavily armored so you need to get him with headshots--and I was getting shot too much to put my head up and aim at him.

Thankfully it's easy to get around by slingshoting--grappling something and hitting parachute to glide pretty fast and far. I kept having to retreat this way. Then a helicopter shows up and I grapple it--doing the lame Mercenaries 2-esque quicktime sequence I was able to get the attack chopper. I then used the infinite minigun ammo to take out everything I needed to from above. So awesome. I used that 'copter for a few other towns as I made my way south down the river and various islands.

It was a great experience. And it was just a random military installation.

[JayK47]

You need to let go. Simply go with the flow. I had fun with this game by playing about 3 hours a day. More than that and you may get bored. This game is all about open world. If you need your hand held, it may not be for you. By no means a perfect game, but we have little to look forward to this year for new games. Take what you can get.

[Hawkzombie]

Also...the dialog...

THIS GAME IS COMMANDO. It's shitty and that's a good thing.

[Grifter]

So I did a little modding and I am now pretty much Superman with dual pistols and it's fun as hell. I also installed the HD cloud mod plus a new layer of clouds mod which makes everything look so much better especially flying. I also changed the explosion levels for my hand grenades and timed explosives so everything blows up real nice and big...ger. I'll try to get some good screen shots while I play later.

[Savok]

You need to let go. Simply go with the flow. I had fun with this game by playing about 3 hours a day. More than that and you may get bored. This game is all about open world. If you need your hand held, it may not be for you. By no means a perfect game, but we have little to look forward to this year for new games. Take what you can get.
Exactly. Just play a bit at a time, experiment with sillyness. If you try to play it as a normal game, it won't be enjoyable. It's a toy more then anything else, requires your imagination fully refreshed.

[Psykoboy2]

And now I'm in the market for a better PC. :D

Same here. I would do that shit all goddamn day.