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[Krappadizzle]

So GAF, Help me balance my Groznyj Grad map?

Starting spawns will be in the Northwest and Southeast corners. The map will fit 16 players, It's not a big map, but rather a medium sized map. I was debating putting a one way sewer under the map (with running water and everything) under the map, but Im worried that it would break up the flow of the game??

I'd need to play before I could give any suggestions. Maybe we can get a group of people to download it and play a few rounds and we can see if the flow needs adjusting.

 

[Square Triangle]

Can you resume the game after beating it?

 

[Balphon]

Can you resume the game after beating it?

Yes.

 

[EatChildren]

Game finally arrived. Only put a couple of hours into it, but it has all the same problems the Assassin's Creed series, Skyrim, and Oblivion had. Which is a shame, as I don't like that style of game design, and the game is otherwise very polished and engaging.

 

[Kydd BlaZe]

Game finally arrived. Only put a couple of hours into it, but it has all the same problems the Assassin's Creed series, Skyrim, and Oblivion had. Which is a shame, as I don't like that style of game design, and the game is otherwise very polished and engaging.

Could you please elaborate as to what those problems are?

I've been having a blast with it thus far. I must've put at lease 20 hours into it this weekend and haven't even unlocked the second portion of the map yet.

 

[FamousLastX]

Sorry if this has been posted, as I haven't read the entire thread as I'm trying to avoid spoilers that people may have inadvertantly posted, but how is the multiplayer? Wanna wrap up the campaign before I give it a go. Hoping there's a decent player base on there as well (360 version).

 

[vidcons]

You know, it's amazing that the development team knew to make vines/ropes dangle over ledges so players could know that they can jump to the spot but they couldn't figure out a way to not throw a thousands of icons on your screen.

 

[Messofanego]

Game finally arrived. Only put a couple of hours into it, but it has all the same problems the Assassin's Creed series, Skyrim, and Oblivion had. Which is a shame, as I don't like that style of game design, and the game is otherwise very polished and engaging.

Those same problems that you haven't stated yet but I'll guess, goes for all open world games. The genuine thing that sets Far Cry 3 apart is the emergent moments that pretty much only STALKER did since that was mostly unscripted.

 

[weekend_warrior]

posted?

Far Cry 3 in Real Life

 

[a secret-boss]

here's a glitch that happened to me. the pyro guy was running to sound the alarm and I was torching him at the same time. He died before he can sound the alarm. the camp was liberated... I guess he's happy too

 

[EatChildren]

Could you please elaborate as to what those problems are?

I've been having a blast with it thus far. I must've put at lease 20 hours into it this weekend and haven't even unlocked the second portion of the map yet.

I'm not overly fond of check list design where the game is structured in a way that all you ever seem to be doing is ticking boxes. Collect X amount of Y to craft Z. Find these items. Unlock this equipment. And so on. As Messofanego said, it's a common trope of open world game design, but it's also one that I don't find very interesting.

Assassin's Creed II is a good example of this. Everyone raved at how improved it was over the original, but once I got my hands on it I didn't really care, because those improvements are check list padding. A bunch of shit to grind to unlock stuff. A bunch of weapons to craft and buy. Things in list form that you play to put a tick next to. Extends the game massively, gives you stuff to "play", but the core formula is still no different to the original. It's padding with boxes to tick.

Far Cry 3 seems that way to me too. There's a lot to see and do but it's mostly the same stuff, the same box ticking, that rarely serves much purpose other than to tick boxes for playtime. The economy is the best example I can think of in my limited time. There doesn't need to be an XP system. There doesn't need to be money. The abundance of cash and loot (why is there pointless loot to begin with, crafting excluded? Why is there an inventory with limits?) and ease of acquiring XP trivialise the act of earning that money and earning that XP beyond ticking the box of the next unlock, the next skill, the next weapon, and so on.

I know that others have already compared it to Far Cry 2, and I know lots of people hate that game, but the diamond system is far superior in my opinion. I like the idea of every collectable being essential and of high value, leading to their placement in the game world being very deliberate. Where the game encourages you to hunt out and explore to find these diamonds because every single one counts. You'll be encouraged to go areas not essential to missions. You'll be encouraged to explore. And the reward of a single diamond goes a long way and feels like an accomplishment, as you can spend those rewards on a new unlock/weapon/whatever. It forces you to play smart as you cant grind to unlock shit, or find yourself rolling in a broken XP/economy system that requires almost no thought from the player.

And I say all this not disliking the game, because the actual mechanical system they've got in Far Cry 3 is fucking great. Combat is extremely satisfying, and I feel like I'm actually present in the game world. Moreso than Far Cry 2. I just dislike padded, check list, information feed game design as for me personally it disrupts immersion and thrusts me out of the experience. It's the transparency of "I'm a video game", and not the good kind.

 

[Salsa]

I dont think you're gonna like the game EatChildren. I had the same issues as you and enjoyed the same aspects, but as you play through it you realize that you're getting little enjoyment out of that when put against what most of the game is, and it becomes really repetitive. I personally couldnt stop seeing the missed opportunities and that bummed me out so much. I still had fun and all but yeah.

The game that could have been

 

[Jintor]

Those same problems that you haven't stated yet but I'll guess, goes for all open world games. The genuine thing that sets Far Cry 3 apart is the emergent moments that pretty much only STALKER did since that was mostly unscripted.

Unfortunately, the more you clear away safehouses, the less these emergent moments occur...

Yo eats what's the difference between this tick-box padding and the 100% completion you have in Sleepy Dawgs? This ain't a snipe, genuinely curious what you think the differences are. I can tell you I just dived back in for a bit to tool around and was having a total blast compared with FC3

 

[ii Stryker]

The only thing the towers do is completely negate the importance if money. They aren't remotely fun until you get the wingsuit.

Furthermore the story missions are mostly garbage because they completely remove the openworld aspect and funnel you through a hallway. I can't tell you how many missions I "failed" because the gameplay designers are failures at realizing the dynamic gameplay benefits unique to openworld games.

Overall to me it's a wash between the quality of FC2 & 3.Both have their strengths and faults.

 

[MagicWithEarvin]

The Bushman AR (signature weapon) is pretty good. Good range, good damage. Perfect for stealthily infiltration from medium to close range.

 

[Torraz]

I'm not overly fond of check list design where the game is structured in a way that all you ever seem to be doing is ticking boxes. Collect X amount of Y to craft Z. Find these items. Unlock this equipment. And so on. As Messofanego said, it's a common trope of open world game design, but it's also one that I don't find very interesting.

Assassin's Creed II is a good example of this. Everyone raved at how improved it was over the original, but once I got my hands on it I didn't really care, because those improvements are check list padding. A bunch of shit to grind to unlock stuff. A bunch of weapons to craft and buy. Things in list form that you play to put a tick next to. Extends the game massively, gives you stuff to "play", but the core formula is still no different to the original. It's padding with boxes to tick.

Far Cry 3 seems that way to me too. There's a lot to see and do but it's mostly the same stuff, the same box ticking, that rarely serves much purpose other than to tick boxes for playtime. The economy is the best example I can think of in my limited time. There doesn't need to be an XP system. There doesn't need to be money. The abundance of cash and loot (why is there pointless loot to begin with, crafting excluded? Why is there an inventory with limits?) and ease of acquiring XP trivialise the act of earning that money and earning that XP beyond ticking the box of the next unlock, the next skill, the next weapon, and so on.

I know that others have already compared it to Far Cry 2, and I know lots of people hate that game, but the diamond system is far superior in my opinion. I like the idea of every collectable being essential and of high value, leading to their placement in the game world being very deliberate. Where the game encourages you to hunt out and explore to find these diamonds because every single one counts. You'll be encouraged to go areas not essential to missions. You'll be encouraged to explore. And the reward of a single diamond goes a long way and feels like an accomplishment, as you can spend those rewards on a new unlock/weapon/whatever. It forces you to play smart as you cant grind to unlock shit, or find yourself rolling in a broken XP/economy system that requires almost no thought from the player.

And I say all this not disliking the game, because the actual mechanical system they've got in Far Cry 3 is fucking great. Combat is extremely satisfying, and I feel like I'm actually present in the game world. Moreso than Far Cry 2. I just dislike padded, check list, information feed game design as for me personally it disrupts immersion and thrusts me out of the experience. It's the transparency of "I'm a video game", and not the good kind.

Thanks for that post, as I was also going to ask for a futher explanation of your first one.

It seems that I'll need to wait for a large discount or baseprice reduction + discount before getting this game. I usually love open world games the first few days, but after a week - 10 days at the latest this dies down and I usually never touch the game again, no matter how good it is, even Saints Row 3 etc.

I did play the first hour at a friends house and was indeed struck by the "checklisty" gameplay. I also think I suffered some WoW-flashback/PTSD from having to collect plants and other stuff, even worse, the small starting inventory made it impossible to go into real exploratory mod without leaving most of the reagents at the wayside...

 

[adamsapple]

Game finally arrived. Only put a couple of hours into it, but it has all the same problems the Assassin's Creed series, Skyrim, and Oblivion had. Which is a shame, as I don't like that style of game design, and the game is otherwise very polished and engaging.

Are you talking about open-world jank ?
because the game is definitely worth bearing a little bit of jank here and there.

 

[EatChildren]

Yo eats what's the difference between this tick-box padding and the 100% completion you have in Sleepy Dawgs? This ain't a snipe, genuinely curious what you think the differences are. I can tell you I just dived back in for a bit to tool around and was having a total blast compared with FC3

Not sure, maybe the relatively small sized and limited scope of the game worked to its advantage. You could get a lot done very quickly. And outside of the triad/cop levelling, which progressed naturally through missions, and the usual open world cosmetic junk to buy, Sleeping Dogs didn't have a lot of padding. Every mission, whether they be races, fights, or whatever, existed in a relatively self contained bubble. They were worth playing due to a little reward at the end if you were into the core mechanics, but comfortably passable if you weren't too hot on whatever mechanic they were based on. Sleeping Dogs didn't have a lot of reason to explore, but it also didn't drag you around.

With Far Cry 3 I feel it's trying to be an RPG and an open world shooter and I don't think it works at all. I don't want to explore anywhere because none of the rewards are worthwhile. It's just another incremental bonus on a bonus I'm getting whenever I do anything ever. I don't know why it has loot and an economy. I don't know why it has XP. These number based spreadsheet mechanics seem totally out of place in an involved, real time first person shooter. Like, this isn't an RPG where you unlock some super magic power with XP, increase charisma to persuade a character, or boost your strength and buy better armour to explore a dungeon that was too hard. It's a FPS through and through, only with a bunch of muddled mechanics locked off to XP, and a botched economy that negates the desire to explore the impressive open world, for seemingly no reason than to pad the game.

Same with Assassin's Creed. I feel so powerful and so capable as I am, because the game does not have have a number based role playing system, that any extras on top of that (weapons, skills, etc) simply make the game all the more easier. And so many of those skills just seem like shit I should have outright, locked off in order to appease me with rewards whenever I do something.

I don't want to sound like I'm making some objective criticism of the game, but this is how I'm finding it so far. There's jank and I don't mind jank at all, but a lot of Ubisoft's jank seems more than your typical jank, but instead jank that is explicitly contrary to the game's design. Again, they've made this great sandbox world with emergent, dynamic encounters and tons of area to explore. Only I don't want to go anywhere or explore because it's all padding and relatively pointless. Box of random loot hidden deep inside wrecked ship guarded by numerous hostiles isn't much different to box of random loot sitting unguarded in a small shed just outside the starting camp.

On the plus side, shooting dudes feels good.

 

[ndawgdrake]

Just finished the game. Ending wasn't too bad, but I wish they developed and extended it just a little bit.

Have to agree with the numerous opinions in this thread that there's too much filler stuff, and not enough reward for it. The idols, for example, there are 100 to collect, yet no real worthy reward for collecting all of them. It should have been integrated better like with player housing or with the main story somehow. The sidequests were also pretty much all boring 5 minute fetch/kill quests. Wish they were more intricate.

Negatives aside, I really enjoyed my 30 hours with FC3. It's a beautifully created island paradise and I love driving and capturing outposts and taking in the views. Gunplay is solid as well. However, this ain't no "Skyrim wid gunz." The honor belongs to the Fallout games.

 

[Messofanego]

Unfortunately, the more you clear away safehouses, the less these emergent moments occur...

That is true for emergent moments with human enemies (although some story-related areas do get respawning enemies), but not with animals.

After I finished the game, I was doing some Hunter missions and did one for the White Albino Crocodile. I take a boat near the swamp area, was all like, "I'm on a boat motherfu-aaaah!" and then suddenly I get ambushed and grabbed while on the boat by a croc. Not even a shark can do that. It wasn't even the target croc!

 

[Deleted member 22576]

Oh, wow.
I love this game. I've finally hit my stride, I'm comfortable, I know how to play, I'm prioritizing, covering lots of ground and taking my time. This game is absolutely wonderful, there's such a perfect variety of objectives and things to do. It's almost like a Tony Hawk combo; you run here, kill this guy with a knife, slide down a hill and loot an animal hide, look left and see a supply transport mission, you follow the beacons and crash through a fence in a photo finish only to notice you're at the foot of a radio tower. It's spellbinding, I haven't felt this immersed in a game in a very long time. I've played Far Cry2, but it never clicked for me the way this game has started to click in the last few hours.

While initially the crafting system seems like a pretty big annoyance, (I figured is just never use syringes) it adds to the continuity I described previously. It's not perfect, it's so simple it almost begs the question as to why even include it at all. But it definitely adds flavor the overall experience. I got caught up on a hunters quest, I had to kill a black panther with a bow and arrow. That's when I started to learn syringe crafting could be useful, I was skulking around in the bushes with a giant terrifying cat out to eat me cutting up plants and flowers to use against my foe. It was a very cool experience, I really felt like some sort of survivalist guru.

The story doesn't make a lick of sense so far, but the dream sequence stuff looks cool. That's another thing, this game looks fucking amazing. It's the best looking game I've ever played. That save system is appalling.

 

[MagicWithEarvin]

Using land mines in an undetected take-over of an outpost.

Next thing I'm going to try is to outfit a vehicle with C4s, then drive it into an outpost and jump out before they spot me. Boom.

 

[Overdoziz]

Using land mines in an undetected take-over of an outpost.

Next thing I'm going to try is to outfit a vehicle with C4s, then drive it into an outpost and jump out before they spot me. Boom.

Is there a way to place C4 stealthily? Every time I tried to the character just threw it, making too much noise, alerting the pirates. Pretty lame, really.

 

[MagicWithEarvin]

Is there a way to place C4 stealthily? Every time I placed it the character just threw it, making too much noise, alerting the pirates. Pretty lame, really.

You have to place them onto objects like walls, vehicles, etc. You'll see an animation where you're placing a C4 onto something, but the placements can be tricky some times.

 

[BrettHD]

Might be a stupid question but can you return to the first island after reaching the second ?
I havent reached the second yet.

 

[MagicWithEarvin]

Might be a stupid question but can you return to the first island after reaching the second ?
I havent reached the second yet.

Yeah.

 

[Wanny]

Game finally arrived. Only put a couple of hours into it, but it has all the same problems the Assassin's Creed series, Skyrim, and Oblivion had. Which is a shame, as I don't like that style of game design, and the game is otherwise very polished and engaging.

How you dare to compare this game to Oblivion and Skyrim. At least these games had something to offer when you explore. FC3 and AC3 are just plain dumb open world games. They just fill it with items to collect.

Ubisoft just wish they could nail beautiful worlds like Bethesdas.

 

[Jintor]

I think one of the things Oblivion and Fallout did was when you explored the open world, you would stumble across stories. In Far Cry 3, it seems the extent of the stories that you will come across is "Japanese soldiers died here", "Natives built a crazy temple here and stuck some relics here" or "Here is a fucking shack".

I mean, okay, there's no audio diary mechanic or something. But Rook Island is just so... boring. There's some amazing-looking ruins, some crazy-looking natural formations, these great setpieces that just don't have anything attached to them except oh I guess pirates are here for some reason and here's some vendor trash. There's a little effort put towards this, like, in the Bruce missions but he just info-dumps (entertainingly info-dumps I guess) some stuff on you before you go in and then... nothing.

I don't even feel anything for the towns. Earnheart's Mansion is probably the place I have the most connection with and even Earnheart himself is nowhere to be found.

 

[MagicWithEarvin]

I think one of the things Oblivion and Fallout did was when you explored the open world, you would stumble across stories. In Far Cry 3, it seems the extent of the stories that you will come across is "Japanese soldiers died here", "Natives built a crazy temple here and stuck some relics here" or "Here is a fucking shack".

I mean, okay, there's no audio diary mechanic or something. But Rook Island is just so... boring. There's some amazing-looking ruins, some crazy-looking natural formations, these great setpieces that just don't have anything attached to them except oh I guess pirates are here for some reason and here's some vendor trash. There's a little effort put towards this, like, in the Bruce missions but he just info-dumps (entertainingly info-dumps I guess) some stuff on you before you go in and then... nothing.

I don't even feel anything for the towns. Earnheart's Mansion is probably the place I have the most connection with and even Earnheart himself is nowhere to be found.

Agree with some of the things you're saying.

However, to me, Far Cry 3 isn't a game where you explore a part of the island expecting a "story". It seems like Rook Island was built to look pretty, to hang glide and see the views, and mess around in the wild to see random things happen at times. Games like Oblivion and Skyrim have a ton of lore because they're part of a series that grounded its foundations based on that. Honestly, I don't think not very many games can offer a rich history on every piece of its land like the Elder Scrolls series.

 

[EatChildren]

How you dare to compare this game to Oblivion and Skyrim. At least these games had something to offer when you explore. FC3 and AC3 are just plain dumb open world games. They just fill it with items to collect.

Ubisoft just wish they could nail beautiful worlds like Bethesdas.

I guess, but I found those games boring too due to Bethesda's auto levelling and hand holding. That's an argument for another time though, and for different reasons.

I think in the case of Far Cry 3 the STALKER series is an apt comparison. Due to weapon degradation, scarcity of weapons, and very high value of goodies looted from discovery, such as artefacts, medkits, bandages, and so on, there was a real encouragement to discover because the game's economy (and by economy I mean essential goods for you to seek out and use, not just "money"), much like the diamonds in Far Cry 2, was fairly well balanced. The game understood value, and when you understand value you understand reward.

Far Cry 3 has such little value for near everything you do because it's all reliant on fairly easy grinds and incremental cash rewards. You can't look off into a mysterious grove, dark cavern, haunting tunnel, or abandoned shack, and wonder what amazing things could be inside. You know it's going to be the same shit you've found everywhere else.

It's the same approach Ubisoft took with the Assassin's Creed series and it's one I'm very opposed to. I think it's really poor, ill-conceived and badly matched game design. And I hate typing this because I really want to enjoy the game more than I am.

I do think I need to stop whining though. I'm still playing the game, but I don't want to shit up this thread with multiple negative posts a day when I've made my point. Rants won't stop, but I'll space them out .

EDIT: Oh, and last complaint, which I don't blame the game for so much as my own taste: the jungle is fucking boring. I don't even think it looks very good, even though I can identify some pretty set pieces. There's one point where I was looking out over this huge vista, seeing the first island in all its glory, and the only thing I could think of was "wow, look at that sea of green, green, and more green". There's such an immense reuse of very samey looking assets, and I'm so unbelievably tired of fucking jungles, that the entire experience so far has been devoid of identity and individuality.

 

[_machine]

How you dare to compare this game to Oblivion and Skyrim. At least these games had something to offer when you explore. FC3 and AC3 are just plain dumb open world games. They just fill it with items to collect.

But at times the gameplay/combat is more fun and the story missions are imho much stronger and entertaining than Skyrim's, much as I love Beth's games.

Both FC2 and FC3 are a mixed bag for me; they two wholly different games that shine where the other fails and fail where the other shines. I love what FC2 tries to be, but it always just leaves me frustrated and angry because of checkpoints, the AI, the weapons. FC3 on the other hand is just too bland, too toned down and lacks the immersion. The general gameplay though is simply more fun and more enganging in small doses that I prefer it, but it isn't nowhere near as I thought it could be.

 

[Goldrusher]

I think in the case of Far Cry 3 the STALKER series is an apt comparison.

STALKER takes place in an abandoned country, in which literally everything is scarce. Far Cry 3 doesn't.

I don't want to explore anywhere because none of the rewards are worthwhile.

Animals can be skinned for bigger pouches, meaning more weapons and ammo you can carry. Very useful.
Radio towers give you free weapons. Useful.
Outposts give you fast travel. Very useful. And they get rid of annoying enemies, a reward too.
Loot gives you money. Which you'll need, especially if you like using the bigger weapons and especially on the second island.
Everything you do gives you xp, which unlocks skills. More health, faster healing, quieter walking, faster running, longer steady aiming, etc.

EDIT: Oh, and last complaint, which I don't blame the game for so much as my own taste: the jungle is fucking boring. I don't even think it looks very good, even though I can identify some pretty set pieces. There's one point where I was looking out over this huge vista, seeing the first island in all its glory, and the only thing I could think of was "wow, look at that sea of green, green, and more green". There's such an immense reuse of very samey looking assets, and I'm so unbelievably tired of fucking jungles, that the entire experience so far has been devoid of identity and individuality.

LOL

Anyway, keep playing, the second island is pretty different.

 

[Dabanton]

I think one of the things Oblivion and Fallout did was when you explored the open world, you would stumble across stories. In Far Cry 3, it seems the extent of the stories that you will come across is "Japanese soldiers died here", "Natives built a crazy temple here and stuck some relics here" or "Here is a fucking shack".

I mean, okay, there's no audio diary mechanic or something. But Rook Island is just so... boring. There's some amazing-looking ruins, some crazy-looking natural formations, these great setpieces that just don't have anything attached to them except oh I guess pirates are here for some reason and here's some vendor trash. There's a little effort put towards this, like, in the Bruce missions but he just info-dumps (entertainingly info-dumps I guess) some stuff on you before you go in and then... nothing.

I don't even feel anything for the towns. Earnheart's Mansion is probably the place I have the most connection with and even Earnheart himself is nowhere to be found.

I think that's the biggest thing Ubisoft games don't get. I love Far Cry 3, but how cool is it coming across a new place in Fallout or Oblivion that you didn't know was there you just went off to explore and came across a storyline or side misson. Ubisofts insistence in marking everything including 'secrets' on the map is frustrating.

And even better you had no idea if the people you came across are friend or foes especially in Fallouts case though I think that Fallout:New Vegas nailed that feeling even more.

 

[spekkeh]

Oblivion and Skyrim have almost everything of interest marked too. It's just that there's a story with actual intrigue and narrative arc associated with everything. That's rewarding in itself. Ubisoft games just give you some trinket.

 

[Ledsen]

LOL



STALKER takes place in an abandoned country, in which literally everything is scarce. Far Cry 3 doesn't.



Animals can be skinned for bigger pouches, meaning more weapons and ammo you can carry. Very useful.
Radio towers give you free weapons. Useful.
Outposts give you fast travel. Very useful.
Loot gives you money. Which you'll need, especially if you like using the bigger weapons and especially on the second island.
Everything you do gives you xp, which unlocks skills. More health, faster healing, quieter walking, faster running, longer steady aiming, etc.

Except you don't need more money than you naturally get while casually picking up stuff you run past, because you get almost every weapon for free from the radio towers. Ammo isn't THAT expensive. And the game is easy enough that the signature weapons aren't really needed. Skills and xp seem thrown in solely to offer rewards for otherwise meaningless tasks, as opposed to being an integral part of the game design. If you simply lifted them out of the game and left a few of the most useful ones in as default skills it would make almost no difference to the gameplay other than a curious lack of rewards. You're already capable of doing everything the game asks of you from the get-go, unlike for example in an RPG. As eatchildren put it:

With Far Cry 3 I feel it's trying to be an RPG and an open world shooter and I don't think it works at all. I don't want to explore anywhere because none of the rewards are worthwhile. It's just another incremental bonus on a bonus I'm getting whenever I do anything ever. I don't know why it has loot and an economy. I don't know why it has XP. These number based spreadsheet mechanics seem totally out of place in an involved, real time first person shooter. Like, this isn't an RPG where you unlock some super magic power with XP, increase charisma to persuade a character, or boost your strength and buy better armour to explore a dungeon that was too hard. It's a FPS through and through, only with a bunch of muddled mechanics locked off to XP, and a botched economy that negates the desire to explore the impressive open world, for seemingly no reason than to pad the game.

.

 

[spekkeh]

EDIT: Oh, and last complaint, which I don't blame the game for so much as my own taste: the jungle is fucking boring. I don't even think it looks very good, even though I can identify some pretty set pieces. There's one point where I was looking out over this huge vista, seeing the first island in all its glory, and the only thing I could think of was "wow, look at that sea of green, green, and more green". There's such an immense reuse of very samey looking assets, and I'm so unbelievably tired of fucking jungles, that the entire experience so far has been devoid of identity and individuality.

Yeah. It sure is realistic, but you don't get a sense of place if everything looks similar. At least the second island looks different. I'm enjoying that mainly for that reason.

I don't agree with that XP goes against the game's design though, because it's about a guy who's learning to become a survivalist/killer.

 

[EatChildren]

STALKER takes place in an abandoned country, in which literally everything is scarce. Far Cry 3 doesn't.

Thematic context of a game mechanic isn't what I'm talking about. The function is what matters. I was comparing the mechanics and design of the game economies, not their thematic differences.

Animals can be skinned for bigger pouches, meaning more weapons and ammo you can carry. Very useful.
Radio towers give you free weapons. Useful.
Outposts give you fast travel. Very useful.
Loot gives you money. Which you'll need, especially if you like using the bigger weapons and especially on the second island.
Everything you do gives you xp, which unlocks skills. More health, faster healing, quieter walking, faster running, longer steady aiming, etc.

Yes this is the content in the game. And my argument that is that I find it all padding and fairly boring to play, and lacking value.

LOL

Okay?

 

[Goldrusher]

Thematic context of a game mechanic isn't what I'm talking about. The function is what matters. I was comparing the mechanics and design of the game economies, not their thematic differences.

If you want scarce items with high value, you need a world where it makes sense.
You talked about weapon degradation and scarcity of weapons. Neither fits in the world of Far Cry 3 where you basically fight against armies.

Okay?

Well, you basically said "The jungle is full of green, so unoriginal, this game sucks."

 

[EatChildren]

If you want scarce items with high value, you need a world where it makes sense.
You talked about weapon degradation and scarcity of weapons. Neither fits in the world of Far Cry 3 where you basically fight against armies.

Whether or not it makes sense is completely irrelevant to how it functions as a game mechanic. I'm not looking at what makes sense. It doesn't matter. It could be filing simulator where you spend hours filing documents. It would make sense. They could set it on the moon. It wouldn't make sense. I don't care either way because that's not what I'm looking. What I'm looking at is how fun the filing is as a stand alone game mechanic.

And that's what I don't enjoy about Far Cry 3's economy. The game mechanic, not the thematics.

Well, you basically said "The jungle is full of green, so unoriginal, this game sucks."

What I said was I was personally sick of jungles, felt the map looked extensively samey and lacked identity, and that this was a grieves with the game, at the fault of my own personal taste, and not one I blame the game for.

If you properly read my post instead of getting snooty because I don't like the game as much as you do, you'd be aware of this.

 

[Zabojnik]

So do I understand it corrently that there are no vechicles in FC3's multiplayer? You can't even add them to custom multiplayer maps?

 

[Gattsu25]

So I wasn't the only person that was greatly annoyed that the starting weapon holster could only hold one weapon or that the starting lootsack could barely hold more than the set of items that one of the early quests force you to scavenge.

I love the shooting in this game but the upgrade/crafting system is broken. It is rewarding you with FPS standards instead of giving you great rewards.

Oh cool, I can hold TWO WEAPONS AT A TIME? I feel like such a badass. I'm at the point where the only crafting upgrades I have left are from named bad guys and I don't know if I want to proceed. I love the hunting, too.

I will agree with eatchildren on the lack of the unknown. I know exactly what is in that cave. I know nothing useful will be in that crate. Meh

I enjoy the game but am contemplating putting it down before my enjoyment+frustration becomes just frustration.

 

[Parakeetman]

So do I understand it corrently that there are no vechicles in FC3's multiplayer? You can't even add them to custom multiplayer maps?

You can mess with it yourself, but not for uploading as a MP map. Same goes with AI.

 

[British Monsoon]

My biggest problem with the game was how incidental Rook Island felt to the story - it really could have taken place anywhere, and while the island is home to an indigenous Polynesian culture, bears the scars of World War 2 and has numerous landmarks that they went to the trouble of noting in the handbook, the game does very little to explore these facets. The Lost Letters were a nice touch (until I realised the a bunch of them tie-in to retailer exclusive pre-order DLC) but in general I would have liked to see more missions that let you explore the history of the island, the culture of the Rakyat and the fates of the Japanese soldiers left on the island. Instead, everything feels very static.

I think it's obvious that the meat of the game is in the combat. It feels satisfying, the guns sound and handle great and the takedown upgrades and secondary weapons add a good level of variety to combat. And while I did genuinely enjoy exploring the island and hunting down the relics (which I was disappointed to see were of a handful of generic types, rather than 120 different relics, maybe with explanations of their place in the culture and religion they represent), and did get a good 31 hours out of the game, considering the lack of any challenge to the world once you've cleared all of the outposts I think I would have sacrificed the open world for a greater focus on the combat.

 

[EatChildren]

The gun sounds are excellent. This game totally nailed how I like my AK47s. The weapon looks and moves like a heavy, metallic rifle of death. The animators, artists, and audio departments did an outstanding job with the weapons.

 

[Jintor]

Agree with some of the things you're saying.

However, to me, Far Cry 3 isn't a game where you explore a part of the island expecting a "story". It seems like Rook Island was built to look pretty, to hang glide and see the views, and mess around in the wild to see random things happen at times. Games like Oblivion and Skyrim have a ton of lore because they're part of a series that grounded its foundations based on that. Honestly, I don't think not very many games can offer a rich history on every piece of its land like the Elder Scrolls series.

If it doesn't have a narrative component to serve then it should have an emergent component to serve, in that the landscape should dictate a difference in systems interaction due to the way that it is composed, its population makeup, the various elements it introduces into gameplay etc. Rook Island generally doesn't do that. Every lush vegetation filled hill is for the most part indistinguishable from every other lush vegetation filled hill. Elevation might slightly change gameplay, as might power lines, but the main thing that changes gameplay is the outposts - and it's in a negative way. The thing I enjoy most is taking outposts from enemies, but every time I do it I know a) I'm never going to get to take those outposts back again and b) I'm going to eff up my enjoyment of the area for the next rest of the game because it's going to despawn all the interesting (gameplay-wise) enemies. Sure I might finally get that bloody last arrow quiver hunting quest, but by that time I'll have wiped an island clean.

By the way, what a joke that 'earn twice the money from selling shit!' or 'loot more from boxes!' is some of the final unlockable skills on the xp tree. If you're not drowning in cash 24/7 even with the mega ultra wallet you're doing something wrong.

 

[Dabanton]

So do I understand it corrently that there are no vechicles in FC3's multiplayer? You can't even add them to custom multiplayer maps?

A real missed opportunity.

I'm liking making maps and scenarios but it's been hobbled.

 

[f0rk]

My main problem is that, even on hard, the pirates are too easy. Patrols of 2 or 3 dudes give me no trouble at all, and the stealth is simple when using the bow. I've started letting the alarm go off when I attack outposts just so enough guys will show up to give me a fight. I don't really feel awarded in a fight for scoping the spot out as they can't hit shit and rarely flank in enough numbers to trouble me. I'm leaving the Molotov guys alone just so I have something to dodge, and stuff catching fire is funny.

So yeah, as others have said this game needs more FC2. I hope all the complainers are happy, they clearly made a game for you here ;p

 

[Overdoziz]

So killing Rakyat also counts towards the flamethrower kills achievement.

 

[Derrick01]

Oblivion and Skyrim have almost everything of interest marked too. It's just that there's a story with actual intrigue and narrative arc associated with everything. That's rewarding in itself. Ubisoft games just give you some trinket.

They have locations marked on the map but what you find in those places is anyone's guess. Those games have their own loot problems with scaling and randomness but it's still better than FC3 which places everything on the map ahead of time.

I liked that there were lots of relatively unique locations. Like I would come across a ruin with a tiny hole with a ladder going down and in there I would find what I needed, or there could be a door that I'd have to blow open. The problem is seeing things like that get the exploration juices flowing and you're excited to see what's in there....only to glance at the minimap and see that a few trash loot boxes and a relic are nearby. Yeah if they didn't put it on the map the crap loot would still be there but you'd at least have more of an illusion of meaningful exploration.

 

[legacyzero]

I'd need to play before I could give any suggestions. Maybe we can get a group of people to download it and play a few rounds and we can see if the flow needs adjusting.

That sounds awesome actually. I think we should do that this week once I got it finished.