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Far Cry 3 |OT| Sex, Drugs, and the Call of Battle in the Uncharted

No, the "face value" is the game actually being racist and stereotyping on the surface. The writer is saying that it was intentionally so, to the point of exaggeration, and how could you not notice that? He made a superficially shit story on purpose and tried to make it so obvious that it would be impossible to miss, thus making it a succesful meta-commentary because players would realize they had to look deeper. The problem is that many people missed it (I guess you're saying you didn't and that's why you liked it?)

See:


Really.

I have been laughing it off instead of taking it seriously, but I had no idea that it was intentionally satire.

Good on him.
 

conman

Member
When you have an island made up of all the dark people of the world speaking in a dozen different accents, I just don't know how anyone could see it as anything but intentional. Toss in the World's Zoo approach to wildlife (that you kill and commodify), the war memorabilia, the "tribal" silliness, and the raising of flags everywhere, and, well, I thought it was pretty clear what was going on. And, yes, this stuff is familiar because it's in a thousand other games. That familiarity is part of the "joke." It was the exaggeration of it all that makes it clear that it was intentional. I thought it was pretty obvious. But I guess that's just me.

It's kind of frightening to me that more people didn't get what was funny about the game's overt racism. So many of us are so inured to racism and colonial tropes in games that the "jokes" just went right past some of us. Scary. It's not "ha ha" funny. More of the "Hmph, so true" kind of funny.

I didn't think the story was deliberately "bad." Just silly and absurd. Like a slasher movie. It's a game story built on emphasizing and exaggerating conventions. I keep drawing comparisons to Scream and Cabin in the Woods because I think that's the kind of game it is. The writer made a good point about how some games can successfully do satire or critique, but they satirize things other than games (like GTA satirizing American culture, gangster movies, etc.). But it's rare for games to critique gaming conventions. Most games that reference gaming conventions are either just of the wink-and-nod variety with no underlying point (like No More Heroes or Vanquish), or they're nostalgia pieces with a million references to early games (like Scott Pilgrim or Retro City Rampage).
 
Well, that's retarded. I've done over 50% of the outposts and I'm only 5 hours in.

Why can a Far Cry game never get everything right? There's always some really fucking dumb design choices...

Solution that someone mentioned earlier in the thread that I have ascribed to since is leaving about half of the outposts occupied by the pirates, that way there's some safe zones, but also some hostile ones.

Just made it to the second island! Still really enjoying the game.
 
I hate it when I don't go to the next main quest and do some other shit, the same telephone conversation between jason and the dude with glasses repeat itself.
 
Solution that someone mentioned earlier in the thread that I have ascribed to since is leaving about half of the outposts occupied by the pirates, that way there's some safe zones, but also some hostile ones.

Just made it to the second island! Still really enjoying the game.

Hardly a good solution since I really enjoy doing the outposts :(
 
Astounding. The minimap is the one thing I wanted desperately to turn off.
Could you even play without the minimap, or is it a crutch the designers leaned too heavily on? I'm thinking of Assassin's Creed here, which let you turn it off, but good luck trying to achieve even half of your objectives without the magic icons to tell you whats what.

But the PC has been patched? I was waiting for that to drop before pondering a buy.
 

conman

Member
Could you even play without the minimap, or is it a crutch the designers leaned too heavily on? I'm thinking of Assassin's Creed here, which let you turn it off, but good luck trying to achieve even half of your objectives without the magic icons to tell you whats what.
I played through all of the AC games without the minimap. You don't need it at all. Landmarks work very well.

But in FC3 there aren't enough distinct landmarks to guide yourself by. I'm not sure that playing without the minimap would work. Nor am I sure that it would add much (or take much away). But I do wish there were ways like that to add some much-needed challenge to FC3.
 
I played through all of the AC games without the minimap. You don't need it at all. Landmarks work very well.

But in FC3 there aren't enough distinct landmarks to guide yourself by. I'm not sure that playing without the minimap would work. Nor am I sure that it would add much (or take much away). But I do wish there were ways like that to add some much-needed challenge to FC3.
I could navigate the world in AC, as I spend a lot of time in open world games just exploring and getting my bearings and internal compass zero'd in, but finding individuals or chasing people in town and some other objectives seemed impossible. Was a while since I last tried though.

Did the patch fix anything else? Or was it just to add some HUD options?
 

Dartastic

Member
I'm really amazed that so many of you don't see the absurdity of what is happening on the island. From the sex scene, to the scene near the end with Flight of the Valykries playing... the game is very obviously demonstrating an absurd fantasy world.
 
I'm really amazed that so many of you don't see the absurdity of what is happening on the island. From the sex scene, to the scene near the end with Flight of the Valykries playing... the game is very obviously demonstrating an absurd fantasy world.

Are you taking to me?
 

golem

Member
I'm really amazed that so many of you don't see the absurdity of what is happening on the island. From the sex scene, to the scene near the end with Flight of the Valykries playing... the game is very obviously demonstrating an absurd fantasy world.

In the pantheon of video game power trip fantasy plots, Far Cry 3 is strictly middle of the road. If a writer has to resort to blaming the audience for not understanding his intentions, well he has failed as a storyteller.
 
I'm really amazed that so many of you don't see the absurdity of what is happening on the island. From the sex scene, to the scene near the end with Flight of the Valykries playing... the game is very obviously demonstrating an absurd fantasy world.

What sex scene? Don't spoil the game man.
 
Oh wow, okay, I didn't realise the map wasn't just one island as a result I've actually cleared out the ENTIRE first island before touching any other missions, ha.

Kinda sad how you can break the game by exploring for a few hours...
 
T

thepotatoman

Unconfirmed Member
Does saying creating a story based on lazy video game stereotypes on purpose really excuse the the fact that you are creating a story based on lazy video game stereotypes? I honestly can't decide myself yet. I think I'd be better receptive of it if the ending strongly played into it, but it really didn't.

When the characters were acting videogamey in a way that's sooo over the top that it made me feel uneasy about them, I think they were succeeding in what they were trying to do by making you realize how messed up video games kind of are, but the ending especially felt stereotypical in the bad, lazy sort of way.

I think if you are going to put all that effort into setting the game up as a satire in the first half of the game, there deserves to be some kind of payoff related to that in the last half.
 

Laughing Banana

Weeping Pickle
Say you want to kill someone--you don't come into the place where that person is in by YELLING and SCREAMING. That will make it easier for your hunt/hostiles inside that building to mark you.

Gah Jason can be such an IDIOT sometimes.
 

Woo-Fu

Banned
Oh wow, okay, I didn't realise the map wasn't just one island as a result I've actually cleared out the ENTIRE first island before touching any other missions, ha.

Kinda sad how you can break the game by exploring for a few hours...

That doesn't break the game unless the meaning of break has changed overnight.
 
Is anyone else not using their C4/landmines? you get these early on in the game but i just don't see a point in using them.

I would assume landmines only work on vehicles but the only time to use them would be when some goons drive up to you and it happens so quick there's no way to set them up fast enough. Then there is C4, It's easier just to shoot people and throw grenades instead of spending time to set up a block of C4.
 

Papercuts

fired zero bullets in the orphanage.
Is anyone else not using their C4/landmines? you get these early on in the game but i just don't see a point in using them.

I would assume landmines only work on vehicles but the only time to use them would be when some goons drive up to you and it happens so quick there's no way to set them up fast enough. Then there is C4, It's easier just to shoot people and throw grenades instead of spending time to set up a block of C4.

Landmines work on people too. It's useful to set them around the entrances to an outpost so if someone sees you shoot someone and runs out to investigate they set it off.

C4 I never really used.
 

Jintor

Member
the game actively disincentivses me from clearing safehouses which to my mind is the most fun thing in the entire game

c4 is really useful. I treated it basically like a controllable grenade
 

Spat_triate

Member
Is anyone else not using their C4/landmines? you get these early on in the game but i just don't see a point in using them.

I would assume landmines only work on vehicles but the only time to use them would be when some goons drive up to you and it happens so quick there's no way to set them up fast enough. Then there is C4, It's easier just to shoot people and throw grenades instead of spending time to set up a block of C4.

Hide in bush

Plant mines near bush

Kill someone from hiding spot

Move to another bush

Enjoy the fireworks.

Shooting is more efficient yes, but I found many inventive (and fun!) ways of using explosives.
 
the game actively disincentivses me from clearing safehouses which to my mind is the most fun thing in the entire game

c4 is really useful. I treated it basically like a controllable grenade

they really did go too far with trying to "fix" the respawning checkpoints. in FC2 you walked 100feet and turned around and they were back. now, they're just gone forever.

I think someone mentioned it earlier but some kind of power struggle between the factions would be great. you would have the chance to prevent them from recapturing bases or if you end up leaving the game for a few days you would come back to a map full of enemy bases.
 

Eppy Thatcher

God's had his chance.
Was playing around in the Rooks a little more the other day as a break from Hitman and got to thinking about all this talk about how they don't properly display the transition to crazy in the game... and then I began to imagine how the character must sound to his friends outside of the specific cutscenes they show us...

"Jason dude... if you need more ammo why don't you just tie these shirts together"
"You don't get it. You don't have the tatau so it's understandable that you would be this ignorant but if you want to hold more ammunition than you need the White Bellied Tiger skin or it WON'T FUCKIN WORK."
".... yea... ok jason."
"Yea well... check my shark skin wallet for some money if you get hungry."
"What happened to your Armani man???"
"SHAAARK SKIN!"

Just made me chuckle. If you take all the game mechanics into mind when addressing his apparent disconnect from reality you can easily come up with some glaring examples of someone going over the godamned edge.
And i don't even care... I dig the fact that Riley was fuckin gung-ho at the end. I don't have an older brother just two older sisters... but if my oldest sibling kicked a pirates door in, came stomping in covered in animal skins and machetes and was like "Fly this heli while i fuck shit up! You're doin GREAT! BURN FUCKERS" I would probably be laughing my ass off from disbelief as well.

Still a great game. Back to Silent Assassin work..
 

Marvie_3

Banned
Is anyone else not using their C4/landmines? you get these early on in the game but i just don't see a point in using them.

I would assume landmines only work on vehicles but the only time to use them would be when some goons drive up to you and it happens so quick there's no way to set them up fast enough. Then there is C4, It's easier just to shoot people and throw grenades instead of spending time to set up a block of C4.

I use these all the time. I love setting explosive traps for enemies.
 

conman

Member
This is becoming an increasingly big problem in open world games and open world RPGs. It's like no one tries to balance anymore.
What happened to the days when games got harder as you progressed rather than easier? Seems to me like a better solution would be to give you more options as the game progressed rather than more power. Empowerment should come from becoming more skilled rather than by earning more "cheats."

As you say, RPGs and open-world games are going increasingly this route of becoming easier as you progress. Skyrim is maybe the worst offender. But FC3 is a close second.
 
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