Far Cry 4 - Players start in the hills & why no Avalanches
The tropical islands of Far Cry 3 were beautiful, there's no disputing that, but when you take a look at the larger picture, you realize that most of the game was spent in the same type of locale.
With Far Cry 4 taking place in Nepal, Ubisoft has opened up an entire new world according to narrative director Mark Thompson.
"[Players] will start off in the foothills, [they] will be more in the forest, and then as you progress more through the world, you’ll climb higher, higher and higher," Thompson tells us.
"On Far Cry 3 one of the things we failed at was providing really different environments like you were either on the beach, in the ocean, or in a jungle. So the Himalayas was cool because you can get that transition [more effectively]," Thompson says. "Nepal itself goes from sea level to the highest mountain in the world in a tiny, tiny country, so we have that gradual progression."
Because of this, Ubisoft Montreal can differentiate each stage of the title's campaign.
"Our intention was that if you take a screenshot during hour one, five, ten, and then 35, the color palate, the architecture and the environment will look radically different."
Thompson admits, "If you did the same thing in Far Cry 3, it would be like beautiful beach, beautiful jungle, beautiful beach."
Overall though, Far Cry 4's Nepal will be about the same size as our last experience in the franchise.
"The overall footprint is pretty much the same size as Far Cry 3, we've just added more to it," he continues, inferring that the added verticality allows for each square foot of the land to be utilized.
INFO FOUND HERE
Ubisoft director explains why ‘Far Cry 4’ will not feature avalanches
What's the first thing you associate with mountains? Snow, heights, avalanches?
When we heard that Far Cry 4 was going to the Himalayas, we couldn't help but wonder what kinds of new interactions that would allow for. Whereas Far Cry 3 allowed you to clear enemy encampments simply by starting a fire and burning them out, perhaps it would be possible for us to trigger avalanches, sending our foes running for their lives.
That thought proved to be a bit overzealous. Speaking with narrative director Mark Thompson, he lets us down easily, saying that doing so would be a waste of resources due to the immense amount of workload it would create.
"Yeah we have some moments where you have ledges you can interact with and fall down them, but we always try and focus on the systemic version," Thompson tells us.
"Rather than a big avalanche set piece, they’re fun, but they happen once and that’s it, and as a developer you spend a million dollars and it’s gone."
The big issue for Thompson? The fact that developers can't control where the player is looking without taking all control away from them.
"Someone could be looking in the wrong direction [and miss it]. We never control the camera, so we focus more on making gameplay ingredients for those environments."
Regardless, if Far Cry 3 proved anything, it's that Ubisoft Montreal is prodigious at creating such awe-inspiring locales for players to explore. And with the migration to the Himalayas, that marvelous backdrop will be even closer to your fingertips.
INFO FOUND HERE