Ants at the Picnic Rendering Game Unplayable
I've been playing Far Cry 4 for a few days now and I've gotten to the point where several, relatively small things are just making the game unplayable for me. It's so close to being so good, but these tiny little development decisions are just ruining what could be an epic experience.
- The "beep beep" that happens whenever Ajay's wallet or loot bag is over 2/3rds full is just maddening. After a while I feel like I'm being poked in the head every time I hear it. It's played so often that is nearly constant, and what really blows my mind is that it is completely unnecessary. That's actually true about all of my complaints.
- The HUD elements that I cannot get rid of have become so tiresome that I just cannot see past them to enjoy the game. The glowing, pulsating quest markers? The absurd situational prompts? I mean, seriously folks, just because the Buzzer is not moving does not mean that I'm sitting there desperately trying to remember which key to press to get out.... while suspended a hundred meters off the ground. And just because I've got fire or explosive arrows equipped does not mean that I am incapable of remembering which key to press to nock a normal arrow. And when I'm aiming at an enemies head through the scope of a sniping rifle is it REALLY necessary to inform me which key to press to hold breath and let me know ON SCREEN that zoom is bound to the mouse wheel? Oh, and my personal favorite: while serenely traveling across the landscape suspended from a hang glider... I can't focus on anything other than the glowing, pulsating, 3D model of the shift key that is branded into the center of my vision for the duration of the trip!
Really?
Look, I understand that you have to account for the lowest common denominator when making games, but really? I mean really? At what point did informing people what keys their controls were bound to become so necessary that it required on screen displays that CANNOT BE DISABLED? I mean why stop there? Why not have the movement controls on screen whenever the player is in-game? You can have perpetual, on screen, three dimensional models of the W,S,A,D keys pulsating within their own perpetually expanding auras branded across the entire landscape... just in cast somebody out there is incapable of remembering which button does what?
Sarcasm aside, please give me the ability to turn that crap off. The ONLY situational prompt that is even remotely useful is the grapple. The rest is... I don't even know what it is. The word 'masturbatory' comes to mind. Somebody out there is very proud of their control schematics and on screen info. Bloody hell, the short version is that, as of this moment, I feel like I just wasted $90, cos I can't play this game in this state. I just can't. If I knew how to crack open the code and change it, I would, cos most of the game is just magnificent. The artwork, the landscape, the story, it's all really good. The problem is that I can't enjoy any of it because it feels like I've got somebody's hand in my face.