I've written a blog post on my interpretation and understanding of the Farcry 4 plot.
This follows on from my previous post http://forums.ubi.com/showthread.php...-4-vs-Farcry-3
http://simonmcnair.blogspot.co.uk/20...hics-plot.html
Please feel free to critique me here, or on my blog. If linking to blogs isn't permitted please let me know and I'll replace the link with the blog text.
Cheers
Simon
OK, perhaps my handle is a dead giveaway. But first, I agree with you assessment of FC3 and FC4.
On FC3, i thought it was something of a "poetic justice" that if you decided to vanquish the friends you fought tooth and nail for for a liitle bit of (you know), then you deserved the ending Citra gave you. The other ending where Jason feels "damaged" and unable to return to normal society is I thought pretty stupid, and a social comentary of sorts on the part of the design team that was nothing short of a chumpish way of not letting you have a happy ending, as if you are SUPPOSED to feel bad for fighting for your friends. Fail.
On FC4, from the very start Pagan seemed straightforward, and dare I say earnest. The fact that he killed one of his chumps did nothing but reinforce the perception that he had some interest in "my" being alive after the screwup. Now here's where the ding-dang screen prompts ruin the game, it doesn't tell you to escape per se, but the cutscene sucks you in just when you might be tempted to go back up and wait for Pagan. Amita immediately pised me off, so I had no interest in supporting her except as forced by the scripted gameplay. Sabal is more along my conservative mindset, but he takes it too far, with great regularity, and it isn't long before maybe most? players wish there was some way to get away from both of them.
Amita and her "any means justify the end" is a no-go, Sabal's over the top "praise" and constant reminders of "my father's wishes", made me loathe him. But, the game allows few choices, and the few you have are unrewarding. You get the sense they meant to develop and extend the storyline, but management told them it needed to be done or else. Now I say that, but I'm also reminded of FC3, so I wasn't expecting a parade in my honor or anything, (seems sucky endings is the meme for Ubi) but I still feel there was meant ot be more, something to explain the disconnects.
Which brings me to FC2. I loved it. Totally happy being a mercenary, I'd be happy if that was the defining role for the whole series. But Ubi had to figure out how to make their moral statements and of course figure out how to make the ending suck. So you can do battle for either faction, you can practice up to get ready for your big showdown with the Jackal, then, true to fasion, UBI mucks it up to insure you have no possible means of satisfaction in the outcome of the game. It's as though the game is developed by FPS fans themselves, but then their grandmothers are called in at the last minute to decide how best to remove any element of satifcation. Yay! I get to kill these people I fought with/for! Then I get to treat the guy I came here to exterminate as some sort of soul mate buddy-buddy at the last minute?
OK, so, that was a lot of stage setting for this: The story, seemingly, will always let you down. UBI has a vested (warped) interest in making sure you feel bad, or at least deeply dissatisfied when the game ends. So? Play the game, appreciate the visuals, enjoy the battles, learn the tricks, have some fun. But if you plan on having a nice cohesive "mission" start to finish, UBI has no plans in providing that for you. If you want to experience a sense of moral superiority, UBI snatches it away. If you want a sense of moving Kyrat forward and or recovering from "war", you are denied. If you decide the antagonist from the pre-release buffoonery is a good guy and stick with him up front, the game is essentially complete in 13 some minutes.
Now that might sound like a big slam, but the fact is I'm not trying to fool anyone that I need a clear path and unquestionable objectives to feel good about "killing", ITS A FREAKING GAME!!! I want to enjoy the scenery, feel the panic when I get myself in a bad situation, and I want to have fun at my own pace, with no genuine interest in having the story drive my intention.
Hear !! Hear !!Originally Posted by Far_Cry2_Fan Go to original post
Why I continue to enjoy FC2; "so many way to have fun at my own pace" and Ziggy' hardcore mod to FC3.
Story missions now in FC3 simply become the means to acquire harder-to-obtain XP.
Whether FC4 an be modded as extensively as was done to FC3 remains a big question, unfortunately.
That was absolute drop dead spot on, bingo, give the guy a cigar! Intelligently spoken, carefully typed out and thoroughly comprehensive. Nice Job Far_Cry2 Fan.
Although .... it needs to be mentioned that the Malaria pills were totally unnecessary in FC2. Only because I'm glad that part is over and done with and never hope to ever see that tried again in any capacity. That said, and in the same vain .... any discussion of the condition of my "Underwear" ... Farting in the booth, Chafing, or injecting me with any chemical hallucinatory substance. Cause I guarantee you, in real life ... if any one had done that to me like Yogi did, he'd never get the chance ever to do it again. (as in FC4)
FarCry2Fan, thanks for your take. Personally I'd like to see more variables in these games such as options that take the story in another full direction, not one that ends up in virtually the same place. I realise that means more development time and costs but I believe this is the future. I actually have such a design for a FPS but it will never see the light of day while I'm outside of the industry.
What I'd also like to see is re-vamped past titles, but I guess software outfits see those as having limited sales and therefore they create new titles to bring the money in. Years back I used to play IGI Covert Strike (remember that?) and an enhanced re-make today could be awesome.
As for ethics, I'm not easy with continually slaughtering animals in FC3 & 4. I mean, it didn't really need this, did it? There are other ways of developing skills and expertise. I'd rather have a more elaborate plot with twists and turns that sometimes snarl the player; also puzzles to figure out to progress further. But they don't seem part of the plans these days.
Thanks for the thoughtful replies.
I must admit that apart from the health and swimming underwater longevity crafts I very rarely. If ever, use the syringes.
Do I want to see the animals that I'm hunting for or do I want to actually find them and spend a little time over the activity.
Do any of the crafts have awesome effects that I've really missed out on ?
I think I need to play farcry 1 and 2 again :-)