Far Cry 2

[SeanR]

started my new play through, with Warren taking over from Marty (96%).

played up to the end of the lumber yard, and yeah, I did it stealthy.

Kinda weird actually, cos when I scoped the joint I swear there were 3 or 4 guys, so I parked the car, snuck round the back, drew my machete and slaughtered two guys with that, one on the rear right corner of the brick building, the over covering the front left, by the door.

I think he got a shot or two off. Then nothing.

Went in, rescued a lady, who told me to go to mikes bar for maleria medicine, and I walked out the front door, back to car, and I didn't look back.

[Fry Crayola]

Ah ok, cool, I'm all for immersion!

Cheers!

For added immersion, also turn the crosshair off, forcing you to use iron sights if you want any chance of hitting a target. Of course, you'll be doing this anyway.

[SeanR]

oh god yes, first thing I noticed was the lack of iron-sight snap-to auto-aim.

god, that COD's not a good FPS...

(my last FC2 save game was dated 2009)

[Vulgar Monkey]

Even with iron sights it's hard to hit anything, I dread to think what hipfire must be like!

And yeah, you can stealth the early bits easy enough. The opening areas are very lightly patrolled. Later areas have well over a dozen men spread around. I always invest in camo (it's expensive tho), but it's really hard to get reliable silent kills close in, and if the baloon goes up it all hits the fan, real hard.

[SeanR]

day two: Warren visits mikes bar and makes a discovery:

There's an online gunstore, that uses the diamonds as currency, a stockroom where your purchased items are delivered, and... a bar.

Found in the bar, both his best buddy, and his 2nd best buddy are women:

Michele Dachss and Flora Guillen

gives a nice counter to the predominantly male-orientated action.

The reporter, Oluwagembi, he wants me to get his tapes out of the country by giving them to the priest. The priest has malaria tablets. I HAVE malaria. It's win-win. I think

On the way back into Pala I make another discovery:

Diamonds can be nicked from briefcases inside rooms that are in the forbidden zone, if you reach in via the window, or there's a hole in the wall round the back. Mmm, ninja-thief-tastic!

[davejm]

Started this today. I've been excited about Far Cry 3 due to the praise it's been getting, and despite getting that it really struggles on my rig. It wasn't until yesterday that I'd noticed this was on my Steam list; I think I picked it up in the summer sale with a whole of other stuff that I haven't played yet.

In short, I think it's fantastic. I love the setting and the environment, and it looks lovely. It runs capably on my PC, which is nice. I've done a few missions and done some exploring, so I'm not far in; but I'm loving it so far. I love the minimal nature of the HUD and the way the map works, and despite playing it on normal I really feel a sense of danger. I had one battle where I thought I'd cleared an outpost, only to get a major shock when a car came tearing round the corner with more goons to take on. Another awesome moment I had was when I'd shot a guy and thinking he was down starting walking towards his body, but he was sat upright against a wall holding his chest while getting a few more potshots at me. Brilliant.

I've just finished my session sitting on top of the hill near a safe house, scoping out the surroundings; followed by watching the sun go down with a mug of coffee. Stunning.

[Puck]

FC3 is my current most wanted, but it's likely to be a Christmas present so I've started playing my 360 copy of this again in the meantime. My previous save file was 2009 so the experience feels quite fresh again. Amazed that it's a four year old game - doesn't feel in the least bit dated in either its aesthetic or mechanics. Really special game, so evocative.

[Timmo]

You don't think the shooting mechanics are dated!?

[Untogether]

I'm having a replay on PC despite having 1. A pile of shame the size of the world and 2. Having all ready completed it on 360 a couple of years ago.

It's still glorious.

About 10 hours in, still noodling around the first map randomly assaulting checkpoints sometimes with dart rifle and silenced SMG, sometimes with a rocket launcher and Uzi, depending on how I feel. Sometimes just go for a wander around off the beaten track, watching zebras run past me.

Glorious.

[Puck]

You don't think the shooting mechanics are dated!?

No. I'm no connoisseur, even quite unsubtle nuances would probably pass me by unnoticed, but it feels just fine to me. I'm only playing on normal and prefer to avoid direct conflict. All my weapons are silenced and I unlocked the dart rifle ASAP.

[ZOK]

You don't think the shooting mechanics are dated!?

You could say they are compared to 3, but taken on their own merits, if you play as a sniper, this is still a sublime experience.

[mr_woo]

You don't think the shooting mechanics are dated!?

No the game still feels great. FC3 does feel better this is true but I have no problems with FC2's gunplay either, it's still brilliant IMO.

I started a new playthrough recently and am using the Dylans Realism Mod as well as Spryods Sweet FX config. For Dylans Realism Mod all enemies go down in a few shots, they've altered the checkpoints so you can drive through it and only have a 60% chance of being chased (respawn rates not touched), camo suit is twice as effective making stealth better and a few other things. Sproyds sweet fx config just makes the colours pop a bit more. I love Vanilla FC2, just wanted to try these out for a bit of fun Using the realism mod on Infamous makes things VERY intense at times.

[Floshenbarnical]

That Realism mod is the 2nd reason I need a great PC, the 1st being a modded Skyrim. Far Cry 2, people! Testify.

[Timmo]

Far Cry 2's gunplay is poor, I find it hard to see how anyone can argue otherwise. Snipers are fine but every other gun shows how bullet spongey enemies are - it was my only real problem with the game

[mr_woo]

Far Cry 2's gunplay is poor, I find it hard to see how anyone can argue otherwise. Snipers are fine but every other gun shows how bullet sponges enemies are - it was my only real problem with the game

No you're right, I suppose i was commenting on the feel of the actual guns more than anything else. They stil sound and look amazing and feel good That's why I fancied giving that realism mod a go, I never hated the bullet sponges as much as other people but I like the risk reward of the realism mod. You can take people out very quickly but they can take you out very quickly too.

[Timmo]

Never heard of that mod - sounds good.

[Puck]

Headshots are still 1 hit kills. On normal anyways.

[Rudi von Starnberg]

The one thing I miss from Far Cry 2 in the sequel is how it handled the bolt-action sniper rifle, in the controls. Best representation of bolt-action rifles aside from Red Orchestra, easily.

[mr_woo]

Never heard of that mod - sounds good.

It wasn't until Gibbed from Something Awful made the mod tools that people started messing around with doing any mods. Ubisoft had the game sewn up tight to stop people from messing with it. Unfortunately mods for FC2 never really took off due to the time passed (and I guess a lot folk just don't like the game either) so noone really bothered. I'm not sure what else you can alter with the tools but that mod is one of the things that came from it. According to Gibbed FC3 is a lot more moddable so be interesting to see what comes from that.

[Floshenbarnical]

The gunplay in FC2 was pretty loose and flappy, with far too much travel on the assault rifles and underpowered bullets. It really was a game about preemptive headshots, because the right stick accelerated at an unpredictable rate when you moved it. Still one of my top 10 games ever, though, and definitely top 5 on 360.

[Vulgar Monkey]

Bloody hell, it's surprising how much more dynamic combat becomes with the modded gunplay.

As well as making timed runs to get clever flanking positions actually being viable, he had better use of cover, as he could reasonably pop out to spray a couple of shots at distant or running targets, with fair chance of a kill. Those never wouldve paid off in the old system.

Shame I only have this on xbox.

[flight]

I booted this up the week before FC3, cleared a few checkpoints and it's still great.

The guns feel fine but the enemies do take too much before they go down.

FC3 is the better game for sure but it's abandoned almost everything I loved about its predecessor.

[mr_woo]

So I started this up and went for the first main mission, to kill a police chief. I'm pottering about on my way and Josip calls me about an alternate way of doing things. Knowing of course that this gives me good shit at the safehouse I take it. I need to get a book from the police chiefs brother. So I arm up with my DLC silenced shotgun, makarov and DLC explosive crossbow.

The police chiefs brother is in a hut right in the middle of a lake so I decide to scope out the area. This isn't FC3s stealth system so I have to be more careful when approaching. I swim out and manage to flank to the right handside. I shoot one guy with my silenced shotgun but it doesn't matter as someone spots me. So things go to shit, as per usual I quickly dive into the water and through a game of hide and seek manage to take them out one by one. No cool takedowns or anything like that, just my makarov to keep me company when on land as I've ran out of shotgun shells and explosive crossbow bolts. So I think I've killed everyone and approach the chiefs brothers hut. Aiming down my sights I slowly make my way through the building, thankfully noone's there and he gives me the book whilst spouting 'Now leave my family alone' I shoot him in the head.

So I get another call from Josip saying 'OK now deal with the police chief' So I see that there's a boat just outside where the chiefs brother is and I get in. I make my way up the river, taking in the sights when I unfortunately come across an outpost on the river. The shoot at me and I dive into the river. A few of them get into a boat but I've swam onto shore and went up a hill overlooking the outpost. I see them sitting there in the boat and shoot both of them in the chest, 2 rounds max per person. The new mod is at work and it's fucking sweet. So back I get into my boat and I make my way to the mission area, it's a lot smaller this time in comparison to the chiefs brothers barge area but of course I still have to be careful.

I've only got my makorov pistol still as I forgot to lift any weapons or ammo but just go 'fuck it'. WIth a bit of hide and seek I manage to kill two of them and throw a molotov setting the near area on fire. But a guy comes out of nowhere and gets me 'Fuck!' So my character goes dark and I'm thinking 'Damnit!' But then my eyes open and there's my buddy Warren Clyde, he whips out his desert eagle and shoots the nearest guy. He helps me up, I remove the bullet from my legs and he hands me the pistol. 'Do you want to set yourself on fire!?' he shouts (or something along those lines). So with a few more bursts of fire from him and a few shots from me we kill the last guy. I run into the building where the police chief is and I shoot him without thinking. Job done.

I really did forget how intense and deliberately paced this is in comparison to even say FC3. All the little touches, the physicality, the harshness of the environment in its sound and even things like the loud bang of the makarov (which actually sounds more fierce than most of FC3s pistols). It's amazing how different it feels from FC3 in so many ways, especially from an immersion perspective. With the mod on it's especially great. You can kill guys with one burst of fire from an assault rifle or with 2 bullets from a pistol (even one with highers aim). It makes the gunplay feel really really good. It's immediate, there's no fucking about and the results are very quick. You need to be really, really careful in firefights but it's exciting and I'm loving playing it again.

What a game.

[Vulgar Monkey]

Damnit, I want that mod.

[CarloOos]

I'm enjoying FC3, but still think this is the better game. It's far more considered and cohesive.

FC3 does a few things better (predatory wildlife, improved vehicle handling, stealth mechanics, some of the weapons, but not the snipers or SMG's) but the environment is far less varied, the day/night cycle is no longer dynamic and the new map system is a massive step backwards - they've completely ruined all their own hard work by having literally everything, including hidden collectibles, show up automatically. Timmo summed it up best by saying it's like driving with a GPS, you spend the entire game staring at icons, there's no sense of exploration whatsoever.

Why they felt the player would need something like every single plant to show up on the map is beyond me, they're plentiful as it is and it removes all fun of finding what you need. They really should have kept the tagging system from FC2 for items and locations.

[Spacehost]

I think it's a shame the creative lead on this basically left AAA games because people didn't seem to get what he was doing. It's one of the most magnificently balls-out old-school games I've played in the past few years, like a lost Microprose simulation made for modern consoles.

[mr_woo]

I think it's a shame the creative lead on this basically left AAA games because people didn't seem to get what he was doing. It's one of the most magnificently balls-out old-school games I've played in the past few years, like a lost Microprose simulation made for modern consoles.

Clint Hocking is now at Valve I believe If anyone would want him for advice on immersion in a FPS it would be them but goodness only knows what he's working on or even what his role actually is.

Was playing more of this tonight and if you get into it the game just completely absorbs you. I had just finished a mission and saved at a safehouse when I decided to move the clock forward to about 3am in the game world. So I leave the safehouse and start walking in the moonlight, the wind is howling and it's very quiet apart from ambient noise. I see a checkpoint and decide to walk towards it. As I'm walking it gradually starts to rain and it turns into a full shower. Rain is coming everywhere, I equip my silenced makarov and stalk the checkpoint managing to clear it out very quietly and with no fuss. Just great fun.

[CarloOos]

I think it's a shame the creative lead on this basically left AAA games because people didn't seem to get what he was doing. It's one of the most magnificently balls-out old-school games I've played in the past few years, like a lost Microprose simulation made for modern consoles.

I tend to think of it as the Dark Souls of first person shooters, especially on the higher difficulties. The entire game hinges on risk/reward, you never feel truly safe whilst exploring and there's a palatable tension that comes with the consequences of narrowly avoiding death. More than anything, it's that tension that I miss in FC3. It does so many thing right, but ultimately I just don't care whether I fail or not and that sucks the life out of it.

[imp]

I wish a grenade would roll down a hill in Dark Souls sometimes.

[Vulgar Monkey]

Sod it, just decided to download this off steam since it's only a tenner.

No guarantee my laptop will be able to run it brilliantly (it falls just below the min spec), but I've never been fussy about frame rates.

Never done this multi-format purchasing thing before that some of you lot seem to do.....but since you can't get mods on xbox, what the hell.