Far Cry 3

I cringed at the mention of fast-travel. I enjoy not being able to, but find it hard to resist if it's an option.

chaosmos wrote:

"However, this time around, taking a page from stellar TV shows like Breaking Bad..."

What in the world, IGN, are you babbling on about? Somehow I'm not seeing the connection between a show about former schoolteacher cooking meth and an open-world jungle shooter?

I guess they're both really dark... thematically that is. Breaking Bad is easily the most depressing (but amazing!) show I've watched. Far Cry 3 looks like it's trying to be similarly depressing.

Other than that, I've got nuthin'...

I think the context makes reference more about character development.

Both the game and the tv show have big set-ups (gunplay in FC3 and meth dealing in BB), but are really about character development at the core. Bit of a stretch for an action video game, but I think that's where he's going with the analogy.

GameSpot's 8 minute developer diary video released today touches on this with a bit more depth.

Not holding my breath over it or anything, but it's nice to see that quality character development is an important focus for the team this time out.

Aaron D. wrote:

GameSpot's 8 minute developer diary video released today touches on this with a bit more depth.

Wow, nice video.

Looks like they have fetch quests, an XP system, and a design motto "If you can see it on the horizon, you can get to it, and there will be something interesting there".

These guys must have been playing a lot of Skyrim.

Delerat wrote:

I cringed at the mention of fast-travel. I enjoy not being able to, but find it hard to resist if it's an option.

Far Cry 2 had fast-travel between bus stations.

Watching the trailers and reading about it have me really excited about FC3.

Now, I think I need to go back and finish FC2. Really enjoyed that game. It is a shame the MP never really took off on the Xbox.

I never touched multiplayer in FC2. To me it was a simulation game much like S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

Still looking great. Interested in how the story aspects, which should provide better player progression than the unconnected nature of 2, will change gameplay.

Happy Dave wrote:
Delerat wrote:

I cringed at the mention of fast-travel. I enjoy not being able to, but find it hard to resist if it's an option.

Far Cry 2 had fast-travel between bus stations.

From American TV shows I get the sense that people are reluctant to take public transport. I got the same impression from Far Cry 2.

Higgledy wrote:
Happy Dave wrote:
Delerat wrote:

I cringed at the mention of fast-travel. I enjoy not being able to, but find it hard to resist if it's an option.

Far Cry 2 had fast-travel between bus stations.

From American TV shows I get the sense that people are reluctant to take public transport. I got the same impression from Far Cry 2.

You may be onto something there, Higgledy.

To be fair, "fast travel" isn't exactly fast if you still have to traverse an entire quadrant of the map to reach the bus station, which was not uncommon in FC2. I often found it faster to hop on an airboat and use the rivers, where the guardposts seemed easier to zip through than on the roads.

Higgledy wrote:

From American TV shows I get the sense that people are reluctant to take public transport. I got the same impression from Far Cry 2.

I think the issue here is that fast travel takes you out of game immersion, no matter how useful.

I'm definitely in for Far Cry 3. I never beat 2, but for an awesome environment, and for actually giving me tactical choices in combat, it was spectacular. I don't think I would have felt the same if I'd played the console version, simply because it lacked the quick save feature - if I had had to drive all the way back to every mission, I would have rage quit that game almost every time I played.

If they can make me feel like I'm impacting the world a bit more in this one (ie - clearing out "checkpoints" should result in them being populated by NPCs from the faction you are currently friendly with, etc), I'll happily jump back in and start setting bases on fire like a pyro again.

Spoilered opinion on public transportation in the US:

Spoiler:

On a more practical note, public transportation in many American cities is an absolute waste of time. I live in a medium-small city of about 140,000 residents plus another 20-30,000 college students. There is a bus system here, but it's sporadic and not helpful.

For instance: I work nights. So, that's right out, the buses stop before I have to get to work.

Even if they did run at night, it's a 5-7 minute walk to the nearest stop (5 is if I sort of jog-walk). I don't know if that stop connects to my work, but let's pretend it does. Assume I have to get there 3-5 minutes early so I don't miss the bus. From there, it would be roughly a 15-20 minute ride to the campus, and another 5 minute walk to my workplace. So total time invested will be roughly half an hour. And I also can't really pick the time I get there - buses here don't exactly come every 5 minutes, you know? More like every half hour. So I could be stuck getting to work time-wastingly early, since coming in early or leaving late doesn't apply to me.

Compare 30 minutes each way (plus the time invested) to a 12 minute drive - 15 if I get screwed at a couple traffic lights. I get to work exactly when I want, I don't have to deal with other people, and I can carry my stuff in if I want without worrying about getting hassled. Parking for me and many Americans is literally 40-50 feet from my workplace.

In large, very dense cities, I am sure it's much more practical. When you factor in finding parking and paying for it, dealing with traffic, worrying about urban crime affecting your vehicle, etc, I'm sure it absolutely makes sense to use public buses, trains, etc. But even in Denver (not a huge city, but the biggest Colorado has), unless you live right next to a Light Rail route, and work next to the same route, it's probably quicker and more convenient to drive yourself.

When considering this, and the practical cost of public transport, keep in mind how big the US is compared to a lot of countries with better public transportation - my one state is bigger than the entire UK, but has a fraction of the people. That makes it very difficult to effectively cover an area.

My problem with fast travel in Far Cry 2 was that there weren't enough travel points and when you did use one the load times before getting back to the game were tremendously, inexcusably long. Plus the fairly inevitable repeat confrontations at the some guard post you just cleared and the game was just super frustrating. Was a huge shame because the rest of it was excellent.

My problem with FC2 fast travel was simply that I couldn't expect to find a decent vehicle near the bus station. Usually you'd find a sh*tty sedan when what you want is a nice jeep with a machine gun on it!

Quintin_Stone wrote:

My problem with FC2 fast travel was simply that I couldn't expect to find a decent vehicle near the bus station. Usually you'd find a sh*tty sedan when what you want is a nice jeep with a machine gun on it!

I think in the first half of the game, there was a stop or two that had the dune buggy parked there - I loved that thing...also loved the Jeeps. I think seeing those in the trailer is what initially pushed me into buying the game...that and the map editor.

I've been playing a little FC2. I hope they kept the fire and the way the enemies are so good at flanking you. Not sure if I'll get my wish.

Higgledy wrote:

I've been playing a little FC2. I hope they kept the fire and the way the enemies are so good at flanking you. Not sure if I'll get my wish.

I've heard some comments from the developers that fire may not play much of a role, given that it's a tropic setting where everything is lush green and wet, rather than dry savannah.

They seem to be harping on the importance of water instead in this iteration. Not sure what that means, except maybe locations that play two different ways flooded or not-flooded. Perhaps similar to the Pipeline area in FC2, where you had a choice to blow up a pipe and flood the area, creating ways to travel via boat in former dried up gulleys?

Far Cry 3 multiplayer.

FROM ROCK PAPER SHOTGUN

"Yup, that Massive: the Ground Control and World in Conflict devs have been disarmingly silent of late. But according to reports from the Ubisoft GDC event, they’re helping to create the Far Cry 3 multiplayer. “Huh?”, you might think, but hold that back for a moment – I have more. According to Vox Game’s Brian Crecente

In working on Far Cry 3′s “online universe” Ubisoft Massive is adding elements from the indie scene and social games, they say

Go on let it out now. I’ll join you.

So that’s where they’ve been. “Online Universe” pretty much just makes me think of multiplayer with some persistence across games, character levels and the like. I’m trying to figure out how a Far Cry 3 multiplayer with social additions will work, though. I guess they just mean those unlocks that Ubisoft’s Uplay touts, skins and new missions maybe? But then the indie scene thing throws me: it’s a huge, varied space."

IMAGE(http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/ab221/Strangeblades/Far%20Cry%203%20Sometime%20in%202012%20maybe/Far-Cry-2-1422-1-1-1-1.jpg)

Massive eh. World in Conflict is still one of my all time favourite games. Their stat tracking was exceptional. So I'm thinking that a lot of stats will be recorded for the multiplayer.

FC3 slips from 9/4/12 to 12/4/12.

Still Day One for me, even if that Day One is 3 months later!

(Did we ever make a Catch-All for FC3? I swore there was one but the search bar [lol] didn't bring one up.)

12th of April. Whooo!.... oh..... darn.

I'm wary. I want a robust single player as in FC2. I sense 3 might not be as open as the last game and that co-op may have pinched some development focus.

I've been watching 3 for a while and I keep seeing contradicting things. Once in a while I'll see a hud and then next trailer it's gone. The most important aesthetic that Far Cry 3 needs for me to buy it is to have no mini map. The one thing I enjoyed the most in Far Cry 2 was the physical map that you would open in the game world. There were gamey things on there but the pulling out a map to look at it felt so much more satisfying than a mini map.

If Far Cry 3 takes away that then this goes down another notch on my buying list.

Vaguely related news, Clint Hocking has left LucasArts and is going somewhere else, but not announced who at the moment.

Just in case you folks don't follow the other threads, GMG has a 25% discount on all games, including preorders. And FC3 is already on discount, so this stacks - basically you can preorder the game for PC for 25$.
Don't know if it will be steamworks or uplay, etc. though.

liquid wrote:

Just in case you folks don't follow the other threads, GMG has a 25% discount on all games, including preorders. And FC3 is already on discount, so this stacks - basically you can preorder the game for PC for 25$.
Don't know if it will be steamworks or uplay, etc. though.

Not available to preorder in the US, just to clarify and save people time searching.

A nice demo came out of PAX this weekend.

It concentrates on free form, open-world gameplay and once again confirms a launch purchase.

Saw first four minutes (I don't like spoiling the fun so that's pretty much first time I see the gameplay.). That seems very inspired by Assassin's Creed.

UCRC wrote:

Saw first four minutes (I don't like spoiling the fun so that's pretty much first time I see the gameplay.). That seems very inspired by Assassin's Creed.

I skipped around a bit, too. Saw the Rambo-style bow and arrow and some guy getting stabbed in the side of the neck from behind with what appeared to be a revolver.

Aaron D. wrote:

A nice demo came out of PAX this weekend.

It concentrates on free form, open-world gameplay and once again confirms a launch purchase.

Sold - that's allayed a lot of the concerns I had about the more 'directed experience' I was seeing in trailers. Excited!

I really enjoyed that demo; I'll definitely be picking this up.

I think all I really want(ed) from FC3 is FC2 refined -- and it looks like they've tried to do that, while adding some RPG-lite mechanics into the mix. Sounds good to me.

It's too bad FC3 is an Ubisoft game. I'd love to pre-order this on Green Man Gaming at a discount (when it's available) and load it up on Steam.