Far Cry 3

Tried it out up to the end of the hand holding portion of the game I think. Makes a VERY good first impression, have to say.

Performance wise it plays......pretty ok, actually, on my middle of the road PC. I've got it set at "optimum" settings (basically medium everything) running in a borderless window and it runs at an entirely playable pace while still looking acceptably pretty. Going to try switching things on bit by bit to see how much I can squeeze out of it before it gets unplayable

Rallick wrote:

So those of you who are playing on the PC - what can you tell me about the save system? Is it really the case that you can only save in specific locations? That would suck. Are there mid-mission checkpoints? How long are the main quests / missions and sidemissions? My gaming time is rather sporadic, what with having a baby and two little girls in the house, so this is a real concern. It's still on pre-order, and I will play the hell out of it, but I might only be able to do that if I sacrifice chunks of sleep, depending on the answer here.

Only just started pottering about with it but there is a SAVE option in the menu. However I suspect it's only saving your character status , gear, etc and will drop you back off at the base camp area when you return to the game later. Other than that there's no manual save as far as I can see, just checkpoints.

Huge thanks to MeatMan for helping me beat the Australian Gaming Shafting Tax!

I shall kill those filthy pirates in your name! Or a tiger, your choice.

Decided to just go with Amazon for my Dirty Console Peasant 360 version.

GameStop had the "best" pre-order deal (extra monkey-guy missions), but besides disliking them on principal (used-game trade), it's more about me being lazy and wanting the copy delivered to my desk on release day. :p

BlackSabre wrote:

Huge thanks to MeatMan for helping me beat the Australian Gaming Shafting Tax!

I shall kill those filthy pirates in your name! Or a tiger, your choice.

I get to make a kill request? Let' see... how about kill a tiger with a rocket launcher? Because why not?

A tiger with a Rocket Launcher. Now that's a challenge!

I think I'm taunting myself. I've got the game downloading now while I'm at work and won't be able to play it till tonight!

It's not really a secret that my real name is Jason. Everytime Vaas looks directly at me and uses my name, it creeps me the f*ck out. Whoever voiced that guy did a brilliant job!

Certis wrote:
Fuzzballx wrote:
Grubber788 wrote:

Hmmm...

Go here: http://store.steampowered.com/?cc=au
Go to the Far Cry 3 store page.
Hit play now.
No VPN necessary.

Have you actually done this? And thoughts on being safe? I'm told VPN can easily get your steam banned.

No, this doesn't work. Even if it did, I can't imagine them banning, since you're basically just playing a game you've paid for in the correct store legitimately.

It worked for me, but I wouldn't be shocked if the reason had to do with some pan-Asia-Pacific unlock policy. (The game is supposed to unlock on December 5 here)

BlackSabre wrote:

Huge thanks to MeatMan for helping me beat the Australian Gaming Shafting Tax!

I shall kill those filthy pirates in your name! Or a tiger, your choice.

Oh, tigers make that choice for you. Mark my words.

Also, I dreamed about this game last night.

"It burns when I piss. Should have worn a rubber."

Something to note - you can (and probably should) switch Uplay to offline mode. Which may be important, as single player is unplayable this morning because their servers are down. It'll run fine until you try to access crafting or anything in the menu, then it tries to access the server, fails and locks up and you have to quit back to the menu.

stevenmack wrote:

Something to note - you can (and probably should) switch Uplay to offline mode. Which may be important, as single player is unplayable this morning because their servers are down. It'll run fine until you try to access crafting or anything in the menu, then it tries to access the server, fails and locks up and you have to quit back to the menu.

I wonder why it contacts the server for crafting?

Achievement associated with it?

chaosmos wrote:
stevenmack wrote:

Something to note - you can (and probably should) switch Uplay to offline mode. Which may be important, as single player is unplayable this morning because their servers are down. It'll run fine until you try to access crafting or anything in the menu, then it tries to access the server, fails and locks up and you have to quit back to the menu.

I wonder why it contacts the server for crafting?

It's anything involving the menu or skill tree, etc, not specific to the crafting. (there's a bunch of leaderboards and stuff mixed in there as well as achievements).

Luckily, you can just switch uplay to offline. restart and it plays fine without all the online stuff. Of course, THEY never tell you this at any point. Had to find out through other users. Not sure how playing offline affects any uplay points you are supposed to unlock (or if it locks you out of any of the rewards you get either).

chaosmos wrote:
stevenmack wrote:

Something to note - you can (and probably should) switch Uplay to offline mode. Which may be important, as single player is unplayable this morning because their servers are down. It'll run fine until you try to access crafting or anything in the menu, then it tries to access the server, fails and locks up and you have to quit back to the menu.

I wonder why it contacts the server for crafting?

Ubisoft

Any idea if this is a PC-only issue or do console gamers get to look forward to this Uplay mess too?

Gah, I crumpled under the weight of the hype and pre-ordered. I loved the 2nd one and this one looks to be even better.

Aaron D. wrote:

Any idea if this is a PC-only issue or do console gamers get to look forward to this Uplay mess too?

I would assume PC only, I've not heard anyone complaining about the console version. I don't think the Uplay system they use is the same on console as it is on PC, other than it carries across ID and points, etc).

Vega wrote:

Gah, I crumpled under the weight of the hype and pre-ordered. I loved the 2nd one and this one looks to be even better.

Only had the chance to play it for an hour or so this morning/late last night. Connection issues aside...it's good.

It's really good.

stevenmack wrote:
Aaron D. wrote:

Any idea if this is a PC-only issue or do console gamers get to look forward to this Uplay mess too?

I would assume PC only, I've not heard anyone complaining about the console version. I don't think the Uplay system they use is the same on console as it is on PC, other than it carries across ID and points, etc).

Well, I can't vouch for FC3, but with Assassin's Creed it signs you into the Uplay servers before you even start up the game/continue. I know at the very least it's keeping track of achievements that unlock Uplay points.

Grubber788 wrote:

Also, I dreamed about this game last night.

"It burns when I piss. Should have worn a rubber."

Yeah, they could have included a few more lines of dialogue for the enemies.

Random impressions:

I'm liking the game so far. I find the story protagonists to be pretty annoying (i.e., the main character and his white friends), but Vaas and the Dr. are pretty awesome -- well-animated and voiced.

I love how the world is much more alive than in FC2. e.g., I was getting ready to hit an outpost when a group of rabid dogs started the attack for me. Another time, I was doing an assassination mission and it almost went South when some of my buddies showed up before I could knife my target. Fortunately they distracted him long enough without killing him that I could sneak up behind him and earn my $175.

I like the RPG-lite skill upgrades, though you become an adept killer pretty quickly even without upgrades. As TotalBiscuit said in his preview, they could have definitely made FC3 more about survival and progression ala STALKER.

The game is gorgeous (I'm playing with video settings on High at about 35fps -- AMD Radeo 6850, I think). The UI can take up quite a bit of the screen, though.

Tagging enemies is sort of optional -- i.e., if you turn off weapon tagging and don't use the camera.

Enemy AI is so-so. They're too accurate with speculative grenade tosses and return to "normal" behaviour too quickly after they've found a body. I do, however, appreciate the fact that most enemies are dressed in red -- they'd otherwise be too difficult to see in the lush vegetation.

Love the addition of the bow.

So I'm hearing conflicting opinions. If FC2 bored the heck out of me two hours in, will this one as well?

nel e nel wrote:
stevenmack wrote:
Aaron D. wrote:

Any idea if this is a PC-only issue or do console gamers get to look forward to this Uplay mess too?

I would assume PC only, I've not heard anyone complaining about the console version. I don't think the Uplay system they use is the same on console as it is on PC, other than it carries across ID and points, etc).

Well, I can't vouch for FC3, but with Assassin's Creed it signs you into the Uplay servers before you even start up the game/continue. I know at the very least it's keeping track of achievements that unlock Uplay points.

Works the same for Driver San Francisco.

But you can also play offline I think once you've logged in the first time.

ibdoomed wrote:

So I'm hearing conflicting opinions. If FC2 bored the heck out of me two hours in, will this one as well?

Oh, my bad, it's not actually out yet so nevermind.

ibdoomed wrote:
ibdoomed wrote:

So I'm hearing conflicting opinions. If FC2 bored the heck out of me two hours in, will this one as well?

Oh, my bad, it's not actually out yet so nevermind.

It is in Australia. Apparently to make up for the fact that the country is actively trying to kill them at all times.

Rallick wrote:
ibdoomed wrote:
ibdoomed wrote:

So I'm hearing conflicting opinions. If FC2 bored the heck out of me two hours in, will this one as well?

Oh, my bad, it's not actually out yet so nevermind.

It is in Australia. Apparently to make up for the fact that the country is actively trying to kill them at all times.

It is in Europe too, as of today.

I'm finding the (optional) stealth aspects to be remarkably fun. Took out my first enemy camp silently just now - Quite nerve-wracking when you can't rely on save-spamming
Looking forward to trying it now I've got my bow

Oh man, a random tiger just took out an entire outpost -- I didn't have to fire a shot. And I got triple XP for not being spotted. Hahaha!

IMAGE(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-X86MkfH8oOU/TgKM5Wv5ssI/AAAAAAAADwo/nd9y3JpLel0/s1600/tony_tiger_grrrreat_sm.jpg)

For those playing, does it seem like there's an over abundance of dangerous wildlife? I've noticed from the videos and the comments here that there almost seems to be too much wildlife around. I hope random animal attacks every few minutes don't replace the respawning roadblocks from FC2.

Vega wrote:

For those playing, does it seem like there's an over abundance of dangerous wildlife? I've noticed from the videos and the comments here that there almost seems to be too much wildlife around. I hope random animal attacks every few minutes don't replace the respawning roadblocks from FC2.

No I wouldn't say there are too many animals. There are a lot, but they aren't all hostile. If you've played Skyrim, I'd say the amount (and function) of animals is similar, except the animals in FC3 move around a bit more -- i.e., they tend to wander around an area, whereas the animals in Skyrim stand still until they see something to attack.

Honestly, I think the game would be much worse without them; they're a wildcard that can really alter the course of a fire fight since they'll go after you or your enemies.

I will say, though, that some of them are probably overpowered. I hit a tiger with at least two sniper shots and it didn't go down. And, like I said, I watched one take apart an outpost with six guys carrying AK47s -- they couldn't all have missed it with their shots.

ebarstad wrote:
Vega wrote:

For those playing, does it seem like there's an over abundance of dangerous wildlife? I've noticed from the videos and the comments here that there almost seems to be too much wildlife around. I hope random animal attacks every few minutes don't replace the respawning roadblocks from FC2.

No I wouldn't say there are too many animals. There are a lot, but they aren't all hostile. If you've played Skyrim, I'd say the amount (and function) of animals is similar, except the animals in FC3 move around a bit more -- i.e., they tend to wander around an area, whereas the animals in Skyrim stand still until they see something to attack.

Honestly, I think the game would be much worse without them; they're a wildcard that can really alter the course of a fire fight since they'll go after you or your enemies.

I will say, though, that some of them are probably overpowered. I hit a tiger with at least two sniper shots and it didn't go down. And, like I said, I watched one take apart an outpost with six guys carrying AK47s -- they couldn't all have missed it with their shots.

yup, Tiger definitely overpowered...especially once you realize that guy was on a f*ckin elephant...with multiple other elephants all around...with guys with guns on them...

Tiger OP! Could totally take out a camp of 4 goons with AKs. They're super frickin fast and strong. Of course, properly modeling a tiger in this game would be exceptionally difficult so i'll forgive them for having done a decent job and adding a few extra HP to make up for it.

The average weight of a male Tiger is nearly 500lbs and have been documented, in rare cases, of attacking and taking out a bull Rhinoceros or Elephant.