The original Far Cry was really good actually, but that game was developed by Crytek who sold the rights to Ubisoft afterwards. The series was "Ubi-ized" beginning with Far Cry 2.
Yep. I played the first Far Cry a bit. I remember it still feeling a tad bit "empty" in that sort of way but not nearly as bad as the Ubisoft games. I enjoyed it at the time.
I know it's blasphemy around here but I feel a similar sort of way looking at videos of The Witcher 3. I know, I know, I should play it for myself and see, but I get the vibe from the world that it is A) mostly empty and B) mostly decorative.
I think I need open-world RPGs now to at least have a base level of objects floating around and have felt that way since Morrowind. I still remember getting to Balmora and thinking, "Whoa, I can actually GO IN all of these houses?!" Back then a lot of RPGs I had played used buildings themselves as decorations, let alone the plates/cups/etc. inside of them. In Morrowind you could not only enter every house but also examine every little item, mundane or magical, in the building. You could find little secret items under pillows, or pick a locked chest with the owner's goods in it, some special weapon leaning against a wall, etc.. It felt more realistic, more complex, deeper and more interesting. For me.
I've been spoiled ever since, I think.
And that is part of the reason I hold Piranha Bytes RPGs in such high regard, as well as games like Morrowind, and definitely Nehrim & Enderal. Even Oblivion and Skyrim, albeit to a slightly lesser level as they utilized more level-scaling design, whereas the previous games mentioned were not scaled at all, or in Morrowind's case, used a lighter form of it.
Maybe I'm weird in that way but I find it very hard to get into other games that don't exude that
feeling of world depth and interactivity at least. Or whatever the heck it is I'm experiencing in these games.
Peace.
