Farcry 4

Originally Posted by Fluent
Who labeled it officially as those things?

To me, it's an RPG. It's got experience points and leveling up, skill trees, crafting, loot, quests (including side quests), etc. That's an RPG in my eyes.

I don't care what you call it though. It looks like a damn cool game. If the end result is fun then you can call it a Barbie Pony Friendship Simulator for all I care.

It's not what I call it. It's the official label by Ubisoft and the ESRB. What you or I think it is doesn't matter.

Just proves how diluted the genre labeling has become when you can call a game a RPG when officially it's not.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
It's not what I call it. It's the official label by Ubisoft and the ESRB.

The ESRB? They have an RPG rating now?

Originally Posted by CountChocula
The ESRB? They have an RPG rating now?

Now your just being a fool. Just go to the games webpage the desperation by Ubisoft is open-world first person shooter. Everything else is secondary. There problem solved again.

This is just like Dragon Dogma everyone keeps calling it a RPG but the developer Capcom vehemently declares it's not. They labeled it and sold it as an Action Adventure game.

Maybe a few of you need bifocals to read. Discussions like this just piss me off as the rpg genre so diluted.

Now let me get back to playing a true rpg called Baldur's Gate EE. That's all Im going to say as this argument and debate is as old as time on forums. Moving on now.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
Now your just being a fool. Just go to the games webpage the desperation by Ubisoft is open-world first person shooter. Everything else is secondary. There problem solved again.

This is just like Dragon Dogma everyone keeps calling ira RPG but the developer Capcom vehemently declares it's not. They labeled it and sold it as an Action Adventure game.

Maybe a few of you need bifocals to read.

Now let me get back to playing a true rpg called Baldur's Gate EE. That's all Im going to say as this argument and debate is as old as time on forums. Moving on now.

As I mentioned above in this thread, in my view the important thing to keep in mind is that these developers set out to make a first person action game. It seems to have a lot of RPG elements, but I feel reviewers would be missing the point if they were to complain that it is not a good enough RPG when that is not even the game's intended genre, as Game Banshee did in their review of Dishonored.

However, I don't quite follow what the ESRB has to do with this. I don't see why they would be any sort of arbiter about a game's genre.

Can I jump in and ask a couple of questions for Farcry 3 for those who have played it (single player)?

Does your heatlh auto regenerate? And when you die do you reload from a checkpoint or respawn (as in come back to life with everything you did and picked up, Dead Island, Borderlands style)?

Many thanks.

I played this for an hour or so last night. The mandatory uPlay authentication was not appreciated. After the initial login it allows 'offline mode', but now that I've turned off the cloud stuff, etc, I get a warning saying that the game might not work properly. It doesn't seem to impact the game though, I can still save, etc.

My frame rate wasn't great with default settings so I had to mess around with the video options - haven't had to do that for a while. Hopefully nVidia will release driver fixes or the game will be patched. It's not too bad, but the visuals didn't justify having to turn settings down.

After an hour or so I still haven't made it out of the tutorial / scripted 'do this do that' phase, but I've done a couple of simple missions and had a short look around. I love the tropical setting and it's a very cool world, lots of beasts / dense jungle / caves to explore, although when on a mission you can't wander outside of the 'mission area'. But it feels a lot more like the original FarCry than number 2, which is a good thing.

You can't save anywhere you like which I don't like - it's checkpoints during missions. There is a save option in the menu though which hasn't allowed me to use it yet - maybe it's just for within the hub. There's fast travel for after you've finished a mission and some QTE's, but not over-the-top.

It's early days but it's shaping up to be a lot of fun; very streamlined and good mechanics. Looking forward to it opening up a bit so I can explore.

Originally Posted by badmofo
You can't save anywhere you like which I don't like - it's checkpoints during missions. There is a save option in the menu though which hasn't allowed me to use it yet - maybe it's just for within the hub.

Say what?!
It's definetly disappointing unless it's tutorial-only or is a result of uplay offline mode.

badmofo, thanks for sharing initial impressions, I'm now closer to buy it after all.

You can save when you're not on a mission, but you'll load back to the last checkpoint or base (albeit with upgrades and stuff intact from the save). It's a typical console system - much like Far Cry 2 was, IIRC.

Dunno if it's typical or not - but is disappointing to see that in a singleplayer game on PC. I guess Ubisoft's test PCs have a hard drive of 20Gb max so they can't make some real PC savegames on those, and they can't buy bigger HDDs because they invested too much in uplay DRM.

Yeah the save system isn't so bad, after some initial confusion because you're "on a mission" for a while at the start, it's simply a case of "checkpoints during missions, save anywhere otherwise". Like dartagnan said, you can save anywhere, but you still re-start from the closest checkpoint (safe house, etc) if you die or reload.

Played another couple of hours now and it's a corker - heaps to do, fun gun play, and it's not letting reality get in the way of a good time which suits these sorts of games IMO. The enemy tagging system is a good example of this; you have a magical camera which tags enemies for you, and hence forth allows you to see them through walls, etc. It makes sneaking around worth the effort, and taking on large groups of bad dudes much less confusing.

The looting / crafting stuff is light weight but gives purpose to all the exploring / hunting you can do. And the gun upgrades are simple and not too complicated.

It really reminds me of Boiling Point and White Gold, but done with a much bigger budget. Lots of fun so far.

Originally Posted by badmofo
It really reminds me of Boiling Point and White Gold, but done with a much bigger budget. Lots of fun so far.

Oh god I tried Boiling Point and it has so much promise as a mixture of Deux Ex and open world rpg with impressive interactions, but the mechanics of it are seriously bad, and I mean real bad. Walking and running is badly implmented, shooting is badly implemented, driving is a nightmare, the music is very annoying, the AI and terrible, and overall very poorly produced. I am sure that the underlying concept is brilliant but the excution is so terrible that it removes any fun from this game. I abandoned it after 3 hours of play (with the latest patch ofcourse).

Originally Posted by badmofo
Yeah the save system isn't so bad, after some initial confusion because you're "on a mission" for a while at the start, it's simply a case of "checkpoints during missions, save anywhere otherwise". Like dartagnan said, you can save anywhere, but you still re-start from the closest checkpoint (safe house, etc) if you die or reload.

I still need a clarification…
If I start a mission, kill a few mobs, save the game then die and gameload puts me in the last "safe zone" - does the whole mission also reset so I have to kill the same ol' mobs all over again like I'm in generic lousy jRPG or they're dead for the rest of my (and their) life?

Originally Posted by joxer
I still need a clarification…
If I start a mission, kill a few mobs, save the game then die and gameload puts me in the last "safe zone" - does the whole mission also reset so I have to kill the same ol' mobs all over again like I'm in generic lousy jRPG or they're dead for the rest of my (and their) life?

Again, you can't save while on a mission. But if you engage a camp while not on a mission and you don't clear the camp entirely, and you save the game, I expect the camp will have respawned when you reload.

Consoles have very limited available memory, so developers tend to avoid save systems where the "detailed" state of objects or NPCs (especially those not in the immediate vicinity) need to be saved.

Also, it places less demand on the streaming load system - because you have much fewer things you need to care about when entering or exiting areas.

I do suspect that a game like Far Cry 3 could have a better save system on consoles, but really, why bother when people don't seem to care much?

Originally Posted by joxer
I still need a clarification…
If I start a mission, kill a few mobs, save the game then die and gameload puts me in the last "safe zone" - does the whole mission also reset so I have to kill the same ol' mobs all over again like I'm in generic lousy jRPG or they're dead for the rest of my (and their) life?

The save system is poorly designed, but overall the game is quite fun. I don't see what the save system has to do with consoles, as I've never played any console port game that had a save system as bad as this.

There some badly designed levels with unskippable cutscenes you have to watch over and over if you die or step outside the mission area, and also some QTEs, but this is mainly a problem in the tutorial and some of the main quest missions, like one where you must escape a burning building with QTEs and you have to keep repeating the whole thing.

Once you get past the tutorial, the game opens up and you can save anywhere, ignore the main quest and try to conquer all the outposts on the map. Oddly, there are three save slots, but it seems you can only use save slot number 3. In other words, there is only one save slot.

The environments are stunning, for the most part the gameplay takes a sandbox approach and the characters are quite interesting and well acted. The only significant negatives for this game are the unskippable cut scenes, and the huge, ugly HUD.

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
why bother when people don't seem to care much?

You mean when it's only Joxer who protests, everyone else is so excited with it.

Originally Posted by CountChocula
The save system is poorly designed, but overall the game is quite fun.
…
Oddly, there are three save slots, but it seems you can only use save slot number 3. In other words, there is only one save slot.

Okay not only Joxer it seems…
That slot problem looks as a probable bug that should get patched.

But no wonder with such save system the game didn't get 10/10 on PC.

Originally Posted by joxer
You mean when it's only Joxer who protests, everyone else is so excited with it.

Unfortunately, we don't represent the mainstream audience. I hate console save systems - but I undertand why they exist.

I don't always mind mission/checkpoint based save systems, done properly they can actually be a good thing and add some extra tension and challenge to the game by not just allowing you reload every time you make a mistake. Of course done wrong they can be a major pain, and I'm waiting to pick up FC3 so I don't know how they work there yet.

Sounds like Far Cry 3 could have been so much more.

Missions with imposed boundaries, weapons that magically unlock upon completing an objective, checkpoint save system, nonsensical crafting, limited save slots…

Unfortunately, it's the type of stuff I've come to expect from Ubisoft. It's a shame because the original Far Cry by Crytek was fantastic.

Dunno, I really don't care for boundaries or weapons unlocking, even limited crafting is not something I would object if the game is fun. The first thing I've asked was if there are endless mobrespawns - I don't want to buy any more of such games. Ever.
So far to me seems the game is really fun and there are no respawns.

That odd consolelike save system is the only thing that bothers me now. Because of savepoints I didn't buy Miasmata which looks awsome, but…

Okay, the system works a bit different here, but still I hate when I lose the game progress because of the power surge. Yes I do have an UPS, but it's weak and can't hold if I'm playing any graphically demanding game, the gfx card is too hungry so during a bad weather the PC will restart if I'm not just surfing or whatnot.
But why am I explaining this JDR, I know you enjoy console titles and you don't care for power surges - that are frequent here during a bad weather. And to buy a stronger and more expensive UPS just because of consolelike save system on PC… Sorry, not gonna happen.

I'll buy it in the end as I planned initially. But let me be suspicious a few days more.

P.S. Actually I have a situation at work that exhausts me much for weeks and the pressure will last till next friday. I've postponed the purchase because I'd be tempted to play it and I really can't afford investing energy in a FPS just yet.

Why do some of you guys keep referring to Far Cry's checkpoint save system as a "console" save system? I've never played any console games with this kind of save system.

The only game I've played with similar checkpoint system was Hard Reset, which is a PC exclusive. Or are you referring to 8-bit console games like Super Mario Bros and Metroid?