PZ's impressions

[Art Blade]

I started to hate FC2 after the first couple of hours... go figure  ;D

[spaceboy]

what are your annoyances eor?  Early in the game I felt an overwhelming feeling like there's so much to do so what should I do.  Once I started just going along as I felt it really clicked.

[PZ]

Well, like with all other games, not all titles are for everyone, but I'm glad that you've decided to give it another go.  When I first started JC2, I too wasn't impressed, but as I developed the techniques that I now use, my appreciation for the game greatly increased.  What tipped the scales for me was using the grapple hook to grab govmen bringing them ever closer to deliver a final melee attack, and using the grapple to slingshot across the landscape.

I also played Uncharted2 before JC2, and learned to appreciate the 3rd person games, and JC2 reminds me of elements within Uncharted2.

Like spaceboy, it can be overwhelming with the choices of what to do, but the solution that I found is to just started doing whatever I felt like, and the fun just followed.

I hope that you can find enjoyment in the game  ;)

[Art Blade]

Of all the things possible in JC2, I know I'll be simply and peacefully flying around with my glider. No need to rush. The area is so vast, diverse and beautiful, I am likely to just move around. That's what I usually do in games that allow free roaming, and what I still do in FC2 although that game appears to be microscopic in scale compared to JC2, and it's hostile whereas JC2 allows peaceful roaming.

[PZ]

... JC2 allows peaceful roaming.

Be careful of gliding above restricted areas though!  ;D

[Art Blade]

So that's how the fun begins, I assume?  ;D Thanks for the advice, though  :)

[PZ]

It can if you want it to.  The restricted areas are the military installations - evidently they have restricted airspace above them.  You can do what you want in civilian areas as long as you don't attract the attention of the govmen.

My current technique to obtain 100% in an area is to have the black market dealer extract me to an area which means that he will allow you to parachute out of his helicopter high above the area.  I now open my chute immediately and circle the area as I descend, looking for the telltale flashing of the weapons and vehicle parts I need to find.  I also look for the red-striped structures with white star which are government structures that need to be destroyed.

When descending over civilian areas, you can land wherever you want and not attract attention.  When descending over military installations, it is best to land well outside the area and then walk of grapple your way closer.  There is typically a fence or wall that surrounds the installation and then one or two entrances guarded by pill boxes with miniguns.  These are preferred entry points because you can take the minigun and sweep the area.

I usually find cover outside the main gate and then lure govmen out one at a time, grappling them closer until I can melee them.  Eventually their numbers will reduce to the point where I can run and gun.

[Art Blade]

Ah, I see. Although I am patiently waiting for the game to arrive (probably by the end of next week) I am all excited about actually playing it myself :) I've watched countless vids on youtube so I've already got an idea of what it might be like, and I am quite positive that "my way" will be different (regarding details) from what I've seen other players do so far. I think I'll be more like you, as far as I know you, you do take your time, too. I like to inspect an area and then decide what to do, like you I love luring opponents into death traps and taking advantage of whatever the facility has to offer. I usually don't like to leave stuff behind (except for strategic or tactical reasons) so I'm likely to ruin a place completely before moving on. What I've gathered from the game, one's own weapons eat through ammo rather quickly, so using the grapple as a weapon seems to be appropriate, as well as making use of vehicle's guns and dismounting those massive gattling guns to walk around wreaking havoc with those.

[PZ]

You're absolutely correct in your assessments, and from the way that you play games, I believe that you will enjoy the game.

There is an old movie titled "That Man from Rio", a comedy in which the main character enters adventure after adventure, seemingly in a chaotic way.  JC2 reminds me of that movie, except that you get to choose how the play goes.  I can't count the number of times I've planned the outcome of a mission only to have it change at the last minute because of circumstance that allows a new opportunity to arise.  This is one of the characteristics that I enjoy most.  For instance, I plan to go in and hose all govmen to complete the mission only to find that there are too many of them, and my health is dangerously low.  Instead of fighting it out, I grapple to the top of a hillside and open the chute to slingshot out of the area only to discover a boat race that I'd not considered before the mission.

I do the boat race, and because I get to keep the boat after the race completes, I pilot to another area and clear out a civilian village, and the fun progresses from that point further. 

I now realize that no matter what I plan, circumstances in the game are not predictable so you never know how your path will change.  This is unique in a game for me, especially when I think of the linear games like Call of Duty, which are fun, but once you do them once, you know that you can't do them again without becoming repetitious.

[Art Blade]

That's something I like too, opportunities. Like spaceboy, when he made me chuckle with his comment how shiny objects distracted him (hahaha) I also tend to do several things that are not exactly linked to one another, yet it keeps me playing.

What you said about running low on health, I was amazed at how simple it seems to be to stay alive, because all you need is a little break behind cover and watch your health restore itself for at least enough to keep on playing; and I watched a guy doing it on a higher difficulty level (one below max difficulty). What I learned from watching him is to use cover a lot and if possible avoid up close and personal fights except you're in a tactical position to take out a few enemies. Then go back behind anything you could call cover and recover  ;D Most of the fights seem to be quite simple if you keep that in mind, there is apparently no room to go in rambo style when you're being flanked; but also apparently that seems to w@&k when walking in with a dismounted gattling gun and enemies exclusively in front of you.

I want to play that game now  :)

[spaceboy]

be aware the govmen can call in reinforcements, sometimes even parachuting in.  You'll want to take out their communication towers to prevent this.  Also take out their SAMs ASAP so that if you steal or hijack a chopper you won't get shot down.

[PZ]

Indeed, I try to take out the SAMs and towers by placing explosives before I go in.  Just this morning I heard the govmen call in for reinforcements and I expected a heavily armed chopper to arrive, but instead I saw large shadows which turned out to be a dozen parachutes above me.

Fortunately I was carrying a minigun at the time  ;D

One thing I've been encountering - chopper after chopper are attacking me if I can stay aloft long enough, sometimes two or three at a time.

[batdog]

I think my record so far for "chopper-swapping" is four times.  In other words, I'm in a helo which gets blown out of the sky by another helo; I parachute, grapple and hijack that helo; I'm immediately shot out of the sky by another helo; parachute, grapple and hijack; rinse and repeat.

I've also been in a helo when it was blown up whilst I started to perform the hijack animation.  I couldn't stop this "minigame" so before I performed all of my attacks I'd plummeted to my death with the pilot.

[Art Blade]

NICE.  ;D

I watched a vid showing someone who had about the same troubles. I'll keep it in mind  :)

[PZ]

I did a couple of fun missions recently, the one called "Fly me to the moon" or something like that, which is the one with the rockets/satellites that  you need to destroy.  The other one was the Mile high club.

Both were lots of fun, and different from the missions I've done before.  In fact, this area of Panau has somewhat different characteristics - the civilian areas that I've visited have visuals that I've not noticed in other areas.

I like the fact that visiting different areas gives one the sense that you are visiting a different culture - OK, the govmen still viciously attack you in the same way, but the changing environment is visually appealing.

[eor123]

I started over after completing Uncharted 2 -- this time with a different perspective.

I think you just have to embrace the absurdity of it all.  ;D

[Art Blade]

Well said... it is as far away from being realistic as George W. Bush is from being eloquent. If you don't mind me saying so.  ;D

[PZ]

Well said... it is as far away from being realistic as George W. Bush is from being eloquent. If you don't mind me saying so.  ;D

ROFL!

[PZ]

I think you just have to embrace the absurdity of it all.  ;D

Absolutely - I think I mentioned a movie in relation to JC2 - "That Man from Rio", which contains the same absurdities, but one of my favorites nonetheless.  ;)

[PZ]

I ran across several large windmills (the kind that generate electricity) in a civilian area.  There were lots of generators and transformers as well.  When I tried throwing C-4 from the ground, it did no visible damage to the windmills, so I grappled my way to the top and planted a charge there (those blades are huge).  I collected all the weapon and vehicle parts (there were only two) and then I planted C-4 on all other items.  Finally I went into a small metal shack to detonate.  The desired 100% completion message appeared and then sirens. gunshots, etc as the govmen responded to the violence, but because I was inside the shack, they never did find me, and a few moments later I strolled out on my way to my next adventure.

Just like with FC2, my methods are changing as I progress in experience.  I now collect all the upgrade parts, and then target the chaos items.  It is fun finding a hiding place to get away with the crimes.  ;D

[Art Blade]

yeah, yeah, sneaky!  ;) ;D :-X

[PZ]

Loads of fun, and if I were a bit more clever, I'd come up with other ways to experiment, but unfortunately it takes lots of time in a game before I develop those techniques  ;)

[JRD]

Loads of fun, and if I were a bit more clever, I'd come up with other ways to experiment, but unfortunately it takes lots of time in a game before I develop those techniques  ;)

Which only proves the value of each penny spent on a good game like JC2!!  ;)

[PZ]

Exactly, I'm now at 70 hours of play and only a little over a third completed - I still feel like there is so much to see and do  :-X

[PZ]

I did a race this morning, and was given a funky little car that looks almost like an old convertible out of the 1940's.  It is rather delicate and would not stick to the road all that well, plus it would easily be stopped by almost any other vehicle.  Naturally, I was not successful, so I purchased the ice cream truck and went to town - had a blast knocking other cars off the road, working my way toward the finish line.