How fast can you play the game?

[Dweller_Benthos]

I just finished my second play through (I know, I'm slow). And it took me 51 hours to complete. Of course, that 51 hours of game play was stretched over 13 months of real time! In my defense, I played both Wolfenstein and Call Of Juarez 2 in that time as well, both twice, plus a bunch of games of Audiosurf and other "casual" games, so I wasn't slacking the whole time!

Anyway, since I don't really feel like starting Fallout 3 quite yet (maybe after the summer) and I would like to finish those last few achievements in Half Life 2, but don't really feel like doing that again, I decided to see how fast I can play the entire Far Cry 2 game, using all available cheats, of course. So, I'm trying to get everything at 100% in the game as fast as possible, using the trainer with god mode, of course, fast run, high jump, max stamina, weapon reliability, no recoil, etc.... Using fast run I can get across the map pretty quickly and can pretty much ignore the mercs to get the job done. Finished a couple weapon dealer and assassination missions so far and opened a lot of safe houses. Might be an hour into it at this point. Of course, it takes about 20-30 minutes of play to just finish the tutorial and introduction missions. Once those were done, the cheats came on and the mercs started dropping like flies. I'm hoping to get it done in less than 20 hours. We'll see.

[Art Blade]

I think you can do it in 10  :)

[fragger]

Nice little challenge you've set yourself there, D_B. Go for it, mate :-*

[JRD]

If you go for the missions only (assassinations, factions, side and buddy) you can beat it in around 10 hours or less, but if you skip buddy and assassinations (you don`t need them anyway if you use the trainer) I think you can do it in about 5 hours or so!

Anyway... a Fast Track Far Cry is a nice idea!!  8)

[Dweller_Benthos]

Yeah, I want to do the whole thing though, to get a good comparison to my other times, so all safe houses open, all guard posts scouted, all diamonds, main missions, buddy missions, side missions, tapes, etc. I just need to focus and git'r'done as the man says and not fool around killing mercs just for the sake of killing them. hmmmm.... maybe I should just ignore them and do the mission without killing anyone that doesn't need to be killed to complete the mission. It's just they get so annoying with all their yammering on when you're around, then all the shooting, can't think straight.

[Art Blade]

Maybe you could leave a savegame from a previous playthrough so you can resort to that when you really need to off some mercs to ease your pain (urge to kill)  ;D

[Dweller_Benthos]

Yeah, I have the merc war save game handy at all times for that, lol.

[Art Blade]

 :)

good luck with your "speed run" then, D_B  :-X

[mandru]

Every time I start a new game I promise myself "it will be a quick play through this time" but It never happens.  I keep getting sidetracked by game details or favorite places to try new ways of blowing things up.

This last play through I'd met Jackal at the prison started into the end game to retrieve the diamonds at the LZ and kill the remaining two faction leaders as they made their plans to drag the people back and punish them.

After leaving the prison there is an area where you are up on a ridge overlooking mercs in an encampment. Right after that there's a river that runs down to the swamp area for the second major engagement after leaving the prison but first when you get to the river there's a safe house to the left and a bit further down three mercs guarding the foot path on the left bank of the river.

I missed the shot with my dart rifle on the closest merc which had never happened to me before.  I'm usually able to get all three of these guys without raising an alarm.  This time however my botched target let out a yelp alerting the other two that trouble was on the way.

Recovering I quickly bagged the two closest mercs but the third merc, just to make things difficult, waded across the river to a thatch roof building I'd not noticed before and climbed a good ways up the hill behind it.

I crossed the river after him got a good line up on a shot and took him out but when I walked on over to the building and up the hill where he fell there were unexpectedly a few bodies scattered around on the ground.

Did Jackal kill these guys as he somehow got around me and is waiting at the house ahead or maybe some of the underground movement killed the guards to help people escape.  I guess it's even possible that the two factions being brought together in uneasy union are experiencing some fatal fraternization.

All I know is that there were four of five bodies and I was only responsible for one of them.

I may get around to a quick run through in say 20 or 30 more tries.  ;D

[JRD]

Nice story mandru...  :-X

Maybe a merc war in the last act?

[Art Blade]

hehe mandru, I can relate.. I always got sidetracked myself and never managed a quick playthrough for the same reasons: too much fun  ;D I found those dead guys during earlier playthroughs but never gave it much thought. Somewhere there is a little hut with kind of a shrine or altar, too :)

[Dweller_Benthos]

I've seen those dead guys there too. Funny, I went that way my first time through, not around the bend past the safe house to the main trail. From up behind that little hut, you can snipe all the guys on the trail without much fuss, then take a leisurely walk past that nice waterfall....

I can see my big problem doing it as fast as possible is resisting the urge to hang around and kill mercs for the fun of it.

[Art Blade]

I can see my big problem [...] is resisting the urge to hang around and kill mercs for the fun of it.

I think your statement just proves how good the game actually is: it constantly stimulates you to "play" (with mercs, wanting to hunt and kill them). Why would we want to resist that ? :) Anyway, go ahead  ;)

[PZ]

Nice idea, D_B  :-X

Like the rest of you guys, I am always sidetracked by trying something new and different, so completing anything in as short a time as possible has not been profitable for me.  The only things that I've improved my times on are the different methods of travel - I'm fairly adept at choosing the proper mode of travel (bus, boat, overland, etc) so I arrive in the shortest time possible.

[Ricamundo]

I'm currently on my 9th playthru of FC2, and still loving it as much as ever. :-X The only shortcut i've allowed myself, is retaining a specific save, made right after completing the training mish, so i can get right to the game, @ something like 4%.

I cant say ive ever strived to scout every guard post, or find every diamond, so i usually try to play each playthru with different loadouts. Lately, ive gotten used to grabbing the PKM and the M79 as soon as i've unlocked them( i always do the gun shop mish's first) This time, ive gone back to more of a stealth mode, with the silenced MP5 and dart gun, along with the handy M79, in case im seen by a jeep patrol.

This time, ive also been using the bus more often, then walking to my destination, creeping past guard posts, rather than driving and simply blasting my way thru guard posts, or patrols.

I dont think i'll ever attempt a fast playthru of FC2 or FO3 as these are my absolute faves these days, so i regard each playthru as special and want to prolong it as much as possible. My FC2 games usually last 50+ hours and my last FO3 playthru, including 4 of the 5 official addons, as well as a few fan addons, lasted almost 200 hours when i decided to pull the plug. ;D

[Art Blade]

nice read, Ricamundo :) I don't think any of my playthroughs in FC2 were as short as 50 hours.. usually more like 150 hours  ;D

[Ricamundo]

nice read, Ricamundo :) I don't think any of my playthroughs in FC2 were as short as 50 hours.. usually more like 150 hours  ;D

I honestly cant remember how long my last playthru of FC2 was. I keep forgetting to check the stats before i go into windows and delete all my old saves. it may very well have been much longer than 50 hours. As a counterpoint, i just played thru FEAR again, and went from start to finish in less than a week, since its a straight forward(literally) corridor shooter and i play it on 'easy". ;D

[Art Blade]

Yeah, easy is my favourite "difficulty" level, too :) And I played FEAR(1) too, even MP for some short period of time, back then when it was new. I loved the sticky grenades I used to throw at someone's back and watch him panicking before I set them off  ;D

Rica, really, please give JC2 a chance, if possible rent it for a couple of days and see if you can handle it. Read through our JC2 forum, PZ and I wrote a lot about our game impressions, and there is that post comparing JC2 with FC2. I know you hate third person, but I think you could overcome that sentiment as you did with FO3. The game is just too great to be ignored by someone like you who likes a good game :)

[mandru]

The only shortcut i've allowed myself, is retaining a specific save, made right after completing the training mish, so i can get right to the game, @ something like 4%.

I've thought of trying that but have not done it because I want to truly randomize the order of where and when each of my buddies have popped up through the game.  At the very least my BB would be the same every time because their rescue from a faction home base is part of the training mission.

So this is a good chance to ask you Ricamundo, are the buddies' rescue locations determined during the cab ride into Pala or have you noticed a randomizing effect as you arrive to rescue each buddy when using your quick start method?

How about when you go into the second half of the game?  Are you getting different BBs skippering the barge for the Port Selao run?

I hope those questions made sense.  :)

[Art Blade]

Funny you should ask about the BB on the barge mission, I hope you don't mind me answering one question by telling what I did once:

I didn't like André. Yet he was on the barge. So I reloaded savegame after savegame, going back farther and farther in game, to find out when the game determins who it will be. Apparently back in Sefapane when you receive your orders, the BB is already determined. It was always André. I went back so far until I couldn't be bothered any more and accepted that ba$t@rd  ;D

[Ricamundo]

I hadn't thought of that Mandru. Good point. Since i always wait a couple of months at least between playthru's of FC2, im not sure i remember any pattern of who and when BB's show up. TBH, i dont even remember where a lot of the diamond cases are, so early on, i spend a fair amount of time wandering the open areas looking for a hit. Must be my slowly decomposing mind. :-[

Oh, i did take a peek in the JC2 forum, but im afraid after 15 odd years of shooters, im sold on FPS and not on 3rd person. FO3 can be played quite nicely on first person BTW.

[mandru]

No worries Ricamundo.  :-X

Just another one of those things that I may never get around to checking out myself.  ;D

[PZ]

... FO3 can be played quite nicely on first person BTW.

Do you ever switch between first and third person view?  When I first started with FO3, first is all I used, but somewhere along the line I discovered that you can see lots more of the landscape when you spin down to third.  What I actually wish is that more games would do like FO3 - give the gamer the choice of using first or third.

[Art Blade]

choice is always good, I'd love to see more games offering both FP and TP view  :-X

[Dweller_Benthos]

I just never liked 3rd person, don't know why. The only games I played that I switched, where it was possible, was Heavy Metal FAKK 2 and Jedi Knight, both to fight using the swords, or light saber as it were, since it was a bit easier that way. Otherwise, it's all first person for me.