I survived the masacre at the Church in Pala! Revenge is sweet...

[PZ]

Yep, that's right, after pushing the cabinet over the secret passage in the Church, and the fireworks began, I shot my way out of the Church and ran for the outskirts of town!  Then, taking an assault truck, I went to Mike's bar, killed the mercs attacking my buddies, and then like a true cad, killed all of my buddies (except one).

Here's the beginning of my mission - Reuben asked me to meet him at the lumber camp
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Here he is... crying about the choices I need to make - this man has plenty of nerve; asking me to do the things that he does not have the courage to do himself.
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I noticed an interesting map of Africa on the wall - too bad that it doesn't possess higher resolution
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Pala is surprisingly quiet - not a merc in sight, quite eerie.
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Oh well, might as well take this opportunity to steal the diamond in the garage  >:D
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The Priest is conning me into sacrificing myself for the greater good - I have no intention of complying  >:D
However, I push the cabinet across the secret passage and prepare for the worst.
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Sure enough, the fire fight starts, and I quickly head toward the nearest window - a single head shot with the 6P9 allows me to escape!
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Once on the metal roof of the building outside the Church, it was easier to fight the mercs - only a couple of the buggers to deal with on this side - the rest were inside the Church and on the other side.
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A few more pistol shots and they were dead.
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Next, I made my way to the front of the Church and discovered why there were so many mercs that appeared so fast - they had backed a truck up to the front door of the Church!  Sneaky ba$tard$
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Just for that, I poked my pistol through the door and took out a couple more  >:D
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After a final parting glance, and I ran out of town intending to go to Mike's bar to see what my buddies were doing  :-()
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As I arrived, the mercs were just standing around as if guarding the place - they took no notice of me!
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I'm going to get back at these guys for what their friends tried to do to me at the Church
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I went into Mike's Bar and saw several of my buddies, ready for action.  I wanted to kill them so bad, I could taste it, but unfortunately, I  could not equip weapons while in the building  :D
Here's Flora and Jossip...
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... Michelle and Quarbani - but because I couldn't do anything, I went back outside to see what kind of trouble I could get in to.
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I threw a a couple of grenades at the building, which blew out the windows - BINGO! ... because I'm outside, I have weapons ...  >:D
As I looked in, I saw Michelle and Quarbani - a whisper of the 6P9 took care of Quarbani, but Michelle must be wearing a bullet proof mask.  I threw in a grenade which took care of Flora.
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There's Marty!
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I never did like that guy...
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Jossip had a bad attitude as well, so away he went...
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I saw a couple of interesting weapons manuals...
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Then it's back outside to take care of the rest of these organic irritants  >:D
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All said, it was a good day - dispatching  a dozen unscrupulous mercs in Pala as they tried to kill me and the Priest (plus his entourage), and then killing the friends of the Pala mercs at Mike's bar.  Then the icing on the cake was off-ing those fools I'd previously called buddies... my only regret is that Michelle was impervious to my bullets (and grenades) so I have a feeling I'm going to encounter her again some day.

[Art Blade]

Hehe, nice story and pics  :) :-X

.. I escaped the church once to see what's going on, too  :)

[PZ]

Thanks, AB - kind of fun to exact a bit of pay back on those mercs  :-()

[mandru]

Nice pics to go along with your story PZ.   :-X

So what are you going to do now since you missed the dust storm drive out to Jackals cottage?  Do you hitchhike south and set up a floating volley ball tournament on the beaches of Bowa-Seko and wait for the Jackal to drift through on his own?   ;)

[spaceboy]

that's awesome!  I didn't know it was possible.  So yeah, how do you get to the 2nd Act???

[mandru]

Every time I've managed to jump out that window (other than in god mode) even with a fresh health top off I always drop unconscious the moment I climb outside.  Even when no shots have been fired on my emergence I black out and wake up on the meat wagon.

[PZ]

I cheated and used mandru's method - God mode, so I don't know if it would be possible on the console.  I wanted to see what would happen if you could survive outside, and evidently the game will let you do so, but I suspect that this save is now bonkers because the mercs at Mike's didn't recognize that I was there, and other oddities.  No worries for me though, because I did a regular save just before this experiment.

Now I'm going to start this save in regular mode and see what happens - go back to Pala and challenge the mercs in the Church  >:D

I'll also try to go south to Bowa, but I doubt that it will w@&k - we'll see.  I'll also see if there are any missions that show up in the Leboa map - I should have a couple of buddy missions, cell tower missions, and predecessor missions left over -  these I had purposefully left to see how many I could do upon returning from Bowa.

I also plan on exploring Leboa areas to see if the mercs fail to respond like they have at Mike's - all in all, it has been fun to go outside of the church for the first time during this segment and see what Leboa is like.  Well worth the trouble because it something that I'd never tried before.  ;)

[Dweller_Benthos]

More than likely when you try to head south, you'll hit the sand storm but not be able to go further. I doubt it will let you past the change over point.

I've done the god mode thing in the church, but never noticed the truck backed against the door, though.

[PZ]

... but never noticed the truck backed against the door, though.

It is interesting that it is there to begin with, if the developers didn't expect anyone to possibly survive the Church.  I'm wondering if they had something else possibly planned, or perhaps there is a slim chance to escape the place if you do the correct thing.

[mandru]

(I can always tell when I've come straight here from playing AC2 as my cap locks key is engaged from my button mashing while blindly reaching for the shift key  ::)  having to back space and retype is annoying)

I cheated and used mandru's method - God mode

I know their called cheats but where I had beaten the game so many times before finding OWG and the reg edits that allow acess to them I really don't see using it as cheating.  For me they are just a tool that allow me to explore parts of the game where I'd never have that opportunity without them.

Mastering a game is tough w@&k sometimes then on later rounds through cheats allow me to play with it in a more relaxed fashion extending my interest time.   :-X

[PZ]

Mastering a game is tough w@&k sometimes then on later rounds through cheats allow me to play with it in a more relaxed fashion extending my interest time.   :-X

You and me both  :-X  Sometimes I have to use God mode just to survive a new game, and once I become proficient enough, can play on normal mode - makes all the difference in holding my attention.  Unfortunately on the console, I can't do cheats, so I sometimes just leave a game and don't return - there is little point in playing a game that aggravates  :-()

[Art Blade]

Just for you who don't remember that it has been proven before, the old (Sunday, July 26, 2009) Topic: Pala: Semi Final - Escape from Church  :)

[PZ]

See, I told you that you remember everything!  :-()

The only time I can apply the word "everything" to me is when I also use the word "forget" in the same sentence.   :-()

[Art Blade]

ok, then, I think you forgot to remember not to forget everything you remembered not to forget. :-()

[PZ]

 ^+-+

[Art Blade]

 :-()

[B33 ENN]

Will definitely try this on my next playthrough :)

[PZ]

Well, I tried several things:

My map only shows a Predecessor icon, and the yellow icon indicating that I needed to go to the Church - none of the other missions were active.  Starting at Mike's with no cheats, (I'd killed all my buddies as indicated in the first post), I went back to the Church in Pala - the mercs recognized me and quickly started shooting.
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I shot a few back, but eventually let them kill me - then the crawling in the sand routine started, indicating the beginning of the transfer to Bowa.  End this experiment

Next, I went to PetroSahel - the mercs there behaved like they always did - shooting me on sight.

Finally, I drove toward Bowa - the mercs in the ATP near the broken down bus by the border saw me and of course gave chase - I stole their truck.  :-()

I kept going south, and like expected, kept losing consciousness, so I started God mode, which let me go further - all the way to the actual crossing before I passed out - no joy on getting to Bowa without going through the crawling routine.

[PZ]

There go those people that are running away from the mercs
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I listened to what the Priest had to say, but then turned to leave, with him begging me to stay and help - next stop, the roof just outside the boarded windows of the Church - how to get through, I thought...
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A grenade did the trick - now I can see in and I have weapons for self protection  >:D
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Should I do it?
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Next thing I know is that I'm listening to the Jackal pontificate.
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[fragger]

Some nice experimentation, PZ :-X Just one of the many things I love about FC2, that you can try stuff like that 8)

[PZ]

Thanks, fragger - that's one of the things I like best about open world games  :-X

[Art Blade]

hehe, I think FC2 is the only game that made all of us test like our lives depended on it. There are so many opportunities to try stuff in that game no other game has ever provided (that I know of) :) Well done, PZ  ;D :-X

[PZ]

Thanks, AB - you're correct - the experimentation potential in the game is amazing, more so than in many games I play.  Of course, that could be because I really like the environment in FC2 more than any other game I've played.

On an aside, I was thinking as I was driving the narrow strip from Bowa to Leboa that I like the solitary nature of the game.  It lends a gloomy "you're all alone in a nasty world where every living thing wants you dead" nature to the game, which is lots of fun.  I like hearing the sounds of nature as my footsteps crunch in the dusty road, or rustle through the dry grass - reminds me of going to the Anza Borrego desert in Southern California when I was a teen.  We would gather a group of friends and go camping in the desert, but because I was the only early riser, I would take long solitary walks, in an environment (under the proper weather conditions) that was as silent as death that early in the morning.  The only sounds evident were my boots crunching the decomposed granite as I strolled among the cholla and mesquite.