FC2 New player

[Osho]

Hello to everyone! :)
A new player to FC2. I've been wanting to play this game ever since the release, and now, that I'm planning to upgrade my PC decided to start it off with the same.  By reading some of the reviews for the other titles; FC3/4 seem like more fun and more accessible, but restrictive in terms of the much needed freedom, and room for creativity in the entire experience, in contrast to the short but quite focused shooting experience Far Cry 2 delivers.
So, I'd like to start with some opinions from all the FC2 fans around here about their experiences ( feel free to share, no need to hide any spoilers :) ) with the game, any interesting tips, and suggestions, etc.  I'm going to play on Hardcore first, and later, on the Infamous. 

Also, It'd be really great, and highly appreciated, if you guys could also suggest me:
1. Best CPU for the performance 
2. Best ( 1GB card only ) GPU to play at Ultra or High settings @ 60fps 1080p or 720p for smooth gaming experience! My budget is around 500$ max reserved to buy CPU, GPU, DVD drive, and RAM ( 8GB ) only.  Thanks in advance.

[Art Blade]

Hello Osho and welcome to OWG :)

You're lucky regarding the first request about our experiences with FC2 because everyone here has already posted their experiences ever since 2009 and spread out across several boards

* FC2:Latest content
* FC2:Missions
* FC2:Memorable moments
* FC2:SPModding
* FC2:Tips
* FC2:Questions
* FC2:Screen shots
* FC2:Multiplayer

As you can see, we wouldn't want to limit that experience by just a few sentences.. in one word, however, FC2 is "brilliant"  :-()

Because the game is comparatively old, the hardware you can get these days is likely capable of running that game even if you're on a budget. I am not familiar with the details you wish to learn about as I only buy prefab gaming rigs that are mid to high end.

[JRD]

Hi Osho, welcome to OWG  :-X

As Art said, since it is quite an old game you are probaby good with any mid level PC config you can buy. I always use nVidia GeForce cards and Intel processors and never had any issue with those brands. I believe any reasonable priced hardware you purchase nowadays will allow you to play FC2 in ultra settings with smooth gameplay, just check the system requirements.

RECOMMENDED:
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo Family, AMD 64 X2 5200+, AMD Phenom or better
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Graphics: 512 MB, NVidia 8600 GTS or better, ATI X1900 or better*
Sound: 5.1 sound card recommended

As for the game... you came to the right place. Make sure you check D_B's maps (link on top of the page). It will guide you through absolutely everything you can find in the world. Main missions are handed to you and you can choose to do them in any order, it gives you complete freedom to approach your objectives as you please. Basically you need to steal, kill, sabotage or blow something up and how you do it is up to you. The map is open in a way that you can play the same mission hundreds of times and it will never be the same.

You will also read people complaining about how high you can (or can't) jump, how many bullets it takes to put a man down, the degrading weapons feature and malaria attacks but none of it will take the fun out of the game if you can overlook it.

Enjoy the game and come back to tell us your stories.!  :-X  8)

[Binnatics]

Welcome Osho!

No need to farther specify the answers Art Blade and JRD gave you to your questions, only to mention that if you plan to play both FC3 and FC4 with your new rig, it will probably need a bit more power under the hood.
If I'm right you will need at least a GTX670 (2Gb) to be able to run FC4 smoothly, and that will consume quite a bite of your budget. But; since we are still in doubt whether it is worthy or not to buy FC4 (and even upgrade your system for it) and you will drag tons of gaming fun out of FC3, it may be a good idea to focus on a lower prized GPU first.

Have fun in FC2, I'm looking forward to your adventures and opinions! :) :-X

[PZ]

Welcome, Osho

I actually wish I was in your position of playing FC2 for the first time because It is the best game I have ever played, and the only one I have continued to play for the length of time I have.

FC2 is one of the first (if not the first) open world games.  In my opinion, ever since that game, the publishers have continued to narrow down the focus so for at least the main missions, you might as well be playing a linear shooter.  As mentioned above, you can go in to any of the main missions, and never play the same way twice.

Once you exhaust the vanilla game, you can then progress into the mods, which is like playing a different game altogether - the fun will last a very long time.

Feel free to post any and all comments, and questions of course, because anything you post will generate positive old memories for virtually all of us.

[Osho]

Thank you so much !!!  :)

I'm soon getting all the required components for the PC and then start gaming. Got the GOG copy already.

... and I'll definitely get back to you for sharing my experiences as well. :)

[nexor]

Hi Osho, welcome to OWG, more specific, welcome to the FarCry2 world......    :-X

Oh, and don't forget to download/install the Fraps software, then you can share your video clips and screenshots with us   :-D

[fragger]

Welcome to OWG Osho :)

FC2 has a special place in all our hearts. We never tire of reading about people's adventures there, so feel free to post whatever you like about your experiences.

Have fun! 8)

[mandru]

Welcome Osho.  It's always a treat to have a new player dive into our old favorite FC2.  :-X

I'm not up on the latest technical specifications for building a gaming rig but it sounds like some of the other guys have pointed you in the right direction.  The old graphics cards were real power hogs but since the Nvidia 600 series there have been some real improvements providing serious image processing power with low wattage demands.


I'm sure we all (here at OWG) look forward to your impressions and experiences in FC2 and don't be surprised if at times we look like were jumping in over the top of each other trying to be the first to supply answers should you have any questions.

One brief heads up.  When looking at D_B's expandable maps at the top of the all the FC2 related pages all of the mercenary patrol routes (color coded for vehicle type) are shown.  If you kill the mercs on any patrol route and take their ride you will find that as long as you keep that vehicle the mercs for that strip of road can not respawn.  This is sometimes helpful if you are engaged in a task in an area and get tired of having to encounter the same patrol over and over.  ;)

Happy hunting.  :)

[JRD]

(...) If you kill the mercs on any patrol route and take their ride you will find that as long as you keep that vehicle the mercs for that strip of road can not respawn. 

??? Really?? I didn't know that!!!  :-[

Gotta go back to Africa and try it....  :-()

On a sidenote... If I were you, Osho, I'd completely forget about checking the patrols... random encounters with mercenaries in this game is what created some of the best situations in all my hundreds of hours spent playing it. The unpredictability of this game is what I like the most. I rarely make a plan and manage to stick to it for too long... something unexpected always drives me off my original idea and I find myself having to improvise!!!!!!

Oh, boy... Dogon Village came to mind!  :-D :-D

[nexor]

Darn it JRD, now see what you've done!  Since I'm having such bad luck with FC4, I think I'm going to Africa and give some mercs hell!!  :-D

[mandru]

 :-D  @  JRD -  Those unforgettable moments where figuratively it feels like you are attempting to drain a swamp and suddenly realize that you are up to your hips in crocodiles.  :o


Wow. the memories just keep boiling up.

Speaking of driving in FC2 it helps to know that you can make minor right left scans of the road by shifting your mouse side to side but a right click lets you glance a full 90° right, a left click glances 90° left and right and left clicked together in unison glances 180° behind.  The longer you hold the clicks the longer the viewpoint shows what you are trying to see.

This is also helpful if your field of view drifts off center when you need most.  Any quick click will recenter you to see the road ahead.  This mouse click while driving feature was sadly missing from FC3 and I've not heard whether it was restored in FC4 or not.

The driving click to view trick was something that I was playing for months before realizing.  :-[

[nexor]

That won't w@&k in FC4 mandru, a sidearm feature gives you the ability to fire your sidearm while driving, and if I'm not mistaken you need to use the right mouse button for that. Oh, and in FC2 if you press both mouse buttons the same time you can see behind you, comes in very handy when mercs are chasing you

[Hell Diguner]

Who told you Far Cry 2 is a shorter and more focused experience? That simply isn't true. Perhaps they meant the first Far Cry.

I recently discovered this article that takes a look back at Far Cry 2: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/11/20/why-far-cry-2-is-the-best-in-the-series/

I think it rings true for those of us who have stuck with FC2 all these years. The game's main narrative is convoluted and ultimately falls flat, yet the individual plots and the indirect narrative grows on you and becomes deeply unsettling - like all true art. The game's mechanics (both standalone and sometimes in combination) are jarring, punishing, and occasionally feel broken... but if you learn their quirks and play around them, you'll discover hidden depth, the likes of which I've never experienced in other sandbox games. It's a grim experience, and a far cry from the happy-go-lucky power trip you'll find in other games in the franchise.

Take it slow, and play the game however you want - whatever tickles your fancy at the moment. Sniping, point blank shotgun-fest, exploration, sadism. Just be aware the game can take what you give, and return it threefold. You will be punished for not playing carefully, and then you'll still be punished at random. It's still not as bad as Dark Souls, though.

Another testimonial: http://majorslack.com/games-tips-tricks/having-fun-playing-far-cry-2/

///

Random advice:

- The enemy AI has four alert states: relaxed, scanning, alert, and combat.
- - - In relaxed state, the AI cannot see you behind "visual cover" - which is basically foliage and most objects that can be penetrated with bullets. Being underwater seems to act as visual cover.
- - - Scanning state is only available to enemies with sniper rifles, RPGs, mortars, and possibly npcs manning mounted weapons. In this state, their field of view is very small, but they can see you from ANY distance, provided you're not behind "visual cover." Note it is difficult to alert only one enemy, as he usually also puts nearby comrades on alert.
- - - Alert state the individual AIs are actively searching for you, but otherwise the previous rules apply. Often they will move towards where they think you are located. Try chucking a grenade, or shooting a silenced weapon to confuse them.
- - - Combat state is the tricky one: In this state the enemy AI can track your exact position through visual and physical cover for about five seconds. Yes, it feels like they're aimbotting, especially when you had been sneaking around in foliage one moment, and the next moment their clairvoyance would have ended the Predator film 45 minutes in.

- The stealth suit makes you much harder to see when not moving, and is progressively less useful the faster you're moving. This has a strange effect in vehicles - as long as you're not in the driver's seat, you're considered motionless (even if the vehicle is coasting rather fast) and the AI has a much harder time detecting you.

- The machete does not kill silently. When using silent weapons, you must instantly kill whoever you shoot, or they will go into combat state and alert everybody else.
- Headshots are almost always one-hit-kill, no matter what weapon you use

- Explosives destroy vehicles instantly, even at the edges of their splash radius where you wouldn't kill a human

- Get more malaria pills as soon as you run out. Whatever mission you wanted to do next can wait. Treating your sickness promptly will make malaria attacks less frequent and increase your total stamina - letting you sprint and hold your breath longer.

- There are four starting locations for the tutorial, and the quadrant of Pala you collapse in determines which outpost you end up in. Two of the outposts will equip you with an RPG-7, and the other two will equip you with a flamethrower.

- Weapon jamming chance is based on current weapon durability. Durability is based on how many rounds have been fired through the weapon. Some weapons have a low chance of jamming before they explode in your hands, while others will jam incessantly before finally crapping out.

- You can find and earn exactly enough daimonds to buy everything. Most of those are sunk into weapon accuracy and reliability upgrades, so if you're always on the lookout for daimond briefcases, you shouldn't have to worry about running out of daimonds just because you purchased a "fun" weapon or two.

- Fire is a mechanic. USE those molotov cocktails.

- Guard posts respawn on a timer if they're not in direct view, but they also instantly respawn if you move too far away from them. The latter is the main cause of "guard posts respawn too damn often!" complaints. In particular, staying for more than thirty seconds in a location with a detailed map available (thrird level "zoom in") will usually cause the rest of the world to respawn. Also be careful about leaving your vehicle somewhere that respawns.

- Patrolling vehicles follow fixed routs that you can learn to avoid or exploit.

[Binnatics]

That was true love speaking ^-^ :-X

I guess you just earned yourself another slab on the back Diguner!! +1

And as far as I can see; good advice ;) :-X

[PZ]

Indeed - nice write-up Diguner  +1 from me as well  :-X

[Art Blade]

aye  :) +1 :-X

[nexor]

+1 from this side also  :-X