Question about a predecessor tape

[TheStranger]

So the last predecessor tape says:


==========\
The Bullet \
============\
Predecessor's last tape. Found on his
corpse. Suicide.
--
Predecessor: "Dear Jackal, they called you insane, described you as a
sociopath who thrived on killing. They were correct. But it seems like
you're trying to end this war - if it can even be called a war - regardless
of the cost.
I realized something sad today. I won't be able to resist the man who comes
after me, the way your friends resisted me. Since I'm not strong enough to
keep your secret, I'll protect it the only way I know how: by blasting it
out the side of my head. I know you have plenty of bullets, Jackal, but
I'll save you this one."


An so I was asking me what secret is he talking about? Do you guys have any ideas? Is it obvious or am I just blind? Nobody ever asked about this as far as I can remember.

(Maybe it hints at the theory from the other thread I opened? http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Story-Analysis-Far-Cry-2-13303.html )

[Dweller_Benthos]

It's been a while, but now that you mention it, what secret? Just the fact that the Jackal is trying to stop the war? Plus the other guys the predecessor killed were willing to die to protect it, that doesn't seem like much of a secret to die for.

As for the story analysis on that site, I don't think FC2 is that deep. The Jackal is who he is, which is Jack Carver from the original FC only they switched gears partway in the development of the game and made him the Jackal, I don't think there was enough time or effort put into it to make him the split personality of the player character. Not to mention you can play several characters in FC2. Then again, maybe that's why you can't play as the female characters? hmmmmmm.......

[Art Blade]

You cannot play as the female characters because the devs never created animations for them. The reason for that probably was rather profane, they might have run out of time. Simple as that, the female characters didn't have arms and hands (from a first person point of view) so there were no animations such as firing and reloading weapons with female extremities available.

[Binnatics]

It is actually the first time I read that tape. My game was glitched, so I never discovered the final text.

I think the lack of time must indeed have messed with the way these deep lines should have been interpreted in the end. But looking at FC2 as a true masterpiece, more than just a game showing playable content with a necessary story, I would love to project some sort of deep wisdom in these lines. It will still be guessing, since I don't understand the origin of the secret either. But the following is what I thought;
What could this weird war zone have possibly meant by putting you in and participating in it? Everything this gameworld is showing, is human decay and evil. You see the purity of the land, and you experience what the outer world brings in; weapons, chaos, death.
I think, by putting you into the foreign agent/merc with the special task to kill the Jackal, they let you experience the evil that we, western civilization, are bringing in countries like the FarCry 2 world. By doing it yourself. We bring even more chaos, death and lies with every step we take towards our task to kill the Jackal. Our predecessor did the same and along the way he discovered the secret of the Jackal. Ain't that the secret; that the Jackal is trying to end the war and that we are the evil bringers? The Jackal was someone that kind of got adapted to Africa. He wears that special African dress, and totally merges with the environment. Something like Kevin Kostner in Dances With Wolves.
I think the secret is that simple truth. About the Jackal being truly involved and us, Mercs being the evil that tears this land apart.
Realising such thing makes you weak and you won't be able to stand against the enemy you once abhorred but suddenly admire. The predecessor was probably so deep into it, the only way to collaborate was to commit suicide. The secret will then be kept, in favour of the player coming along next. He has to discover for himself ^-^

Well, this may sound like complete nonsense, but it makes sense to me and it is the way the game reveals its true charm and value to me, although the devs haven't had the time to really w@&k it out in full detail, story wise.  ;)

[TheStranger]

I also think that the secret is that the Jackal wants to end the war and/or help the refugees. There are no other motives revealed ingame and the story doesn't offer many alternatives.

[PZ]

Like I mentioned in another thread, I believe the final interpretation is left to the gamer - using his/her imagination, like in many a good book

[mandru]

OK, purely my read of the Jackal and my character's relationship in the game.

On my first few times through FC2 I thought that Jackal was subverting my character towards his will in the end game.

However with many-many times of reaching the final scene it began to dawn on me that by being allowed to make my own read of the senselessness of it all and being faced with the realization that the whole bloody conflict was about to climb across the border and flow out into another country, the way the Jackal always spoke to me as someone who had the wherewithal to listen and eventually understand the deeper truth of it all.  He never acted as someone better than me (though his character was brusque) he was treating me (the game character) as someone he was grooming to be on a par with him as friend and compatriot.

"I can't do it alone."  I'm sure he could have (I know I could have if the cut scene mode had allowed it   >:D  ) but just didn't want to be alone in that final act.

[Binnatics]

The friendship idea is an interesting point of view Mandru.  :)

I wonder if the devs would have ever thought people would play through the game so many times as lots of you did.  ^-^

[fragger]

They may have hoped, but they didn't reckon with us :-D

[Art Blade]

 :-D :-D :-D

[nexor]

Excellent theory mandru, I'm inclined to agree with you. That could very well be why the jackal didn't also try to kill the caracter like everyone else did, after all the caracter was there to kill him     :-\\

[mandru]

Thanks nex.  :)

Consider this:

Spoiler

By cooperating and going along with the Jackal and choosing the briefcase or the battery, the initial mission "to find and kill" is checked off as Mission Completed.

I think that searching out and hypothesizing over the deeper layers of meaning allowed within the story line is the reason for a lot of the power behind FC2's ability to capture and hold my interest and attention the way it has.  :-()

[TheStranger]

That is also interesting:


Predecessor Tape 06

Dear Jackal, I had a very interesting conversation with this chap from Cornwall. Of course we talked about you, but he also told me that you're not the only one being tracked. Someone's trying to find me, I'm looking for you and even you're looking for someone, are you lonely Jackal? Do you just miss your friends? Or are you looking for someone in particular?


So the Jackal is searching for someone. And this someone has to be the player.

[mandru]

That's pretty cool, nice find TheStranger.  :)

Hmm, my copy of the game came with the predecessor tape glitch so I never received any of those messages beyond the third tape.

I'd sought out and listened to those tapes that came after the ones I could pick up myself but because I'd never encountered them in actual game play I'd not made that direct connection.  Isn't it just like desk jockey bureaucrats to flood an area of contention with operatives while withholding all useful information about just how many other chess pieces they already have deployed out on the board?

The journal updates that were logged (on the pause screen) as each mission was completed hinted that the faction leaders were being less than forthcoming about supplying information regarding the Jackal which was not actually encountered in direct dialog while in game play.  That showed me that in order to build my own picture of what was going on I needed to collect every scrap of data about the back story that happened to pop up in my in game experiences or through dialog with the various game characters by interaction or in cut scenes.

[TheStranger]

There is a predecessor tape glitch? I encountered the Jackal tape glitch everytime since 1.03 but I could collect all predecessor tapes nonetheless.

[PZ]

Someone asked a while ago about the tapes and I completely forgot that I captured them and placed in a YouTube playlist

Jackal Tapes
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD5EDBC757C533978

Predecessor tapes
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL64F4DB6A9D0463B1