First impressions

[PZ]

Good story, D_B.  At least you can practice some open world techniques.

You might consider getting it anyway, AB - I'm going to, even though I know I'm going to rant about the main missions.

Heck, you might as well throw up a few "I hate Uplay" topics like the rest of us  :-()

[Art Blade]

OK, then  :) However, I still haven't got any news as to when and how they're going to make it available to me.

[PZ]

Probably when it hits the bargain bin so they aren't really out anything and have stolen your money, hoping you'll forget all about it - remember... they are targeting the 12 year-old gamer who is paying with their momma's credit card anyway  8-X

[Art Blade]

 ???

[Dweller_Benthos]

Yeah I would say get it for free if you can, then you aren't out much when you find it isn't up to snuff.

Snuff being FC2. But really, my very basic first impressions are that it's FC3 with a new skin and some new tricks thrown in, sorta like that Blood Dragon game.

[JRD]

Blood Dragon at least looks completely different and is way cheaper than FC4.

[Art Blade]

"way cheaper"  :-X

[fragger]

fragger, you do have a talent with words. I just love to read your rants!   

You have a talent for that yourself, my friend :) You've given me some pretty good chuckles over the years! All of you guys have :-X

I'm with JRD and the Dweller, if you haven't bought the game yet, hold off until it's cheaper or better yet, free for you. It ain't no FC2 (and let's be honest, none of us were seriously expecting it to be) but there is some fun to be had. But what fun there is certainly won't be found in the main missions or the tiresome monologues of the windbag characters that precede them, unless just sitting and listening is your thing.

Nex's comment was interesting. I lost one of four hostages in one side mission and got a fail, but in different one I lost two of four and passed ???? The game seems to be a bit iffy in deciding whether or not you've delivered the goods.

The interface isn't too clear on how to use some of the features. I bought a bunch of explosive arrows for my recurved bow but can't figure out how to equip them in the field - there must be some key to hit to get them to swap out with my normal arrows but I haven't found it yet. When you buy explosive arrows, you aren't prompted for a slot to assign them to like you were in FC3. I've also fully upgraded my "guns for hire" ability but likewise don't know what key to press to get my guys to show up and help when I'm getting my butt kicked. There doesn't appear to be any entries in the keymapping menu to specify these commands. I'll just have to play around some more and hit all sorts of different keys until I find the right ones - assuming there actually are any.

There's a thing they've done with the outposts which is starting to irk me a bit. Once you're liberated an outpost everything is fine for the time being - until you fast travel back to that outpost later on. I'm finding that very often when I fast travel to a liberated outpost and subsequently move out from it, I get down the road a bit and a radio message is heard saying that the outpost is under attack and help is needed. I then have to leg it back to that outpost and help some Golden Path people fight off a sizable troop of enemies who are trying to take the place back. Once in a while this might be acceptable as a random part of the gameplay, but if it happens frequently it's going to get exasperating, especially when I've made plans and have specifically wepped-up to attempt some other goal. I haven't yet tried ignoring the message just to see what happens, but I will next time I play. It'll be a pain if I find I repeatedly have to go and re-liberate an outpost that I've already done when I don't feel like doing that :D Incidentally this never seems to happen with the first outpost you do in the game, which is kind of part of the tutorial segment.

I'm going to play a bit after this, I'll let you know how all of the above goes.

[fragger]

Okay... I fast travelled to a liberated outpost and then hit the road from it, and shortly thereafter got the message that the outpost was under attack. I ignored it and went on my merry way. Not long after that, a text message appeared saying that I had failed to protect the outpost. However, it still remained liberated and I was able to travel back to it later.

So what's the bloody point? ::) I think you get some additional skill points or something if you do defend it, but big deal. It's more of a distraction than anything else.

I found out how to summon "Guns for hire". After pressing every flipping key on my keyboard I finally discovered that if you hold down the "v" key (thanks for enlightening us on that, Ubi) an option wheel pops up. "6" is supposed to bring your guns for hire a-running. I tried this when I stumbled upon a scene where Golden Path fighters were scrapping with bad guys in the woods, but no dashing heroes for hire showed up. Possibly you can only bring up these reinforcements in certain situations, I don't know. The whole thing is frustratingly vague.

I still can't figure out how to get my explosive arrows into my bow. Maybe they forgot to program that part, or it's hidden away in some obscure and unreferenced combination of keystrokes. I'm past caring.

I unlocked a signature weapon called a Stinger which comes with what appears to be a built-in sound suppressor, but the bad guys can hear it. Great.

I did a mission for a character named Longinus (that maniacal-looking guy in one of my earlier screenshots, the one I said was crazy, which he is) and it sucked the big one. I was supposed jump into a 4WD and without being detected, follow a smuggler who was driving his own 4WD. This happened to be at night, and since I can't seem to turn my headlights off, surprise surprise, I was detected. You have to use the vehicle provided or he gets away from you and you fail. I could still continue with the mish however, but now I had to catch up with him and eventually bump him off. Because I'd been detected, another carload of bad guys was shooting me in the back the whole way, but I couldn't stop to shoot back or I'd risk losing the smuggler. I think you're supposed to use the autosteer-and-shoot technique in such a sitch, but it's too cumbersome. The smuggler led me into his camp and a subsequent ambush, but I killed him and his mates anyway, got the key to his vault, used it to enter said vault, grab the goods (a conflict diamond), fought my way back out and completed the job.

The main missions in this game stink even more than they did in FC3. So far, I've hated every last one of them and would rather stick my head into a bucket full of sloppy turds than go through any of them a second time.

I've had enough for one night. I'm off to play Civ V, which I know I'll enjoy.

[nexor]

I got shot to pieces first time around on that same Longinus mission, immediately after the mission restarted I set my "GPS" to track them, that way I followed him and his escort to their base.

That is one thing I like about the "GPS", you set the "GPS"on a location and it plots the route for you.

[PZ]

Dang, worse than I imagined

[nexor]

Too be honest, I'm also not enjoying the game, wait till you get to the Shangri-la missions fragger.

So far I haven't done a quarter of the game, playing on easy, and stopped counting how many times I been killed in this game, I'm pretty sure more times than all my FC2 play through's,
None of the video's I've seen show any of the missions, only attacking outposts. The outpost attacks are fine and fun with plenty action, the missions? frustrating and not fun at all.......  :D

[Binnatics]

PZ's right. It's indeed even worse than I thought. :D

[fragger]

I couldn't agree more, nex. I've reached a "mission" which is annoying me to the point where I'm about to give up on the whole game. Not to give too much away in case others here want to play, but it's certainly something I would never want to play through a second time. And because of the nature of the mission and the fact that I can apparently only have one saved game, I can't get out of it - or do anything else - until I finish it.

Read this only if you don't think you'll ever be bothered playing FC4

I met up with two characters who drugged me (yep - you get drugged out again in this game) and I came around to find myself having to fight like a gladiator in an arena. The fights are divided up into rounds, with each round tougher than the one before it. I don't know how many rounds there are, but I got killed in round three before I got cranky with the whole damned thing and quit for the night. It's exasperating and boring in about equal measure. Why they feel they have to include this sort of thing in an open-world game I don't know, but it's worse than anything they came up with in FC3. I had more fun fighting the giant demon in that game - and I hated that :D In fact, I think I could have more fun playing with Excel.

Maybe I'll persevere with this game, maybe not. I kind of want to play through it once just to see what's up ahead, but I don't know if I want to deal with the dullness and frustration that I know I'm going to find. Plus I'd like to get the story out of the way and hopefully, like FC3, it'll become a reasonably fun and replayable free-roam game to dip into from time to time.

Assuming the game will have that functionality. I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that it doesn't.

The outposts are fun, some of the side quests are fun, the free-roaming aspects are fun, and some of the other stuff you can do is fun, but the main missions absolutely stink

[JRD]

I'm sorry to hear that fragger. That's a game stopper to me. I hate that sort of mission where you have to fight wave after wave of enemies in order to progress in the story. After beating levels like that you are relieved that it is over instead of looking forward to play it again.  :-(

So that's it for me, I'm sticking with FC3 for another playthrough instead of paying to have a few different weapons and a slightly different scenario.

The elephant raid though.... now this looks fun.  ::)

[PZ]

From bad to worse  :D

I don't know anyone personally that likes that sort of mission, fragger

[Art Blade]

I am seriously wondering whether or not I should really get FC4.. I might opt for watch_dogs

[JRD]

When I purchased Boderlands 1 I got the GOTY edition which came with 4 DLC packs. One of them was Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot which is basically an arena where you are thrown in and have to fight wave after wave of increasingly difficult enemies. Between one wave and the other there was a sort of supply drop, where ammo and health would drop around the arena so you could top up before the next wave.

One good thing is that you only play that sort of match if you want it and not because you are forced to do so. I guess I played that DLC maybe two or three times just for the fun of using some of the weapons I collected during the game, which shows how much I enjoy that arena style design in gaming.  :-( 

Maybe the only exception to that are the challenges in the Batman series. Fighting is so fun and satifying in that game that I found myself getting back for more action over and over. Besides, the better you get at the challenges, the more efficient you are in the SP campaign.  >:D >:D

[Binnatics]

....In fact, I think I could have more fun playing with Excel.

:-X

Keep them coming Fragger, at least your rage is producing some very entertaining stuff

I am sorry to hear all the bad news, that's for sure. But I kind of suspected it to be that way. I remember how surprised I was that within such a short time they developed an entire new tittle for a franchise that grand... it could only disappoint those who expect quality, but it's even worse. It not only disappoints, it's blasphemy to real open world gaming.


Hope you get some fun out of it after the main story, in case you persist. And if you do, careful not to fall off a fake mountain

[PZ]

I am seriously wondering whether or not I should really get FC4.. I might opt for watch_dogs

watch_dogs is fun, and reminds me quite a bit of grand theft.  I completed the game, but have not done a second play through - once is enough

However, it did not have any stupid boss missions, although there were timed vents - can't seem to get any kind of a game without them

[nexor]

Believe me, there's more to come fragger   :-\\

On a lighter note.............
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jy1UQO7K7pA#ws
Escorting a supply truck

[PZ]

Cool, nex, how many grenades can you carry with that thing?

That's one of the first missions I've seen that looks like fun.

[fragger]

I haven't tried one of those missions yet. That's one of the side missions, which generally are fun. Generally.

I finally got through that freaking arena and thought yay, thank God I'm past that - then I got to Shangri-La and wished I was back in the arena. I was really hoping that all that spaced-out legendary psycho-drivel would have dried up with FC3. No such luck. Sorry to say guys, but the trippy demon fights that we loved so much in FC3 have come back to haunt us all over again.

Enough with the magical mystery tour already, Ubi. I don't want to point spell-casting knives and command reincarnated tigers to attack evil spirits. Just give us a no-nonsense, down-to-earth action game like you did with FC2! Keep the demons of the past, the charmed weapons, the reconstituted animal-heroes and all that dumbass crappola where it belongs, in the swords-and-sorcery RPG genre. This is supposed to be a First Person Shooter.

And less talk would be nice. The blabbermouth characters in FC4 deliver some of the most irritating, interminable monologues I think I've ever come across in a computer game. This lot could talk the leg off a chair. If I want to listen to a lot of pointless and irrelevant chin-wagging I'll watch Parliament Question Time on TV, which incidentally contains about the same amount of interactivity.

I may get through the game eventually, but I sure as hell won't be subjecting myself to this painfully long-winded load of b-grade folderol a second time

[nexor]

Dang, can't remember PZ, the truck escort mission replaces the FC3 medical side mission after liberating a tower, if you don't already have the GL in your arsenal you must swop one of your weapons for it where you meet the truck to be escorted.
I might be mistaken but while riding shotgun is the same as with the mounted MG's

[nexor]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ime7BJmWGWA#ws
Just part of fragger's Shangri-La mission  :-D