First impressions

[fragger]

...Well, almost. I picked the game up after w@&k today, but I don't feel like going through a possible lengthy install process at this hour (8:00pm). Will do so tomorrow when I have a day off, and I'll let you guys know my impressions sometime later (assuming I get far enough to form any impressions - this is Ubisoft we're talking about and they might do some sort of AC5-style thing on me...) :)

[Art Blade]

good luck, then :)

[JRD]

Looking forward to your impressions... and keeping my fingers crossed hoping it isn't another Ubi's special screw up as in AC:U  :-D

I may be joining you soon my friend! My gaming senses are tingling for a new title to play with  ::)

[PZ]

I can't wait, fragger  :-X

I enjoy your no nonsense honest assessments about a game

[JRD]

I was browsing the STEAM web page and bumped into this review from a guy named overdive148. Sounds like an honest player with an unbiased opinion to me.

Well... I really hate to say it, but I'm actually disappointed by Far Cry 4 so far.

About 2 hours of gameplay in since release. I pre-ordered it with high hopes from the trailers.

Things that are the same from Far Cry 3:
-Weapons look the same and sound the same
-The quests to recapture cell towers, complete with rickety and broken sections down to the same ropes to jump-climb to. Even the exact same zip lining to the ground and the zoom to the 3 different areas around each tower.
-Trash looting is the same
-Skinning has the exact same animation
-Collecting plants has the exact same animation
-Healing yourself is the exact same in function and very close to the original animation
-Hang gliders are the exact same in function and model
-Outposts. Right down to the alarms.
-Fire extinguishing animation
-Guards/enemies make the same kind of constant chatter both in and out of combat

Things that are new so far:
-Grappling hook that can only be used in certain places
-Setting destinations on the map shows the roads to take to get there in your minimap as well as on the road itself
-Autodrive so you can shoot while driving
-Different skill tree
-Bait to bring wild animals to bear (no pun intended) on enemies
-New mission style at major intersections - "choose your path" which affects your gameplay
-New enemy "hunters" can charm animals and use them to attack you

Honestly, I feel like this is more of an expansion than a new game in and of itself. The initial trailer had me excited but now that I've gotten into it...it's more of the same. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I loved Far Cry 3 for the story and the mechanics. I just wish it wasn't so re-hashed so far.

Without really wanting to get into spoilers, you get thrown into the action (once again a tourist in a foreign place with a seemingly insane person) only this time...you're just bringing your mother's ashes to a place. You're not kidnapped and forced to run for your life and survive - everyone knows who you are and you're just a tourist. There's no story motivation to skin animals or collect plants like there was in Far Cry 3 - you're just some random guy who even makes the same noises when doing so. The psychological effect of watching Jason from the last one go from scared and weak to eventually being able to do complicated takedowns and becoming less affected when skinning animals was fantastic. With Far Cry 4...you are a tourist who is trying to deliver his mom's ashes. And incidentally you are a great shot and know exactly what to do with plants (harvesting with the same animation) and taking skins after killing animals (with the same animation). The main character feels bland and un-interesting, down to his voice lines.

I'll update later as I play through. It's not a terrible thing that it's a lot of the same...but I don't think it's worth 60 bucks as an entirely new game.

He seems to voice our main concerns. It is not a bad game but it is FC3 all over again not an actual new game.  ????

Out of all of it, I'd like to highlight one bullet point: -New mission style at major intersections - "choose your path" which affects your gameplay. So there may be some light at the end of the tunnel.

I'm still getting this game, but may wait a little.

[Dweller_Benthos]

Interesting, didn't realize it was out already, out of the loop as usual, or more likely, not paying attention. If I pick it up this weekend will be entirely dependent on your opinion, fragger, so no pressure lol.

[JRD]

D_B it came out today.

[Dweller_Benthos]

Thanks JRD, wasn't aware lol. But I kinda think I'm going to let it sit for a bit no matter what, as I'm still busy with State Of Decay, and of course, Minecraft, not to mention halfway through Wolfenstein, etc..... Sometime over the winter or next spring I think will be about right, and maybe the bugs will be worked out by then with the inevitable patches (though if it's really just "FC3 the next chapter" there might not be any bug..... HAHAHA I almost got that out without laughing, it's UBI, of course there are bugs) anyway, maybe the price will have dropped a bit too.

[Art Blade]

that review states indeed what I thought the game would be like. I'm not getting it any time soon unless they throw it at me for (almost) free  :-D

[PZ]

I was afraid that it looked too much like FC3  :-(

Will see if there is a boss mission.  I might get the game if I am bored to tears with my other games.

What is a real shame is this: if they were simply going to extend an old game (FC3) into a pseudo new game (FC4), then why couldn't they have done that with FC2!!!  I'd have purchased a second installment of that game in a heartbeat - still would despite it's age.

[JRD]

Or why call it FC4?

AC:Brotherhood wasn't called AC3, AC:Revelations wasn't called AC4.... they kept a naming convention to help players keep track of the game's progression. Once you had the real AC3 released you knew it was a whole new game, new character, new engine, new gameplay etc.

They should call it Far Cry: the Himalayan Chronicles or Far Cry: Over the top or Far Cry: High as f@#k or whatever

[PZ]

  :-X

So true - Far Cry: SOT (Same 'ol Thing)

[Binnatics]

I read a proper Dutch review of my favorite hard- and software site and they stated the same as the reviewer above; mostly more of the same, which can make the game boring pretty fast. They mentioned the elphants as being major improvements because they are very funny to play with, but a bit over-the-top strong. More stuff seems to be over-the-top and un-realistic. Something else that bothers me is a poor-balanced multiplayer, and a coop that, although it allows you to simultaniously play they main storyline, is heavily disappointing. There's no benefit to playing together, besides it being fun to do things together. And the progress you make in another player's game isn't transported to your own play through, so it is not really adding the satisfaction :-\\
Still, it is supposed to be a good game, as FC3 was a good game after all. So it's just more of the same, hopefully with more choice in the story missions. I only doubt that being able of making choice in the main missions, won't make these choice any less scripted. More like having you follow minor differences in the way the story unfolds. But maybe I'm just too negative

[Art Blade]

not negative enough. Yet. :-D

[Binnatics]

lol :-()

[Stiku]

There is that grappling hook which looks nice and fun.

[PZ]

Wait until fragger tries to install the game - you might hear some negative comments then  8-X

[Art Blade]

he might be tempted to throw his PC out the window down across the street to those strange neighbours there  :-()

[fragger]

You want negative comments? You got 'em...

After a 1½ hour install, followed by the obligatory immediate half-hour update on launch, I fired up the game, only to find that there's no effing sound! Nothing. And because the game begins with a longish opening cut scene which can't be exited from (it must have gone on for close to ten minutes), I had to sit through it all in silence before I could get out and investigate further.

When the cut scene finally ended and I was able to move around, I couldn't. The game won't recognise my control remaps - the exact same remaps that I've used for FC2, FC3, and every other bloody FPS I've ever played. I can strafe and jump but can't move forward or backward. I guess I can try going with the default setup, but I shouldn't have to. What's the point in having remappable controls if the game wont recognize them? I did check the settings again and the remaps are still there, as I set them. They just won't w@&k.

I also rechecked the audio options: volume to full, music on. Back to game - nothing. Exit game, reboot PC, fire up game - nothing. Reboot and try playing offline. Nothing.

Fired up a few other games just to make sure nothing was amiss with my PC's sound in general, and discovered the really good part. The sound has also disappeared from my FC3 ???? FC2 is fine. All other games are fine. All other software titles, games or not, which make any kind of sound are fine. It's only Uplay's bloody games that have gone all Marcel Marceau on me.

So my first impressions aren't exactly rosy. Now I'll have to stuff around to try and figure out what the frig is going on with the sound.

Ubi excels again ::)

Keep you posted...


UPDATE: Had a look at the fine print on the box: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card with latest drivers (required).

Why it won't w@&k with onboard sound I don't know since everything else I have does, but I'm speculating that when Ubi updated FC4 they took it upon themselves to make FC3 sound card-dependent in the process. If that's so and if I want to play either game I'll have to fork out for a sound card. And if that's the case, I should charge it to the buggers at Ubi

I don't know if this is the case or not, I'm just theorizing until I look into it some more.

[Stiku]

It wouldn't be PC gaming if it was just install and play. 


Just a quick note, your onboard is considered a "sound card".

[nexor]

And, some on board sound chips are as good as a number of top sound cards   :o

[fragger]

Cheers guys :)

I've poked around a little online, seems I'm not the only one having this issue (surprise surprise). One fix I've seen is to disable Dolby Digital Live and switch to 2-channel output, but I'm already on 2 channels and it's not easy for me to disable DDL when I don't have it. I've tried playing around with my sound settings via Control Panel, using different outputs, but no joy.

Strange how FC3's sounds have also stopped, seeing as how it was working perfectly fine before I installed/updated FC4.

As stated earlier, all my other games' sounds are working fine. This is the first time I have ever installed a game and gotten no sound, and certainly the first time I have ever lost sound to another game in the process, one that worked fine beforehand. Sheesh.

What have you done, Ubi? \:/

[Art Blade]

That's bloody bad, matey  :(

my FC3 fired up with sound.

[nexor]

UPDATE: Had a look at the fine print on the box: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card with latest drivers (required).

I had a look at a game box here and it only refers to DX11 and updated sound card  ??? ??? 
All I can suggest is to try and update the sound drivers.
I know that's not what's supposed to happen but give it a try   :-\\

[fragger]

Cheers chaps, but I found the prob.

After several hours of fruitless searching online, I ran into Art at Uplay who suggested disabling Voice Chat. I did that, but still got no sound. I rechecked it, tried again, nothing. I unchecked it, still nothing. Restarted Uplay each time to make sure. Went back online, searched some more, dicked around with my sound settings some more, still nothing.

Then I went back into Uplay and had another look at the Voice Chat settings. I always play with headphones on, and it turned out that my headphones setting had been changed from "Speakers/Headphones" to "Communications Headphones". As soon as I changed it, sound came flooding through.

I don't have a comms headset, Ubi. I've never had one. Thanks for that eight hours of wasted time. Now maybe I can play your damned game ::)

One prob down - hopefully. Now to sort out the keymapping one...



ADDENDUM TO THE ABOVE: Disabling Voice Chat apparently won't restore the headphone settings (if you play with headphones). Because Voice Chat was enabled, it must have been assumed that I'd have a comms headset connected and set that option accordingly. Of course I didn't have a comms set, snd disabling Voice Chat didn't switch back to Speakers/Headphones. Also, when the Voice Chat "enabled" box is unchecked, all other options disappear from the window - including the headphone settings. That's why I missed it when I disabled Voice Chat - it wasn't there to see.