Sorry to rain on the parade so early, but...

[Art Blade]

Very nice, fragger. I'd only go for those outposts that will sport a unique animal Path of the Hunter quest once you've liberated those so you can max out the gear that you like. Binnatics came up with the idea of posting the essentials here. :)

During my first playthrough I read about the idea of leaving a few outposts in the hands of the bad guys so we'd still have some fun after the final mission, which I did. So I decided to liberate the entire northern map but left most of the southern map alone except all radio towers and one outpost which I simply wanted to have all to myself as I liked its location so much (Lone Shore Way in the West).

In the afterlife (post-final mission, :-() ) however, it appeared to be necessary to liberate one more outpost because man, the South was buzzing and crawling with merc patrols both on foot and with vehicles and on top road blocks. I liberated the Stubborn Kid Farm, the outpost to the North of The Compound as it is about in the middle of the southern island. Indeed, the road blocks around The Compound have disappeared but there are still enough merc patrols. :)

[Binnatics]

Everything I'm doing this time around is essentially geared towards establishing a good starting position for the post-game free roam :-X

Same here mate :-()

I spoke with Art about Sam, the so called German guy, and as I thought his accent is imitated as well. Shame on Ubi that they didn't do the research and effort to those aspects. :-\\

[Art Blade]

during an intro to a mission Sam talks about himself and admits he's American. Here's the scene, check his tattoo bottom right of this pic:

[smg id=5019 t type=link align=center width=500 caption="2012 12 15 00005"]

[PZ]

He reminds me of Maxwell Smart

[fragger]

 

I'm up to that exasperating, infuriating, thrice-be-damned rock-throwing mission again, stuck in the small cavern with the six guys and the ramp just like last time. I already spent half an hour on it and I still keep getting spotted, only now the two guys in the upper part of the cave keep seeing me in that spot where they're not supposed to be able to - in the vine-covered nook where you can look through a hole in the rock and see the other guys in the lower half of the room.

God I hate this @#$%& mission! I hate it, I hate it, I HATE IT!!! The bad guys don't go where you want them too, they're unpredictable, most of the time they don't move to investigate the rock noises like they're apparently supposed to do but instead just stay where they are and look around (especially that heavy at the bottom of the ramp, the one that you really need to get out of the way more than the others since there's no way past him) - it's just a badly designed, totally crap mission. As before, I lost patience with it and had to quit to try again sometime later when my forbearance meter has refilled.

I'd have to say that this mission is the one that ticks me off the most - there's absolutely no fun to be extracted from it whatsoever The only two main missions I like at all are the drug crop one and the Pirate's Cove one. They're about the only two that give the player any degree of latitude.

Please, please, someone, PLEASE come up with an invisibility cheat for this piece of shite mission :D

[PZ]

Awful, fragger, just awful!

I recall one mission that plays almost like you are describing and there is an alternate path.  Tell me if this is it: as you look through an opening in the rock and see the guys below, there are two more guys to your left.  Once you escape the cave you enter the water and climb aboard a rusty ship? 

If so, if you go the direct route there is little to no chance that you won't be spotted.  However, back up in the cave away from the opening in the rock, and look for an opening through the rocks to the left of the two guys in the upper left area. Crawl through this opening and you get past the guys on their left side, and w@&k your way around toward the lower chamber.  You can sneak past these guys if you time it right.

Doppelganger is the mission, and this video shows a more direct approach; I'm surprised it worked, but the relevant part is at about 8:20

Spoiler

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrtdG9bF0YM#ws&list=SPHR3LrZaPrh7EdAT_JTPjD-xT9h87ku9y&index=37

[fragger]

I can't actually watch that clip at the moment because my average net access speed is about 5 KB/S (yes, kilobytes - it would be quicker for them to mail it to me), but if it shows what I think it will, I finally discovered it myself.

In that section with the six guys, the big mistake is to throw any rocks at all. Instead, I made my way to the left and behind those first two guys, down the passage with the dead body, then behind the first boxes I came to, under the ramp and behind the heavy. No rock throwing required, none of them can see you.

My big mistake was to consult walkthroughs on the net, all four of which I read advised throwing rocks first this way then the other. Just goes to show, you can't always trust walkthroughs.

I still don't like that mission, and still think it's the most boring one in the game, but at least I know how to deal with it now.

[Art Blade]

hehe, only trust OWG  :-D

Funny side note: The mission starts with a pop-up message that states something like "carefully approach the site" which I did. I came from the shore, killed those dingos or rabid dogs along the way, took a patrol on wheels out with a mine, all that so I wouldn't be surprised by them later on. I then climbed the hill and slid down into the bushes on site, closed in on the stairway that leads down. I walk down a bit and realise hmm.. there is a marker at the entrance to the stairway but it didn't register?  ???? I go back up to the marker and it still doesn't register.. weird.. I leave the area and enter from the road that leads in and oh, all of a sudden there are a lot of guys and someone sitting at the entrance of the stairway..  I had been so careful that even the game didn't spot me 

[fragger]

 

My, you are stealthy!

hehe, only trust OWG  :-D

:) I should know that by now

[PZ]

My, you are stealthy!

[Binnatics]

Glad you found your way through Fragger, it is indeed an annoying mission. I got through in one go, but that may be because of my experience with batman, distracting and sneaking around. I'm a bit worried though what will happen on warrior mode, since the sensibility of these guys is lots higher. I bet the linearity of the lvl design will help me out there >:D >:D

[mandru]

This is my first post on the topic of FC3 since I discovered that UBI/GameStop had screwed the PC pre-order victims out of all the promised extra content.  I came to this thread first because fragger had mentioned there were some issues in FC3 that rivaled my displeasure with AC3 shortcomings.  Yes fragger there are serious violations of any of the definitions of open world gaming that shouldn't have been fobbed off on the gamer's market as good game design.

A fair volume of the 136 posts on this thread leave me to wonder if I wouldn't have been better off reading this first and taking the game back unopened for refund.  ::)

I loaded FC3 this afternoon and immediately sat through updates 1.01 and 1.02 only to be redirected to the UBI web site to manually download and install update 1.03 leaving me to wonder what's the point of an auto updater that has to be bypassed.  ???? ?

Once I had the game shortcut properly installed on my desktop and the game loaded I spent a couple exciting hours trudging through (Yes, you guessed it !) the in-game user manual. ???  Seeing evidence that my largest gripe with AC3 was running rampant in FC3 in that it again appears to have been made primarily for console without proper consideration of leaving the PC control mapping resembling something like the lay out we were accustomed to in FC2 or at the very least since so much of what I have read here compares this new FC venture to the AC series mimicked some kind of standardization between these UBI offerings.

Press the "M" Key to open the world map?  In the heat of combat which the hell hand am I supposed to disengage to find the freaking "M" Key?

Keys "7" and "8" access the heightened combat skills syringes.  Am I supposed to access those at an intense moment by banging my forehead on the keyboard?  >:((

Have the assigned weapon and tool Keys "1 through 5" from FC2 become so very passé that they can be tossed away so blithely?  They are still there in AC3.  Well except the "5" for map  that is.  The oh so difficult "Tab" Key pops the map up but not in  FC3.  :D  Come on UBI.  What were you thinking?

Either way finding the "M" key or the "7" and "8" through hunt and peck or cranial scarification makes me take my eyes off the screen pulling me out of any immersion factor UBI may have been attempting to create but it's no worse than bad design so glaringly obvious that it can be spotted without even starting the damn game.

Yes.  :-\\   The keys can be remapped but from a few posts earlier in this thread it becomes apparent that the designers are so lackluster that they've even neglected to code the "in game prompts" to reflect player specific changes.  At least the in-game manual in AC3 fills in the player's remapped keys though I've not changed anything as there are no remap fixes possible that don't foul up another bound key to improve this whole "made for console" bollixed up rat's nest of a mess.

It seems that UBI really wants to get out of the PC gaming business.  Maybe it's the most direct way they can think of to thwart modders.

[PZ]

One does wonder why in both AC3 and FC3 the control layout is different, not only on the PC, but on the console as well.  I can't count the number of times I mismanage my vehicle because I'm accustomed to FC2.  Sure, they have new features of one kind or another, but why not stay with a good thing; the thing that loyal gamers have come to appreciate?

However annoying it might be, I do hope you find enjoyment out of FC3.  As to the main story missions, I suspect they will annoy you immensely, but when you realize your blood pressure rising to boiling point, divert yourself to another approach because there is usually something that you can do to make the mission more tolerable.  If you can get past the main story line, I know you'll find many aspects of the open world nature of the game very appealing, perhaps enough to keep you occupied for many months to come.

[mandru]

There's a craft UBI development team voodoo dolls recipe?

[PZ]

   I suspect that it would likely be the most used recipe in the game!

[fragger]

Welcome to the jungle mandru :-() :-\\ It's not all bad news if you can get past the main story missions, and once you get around the cockeyed controls, the buggy map and a few other - er, quirks. The game is an open world explorer's paradise once you get to grips with it. If you've read all of the preceding posts you'll know that I came very close to chucking it in and even said that I would, but I gave it another go and since then it has grown on me. I still don't like the main missions very much but there is so much else to see and play around with that I feel it has redeemed itself to an extent.

I still don't think I'll be playing this as much or for as long as I did FC2, but I am enjoying it a great deal more now than I was.

[Art Blade]

I don't worry about if mandru's going to like the game, at least once he's on "free roam exploration mode," but whether or not he'll be able to put his rancour aside which was caused by circumstances outside the game. Which reminds me, I originally didn't even want to buy the game at all.. only when a friend told me how cool it really was did I get it.

Mandru.. You will be able to find your way around the er, quirks, of this game like we all are and once you do you will be surprised at how cool the stuff in it really is. Loads to experiment with and to explore.. and perhaps just take a look at the screenshots and funny moments topics to whet your appetite  :-()

[Binnatics]

Good to have you around Mandru, you're the best qualified ranter around I think ^-^ :-X

[Art Blade]

absolutely   :-D

[mandru]

While I do try to be clear and accurate on my posts (shinning in my own way) I'm having a hard time coming to grips at excelling in gripes. ???

I really would prefer to be a happy gamer.  ::)

[PZ]

I really would prefer to be a happy gamer.  ::)

Same here, and likely for all of us.  The rants we're experiencing are very reasonable ones in my opinion.  After all, for an open world gamer it is a significant let-down of expectations when the main story missions turn out to be geared toward the younger CoD crowd.

The most outrageous part is how Ubisoft cheated you out of your pre-order bonuses.

[Binnatics]

Here's another rant: I was doing the mission where you have to infiltrate an old rusty ship. It's the first Butt err.. Buck mission. I found a hang-glider on a hill close to the ship and thought; "Yes!!! Aerial approach!!!" I thought back to one of the interviews with the devs during their "promoting period" where they stated how pleasantly surprised they were with the way testing subjects found funny different approaches to do a mission and how cool they thought that was a part of the open world they were creating.....

No my hang glider approach; Probably the snipers would have killed me once landing on the ship with the glider but the game made me land onto the ocean fad before reaching the actual mission area. They just freaking pushed me down, like wanting to say: "Hey, you naughty boy, trying to do it your own way here? Didn't think so, little worm!" >:(

Believe me; there's NO WAY of doing story missions from a different perspective :D

[Art Blade]

You forgot zip lines and fast travel "not available during missions"  :-D

I only found one mission I tricked the devs. The Medusa..

Spoiler

After you entered the radio room you hear some ruckus outside and the radio telling you the alarm went off on the Medusa. Your job is to "eliminate the reinforcements" and indeed, you can't get away without. During my first playthrough I fought it out on deck of the Medusa which I found was a rather tough combat and thought this time I'd like to avoid that.. while the reinforcements came boarding the stranded ship from one side, I was running to the opposite side and simple as that, jumped into the sea.  :-D

I then swam to the shore, ran around the bay to a far-away elevated spot on a hill and killed the first guy. As expected, they all left the ship one after another and came running at me across the beach and the timing was just perfect for a sniper reload, kill, reload, kill.. one long line of bodies from the ship towards my position. "Piss easy" as they say  :-()

Here the aftermath  :-D

[smg id=5041 type=link align=center width=500 caption="2012 12 19 00013"]

[durian]

Good strategy Art. I prefer your approach because it's easier and I love sniping :-X I'll definitely try this when doing the Medusa's Call mission in a couple days

[Art Blade]

cheers and good hunting  :-() It was just great to see them queue up for a terminal lead imprint  >:D