Far Cry 5 initial impressions

[CrazyBernie]

Graphics

Fricken Sweet. Runs great on my Alienware Laptop w/ 6GB GTX 1060 w/ 1080P 60Hz G-Sync display (when I get home next week I'll have to hook it up to my 27" 1440p monitor ). The game auto-set all the graphics options to High, with TAA, and I haven't noticed any major slowdowns, although there was a bunch of tearing in the opening cutscene. The game looks great, although the map could use a little tweaking.

Sound

Everything sounds pretty good, but laptop speakers (especially these Alienware one in particular) aren't the best to draw an opinion from. I'll have to hook up my Bose 2.1 system to really get a good feel. I may look into a decent set of headphones too. Let's just say I haven't heard anything terrible thus far.

Gameplay

It's a Far Cry game, so everything you'd expect is there, although there are definitely some changes. I haven't gotten too far in yet, but the "skill tree" is taking some getting used to. They combined a lot of elements; e.g., the "Takedown" skill unlocks all of the different takedowns, where they were previously separate skills. You also don't need to worry about skill pre-requisites; if you have the points for a skill, you can learn that skill instead of having to learn a bunch of other skills first. Basically they ditched the skill tree for a "bunch of skills", which eats into the sense of progression, but it's nice to be able to grab the skill you want without having to worry about needing to pick up skills that you might not use.

Gone is the mini-map, which is mildly annoying. Now you can only see your trail if you're on a vehicle or toggling back and forth between the map. I suck at navigating through the wilderness enough in real life...

The Arcade mode is interesting, and I tried out some solo and multiplayer maps, but I wasn't really impressed (a lot of haphazardly thrown together maps and game modes). I'd be more interested in trying out the campaign in co-op. Anyone up for a spin? BW?? I see you've partaken in the madness... might be some valuable research material. I just hope the hotel wifi can keep up >.>

Story... *shrug* storylines tend to take a backseat in these sandboxy games. It's an interesting premise, if a bit unrealistic. Ask me when I actually start playing through the storyline.

Overall, I'm enjoying it more than 3 and 4, but it's a bit of a tossup vs. Primal, due to the completely different environment/style of play. Just scratching the surface, so we'll see how it goes....

[blatherbeard]

Im definitely with you on the game for the most part. I find the no minimap a bit refreshing actually. It makes you explore stuff a bit more rather than just pump from quest to quest.

Graphics were also set to ultra for me, prob will turn them down a touch as i do get a bit of slowdown but not so much so that it ruins it for me yet. (not far in either so havent had more than a few enemies on screen at one time)

FISHING. Best fishing sim(minigame) ive experienced personally, love it.

Upon hearing a song in the backround i found myself listening and figuring out that it was coming from in game, not a backround track. Followed the sound til i could tell it was Clutch--Electric Worry. So of course i had to find the radio that was playing the song, which i did, and found someone i could hire and talk to(forget if i got a mission) so that drew me in even more. jIt all feels relatively organic.

Story-- theres a story? seriously, like you said, in a sandbox type game i generally run around finding things and figuring stuff out and when i have some perks, talents or whatever they call them in any game like this, then i tend to hit some story points.

I loved 3, liked 4, suprised that i loved primal and i think this game is better than all of them or at least even with primal.

Kind of sad that you dont "craft" anymore but that doesnt stop me from hunting stuff down and killing it becasue.

[BasiliskWrangler]

Heh, I sort of like the story. It's clearly exploring the idea of the "American Taliban", sort of an alternate universe where we allowed religious extremists take hold of a remote part of Montana. Liberating towns, freeing prisoners, and sniping cultists from afar is pretty satisfying.

Though, this is not my best kind of game. I tend to run-and-gun a lot (like Doom) and it gets me killed way too frequently. I need to work on stealth and hiring people to help out. But it's a nice little break from my day job.

...Alienware Laptop w/ 6GB GTX 1060 w/ 1080P 60Hz G-Sync display

I've got the same one. It's a sweet little thing.

[CrazyBernie]

It's a great laptop, I just wish they put in a little more effort to make it thinner... and use a little smaller power supply. It stays cool, but then again, so does the Razer and it's a quarter inch thinner, a pound lighter, and even the power brick is tiny. Makes it not the best for travel, even though the Alienware backpack is pretty slick.

Only reason I bought it was because I got about $600 off with a couple of hidden coupons and Dell gave me a giant credit line with 18 mos. financing. I may just pay it off, sell it, and buy something more boutique-ish like another Asus, or maybe Gigabyte. Gonna see how things pan out with Ryzen and Vega for mobiles.

I hear ya on the run 'n gun though... I feel like the game tries to punish you for playing an action shooter like... an action shooter.

** Edit ** Just saw a bull mounting a cow while I was running past a farm... ... ... bwahahahaha!

[CrazyBernie]

I completed the first "Chapter" in the game - vanquished John Seed's territory (anyone else think they made him look/sound a lot like Ryan Reynolds?). The forced encounters felt really inorganic (I guess you could call them slightly interactive cutscenes)... it was even more annoying that two of them occurred when I was starting up the game (continuing a save). There was also a point where I ran into a bug... I was supposed to jump on the back of a truck and be the shooter while someone else drove... I died and when the game reloaded the checkpoint, the NPC was half a mile away and had to hoof it to the vehicle. I died three times during the drive, and each time it loaded at that same point. Additionally, the NPC would get "stuck" and needed to be shot at to re-establish its pathfinding to the driver door.

I'm hoping they lighten up on the forced encounters a bit... or maybe that it's just John Seed's chapter that's full of them. Chances are though, there's the same number for each territory.

Flying a plane is sorta fun, but hard to shoot with... the choppers are far superior in that regard. It's more fun to jump out of a plane and wingsuit/parachute.... para-sniping is hard as hell, but super satisfying when you land that headshot while floating to the ground.

It's fun to take a break from the story and just mess around... and there's a lot of work that went into making the environment believable... e.g. it was super cool when I ran across a bull fighting a bear. But they might have turned the dial up on the nature encounters a little too high. Hope County feels a little overloaded with wildlife... especially for an area that's settled by humans.


"Everybody remember where we parked."

PahkTheCah.jpg (221.61 KiB) Viewed 37692 times

[BasiliskWrangler]

Liberating outposts became so much easier after I purchased a decent gunship. I can rain .50 cal bullets down on the cultists from a safe distance and then its just simple mop-up work when the bulk of them are gone.

Yeah, it gets harder after John Seed's territory. I'm working on Faith's territory now.

[blatherbeard]

Im finally gonna be able to dive more in today, day off whoo hoo!

I think youre right about the animal encounters. Was getting into a truck thinking i had to try and tow a trailer out of the way when all of a sudden a BISON charged the truck and rammed the crap out of me! lol and at a fishing spot apparently store owners can be attacked by bears while teaching you how to fish, which annoyed me.

Choppers are def easier to fly than the planes, but i also have to reconfig for pitch and yaw cause apparently i didnt have them set so i couldnt go up and down, was just riding the roads and smashing into trees lol

I also had a glitch when trying to follow a chopper on a mission and kept hitting trees and letting it get away. Lost the first car and had to try and run to another to get following before they leave and so they dont notice me. was a pita. died a lot.

I never follow the storyline until i get some much needed perks. btw, if you havent run across them yet, which im sure you must have if youve completed zones, stashes have stacks of money and perk magazines. Easy way to up your perks early on.

[blatherbeard]

Baptism of fire is prob the worst created quest in the game ive had so far. and if you keep failing there is zero way to quit the quest.

[Arkos]

But they might have turned the dial up on the nature encounters a little too high.

Nah, surely not.

[CrazyBernie]

That's hilarious, 'cause it's already happened to me several times. Just yesterday I was fishing and I heard a commotion and my companion was yelling, and I turn around to see a damn bear attacking the fishing vendor at the dock. Of course the game yells at me when I shoot the bear and the bullets go through the bear and kill the vendor.

[Kreador Freeaxe]

That's hilarious, 'cause it's already happened to me several times. Just yesterday I was fishing and I heard a commotion and my companion was yelling, and I turn around to see a damn bear attacking the fishing vendor at the dock. Of course the game yells at me when I shoot the bear and the bullets go through the bear and kill the vendor.

Hate to lose a vendor, but twice as much food that way. And should be some good loot around.