How Just Cause Was Ruined! And How To Fix It! 

I should mention that I haven't bought any of the DLC for Just Cause 4, so if any ideas that I have contradict anything from the dlc, I apologize.

Just Cause had so much potential as an open world action game, if only they kept the JC3 formula and improved on it instead of trying something new and downgrading it basically

I like how the developers explained why just cause 1 last mission is so hard. "We did not know what we were doing".

Just Cause 3 was a great game. The only problem for me was the lack of large cities like you had from JC2 and JC1. Fighting in a large urban setting was like my favorite parts of those games.

Something else that made JC2 so much fun was the public radio announcements made by El Presidente after each time you destroyed any facilities…. They had me laughing all the time - as he kept “explaining” the destruction/explosions due to ANYTHING but the players actions

JC4 was a huge letdown for me. I will say I much prefer the slightly darker tone and weather systems. But literally they stripped the one thing that made JC2/3 so good.

Just Cause 2 was my favorite map out of all of them. If it had the wing suit in 2 it would probably make it the best Just Cause. So many Easter eggs in that game too

Personally, JC2 was my favourite of them all. I’ve spent an unhealthy amount of hours on the PS3 just playing this. The map, the sandbox, the one liners, serious/not serious humour, vehicles control and map control was all there. I liked seeing a big base, blowing it up and completing it 100% to then move on to the next. The vehicles were drivable (unlike motorcycles in JC3-4). Each region of the map had its variety in vehicles, base type and unique architecture. There were cool stuff around the map, like the flying club house, the WW2 island that blows your vehicle up. Yes JC3 was superior in a lot of ways, mainly the sandbox and player controls. But as for the rest, I still personally preferred 2.

Just Cause 2 aged pretty well I have to say. It's one of my favourite games of all time and I keep getting back to it every once in a while. A faithful remaster would be soooo nice!

Just Cause 3 was incredible, I really loved the full on war missions in that game where you went place to place fighting different enemy encounters, it would be cool if they brought back Frontlines from JC4 into JC5 but made them engulf towns, oceans, and the nearby landscape so there is urban fighting, open field fighting, air battles, and naval battles all on one frontline. Couple that with some new quality of life things like Rebels following Rico on the frontline or Rebels getting called in to support Rico if he's in high Heat would be awesome.

I'm pretty sure the devs realised that what they did with JC4's base liberation was bad, since in the Danger Rising DLC, they go back to the formula of "Destroy anything with these specifically marked colours and there'll be a nice explosion" like what was in the previous Just Cause games.

The problem with the frontline system was that it always felt restrictive compared to JC3. A really easy solution would be to just keep outpost destruction from JC3 but make it so that outposts close to the frontline would provide you with rebel supoort when taking them over. That way you're incentivised to take outposts on the frontline but it's not impossible to go take some random outpost if you feel like it.

I’ll say this for JC4, the landscapes are gorgeous, and floating around the map in the wingsuit is super relaxing.

Just Cause 3 is by far my favorite of all, and even of all games in HISTORY. Not joking, I have replayed the ENTIRE game tens of times and always adored it. The absolute freedom of what you can do is amazing. 4 completely ruined it by making it WAY TOO complicated and had such a enclosed and forced progression system. I really hope if they ever do 5, that they only expand more on 3"s gameplay loop and even story.

One odd aspect I found for all 4 games is they center around Rico but change both his face and voice actor in every one. I know it's not a big deal vs the actual gameplay but I get less thrilled to reconnect with the supposive same character. Kinda like Dead Rising 4 was marketed as the return of Frank West but they changed his voice actor, face and writing.

Honestly the next step for JC surely has to be a co-op experience - one thing I found most frustrating about JC4 was that in order to utilise the mechanics properly I always felt like I needed someone else with me to help. Especially after 3 whole games of doing stuff solo... I personally was running out of ideas of how to have fun in the sandbox - I've tried every combination of tying vehicles and enemies together, i've tried jumping from every vehicle to another... having another player there to help co-ordinate stunts etc would open up SO MANY more opportunities.

After 3 I noticed one of the things they didn't capitalize on the use of the rebels. I had the most fun just carting rebels around and seeing how long they lasted in a firefight before decimating a base. So maybe keep the movement and grapple of 3, but have a multi faction warfare like 2, but then expand on the revel system. Make it so you can cart around more rebels or even like send a group of them to attack an area. Make it so rebels can drive tanks and helicopters so they can give you areial support when attacking a base. Make it so instead of rebels just standing around they can actively fight with you when you cause chaos and destruction.

My friend and I used to play Just Cause 2 together, we would just swap the controller back and forth after dying. We literally called the game badass, as in, "hey let's play badass."

I SWEAR THE JETPACK OF THE JUST CAUSE 3 DLC IS SO GOOD. The EDEN expansion is so simple and fun

For me, Just Cause 4 was definitely a step back for the series, but at the same time they introduced some interesting ideas. Like you said the frontlines feature is pretty unique. Having a full on warzone at all times against the two factions is pretty badass, and the weather affects, even though are inconsequential to moment to moment gameplay, are still interesting ideas, but they just need to fix. It was the small things Just Cause 4 did that I think it did pretty good. Little things like being able to move freely and much faster on any vehicle, including hanging on sides of giant planes and underneath them. The idea of secondary features with weapons I thought were neat, and the customization the grappler had. Even if that was also inconsequential to the plot, it was an intriguing idea. For Just Cause 5, I do agree they should make the plot pretty simple, but if they want to make it complex like they’ve been doing now, they really need to fix their mission structure. Obviously starting with the old progression back, but when you do get to the missions, instead of having the same copy paste missions, they should do individualized ones that utilizes the chaos and gimmicks they’ve been introducing. Give you reasons to use the grappler modifications, or reasons to utilize crazy weather, instead of giving you the easiest and mundane options all the time.

I think JC5 should have Rico get captured by trying to take on The Agency and you are a new character who has to go on missions to save him, this would allow Rico to be retired at the end of the game and would make sense to roll back some of the tech you have access to since 1 new hero and 2 you are fighting the Agency

One aspect that they can vastly improve on is making the game world feel alive. More details on npcs and towns/cities.

The story in jc3 is honestly perfect, not to forceful, but still very well written and executed

Spot on…hated the ‘I destroyed that base, oh look it’s all back as it was’ rinse and repeat scenarios 🙄 And time limit missions are never a good idea 😡

Can't believe they have made 4 games already and in none of them is an easter egg where Rico pull an enemy with the hook and says "Get over here!"

The final DLC of Just Cause 4 has a cutscene where The Agentcy constructed a replica of the wheater controle device and that it's located somewhere in the north-east of the US main-land. So unless the devs are going to redcon that DLC... Well, then I'm pretty sure that Just Cause 5 isn't going to take place on an island.

I kind of wish JC4 had a hybrid system to conquer land, like you destroy a certain amount of stuff (permemantly) in a region to increase chaos in that region, which would unlock a mission to move the frontline and officially take the region etc. The frontlines themselves were really cool shouldn’t be abandoned.

about the rocket boots thingy in just cause 3, the air dlc or whatever its called upgrades youre wing suit to have guns, rockets, and a rocket booster, wich basicly turns you into a human plane

One of the weirdest things about jc4 is that it didn’t include multiplayer after the huge popularity of the just cause 3 multiplayer mod. It seems like such a no brainer to include it after all the sales jc3 got from a fan team

I loved 2 and enjoy 3. I think I have the same issue you did in that the Story is just not something I care about, but its still fun. I really wish the game Mercenaries would make a comeback because it feels like Just Cause got a lot of its ideas from it, but it did the whole War Zone all around you thing better. I just hope 5 goes back to being more like 3 at lest.

Just Cause 3 was one of my favorite games when I was younger and my favorite part was that the story was almost entirely optional to the game. Younger me did not understand what the story mission icons on the map were, so I liberated every single base on the map that I could before actually completing the story. I would love that kind of freedom in a sequel, because it was being let loose like that which made it so fun

I love when he describes something that was in jc3 perfectly without realizing with the jetpack

I really hate how 4 doesn’t have something pop up when you destroy a chaos object like in 3, there’s no satisfaction to it now. Also there’s a rocket boot like feature. The Jetpack wing unit in the JC3 DLC is pretty awesome, along with just the DLC in general

The fact that someone in the Just Cause 4 team thought it was a good idea to limit ammo on the helicopter weapons... SERIOUSLY??? YOU'RE MAKING A JUST CAUSE GAME

having come into the series with 4 and going back and trying 2 and getting 3 i have to say 4 is easily my favorite. the boosters were just an on point addition along with the mgs style lift bags. i dont understand the hate 4 gets universally on youtube but i nearly 100% the game on ps4 and bought it again along with 2 and 3 on pc. cant wait for the next addition to the series.

When i started playing just cause 4, i thought there would be missions similar to the war missions in jc3 but on the front lines with the risk of having your front pushed back if you performed badly

Just Cause 2 was absolutely phenomenal And I just couldn't get into 3 or 4

I loved JC3 so much. Anytime i ever got bored id load it up and spend an hour or so gathering vehicles together and turning them into exploding beyblades

Boots with thrusters attached to them is what Rico needs, this would enable air and ground dashes, wingsuit boost and more

I remember playing JC2 as a kid with my neighbor and having a grand ole time. The destructible environments, the grappling hook, the freedom to do whatever just for fun. That game set the bar for what I would see as sandbox essentials for the most fun gameplay to this day.

You should’ve mentioned the lightning gun from just cause 4, it’s the perfect example of the change to not being about blowing stuff up. The storm grenade causes random lightning to spawn and do pretty much nothing helpful, whereas in Just cause 3 you can get the Eden spark in the dlc which lets you call lightning down from the sky in a big beam to target whatever you wanted, it would also cause people and objects in that area to float for a second which you could use to make people run off of cliffs and stuff cause of the momentum. When I got the lightning gun in just cause 4 that’s the exact moment I stopped playing cause the Eden spark was so much fun

I feel like this series doesn't get enough love it deserves. Feels really good when I see videos about it on my recommended. Thanks for making this video!

Really, if JC4's progression carried over from JC3, it'd probably be the best in the series. I could see this making the frontlines a lot more interesting. Leave an outpost last, and you can see the last of the Black Hand in the area desperately trying to fend off the rebelling forces. Perhaps even include some enviromental storytelling by having multiple transport vehicles in the outpost, implying that they're trying to evacuate. I didn't mind the story focus of 3 and 4. They still had a level of goofiness and charm to them like Mario getting Rico to kiss a cow, or the DLC in JC4 that literally has you fighting demon aliens.

This made me go and re download jc3. I forgot how much fun I had in that game. Looking forward to playing through it again!

Also, fun fact. The bulk of this video was written back in June when a flight delay caused me to miss a connecting flight. Thus leaving me trapped in the Montreal airport for a day. And yes, the Montreal airport is the worst airport I've ever had the displeasure of spending time in.

Just Cause 3 is one of those games I will never forget. Its beauty is on par or better than games like GTA 5 and this is coming from a huge GTA fan. From raiding police stations to blowing up bases in a Bavarium chopper, nothing in that game wasn't fun.

Just a note, Just Cause is also a reference to Operation Just Cause, which was the US invasion of Panama in the late 80s

At the end taking down the agency goes to the add on danger rising but at the end of that it does end on a cliff hangar again of taking down the agency

I used to watch my dad play this game when i was like 7 or smth, was a great experience even though i barely understood what was going on. When i got older he used to let me and my sister play, mainly just using the vehicles and stuff. Great video! Brought back a lot of memories.

The part about the Wingsuit getting a booster I agree. Except I want it to be unlocked through side progression, like with JC3's gear mods, or maybe a little side mission that has it as a final reward. Don't lock the thruster powered wingsuit behind DLC for the third time in a row. Locking it behind DLC made sense in JC3 because that was the first appearance of it, and the DLC it was a part of made sense (attacking an airship full of drones). Locking behind DLC in JC4 made no sense, especially since it was a downgrade of JC3s thruster wingsuit. And make it so we cam get targeted by S.A.M. launchers while the booster wingsuit is equipped, like in JC3.

man i remember starting every weekend infiltrating the military base in just cause 2. It kinda amazes me how badly i could suck at something i did every week as a kid, i didnt even remember where the base was half the time

I have nearly 1000 hours on Just Cause 3, and I can confirm that no matter what, there’s always something more to do in the game. It’s literally timeless and hasn’t gotten old for 900+ hours of me playing it. Truly amazing game.

I would also like it if JC5 would have it so that the agency has a chance to choose a random front line and push it back so that you have to make progress again. I think that it would add a bit more variation to the mix and of course, it would be rare so that the agency doesn't ruin your progress in 15 mins

I sometimes forget that I am a huge Just Cause fan, I'm literally feeling JC in my heart

I remember seeing the Just Cause 2 demo on xbox before it was released, I played it and was immediately hooked. I think you got about 30 minutes of game time for the demo and i must have played it at least 10 or more times. My favourite spot was going to the airport and using the grappling in different ways to make the plans crash into each other and different things. JC3 poor optimisation at launch broke my pc and i couldn't play the game and 4 was a huge let downs.

Just Cause 2 has to be my all time favourite. 10 years old and playing it on the Xbox 360 with my brother, was great times. Just flying and driving around the huge map with many unique locations. It was a masterpiece!

I miss being able to stay attached to something while it's blowing up. Being able to stick to the underside of a crane as it careens towards the ground is amazing and I never forgave 3 for removing it.

One thing I disliked about Just Cause 3 & 4 was the lack of collectables. JC2 collect a thon was fun and finding money, suitcase or an amor part was exciting. Now what ever Ricos health has it what he has. I liked upgrading and seeing my Rico getting stronger by just exploring the map

Last year I tried Just Cause 4 after hearing my friends talk about how bad it was and decided to check it out myself. I played the first few campaign missions and then just went off exploring, and decided to just shrug off the story and conquer the regions. This probably took me about a week or 2, coming home after school and pouring some hours into the game. When I had only a handful of regions left, I noticed that I needed to finish certain missions to conquer them. So basically I just zoomed through those missions and before I knew it I finished the game. Amazed at how short the game felt, considering I was mostly just goofing off, I looked up the average runtime of the game. Turns out that's just what you do, who woulda thunk? (This might've been explained somewhere in cutscenes or shown up on the screen but I'll occasionally not pay attention that sorta stuff :P)

I remember playing this game a few months ago, I did the extremely dull escort and switch flipping missions at the start, and after that i just started screwing around with the tornado and the boosters before forgetting about the game and deleting it. Recently I watched a Jerma Vod of JC4. He did the exact same thing.

I played both Just Cause 1 and 2 when they released, Just Cause 2 was absolutely mind blowing at the time and I still remember that one mission where you go to a remote island on the map and there's guys that still think a war is going on. Just Cause 3 though was just on another level. It also helped me because around the time I got it I went through a pretty bad break up and just going around blowing shit up really helped to take my mind off it all. Just Cause 4 is okay but definitely weaker in terms of progression mechanics than 2 and 3. The weather system stuff was cool but like you said after a couple minutes you realise there's really not much you actually do with it other than it being a visual spectacle. I think they made the upgrades far too complicated, it was a cool concept to be able to set up your gear in certain ways but again in practice it wasn't really that useful.

After watching a few videos about JC4, it's strange to me that people don't mention the side story of Rico helping the film crew with stunts. I think I played about a third of the game before just getting frustrated and stopping, and those were the only fun parts for me. I thought it would've made for a better story, that he's helping with this movie and stumble upon a rebellion or something, not that his Dad is some kind of super-villain.

I just started play the JC series. I was told to start at JC3. Still playing and it’s extremely fun. The fact that I spent my first hours kill enemies and then spending a bunch of time pulling trucks and cars off the blown up bridge. So cool to watch cars fall from the bridge. Extremely fun

3 was the best. I’ll admit I’ve never completed the game but as you said, bumbling around completing missions. It’s always fun gliding around, having my monkey brain see something new &/ interesting than messing with it just made it all fun and worthwhile

I loved how in 3 after you unlock things you can chose to turn them off and on such a simple feature that's you play how you want to no matter what

It's funny how you managed to perfectly encapsulate my feelings toward JC4.

The infestation DLC really capitalizes on the new grapple options. It should also be noted aside from the turret mission you mentioned, ballooning enemy combatants does something to the queuing and does not send nearly as much when dealing with primarily foot soldiers (balloon not set to infinite height). The fact that I could not simply strap a rocket grapple onto the back of bomb vehicles was criminal. Maybe my game was just glitchy. I did like how pushing down to remove all grapples actually worked in 4, it usually didn’t in three unless I just got into a vehicle. In 3, I took down the strongholds before the missile systems were disabled. It was hard and I died a lot in the beginning, but it was rewarding when it was completed. I couldn’t do that at all in 4 and it made me sad. Lastly, the helicopter AI was a huge issue this game. They would randomly silently span behind you after I just checked the skies before using a console WAY too often. Then there was the fact they would become suicidal. I mean sometimes they would just crash, be it friend or foe and typically into the closest helicopter. This would typically be the helicopter I am piloting, but sometimes their own team or opposing AI. This happened A LOT in 4 and seldom in 3. The customization for the grapple abilities was great and did add a great lair of using the certain loadouts for certain situations. My one complaint here is that it was easy to get 2/3 fully customizable but the artifact guy’s stuff was just not plentiful enough. The melee whip’s added range was a blessing, but it could have been an unlockable and still been worth it personally. I fully suggest trying a no gun run. The balloons on helicopters were typically a KO as they’d turn it on its side or upside down. I SHOULD have used the jets on tower sentries to blast them off the side, but didn’t think about that until just now. I also slightly regret not throwing all the elements on the tower for the final assault just for the laughs.

if they combined the city/base liberation system of just cause 3 and then a more fleshed out version of the just cause 4 frontline system that would be my dream game

I would honestly do a in depth over haul of the destruction system. Make is so full buildings can be destroyed in pieces (and they have a inside that you can enter) Apply this to vehicles as well (so wings of jets can be ripped off or cars smashed and torn apart) add a fuel and ammo aspects to vehicles (this will prevent just getting one vehicle and using it for a long time. and an additional effect that I'll explain now.) Have different degrees of explosives. Hand grande small explosive, c4 larger, warhead massive. The more fuel and ammo a vehicle has will increase it's explosive potential. All these things tying together to reward players for creative use in their tools to get more "bang" for their buck destruction wise.

I don't know but when I woke up earlier I was hoping for you to post soon

Bro I’d love a just cause game set in a city Imagine not only the destructive potential but also the movement swinging through the city like a mix of Spider-Man and Batman

I liked how much detail JC2 had. How taking a city car become insanely slippery on non perfect pavement

I remember loving 2, playing the demo over and over on the 360, and finished the story, in my opinion from a distance it's one of the best looking games ever made, I don't know what they did to make the draw distance so clean but it worked perfectly (They kinda messed that up in 3) I was hyped for the 3rd game and loved it too, I even played it to 100% completion which is rare for me I tried my absolute best to give 4 the time of day, and went back to it multiple times, but nothing sticks me to the game. I've barely explored the map and I have no idea if I'm progressing the story properly, the new tools are fun but it's so difficult to keep track of which tool I'm using, the tools power, if there's a trigger hotkey, is it held or pressed, am I on the right custom, and the controls feel bloated and uncomfortable 3 felt like such a smooth progression from the mechanics of 2, the upgrades, the controls, even progressing the black market was fun and easy to figure out, it did it in a much nicer way than 4, and progressing through the game in general felt more fun, I get stuck figuring out what to do a lot in 4, and usually just because I had no idea what would progress the mission, I never really had that with 3, it would only have me stuck when there was a difficult challenge ahead of me

One of the biggest flunks I think avalanche did is not adding multiplayer when fans have been asking for it for years and also the success of the multiplayer mod in just cause 3

When he talks about giving the wingsuit a boost he literally just described the upgraded wingsuit from the jc3 sky fortress dlc

i remember i did all the frontlines and hence got rid of them all, which i just got sad cuz couldnt go find one anymore and kill things mindlessly

You make such an awesome content ✨

21:55 thats actually a thing in jc3 dlc. Literally exactly how you described it

I think a possible solution would be a radical one, but with a lot of potential: get rid of guns, or don't have them as the core offensive options. If you could more readily deploy the zany versions of the 4th game without having to fiddle around with loadouts, you could have a gameplay loop that directly encourages using the grappling hook and its accessories. It was already fun to do in 2-4, but in the end you could just grab an explosive and take out whatever structure you had to. The mobility and chaos are what make JC so great, so diminishing the gunplay in favor of gameplay that's designed around quick use of the balloons, boosters and what have you could be tons of fun. You don't even need to take away all guns, the character could still have one firearm of your choosing, but it could be a secondary form of engaging, instead of the primary one.

My proposal is that Avalanche Studios takes the Criterion approach: "fuck it, we'll make a remaster".

I remember playing the Xbox 360 demo over and over as a poor kid 😂😂😂

The jetpack wingsuit made JC3’s gameplay loop perfect. You should earn it through gameplay in the story. If they want a new gimmick they should take inspo from XxX and extreme sports expanding on stylish chaos tricks and having deeper hoverboard mechanics. AND FOR THE LOVE OF GOD ADD MULTIPLAYER.

I'm going through this series for the first time, and just started 3. This video has me worried for 4. I had fun in the second game by not fast traveling but going by parachute from point A to Point B and destroying everything in between.

JC3 progression with addition of frontline, JC3 handhelds and landmines, JC4 mobility and grappling hooks, dont restrict airdrops and just have them be infinite, and above all: NEW GAME PLUS

I have to say 3 struck me as the point where problems were setting in. The convoluted unlock system where you had to do specific not-fun side missions to get specific things in a specific order, the decision that Mexican Batman should become Hairy Italian, and the idea that each location should come with a shopping list of boring tasks to accomplish rather than more things to blow up...plus the ridiculous balance issues of the DLC where you got a thing that made the wingsuit, grapple and parachute (and all aircraft) obsolete, the only land vehicle you'll ever need, and the only boat you'll ever need.

Thank you for making this video... you see part four was the first and only game in the series that I ever played and no matter how much I wanted to like it, I just couldn't get into it and I thought there was something wrong with me... so with that being said I am going to go and give part three a try. Thank you for the great video !!

The worst out post take over for me was the one where you must defend the transmission tower from multiple waves of tanks, drones and helicopters. Also all of Los Demonios is just a pain in the ass.

Psychopath here, I loved bowing bridges up when cars were on them in JC3, and was very saddened that they made blowing bridges up harder in JC4, but sending someone to space with a balloon in a tether of people is fun too.

My biggest gripe of JC4 is that it seemed unfairly balanced. In JC3, you always felt capable. Some things more difficult than others, but never frustratingly so. But in JC4, you were met with a nearly insurmountable barrage of enemies, weather and death by proxy even when attempting the most mundane task. The game truly feels programmed to simply bulldoze you until you get lucky rather than giving you a challenge which becomes doable given a bit of strategy and finesse.

Ah yes, just Cause. The series that filled the gap left by Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction following Pandemic's closure because THQ fell through.

22:05 JC3 DLC had a jetpack, and it was even cooler than you described here. As well as flying around, you had lock-on missiles, and a machine gun. You could also get a boost to insta-fly off of the ground, or from water(!!). - The main trade-off was that with the jetpack, enemy SAMs could also lock onto you; but you had a quick dodge-roll to dodge those, too. I cannot remember what JC4 did with this.

In a Just Cause 4 DLC you actually battle against an Agency submarine, and I actually enjoyed that story much more that the regular one.

Its insane to think that saint rows 2 and just cause 2. Now both franchises are in the shitter after those phenomenal games.

JC4 was a massive downgrade from JC3. Still remember the graphics looked like a 7th generation game when it came out before the patches.

I had to give up on Just Cause 2 because of a bug in the game where if you attack a certain oil rig too early in the game you are unable to complete the game. There is nothing telling you to save that particular oil rig until a specific mission is unlocked.

This was a great video. I got 50 for my birthday. Im gonna pick this up and see what i think

JC2 was great but its world was to big that was mostly empty with much to be desired in terms of detail. JC2 pales in comparison to JC3 with its vastly more complex destructive environment and opportunistic sandbox gameplay. Many people swear JC2 was the pinnacle of the series but to me that is just blatant fanboyism. JC4 is an objective downgrade over JC3, whereas JC3 is an objective upgrade over JC2, the proof is in the gameplay and its that simple.

The menu system In JC 4 is horrifying!

21:51 If you have the Sky Fortress Pack DLC actually you get an upgrade for your wingsuit giving a bavariun booster which lets you take off the ground, boost you to maintain altitude and speed up and fly indefinitely.

In jc4 they added something called the skystriker. It basically adds a boost and missiles on the wing suit.