This is the weirdest comparison to draw but: I think Far Cry 2’s weapon jamming and explosions actually achieved what Breath of The Wild sought out to do with it’s weapon durability but failed. You stay within the game at all times. You can get an idea of durability from the rust not “DURABILITY LOW” text flashing on screen, losing a weapon doesn’t have you jumping into a menu to fill that empty slot. It comes together seamlessly in gameplay and promotes you to seek out new options in the environment when your go-to fails.
FC2 is a literal rough diamond. Jackals journal entries create context which make the whole story close in topics and tone to 'Heart of Darkness' book and allow to make sense of his erratic monologues. However same as with gameplay systems, there were enough staff developed for 8 hours game at best, so 80%+ of the game are just driving and shooting devoid of most context and meaning. PS. You old buddies betray you because they think you betrayed them at the end of first half of the game and you head costs a lot, they are mercenaries after all.
Yeah I do wish they could have integrated the interview recordings in a better way. That's an interesting theory on the buddies. Is any of that mentioned in-game? Who put the bounty on you, and how did they know about the diamonds?
@@borangedunn I don't remember exact point of dialog. I used a mod for compatibility issues and learned to play with dx9 and frame limit straight from the beginning, so it might be that just less staff was breaking for me. IIRC: at the end of the first part you have a choice between trying to save civilians and trying to help you merc. buddies being attacked, but you fail in both cases. And discussion before attacking you implied that they think that you betrayed them at that point. (Maybe dialogue is different? I went to save civilians) I think, the price on the player's head is mentioned at the same point as you learn that ARP and UFLL are joining forces and want you out of the picture after that. However now I'm not 100% sure, maybe it's just my headcanon, and there's no price, only set up with diamonds.
I feel like if FC2 came out today it would maybe kick off a new sub-genre of shooters, but back then it was mostly experimenting with different things and tweaking things based on feedback, which is how we ended up with FC3.
@@borangedunn FC3 is by the far the most overrated in the series. Profound disappointment when I played it. Never replayed it since. FC4 gets better, and FC6 might actually have the best *gameplay* of the post-FC2 series - I like how they didn't overscript the damn missions.
I played FC2 in a little attic room with no AC, in my underpants, sweating my balls off, mosquitoes biting me. And once in a while a gust of wind would come across my sweaty back. It fit so well with the game and its the true immersive experience.
You know what's funny? There's indeed plenty to criticize Far Cry 2 of, one such thing being that if you look at it as a game of hunting the Jackal, it's piss poor. That said, if you look at it as a game about a certain aspect of human condition, particularly that in men there's a primal instinct, survival of the fittest, it makes far more sense. But it also never really tells you what to think about it, the judgement is left to you. No glory, no victory, just one man fighting another. It's an experience that took me a while to really understand. To quote Face Full of Eyes, who helped me realize that in his own vid on Far Cry 2, "'Far Cry 3 lets you do fun things you'll never experience in real life, while Far Cry 2 makes you do things you really wish would never happen to anybody. Far Cry 3 has a theme, but its gameplay is empowering chaos. Far Cry 2 is chaos with a message supported by the gameplay. Far Cry 3 offers fun through action. Far Cry 2 explores a certain theme through action.
This is its problem: it's too metaphorical and requires are deeper reading of the game than most games do - and most gamers are willing to. Far Cry gives its themes through the gameplay.
As an Aussie, I'm still surprised a Far Cry game hasn't been set here yet. Our wilderness (aka the outback) is a very harsh and unforgiving place, I'm not gonna say there aren't more dangerous places in the world but the outback just has this unique flavour of hostility to it, it's hard to describe without seeing it in person.
Tip: you have to make your buddy "Rescue-Ready" by visiting a safehouse outside of any missions and letting them know that you want them to rescue you, any time they rescue you.
Yes, Thanks for pointing it out. I never used the system much in my earlier playthroughs as I found it immersion-breaking and I could simply reload instead. But you are really missing a good amount of the interesting interplay if you do that. It was also nice that other buddies will occasionally comment on them, like on their personality or that they died. Really the only reason why I still visit safehouses.
@@burningsheep4473 Honestly, I always find reloading more immersion breaking than having a buddy show up and help - one of those things is happening in game, after all.
@@Parker8752 Yeah, it can work, but even nowadays I still don't like it unless the rescue comes after an intense battle. If I just fell on my face at the start of the engagement on the other hand then I still just reload. Basically there needs to be some kind of story to it, otherwise the rescue doesn't seem earned to me. And not narratively appropriate you might say.
I feel that, if nothing else, those two games are important when looking at the evolution of the FPS genre, so hopefully people will keeping bringing them up every so often!
Far Cry 2 feels like a Hitman game, except you don't have the ICA or Diana packing your lunchbox for you. I'll never forget this one mission I had to blow up a fuel tanker, so I approached it from a quiet cliff overlooking the railyard, aimed my RPG at it, let off one round and boom, all the tiny soldiers start running around like ants while I walked away. I chose the RPG, I chose to take the hidden cliff path, I mapped the route with the least outposts. Extra fighting is counterproductive in Far Cry 2, so the game encourages you to take less risks like you would in real life. Its the most in-depth assassination simulator in that way.
Thank you! While that would be glorious I'm not holding my breath for it. The "Dudes talking about games" genre isn't exactly struggling for content 😅
Pro tip - do videos like that about Stalker games and watch the numbers go brrrr. Stalker veterans have a habit of watching every single essay about this series even if they know every polygon in the game.
amazing video, great editing, and a buttery smooth voice. Watched the entire video thinking you was some multi-million subscriber channel. Keep posting videos of this quality and youll be there soon :) Good work man, keep it up, its not every day a video keeps me interested for an entire hour, one of the best video's I've seen in a long time. Excited to see what you post next! Subbed and liked
I had to wake up at 4am this morning to drive along the motorway for 3 hours, where I will spend the rest of the week sharing a little airbnb with 3 other blokes who don't know how to wash plates properly. Needless to say, I was not looking forward to today. Your comment was the first thing I read this morning and it cheered me right up. Probably sounds overdramatic or something but it has put me in a better head space for the week ahead. Thank you. Sincerely.
@borangedunn Haha, anytime glad I can be of help! As a dishwasher boy for my day job I know the struggle. Just be glad you don't have hundreds. Make the most of your little get away and dont sweat the small stuff. Everyday is an opportunity to make it yours and get the most out of life. Have fun man, stay safe and make the most of what you have
You may be having trouble following through with these character dialog, but for people who research history of colonialism, wealth extractions and wars for profits, I do find the way these character to be a masterpieces in development very early on, like a prototypes that end up being very philosophical about the interests that isn't being speak in plain word.
FINALLY SOMEONE!!! He was SUPPOSED to be, (...) the idea WAS.... So he ISN'T. You have no idea, how many times I tried to explain this to people, to no avail. I watch all FC2 videos, since this is my most-played favorite game since 2012, but you're the first to talk about this. and the "it was **supposed** to be a cease-fire, but it's all out the window now." reference was brilliant. Subbed, thank you. ♥
@@TheWizard1408 That comment by the devs has always felt like fan service after the fact. If they really intended for Jackal to be Jack, they should've said or shown it in-game. Hinted at it, at minimum. Ideas you have during development don't automatically become canon if you don't then include it, you can't retroactively say "oops, here's who he was meant to be". If it was "supposed" to be Jack, I suspect he was going to be the player character, for a direct sequel. But during production they then went in a different direction, and simply recycled the already-made Jack assets to now stand in as this new antagonist, who is drastically different personality-wise. And with the new direction they knowingly and deliberately severed the link to FC1. Besides, the Jackal works so well because of the mystery, because we know practically nothing about him or his past. The character becomes reduced, not more than a man, but less, if he's also that sarcastic jackass from FC1. I'd even argue that FC1 and FC2 are so different thematically and stylistically that they don't even share the same game universe, nevermind a character.
There are some Diamond Cases you can only reach by taking a glider. Those cases have always 3 diamonds inside. So many gliders are there for that reason, but not all.
Imho, it's good that enemies sometimes have snipers and RPGs too as that is one of the few ways the game can actually respond to a player with a precision rifle. And jeeps of course. But I recently also had one funny example of the AI deciding that they had a window of opportunity after I had moved away from their base because I had to get to a better position and deal with a jeep. As I turned back to the base I had half a dozen militamen coming out of the base basically jogging towards me in a line without a care in the world. It was a massacre. It's part of why I like the AI of FC2 so much: It isn't just pretty good and varied in its behaviour, but it also sometimes just doesn't know where you are or what you are doing and sometimes they just use bad tactics. That makes them so much more believable and interesting to fight.
I didnt get into the series until 3 but I do have this one and enjoyed what little bit that I played. I uninstalled it because i hated having to drive so far every time that I died but I think its time to give it another chance. That was also around the time that I started using mouse and keyboard so I had that frustration added to it lol
Regardless of the reasons behind it, it was weirdly cool to see you select Frank as your character. He's always my go-to, just because as an Ulsterman myself, it's fairly rare to see a Northern Irish character in a video game. Oh, we get the garden variety Irish types all the time, but to see fellas from the six upper counties is a fair sight rarer. The only other time I can recall is Aiden from Watch Dogs, another game by the same studio. It's just neat to see.
Just shows the importance of representation! I also chose Frank because he's the same age as me, but back in the day my choice was entirely dependent on whether they wore fingerless gloves or not 😅
I choose between Frank, Marty, or Warren. Frank: He's a rough, tough bastard. Marty: He's American (though naturalized, whereas I'm native born) and he's a US Marine (like me) Warren: He's an American midwesterner, doesn't have a military background (which can appeal to me despite my own military experience) and he actually wears body armor (which while it doesn't affect gameplay, it displays some tactical literacy. )
You don't have to fight repopulated checkpoints. You can go around them 90% of the time. If you replace your guns at the safehouses your guns never jam. I've played through it 6 times and never had a gun jam on me except for the dart rifle. Don't pick up enemy junk weapons.
From what I understand, the Jackal has cancer and we, the protagonist, are going to die of malaria (the drug only delaying the inevitable). We are both war criminals who have brought desolation and death. So the final plan is to save the civilians and take as many of the perpetrators with us as possible. Our mission, as mercenaries, was certainly to put an end to trafficking by eliminating a perfectly concealed man. But in the grip of disease, in desperate need of drugs, money and weapons to survive, we've become the very thing we came here to slow down. From its mechanics to its narrative, we're passive and vunerable, content to follow the cynical lead and generate ever more violence. We can get a few upgrades and weapons, but always with the aim of violence... A philosophy not so far removed from other opuses.... but far more radical. The only beautiful and peaceful moments in this game are the pauses between two bloodbaths, looking out over the landscapes, which for the moment are still immaculate. I've been sanding 3 and 4 for years, but when I belatedly discovered the second one, I fell in love with it. Difficult, unpleasant, and lots of buggy problems. But so much bias and freedom of approach. And that atmosphere, that oppression, that unpredictability.
So well put. I didn't remember the plot very well and regarded it as kind of an after thought, but you made it sound so deep and insightful. I knew there was something I always liked about this game that I couldn't put into words and I think you may have done it
Im really hoping your statement was satire, but Heart of Darkness is a book...a classic, and yes, Apocalypse Now is based on it, and Far Cry 2 heavily draws from it.
Mate... "Heart of Darkness" is a book from 1899 and it IS the inspiration behind Apocalypse Now. Also, close to the end of the game there is an area called Heart of Darkness.
With the buddy system, watch for Blue Smoke, that indicates your buddy has been downed. You'l get about three of these Blue Smokes per buddy (in mission or in firefights) before they must be mercy killed (by syrettes or bullet) - and yes, they will grab your gun to prevent you leaving them. Your primary buddy will be the one to send mission alternatives, and the second buddy is often the one to save you in out of mission fights. You need to "reload" your buddy's assistance by "engaging" them at your safe house or pub. When you get downed, after a short "downed" animation, your buddy will come and drag you to a safe zone in battle for you to stabilise yourself (the hardcore animations), then heal yourself with a syrette. They will stay with you until the combat zone is empty, and they may get wounded in these incidents.
Theres a few voice lines where NPC enemy characters shout stuff at you in afrikaans a language spoken throughout south africa and other parts of africa
I've been on a FC2 analysis kick lately and your video is absolutely aces. I hope the new job is working out, but know that you and your work on these will always be appreciated and admired.
Heart of Darkness is a book, bro. It’s set in Africa and “supposed to be” in Belgian Congo. You probably didn’t see the buddy intermezzo when downed this time because that is also dependent on the history you have with your buddy (i.e. the side missions level that up same as the safe houses). Thanks for the thought provoking video! Nice work and i like you humor 🫡 keep it up 🎉
And I do think Far Cry 2's story is thoughtful and interesting. Far Cr 3 is basically a more obvious, overstated version of the story of Far Cry 2. The men made the war, made the monsters, made crazy etc. etc. LOOK: The ending of Far Cry 3 is asking you if you liked the ending of Far Cry 2 (not returning to society, getting a self-sacrificing ending) or if you didn't like it (return to society. Rebuke the monster) you can pick a better path. Far Cry 3 has a great story, but it exists on the skeleton of Far Cry 2's story. Tbh i don't really know if Far Cry 1 is relevant to this conversation. Far Cry 4 is. I just don't feel like it.
Man I loved Far Cry 2. I'd love the series to have another crack at doing something as gritty as FC2 again. Also one of the few multiplayer games I could ever say I was GOATed at. There was a group of us who ran together, just total randoms who formed a group and we stomped the Capture the Diamond scene back on the 360 for a good long while before we eventually drifted apart. We never lost a game though.
Man I love FC2 for game mechanics like, gun jaming, malaria issues, fire spread, ammo box explosion and all that which sadly was dropped or dummed down in further FCs. I think this game was more realistic and for mature audiance than other FCs which become more wacky and over the top. I really enjoy the vid and I am happy that I am not the only one who find FC2 being amazing in its own right. Havind said all that thou, man your count of "a series of unfortunate events" which happened to your buddies/victims made me never want to be your buddy in scenerios when you have access to real leathal weapons :). You made my chuckle on that death count LOL :D
my all-time favorite Far Cry game, no contest. i still remember being in a Firefight trying to clear out a refugee zone to get a new supply of Medicine, only to then be surrounded by fire which then OF COURSE leads into me getting a Malaria Attack. there i was, surrounded by enemies, fire, my gun is fucked and i am having a Malaria Attack and i have NO more medicine, standing quite literally at the Doorstep to getting another bottle of pills, cursing at everything and yeeting my PS3 Controller into the nearest wall so hard it went THROUGH said wall and hit a Main Power Line, destroying it causing a Power Outage in my mothers house that cost a LOT to fix. good times!
To this day, I love and cherish this as an unique fps experience. If I could use only one word to describe it, it would be RAW. The setting is heavy and it shows troughtout, and all the guns weight and sound as heavy as the game feels. Playing today you can see some of it´s downfalls, but still, remains a BRUTAL classic.
To get your buddies to come save you when your downed, you have to run into them at a random safehouse and interact with them, or the bar/marina i believe
"I was scared because the armed government border security was armed" may be the most British thing I've ever heard 😂. Seriously though, do U.K. border guards not have guns? Even the Canadian border has armed personnel on both sides, and that's one of the most peaceful/easy to cross borders in the world. If someone near you has a gun you should pay attention, but how are you going to go through life if you panic every time you see a gun? I probably see one at least once a month, and i don't own any or know anyone who does.
So, I think when people compare this game and apocalypse now to heart of darkness, they're referring to the pretty well known novel written in 1899, which is actually the first result if you google "House of Darkness". I genuinely thought you were being sarcastic when you brought up the release dates and called people stupid over it, but then you called yourself media illiterate, so i figured id comment an explanation just in case.
That's weird, because the first result I found when I googled "House Of Darkness" was a 2022 black comedy reimagining of Dracula. But yes, that was a joke, I am aware of the book. Then again that's what I would say even if I just learned about it after reading your comment. If anything this just shows that my mother is right, and I'm not as funny as I think I am.
@borangedunn oof, I could have indeed proofread that comment better, lol. I will admit, however, that your sarcasm escaped me, so I may not be as literate as I thought I was.
Alright, you two... Shake hands and make amends. BorangeDunn, you have a great sense of humor; it's just a bit like a dry wine in that most people don't appreciate it until they have aged a bit more. Keep up the humorous inserts!
Back when Ubisoft name held respect. When I was a kid I looked at them as a top tier developer, they had some really unique games and took risks, this and the first AC game come to mind, i got both back to back for my birthday 07 and 08
Man, you reminded me I need to beat this game. I still have it on 360, and on the plus side, it's backward compatible. Really enjoyed what I played back then before the masterpiece that is Farcry 3. It's actually worth revisiting along with Metro Exodua as reference for something I'm working on. Great video, btw 👌
This game was so painful to finish due to all the direction/gameplay issues (abandoned it and then returned). But oh boi, it was also one of the best shooters I've played. The fire, I was the guy trying to burn everything down and kill the enemies while they tried to run away from the fire. My flare gun was always ready. Graphics were and are still amazing, it has a very good art style. Wish the new Far Crys return to this kind of gameplay.
I’ve been a life long fan of the series. Each entry before 6 really does feel like its own. Whether you liked them or not, they were their own. Far Cry 2 though? Oof - it was the strangest grind (in a good way) and most different in the series. Not at all like the more traditional formula the series has and it was DEFINITELY the black sheep in terms of gameplay and story. Definitely an underrated and under appreciated game for what it was at the time. If you haven’t played it - GO FOR IT! It’s cheap everywhere you look and it’s definitely worth a fair shot. I’d also like to throw out there that - the ONLY complaint I ever got from people who “tried” the game - was the LACK of a HUD and the fact that you had to use an actual map to navigate. In my opinion, THAT very thing is one of the games strongest points. Something that more games should implement for sure.
one of my recuits an old man with white hair and a mustache was my favorite companion and he called me that he as hurt and dying and that he needs backup and when I got there it was too late.. first time ever cried over an NPC recruit in any game it changed me forever. good times of 2010
This is great! Did you ever play any of the custom maps that people made? People use to make obstacle course’s that you would have to painfully try and make your way through
Best game ever, for your buddy to be ready to rescue you, you need to speak to him at the bar or find him afterwards in a safehouse. If he is not already in the safehouse, you just sleep and he will be there when you wake up. Also the belt of the handheld machineguns actually gets depleted realistically and not magically disappearing when you're out of ammo. You can save the buddy in the prison and your buddies are angry because they needed the diamonds to escape but you wanted to give them to the jackal.😅
I can't tell if the Heart of Darkness bit was satire or not but in case it wasn't Heart of Darkness is a book that was published in 1899, not just a PC Rom
I thought the same thing regarding the satire, surely you can't miss the mark by that much. It's like the first thing that comes up on a google search.
@@Betoni I guess so, but it was also the last fresh one so I don't give it a lot of love anymore. My opinion is, FC 3 was the best and worst thing that ever happened to Far cry. Its the game that made far cry too main stream and successful. I would love to see a more grown up and serious Far cry game but that'll most likely never happen. Imagine a hardcore Far cry game that instead of taking on RPG elements, it took on survival game elements and tactical shooter elements that strived to be a gritty and realistic experience. With no corny characters making corny attempts at humor. Enemies that are challenging to fight. I feel like Far cry would be dope like this. I think that's why I liked FC2 so much, because it was a serious FC game.
At 60hz a wave is 18 feet or 5.5ish metres. While 30hz(most subs go down to 20hz) looks more like 38 feet or 11.5ish metres. Basically, sub frequencies will go where they please unless you’re in a massive room or have bass traps
Cool video. However, I mostly disagree with your take on the endings. Sure, there could've been more interactions between the protagonist and The Jackal to make it more emotionally impactful. But by the end of the game, the protagonist is all outta options. His buddies betrayed him, the two factions he's been working with throughout the whole game betrayed him, his task to kill The Jackal failed at the beginning of the game due to his inevitable death by malaria making him no longer useful to his employers, and overall the only option he has left by the end of the game is to work with The Jackal so I can easily understand why the protagonist silently went along with it. Another thing to keep in mind is that the protagonist's malaria will inevitably kill him no matter what. Sure he uses malaria pills to push the malaria back, but that's only for a limited amount of time. So really, by the end of the game, his only option left is to work with The Jackal and accept his inevitable fate. It doesn't matter which option you choose at the end of the game. If you choose the dynamite option, you're obviously gonna die in the explosion. If you choose the briefcase option, you'll have to either have to shoot yourself or succumb to the malaria that will inevitably kill you. Oh, and one more thing, the Heart of Darkness inspiration refers to an 1899 novella by Joseph Conrad that tackles the same themes this game tackles and not the 1998 video game.
You said something there which the game tells us but I still don't understand. "His task to kill The Jackal failed at the beginning of the game due to his inevitable death by malaria making him no longer useful to the people that hired him to do said task". I assume by "him" you mean the player character. Why does getting malaria prevent us from killing The Jackal? Why does that make us redundant to our employers? We spend the next several hours killing mercenaries just fine, why can we suddenly NOT kill The Jackal and collect our payment?
@borangedunn Malaria doesn't really prevent you from killing The Jackal. It's just that if you did kill The Jackal, it wouldn't mean a thing by that point cuz ur already fired and are now working for other factions instead. I think The Jackal considers u a terminal case by the end of the game, which I believe means ur useless to the people who hired u. And besides, the only choice the player has by the end of the game is to work with The Jackal, because, like The Jackal said, if one of them survives, the war will continue to get worse. He talks about how every cell of this cancer has to be destroyed and that includes both him and the player, implying that the player has done more harm than good in this conflict. I will admit that the plot could've provided more dialogue and context to have more aspects of the story make more sense, but due to what I guess were time constraints and the fact that Ubisoft didn't pay much attention to this installment, this game's plot wasn't delivered quite as well as it should've been. I believe this game is about an assassin hired to do a simple task at the beginning of the game, but due to factors out of his control, things only get worse and worse, and as a result, his only choice is to work with the person he was hired to kill. However, this is just my personal interpretation of the plot, and I could see how other people's interpretations could be far more different than mine.
@@borangedunnI think if it was played out better the protagonist could’ve realized how terrible of a person he was and the reason he accepted death at the end is because he wanted to redeem himself by helping the refugees and he wanted to end the suffering that he caused which could also explain why he worked with the jackel to redeem himself. But I don’t think that’s what the developers were thinking just a way to make the story make a little bit more sense, which now that I think about it this kinda sounds like Jason Brody
I normally hear people say ‘games have really degraded in quality nowadays’ and think it’s an exaggeration but, my god that little montage of games at 0:44 made me realise how much better games were on launch back then… sad
So what this all boils down to is: Far Cry 2 needs a spiritual successor that gives a similar game feel (desperate gun fights, oppressive atmosphere, some weapons being better quality than others, and lower quality ones potentially jamming on you at the worst possible moment, etc.) but with as little of it being down to technical limitations as possible.
“The Jackal is actually supposed to be Jack Carver from the original Far Cry,” said Clint Hocking, Far Cry 2's Creative Director Supposed also means we intended it to be obvious but if you can't tell....
I still remember playing this game with my buddy, its like 2am irl, middle of the night in the game, I'm driving in the dark, and BAM a zebra had run out in front of my car from the tall grass lmfao
Doesn't really make sense. Jackal was clearly active for decades by the time Far Cry 1 happened. Ge'd be too busy moving guns from one shithope to another to galivant across some island.
Nice work. Really enjoyed the video! Have you tried the Realism+ Redux mod? We addressed a number of common criticisms, and some of the points made in this video. Would like to get your feedback if you give it a shot.
Still have never finished this game. I tried several times from its release date up until 2017 when I retired my xbox 360, but always encountered a game breaking bug. My 360 still works, so there is still time to get through it. I got it on steam for free a while back, but I don't have as much fun using a mouse and keyboard.
I'm never gonna forget about Far Cry 2. I was 14 back then when I first played it. Malaria, disgusting heal animations, weed, Africans trying to sell you a golden AK.
One fault (as well as in all Far Cries that I have played): No double stack magazine pistols anywhere....and in these games, we are no longer living in the sixties.
It's an Ubisoft open world game that came out few years before this "genre" even existed. Personally I played a few hours and quit. Enemies were relentless and appeared to have psychic abilities when it comes to locating the player. Even in the night they would zero-in on your location with ease. I mean, it's pretty fucking dark at night in rural Africa you would think. It would be quite difficult for these guerrilla low-tech fighters to locate you. But no, they knew exactly where you were and fired at you with remarkably good accuracy. It was tiresome bullshit.
i saw enemies carry their wounded into cover and patch them up - NO OTHER GAME DID THAT EVER not even overhyped fat cry 3 nor reskin cry 4 or cashgrab 5 or woke cry new dawn NONE weapons degrading naturally making you engage with all weapons in the game not only the best one malaria sucked ass tho i mean you could get it to steady level so it almost never attacked but when you switched maps/started next chapter you were again on level 5 dying on the spot