I'll keep an eye out for that then.

Do the Shangri-La missions count towards the Reggie and Yogi ones? The first one kicks off as part of their campaign, but the others are started from the thanka pickups around the map.

I'd have to go back to 3 to remind myself.  Generally, 3 was tougher than 4 - the bosses were bastards.  Two was fairly easy (given, at least, that you couldn't win) and the end of 1, as I remember, was hard as bloody nails. 

I found Primal pretty easy, though I was methodical about acquiring all the skills and goodies I could before tackling bosses.

No, they're discrete mission strands. The reward for completing the Shangri La missions is an additional health bar, which would be useful to acquire before starting the last Shangri La mission, as it's a complete sod - the second-hardest part of the whole game for me; maybe even the toughest.  It's one of those 'magical' boss levels where you have to work out a syntax of actions in order to beat it.

I can't think of any game I've played where the combat AI was up to par with the graphical realism, it's either far more difficult and expensive, or considered of lesser importance. Oddly, the animals in 4 seem to fare better in that department.

The difficulty certainly ramps up when you venture north. The random encounters on the roads usually involve a heavy of some kind, and when you get shot at the enemies are either more accurate or hit harder as you seem to lose health more rapidly.

I've not done any base assaults in the north yet, but am anticipating they're going to be harder to capture than the previous ones. I've not yet got the skill upgrade for completing a base takeover without alerting anyone (need to do it twice to unlock the perk). Re-doing the base assault after you've completed it once doesn't seem to count towards it. :C

Yeah, the random encounters seem have better AI (though I've seen flame-thrower equipped heavies set the woods on fire -- the woods they are standing in). On first play-through the AI seems sort of plausible, but you soon learn to recognize repetitive tics (such as a path they are glued to on a tight timetable) that are very easy to exploit. Also there are gaping holes in their outpost defenses, completely undefended sides, usually conveniently overlooked by hills. But this is on 'normal' difficulty. I'd expect some of that to be different on higher. The most dangerous things in the North so far are the freakin' snow leopards.

I've got the markers for the last two missions in Shangri-La. I'll give those a go tonight and get them out of the way. They're my least favourite part of the game so far - as Smiffy mentioned the AI and combat mechanics is where the game is at its most funnest. These bolt on missions taking you away from the core of the game are a bit staid. That said there must only be about 5 of them in total, so I'm really bitching over nothing. :/


 

I think I've only done one S-L mission, the one with the magic tiger. The graphical treatment was pretty interesting, even though the demon CQB soon became tedious. The corresponding 'magic realism' missions in FC3 shared this quality.

Just done the boss level, it was tricky the first time and I got taken out by the legion of demons, but beat it on the second go after I figured out the timings - you've got a scant few seconds where you can either heal or shoot the boss, so you miss a few rounds where the boss is vulnerable when you're patching yourself up, but it's rinse and repeat and you eventually get there.

I actually enjoyed the 4th level of the sequence where you rescue an elephant and you get to ride it around, makes the whole level that bit easier. I thought you might be able to control it and the tiger at the same time, issuing commands to both, but while the tiger remains responsive el Pachederm just goes wherever he damn well likes.

Glad it was easier for you. It took me effing ages.

Does your reference to riding heffalumps in Shangri La imply that you haven't mastered riding them in the ordinary game world yet?  They're one of the pleasures of the game: it's great fun to take an outpost on one (though we're not talking alarm-free stealth take-downs).

I've got the elephant riding skill and using them to take on a base is lots of fun. I was surprised the game gives you what is essentially a tank in those levels where other items in the arsenal are pared back.

I *almost* went for a ride last night while I was randomly wandering/driving/buzzing around.

Got to the mission where you take Yuma out last night. I'm not a fan of these boss fights in dream sequences where you wake up and find the real decimation you've caused all around. I can see the designers are mixing things up, and creating variety, but it was the same in FC3, the fights were reduced to drug addled hallucinations where you're fighting something ridiculous or they resort to quick time events.

I hate those. I've had a grand time for the past two evenings waltzing around looking for trouble, and finding it.

I've done the missions for Reggie and Yogi now, is the Easter egg you're talking about the weird pipe thing that transports you randomly about the map?

It is. I think it's meant to be a telescopic fishing rod. A magic, teleporting fishing rod.

Is anyone playing the multiplayer of far cry 5 here? What's the experience like in comparison to FC4?

Captured all the bases, got the buzzsaw LMG. Takes out a heavy with one burst, accurate to ~150 feet. Also got that rare leopard that gets you the biggest ammo bag with just a regular assault rifle.

The buzzsaw makes things so much easier. I took Mins fortress on the first go with it. I choppered in with the one handed grenade launcher, took out a sniper nest, landed there and fought off all the enemies from that vantage point, a few helicopters landed where I did but the buzzsaw is equally good at taking out airborne vehicles as it is heavies and jeeps.

I completed all the outposts too over the last few days, the odd thing was that when I had two or three left to do, the disc jockey chap came on the radio congratulating me for liberating them all.

All their base are belong to you.

The buzzsaw is a loadout staple. It's hard to lose a skirmish if you've got it in your grab-bag.