Well the gameworld looks the same as it did before, just the mission splash screen looks post-apocalyptic with a burnt-out Falls River. I really don't care about the story, there's loads of replay in this. I'm totally ignoring in-game prompts to do this or that mission next, and just tooling around the map.
Getting past the opening, it's definitely harder on "hard" but not insurmountably so, especially with the full weapon loadout -- and that really change the dynamic of early game play, as you're no longer fixated on amassing perks, and you can pretty much kill anything. BUT on "hard" the enemies can spot and kill you more easily, making stealth, surprise and sniping premium tactics.
I cut a non-apocalyptic swath of destruction walking due north through the land o' Jacob, then doubled back to pick up the bow lady (helper folks aren't kept in game+, you have to fetch 'em back). Apparently there's ways of controlling them, with keyboard commands (stay and heel) but mine are off-leash. Might get Cheeseburger the bear next, haven't tried him yet.
“Reactions of shock to … are starting to populate Twitter.’”
I really came to appreciate using the in-game helper commands. You can direct snipers to vantage points and get them to stay there, or send scrappers into the heart of the action (especially if you don't like them much and want to replace them with more companionable ones).
Fished yet?
"We all have flaws, and mine is being wicked." James Thurber, The Thirteen Clocks 1951
I tried fishing on those side missions for the monster drugged-out fish, the ones that break your line. I caught lots of the wrong fish, then it became boring and repetitive so I gave up. I have pretty low threshold of boredom. Bow-hunting by comparison is a lot more fun. It would be cool if you could bow hunt fish, Amazon-stylee with 6 foot arrows.
I was thinking this morning: why hasn't Far Cry done an urban environment?
“Reactions of shock to … are starting to populate Twitter.’”
So after the Baron Mill Lumberyard base cap in "Game + Hard" mode, I decided to go for a lighter loadout: winchester-style rifle with scope, 'Nam mp5k, bow and .44 magnum revolver. Bad move.
The BML cap triggered the john cut scene that segued into the reverend free tha' prisoners running gun battle and then defend the bridge with a mortar and whatnot 'til the chopper gets there, and oh by the way, you have to get your not-too-capable buddy out alive too.
Real tough when you're surrounded by baseball bat-swinging and shotgun-blasting crazies. This is where the hard difficulty really is a problem. So I bailed on that and went back into 'Nam, this time finding lots to do (variously) freeing prisoners, liberating a POW camp, and taking out an AA gun, none of which was especially difficult with my hard-won FC veteran skills.
The terrain of this DLC is also looking a lot more interesting and believable once I got past the sprawling golf course.
“Does the red object left of the green cube have the same shape as the purple matte thing?”
I can never be bothered with playing on hard difficulty - I don't tend to play for the challenge, but for the story, the world and the lolz. That's probably why I don't like (& am lousy at) boss levels.
Update on New Dawn: I played my first half hour last night, a discreet training level neatly done in the remains of a crashed train (cf. Half Life: Chapters), and the first level proper, involving scrounging the materials for a saw blade slinger (cf. Half Life: Chapters), taking a bridge and picking up a partner.
First impressions: Plus ca change, plus ca meme chose, but that's fine by me. The post-post-apocalyptic landscape is interesting; sort of cyberpunky, with unlikely mutant animals (so soon?).
There's clearly going to be a greater emphasis on crafting - weapons, ammunition & syringes - which I was lazy about in FC5: you could pick up enough stuff not to need to craft. I don't think I'll get that option in FC:ND. But that feels appropriate to the narrative, so I'll just re-learn the emphasis on crafting that came with FC: Primal.
Not particularly hard, though the training level has the same driver as FC5: enemies in such overwhelming numbers that I ultimately had to get out of Dodge. I might restart it tonight and try to kill them all by stealth.
"We all have flaws, and mine is being wicked." James Thurber, The Thirteen Clocks 1951
After I thought about it, I remembered I picked "hard" for a reason and decided to make better use of both my loadout and pickups, and try to hang onto medkits. IOW no run and gun malarky. It was still really tough, but with the help of a pick up shotgun and pre-purchased incendiary ammo, I lit up the zombies (and buddy by accident), revived buddy and we both made it to the chopper. After about another 10 tries.
Last night I tested out Cheeseburger the grizzly bear sidekick, and he's good. I think I still like the cat better though. I spent the rest of the evening tromping around the foothills between the prison and the Henbane River siccing the bear on zombies and bushwhacking passing vehicles (trucks, prisoner vans and rivercraft).
“Does the red object left of the green cube have the same shape as the purple matte thing?”
I been marked for death called in for a pointless shooting gallery exercise by Jacob and blessed by Faith, so I have been rampaging unmolested in John's region for the past few evenings, killing more of his special friends, blowing up all kinds of shit, and freeing prisoners than you can shake a stick at. Still, no word from Johnny. The old softie.
“Futurist Predicts AI Will Take Jobs, Benefiting the Rich But Not Workers”
I can tell you how to trigger John if you want - it's a fairly logical action on your part.
I restarted ND last night and just played through to where I'd got to before. I found a way of bossing the training level after the Highwaymen were triggered - there's an armoury container out of the way and I stationed myself there - it's safe from the howitzers and the baddies keep running in to be slaughtered. I holed up in there for ages - long enough to be certain that the baddies are continuously respawned.
When I'd filled up my inventory with everything I moved on to the bridge level where I kicked a bunch of mutant deer to death (they don't run after the first melee blow) and wiped out all bridge baddies with ease. But I'm just back where I was a few days ago.
I'm enjoying it. The sawblade gun is awesome - kills at least twice if baddies are close enough together.
"We all have flaws, and mine is being wicked." James Thurber, The Thirteen Clocks 1951
Yeah I triggered him by capturing his ranch. I also found out you can hold off his posse if you don't stray too far from the ranch, kill them and retreat back to the ranch before they respawn (the respawns hang around on the road outside hollering threats). But eventually I was grabbed, and remembered that of the three, his levels are 'relatively' interesting so that wasn't too terrible. Forgot that he zeroes out your inventory apart from weapons though. That was expensive, but an excuse to go hunting. I was chagrined to discover that after slaughtering a small herd of caribou (4-5), you aren't warned you reached your limit, until you try to save more skins. :-@ Interesting that some fairly large parts of the map are devoid of wildlife, while others are teeming with it.
edit: rural USian folk don't 'shout', they 'holler'.
“Is that dead cattle, or your ass I smell?”–Jess Black
Got deeper under the skin of ND last night & played till 2am, which tells its own story.
The character development is quite different, with the options available at different areas of the base, Prosperity; and the main experience points mechanism is looting ethanol and bringing it back for the base.
There's quite a push to persuade players to buy Ubisoft credits to exchange in-game (and a melding of bought & earned credits, in order to blur the line still further, though they're fooling nobody). But the character progression is fine without any in-game purchasing. I'm only on level two of anything - with lots of progression to go - but generally I'm well matched to the enemy AI and the vicissitudes & dangers of the world.
As soon as you have liberated an enemy base, you have the option of taking it again from rock hard NPCs, with massive amounts of ethanol as your reward. First time I did it, it took me four or five attempts to win it back. I can do it again, but I don't know whether the difficulty is ramped up yet another notch if I do. There are plenty of side missions and no great pressure to plough through the main quest.
There is some absolutely rock hard fauna. Even the mutant warthogs are tough, and the elks have the skin of an FC4 rhino.
"We all have flaws, and mine is being wicked." James Thurber, The Thirteen Clocks 1951
Base capped Kellet Cattle Co. outpost last night, it was surprisingly dead easy, seeings how I went in without a plan: I sniped a couple of dudes (including a heavy) with the .50 undetected, then sidled around t'other side. Meanwhile the bodies were found and the defenders hived off in that direction. I walked into the house and freed a couple of captives, who picked up guns and did all the heavy lifting when the defenders drifted back home. Won a 'bladed combine harvester' for my trouble, whatever the fuck that is.
“Is that dead cattle I smell, or your ass?”–Jess Black
Haven't had much truck (so to speak) with driving FC5 vehicles, so far just walking around is all the excitement I can handle. Know what's weird though is pickups (especially white ones), vans and fuel trucks catch my eye in the real world now.
“Is that dead cattle I smell, or your ass?”–Jess Black
Hit a FC5 sweet spot: Faith's dead, no peggy action in henbane river. Jacob has me slated for more shooting gallery BS, and John wants to meet me at Fall River chapel for his shitass pathetic finale.
Oh gosh, no thank you John, fuck you very much.
So I'm tooling around the valley with unlimited cultist targets all lit up, and plenty o' critters to harvest for bullet money.
Suweeeet!
“I don’t know where you came from, but I’m sending you back.”
I finished ND yesterday. Two final battles, one great fun with a good ethical dilemma at the end, but the second is one of those tedious grinds in a small arena with an overpowered boss. I failed several times, quit and went back into the game world to take advantage of one of its innovations - unlimited upgrades of some skills and weaponry. I increased my health pack and ammunition capacity to fuckninja levels and powered up an elite SMG and LMG to 11, then returned and defeated the last boss without much effort. Another ethical dilemma at the end of the second boss fight and an OK final cutscene.
The game world is now mine, with all quests & subquests complete unless I've missed something, but there's plenty to do: scavenging the camps on the hardest settings with my choice of guns for hire, killing monstrous fauna and building up my stats even further.
I've found a splendid bug. I often find myself a vantage point and use bait to lure animals to their doom to build up my resources (there's an exchange of different skins for specific materials in ND). I've discovered a location next to a cliff where, when I throw bait, animals throw themselves off the edge of the cliff and fall, either to their deaths, or to lie unconscious for a few moments, then spring several feet into the air.
"We all have flaws, and mine is being wicked." James Thurber, The Thirteen Clocks 1951
Speaking of bugs, hit an odd one couple of days ago in FC5: a weird ground-to-sky giant 'box' that looked like it was made of sepia-colored, vertical venetian blind slats. I could see through the interstices, enemies could drive through it, I could walk into and out of it, but inside everything was all jumbled up. I quick-travelled elsewhere, haven't seen it again.
“I don’t know where you came from, but I’m sending you back.”
I love bugs and glitches and that sounds like a goodie. I once found a npc in FC 4 walking on the surface of a river. The most common one I come across in FC is assets stuck in mid-air - I came across an arrow just the other day. Sometimes stuck things will react if you walk into them, sometimes not.
The first one I ever came across wasn't a glitch per se, but bad map design. In an early level of Tombraider 2 it's possible to run, jump and walk to a place in the map where you can look (or jump) into the void of blackness beyond. At the time I found it very affecting - a metaphor for existential oblivion.
"We all have flaws, and mine is being wicked." James Thurber, The Thirteen Clocks 1951