Far Cry 3 team talks lessons learned from Far Cry 2

Ubisoft talks about the lessons learned from Far Cry 2, and how they've taken those into consideration while making Far Cry 3.

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Far Cry 2 was well-liked, but held back by a few common complaints. Ubisoft is hoping to correct that in Far Cry 3, and has talked about some of the lessons it learned from feedback to their previous game.

For example, malaria is something you likely won't have to worry about in the sequel. "I think most people found it frustrating," lead designer Jamie Keen said. "Though some found it interesting because it was the world around them. There are points where we make you do something to pull them along, but we want to make sure we're not contriving situations too much."

Keen also pointed out that you could "get a bit lost" in the vast open world of Far Cry 2. "It's important that it has that sense of exploration, but it needs to be getting towards something," Keen told IGN. "You never want to feel like you're not getting anything back from the world or that you have to wait a while until you get to the next place." He cites the diamonds from FC2 as an example of a game mechanic that had a reward incentive, and points to animals to hunt and money to find as the Far Cry 3 equivalent.

Meanwhile, producer Dan Hay said that the game will let the player have a big impact on the world, but is playing that detail close to the vest. "There are places on the island where - and I can't go too deep into this - once you go in and start to affect that place... Vaas's personality starts to diminish. You're not going to see guys walking around with AK-47s. You'll start to have an appreciable effect on the environment." He says the team has given a name to this system, but he can't say it yet.

Ubisoft has certainly had some time to let the dust settle and look at Far Cry 2 with clear eyes. The game was released back in 2008, so we should see some marked improvement when Far Cry 3 hits in September.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    February 24, 2012 3:30 PM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Far Cry 3 team talks lessons learned from Far Cry 2.

    Ubisoft talks about the lessons learned from Far Cry 2, and how they've taken those into consideration while making Far Cry 3.

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      February 24, 2012 3:39 PM

      the only annoying thing i found in Far Cry 2 was the spawn rate of bad guys at outposts. the immersion of Far Cry 2 was impressive, i liked the jamming guns and the car breakdowns it kept things feeling real.

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        February 24, 2012 3:58 PM

        Pretty much. I loved the idea of the game but having to travel from one side of the map to the other ALL THE TIME and having to go through THE SAME GUYS AGAIN AND AGAIN made the game become a grindfest. It got to a point where it was not novel anymore. I'd just speed my jeep past them, ignoring combat completely. There was no sense of accomplishment, in a way.

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        February 24, 2012 3:59 PM

        kind of sucked that there was nothing ambient in the game either. you'd go into the towns and they were still just 95% bad guys. I hope they really develop the setting this time.

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        February 25, 2012 12:10 AM

        I'm a sucker for all of that first-person view stuff, like fixing yourself when your health is low, fixing your car and jammed weapons. Looks like Far Cry 3 will have more of that stuff.

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          February 25, 2012 6:47 AM

          [deleted]

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            February 25, 2012 7:51 AM

            lol yeah, that was awkward

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            February 25, 2012 9:46 AM

            i miss read this... i thought it said "i just hope they take a shower." LOL, not sure i'd be up for that much imersion.

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        February 25, 2012 8:32 AM

        Damn quick-save hurt FC2 on PC.

        "I have quick save! Why wouldn't I use it? Oh, it kinda breaks the whole safe house mechanic... I'm not going to use quicksave anymore. Oh, just once more. And this time. And again. FUCCCCKKKK!!!!"

        Ruined the tension. And yeah, theoretically I could NOT USE IT, but if there were a button on the keyboard that refills your life you could choose not to use that too, but how would you resist? Becomes a fucking meta-game -- how to play the game without willfully breaking it.

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          February 25, 2012 8:43 AM

          Sounds like user error.

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        February 29, 2012 12:45 PM

        That ruined the game for me, you could wipe out an encampment, drive round the corner, come back, and every single enemy would have respawned. It really got in the way of doing missions and exploring because you would only drive down a road for about 30 seconds before running into a bunch of enemies who you'd have to spend ages fighting before you could continue on your way. You couldn't drive past as they would chase you in jeeps. It ruined what could have been a brilliant game. The respawn time should have been a day or two of in-game time.

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      February 25, 2012 6:41 AM

      Wait, what? Ubsoft learning? They are fixing their broken DRM?

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        February 25, 2012 7:00 AM

        Yeah ... don't hold your breath.

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        February 27, 2012 6:12 PM

        Developers != The out of touch brass that thinks DRM is a good idea.

        I'll bet good money the developers hate the DRM as much as we do. Maybe even more given that a lot of people are going to miss out on their hard work because of an idiotic system they don't even have control over.

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      February 25, 2012 6:45 AM

      This is slightly worrying that they might nerf the open nature... it's best feature!

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        February 25, 2012 6:54 AM

        The open nature was mostly an illusion - you fought the same encounters (checkpoint, patrol, base) over and over with no need for tactical variation because all you could do is snipe from mid-range. Maybe it was different on Girl Scout difficulty but it was super repetitive for me.

        What's the point of an open world if i have to do the same thing 1,000 times.

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          February 25, 2012 7:41 AM

          I disagree- there were lots of things you could try and several different approaches to most mission locations. And you could go almost anywhere on the map (that wasn't too steeply walled in)- heck, you could even drive lots of places if you were careful!

          I took my Wrangler off-road all over the place and the only time you had to watch out was in the deserts during the day (your jeep overheats and you'll die of sunstroke if you don't find shade). The worst that could happen was you got your jeep stuck and had to walk back to the nearest road.

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            February 25, 2012 9:18 AM

            I had to kill a dude in that adobe village kinda set into a cliff, so I sniped the mortar guy on the roof, and infiltrated successfully to knife the target.. I then exfiltrated, got my jeep, drove right up to the front of the village and mowed everyone down with the .50cal. I didn't have to, but I felt the mission wasn't quite finished.

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              February 25, 2012 9:48 AM

              these are the memories we love... heh.

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          February 25, 2012 11:08 AM

          I always went with the AK and explosives...so I generally had to plan ahead and plan my routes. I loved the whole sub-game of getting from point A to B and improvising as things went wrong.

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      February 26, 2012 3:39 AM

      Translation: "We're getting rid of all the stuff you liked, like the open world and leaving in the respawns and an entire island of terrible AI trying to kill you."


      Stay tuned for Linear Everyday Shooter 3: Cry Further.

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      February 26, 2012 5:03 AM

      Just hope they don't consider the health system of Far Cry 2 as something be "corrected". But from gameplay vids seen... it appears they've put regen health in, but there was not HUD so hopefully it's not the case.

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      February 26, 2012 2:30 PM

      Looks great. Something about the color palette and the vibrant blue water makes it look much more like Far Cry 1 than Crysis did. And the machete is back!

      I think this game is going to be fantastic.

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      February 26, 2012 10:09 PM

      Looks so good, great story too.

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      February 27, 2012 3:10 PM

      Weird, all of a sudden I want to play Dead Island again

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