Far Cry 6 (2021)

I wish I had found Boom Boom before Oluso. Boom Boom is a solid choice for stealth missions but I had pretty much taken over every military compound before I rescued him. And even if I had a few left to take down, Oluso is usually the best choice.

Some other late game observations:

• Once the most useful or essential collectables and busywork is behind you, the game opens up mechanically and is quite fun.
• The AI is still as dumb as it was at the start. Saw a soldier driving a truck drive clean over a soldier on horseback. The truck driver jumped out of the truck fully alerted, acting like they were looking everywhere for the killer.
• I do like Dani. She’s an enjoyable protagonist who feels a lot more compelling than previous Far Cry protagonists.
• There’s still a lot of bloat and side-missions that I feel safe in my decision to ignore without real consequence. Upgrades to my ride are contingent on racing side content, but there doesn’t really seem to be any tangible point to working toward those upgrades as a goal. With so many better ways to get around I barely remember to call for my ride. I’ve basically completely ignored hunting and fishing, as all of the resources obtained from both can be found elsewhere. Where every previous Far Cry relied on a direct relationship between hunting and upgrades, Far Cry 6 makes it redundant save for meals that provide temporary buffs. It’s a nice change because I don’t have to hunt, but it does contribute to the overall feeling the game is packed to the gills full or pointless content.
• It’s a pretty buggy game, even after more than a year out in the wild. Everything from not being able to call or command amigos at random intervals, to glitchy NPC behaviour and wonky spawn bugs, it screams typical broken Ubisoft game.
• One time I blew up brewing kettle and instantly became drunk from swallowing a bunch of beer. I love how game devs think drugs work in their worlds.
• Special Ops missions are really fun, once. The first time you complete one it’s interesting and a little tense. Any subsequent runs are just tedious and repetitive. I suppose it might be fun in co-op, but since I’m playing alone I don’t see the point of repeating them.

Far Cry 6 is really hitting home the fact that I am over the Ubi open world formula. There is a core to the game that I find some enjoyment in. If you strip a lot of the excess (treasure hunts, supply drops, bandido missions, racing, base building, fishing, other random colllectable hunting, etc.) out of the game you’re left with the core loop at the heart of all Far Cry games, the infiltration and takeover of various bases and checkpoints until you flip the balance of power in your favour. I enjoy that core because I enjoy the mechanics of these games’ combat and stealth. But that core hasn’t really changed since Far Cry 2 and especially Far Cry 3. Sure they’ve tacked on companions and switched up how things like hunting and crafting works but the essence of the game remains the same. And as much as I get a bit of joy from that, it does feel like I’m treading familiar ground. And then if we consider all the excess I mentioned before we are left with a game that I actively dislike a large percentage of the time.

What makes things worse is that, somehow, the AI in the game has gotten worse. And if it hasn’t, perceptually it feels worse. The AI is excruciatingly stupid. I’ve witnessed enemies run circles around me, trying to find me while I’m standing in plain sight. Other times they call air strikes in on a rabbit. AI drivers running themselves off the road, or into each other. One time a truck driver drove into a Castillo billboard, clinching a checkpoint win for me. I had cleared out the soldiers and there was no remaining action going on in the checkpoint. This random driver just decided to drive off-road and right into a billboard.

AI soldiers regularly exhibit the most bizarre behaviour. If they discover evidence that I’ve killed one of them, instead of systematically hunting me down like they would in most games with light stealth elements, they start behaving erratically. Most of the time they start running around, usually darting in unpredictable patterns, jumping through windows or over barriers, stopping for a moment to look around and then returning to darting around. They never seem to be looking for me, they just seem programmed to move erratically so the player will have a hard time tracking them through a scoped weapon.

In another weird example of strange behaviour and wonky programming, one time I saw three soldiers standing outside a truck, one of them miming repairs. I decided to steal the truck and drive it to a drop off point. I came back and the three soldiers were still acting as if the truck was there. I watched them for a few seconds and they suddenly exploaded. I walked over to loot their corpses given the opportunity presented itself, and seconds later all three of them were up again attacking me.

All of these moments are fairly entertaining and chuckle worthy, but they often make for unenjoyable mechanical experiences. The game feels considerably worse than prior Ubisoft games in that respect. Thus, even when I’m engaging the core aspects that I enjoy the game is often a let down.

I’ll keep playing, mostly because I like my ghost kitty, but I do think this marks the end of the line for my relationship with Ubisoft games. I had already stopped purchasing them new to avoid sending actual dollars to Ubisoft in the wake of multiple allegations of abuse within the company, willing only to play the occasional Ubisoft game when I stumbled across a used copy. But I think I’m done even bothering with the used copies. Maybe I’ll eat these words and have a change of heart later on, but I really don’t derive enough pleasure from their games anymore to justify continuing to play them.

Playing Far Cry 6 thanks to the free weekend. It’s been a long time since I played a new Far Cry game, after considerable burnout playing several Ubisoft games in one year back around the time Far Cry: Primal was released. Primal was the last game in the series I played, and I think I still have a copy of Far Cry 5 sitting in a drawer complete with wrapping. Needless to say I was over them for quite some time and didn’t really have plans to play Far Cry 6. So along comes a free weekend and I will admit it’s grabbed me a bit. Enough that I’ll probably hunt down a used copy on disc to continue playing.

Also, confirming that Spanish language is the way to go, I just wish they had made it the default and matched the lips to the dialogue.

Right game, right time. I had a ton of fun just doing the Ubisoft checklist. Go here pick up this item, get a reward, rinse, repeat. By the end I was severely overpowered and loved it... even when I hit 5 Star wanted levels and had elite squads hunting me I could just Rambo my way through them all.

Loved all the weird animal sidekicks.

Story and characters were serviceable. Definitely not enough face time with the villains to make me really hate them. Ending seemed like it was going interesting places but then took a turn into cliche-ville. Would have loved to see the young son of the main villain take up the mantle after you kill his father, then you have to kill him to end the tyranny.... but the game takes the easy route and has the villain do it for you.

I know people like to hate on the Ubisoft open world formula but I enjoy them every couple years as a simple distraction.

Did you know that I hate Far Cry 5? If you do, maybe its because I say it here ever few weeks. That is why I'm surprised about how much I enjoyed this FC6 DLC starring the villain of that game.

Maybe its because he admitted to be wrong about everything? XD

Anyway, here are my impressions in spanish.

I'm still not done with Far Cry 6. There should be free DLC crossover with Netflix's Stranger Things in the following months.

I just played the free Rambo crossover event and, to my absolute surprise, it was really fun!

I'm kind of a closeted Rambo fan. I love the first four movies and the novel (the fifth movie is absolute trash, and not good trash like 3 and 4) and it was a blast hearing all the quotes and incredibly precise references to the merchandise.

This game triggers some aspect of my lizard brain that just enjoys that basic loop. Run to that spot on the map, grab all the resources regardless of whether I need them, run to the next spot. It is like the same thing that happens in Castlevania when I keep smashing the candles even though I have full hearts.

The rest of the game is fun too, though typical Far Cry stuff. The broad breath of weapons and equipment lets me play both extremes, super stealth soldier or utter carnage guy, all within the same 30 second period. The backpacks with super power on a cooldown is a fun mechanic with quite a bit of variety.

I much prefer the protagonist with a personality versus Far Cry 5's dull character. Giancarlo Esposito does a fine job and I have no problem with him. Not nearly enough screen time as villain's in prior games, which is a bit unfortunate.

All in all a much needed escapist game.