I agree 100%. And the handful of quests you can get from "talking" to NPCs are meh. There's no real interaction with NPCs, as in a "proper" RPG.

Because FC3 is a shooter and not an RPG. Nor was FC2 or FC1.




The Jedi Master

I'm currently playing it through for the fourth time in succession.

I find it an enjoyable experience exploring the islands - though I prefer the pirate island to the mercenary one.

First time on normal setting (and exploring the islands long after the main mission was completed). Second time on hard setting. Third time pretty much ignored the (badly-) scripted missions except where necessary to proceed and occupied all the camps and towers as quickly as poss, using inferior weaponry.

This time around, I completed the entire scripted mission in a couple of days and have since (about 10 days now) just driven round, collecting relics and picking fights for fun. I've left the pirate camps alone so that I know I'll keep bumping into bad guys and I'm only now moving to the towers on the north island, having captured everything in the southern one (as the mercs are too boring - but even after capturing everything there are still numpty mercs around here & there).

It can be really good fun, but after I've finished this time, I will leave it for a few months and go back to STALKER SoC and play that through again with the 'complete' mod that I just downloaded.

There is a lot more to discover in Far Cry3 than what is in the missions and there are things you can challenge yourself with.

Also, each time I have played through - even now on the 4th go - there are different side 'quests' than before.

Skyrim bored me stoopid.

Wow, I guess you liked it?

I've played through it once and I've also played through the MP cooperative missions and that's plenty for now. Maybe in a few months I'll replay the game but I didn't find it to be so engrossing that I felt compelled to play it through a second time in quick succession. I will say though that the "evil" ending is quite disturbing indeed.

I've only managed to play through about 1/2 of it, and I'm not certain that I can pinpoint why. It's similar to my Far Cry 2 experience, where I got excited about the whole "mercenary in Africa" thing and tried replaying it 3 or 4 times, but never made it much past half way through before dropping it. Maybe I'm just getting old, but I've found that I get bored with the repetitive AI very quickly anymore once you find the "key" to finishing them off (snipe, snipe, melee, only one left so maybe pull out a loud gun for kicks... rinse and repeat). Love the scale of the game and all, but I'm growing weary of the limited size of the engagements without a human thinking at the other end.

I haven't played Far Cry 3 yet, but it seems as if ALL open world shooters have the same weakness as far as being able to easily pick off the AI through the use of stealth and sniping.

To me it still feels like an open-world shooter on rails. The rpg- like elements feel tacked on, like an afterthought. The level/perk system is pointless IMO.
To unlock perks you have to level up, but you can only level up by completing main/story missions; so really there's no incentive to explore (except for extra loot which is already plentiful).

Most perks are pointless and/or have very limited use; but it doesn't matter because you'll earn more than enough XP to unlock them all right after they become available.

Combat has its moments, but the Ai is fairly brainless. If they get alerted but you're hidden ( which is all too easy to do), they sometimes "forget" they were just shot at and go back to patrol mode. After playing stealthy for a while, I got bored and started run'n gun and had just as much success (but more fun lol). I think the most fun I had with the game were the trials which are strictly shoot and scoot

Personally I wish they would have done away with the RPG elements and instead improved the faction wars/AI, instead of the lone-wolf errand boy theme
IMO they kept what was bad from FC2 and got rid of the good (graphics, immersion)

I will admit that it did grab me for a while until it wore thin

Try the mod I linked to and it changes the game nicely.

I will say that one thing I really like about FC 3 are the occasional fights you see between the wildlife and the pirates/rakyat. It made the world you were playing in seem more alive.

I must admit, now I'm nearly finished getting everything this time I am starting to get a bit bored.

What I really like and often find myself 'whoop' over is standing with the Grenade Launcher and trying to hit a packed-full enemy jeep as far away as possible. Watch them launch through the air with bodies falling out in all directions. Best thing since Stalker - I didn't like Far Cry2 and I ditched the original half way through, but for some reason this one was much more enjoyable. And I really like the #%&*$# the stoned pirates come out with.

Like I said - to me the actual mission is a load of tosh, I just like the exploring element, with the added danger of tripping over some nasty wildlife.

I nearly peed myself laughing last night when some AI dood bimbled past me and walked alongside a lake, when a big crocodile leapt out and had him for lunch. Priceless!

PS - another thing I enjoy is tearing around the roads in those crappy jeeps (or the buggy) trying not to hit anything. It's just fun.
I'll try that mod you mentioned, Mace - next time I have a go.

Maybe I like it cos I'm getting old?

I will say my most memorable moment was when I was running away from an attack-gone- wrong, and the pirates had called multiple reinforcements so I was retreating. as I was sprinting thru the swamp an alligator tore into me and started thrashing me around, it literally made me jump in my chair lol

Yes, I'd have to say the game was basically too big. They had the assets for a smaller game and placed it in a larger game's world. This led to the repetitive issues. I spent so little time on the final island, I barely knew it. I was one of the few that bothered to do EVERY tower, EVERY outpost, and EVERY mission...and even then I spent maybe 15% of the game tops on that last island.
Part of me wanted to explore it more, but mostly I just wanted to finish the game by then.

Including playing all the co-op missions once, it took me 57 hrs to finish FC3. By comparison, FC2 took just over 40 for one playthrough and even THAT got boring by about hour 30.

In a post-mortem, I would say FC3 would have benefited from a smaller beginning island that took quite a bit less time to finish before moving on to the 2nd one. Make the game winnable in 30 hrs or less (without having to skip a ton of stuff).

Oh, and the crafting system was artificially stupid. I can buy a $4000 RPG but I can't buy a damn wallet??? No, I need to kill not just a buffalo, but a bizarre one-eyed, one-horned, flying purple buffalo to make a wallet that can hold more. Heaven forbid I just exchange my $10s for $100s or something.



The Jedi Master

LMAO Jedi.