How Far Cry 4 Nailed the Himalayas

[Robert Rath]

How Far Cry 4 Nailed the Himalayas

The team at Ubisoft went to great lengths to depict the Himalayas in Far Cry 4. Having been to Nepal and that region, Robert thinks they did an excellent job.

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[oldtaku]

I know some people have bagged on the game for being 'just' FC3 with improvements and a new map, but for me FC3's great mechanics in a new setting was all I wanted, and Kyrat delivers. It certainly feels plausible, but it's nice to hear from someone who's been there.

One other question is whether every cave you enter really has a mini shrine. Someone's already been there and set one up. At first glance this seems like a fictional game thing, but is actually the case in many areas of Japan so could be the case in Nepal too.

 

[Thunderous Cacophony]

Interesting article.

The bit about the shrines made me wonder if there's a good way to create a realistic religion in a video game, and a way for players to interact with it. Filling up a meter at a shrine is very gamey, but because the players don't believe in the in-game faith, it would take a serious video game roleplayer to be diligent in their faith without any mechanical benefit.

 

[rbstewart7263]

Robert I loved this read! How is it that you get to go to such amazing places. Also do you think you could write up an article on how accurate the conflict in far cry 4 is(history, tactics, reasons for fighting, etc) with that of real life nepal and its prior struggles with conflict?

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

Ridiculous article. When I was in the himalayas there weren't savage mercenaries standing at every corner waiting to kill me. A depiction isn't just on a visual level. Where were the kind and humble families I stayed with who fed and housed me at the mountaintop and had amazing discussions I'll remember forever? Nowhere to be found in FC4, only barbaric bastards out to get me. Some depiction...I stopped playing because I didn't want to tarnish my memory. Game developers won't "nail" anything until they stop trying to remake GTA in every corner of the world.

 

[FirstNameLastName]

Ridiculous article. When I was in the himalayas there weren't savage mercenaries standing at every corner waiting to kill me. A depiction isn't just on a visual level. Where were the kind and humble families I stayed with who fed and housed me at the mountaintop and had amazing discussions I'll remember forever? Nowhere to be found in FC4, only barbaric bastards out to get me. Some depiction...I stopped playing because I didn't want to tarnish my memory. Game developers won't "nail" anything until they stop trying to remake GTA in every corner of the world.

Yep, eating eating food and conversing with locals is exactly what most people play Farcry games for...

While i can't vouch for the actual quality of the NPC interaction since I haven't played it yet (if it's anything like FC3 then it's non-existent), but considering how unpolished many people are saying the games is, I'm glad they didn't piss away any time on inconsequential bullshit like that. In RPGs i want to converse with NPCs, sleep at inns and immerse myself in the lore of the region, in Farcry i would rather just ignore the tissue-thin story.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

Yep, eating eating food and conversing with locals is exactly what most people play Farcry games for...

While i can't vouch for the actual quality of the NPC interaction since I haven't played it yet (if it's anything like FC3 then it's non-existent), but considering how unpolished many people are saying the games is, I'm glad they didn't piss away any time on inconsequential bullshit like that. In RPGs i want to converse with NPCs, sleep at inns and immerse myself in the lore of the region, in Farcry i would rather just ignore the tissue-thin story.

So anything that doesn't involve blowing someone's head off is tissue thin? If Far Cry doesn't want to be criticized then it shouldn't take on subjects like religion. It was way out of its depth already in Far Cry 3 when you played the white liberator when all you really did was blow shit up. More games need to take the lead of RPGs and adventure games and see that gameplay can be interesting without spending 95% of the time shooting stuff and jumping off ledges. How hard would it have been for FC4 to set some navigation puzzles? Getting to places without understanding the language.

 

[FirstNameLastName]

Yep, eating eating food and conversing with locals is exactly what most people play Farcry games for...

While i can't vouch for the actual quality of the NPC interaction since I haven't played it yet (if it's anything like FC3 then it's non-existent), but considering how unpolished many people are saying the games is, I'm glad they didn't piss away any time on inconsequential bullshit like that. In RPGs i want to converse with NPCs, sleep at inns and immerse myself in the lore of the region, in Farcry i would rather just ignore the tissue-thin story.

So anything that doesn't involve blowing someone's head off is tissue thin? If Far Cry doesn't want to be criticized then it shouldn't take on subjects like religion. It was way out of its depth already in Far Cry 3 when you played the white liberator when all you really did was blow shit up. More games need to take the lead of RPGs and adventure games and see that gameplay can be interesting without spending 95% of the time shooting stuff and jumping off ledges. How hard would it have been for FC4 to set some navigation puzzles? Getting to places without understanding the language.

I meant that Farcry3's setting was tissue thin, because it kind of was. There wasn't really much characterization of the factions beside "the pirates are evil" and "the natives are good."
Although i do sort of agree about navigation. The intrusive hud was rather stupid in FC3 (an aspect I've heard was fixed in FC4), and it is hard to feel like much of a survivalist with a magic GPS that can somehow point out plants, enemies loot and virtually everything else.

 

[Robert Rath]

Ridiculous article. When I was in the himalayas there weren't savage mercenaries standing at every corner waiting to kill me. A depiction isn't just on a visual level. Where were the kind and humble families I stayed with who fed and housed me at the mountaintop and had amazing discussions I'll remember forever? Nowhere to be found in FC4, only barbaric bastards out to get me. Some depiction...I stopped playing because I didn't want to tarnish my memory. Game developers won't "nail" anything until they stop trying to remake GTA in every corner of the world.

Hi BloodBrain.

I'll be dealing with these issues in next week's column, and believe me I share a lot of your concerns. This week's column was exclusively about the physical environment and landscape--next week will critique the cultural, religious and political depictions which -- as you said -- are not as authentic or accurate.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

Ridiculous article. When I was in the himalayas there weren't savage mercenaries standing at every corner waiting to kill me. A depiction isn't just on a visual level. Where were the kind and humble families I stayed with who fed and housed me at the mountaintop and had amazing discussions I'll remember forever? Nowhere to be found in FC4, only barbaric bastards out to get me. Some depiction...I stopped playing because I didn't want to tarnish my memory. Game developers won't "nail" anything until they stop trying to remake GTA in every corner of the world.

Hi BloodBrain.

I'll be dealing with these issues in next week's column, and believe me I share a lot of your concerns. This week's column was exclusively about the physical environment and landscape--next week will critique the cultural, religious and political depictions which -- as you said -- are not as authentic or accurate.

Thanks, I'll be looking forward to that. I agree the physical environments were quite well done.

 

[warfjm]

The only question going through my head is where can the franchise go next? They've done the island/jungle setting twice. They've been to the African Savanna and finally made it to a mountain setting.

When I think of the name "Far Cry," I get visions of a location that is a "far cry" from civilization. Where's the next exotic location to go to?

 

[Veldel]

The only question going through my head is where can the franchise go next? They've done the island/jungle setting twice. They've been to the African Savanna and finally made it to a mountain setting.

When I think of the name "Far Cry," I get visions of a location that is a "far cry" from civilization. Where's the next exotic location to go to?

The final frontier of course Far cry to be on the moon.


OT: Fun read I still havnt picked it up but plan to somtime soon

 

[Avaholic03]

Interesting article.

The bit about the shrines made me wonder if there's a good way to create a realistic religion in a video game, and a way for players to interact with it. Filling up a meter at a shrine is very gamey, but because the players don't believe in the in-game faith, it would take a serious video game roleplayer to be diligent in their faith without any mechanical benefit.

Perhaps more subtle game mechanics. Like certain NPCs reacting more favorably to one religion or another. But that quickly enters BioWare levels of complicated dialogue trees, and it's a whole lot harder to test and balance all that stuff. In the end, it's probably not worth the effort, especially with the possible atheist backlash against such mechanic if they bothered to advertise for it at all.

 

[Dogstile]

So anything that doesn't involve blowing someone's head off is tissue thin?

Yes. This is exactly what we are saying.

 

[Mullahgrrl]

I still wait for a game to do maoist guerilla right.