Far Cry 2 Interview

[H.Bogard]

CVG has an interview up with the lead designer of FC2 discussing various things about the game such as the AI, graphics, how they started out on the PC and how games like X-Com and Bioshock influence the character relationships.

How are the PS3/360 versions shaping up and did they impose any limitations on developing the PC version?

Pharand: The console versions look and play great. They're stunning!

After the Games Conventions in Leipzig last year, the engineering team had as a mandate to port our engine (DUNIA) to console. So it could be used by other Ubisoft titles.

The team wanted to push its limits and decided to use Far Cry 2 data. The game looked great and we decided at that point to do some R&D to see the feasibility of having the same game on consoles.

They did it! So why not have more gamers enjoy the experience? That being said we started as a PC game and we are still a dedicated PC team. Since we want to have as many PC gamers enjoy the experience, the console developments actually helped the mid-requirement settings on PC.


Check it out. (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=189802)

Also comes the announcement that the singleplayer will be 'close to 50 hours'. (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=189752)

[Telefrog]

I laugh almost every time a dev says their singleplayer game is X hours long. They usually always include sandbox wandering, side missions, general fooling around, and restarting really difficult missions along with a generous amount of BS into that estimate.

[biosc1]

Also comes the announcement that the singleplayer will be 'close to 50 hours'. (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=189752)

Well...not a purchase for me then. I just don't have the time for that in games these days.

[Gedd]

Saw another trailer for this yesterday and it's on my must buy list now. I was skeptical when I first read about it in development, thinking "just another boring FPS using a famous name to sell copies" - (See SOF:Payback for a good example of that)

But, i'm glad to say it looks like I was wrong! Man, this is going to be a great year for gaming.

[biosc1]

I laugh almost every time a dev says their singleplayer game is X hours long. They usually always include sandbox wandering, side missions, general fooling around, and restarting really difficult missions along with a generous amount of BS into that estimate.

Ah...

From the interview (emphasis mine):

Just on single alone, gamers can potentially have close to 50 hours of game play," Pharand told CVG, when we asked if he'd considered adding a co-op mode to the game.

[NuK]

Well...not a purchase for me then. I just don't have the time for that in games these days.

You know, you don't HAVE to play the whole thing :)

[biosc1]

You know, you don't HAVE to play the whole thing :)

Well...like the first one...at the sight of cracked-out monkey men, I would probably stop playing ;)

[Wasson_]

I loved the first Far Cry.
I expect grand things as far as open ended level design goes.

Best M-16 in any FPS-ever.

[Kryopsis]

I loved the first Far Cry.
I expect grand things as far as open ended level design goes.

Best M-16 in any FPS-ever.

Until Crysis came out, Far Cry was in my opinion the model for a good FPS. Even despite the monkey-men. And to be honest I always saw the story as an homage to B-rated movies and campy pulp fiction. Far Cry reminded me a lot of Island of Dr. Moreau, actually.

[Grumsh]

Well...not a purchase for me then. I just don't have the time for that in games these days.

See this stuff puzzles me when people say this. When I see this I just wonder ADHD or allergic to the "save game feature".

I have been playing Lost Odyssey since the day it came out and have not beat it, yest it is STILL very enjoyable. I am only 5 hours into GTA it does not all of a sudden 'suck'. Assassins Creed still sits unopened (Best buy was selling for $24.99 new couldn't pass it up) I am sure Altairs adventures will be just as fun for the 10 hours it takes me to get sick of the same mission types over and over again.....

[The Iron Weasel]

I think this game looks far more interesting then any FPS to come out/coming out this year. If done right, this will be one fantastic game. The problem with it is that there just so much that could go wrong, that I'm sort of worried about the game. Hopefully they pull it off.

[Inspector Fowler]

Well...like the first one...at the sight of cracked-out monkey men, I would probably stop playing ;)

You sir, have wisdom beyond measure.

It felt like, to me, they couldn't come up with AI that could really beat you, or challenge you. So what does ANY game do when they hit an AI wall? Simple! Make creatures that run really fast, jump really far, and have insanely damaging melee attacks! Also, make them dodge a lot so they're harder to hit. This happened in HL2 with the jumping headcrab zombies. Some of the Flood do it in Halo. Resident Evil has those Licker thingies. And Far Cry had the cracked-out monkey men.

It really frustrates me, and it takes a lot of fun out of some games. I never beat Far Cry.

Similarly, I never beat Crysis. Once I hit the level where you end up in the alien ship, and you magically have fucking zero-g jets on your suit, and what happens? Oh yeah, super fast swimming aliens that dart in, attack you, and run off. God. Fucking. Dammit..

I mean, seriously, I know a lot of people might, but I really don't get tired of finding creative ways to take out regular, human opponents in crazy style. I DO get bored when you make the game hard by throwing in some retarded monster.

[Mr.Green]

I laugh almost every time a dev says their singleplayer game is X hours long. They usually always include sandbox wandering, side missions, general fooling around, and restarting really difficult missions along with a generous amount of BS into that estimate.

Well good thing he didn't say it was 12 hours long then eh?

[Xerxes]

Until Crysis came out, Far Cry was in my opinion the model for a good FPS. Even despite the monkey-men. And to be honest I always saw the story as an homage to B-rated movies and campy pulp fiction. Far Cry reminded me a lot of Island of Dr. Moreau, actually.

It was supposed to. :rolleyes:

[Wasson_]

ha! are you shitting me Inspector!? the zero G level in Crysis was bad-ass! You must have grandma level reflexes or something...sheesh! :P


Also...fast zombies are actually among the weakest enemies in HL2, their more damaging to your psyche than anything else. Otherwise I think the rest of your argument is a bit moot at the fact that, yes they are agile and capable of potentially devastating damage...but they are only capable of sustaining but a small amount of damage themselves...there is balance...you just need to uncross your eyes and shoot straight, god dammit!

...I used to play AvsP online as the Xenomorph drone alot...being able to leap clear across the map cannot save you all the time. :D

[Inspector Fowler]

ha! are you shitting me Inspector!? the zero G level in Crysis was bad-ass! You must have grandma level reflexes or something...sheesh! :P


Also...fast zombies are actually among the weakest enemies in HL2, their more damaging to your psyche than anything else. Otherwise I think the rest of your argument is a bit moot at the fact that, yes they are agile and capable of potentially devastating damage...but they are only capable of sustaining but a small amount of damage themselves...there is balance...you just need to uncross your eyes and shoot straight, god dammit!

...I used to play AvsP online as the Xenomorph drone alot...being able to leap clear across the map cannot save you all the time. :D

I respect your opinion. It's just that you suck :p You're right, a lot of times, they can't do mad damage, but there are some who can, and I don't really enjoy it. And I didn't say I couldn't hit them, just that a lot of designers think that "Good AI = Jumpy thingy that's harder to hit".

Also, and let me say this right out, I think Crysis is shit. It is, essentially, a game designed to sell the tech of their engine, and at that, it is a HUGE success. But I hated my lame "super" powers, and by the time we get to the big "reveal", I just wished I was back knocking trees onto soldiers instead of pretending I'm a goldfish. I'm not saying that the engine didn't have me holding my breath sometimes, because it was bad ass. But I really felt that most of the game was pretty sub-par, especially given what they could do in the same situation. After glancing through an FAQ to see what was in store, I uninstalled the game because I knew I didn't care about more of that crap.

But back to the original Far Cry...I know it was part of their plot and all, but here I am having fun figuring out new ways to murder those mercs all over the island, and all of a sudden, I'm being chased around by alien gorillas. Shit. Stuuuuupid. Keep my Halo out of my Far Cry, man!

What I really want is a Predator game using the Crysis engine. Now THAT could really show off the engine's skills... :)

[Wasson_]

ya know, the mutant gorilla men aren't even all that prevalent...you still have to fight a lot of regular soldiers, often exclusively later on in some of the games best maps...such as the 3 island map that has the communication towers you have to demo...that map is just excellent. Lota transitioning from boat to on foot action...I always loved that you could stop driving on the boat and snipe from the water in Far Cry. It comes in quite handy.

and yeah a Predator game would be sweet but they'd have to figure out exactly what the point of the game would be other than just..."kill people".

[tombofsoldier]

Instant day 1 buy. I suspect I'll spend several hours just lighting things on fire with the flamethrower.

[LionEyez]

Wait a sec...

Did they say 'map editor'?

:D

[Ancalagon]

I respect your opinion. It's just that you suck :p You're right, a lot of times, they can't do mad damage, but there are some who can, and I don't really enjoy it. And I didn't say I couldn't hit them, just that a lot of designers think that "Good AI = Jumpy thingy that's harder to hit".

Also, and let me say this right out, I think Crysis is shit. It is, essentially, a game designed to sell the tech of their engine, and at that, it is a HUGE success. But I hated my lame "super" powers, and by the time we get to the big "reveal", I just wished I was back knocking trees onto soldiers instead of pretending I'm a goldfish. I'm not saying that the engine didn't have me holding my breath sometimes, because it was bad ass. But I really felt that most of the game was pretty sub-par, especially given what they could do in the same situation. After glancing through an FAQ to see what was in store, I uninstalled the game because I knew I didn't care about more of that crap.

But back to the original Far Cry...I know it was part of their plot and all, but here I am having fun figuring out new ways to murder those mercs all over the island, and all of a sudden, I'm being chased around by alien gorillas. Shit. Stuuuuupid. Keep my Halo out of my Far Cry, man!

What I really want is a Predator game using the Crysis engine. Now THAT could really show off the engine's skills... :)

Yeah, I agree. I've been playing Half Life 2 recently (and Episode 2), and those games still blow me away. Sure, Half Life 2 looks a bit dated now (although I did get the Cinematic Pack last night which looks good), but its just such a good action sci fi game. Crysis, on the other hand, had some half decent ideas, an amazing engine, but still falls short. It just doesnt grab me. I still havent finished it, I just couldnt be bothered.

Its not that the game is half complete, its that the whole game is obviously made to sell the engine.

Also, the mutant monkeys in Far Cry completely ruined the game.

[Telefrog]

Ah...

From the interview (emphasis mine):

I'm not sure what you're trying to prove with that bolded quote. They say "potentially have close to 50 hours", and I say that's probably bullshit. Far Cry or Crysis potentially had 100-200 hours of singleplayer gameplay if you just wandered around like an idiot and didn't go where you should to advance the plot. That's not realistic at all.

Hell, I could easily say that GTA IV has 300 hours! Or Oblivion has 500! Why not? In a sandbox style game you can throw out any number and essentially be correct.

I don't mind when a shooter has less than 20 hours in the singleplayer game. If it's really good, then 10 hours is a great length. Just don't bullshit me about how stupendously long the singleplayer game is in a sandbox type game.

[biosc1]

I'm not sure what you're trying to prove with that bolded quote. They say "potentially have close to 50 hours", and I say that's probably bullshit.

I was actually just agreeing with you and pointing out that you were correct in the assumption of how they came to that large number.


See this stuff puzzles me when people say this. When I see this I just wonder ADHD or allergic to the "save game feature".

I have been playing Lost Odyssey since the day it came out and have not beat it, yest it is STILL very enjoyable. I am only 5 hours into GTA it does not all of a sudden 'suck'. Assassins Creed still sits unopened (Best buy was selling for $24.99 new couldn't pass it up) I am sure Altairs adventures will be just as fun for the 10 hours it takes me to get sick of the same mission types over and over again.....

It's not that a game sucks after a while...It's just that I like to actually be able to finish a game that I play. Games that finish in 8 or less hours allow me to actually finish them. I can play long games...heck, I'm still playing Dark Cloud 2. The only problem comes when you are playing more than one game at a time with a limited weekly time allowance for playing games. I fully admit that I bought GTA 4, but it will probably be months before I finish it.

[Wyrm]

I can't bring myself to care about the sequel to one of the worst FPS games to come out for the PC.

Yes, it has good graphics. What the hell else is fun about it?

Admittedly, the change of setting is something that the devs of the sequel understood was desperately needed. Africa was a good pick, because it's not often done in games. That said, the Crysis devs decided to "change" the formula by freezing half of the fucking island from Far Cry, giving you a suit with super human abilities, and then released it as a full game that was really nothing more than a glorified tech demo. The shooting is still just as awful as it was in Far Cry, and the only difference at the end is floating around stupid dimly lit corridors instead of wandering around stupid dimly lit corridors.

How the fuck is this game (Crysis) being heralded as one of the "best FPS's out right now for the PC"?

At least the devs of Far Cry 2 are trying to do some different things with the formula, namely by distancing themselves as far as they possibly can from the shitty story, the awful second half, and the gunplay, which actually looks a little more interesting from those vids.

[Wasson_]

....um, have you even played the games? It sounds like you have...but like, in your imagination: while in bizzaro world in a fucking octopus's garden.

[H.Bogard]

How the fuck is this game (Crysis) being heralded as one of the "best FPS's out right now for the PC"?


When games like Halo set the bar, that's what you get. :p

[Xerxes]

This looks amazing...
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