Far Cry 5

[Gusington]

It has now been moved to #1 on my to-watch list.

[JasonPratt]

I'm sure I'll hold off on FC5 for a while until sales later this year -- I don't doubt I'll enjoy it, but I'm trying to reduce my gaming expenses.

On the other hand, there will evidently be a survival map called "Yeti Island".

[Jarhead0331]

TLDR: Wait for a sale.

[JudgeDredd]

I'm not blown away with the review...but then again, I expected another re-skin of a Far Cry game. I like a good story - so hopefully it's got that at least.

[Grim.Reaper]

I'm not blown away with the review...but then again, I expected another re-skin of a Far Cry game. I like a good story - so hopefully it's got that at least.

Yep, my expectation is only that it will be similar to past versions, didn't expect it to be earth shattering.  But always get some good fun out of it, even if I don't finish.

[Tpek]

Hurmph...
People in New Zealand and Australia got their games unlocked as soon as it was the 27th where they live, and yet I have to wait until it's 27th in the U.S.
(It's already the 27th here as well)

EDIT: Huh, what do you know, as soon as I posted the message they unlocked the game for me :P

[Gusington]

^Ears everywhere.

Which is the best Far Cry of the whole series for someone (me) who has never played any of them?

[Grim.Reaper]

Hurmph...
People in New Zealand and Australia got their games unlocked as soon as it was the 27th where they live, and yet I have to wait until it's 27th in the U.S.
(It's already the 27th here as well)

EDIT: Huh, what do you know, as soon as I posted the message they unlocked the game for me :P

Maybe I am misreading this, but are you in the US?  If so, where in the US is it the 27th already?

[Tpek]

Hurmph...
People in New Zealand and Australia got their games unlocked as soon as it was the 27th where they live, and yet I have to wait until it's 27th in the U.S.
(It's already the 27th here as well)

EDIT: Huh, what do you know, as soon as I posted the message they unlocked the game for me :P

Maybe I am misreading this, but are you in the US?  If so, where in the US is it the 27th already?

Nope, I'm in Israel.
We just often get screwed by game companies over here.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

^Ears everywhere.

Which is the best Far Cry of the whole series for someone (me) who has never played any of them?

The original is the best.

Two had some interesting mechanics but the core gameplay was broken because the checkpoints would instantly respawn/repair the moment you left them (in ruins) so you had to fight through them every single time you traveled the map.

I didn't like three very much at all.  Too many concessions to the console style of play for my tastes.  Everything you could interact with in the world would be highlighted and shaded so you always had total situational awareness.  Made what should have been a game about exploring the map and finding new and interesting things a dull affair.  Too many fetch quests (get twenty red dingleberries!) and too many silly quests that were there only so grant some sort of achievement (you found 50 dingleberries in 10 minutes!  You're the dingleking!  Tell your friends on Instagram!).  The game showed off all it had to offer within the first hour or so and then it became a repetitive slog.  Got to clear yet another section of the map.  Drive there, fight a jeep of baddies on the way, shoot up the base, watch the glowing timer countdown. DING! Liberated!  repeat 417 more times.

Never bothered with four.

[Grim.Reaper]

I don't know about the original....it was good, but I remember being frustrated the AI seemed to have super human sense of where I was.  Just recall being like on a mountain with full foliage where no way anybody should have seen me, but the AI would also find me and pick me off somehow, like finding a needle in haystack.

Versions 2-4, mostly the same type of games....open world where you just wonder around and blow things up and kill things.  Some good mindless fun if you don't take it too seriously:)

[SirAndrewD]

I'm looking forward to it.  Got it with Amazon credit so sadly no pre-load till I get the codes at Midnight.  Going to rip into it tomorrow. 

Heard a lot of good first impressions today though.  They seem to have opened the world up, taken out the constant POI to POI aspect and eliminated the mini-map, and done away with tower climbs (aside from one tongue in cheek one). 

If I have as much fun with it as I did with the others, I won't complain.

[JasonPratt]

Which is the best Far Cry of the whole series for someone (me) who has never played any of them?

Non-spoilerish opinions inbound:

Never could get 1 to run for me on my old computers; now can't get it to run on modern computers because it's too old!

Never played 2.

3 had a pretty daring story with an unlikable entitled douchey protagonist (and his ditto friends skydiving on Daddy's credit card -- the halfway decent and responsible military guy notwithstanding, who ISN'T the main character but who helps out a bit as the MC's brother). Cussing out the wazoo, along with one or two first-person sex scenes (one optional). Two (or three depending on how you count them) colorful main villains; sub-bosses weren't so much. Story was almost high literature though. (Also somewhat pretentious like high literature. Also lots of drug use where being "high" was a main plot point.)

3:Blood Dragon, I think a standalone based on FC3 engine, probably has the best regard by all players: a focused game with trippy aesthetic, doesn't overstay its welcome, unbeatable laser-shooting T-Rexes, a loving homage/pastiche of 80s R-rated combat/sci-fi. Michael Biehn voices the main character with aplomb. Teased a sequel which everyone hopes they'll make someday, but part of the homage charm would be if they never do. ;) (Something sort of like a sequel but not was released a few years later as a motocross game. Not kidding.)

4 is my personal favorite. Main character is more boring but more accessible, too, and not actively unlikeable. Main villain is as colorful interesting as before; sub-bosses more interesting this time. I prefer the not-Bhutan setting much more than the two South Pacific islands of 3 (and the night-glow nightmare of 3:BD). Cussing, violence, and drug use are still up to par. Story isn't quite up to high artistic levels as 3. No direct sex scenes that I recall but still boobish in a few places (well, it's a hard-R game). Comes with two imaginative DLC missions (of alternate continuity to the main plot). One is a highly condensed version of the action of the main plot, on a bit smaller(?) map, where you've got 30 minutes to secure and fortify an airport from which you'll evacuate the area at the end. For every person you kill, you earn a bit more time to get things done, so the mission can go for a while, but you're under constant tactical pressure to get things done. The other is an epic base-restoration-defense mission featuring yetis (which don't show up in the main game aside from rescuing the main character perhaps at one point) -- more involved in that mission, too, not just that.

For gameplay polish and consistent plot progression and overall maximum content, I recommend FC4 right now. (Obviously no opinion on 5 yet, which naturally doesn't have all its content out yet either.) Then maybe go back to 3, then 2.

[JudgeDredd]

Damn. It's now available, fired it up to set the settings and now I have to go to work.

It looks beautiful.

[JudgeDredd]

I don't know about the original....it was good, but I remember being frustrated the AI seemed to have super human sense of where I was.  Just recall being like on a mountain with full foliage where no way anybody should have seen me, but the AI would also find me and pick me off somehow, like finding a needle in haystack.

Versions 2-4, mostly the same type of games....open world where you just wonder around and blow things up and kill things.  Some good mindless fun if you don't take it too seriously:)

Funny you mention the super human senses...the original was lauded for having great AI.

^Ears everywhere.

Which is the best Far Cry of the whole series for someone (me) who has never played any of them?

The original was OK. Never finished it.

2 was set in Africa and was ground breaking - taking the gameplay away from the original...never finished it. It was pretty cool driving around watching Springboks running beside your jeep.

3 was imo the best. It was set on "an island". I generally agree with what was said about 3 here (bugs, arsey protagonist, profanity), but I loved it mainly because of the story and Vaz was one of the best bad guy's I've ever come across in a game world. I finished this one.

3.x - Red Dragon - as mad as I am for the 80's I never picked this up.

4 was set in the Himalayas and whilst beautiful, I wasn't too keen on it. Never finished it.

From 2, they've been pretty much reskins and not a whole lot of change in mechanics...though the stories have been interesting - and for me, in the FPS world, story is king. Through in some solid gameplay (whether I've seen it before or not) and a stunning, believable world and I'm happy as a sandboy.