K&AJones

I'm posting some video Reviews from some that have had a lot of views and following.....that way gives a decent amount of a full coverage and also highlighting the pros and cons....

Decker

$49.99 in new Sunday Target ad. Tempting...

X - Formerly Twitter

Noonan

Still too much for an Ubi title. I'll wait for < 29.99

fujishig

20 dollar drop less than two weeks from release, this is an Ubi title all right.

Decker

I picked it up when it dropped to $39.99 at Best Buy for a day. It's....okay. I think they're going for Horizon Forbidden West but they achieved something closer to Far Cry : Primal, but with a much bigger map. It is ROUGH going early on with limited or no weapons, not a lot of hand holding, and a dense forest that looks the same in every damn direction. Things get better, but I'm still not having nearly the fun I do while playing Far Cry. The story here just isn't conducive to big explosive battles, and I shouldn't be able to take out big high-powered mechs with three normal arrows, even though I can. It's really heavy on characters and story, but honestly I don't care about that here -- it's the same 'humans bad, Navi good' thing we got from the movies over and over again. Plus the side missions are pretty hilarious, with every one being a variation of "You're new here. I've never seen your kind here before. Can you go look for my friend/family member who is in great danger while I stand around and wait here?".
I'm playing co-op with Gator Shea and he says the game really opens up once you get your flying creature. I'm not quite there yet so I'm still stumbling around in the jungle, lost. It's okay but really not very fun so far. Not nearly the addictive gameplay loop of Far Cry I become obsessed with -- at least not yet some 6 hours in.

Decker

Also they have a new, very annoying health system here : You have a stamina bar and a health bar. As long as you still have stamina, your health will regenerate. But here's the thing -- your stamina always drains, even if you are standing around doing nothing. And then the Hud will nag you like a Jewish grandmother to Eat Something! It's never-ending so you are expected to constantly go forage for palm fruits to snack on all day. It's really not fun and quite annoying and I don't know why we need it. Link doesn't drain his stamina by standing around.

OldBoy

Well, that’s disappointing to read. It still looks pretty though.

Decker

Oh it's very pretty for sure. You're completely lost in a beautify forest, if that's what you are into. And like I said, I bet it gets better once you have your flying ikran and better weapons. I just think it's a bit of a chore to get to that point.
It's not at all a bad game, but I saw people really criticize the last Far Cry game and that was much more fun to me than this one is, to this point. In FC6 by now I was obsessively finding strongholds and taking them out. Here I could do the same sort of thing, but have no real desire to do so -- it's all just a lot less fun.

maxfisher

I’m a bit further in and agree it gets a ton better once you have the flying creature. I’d highly advise pushing through story missions until that unlocks. From there, the world is beautiful and, so far at least, mostly fun to explore.

The story is about as interesting as the movies, so I skip every cut scene and just look at what I’m supposed to do on the quest tab.

The stamina bar hasn’t really bothered me. It seems to refill with your flying pal’s and it can nab fish out of water to refill it when you’re riding it.

The only real gameplay annoyances I’ve had are 1) The difficulty spikes are nuts. It’s not worth trying missions even a level above your character. 2) The foraging/crafting are a pain in the ass. Way too many ingredients, it’s absurd trying to find some specific ones and I have no idea how you improve the quality of what you’re harvesting.

So some considerable flaws, but all in all I’m still having fun with it. The verticality of the world really gives it a somewhat distinctive feel compared to other open world games, and I like that the Navi has a distinctive feel with decent parkour-ish abilities, for lack of a better description.

OldBoy

Just started this up and I’m liking thus far, but in the beginning getting to objectives becomes very hard sometimes. I know there is a map and you can set way points, but that hasn’t done shit. If it’s really high up, it gets very difficult to follow or find the trail to get there. I played for like an hour and then the title card rolls. At least an hour in. Basically, took out one RDA facility, did some other stuff, then had to find my friends by the falls outside the Resistance HQ. Man, that confused the shit out of me, but finally made it. Little frustrating, but fun enough to keep going. For now, that is…

mhg83

Did they remove the annoying stanima drain? I remember liking the game except for even standing still depletes your stanima.

OldBoy

No, it remains the same. And, I can barely find food. So, I’m in these RDA battles with like one food item. That blows. And you can’t even one shot the deer or whatever they are. It takes multiple, but one shot makes them scatter. I dunno.

OldBoy

i mean how do you keep a food supply. there are no drops anywhere and when i search in boxes and such, none there either. is there something i am missing? and these timed missions...i have to run like 500 meters or whatever they calculate in. thanks.

Decker

Eat the fruit from Palm trees. They're everywhere.

OldBoy

yup, just figured that out and was coming here to delete post. thanks Deck.

OldBoy

and, it also tells me that my pouches are full, thicket, food. How do I get rid of stuff and how do i know what to get rid of? i don't know why it says my health pouch is full when only one of like 8 slots are filled. somethings i just don't get...

Decker

Do I swing at the underhand softball pitch......

Anyway, it is kind of confusing. There are stash locations at you home bases to put things away. You can only carry a finite amount of stuff.

OldBoy

ain't that the truth. thanks Deck. still liking the game. getting better and better as i play.

OldBoy

Also, is there a quick button to eat? As it is I hold L1,, bring up the wheel, R1 to go to food and then square to eat. There’s got to be an easier way to eat, especially in big battles.

Decker

That's it to eat, but D pad up (I think) uses a med kit to save your ass in a firefight. The Med Kits are in outposts but also on those palms by the water. Once you see them, they're kind of everywhere.

Rob V

I bought this game for both my son and I at Xmas time so we could co-op thru it... having heard it's very much like a Far Cry game, that was appealing to us. But, for the love of God, you have to eat to have stamina? Whoever thought of that needs to be fired... but whoever green-lit that idea as the lead manager, that person needs to never work in this industry again.

So yeah, I haven't actually played the game and I'm sure it's not as bad as it sounds, but it sounds really inconvenient - to the point that I'm not fired up to play at all.

Decker

It's a terrible design feature. And while you can still function with no stamina, the HUD constantly nags you to eat. It's just awful.

maxfisher

I didn't end up finishing this. I spent about 47 hours on it, visited the whole map and did quite a bit, but just got kind of bored by the end and didn't care at all about the story. I did enjoy the gameplay and world quite a bit, so if I ever get caught up on other games, I may pop it back in to wrap it up, but it's not a priority.

Regarding stamina, after my last post, I realized why I almost never had to worry about it. There are Bellsprig trees all over the place and every time you find one, it fully charges your health, stamina and med kit stash. They also increase your max health, so it's worth watching your map and detouring to them when possible. I would still have to eat from time to time, but it was rare and never enough to get annoying.

Another random tip, I spent a lot of time looking around for specific resources needed to make certain weapons or armor. Unless you're just looking for something to do, I'd say don't bother. The gear you find or get as rewards for sidequests is more than enough to keep you leveling up and I felt like I wasted a fair amount of time trying to hunt down specific resources at specified quality levels.

OldBoy

And, is it me or are the load times like last gen slow?

OldBoy

i am getting so confused as to where to go. i see the green marker on the top of screen and it says how many km i need to go, but sometimes when i get there, there is nothing there. i was on my way to an RDA camp and could not locate it. i didn't even see the blue tracker icon when i use my Na'vi vision. it's getting frustrating.

And, the traversing 100’s of miles on foot is so tedious. I’m sure that’s rectified when get one of those flying beasts, but just running to an objective with nothing to do on the way can be brutal.

When do you get the winged riders?