in which I become enamored with Far Cry 4

On 05/22/2015 at 01:31 PM by transmet2033

Here is what has been going on since I last visited this wonderful realm to blog.

I finished up whatever I was working on in Tower of Guns and have decided to put it away. If there had been a platinum trophy, I may have decided to put the time in to collect the last couple of trophies. Those trophies involve playing the game a lot. Roughly 7 times more than I already had... I don't really want to sink that amount of time into a roguelike.

I downloaded Wolfenstein: The Old Blood, but didn't play much more than the first chapter.

I played a bit of Fez while wathcing Fast 5 and 6.

I pre-ordered The Witcher: Wild Hunt on PSN the moment the reviews started to come in. While I still prefer to have physical copies, I know that I will never delete that game off my hard drive, no matter if I need more space. Plus, It was 10% off on the PSN.

About the same time I preordered The Witcher, I started Far Cry 4. I picked it up a while back when it had been on sale, but never played it. I wanted to give it a chance, and the initial impression that I got from the game was not good. All I wanted was to run around Kyrat and mess around. It took an hour or two to get to that point, and that was a little longer than I was hoping for... So, I was about to set the game down for good, but on Monday I had 12 minutes before The Witcher's 6 pm unlock. Since Far Cry 4 was already in the disc tray, I thought I would give it one last shot... well, I have not been able to put the game down for the past few nights. I have logged about 8 hours into Far Cry 4 over the past 4 nights, which is a record. I do have a few gripes with the game, but overall it is pretty good. The simpliest description that I can think of for the game is that it is a... fun and compelling list of chores.

Part of the reason that I wanted to come over and blog for a second is that I keep seeing the "news" about The Witcher's graphics. If you are unaware of what I am talking about, people on the internet are angry at CD Projekt RED because the final game doesn't look as good as a gameplay trailer from 2013. My thoughts on the matter are this... Why the hell are you comparing the final game to a trailer from 2013, especially since CD Projekt RED has released new footage in the past 6 months?

Also, we watched Ponyo last night. I love Miyazaki.

asrealasitgets

05/22/2015 at 03:28 PM

I think the game looks colorful and gorgeous, on PC at least. At this point I just don't care too much about photorealism in games. It's nice to have them, but I also like having a nice pleasing visual design and aesthetic which this game also has. I love the weather and color hues of the sky, the way the rain hits the screen as if you were following Geralt with a camera. I love the way the wind rustles the trees and grass and leaves float about in the air, and I also love the way you are traveling through dark woods, one minute, then swampy bogs the next, then through a little village while people go about their business.

The graphics issue is also partly CD Projekt REDs fault for releasing that trailer early on and then not being able to acheive the same graphics fidelity on launch, but that's true of a lot of games nowadays and it's a reality. I love Witcher 3 and think it's beautiful. So, so pretty!

I'm also playing on PC so keep that in mind. Can't describe PS4 or XBOXOne visuals.

transmet2033

05/24/2015 at 06:54 AM

For some reason, I feel that CD Projekt RED gets a pass. I know that everybody is out to make money, but they don't seem like a shady company... Or that there was anything shady going on. Unlike say, Aliens: Colonial Marines. I could be wrong, but it didn't seem like they were hiding their game from the masses.

05/24/2015 at 08:59 PM

it's also that there's been a recurring conspiaracy theory online where 'next-gen' games are being deliberately held back for console parity, thus the PC version even in Ultra settings or whatever, still looks closer to PS4 and XBOX console versions. I think CD is a smaller dev company so yeah, I think they get cut some slack for this reason, considering what they've achieved with this game compared to bigger studios like the ones who make Assassins Creed, Dragon Age, or that GTA/hacker game that came out recently but I forget what it's called.

Cary Woodham

05/22/2015 at 06:46 PM

HAM!!!

05/24/2015 at 06:47 AM

Studio Ghibli has yet to disappoint.

05/24/2015 at 01:12 PM

Not everything the studio does is my favorite, like Pom Poko or The Tale of Princess Kaguya. But most everything else is great.

KnightDriver

05/23/2015 at 04:29 PM

So want to get to Far Cry 4. Maybe on my next playlist. 8 more to go on my present 12 game playlist.

05/24/2015 at 06:49 AM

I really can't play games like that. I need to be able to focus on one at a time. I may become tired of the one that I am working on, and rush through to the end, but I like not having to become accustomed to a different control setup or controller sensitivity.

05/25/2015 at 01:24 AM

That is the problem. You never realize how complex the control scheme is in these games until you leave it for a week and try and jump right back in. It took me a while to figure out how to access health potions quickly in Skyrim after being away for two weeks and I still haven't figured out how to change weapons quickly, or go from torches to weapons.

Blake Turner Staff Writer

05/26/2015 at 01:03 AM

Far Cry 4 is still the best looking game I've played. Hands down. I also got mightily addicted to it but then wore off it about half way through.

05/26/2015 at 06:35 AM

27% completion at the moment and it's definitely wearing out its welcome. They keep adding crap to do on the map. Now I can't figure out where I am supposed to go, or what to do. Way too many options.

NSonic79

07/17/2015 at 02:20 PM

just seeing what has happened to gaming as of late just helps me to reaffirm my wait and see aproach to most game releases. It just seems more and more the case that you don't know what you get ever after release. I didn't bother getting the Witcher 3 or batman arkham Knight and I'm kinda glad I did. Sure I'm not PC gamer but I don't want to take the chance with my hard earned cash at the moment.

PixlBit