I just replayed Far Cry 3 (that's why I'm here lol) and wow. I didn't remember the second Island stuff at all. Everything after Vaas dies is a blur, besides the final mission and the harder Compounds. I would have been more satisfied had the game ended with Vaas dying and maybe some of the Citra stuff. But everything else was completely forgettable.
"Pretentious frat-bro" is the best way I can describe it. It's the most bizarre combination of supposed high-mindedness while still being absolutely meat headed
@@destroyerofworlds9860as a queer person, it was awesome to see a gay guy in power in the gaming industry with no self awareness in 2012. that’s normally a straight man’s gig and i appreciate Yohalem’s passion for hollow, meaningless subversion even in his very own life.
@@yoyomabusa205 Like Noah said, and many before him, it's due to the latent colonial mindset. As a thought exercise, one should search online for a map that lets you copy a country or countries and then transpose it anywhere on the globe to see how the even our MAPS exhibit a colonial mindset in which we make our parts of the world larger, and their parts of the world smaller. In reality, one could fit the entire United States inside Africa with plenty of room to spare, and the US is by no means a small country - it's half a continent unto itself - Europe entirely is dwarfed by Africa, probably with the US still taking up space over it. It's such a colossal continent and people overlook this fact.
Regarding your buddy-morphine story, I had a similar experience in my game too. A comrade saved me from a particularly brutal firefight, only to get hit and bleed out before I could save him. It was on the very edge of the second map I think, so right next to a seemingly endless desert. I was so sad about it that I fired off bullets into the desert until I was completely empty. It's been 12 years and I remember that experience like it was yesterday.
With Far Cry 3, I always assumed it was less a deconstruction of the "Mighty Whitey" and more of the "Action Survivor". Brody is some kind of everyman who finds himself in a dangerous situation but becomes some kind of uber-badass almost inexplicably. The game tries to deconstruct this by having Brody portrayed as becoming a bit psycho, he's starting to enjoy the violence. For example, Jason sometimes appears to be treating kill-or-be-killed situations with a high degree of frivolity, same way the player does. This is presented as disturbing. Problem is, the player enjoys this sort of thing too. In addition, much of the violence you engage in is pretty justifiable. The Pirates are clearly shown to be monstrous and have kidnapped your family. In fact, Jason's frivolous attitude is actually arguably less him becoming a psychopath and more him adapting to cope. To use an example, guys who work at the ER often have a sense of humor that'd come across as very tasteless to us. This is because your life-and-death emergency is their 9-5 and they have to treat it at as such. They run into more life-and-death situations than they have fucks to give and they're all out. Similarly, if you're in Brody's situation, one of the more *healthy* responses is to simply develop a sense of humor about it. It's less him losing sanity, and more a coping mechanism and making lemonade out of lemons.
Noah. You astound me every time. "So much fun, we hope you fucking choke." There are so many great game critiques out there, but yours are always insightful, thoughtful, and incredibly well presented. You deserve that Patreon money.
One thing I liked about the Far Cry 2 diamonds is that there was some sort of implied struggle or tragic story behind each one. It might be scenic but you get the sense that all you're doing is picking up scraps. Also that it was the only thing to collect.
An incredible achievement. Finally Noah's commentary has been matched with technical execution worthy of it. Tight editing providing pertinent footage throughout, good levels, and near perfect narration (presumably now with re-dubs where necessary.) And over commentary that is as insightful, thoughtful and thorough as ever. For sure your greatest work yet, Noah. Well done.
Near perfect narration? I mean, I like that he keeps the mistakes and missteps in as it makes it feel like he is just chatting and it's an actual human talking.
@@TheAlmightyAss Near perfect for Noah :) Noah was never going to have professionally produced audio. Or at least, he wasn't at that time. He might in future now he has an editor working for him. And yes, I also like that 'live' feel, as if he was sitting there talking to us.
So something like...I wanna say seven years ago I distinctly recall getting into a conversation in the comments section of the PC Gamer Podcast surrounding why Far Cry 2 got such a high score by the magazine. I was much younger then so I couldn't really formulate the words too well, but I remember Logan Decker having found the conversation and read my response on the next episode. The long and short of it was that the game was an excellent sell of the mundanity and difficulties of being a mercenary or a gun-for-hire. It didn't have to be fun, it fulfilled its purpose in making you understand the endless and meaningless actions you were partaking in. Seven years later you kinda helped me realize just how "good" this game is and that I wasn't crazy.
31:05 - I double-post a lot - bad habit, but what you've said at that time-mark regarding Neitzche and the subversion of that power-fantasy reminds me of an instance of playing this game when I was much younger. Likely around 14 or earlier in my life where I played FC2 an awful lot even though it gave me an immense amount of headaches. No matter what, my entire experience of going through the first biome of the game was pretty much epitomized by trudging through grasslands and woodlands, getting ambushed, outgunned, or otherwise pursued and harassed, while going about my business to the point where I hated the very environment itself. So, when I finally got access to the mortar around the second half of the game I promptly took it to a hill overlooking one of the larger towns of the game, set-up, and shelled the town indiscriminately, raining death from above on 'friend' and foe alike in retribution for what I viewed as transgressions against me perpetrated by the previous biome. I thought nothing of this action until years later when I was old enough to understand the themes of the game, and hearing you talk about the quoting of Neitzche and of nihilism and of subverting the power fantasy of games it made me recall this instance. It's a random action of mayhem that - unlike perhaps in GTA or other Far Cry games - wasn't born of boredom but of my young self wanting to lash out against the perceived powerlessness felt in the game world. Screaming into the void in the worst kind of way, that could make one understand just a little more the mindset of someone who would - in real-life - indiscriminately shell a population center. That is very unique for a video game, I feel, and I'm not sure how to feel about it exactly.
I think you have experienced what the developers wanted you to experience. An eye for an eye is not a solution, in game terms APR vs UFLL violence is only good for mercs making money and not for anyone else.
I swear to you, I swear this is not a lie. Yesterday, after watching Errant Signal's video on Far Cry 5, I was thinking "It would be great if Noah did a Far Cry series retrospective, but he never will, it's a long saga and long games" and here we are today.
There's also Joseph Anderson to some degree, although I'd say he has a little more of an emotional style as opposed to Campster's/Noah's more even-toned college lecture-y motif.
Regarding FC3's Vaas, he was never intended to be a main villain. The reason why he got so much game tike is because the actor who did the voice over was so good at the audition that they just had to change the script. But just a bit, they game's production was well on its way and bigger changes wouldn't have been possible. Vaas isnt and was never intended to be the main villain and we have only the actor Michael Mando and the heavy marketing by Ubisoft to thank for this misconception.
That really just further illustrates how tone-deaf the writing and design was. Vaas is the perfect villain for that story- that they didn't even realize that is just as sad as them thinking "I hope you choke on how much fun you're having" as a world-design philosophy would be read as satire.
I think that they would have just made Vaas the main villain if they could have. The problem is with the massive amount of forward planning and man hours that go into creating a AAA game like Far Cry 3-they only had so much room to expand Vaas’s role by the time Mando joined the project. At least we got those fun internet shorts.
Relatively cool and related fact as well, Michael Mando does the voicing for Vaas in the English, French and Spanish versions of the game because he spoke 3 languages fluently being a Mexican growing up in Canada.
@@StarCheat Yup, for sure. They also just have the coziest vibe, plus they are never shallow or boring. Noah's videos have ruined 90% of the rest of TH-cam for me, but it's very worth it. I can't believe I even watch and love his travelogues, a genre I've never been interested in before.
@@itcouldbelupus2842 same with the travelogues. Possibly like them even more than the critiques. Because as a European who's never been to the 'States, they show me places that you don't get to see in entertainment media.
I've been a fan of this series since fc2 and I cant really understand how people thought Vaas was a well written antagonist. He comes off as a cartoon character half of the time. I always preferred Pagan Mihn. He's petty and vain and is so starved for attention that he actively challenges the player to keep going. I always took that as AJ wanting to kill him being some form of affection. He's super screwed up and so much fun to watch.
I stupidly asked myself "Which is the best Far Cry game?" One which uses it's mechanics to immerse you in an actually harsh environment and not shy away from frustrating the player to get it's theme across, BUT also gets tiresome very quickly? Or One with baffling written story and a power fantasy, whose writer says its writing is so 'subtle', that people didn't explored it enough, BUT has lots of activities, quests, lots of weapons, much more accessible, and generally more bombastic and fun? Answer is *Far Cry Blood Dragon* , of course.
Personally, I think that for the amount of time you spend in these games, I’d rather have the game that is more engaging in its moment to moment play than the one with the more well realized narrative, if I had to choose one or the other. If these games weren’t meant to eat tens of hours of your life, my answer might be different, but for my money, Far Cry 3 is still the best one.
For me its Far Cry 4 for the amount of weapons, Far Cry 5 for gameplay and graphics and probably Primal for the setting. Far Cry 3 was great until FC 4 came out.
Farcry 2 is infinitely more interesting and engaging than any other installment as far as im concerned. Farcry 3 was the point when ubisoft just began to design these games by their template.
Frustrating the player is only good to a game's theme when frustration is the point, if not then it just shows that the developers weren't able to find a better way to get their theme across.
I thought Far Cry 2 had a Heart Of Darkness vibe to it as well. As in undertaking a journey to find and assassinate someone while watching the realities of war in the process.
@bigevilworldwide1 You don't get the point of it, though - Noah outlines it in the video. The hostility of it and the pains it takes to depict a certain caricature of a location. It was all deliberate, whether or not you enjoyed it is irrelevant to the its ultimate end-goal - which is fucking insane that the game ever got made at all with that kind of mission statement but what it came out with is the video game equivalent of something like Come and See or Requiem for a Dream - undeniably artistic and important and an experience but not something that's fun or that one necessarily wants to watch ever again - except to inflict the experience on someone new and watch their reaction to it. The game had a very intentional Heart of Darkness vibe - devs have said it was meant as something of a 'remake' or adaptation of Heart of Darkness. I think Far Cry 2 is much more meandering - a slow prodding descent into madness while Heart of Darkness is a log-flume of increasingly awful human degradation, which speeds up as it goes. Spec Ops is a much more fitting adaptation I think, but Far Cry 2 ended up doing something different and - I'd argue - more important as a commentary on the video game medium. Something that isn't derivative or based off something else like so many other games - both good and bad. It shot for derivative and accidentally landed on original and I can't help but appreciate it all - especially the attention to details and the fact it still holds up well today - even as it infuriates the shit out of me. Oddly enough I SELDOM actually finish a game's story. Even games I love like The Witcher III I get to 70 or 80 percent through the story - see where it's going or lost my interest - and stop, I finished Far Cry 2 though so maybe there's something to be said for a game that actively wants to hatefuck you.
2:07:42 Apparently, the "Bee Bombs" of Far Cry Primal have some basis in real life. There is precedent even as late as the middle ages of using beehives as weapons. Mayans too had soldiers that specialized in throwing beehives at enemies. I'm unsure if there's any basis in them being used in the stone age, though.
Noah, this is legitimately one of your best thorough looks, if not your best. Very thorough and contextual analysis, convincing perspectives backed by sequences and quotes and other evidence, and a personal framing to keep all of it grounded. Thank you for your hard work.
@@bmabhilash01 I think he was born in Hong Kong when it was still a British colony, but he probably would identify more as Chinese, as he is ethnically and culturally Chinese, with Chinese parents.
the reason nobody is upset over blood dragon borrowing assets from far cry 3 is because it was a cheap dlc. not a 60 dollar separate game like far cry primal
Also, the fact that it was originally supposed to be like BD and cost less, but since they delayed AC, they needed another slot for a full price AAA game.
Having been to many Himalayan hill stations as a child, Ubisoft did a fantastic job with Far Cry 4 in bring the setting alive. Also, it's "A-Ja-YE" as Pagan Min pronounces it.
Hemang Chauhan I think Noah calls the MC “AJ” because it’s what the MC calls himself. He’s mispronouncing his name, sure, but that’s how he’s always referred to himself. It’s kinda like a nickname, in that way. And it’s an interesting character trait to highlight how Ajay is an American-raised person of South Asian descent.
Rhys Egner Hehe, nice observation. As an Indian guy, it was quite grating to hear "AJ" all the time, but after your comment, I can understand why. And it's strangely only Pagan Min who pronounces it as "Ajay" in correct South Asian way.
I've been to Nepal and stayed in a small village in the mountains near Kathmandu and it wasnt really much like Far Cry, so I suppose it's quite a varied place.
Hey, loved the video, but I had a thought that I felt would've perhaps added to the overall talk of Far Cry 5. Namely, the parallels that either intentionally or unintentionally was made between the Eden's Gate cult and the real life incidents at Rajneeshpuram. The documentary Wild Wild Country is a fine overview of it, as well as Down the Rabbit Hole's video on this site. In the 1980's it was set up by an Indian guru and his followers of a very unorthodox and highly insular sect, a city built by the followers in the middle of rural Oregon. They gained thousands of new converts flooding in almost constantly to work for and protect Rajneesh. To get any kind of recognition as a settlement they went and moved people into the neighboring town of Antelope, outnumbered the small population of locals, and took over the town council and police force, sending off followers to police academies so they could then come back and be armed patrolling guards of the cult. A long legal battle over the legality of it all ensued, causing the Rajneeshis to grow more violent, secluded, and ready for "war" if need be. This would result in several attempted assassinations on state officials, and ultimately the largest domestic biological terror attack with the intentional Salmonella infection of more than 700 people. At any point it seemed that a standoff could happen and it'd be the state vs an armed and trained militia that held nearly an entire county. It's a miracle the situation ended up being handled. One could also say that it connects to Jonestown, being faux-Christianity as a guise for a leader-centered cult ultimately leading to death and violence. As I imagine most people know, it ended with almost everyone there dying in "revolutionary suicide", convinced up to that point the world really was ending and if they couldn't have their retreat life was unworthy of them. I do not mean to trivialize the suffering and reality of both these real life incidents, which is why I have to say even if you do look at Far Cry 5 through this lens of actual settlement-based cults, it fails spectacularly at exploring the reasons these kinds of cults prop up, and why people join them. Rajneeshpuram was a mix of disillusioned intellectuals and the genuinely downtrodden, as well as immigrants feeling ostracized, eventually even a large number of homeless. Jonestown built itself on racial inclusion in an era that segregation was still very real. The cult leaders took advantage of fundamental issues with America not properly addressed to tempt the affected into doing as they say. Having Eden's Gate practically drug everyone into compliance ruins that entire angle, and with no other reason for this cult-like behavior for anyone but the Seed family, it stands as the only seeming root of the endless hordes of Peggies. Perhaps something that would be more fitting to the "theme" of Far Cry 5, or at least feeling of it, of that hopelessness in the American identity and a retreat from the long understood secular democratic model, would have that be the reason that people joined all together. Some dialogue with cultists themselves, not their preachy leaders, about how America had failed them. Of course this would mean that Far Cry 5 would have to speak out about really anything, but I feel if they were really so worried about stepping on toes, maybe they could have been bipartisan about it. Have the jobless blue collar middle american white man fired from the factories in the cult side by side with the harassed and systematically kept down african american man wanting an escape from the cyclical troubles of poor urban life. Have the Seeds welcome veterans that have gone without proper medical care or really any care now partnered and faithful by the side of immigrants that grew tired of being forced through the constant ringer that the modern age brings them. Even have just people sick of the modern political climate. Perhaps the cultists really come from all over the country and reflect issues in red states and blue, things increasingly divided sides each find issue with. This way, while I'd prefer they'd take a greater and maybe more divisive stand on what many people thought the game would, it could still at the very least be a sort of look over at America's problems on every corner of the map. A sort of overview of symptoms of a larger American problem, and have the game be focused around, if not trying to solve them, to illustrate how retreating into a reactionary, reclusive mindset is not going to solve any of those problems. How doing so makes everyone in the equation suffer. Those were just my thoughts, thanks for reading down this far. I look forward to more videos Noah, I adore what you do.
I think one of the reasons why I actually connected with Far Cry 5 more than I thought, was because of certain memories I had as a kid. Not good ones. When I was growing up, my mom would constantly read up online about all these conspiracy theories on how the world will end, and she started freaking out at me, saying that we need to doomsday prep, etc. She would buy canned food and store it in a bin in the closet so she was prepared whenever the "shit hits the fan". She would tell me that she would randomly pull me out of school and move us up north to live in a trailer to "be safe when the shit hits the fan." As a 16 year old kid, I thought she was absoltuely insane, and years later, that canned food expired and she ended up throwing it away, and we did not move up north. Now, FC5 is an overexaggerated thought on this, but it was kind of cathardic to play something that themed around being against doomsday preppers...
Very few things get me as engaged as the A Thorough Look At series, and this is one of the best entries yet. Many thanks; I'll be ruminating on this for some time.
I forgot it existed 3 seconds after reading your sentence. I don't even know why I just wrote that I have no context as to what it's about? What did I forget? Who knows. Who cares. I'll remember it if it's important.
beetlehorn I believe Jennifer Connelly was actually cast as Brad Pitt in that movie. An easy mistake to make, I originally assumed Brad Pitt would take on the role of Brad Pitt. But the director believed Connelly could do a better Irish accent.
I still play far cry 2 from time to time, it really is an immersive game. If you treat it like a single player deathmatch game, where everything goes haywire in hilarious ways, then it really is a rich and wonderful experience.
Yeeees! Finally one I can watch from start to finish having played each and every one. I recently bought and played Homefront TR and it's DLC on sale and played it just to be able to watch Noah's review and actually understanding what was going on. This is gonna be great!
Your best work to date. Thoroughly enjoyable, and your analysis is so on point that I am pleased at my own resourcefulness for finding this channel that breaks down so much of the symbolism and so many concepts and tropes that went right over my head when I experienced these games. Amazing work, and thank you.
When I played Far Cry 3 I took the ‘let’s not murder the character’s’ friends route because I guess the path was walking wasn’t to the temple of masculine desire, I was here to shoot baddies, lodge a fancy sword in the internal organs of the biggest baddies and then fudge off back to reality when I was done. I didn’t want to conquer the tribes, all the colonialist nonsense the entire game was just white noise by the end... I was just playing for the mechanics and when I exhausted those mechanics I left back to reality, the stress ball the game was left in the drawer for future use as needed
"[...]in an era where both sides' 'whataboutism' casts an impentrable fog over any serious reckoning with how the American character has begun to molt its skin and become something none of us much recognize, anymore." That is one of the most succinct statements I've heard about the state of the union, currently. Though I wonder if it's an inevitable result of the internet giving us instantaneous exposure, whether we seek it or not, to a million ideas and ways of being. "[...]this kind of fatalism is unnecessary. But that reading might be giving Far Cry 5 too much credit." That'd be quite brilliant, but I agree that it doesn't seem as if that is what the game is going for. Though, "if the shoe fits," wouldn't you say? I wish you had gone on a bit more about fatalism and its place in contemporary America. Great content as always, Noah.
Was agreeing up until far cry 5, was wondering why, then realized, new dawn wasn't out yet. The direct sequel agrees with you on many of the points you make here. Even after the one event many people associate with the absolute end of the world, it will carry on. There will still be beauty, there will still be life. It's incredibly optimistic, and rewards the hope from the previous game.
Very late to the party, but a game should be able to resolve itself on its own; it shouldn't need a DLC to tie up its loose thematic ends. Why would I play FC 5 if nothing in it matters, in the end? Should I just skip straight to the end instead of holding hope that the present will improve? I also didn't really like New Dawn all that much, but that's less a fault of the writing and more a fault of the looter-shooter game design.
actually in the "secret" ending to far cry 5 (the one where you walk away 5 minutes after starting the game, one of the supporting characters does say something about calling the national guard. so in a way, the secret ending is actually the best ending
First time watching one of your videos and found it excellent. There's a lot more to unpack about the ending of FC 5 I think, as well. Will be contributing to the Patreon. Again, excellent work.
Small correction for somewhere around the 1:18:00 mark, Pagan Min wasn't a Native of Kyrat, he was a Hong Konger with one English parent, hence the accent. He was, for all intents and purposes, a colonizer, who went to a small country and took it over by force to live out his narcissistic fantasies of absolute power.
I was just thinking yesterday that I would like to hear what you have to say about the Far Cry series and lo and behold, this has arrived. Thanks a lot for the great content that will take the next 2 and a half hours of my life
I hated Far Cry 5’s ending. SO much. Worst part is, if you walk away at the end, you hear the ‘only you’ song that Jacob Brainwashed you with and it cuts to block, so it can be assumed or implied it triggered and made you kill your friends and return to Joseph Seed
Hey Noah! I'm a huge fan of your videos. As a philosophy graduate, I admire the clear and concise way you deliver your idea and arguments. That being said I noticed that in the video you took note of the large amount of scholarly work covering Far Cry 2. I went to PhilPapers and JSTOR and could only find a small handful. I'd really love to know of prominent papers that you've uncovered about the game. If you possibly see this I'd really love to chat and maybe trade some links. Anyway thanks for creating videos, you are easily my favorite content creator I've found on the internet. I hope as soon as I become employed I can start donating to the patreon! anyways I appreciate you taking the time to make thi video and read this, thanks a bunch.
I actually felt like Faith had more going on than you gave her credit for here. I definitely agree that on the whole FC5 failed to take a stance on...well, anything, but the little details around Faith were some of the most compelling to me--her claiming during your fight with her, "I was only seventeen! Do you think I wanted this?", the letters that imply she's not the only Faith to have lived in Hope (and IIRC Joseph's statement that she will be "hard to replace"--but not impossible, I guess) were some of the very few narrative pieces that touched on the misogyny endemic to so many cults, but particularly the Christian dispensationalist kind that they studiously avoided indicting here. Obviously I would have liked a more explicit exploration of these patterns and beliefs (and like, any commentary at all on the racial politics of apocalypticism??) but I felt that the little bits that did exist were smart, if too understated. (Also like, I suspect it's unintentional bc I'm sure the dialog is the same no matter your avatar, but I think the menace of being trapped in the bunker with Joseph in the "real" ending is so much more oppressive/nauseating if you play The Deputy as a woman, and I just wish they had like, meaningfully acknowledged that in any way). I also agree that FC4 had the most coherent union of gameplay/narrative/feel and it's definitely my favorite in the series for that reason.
I have a very similar opinion of Far cry 5 as this critique and it's so satisfying to hear it articulated way better then I have been able to. Outstanding work Noah!
Hoping to see a follow-up video on Far Cry 6. I'm roughly three quarters of the way through the story and there seems to be a lot of stuff Noah could talk about, for good or for bad.
Except it's mostly based on what Westerners think Indian mythology ought to be like than any actual Indian mythology. I get that that may also be a conscious decision - can't cause religious controversy if you just make up a religion.
@@TheSaint491 it's in a fictional nation isn't it? For small nations in the Himalayas, yiu have Tibet - mostly Buddhist - or Nepal - mostly Hindu - so it could be considered Indian mythology.
Yeah. I admit that the plot isn't super dense, but for 2004 games, the plot for Far Cry was highly enjoyable for its function. That function is partially to give you a tour of the island like an alternate version of Jurassic Park with trigens instead of dinosaurs. Highly charming game back then and the AI, sound, lighting, art style, draw distance, and colors were all gorgeous. Got to play this on my dad's surround sound setup when I was a kid.
Alright, I just blasted through this starting at 2 am and now I'm gonna rewatch it slowly over the next couple days to really digest your thoughts on it, I think this is the tipping point where I should be a patreon sponsor for you given how much entertainment you provide to me at no cost lol
I played 5 and new dawn with a friend when they went on sale. Was my first time ever with the series, and after hearing about all these other titles, I went and played 3 and am now playing 2. Truly a great and varied series.
Honestly i dont know if youll see this comment noah but i recently discovered your channel and abseloutley loved it and have been getting my friends into it. Keep doing what your doing your giving the type of perspective that no other person has done that ive seen. Its also made me look at games so much differently thank you! And know your doing amazing work. By the way sorry my grammer sucks lol.
Am I the only one who actually liked the plot of the first Far Cry? I mean, yeah, it's very cheesy but is it necessary a bad thing? It felt like a good action movie from 80-s or 90-s (like the ones with Schwarzenegger or Stallone). And mutant monsters made the gameplay much more diverse and challenging.
I'm surprised that you didn't mention *Halo 2* when talking about shooters from 2004 that changed the FPS and gaming landscape as a whole forever. It's one of the big reasons that shooters became a mainstream social hobby and pioneered a lot of online gaming staples, among other things.
I agree but at the same time I feel like Halo 1 was a lot more ground breaking of a single player FPS and Halo 2 was more of a huge leap forward for multiplayer gaming which Noah isn’t very well acquainted with. It’s still odd that he doesn’t mention it though. Noah tends to have these weird gaps in his retrospectives, like how he completely ignored Devil May Cry’s influence on the God of War Series. I’d argue the Halo games developed by Bungie were far more influential on the medium of gaming than either Half Life.
It was recently confirmed by the developers that The Jackal from FC2 is Jack Carver-- the protagonist from FC1. I can't help but wonder how this information would effect Noah's analysis.
It doesnt rlly fit tho. In fc1 jack just makes jokes abd coudnt care less abt humans being experimented on. But the jackal is cleaely traumatized from messed up stuff and also is very serious abt conflict
So after the events of Far Cry 1 Jack Carver read a few paragraphs of Nietzsche and decided that grim fatalism was the path and became an arms dealer who sold to anyone and everyone. I buy it.
As always, I love your retrospectives and your sense of humor! Honestly your videos are the most exciting thing to watch for me. Every time I see a new video by Mr. Gervais is an actual event for me, so thank you for making these!
i love that a steep drop off in quality toward the end of the game is the most universal series staple across farcry games
I just replayed Far Cry 3 (that's why I'm here lol) and wow. I didn't remember the second Island stuff at all. Everything after Vaas dies is a blur, besides the final mission and the harder Compounds. I would have been more satisfied had the game ended with Vaas dying and maybe some of the Citra stuff. But everything else was completely forgettable.
Says who? It’s subjective, can’t be a staple if it’s something opinion based…. Use brain maybe
@@idrinkmilk282 go drink some milk LOLOLOL
@@idrinkmilk282 Yes, that part goes without saying.
@@idrinkmilk282 Did you think this was clever
That interview with the Far Cry 3 developer is mind-boggling.
"Pretentious frat-bro" is the best way I can describe it. It's the most bizarre combination of supposed high-mindedness while still being absolutely meat headed
He should design more games. The medium needs a Zack Snyder for the unintentional laughs
@@destroyerofworlds9860as a queer person, it was awesome to see a gay guy in power in the gaming industry with no self awareness in 2012. that’s normally a straight man’s gig and i appreciate Yohalem’s passion for hollow, meaningless subversion even in his very own life.
7/10 gameplay
8/10 voice over
9/10 analysis
10/10 Cryptkeeper impression
What do you mean "9/10 analysis"?!!!!!!
@@hayk3000 Gotta leave some headroom for the Cryptkeeper, is all
@@hayk3000 it *was* 10/10 till he did the crypt keeper showed up, and you can’t have 11/10
@@paulisaperson0516 no, you see, this goes to 11, it's one more
1:07:22 if you need to relive that moment
As an African in Africa it's always interesting to see foreign depictions of African countries.
which country are you from man?
The_Expest Africa
Most of the time they treat it as one country
@@yoyomabusa205 Like Noah said, and many before him, it's due to the latent colonial mindset. As a thought exercise, one should search online for a map that lets you copy a country or countries and then transpose it anywhere on the globe to see how the even our MAPS exhibit a colonial mindset in which we make our parts of the world larger, and their parts of the world smaller. In reality, one could fit the entire United States inside Africa with plenty of room to spare, and the US is by no means a small country - it's half a continent unto itself - Europe entirely is dwarfed by Africa, probably with the US still taking up space over it. It's such a colossal continent and people overlook this fact.
They did actually change the game after a trip to africa.
I had always heard stories, but I never realized how absurd the story of Far Cry 3 was until today.
Regarding your buddy-morphine story, I had a similar experience in my game too. A comrade saved me from a particularly brutal firefight, only to get hit and bleed out before I could save him. It was on the very edge of the second map I think, so right next to a seemingly endless desert. I was so sad about it that I fired off bullets into the desert until I was completely empty.
It's been 12 years and I remember that experience like it was yesterday.
With Far Cry 3, I always assumed it was less a deconstruction of the "Mighty Whitey" and more of the "Action Survivor". Brody is some kind of everyman who finds himself in a dangerous situation but becomes some kind of uber-badass almost inexplicably. The game tries to deconstruct this by having Brody portrayed as becoming a bit psycho, he's starting to enjoy the violence. For example, Jason sometimes appears to be treating kill-or-be-killed situations with a high degree of frivolity, same way the player does. This is presented as disturbing.
Problem is, the player enjoys this sort of thing too. In addition, much of the violence you engage in is pretty justifiable. The Pirates are clearly shown to be monstrous and have kidnapped your family. In fact, Jason's frivolous attitude is actually arguably less him becoming a psychopath and more him adapting to cope. To use an example, guys who work at the ER often have a sense of humor that'd come across as very tasteless to us. This is because your life-and-death emergency is their 9-5 and they have to treat it at as such. They run into more life-and-death situations than they have fucks to give and they're all out.
Similarly, if you're in Brody's situation, one of the more *healthy* responses is to simply develop a sense of humor about it. It's less him losing sanity, and more a coping mechanism and making lemonade out of lemons.
Noah. You astound me every time. "So much fun, we hope you fucking choke." There are so many great game critiques out there, but yours are always insightful, thoughtful, and incredibly well presented. You deserve that Patreon money.
One thing I liked about the Far Cry 2 diamonds is that there was some sort of implied struggle or tragic story behind each one. It might be scenic but you get the sense that all you're doing is picking up scraps. Also that it was the only thing to collect.
An incredible achievement. Finally Noah's commentary has been matched with technical execution worthy of it. Tight editing providing pertinent footage throughout, good levels, and near perfect narration (presumably now with re-dubs where necessary.) And over commentary that is as insightful, thoughtful and thorough as ever.
For sure your greatest work yet, Noah. Well done.
Near perfect narration? I mean, I like that he keeps the mistakes and missteps in as it makes it feel like he is just chatting and it's an actual human talking.
@@TheAlmightyAss Near perfect for Noah :) Noah was never going to have professionally produced audio. Or at least, he wasn't at that time. He might in future now he has an editor working for him. And yes, I also like that 'live' feel, as if he was sitting there talking to us.
So something like...I wanna say seven years ago I distinctly recall getting into a conversation in the comments section of the PC Gamer Podcast surrounding why Far Cry 2 got such a high score by the magazine. I was much younger then so I couldn't really formulate the words too well, but I remember Logan Decker having found the conversation and read my response on the next episode. The long and short of it was that the game was an excellent sell of the mundanity and difficulties of being a mercenary or a gun-for-hire. It didn't have to be fun, it fulfilled its purpose in making you understand the endless and meaningless actions you were partaking in.
Seven years later you kinda helped me realize just how "good" this game is and that I wasn't crazy.
31:05 - I double-post a lot - bad habit, but what you've said at that time-mark regarding Neitzche and the subversion of that power-fantasy reminds me of an instance of playing this game when I was much younger. Likely around 14 or earlier in my life where I played FC2 an awful lot even though it gave me an immense amount of headaches. No matter what, my entire experience of going through the first biome of the game was pretty much epitomized by trudging through grasslands and woodlands, getting ambushed, outgunned, or otherwise pursued and harassed, while going about my business to the point where I hated the very environment itself. So, when I finally got access to the mortar around the second half of the game I promptly took it to a hill overlooking one of the larger towns of the game, set-up, and shelled the town indiscriminately, raining death from above on 'friend' and foe alike in retribution for what I viewed as transgressions against me perpetrated by the previous biome.
I thought nothing of this action until years later when I was old enough to understand the themes of the game, and hearing you talk about the quoting of Neitzche and of nihilism and of subverting the power fantasy of games it made me recall this instance. It's a random action of mayhem that - unlike perhaps in GTA or other Far Cry games - wasn't born of boredom but of my young self wanting to lash out against the perceived powerlessness felt in the game world. Screaming into the void in the worst kind of way, that could make one understand just a little more the mindset of someone who would - in real-life - indiscriminately shell a population center. That is very unique for a video game, I feel, and I'm not sure how to feel about it exactly.
I think you have experienced what the developers wanted you to experience. An eye for an eye is not a solution, in game terms APR vs UFLL violence is only good for mercs making money and not for anyone else.
'-'
I swear to you, I swear this is not a lie. Yesterday, after watching Errant Signal's video on Far Cry 5, I was thinking "It would be great if Noah did a Far Cry series retrospective, but he never will, it's a long saga and long games" and here we are today.
Noah >>>>>> Errant Signal (both are good at what they do though)
Do you have any other channel suggestions for intelligent video game analysis on TH-cam? This is just about the only one I know.
Matthewmatosis
i second matthewmatosis. Errant signal is really good too. Noah, matthewmatosis and Errant signal seems to be playing in their own league completely.
There's also Joseph Anderson to some degree, although I'd say he has a little more of an emotional style as opposed to Campster's/Noah's more even-toned college lecture-y motif.
Regarding FC3's Vaas, he was never intended to be a main villain. The reason why he got so much game tike is because the actor who did the voice over was so good at the audition that they just had to change the script. But just a bit, they game's production was well on its way and bigger changes wouldn't have been possible. Vaas isnt and was never intended to be the main villain and we have only the actor Michael Mando and the heavy marketing by Ubisoft to thank for this misconception.
Cynical Sceptic Honestly? He still should’ve been the main villain. He’s WAY more interesting than the other villains.
That really just further illustrates how tone-deaf the writing and design was.
Vaas is the perfect villain for that story- that they didn't even realize that is just as sad as them thinking "I hope you choke on how much fun you're having" as a world-design philosophy would be read as satire.
Also worth noting that Mando did the mocap for Vaas as well.
I think that they would have just made Vaas the main villain if they could have. The problem is with the massive amount of forward planning and man hours that go into creating a AAA game like Far Cry 3-they only had so much room to expand Vaas’s role by the time Mando joined the project. At least we got those fun internet shorts.
Relatively cool and related fact as well, Michael Mando does the voicing for Vaas in the English, French and Spanish versions of the game because he spoke 3 languages fluently being a Mexican growing up in Canada.
Top-notch analysis as always, but I have to say 1:07:29 is the most fantastic evil laugh. I was genuinely impressed.
I'm going to be sad when I have no more of this man's videos to watch.
Rewatching.
@@itcouldbelupus2842 There's just so much in them that going back is always worth the rewatch.
@@StarCheat Yup, for sure.
They also just have the coziest vibe, plus they are never shallow or boring.
Noah's videos have ruined 90% of the rest of TH-cam for me, but it's very worth it.
I can't believe I even watch and love his travelogues, a genre I've never been interested in before.
@@itcouldbelupus2842 same with the travelogues. Possibly like them even more than the critiques. Because as a European who's never been to the 'States, they show me places that you don't get to see in entertainment media.
Far Cry 5's endings feels like they were written in a completely different building from the rest of the game's development...
Reminds me of Homefront The Revolution's late game twist
TH-cam: You need a video to be over 10 minutes for monetisation.
Noah: Hold my beer.
Noah, that was the best crypt keeper impersonation I've ever heard. Out of all the compliment's I'll ever give, that's probably the most sincere.
I've been a fan of this series since fc2 and I cant really understand how people thought Vaas was a well written antagonist. He comes off as a cartoon character half of the time. I always preferred Pagan Mihn. He's petty and vain and is so starved for attention that he actively challenges the player to keep going. I always took that as AJ wanting to kill him being some form of affection. He's super screwed up and so much fun to watch.
I stupidly asked myself "Which is the best Far Cry game?"
One which uses it's mechanics to immerse you in an actually harsh environment and not shy away from frustrating the player to get it's theme across, BUT also gets tiresome very quickly?
Or
One with baffling written story and a power fantasy, whose writer says its writing is so 'subtle', that people didn't explored it enough, BUT has lots of activities, quests, lots of weapons, much more accessible, and generally more bombastic and fun?
Answer is *Far Cry Blood Dragon* , of course.
Personally, I think that for the amount of time you spend in these games, I’d rather have the game that is more engaging in its moment to moment play than the one with the more well realized narrative, if I had to choose one or the other. If these games weren’t meant to eat tens of hours of your life, my answer might be different, but for my money, Far Cry 3 is still the best one.
Far Cry 2?
For me its Far Cry 4 for the amount of weapons, Far Cry 5 for gameplay and graphics and probably Primal for the setting. Far Cry 3 was great until FC 4 came out.
Farcry 2 is infinitely more interesting and engaging than any other installment as far as im concerned. Farcry 3 was the point when ubisoft just began to design these games by their template.
Frustrating the player is only good to a game's theme when frustration is the point, if not then it just shows that the developers weren't able to find a better way to get their theme across.
I thought Far Cry 2 had a Heart Of Darkness vibe to it as well. As in undertaking a journey to find and assassinate someone while watching the realities of war in the process.
@bigevilworldwide1 get a color mod and it improves the experience impressively 0-0 the texture work, modeling and everything else look so good
@bigevilworldwide1 You don't get the point of it, though - Noah outlines it in the video. The hostility of it and the pains it takes to depict a certain caricature of a location. It was all deliberate, whether or not you enjoyed it is irrelevant to the its ultimate end-goal - which is fucking insane that the game ever got made at all with that kind of mission statement but what it came out with is the video game equivalent of something like Come and See or Requiem for a Dream - undeniably artistic and important and an experience but not something that's fun or that one necessarily wants to watch ever again - except to inflict the experience on someone new and watch their reaction to it.
The game had a very intentional Heart of Darkness vibe - devs have said it was meant as something of a 'remake' or adaptation of Heart of Darkness. I think Far Cry 2 is much more meandering - a slow prodding descent into madness while Heart of Darkness is a log-flume of increasingly awful human degradation, which speeds up as it goes. Spec Ops is a much more fitting adaptation I think, but Far Cry 2 ended up doing something different and - I'd argue - more important as a commentary on the video game medium. Something that isn't derivative or based off something else like so many other games - both good and bad. It shot for derivative and accidentally landed on original and I can't help but appreciate it all - especially the attention to details and the fact it still holds up well today - even as it infuriates the shit out of me.
Oddly enough I SELDOM actually finish a game's story. Even games I love like The Witcher III I get to 70 or 80 percent through the story - see where it's going or lost my interest - and stop, I finished Far Cry 2 though so maybe there's something to be said for a game that actively wants to hatefuck you.
I'd love to hear Noah's thoughts on the Just Cause series. Especially the second part is great meaterial for compare and contrast with the FC series.
Just Cause 3 is peak Just Cause to me
Cryptkeeper impersonation is on point.
2:07:42
Apparently, the "Bee Bombs" of Far Cry Primal have some basis in real life. There is precedent even as late as the middle ages of using beehives as weapons. Mayans too had soldiers that specialized in throwing beehives at enemies. I'm unsure if there's any basis in them being used in the stone age, though.
Noah, this is legitimately one of your best thorough looks, if not your best. Very thorough and contextual analysis, convincing perspectives backed by sequences and quotes and other evidence, and a personal framing to keep all of it grounded. Thank you for your hard work.
Also Pagan Min is Chinese, not kirati. I'm writing these as I watch the video, so sorry for the many comments
Isn't he from Hong Kong ?
@@bmabhilash01 I think he was born in Hong Kong when it was still a British colony, but he probably would identify more as Chinese, as he is ethnically and culturally Chinese, with Chinese parents.
the reason nobody is upset over blood dragon borrowing assets from far cry 3 is because it was a cheap dlc. not a 60 dollar separate game like far cry primal
Also, the fact that it was originally supposed to be like BD and cost less, but since they delayed AC, they needed another slot for a full price AAA game.
I was, honestly.
Having been to many Himalayan hill stations as a child, Ubisoft did a fantastic job with Far Cry 4 in bring the setting alive.
Also, it's "A-Ja-YE" as Pagan Min pronounces it.
Hemang Chauhan I think Noah calls the MC “AJ” because it’s what the MC calls himself. He’s mispronouncing his name, sure, but that’s how he’s always referred to himself.
It’s kinda like a nickname, in that way. And it’s an interesting character trait to highlight how Ajay is an American-raised person of South Asian descent.
Rhys Egner Hehe, nice observation. As an Indian guy, it was quite grating to hear "AJ" all the time, but after your comment, I can understand why.
And it's strangely only Pagan Min who pronounces it as "Ajay" in correct South Asian way.
because its a western game
@@samuelraji8343 I'm sorry, what part of Montreal isn't Western?
I've been to Nepal and stayed in a small village in the mountains near Kathmandu and it wasnt really much like Far Cry, so I suppose it's quite a varied place.
Hey, loved the video, but I had a thought that I felt would've perhaps added to the overall talk of Far Cry 5. Namely, the parallels that either intentionally or unintentionally was made between the Eden's Gate cult and the real life incidents at Rajneeshpuram. The documentary Wild Wild Country is a fine overview of it, as well as Down the Rabbit Hole's video on this site. In the 1980's it was set up by an Indian guru and his followers of a very unorthodox and highly insular sect, a city built by the followers in the middle of rural Oregon. They gained thousands of new converts flooding in almost constantly to work for and protect Rajneesh. To get any kind of recognition as a settlement they went and moved people into the neighboring town of Antelope, outnumbered the small population of locals, and took over the town council and police force, sending off followers to police academies so they could then come back and be armed patrolling guards of the cult. A long legal battle over the legality of it all ensued, causing the Rajneeshis to grow more violent, secluded, and ready for "war" if need be. This would result in several attempted assassinations on state officials, and ultimately the largest domestic biological terror attack with the intentional Salmonella infection of more than 700 people. At any point it seemed that a standoff could happen and it'd be the state vs an armed and trained militia that held nearly an entire county. It's a miracle the situation ended up being handled.
One could also say that it connects to Jonestown, being faux-Christianity as a guise for a leader-centered cult ultimately leading to death and violence. As I imagine most people know, it ended with almost everyone there dying in "revolutionary suicide", convinced up to that point the world really was ending and if they couldn't have their retreat life was unworthy of them.
I do not mean to trivialize the suffering and reality of both these real life incidents, which is why I have to say even if you do look at Far Cry 5 through this lens of actual settlement-based cults, it fails spectacularly at exploring the reasons these kinds of cults prop up, and why people join them. Rajneeshpuram was a mix of disillusioned intellectuals and the genuinely downtrodden, as well as immigrants feeling ostracized, eventually even a large number of homeless. Jonestown built itself on racial inclusion in an era that segregation was still very real. The cult leaders took advantage of fundamental issues with America not properly addressed to tempt the affected into doing as they say. Having Eden's Gate practically drug everyone into compliance ruins that entire angle, and with no other reason for this cult-like behavior for anyone but the Seed family, it stands as the only seeming root of the endless hordes of Peggies.
Perhaps something that would be more fitting to the "theme" of Far Cry 5, or at least feeling of it, of that hopelessness in the American identity and a retreat from the long understood secular democratic model, would have that be the reason that people joined all together. Some dialogue with cultists themselves, not their preachy leaders, about how America had failed them. Of course this would mean that Far Cry 5 would have to speak out about really anything, but I feel if they were really so worried about stepping on toes, maybe they could have been bipartisan about it. Have the jobless blue collar middle american white man fired from the factories in the cult side by side with the harassed and systematically kept down african american man wanting an escape from the cyclical troubles of poor urban life. Have the Seeds welcome veterans that have gone without proper medical care or really any care now partnered and faithful by the side of immigrants that grew tired of being forced through the constant ringer that the modern age brings them. Even have just people sick of the modern political climate.
Perhaps the cultists really come from all over the country and reflect issues in red states and blue, things increasingly divided sides each find issue with. This way, while I'd prefer they'd take a greater and maybe more divisive stand on what many people thought the game would, it could still at the very least be a sort of look over at America's problems on every corner of the map. A sort of overview of symptoms of a larger American problem, and have the game be focused around, if not trying to solve them, to illustrate how retreating into a reactionary, reclusive mindset is not going to solve any of those problems. How doing so makes everyone in the equation suffer.
Those were just my thoughts, thanks for reading down this far. I look forward to more videos Noah, I adore what you do.
I think one of the reasons why I actually connected with Far Cry 5 more than I thought, was because of certain memories I had as a kid. Not good ones. When I was growing up, my mom would constantly read up online about all these conspiracy theories on how the world will end, and she started freaking out at me, saying that we need to doomsday prep, etc. She would buy canned food and store it in a bin in the closet so she was prepared whenever the "shit hits the fan". She would tell me that she would randomly pull me out of school and move us up north to live in a trailer to "be safe when the shit hits the fan." As a 16 year old kid, I thought she was absoltuely insane, and years later, that canned food expired and she ended up throwing it away, and we did not move up north. Now, FC5 is an overexaggerated thought on this, but it was kind of cathardic to play something that themed around being against doomsday preppers...
I feel like you're always about one sentence away from telling me about our boys storming the beaches of Normandy.
Check his recent COD vid and you can hear that.
Man, I could watch an entire retrospective on just far cry 2.
Very few things get me as engaged as the A Thorough Look At series, and this is one of the best entries yet. Many thanks; I'll be ruminating on this for some time.
Binging your stuff last couple days...will contribute when I get off heroin
You say things in such an eloquent way Noah it furthers my own thought process it clarifies things I've struggled to define
I completely forgot Far Cry Primal existed.
I forgot it existed 3 seconds after reading your sentence. I don't even know why I just wrote that I have no context as to what it's about? What did I forget? Who knows. Who cares. I'll remember it if it's important.
He forgor
Noah, I love you. But Brad Pitt wasn't in Blood Diamond...
Monir I just watched Blood Diamond last month.... what do you mean he's not in Blood Diamond?
beetlehorn I believe Jennifer Connelly was actually cast as Brad Pitt in that movie. An easy mistake to make, I originally assumed Brad Pitt would take on the role of Brad Pitt. But the director believed Connelly could do a better Irish accent.
Its leonardo dicaprio not brad pitt.
Leonard DiCaprio plays Brad Pitt in real life in Blood Diamond.
This thread gave me a stroke
I still play far cry 2 from time to time, it really is an immersive game. If you treat it like a single player deathmatch game, where everything goes haywire in hilarious ways, then it really is a rich and wonderful experience.
I am so glad there are other people out there who have seen "The Man From Earth"
Not gonna lie, I'm 29 years old and never noticed before what the "Pro Laps" was supposed mean in GTA 😂
Amazing video, Noah. Words can't express how much enjoyment I get out of seeing you analyze stuff like this so in depth. Keep up the great work!
Yeeees! Finally one I can watch from start to finish having played each and every one. I recently bought and played Homefront TR and it's DLC on sale and played it just to be able to watch Noah's review and actually understanding what was going on. This is gonna be great!
Good to hear your voice again, Noah! I've never had much interest in this series, but you are selling me on Far Cry 4 big time.
Amita & Sabal would be the first and the last a Ubisoft title would ever come close to actually saying something.
Seriously, you’re one of my favorite writers. Good work
Almost three hours of Noah?
Yes, Yes please!
Your best work to date. Thoroughly enjoyable, and your analysis is so on point that I am pleased at my own resourcefulness for finding this channel that breaks down so much of the symbolism and so many concepts and tropes that went right over my head when I experienced these games.
Amazing work, and thank you.
When I played Far Cry 3 I took the ‘let’s not murder the character’s’ friends route because I guess the path was walking wasn’t to the temple of masculine desire, I was here to shoot baddies, lodge a fancy sword in the internal organs of the biggest baddies and then fudge off back to reality when I was done. I didn’t want to conquer the tribes, all the colonialist nonsense the entire game was just white noise by the end... I was just playing for the mechanics and when I exhausted those mechanics I left back to reality, the stress ball the game was left in the drawer for future use as needed
Jason represents an immature man. The Island represents a fantasy land that he conquers. Jason saving his friends represents going back to reality.
It's always a good day when there's a new 3 hour NCG video!
Another excellent video full of thoughtful insight. Thank you for this, truly.
Haven't seen this yet, but holy hell. My kind of channel. Looking forward to this one.
"[...]in an era where both sides' 'whataboutism' casts an impentrable fog over any serious reckoning with how the American character has begun to molt its skin and become something none of us much recognize, anymore."
That is one of the most succinct statements I've heard about the state of the union, currently. Though I wonder if it's an inevitable result of the internet giving us instantaneous exposure, whether we seek it or not, to a million ideas and ways of being.
"[...]this kind of fatalism is unnecessary. But that reading might be giving Far Cry 5 too much credit."
That'd be quite brilliant, but I agree that it doesn't seem as if that is what the game is going for. Though, "if the shoe fits," wouldn't you say? I wish you had gone on a bit more about fatalism and its place in contemporary America. Great content as always, Noah.
I have a long day of number crunching at work. THANK YOU SO MUCH, NOAH! You made this day better.
Was agreeing up until far cry 5, was wondering why, then realized, new dawn wasn't out yet. The direct sequel agrees with you on many of the points you make here. Even after the one event many people associate with the absolute end of the world, it will carry on. There will still be beauty, there will still be life. It's incredibly optimistic, and rewards the hope from the previous game.
Very late to the party, but a game should be able to resolve itself on its own; it shouldn't need a DLC to tie up its loose thematic ends. Why would I play FC 5 if nothing in it matters, in the end? Should I just skip straight to the end instead of holding hope that the present will improve?
I also didn't really like New Dawn all that much, but that's less a fault of the writing and more a fault of the looter-shooter game design.
3 hours of close fair and meaningful critique of something as silly as all of Far Cry... bless you good sir!
actually in the "secret" ending to far cry 5 (the one where you walk away 5 minutes after starting the game, one of the supporting characters does say something about calling the national guard. so in a way, the secret ending is actually the best ending
First time watching one of your videos and found it excellent. There's a lot more to unpack about the ending of FC 5 I think, as well. Will be contributing to the Patreon. Again, excellent work.
Small correction for somewhere around the 1:18:00 mark, Pagan Min wasn't a Native of Kyrat, he was a Hong Konger with one English parent, hence the accent. He was, for all intents and purposes, a colonizer, who went to a small country and took it over by force to live out his narcissistic fantasies of absolute power.
Would love to see how that even happened in the first place
I was just thinking yesterday that I would like to hear what you have to say about the Far Cry series and lo and behold, this has arrived. Thanks a lot for the great content that will take the next 2 and a half hours of my life
"What do you get when you take Far Cry 1 and Far Cry 2 and put them in a blender?" Honestly I was expecting a smash cut to MIA's Paper Planes.
Excellent video as always
I hated Far Cry 5’s ending. SO much. Worst part is, if you walk away at the end, you hear the ‘only you’ song that Jacob Brainwashed you with and it cuts to block, so it can be assumed or implied it triggered and made you kill your friends and return to Joseph Seed
Yeah, who'd want to return to Joseph Anderson? The horror...
Being A Sheriff - It's No Masterpiece
Joseph Anderson's channel and writing - It's No Masterpiece
@@MrLlurati yeah Ali A is better
I thought the ending was tragic. It was supposed to be tragic.
It was supposed to end and give you an unsatisfied feeling. The reason is.. NEW DAWN :D
Oh man, I woke up to this! I'm so glad i did. Keep up the great work! I'm a huge fan. I've been loving your stuff since I discovered it in 2015.
Hey Noah! I'm a huge fan of your videos. As a philosophy graduate, I admire the clear and concise way you deliver your idea and arguments. That being said I noticed that in the video you took note of the large amount of scholarly work covering Far Cry 2. I went to PhilPapers and JSTOR and could only find a small handful. I'd really love to know of prominent papers that you've uncovered about the game. If you possibly see this I'd really love to chat and maybe trade some links. Anyway thanks for creating videos, you are easily my favorite content creator I've found on the internet. I hope as soon as I become employed I can start donating to the patreon! anyways I appreciate you taking the time to make thi video and read this, thanks a bunch.
God, I absolutely love your videos, keep up the good work!
I actually felt like Faith had more going on than you gave her credit for here. I definitely agree that on the whole FC5 failed to take a stance on...well, anything, but the little details around Faith were some of the most compelling to me--her claiming during your fight with her, "I was only seventeen! Do you think I wanted this?", the letters that imply she's not the only Faith to have lived in Hope (and IIRC Joseph's statement that she will be "hard to replace"--but not impossible, I guess) were some of the very few narrative pieces that touched on the misogyny endemic to so many cults, but particularly the Christian dispensationalist kind that they studiously avoided indicting here. Obviously I would have liked a more explicit exploration of these patterns and beliefs (and like, any commentary at all on the racial politics of apocalypticism??) but I felt that the little bits that did exist were smart, if too understated. (Also like, I suspect it's unintentional bc I'm sure the dialog is the same no matter your avatar, but I think the menace of being trapped in the bunker with Joseph in the "real" ending is so much more oppressive/nauseating if you play The Deputy as a woman, and I just wish they had like, meaningfully acknowledged that in any way).
I also agree that FC4 had the most coherent union of gameplay/narrative/feel and it's definitely my favorite in the series for that reason.
My eyes light up whenever I see you post a new video. Keep up the great work, Noah!
"Apocalyptic chaos Calvinism" is brilliant and spot-damn on.
I have a very similar opinion of Far cry 5 as this critique and it's so satisfying to hear it articulated way better then I have been able to. Outstanding work Noah!
"Rides it. His pony."
oh god lol
I just want to say your analysis of far cry 4 was beautiful
Hoping to see a follow-up video on Far Cry 6. I'm roughly three quarters of the way through the story and there seems to be a lot of stuff Noah could talk about, for good or for bad.
Thank you for continuing to make these
Shangri-La section in *Far Cry 4* gave a look into what an Indian mythological AAA game can look like.
I want that in my life
Except it's mostly based on what Westerners think Indian mythology ought to be like than any actual Indian mythology. I get that that may also be a conscious decision - can't cause religious controversy if you just make up a religion.
@@Advancedgod so what?
I thought fc4 was in Tibet
@@TheSaint491 it's in a fictional nation isn't it? For small nations in the Himalayas, yiu have Tibet - mostly Buddhist - or Nepal - mostly Hindu - so it could be considered Indian mythology.
One of your best. Just watched it all in one sitting.
Far Cry 1 was magical when I was a little kid. I remember sneaking onto my friend’s dad’s computer to play it when he wasn’t home. Good times
Yeah. I admit that the plot isn't super dense, but for 2004 games, the plot for Far Cry was highly enjoyable for its function. That function is partially to give you a tour of the island like an alternate version of Jurassic Park with trigens instead of dinosaurs. Highly charming game back then and the AI, sound, lighting, art style, draw distance, and colors were all gorgeous. Got to play this on my dad's surround sound setup when I was a kid.
My morning: *Is normal*
Noah: *drops 3 hour long analysis*
Nice
This video perfectly outlines why, for my particular gaming mindset, I think Far Cry 2 is (by a very long distance) the best in the series.
One of your best videos. Love it. Watched it now 3 times to chill out
Praise! I've been looking forward to this!
Alright, I just blasted through this starting at 2 am and now I'm gonna rewatch it slowly over the next couple days to really digest your thoughts on it, I think this is the tipping point where I should be a patreon sponsor for you given how much entertainment you provide to me at no cost lol
I played 5 and new dawn with a friend when they went on sale. Was my first time ever with the series, and after hearing about all these other titles, I went and played 3 and am now playing 2. Truly a great and varied series.
Noah helping me realize there's so much more I love about Blood Dragon than I thought
Oh we eatin tonite!!
Honestly i dont know if youll see this comment noah but i recently discovered your channel and abseloutley loved it and have been getting my friends into it. Keep doing what your doing your giving the type of perspective that no other person has done that ive seen. Its also made me look at games so much differently thank you! And know your doing amazing work. By the way sorry my grammer sucks lol.
Am I the only one who actually liked the plot of the first Far Cry?
I mean, yeah, it's very cheesy but is it necessary a bad thing? It felt like a good action movie from 80-s or 90-s (like the ones with Schwarzenegger or Stallone). And mutant monsters made the gameplay much more diverse and challenging.
Nope, you are not the only one. I'm still waiting another Blood Dragon.
Always a good day when Noah does an upload. :D
"It reminds me of what someone once said about the definition of insanity."
This is way too good.
I love this video. Maybe your best commentary yet. I feel bad for brushing off Primal now.
I'm surprised that you didn't mention *Halo 2* when talking about shooters from 2004 that changed the FPS and gaming landscape as a whole forever. It's one of the big reasons that shooters became a mainstream social hobby and pioneered a lot of online gaming staples, among other things.
I agree but at the same time I feel like Halo 1 was a lot more ground breaking of a single player FPS and Halo 2 was more of a huge leap forward for multiplayer gaming which Noah isn’t very well acquainted with. It’s still odd that he doesn’t mention it though. Noah tends to have these weird gaps in his retrospectives, like how he completely ignored Devil May Cry’s influence on the God of War Series. I’d argue the Halo games developed by Bungie were far more influential on the medium of gaming than either Half Life.
NOAH! You read my mind! I had been hoping you'd cover this series.
It was recently confirmed by the developers that The Jackal from FC2 is Jack Carver-- the protagonist from FC1.
I can't help but wonder how this information would effect Noah's analysis.
It doesnt rlly fit tho. In fc1 jack just makes jokes abd coudnt care less abt humans being experimented on. But the jackal is cleaely traumatized from messed up stuff and also is very serious abt conflict
So after the events of Far Cry 1 Jack Carver read a few paragraphs of Nietzsche and decided that grim fatalism was the path and became an arms dealer who sold to anyone and everyone.
I buy it.
I love the articulation of primal's storytelling strengths, and completely agree--great work here.
what I love about Pagan Min is how they utilise his lack of direct confrontation to make Amita & Sabal's infighting more infuriating.
straight up one of the best videos i've ever watched on this platform
Three hours. I'm gonna consume this over the next three days I think, luckily i'm a hungry boy.
Noah, that was one hell of a Cryptkeeper impression. And, one hell of a video.
Do "A Thorough Look At STALKER"!
As always, I love your retrospectives and your sense of humor! Honestly your videos are the most exciting thing to watch for me. Every time I see a new video by Mr. Gervais is an actual event for me, so thank you for making these!